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THE BAH A' I WORLD
A Biennial International Record
Prepared under the supervision of the National Spiritual Assembly
of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada
with the approval of Shoghi Effendi
Volume VII
93 AND 94 OF THE BAHA'I ERA
APRIL 1936-1938 A.D.
Baha'i Publishing Committee
New York, N. Y., U. S. A.
1939
Copyright, 1939, by National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is
of the United States and Canada.
NOTE: The spelling of the Oriental words and proper
names used in this issue of THE BAHA'I WORLD is according
to the system of transliteration established at one of the
International Oriental Congresses.
To
SHOGHI EFFENDI
Guardian of the Baha'i Faith
this work is dedicated
in the hope that it will assist
his efforts to promote
that spiritual unity
underlying and anticipating the
"Most Great Peace"
of
BAHA'U'LLAH
The Bahi'i House of Worship, Wilmette, Illinois,
showing exterior decoration of the gallery section, completed in 1937 and 1938.
CONTENTS
PART ONE
PAGE
I. Aims and Purposes of the Baha'i Faith 3
II. Survey of Current Baha'i Activities in the East and West 1 5
III. Excerpts from Baha'i Sacred Writings 169
IV. Commemoration of the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Visit
to America 213
PART TWO
I. The World Order of BahaVllah 225
1. Present-day Administration of the Baha'i Faith 225
Introductory Statement 225
Excerpts from the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'1-Baha 253
Excerpts from the Letters of Shoghi Effendi 262
Certificate of Incorporation of the National Spiritual Assembly of
the Baha'is of the United States and Canada 309
Declaration of Trust and By-Laws of the National Spiritual Assem-
bly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada 310
Declaration of Trust and By-Laws of the National Spiritual Assem-
bly of the Baha'is of Iran 325
Declaration of Trust and By-Laws of the National Spiritual Assem-
bly of the Baha'is of Germany and Austria 332
Certificate of Incorporation of the National Spiritual Assembly of
the Baha'is of India and Burma 340
Declaration of Trust and By-Laws of the National Spiritual Assem-
bly of the Baha'is of 'Iraq 341
Declaration of Trust of the National Spiritual Assembly of the
Baha'is of Egypt 348
Facsimile of Document related to the Incorporation of the National
Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Egypt 350
Certificate of Incorporation of the National Spiritual Assembly of
the Baha'is of Australia and New Zealand 354
By-Laws of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of New York,
N. Y., U. S. A. 356
Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is
of New York, N. Y., U. S. A. 360
Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is
of Kenosha, Wisconsin, U. S. A. 365
Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is
of Racine, Wisconsin, U. S. A. 373
Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is
of Detroit, Michigan, U. S. A. 380
Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is
of Los Angeles, California, U. S. A. . . 383
ix
x CONTENTS
PAGE
Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is
of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U. S. A. 398
Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is
of Cleveland, Ohio, U. S. A. 404
Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is
of Minneapolis, Minn., U. S. A. 405
Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is
of Bombay, India 410
Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is
of Poona, India 411
Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is
of Adelaide, Australia 412
Trade Mark Certificate obtained from the United States Govern-
ment covering the "World Order Magazine" 413
Baha'i Marriage Certificate adopted and enforced by the National
Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Iran 415
Baha'i Marriage Certificate adopted and enforced by the National
Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Egypt 416
Baha'i Marriage Certificate adopted and enforced by the National
Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of 'Iraq 417
Certificate of Marriage issued by the Palestine Government and de-
livered to the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Haifa for
official registration 418
Baha'i Divorce Certificate adopted and enforced by the National
Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Iran v 419
Baha'i Divorce Certificate adopted and enforced by the National
Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Egypt 420
Translation of the Record of 'Abdu'l-Baha's voice 421
Map of Baha'i holdings showing extension of properties surrounding
and dedicated to the shrine of the Bab on Mt. Carmel 422
2. The Institution of the MasJiriqu'l-Adhkar 423
Foreword 423
The Spiritual Significance of the MasJiriqu'l-Adhkar 424
Progress of Temple Ornamentation 429
Interesting Experiences with Temple Visitors 432
References to Baha'i House of Worship in U. S. Steel News 444
When Baha'is Build a Temple 445
3. Baha'i Calendar and Festivals 447
Foreword 447
Baha'i Feasts, Anniversaries and Days of Fasting 447
Baha'i Holy Days on which Work should be Suspended 448
Additional Material Gleaned from Nabil's Narrative (Volume II)
regarding the Baha'i Calendar 448
Historical Data Gleaned from Nabil's Narrative (Volume II) re-
garding Baha'u'llah 451
4. Youth Activities Throughout the Baha'i World 456
The World Activities of Baha'i Youth, 1936 to 1938 456
Excerpts from "Baha'i Youth," 1937 to 1938 477
II. References to the Baha'i Faith . . 498
1. Dowager Queen Marie of Rumania . 498
2. Prof. E. G. Browne, M.A., M.B., Cambridge University . 501
3. Dr. J. Estlin Carpenter, D.Litt., Manchester College, Oxford . . 503
CONTENTS
4. Rev. T. K. Chcyne, D.Litt., D.D., Oxford University, Fellow of the
British Academy . ... 504
5. Prof. Arminius Vambery, Hungarian Academy of Pcsth 504
6. Harry Charles Lukach . .... 505
7. Sir Valentine Chirol . 505
8. Prof. Jowett, Oxford University 506
9. Alfred W. Martin, Society for Ethical Culture, New York 506
10. Prof. James Darmesteter, Ecole des Hautes Etudes, Paris . . . . 507
11. Charles Baudouin . 507
12. Dr. Henry H. Jcssup, D.D. 509
13. Right Hon. The Earl Cur/on of Kedleston 510
14. Sir Francis Younghusband, K.C.S.I., K.C.I.E. 511
15. "The Christian Commonwealth," Anonymous 512
16. Rev. J. Tyssul Davis, B.A. . . 512
17. Herbert Putnam, Congressional Library, Washington, D. C. 513
18. Leo Tolstoy . . 514
19. Dr. Edmund Privat, University of Geneva 515
20. Dr. Auguste Forel, University of Zurich 516
21. General Renato Piola Casclli 516
22. Rev. Frederick W. Oakes 516
23. Renwick J. G. Millar, Editor of "John O'Groat Journal," Wick, Scot-
land . 517
24. Charles H. Prisk . 518
25. Prof. Hari Prasad Shastri, D.Litt. 518
26. Shri Purohit Swami 518
27. Prof. Herbert A. Miller, Bryn Mawr College 518
28. Viscount Samuel, G.C.B., M.P. 519
29. Rev. K. T. Chung 520
30. Prof. Dimitry Kazarov, University of Sofia 520
31. Rev. Griffith J. Sparham 521
32. Ernest Renaii 521
33. The Hon. Lilian Helen Montague, J.P., D.H.L. 522
34. Prof. Norman Bcntwich, Hebrew University, Jerusalem 523
35. Emile Schrciber, Publicist 523
36. Dr. Rokuichiro Masujima, Doyen of Jurisprudence of Japan 525
37. Miss Helen Keller 526
38. Sir Flinders Petric, Archaeologist 526
39. President Masaryk of Czechoslovakia 526
40. Archduchess Anton of Austria 526
41. Dr. Herbert Adams Gibbons . 526
42. H.R.H. Princess Olga of Jugoslavia 526
43. Eugen Relgis 527
44. Arthur Henderson 527
45. Prof. Dr. V. Lesny 527
46. Princess Marie Antoinette de Broglie Aussenac 528
47. President David Starr Jordan, Leland Stanford University 528
48. Prof. Bogdan Popovitch, University of Belgrade, Jugoslavia 528
49. Ex-Governor William Sulzer of New York 528
50. Luther Burbank 528
51. Prof. Yone Noguchi 528
52. Prof. Raymond Frank Piper . 528
53. Angela Morgan . . . 529
xii CONTENTS
P\C,E
54. Arthur Moore 529
55. Prof. Dr. Jan Rypka, Charles University, Praha, Czechoslovakia 529
56. A. L. M. Nicolas . 529
57. President Eduard Benes of Czechoslovakia 530
III. In Memoriam 531
1. Alfred E. Lunt 531
2. Dr. Zia Bagdadi 535
3. Mrs. Laurie C. Wilhelm 539
4. Mrs. Mary Hanford Ford 541
5. Elmore E. Duckett 543
6. Colonel Dr. I. Piruzbakht 545
7. Mirza Muhammad Kazim-Pur 547
8. Dr. Y. S. Tsao 548
9. Dr. Muhammad Basjhir 549
10. Miss Malakat Nusjhugati 550
11. Extracts from "Baha'i News" 551
PART THREE
Baha'i Directory, 1937-1938 555
1. Baha'i National Spiritual Assemblies 555
2. Baha'i Local Spiritual Assemblies and Groups Alphabetically listed ac-
cording to Nations % 556
Abyssinia 556
Albania 556
Australia 556
Austria 556
Belgium 556
Brazil 556
Bulgaria 556
Burma 556
Canada 556
Caucasus 556
China 556
Czechoslovakia 556
Denmark 557
Egypt 557
France 557
Germany 557
Great Britain and Ireland 557
Hawaiian Islands 558
Holland 558
Hungary 558
Iceland 558
India 558
Iran 559
'Iraq 559
Islands (Society Islands) 559
Italy 559
Japan 559
Jugoslavia . 559
CONTENTS xiii
PAC.E
New Zealand . 559
Norway . . 559
Palestine and Transjordania 559
Poland . 559
Rumania 559
Russia 559
South Africa 559
Sudan 559
Sweden 559
Switzerland 559
Syria 559
Tunisia 560
Turkey 560
Turkistan 560
United States of America 560
West Indies (British) 560
3. Officers and Committees of the National Spiritual Assembly of the
Baha'is of the United States and Canada 561
4. Local Baha'i Spiritual Assemblies, Groups and Isolated Believers in the
United States and Canada 565
5. Baha'i Administrative Divisions in Iran 571
6. Addresses of Centers of Baha'i Administrative Divisions in Iran 575
7. Alphabetical List of Baha'u'llah's Best-Known Writings 576
8. List of the Bab's Best-Known Works 577
II. Baha'i Bibliography 578
1. Baha'i Publications of America 578
Books About the Baha'i Faith 578
Writings of the Bab 581
Writings of Baha'u'llah 581
Writings of 4Abdu'l-Baha 581
Writings of Shoghi Effendi 583
Prayers 585
Baha'i Literature in Pamphlet Form 585
Compilations 588
Outlines and Guides for Baha'i Study Classes 589
2. Baha'i Publications of England 590
3. Baha'i Publications in French 591
4. Baha'i Publications in Italian 591
5. Baha'i Publications in Dutch 591
6. Baha'i Publications in Danish 593
7. Baha'i Publications in Swedish 593
8. Baha'i Publications in Portuguese 593
9. Baha'i Publications in Albanian 593
10. Baha'i Publications in Esperanto 593
11. Baha'i Publications in Russian 594
12. Baha'i Publications in German 594
13. Baha'i Publications in Bulgarian . . 597
14. Baha'i Publications in Rumanian . 597
15. Baha'i Publications in Czech 597
16. Baha'i Publications in Serbian 598
17. Baha'i Publications in Hungarian . . . 598
18. Baha'i Publications in Greek 598
xiv CONTENTS
PAGE
19. Baha'i Publications in Maori . . 598
20. Baha'i Publications in Spanish 598
21. Baha'i Publications in Norwegian 598
22. Baha'i Publications in Croatian 599
23. Baha'i Publications in Icelandic . 599
24. Baha'i Publications in Oriental Languages 599
Iranian . . 599
Urdu 600
Arabic 601
Turkish 601
Burmese 601
Chinese 601
Hebrew 601
Tatar . .601
Gujrati . 602
Japanese . 602
Armenian . . 602
Tamil 602
Kurdish 602
Sindhi 602
Bengali 602
Hindi 602
Abyssinian 602
25. Baha'i Literature in Braille (for the Blind) 602
26. Baha'i Periodicals * 603
27. References to the Baha'i Faith in Books and Pamphlets by non-Baha'i
Authors 604
28. References to the Baha'i Faith in Magazines by non-Baha'i Writers 611
29. References to the Baha'i Faith by Baha'is in non-Baha'i Publications 613
III. Transliteration of Oriental Words frequently used in Baha'i Literature with
Guide to Transliteration and Pronunciation of Iranian Alphabet and Notes
on the Pronunciation of Iranian Words 614
IV. Definitions of Oriental Terms used in Baha'i Literature 618
PART FOUR
I. Articles and Reviews 623
1. The Seven Valleys by Baha'u'llah; A Meditation, by G. Townshend 623
2. The World of Heart and Spirit, by Horace Holley 626
3. A Session at the World Congress of Faiths, by Helen Bishop 634
4. Importance de Pldee Spirituelle dans la Vie Actuelle, by Lucienne
Migette 646
5. Racial Amity in America, by Louis G. Gregory 652
6. Aus dem Leben des Bab, by Erna Schmidt 667
7. Dawn over Mount Hira, by Mardiyyih Nabil Carpenter 676
8. The Baha'i Faith and Eastern Scholars, by Martha L. Root 682
9. The Unity of Nations, by Stanwood Cobb . . . 693
10. Changing Race Relations, by Maxwell Miller . . . 698
11. Baha'i, from "La Sagesse de 1'Orient," by Dr. Edmund Privat 701
12. Sources of Community Life, by Marion Holley 703
13. A Brief Account of Thomas Breakwell, by May Maxwell . . . 707
CONTENTS xv
14. Unity of Races, by Gene vie ve L, Coy 712
15. Mankind the Prodigal, by Alfred E. Lunt 716
16. The Fulfillment of Religion, by Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick 721
17. A World Community, by George O. Latimer 725
18. The Call to Germany, by Alma Knobloch 732
19. The Manifestation, by Albert P. Entzminger 746
20. Hear, O Israel, by Dorothy K. Baker 754
21. The Rosary, by Nellie S. French 757
22. Marriage in the Baha'i Faith, by Rosemary Sala 761
23. Learning to Live Together, by Martha L. Root 767
24. Baha'i Radio Program, delivered over Station "WHN," New York 769
25. The Bust of 'Abdu'1-Baha, by Mrs. Stannard 786
26. African Experience, by Loulie A. Mathews 788
27. The Non-Political Nature of the Baha'i Cause, by Emily M. Axford 793
28. Teaching the Cause of Baha'u'llah in Distant Lands, by Nellie S.
French 797
29. Two Letters of Mrs. Phoebe Apperson Hearst from "Persia by a Per-
sian" . ... 801
30. A Tribute from Iceland, by Holmfridur Arnadottir 803
II. Song Offerings 804
III. Echoes from the Spheres . 813
IV. Map of the United States and Canada Showing Baha'i Centers Inside back cover
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
The Master, 'Abdu'1-Baha, taken with American and franian Friends . . 8
'Abdu'1-Baha during the last year of His life, Haifa, 1921 10
* Abdu'1-Baha at Leland Stanford University, October 8, 1912 20
The bridge in Baghdad across which Baha'u'llah passed on his way to the garden of
Ridvan . . . . . 20
An early view of the resting-place of Baha'u'llah at Bahji, 'Akka 25
Latest photograph of the Shrine of the Bab on Mt. Carmel, Haifa, showing the
new additions to both the upper and lowermost terraces, taken from the Ger-
man Colony ... . . 31
The Shrine of the Bab at twilight when the terraces and facade are illuminated,
as seen from the German Colony, Haifa 37
Exterior views of the reconstructed House of Baha'u'llah's father, in Takur,
Mazindaran, Iran . 44
Interior views of the reconstructed House of Baha'u'llah's father, in Takur, Iran 50
Sarah J. Farmer, Founder of Green Acre 52
Entrance to Green Acre 57
Baha'i Hall, Green Acre 60
Interior, Baha'i Hall, Green Acre 60
Baha'i Youth, Green Acre 60
Mr. and Mrs. John Bosch, donors of Geyserville School land and original buildings 62
Dedication of Baha'i Hall, Geyserville Summer School, July, 1936 65
Dedication of Dormitory, Geyserville School, July, 1937 67
The Dormitory, Geyserville Summer School 68
Upper floor, Dormitory, Geyserville Summer School 70
Site (marked x) showing spot where Badi', bearer of Baha'u'llah's tablet to the
Shah of Iran, was martyred 132
Laborers at work on restoration of the House of Baha'u'llah's father, in Takur,
Mazindaran, Iran . . 132
Haziratu'1-Quds of the Baha'is of Tihran, now in course of construction 134
Entrance to the Bab's House in Shiraz 138
The shop owned by Haji Mirza Siyyid *Ali, the maternal uncle of the Bab, in
Shiraz . 138
Entrance to the Bath attended by the Bab in the vicinity of His house in Shiraz 138
The tent which was pitched in the garden of Mazra'ih, near 'Akka, for Baha'u'llah 147
Interior of room in Haji Mirza Jani's house where the Bab stayed while in Kashan,
Iran . ... 170
Interior of Vahid's room in the fortress of Khajih in Nayriz, fran 170
The tomb of Manuchihr Khan, the Mu'tamidu'd-Dawlih, who befriended the Bab
during His sojourn in Isfahan, Iran . 172
Mural on the wall of Manuchihr Khan's tomb, fran 172
Badi', the bearer of Baha'u'llah's Tablet to the Shah of Iran, shown in chains before
his martyrdom. (Note the brasier in which irons were heated and applied to
his flesh) . 188
Two early believers of Tihran about to be bastinadoed . . 188
The grave of the author of "Nabil's Narrative," 'Akka, Palestine . . 192
Penmanship of the father of Baha'u'llah, Mirza Buzurg . . . ... 214
'Abdu'1-Baha at Green Acre, in August, 1912, with a group of Baha'is, facing p. 219
Mural paintings on the walls of the Mansion at Bahji where Baha'u'llah spent the
last years of His life . 230
Mural paintings on the walls of the Mansion at Bahji where Baha'u'llah spent the
last years of His life 231
A small copy of the original painting of 'Akkd made by the father of Miss Mary
Fenn of San Diego, California, U. S. A., during his sojourn in Palestine
in 1875 . . 241
The Central Hall of the Mansion at Bahji, 'Akka, seen at night 243
xvii
xviii ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
The Mansion of Baha'u'llah at Bahji. Left: the fountain on the balcony overlook-
ing the plains of 'Akka. Right: curtain over the door of Baha'u'llah's room
in which He held the historic interview with Professor E. G. Browne of
Cambridge University . 251
The Central Hall of the Mansion at Bahji where Baha'u'llah spent the last years
of His life 254
Documents of historical interest displayed in the Central Hall of the Mansion at
Bahji, 'Akka . . . 254
The Shrine of the Bab, surrounded by gardens, on Mt. Carmel, and a general view
of Haifa and the port. In the foreground of the hills can be seen the plain
of Esdraelon of Biblical mention 261
The new garden and entrance to the Bab's Shrine, looking westward . . 272
New garden and entrance to the Bab's Shrine, looking eastward towards the
Iranian Pilgrim House . . . 272
Gathered together under the Big Tree at Geyserville, California, at the Nineteen
Day Feast, July, 1936 . . 281
Corner of the new extension of the terrace facing the Bab's Shrine 286
A view of the new entrance to the Bab's Shrine on Mt. Carmel, showing extension
of the terrace facing the Shrine . . 286
A view of one of the garden walks behind the Shrine of the Bab on Mt. Carmel, Haifa 290
The entrance to the Green Acre Baha'i Summer School, Eliot, Maine, U. S. A.,
showing the new sign erected in July, 1936 . 295
The spot in the garden of Ridvan, near 'Akka, where Baha'u'llah used to sit under
the mulberry tree. The gardener, 'Abdu'l-Qasim is shown 299
The 1937 session of the English Baha'i Summer School held at Matlock Bath,
Derbyshire, England .... 304
Baha'is of Sydney, Australia, welcome a traveling friend from America, Mrs.
Nellie French, seated between "Father and Mother Dunn," the pioneers of the
Cause in the Southern Hemisphere . 304
Interior view of "Bolton Place," the home of a Baha'i family at Yerrinbool, which
has been dedicated as the first Baha'i summer school of Australia and New
Zealand . . . . . . 324
Friends gathered on the opening day of the Yerrinbool Baha'i Summer School on
May 2, 1937 . ... .324
General view of the resting place of Bahiyyih Khanum, the Greatest Holy Leaf,
around which will be established the international Institutions of the Baha'i
Faith at its world center .... . .. ... 331
First Yerrinbool Baha'i Summer School, January 8 to 23, 1938 . . 355
Minneapolis Baha'i Community, 1938 408
Map of Baha'i holdings showing extension of properties surrounding and dedicated
to the Shrine of the Bab on Mt. Carmel 422
Aerial view of the port and city of Haifa. The arrow points to the shrine of the
Bab amidst its surrounding gardens. All the property, roughly indicated
within the white dots, is permanent open space, dedicated to the Shrine . 426
Aerial view of the Baha'i Temple at Wilmette, Illinois, U. S. A. . . 428
Sculptors at Work on Original Model . 431
Finished Units for Gallery Section . 431
Design in Unit for Gallery Section . .431
Finished Units Awaiting Shipment to the Temple . . . 435
Plaster Model, Base Section of Pylon 435
Finished Unit, Section of Window Head . . 435
Carving an Original Model . . .... 435
Sculptor at Work . . 439
The Architect's Beautiful Vision 439
Models of the Baha'i Temple Being Constructed at Wilmette, Illinois, U. S. A.
Above, one of the new plaster models carved and cast in the studio of John J.
Early, the contractor for the outside ornamentation of the Temple itself.
Below, an old model entirely made by hand of cardboard and wood 441
ILLUSTRATIONS xix
PAGE
Followers of the Baha'i Faith from all parts and sections of the world are coop-
erating in the building of a House of Worship, unique in design and appear-
ance, at Wilmette, a short distance north of Chicago. Pictured above is the
dome of this beautiful structure, partially completed, and open daily to
visitors . . ..... 445
A close up of the lace-like design and scroll work on the dome of the Baha'i House
of Worship is given in the picture below . 445
A view of the interior of the dome of the Baha'i House of Worship is shown below,
giving some idea of the bracing necessary in the construction work 445
Baha'i Youth Conference of Lima, Ohio, U. S. A., March 22, 1938 . 450
Baha'i Youth Committee of Baghdad, Iraq, 1936-1937 455
Baha'i Youth Conference of Poona, India, March 22, 1938. . . 455
The Baha'i Temple at Wilmette, Illinois, U. S. A., viewed from Lake Michigan 457
Louhclcn Baha'i Summer School Youth Session, 1937 . 460
Members and delegates of the International Youth group which held a session in
Green Acre, Eliot, Maine, U. S. A., in order of meet with the Baha'is while
on their tour of America during 1936 ... 466
Interior of the new Baha'i Hall recently erected on the property of the Geyserville
Baha'i Summer School in California, U. S. A. 468
Baha'i Summer School for the Central States, Louhelen Ranch at Davison, Michi-
gan, U. S. A. 471
The Green Acre Inn, open to all those attending the Summer School as well as
to the public 471
The Baha'i Hall in Green Acre, a recent addition to the properties of the oldest
Baha'i Summer School in America, open annually at Eliot, Maine, U. S. A 471
Members of the Young Women's Baha'i Group of Tihran, fran 475
Members of the Young Men's Baha'i Group of Tihran, fran 475
"Rockwood," a Baha'i Home in Boolcroo Centre, South Australia 479
Two Baha'i youth, the daughters of Mr. David Brooks of "Rockwood," Booleroo
Centre . . . 479
Baha'i Youth Group of the University of Illinois. From the University Annual,
the ILLIO, 1937. This is the first Baha'i Youth Group in America to be
organized as an official University activity . 484
The Baha'i Youth Group of Poona, India, at the Naw-Ruz feast, March 21, 1938,
year 95 of the Baha'i era . . . 487
Youth Conference at London, England, March 27, 1936 491
Speakers at the Baha'i Youth Symposium and Baha'i friends, March 22, 1936, at
Los Angeles, California, U. S. A. 491
First Baha'i Youth Group of Lyons, France. Photographed in the garden of Mr.
Yazdi, Lyons, France, June 14, 1936 . ... 502
National Baha'i Youth Committee of the United States and Canada, Louhelen
Summer School, Davison, Michigan, U. S. A., June, 1937 . 508
Mr. Hyde Dunn, the pioneer teacher of Australia and New Zealand, laying the
cornerstone of the first Baha'i Summer School in the Southern Hemisphere,
at Yerrinbool, New South Wales, on October 11, 1936 514
Friends present at the laying of the cornerstone of the first Baha'i Summer School
in Australia . 517
Alfred E. Lunt . 532
Dr. Zia M. Bagdadi . . . . 536
Friends assembled on Mashriqu'l-Adhkar grounds, Chicago, March 21, 1921. Dr.
Zia M. Bagdadi digging first shovelful of earth . .538
Mrs. Laurie C. Wilhelm . . . 540
Mrs. Mary Hanford Ford . 541
Elrnore Eugene Ducket t 543
Mirza Muhammad Kazim-Pur ... . 548
Dr. Muhammad Bashir of Alexandria, Egypt . . . 549
Miss Malakat Nushugati of Port Said, Egypt . 550
First stage in the construction of the Haziratu'1-Quds of Baghdad, 'Iraq . 560
xx ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
The Baha'is of Daidanaw, Kalazoo, " 'Abdu'l-Baha's Village," in Burma 566
Miss Leonora Holsapple (upper left), the pioneer teacher of the Faith in Brazil,
and Mrs. Nellie French, on the occasion of the latter's visit to South America,
March, 1937. The children belonged to Miss Holsapple's class for the under-
privileged ... .... . .573
The first group of pilgrims arriving by air to fran via Baghdad in the spring of
1938. Taken at the Haifa Aerodrome with members of the Baha'i Com-
munity. The trip from Tihran to 4Akka which took four months in the days
of BahaVllah is now accomplished in seven hours* flying time 584
A view of the world's southernmost city, Magallanes, Chile, where Baha'i litera-
ture has been recently distributed for the first time 592
Baha'i Press Book for the year 1936-1937, United States and Canada, compiled
by the Publicity Committee 592
The Shaykhu'l-Islam of Tiflis, Caucasus, in reply to whose attacks on the Cause
Mirza Abu'1-Fadl addressed his well-known book entitled "Fara'id" 600
Book exhibit of the sacred scriptures of the world, held under the auspices of the
New York Baha'i Assembly and accompanied by a lecture on "The Glory and
Power of God's Revelation through the Ages," December, 1936 607
Twenty-ninth Annual Convention of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada,
May 1, 1937 627
Previous method of treatment of prisoners in Iran. The figure fourth from the
left marked X was a well-known Baha'i teacher 633
Group of early Believers of Chicago, Illinois, U. S. A., taken about the year 1900 647
The grave of Thornton Chase, the first American Believer 653
Baha'i celebration of Naw-Ruz, inaugurating the 93rd Year of the Baha'i Era,
Los Angeles, California, U. S. A., March 21, 1936 669
Naw-Ruz Feast held jointly by the communities of Oakland and Berkeley, Cali-
fornia, U. S. A., March 21, 1937 * 678
Members of the Unity of the East and West Committee of Tihran, fran, 1937 684
Ninth Annual Meeting of the Baha'is of the Northeastern States, at Forest Park,
Springfield, Mass., June 21, 1936 695
Presentation of the "Seven Valleys" of Baha'u'llah. Dramatized by Madame Barry
Orlova and Mrs. Basil Hall, in the garden of Mrs. Edith Simonds, Sowbcrry
Court on Thames, England, where the Baha'i Theatre Group has its Summer
Theatre 699
A Captain of the Salvation Army, who has recently embraced the Baha'i Faith.
Taken with one of her former Lieutenants in the Shetland Islands 708
An early Group of the Baha'is of America. Reading from left to right: Katherine
K. True, Mrs. Gorman, Mr. True, Mrs. Corinne True, Mr. Harlan F. Ober,
Mrs. Cecelia Harrison, Miss Davies, Mrs. Eardley, Mr. Charles Spraguc, Mr.
Carl Schcffler, Mr. Woodworth, Mr. Percy Woodcock, Mme. Aurclia Bethlen,
Mr. Brush, Mrs. Brush, Mr. Thornton Chase 708
The Baha'is of Poona, India, at the Naw-Ruz Feast, March 21, 1938 718
The Third Annual Convention of the Baha'is of Iran, year 93 of the Baha'i era 727
The members of the Committee for the training of Baha'i children, in Tihran, fran 749
An early group of the Baha'is of Iran 759
Nucleus of a new center of the Faith in Egypt, the Baha'is of Tanta 766
Baha'is of the village of Hisar, Iran . . 766
A group of the Baha'i school Children of Tihran, Iran 771
The sculptor, Nicolas Sokolnitsky, at work on a bust of 'Abdu'1-Baha in his Paris
studio . . 787
Mr. and Mrs. Roscoe Mathews (Photograph of welcome card presented at the
Gateway to South Africa) 790
Baha'is of New York in observation of the Day of the Covenant, November 26,
1937 . 795
Mrs. Phoebe A. Hearst . . 800
Miss Holmfridur Arnadottir, educator and author of Reykjavik, Iceland 803
INTRODUCTION
D
' URING the past ten years the Baha'i community of East and West has learned to
anticipate each successive volume of THE BAHA'I WORLD (the first number was entitled
"Baha'i Year Book") as the best means by which the individual believer may keep
abreast of the steady development of the Faith throughout the world. This work, in its
illustrations as well as in its text, has recorded as completely as possible the progress of
current Baha'i events and activities over an area now embracing forty countries. In
addition, each volume has presented those "historical facts and fundamental principles
that constitute the distinguishing features of the Message of Baha'u'llah to this age."
The existence of so many evidences of a newly revealed Faith and Gospel for a
humanity arrived at a turning point in its spiritual and social evolution has likewise a
profound significance for the non-Baha'i student and scholar who desires to investigate
the world religion founded by the Bab and Baha'u'llah. For in these pages the reader
encounters both the revealed Word in its spiritual power, and the response which that
utterance has evoked during the first ninety years of the Baha'i era. He will find what
is unparalleled in religious history — ^£ne unbroken continuity of a divine Faith from
the Manifestation onward through three generations of human experience, and will be
able to apprehend what impregnable foundations the Baha'i World Order rests upon in
the life and teachings of the Bab and Baha'u'llah, the life and interpretation of 'Abdu'l-
Baha, and (since the year 1921) in the development of an administrative order under
the direction of the Guardian of the Faith, Shoghi Effendi.
It is the avowed faith of Baha'is that this Revelation has established upon earth the
^piritual impulse and the definite principles necessary for social regeneration and the
attainment of one true religion and social order throughout the world, ""^n THE BAIIA'I
WORLD, therefore, those who seek a higher will and wisdom than man possesses may
learn how, amid the trials and tribulations of a decadent society, a new age has begun
to emerge from the world of the spirit to the realm of human action and belief.
STAFF OF EDITORS
AMERICA —
Horace Holley, Chairman, 119 Waverly Place, New York City.
Mrs. Stuart W. French, Secretary, 390 Grove St., Pasadena, California.
Mrs. Elsa Russell Blakeley, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
Miss Agnes Alexander, c/o Baha'i Center, 130 Evergreen Place, West Englewood,
N.J.
Mrs. Ruth Brandt, 9313 Olympic Blvd., Beverly Hills, California.
Mrs. Mardiyyih Nabil Carpenter, 42 Edgemont Place, Teaneck, New Jersey.
Mrs. Marjory Morten, c/o Fifth Avenue Bank, New York, N. Y.
Miss Marion Holley, c/o National Teaching Com., 640-46th Ave., San Francisco,
California.
Louis G. Gregory, 42 1 Broadway, Cambridge, Mass.
Mrs. Victoria Bcdikian, Photograph Editor, Box 179, Montclair, New Jersey.
GERMANY —
Dr. Hermann Grossmann, 37 Goringstrasse, Neckargemiind, Heidelberg, Germany.
SWITZERLAND —
Mrs. Anna Lynch, 19 a Avc. de Champel, Geneva, Switzerland.
FRANCE —
Mme. Hesse, 24 rue du Boccador, Paris, France.
IRAN —
Miss Adelaide Sharp, Pahlavi St. Kuchch Bageroff, Tihran, Iran.
INDIA AND BURMA —
Prof. Pritam Singh, 9 Langley Road, Lahore, India.
EGYPT —
Muhammad Mustafa, Baha'i Bureau, P.O. Box 13, Daher, Cairo, Egypt.
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND —
Miss Hilda Brooks, P.O. Box 447 D, G.P.O., Adelaide, South Australia.
'IRAQ —
Jamil Baghdadi, P.O. Box 5, Baghdad.
CHINA AND JAPAN —
Miss Agnes Alexander, c/o Baha'i Center, 130 Evergreen Place, West Englewood,
N.J.
INTERNATIONAL —
Miss Martha Root, c/o Roy C. Wilhelm, 104 Wall St., New York, N. Y.
xxm
PART ONE
THE BAHA'I WORLD
AIMS AND PURPOSES OF THE
BAHA'I FAITH
BY HORACE HOLLEY
1. A WORLDWIDE SPIRITUAL COMMUNITY
"The Tabernacle of Unity has been raided; regard ye not one another as strangers. . . .
Of one tree are ye all the fruit and of one bough the leaves. . . . The world is but one
country and mankind it* citizen*" — BAHA'U'I.LAH.
u,
PON the spiritual foundation established
by Bahd'u'llah during the forty year period
of His Mission (1853-1892) , there stands to-
day an independent religion represented by
nearly eight hundred local communities of
believers. These communities geographically
are spread throughout all five continents. In
point of race, class, nationality and religious
origin, the followers of Baha'u'llah exemplify
well-nigh the whole diversity of the modern
world. They may be characterized as a
true cross-section of humanity, a microcosm
which, for all its relative littleness, carries
within it individual men and women typify-
ing the macrocosm of mankind.
None of the historic causes of association
served to create this worldwide spiritual com-
munity. Neither a common language, a com-
mon blood, a common civil government, a
common tradition nor a mutual grievance
acted upon Baha'is to supply a fixed center
of interest or a goal of material advantage.
On the contrary, membership in the Baha'i
community in the land of its birth even to
this day has been a severe disability, and out-
side of fran the motive animating believers
has been in direct opposition to the most in-
veterate prejudices of their environment.
The Cause of BahaVllah has moved forward
without the reinforcement of wealth, social
prestige or other means of public influence.
Every local Baha'i community exists by
the voluntary association of individuals who
consciously overcome the fundamental sanc-
tions evolved throughout the centuries to
justify the separations and antagonisms of
human society. In America, this association
means that white believers accept the spir-
itual equality of their Negro fellows. In
Europe, it means the reconciliation of Protes-
tant and Catholic upon the basis of a new and
larger faith. In the Orient, Christian, Jewish
and Muhammadan believers must stand apart
from the rigid exclusiveness into which each
was born.
The central fact to be noted concerning
the nature of the Baha'i Faith is that it con-
tains a power, fulfilled in the realm of con-
science, which can reverse the principle mo-
mentum of modern civilization — the drive
toward division and strife — and initiate its
own momentum moving steadily in the
direction of unity and accord.*^ It is in this
power, and not in any criterion upheld by the
world, that the Faith of Baha'u'llah has spe-
cial significance.
»The forms of traditional opposition vested
in nationality, race, class and creed are not
the only social chasms which the Faith has
bridged. There are even more implacable, if
less visible differences between types and tem-
peraments, such as flow inevitably from the
contact of rational and emotional individuals,
of active and passive dispositions, under-
mining capacity for cooperation in every
organized society, which attain mutual
THE BAHA'I WORLD
understanding and harmony in the Baha'i
community. For personal congeniality, the
selective principle elsewhere continually
operative within the field of voluntary ac-
tion, is an instinct which Baha'is must sacri-
fice to serve the principle of the oneness of
mankind. A Baha'i community, therefore,
is a constant and active spiritual victory, an
overcoming of tensions which elsewhere
come to the point of strife. No mere passive
creed nor philosophic gospel which need
never be put to the test in daily life has
produced this world fellowship devoted to
the teachings of Baha'u'llah.
The basis of self-sacrifice on which the
Baha'i community stands has created a re-
ligious society in which all human relations
are transformed from social to spiritual
problems. This fact is the door through
which one must pass to arrive at insight of
what the Faith of Baha'u'llah means to this
age.
JThe social problems of the age are pre-
dominantly political and economic. They
are problems because human society is di-
vided into nations each of which claims to
be an end and a law unto itself and into
classes each of which has raised an economic
theory to the level of a sovereign and ex-
clusive principle. Nationality has become a
condition which overrides the fundamental
humanity of all the peoples concerned, as-
serting the superiority of political considera-
tions over ethical and moral needs. Simi-
larly, economic groups uphold and promote
social systems without regard to the quality
of human relationships experienced in terms
of religion. Tension and oppositions be-
tween the different groups are organized for
dominance and not for reconciliation. Each
step toward more complete partisan organi-
zation increases the original tension and aug-
ments the separation of human beings; as
the separation widens, the element of sym-
pathy and fellowship on the human level is
eventually denied.
In the Baha'i community the same ten-
sions and instinctive antagonisms exist, but
the human separation has been made impos-
sible. The same capacity for exclusive doc-
trines is present, but no doctrine represent-
ing one personality or one group can secure
a hearing. All believers alike are subject to
one spiritually supreme sovereignty in the
teachings of Baha'u'llah. Disaffected indi-
viduals may withdraw. The community re-
mains. For the Baha'i teachings are in
themselves principles of life and they assert
the supreme value of humanity without doc-
trines which correspond to any particular
environment or condition. Thus members
of the Baha'i community realize their ten-
sions and oppositions as ethical or spiritual
problems, to be faced and overcome in mu-
tual consultation. "TJieir faith has convinced
them that the "truth" or "right" of any pos-
sible situation is not derived from partisan
victory but from the needs of the commu-
nity as an organic whole.
^A Baha'i community endures without dis-
ruption because only spiritual problems can
be solved. When human relations are held
to be political or social problems they are
removed from the realm in which rational
will has responsibility and influence. The
ultimate result of this degradation of hu-
man relationships is the frenzy of desperate
strife — the outbreak of inhuman war.
2. THE RENEWAL OF FAITH
"Therefore the Lord of Mankind has caused His holy, divine Manifestations to come into
the world. He has revealed His heavenly books in order to establish spiritiial brotherhood,
and throiigh the power of the Holy Spirit has made it possible for perfect fraternity to
be realized among mankind." — 'ABDU'L-BAHA.
In stating that the Cause of Baha'u'llah
is an independent religion, two essential
facts are implied.
The first fact is that the Baha'i Cause
historically was not an offshoot of any prior
social principle or community. The teach-
ings of Baha'u'llah are no artificial synthesis
assembled from the modern library of inter-
national truth, which might be duplicated
from the same sources. "Baha'u'llah created
a reality in the world of the soul which never
before existed and could not exist apart
from Him. „
The second fact is that the Faith of Baha'-
AIMS AND PURPOSES OF THE BAHA'f FAITH 5
u'llah is a religion, standing in the line of
true religions: Christianity, Muhammadan-
ism, Judaism and other prophetic Faiths. Its
existence, like that of early Christianity,
marks the return of faith as a direct and
personal experience of the will of God. Be-
cause the divine will itself has been revealed
in terms of human reality, the followers of
Baha'u'llah are confident that their personal
limitations can be transformed by an inflow
of spiritual reinforcement from the higher
world. It is for the privilege of access to
the source of reality that they forego reli-
ance upon the darkened self within and the
unbelieving society without.
'The religious education of Baha'is revolu-
tionizes their inherited attitude toward their
own as well as other traditional religions, i
To Baha'is, religion is the life and teach-
ings of the prophet. By identifying religion
with its founder, they exclude from its spir-
itual reality all those accretions of human
definition, ceremony and ritualistic practice
emanating from followers required from
time to time to make compromise with an
unbelieving world. ^Furthermore, in limit-
ing religion to the prophet they are able to
perceive the oneness of God in the spiritual
oneness of all the prophets. *^The Baha'i born
into Christianity can wholeheartedly enter
into fellowship with the Baha'i born into
Muhammadanism because both have come to
understand that Christ and Muhammad re-
flected the light of the one God into the
darkness of the world. ^ If certain teachings
of Christ differ from certain teachings of
Moses or Muhammad, the Baha'is know that
all prophetic teachings are divided into two
parts: one, consisting of the essential and
unalterable principles of love, peace, unity
and cooperation, renewed as divine com-
mands in every cycle; the other, consisting
of external practices (such as diet, marriage
and similar ordinances) conforming to the
requirements of one time and place.
This Baha'i teaching leads to a profounder
analysis of the process of history. The fol-
lowers of Baha'u'llah derive mental integrity
from the realization made so clear and vivid
by "Abdu'1-Baha that true insight into his-
tory discloses the uninterrupted and irre-
sistible working of a Providence not denied
nor made vain by any measure of human
ignorance and unfaith.
According to this insight, a cycle begins
with the appearance of a prophet or mani-
festation of God, through whom the spirits
of men are revivified and reborn. The rise
of faith in God produces a religious com-
munity, whose power of enthusiasm and
devotion releases the creative elements of a
new and higher civili'/ation. This civiliza-
tion comes to its fruitful autumn in culture
and mental achievement, to give way even-
tually to a barren winter of atheism, when
strife and discord bring the civilization to
an end. Under the burden of immorality,
dishonor and cruelty marking this phase of
the cycle, humanity lies helpless until the
spiritual leader, the prophet, once more re-
turns in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Such is the Baha'i reading of the book of
the past. Its reading of the present inter-
prets these world troubles, this general chaos
and confusion, as the hour when the re-
newal of religion is no longer a racial ex-
perience, a rebirth of one limited area of hu-
man society, but the destined unification of
humanity itself in one faith and one order.
It is by the parable of the vineyard that
Baha'is of the Christian West behold their
tradition and their present spiritual reality
at last inseparably joined, their faith and
their social outlook identified, their rever-
ence for the power of God merged with
intelligible grasp of their material environ-
ment. A human society which has substi-
tuted creeds for religion and armies for
truth, even as all ancient prophets foretold,
must needs come to abandon its instru-
ments of violence and undergo purification
until conscious, humble faith can be reborn.
THE BAHA'f WORLD
3. THE BASIS OF UNITY
"The best beloved of all things In My sight is Justice; turn not away therefrom if thou
desirest Me, and neglect it not that I may confide in thee" — BAHA'U'LLAH.
Faith alone, no matter how whole-hearted
and sincere, affords no basis on which the
organic unity of a religious fellowship can
endure. The faith of the early Christians
was complete, but its degree of inner con-
viction when projected outward upon the
field of action soon disclosed a fatal lack of
social principle. Whether the outer expres-
sion of love implied a democratic or an aris-
tocratic order, a communal or individualistic
society, raised fundamental questions after
the crucifixion of the prophet which none
had authority to solve.
The Baha'i teaching has this vital distinc-
tion, that it extends from the realm of
conscience and faith to the realm of social
action. It confirms the substance of faith
not merely as source of individual develop-
ment but as a definitely ordered relationship
to the community. Those who inspect the
Baha'i Cause superficially may deny its
claim to be a religion for the reason that it
lacks most of the visible marks by which
religions are recognized. But in place of rit-
ual or other formal worship it contains a
social principle linking people to a commu-
nity, the loyal observance of which makes
spiritual faith coterminous with life itself.
The Baha'i s, having no professional clergy,
forbidden ever to have a clergy, understand
that religion, in this age, consists in an
"attitude toward God reflected in life."
They are therefore conscious of no division
between religious and secular actions.
The inherent nature of the community
created by Baha'u'lUh has great significance
at this time, when the relative values of
democracy, of constitutional monarchy, of
aristocracy and of communism are every-
where in dispute.
Of the Baha'i community it may be de-
clared definitely that its character does not
reflect the communal theory. The rights of
the individual are fully safeguarded and the
fundamental distinctions of personal endow-
ment natural among all people are fully pre-
served. Individual rights, however, are in-
terpreted in the light of the supreme law of
brotherhood and not made a sanction for sel-
fishness, oppression and indifference.
On the other hand, the Baha'i order is not
a democracy in the sense that it proceeds
from the complete sovereignty of the peo-
ple, whose representatives are limited to
carrying out the popular will. Sovereignty,
in the Baha'i community, is attributed to
the divine prophet, and the elected repre-
sentatives of the believers in their adminis-
trative function look to the teachings of
Baha'u'llah for their guidance, having faith
that the application of His universal princi-
ples is the source of order throughout the
community. Every Baha'i administrative
body feels itself a trustee, and in this capac-
ity stands above the plane of dissension and
is free of that pressure exerted by factional
groups.
The local community on April 21 of each
year elects by univefsal adult suffrage an
administrative body of nine members called
the Spiritual Assembly. This body, with
reference to all Baha'i matters, has sole
power of decision. It represents the collec-
tive conscience of the community with re-
spect to Baha'i activities. Its capacity and
power are supreme within certain definite
limitations.
The various local communities unite
through delegates elected annually according
to the principle of proportionate representa-
tion in the formation of a National Spir-
itual Assembly for their country or natural
geographical area. This National Spiritual
Assembly, likewise composed of nine mem-
bers, administers all national Baha'i affairs
and may assume jurisdiction of any local
matter felt to be of more than local im-
portance. Spiritual Assemblies, local and
national, combine an executive, a legislative
and a judicial function, all within the limits
set by the Baha'i teachings. They have no
resemblance to religious bodies which can
adopt articles of faith and regulate the
processes of belief and worship. They are
primarily responsible for the maintenance
of unity within the Bah&'i community and
AIMS AND PURPOSES OF THE BAHA'f FAITH
for the release of its collective power in
service to the Cause. Membership in the
Baha'i community is granted, on personal
declaration of faith, to adults.
Nine National Spiritual Assemblies have
come into existence since the passing of
'Abdu'1-Baha in 1921. Each National Spir-
itual Assembly will, in future, constitute an
electoral body in the formation of an In-
ternational Spiritual Assembly, a consum-
mation which will perfect the administrative
order of the Faith and create, for the first
time in history, an international tribunal
representing a worldwide community united
in a single Faith.
Baha'is maintain their contact with the
source of inspiration and knowledge in the
sacred writings of the Faith by continuous
prayer, study and discussion. No believer
can ever have a finished, static faith any
more than he can arrive at the end of his
capacity for being. The community has but
one meeting ordained in the teachings — the
general meeting held every nineteen days, on
the first day of each month of nineteen
days given in the new calendar established
by the Bab.
This Nineteen Day Feast is conducted
simply and informally under a program di-
vided into three parts. The first part con-
sists in the reading of passages from writings
of Baha'u'llah, the Bab and 'Abdu'1-Baha—
a devotional meeting. Next follows general
discussion of Baha'i activities — the business
meeting of the local community. After the
consultation, the community breaks bread
together and enjoys fellowship.
The experience which Baha'is receive
through participation in their spiritual world
order is unique and cannot be paralleled in
any other society. Their status of perfect
equality as voting members of a constitu-
tional body called upon to deal with matters
which reflect, even though in miniature, the
whole gamut of human problems and activi-
ties; their intense realization of kinship with
believers representing so wide a diversity of
races, classes and creeds; their assurance that
this unity is based upon the highest spiritual
sanction and contributes a necessary ethical
quality to the world in this age — all these
opportunities for deeper and broader experi-
ence confer a privilege that is felt to be the
fulfillment of life.
4. THE SPIRIT OF THE NEW DAY
fflf man is left in his natural state, he will become lower than the animal and continue to
grow more ignorant and imperfect. The savage tribes of Central Africa are evidence of
this. Left in their natural condition, they have sunk to the lowest depths and degrees of
barbarism, dimly groping in a world of mental and moral obscurity. . . . God has pur-
posed that the darkness of the world of nature shall be dispelled and the imperfect
attributes of the natal self be effaced in the effulgent reflection of the Sun of Truth."
— 'ABDU'L-BAHA.
The complete text of the Baha'i sacred
writings has not yet been translated into
English, but the present generation of be-
lievers have the supreme privilege of pos-
sessing the fundamental teachings of Baha'-
u'llah, together with the interpretation and
lucid commentary of 'Abdu'1-Baha, and
more recently the exposition made by
Shoghi Effendi of the teachings concerning
the world order which Baha'u'llah came to
establish. Of special significance to Baha'is
of Europe and America is the fact that,
unlike Christianity, the Cause of Baha'u'llah
rests upon the prophet's own words and not
upon a necessarily incomplete rendering of
oral tradition. Furthermore, the commen-
tary and explanation of the Baha'i gospel
made by 'Abdu'1-Baha preserves the spir-
itual integrity and essential aim of the re-
vealed text, without the inevitable alloy of
human personality which historically served
to corrupt the gospel of Jesus and Muham-
mad. The Baha'i, moreover, has this dis-
tinctive advantage, that his approach to the
teachings is personal and direct, without the
veils interposed by any human intermediary.
The works which supply the Baha'i teach-
ings to English-reading believers are: "The
Kitab-i-Iqan" (Book of Certitude), in
which Baha'u'llah revealed the oneness of
the prophets and the identical foundation of
all true religions, the law of cycles accord-
The Master, 4Abdu'l-Baha, taken with American and Iranian Friends.
AIMS AND PURPOSES OF THE BAHA'f FAITH
9
ing to which the prophet returns at intervals
of approximately one thousand years, and
the nature of faith; "Hidden Words," the
essence of truths revealed by prophets in
the past; prayers to quicken the soul's life
and draw individuals and groups nearer to
God; "Tablets of Baha'u'llah" (Taraz'at,
The Tablet of the World, Kalimat, Tajalli-
yat, Bisharat, Ishraqat) , which establish so-
cial and spiritual principles for the new
era; "Three Tablets of Baha'u'llah" (Tablet
of the Branch, Kitab-i-'Ahd, Lawh-i-
Aqdas) , the appointment of 'Abdu'1-Baha as
the Interpreter of Baha'u'llah's teachings,
the Testament of Baha'u'llah, and His mes-
sage to the Christians; "Epistle to the Son of
the Wolf," addressed to the son of a prom-
inent Iranian who had been a most ruthless
oppressor of the believers, a Tablet which
recapitulates many teachings Baha'u'llah had
revealed in earlier works; "Gleanings from
the Writings of Baha'u'llah." The signifi-
cant Tablets addressed to rulers of Europe
and the Orient, as well as to the heads of
American republics, about the year 1870,
summoning them to undertake measures for
the establishment of Universal Peace, con-
stitute a chapter in the compilation entitled
"Baha'i Scriptures."
The largest and most authentic body of
Baha'u'llah's Writings in the English lan-
guage consists of the excerpts chosen and
translated by Shoghi Effendi, and published
under the title of "Gleanings from the
Writings of Baha'u'llah." This work has
replaced "Baha'i Scriptures" as source of
study and meditation, for the volume in-
cludes the Author's words on a great variety
of subjects, and has the unique value of
the English rendering made by the Guardian
of the Faith.
In "Prayers and Meditations by Baha'u-
'llah," Shoghi Effendi has similarly given to
the Baha'i Community in recent years a
wider selection and a superb rendering of
devotional passages revealed by Baha'u'llah.
The published writings of 'Abdu'1-Baha
are: "Some Answered Questions," dealing
with the lives of the prophets, the interpre-
tation of Bible prophecies, the nature of
man, the true principle of evolution and
other philosophic subjects; "Mysterious
Forces of Civilization," a work addressed to
the people of fran about forty years ago to
show them the way to sound progress and
true civilization; "Tablets of 'Abdu'1-Baha,"
three volumes of excerpts from letters writ-
ten to individual believers and Baha'i com-
munities, which illumine a vast range of
subjects; "Promulgation of Universal Peace,"
in two volumes, from stenographic records
of the public addresses delivered by the
Master to audiences in Canada and the
United States during the year 1912; "The
Wisdom of 'Abdn'1-Baha," a similar record
of His addresses in Paris; " 'Abdu'1-Baha in
London"; and reprints of a number of indi-
vidual Tablets, especially that sent to the
Committee for a Durable Peace, The Hague,
Holland, in 1919, and the Tablet addressed
to the late Dr. Forel of Switzerland. The
Will and Testament left by 'Abdu'1-Baha
has special significance, in that it provided
for the future development of Baha'i ad-
ministrative institutions and the Guardian-
ship.
To these writings is now to be added the
book entitled "Baha'i Administration," con-
sisting of the general letters written by
Shoghi Effendi as Guardian of the Cause
since the Master's death in 1921, which ex-
plain the details of the administrative order
of the Cause, and his letters on World Or-
der, which make clear the social principles
imbedded in Baha'u'llah's Revelation.
These latter letters were in 1938 pub-
lished in a volume entitled "The World
Order of Baha'u'llah." Here the Guardian
defines the relation of the Faith to the cur-
rent social crisis, and sums up the funda-
mental tenets of the Baha'i Faith. It is a
work which gives to each believer access to
a clear insight on the significance of the
present era, and the outcome of its inter-
national perturbations, incomparably more
revealing and at the same time more assuring
than the works of students and statesmen in
our times.
The literature has also been enriched by
Shoghi Effendi's recent translation of "The
Dawn-Breakers," Nabil's Narrative of the
Early Days of the Baha'i Revelation, a vivid
eye-witness account of the episodes which
resulted from the announcement of the Bab
on May 23, 1844. "The Traveller's Narra-
tive," translated from a manuscript given
'Abdu'1-Baha during the last year of His life, Haifa, 1921.
10
AIMS AND PURPOSES OF THE BAHA'f FAITH
11
by 'Abdu'1-Baha to the late Prof. Edward
G. Browne of Cambridge University, is the
only other historical record considered au-
thentic from the Baha'i point of view.
When it is borne in mind that the term
"religious literature" has come to represent
a wide diversity of subject matter, ranging
from cosmic philosophy to the psychology of
personal experience, from efforts to under-
stand the universe plumbed by telescope
and microscope to efforts to discipline the
passions and desires of disordered human
hearts, it is clear that any attempt to sum-
marize the Baha'i teachings would indicate
the limitations of the person making the
summary rather than offer possession of a
body of sacred literature touching the needs
of man and society at every point. The
study of Baha'i writings does not lead to
any simplified program either for the solu-
tion of social problems or for the develop-
ment of human personality. Rather should
it be likened to a clear light which illumines
whatever is brought under its rays, or to
spiritual nourishment which gives life to the
spirit. The believer at first chiefly notes the
passages which seem to confirm his own per-
sonal beliefs or treat of subjects close to his
own previous training. This natural but
nevertheless unjustifiable over-simplification
of the nature of the Faith must gradually
subside and give way to a deeper realization
that the teachings of Baha'u'llah are as an
ocean, and all personal capacity is but the
vessel that must be refilled again and again.
The sum and substance of the faith of
Baha'is is not a doctrine, not an organiza-
tion, but their acceptance of Baha'u'llah as
Manifestation of God. In this acceptance
lies the mystery of a unity that is general,
not particular, inclusive, not exclusive, and
limited in its gradual extension by no bound-
aries drawn in the social world nor arbi-
trary limitations accepted by habits formed
during generations lacking a true spiritual
culture.
What the believer learns reverently to be
grateful for is a source of wisdom to which
he may turn for continuous mental and
moral development — a source of truth re-
vealing a universe in which man's life has
valid purpose and assured realization. Hu-
man history begins to reflect the working of
a beneficent Providence; the sharp outlines
of material sciences gradually fade out in
the light of one fundamental science of life;
a profounder sociology, connected with the
inner life, little by little displaces the super-
ficial economic and political beliefs which
like waves dash high an instant only to sub-
side into the moveless volume of the sea.
"The divine reality," 'Abdu'1-Baha has
said, "is unthinkable, limitless, eternal, im-
mortal and invisible. The world of creation
is bound by natural law, finite and mortal.
The infinite reality cannot be said to ascend
or descend. It is beyond the understanding
of men, and cannot be described in terms
which apply to the phenomenal sphere of
the created world. Man, then, is in extreme
need of the only power by which he is able
to receive help from the divine reality, that
power alone bringing him into contact with
the source of all life.
"An intermediary is needed to bring two
extremes into relation with each other.
Riches and poverty, plenty and need: with-
out an intermediary there could be no rela-
tion between these pairs of opposites. So we
can say that there must be a Mediator be-
tween God and man, and this is none other
than the Holy Spirit, which brings the cre-
ated earth into relation with the 'Unthink-
able One,' the divine reality. The divine
reality may be likened to the sun and the
Holy Spirit to the rays of the sun. As the
rays of the sun bring the light and warmth-
of the sun to the earth, giving life to all
created things, so do the Manifestations
bring the power of the Holy Spirit from the
divine Sun of Reality to give light and life
to the souls of men."
In expounding the teachings of Baha'u-
'llah to public audiences in the West, 'Ab-
du'1-Baha frequently encountered the atti-
tude that, while the liberal religionist might
well welcome and endorse such tenets, the
Baha'i teachings after all bring nothing
new, since the principles of Christianity con-
tain all the essentials of spiritual truth. The
believer whose heart has been touched by
the Faith so perfectly exemplified by 'Ab-
du'1-Baha feels no desire for controversy,
but must needs point out the vital difference
between a living faith and a passive for-
mula or doctrine. What religion in its re-
12
THE BAHA'f WORLD
newal brings is first of all an energy to
translate belief into life. This impulse, re-
ceived into the profoundest depths of con-
sciousness, requires no startling "newness" of
concept or theory to be appreciated as a
gift from the divine world. It carries its
own assurance as a renewal of life itself; it
is as a candle that has been lighted, and in
comparison with the miracle of light the
discussion of religion as a form of belief be-
comes secondary in importance. Were the
Baha'i Faith no more than a true revitali-
zation of the revealed truths of former re-
ligions, it would by that quickening quality
of inner life, that returning to God, still
assert itself as the supreme fact of human
experience in this age.
For religion returns to earth in order to
re-establish a standard of spiritual reality.
It restores the quality of human existence,
its active powers, when that reality has be-
come overlaid with sterile rites and dogmas
which substitute empty shadow for sub-
stance. In the person of the Manifestation
it destroys all those imitations of religion
gradually developed through the centuries
and summons humanity to the path of sacri-
fice and devotion.
Revelation, moreover, is progressive as well
as periodic. Christianity in its original es-
sence not only relighted the candle of faith
which, in the years since Moses, had become
extinguished — it amplified the teachings of
Moses with a new dimension which history
has seen exemplified in the spread of faith
from tribe to nations and peoples. Baha'-
u'llah has given religion its world dimen-
sion, fulfilling the fundamental purpose of
every previous Revelation. His Faith stands
as the reality within Christianity, within
Muhammadanism, within the religion of
Moses, the spirit of each, but expressed in
teachings which relate to all mankind.
The Baha'i Faith, viewed from within, is
religion extended from the individual to em-
brace humanity. It is religion universalized;
its teaching for the individual, spiritually
identical with the teaching of Christ, sup-
plies the individual with an ethics, a so-
ciology, an ideal of social order, for which
humanity in its earlier stages of development
was not prepared. Individual fulfillment
has been given an objective social standard
of reality, balancing the subjective ideal de-
rived from religion in the past. BahaVllah
has removed the false distinctions between
the "spiritual" and "material" aspects of
life, due to which religion has become sepa-
rate from science, and morality has been
divorced from all social activities. The
whole arena of human affairs has been
brought within the realm of spiritual truth,
in the light of the teaching that materialism
is not a thing but a motive within the hu-
man heart.
The Baha'i learns to perceive the universe
as a divine creation in which man has his
destiny to fulfill under a beneficent Provi-
dence whose aims for humanity are made
known through Prophets who stand between
man and the Creator. He learns his true
relation to the degrees and orders of the
visible universe; his true relation to God, to
himself, to his fellow man, to mankind. The
more he studies the Baha'i teachings, the
more he becomes imbued with the spirit of
unity, the more vividly he perceives the law
of unity working in the world today, in-
directly manifest in tlie failure which has
overtaken all efforts to organize the princi-
ple of separation and competition, directly
manifest in the power which has brought to-
gether the followers of Baha'u'llah in East
and West. He has the assurance that the
world's turmoil conceals from worldly minds
the blessings long foretold, now forgotten,
in the sayings which prophesied the coming
of the Kingdom of God.
The Sacred Literature of the Baha'i Faith
conveys enlightenment. It inspires life. It
frees the mind. It disciplines the heart.
For believers, the Word is not a philoso-
phy to be learned, but the sustenance of
being throughout the span of mortal exist-
ence.
"The Baha'i Faith," Shoghi Etfendi stated
in a recent letter addressed to a public offi-
cial, "recognizes the unity of God and of
His Prophets, upholds the principle of an
unfettered search after truth, condemns all
forms of superstition and prejudice, teaches
that the fundamental purpose of religion is
to promote concord and harmony, that it
must go hand-in-hand with science, and
that it constitutes the sole and ultimate
basis of a peaceful, an ordered and progres-
AIMS AND PURPOSES OF THE BAHA'l FAITH
13
sive society. It inculcates the principle of
equal opportunity, rights and privileges for
both sexes, advocates compulsory education,
abolishes extremes of poverty and wealth,
recommends the adoption of an auxiliary in-
ternational language, and provides the nec-
essary agencies for the establishment and
safeguarding of a permanent and universal
peace."
Those who, even courteously, would dis-
miss a Faith so firmly based, will have to
admit that, whether or not by their test the
teachings of Baha'u'llah are "new," the
world's present plight is unprecedented,
came without warning save in the utter-
ances of Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'1-Baha, and
day by day draws nearer a climax which
strikes terror to the responsible student of
current affairs. Humanity itself now seems
to share the prison and exile which an unbe-
lieving generation inflicted upon the Glory
of God.
5. A BACKGROUND OF HEROIC SACRIFICE
rfO My beloved friends! You are the bearers of the name of God in this Day. Yow have
been chosen as the repositories of His mystery. It behooves each one of you to manifest
the attributes of God, and to exemplify by your deeds and words the signs of His right-
eoiisness, His power and glory. . . . Ponder the words of Jesus addressed to His disciples ,
as He sent them forth to propagate the Ca^lse of God." — THE BAB.
The words of BahaVllah differ in the
minds of believers from the words of phi-
losophers because they have been given sub-
stance in the experience of life itself. The
history of the Faith stands ever as a guide
and commentary upon the meaning and in-
fluence of the written text.
This history, unfolded contemporane-
ously with the rise of science and technology
in the West, reasserts the providential ele-
ment of human existence as it was reasserted
by the spiritual consecration and personal
suffering of the prophets and disciples of
former times.
The world of Islam one hundred years
ago lay in a darkness corresponding to the
most degraded epoch of Europe's feudal age.
Between the upper and nether millstones of
an absolutist state and a materialistic church,
the people of fran were ground to a con-
dition of extreme poverty and ignorance.
The pomp of the civil and religious courts
glittered above the general ruin like fire-
damp on a rotten log.
In that world, however, a few devoted
souls stood firm in their conviction that the
religion of Muhammad was to be purified by
the rise of a spiritual hero whose coming
was assured in their interpretation of His
gospel.
This remnant of the faithful one by one
became conscious that in 'All -Muhammad,
since known to history as the Bab (the
"Gate"), their hopes had been realized, and
under the Bab's inspiration scattered them-
selves as His apostles to arouse the people
and prepare them for the restoration of
Islam to its original integrity. Against the
Bab and His followers the whole force of
church and state combined to extinguish a
fiery zeal which soon threatened to bring
their structure of power to the ground.
The ministry of the Bab covered only the
six years between 1844 and His martyrdom
by a military firing squad in the public
square at Tabriz on July 9, 1850.
In the Bab's own written message He in-
terpreted His mission to be the fulfillment
of past religions and the heralding of a
world educator and unifier, one who was to
come to establish a new cycle. Most of the
Bab's chosen disciples, and many thousands
of followers, were publicly martyred in
towns and villages throughout the country
in those years. The seed, however, had been
buried too deep in hearts to be extirpated by
any physical instrument of oppression.
After the Bab's martyrdom, the weight of
official wrath fell upon Husayn-'Ali, around
whom the Babis centered their hopes.
Husayn-'Ali was imprisoned in Tihran, ex-
iled to Baghdad, from Baghdad sent to
Constantinople under the jurisdiction of the
Sultan, exiled by the Turkish government to
Adrianople, and at length imprisoned in the
desolate barracks at 'Akki.
14
THE BAHA'f WORLD
In 1863, while delayed outside of Bagh-
dad for the preparation of the caravan to
be dispatched to Constantinople, Husayn-
'Ali established His Cause among the Babis
who insisted upon sharing His exile. His
declaration was the origin of the Baha'i
Faith in which the Bab's Cause was ful-
filled. The Babis who accepted Husayn-
'Ali as BahaVllah (the Glory of God) were
fully conscious that His mission was not a
development of the Babi movement but a
new Cause for which the Bab had sacrificed
His life as the first of those who recognized
the manifestation or prophet of the new age.
During forty years of exile and imprison-
ment, BahaVllah expounded a gospel which
interpreted the spiritual meaning of ancient
scriptures, renewed the reality of faith in
God and established as the foundation of hu-
man society the principle of the oneness of
mankind. This gospel came into being in
the form of letters addressed to individual
believers and to groups in response to ques-
tions, in books of religious laws and princi-
ples, and in communications transmitted to
the kings and rulers calling upon them to
establish universal peace.
This sacred literature has an authoritative
commentary and interpretation in the text
of 'Abdu'l-Baha's writings during the years
between BahaVllah's ascension in 1892 and
'Abdu'l-Baha's departure in 1921, Baha'-
u'llah having left a testament naming 'Ab-
du'1-Baha (His eldest son) as the Interpreter
of His Book and the Center of His Cove-
nant,
The imprisonment of the Baha'i com-
munity at 'Akka ended at last in 1908,
when the Young Turks party overthrew the
existing political regime.
For three years prior to the European
War, 'Abdu'1-Baha, then nearly seventy
years of age, journeyed throughout Europe
and America, and broadcast in public ad-
dresses and innumerable intimate gatherings
the new spirit of brotherhood and world
unity penetrating His very being as the con-
secrated Servant of Bahi. The significance
of 'Abdu'l-Baha's commentary and explana-
tion is that it makes mental and moral con-
nection with the thoughts and social condi-
tions of both East and West. Dealing with
matters of religious, philosophical, ethical
and sociological nature, 'Abdu'1-Baha ex-
pounded all questions in the light of His
conviction of the oneness of God and the
providential character of human life in this
age.
The international Baha'i community,
grief -stricken and appalled by its loss of the
wise and loving "Master" in 1921, learned
with profound gratitude that 'Abdu'1-Baha
in a will and testament had provided for
the continuance and future development of
the Faith. This testament made clear the
nature of the Spiritual Assemblies estab-
lished in the text of BahaVllah and inaug-
urated a new center for the widespread com-
munity of believers in the appointment of
His grandson, Shoghi Eff endi, as Guardian of
the Baha'i Faith.
During the seventeen years of general
confusion since 1921, the Baha'i community
has carried forward the work of internal
consolidation and administrative order and
has become conscious of its collective re-
sponsibility for the promotion of the blessed
gospel of BahaVllah. In addition to the
task of establishing the structure of local
and national Spiritual Assemblies, the be-
lievers have translated Baha'i literature into
many languages, have sent teachers to all
parts of the world, and have resumed con-
struction of the Baha'i House of Worship
on the shore of Lake Michigan, near Chi-
cago, the completion of which will be im-
pressive evidence of the power of this new
Faith.
In the general letters issued to the Baha'i
community by Shoghi Effendi in order to
execute the provisions of 'Abdu'l-Baha's tes-
tament, believers have been given what they
are confident is the most profound and ac-
curate analysis of the prevailing social dis-
order and its true remedy in the World Or-
der of BahiVlUh.
SURVEY OF CURRENT BAHA'I
ACTIVITIES IN THE EAST
AND WEST
INTERNATIONAL
BY HORACE HOLLEY
I
N A world of swiftly augmenting vio-
lence and disorder the Baha'i community
has become more profoundly conscious of
the blessedness of the spirit of peace emanat-
ing from devotion to the Faith of Baha'u-
'llah. The period 1936-1938, characterized
outwardly by such social perturbation, has
been for Baha'is a truly Providential oppor-
tunity for realizing the impassable gulf that
lies between faith and unfaith, between in-
ner effort to become identified with the
forces of the new age and outer response to
the pressure of uncontrollable historical
necessities. The tragic burden of life in a
disintegrating civilization has for Baha'is
been lightened by access to such vital addi-
tions to the creative Word as "Gleanings
from the Writings of Baha'u'llah" and
"Prayers and Meditations by Baha'u'llah," in
translations made by the Guardian of the
Faith. Shoghi Effendi's "The Unfoldment of
World Civilization," written in March,
1936, brought vivid realization of the sharp
contrast between the spirit underlying the
Baha'i community and the materialism
which represents the final extremity of an-
cient religions in decay.
The Baha'i community, responding to the
visible workings of divine destiny, has
learned more consciously to cherish all those
instruments by which world unity is being
established in a world at war. The spiritual
power expressed through their Guardian has
become for them both symbol and assurance
that the oneness of God is indissoluble from
a process building the oneness of man. His
guidance of a community outwardly sepa-
rated in more than forty countries has
exerted an ethical and social influence
equivalent to that of a true world sover-
eignty in the realm of conscience and will.
Their institutions of local and National
Spiritual Assemblies have become recognized
as social functions creating the foundation
of order and justice upon earth. The indi-
vidual believer has been subjected to an in-
creasing obligation to leave behind any
thoughts and subjective views incompat-
ible with the World Order of Baha'u'llah.
In each local Baha'i community the qual-
ity of the Baha'i life, in distinction to
the life of the environment, has become in-
tensified.
The result has been a striking progress in
the characteristics of world citizenship
which distinguishes the Baha'i and is the
endowment of the renewal of religion in this
age. The Baha'is have deepened their own
personal and collective relationships to the
Faith, and thereby have obtained immunity
from those social diseases which, in the form
of political and economic philosophies sanc-
tioning violence and breeding strife, have
ravaged mankind in this period.
While the Baha'i commonwealth still re-
mains a spiritual and ethical reality and its
organic social virtues are latent and unde-
veloped, the believer has become the more
aware of their ultimate potency as he wit-
nesses the daily failure of any other form
of society to safeguard the true interests of
human life. What wonder, therefore, that he
cherishes, despite the material weakness and
insignificance of his community, its com-
pletely superhuman sources of confidence
and hope! From prayer and meditation on
15
16
THE BAHA'f WORLD
the Sacred Writings of Baha'u'llah he derives
as from an inexhaustible spring an insight
into the future far outweighing his lack of
material power and influence in the present
hour. Since there can be no other future
for mankind than that ordained by the
Manifestation of God, the Baha'i looks out
as from a firm stronghold upon the prevalent
struggles of East and West, perceiving that
the confusions of time can never alter the
inevitable workings of cause and effect.
The Baha'i, moreover, has come to realize
that the augmentation of spiritual force ac-
cruing to every individual believer engaged
in active service surpasses his experience in
former years. The issue has been drawn so
clearly between Baha'i and non-Baha'i that
the believer feels astonished at his own posi-
tive assurance in upholding the Message
under the most unfavorable conditions of
opposition or unbelief. The powers of oppo-
sition, formidable in appearance, have not
relieved the mass of mankind of its anxious
disquietude and its gnawing unrest. Dealing
with human beings from the spiritual point
of view, the Baha'i discovers how inade-
quately the armor plate of creed, of eco-
nomic or political philosophy, protects the
true inner conscience of his fellow man. A
host of seekers surrounds the believer on all
sides, even though so many have not even
yet become aware that their personal unrest
is the beginning of seeking.
The Baha'i, finally, has come to the real-
ization that his community is capable of
extraordinary collective action. In the East,
the evidence lies in the steady development
of the institutions of the Faith and in far-
reaching teaching work. In the West, con-
tinuance of Temple construction, teaching
plans extending to new countries and regions
and the formation of new Spiritual Assem-
blies, testifies to an organic strength the
scope of which increases from year to year.
Therefore, with a deep and poignant rever-
ence, the followers of Baha'u'llah feel
themselves part of a world commonwealth
integral in aim and outlook, sundered by no
boundaries of nation, race, class or creed,
fully aware of the perilous and oppressive
divisions of the society about them, obedient
to its civil obligations, suffering with its
agony, but unblinded by its mass hysterias
and utterly confident of the ultimate tri-
umph of His Faith.
AMERICA
Between March 26, 1916, and April 22,
1917, 'Abdu'1-Baha revealed fourteen Tab-
lets creating a worldwide teaching mission
for the Baha'is of the United States and
Canada. Of these Tablets, four were di-
rected to the entire Baha'i community and
two were addressed to the believers in each
of five definitely defined regions — the
Northeastern States, the Southern States,
the Central States, the Western States, and
Canada.
An island of peace in the raging sea of
war, 'Abdu'1-Baha threw open the doors be-
tween time and the timeless reality and to
the followers of Baha'u'llah disclosed with
majestic power the working of cause and
effect. From the mountain of His vision
He beheld the unfoldment of the Law of
Peace, and shared that vision with the
American Baha'is. The Tablets could not
at that time be delivered, since Palestine was
cut off from Amenta. They reached the
American Baha'is in the spring of 1919, and
were presented at the Annual Convention in
that year.
The mission itself far exceeded the capac-
ity of the Baha'i community to undertake or
even appreciate at the time. It fired the
souls of individual believers, but no institu-
tions existed capable of arousing unified
response. The Tablets created a spiritual
reality for which the human capacity had to
be developed in later years. "In the con-
tingent world there are many collective
centers," He wrote, "which are conducive to
association and unity between the children
of men. For example, patriotism is a collec-
tive center; nationalism is a collective cen-
ter; identity of interests is a collective
center; political alliance is a collective cen-
ter; the union of ideals is a collective center,
and the prosperity of the world of humanity
is dependent upon the organization and
promotion of the collective centers. Never-
theless, all the above institutions are in
reality the matter and not the substance,
accidental and not eternal — temporary and
not everlasting. With the appearance of
great revolutions and upheavals, all these
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
17
collective centers are swept away. But the
collective center of the Kingdom, embody-
ing the Institutes and divine Teachings, is
the eternal Collective Center. It establishes
relationship between the East and the West,
organizes the oneness of the world of hu-
manity, and destroys the foundation of
differences." So briefly and so calmly, the
Interpreter of Baha'u'llah's Revelation estab-
lished a truth which anticipated all the
tragic experiences of the post-war world,
endeavoring as it has to build civilization
upon those limited interests which may not
survive the "appearance of great revolutions
and upheavals."
Again, 'Abdu'1-Baha wrote: "The blessed
Person of the Promised One is interpreted in
the Holy Book as the Lord of Hosts, i.e., the
heavenly armies. By heavenly armies those
souls are intended who are entirely freed
from the human world, transformed into
celestial spirits and become divine angels.
. . . These souls are the armies of God and
the conquerors of the East and the West."
These Tablets, as may be realized now,
forecast a degree of conscious maturity
which the early Baha'is could not foresee,
and established the world of action amid a
community still clinging to the subjective
and personal elements of faith. Individuals
and local communities, however, did respond
to the Master's inspiration, most notably in
the case of Martha L. Root, whose historic
international teaching work drew its orig-
inating impulse from 'Abdu'l-Baha's world-
encircling Plan.
Twenty-four years had to pass after the
date of His journey to America in 1912 be-
fore the mission could become a definite
objective for the American Baha'is. From
Shoghi Effendi the Convention of 1936 re-
ceived a cablegram containing these words:
"Appeal (to) assembled delegates ponder
historic appeal voiced by 'Abdu'1-Baha (in)
Tablets (of the) Divine Plan. Urge earnest
deliberation with incoming National Assem-
bly (to) insure its complete fulfillment.
First century (of) Baha'i Era drawing to a
close. Humanity entering outer fringes
most perilous stage of its existence. Oppor-
tunities (of) present hour unimaginably
precious. Would to God every State within
American Republic and every Republic in
American continent might ere termination
(of) this glorious century (1944) embrace
(the) light (of the) Faith of Baha'u'llah
and establish (the) structural basis of His
World Order."
From the hour when this message was pre-
sented, the American believers have made
supreme and collective effort to rise to that
world of action and complete consecration
revealed in 'Abdu'l-Baha's words. Their
realm of responsibility has widened to in-
clude Mexico, Central America, the islands
of the Caribbean Sea and South America. A
sense of intimate personal conviction has
grown rapidly in the hearts. The feeling of
crisis and challenge has galvanized the com-
munity. It has become realized that true
faith means capacity for growth, that a
passive and static acceptance of the Baha'i
teachings is sterile and unacceptable.
Among the successive letters and cable-
grams received from Shoghi Effendi in pur-
suance of the mission laid upon America, the
following, dated July 30, 1936, was espe-
cially impressive: "I entreat American be-
lievers (to) ponder afresh (the) urgency
(to) rededicate themselves (to the) task (of
the) complete fulfillment (of the) Divine
Plan. . . . Time is short. (The) sands (of
a) chaotic, despairing civilization (are)
steadily running out. Founded on (the)
unity (and) understanding so splendidly
achieved, functioning within (the) frame-
work (of the) administrative Order (so)
laboriously erected, inspired (by the) vision
(of the) Temple edifice (so) nobly reared,
galvanized into action (by the) realization
(of the) rapidly deteriorating world situa-
tion, (the) American Baha'i community
should rise as never before (to the) height
(of the) opportunity now confronting it.
Audacity, resolution (and) self-abnegation
(are) imperatively demanded."
In a cablegram addressed to the Annual
Convention held in 1937, the Guardian
added the task of completing the external
decoration of the House of Worship to the
teaching work assigned to the remaining
years of the first century of the Baha'i era.
"First, prosecute uninterruptedly teaching
campaign inaugurated (at) last Convention
in accordance (with) Divine Plan. Second,
resume with inflexible determination ex-
18
THE BAHA'f WORLD
terior ornamentation (of) entire structure
(of) Temple. . . , No triumph can more
befit tingly signalize termination (of) first
century (of) Baha'i era than accomplish-
ment (of) this twofold task. Advise pro-
longation (of) Convention sessions (to)
enable delegates consult National Assembly
to formulate feasible Seven Year Plan (to)
assure success Temple enterprise. No sacri-
fice too great for community so abundantly
blessed, (so) repeatedly honored."
In response to the vast enlargement of
teaching responsibility, an Inter- America
Committee was formed in 1936 to initiate
and supervise activities in Mexico, Central
America, South America and the islands of
the Caribbean sea.
The United States and Canada were
mapped out with Regional Teaching Com-
mittees to intensify effort in all areas and
particularly in those not yet represented in
the Baha'i community.
In 1937 a schedule of Temple construc-
tion was adopted under which it would be
possible to complete the external decoration
by successive contracts within the necessary
period of seven years.
The larger events of the two-year period
under review can be described in connection
with these three actions of the National
Spiritual Assembly.
In summarizing the teaching work ac-
complished in North America during 1936-
1937, the Teaching Committee reported that
Baha'i groups or individual believers had
been established in five of the twelve unoc-
cupied States or Provinces: Nebraska, Wy-
oming, Oklahoma, North Dakota, North
Carolina, and the Faith had been carried to
forty-two new cities. Teaching circuits set
up in various parts of the country made it
possible for a succession of lecturers to visit
a total of thirty-eight cities in four different
regions. Eight new Spiritual Assemblies
were formed on April 21, 1938, making a
total of seventy-eight Assemblies in the
United States and Canada.
In some instances the new areas were cul-
tivated by devoted pioneer Baha'is who
abandoned their homes and daily occupations
in order to settle and build their lives anew
in another part of the country. In other
instances individuals- were enabled to travel
and remain long enough in new regions to
form groups of resident Baha'is; in other
cases a local group by its own activity de-
veloped to the point of electing a Spiritual
Assembly; while in still other instances an
established Baha'i community had carried
out a plan for establishing a new group in
some nearby city. Noteworthy likewise has
been the development of a vast number of
informal home or "fireside" study classes in
the established communities. In some cities,
in addition to the lectures and classes con-
ducted at the Baha'i Center, from five to
twenty homes maintained study programs
for seekers. Eighty-two new cities were
opened to Baha'i teaching activity during
1937-1938.
The subject of teacher-training has re-
ceived greatly increased attention. In this
field the three Summer Schools exert para-
mount influence, raising the standard both
of knowledge and of instruction throughout
North America. At least fifteen local As-
semblies reported having initiated teacher-
training classes in their locality. This
significant develppment, making for flexi-
bility in the presentation of the Teachings
to individuals, public audiences and study
classes, reflects not only the fact that a body
of fundamental and authentic Baha'i litera-
ture has become available in book form but
also the fact, noted in a previous Inter-
national Survey, that the Baha'i community
itself has grown out of the simple, evangeli-
cal stage of experience and entered the
maturity of conscious spiritual citizenship in
the World Order of Baha'u'llah.
The current two-year period witnessed
the first determined and organized effort to
spread the Faith into the other American
countries. Mr. and Mrs. Louis G. Gregory
spent several months in Haiti, and left a
number of serious students of the Teachings.
Mrs. Isabel Stebbins Dodge, resident in Peru,
was joined by her mother and, with her, fos-
tered widespread interest in the city of Lima.
Mrs. S. W. French likewise contributed to
the activities in that city during a voyage
around South America. Mrs. French, more-
over, secured interesting publicity in the
press of Valparaiso and made contacts in
Magallanes and Bahia, where Miss Leonora
Holsapple has resided so many years for the
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
19
sake of the Faith. Mrs. Frances Benedict
Stewart attended the People's Conference at
Buenos Aires in November, 1937, and estab-
lished interest among many Latin American
delegates. Miss Beatrice Irwin devoted some
six months to teaching in Mexico City and
other Mexican towns during 1937, lecturing,
holding study groups and supplying litera-
ture to persons of influence and capacity.
To Mexico City also came Mrs. Stewart, who
found it possible to instruct a group who, on
April 21, 1938, proceeded to establish the
first Spiritual Assembly in the Americas out-
side of the United States and Canada. Miss
Eve Nicklin carried on very helpful activity
in Bahia for a number of months.
The problem of creating a body of Baha'i
literature in Spanish has been vigorously at-
tacked by the Inter-America Committee,
with the result that two pamphlets were
newly translated and published, other pam-
phlets assigned to translators, and the policy
adopted of publishing at least one Spanish
text a year. The need of teachers able to
speak the native language of South Ameri-
can countries has limited the scope of per-
sonal teaching work during these beginning
years. The need for an International Train-
ing School in North America, to prepare
Baha'i teachers for work in other countries,
has become apparent.
Meanwhile, however, individual Ameri-
can Baha'is have continued to render impor-
tant services in Europe and the Orient,
revealing the continued inspiration received
from the Tablets of 'Abdu'1-Baha.
Record is therefore made of the following
international services: first and foremost,
Miss Martha L. Root's teaching work in
Japan, China, India and Burma; Miss Mary
Maxwell's notable teaching activities in Ger-
many; the accomplishments of Mrs. J. Ru-
hanguiz and Miss Jeanne Negar Bolles in
Europe, particularly that leading to the
formation of a Spiritual Assembly in Buda-
pest; Mme. Orlova's lectures in Northern
Europe, Germany and England; Mrs. Lorol
Schopflocher's ardent activities in Europe
and her publication of "Sunburst," a book of
travel and Baha'i experience, in London; Mr.
Siegfried Schopflocher's many meetings in
Australia, India and Burma; Mrs. Stewart
French's lectures and publicity in cities of
Australia and New Zealand; and the truly
heroic services rendered by the American
Baha'is resident abroad, Miss Marion Jack in
Sofia and Mrs. and Miss Sharpe in Tihran.
After completing their work at the Inter-
national Baha'i Bureau, Geneva, Mr. and
Mrs. Charles Bishop rendered valued assist-
ance to the Faith in France and England.
A message from Shoghi Effendi, dated
November 25, 1937, crowns the teaching
effort of the American believers during this
period: —
"As I lift up my gaze beyond the strain
and stresses which a struggling Faith must
necessarily experience, and view the wider
scene which the indomitable will of the
American Baha'i community is steadily un-
folding, I cannot but marvel at the range
which the driving force of their ceaseless
labors has acquired and the heights which
the sublimity of their faith has attained.
The outposts of a Faith, already persecuted
in both Europe and Asia, are in the Ameri-
can continent steadily advancing, the visible
symbols of its undoubted sovereignty are
receiving fresh luster every day and its mani-
fold institutions are driving their roots
deeper and deeper into its soil. Blest and
honored as none among its sister communi-
ties has been in recent years, preserved
through the inscrutable dispensations of
Divine Providence for a destiny which no
mind can as yet imagine, such a community
cannot for a moment afford to be content
with or rest on the laurels it has so deserv-
edly won. It must go on, continually go on,
exploring fresh fields, scaling nobler heights,
laying firmer foundations, shedding added
splendor and achieving added renown in the
service and for the glory of the Cause of
Baha'u'Ilah. The seven year plan which it
has sponsored and with which its destiny is
so closely interwoven, must at all costs be
prosecuted with increasing force and added
consecration. All should arise and partici-
pate. Upon the measure of such a participa-
tion will no doubt depend the welfare and
progress of those distant communities which
are now battling for their emancipation.
To such a priceless privilege the inheritors of
the shining grace of Baha'u'Ilah cannot
surely be indifferent. The American be-
lievers must gird up the loins of endeavor
'Abdu'1-Baha at Leland Stanford University, October 8, 1912.
The bridge in Baghdad across which BahaVllah passed on His way to
the garden of Ridvan.
20
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
21
and step into the arena of service with such
heroism as shall astound the entire Baha'i
world. Let them be assured that my prayers
will continue to be offered on their behalf."
Immediately following the 1937 Conven-
tion a Technical Committee studied the fac-
tors entering into the resumption of Temple
construction, and in August of that year re-
ported its findings and recommendations to
the Temple Trustees, whereupon a contract
was entered into with Mr. John J. Earley for
the external decoration of the gallery section
of the House of Worship at Wilmette. By
the end of the two-year period under con-
sideration, April 21, 1938, the models and
molds called for by Mr. Bourgeois* exquisite
designs had been completed and a number of
finished castings put in place. The con-
struction schedule as adopted by the con-
tractor included the completion of the nine
sides of the gallery section before the end of
1938, except for six or seven of the nine
pylons, all of which were to be cast in place.
The unfinished pylons were to be completed
by early spring, 1939, for an estimated cost
of $125,000. The estimated cost of all the
external decoration had been fixed at
$350,000.
The end of the first of the vitally impor-
tant seven years before the end of the first
century of the Baha'i era therefore witnessed
a great achievement in Temple construction
as well as in the teaching activities.
In addition, the Baha'i facilities of the
American community were considerably
augmented by the gift of a dormitory to the
Summer School at Geyserville, California,
and the gift of a Hall for religious and lec-
ture meetings at Green Acre Summer School
at Eliot, Maine, together with improvements
and added accommodations in the Green
Acre Inn and adjoining cottages, and the
presentation to Green Acre of a cottage and
several acres of land. Two lots were also
donated to the property held by Trustees at
West Englewood, New Jersey. The house at
Maiden, Massachusetts, consecrated to
'Abdu'1-Baha, was left by its owner, the late
Miss Maria Wilson, in a condition demand-
ing considerable repair and improvement,
and the Trustees found it possible during
1937 and 1938 to carry out a number of
urgent repairs. In addition to the value
added to the House of Worship by the con-
tract for the external decoration of the
gallery unit, the value of Baha'i property in
North America was increased during these
two years by more than $30,000.
The following reports supply the impor-
tant details of the teaching activities already
briefly mentioned. (Miss Martha L. Root's
work is reported separately in a separate sec-
tion later on in the survey. )
From Miss Mary Maxwell has been re-
ceived a graphic description of her teaching
in Germany, 1935-36.
"The first contact that I made with the
Baha'is of Germany was on the occasion of
the Esslingen Summer School in August of
1935. Of all the many and varied impres-
sions that flowed into my mind the deepest
and most sacred was that of hearing the
meeting opened by reading a Baha'i prayer
in German. Though I could scarcely under-
stand it, the power and beauty of the cre-
ative Word was distinct and a consciousness
of the innate and glorious oneness of the fol-
lowers of BahaVllah the world over
streamed into me with a sense of joy and
gratitude. How much we American visitors
learned at that summer school session!
Those of us, who like myself, knew practi-
cally no German still took away at the end
of the week a wealth of new concepts. It is
almost a two mile walk from the village of
Esslingen to the top of the mountain where
the 'Baha'i Home' is, taxis being rare and
expensive all excursions are on foot when
one cares to go down for any reason and as
we would toil back up the steep hill on a hot
August day we used to laugh and gasp and
ask each other how many people would at-
tend the American summer schools under
the same circumstances? I must say we felt
rather ashamed of our luxury-loving stand-
ards. The Meetings, though an atmosphere
of informality prevails among the German
friends and greatly adds to the sense of be-
ing one large family, were serious and schol-
arly. There was time after lunch to walk,
discuss in small groups and form valued
friendships. The evenings were spent listen-
ing to music, provided often by a father and
his son of ten, or in recitation of poetry or
informal talks. The work is all done
through the devotion and sacrifice of the be-
22
THE BAHA'f WORLD
lievers, some even taking their annual holi-
day at this time in order to work in the
kitchen. Indeed the building itself was
largely erected by the Baha'is themselves.
Such an atmosphere cannot but impress even
a stranger to the Cause. Mrs. Helen Bishop
most courteously suggested I take over her
scheduled talk on 'The Dawn-Breakers/
which I did and experienced the miseries of
having to have every word translated. This
provided the greatest incentive for my learn-
ing German in all haste.
"After the summer school I left Germany
for Belgium and while there received a letter
from Shoghi Effendi encouraging me to
make Germany the center of my activity in
Europe and expressing the opinion that my
future work would be greatly helped
through my collaboration with the German
Baha'is. In December I returned to Munich
where I remained until March. For the first
time in the history of the Cause in that city
a regular Baha'i group met there, commemo-
rated the Nineteen Day Feasts, and held a
weekly study class. This was made possible
as Mrs. J. Ruhanguiz Bolles, Miss Bertha
Matthiesen, Miss Jeanne Bolles and myself
were living there and all believers, albeit
Americans. However Mr. Alfons Grassl
attended every meeting and considered him-
self a Baha'i and indeed has since been ac-
cepted by the German National Spiritual
Assembly as one, being the first Munich
Baha'i. Other interested people attended the
small group that met in our rooms and no
doubt the first foundation for a future
spread of the Cause there was laid.
"In March I started out on a speaking
tour to all the places where there were
Baha'is in Germany. This trip was arranged
by the Teaching Committee and as my Ger-
man was not strong enough to speak ex-
temporaneously I wrote a speech on the sub-
ject of the Administration and my teacher
corrected the grammar. The schedule was
as follows:
March 6, arrival in Dresden,
" 7, evening meeting.
" 8, arrival in Leipzig, evening meet-
ing.
" 9, arrival in Berlin, evening meet-
ing.
March 10, arrival in Rostock, evening
meeting.
" 11, arrival in Warnemimde, evening
meeting
" 12, arrival in Hamburg.
" 13, evening meeting.
True to all community life I found that
each center had its particular problem, its
particular strong points. The Dresden
Baha'is, a devoted handful of sincere and
loyal believers, needed a good resident
teacher: the Leipzig ones were not allowed to
hold any private meetings due to a police
ruling on all societies in that city: the Berlin
friends were a group with a large percentage
of Jews, old and staunch Baha'is, but this
constituted a delicate situation not only
locally but nationally because of the general
conditions. The Rostock-Warnemiinde
group were active but small: Hamburg
needed, as is often the case when the Cause
passes from the informal group stage to that
of the Administration, a resident worker
and so I remained there until the end of
April. What work" I did consisted of look-
ing up and visiting the old members of the
first Hamburg group, of trying to bring a
clearer understanding of the nature and pur-
pose of Baha'i Administration and sometimes
giving talks at the weekly meetings. Also to
arrange in collaboration with the National
Youth Committee of America for a meeting
of the Hamburg young people to celebrate
the Naw-Ruz Day in the same way as
groups the world over were doing on
March 22.
"The Cause in Germany has gone through
much the same phases as in America; from
informal, loosely held together groups who
loved the broadness of the teachings and
cherished the glorious personalities of its
central figures; a period of test and struggle
after the ascension of 'Abdu'1-Baha; the un-
foldment of the concept of the World Or-
der, its laws and implications by the
Guardian and the attendant reaction of some
individuals who were not attracted to the
entirety of the Faith but rather those points
that dovetailed with their own views and,
finally, the definite, strong, deep establish-
ment of the Administrative Order which is
now firmly achieved in Germany, but which
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
23
nevertheless needed to be elucidated to many
of the former type of believer, anxious to
understand it. It was in helping to elucidate
these things that the traveling American be-
lievers could render their share of service to
their German co-workers. For profundity,
thoroughness and maturity of understanding
we shall need to borrow much from them in
return.
"Mr. Klitzing, a believer living in Graal
near Rostock, offered me the hospitality of
his home, which was very much appreciated
as I was somewhat exhausted from my first
effort alone in the teaching field. We were
able to give the message to a number of the
towns-people and we hope in the future they
will call it to mind and be comforted by it.
From Graal I attended the 'Norddeutsche-
tagung,' a regional conference held over the
week end and having members from Warne-
miinde, Rostock, Hamburg, Berlin, Dresden
as well as Dr. Muhlschlegel from Stuttgart
and Miss Sorensen from Copenhagen, Den-
mark. Held in an old farm house in a small
village, Diedrichshagen, near Warnemiinde
it presented both isolation and charm as a
background for the sessions, the friends rent-
ing extra rooms in nearby houses and bunk-
ing together. This was the second annual
conference to be held and it was well at-
tended by Baha'is and some interested
friends.
"The latter part of June and early July
I spent in Berlin but felt the work there
required a mature resident teacher who
would carry on for a period of months, at
least. Returning from Paris in August, I
again did some work in Munich, this time
helping my mother teach. We then at-
tended the Esslingen Summer School to-
gether. The Summer School Committee had
kindly asked me to speak and this time it
was in German, an incorrect but very sin-
cere German, which all the friends accepted
in the spirit in which it was given and over-
looked the many mistakes. How happy to
again see the faces of the Baha'is, grown so
near and dear through a year's association, to
know their problems, speak their language,
love their beautiful country and respect their
people. I truly realized what I had gained
through my close association with them, as
Shoghi Effendi had said I would. The
National Assembly held their meeting dur-
ing the summer school session and were
most kind in allowing me to report my im-
pressions of the work in the different centers
of Germany. Also at the same to suggest to
them that they organize a Youth Committee
for the Baha'i youth. There were a number
of most active and eager young believers at
the summer school and through discussions
with them the idea of proposing this to the
National Assembly arose. The National As-
sembly accepted the suggestion and prompt-
ly nominated a committee.
"After the Summer School I visited
Munich and then the other groups in the
southern part of Germany which I had not
covered in my previous tour: Heidelberg,
Karlsruhe, Geisslingen, Frankfurt and back
to Hamburg where I was joined by my
mother who had also been visiting the vari-
ous southern centers. The work in Ham-
burg had become much more active. Mrs.
Bolles, Miss Bolles, Mrs. Schopflocher as well
as other German friends had visited it and
stimulated it to new life. Jeanne Bolles and
I started a youth group there which met
every week and showed deep interest in the
teachings although only one youth in it was
a Baha'i of Hamburg, Helmut Prietzel, and
he was under twenty-one. After over a
month's work in Hamburg I left to join Mr.
Klitzing in Schwerin, the capital of Meck-
lenburg. Mr. Klitzing and his wife had
previously lived and worked there and he
was most anxious to start activities again.
We got the former group together in the
home of Mrs. Peters, but this particular small
city, the capital of a very conservative dis-
trict and one whose racial feelings run
strong, proved an almost impossible territory.
In spite of the good will of all concerned, we
left feeling convinced that it was a center
which required patient and wise husbanding.
In the future it will surely spring to life
again.
"I met my mother in Rostock and after a
week's work with the friends of that city
and Warnemiinde we went to Berlin and,
without being able to arrange any meeting,
left on December 25 for Rome-Naples-
Haifa, the point of longing for all Baha'is
once they set foot on European soil. Travel-
ing is one of the most fruitful ways of
24
THE BAHA'f WORLD
teaching and on trains I found myself con-
tinually telling people the purpose of my
visit to their country. The Germans are
very friendly and they always like to be
courteous to strangers, most particularly
nowadays when foreign opinion is so bitter
against them, and as I truly loved their
country and as a Baha'i remembered the
wonderful promises 'Abdu'1-Baha has made
regarding them, it was easy for me to pour
out to them a part at least of the Cause I
loved and was trying to serve. Many peo-
ple have heard of the Cause in Germany
through the German friends and travelers
from abroad, but the people of Europe are
stifled with fear, fear of war, of hunger, of
misery, things they have tasted of in a way
unknown to the North Americans. When
they do find the time ripe in their lives to
turn to, and accept these teachings, all that
they have suffered will be a wonderful
foundation for their great services. Every
Baha'i who has associated with his German
brothers and sisters cannot but feel and
realize this, and love and honor them."
Mrs. Nellie S. French has supplied an out-
line of her experiences in Honolulu, New
Zealand and Australia from August to Oc-
tober, 1937.
"A record of over sixty thousand miles
covered within the last sixteen months
would seem to indicate a nervous restlessness
unless directed toward some great purpose,
and the purpose when centered in the pur-
suit of spreading the Faith of Baha'u'llah is
not only amply justified, but is undoubtedly
showered with blessings from the Abha
Kingdom which make one very humble in
realizing these wonderful privileges.
"A report has already been rendered of the
visit to Iceland, Spitzbergen, Norway,
Sweden, Russia, Denmark, Germany — in-
cluding the Esslingen Summer School and
Switzerland; and also the story of the cir-
cumnavigation of South America with stops
at each of the large ports has been told, with
the circumstances of distributing literature,
teaching groups or securing press recogni-
tion. So now there remains to report this
last journey upon which we embarked on
August 18 from Los Angeles harbor and
from which we have just returned.
"Our steamer, the Mariposa, reached
Honolulu very early on August 23, but not-
withstanding the early hour, we were met by
two of the friends and garlanded with leis
while they greeted us with beautiful enthu-
siasm and presented an invitation to lunch
with all the members of the Baha'i Com-
munity at the home of Mrs. Marques at one
o'clock. After a drive in the morning we
were met and conducted to the house and
there were gathered all of the friends who
were in Honolulu at the time and it was a
blessed reunion. After lunch we gathered
about in a large circle and discussed many
important matters connected with the Ad-
ministrative Order or with the teaching
work. The friends were most eager and at
the end of the afternoon when it was time
for us to return to the ship we felt that our
discussion was only just begun and we
parted with the joyful anticipation of meet-
ing again on our return when our schedule
permitted another stop of one day.
"The voyage between Honolulu and our
next port, Pago-Pago (pronounced Pang-o-
Pang-o) which is one of the Samoan group,
is five days of tropical sea which I should like
to describe, especially in connection with the
appearance of this beautiful island and its
inhabitants, but this, as well as Fiji, where
we spent a day both going and coming, were
not attended with any direct teaching activi-
ties and so do not need to claim space in this
report, altho in passing I would say that
both with passengers disembarking in Pago-
Pago and Suva (Fiji) I had been able to men-
tion the teachings and I hope that the seed
may not have been planted in sterile soil.
"Pago-Pago is now a possession of the
United States and Fiji belongs to England so
that in both places excellent sanitary condi-
tions prevail, schools and hospitals have been
established and the physical condition of the
natives well looked after. The islands are
extremely beautiful and clothed with a
tropical verdure such as one sees nowhere
else. The Samoans are lighter in color than
the Fijis but both races are handsome and
stalwart-looking and seem very intelligent.
We noticed their reticence at first and were
pained to realize that it must have arisen by
the attitude of the white visitors to these
islands. However, after a few minutes' deal-
ings with them in the purchase of their
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25
26
THE BAHA'f WORLD
wares, mostly baskets, we found them
friendly and responsive and very cordial.
One chief invited us into his hut as it had
begun to shower, which it does frequently
and without warning, and instead of our
questioning him, he did the questioning and
was deeply concerned when we told him that
we had no sons or daughters. When we
parted he pressed us to return and pay them
a visit, but as the houses, or huts, contain no
furniture whatever except the grass mats on
the hard floors, we could not promise to ac-
cept his hospitality.
"At both Pago-Pago and Suva we had one
day each both going and coming, but as Suva
is somewhat further south than Pago we
gradually passed out of the Tropics and on
the fourth day reached Auckland, where it
was cold and rainy. The change is very
severe and occasioned a great deal of sick-
ness among the passengers which we fortu-
nately escaped.
"And now how to describe the arrival at
Auckland! Although it was early in the
morning, eight or nine of the friends ap-
peared each bearing flowers and extending
that warm greeting which, with Baha'is who
have never met, goes straight to the heart
and at once welds a link which is never to be
broken! That evening I had the joy of visit-
ing the friends at their center and of address-
ing them, suiting my discourse to a number
of enquirers who had been invited to meet
me. It was a lovely occasion which was
brought to a close with the cordial accom-
paniment of a cup of tea, also the promise of
a further visit on our return. A reporter
visited me in the morning and an account of
the interview was published, which the
friends said was the longest press notice they
had ever had.
"Three days of Tasman Sea crossing
which, we were warned, would probably be
very rough but was only mildly so, brought
us to Sydney where we again made a joyous
entrance welcomed by a number of the
friends who invited us to be present that
evening for a real Baha'i visit and consulta-
tion. Their room in a large office building
is very attractive but they are outgrowing it
and soon will have to seek larger quarters.
"We covered a great deal of ground dur-
ing the evening and I found them most eager
and responsive and keenly alive to the re-
quirements of the Administrative Order
which they, as well as the New Zealand
friends are studying and applying with great
earnestness of purpose. They wanted to
know how the American National Spiritual
Assembly met and dealt with certain ques-
tions, how we advanced the Faith before the
public, how many meetings are held during
the year (they at present have only one
when their National Assembly meets, so they
must confer entirely by correspondence) .
The distances which separate the members
are just as great as in America, for Australia
is as broad, if not a little broader, than the
United States, and Perth on the west coast
is five days distant from the east where Ade-
laide, Melbourne and Sydney are, and yet
these last three are distant some thirty-six
hours by train from each other. Then the
New Zealand contingent must travel by
sea three or four days to reach the meeting
place.
"At Sydney that evening we made plans
for a public meeting at which I was to speak
on our return visit from Melbourne which
was the end of the voyage. Much of the
greatest interest transpired in Sydney where
Father and Mother Dunn now reside and
where the friends seem very active.
"Melbourne is two days' journey further
south and here we spent four days during
which time I met frequently with the
friends trying to assist them with some of
their problems and discussing many phases
of the Administrative Order with them. The
establishment of the administration, as well
as personal differences had caused many to
drift away from the center so that now there
are not enough believers in Melbourne to
form a Spiritual Assembly. They are under-
going many severe trials but there is a
nucleus of fine, firm believers and I feel that
if an energetic, live teacher were to go there
to reside the Cause would grow at once.
"Several Australians whom we had met on
the boat and some relatives of Mrs. Ella
Cooper to whom she had given us letters are
among the most promising prospects for the
expansion of the work. Both going and
coming on the steamer we were able to in-
terest many people and although I was not
permitted to give a 'lecture' on the ship I
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
27
did talk with several groups and also dis-
tribute some literature.
"There were two outstanding features of
the visit to Melbourne; the first was an invi-
tation, on the arrival of the ship, to give an
interview over the Radio. This I did with
great joy, speaking of the Baha'i Faith, ex-
plaining its significance and my connection
with it, with the friends in New Zealand and
Australia. A record of the interview was
made and it was broadcast a second time that
evening when I was able to hear it myself,
and to realize how far short it had fallen
from what I would have wished it to be.
"The second feature was the meeting with
Miss Effie Baker who for ten years resided in
Haifa and is now an isolated believer and in-
tensely hungry for association with the
friends. I was so glad to meet her and to
have her with us for the days that we were
there. The last day of our sojourn the
friends all came to tea with me on the ship
and so stayed to wave f good-bye* to us as
we sailed away, homeward bound.
"We had no newspaper publicity in Mel-
bourne, but the Radio was a great boon and
on return to Sydney a long interview was
given which, however, appeared only after
we had sailed and has not yet reached me.
This interview should contain also a photo-
graph of the friends who formed a group in
the hall after the public meeting at which I
had spoken on the 'New Day' which was the
subject they had chosen. The meeting was
well attended and the interest was sustained
and gratifying to a degree. The friends
seemed very happy over it and really made us
feel that our hopes had been realized and that
we had been able to suit our remarks to the
Sydney audience.
"The departure the next day was attended
by the friends, and although it is always
difficult to visit a departing ship with the
crowds and bustle of sailing, still dear
Mother and Father Dunn came with the
other friends and brought us all the love and
assurance of the Baha'i world of Australia.
They all showered us with gifts and flowers
and as we sailed away we clung to the
streamers until the distance finally parted
them, always rejoicing in our meeting and in
the hope for the growth and spread of our
dear Faith.
"On the return to New Zealand we enter-
tained the friends at tea on the ship and part-
ing was attended with the same wrench
which we had felt on leaving Australia.
"I have refrained from mentioning the
names of any of the friends specifically be-
cause they, one and all, were so fine and so
cordial and all expressed in every way their
love for the Cause and their intense interest
in every phase of its development. We have
only the highest praise for all that we saw
and experienced and the only comment
which could be made would be perhaps that
there is a lack of initiative, which we all
know is not confined to any one part of the
globe. It seems to me that we have not re-
lied upon the assistance of Baha'u'llah and
have not yet found the doors which He de-
sires us to open for the spread of His Word.
"On our return visit to Honolulu there
were more leis, more joyous welcomes and
another lovely luncheon, this time at the
home of our dear Baha'i sister, Katherine
Baldwin, whose lovely living-room she has
now turned over for the meetings of the
Community for the coming year. Honolulu
is so richly blest and the Community so
strong and so well-informed that I feel sure
we may expect great things from it in the
near future. The fragrance of the flowers
bespeaks the fragrance of His love, the colors
of sea and sky and trees and plants are like
the rainbow of His Covenant, the absence
of race prejudice to a marked degree bespeaks
the blessings of the future Baha'i common-
wealth and we are blest indeed to have seen
and experienced the love and devotion of
the friends in all of these islands of the great
Pacific Ocean."
From Mrs. J. Ruhanguiz Bolles has come
a notable record of two years' teaching in
many countries.
Mrs. J. Ruhanguiz Bolles gives the fol-
lowing account of her two years' teaching
experiences in Europe.
"In 1935 Shoghi Effendi had told some
pilgrims in Haifa that he hoped American be-
lievers, those who could, would go to Eu-
rope to teach the Faith before a possible war
broke out. Like a number of others, we felt
we should like to go, if the Guardian
thought it important at that time. Jeanne
Bolles and Mary Maxwell being the moving
28
THE BAHA'f WORLD
factors in this decision, early in July of 1935,
together with Randolph Bolles, Jr., we sailed
for Europe. Landing in Hamburg, Ger-
many, we took a flying trip to a number of
German cities, Frankfort, Cologne, Heidel-
burg, Nuremberg and Munich where Mrs.
Maxwell had preceded us, giving the Baha'i
message at every opportunity. Our first real
introduction to the German believers, how-
ever, was in Esslingen, near Stuttgart, which
was visited twice by the Master during his
travels. Greeted by one of the veteran Ger-
man believers, we were conducted up the
mountain to the attractive building 'Baha'i
HausT constructed by the friends them-
selves and in which the sessions of the sum-
mer school were held, with a detective, for
ten wonderful days. Soon we realized our-
selves to be in a real Baha'i * bees' nest' for
honey was plentiful among these believers,
speaking another language, yet in terms of
the spirit and heart, it was the same tongue
indeed. Here, living in close companionship
with them on the mountainside, we learned
to know the penetrating intellect and depth
of soul of our talented and unassuming
brothers and sisters. Also present were
friends from Holland, Canada and the
United States (nine nations were repre-
sented). With those devoted souls we had
a marvelous teaching week. The Germans
being so thoroughgoing mostly present
papers on the Faith, which in excellency are
second to none. After those stimulating
and inspiring days in Esslingen, at the request
of the German National Spiritual Assembly,
an American believer and Mrs. Jeanne Ruh-
anguiz Bolles visited and spoke in a number
of German centers, Nuremberg, Dresden,
Berlin and Karlsruhe. During this trip kind
cooperation and friendly hospitality was ex-
tended to them by the friends of these cities
who seemed delighted to hear about the Faith
in their own tongue. In Karlsruhe we were
privileged to be the guests of Frau Dr. Braun
and Madame Forel, the daughter and widow
of the late Dr. Auguste Forel, famous Swiss
scientist, one of the first European scientists
to accept the Baha'i Faith. Afterwards we
returned to Stuttgart to present a written
report in English and a translation of it
into German. From Stuttgart we went to
England to bid farewell to members of our
family who were returning to America and
there during the three months of our stay
we visited the believers in London and Orp-
ington. We had been asked by Iranian, Ger-
man and American friends to urge the
believers there to have a summer school.
They gave us an opportunity to speak about
the American and German schools and with
the Guardian's encouragement they had their
first summer school that year with great suc-
cess. After several months in England we
joined Mrs. Maxwell in Brussels, Belgium.
With her excellent French to help her she
had interested a number of people in the
Revelation, as well as some Belgians, and an
informal meeting was held. Shoghi Eflfendi,
like the Master, encourages correspondence
and says, 'communication is half a meeting.'
Besides Brussels we visited Antwerp and
Ghent. To the latter city we had been in-
vited by an Egyptian, a Rockefeller research
student, the first to be so honored by his
country. He was very interested to meet
American Baha'is and urged us to visit his
home in Cairo, which we did later with two
members of the Egyptian National Spiritual
Assembly. From Belgium we went via Lux-
emburg where we spent two days, seizing
every opportunity to spread the Faith, to St.
Moritz, Switzerland; in that charming
world-village we enjoyed our three weeks'
stay. We met Madame Auguste O. Zckokke,
a Swiss singer of note, and the wife of a Swiss
professor who proved most interested in the
teachings. With them we met to study and
discuss the Faith.
"The greatest means of introduction to
the Baha'i Faith in Switzerland are the words
from the Will and Testament of their great
countryman Auguste Forel, which are
set down by him in his 'Ruckblick auf
mein Leben' ('Looking back upon my life'),
p. 296.
"Shoghi Effendi then wished us to teach in
southern Germany so we proceeded to
Munich, the city of 'Music and Gemutlich-
keit,' where Miss Mary Maxwell had already
arrived and where we found an American
believer who was teaching the Faith in
Europe. Meetings were immediately started
and gradually we interested a number of
young people in that city, one of whom be-
came a believer, the first in Munich. An-
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
29
other, alas, was too afraid of the government
to declare herself.
"The winter Olympics lured us to Gar-
misch Partenkirchen and although there was
a considerable 'momentum of pleasure,' it
was astounding how interested people seemed
to be in the Baha'i Cause and how they
wanted to have literature which was sent to
them later. There were, of course, people
from many lands and we hope that those who
listened to the message will hear it again in
their own countries and remember. Hear-
ing of a German believer in Innsbruck, Aus-
tria, we crossed into Austria to pay her a
visit, returning again to Munich. Meetings
again were resumed for several weeks. Severe
illness forced us to move to Mittenwald on
the German border where people listened
wonderingly to the Revelation of which they
had never heard. Not until we got to Venice
did comparative health return in its healing
sunshine and caressing breezes. Some Ger-
mans and Italians became interested in the
Faith there and literature was presented to
them. In Florence, Madame C. B. received
us very cordially. This able lady had trans-
lated Dr. Esslemont's book with an Ameri-
can believer and was very eager for news of
the Faith in other lands. Unfortunately she
felt that under the present government she
could only 'live' the teachings by devoting
herself to women prisoners and similar work.
The believer in Rome was out of town but
before we left the city her daughter called
on us and brought us flowers. For the same
reason that the Baha'i in Florence feels, she
cannot spread the message in Rome, a city of
over 500 churches. While there we were
invited by two American women to accom-
pany them with their guides, two young men
studying for the priesthood in Rome, to have
an audience with the Pope. While waiting
for one hour in the throne room of the Vati-
can for His Holiness, it was possible to tell
one of the young men who wanted to know
what I believed, about the Baha'i Faith. He
seemed utterly stunned but at the same time
fascinated that another Prophet had come
and as his mother objected to his becoming a
priest we hope that he may find the way to
the newly Beloved before he takes his final
vows. Intending to visit Capri for a day, a
terrible crossing of the Bay of Naples ma-
rooned us there for twelve. On this enchant-
ing island was a singer from Czechoslovakia
who happened to ask a sympathizer of the
Faith, the Polish Consul-General in Rome,
formerly of Montreal, Canada, if he had ever
heard of the Baha'i Faith. To this he laugh-
ingly replied, 'My Baha'i friends who have
been detained here will gladly tell you all
they know about it.' Here we see again a
confirmation of the Master's words, that no
effort shall be lost and so a very sincere and
capable soul Providence decreed was to be
further acquainted with the new world
order. When we left Capri, she embraced us
saying to please tell Shoghi Effendi that she
would devote her free time to the service of
the Faith and that whatever he wished she
would do. Later the Guardian sent her,
through us, an Esslemont in the Czech lan-
guage telling her to read it, study it and if
she believed, to teach her fellowmen. She
has faithfully responded to the Guardian's
advice and is today an active believer, teach-
ing in her own land and in Italy. At last we
were going to take the boat to Alexandria on
which were many pious Jews going to Pales-
tine where four great Faiths converge! We
could have gone direct to Haifa but felt that
Shoghi Effendi would have wished us to visit
the believers in Cairo, Egypt. There we
found, as twelve years ago, a hospitality
matched only in the Holy Land. A large
men's as well as women's meeting was ar-
ranged and it was with special joy that we
associated and spoke with these faithful serv-
ants of Baha'u'llah of the progress of the
Cause in other lands. The National Spiritual
Assembly invited us to attend one of their
court sessions and it was a thrilling experi-
ence indeed to see Baha'u'llah's administra-
tive principles in action and the members of
the Assembly vested with the power of court
and jury. A dinner was tendered to us by
Mirza Taki Esphahani with the other mem-
bers of the National Spiritual Assembly, for
which Jeanne Bolles asked audaciously for
the presence of the lovely daughter of the
chairman, and so for the first time a woman
believer, we were told, had taken part on
such an occasion in Egypt. Shoghi Effendi
had asked these faithful ones, 'two members
of the National Spiritual Assembly,* to trans-
late further laws of the Aqdas into English.
30
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Functioning as an independent religion they
had need of more of these laws which were to
be sent to Shoghi Effendi for final revision.
With arms full of flowers for us, many of
our Egyptian friends saw us off to the 'land
of our desire/
"On the Palestinian border, owing to Arab
disturbances, the train was met by a police
guard and there our passports were severely
questioned because one of them contained
the snapshot of a Persian believer. The Eng-
lish representative asked us what our object
was in visiting the Holy Land and being told
that we were Baha'is, waved us smilingly
through the gates. With awe and wonder
we now looked upon the soil of the Holiest
Land. It seemed everywhere evident that
the prophecy that the Jews were going back
as a nation was being fulfilled, for while the
orthodox Jews still weep at the walls of
Jerusalem, the modern young 'Ruths' are
singing in the fields of Palestine. They seem
to feel subconsciously that He has come
again!
"The brother of the Guardian, Hussein
Afnan, and Fujita, Japan's most faithful be-
liever, greeted us at the railway station in
Haifa and with eager expectation we fol-
lowed them to the Pilgrim House at the foot
of Mt. Carmel. At noon Shoghi Effendi was
announced. How our hearts were beating
and how we rejoiced at that meeting. What
sweet wonder to look upon his countenance.
It was like a miracle to behold him at last
face to face. How kindly and benignly he
smiled upon us, how warmly he greeted us.
The longing of years seemed stilled and the
soul flooded with divine stillness and peace.
For a number of days we were the only pil-
grims. Sitting, in spirit, at his feet we
listened attentively to his wisdom and his
marvelous explanations of the Word. We
had been told repeatedly before coming into
his presence that he favored questions, but
when we asked him, he would mostly refer
us to the teachings in a particular book and
on a specific page, or in news letters, etc.
And occasionally he would send for and show
us the very passage. Soon we concentrated
with rapt attention only on what he was say-
ing to us. To behold his wonderful face and
have the memory of it on our hearts en-
graven forever and to remember his words
always seemed to us, who came to him with
such empty hands, the only thing of impor-
tance. Four of these unforgettable days pil-
grims from Honolulu and Canada were with
us, and Jeanne Bolles was allowed to take
'Notes' at the dinner table, in his presence.
Shoghi Effendi stayed usually from two to
three hours anc^ once even longer. Almost
daily we were privileged to visit the Holy
Shrines of the Bab and 'Abdu'1-Baha as well
as the exquisite monument of the Most Ex-
alted Leaf on the sacred mountain of Carmel,
where one or more members of the holy
family graciously allowed us to accompany
them. There we supplicated for the believers
in the world, as well as for all mankind, pas-
sionately entreating BahaVllah, at these
holy places, for more capacity to share this
glorious message of a New Revelation with
the people of the world.
"And then one day Shoghi Effendi, turn-
ing to us in his inimitable way, said that on
the following day we might go to Bahji, 'the
culminating point of our pilgrimage/
"The next day, anxiously waiting to start,
we departed in the afternoon with Hussein
Rabbani by automobile. As the roads were
not considered safe from Arab disturbances,
we had a second Arab beside the driver to
accompany us.
"Our first stop was the resting place of
the Mother of 'Abdu'1-Baha, that of the two
younger brothers of the Master and of Nabil,
the author of 'The Dawnbreakers.' Rever-
ently we breathed a prayer. The very
pathetic story that the Master when still in
confinement in 'Akka, wove mats and sold
them to buy his mother a tombstone,
Hussein Effendi confirmed. It is one of the
saddest stories of the world and just a part of
the suffering which the Center of the Cove-
nant endured for our sake.
"Our next halting place was the beautiful
Garden of the Ri^van named after that
other historical garden of Ridvan where
BahaVlUh first declared Himself to a larger
number of believers. Here the Blessed Per-
fection used to dwell under the mulberry
tree, beside the small stream with some of
the faithful about Him. Flowers were
blooming, the lawns were green and early
summer fruits were ripe. Reverently we
gazed into the room where the Most Beloved
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31
32
THE BAHA'f WORLD
used to tarry from time to time while in
4Akka. The devoted gardeners, already of
the second and third generation, brought us
golden apricots and purple mulberries and
fragrant Persian tea. One likes to linger
there, but greater beauty beckoned us, so
with hearty thanks and 'Allah-u-Abha!' we
continued towards the goal of the 'desire of
the beloved of God,' Bahji!
"Bahji, too, had grown, become more
complete in its outer garment. Baha'u'llah's
earthly remains are now surrounded by more
beautiful gardens, by new architectural
additions, designed by Shoghi Effendi, who
supervises all improvements perfecting the
surroundings of the Shrines, not only in
Bahji, but also on Mt. Carmel.
"After being shown to our stately room
in which lovely flowers and likenesses from
friends in other lands greeted us, Hussein
Effendi came to take us to the room which
Baha'u'llah had occupied and in which He
had received Professor E. G. Browne of Cam-
bridge University. Before we entered it, we
carefully read again, as bidden by Shoghi
Effendi, the extraordinary tribute Professor
Browne paid Baha'u'llah after his visit in the
Mansion where he dwelt three days in that
Holy Presence. Then we reverently entered
that historical chamber. Our eyes sought
the corner-seat where Baha'u'llah had sat
when Professor Browne first beheld Him.
His beautiful turban on the divan, His
cloak, His spotless bed, all were most touch-
ing objects to behold. There were also His
lamp, the candlestick He used and other
relics from His earthly life. The view of
the mountains which He beheld from His
window reminded us of His earthly captiv-
ity, yet of His mighty Spirit which encircles
and pervades the world. Prayerfully we tip-
toed away. How near He seemed!
"Everything in the Mansion itself was a
new joy. Ten years ago, when we could
only see Bahji from a distance, Muhammad-
'Ali was still living in it. Decay of the build-
ing which he was unable to repair, at last
forced him to leave it. Shoghi Effendi was
able to acquire the part occupied by him
(Muhammad-*Ali) and began the task of re-
storing this most memorable place. Two
years were really required for it but the
Guardian with his great energy did it in ten
months. He directed every detail of the res-
toration and the finished work is the most
beautiful setting of any shrine in the world.
At sunset time which 'Abdu'1-Baha called,
with the dawn, the two most spiritual times
of the day, we followed Hussein Rabbani to
the Shrine of Shrines! With listening hearts
and souls we entered into that haven of Life
and Light. Slowly with awe and wonder
we approached the Holiest Threshold and
with infinite gratitude we laid our foreheads
on the flower-strewn Threshold which guards
the entrance to the adorned room vaulting
the earthly remains 'of the Most Beloved.
Peace indescribable, a feeling of being nearer
Him, of being in Heaven on earth enfolded
us in this unforgettable eventide in Bahji!
We prayed for our dear ones and for all the
friends in other lands, supplicating that they
also may experience sooner or later this in-
effable beauty. We begged for more capac-
ity and zeal and devotion to the beloved
Guardian and the Faith of God. Many of
the friends we mentioned by name. The
wonder of His nearness there cannot be de-
scribed in mere words, but like a blessing
from Him it clings to one's consciousness,
like the attar of roses, which the devoted
keeper anoints one with, before entering
therein. It pervades one's soul and makes
one move as in a dream from which one hesi-
tates to awaken. One longs to linger there
always, for there is rest and the soul's home-
coming.
"Later, in the Mansion, more of the work
of the Guardian was to be seen. His arrange-
ment of the many things pertaining to the
Faith must needs arouse the greatest admira-
tion and gratitude of everyone who has the
privilege of going to Bahji, not only of every
believer but also of people of other Faiths,
who are now permitted to visit there. The
guest-book for this purpose showed that they
had come from all parts of the world. Some-
one once said that Shoghi Effendi was not in
favor of other than Baha'is coming to the
Sacred Places. That is not the case. To the
contrary, he favors it, it will make the Faith
more widely known. How quickly the hours
passed!
"Shoghi Effendi had asked us to write to
some of our friends or the friends of the
Faith from the Mansion and so, inspired by
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
33
our heavenly surroundings, we set to work
to send more messages to dear ones. Sud-
denly a call came: we must leave for Haifa
at once, by train, because it was too dan-
gerous to return by automobile. We were
not at all frightened but sad, because we had
longed to go once more into the Most Be-
loved's Shrine. Hussein Rabbani sympa-
thized with us and coaxed the driver to take
us back all the way to Haifa. Only our
gestures and eyes could plead together with
Hussein Rabbani's entreaties, and whether
they were understood or not, the young Arab
relented. This, praise be to God, enabled us
to prostrate ourselves once more at the Most
Fragrant Threshold and breathe a fervent
'Goodbye* from earth's Paradise, confident
that all the friends of God, no matter how
far apart, will ever be near each other, in
firmness to the Covenant of God and in
obedience to the Guardian of the Faith.
"As the Beloved wished us to return to
Europe over the land by way of the Balkan
Assemblies and the way led almost past
Bahji, Mrs. Schopflocher, Jeanne and I
pleaded with Shoghi Eflfendi to worship there
for one more moment. At first, because of
the danger to us and perhaps to the Holy
Family also (how heedless we can be!), he
did not wish it, but later he graciously re-
lented and once more, miraculously it
seemed, we found ourselves in Bahji, greeted
by the sweet sister of the Guardian, Mehran-
giz, and the three Honolulu friends who
were staying in the Pilgrim House at the
time. And then, although the heart was
aching after parting in body from all that is
precious beyond words to a Baha'i, we felt
with dear Keith Ransom-Kehler that we
could 'never be sad or lonely again' as long
as we were able to lay our forehead, in spirit,
on the jasmine-strewn Threshold of the
Blessed Perfection.
"Shoghi Effendi had asked us to return to
Europe by the so-called land way, via the
Balkans, to visit groups and Assemblies in
Beirut, Aleppo, Constantinople, Sofia, Bel-
grade, Budapest, Vienna, the German Assem-
blies once more, Zurich, Sweden, Norway
and Denmark and to attend again the Ger-
man summer school. In Beirut a group of
fine believers awaited us. They were mostly
students of the American University there,
among them the Guardian's charming
younger brother, Riaz, and one of his cou-
sins, a physician. It was delightful to meet
these friends as some of them were already
the third or fourth generation of Baha'is.
"Very early the next morning we arrived
in Aleppo. The friends were at the station,
their arms full of flowers for us, and during
the fifteen minutes of our stop we had a
'meeting' right on the station platform.
They would so much have liked us to stay
longer. The young people there were anxious
to correspond with other youths. We have
endeavored to link them with the American
youth as well as with the youths of other
lands. From Tripoli to Angora we had our
first contact with the fiery Syrian national-
ism. Two Americans also on that train
(they were living on the Island of Bahrein in
the Persian Gulf) showed interest in the
teachings. The woman said that she had lost
her heart to Iran, especially to Shiraz, a
good omen we trust. The situation of the
Baha'is in Istanbul, Turkey, was a rather
difficult one. They are fine and true souls,
and would gladly give their lives for the
Faith but the government forbids them to
hold meetings or to distribute literature.
They can only talk privately and perhaps at
the risk of their lives or as we know, at least,
their liberty. Meanwhile, they translate the
teachings so that when their country has
again more religious liberty they will have
some of the sacred literature at their disposal
in their own tongue.
"In Sofia the friends under the able tuition
of Miss Marion Jack are a most interesting
group. They are intelligent, hard-working
and very individualistic and would come to
meetings almost every evening until mid-
night, and we seldom met Baha'is with such
a 'capacity to listen' and such 'willingness to
learn.' Miss Jack, whom Shoghi Effendi
praised highly and mentioned repeatedly, is
working ceaselessly for the Faith in Bulgaria.
Day in and day out she sees friends and sym-
pathizers of the Faith, arranges meetings and
sees that everyone is supplied with books*
The Guardian called her 'unique in her
daunt lessness.'
"Most of the time we were guests of Bul-
garians interested in the Faith to whom we
gave the message on the way to London.
34
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Most of the people in that country seemed
very poor, even the intellectuals, but there,
like elsewhere, they crave to better them-
selves. Those who attend the meetings of
Miss Jack at least have a definite hope of the
New World Order which they want to help
build. We arrived in Belgrade about June
16. Lovely Madame Draga Ilic, a Jugo-
slavian writer, sent word at once to greet us.
She is a most radiant and capable soul. She
was so anxious to hear about the Guardian
and the holy places. She arranged meetings
where we spoke and although their group
there is small, the believers are very sincere.
"While we were there Madame Ilic told
us the following story. She had worked
very hard to translate 'Baha'u'llah and the
New Era.' 'I wanted it to sparkle like a
diamond,' she said. One night, word syno-
nyms recurred so incessantly that she could
not sleep, when suddenly she saw the kindly
face of a man who seemed to tell her to rest
and sleep. Then she peacefully dozed off.
The next day an American believer presented
her with a photograph of Dr. Esslemont. It
was the likeness of the man who had ap-
peared to her the night before!
"Passing on to Budapest the sympathizers
of the Cause were most cordial to us. Prof.
Robert Nadler was first to call on us. For-
merly a Theosophist, now a great sympa-
thizer of the Faith, and a well-known
painter, he had painted the portrait of
'Abdu'1-Baha who had graciously consented
to sit for him. Just a year before his death
(June 1938) Prof. Nadler was glad to write
for us the following appreciation of 'Abdu'l-
Bahd: 'It was in the year 1913 that we here
in Budapest first heard of Babism and the
Bahi'i Movement. We heard that 'Abdu'l-
Baha, while on his return journey from
California, gave several lectures at different
Theosophical Societies in Europe, so the
Hungarian Theosophical Society also invited
him to give public lectures on the teachings
of his father, Baha'u'llah. He kindly agreed,
and stopping his journey in April for a few
days he gave several public lectures which
were well attended by people eager to learn
something of the new light-bringing ideas
coming from the East and shining to the far
West.
" ' 'Abdu'1-Baha spoke in Persian and his
lecture was translated, sentence by sentence,
into English and again from English into
Hungarian. I can say that the great majority
of those who were so fortunate as to hear his
words were enthusiastic about his teach-
ings; the all-embracing love and good- will
towards everyone, the promotion of inter-
national intercourse through an auxiliary
language, equal education and equal rights
for both sexes, the promotion of universal
peace, and the acceptance of the funda-
mental truths of all religions (which would
eliminate all religious persecution) — these
were the main uplifting ideas which we
heard and which were fully accepted with
great appreciation by the audience. 'Abdu'l-
Baha said that there should be no antagonism
between religion and science, and that the
founders of different religions, such as Zoroas-
ter, Moses, Buddha, Christ and Muhammad
never stated that the preceding Prophets
were false — they all spoke the same truths.
" 'All the members of the Theosophical
Society then present were glad to learn of
the harmony of 'Abdu'l-Baha's teachings
with the main principles and aims of those
of the Theosophical Society: "To form a
nucleus of the universal Brotherhood of
Humanity without distinction of race, creed,
sex, class or colour!"
" 'When 'Abdu'1-Baha arrived in Budapest
I greeted him at the Hotel Dunapalota on
the shore of the Danube with the beautiful
view across the river to the Royal Palace
opposite. When I saw him and shook hands
with him, I was so greatly impressed by his
whole personality, the serenity of his ex-
pression, his calm spirit and imposing stature,
that I asked him if he would give me, if pos-
sible, a few hours of his precious time, that I
might have the opportunity of painting his
portrait. He replied that he had not much
free time, but that he was willing to fulfill
my request. Thus he came three times to
my studio, and was a very patient model. I
was all too happy to be able to paint him,
feature by feature, and to be able to immor-
talize the earthly temple of so highly de-
veloped a soul.
" *I was glad to hear him and his com-
panions say that they thought the portrait a
success. They even asked me what the price
o£ it would be, but at that time I had no
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
35
desire to gain financially by selling the pic-
ture, which remains one of my best works.
It has been my pleasure to have 'Abdu'l-
Baha's portrait in my studio for twenty-four
years, and I shall never forget the few hours
of his presence there.' (Signed) Robert
Nadler, Budapest, March, 1937.
"Going on to Vienna one became aware,
there, as well as in other Austrian cities like
Innsbruck and Salzburg which we touched,
of a very 'Catholic* atmosphere. Perhaps be-
cause at that time there existed an agree-
ment, 'Concordat,' between the Pope and the
Austrian church to combat all non-Catholic
religions (the Jews were an exception) coun-
teracted by the German section of the Ver-
sailles Treaty which guaranteed religious
freedom to all Austrians. Nevertheless, *the
law compelled children to receive religious
training and therefore they had to belong to
some faith or other. The Cardinal at this
time was doing his best to rid the country of
all non-Catholic beliefs. Thus, the Baha'i
activities in Vienna were being supervised by
detectives. Curiously enough, Baha'i meet-
ings were permitted because the government
did not consider them 'Versammlungen*
(meetings) which were forbidden at that
time, but 'Andachtsiibungen* (services).
The detective, also present at the Nineteen
Day Feast, would not allow us to address be-
lievers but permitted us to read from the
Teachings. The N.S.A. meetings were not
supervised, however, and we could speak of
our experiences and the Faith in other lands.
The vice-president of the 'Oesterreichsche
Frauenschaft' (Women of Austria) called
on us and invited us to one of their club
meetings; as foreigners were forbidden to
speak in public during the summer, she spoke
herself on the Faith and read about the life
of Tfahirih which had so inspired the mother
of the former President Hainisch, and who,
inspired by that Iranian heroine, originated
suffrage in Austria.
"In Munich we had again several meetings
and then went on to Castelovice, Czechoslo-
vakia, to visit Madame Benesova whom we
had interested, in Capri, and who had been
deeply impressed with Shoghi Effendi's mes-
sage and his gift of 'BahdVlUh and the
New Era.' Meanwhile she had, after inten-
sive study of it, accepted the Cause and
was delighted to hear about Haifa and 'Akka.
Some hours were spent in Prague with an-
other believer, an indefatigable worker of the
Cause, who also devotes considerable time to
Esperanto, the universal auxiliary language.
He translates all he can of the Holy Writings
into his own tongue, brings them to the blind
and distributes much literature. We also
called on a University Professor, a sympa-
thizer of the Faith, and spoke about the
Baha'i Faith in Iran where he had sought out
Baha'i s everywhere. He spoke of Martha
Root, whose rare personality he much appre-
ciates. Once he went to Vienna to meet
there Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter, both of whom
he holds in great esteem. He was delighted
with news of the Faith and said he had given
Baha'i books to many of his students. The
next day he and his wife came to call at our
hotel.
"As Shoghi Effendi had asked us to visit
the German centers again, we recrossed into
that country and visited Assemblies and
groups in Dresden, Leipzig, Berlin and Ham-
burg. From there Jeanne Bolles went to the
Baha'i summer school in England, while J.
Ruhanguiz Bolles visited Rostock, Warne-
rminde and Graal, speaking to believers in
these cities, then taking the steamer to
Copenhagen, Denmark, where Johanna
Sorensen created opportunities for meeting
people interested in the Revelation. On the
way there the Holy Writings were discussed
with the Danish head of the Lutheran
Church. In Oslo, Johanna Schubarth, also,
arranged meetings with groups and with in-
dividuals in the interests of the Faith, and
the Esperantists who knew about the Cause
invited me to Kunsholm. Meanwhile a tele-
gram had arrived from Rammen, Sweden, to
see Mrs. Palmgren, a Swedish believer who
translates the Teachings into her mother
tongue.
"Going on to Stockholm, a friend of the
Faith who had recently been in Russia where
she had found Communism a 'practical* solu-
tion of world affairs seemed to change her
mind about it, after hearing about Haifa and
'Akka" and the Baha'i Administration. An-
other would-be Baha'i there, who formerly
studied for the priesthood, hopes to realize
his ideal to teach the Faith in the north of
Sweden after further study of its teachings.
THE BAHA'f WORLD
A copy of the fqan (in Swedish) was sent to
Selma Lagerlof , the Swedish writer. Scandi-
navia seems a fertile soil for teaching the
Cause. Her people, with their mostly
Lutheran beliefs, fine intelligence and gen-
eral knowledge of German and English
(especially in Norway) should make resident
and traveling Baha'is feel much at home
there. In 1937 a number of Baha'is visited
that peninsula, on which Shoghi Effendi
seems to concentrate at present. It had been
suggested that we attend again the German
summer school so we hastened back from
England and Scandinavia respectively to
Esslingen. Ten wonderful days were spent
there with the believers on that lovely
mountainside, with a beautiful view over
the city of Stuttgart which 'Abdu'1-Baha
loved so much and which has one of the
largest Baha'i centers. Believers of many
countries attended, including friends from
the United States, Canada, Austria, Bulgaria,
Latvia, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and
Iran. It was one of the happiest gather-
ings, the German friends said, since 'Abdu'l-
Baha was with them in 1913. There, it was,
we first heard the thrilling cable from Haifa
re-inspiring the believers to go forth to the
ends of the earth to teach, and it was then
that Jeanne Bolles cabled: 'What can I do?'
and received Shoghi Eflfendi's answer, 'Con-
centrate on Central Europe.' Leaving at last
that happy place we revisited Zurich (upon
request). There Madame L'Orsa Zchokke,
the charming Swiss singer and descendant of
a great Swiss writer by that name, tele-
phoned us to visit her in her lovely mountain
home. She had offered previously, through
us, her wonderful four-hundred-year-old
chalet in Sils Maria to Shoghi Effendi, should
he come to Switzerland. She is studying the
Faith in which she is much interested. The
other believers in Zurich hold Feasts in their
homes and teach to the best of their ability.
The Swiss people, mostly Calvinists, are
highly intelligent, sober people and are a 'rich
field* for any Baha'i who will settle there.
Nothing seems a greater introduction for
the Swiss people to the Revelation of Bahd'u-
'lldh than, as I have already mentioned, the
confession of Faith of their beloved coun-
tryman, Auguste Forel. Speaking of him
for a moment, we heard the following story
in regard to alcohol. As a great psycho-
analyst, he was especially keen to cure
drunkards. His patients usually recovered
but often had relapses. Hearing about a
shoemaker's success in permanently curing
such people he went to see him to find out
the secret of his cures. Smilingly, in the
course of conversation, the shoemaker asked
Dr. Forel if he himself took any alcohol.
'Just a glass of wine,' the Doctor replied,
'occasionally with my dinner.' 'This,' said
the simple man, 'might be the only reason for
partial failure in the 'cure of your patients.'
"It was to be another year's stay in Europe
in response to the Guardian's appeal. This
made a flying trip to England necessary to
say good-bye to some of the family who re-
turned to the United States, another mem-
ber remaining in Cambridge. In that charm-
ing old intellectual center, opportunity was
afforded to bring the message to a number of
students. Literature was distributed and we
hope for permanent interest from these
earnest young men who long for a more logi-
cal and live faith.
"Now returning to the continent by way
of Holland, we contacted Baha'is in Haar-
lem, Brummen and the Hague. They meet
whenever possible, come together especially
for Unity Feasts and are busy spreading the
Faith in their liberal country where two
more believers from Germany have joined
them. En route to Hamburg, Germany,
(from Holland) three sisters from Puerto
Rico became interested in the Faith. They
were visiting various institutions of learning
in Europe, being educators themselves. They
met other believers in Hamburg and Munich.
When we parted, they invited us to their
island home.
"In Hamburg, Miss Mary Maxwell, now
in command of German, had been teaching
for several weeks and had established a
Youth Group. Soon Mrs. May Maxwell
joined us there and together we continued
three weekly meetings and saw the believers
individually. After several happy weeks, on
our way to Hungary we made a detour to
Warsaw, Poland, to look up some friends of
the Faith, and two Polish gentlemen who
promised to translate Baha'i literature be-
cause they felt that their country was in
need of such liberal truths. Miss Lidja
37
38
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Zamenhof, a distinguished Polish believer
and daughter of the late Dr. Zamenhof, the
originator of Esperanto, who is at present in
the United States, is constantly engaged in
translating the Holy Writings into Polish
and Esperanto. Welcome was extended to
us by Miss Thekla Zavidewska, another
Polish lady who loves the Holy Writings.
She had translated 'Paris Talks' by 'Abdu'l-
Baha into her mother tongue, and offered to
do further work for the Cause.
"In all these countries mentioned we
found a generous hospitality and, especially
among the Bah£'is, a great eagerness for
news of the Guardian and the Holy Places.
They feel that we are able in the United
States to shout the Message, as it were, from
the housetops. For these believers to teach
in their respective countries often means that
their friendships and even their livelihoods
are at stake, because of the governments (in
many of them church and state being one)
they find themselves religious outcasts, since
these governments recognize only those who
belong to the great known religions. All
others are classed as 'confessionslos* (free
thinkers) and that brands them, now, more
or less as Communists. Europe is desperately
in need of these teachings and so we should
be indebted to believers like Miss Marion
Jack and Miss Bertha Matthiessen who re-
main there to help us in the fulfillment of
the Seven Year Plan, in which every sin-
cere believer should crave to have a share.
"On our way back from Haifa a few
months previously, we had passed through
Budapest, as already mentioned and had been
enchanted by its medieval beauty and by' the
friendliness and charm of the Hungarians.
In addition, we had been told that there were
some sympathizers of the Cause, so after the
Beloved's cablegram we decided to return to
Hungary, the 'heart' of Europe. Today, in
her beautiful capital which the Danube
divides into two cities, Buda — the old and
Pest — the new, live the most active of mod-
ern Hungarians. They, like people in other
lands, yearn for a broader spiritual teaching
and many were joyous to find that the teach-
ings of Baha'u'llah included provisions for
a new and better World Order. Some
addresses were sent to us by believers as an
introduction to the land of the Magyars, but,
above all, immortal traces have been left by
'Abdu'l-Bah4 who visited Budapest for nine
days in 1913. Here many of the distin-
guished men of Hungary called on him,
among them Count Apponyi, Prelate Gies-
wein, a distinguished Rabbi, Prof. Nadler
and others. He lectured at the Old Parlia-
ment, as guest of the Theosophists and other
movements. A number of people we had
met had heard of him and 'had been unfor-
gettably impressed. When the Master came
to Budapest, responding to an invitation of
a Hungarian gentleman, Mr. Stark, many of
the notables of the city were at the station
to greet him and call on him later. When
asked, at some later date, if he had seen the
fine, old city, he said it was beautiful indeed,
but that he had not ventured upon that long
journey to see the sights but was searching
for the hearts of the Hungarian people.
Calling one morning on the friends who had
invited him to Hungary he was asked by
Mrs. Stark, his hostess, if he would have some
wine or other refreshments. When 'Abdu'l-
Baha declined, she felt that he might not re-
fuse some of the firfe spring water, a table
delicacy since Roman times. In precious
crystal glasses, the maid brought a trayful
of it, and as she placed it carefully on a table,
she perceived 'Abdu'1-Baha standing near the
window. Slowly and deliberately she ad-
vanced, knelt before him and begged him to
bless her. This very touching scene brought
tears to the eyes of those who surrounded
the Master. Perhaps it recalled a similar
event hundreds of years ago. When asked
later by her mistress why she did this, she
said, 'I was impelled to, because he seemed to
me one of the "Kings of the East." '
"Shoghi Effendi recently wrote: 'Buda-
pest, a city that has been blessed by the
presence of our Beloved Master, and which
for this reason alone, is bound sooner or later
to develop into one of the leading centers of
the Cause in Europe. The soil for teaching
seems exceptionally fertile there. . . .' And
so it is indeed.
"Other Bahi'is had been there before us,
and were fondly remembered. Their friends,
sympathizers of the Faith, arranged for us
to speak to the English Speaking Circle, the
Woman's Suffrage Club, and the Esperanto
.Society. In March of 1937 Jeanne Bolles
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
39
succeeded in having a Youth Confer-
ence which about twenty-four people at-
tended.
"Jeanne Bolles, R. Bolles and Mrs. F.
Schopflocher who happened to be in Budapest
at that time, spoke at that meeting both in
English and German. The latter is a lan-
guage which educated Hungarians speak
very well because of their long connection
with the former Austrian monarchy. These
young people were invited afterwards to the
weekly meetings. At that time the Shoghi
Effendi had sent us a pilgrim from the Holy
Land, Miss Bertha Matthiessen, who brought
fresh light and courage to us. Mrs. Schop-
flocher also remained for some time and held
gatherings for the interested ones at her
hotel. Gradually about forty-five people at-
tended the meetings in our pension and dur-
ing our stay a number of people declared
themselves believers. And so a Baha'i group
was formed. The secretary is a charming
Hungarian journalist who had heard about
the Teachings in England and another out-
standing believer is the young daughter of a
Hungarian poet whose devotion to the Faith
we have found to be most unusual. The new
believers, so enthusiastic and devoted, are
translating the teachings. They meet as
regularly as they can and are resolved to
faithfully carry on, to illumine their unfor-
tunate country with the light of a new
spiritual consciousness. Alas, they can only
meet in public with a detective present, be-
cause of persecution of the Catholic press
which tried to prove them Communists and
denounced them after our departure. The
police, however, decided, upon investigation,
that they were certainly not communistic.
Since then a number of others have joined
the ranks of Baha'is in Hungary. Any be-
liever passing through that beautiful, old
city will find himself much at home there,
thanks especially to the generous hospitality
of two well known sympathizers of the
Faith in whose homes occasional meetings are
held and who are hosts to every Baha'i who
passes through that city. The press was also
very favorable and published a number of
articles at intervals about the Baha'i Revela-
tion.
"And so, after a period of effort without
apparent reward, such fruits of the Divine
Tree became apparent that their reality was
scarcely believable.
"How inestimable are the blessings be-
stowed upon this ancient land, how great the
bounty that brought the Center of the Cove-
nant of God to this city to shed the light of
BahaVllah upon it by his own presence and
to plant seeds destined to bear fruit of great
richness and beauty. 'Wherever His blessed
feet have trod, that very place is holy.'
"It was hard to leave these wonderful be-
lievers and sympathizers of the Faith but at
last our journey took us again to Zurich to
call on the Swiss Bahd'is, and thence to
Geneva to visit the Baha'i Bureau where the
Polish aunt and cousins of one of the Guar-
dian's wards entertained us. They are very
much interested in the Revelation and upon
further study wish to accept the Faith.
Traveling via Lausanne, Montreux, Luzerne
and Interlaken there was opportunity to pre-
sent the Faith to individuals. A few fra-
grant days were spent with Baha'i friends in
Munich. Arriving in Hamburg ten days
before our departure for the United States
we found that the Faith had, now, been sus-
pended in Germany. But the Baha'is there
told us they wished the believers in other
countries to know that the authorities in
Hamburg had been almost apologetic about
confiscating their public libraries, and when
the friends asked them what they should do
if Baha'is from other places came to visit
them, they were told to receive and entertain
them, though of course, they could not hold
any Baha'i meetings. Thus, we could visit
with our fellow believers while waiting for
the ship to carry us back to the 'land of the
free.' Tears rolled down our cheeks when
we passed again the Statue of Liberty in New
York Harbor and felt ourselves once more a
part of the world where people are free to
listen to and spread the Faith of the Revela-
tion of BahaVllah. But nevertheless, in all
those countries of an anxious Europe and
near East we found 'listening' ears, straining
to understand the most hopeful message of
this Day. With many of these souls con-
tacted, we correspond, answering their
anxious questions and sending literature. We
feel they would even at this challenging hour
welcome Baha'i pioneers whom they treat
with much respect and affection, because in
40
THE BAHA'f WORLD
their teachings they recognize dimly the
promise of a new and better World Order."
To have the tenets of the Baha'i Faith
spread to remote parts of the earth was the
objective of the recent journey undertaken
by Mr. and Mrs. E. R. Mathews. Though
many obstacles presented themselves the
Word of Baha'u'llah was left on the soil of
distant islands and continents. The follow-
ing are the main depots established for the
Baha'i Literature.
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Mrs. H. Cooper,
36 rua Henri Constant, Dept. de Copaca-
bana. Books now obtainable in that city are
in English and Portuguese.
Cape Town, South Africa. The Theo-
sophical Society, Markham Bid., Librarian,
Miss S. A. Parris. In the library books can
be obtained in Dutch and English.
Johannesburg, S. A. At Johannesburg
Public Library books obtainable in Dutch
and English.
Bulawayo, S. A. Rev. M. I. Cohen, Pas-
tor of Hebrew Congregation, P. O. Box 470.
(A recent letter asked for more literature.)
Seychelles Islands (off West Coast of
Africa) . Books can be obtained in Carnegie
Library in French and English.
Island of Java, City of Batavia. Book
shop of G. Kolff & Co. Noordwigk No. 12.
Books on sale in English and Dutch.
Island of Bali, Dutch Netherlands. Books
are in the care of Mr. and Mrs. George Mer-
chon in English, Dutch, and French.
Philippines, Island of Zamboanga, St.
Jean's Penal Colony. Books in French.
Philippines, Manila. National Library,
Reference Dept. Books in English and
French
Unexpected opportunities to speak and
teach in South Africa under distinguished
auspices made that country the outstanding
experience of the trip, reports Mrs. Loulie
Mathews.
The Baha'i Tenets were received with
great attention and many men, more than
fifty in one talk in Bulawayo, listened atten-
tively to the Principles. Leaving South
Africa and arriving in India we found that
a picture letter had been prepared for us, on
the top were views of South Africa and
underneath the names of every one who was
present at the first talk given. A note was
enclosed that reads as follows:
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Mathews:
Every one who heard you speak was so
delighted with your talks that they all want
you to come back.
We thought it would be appropriate to
send you both a memento of your visit to
South Africa. Talking it over, Mr. Scott
conceived the idea of making a picture let-
ter. Harold Morris caught the vision and
drew the pictures for you.
You brought to us a solution of our re-
ligious difficulties through the Baha'i Cause
and taught us a new and illuminated path-
way to social and spiritual life. Every signa-
ture conveys a special appreciation of your
work and your visit and goes to you with
gratitude.
May you return to us and tell us more of
the bright future depicted in the "New
World Order." — LOTTIE A. ASKELAND.
Mrs. J. Ruhangui£ and Miss Jeanne Neger
Bolles, writing from Zurich on July 27,
1937, send the important news that by their
efforts a Baha'i group has been established in
the city of Budapest. "It consists of six
adult believers and two minors, seventeen
and nineteen years old. Four more adult be-
lievers will declare themselves, they assured
us, after further study of the Teachings
during the summer months. These eleven,
we hope, will constitute an Assembly in the
autumn. The believers all accepted the
Baha'i Faith according to the Administra-
tion and wrote this individually to Shoghi
Effendi. . . . The Nineteen Day Feasts were
kept and are being continued by the be-
lievers. Renie Felbermann, speaking French,
German and English fluently, is the Secre-
tary of the group.
"We left a small library of German and
English books with them. . . . There is
only the Esslemont book and 'World Re-
ligion,' by Shoghi Effendi in Hungarian, and
the Esperanto translation of 'World Re-
ligion,' made by Miss Zamenhof . The 'Hid-
den Words' are now being translated by a
believer into Hungarian.
"The meetings (study class) which grew
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
41
slowly from November (until 45 were pres-
ent on July 13) are being continued in a
very pleasant, central place in the city. Ac-
cording to an article in one of the daily
papers, the group is composed of 'intellec-
tuals' and includes journalists, writers, archi-
tects, doctors, painters, sculptors, presidents
of clubs and business men and women.
There were no Baha'is in Budapest when we
arrived/'
Detailed reports, with interesting com-
ment and analysis of the spiritual conditions
encountered in her teaching work, have been
received from Mme. Gita Orlova. These
cover activities in Copenhagen from Sep-
tember 22 to October 27, and in Stockholm
from October 28 to November 3, and in
Germany from August 24 to September 21,
1936.
At Copenhagen, Mme. Orlova discussed
the Faith with a number of prominent schol-
ars, musicians and diplomats. A number of
press clippings attest the success of this
activity. Among the public meetings held
there, Mme. Orlova spoke at the American
Woman's Club and in the same hall where
previously she had given a lecture recital on
a cultural subject. This meeting was fol-
lowed by questions and answers on the
Cause.
From November 6 to November 1 7, Mme.
Orlova returned to Copenhagen, where a
number of meetings were held in the studio
of Mrs. Ingred Nybo. A study group was
formed at these meetings.
Mme. Orlova found it possible in Copen-
hagen to bring the Faith to the attention of
persons of influence, and associate the Baha'i
conception of World Order with the funda-
mental trend of the age.
At Stockholm, Mme. Orlova had the same
facility to meet the responsible type of per-
son, and through such influence an interview
was arranged with the four largest news-
papers of the city. Much attention was
attracted by this dignified presentation of
the Teachings. A public meeting held at
the Lyceum Club led to many questions and
interested discussion. One of the leading
artists of the city arranged to start a study
group. Mme. Orlova impressed upon her
audiences the fact that the leaders of society
have the greatest responsibility for striving
to establish the new World Order. The fol-
lowing centers were visited by Mme. Orlova
in Germany: Esslingen, Stuttgart, Geisling-
en, Zuffenhausen, Karlsruhe, Heppenheim,
Heidelberg, Frankfurt, Leipzig, Dresden,
Berlin, Hamburg, Bremen, Rostock- Warne-
munde. Most of her meetings in Germany
were in the homes of believers, although sev-
eral public meetings could be arranged. It
is impossible to read this report without real-
izing the importance of clarifying, in every
section of the Baha'i world community, the
Guardian's fundamental instructions on
which the future progress of the Faith de-
pends. Besides finding continuous oppor-
tunity to discuss these matters with be-
lievers, Mme. Orlova met certain people, like
Paul Peroff, a scientist, whose interest in the
Cause can become very important.
"Sunburst," the book written by Mrs.
Lorol Schopflocher on her adventurous
travels and her experiences serving the Cause
in many parts of the world, has been pub-
lished by the firm of Rider and Company,
London, England.
In preparing this volume, the author had
in mind particularly the need of establishing
a link between sophisticated persons and the
reality of religion in this day. It is illus-
trated by a number of unusual photographs,
including signed portraits of Oriental rulers
and Baha'i subjects, some of which were
given Mrs. Schopflocher by Shoghi Effendi.
In November of last year the Baha'is of
Auckland, Sydney and Adelaide had the
great pleasure of a visit from Mr. Siegfried
Schopflocher, a member of the N. S. A. of
U. S. A. and Canada. Some of the Auck-
land members met him on arrival and ar-
ranged for an informal meeting the same
evening as he was leaving Auckland the
same day. A very happy and profitable time
was spent with him, taking the form chiefly
of questions and answers. In Sydney and
Adelaide Mr. Schopflocher was able to
address public meetings as well as meetings
with the Spiritual Assembly. In an address
to the latter in Sydney Mr. Schopflocher ex-
pressed his deep joy at finding, throughout
Australia and New Zealand, the real spirit of
unity and true Baha'i love and friendship.
He stressed the need of fostering the com-
munity spirit through properly organized
42
THE BAHA'f WORLD
socials as the test of Baha'is was their capac-
ity to associate together in love and har-
mony. This phase of Baha'i life, he said,
could not be over-emphasized. Other points
stressed were:
1. The benefits gained by observing the
Fast.
2. The need of the N. S. A. to gain the
confidence of believers and the duty of
local assemblies and all believers to sup-
port and obey its rulings.
3. The enormous value of summer
schools, the primary object of which is
that of a school — Teaching.
4. The importance of registration.
5. The need of understanding in dealing
with problems as to voting member-
ship.
6. The importance of the Nineteen Day
Feast.
Mr. Schopflocher paid a visit to Mr. Bol-
ton's newly erected house at Yerrinbool
which Mr. Bolton wishes to be used as a
Summer School when arrangements can be
made for this much-desired project. The
friends appreciate greatly the valuable work
Mr. Schopflocher was able to accomplish in
so short a time.
Mrs. Frances Stewart, Secretary of the
Inter- America Committee, sends the follow-
ing account of her experiences in taking the
Baha'i Message to Mexico in 1937.
"When on July 15 last, our ship ap-
proached the harbor of Vera Cruz, and we
saw the scars left by cannons that had bom-
barded the city in former years, our prayer
was that we might be privileged to bring to
the people of Mexico the great Baha'i Mes-
sage of Unity and Love. This prayer was
granted, for Baha'u'llah had prepared a
group to receive this Message in a most won-
derful manner.
"In Mexico City, while speaking to a
Woman's Club on the subject of: 'Peace in a
New World Order' and quoting from the
Writings quite freely, I noticed the deep in-
terest of a lady not far from me. After the
meeting she hurried to beg me to go with
her that evening to the home of a friend
where a group met weekly for study and
discussion. I felt impelled to break a former
engagement and gladly went with Miss
Aurora Gutierrez to meet nine Mexican peo-
ple, who later became the first Believers in
Mexico. My friend explained that for sev-
eral years this group of seekers had met
regularly to discuss spiritual questions and to
study the increasing turmoil in the world.
After a beautiful prayer given by Mr. Pedro
Espinosa, the group leader, in which he
asked for spiritual vision and understanding,
they asked me to repeat the message I had
given at the club in the afternoon. I then
asked if I might tell them of the Baha'i
Message.
"Way into the morning hours they lis-
tened and asked questions about the Cause
and asked that I meet with them often and
they would bring to the circle all of their
group. After three such meetings with an
ever larger group, the leader told me that
they had for some time been convinced that
somewhere in the world a New Manifesta-
tion had appeared to give the Truth for the
New Era. So convinced had they been that
they had sent their leader, Mr, Espinosa, to
the United States where he traveled from
New York City £o California in search of
evidence of this New Manifestation. He did
not find it but returned to Mexico con-
vinced: 'That from a foreign country a
Teacher would bring them the Good News
of a New Manifestation.' They had con-
tinued their regular studies and when they
heard the Baha'i Message, they were con-
vinced it was the Truth they had long
sought. At this meeting Mr. Espinosa handed
me a paper on which were written the names
of the nine I had first met saying they
wished to be received as Believers of the
Baha'i Faith and would become the center
for spreading the Message throughout Mexi-
co. I later learned the leader has had experi-
ence in the publishing field and he was en-
thusiastic when asked if he could help to
translate the writings into Spanish for use in
all Latin America. He is now assisting in
the translation of the book of Prayers,
Baha'i Procedure and the Baha'i Study
Course and soon these will be ready for use
among the many inquirers throughout South
America.
"The Mexico Baha'i Group will elect their
first Spiritual Assembly on next April 21,
the first in Latin America. They meet each
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
43
Friday evening for study and discussion and
new friends are being attracted to the Cause.
One of the group is a primary teacher and
she is teaching the Cause to a group of chil-
dren. Weekly letters tell of the radiant
Baha'i spirit that inspires this group and
already a teaching fund is being saved to
spread the Message throughout Mexico.
"A true Baha'i Feast was held the evening
before I left Mexico City. Roses, red and
white, banked the table, the music of violin
and piano spoke the universal language of
harmony and radiant faces gave evidence of
hearts and minds united in Love and Under-
standing to build the New World Order of
Baha'u'llah. That night I told the story of
Quarratu'l-'Ayn and among those present
were women who had been active in securing
the recently enacted laws giving greater free-
dom to the women of Mexico."
The Honolulu Assembly gives interesting
details about teaching activities carried on
by visiting Baha'is.
"It was our good fortune to have Mrs.
E. R. Mathews and Mrs. R. D. Little with
us in December, i935, January, February,
and part of March, 1936. Through Mrs.
Mathews the Baha'is presented gifts at
Christmas to the children of Kalaupapa, of
which at that time there were 75. These
children are born to the lepers at the Kalau-
papa Settlement on the Island of Molokai.
They do not have leprosy as they are taken
from the parents at birth and are kept in two
homes in Honolulu, one for girls and one for
boys, and are charges of the government till
they reach the age of 2 1 .
"Through Mr. and Mrs. Mathews our As-
sembly was the recipient of a very generous
gift from a friend which enabled us to do
many things; among them give several two-
year magazine subscriptions to the Leper
Settlement, subscriptions to the girls' and
boys' homes on this Island, also to the
Susannah Wesley Home (children's home) ;
a gift to the Book Fund of the Library of
Hawaii where we had the privilege of having
the Auditorium for our Monday evening
meetings free of charge; and a tree planted
in the new park dedicated to the Greatest
Holy Leaf.
"During this time, on January 17, Mr.
Charles Bishop, our International Bahd'i
from Geneva, arrived in Honolulu on a hur-
ried business trip, so our Nineteen Day Feast
was held on January 17 instead of on Janu-
ary 19 so that we could have the pleasure of
having Mr. Bishop meet with us. Mrs.
Mathews was hostess, and the feast was held
in The House Without a Key.' Fifteen
Baha'is were present, four non-Baha'i
friends coming in for the material feast.
"In February, 1937, we were delightfully
surprised to receive a radiogram from Mrs.
Mamie Setb informing us she was aboard the
liner and was arriving in Honolulu in a
couple of days. While she was making a
business trip she gave unstintingly of her
time to the Baha'i Cause. She took charge
of our public meetings at the Library, our
Friday morning class, and gave us an extra
hour every Wednesday morning which was
given over to the study of the Administra-
tion. In the meantime she was always giv-
ing the Message to some one, alone and in
groups. Those six weeks were most happy
ones and we were sorry to have her leave us.
"Mrs. Mathews arrived in Honolulu May
8 aboard the Franconia en route home after
having made a world tour in the interest of
the Bahi'i Cause, especially to place Baha'i
books in the Libraries and book-stores of the
different cities visited. These books were
translated into German, Spanish, French,
Dutch and English and were accepted by the
Libraries in cities of India, Siam, Java, South
Africa and in Manila. She was entertained
at the Nuuanu home of Mrs. S. A. Baldwin.
In the afternoon she talked to a large group
of friends on the conditions and experiences
she had had in placing these books.
"Miss Martha Root arrived May 26 on the
Tatsuta Maru for a day's visit before con-
tinuing to Japan, on this, her fourth tour of
the world. Mrs. S. A. Baldwin was hostess
at a Tea given for Miss Root, about thirty
friends being present to bid her Aloha. Miss
Root gave a most interesting talk of her ex-
periences of meeting different ruling families
in Europe and presenting the Baha'i Cause
to them.
"Mrs. G. Gunning-Davis of the Chicago
Assembly passed through Honolulu June 21
on her way to Australia to spend a year visit-
ing her mother and other relatives. Several
of the friends met her at the boat and took
Exterior views of the reconstructed House of Baha'u'llah's father, in Takur,
Mazindaran, Iran. The rebuilding of this house has been made
possible through the contribution of Mr. Asasi of Tihran.
44
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
45
her on a sight-seeing drive. Then eight of
the friends met at Waikiki for lunch, after
which a most pleasant two hours were spent
listening to her tell of the high-lights of the
Convention. Her plans are to return via
Honolulu next year and we shall be eagerly
looking forward to seeing her again.
Mrs. Marion Little arrived June 3 to spend
the summer as the house-guest of Mrs. S. A.
Baldwin. Most of her time was spent at the
Baldwin home on Maui, and word comes to
us that she did some very notable work for
the Cause on that Island.
"Mrs. Stuart French, a member of the
National Spiritual Assembly, accompanied
by Mr. French, passed through Honolulu
August 23 on the Mar/frosa on a cruise to
Australia and New Zealand. She was enter-
tained by the Baha'is at a community
luncheon at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Mar-
ques. Around the large table sat twelve of
the friends with Mrs. French at the head.
It was one of the most happy gatherings we
have had and we feel that our guest was the
very embodiment of the first counsel unto
us 'Possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart.'
After lunch we were granted the privilege of
asking questions. Time for Aloha came all
too soon.
"Homeward bound, Mr. and Mrs. French
arrived at Honolulu September 29. Mrs.
Baldwin, being in Honolulu this time,
begged for the honor and privilege of enter-
taining Mrs. French. A delightful luncheon
was served in the room dedicated to the
Baha'i Center. Later we gathered at the
cottage and Mrs. French told us of some of
her wonderful experience in Australia and
New Zealand. The time for departure came
much too soon and it is our hope that they
will return to us some day for an indefinite
stay.
"Mrs. Mathews visited Honolulu again in
1938.
"At once she made contacts and began
teaching several times a week. As she went
into the different shops to buy this and that
she dropped a word and soon had several
classes. She found that the people in charge
of her hotel had been studying many things
and were just ready to absorb the teachings,
so eager, in fact, that this week I was asked
for a list of all the Baha'i books so they
could send for them all. She gathered many
around her and when she departed she left
three definite classes of six each. Two of
these classes we can keep definite contact
with as they were left with two of our be-
lievers, the other is with the friends at the
hotel and they seem to be afire with the
Cause and they will spread it wherever they
can.
"As is usual, during the last few weeks
many people began to hear of this Baha'i
teacher and to ask her to talk to their differ-
ent groups. At the weekly luncheon of
the Pan-Pacific Club both Mr. and Mrs.
Mathews were invited to be the guest speak-
ers, and while it was not a Baha'i talk, Mr.
Mathews telling of his contact with the
schools in England and Mrs. Mathews telling
of her trip to South America, still she was
known by all as the Baha'i Visiting Teacher
and these people began to ask what it was
all about. About eighty people attended,
which was their largest crowd for some time
and they were all delighted with her talk for
it was most interesting.
"Besides these classes and speaking before
the group at the Baha'i Center every Mon-
day evening and before the class at the Cen-
ter every Friday morning she was asked to
give the Message to two Sunday-School
classes at the Central Union Church (a
church that takes in, or rather is composed
of many denominations and before which
Mamie Seto has spoken many times) and to
two classes of students at the McKinley
High School and two classes of students at
the University of Hawaii. In all these
classes they seemed eager to hear of the
Cause, apparently there was no opposition,
and all were eager for the literature. She
said that for the first time she was able to
give the direct teaching.
"At Christmas Mrs. Mathews went to the
leper home for children on this Island and
took gifts for all the children and shortly
before sailing she received an invitation from
the Leper Settlement on Molokai asking if
she could come to see them, they loved her
and wanted to tell her so. Four days before
sailing one of the trustees took her by plane
one morning, returning about six in the
evening. Her experience was most wonder-
ful of which only she can tell.
46
THE BAHA'f WORLD
"This year we have had two new believers
who have been coming regularly for a long
time and we feel they are tried and true, and
while there has not been a great number of
new ones taken in during Mrs. Mathews*
stay, we do feel that the work she has ac-
complished was greater than what has ever
been accomplished before. None of our
group are trained teachers and none of us are
able to give all our time but we are steadily
growing I feel sure, and we are hoping
through His mercy and bounty to 'become
stars shining in the horizon of guidance,
birds singing in the rose-garden of immor-
tality, lions roaring in the forest of knowl-
edge and wisdom, and whales swimming in
the ocean of life.' "
TEACHING REPORT
In its annual report for 1937-1938, the
National Teaching Committee describes the
range of the activities so accelerated by the
Seven Year Plan in North America.
"The dynamic calls of the Guardian place
before the American Baha'is that portion of
the Divine Plan of 'Abdu'1-Baha for teach-
ing the Baha'i Faith that they must fulfill
during the seven remaining years of the first
Baha'i century. The glorious task of estab-
lishing the New World Order throughout
the length and breadth of the American con-
tinents carries with it grave responsibilities,
but at the same time it is releasing spiritual
power such as has never before descended to
these countries. Before our very eyes we
have seen, even during the first year of this
Seven Year Plan, the fulfillment of many of
the promises of the Master that He would
ever be with, guide and bless those who arose
in the spread of the Divine Teachings. The
sacrifices and devotion of the friends have
been the magnet for divine confirmations,
opening the doors and achieving ever-
increasing victories for our beloved Faith.
Let those who are seeking the breaths of the
Holy Spirit arise as Baha'i pioneers, sever
themselves from home ties, enter one of the
virgin areas, and they will experience a flood
of Heavenly Blessings.
"The American Baha'is, to an individual,
have arisen to play their parts in the divine
drama being enacted on the horizon of
America's spiritual destiny. The progress of
the teaching work during the first year of
the Seven Year Plan, if intensified as it gains
momentum, will bring forth spiritual influ-
ences that will assure the achievement of our
goal.
"It is impossible to recount the unceasing
sacrifices, the untiring efforts, the heroic
deeds, and the depth of spiritual conscious-
ness developed by the friends during the past
year. Nor is it possible to gain more than a
slight impression of this great collective
action, carrying forward as it did in all
directions, the divine Banner of Baha'u'llah.
In not one instance has the effort of even
the humblest been without result. Certain-
ly such a standard of service and such an
outpouring of heavenly confirmations have
never been witnessed in this country.
Pioneer Teaching in Virgin Areas
"Pioneers have arisen and, leaving home
communities, have moved into new states
and established the Faith. Many, singly and
alone, have entered areas of spiritual dark-
ness and brought the Light of Guidance.
Others have diligently carried on the work
of developing these new centers of attrac-
tion, while one and all have continuously in-
creased their efforts to expand the Faith and
strengthen the institutions of its New World
Order.
"This pioneer teaching work has been of
two types: first, by settlement; and second,
by visit. Many who have been able to travel
into these virgin areas, have been unable to
establish themselves there permanently, but
by repeated visits or prolonged sojourns have
established the Faith. It is clear, however,
from the following statement of the Guard-
ian, that the type of pioneer teaching service
productive of best results is that of teaching
by settlement: 'This task can best be accom-
plished by means of settlement in these states
of at least one believer.'
"Every Baha'i is literally carrying a torch
of guidance in his hands, and if he settles in
one place then the Light is permanently es-
tablished there. Pioneer teachers should
leave that spot of settlement only when
others have become ignited and, through a
Spiritual Assembly, become the focal center
of its diffusion.
"The Teaching Committee feels it is im-
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
47
portant to clarify the value of 'teaching by
settlement.' If five Baha'i teachers visited,
one after the other, five different cities there
would be interest and attraction in each of
these cities. However, if active follow-up
work is not continuously done in each of
them after these teachers have returned
home, the Light would gradually die out.
On the other hand, if these five teachers each
settle in one of the five cities, the Faith will
be firmly established in each city.
"One of our most successful pioneer
teachers who previously felt it important to
move from place to place in order to sow the
seeds more widely, writes, after her experi-
ences of the past year, as follows:
" *I am more and more convinced of the
absolute necessity of carrying through with
a group until they are established and com-
pletely able to stand on their own feet. As
one reviews our teaching methods during the
past, one realizes the tragic lost motion and
waste of devoted effort, because the work
was not originally carried through to the
finish/
"During the past year, forty-eight Baha'i
teachers pioneered in virgin areas, twenty by
settlement and twenty-eight by teaching
visits. It should be pointed out that in re-
ferring to virgin areas here, we have included
the states and provinces without Spiritual
Assemblies.
"The twenty who taught by settlement
are: Mr. Walter H. Blakely, Mr. and Mrs.
Roy Boyle, Mrs. Marguerite Breugger, Miss
Elizabeth Conlin, Mr. and Mrs. Albert P.
Entzminger, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Ewing,
Mrs. Kathryn Frankland, Miss Marion
Holley, Mr. H. R. Hurlbut, Mrs. Lorrol
Jackson, Mr. Samuel Jayne, Mr. Edwin Koyl,
Dr. A. L. Morris, Dr. E. L. Morris, Miss Eve
B. Nicklin, and Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth
Smith.
"The Entzminger family left Geyserviile,
California, in the spring of 1936 for Okla-
homa City, Oklahoma. Some teaching work
had been done previously in that city by
visiting teachers but there were no enrolled
Baha'is. On April 21, 1938, a Spiritual
Assembly was elected by ten registered
Baha'is. In addition to regular Baha'i meet-
ings there is a study class for adults and an
active children's group. The Entzmingers
write: 'We repeatedly marvel over the way
things have opened for us. You cannot
imagine how eager it makes us to serve —
Such confirmations! — Again! again! and
again!'
"Mrs. Marguerite Breugger of Wilmette,
Illinois, moved to Fargo, North Dakota, in
the fail of 1936. She has done active teach-
ing work there and in Dickinson, North-
wood, Valley City, Culbertson, Columbus,
and Bismarck. An early issue of BAHAI
NEWS will carry a picture of the Baha'i Cen-
ter in Bismarck, established by Mrs. Breugger
.together with the first Baha'i of North
Dakota. An active study class is being con-
ducted in Bismarck and several are studying
independently in each of the other cities.
"Mr. Walter H. Blakely, of Worcester,
Massachusetts, moved to Birmingham, Ala-
bama, in November, 1937, and is actively
engaged in the teaching work in that city,
having a number of persons interested in the
Faith.
"Mrs. Lorrol O. Jackson of Seattle moved
to Helena, Montana, in August, 1937. At
that time there were three registered Baha'is
there. At this time there are eight registered
Baha'is, a regular study class and a thriving
children's class.
"The State of Texas has been the point of
settlement of four Baha'is. Mrs. Kathryn
Frankland of Berkeley, California, moved to
Corpus Christi. Mr. H. R. Hurlbut of San
Francisco moved to San Antonio where Mr.
and Mrs. Kenneth Smith of Moline, Illinois,
had settled. San Antonio now has a Baha'i
Group of four and a study group of eleven.
Active work has been done by Mrs. Frank-
land in Corpus Christi and Austin.
"New Mexico has likewise been blessed
with pioneer Baha'i settlers. Doctors A. L.
and E. L. Morris moved from Toledo to
Albuquerque to teach in this virgin state.
They were accompanied by Mr. and Mrs.
Roy Boyle and Mr. Samuel Jayne of Toledo.
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Ewing of Lima have
also settled in Albuquerque; so there is now
a Baha'i Group of seven there. It is of in-
terest to note in passing that these Baha'is
are studying Spanish so that they may teach
the large Mexican population in their native
tongue, over fifty per cent of the population
being Mexican and Indian.
48
THE BAHA'f WORLD
"Miss Elizabeth Conlin of Vancouver re-
cently moved to Taber, Alberta, in order to
establish the Faith in that City.
"West Virginia was the virgin area at-
tracting two Baha'i teachers. Miss Marion
Holley moved to Charleston, but conditions
later required her return to California. Dur-
ing her stay in West Virginia teaching con-
tacts were made in Charleston, Huntington,
Morgantown, Fairmont, Clarksburg, and
Parkersburg. Miss Eve B. Nicklin, recently
returned from Brazil, has moved to Parkers-
burg where active teaching work is now be-
ing done.
"Nevada was the objective of Mr. and
Mrs. Elmore Duckett of Los Angeles. As the
Ducketts were making plans to move to that
State, the Hand of Providence removed Mr.
Duckett to the Supreme Concourse. A be-
quest, however, was left by him to assist in
the teaching work in Nevada. Thus their
devotion and sacrifice for the Seven Year
Plan will carry on.
"Those who have carried forward the
pioneer work by teaching visits to virgin ter-
ritory are as follows:
"Mrs. Dorothy Baker, Mrs. Amelie Bod-
mer, Dr. E. Stanwood Cobb, Mrs. Ruth Cor-
nell, Mrs. Oni A. Finks, Mrs. Mary Fisher,
Mr. Louis G. Gregory, Mrs. Emogene Hoagg,
Mrs. Mabel Rice-Wray Ives, Mrs. Edna
Johnson, Mrs. Marion Little, Mrs. Loulie
Mathews, Mrs. Gertrude Matteson, Mrs.
Ruth Moffett, Mr. and Mrs. Harlan Ober,
Miss Agnes O'Neill, Mrs. Edwinna Powell,
Miss Marguerite Reimer, Mr. C. Mason
Remey, Mrs. Orcella Rexford, Mrs. Marion
Rhodes, Mrs. Rosemary Sala, Mrs. Mamie
Seto, Mrs. Terah C. Smith, Mrs. Gertrude
Struven, Miss Muriel Warnicker, Mrs. Gayle
Woolson.
"Mrs. Mabel Ives, whose pioneer teaching
work has been very successful, has taught
during the past year in Scranton, Pa., and
Moncton, New Brunswick. In addition she
has introduced the Faith into Charlottetown,
Prince Edward Island, and St. John and
Halifax, Nova Scotia. Mrs. Ives went to
Moncton in September, 1937, being assisted
later by Mrs. Rosemary Sala and Mrs.
Dorothy Baker. On April 21 of this year,
the first Spiritual Assembly of New Bruns-
wick was elected at Moncton. Mrs. Ives,
assisted by her husband, Mr. Howard Ives,
later taught in Scranton and there is now an
active study class there.
"Mr. Louis G. Gregory has carried the
Message actively throughout the South,
teaching in Universities, etc., enroute to
Tuskegee where he has given many lectures
and conducted study classes for the past five
months. There are now six confirmed be-
lievers in that city and the study group of
forty recently sent an enthusiastic expression
of their appreciation to the Guardian for
having been the recipient of the Message.
Concerning Tuskegee, Mr. Gregory com-
ments: 'I feel that the Most High, Baha'u-
'llah, Who has showered so many signs of
His Blessings on this famous community, is
now willing to give them a further blessing
of Divine Knowledge and spiritual outpour-
ing.'
"Great success was likewise achieved in
Normal and Montgomery, Alabama. In
Montgomery we now have one registered
Baha'i with others attracted and studying
the Teachings.
"Mrs. Grace Ober ha§ devoted much time
to the teaching work in Canada, having
spent three months assisting the Qroup in
Toronto. The result of this work and the
assistance of Mr. Ober have brought new
souls into the Faith to the number that made
possible the election of the first Spiritual As-
sembly in Ontario on April 21, 1938. Mrs.
Ober has been teaching during the past two
months in Louisville, Kentucky, where a
study class has been established.
"Mr. Harlan Ober lectured on the Faith
in Binghamton, Syracuse, and Ithaca, New
York; Scranton, Pa.; Toronto, Canada, and
in many cities in northern Michigan.
"Mrs. Ruth Moffett, in addition to her
other continuous teaching services, achieved
great success for the Faith in Wyoming
where she taught during November and De-
cember, 1937, in Laramie and Cheyenne. In
Laramie there is an active study class under
the direction of Mr. and Mrs. Raphael Lilly-
white who moved to Wyoming to teach early
in 1936. Mrs. Moflfett writes of this Group:
'If you could see the interest and earnestness
of these new souls, you would feel assured
that the results of our labors are well worth
while/
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
49
"Mrs. Moffett is now on a trip in the
South, going as far as New Orleans, lectur-
ing and broadcasting over the radio on the
Faith.
"Miss Marguerite Reimer of Milwaukee
and Mrs. Gayle Woolson of St. Paul, spent
six weeks doing follow-up work and teach-
ing in new cities in the Dakotas. Their trip
covered 4,500 miles by automobile; more
than thirty-three lectures were given; the
Faith was introduced into four new cities;
the study class in Lead, South Dakota, was
strengthened with five new members, and a
class was left in Huron, South Dakota. Of
special interest in connection with the teach-
ing work of these two youthful teachers is
the many lectures given in schools and col-
leges.
"Miss Reimer also accompanied Mrs.
Terah Smith to North Carolina where they
have been teaching in Raleigh and Durham.
In July, prior to her work in North Carolina
in January, Mrs. Smith spent six weeks in Las
Vegas, Nevada, introducing the Faith into
that State.
"It is regrettable that space prohibits re-
cording in detail the work of all the pioneer
teachers. However, the foregoing brief
statement of service will convey to the
friends an idea of the manner in which our
pioneer teachers are exerting themselves for
the spread of the Faith and of the confirma-
tions their labors are receiving.
Assembly Teaching
"The Assembly, being the unit upon
which the Administrative Order of the Faith
is built, should in reality become the bulwark
of the teaching work. The active Assembly
continuously expands its teaching services,
both locally and into new areas; constantly
develops new teaching methods and mate-
rials; through its teacher training classes be-
comes the source of new teachers; and
through its appeals and urging fills the ever-
increasing demand for pioneer workers in
virgin areas.
"The National Spiritual Assembly for the
past few years has urged, as a most impor-
tant part of our teaching program, the estab-
lishment of the Faith into a new city by each
local Spiritual Assembly. We now have 79
Local Assemblies, ten having come into
existence during the past year. If each
of these Assemblies should establish a
new Assembly during the coming year, it
will be seen how rapidly the Faith will ex-
pand.
"During the past year, according to re-
ports from fifty-five Assemblies, twenty-six
Assemblies have introduced the Faith into
eighty-two cities. Follow-up work is being
carried forward in forty-one of these new
cities. Twenty-five Assemblies used local
teachers in doing this splendid work which
demonstrated the increasing strength of our
Assembly and individual capacity.
"Teacher training classes are being con-
ducted in fifteen Assemblies, which, while
encouraging, will not meet the requirements
for new teachers as the Seven Year Plan
progresses.
"Practically all the Assemblies are now
holding regular public meetings, presenting
directly and forcibly the spiritual teachings
of BahaVllah and the New World Order
which His social teachings assure.
"Late in 1936 the Teaching Committee
issued a bulletin entitled, 'Teaching the
Baha'i Faith,' discussing in detail various
teaching methods. The material contained
therein can be of great assistance to Assem-
blies at this time, and they would do well to
again review it.
"Of great importance is the use of ra-
dio for teaching purposes. New York,
Springfield and Vancouver Assemblies re-
port gratifying results from this method of
teaching.
"The plan of radio teaching used by the
Vancouver Assembly is worthy of study. In
areas where two or more Assemblies are in
close proximity, the plan might be employed
by these Assemblies jointly.
"A series of eleven fifteen-minute broad-
casts were given under the general theme of
'The World at Home.' Each presentation
dealt with one of the social principles of the
Faith now of such vital interest to all. The
Baha'is invited friends into their homes for
a discussion hour. The groups listened to
the presentation and then discussed the
points involved to demonstrate the efficacy
of Baha'u'llah's teachings. It was announced
that if anyone wished to organize a discussion
group and wished a discussion leader, one
Interior views of the reconstructed House of
Baha'u'llah's father, in Takur, Iran.
50
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
51
would be supplied by the Secretary of the
Baha'i Assembly.
"The results of this effort were: the estab-
lishment of three fireside groups amongst the
believers; five non-Baha'is requested group
meetings at their homes during the program;
and at the conclusion of the series, the estab-
lishment of a Baha'i study class of forty-five
students.
"The Fireside Meeting is reported almost
unanimously as the most important type of
meeting for teaching purposes. It is the
intimate discussion which takes place there
that permits deeper understanding and final
confirmation.
"During the past year, of the 55 Assem-
blies reporting, 34 indicated a total of 117
newly enrolled Baha'is.
Isolated Bahd'is
"There are 233 cities with 328 isolated
Baha'is, 53 new isolated believers having
been added to the list during the past year.
Each of these is the possible nucleus of in-
tensive teaching work. Local Assemblies,
Regional Teaching Committees, and Bah£'i
teachers should contact these isolated be-
lievers, stimulating and assisting them to
open further fields to the Faith. Illustrating
how the isolated believer can be most helpful
in teaching work, the action of the isolated
Baha'is of Arlington and Richmond, Vir-
ginia, is worthy of note. In cooperation
with the Regional Teaching Committee in
that area, these friends arranged public meet-
ings and follow-up in their cities, the lec-
tures on the Faith being given by Mr.
Charles Mason Remey and Dr. Stanwood
Cobb.
Regional Teaching Committees
"Regional Teaching Committees were ap-
pointed by the National Spiritual Assembly
to stimulate teaching work within their re-
spective areas, and particularly to develop
the extension teaching work in areas outside
the jurisdiction of Local Spiritual Assem-
blies. The reports of the Regional Com-
mittees published in Baha'i News of April
1938, indicate better than any brief com-
ment we can make the excellent work they
have done.
"The National Teaching Committee
would like to commend especially the work
of the Regional Committees in stimulating
the activities of Baha'i Groups and isolated
Baha'is. These outpost units are one of
our greatest assets in extension teaching
work, and it is hoped that Regional Com-
mittees and Assemblies will continue to
assist them.
"One point which should be clarified is the
relationship of the extension work of the
Regional Committees to that of Local As-
semblies. There should be no conflict in the
spheres of activity, as each Local Assembly
is both encouraged and urged to introduce
the Faith into as many surrounding cities as
is possible. The Regional Committees will
undertake the introduction of the Faith into
cities not yet served by Local Assemblies.
Publicity
"With the growing search for the solution
of the world's ills, the press of the country is
more freely using Baha'i articles and giving
publicity to Baha'i activities. Good articles
on various phases of the Faith are an excel-
lent means of teaching. Pioneer teachers
have found this to be one of their most
helpful means of contact. Several instances
have come to our attention where individuals
in virgin areas have renewed their study of
the Faith, as a result of articles they have
seen in the newspapers.
Temple Models and Slides
"Pioneer teachers have found that the
Temple is one of the most powerful teachers
of the Faith. It is always a ready means of
securing openings for lectures, displays, etc.
Where contacts are otherwise difficult, a dis-
play of the Temple model or an illustrated
lecture is always welcome. In order to fur-
ther this important instrument of public
work, the National Assembly has made avail-
able four Temple models for display use
throughout the country. Likewise, slides
showing the progress of the Temple work,
with various views of its present beauty,
have been made available, as outlined in
Baha'i News for December, 1937. The
Teaching Committee will be happy to ar-
range with Local Assemblies or Groups for
the exhibition of the Temple models or loan
of the Temple slides.
Sarah J. Farmer, Founder of Green Acre: O Maid-servant of God! Be rejoiced
at this glad tidings, whereby the hearts of the people of the Kingdom of Abha arc
moved with joy. Verily, I beseech God to make Green Acre as the Paradise of
Abha, so that the melodies of the Nightingales of Sanctity may be heard from it,
and that the chanting of the Verses of Unity may be raised therein, to cause the
clouds of the great Gift to pour upon it the rains falling from heaven, to make those
countries become verdant with the myrtles of Truth and Inner Significances, and
to plant therein blessed trees, with the Hand of Providence, which may bring forth
pure and excellent fruits wheref rom the Fragrances of God may be diffused through-
out all regions. These signs shall surely appear, and these lights shall shine forth.
— 'Abdu'l-Babd, to Sarah J. Farmer.
52
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
53
Opening New Cities
"Appeals have been made in the Baha'i
News for names and addresses of interested
ones in cities where we now have no Baha'is.
Names and addresses, even of friends are
most helpful. Few of the friends, however,
have sent this important information to the
Teaching Committee. It was through the
names of friends in Louisville, Kentucky,
that Mrs. Ober's most effective work in that
city was accomplished.
"In order to assist Regional Committees,
Local Assemblies, and individuals in opening
new cities to the Faith, the Teaching Com-
mittee issued a bulletin in November, 1937,
outlining in detail the methods used by vari-
ous of our successful pioneer teachers.
"It is important that whoever plans open-
ing a new city to the Faith should make a
careful initial survey of conditions there.
With an understanding of the psychology of
the public, the right type of lecture, with
appropriate titles, can be arranged. This is
of particular importance in virgin states
where the Faith has not yet penetrated.
Titles which seem critical or might be con-
strued as antagonistic should not be used.
Public meetings immediately bring requests
for Baha'i books. Therefore one should
always see that our literature is readily avail-
able in the public libraries. The Nation-
al Assembly has voted a budget to the
Library Committee to supply books for this
purpose.
"The National Assembly has directed that
any teacher giving lectures in new cities
should do so in a manner relating it to the
Administrative Order. Therefore, programs,
publicity, announcements, etc., should indi-
cate that the lectures are being given 'under
the jurisdiction of the Regional (or Na-
tional) Teaching Committee,' as the case
may be.
Training of Bahd'i Teachers
"Earlier in this report we stated that fif-
teen Assemblies are now conducting teacher
training classes. The National and all Re-
gional Teaching Committees during the past
year could not meet the demands for
teachers. Therefore it is evident that As-
semblies must most seriously consider the
grave responsibility they have in stimulating
potential teachers and providing means both
for their study and experience.
"The three Summer Schools offer an ideal
opportunity for intensive study and prepara-
tion. One of the most important aspects of
the Summer Schools is that with so many
Baha'is brought into close relationship there
is demonstrated true, happy Baha'i living
which, above all, is the true teacher. The
Summer Schools can therefore prove that re-
ligion in reality, is a way of life, and the
Baha'i Faith the true way of living for this
troubled age.
"A new method of training and prepara-
tion for active teaching was demonstrated
by Miss Marguerite Reimer who assisted ex-
perienced pioneer teachers in opening various
cities to the Faith. On these trips Miss
Reimer took care of all the administrative
details of the campaign and, to the extent
possible, assisted in the follow-up work. Let
us hope that more young Baha'i teachers will
follow this example.
Attitude of the Public
"The Guardian in his urgent appeals for
more dramatic activity directs our attention
to the chaotic conditions rapidly developing
throughout the world. The increasing tests
have brought about a corresponding search
for the solution of the problems. Thus the
public is more and more appreciative of the
Teachings of Baha'u'llah. What is needed is
a sufficient number of energetic teachers who
will continuously raise higher the Banner of
Truth so that many more may know of this
Revelation. With this amazing receptivity
on the part of the public, nothing less than
the direct method of public teaching meets
the general need of society. World chaos can
move in one of two directions: either to
complete destruction, or to World Order.
As more people realize this most serious pre-
dicament, they are seeking the orderly proc-
esses of civilization. Let us therefore neither
hesitate or falter in our vigorous public pre-
sentation of the Faith.
The Spirit of Pioneer Teaching
"Though our numbers may be few and
the problems we face many, yet the in-
vincible spirit of the Faith will enable us to
THE BAHA'f WORLD
overcome all obstacles and ultimately gain
complete victory. In the following quota-
tion the Guardian reiterates the promises of
Divine assistance:
" 'But in the field of Baha'i service, as the
history of the Cause abundantly demon-
strates, there is no obstacle that can be said
to be insurmountable. Every difficulty will,
in due time, be solved. But continued and
collective effort is also needed. The Baha'i
teacher should not get discouraged at the
consciousness of the limitations within or
without him. He should rather persevere,
and be confident, that no matter how numer-
ous and perplexing the difficulties that con-
front him may appear, he is continually
assisted and guided through divine confir-
mations. He should consider himself as a
mere instrument in the hands of God and
should therefore, cease looking at his own
merits. The first and most important
qualifications of a Baha'i teacher is indeed,
unqualified loyalty and attachment to the
Cause. . . .
" 'What the Cause now requires is ... a
. . . number of devoted, sincere and loyal
supporters, who in utter disregard of their
own weaknesses and limitations and with
hearts afire with the love of God, forsake
their all for the sake of spreading and estab-
lishing His Faith.' In other words, what is
mostly needed now is a Baha'i pioneer!
"Who are the Baha'i pioneers who will
arise in response to these dynamic calls and
settle in the virgin areas throughout the
country?"
BAHA'I EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS
In the formation of a community bound
not merely by temporary, or occasional, or
partial ties, the development of educational
institutions plays a vital role. For their
function is to give the sentiment of unity a
firm foundation in conscious understanding,
and a true expression through full realization
of the significance of the essential aims.
There is no similarity between Baha'i in-
stitutions and those which in the past have
been only concerned with theology. Nor are
they an attempt to parallel the secular insti-
tutions which convey knowledge without
spiritual experience or sound reference to the
underlying problems of human civilization.
Baha'i educational institutions, even those
physically primitive and restricted, have
concern with the principles which make for
the regeneration of character and the rise
of a new world community. They represent
the new balance which BahaVllah has estab-
lished between the subjective and the social
self. Even though they have no facilities
for the consideration of the multitude of
facts constituting the body of acquired
knowledge, they can and do clarify those
principles of truth which are as the branches
supporting the leaves of knowledge. And
they can and do realize the vital trunk of
reality which, in turn, supports and nour-
ishes the limbs.
Therefore it has become a sign of the de-
velopment of a national Baha'i community
beyond the phase of personal conviction and
general sentiment, that Summer Schools
come into existence and the problems of
spiritual education are faced and gradually
solved.
The foundation of Baha'i educational in-
stitutions has been firmly laid in the Summer
Schools which, beginning with Green Acre
at Eliot, Maine, have been established not
only in the United States but also in Eng-
land, Australia and, until civil authorities
prevented, in Germany. A detailed report
is presented elsewhere in the present work on
the programs carried out at Green Acre,
Geyserville and Louhelen Ranch during the
period under review.
The history of religion indicates that the
rise of formal education through college and
university has followed the birth of faith so
slowly that the spiritual instruction reflected
the era of creed and ecclesiastical philosophy
at the expense of the simpler truths of Reve-
lation. Moreover, in certain instances the
nature of faith as grasped by the early be-
lievers was felt to be even antagonistic to
knowledge. The real capacity of education
to serve in the development of social per-
sonality in its full sense and in the propaga-
tion of universal truths which constitute the
pillars of civilization has consequently not
been apparent.
But the Bahd'i Faith includes knowledge,
and its spirit in the body of its adherents
reconciles the activities of soul and mind.
The Baha'i, of whatever age or condition, is
CURRENT BAHA'i ACTIVITIES
and must be a student. Therefore, in this
era, the realm of education is clearly marked,
and the facilities for sharing knowledge ap-
peared in its early period. The Baha'is are
wholly conscious of the fact that Baha'u'llah
declared that Religion is a flame to be pro-
tected by the glass of knowledge and under-
standing. They realize, also, that BahaVllah
proscribed that artificial, sterile knowledge
which "begins in words and ends in words,"
for the essence of understanding is the guid-
ance of the soul on its path and the establish-
ment of an ordered, world civilization. The
impartial student of current affairs may well
compare the significance of Baha'i education
with those secular types of human assump-
tion and propaganda substituted for true
education in the lives of so many millions of
persons today. Consideration might also be
given to the vital fact that Baha'i education
is a powerful bond between the generations,
and not a divisive factor.
The activities of the three American
Schools have been so fully described in the
special article which follows this brief word
that reference to their details would be
duplication. An historical fact concerning
the origin of Green Acre, however, came to
light during the observance of Miss Sarah J.
Farmer's birthday during the season of 1937,
which merits recording. The following
statement was made by Miss Farmer to Mrs.
John Mitchell and by the latter read at the
gathering held in Miss Farmer's commemora-
tion.
"Green Acre was an original conception.
The vision flashed upon me in June, 1892, as,
in Boston, I was listening to a lecture by
W. J. Colville on 'The Abundant Life'
through the forming of the Christ within.
The day was hot; and through the open win-
dow came a noise of traffic which almost
drowned the speaker's voice. The people
were so eager for knowledge of themselves
that they sat patiently two hours at a time,
three times a day. I looked at them and
thought of the spot which Whittier loved
and found so restful — Green Acre-on-the-
Piscataqua — and I saw them seated in a large
tent on the green bank of this beautiful
river, the cool breeze from the water fan-
ning their cheeks, and I realized how much
njore receptive the mind and heart would be
if the body were in such a cool and healthy
environment; and I realized, too, how much
more good would come from a summer vaca-
tion if instead of being burdened with the
effort of finding amusement for leisure hours,
one's mind and soul could be refreshed by
helpful thoughts, under spreading pines, in
green pastures, beside still waters. The de-
tails of the work came quickly before my
mind, and when we left the audience room I
had it all. At that time I had not heard of
the Congress of .Religions to be held at Chi-
cago the following year; and I regard my
conception of Green Acre as an instance sup-
porting my father's claim that invention is
inspiration — that it is the catching, by the
open eye and the listening ear, of that which
is being given in its fullness to some pre-
pared soul. Charles Carroll Bonney of Chi-
cago was then working out the details of a
work which should embrace the whole world.
I caught glimpses of it unconsciously, and
he always felt that I too was 'called' and that
Green Acre had a part in the great work of
Unification."
These words uttered by the founder of
Green Acre removes the misconception
which for years attributed the origin of
Green Acre to the influence exerted upon
Miss Farmer by the Parliament of Religions
conducted at the Chicago World's Fair.
Mr. George O. Latimer has prepared the
following statement on the programs and
functions of the three Summer Schools in
North America.
"The rapid growth and development of
the three Baha'i Summer Schools during the
past few years indicates the increasing value
of these institutions toward the fulfillment
of the Seven Year Plan which is so near to
the hope and aspiration of the Guardian.
Situated in three strategic areas of the United
States, they provide educational centers
where the believers can gather together dur-
ing their vacations, in large numbers, to
study the Teachings of Baha'u'llah, ex-
change views and experiences, associate with
one another in an active community life and
thus deepen their knowledge and under-
standing of the Faith in a distinctive Baha'i
atmosphere. The importance of these insti-
tutions has been stressed over and over by
the Guardian, to those who have been active
THE BAHA'f WORLD
in the conduct of the Schools. He wrote as
follows in 1934: The friends should indeed
realize that their annual gathering in the
Summer Schools is a splendid opportunity
for them to develop their sense of collective
responsibility by becoming more familiar
with the various aspects of the Teachings
and by acquiring a fresh vision of the ways
and means through which such teaching can
reach and effectively impress the public.'
(Mr. and Mrs. Bosch) The Cause is still in
its formative period, but the friends, in ap-
proaching the stupendous task of establish-
ing the new World Order, find their great
encouragement in the deep understanding,
the high devotion and sympathetic apprecia-
tion of the goal ahead, and the spiritual in-
spiration engendered in these centers. The
recently established schools in Germany and
the British Isles have likewise rendered most
valuable contributions in hastening the ful-
fillment of the promise of the Golden Age.
"Not only should the Summer Schools be
considered as one of the best means through
which the public can be acquainted with the
principles of the Faith, but they provide the
most intensive training field for the develop-
ment of Baha'i teachers. It is a noteworthy
fact that the recent rapid extension of the
teaching work in virgin territories has been
the result of the inspiration and training
which the pioneer teachers have received in
these schools where both the practical
methods and spiritual ideals have been incul-
cated in them. Shoghi Effendi in a letter to a
member of the Western States Summer
School stated that, 'It would be no exaggera-
tion to say that the unique contribution
which the Geyserville Summer School has
made to the extension of the teaching work
during the last few years has been to teach
the friends and inspire them to live up to the
high standard which the Teachings incul-
cate, and thus teach the Cause through the
power of example.' Deeds are now revealing
the station of the Baha'i teacher.
"It is of interest to follow the swift de-
velopment and expansion of the Summer
Schools from their early, modest origin to
the present time when their housing and
other facilities are taxed to the limit. A
brief historical record of their achievements
should serve to increase the active participa-
tion of a greater number of believers each
year, for the Guardian has stated that it is a
privilege to contribute in the development
of these institutions.
Green Acre Summer School
"Green Acre, situated on the picturesque
banks of the Piscataqua, the River of Light,
in the southeastern part of Maine, has been
for many years a center for the investigation
of Reality. Founded by Miss Sarah J.
Farmer in 1894 as an institution 'for the
purpose of bringing together all who were
looking earnestly toward the New Day
which seemed to be breaking over the entire
world,' it continued through a long period
of growth and struggles to be a disseminat-
ing center of lofty ideals. Many men and
women, prominent in world affairs, gave of
their time and wisdom, to make this center a
place of fellowship, where an unbiased pre-
sentation and study of comparative religion,
scientific truth and the best in arts and let-
ters could be found. The Green Acre
Conferences attracted university professors,
religious leaders and scientists to assist a
small group, known as the Green Acre Fel-
lowship, in carrying on the high ideals of the
founder. Gradually the infiltration of the
Baha'i spirit brought to Green Acre the
realization of its destiny. In the summer of
1912, 'Abdu'1-Baha spent a week at Green
Acre inspiring the friends to renewed effort
and directing the future course of its activi-
ties. No one in attendance can forget the
meeting on beautiful Mount Salvat, when
the Master dedicated this spot to be the cen-
ter of a great university with a universal
house of worship. In a Tablet, 'Abdu'1-Baha
further sent encouragement by stating: 'If
one looks for praiseworthy results and wishes
to produce eternal effects, let him make ex-
ceeding effort, in order that Green Acre may
become an assemblage for the Word of God
and a gathering place for the spiritual ones
of the heavenly world.'
"August 10, 1925, was an eventful day in
the history of Green Acre for on that day
the Green Acre Fellowship, at its annual
meeting, decided to place control of all the
physical properties as well as the conduct of
its institutions under the National Spiritual
Assembly. In 1929 this transfer was effec-
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
57
Entrance to Green Acre.
tively completed by an Indenture of Trust
and the Baha'is took complete charge. Dur-
ing this period the World Unity Conferences
were established with such noted lecturers as
Professors Herbert Adams Gibbons of
Princeton, John Herman Randall, Jr., of
Columbia, Samuel Lucas Joshi of Dartmouth,
Kirtley F. Mather of Harvard and William
R. Shepherd of Columbia. At the same time
the start of a real Baha'i school took place
along with this indirect method of teaching
the Cause. The Guardian was greatly
pleased with the success attending the efforts
to establish a Baha'i study course as a means
of bringing to light hitherto unsuspected
capacities of the friends. He wrote at this
time: 'You are laying a solid foundation
upon which the rising generation will rear a
mighty and splendid edifice. You are turn-
ing your thoughts to what is the most
urgent, the most essential, the most vital fac-
tor in the spread and the ultimate triumph
of the Cause.'
"The season of 1929 saw a complete two
months course on Baha'i subjects established
under the direction of eminent teachers.
The Inn, the beautiful Fellowship House, the
Arts and Crafts building and the numerous
cottages were all centers for the activities of
the School. After the 'Eirenion' burned
down it was necessary to hold the sessions in
a room of the Inn, but in 1937 an attractive
new Baha'i Hall, made possible through the
generosity of Mrs. Florence Morton, was
erected on the banks of the river. This Hall,
fully equipped to take care of 200 students,
THE BAHA'f WORLD
will be used exclusively for teaching and
devotional purposes and for the celebration
of Baha'i Feasts. The long list of devoted
believers who have identified themselves with
the activities of Green Acre down through
the years of transition, is too numerous to
mention, but their untiring services are well
known to all.
"In planning the program for 1936, the
committee composed of Mr. Horace Holley,
Dr. Genevieve L. Coy and Mr. Philip
Sprague decided to try the experiment of
concentrating the major courses in two
weeks. Two courses were given each morn-
ing for five days and a discussion group was
held each evening to follow up the subject
matter of the morning lectures. The fol-
lowing courses were presented:
August 10-14. The Baha'i Life. Leader,
Mrs. Dorothy Baker.
Introduction to the Study of Islam.
Leader, Mr. His_hmat 'Ala'i.
August 17-21. Baha'i Administration.
Leader, Mrs. Mary Collison.
The Nature of the Manifestation.
Leader, Mrs. Mamie Seto.
The average daily attendance for these four
courses ranged from 37 to 53, and the wide
range of study proved most helpful and
instructive, as it developed a deeper under-
standing of the individual's relationship to
the Manifestation, to the Baha'i community
and to the administrative order.
"In the week preceding the opening of the
Summer School proper, Professor Glenn
Shook gave a five days' course on Mysticism
and the Baha'i Revelation. This clarifying
course on the more abstruse Baha'i teachings
was accompanied by a lively period of ques-
tion and discussion. During the week of
August 24-28, Mrs. Doris McKay gave a
series of lessons on Public Speaking. Mem-
bers of the class practiced giving short talks
on Bah£'i subjects and the training proved
highly valuable.
"During the month of August, Sunday
morning devotional meetings were held and
in the evening public meetings carried on.
The speakers included Miss Martha Root, Mr.
Mountfort Mills, Mr. Horace Holley, Mrs.
Mamie Seto, Mr. Louis Gregory and Mrs.
Dorothy Baker. An unusual number of
friends from the Middle West attended the
1936 session and provided the opportunity
of telling about activities of Baha'i com-
munities in other parts of the country.
"In addition to these sessions, a study
course was conducted by Mrs. Elizabeth
Greenleaf on 'The Dispensation of Baha'u-
'llah' from August 3 to 6, the Youth held a
conference on August 7-8, ending with a
public meeting, and a three-day intensive
Teaching Conference was conducted by Mr.
Rex Collison and Mr. Bishop Brown on
August 27, 28 and 29.
"The Inn was open during the month of
July to offer accommodations to believers
desiring a restful vacation and to non-
Baha'is who wished to learn more about the
Faith. Baha'i teachers present during the
month arranged group meetings for this pur-
pose. A Race Amity Conference was con-
ducted by Mr. Louis Gregory and Mr.
Horace Holley and meetings were arranged
to hear of the teaching work in the Balkan
countries by Miss Marion Jack and Mrs.
Louise Gregory.
"The 1937 Sessions of the Summer School
were divided into morning and afternoon
classes to allow more time for discussion of
the subject matter immediately following
the presentation by the lecturer. The fol-
lowing courses were presented:
August 16-20. Essentials of World Re-
ligion. Leader, Mr. Kenneth Chris-
tian.
Islam. Leader, Ali-Kuli Khan, N.D.
August 23-27. The Dispensation of
Baha'u'lUh. Leader, Mrs. H. Emo~
gene Hoagg.
Course on Public Speaking.
August 30-September 3. Human Quali-
ties in the New Age. Leader, Dr.
Genevieve L. Coy.
Course on Writing.
"In addition to these courses, there was a
full Youth Week from August 1 to 7 when
'The Baha'i Administrative Order* was dis-
cussed under the leadership of Mr. Horace
Holley. Following this course on August 9,
10 and 11, Mr. Bishop Brown presented a
course on the 'Rise and Fall of Civilizations.'
A general Teaching Conference was held on
August 12 and 13 with morning and after-
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
59
noon sessions. There was a fine attendance
during the entire month and the friends had
the pleasure of an informal meeting with the
members of the National Spiritual Assembly
who held a three day meeting at Green Acre.
"In response to a cabled message from
Shoghi Effendi, concerning the premature
passing of Mr. Alfred E. Lunt, who had been
identified with the activities of Green Acre
for many years, that the entire body of the
National representatives assemble at his
grave to pay tribute on behalf of the Guard-
ian, the National Spiritual Assembly, on
Monday, August 30, proceeded to the grave
at Beverly, Massachusetts to carry out this
wish.
"The friends of Green Acre also held a
memorial meeting for Mr. Harry Randall,
who helped guide the destinies of this
favored site through the many years of
vicissitudes and trials until Green Acre was
reborn into a complete Baha'i institution.
"The plan for the month of July was con-
tinued and improved so as to provide a place
of rest and a program of greater cultural in-
terest. A series of week end International
Conferences was conducted on the following
subjects: 'World Crises and World Needs' by
Mr. Mountfort Mills; 'Universal World Cul-
ture Based on Universal Education* by Pro-
fessor Stan wood Cobb; 'Development of
Church and State in Our Civilization' by
Professor Glenn L. Shook of Wheaton Col-
lege and 'The Coming of World Order* by
Mr. Horace Holley. In addition, members
of the Worcester Philharmonic Orchestra
presented musical Concerts on Wednesday
evenings and Mrs. Nancy Bowditch, Boston
artist, gave an illustrated lecture on 'The
Holy Land* and also presented a Pageant on
July 29.
"A number of attractive teas and socials
were arranged by Mrs. Lorol Schopflocher
and Mrs. Amelia Bowman in order to attract
and deepen the interest of the public who
lived in the vicinity of Eliot or who had
come to Green Acre to deepen their knowl-
edge of the Baha'i Faith.
"The Green Acre Committee, consisting
of Mrs. Florence Morton, chairman, Mrs.
Emma Flynn, Mr. Howard Struven, Mrs.
Hebe Struven, Mr. Harold Bowman, Mrs.
Amelia Bowman, Miss Genevieve L. Coy,
Mr. Philip Sprague and Mr. Horace Holley
are to be congratulated for the splendid con-
duct of the School during the past two sea-
sons which has steadily widened the sphere of
its influence in the New England States.
They have likewise ably handled the many
details of maintenance problems connected
with such a large property, and the manage-
ment of an Inn. During the past year the
generous gift of the Ball Cottage with its
acreage, from Mr. and Mrs. Schopflocher,
provided additional housing facilities for the
School.
"Thus Green Acre approaches the goal
voiced in a message from the Guardian some
years previous: 'I was delighted to hear of
the progressive activities of that dearly-
beloved spot, Green Acre, upon which the
Master bestowed his tender care and loving
kindness, and of which we are all hopeful
that it may become, whilst the work of the
Mashriqu'l-Adhkar is in progress, the focal
center of the devotional, humanitarian,
social and spiritual activities of the Cause.'
Geyserville Summer School
"Due to the increasing call for Baha'i
teachers in the Western States and the in-
ability of the friends to attend Green Acre,
because of the great distance, the National
Spiritual Assembly appointed a committee
consisting of Mr. John D. Bosch, Mr. Leroy
C. loas and Mr. George O. Latimer, to work
out plans for a summer school on the Pacific
Coast with a view to its development into a
permanent institution. Mr. and Mrs. Bosch,
many years ago had expressed their desire to
'Abdu'1-Baha, to dedicate their lovely fruit
ranch as a center for universal service where
mankind might partake of the spiritual
teachings of Baha'u'llah. They gladly
offered their home and ranch with all its
facilities, for this purpose and on August 1,
1927, about 130 friends gathered under a
majestic pine tree to celebrate the Feast of
Asma' to start the first summer school in the
West.
"The Committee felt that if only a few —
perhaps nine at most — could attend the ses-
sions the first year their efforts would be re-
warded, but the expectations were more than
fulfilled, for there was an attendance, during
the month, of forty confirmed believers, in-
Baha'i Hall, Green Acre
ill
11
Baha'i Youth, Green Acre.
60
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
61
eluding fifteen young and enthusiastic souls.
From that time on the attendance has in-
creased each year and the courses of study,
which were at first limited, have been gradu-
ally expanded so that now a very compre-
hensive understanding of the Faith can be
obtained by both the friends and the public
at each summer session.
"In the ninth year after the establishment
of the school, Mr. and Mrs. Bosch deeded this
property to the Trustees of the National
Spiritual Assembly. During this period these
devoted souls had housed without charge, all
the students and teachers in their home and
in many accessory buildings. These facilities
became inadequate, however, and in 1936,
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas H. Collins erected and
presented to the Cause a very attractive
Baha'i Hall of rustic redwood for the study
classes and public meetings. This generous
contribution was followed in 1937 by the
gift of a much-needed dormitory of corre-
sponding rustic material, fully equipped,
with a housing capacity for approximately
fifty people, modern in every detail, to pro-
vide for the increase in attendance. Two
friends have built attractive cottages on the
property and several more have planned to
erect summer homes in the near future.
"The dedication of the Baha'i Hall on
July 12, 1936, was simple, direct and spir-
itually impressive. Beautiful bouquets of
flowers were received from Geyserville citi-
zens. Opening with the words of Shoghi
Effendi, received by cablegram: 'Heartily
join celebration opening Auditorium gen-
erously founded by well beloved distin-
guished friends Mr. and Mrs. Collins.
Assure them profound abiding gratitude.
Love assembled friends/ a short history of
the development of the summer school was
given by Mr. Leroy loas. Then followed a
beautiful presentation of the services of the
School by Mrs. Louise Bosch and the turning
over of the property to the Trustees by Mrs.
Robert Norton of San Francisco, a cousin of
Mrs. Collins. Mr. George Latimer acted as
chairman and received the property on be-
half of the Bosch Trustees for the National
Spiritual Assembly. Fitting messages were
sent to the Guardian and to Mr. and Mrs.
Collins, who were in Bad Nauheim at that
time, and the meeting was closed with the
reading of a cablegram just received from
Mrs. Collins: * Utmost gratitude for the
Name that has taught us there is no separa-
tion.'
"The following year on July 3rd there
was a similar dedication of the new dormi-
tory following the Annual Reunion and
Feast of friends and their guests, with about
250 in attendance. Attractive pictures of
both buildings were taken for the permanent
records of the School. A truly international
spirit was manifest at this opening gather-
ing of the School. Telegraphic messages of
good-will wishes were received from Corpus
Christi, Texas; Oklahoma City; Phoenix,
Arizona; and Vancouver, Canada. Words of
greeting were heard from Mr. Charles
Bishop, just returned from London, Mr.
Siegfried Schopflocher of Montreal, Mrs.
Terah Smith of Binghamton, New York, Mr.
Charles Reimer of Milwaukee, Mrs. Lorrol
Jackson of Spokane, Mrs. Ella Cooper of San
Francisco, Mrs. Louise Casweil from Nash-
ville and a warm welcome was extended by
Mr. and Mrs. Bosch. Two students from
Japan, Miss Y. Isobe and Mr. Oka, who were
attending the University of California, spoke
in Esperanto and Mr. George Sterris, an artist
from France and Italy, paid a moving tribute
to the spirit of the assemblage in French.
There were ten nationalities represented at
the meeting.
"After the dedication, Mr. Leroy loas read
a fitting memorial service for Mr. Thomas
Collins, who had passed from this life shortly
before the opening of the School. All
present felt the great loss of this friend who
had done so much toward the recent de-
velopment of the Geyserville educational
institution and his memory will be enshrined
in the hearts of all students who attend the
school sessions in the future.
"The 1936 session included the following
courses consisting of six classes each:
The Spirit, Teachings and Influence of
Islam.
The World Order of Baha'u'llah.
The Baha'i Life.
The Nature of the Manifestation.
"In addition, a Seminar on Teaching the
Baha'i Faith was conducted on three after-
noons each week. This first attempt to
62
THE BAHA'f WORLD
establish a proper technique took up the fol-
lowing divisions: the Baha'i Teacher, the
Public Address, The Baha'i Public Meeting,
the fireside method, the study class and com-
munity teaching, and proved to be highly
successful and instructive.
"The Geyserville plan for conducting its
courses is to have the subject matter of each
bleth, Mrs. Kathryn Frankland, Mrs. Ger-
trude Frazier, and Mrs. Rosa Shaw.
"The 1937 session concentrated on two
courses of study: 'Islam, Its Teachings and
Influence,' and 'The Unfoldment of World
Civilization.' In these courses the relation-
ship of the Baha'i Faith to past world cul-
tures and a comparison of the teachings and
Mr. and Mrs. John Bosch, Donors of Geyserville School land
and original buildings.
course presented by a number of teachers,
instead of one lecturer, and the material is
briefed to a 30 minute presentation, fol-
lowed by a 20 minute discussion period. Im-
portant points that are not fully clarified are
taken up later at round-table groups. More
than twenty believers conducted these
classes, including Professor N. F. Ward, Mr.
H. R. Hurlbut, Mrs. Louise Caswell, Miss
Joyce Lyons, Mr. J. G. Bray, Mr. Leroy loas,
Mr. Paul Schoeny, Mrs. Mamie Seto, Mr.
Irwin Somerhalder, Miss Honor Kempton,
Mr. Clinton Bugbee, Mrs. Shanaz Waite, Mr.
George Latimer, Mr. W. R. Entzminger,
Mrs. Oni Finks, Mr. Rowland Estall, Mr.
Siegfried Schopflocher, Miss Charlotte Lin-
foot, Mrs. Kevah Munson, Mr. Hasele Corn-
administrative features of the Cause with
those of Islam were especially stressed.
Among the new teachers, in addition to
those who took part in 1936, who conducted
classes, were Miss Virginia Orbison, Mrs.
Clara Weir, Mr. Maurice Bosley, Mrs. Terah
Cort Smith, Mr. Clarence Iverson, Mrs.
Beulah Lewis and Mrs. Nell Wilson. The
afternoon Teaching Seminar was continued
with two new subjects added, 'Teaching Op-
portunities' and 'The Introduction of the
Faith in New States.'
"Four public meetings were held during
each session, three in Geyserville and one
each year at Santa Rosa. These meetings not
only serve to attract the public but are an
excellent means of developing Baha'i speak-
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
63
ers. Generally a symposium of subjects is
given with a chairman and three speakers.
The Baha'i Youth take full charge of one of
these meetings each year and provide one of
the outstanding features of the school.
"The Youth have their own round table
discussion group arranged and conducted by
themselves. In all other respects they are an
integral part of the summer school, attend-
ing the regular classes, assisting with the de-
votional meetings, providing entertainment
for the recreational hours, contributing to
the musical programs and in this way they
participate in full measure with the adults in
the entire activities of true Baha'i com-
munity life. No one who has attended a
Geyserville summer school can fail to recog-
nize the importance of this vital integration
of believers of all ages.
"Separate classes have been conducted each
year for the children so that their parents
can attend the daily morning classes. A
skilled supervisor is engaged to give them
training in basketry and other useful arts in
the mornings and to conduct swimming and
other recreational activities in the afternoons
and evenings. The children also have a
Baha'i class each day and training in pag-
eantry, and they always contribute an inter-
esting feature in the annual entertainment
given by the School. Many children from
the village avail themselves of these classes,
which have an attendance of 15 to 20.
"Both the children and the youth have
taken part in the public meetings. One of
the impressive talks given during the 1936
session was that of nine-year-old Claire
Entzminger of Santa Rosa, on the 'Life and
Teachings of BahaVllah.* Last year, Miss
Lois Humphreys of Phoenix gave such an
inspiring talk at the Youth Public Meeting
that she was asked to repeat it at the large
meeting held in Santa Rosa. Other youth
members who delivered splendid talks on the
Cause at their personally conducted public
meetings were the Misses Farruck and Anita
loas of San Francisco, John Eichenauer of
Phoenix, Ann Holley of Visalia and Fred-
erick Lawes of Seattle.
"The school receives more news publicity
each year. In 1936 about 500 column inches
appeared in the newspapers of Geyserville,
Healdsburg, Santa Rosa and San Francisco.
The Geyserville Press printed the entire pro-
gram with detailed quotations from the Holy
Writings and one entire page of 'ads' by the
merchants was devoted to greetings of wel-
come to the participants of the Summer
School, including a large cut of the Temple.
This is a glowing testimony of the spiritual
influence made by the School upon the hearts
of the citizens of Geyserville, who have
shown a marked increase in their friendly
cooperation and association with the student
body. A brochure- published by the Red-
wood Highway Association includes the
Baha'i Summer School as one of the places to
visit on this famous motor highway.
"The operation of the school is carried on
with the assistance of many committees, who
carry out the general plans of the committee
appointed by the National Spiritual Assem-
bly. For the past two years this committee,
which has had charge of both the program
and the maintenance of the school property,
consisted of the following members: Mr.
John D. Bosch, chairman, Mr. Leroy C. loas,
Professor Forsythe Ward, Mrs. Amelia Col-
lins, Mrs. Ella G. Cooper, Miss Ruth West-
gate, Mr. Irvin Somerhalder, Mr. Siegfried
Schopflocher and Mr. George O. Latimer.
This committee has earnestly endeavored to
fulfill the aspiration of the Guardian as ex-
pressed in a letter received from him in 1935
in which he 'hopes that through the com-
bined and united efforts of the friends, the
Geyserville Summer School, which is so
ideally situated, will draw an increasing
number of visitors, both believers and non-
believers, and will thus gradually develop
into an important and world-wide known
center for the training of Baha'i scholars and
teachers.'
Louhelen Summer School
"With the establishment of summer
schools on both the Atlantic and Pacific
shores, the vast area of the Central States re-
mained the one section of the United States,
with a large Baha'i population, that was de-
prived of the benefits of such an institution.
The realization of this need was made pos-
sible through the love and devotion of two
more faithful believers, Mr. and Mrs. Lou
Eggleston of Detroit, who dedicated their
attractive farm at Davison, about twelve
64
THE BAHA'f WORLD
miles from Flint, Michigan, for a school to
prepare teachers with the ultimate hope of
establishing and developing a Baha'i com-
munity. Using the large farm-house with
its lovely rural setting for this purpose, the
first session was held during the first nine
days of August, 1931. About thirty-five
friends from Michigan, New York, Pennsyl-
vania, Ohio, Tennessee, and Washington,
D. C., gathered for part or all of the sessions
and some ninety people in all took part
in one or more of the daily classes. The
theme for this first year was 'The New
World Order* and thus the third Summer
School was launched with joyous confirma-
tion.
"After the first session, came this encour-
aging word from the Guardian: 'To achieve
success in such manner the first year is cer-
tainly beyond what we could expect,' and
then after this praise, the standard was set
higher, as he continued, 'Shoghi Effendi
hopes that the friends will make the neces-
sary preparation to do even more next sea-
son/ The growth of the school each year
since that word arrived has been most en-
couraging and the Egglestons have increased
the housing facilities. Meantime, the inter-
est of the Baha'i Youth increased so rapidly
that by 1934 it became necessary to hold a
special session devoted wholly to the young
people. Forty of them came for the opening
and before the four-day session was ended
sixty young people had come in contact with
the Teachings. Two of the Baha'i youth,
Miss Mary Maxwell and James McCormick,
took part in the conduct of the school, assist-
ing in the classes along with the adult
teachers. This trend of the school toward
assisting the religious needs of the youth of
America was directed by the following mes-
sage from the Guardian: 'Before long, Sho-
ghi Effendi hopes they (i.e. the summer
schools) will become powerful and well-
established organizations that will train in-
numerable young men and women to go out
into the world and spread the message of
BahiVlUh.'
* * *
"The following report for the Sixth and
Seventh annual sessions during 1936 and
1937 has been supplied by Bertha H. Kirk-
patrick:
"Over eighty young people came to their
session June 22 to 25, 1936. The daily
morning program was as follows: Devotions
conducted by some young person; 'Compari-
son of Religious Administrative Orders/
Professor Glenn Shook; 'The Baha'i Life,'
Mrs. Dorothy Baker; 'Security for a Failing
World,' Professor Stan wood Cobb. The
Chicago youth made up the committee who
had charge of sports and varied entertain-
ment in the evening. This committee also
put up the question of conduct while at the
school to the whole group. After thought-
ful discussion the group asked to be allowed
to try the honor system of self-government.
Accordingly a few simple rules in regard to
retirement, quiet, and leaving the grounds
were drawn up by the committee and agreed
to by the group.
"The prevailing spirit was most earnest.
In the afternoon a voluntary and self-con-
ducted forum was held by a few at which
such problems as the place of a young Baha'i
in the Baha'i community, his attitude toward
war, toward other ecclesiastical organiza-
tions, etc., were' discussed. Other small
groups gathered for serious discussion. Early
in the evening a limited number enjoyed a
class in public speaking conducted by Miss
Garreta Busey. There was evident a greater
desire than ever to regulate their lives in
accord with Baha'i teachings, and as they
separated for home many expressed a firm
intent to serve the great Cause of Baha'u-
'llah. One boy was sure it was the happiest
vacation he had ever had.
"Immediately following the youth session
was an eight-day general session (June 28-
July 5) with the following program: De-
votions, leader selected; 'Foundations of the
New World Order,' forum conducted by
Mrs. Dorothy Baker; 'The Baha'i Teachings
and Mysticism/ Professor Glenn Shook;
'The Qu'ran and Islamic Culture/ Professor
Stanwood Cobb.
"Each afternoon and evening there was a
lecture or program designed to attract and
instruct the outside world.
"The second general session (Aug. 2-9)
carried out this program: Devotions, leader
selected; 'Life and Spiritual Laws/ Mrs.
Mamie Seto; 'The Qu'ran and Islamic Cul-
ture/ Mrs. Mardiyyih Carpenter; 'The
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65
66
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Baha'i Administrative Order/ Mr. Willard
McKay,
"This was the first year courses on the
Qu'rin and Islam were attempted. Here
again we were guided by Shoghi Effendi. A
letter from his secretary dated December 2,
1935 says: 'With regard to the school's pro-
gram for the next summer; the Guardian
would certainly advise, and even urge the
friends to make a thorough study of the
Qu'r£n, as the knowledge of this Sacred
Scripture is absolutely indispensable for
every believer who wishes to adequately
understand, and intelligently read the writ-
ings of Bah£Vllah. Although there are very
few persons among our Western Baha'is who
are capable of handling such a course in a
scholarly way yet, the mere lack of such
competent teachers should encourage and
stimulate the believers to get better ac-
quainted with the Sacred Scriptures of
Isldm. In this way there will gradually ap-
pear some distinguished Bahi'is who will be
so well versed in the teachings of Islam as
to be able to guide the believers in their
study of that religion/
"Greater publicity than before was ob-
tained in nearby weekly papers through the
efforts of Mrs. Clarissa Bean of Flint and
results of this publicity were evident in the
increased number of inquirers who stopped
at the Ranch. Special invitations were sent
to individuals to spend a day at the school
with gratifying results. Some of these spoke
of the unusual spirit which pervaded the
atmosphere. Every one there contributed to
this spirit and we cannot say too much of
the loving service and cooperation of those
who conduct classes at the school. They un-
ceasingly give of themselves, — in discussion,
in private interviews, in public talks and in
countless other ways. We feel that their
services at the school should be even more
widely used.
"Continued growth and interest marked
the sessions of 1937. Over ninety young
people gathered on Saturday and Sunday,
June 26 and 27, to concentrate for four days
on matters pertaining to the Cause of God.
The Lima young people who had been chosen
as the committee the previous summer had
made plans for the sports and evening enter-
tainments in advance. The classes were
scheduled to begin Monday morning but
since many young people were on hand by
Saturday night and since Mr. Carl Scheffler
and Mrs. Seto had fortunately and unexpect-
edly appeared, we were able to get in some
valuable extras on Sunday in the way of in-
spiring talks from these two friends. In the
early afternoon dinner was served outdoors,
then a group picture was taken, there was
time for visiting, getting settled and ac-
quainted. In the evening Mrs. Ruth Ella
Huffer of Lima, Ohio, gave dramatics suit-
able to the occasion.
"On Monday evening the Urbana group
put on a most impressive pageant. This was
remarkably well done and impressive in
spite of the limited time for preparation
and meager equipment. It made it evi-
dent that in the line of pageantry and
drama lies a great field for presenting the
Cause.
"Tuesday evening the Chicago and North
Shore group gave a varied program of music,
readings and recitations. Wednesday eve-
ning the Flint group showed us some of the
wonders of chemistry and electricity and
Thursday evening the Milwaukee group put
on an original play which gave the Baha'i
message. All these programs had been
planned at home.
"Three daily classes and devotions filled
the mornings full from nine to twelve.
Practically every one attended these classes.
Devotions, selected leaders.
The New World Order, forum con-
ducted by Willard McKay.
History and Principles of the Baha'i
Cause, class for beginners in the
Cause led by Annamarie and Mar-
garet Kunz.
The Dispensation of Baha'u'llah, Miss
Garreta Busey.
The Baha'i Teachings in Daily Life, a
different leader each day — Emeric
Sala, Rosemary Sala, Kenneth Chris-
tian, Marion Holley.
"This session was outstanding not only in
the number in attendance but in the earnest-
ness and purposefulness of those there. One
thing that helped immensely in bringing
high standards to this session was the pres-
ence and activity of the National Youth
K
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67
68
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Committee which chose this time and place
for its annual meeting.
"Another vital innovation was the quiet
hour just before retiring when dormitory
groups gathered with a counsellor for ques-
tions, reading, and prayer. The honor sys-
tem of self-government was successfully
continued this year.
"On Thursday the youth departed and on
Saturday came the members of the July gen-
eral session, July 3-11. This group was
"In the afternoon there was round table
discussion at which various teaching prob-
lems were discussed; how to use prophecy in
presenting the Cause, how to present the
Cause to the agnostic or atheistic type, how
to present the Cause to the deeply religious
type, — these were some of the subjects dis-
cussed. This proved to be a very valuable
period. The especial purpose in the evening
meetings was to present the Cause to new
people. On two evenings Mr. McDaniel
The Dormitory, Geyserville Summer School.
rather small, but there was something very
vital about the session. In general we have
found before that small groups were espe-
cially blessed. Several wrote back after
reaching home that they had never had so
great a desire to spread the Teachings as after
returning home from this session. While the
enrollment was small there was an unusually
large number of visitors for a day or a few
hours.
"The following unusually rich program
occupied the mornings, daily from nine to
twelve:
Devotions, Leaders selected.
The World Order of BahaVllah, Mr.
Allen McDaniel.
Pillars of the New Civilization, Dr.
Garreta Busey.
The Science of the Love of God, Miss
Marion Holley.
gave illustrated lectures on religious archi-
tecture and the Baha'i House of Worship.
One evening there was a symposium on the
subject of immortality. On another evening
the story of Mulla Husayn from the Dawn-
Breakers was beautifully told by Miss Neysa
Bissell of Buffalo. The evening of July 9
was devoted to a memorial service in memory
of the Bab.
"In August (July 31 -Aug. 8) another
group gathered, larger than the July group.
At this time, too, a rich and inspiring pro-
gram was presented:
Devotions, Leaders selected.
The True Relation between Religion
and Government, Dr. Glenn Shook.
The World's Debt to Islam, Mr. N. M.
Firoozi.
The Divine Art of Living, Mrs.
Dorothy Baker.
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
69
"An especial favor for the August session
was the presence of Miss Agnes Alexander
who had recently visited Haifa and had
much to tell us of the Guardian's words and
wishes. Before she left Haifa the Guardian
had instructed her to visit summer schools
this summer. Many of the afternoon meet-
ings were devoted to hearing her notes and
others to discussing teaching methods.
"It is impossible to put into words what
these summer schools, even in their still un-
developed state, mean to those who attend.
Their expansion and growth must ever be the
aim of those who direct them and of all
earnest Baha'is. A mere beginning has been
made. 'We must continue to endeavour/
Shoghi Effendi urges, 'in raising the standard,
both intellectual and spiritual, of the school,
and make it an attractive center not only to
believers, but especially to non-Baha'is. It
is, indeed, the teaching value of the school
which you should particularly emphasize.
The courses, lectures and general activities
conducted by the friends should be arranged
in such a way as to attract the attention of
the outside public to the Cause. The sum-
mer school is a high occasion for teaching the
Message. Through daily association with the
believers, non-Baha'is will come to see the
Cause functioning as an active and living
community dedicated to the service of what
is best and highest in the world. The lec-
tures will familiarize them with the prin-
ciples underlying the New World Order,
while their participation in the social life of
the believers will enable them to see the way
in which these very same principles are put
into operation.'
"The able committee for this newest
school is Mr. L. W. Eggleston, chairman,
Mrs. Bertha Kirkpatrick, Mrs. Dorothy
Baker, Mr. Bishop Brown, Mr. Edward Miess-
ler and Miss Garreta Busey.
"This brief review of the current activi-
ties of the three Summer Schools, which of
necessity omits many important details, indi-
cates the profound and wide-spread interest
they have aroused not only in the American
Baha'i centers, but also in the communities
in which they are located. The picturesque
and peaceful rural sites of each school pro-
vide an ideal setting for the physical recrea-
tion needed to accompany intensive study
and training. 'Abdu'1-Baha once remarked
that the country is the home of the soul,
whereas the city is the home of the body.
The association of large groups of believers
in daily community life, radiantly happy in
their work and play provides, perhaps the
greatest source of attraction for the general
public. Undoubtedly, these schools will be
the nuclei of the first Baha'i villages as out-
lined by the Master for the establishment of
the social-economic plan of Baha'u'llah.
Furthermore they have been the germinating
ground for the development of pioneer
Baha'i teachers, for during the past two
years the following teachers have gone forth
directly from these schools to carry the Faith
into new areas, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Entz-
minger, Mrs. Mabel Ives, Mrs. Grace Ober,
Mrs. Terah Smith, Miss Marguerite Reimer,
Mrs. Louise Caswell, Mrs. Lorrol Jackson,
Mr. Maurice Bosley, Mrs. Gayle Woolson,
Miss Agnes O'Neill, Mrs. Emogene Hoagg,
Mrs. Amelie Bodmer, Mrs. Kathryn Frank-
land, Mr. Howard Hurlbut, Miss Marion
Holley and Mr. Louis Gregory, while others
are preparing to settle in States where there
are no believers.
"In such measure the Baha'i Summer
Schools are meeting the challenge issued in a
cablegram from the Guardian received
August 4, 1937: 'Who among its stalwart
defenders will arise, untrammeled (and)
unafraid, to implant its banner in those
States, Provinces (and) Countries where its
standard is still unhoisted?' "
In addition to the three Schools previously
developed in North America, the Baha'i
World now has Schools in England, Aus-
tralia and Iran, the active and vigorous
School maintained by the believers in Ger-
many having been dissolved by civil author-
ity since the previous International Survey
was prepared.
The origin of the Summer School in Eng-
land has been described by the Secretary of
the National Spiritual Assembly in that land
as follows: —
"The idea had been considered of holding
a Summer School, and the Guardian signified
a desire for it. The National Spiritual As-
sembly recognized, not only the value of
70
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Summer School as an institution but the
opportuneness of a national undertaking
which would call for the support and effort
of all the believers. A Committee was ap-
pointed to investigate all the possibilities and
to make recommendations to the National
Spiritual Assembly. Due to its perseverance
and untiring work and the support of the
National Assembly, the first British Baha'i
activities of the believers. It should be or-
ganised in such a way as to attract the
attention of the non-believers to the Cause
and thus become an effective medium
for teaching/ Plans are already complete
for the second Summer School in August,
1937.
"The Summer School of 1937 proved once
again the immense services which this insti-
j
Upper floor, Dormitory, Geyserville Summer School.
Summer School was held in August 1936, at
Matlock Bath. Its success was beyond the
most sanguine hopes, and a fresh spirit of
fellowship and dedication was engendered
and diffused throughout the country. The
classes were of a high standard. It would be
hard to overestimate the significance of this
achievement in the development of the Faith
in England, for it demanded and received
the enthusiasm and full support of all the
believers, it undoubtedly attracted Divine
confirmation and stands as our first impor-
tant national undertaking. The Guardian
signified his pleasure at its success and sent
the following message: — 'The institution of
the Summer School constitutes a vital and
inseparable part of any teaching campaign,
and as such ought to be given the full im-
portance it deserves in the teaching plans and
tution can render to the Faith. It was
opened by Lady Blomfield, at the Friendship
Holidays Association Centre, Matlock Bath.
Many non-Baha'is were present, and it is
hoped, in accordance with the Guardian's in-
struction, to make each Summer School
more and more attractive to those who have
not inquired deeply into the Faith. It was
felt that the lectures covered too wide a
field, in spite of the fact that they were
enjoyed by Baha'is and visitors alike. The
Summer School Committee recommended
that future schools should be held in a place
which could be entirely occupied by the
School, as although contacts can be made
when we share a place with others, it is more
difficult to develop Summer School as a
Baha'i institution. The N.S.A. has ap-
proved this recommendation and this year it
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
71
is hoped to occupy the entire premises of
Cudham Hall in Kent.
"The lectures were supplemented by eve-
ning talks and entertainment. Mr. St.
Barbe Baker showed pictures of the gardens
round the Shrines on Mount Carmel, among
which was a picture of the Master."
The Baha'is of Australia and New Zea-
land carried out an extensive program in
their first Annual Summer School, January,
1938.
PROGRAM
Ycrrinbool Baha'i Summer School
First Annual Session, January 8 to January
23, 1938
Sat., Jan. 8 —
Evening Prayers.
Sun., Jan. 9 —
9.30 A.M., Opening Prayers.
9.45 A.M. to 12.00 A. M., Welcome by
Chairman and Teachers.
3.00 P.M., Public Lectures, held in Yerrin-
bool Public Hall.
Mon., Jan. 10 —
9.30 A.M., Devotions.
9.45 A.M. to 10.45 A.M., Unfettered
search after truth, and the abandon-
ment of all superstition and prejudice.
(Miss Hilda Gilbert)
1 1.00 A.M. to 12.00 A.M., The oneness of
mankind; all are leaves of one tree,
flowers in one garden. (Mrs. Hyde
Dunn)
Tues., Jan. 11 —
9.30 A.M., Devotions.
9.45 A.M. to 10.45 A.M., Religion must
be a cause of love and harmony, else it
is no religion. (Mr. Hyde Dunn)
11.00 A.M. to 12.00 A.M., All religions
are one in their fundamental principles.
(Mrs. Moffitt)
Wed., Jan. 12—
9.30 A.M., Devotions.
9.45 A.M. to 10.45 A.M., Religion must
go hand in hand with science. Faith
and reason must be in full accord.
(Mr. S. Bolton)
11.00 A.M. to 12.00 A.M., Universal
peace; the establishment of a Universal
League of Nations; of International
Arbitration and an International Parlia-
ment. (Miss D. Dugdale)
Thurs., Jan. 13 —
9.30 A.M., Devotions.
9.45 A.M. to 10.45 A.M., The adoption
of an International Language which
shall be taught in all schools of the
world. (Mrs. Bolton)
11.00 A.M. to 12.00 A.M., Compulsory
education — especially for girls, who will
be the mothers and the first educators
of the next generation. (Mrs. M. Al-
mond)
Fri., Jan. 14—
9.30 A.M., Devotions.
9.45 A.M. to 10.45 A.M., Equal oppor-
tunities of development and equal
rights and privileges for both sexes.
11.00 A.M. to 12.00 A.M., Work for all;
No idle rich and no idle poor, "work
in the spirit of service is worship."
(Mrs. Fraser Paterson)
Sat., Jan. 15 —
9.30 A.M., Devotions.
9.45 A.M. to 10.45 A.M., Abolition of ex-
tremes of poverty and wealth; care for
the needy. (Mrs. Greta Lamprill)
11.00 A.M. to 12.00 A.M., Recognition
of the Unity of God and obedience to
His Revealed Commands, as revealed
through His Divine Manifestations.
Sun., Jan. 16 —
7.30 P.M., Round table talk and singing
of Hymns.
Mon., Jan. 17 —
9.30 A.M., Devotions.
9.45 A.M. to 10.45 A.M., Tablets of
'Abdu'1-Baha.
11.00 A.M. to 12.00 M., ?
Tucs., Jan. 18 —
9.30 A.M., Devotions.
9.45 A.M. to 10.45 A.M., Tablets of
'Abdu'1-Baha.
11.00 A.M. to 12.00 M., ?
Wed., Jan. 19—
9.30 A.M., Devotions.
9.45 A.M. to 10.45 A.M., Tablets of
'Abdu'1-Baha.
11.00 A.M. to 12.00 M., ?
7.30 P.M., Feast.
72
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Thur., Jan. 20 —
9.30 A.M., Devotions.
9.45 A.M. to 10.45 A.M., Tablets of
'Abdu'1-Baha.
11.00 A.M. to 12.00 M., ?
Fri., Jan. 21—
9, Youth Group.
Sat., Jan. 22—
Youth Group.
Sun., Jan. 23—
Youth Group.
Although a separate and detailed report is
not available on the School activities in
fran, it is known that the dissolution of the
permanent schools for children maintained
both in Tihran and provincial cities and
towns by action of the civil authority served
to intensify the desire to serve the cause of
the new Education revealed by Baha'u'llah.
It is devoutly hoped that public facilities can
soon be once more established, and the col-
lective capacity of the believers in that coun-
try fulfilled by the creation of Schools for
adults of the American type.
Chief emphasis at this time is laid upon
the Summer School established by the Na-
tional Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of
Australia and New Zealand in January,
1938. From the School Committee's report
the following facts have been gleaned:
"Referring to Summer Schools, our
Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, writes, 'Definite
courses should be given along the different
phases of the Baha'i Faith and in a manner
that will stimulate the students to proceed
in their studies privately once they return
home, for a period of a few days is not suffi-
cient to learn everything. They have to be
taught the habit of studying the Cause con-
stantly, for the more we read the Words the
more will the truth they contain be revealed
to us.'
"The first Baha'i Summer School in Aus-
tralia was held at 'Bolton Place,' Yerrinbool,
N. S. W., at the kind invitation of Drs.
Stanley and Mariette Bolton. It was with
the greatest joy that the sessions were opened
on Sunday, January 9, 1938. The chairman,
Dr. Stanley Bolton, asked Mr. and Mrs. Hyde
Dunn, Australian pioneers, to open with
prayers, after which he welcomed the friends
assembled.
"The following greetings were then joy-
ously read and received, 'Convey Summer
School attendants hearty congratulations
loving fervent prayers success deliberations.
Shoghi.'
" 'Greetings and love to all assembled at
the first Baha'i Summer School. May all
your deliberations be under the guidance of
the Kingdom of Abha. Father & Mother
Dunn.'
"Greetings were also conveyed to the
School by Mrs. Maysie Almond of Adelaide,
S. A., and Miss Gretta Lamprill of Hobart,
Tasmania. These two souls had traveled
hundreds of miles to be present at the first
Summer School. They had corresponded for
the past twelve years and had never met until
this precious time. Both spoke of the joy of
being able to be present with the other
friends to study this great Cause of Baha'u-
'llah. The meeting closed with prayer.
"On Sunday afternoon, January 9, all the
friends with residents of the local com-
munity and visitors from afar gathered at
the Yerrinbool Public Hall to attend a lec-
ture given by Mrs. L. Gapp of Sydney, the
subject being 'Unity.' The chairman, Dr.
Mariette Bolton, before introducing the
speaker, complimented the local residents of
Yerrinbool upon having completed their hall
to correspond with the opening of the Baha'i
Summer School. The hall was built by the
local community by combined voluntary
labor. She extended to them a Baha'i wel-
come and announced that the lecture was
given under the auspices of the National
Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Aus-
tralia and New Zealand. Mrs. L. Gapp most
ably spoke on 'Unity,' and being a delegate
to the Women's Pan-Pacific Conference at
Vancouver, Canada, gave a word description
of her impressions received journeying
through Canada and U. S. A. During her
trip across the continent she contacted
numerous Baha'i communities and was re-
ceived with love and harmony. Mrs. Gapp
informed the friends that she wished to de-
clare her belief in the Manifestation and
intended studying the Teachings so as to help
the Cause of Baha'u'llah. After the lecture,
Baha'i literature was distributed to all pres-
CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES
73
ent and then all assembled outside the hall
for a photograph.
"Commencing on Monday morning and
continuing for two weeks, the program ar-
ranged by the Yerrinbool Baha'i Summer
School Committee, was followed. Those who
had been allotted subjects and were unable
to attend, most willingly compiled their lec-
tures and sent them to the School to be read.
The sessions were opened each morning at
9:30 a.m. with prayers for fifteen minutes
and then the subject followed for two hours,
each speaker taking an hour on the selected
subject. At the commencement, on Mon-
day morning, four of the local community
came to 'Bolton Place' and expressed a desire
to learn of the Teachings.
"On Friday evening, January 14, the local
community of Yerrinbool held a social eve-
ning to raise funds for their hall. To this
function the Baha'is were invited and a most
enjoyable evening was spent. Some of the
local community mentioned that this time
of the year is their busy season with their
fruit, but that they would like to be able to
attend some of our sessions but could not do
so during the daytime. They then sug-
gested that if we cared to hold a night as
well as a day session, they would attend and
also grant us the use of their hall. This was
carried out the following evening when Dr.
Mariette Bolton gave a talk on Baha'i his-
tory, after which community singing was
enjoyed.
"On Sunday morning, January 16, the
regular fortnightly Yerrinbool Baha'i Sun-
day School was held at 'Bolton Place.' The
visiting Baha'is spoke to the children. On
Sunday afternoon a round-table talk and
discussion took place followed by singing.
"On Monday, January 17, we commenced
the study of the Tablets of 'Abdu'1-Baha,
and Mrs. Hyde Dunn spoke on Administra-
tion. In the afternoon, the Baha'is were in-
vited to the home of a local resident where a
pleasant time was spent talking of the
Teachings. At the conclusion, healing
prayers for the host were offered.
"On Tuesday, January 18, the Baha'is
journeyed by motor car to Canberra, the
capital of Australia, which is 120 miles from
Yerrinbool. Upon entering Canberra, the
prayers upon entering a city were recited
after which the Greatest Name was said 95
times.
"On Wednesday, January 19, after the
two hour session, a picnic was arranged for
the children of the local community.
Twenty-three children were present, all hav-
ing a happy time. The feast was then con-
ducted. At the invitation of an investi-
gator a pleasant hour was spent in spreading
the Teachings at Bowral, twelve miles dis-
tant.
"Those present at the Summer School ex-
pressed the joy of the power of Baha'u'llah
and His assistance and hoped to be able to
attend next year."
BAHA'I PROPERTY IN AMERICA
A number of properties in America, used
exclusively for Baha'i purposes, are held by
Trustees for the benefit of the National
Spiritual Assembly. Since these include the
House of Worship and two of the three Sum-
mer Schools, their development represents a
vital aspect of the current history.
The background of each property, as well
as its operation during the two-year period
1936-1938, has been carefully studied and
reported for the Trustees by Mr. George O.
Latimer. His two annual reports follow.
Temple Trustees
1. 1936-1937
"The inception of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar
in the West dates back to the Spring of 1903,
when, upon receiving news and pictures of
the laying of the corner-stone of the first
Baha'i Temple in 'Ishqabad, Russia, the
House of Spirituality in Chicago, inspired
by that great event, supplicated 'Abdu'l-
Baha for permission to erect a Mashriqu'l-
Adhkar in America. The Master sent a
Tablet in reply stating: 'I was rejoiced
through your endeavors in this glorious
Cause, made with joy and good interest. I
pray God to aid you in exalting His Word,
and in establishing the Temple of Worship,
through His grace and ancient mercy.
Verily, ye are the first to arise for this Glo-
rious Cause in that vast region. Soon will ye
see the spread of this enterprise in the world,
and its resounding voice shall go through the
ears of the people in all parts. Exert your
74
THE BAHA'l WORLD
energy in accomplishing what ye have un-
dertaken, so that this glorious Temple may
be built, that the beloved of God may as-
semble therein and that they may pray and
offer glory to God for guiding them to His
Kingdom.'
"The history of the early progress, — the
steady acquisition of the land in Wilmette,
the dedication of the Temple grounds on
May 1, 1912, by 'Abdu'1-Baha, the selection
of the Temple design, the sinking of the nine
caissons and the erection of the Foundation
Hall, — is well known to the friends. All
this work was accomplished under the direc-
tion of the Baha'i Temple Unity, the old
corporation, which was in turn instructed by
the believers each year at the annual Baha'i
Convention. It is of historical interest to
recall that the final payment on the main
tract of Temple property was made on Oc-
tober 2, 1912, while the Master was still in
America.
"After the incorporation of the National
Spiritual Asiembly in 1927, the first major
step was the establishment of the Tem-
ple Trusteeship. The Indenture creating
this Trust was recorded in Cook County,
Illinois, as document 10204534 on No-
vember 13, 1928. The first meeting of
the Trustees was held on January 12, 1929.
With the recording of this Indenture the
title to the Temple property passed from
the Baha'i Temple Unity to the Temple
Trustees.
"One of the first things done by the Trus-
tees was to start a Temple building fund by
placing $67,000.00 in U. S. Certificates of
Indebtedness at 4% Per cent. No bank
failure could impair the payments of this
obligation. The Trustees then took a fur-
ther precautionary step by passing a resolu-
tion that no invested funds or securities
could be withdrawn from the Temple Fund
without written authorization signed by
at least five of the members. Shortly
$20,000.00 more was added to this fund and
then came a glorious gift from two Baha'is
of $100,000.00 and another gift of $1900.00
from a friend who gave up a trip to Haifa
because the Guardian had laid such stress on
the completion of the Temple Fund. By
Convention time, April, 1929, a period of
three months from the commencement of
the building fund, there was $210,000.00 on
hand.
"Owing to the increasing height of Lake
Michigan, it became necessary, in 1930, to
put in a bulkhead of interlocking sheet steel
piling on the Lake Shore tract at a cost of
$7844.35. March, 1930, saw the fulfillment
of the condition laid down by Shoghi
Effendi, that $400,000.00 should be in hand
before the next stage of Temple construc-
tion could be started. The friends will re-
call that upon the recommendation of the
Research Service, it was decided to erect the
entire super-structure of the Temple, rather
than build just the complete first story. The
wisdom of this decision is known to the
friends throughout the Baha'i world.
"The next step after the completion of
the structure was the outer decoration of the
building. Again expert advice made it pos-
sible to start from the top rather than the
base of the Temple, and the present beauty
of the Dome, as it glistens in view from
miles around, is a shining evidence of what
the entire Temple will look like when com-
pleted. You are familiaV with the financial
struggle to complete the final payments for
the clere-story section to Mr. J. J. Earley,
whose artificial stone process made possible
the execution of the beautiful designs of the
architect, Mr. Louis Bourgeois. At a period
when the world was in the throes of a severe
depression, the Baha'is carried on operations
while many a religious edifice, backed by
great wealth, had abandoned further con-
struction. Once more the inspiring guid-
ance of Shoghi Effendi and the faith of the
friends carried us on. The Trustees had many
an anxious moment over the problem of
meeting the final payments and our Treas-
urer had to make a Bank loan of $10,000.00,
without mortgaging any property, a direct
obligation on the Trustees. This loan was
paid in full but it was still necessary to
borrow $5500.00 from two individuals in
order to complete the contract with Mr.
Earley.
"The Trustees are happy to report that
this final obligation has recently been dis-
charged and also the final payment on the
purchase contract of the Studio building has
been made to Mrs. Pemberton. Considerable
repair is needed on the Studio and the Main-
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
75
tcnance Committee has been instructed to
obtain competitive bids for the cost of mini-
mum necessary repairs to be done this Spring.
Certain needed repairs on the Temple have
been taken care of during the year, in order
to stop water leakage. The work of water-
proofing the entire sloping surface of the
ramp was completed at a cost of $1289.87.
It was found that owing to the porous con-
dition of the surface, due to a long period
of weather exposure, the contractor had to
use more material than originally contracted
for. The metal gutters and flashings and
broken tiles will be repaired at a contract
cost of $378.00. The vertical surface of
Foundation Hall and the slabs over the Lin-
den Avenue entrance require attention and
$500.00 has been authorized for this work
and $100.00 more for the cost of painting
the wooden steps and framework. New
indirect lights have been installed in Foun-
dation Hall at a cost of $122.10. The im-
provement of the grounds by grading and
seeding has been authorized and should be
completed by Convention time, thus remov-
ing the unattractive conditions that have
prevailed since building operations ceased.
Current insurance needs have been taken
care of and considerable savings on premium
costs have been effected.
"With the sale of the Marshall property
adjoining our triangle plot across Sheridan
Road, our attorney has been authorized to
enter into negotiations with the present
owner to bring about a joint action for the
application to the Village authorities for the
vacation of the stub end road and for
the equitable division of this strip of
land. Pending this action our attorney has
been instructed to take all immediate and
necessary steps to protect the triangle
plot of land from adverse possession or
use.
"The Trustees have voted to request Mr.
Earley to submit an estimate of cost on a
Temple model in a size suitable for display
by local Assemblies. It was also further
voted that any model or reproduction of the
Temple must be submitted to the Trustees
for them to determine whether the model is
acceptable and also the conditions under
which it can be sold. Local Assemblies and
individuals are asked not to purchase or ex-
hibit any Temple model except through the
Temple Trustees.
"The exact figures for this report of
Temple maintenance, repairs and insurance
can be found in the Treasurer's report.
However it may be of interest to know the
approximate annual fixed charges that have
to be met. They are:
Monthly
Average
Caretakers' Salaries $2,760.00 $230.00
Oil, Gas, electricity
and water . . 3,000.00 250.00
Special repairs . 2,000.00 166.65
Insurance, all kinds,
Studio, Cottage,
Liability, Furnish-
ings, Fire, boiler and
compensation 860.00 71.85
$8,620.00 $718.50
Temple Trustees
2. 1937-1938
"The trustees received a new responsi-
bility when the memorable and inspiring
cabled Message from Shoghi Effendi was re-
ceived during the 1937 Convention, invest-
ing the American Baha'i community with a
dual task to continue the teaching campaign
and Resume with inflexible determination
exterior ornamentation entire structure (of)
Temple. Advise ponder message conveyed
delegates (through) esteemed co-worker,
Fred Schopflocher. No triumph can more
befittingly signalize termination first cen-
tury Baha'i era than accomplishment (of)
this twofold task.'
"Mr. Schopflocher further reported that
the Guardian hoped that the exterior orna-
mentation would be completed before the
end of the first Baha'i century, 1944, and
that a committee of experts, Baha'i and non-
Baha'i, should be appointed to submit costs
and make recommendations to the National
Assembly about the contract for the next
step in the construction. A committee was
appointed of three Baha'is and three techni-
cal experts, consisting of L. W. Eggleston,
chairman, E. Roger Boyle, Frank R. Mc-
Millan, Stuart W. French, Frank A. Baker
and C. Herrick Hammond.
76
THE BAHA'f WORLD
"This committee considered the most effi-
cient, economical and satisfactory methods
to be employed in the completion of the en-
tire exterior ornamentation of the Temple,
the nature and terms of the contract and to
whom it should be given, and after a careful
survey of the problem made a unanimous
recommendation that the contract be placed
with Mr. John J. Earley, who had so suc-
cessfully completed the Dome and Clerestory
ornamentation. After consideration of the
type of contract, whether on a cost-plus
basis or a fixed amount, it was found that
the latter would run nearly $50,000.00
higher, and the cost-plus basis was recom-
mended. The technical committee further
recommended that the Research Service,
Inc., be employed to supervise the construc-
tion work, on behalf of the Trustees.
"With these recommendations before it
the National Assembly met with both the
Technical Committee and Mr. Earley during
its August meeting at Green Acre and
voted to accept the recommendations and to
enter into a contract with Mr. Earley for
the completion of the gallery section of the
Temple at an estimated cost of $140,000.00,
which includes all materials, labor, insurance,
social security taxes and freight charges at
actual cost, and which should also cover a
contingency reserve for unforeseen condi-
tions and raises in wages and the 1 5 per cent
fee of the Earley Studios. Mr. Earley stated
that he would like to purchase all the neces-
sary steel and quartz and cement necessary
to complete the contract as soon as possible.
He also gave an estimate of $350,000.00 for
the completion of the entire outer ornamen-
tation. The National Assembly then cabled
the following message to Shoghi Effendi:
* Under recommendation Technical Commit-
tee contract next Temple unit given Earley.
Estimated cost his work $125,000, total
estimated cost $145,000 including contin-
gency reserve.' The following reply was
received on September 2, 'Approve Commit-
tee's decision. Place contract immediately.'
"When this information was received by
the Trustees they voted to appoint a com-
mittee of Mountfort Mills and Allen Mc-
Daniel to prepare the terms of the contract
in accordance with the standardized type of
agreement used by the American Institute of
Architects and to authorize any five Trus-
tees to sign it on behalf of the Trustees. Mr.
Earley was further authorized to make an
immediate purchase of the materials needed
for the performance of the work at an esti-
mated cost of $20,000. This was done
on the advice of the National Spiritual
Assembly that the sum of $76,000 was
available and that an additional $50,000
would be available in January, 1938.
The contract was signed on October 5,
1937.
"It was further voted to appoint Mr.
Allen McDaniel the representative of the
Trustees in supervising the execution of the
agreement entered into with Mr. Earley and
that the treasurer be directed to pay the ex-
pense incurred by Mr. McDaniel in connec-
tion with the supervision of the work at the
Earley Studio as well as at the Temple, in-
cluding the preparation of detailed monthly
reports and traveling expenses. It was like-
wise voted to pay any expense incurred by
the Technical Committee in connection with
its survey.
"The Trustees are happy to report that
this committee is available for consultation
at any time in connection with any technical
problems that might arise during the con-
struction work and that they made no
charge for their professional advice. A full
report of the work of this Committee will
be given by its chairman, Mr. Eggleston,
during the 1938 Convention.
"The purchases of materials was started in
September, and during the early part of Oc-
tober, Mr. Earley had trained assistants make
the measurements at the Temple necessary
for the working drawings from which the
models and molds are prepared. The work
has continued for six months at the Earley
Studio and all clay models and casts were
completed the first part of April. On March
25, the first car containing contractor's
equipment, reinforcing steel and wooden
molds for the placing of the ornamentation
that is to be poured at the Temple, was
shipped. On March 28, a second car was
shipped containing 54,000 pounds of crushed
stone and sand, 28 columns, 51 imposts, 2
sections of cornice ornamentation and 2 sec-
tions of window band ornament. The
friends attending the 1938 Convention will
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
77
have the renewed inspiration of again seeing
the Temple under construction.
"A detailed monthly report of all opera-
tions has been furnished the Trustees by Mr.
McDaniel, which includes every item of ex-
pense from the reinforced steel down to a
whitewash brush. This progress report
divides the work into three sections: A. Cost
of Models and Molds, B. Cost of precast
Ornament, C. Cost of materials and work
at the Temple. The estimated cost of the
work to March 31, 1938, according to
figures supplied by Mr. Earley was $45,-
162.28, while the total expenditures to the
same date have amounted to $43,354.34,
showing that up to the present time the
work has advanced according to outlined
schedule and the actual cost is running rea-
sonably within the estimates. The system of
accounting is the same as that installed in
the Earley Studio by the auditor of the City
of Nashville when Mr. Earley completed a
contract with that city some years ago. The
entire gallery section should be completed
within a two-year period from the signing
of the contract. The trustees visited the
Earley Studio on December 1 1 and found the
work proceeding ahead of the outlined
schedule. They also viewed the splendid
Temple Model made by Mr. Earley and
which can be purchased by local Assemblies
for $95.00. One of these models was sent
to Shoghi EfTendi, one will be on display at
the Temple and one was sent to the Con-
crete Institute; others will be available for
Teaching campaigns.
"Two most generous gifts, one of
$100,000 and another of $25,000, gave a
great impetus to the start of the Temple con-
struction fund the early part of the Baha'i
year. The friends throughout the land have
arisen to the great task before us inspired by
the Guardian's cablegram of July 4, 1937:
'Immeasurably gratified National Assembly's
initial step presentation Seven Year Plan.
Successful operation Temple enterprise neces-
sitates carrying out faithfully, energetically
following successive steps. First, expedite
preliminary investigations. Second, utilize
Fred's historic munificent donation by im-
mediate signature contract for next unit.
Third, redirect with added force nationwide
appeal to entire community insure uninter-
rupted completion first unit and accumula-
tion sufficient funds enable placing without
delay final contract. Fourth, place final con-
tract as soon as half required sum available
in National Treasury. Fifth, re-emphasize
supreme obligation triumphant consumma-
tion so vital a part of American believers'
twofold task by May, 1944. Advise com-
municate above message all believers stimu-
late universal response Assembly's future
endeavors.' The Trustees feel confident
they will not have to make any further loans
to complete payments for contracted work
on the Temple as the believers will be ever
mindful of that 'No sacrifice (is) too great
for community so abundantly blessed, re-
peatedly honored.'
"Considerable attention has been given to
the problem of the Temple grounds this past
year. A preliminary survey of the land-
scaping plans is under way so that the nature
and amount of fill necessary for the ultimate
ground plan can be determined. The Trus-
tees have informed the United States
Engineer's Office that they arc in a po-
sition to build the necessary bulkheads
and arrange for the fill when dredg-
ing operations in Wilmette harbor are
started.
"For the information of the friends the
following computation of the area of the
Temple grounds was made by Mr. McDaniel
last October:
Acres
Triangular plot adjacent to Marshall
Studio 0.1768
Burgeois Studio plot 0.9105
Temple plot . . 5.8835
Total area
6.9708
"The Trustees have spent much time try-
ing to arrive at an equitable settlement of
the division of the stub-end part of the old
Sheridan Road upon information from the
Wilmette Village authorities that it has been
abandoned, and that they will cooperate
with the Trustees in making a settlement
with the Goldblatt family which have ac-
quired the adjacent Marshall property. This
matter should be terminated in the near
future, as three Trustees, Mr. Wilhelm, Mr.
Holley and Mr. Scheffler met with the owners
78
THE BAHA'f WORLD
last fall and reported that a settlement has
been proposed.
"Upon the advice and instruction of the
Guardian, an agreement has been entered into
with Mrs. Pemberton for the purchase of
the interior designs of the Temple at the cost
of Forty Dollars a month, payable to her
during the term of her natural life. Pay-
ments started in January, 1938, under this
agreement. The drawings will be forwarded
to Shoghi Effendi after a set of prints have
been made.
"The following necessary repairs and im-
provements were made this past year: a new
steel rolling door was installed in the founda-
tion wall at a cost of $251.00; plastering
$150.00; screen and storm doors, $101.77;
grading and seeding the ground, $558.96;
and roofing, refacing the walls of the
Temple Studio and caretaker's cottage,
$738.68— a total of $1,800.41. Traveling
expenses of the Technical Committee
amounting to $297.84 and legal expense of
$88.35 have been paid. Insurance was re-
newed on the Temple Studio, Liability and
Workmen's Compensation and the Boilers in
the Temple, this latter at a saving of $74.25
for three years. The annual maintenance
costs will be found in the Treasurer's report.
Beginning March 1, Mr. Hannen's salary was
increased to $125.00 a month. Allen Mc-
Daniel and Carl Scheffler acted as the Main-
tenance Committee.
Green Acre Trustees
1. 1936-1937
"After attending the Congress of Re-
ligions at the Columbian Exposition at
Chicago in 1893, Miss Sarah J. Farmer
was inspired to found a center for the in-
vestigation of the reality of religions. The
following year she selected the property in
her home village of Eliot, Maine, for this
purpose and thus an institution was estab-
lished as she described it 'for the purpose of
bringing together all who were looking
earnestly toward the New Day which seemed
to be breaking over the entire world. The
motive was to find the Truth, the Reality
underlying all religious forms, and to make
points of contact in order to promote the
unity necessary for the ushering in of the
coming Day of God.' This beautiful site on
the banks of the Piscataqua River was after-
wards named Green Acre. The yearly sum-
mer conferences became widely known and
were highly successful. In 1900 Miss
Farmer made a pilgrimage to 'Akka, and
from that time on, the Fellowship which she
established to control Green Acre gradually
became imbued with the Baha'i ideals. Time
does not permit recounting the growth and
struggles that befell the lot of the Green
Acre Fellowship, the court proceedings to
save the property, the gifts of Mrs. Helen
Ellis Cole and others in the early days and
later the financial assistance of the Randalls
and the Schopflochers and many faithful
friends to insure the ultimate destiny of
Green Acre to become the reflection of the
plain of 'Akka and the center of the Baha'is.
Miss Farmer received many Tablets from
'Abdu'1-Baha regarding its future, and
among these messages the following prophetic
statement has been a guiding inspiration:
'You must lay such a foundation so that the
influence of the confederation of religions
and sects may permeate to all parts of the
world from Green Acre, and Green Acre for
all future ages and cycles may become the
standard-bearer of the oneness of the world
of humanity.'
"After Miss Farmer's death, the Green
Acre Fellowship, which owned and directed
the property, gradually brought the Baha'i
principles into all the activities of the center.
At the annual meeting on August 10, 1925,
the Fellowship voted to place Green" Acre
under the control of the National Spiritual
Assembly, and upon the completion of this
conveyance, the Guardian on September 20,
1926 cabled this message: 'May newly con-
firmed union achieve its purpose by increas-
ingly demonstrating universality of Baha'i
Cause.'
"In 1929 an Indenture of Trust was set
up and title to the property was transferred
to the Trustees. Green Acre consists of
131.3 acres of land in five different parcels,
The Inn, Fellowship House, the Pines, Sun-
set Hill and the river tract. Besides the
three-story Inn and the lovely Fellowship
House there are a number of cottages, an
Arts and Crafts Studio, Rogers Cottage
(formerly a Tea and Gift Shop) and a camp
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
79
site. Recently the McKinney cottage was
purchased for $200.00, making another
house available for rental, and the Trustees
voted to appropriate $100.00 for the instal-
lation of a water heater and bath in the
Lucas cottage. A camp site for those who
prefer to spend their vacation in that man-
ner, has been arranged for on the river tract.
The grounds will be cleared and platforms
for tents installed with provision for a water
supply with a pitcher pump. The Main-
tenance Committee has been authorized to
rent Fellowship House this season, providing
suitable arrangements can be made. The
land between the Pines and the highway is
to be marked out in 50 ft. -front lots to be
leased to Baha'is who wish to construct their
own summer homes at Green Acre. Mr. and
Mrs. Schopflocher have made arrangements
to give the large Ball cottage with its acre-
age, which adjoins the Inn property, to
Green Acre. This welcome gift will pro-
vide a house that will produce a revenue to
the Trustees as it can be rented the entire
year. Eight Hundred Dollars has been au-
thorized to be expended for alterations and
improvements on the Inn Cottages Nos. 2
and 3.
"Mr. Bert Hagadorn, who has served as an
efficient caretaker of the Green Acre prop-
erties for many years, found it necessary to
resign his position this year. To fill this
position, Mr. Goodwin was hired for one
year at a wage of $100.00 a month. Mr.
Goodwin resigned in March and Edwin La
Pointe engaged on a day basis of $3.20, and
a minimum during the winter months. A
new sign reading 'Baha'i Summer School for
the Study of the New World Order1 was
erected at the entrance replacing the old
sign 'Green Acre Inn.' Judge Deering was
employed to examine the records of certain
rights of way to different tracts of Green
Acre land and to take the necessary steps to
establish proper use of these rights of way
by the friends. The boundaries of all parcels
of land will be properly and permanently
marked with cement posts.
"Mrs. Ormsby has been engaged as man-
ager of the Inn again for the season of 1937
under the same arrangement made with her
last year. It is encouraging to report that,
after receiving $500.00 from the National
Assembly to start the season of 1936 and
purchase the necessary supplies for the Inn,
this sum was paid back and, in addition, a
net profit from the Inn, and cottages and the
Lucas cottage in the amount of $722.74 was
turned over by the Trustees to the National
Fund. The Inn will be opened on July 1
this year and will offer accommodations to
non-Baha'is as well as believers seeking a
pleasant vacation, in order to make it a
source of income to Green Acre. A Baha'i
hostess will be at the Inn for the season.
"Since the burning of the 'Eirenion,' a
Hall in the Inn has been used for school and
meeting purposes. The friends will be most
pleased to learn that when Green Acre opens
this year a beautiful new Baha'i Hall, com-
plete with chairs, furnishings and lighting
system will be standing on the top of the
slope overlooking the Piscataqua, just west
of the Inn. This Hall, costing about
$5,000.00, will have a seating capacity of
200 people and will be used entirely for
Baha'i devotional and teaching purposes and
for the celebration of Baha'i Feasts. This
greatly needed addition to the institutions of
Green Acre is made possible through the
generosity of Mrs. Florence Morton. The
trustees are most appreciative of this contri-
bution from one who has been devoted to
the service of Green Acre. The Hall in the
Inn will be used for recreation.
"Judge Deering has been requested to
ascertain if the Indenture of Trust is legally
sufficient according to Maine law for the
Trustees to apply for tax exemption on the
properties that are devoted to religious and
educational purposes.
"This Indenture was recorded at Alfred,
Maine, on January 1, 1930, Book 813,
page 366.
"The operation and maintenance cost of
Green Acre has been a difficult problem to
solve owing to the short summer season and
the many needed repairs. The Green Acre
Maintenance Committee has rendered in-
valuable assistance to the Trustees in the
management of the property. The Inn was
operated at a good profit last season, but the
fixed charges for taxes, insurance, repairs and
caretaker make it necessary to receive assist-
ance each year from the National Fund. The
Guardian wishes Green Acre to become self-
80
THE BAHA'I WORLD
supporting and the Trustees are doing what
they can toward this end. The present an-
nual cost of maintenance, not including the
Inn and summer school activities, follows:
Monthly
Average
$1,200.00 $100.00
476.60 40.00
Caretaker's Salary . .
Insurance, all kinds . .
Taxes 642.32
Water 60.00
Repairs and sundry
702.32 58.50
300.00 25.00
$2,678.92 $223.50
"This year over $100.00 in savings on
insurance has been effected. The future
destiny of Green Acre was assured when
'Abdu'1-Baha, 25 years ago, stood on Mount
Salvat and said that a great University of
the Higher Sciences would be erected on that
site.
Green Acre Trustees
2. 1937-1938
"Prior to the opening of Green Acre for
the Summer School sessions for 1937, the re-
building of the third floor of the Inn was
completed, second floor accommodations had
been added in two of the cottages adjoining
the Inn, and the new Baha'i Hall, overlook-
ing the Piscataqua River — the generous gift
to the Cause by Mrs. Florence Morton — was
finished and ready to provide a beautiful and
necessary auditorium for lectures, classes,
conferences and feasts. In addition to
her greatly appreciated gift of the Baha'i
Hall, Mrs. Morton contributed $1,500.00
for the third floor improvements in the
Inn.
"Another important gift to Green Acre
was the transfer by deed of the so-called Ball
cottage with its three acres, running from
the main highway to the Ole Bull property,
by Mr. and Mrs. Schopflocher. In addition
they donated $250.00 for the repair of
the roof and paid the current taxes on this
property, which is a valuable addition to
Green Acre because of its year-round rental
opportunity, when necessary repairs and
improvements are made in the amount of
$3,000.00.
"The following cottages have produced
income for the Trustees:
McKinney Cottage — annual rental $ 10.00
Rogers Cottage — annual rental . 30.00
Reeves Cottage — annual rental 25.00
Lucas Cottage — season rental . . 100.00
Ball Cottage — August, 1937 rental 75.00
Total
$240.00
"Repairs in the amount of $100.00 were
expended on the Lucas Cottage and $115.00
on the Ball Cottage. Additional repairs will
be necessary to the Ball Cottage to make it
rentable during the winter months. Besides
the third floor improvements at the Inn, it
will be necessary to repair and paint the roof
over the kitchen and dining-room at a cost
of $260.00. The Trustees voted to expend
the balance of the Yandell Art Fund, of
$375.00 for installing a toilet and making
improvements in the Arts and Craft Studio
and Mrs. Nancy Bowditch has been ap-
pointed to conduct classes in drawing, paint-
ing and designing this coming season. The
taxes of $662.72 and $9.75 on McKinney
Cottage for 1937 have been paid. In this
connection, the Trustees felt that the Baha'i
Hall, Fellowship House and the Arts and
Crafts Studio are subject to tax exemption as
they are used exclusively for religious pur-
poses and a committee of Mr. Harold Bow-
man, Mrs. Emma Flynn and Mr. Horace
Holley met with the Village Selectmen and
presented a request for exemption in the
valuation of $6,000.00, the limit allowed by
the laws of the State of Maine. Favorable
action on this request is hoped for this year.
It will be necessary to make certain repairs
on Fellowship House roof and also on the in-
terior supports in Rogers Cottage.
"The matter of insurance became another
serious problem to the Trustees this past
year, as notice of an increase of rate on Fel-
lowship House from $1.75 to $3.75 per hun-
dred was published by the New England
Insurance Exchange. Mr. Latimer, who has
been authorized by the Trustees to handle all
insurance items, met with the Agents last
August at Green Acre and had them file an
application for revision. Finally in March
of this year, word was received that the old
rate had been restored and this amounted in
a saving of $200.00 to the Trustees. Owing
to the improvements to the Inn and Cot-
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
81
tages, additional insurance has been placed
on these buildings and the amount reduced
on Fellowship House. Total insurance paid
this year amounts to $666.98 on the build-
ings, liability and workmen's compensation.
"Mrs. Ormsby managed the Inn for the
Trustees in 1937. The Inn was thoroughly
fumigated at a cost of $175.00 and new beds
and equipment installed on the third floor
and in the cottages at a cost of $534.80. A
station wagon, costing $353.00 was pur-
chased for the use of the Inn and its guests.
Mrs. Marguerite Bruegger served as a Baha'i
hostess during the season. Food, pay-roll,
supplies and miscellaneous expense for light,
water, coal, ice, laundry, amounted to $4,-
412.27, while the income from guests, cot-
tage rents and miscellaneous amounted to
$3,979.51, leaving a deficit for the season
of $432.76.
"Mrs. Flora Valentine has been engaged
to manage the Inn and cottages for July and
August, 1938, at a salary of $100.00 a
month. The manager is to send in a weekly
financial report this coming season to the
Trustees and supply a copy for the Mainte-
nance Committee. The Trustees adopted a
policy that Green Acre is to be recognized as
a Baha'i summer school, the aim of which is
to train and inspire believers to become
Baha'i teachers, and plans made to attract
non-believers are to conform in all respects
to the highest interests of the Faith. It is
hoped a deeper spiritual appeal will promote
greater unified effort and enthusiasm, to the
end that it may become financially self-
supporting.
"The following committee was appointed
jointly by the National Assembly to combine
the functions of program and maintenance:
Florence Morton, chairman, Alice Bacon,
Harold Bowman, Amelia Bowman, Roushan
Wilkinson, Harlan Ober and Glenn Shook.
Emma Flynn was appointed supervisor of
properties and directed the caretaker's duties.
Mr. Edwin La Pointe served as caretaker for
the year at a part time monthly salary at
$76.80. It is the hope of the Trustees that
the attendance at Green Acre this coming
season will increase to such an extent that
there will be no operating deficit and a great
spiritual contribution be made to the fur-
therance of the Seven Year Plan.
Boscb Trustees
1. 1936-1937
"The increasing call in the western States
for Baha'i teachers prompted the National
Assembly to appoint a committee to work
out plans for a Summer School on the Pacific
Coast. The site selected for this school was
in Geyserville, California, due to the wel-
come offer of John and Louise Bosch to make
their ranch home, with all its facilities, avail-
able for this purpose. The first school ses-
sions were held there in 1927. Since that
time the ever-increasing number of attend-
ants at the school each year have been
housed, without charge, through the warm
hospitality of Mr. and Mrs. Bosch. As long
ago as 1910, Mr. Bosch wrote to 'Abdu'l-
Baha of his desire to dedicate this property
to the universal service and spirit of the
teachings of Baha'u'llah, that it might be-
come a center — with a Mashriqu'l-Adhkar
— for all hearts who are earnestly seeking en-
lightenment. The fulfillment of this hope,
so fully shared in by Mrs. Bosch, started on
August 1, 1927, when 130 friends gathered
under the shade of the majestic 'Big Tree' to
celebrate the Feast of Asma' on the open-
ing of the first summer school in the West.
"In the ninth year after the establishment
of the school, Mr. and Mrs. Bosch conveyed
title to the property by an Indenture of
Trust to the Trustees for the benefit of the
National Assembly. This trust deed, which
is similar to the Wilhelm deed, provides for
full use and occupancy by Mr. and Mrs.
Bosch during their respective lifetimes. The
Indenture was recorded on November 25,
1935 in Book 397, page 20, Records of So-
noma County, California.
"The property, just 75 miles north of San
Francisco on the famous Redwood Highway,
comprises 37 acres, with a mature fruit
orchard, a redwood grove, the lovely Bosch
home, many accessory buildings, and a water
system with two wells that have never gone
dry. The maintenance, repairs, taxes and
other expense to date have been taken care of
by the generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Bosch,
thus saving a considerable sum for the
National Fund.
"Mr. Bosch has surveyed a part of this
land on the hill-side, overlooking the Russian
82
THE BAHA'f WORLD
River Valley, for building sites to be leased
to Baha'is who wish to erect summer homes.
Already two attractive cottages have been
built on these sites and a number of others
have been planned for the near future.
"Last year an attractive Hall for the
school sessions and public meetings, of rustic
redwood, completely equipped with chairs
and a kitchen to provide for Feasts, was
erected and presented to the Cause by Mr.
and Mrs. Thomas H. Collins. This year
these two devoted friends of the Faith have
shown further evidence of their generosity
by the gift of a much needed dormitory,
88 x 14 feet, of corresponding rustic mate-
rial, which is now under construction and
which will be equipped with beds and linen
and ready for use for the school sessions this
year. This dormitory, fully equipped, will
cost approximately $20,000.00. The fire in-
surance on both these new, beautiful build-
ings and their equipment for a three-year
period have likewise been provided for by
these two friends.
"Another gift of $500.00 was received
this year from Mr. Schopflocher to provide
for a suitable place for the school and recre-
ational activities of the Baha'i children.
"The only cost to the Trustees to date
has been the liability insurance premium
amounting to $39.05. All other mainte-
nance costs have been paid by the Boschs.
It may soon be necessary to appoint a care-
taker to look after the upkeep of the build-
ings and grounds and thus relieve John and
Louise Bosch from the care and responsibili-
ties they have carried on their willing shoul-
ders for so many years. On November 13,
1936, the Trustees motored from San Fran-
cisco to spend the day at Geyserville, a meet-
ing of prayer was held in the new Hall. It
was a real inspiration to inspect this splendid
gift of a valuable property, with its build-
ings, from these self-sacrificing friends to
the Cause of God.
Bosch Trustees
2. 1937-1938
"Since our last report the beautiful dormi-
tory at Geyserville was completed and its
dedication took place on July 4, the opening
day of the Summer School. It was an occa-
sion of great joy to have Mrs. Thomas
Collins present at these services. She and her
husband, who was deprived of seeing the
culmination of his devotion to this institu-
tion, have complemented the wonderful gift
of John and Louise Bosch, with their endow-
ments of the Baha'i Hall and the dormitory.
The two-story dormitory, with thirteen
rooms on the main floor and beds for four-
teen on the second floor, will accommodate
about fifty people. This beautiful building
will stand as a memorial to Mr. Thomas
Collins.
"Mr. Joe Borzoni was employed as care-
taker last May at a salary of $50.00 per
month, for part time services. An arrange-
ment has been made that whatever work he
does for the friends who have cottages on
the property in his spare time shall be de-
ducted from the wages paid by the Trustees
and assumed by the other parties. These
services are not available during the period
of the summer school.
"The summer school and maintenance of
the property have been conducted up to the
present time without a*ny budget from the
National Fund, the only costs being the care-
taker's salary which amounted to $521.66
and workmen's compensation of $34.05.
Mr. and Mrs. Bosch and Mrs. Collins have
taken care of the taxes, water, light, and
other insurance items. Other friends have
contributed sums to carry on the summer
school work. Last year there was a deficit
of $20.00, which included a nominal weekly
charge for the rooms to cover laundry, etc.
This deficit was made up by the friends.
"The Trustees appointed the following
Maintenance Committee to supervise the
management on their behalf: George Lati-
mer, chairman, Leroy C. loas, secretary, John
Bosch, Amelia Collins, N. Forsyth Ward
and Harry R. Munson. This committee will
render an annual report to the Trustees.
Wilbelm Trustees
1. 1936-1937
"On June 29, 1912, 'Abdu'1-Baha invited
a number of friends to the home of Mr. Roy
C. Wilhelm at West Englewood to partake
with him in a feast of fellowship. After
serving the guests with his own hands, the
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
83
Master said: 'You have come here with sin-
cere intentions and the purpose of all present
is the attainment of the virtues of God.
. . . Since the desire of all is unity and
agreement it is certain that this meeting will
be productive of great results. . . . Such
gatherings as this have no likeness or equal
in the world of mankind where people are
drawn together by physical motives or in
furtherance of material interests, for this
meeting is a prototype of that inner and
complete spiritual association in the eternal
world of being. . . . Hundreds of thou-
sands of meetings shall be held to commemo-
rate such an assembly as this and the very
words I utter to you on this occasion shall
be reiterated by them in the ages to come.'
"For the past 24 years an annual souvenir
has been held on this spot in remembrance
of this meeting. A few years after this
event, Mr. Wilhelm, in his spare moments,
erected a log cabin and named it Evergreen
Cabin. It has been a center of Baha'i activi-
ties for many years. Since 1931 it has been
the headquarters of of the National Spir-
itual Assembly. Directly below the Cabin
lies the pine grove where the Master gave his
memorable Feast. It is on this site, accord-
ing to the Guardian's instructions, that the
only Memorial commemorating 'Abdu'l-
Baha visit to North America is to be erected.
It will be in the form of a monument.
"On March 9, 1935, Mr. Wilhelm exe-
cuted an Indenture of Trust, transferring
Evergreen Cabin, its furnishings and the two
lots comprising the pine grove to the nine
Wilhelm Trustees for the benefit of the
National Spiritual Assembly. This inden-
ture was duly recorded in the office of the
clerk of Bergen County, New Jersey, in
Book 1935, page 590 of Deeds.
"As a further evidence of Mr. Wilhelm's
generosity, a $20,000 fire insurance policy
good for five years and a year's liability
policy were turned over to the Trustees,
fully paid, covering these properties, which
made a saving of $584.48 to the National
Fund. The terms of the indenture provide
that Mr. Wilhelm and members of his family
throughout their several lifetimes can con-
tinue to have the free use of the property.
An additional gift of 102 feet of land, rep-
resenting two lots between the cabin and the
pine grove, a garage and two-story house in
which the office of the National Assembly
is located, has just been made to the Cause
by Mr. Wilhelm. The insurance on the
house and garage amounting to $112.00 is
also included.
"The Cabin has been made available under
lease to the Teaneck Assembly for their
meetings. A separate electric meter has
recently been installed for the light used by
the Teaneck Assembly and provision is being
made for a separate oil supply to the heating
plant for their use.
"Up to the present time there has been
no cost to the Baha'i Fund for light, heat,
repairs or taxes. It is a remarkable fact that
recently the City of West Englewood,
voluntarily decided, without any application
being made, to remove this property from
the tax roll. When approached for verifica-
tion of this action, the city fathers stated
that Mr. Wilhelm deserved tax exemption
on this property more than some religious
institutions, for what he is doing for the
community of West Englewood.
"The only cost to the Trustees is a Lia-
bility Insurance coverage which runs about
$40.00 annually. The spiritual value of this
property is beyond computation. Its physi-
cal value is enhancing steadily due to its
close proximity to New York City.
Wilhelm Trustees
2. 1937-1938
"The Trustees are happy to report that
another welcomed gift has been made to this
property which witnesses each year the most
memorable event connected with the visit
of the Master to America in 1912 — the
Annual Souvenir of 'Abdu'1-Baha. Mr.
Walter Goodfellow and Jessie Goodfellow,
his wife, presented to the Wilhelm Trustees
two lots adjoining the present property.
This indenture was executed December 31,
1937 and recorded on January 4, 1938, in
the office of the clerk of Bergen County, in
Book 2097, page 482 of Deeds. These lots
make a valuable addition to the present prop-
erty, and our deep and abiding appreciation
is extended to Mr. and Mrs. Goodfellow.
"Last year Mr. Samuel Shure, attorney for
Mr. Wilhelm, advised the Trustees that the
84
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Teaneck Township assessor stated that the
lots located in the pine grove were not tax
exempt because they are separated from the
property used for religious purposes. Mr.
Wilhelm paid the taxes on these lots for
1937. The town has agreed to give ex-
emption on lots No. 8 and No. 9 for 1938
and successive years.
"The Cabin has been leased for meetings
to the Teaneck Spiritual Assembly at a
monthly rental of $30.00, and this Assem-
bly pays for its portion of the liability in-
surance, light and heat. This past year Mr.
Wilhelm installed a separate oil tank to sup-
ply oil to the Cabin for determining exactly
the costs to the Teaneck Assembly. The
only costs to the Trustees have been $18.40
for legal expenses and about $10.00 for in-
surance, Mr. Wilhelm having borne all other
costs.
Maiden Trustees
1. 1936-1937
"In 1900 Miss Maria P. Wilson, one of the
early pioneers of the Faith in America,
visited 'Abdu'1-Baha at 'Akka in company
with Miss Sarah Farmer. A few years later
she made a second pilgrimage and on that
occasion the Master said to her: 'When I
come to America I will visit you.' In
August, 1912, after visiting Green Acre,
'Abdu'1-Baha requested that a believer who
might have a 'house on a hill* allow Him the
use of it for a week or two. Many houses
were offered for His disposal, but He chose
the home of Miss Wilson at 68 High Street
in Maiden, Massachusetts. He remained
there for some ten days before going to
Montreal. Upon his return to Haifa, after
His memorable visit to America, The Master
wrote to Miss Wilson stating: 'Thy house
became my abode and my home. Many days
were spent in that home with the utmost
joy and fragrance. The mention of 'Ya-
Baha'u'1-Abha* was raised from it and we
spread the religion of God. In reality that
home is My home, therefore the mention of
God must always be raised from it.'
"Again on May 11, 1913, the Master, in
another Tablet to Miss Wilson, wrote: 'The
days I spent in thy house and engaged My
time in summoning the people to the King-
dom of God were days of infinite joy and
spirituality. They shall never be erased
from the Tablet of Memory.'
"When Miss Wilson passed to the heavenly
world in 1930 she left a Will giving this
house to Shoghi Effendi. The Guardian took
title to this property and asked the National
Assembly to look after it for him. In the
fall of 1935 the Guardian executed a deed
of trust transferring it to the Trustees for
the benefit of the National Spiritual Assem-
bly. This indenture was recorded on Sep-
tember 27, 1935 in Book 5962, page 399, in
the Middlesex Registry of Deeds, Middlesex
County, Massachusetts, Southern District.
"Prior to the establishment of the trust
the Boston Assembly had been asked to look
after this house for the National Assembly.
The house was rented and the Boston Assem-
bly has continued to care for it for the Trus-
tees. The house is in need of certain repairs
which will be given attention. There is a
problem of an existing right of way located
on adjoining property, formerly owned by
Miss Wilson which she bequeathed to a rela-
tive. The Trustees have offered to give a
release of this right of way to the adjoining
owner for a financial consideration sufficient
to provide a new driveway on the other side
of the house located on the land belonging
to the trust property and for the alterations
in the house necessary to permit the delivery
of coal and supplies. This matter has not
yet been concluded by our attorney.
"Fire insurance for three years was re-
newed last year at a cost of $28.75. Taxes
for this year of $191.25, sidewalk assessment
of $8.64 and water bills of $16.69 have
been paid. The Boston Assembly reports
$148.50 on hand, received from rent since
May, 1936.
"The Trustees referred to Shoghi Effendi
the question whether the property should be
retained and developed for Baha'i purposes
as a memorial to 'Abdu'1-Baha or whether
it should be sold, and received the following
reply: 'The Guardian does not advise your
Assembly to sell the Maiden property, as the
Master has definitely stated in the Tablet
which you have quoted to "take care of that
house, because the light of the love of God
was ignited in it." By renting the house the
N. S. A. can for the present avoid the ex-
penses entailed by its repairs and up-keep.'
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
Maiden Trustees
2. 1937-1938
"The friends are aware that this house was
turned over to the National Spiritual Assem-
bly by Shoghi Effendi because of its memor-
able association with the Master's visit to
America in 1912. On June 4, 1937, the
following word was received from the
Guardian: 'Concerning the house at Maiden,
Mass., the Guardian leaves all the questions
related to its restoration and renting to the
discretion of your N. S. A., but wishes only
to emphasize the absolute necessity of keep-
ing this house as the property of the Cause.
Under no circumstances should it be sold or
given to non-Baha'is, though it may be
rented to them, in view of the references
'Abdu'1-Baha has made to it in His Tablet.
Whatever arrangement the Assembly de-
cides upon should be made after due consid-
eration of this important fact.'
"Owing to the age of the house many
repairs are necessary. The following most
urgent ones have been taken care of at a cost
of $390.15: a new hot-air furnace, replace-
ment of old window frames and sashes,
new modern electric wiring throughout,
plumbing and plastering of ceiling. Taxes
amounted to $204.04 and water $18.96.
Rent was received amounting to $171.00.
Other repairs will be made when necessary.
"The following Maintenance Committee
was appointed by the Trustees: Victor
Archambault, chairman, Florence Morton
and Wendell Bacon. This committee has
taken over the work formerly entrusted to
the Boston Assembly.
DISSOLUTION OF BAHA'f ADMINISTRATIVE
INSTITUTIONS IN GERMANY AND AUSTRIA
A number of Baha'is yet live who gathered
at a railroad station in Paris to witness the
historic departure of 'Abdu'1-Baha for His
journey to Germany and Hungary shortly
before the war of 1914. These believers
learned with special poignancy during July,
1937, that the Baha'i administrative institu-
tions in that land had been dissolved by
governmental action. Under the regulations
issued, Baha'i meetings, the teaching of the
Faith, and the functioning of its organic
institutions were forbidden.
In this grave condition the Baha'is see a
clear parallel with those similar actions by
Oriental governments and ecclesiastical
bodies in earlier years in an effort to destroy
the Faith of Baha'u'llah, efforts which time
has proved were made in vain. Indeed, dur-
ing 1936, the believers had received from
their Guardian that communication pub-
lished in America under the title of "The Un-
foldmcnt of World Civilization," in which
Shoghi Effendi expounded the fundamental
significance of the • modern movements of
history in the light of Baha'u'llah's world-
unifying Mission, and study of this impor-
tant document had prepared the Baha'i
community to realize both the further diffi-
culties it was destined to suffer and its even-
tual triumph.
"For the revelation of so great a favor,"
the Guardian had written, "a period of in-
tense turmoil and wide-spread suffering
would seem to be indispensable. . . . We
stand on the threshold of an age whose con-
vulsions proclaim alike the death-pangs of
the old order and the birth-pangs of the new.
... As we view the world around us, we
are compelled to observe the manifold evi-
dences of that universal fermentation which,
in every continent of the globe and in every
department of human life, be it religious,
social, economic or political, is purging and
reshaping humanity in anticipation of the
Day when the wholeness of the human race
will have been recognized and its unity
established. A two-fold process, however,
can be distinguished, each tending, in its
own way and with an accelerated momen-
tum, to bring to a climax the forces that are
transforming the face of our planet. The
first is essentially an integrating process,
while the second is fundamentally disruptive.
The former, as it steadily evolves, unfolds a
System which may well serve as a pattern for
that world polity towards which a strangely-
disordered world is continually advancing;
while the latter, as its disintegrating influ-
ence deepens, tends to tear down, with
increasing violence, the antiquated barriers
that seek to block humanity's progress
towards its destined goal. The constructive
process stands associated with the nascent
Faith of Baha'u'llah, and is the harbinger of
the New World Order that Faith must ere-
THE BAHA'f WORLD
long establish. The destructive forces that
characterize the other should be identified
with a civilization that has refused to answer
to the expectation of a new age, and is con-
sequently falling into chaos and decline."
In the light of this truth, the dissolution
of the Baha'i administrative institutions is
not only taken to be but a temporary con-
dition but also to signalize the beginning of
a definite process so mysterious in character
that it constitutes the outer and historical
evidence of the Divine power upholding the
mission of the Manifestation. In its suc-
cessive stages, this process, beginning with
formal and official suppression of the Re-
ligion of God, releases influences which even-
tually lead to its official recognition by the
civil authorities. For the constructive force
of Revelation, like a mighty river, gathers
greater impetus whenever its course is stayed.
No human power can hold it back from its
unique mission of creating progress for man
and for civilization. Resistance of whatever
character is a sign of the past; and no past
period can be maintained nor renewed when
God has destined transformation for human
affairs.
The attitude of the Baha'is, however, is
invariably one of obedience to civil authority
in all action concerning the Faith, up to the
point where acceptance of Baha'u'llah by the
individual soul is involved. At that point,
death is preferable to physical existence. It
is in the mysterious action of the Divine
power that the believers trust.
PROGRESS IN INCORPORATION OF BAHA'l
ADMINISTRATIVE INSTITUTIONS
A survey of the Baha'i world community
reveals steady progress in the incorporation
of its National and Local Spiritual Assem-
blies, by which their powers are consolidated
and their capacity for service enlarged. Since
model constitutions and by-laws have been
prepared, and uniformity of functions pre-
vails, every Baha'i institution reaching suffi-
cient stability has but to incorporate in
accordance with the civil statutes controlling
religious bodies in its locality.
The National Spiritual Assembly of the
Baha'is of Australia and New Zealand has
attained recognized legal status, and the
Spiritual Assemblies of the Baha'is of Ade-
laide and of Auckland have also incorporated
during the period under review.
In India, the Spiritual Assemblies of the
Baha'is of Poona and Bombay have similarly
been incorporated, while in North America
incorporation has been effected by the be-
lievers of Detroit, Los Angeles, Kenosha,
Racine, Milwaukee, Cleveland and Minne-
apolis.
Six other centers in the United States were
in process of undertaking the preparation of
the necessary legal papers or had already sub-
mitted them for record by April 21, 1938:
San Francisco, Binghamton, Philadelphia,
Boston, Portland and Seattle.
During the era of establishment and or-
ganic development of the Faith, the generous
contributions of its members in all lands
have been devoted to current activities.
With the rapid growth of legal status, an-
other era opens in which endowments of a
permanent nature can be anticipated, espe-
cially as the membership of local and national
Baha'i communities is now swiftly increas-
ing.
It is by endowment *and capital funds that
the latent capacity of Baha'i institutions to
render social services will be more and more
completely realized. The Baha'i institution
of today, in comparison to that same insti-
tution fully equipped with schools, hospitals,
asylums for orphans and aged, and other
facilities, is a child compared to the mature
man. What is significant to every Baha'i is
the fact that the providential nature of the
Faith contains within it a unique and sur-
passing power to translate spiritual ideal into
manifest blessing, and transform words
about righteousness into deeds.
BAHA'I HISTORICAL SITES ACQUIRED
IN IRAN
The Baha'is of fran, ordained by destiny to
be the birthplace of the Faith which fulfills
the promise of all religion, have undertaken
the purchase and preservation of those prop-
erties directly associated with the history of
their Cause, thus assuring to the Baha'is of
the world in future ages the sacred privilege
of visiting many holy places permeated with
the spirit of sacrifice and truth.
Through a committee appointed by the
National Spiritual Assembly, an investiga-
CURRENT BAHA'i ACTIVITIES
87
tion is being made to develop a complete list
of Baha'i shrines in f ran.
Special effort is being made to locate the
Bab's shop in Bushihr and the birthplace of
Baha'u'llah in Tihran.
The sites purchased during the past two
years include: the house at Isfahan which
belonged to the "King of Martyrs" and the
"Beloved of Martyrs"; the burial place of
nine martyrs and also of the martyr Aqa Mu-
hammad Bulur-Furush, at Yazd; the men's
quarters and one-half the andarun of the
house of Haji-Mirza Jani at Kashan; one-
quarter of the castle at Chihriq and of the
Dasht-i-Malik, in Adhirbayjan; one-half the
house where Vahid resided in Nayriz; and
funds have been made available for the pur-
chase of lands adjacent to the Maqam-i-
'Ala,' while repairs have been carried out
surrounding the house of the Bab at Shiraz.
Other purchases have been as follows:
two-thirds of the house of Haji-Mirza
Abu'l-Qasim at Shiraz; the house of the
martyr Hadrat-i-Khal, in the same city; the
burial places of the martyrs Saraju'sh-
Shuhada', Habibu'Mak Mirza and Aqa
Javad, at Malayir; the burial place of four
martyrs of 'Iraq; the burial place of the
martyr Hasan-'Ali in Isfahan; three-fourths
of the house of the martyr Mahbubu'sh-
Shuhada', also in Isfahan; two houses near
the house of the Bab in Shiraz; the burial
place of eight martyrs of Ardikan; and the
burial places of the martyrs Siyyid Yahya at
Sirjan, Ustad Mirza Davaani at Rafsinjan,
and of Husayn-'Ali Firuzabadi at Firuza-
bad-i-Yazd.
PROPERTY FOR THE FIRST BAHA'l HOUSE
OF WORSHIP IN IRAN
The National Spiritual Assembly in Iran
has extended considerably its holdings of
land dedicated to the future construction of
the first House of Worship, or Mashriqu'l-
Adhkar, near Tihran.
The area already acquired is estimated at
approximately 2,000,000 square pics, equiva-
lent to 1,127,000 square meters. The As-
sembly is now arranging to purchase an
adjoining tract known as Ihtisabiyyih for a
sum approaching 30,000 tumans. The tract
already secured is known as Hadiqih.
Thus assurance is made that the Baha'is of
Iran in due time, and no doubt with the aid
of loving donations tendered by all other
Baha'i communities, will construct a majes-
tic and beautiful House of Worship over-
looking the capital city and for ever to be
notable as the first Baha'i Temple in that
country whose blood fertilized the seeds of
Divine Revelation. Construction, however,
is not to begin until the American Baha'is
have completed the external decoration of
the House of Worship on Lake Michigan, at
Wilmette.
TEACHING ACTION IN IRAN
The few years remaining before the end
of the first century of the Baha'i era witness
a resurgence of effort and a concentration of
action among the Baha'is of fran no less than
in the American Baha'i community.
Despite the severe restrictions still en-
forced upon the Baha'i community in Iran,
and the obstacles raised by the civil authori-
ties against its collective action, a widespread
teaching plan has been adopted and energeti-
cally pursued.
One aspect of the plan includes the
establishment of new Baha'i centers in Af-
ghanistan, Baluchistan, in Arabia, the
Islands of Bohnia in the Persian Gulf, and
Kurdistan. In fran itself, teaching commit-
tees, classes for character training and
the study of Baha'i administrative order,
libraries, Baha'i burial sites, administrative
headquarters for Local Assemblies, youth
organizations, archives both local and na-
tional, and the institution of the Nineteen
Day Feast, are being systematically extended
in most of the provinces. The Haziratu'l-
Quds of Tihran, the national headquarters of
the Persian Baha'is, is in the final stage of
construction.
By these means, the distinctive Baha'i
qualities of consultation and unified action
are being released, and the attributes fostered
by the Baha'i administrative order stimu-
lated. A further impetus has been supplied
by concentration upon the establishment of
Baha'i Summer Schools in Tihran as a model
to be reproduced later on in provincial
centers.
In examining the reports explaining the
details of these teaching plans, one is deeply
impressed by the power of the Faith to create
88
THE BAHA'f WORLD
a fundamental unity among the Baha'is of
East and West. This fundamental unity
does not sacrifice nor suppress any positive
elements of local culture, nor does it raise
any comparisons between the cultural values
of the different parts of the Baha'i world
community. Its unifying influence pro-
ceeds, first, from the acceptance of organic
spiritual ideals; second, from the recognition
of a common center in the Guardianship;
and third, from the results of maintaining a
type of administrative institution which
combines individual initiative with the dis-
ciplines of an authority controlled by the
same principles and ends. While, therefore,
an irreconcilable diversity of religious, cul-
tural, social and economic background exists
between America and Iran as nations and
peoples, the diversity existing between the
Baha'i communities of these two lands in-
volves no question of reconciliation nor
compatibility but rather demonstrates the
richness of human capacity. Each com-
munity may instinctively lay emphasis
upon different aspects of the Teachings,
but both communities recognize the same
truth and are responsive to the new spiritual
environment embracing the believers of all
lands.
That the Baha'is of fran are still under
persecution is made evident by reference to
the report of their National Spiritual Assem-
bly in the present volume. Early in 1936,
for example, two civil orders were issued
prohibiting Baha'i meetings in Iran. The re-
sult was that the Assembly was compelled to
instruct all local Baha'i communities to cease
the meetings held in their headquarters, even
the use of their adjoining playgrounds by
children. Representations were made to the
head of police concerning the severe treat-
ment inflicted by local police upon Baha'is,
whereupon meetings of not more than fifty
persons were authorized by the civil govern-
ment. The election of the National Spiritual
Assembly in the following year had to be
conducted by mail under the prevailing re-
strictions. Brutality, however, continued,
property was damaged and Baha'i records
confiscated. Schools maintained for Baha'i
children and adults were closed, correspond-
ence and telegrams censored, Baha'is in army
and civil posts discharged, and great hardship
inflicted through the refusal of the authori-
ties to admit to registry the certificate of
Baha'i marriages. The heroic fortitude of
the believers, nevertheless, was at times re-
warded by public recognition of the status of
the Faith, as exemplified in the following
event:
Among the Baha'is of fran who died in
1936 was Dr. Sarhang Ibrahim Piruz-Bakht,
chief of the Health Department of the Mili-
tary Schools. Relatives of the deceased,
predominantly Muslims, insisted on Muham-
madan rites and selected a grave at Imam-
Zadih 'Abdu'llah, preparing a funeral cortege
which was to have been directed by a colonel
from the Ministry of War. His daughter
and sister, however, insisted that a Baha'i
funeral be conducted, and a member of the
Ministry of War urged that their wish be
granted. The result was that a throng of
Baha'is, Muslims and ranking officers from
the War Department, including the Minister,
took part in the funeral procession and mili-
tary escort was provided. At the cemetery,
Baha'i prayers were chanted. It is said that
seldom has the capital* city witnessed so im-
posing a funeral or one attended by so many
non-Baha'is.
While the status of women has been im-
proved as the result of the rise of secular
government in certain Muslim countries, this
alteration of ancient custom by decree lags
by generations the spiritual and social equal-
ity ordained for men and women in the
Teachings of Baha'u'llah. The result of the
secular action, however, has been to make it
possible for the Baha'i women of fran to
assume their rightful place in Baha'i public
meetings and on the administrative commit-
tees of the Faith. These steps arc the neces-
sary introduction to the full association of
women in the Baha'i community with all its
social institutions, including Local and Na-
tional Spiritual Assemblies and the annual
Convention.
Despite the many spectacular events tak-
ing place in these years in all parts of the
world, the student of history will not fail
to realize the surpassing ultimate impor-
tance of the Baha'i Teachings concerning
the equality of the sexes, and the provision
for their joint action on Baha'i administra-
tive bodies.
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
89
THE INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES OF
MARTHA L. ROOT
A firmly established faith, a centered will,
and indefatigable activity, have given to
Miss Martha L. Root an international sphere
in the realm of teaching. In her the ordi-
nary restrictions placed upon personal life,
limiting it to one local environment, have
been broken through and the world is be-
come her spiritual home.
Miss Root's activities from April, 1936, to
April, 1938, were successively, the United
States, Japan, China and India. The follow-
ing reports can but briefly indicate and out-
line the full story of her Baha'i teaching
during those two years.
"Miss Martha L. Root had served the
Baha'i Faith vigorously with great efficiency
and without stopping for rest and comfort
for many years, but in the summer of 1936,
our beloved Guardian cabled her (she was
working in Europe) to return to United
States for a rest. She returned July 29,
1936, very broken in health. Mr. Roy C.
Wilhelm invited her to 'Evergreen Camp/
his summer home in Maine, for two months,
where everything was done for her recupera-
tion.
"Then she met the friends and lectured in
Green Acre, the Northeastern States, the
Regional Committee arranging very care-
fully to protect her health. This was fol-
lowed by a short program of lectures in New
York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore and
Washington, D. C.
"In January, 1937, when she was on a
lecture tour, she was very ill with influenza
in Buffalo and as soon as she was able to
travel she went across the continent to Cali-
fornia, stopping over in Lima, Ohio, and in
Chicago, where she spoke once in each city
to believers, on teaching the Cause. People
came to Lima from all the Baha'i cities in
the State of Ohio.
"Resting in California for several weeks,
she later addressed the friends in Los Angeles,
San Francisco and Portland. These were
really regional gatherings, for believers came
from many surrounding cities.
"Miss Root sailed May 20, 1937, from San
Francisco for a Far Eastern tour. June was
spent in Japan where several lectures were
given in Tokyo, Kyoto and Kobe. Editors
used Baha'i articles, and she visited nearly
every Baha'i in Japan.
"Sailing to Shanghai the last of June, she
was working in China with the devoted
faithful Baha'is when the war came. She
was in the deadly bombings in Shanghai in
August and barely escaped alive. A refugee
on the steamship President Jefferson, she
reached Manila, August 20 in the evening,
and five minutes later endured the worst
earthquake Manila has known in a century.
Still, though ill and with a temperature of
102, she courageously gave the Message in
Manila.
"Miss Root took the first ship on which
she could get passage out from Manila and
came to Colombo, Ceylon. Here she re-
cuperated and during the month met the
Mayor of Colombo, gave three radio talks,
spoke before the League of Nations Union,
the university students and was one of the
first Baha'i teachers to go to Ceylon to lec-
ture, work and try to establish the Faith
in that important island country. Jamal
Eflfendi had gone to Colombo for a few days
in 1877 and met a few merchants.
"Miss Root reached Bombay, India, Oc-
tober 15, 1937; the N. S. A. of India and
Burma and several hundred Bombay Baha'is
welcomed her warmly. After the N. S. A.
meeting of consultation, and working under
the fine planning of the N. S. A. of India
and Burma, Martha Root has done great
service in India and Burma with their help.
She first visited Surat and Poona, then
crossed the continent from Bombay to Cal-
cutta and on to Burma. She toured Burma
where many lectures had been arranged for
her in Rangoon, Mandalay, Toungoo and
Daidanaw and Kunjangoon. Returning to
Calcutta she took part in the Second All-
India Cultural Conference and the First
Convention of Religions, both held in Cal-
cutta in December, 1937. Her talks on the
Cause were broadcast throughout India.
After the lectures and work in Calcutta, she
next visited Dr. Rabindra Nath Tagore."
The following glimpses of Miss Root's
ardent Baha'i services in the Orient are taken
from her circular letter dated July 6, 1937,
mailed from Shanghai.
"I left San Francisco, May 20, 1937.
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Reaching Honolulu on May 25, I went
ashore for a few hours, while the ship docked.
Wonderful work is being done in that mid-
Pacific paradise, and a day with the believers
there is truly a day in 'heaven.' Mrs. Samuel
A. Baldwin and Miss Utie Muther met me
with love and with fragrance-breathing leis,
(garlands to wear around the neck), of
white jasmines and carnations. What did
we do? First, the editor of the Honolulu
Advertiser, a former colleague of mine from
Pittsburgh, Penn., sent his editorial writer to
interview me about the Baha'i Faith. Then
I wished an interview with Professor Shao
Chang Lee, Professor of Chinese History and
Literature in the University of Hawaii. He
knows much about the Teachings and was a
friend and pupil of the late Dr. Y. S. Tsao,
President of Tsing Hua University, Peiping,
who translated 'Baha'u'llah and the New
Era* into Chinese. Professor Lee said that
day: 'I will read the new book "Gleanings"
and write my impressions of it reverently
for the magazine "World Order." ' We told
him of the Baha'i Summer School at Geyser-
ville and !iope he was able to go for a week-
end, as he intended to spend part of the sum-
mer at the University of California.
"I had known somewhat the eternal work
the friends of Honolulu had been responsible
for on other parts of the globe, but it was
something to be in the presence of a sweet
saint like 'Utie' and a tender 'fledgling-saint'
(Mrs. Baldwin) . I felt like springing to my
feet and saluting as one does in the presence
of a Queen . . . my soul rose up in silent
homage, and seeing Baha'i s like these, my
heart could understand the work of theirs on
the mainland and abroad. It was such a
blessed day we had together.
"Great things come out of Hawaii. I
truly believe that some day a Baha'i Summer
School will be established there, and who
knows? It may be a model for Japan and
China to copy!
"The Hawaiian Islands have a unique role
in the drama of a New World Order. Situ-
ated between the Orient and the Occident,
with a population representing both the
West and the East, the Baha'is there can be
a potent force for international understand-
ing and peace in the Pacific.
"The Baha'is of Honolulu gathered that
day at two o'clock, in the home of Mrs.
Baldwin for a lecture and informal discus-
sion about the progress of the Baha'i Faith.
Also, two believers had just returned that
week from a Baha'i journey around the
world. We all spoke together and they told
me about the Baha'i Assembly at Maui.
Mrs. Marion Little was to arrive in ten days
and spend the summer with Mrs. Baldwin
working on the Island of Maui. Their home
is called 'Hakakala' (the House of the Sun),
how appropriate, for its rays reach around
the world! The time was so short, so sweet;
but soon again I stood on the deck of the
ocean liner again decked with scores of gar-
lands, and waved good-bye to the beautiful
believers of Honolulu.
"Coming from Honolulu on to Yoko-
hama, this servant gave a public lecture,
'What is the Baha'i Movement?' before the
II and I Class passengers of this steamship,
Tatmta Maru, in the lounge of the I Class.
The Captain himself introduced me. I spoke
for one hour and questions and answers fol-
lowed for an hour. There were ten religions
and ten nations represented. A few mis-
sionaries . . . who had not heard of the
Baha'i Faith until they heard this lecture
. . . arose and spoke against it. One said
only the Christians ever have been or ever
will be saved. I asked her if she thought all
the Zoroastrians, Buddhists, Confucianists,
Hindus, Jews, Muhammadans arc not saved.
She replied no, they are not saved. The
majority of the people in the audience were
Easterners born and reared in these other
religions (but there was really sweetness and
understanding at that meeting) . Each one
said exactly what he thought, and some were
much interested in the Baha'i Teachings.
One scholar was from the Philippines and
some were Japanese. There were several
young Japanese professors present, returning
from post graduate studies in Europe. Who
can ever tell how far-reaching are the words
of truth? 'Baha'u'llah and the New Era'
was placed in the I Class and II Class libraries
of this ship. Also, I had a small exhibition
of Baha'i books. The Captain asked me to
write an interview about the lecture and the
Baha'i Faith and I also brought in a little bit
about our journey and the saving of three
aviators in mid-ocean. He had it translated
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
91
into Japanese and copies mimeographed to
give out to the press of Japan when we came
into port. Besides, six journalists came with
these typed resumes to ask me more ques-
tions when I arrived in Yokohama.
"I came to Tokyo, June 3. Mr. Seiji
Noma, the 'Magazine King of Japan/ who is
owner of nine of the best magazines in Japan
and President of the 'Hochi Shimbun,' daily
newspaper with a circulation of a million
. . . and several of his magazines have a
higher circulation . . . was not in Tokyo,
but a reporter from 'Hochi' came to inter-
view me, and Mr. Noma's secretary brought
me a message from Mr. Noma. In the pub-
lished interview one line was that Miss Root
thanked Mr. Noma for his approval (recog-
nition) and help to the Baha'i Faith. She
sent Mr. Noma 'Gleanings' and some other
new Baha'i books, and he gave her thirty
beautiful Japanese books and an English
book 'The Nine Magazines of Kodansha'
(published by Methuen and Company Ltd.,
36 Essex Street, W. C., London. It costs
ten shillings and sixpence) which is a biog-
raphy of his own life. If you wish to read
of the universal mind, the courage, origin-
ality and candor, the large ideas, the vitality
and the worth of a great pioneer in the new
magazine work for Japan, read this book.
Baha'is can with profit study what Mr.
Noma says about publicity. I do not say
Mr. Noma is a Baha'i, but when I was in
Japan in December, 1930, he arranged for a
big Baha'i lecture for several hundred peo-
ple in his 'Hochi Shimbun' Hall. He is
friendly to the Baha'i Teachings.
"'Yurisan' (Mrs. Furukawa) a Baha'i
young woman in Tokyo who has received
three Tablets from 'Abdu'1-Baha, brought a
woman writer, Miss Misao Yumoto of the
'Kokumin Shimbun' daily newspaper in
Tokyo to interview me. The article was
published June 16. 'The Japan Advertiser,'
Tokyo, had an article in the June 4 issue.
The 'Hochi Shimbun' article was published
June 16. Fifteen journalists came to inter-
view me during the three weeks' stay in
Japan.
"It was lovely and historic to meet the
fine Bahd'is in Tokyo. We met together
three times in my hotel (and they called
upon me individually for talks and I went to
some of their homes). They read me the
wonderful letters written to them by Miss
Agnes Alexander from Haifa. We were all
so happy to hear news of her and from Haifa
direct. (I was so sorry Agnes was not there
when I was in Japan, every day I missed her
so! On my other three journeys Agnes was
there.) The Baha'is of all Japan are eager
to do everything that Shoghi Effendi sug-
gested that they do. Our Guardian thinks
that the next two books to be translated into
Japanese and published should be 'Gleanings'
and 'Hidden Words.'
"Mr. Aiji Sawada, our blind brother, who
is a very fine teacher in the School for the
Blind in Tokyo, invited eighteen students to
his home and I spoke to them of the Baha'i
Teachings. He also spoke and so did Yuri-
san. Every year of my life I am more im-
pressed how important it is to get books into
Braille for the blind; it brings such a light to
them and they in turn may translate and
give the Baha'i Teachings in many different
languages throughout the world. Helen
Keller was in Japan at the same time I was
there and I gave several editors what she had
said in 'Baha'i World,' Vol. V, page 349.
"The American Consul General in Tokyo,
a good friend for many years, gave a dinner
for me in his home to some of the Americans
in Tokyo and Yokohama and after dinner
invited me to speak to them about the Baha'i
Teachings. The sweet wife of the American
Vice-Consul in Yokohama knows of the
Teachings through Mrs. Ella Cooper and
Miss Beulah Lewis and studies them.
"Mr. Kanji Ogawa, a Tokyo Baha'i, ar-
ranged for me to speak before the English
Speaking Club of the Y. M. C. A. This, too,
was followed by questions and answers.
Books were placed in several libraries and
given to a number of editors, educators and
to a few pastors.
"For years I had wished to meet Dr. Toyo-
hiko Kagawa, one of the bright, spiritual
lights in Eastern Asia, a Christian who 'lives
the life,' a brilliant understanding writer.
He is a flaming evangelist, a social reformer,
and a crystal-clear writer of religious books
and of best selling novels. I did have the
bounty to meet him and interview him for
our magazine, 'World Order* and for 'Baha'i
World.' He said he had heard of the Baha'i
92
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Teachings when he was a student in Tokyo,
but he had no Baha'i books. I gave him
'Gleanings,' 'Baha'u'llah and the New Era,'
and others. He said what he knew of the
Baha'i Teachings he likes, and he gave me a
message for the Baha'is. He has a new book
just out, 'Brotherhood Economies' (Harper
& Bros.). Read his book 'Christ and Japan'
(Friendship Press, New York), and it will
help you to understand the sold of Japan,
this country that 'Abdu'1-Baha said would
turn ablaze. I wish every one who reads my
letter would promise his or her own heart
that he will do something, one deed at least,
to help get these Baha'i Teachings to Japan!
You can send a 'torch' to Japan . . . letters
(and 'Abdu'1-Baha said that letters are half-
meeting), books, prayers, even if you cannot
go in person.
"I visited the head of the Dokai Church
just as I had done seven years ago. The
leader is ill, he could only speak with me for
fifteen minutes, but he had called some of his
disciples together and we spoke.
"Leaving Tokyo I came to Kyoto. Mr.
and Mrs. Tokojiro Torii met me. He is the
great blind brother who received those two
beautiful Tablets from 6Abdu'l-Baha. Mr.
Torii is lovable like St. John and so is his
wife. He has such great capacity and he has
done solid, glorious foundation work. I felt
his helpful influence in each city in Japan
that I visited. He knows how to take re-
sponsibility; he is scholarly, a good speaker, a
fluent Esperantist, and he is always smiling
and pleasant.
"Mr. Kikutaro Fujita (who was a uni-
versity student in Tokyo in 1915 when I
visited Japan first) came to Kyoto from his
native city, Toyohashi, to visit me for two
days. He said to Mr. Torii (and these two
friends have not had the joy of meeting each
other for ten years), 'Come and spend your
summer vacation with me in Toyohashi, and
I will help you in every way possible in your
translation of "Hidden Words." ' This dear
Fujutasan was the boy who said to Agnes
and me in 1915: 'Please excuse me that I
always come the first one to the meeting and
remain until the last one, but I'm so inter-
ested in the Baha'i Teachings.'
"There is a religious daily newspaper in
Kyoto called 'Chugai Nippo' . . . the only
daily, purely religious newspaper in the
world . . . with a circulation of fifty thou-
sand. It is a newspaper of the Buddhists and
its subscribers are Buddhists in Japan, China,
San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York,
India. Mr. Fukumi Ruiso called upon me
and wrote a most excellent article, about the
Baha'i Universal Religion. It appeared June
23. He has also interviewed Miss Alexander
several times. He asked me please to send
him news about the Baha'i work throughout
the world. He also said he would like very
much to have some Baha'i books in Arabic.
This newspaper has taken a most friendly
attitude towards the Baha'i Faith.
"One lecture in Esperanto was given in
Kyoto before the Esperantists of Kyoto,
Osaka and Nara. Mr. Torii had arranged
it for me. There is always interest in any
country when an Esperantist comes from a
far land. One of their delegates was going to
Warsaw, Poland, in August, to take part in
the Twenty-ninth Universal Congress of Es-
peranto, and this year is the Jubilee. I gave
him a letter of introduction to Lidja Zam-
enhof.
"A journalist from the 'Osaka Asahi' in-
terviewed me in Kyoto, and brought a pho-
tographer to take a photograph of Mr. Torii
and me. This Asahi Publishing Company
in Osaka publishes the two sister dailies, the
'Osaka Asahi' and the 'Tokyo Asahi' which
with their Moji and Nagoya editions have a
paid circulation of over three million.
"We went out to visit the Ittoen group,
which is another of the modern movements
in Japan.
"After three days in Kyoto, I came to
Kobe. Here I met Mr. D. Inouyc, the
Buddhist priest who is a devoted Baha'i who
translated 'Baha'u'llah and the New Era'
into Japanese. He loves the Teachings,
wishes so much to get a strong group estab-
lished in Kobe. He brought a reporter from
'Kobe Shimbun' who interviewed us about
the Baha'i Teachings and the newspaper pho-
tographer took our pictures. The article
appeared June 24.
"A beautiful Baha'i young woman came
three times to see me in Kobe. She is a
friend of Miss Alexander, was taught by
Miss Alexander and her husband knew Mrs.
Finch. I met several friends in Japan who
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
93
asked for Mrs. Finch and wished to send her
loving greetings.
"I went over to Osaka one afternoon to
call upon a friend of Mr. Torii, Mr. K.
Nakamura, one of the editors of 'Osaka
Mainichi.' He has visited some of the news-
paper editors of our country and is very
scholarly, keen, humanitarian. I gave him
'Baha'u'llah and the New Era* in Japanese
and we spoke of the Baha'i Faith. The
article they used in the English edition, June
24, did not say much about Baha'i, but it did
carry the statement 'she is a Baha'i.' I do
not know what the Japanese edition had. He
invited in to our coffee party in the recep-
tion room of the newspaper another editor
who took the interview in Japanese. It was
also taken in Braille. (The Japanese edition
may have used an earlier article, for when I
arrived in Yokohama one of their journalists
was at the ship.) This paper, the 'Osaka
Mainichi' in its morning and evening edi-
tions has a combined circulation of more
than three and a half million copies daily and
its sister paper (under the same ownership)
published in Tokyo, the 'Tokyo Nichi Nichi'
has a circulation of two million four hun-
dred thousand. Their Braille edition has a
circulation of three thousand.
"I invited eighteen Esperantists of Kobe
and Osaka to my hotel in Kobe, to a lecture
in Esperanto about the Baha'i Teachings.
Two French Esperantists from the Cruiser
Lamotte Picquet were also guests and I gave
them a letter of introduction to Shoghi
Effendi, for their ship will be stationed for
a time at Haifa in the autumn. It is an
immense help to any Baha'i teacher working
abroad to be a proficient Esperantist. I hope
our Baha'is will study this auxiliary lan-
guage when Lidja Zamenhof comes to the
United States, then they will become excel-
lent Esperantists, for Lidja is one of the very
best Esperanto teachers and scholars in the
whole world.
"The day before I sailed Mr. and Mrs.
Torii came to Kobe and stayed until my ship
left. We were going to have a Baha'i Con-
ference, but Mr. Inouye's wife was very ill
with appendicitis and he could not come, but
we had a little gathering at the hotel,
Baha'is and new souls. But lo, next fore-
noon at the ship all the Baha'is were to-
gether. Mr. Inouye came for half an hour,
and down in my stateroom we all had a
prayer together and a few earnest words.
"The Baha'i Faith will illumine Japan.
Agnes Alexander, the great apostle to Japan,
is doing work as outstanding as the apostles
of old. Her visit to our country will bring
Japan and the United States closer. I hope
you will see her and hear about Japan, and
that you will read about Japan and that
Baha'u'llah will waft into your hearts the
'Guidance' to do some deed to bring 'the
Golden Age* of the Baha'i Faith in Japan
into a solid reality, and do it now.
"As I sailed from Japan (after sending
out from the ship one last article to those
Japanese newspapers) I thought of the great
Buddha in Japan said to have one thousand
hands, and I prayed Baha'u'llah to join your
thousands of hands with mine in order to
help Agnes and the Japanese Baha'is in estab-
lishing the new World Order in Japan.
Shoghi Effendi has sent them such brave and
tender instructions. Every country knows
our Guardian never lets them go, he is help-
ing every country. 'Abdu'1-Baha sent nine-
teen Tablets to Japan and today we see they
are beginning to bear rare and wonderful
fruits."
"Miss Martha Root arrived in India from
Ceylon on October 15. The believers of
Bombay accorded her a right royal reception.
The National Spiritual Assembly had also
fixed their half-yearly meeting to be held in
Bombay in order to meet the beloved sister.
Miss Root stayed in Bombay for five days
and these five days were gala days for the
believers of the place. While the Bombay
friends held meetings and arranged for lec-
tures, which were fully reported by the press,
the N. S. A. in consultation with Miss Root,
chalked out a program for her.
"After attending the public meeting on
the Birthday of the Bab, which was presided
over by an ex-Mayor of the Town, Miss Root
left for Surat.
"SuRAT — During her two days' stay here
Miss Root met lawyers, judges and other
notables of the town at the home of Mr.
Vakil and delivered a public lecture in the
Arya Samaj Hall. This was attended by 250
to 300 people — students, lawyers and other
94
THE BAHA'f WORLD
notables. The press published elaborate
articles and thus good publicity was achieved
for the Divine Faith.
"PooNA — Owing to her brief stay here no
public lecture was arranged; but she met
press representatives and the believers of the
place. She visited the Baha'i School and the
Baha'i Cemetery. To the friends she de-
livered a talk on teaching. Miss Root will
visit Poona again when she returns from her
tour in South India.
"RANGOON — Leaving Poona on October
26 she stayed one day at Bombay and then
left for Burma where she arrived on Novem-
ber 2. The believers of Rangoon had
chalked out a busy and elaborate program
for her. She spoke at the Y. M. C. A.
(Town Branch), Arya Samaj (Central),
Theosophical Society, Brahmo Samaj, Mala-
bar Club and Rotary Club. Press publicity
had preceded her arrival and when she ar-
rived all the leading dailies of Rangoon pub-
lished glowing articles about her and about
the Cause she had come to teach. Rangoon
'Times/ widely circulated English daily, pub-
lished an interview with her about Baha'i
work in Shanghai. Rangoon 'Times' has been
devoting weekly two to three column space
to Baha'i articles for the last eleven months.
Rangoon 'Gazette,' another English daily,
had an equally fine interview of more than a
column and in addition there was an edi-
torial about the history of the Baha'i Faith.
Miss Root's lectures attracted a large num-
ber of hearers and were presided over by
religiously inclined public men. In fact,
Miss Martha Root created a stir in the re-
ligious circles of that great city of 500,000
souls comprised of almost all civilized na-
tions of the world.
"Miss Root had two meetings with the
Bah a' is of Rangoon in the Haziratu'1-Quds
(Baha'i Hall) . The meetings with the chil-
dren were very interesting. She started a chil-
dren's class and gave first lesson to young-
sters. This class the Rangoon Spiritual
Assembly is determined to continue in re-
membrance of the visit of our beloved sister.
"MANDALAY — Miss Root arrived in this
ancient city of Upper Burma on November
10. She was received at the station by the
believers led by our revered Baha'i teacher
Siyyid Mustaf a Roumie. . She delivered a
public lecture in Mandalay Municipal Li-
brary. The attendance was the largest of
any public Baha'i lecture given up to this
time in Mandalay. The Headmaster of the
Normal School, U. Thet Swe, B.A., B.L.,
was Chairman. Some of the hearers came
later on to see Miss Root and asked questions.
Baha'is who live in towns near Mandalay
came all the way to see their beloved guest.
"TOUNGOO — On leaving Mandalay Miss
Root detrained at this town of about 23,000
inhabitants. No Baha'i teacher has ever be-
fore visited this place. It was through the
efforts of Dr. M. A. Latiflf, that the town
was opened. He had gone to the place and
had arranged for a lecture in the Jubilee
Library. Dr. Bahl, Civil Surgeon of the
district, presided. He also gave a dinner in
his home after the lecture and four interested
people came to meet the Baha'i teacher.
Miss Root took the train that same night and
nine people who had attended the lecture
were on the station to see her off. It is a
great thing for our Faith that Toungoo is
opened and we have our dear brother Dr.
M. A. Latiflf to thank ipr it.
"DAIDANAW (Kunjangoon) — Accom-
panied by Siyyid 'Abdu'l Hussain Shirazi
and Mr. Siyyid Ghulam Murtaza 'Ali, Miss
Root reached this Baha'i village of 800 be-
lievers on November 20. The believers of
the place had made elaborate preparations
for the reception of their beloved guest. A
special roadway was cut through the grass
from the main road to the Assembly Hall,
which was tastefully decorated. The Assem-
bly Compound was full of believers when
Miss Root's car arrived. Mrs. Kahn gar-
landed her amidst the acclamations of Ya-
Baha'u'1-Abha. She met these friends and
they chanted holy songs and prayers. Miss
Root writes: 'What a royal welcome we re-
ceived! Never shall I forget their chanting
and the reverence and love in their kind
faces.'
"At 4 p.m. Miss Root drove to Kunjan-
goon, an important town of 6,000 people
situated about three miles from the Baha'i
Village. The lecture was held in the Na-
tional School under the Chairmanship of Dr.
Gurbaksh Singh. It was translated into
Burmese by U. Sein, the headmaster of the
School. There were about 150 people pres-
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
95
ent including the Township judge, the staffs
of the National and Board Girls* High
Schools. The lecture was well received. Dr.
and Mrs. Gurbaksh Singh called on Miss
Root that evening and had a long talk with
her.
"Next day the friends again met in the
Assembly Hall. After the usual prayers,
Mr. M. I. Kahn read a beautiful address of
welcome to which Miss Root replied in suit-
able words and the meeting closed in an
atmosphere of spiritual joy and happiness.
Mr. Murtaza 'All describes the scene of
Daidanaw as follows:
" 'The friends of Daidanaw gave a right
royal reception to our sister Miss Martha
Root. She was deeply moved. They laid
out the heavenly table for us for supper that
night and each family brought in their share
to feed us. We were immensely touched and
we thanked BahaVllah for the love and
spirit of service which He has taught to His
followers. We spent one heavenly night in
this village of 'Abdu'1-Baha who used to call
it fondly "Deed-a-Naw" which in Persian
means the "New Sight." '
"Miss Root returned to Rangoon on Nov.
21 and attended the farewell meeting at the
Haziratu'1-Quds (Baha'i Hall).
"On Tuesday, November 23, Miss Root
sailed for Calcutta. The friends came to the
Wharf to give her a hearty send-off/'
"There is a reference to Bengal in the
Tablet which 'Abdu'1-Baha wrote to Mr.
Pritam Singh which is very encouraging — I
cannot quote it and there is not time to send
and get it before I mail this, but it was to
the effect that spreading the Cause in Bengal
will help in spreading the Cause all over
India. It was beautifully expressed, in a
couplet, which translated reads: —
'The Indian nightingales will all break
forth into sweet songs.
By the Iranian sweet that will be carried
to Bengal.'
"I should like to emphasize what great
opportunities come in presenting the Baha'i
Faith in great congresses. The call is raised
to thousands, the newspapers carry the
resume of the lectures and there are in-
numerable opportunities to speak individu-
ally with people of capacity, the thinkers of
India; for it is usually the progressive, liberal
souls, those determined to help make a better
world, who go to such congresses.
"A great scholar, Professor M. H. Hidayat
Hosain of the Royal Asiatic Society Library
of Calcutta, a leading Orientalist of the
world, has written about Qurratu'l-'Ayn.
Perhaps he is one of the first great Indian
scholars to write about the Faith. He said
that he had met the fine Iranian Baha'i
teacher, Ibn Asdaq, who came to India about
1902. 'He was so charming, so spiritual, so
cultured* said Professor Hosain, 'and we
road the fqan together in Iranian !' This
very sentence throws an illuminating light
to us to-day, on the qualities that a Baha'i
teacher should possess. We must all be
Baha'i teachers to-day, and the great Schol-
ars of this and the coming generation will
be quickened or left unawakened perhaps by
the way we present the cause to them.
"Another point, if some Baha'is from
fran, Baha'is of capacity, would give up
their businesses in Iran and come and settle
in Southern India and build up their busi-
nesses in all the different cities of the South
here, it might advance the Cause tremen-
dously in these critical days. People in our
United States have given up their businesses
to move and settle in other States. It is an
important goal. There is a great cultural
affinity between Iran and India; Iranians
could do a glorious work here.
"The Baha'i Cause has made remarkable
strides in Calcutta since I visited that city
in 1930. They have a good hall, fine meet-
ings and the membership seems to have in-
creased five times its number in 1930.
"SHANTINIKETAN, India, at the Inter-
national University of Dr. Rabindra Nath
Tagore.
"Mr. Isfandiar Bakhtiari of Karachi, a
member of the National Spiritual Assembly
of India and Burma, and I visited Shanti-
niketan on February 13, 14, 1938. We were
guests in the School Guest House. It was a
great privilege to meet Dr. Tagore and to
hear him talk with deep love and apprecia-
tion of *Abdu'l-Baha whom he had met in
Chicago in 1912. I am writing the inter-
view for Baha'i World, volume VII. Dr.
Tagore said that the Baha'i Faith is a great
ideal to establish and that they in Shanti-
96
THE BAHA'I WORLD
niketan welcome all great religious aims and
will be most glad if a Baha'i Chair of Re-
ligion can be arranged in their school.
"He and Mr. Bakhtiari spoke of Iran (Mr.
Bakhtiari is an Iranian, he came from Yazd
to India about twenty years ago) , and of Dr.
Tagore's trip to Iran. The Poet asked par-
ticularly about the progress of the Baha'i
Faith in the land of its birth, and praised the
tolerance and fineness of the Baha'is.
"Dr. Tagore's School has a very excellent
selection of Baha'i books in the Library and
they take great interest to have it as com-
plete and up-to-date as possible.
"A lecture was given in the hall before the
whole student body and the professors.
Questions were asked and answered. They
brought all the Baha'i books for an exhi-
bition in the hall, and near the close of
the lecture I explained the books, one by one.
Mr. Bakhtiari was invited to chant some
Baha'i prayers in Iranian. (Many of the
cultured people of India know Iranian, and
the Uurd language, which is used by several
millions of people, is akin to Iranian.)
"The Associated Press and the United
Press used interviews and one professor
whom I had known in Marburg University
and who knows the Cause well wrote an
article about the lectures for the Associated
Press of India.
"When can a Chair of the Baha'i Faith be
established at Shantiniketan? Baha'is must
help in this.
"TRIVANDRUM, TRAVANCORE. Mr. Bakh-
tiari and I worked in Trivandrum, December
19-23, 1937. I do not know that any
Baha'i teachers had ever visited Trivandrum
and given lectures and press interviews be-
fore. It is a very progressive State where the
young Maharaja of Travancore, twenty-six
years old, has recently opened the Hindu
State Temples to peoples of all castes — a
most courageous, thrilling move that may
help untouchables in other States likewise to
receive similar privileges.
"We had a charming, illuminating audi-
ence with the Maharaja of Travancore and
his very cultured progressive mother the
Maharani of Travancore, at the Palace. I am
sure they know very well all the modern re-
ligious movements, for they are most liberal
Hindus, and awake to the needs of world
unity. (I am writing an article about the
audience. )
"Mr. Clarmont P. Skrine, British Resident
of Madras States, received us graciously, at
the British Residency in Trivandrum. He
has known much about the Baha'i Teachings
and rnet many Baha'is during his visits to
Iran. We learned from him that the late
F. H. Skrine of London, who wrote a book
about the Baha'i Faith nearly thirty years
ago, was his father. The Resident told us his
father had been very interested in the Cause.
"We lectured in the Theosophical Hall of
Trivandrum. The President of the Lodge,
Professor R. Srinivasan, Principal of the
Maharaja's College of Science, arranged it.
Dr. and Mrs. Jayaram Cousins were present
and both spoke a little. Dr, Cousins, one of
the great scholars of Travancore, said that
thirty years ago they had been given Eric
Hammond's book 'The Splendour of God'
and that they have always loved this Baha'i
book. Mrs. Cousins who is a friend of Lady
Blomfield stopped over in Haifa on her way
to India and visited Shoghi Effendi. She
spoke with enthusiasm of Shoghi ErTendi, his
spirit, his culture, his charm. Dr. Cousins
sometimes accompanies the Maharaja on the
latter's trips abroad. I hear from others, but
I do not know, that the great Dewan (Prime
Minister) of Travancore is a fervent The-
osophist.
"One reason that we went to Trivandrum
just at this time was because the Ninth All-
India Oriental Conference, which convenes
only once in two years, was to be held there
December 20-22, and it seemed most impor-
tant to try to get the Baha'i Teachings to as
many Oriental scholars as possible — for who
will be the Professor Edward G. Brownes, the
Count Gobineaus, the Baron Rosens of India
if we do not interest the scholars? We wish
the great Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Zoroas-
trian scholars to write about the Baha'i Faith
in its relation to their own Faiths. I gave a
very short talk in the Conference on the
Baha'i Faith from the standpoint of great
Oriental scholars. Mr. Bakhtiari gave a
short talk about Qurratu'l-'Ayn, Iran's great
woman poet.
"Articles about the Cause were prepared
for the press from the very first day we
arrived, and then the Travancore Journalists*
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
97
Association gave a tea in our honor in their
clubhouse. They wrote several articles and
they will write articles in future about the
Cause. They wish news of the progress of
the Cause in different parts of the world.
"MADRAS. Mr. Bakhtiari and I worked in
Madras, December 2 5 -January 3, 1938* We
met the few friends and talked about how
to promote the Faith, and had the Feast.
We visited all the large libraries to see what
Baha'i books they have. The University of
Madras Library has an excellent collection
and the Librarian, Mr. S. R. Ranganathan, is
keenly interested to build up the department
of Baha'i books. He is in correspondence
with American Baha'is, and the N. S. A., but
up to this time he had never met a Baha'i.
His face is full of light. He said the Baha'i
books are drawn out and much read. (We
later found many who have been reading the
books.)
"Adyar Theosophical Library, at Adyar,
Madras, also has a good collection of Baha'i
books, and we found that many university
students living in that section have been
reading these books. We visited editors of
all the leading newspapers of Madras and all
used interviews followed by other articles
about the Faith and resumes of our lectures
later. Over two hundred articles about the
Baha'i Faith have appeared in the news-
papers of Ceylon and India from September
13 to February 13, 1938, (I urge all Baha'i
teachers when possible, to carry a typewriter
and make out good resumes of all lectures
and give out to all newspapers. When one
speaks, one may speak to hundreds, but
through the press one can reach tens of thou-
sands and sometimes hundreds of thou-
sands) .
"A large public lecture was given in
Ranade Hall, a cultural center whose direc-
tors are connected with the university and
some newspapers. Dewan Bahadur K. S.
Ramaswami Sastri, retired District Sessions
Judge and one of the brilliant scholars of
Madras, presided; the lecture was under the
auspices of the South Indian Cultural Asso-
ciation. In introducing us he spoke con-
cisely about the Cause, quoted 'The Dawn-
Breakers' and Words of 'Abdu'1-Baha, has
since presided again and has written for me
to use in the West, two short articles, which
were really his introductions. These are
most interesting because they show the
Baha'i Faith in its relation to Hinduism. He
is a great Hindu Indian scholar who has
arisen to write about the Faith. I lectured
in the Y. M. C. A. in Madras, Mr. Bakhtiari
chanted and we both spoke before the
Brahmo-Samaj Society of Madras. Brahmo-
Samaj is a very quickened spiritual move-
ment of India, a little like our Unitarianism
of the West, its members are always friendly
and very sympathetic to the Baha'i Teach-
ings. The Madras Brahmo-Samaj has since
translated into Telugu language, 'What is
the Baha'i Movement?' and one thousand
copies are being distributed. This is the first
booklet, I think, that has ever been published
in Telugu, and it is a fruit of the visit to
Madras.
"Also, two thousand booklets, 'The Dawn
of the New Day' translated into Tamil lan-
guage, are being published (were to be fin-
ished by February 15). Mr. Ishaq Pahlavan,
a devoted faithful Baha'i in Madras, helped
with this. The Tamil newspaper that pub-
lished the booklet used the history and prin-
ciples in a nearly three column article that
has a circulation of twenty thousand.
We felt very happy about these booklets
because Tamil is much used in South-
ern India, Ceylon, Straits Settlements
and a large colony in Durban, South
Africa.
"Mr. Bakhtiari, Mr. Pahlavan and I went
out to Adyar to three sessions of the Inter-
national Theosophical Convention held De-
cember 26 to January 3, 1938; we met many
friends. The Vice-President of the Inter-
national Theosophical Society, Mr. Datta,
said to me that the Baha'i Teachings are the
highest essence of Hinduism. Mr. Bakhtiari,
who did such great work, returned to
Karachi the evening of January 3.
"As Madras is such an important spiritual
and cultural center in Southern India, Mrs.
Shirin Fozdar and I came to Madras when we
were returning from Colombo and stayed for
six days, January 18 to 23, met the press,
lectured in Pachaippa College of Madras
University, also gave a public lecture in the
P. S. High School, Mylapore Section, to sev-
eral hundred students; lectured at an annual
meeting of the Brahmo-Samaj ladies, and
98
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Shirin spoke at an evening meeting of the
Brahmo-Samaj, and broadcast.
"Some of the young men who had been in-
terested in the Cause when Shirin went to
Madras in March of last year, arranged a
meeting in their school where we spoke and
they said they would form a study class.
Mr. Pahlavan has a meeting sometimes for
a little group of fine young men who before
had been Muslims. A group had been
formed last year. May an Assembly soon
be started!
"I was so touched: a Baha'i had gone from
Calcutta nearly two years ago to spread the
Faith. He was very poor and lived on seven
rupees (less than three dollars a month).
Baha'i friends, I think the N.S.A. of India
and Burma, had given him a present of
money to buy a bullock and a cart to help
him in earning a livelihood. The bullock
and cart were stolen from him and for sev-
eral days he had no food, then Mr. Pahlavan
found him, but later this most devoted self-
sacrificing Baha'i whom everyone praised
took dysentery and passed on in Madras, a
month before we arrived. Mr. Bakhtiari has
had a tombstone erected over the grave and
Mr. Pahlavan has had the lot made beautiful
with flowers. To me that Baha'i was as
great as the widow with her mite (in the
New Testament) for he too gave his all!
Because of his self-sacrifice, Baha'u'llah will
open the doors at Madras to the Baha'i Faith!
"Jamal EfFendi, a Baha'i teacher from
fran, in 1877, gave the Baha'i Message to one
young Madrasi, Siyyid Mustafa Roumie, and
Siyyid Roumie has been efficiently and faith-
fully promoting the Baha'i Faith in Burma
for sixty years! 'Where the acorns fall, the
oak trees grow': Baha'u'llah is doing all.
"Baha'i teachers are needed for Madras
and all Southern India cities. Christianity
spread very well in Southern India, is it not
a portent that the Baha'i Faith too, will be
accepted there rapidly in this day? Much
more has been done to promote the Baha'i
Teachings in Northern India than in the
South. Who will hear the Call to the South?
"COLOMBO, CEYLON. — Dr. and Mrs. Foz-
dar and I went to Colombo, Ceylon, for ten
days, January 5 to 16, 1938. It was my
second trip to Colombo since September 13.
The press used many favorable and long
articles about the Baha'i Faith, the editors
and J9urnalists were our true friends. A
newspaper in Tamil language also published
the history and principles translated into
Tamil. I spoke before the Rotary Club of
Colombo and the speech was broadcast from
the luncheon table. Shirin spoke over the
radio about Qurratu'l-'Ayn and sang one of
the latter's poems. A gramophone record
was made of this song. Both broadcast
speeches were printed in full in the Colombo
papers. One public lecture was given in
Colombo University under the auspices of
the University College Economics Society,
and another public lecture took place at the
Ramakrishna Mission School. We spoke be-
fore the teachers of a Buddhist school for
girls, and Dr. and Mrs. Fozdar spoke at the
Parsi Club. Some very fine Muslim people
invited us to their homes, so also did some
Christians, Hindus and Buddhists. We in-
vited a number of friends to our hotel. The
Mayor of Colombo called. Shirin spoke be-
fore the Women's International Club. It
was all a most worthwhile visit to Colombo.
Dr. Fozdar after helping us much, returned
from Colombo to his hospital work at Ajmer.
"BANGALORE. — Mrs. Fozdar and I came
via Madras to Bangalore and Mysore where
she had been ten months before. Three
Baha'i lectures were scheduled for the three
days of our stay, January 24, 25, 26, at the
Mythic Society, a high Cultural Society in
Bangalore, in Daly Memorial Hall, a build-
ing given by the Maharaja of Mysore. The
Secretary of the Mythic Society, a lawyer,
Mr. S. Srikantaya, ably presided at the three
lectures; all were reported in the 'Bangalore
Post.* Questions were asked and answered
and each day the audience increased. Teach-
ers from the Fort High School present in-
vited us to come over to their school and
speak to seven hundred boys. The Dewan
of Mysore, an f ranian, a Muslim, is so fine in
his character that Baha'is could well say he
is *Bah£*i' in spirit, in the sense that he seems
to have 'all the human perfections in ac-
tivity/ He received us and did everything
to help us — he helps the Muslims, the Hin-
dus, the Jews, the Christians. He invited us
to a great garden party where he was the
guest of honor and introduced us to some
friends as Baha'is. The Vice-Chancel lor of
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
99
Mysore University and his wife were in
Bangalore and invited us to their ho/ne; he
was most kind and helpful both times Mrs.
Fozdar came. One of the Magazines in
Bangalore promises to publish three articles
about the Cause. One man in Bangalore said
in fun: 'The people swarm like locusts to eat
the Baha'i Teachings!5 It was not quite like
that, but certainly people were interested
and you can see from this account that we
found friends everywhere who helped us to
spread the Fragrances of the Teachings.
"MYSORE CITY. — The next days, January
27, 28, 29, were spent in Mysore City. Mrs.
Fozdar and I each gave two lectures in the
University and she spoke to an Educational
Association. One Professor who presided at
my lecture said that he had read seven or
eight Baha'i books carefully, and that when
a distinguished Ramakrishna Swami spoke in
that same University Hall on 'Modern Re-
ligions' and did not mention about the
Baha'i Faith, this Professor who was acting
as Chairman said that one of the most im-
portant modern religions had been left out
and he gave the history of the Baha'i Move-
ment. I told the audience it was like that in
our country; at the World's Parliament of
Religions, in the Chicago Exposition, i893, a
Professor, founder of Beirut University,
spoke about the Baha'i Faith and now we
have thousands of Baha'is in America.
"One Professor said: 'What we professors
and students need is a great quickening of
religion in our inner life. If the Baha'i Faith
brings that, we will study it.'
"We met one Professor who is a relative of
Qurratu'l-'Ayn and he has made a deep study
of the Baha'i Teachings.
"The Mysore University Library in the
past year has gathered quite a good selection
of Baha'i books and these are being read by
the students. The librarian and the former
librarian are most friendly to our Cause. I
believe that great scholars from Mysore will
write about the Teachings.
"One Professor in the University is the
Director of Broadcasting and Mrs. Fozdar
and I both gave radio talks which were sent
out to six newspapers and magazines in
India. A young private secretary from a
neighboring state told us that when he
visited the Hill Palace of the Maharaja of
Mysore in 1933, there was a book on the
table, the life of 'Abdu'1-Baha which he care-
fully studied. The Mysore University Li-
brary will have pictures of 'Abdu'1-Baha and
a picture of the Baha'i Temple at Wilmette
to hang on the Library wall.
"Mrs. Fozdar, as I said, had been to Banga-
lore and Mysore ten months earlier and made
many friends and this helped us very much.
May she go again and many times to South-
ern India! She is not only a very fluent
speaker but they called her the Baha'i night-
ingale of India when she sang the Qurratu'l-
'Ayn songs!
"HYDERABAD, DECCAN. — Then we came
to Hyderabad, Deccan, where we were the
guests of the State and stayed in the State
Guest House. We arrived at 5 p.m., and at
6:30 o'clock I broadcast. This radio talk
was published in full in their newspapers.
"I broadcast again and Mrs. Fozdar gave a
radio speech about Qurratu'l-'Ayn and sang.
A gramophone record was made of her speech
and song and the talk was published. We
gave a public lecture the second evening
under the auspices of the Writers' Associa-
tion of Hyderabad. We spoke before the
Hyderabad Ladies' Association to two hun-
dred and fifty members and the wife of the
second son of the Nizam presided. This
beautiful young Princess is a grand-niece of
the late Sultan 'Abdu'l-Hamid of Turkey.
Lady Akbar Hydari, wife of the Prime Min-
ister, is President of this Association. I spoke
in Osmania University and at the same hour
Shirin spoke at the Nizam's College. Excel-
lent articles appeared in the newspapers. The
Secretary of the Prime Minister, a Cornell
man, had attended a Baha'i Conference in
Geneva, N. Y., where he had been the guest
of Mr. and Mrs. Willard McKay. There he
had met Miss Mary Maxwell; he said he felt
even then she had a very high destiny and
that she was the most radiant girl he had
ever met. We were invited to the home of
the Prime Minister and to the home of Sir
Amin Jung; the latter had received Mrs.
Schopflocher, later myself, then Keith and
then Mr. Schopflocher. He loves the Teach-
ings and says they do not take away from
any other Faiths. He says if he would be
able, he would go to the Baha'i Convention
in Karachi in April, but he is quite ill. The
100
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Baha'is of Hyderabad met us at the train,
helped us, and came with us to the station
when we left. They came to the public lec^
tures and brought booklets for distribution.
Mrs. Fozdar spoke to a large group in a pri-
vate home the last evening and I broadcast.
We were in Hyderabad only three days, eve-
ning of January 31 to early morning of
February 4."
THE COLLECTION OF TABLETS
Throughout the Baha'i world, special
committees have been engaged in collecting
and transcribing original Tablets of the Bab,
Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'1-Baha, an essential
prerequisite to the formation of the Inter-
national House of Justice.
In America, original Tablets revealed by
'Abdu'1-Baha to individuals and to com-
munities and deposited in the National
Archives, have been prepared for the publi-
cation of a fourth volume, and the available
material is by no means exhausted. The
three volumes of Tablets already in publica-
tion contain no Tablets later than about
1912. Volume four, consequently, will sup-
ply to Baha'is and students of the Faith those
Tablets of vital import revealed during the
Master's later years.
In Iran, the richest depository of Baha'i
Tablets, no less than forty volumes of this
source of the Revelation have been collected,
each authenticated, and are preserved in the
International Baha'i Archives on Mount
Carmel.
Since the legislative function of the House
of Justice is limited to matters not expressly
revealed in the Baha'i Sacred Writings, its
trusteeship requires intimate knowledge of
the Revelation as a whole, for that body will
have responsibility for the fulfillment of all
revealed laws and ordinances throughout the
Baha'i community, as well as authority to
enact such laws as may be necessary for
affairs which Baha'u'llah left to its dis-
cretion.
TRANSLATIONS OF BAHA*I LITERATURE
Up to the year 1938, the Baha'i work en-
titled "Bahd'u'llah and the New Era," by
Dr. J. E. Esslemont, has been translated into
forty different languages and published in
thirty-three languages; the Kitab-i-fqan of
Baha'u'llah has been published in thirteen
different languages, and work on its transla-
tion into eight other languages undertaken;
the "Hidden Words" of Baha'u'llah has been
published in fifteen languages, with transla-
tions in four additional languages proceed-
ing; and "Some Answered Questions" by
'Abdu'1-Baha has appeared in six languages
and work is going forward on its translation
into ten additional tongues.
HISTORY OF THE BAHA'f FAITH
For many years an authentic and detailed
History of the Faith has been in process of
creation by the scholarly and devoted Jinab-
i-Fadil in Tihran. The material for this im-
portant work, so eagerly awaited by all
Baha'is, has been assembled by committees
throughout the land.
The project is to consist of nine volumes,
each containing some 400 pages, and at the
present time three volumes have been com-
pleted.
THE SHRINE OF THE BAB
The area surrounding", and dedicated to,
the Shrine of the Bab on Mount Carmel has
been enlarged by the acquisition of further
holdings.
The new plots have been registered in the
name of the American National Spiritual
Assembly, Palestine Branch. The total area
now held by that Assembly in 'Akka and
Haifa amounts to more than 60,000 square
pics, equivalent to 33,750 square meters.
A plot situated in Beersheba, southern Pal-
estine, consisting of approximately 15,000
square pics, donated by Mr. Ratib Halabyi,
was in course of transfer in April, 1938.
DIFFICULTIES IN TURKISTAN AND
CAUCASUS
The Baha'i communities in Turkistan and
Caucasus have encountered tragic difficulties
through the pressure exerted upon Baha'is to
migrate to Iran on account of their Iranian
nationality, these Baha'i communities having
been founded by believers from Iran who
settled in cities of southern Russia many
years ago. The cause of this attitude on the
part of the civil authorities arises from the
fact that all foreigners are viewed with sus-
picion.
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
101
Some Baha'is, including women, have been
imprisoned. In his recent communications
to these Baha'i communities, Shoghi Effendi
sanctioned their change of nationality if by
this means the authorities can be induced to
relax their restrictions. Moreover, the Am-
bassador of Iran at Moscow and the authori-
ties in Tihran have been approached with the
request to act on behalf of the persecuted
Persian friends.
From 'Ishqabad has come the following
details of Baha'i activities: —
Babd'j Establishments
1. Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. This temple be-
came part of the city properties in the middle
of 1928 by a law affecting all religious build-
ings. At first we refused to accept this
ruling and made a great many efforts to ex-
clude the temple from this law. But all the
efforts of the friends were of no avail. At
last with the permission of the Guardian, we
signed a five year lease with special provisions
for the necessary care and repairs. In 1933
we renewed the lease for another five years.
But in 1935 in accordance with a new law
which gave all temples back to their original
owners for an indefinite period, we signed a
new lease which insisted on a great many re-
pairs to be made within six months. The
Spiritual Assembly and the friends of this
city and other parts made every effort and
sacrifice to have all the work done within the
specified period. Now the Mashriqu'l-
Adhkar and its garden are of great beauty
and are again in the hands of the Baha'is.
At the two sides of the gates to the
Temple are hung two boards with the Baha'i
principles written on them in four languages.
At sunrise and on public holidays, the Be-
loved of God and the Maidservants of the
Merciful gather in this temple, chanting
prayers and reading the Tablet of Visitation
of Baha'u'llah. On anniversaries, especially,
so many people gather that the sight is truly
praiseworthy.
The Bahd'i Hall (Haziratu'l-Quds)
1. Twice a week under the supervision
and with specifications of the Spiritual As-
sembly, on Saturday and Tuesday nights,
Baha'i public meetings are held in the Hall.
2. On holidays the Baha'is gather in the
Hall where they have a chance to asso-
ciate with one another and where the Holy
Writings and Baha'i songs are chanted,
music played, tea and sweets served, re-
freshing the Friends both spiritually and
materially.
3 . Each month a memorial meeting is held
at which time the life of one of the great
servants of the Cause who has passed on is
recounted and his services and sacrifices for
the establishment of the Cause are men-
tioned, thus bettering our knowledge of the
history of the Cause and reminding ourselves
of our duty.
4. Sometimes special meetings of the
Friends are called by the Spiritual Assembly
for consultation with the Friends, in addi-
tion to the regular meetings.
4. Two special meetings of commemora-
tion have been held; one for Keith Ransom-
Kehler, and one for Dr. Moody.
For the care of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar
and the Baha'i Hall as well as the court
around them, we have employed two gar-
deners and two care-takers who discharge
their duties with constancy, utter joy, and
zeal.
The Cemetery (The Eternal Garden)
1. The Eternal Garden in which have
been buried many of the early ardent Serv-
ants, has in this year, 1935, again been re-
paired and now has a refreshing appearance.
2. The Tomb of Fadil of Ghaeem, who
had been buried in Bokhara and later re-
moved to 'Ishqabad by verbal instructions
of 'Abdu'1-Baha, was beautifully and happily
built in 1934.
3. Haji Muhammad Rida, the Martyr,
had been buried eight miles away from the
city. Because of some construction work in
that vicinity undertaken by the local gov-
ernment, it was felt advisable to remove the
remains. With the permission of the Be-
loved Guardian, the remains were transferred
to the cemetery, in May, 1935, and in 1936
it was almost completed.
4. We are planning to build the tombs of
Shaykh Muhammad-'Ali of Ghaeem and
Siyyid Mihdi of Gulpaygan, two teachers
who have done great teaching work in this
territory and who passed on in the years i923
and 1928 respectively.
102
THE BAHA'f WORLD
The major work of the Spiritual Assembly
in addition to what is mentioned above is:
1. Help of the weak and the poor among
the Baha'is who receive care and a regular
payment every month to enable them to
live somewhat comfortably.
2. Nineteen Day Feast. It is held regu-
larly by the Friends twice a week. Each
person wishing to give a feast is given the
names of nine people to invite and the host
also invites some of his relatives, the number
of those present generally averaging from
nine to nineteen. During such gatherings,
which often last from five to six hours, re-
ligion is the topic of discussion.
3. Tabulation of Tablets. This year the
Spiritual Assembly has decided to collect all
the Tablets that are accessible in this region,
both those already printed and others in
hands of individuals. The Spiritual Assem-
bly will form a clear and comprehensive
table covering all the subjects contained in
these tablets. A number of the Friends have
been invited to participate in this work and
we are already making progress.
4. From the early days we have been
carrying on a correspondence with the As-
semblies of this district. But recently, since
the Guardian has indicated the importance
of such a correspondence, we now corre-
spond regularly once a Baha'i month with
every assembly in the district in the vicinity
of 'Ishqabad.
5. We also send out every three months,
a circular giving news of the Baha'i activi-
ties in the city together with the more im-
portant news culled from circulars received
from other countries. We send this circular
to all parts of this district.
Deaths
Shaykh Haydar Mollem. He spent his en-
tire life, more than seventy years, in the
search and dissemination of knowledge. He
taught the Baha'i children and youth, and
his work and advice will never be forgotten.
They will live with us forever.
Even though the present conditions are
such that it gives the appearance of inac-
tivity of the Cause, the unity and love and
cooperation of the Friends is such, and their
attachment to and love for the Cause is so
great, that it can truly be said that it illu-
minates all the seekers. Even if our progress
is slow, with steadfastness and deeds our pur-
pose will be achieved.
The Baha'i Centers in Turkistan are:
'Ishqabad, Marv, Samarqand, Bayram-'Ali,
Qahqahih, T*?hkand, Yeltan, Chahar Jub,
and Tajen. Correspondence with these cen-
ters is more easily handled through 'Ishqa-
bad, the central point.
ACTIVITIES IN PARIS
From Matilde Kennedy has been received
the following account, in French, of the
activities of the Baha'i community in
Paris: —
Deux faits sortant de 1'ordinaire sont a
mentionner pour commencer ce rapport. Ce
sont deux manifestations artistiques, chacune
dans un ordre different.
Voici un recit abrege de la manifestation
grandiose qui cut lieu les 12 et 13 juillet
1936 a Verdun a 1'occasion du rassemble-
ment international des anciens combattants
de la Grande Guerre pour preter en commun
le serment solennel de maintenir la Paix.
II nous faut dire tout d'abord que cette
manifestation fut impregnee de 1'esprit
Baha'i en 1'essence meme du serment uni-
versel puis en ce que le cote artistique y fut
represente par deux membres proeminents du
groupe de Paris: Madame Marie- Antoinette
Aussenac de Broglie et Monsieter Nicolas
Oboukof. Cette partie de la ceremonie fut
admirable. A minuit, en plein cimetiere
militaire, le surprenant instrument la Croix
Sonore, conc.u et mis a execution par ces
deux grands artistes, fit entendre des sons
jamais entendus, un chant sublime s'eleva
inspire par la parole de Baha'u'llah: "Vous
etes tous les feuilles du meme arbre, les
facettes d'un seul diamant. Venez! le Seig-
neur benit la Paix. . . ."
L'emotion fut indescriptible parmi les
assistants qui pourtant n'entendaient que la
surprenante musique. Quant a nous, qui
etions a 1'ecoute et qui y juxtaposions les
sublimes paroles, notre emotion etait intense.
Dans notre lettre circulaire de 1936 nous
avons dit quelques mots de 1'execution du
buste d"Abdu'l-Bah4 par le sculpteur Nicolas,
de Sokolnitsky. II nous parait interessant de
donner plus de details sur cette surprenante
manifestation et nous resumons ici le recit
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
103
que Mrs. Stannard ecrivit en anglais a ce
sujet.
Ce fut pendant le cours de Phiver 1936-
1937 que le groupe Baha'i de Paris se trouva
en contact avec quelques personnes appar-
tenant a un groupement international de
religion catholique. Ces quelques personnes
assisterent a une de nos reunions — parmi elles
se trouva la soeur de Nicolas de Sokolnitsky
qui nous invita a visiter Patelier de son f r£re.
Je m'y rendis, dit Mrs. Stannard, ainsi que
quelques-uns des etudiants persans. L'artiste
parut immediatement interesse a Penoncia-
tion que nous lui fimes des principes de
notre Cause dont il comprit la grandeur et
Pimmense parte*e.
En admirant ses belles creations sculptu-
rales, bustes ou groupes, j'emis la remarque
qu'il etait bien regrettable que le grand
sculpteur Rodin n'eut pas vu en 1912 lors de
son sejour a Paris notre Maitre 'Abdu'l-
Baha car la majeste de sa face de prophete
Peut tellement frappe, qu'il Paurait repro-
duite dans toute Pinspiration de son genie.
Soudain Nicolas de Sokolnitsky s'ecria: Eh
bien! je vais Pexecuter. Procurez-moi toutes
les photos possibles du Maitre."
Rentree chez moi je rassemblai toutes les
photos, gravures, dessins en ma possession
et les lui portai. Il les examina longtemps
et retint celles qui lui parurent les plus aptes
a accomplir son dessein. Le lendemain a
midi je rec,us un coup de telephone de
Sokolnitsky me disant: Venez de suite . . .
sa voix etait tres-agitee et des qu'il me fut
possible je me rendis a son atelier croyant
qu'il pouvait avoir besoin de quelques ex-
plications supplementaires avant d'ouvrager.
Des que j'entrai, il m'entraina vers un
piedouche supportant une masse recouverte
de linges mouille's, il les enleva et a mon
emerveillement je vis le buste, c'est a dire
la tete majestueuse du Maitre pose'e sur les
epaules recouvertes d'un abba. C'etait
presque encore une ebauche mais de'ja si
ressemblante! Je restais confondue d'eton-
nement. L'artiste se mit a rire et dit: Oui,
des sculpteurs eux-memes pourraient dire
que c'est miraculeux. . . . Et il me fit le
r£cit suivant: Cette nuit peu avant le jour,
j'ai eu un reve visionnaire, je vis distincte-
ment une figure drapee en blanc qui se tenait
devant moi et immediatement jc sus que
c'etait le Maitre persan, c'etait son turban,
sa barbe blanche; il etendit son bras vers moi
et me dit en russe: Leve toi et parle de moi!
L'effet fut si grand que je me levai de suite,
pris un bloc de glaise et travaillai sans arret
pendant 4 a 5 heures, tant que je ne fus pas
satisfait du resultat obtenu, que je n'avais
pas materialise parfaitement ma vision.
Mrs. May Maxwell se trouvant a Paris a
cette epoque je la conduisis a Patelier, elle
aussi admira fort Poeuvre accomplie et ex-
prima le de*sir que. sa fille (maintenant
Pepouse de Shoghi Effendi) la vit a son
retour d'Allemagne, ce qui cut lieu.
Maintenant beaucoup d'amis Baha'is Pont
vue et admiree, et certains petits details
d'arrangement de la barbe, du turban, des
cheveux furent modifies. A mon avis, ce
buste exprime bien la personnalite profonde-
ment reflechie du Maitre, le fait paraitre
plus jeune que lors de son sejour a Paris, la
barbe est plus lourde, mais ces petits change-
ments sont peu importants.
Le sculpteur Nicolas de Sokolnitsky est de
nationalite russe, ne en Ukraine a KiefT, il
est eleve de Pficole des Beaux-Arts de Paris
et s'est fait naturaliser frangais.
Nos reunions bi-mensuelles se sont pour-
suivies tres regulierement pendant tout
Pexercice 1936-1937 et ont ete suivies non-
seulement par les membres de notre groupe
mais par des visiteurs interesses a la Cause.
Chaque reunion commence par un the fra-
ternel, petite recreation avant la lecture
d'une de nos prieres, puis lecture soit d'une
tablette ou d'un enseignement. Ensuite une
conference ou causerie faite soit par un des
Baha'i s presents soit par une personne invitee
a prendre la parole sur un sujet hautement
spiritualiste se rattachant a nos doctrines.
La reunion se termine dans le recueillement
d'une pri^re chantee par un jeune persan.
Nous avons institue et poursuivons regu-
lierement les reunions de 19 jours reservees
aux seuls Baha'is. Elles se tiennent tantot a
Patelier de Mrs. Scott, lieu de nos reunions,
tantot chez Pun ou Pautre des amis, nous
aimons ces reunions dont le tour d'esprit est
toujours eleve et la tenue sincerement re-
ligieuse. L'ame de toutes nos reunions est
toujours Miss Sanderson si d^vouee et si
bonne organisatrice.
La septieme conference de 1'Union des
104
THE BAHA'f WORLD
fitudiants Baha'is a eu lieu les 2 et 3 Janvier
1937 dans Patelier de Mrs. Scott. Une quar-
antaine de personnes y assistait. Quelques-
unes arrivaient de Petranger, cinq etaient
venues de Londres, une d'Allemagne, trois
arrivaient de Lyon. En plus nous avions le
plaisir de regevoir Madame Orlova et
Madame Schopflocher. Notre Gardien
Shoghi Effendi avait adresse au docteur
Hakim, le president de cette reunion, une
belle lettre dont il nous a donne lecture et
qui a etc ecoute avec grand attention; puis
il lut la traduction du rapport des activites
de la jeunesse d'Amerique qui agissent avec
les amis europeens en intime cooperation.
Ensuite Mademoiselle Irady, jeune fiancee
franchise du docteur Mesbah fit une
charmante causerie sur le role de la femme
dans la Cause Baha'i, Madame Orlova reprit
cet important sujet avec son eloquence si
chaleureuse.
Mademoiselle Migette de Lyon exprime sa
joie d'etre parmi nous et nous dit son
activite a Lyon pour repandre la Cause.
Madame Schopflocher parle du sejour
qu'elle fit a Haifa et nous dit tout Pinteret
que prend Shoghi Effendi a la jeunesse.
Apres la priere chantee en persan, on
quitte Patelier pour se rendre a un diner
amical auquel prirent part quarante per-
sonnes.
Le deuxieme jour on salue la presence de
Mr. Bakeroff qui arrivait de Londres et le
group anglais exprime sa vive satisfaction de
participer a cette conference.
Le docteur Miihlschlegel venu speciale-
ment de Stuttgart nous parle de son recent
voyage a Haifa.
Mademoiselle Zamenhof nous dit sa joie de
se trouver a nouveau parmi nous.
M. Zabih nous parla des membres de sa
f amille qui ont subi le martyre pour la Cause,
son recit fut tres emouvant.
M. Bakchayech a developpe avec beau-
coup de talent et dans un frangais choisi le
sujet: Comment faire prepaloir le plan Baha'i
dans le chaos actuel.
Enfin le docteur Hakim parla de la lettre
collective qui allait etre adressee a Shoghi
Effendi comme d'habitude et cette interes-
sante reunion prit fin par la belle priere
chantee.
Notre Assemblee Spirituelle se riunit
chaque mois dans le home si hospitalier de
notre grande amie Laura Dreyfus-Barney.
Laissez-moi vous dire quelques mots au sujet
de ce home. II est entoure par de grands
balcons desquels on domine Pimmense cite
parisienne; le soir lorsque la ville est brillam-
ment illuminee c'est un enchantement, un
panorama incomparable qui resplendit a perte
de vue, avec toutes ses lumieres — et de place
en place ses ombres, et vous trouvercz avec
moi que c'est pour nous un vivant symbole;
cette maison de notre assemblee spirituelle
eleve'e au g'essus de Pimmense cite, lui en-
voyant eile-meme le puissant rayonnement
que notre Cause apporte au monde. Phare
de Paix, de Foi en Pavenir de nos doc-
trines qui ne laissera plus Pombre sur le
Monde quand tous les etres rayonneront
d'Amour. . . .
Devant nous s'etend la Grande Expo-
sition reunion de tant de peuples, expression
de tant de pays divers qui tous s'efforcent
d'apporter de la beaute. Cette grande mani-
festation n'a pas qu'une beaute materielle, on
sait qu'elle a ete placee par Pillustre phi-
losophe Henri Bergson," President d'honneur
du Congres International dc Philosophic sous
le signe de Descartes dont la France celebre
le troisieme centenaire. L'illustre savant du
dix-septieme siecle fut le grand penseur des
temps modernes; le premier il pensa et ecrivit
hors de la tradition scholastique et du dogme
theologique. Ses travaux furent fondes sur
son axiome fameux: Cogito ergo sum — je
pense done je suis, et son premier grand
ouvrage: Le Discours sur la Methode, scrt
encore de guide dans le monde cntier, c'est
vous dire la haute tcneur des Congres Inter-
nationaux qui ont lieu a PExposition: phi-
losophic, philologie, sciences economiques,
pacifisme, sociologie, litterature, medecine,
droit, etc., s'y succedent, en presence des
elites interessees qui par Pechange des idees
les plus hautes travaillent a Paccroissement
du patrimoine humain.
Nous continuons a nous occuper activc-
ment des nos publications et de reimpres-
sions. Nous avons fait paraitre une nouvelle
brochure de propagande qui va etre mise a
la Bibliotheque Nationale a la disposition du
public.
Le 21 Avril 1937, chez Laura Dreyfus-
Barney nous avons cel^bre la fete de Ridvan
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
105
et precede aux nouvelles elections de 1'As-
semblee Spirituelle dont tous les mefnbres
ont ete reelus. En meme temps a eu lieu la
ceremonie du manage du docteur Mesbah et
de Mademoiselle Jeanne Irady d'apres notre
rituel Baha'i; ce fur tres-simple mais tres-
touchant, une charmante fete de famille.
Le docteur Aminoullah Mesbah a fait ses
etudes medicales a Paris et va repartir avec
sa jeune femme s'installer a Tihran en passant
par Haifa.
A 1'occasion de 1'exposition parmi nous se
trouve un jeune Baha'i tunisien qui nous a
entretenus de 1'etat de la Cause a Tunis.
Mr. Khemiri nous dit qu'il fait parti d'un
groupe bien constitue par de fervents Baha'is
qui se reunissent presque chaque soir chez un
dcs membres qui a mis sa maison a leur dis-
position.
Cette annee nous a apporte la joie d'avoir
parmi nous une grande zelatrice de notre
Cause May Maxwell. Agnes Alexander nous
a fait egalcment la faveur de son interessante
visite; elle fut comme May Maxwell un des
premiers pionniers Baha'is a Paris et nous
connaissons tous la belle oeuvrc qu'elle a
accomplie au Japon.
Nous avons eu le profond regret 1'ap-
prendre la mort a Lyon de Madame Borel qui
fut une ardente spiritualiste; elle connaissait
et admirait notre Cause et comprenait la
haute portee de nos enseignements. Peu de
temps avant sa mort elle se declara Baha'i et
ecrivit a Shoghi Effendi.
MISS ALEXANDER IN JAPAN
A little Japanese Baha'i home was estab-
lished in the heart of Tokyo in the fall of
1935 by Miss Agnes B. Alexander who had
returned there after an absence of two years.
Although conditions had changed, and the
members of the Spiritual Assembly, which
was formed in 1932, had scattered, yet the
hopes for the fuller establishment of the
Cause were bright. This simple home made
a center where residents and visitors to
Japan were invited; and thus it was a means
of spreading the Faith of Baha'u'llah.
On the Bab's birthday, October 20, 1935,
a feast was held in this home. Portions from
the writings in "The Dawn-Breakers" re-
garding the life of the Bab were read.
Among the friends present was Mr. Takeshi
Kanno and his American wife. After an
absence of thirty-five years Mr. Kanno was
visiting his native land. In 1912 he had met
'Abdu'1-Baha in California and he recounted
to the friends his experiences with 'Abdu'l-
Baha and the great love which He showered
on him. On another occasion Mr. Ouskouli,
the Iranian brother from Shanghai, who was
visiting Japan, met with the Japanese
friends. Two Baha'is from the Honolulu
Assembly en route to Haifa, as well as two
returning to Honolulu, visited the home.
Here Japanese young women born in the
United States and Hawaii found happiness in
the study of the Baha'i Faith. One of these
young women came to Japan from Hawaii
for the purpose of studying Japanese that
she might be better able to spread the Faith
among the Japanese in Hawaii. She said she
felt so happy to know that she had some-
thing to work for which was the greatest
thing in the world. Two of these young
women met on Youth Day, March 22, 1936,
and formed a link in the chain of meetings
which extended around the world.
The most outstanding Baha'i work of the
year 1936 was the transcribing into Braille
of the Japanese edition of Esslemont's book,
"Baha'u'llah and the New Era." This was
undertaken as a memorial to Akira, the son
of the blind brother, Mr. Tokujiro Torii,
who died in his seventeenth year in March,
1935. Mr. Torii introduced this edition
with an appeal to the blind of Japan to in-
vestigate the Baha'i Faith and quoted from
the Esperanto correspondence he had had
with Dr. Esslemont. Thirty copies, each
comprising three Braille volumes, were dis-
tributed to the libraries of the principal
schools for the blind in Japan and to promi-
nent blind workers of the country. Pre-
vious to this publication an English Braille
edition of Esslemont's book had been passed
among the blind who were students of the
English language. Other Braille Japanese
publications, which had been made in Japan
were, "A Letter to the Blind Women in
Japan," which was written at the request of
some blind Japanese friends in 1916 by Miss
Agnes Alexander and was the first Baha'i
publication in Japanese. It was followed by
a Braille book entitled, "Seek and It Shall be
Given Unto You," by Tokujiro Torii in
106
THE B A H A ' f WORLD
1917, which contained translations from the
Baha'i Writings. Several Baha'i pamphlets
were also published in Braille and distributed
among the blind. Besides these publications,
Mr. Torii has himself put into Braille some
of the English Baha'i books, such as "Iqan,"
"Hidden Words," "Seven Valleys," and
others. These publications are bringing
Spiritual Light and real comfort to many
Japanese blind.
In response to a cablegram from Shoghi
Effendi in December, 1936, Miss Alexander
traveled to the far western province of
Yamaguchi to visit the mother of our faith-
ful Japanese brother, Mr. Fujita, who serves
in the Western Pilgrim House in Haifa.
Mother Fujita had been ill for two months,
but had recovered and a happy Christmas
Day was spent with the family and a photo-
graph of all was taken. On the return
journey to Tokyo, Miss Alexander met with
the Baha'is in Kobe and Kyoto, where many
blind friends gathered in the home of Mr.
Torii.
Through a sympathetic friend who
worked for the "Japan Times," a Japanese-
owned daily published in English in Tokyo,
many articles about the Baha'i Faith were
published. Especially noteworthy were re-
prints from the Baha'i magazine, "World
Order."
In March, 1937, at the invitation of Shoghi
Effendi, Miss Alexander left Tokyo to make
the pilgrimage to the Holy Land. It was the
first time for a pilgrim to go from Japan to
visit the Guardian and the Baha'i Shrines on
Mt. Carmel and Bahji. En route to take the
steamer for Egypt, a stop was made in
Kyoto. Here blind friends gathered again
in the Torii home to learn more of the Faith.
The Buddhist daily of Kyoto, "Chugai
Nippo," which had always shown friendli-
ness in publishing articles on the Cause, not
only published an article about Miss Alex-
ander's intended pilgrimage, but the editor
sent through Miss Alexander gifts to Shoghi
Effendi and Mr. Fujita, who is the first one
to meet and greet all Western pilgrims to
Haifa. Other gifts were also sent by Jap-
anese friends of Tokyo, Kyoto and Kobe.
On April 20, Haifa was reached. For
more than thirty-six years Miss Alexander
had waited to make the pilgrimage and the
instructions from Shoghi Effendi regarding
the work in Japan were all-satisfying.
Shoghi Effendi said that we were now begin-
ning to witness the effect of 'Abdu'l-Baha's
Tablets to the blind in Japan. There were
five Tablets addressed to three Japanese blind
young men. He said that he hoped to have
Japanese Baha'i pilgrims from Japan, that
he wanted them to take an active share in
the international affairs in Haifa in the
future when the International House of Jus-
tice would be formed. He said Japan has a
very great future, that the vitality in Japan
would in the future be devoted to the Cause.
A Japanese scroll, "kakimono," depicting
the sun, the national symbol of Japan, rising
over the ocean, which Miss Alexander pre-
sented to Shoghi Effendi, was hung by him
in the hall of Bahji, the Mansion where
Baha'u'llah passed away.
In the summer of 1937, Miss Martha Root
visited Japan. During a stay of three weeks
she was able to meet with the Japanese
Baha'is in Tokyo, Kyoto and Kobe, refresh-
ing them by her spirit of deep love. Besides
meeting with the Baha'is she was interviewed
by newspaper reporters and a number of
articles were published on the Cause. She
also interviewed the well-known Japanese
Christian social worker, Toyohiko Kagawa.
BAHA'I PIONEER IN ALBANIA
The coming of the Faith to the ancient
land of Albania is one of the miracles of this
present Baha'i era.
In the year 1928, Miss Martha L. Root
visited Albania, and in an interview with
King, made presentation of Baha'i literature
on behalf of Shoghi Effendi.
In 1931, the Guardian commissioned Mr.
Refo Chapary, a native Albanian, to estab-
lish the Faith in his country. Mr. Chapary
for some years previously had been engaged
in translating Baha'i texts into Albanian
while residing in New York.
The newspapers, Besa and Ora> presented
extensive reviews, one written by Prof.
Beqir Spahi. This publicity led to the meet-
ing of interested souls, and gatherings for
discussion were held in homes, both Sunni
and Shi'ih Muslims being present. A Mr.
Deralla expressed his acceptance of the Faith,
and Prof. Qamil Bala stated that he had had
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
107
the honor of being 'Abdu'l-Baha's friend in
'Akka, and that in Him he had sought the
goal of divine reality. A learned Sunni,
presented with a copy of the Kitab-i-fqan in
the Iranian language, remarked that while he
admitted its super-human power he under-
stood that it contained many elements of
Bolshevism, a statement which brought the
reply that the book was the Word of God
while social philosophy is a human invention.
Mr. Agop Markarian likewise accepted the
Faith about that time.
In June, 1933, Miss Root again returned
to Albania at the Guardian's request, to dis-
cuss teaching plans with Mr. Chapary. In
addition to the Prime Minister, the Minister
of the Interior and the Minister of Publica-
tions, Miss Root called on leading educators
and merchants of Tirana.
The 30,000 booklets translated and
printed by Mr. Chapary in the United States,
together with the 4,000 copies of "Hidden
Words" in Albanian, were ordered from
America. "BahaVllah and the New Era"
was then translated and printed in Tirana.
Knowledge of the Faith, Mr. Chapary
writes, was promulgated throughout the
city, among Muslims and Christians. Later
in 1933 Dr. Howard and Mrs. Mardiyyih
Nabil Carpenter joined Mr. Chapary. These
Baha'i teachers also made many important
contacts.
The Mufti, director of the Muslim re-
ligious school, sent a member of the faculty
to interview Mr. Chapary. A copy of the
fqan was given him, with the result that the
Mufti soon declared that it was a book writ-
ten more for Christians than for Muslims.
Mr. Chapary was transferred from Tirana
to Valona the coming winter, where he soon
converted a member of the bench. After
five months at Valona, he was transferred to
Gjinokaster, in a distant province. There
the Muslim clergy exhibited more interest,
and discussed the Faith with him. The gov-
ernor of the province secured from Mr.
Chapary copies of all the literature he had,
including books in French. He informed
Mr. Chapary that he accepted Baha'u'llah,
but the Albanians were needy and first of all
required to win their livelihood.
In February, 1938, Mr. Chapary was
transferred to the city of Korce, the most
progressive center in the country. Here he
received letters frorrt two persons of promi-
nence informing him that they accepted the
Faith. Not only has Mr. Chapary made the
Cause known to many people in Korce, but
he also soon brought out the first issue of a
new Baha'i magazine, "The Supreme Pen,"
printed in the Albanian language.
SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY IN TUNIS
The Baha'is of the city of Tunis have
formed a Spiritual Assembly for the first
time, modeled after the local constitution of
the Baha'is of New York, and the Declara-
tion of Trust and By-Laws will be submitted
to the civil authorities as soon as conditions
in the city have been quieted.
Assistance and advice was extended to the
Baha'is of Tunis by the National Spiritual
Assembly of the Baha'is of Egypt, who sent
Dr. M. Saleh, then Chairman of the Spiritual
Assembly of Alexandria, to study Baha'i
administration with the Baha'is of Tunis.
Thus are the spiritual boundaries of the
Faith of Baha'u'llah extended from people
to people, from nation to nation, throughout
the world. In these devoted and cherished
communities where the creative Word sup-
plies a truly superhuman aim and strength,
new candles are lighted by the Divine hand,
to replace those lights of the former civiliza-
tion which one by one are extinguished for-
ever.
108 THE BAHA'I WORLD
GENEVA SCANS THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY
BY HELEN BISHOP
tf 7 declare it's marked out just like a large chess-board!9 Alice said at last. 'There ought
to be some men moving about somewhere — and so there are!9 she added in a tone of
delight, and her heart began to beat quick with excitement as she went on. 'It's a great
huge game of chess that's being played — all over the world — // this is the world at all,
you know. Oh, what fun it is! How I wish I was one of them! I wouldn't mind being
a Pawn, if only I might join — though of course I should like to be a Queen, best' "
— (Through the Looking Glass)
B
AHA'f moves on the Geneva front have
been unspectacular since the Ridvan (April
21st) of 1936. This "marking time" is a
quiet stage after nine years of unstinted ac-
tivity aimed at unqualified acceptance by
"the powers and principalities of the world"
of the divine plan for international govern-
ment. Finally, the Guardian adopted a pol-
icy of "fallowing" — leaving the public field
uncultivated by a general propaganda — un-
til that approaching future when, within
reach of victory, "time" proves to be an-
other spelling for "opportunity." This re-
pose is for the sake of a greater activity to
come. Now "the time is out of joint" in
Geneva: through disobedience to the law of
nations the center of political gravity is
shifted; and our Baha'i knowledge, as in-
deed all knowledge, is of little avail until it
serves in conjunction with the appointed
time.
The International Baha'i Bureau moved
from the office in the Rue General Dufour
into its present quarters, the attractive top
story of a villa, formerly the headquarters
of the Delegation from fran. After the re-
moval of that diplomatic corps to the Swiss
capital at Berne, the Bureau's modest suite
was let by the landlord. This is Number 19
A on Avenue de Champel, where the en-
trance leads through parallel lines of hand-
some trees.
The sale of Baha'i books continues as
before except that, by special arrangement
with the National Spiritual Assembly of
America, the Publishing Committee entrusts
the Bureau with a complete lot of books on
consignment, which doubles the Bureau's
mechanism of service by enabling traveling
teachers and other purchasers to possess their
copies within a few days. In emulation of
new methods in business, an exchange be-
tween the Bureau and the proper Commit-
tees in England and Germany was arranged
— the former transaction was successful, but
the latter has been interrupted by historic
circumstances.
The lending Library is free and open to
the public. Visitors are received by the
resident Baha'i; and hospitality is shown
to all who seek information on the Cause or
association with its friends in Geneva. Cor-
respondence in several languages including
Esperanto widens the orbit of contacts and
provides a regular channel for the flow of
the Teachings. Obviously, such communi-
cation enlivens the interest of the awakened
and binds the purely conscious members of
the Baha'i Community in Europe.
Under the advices of the Guardian, Mrs.
Charles Bishop accepted the invitation of the
National Spiritual Assembly of the British
Isles to give some lectures, and left Geneva
in February of 1936. Later in the year,
November and part of December, both Mr.
and Mrs. Bishop worked in the Bureau, and
then returned to England for renewed teach-
ing activities. Meanwhile, Miss Margaret
Lentz and Mrs. Anna Lynch carried the Bu-
reau's routine of work, as in their preceding
years of devotion. In June of 1937, Miss
Lentz was summoned to America by the ex-
piration of her term abroad as a naturalized
citizen; and, at the end of October, Mrs.
Bishop's return to America terminated her
connection with the Bureau. Since then,
Mrs. Lynch has been acting secretary, and
is now carrying out the Guardian's instruc-
tions for the maintenance of this interna-
tional auxiliary. At this writing, Mrs.
Lynch has the help of her gifted daughter,
Miss Valerie, In parenthesis, thanks are re-
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
109
corded for the kindness of the Swiss gentle-
woman, Mme. Grazier, who volunteered to
keep the Bureau open for its minimum of
hours during the absence of Mrs. Lynch in
August, 1937.
To date (J18 months period) statistics, as
compiled by Mrs. Lynch, show that 466
books (pamphlets not included) have been
placed by the Bureau in libraries and with
students. By request of the New York Pub-
lic Library, a representative choice of
Baha'i literature in foreign languages was
donated; and by courtesy of Shoghi Effendi,
texts in the original Arabic or Iranian were
presented. Forty-two volumes of literature
in various languages were donated to the
Baha'i Study Group Library in Belgrade,
Jugoslavia. Blind readers of Braille, two in
Austria and one in England, have been
taught by the lending Library's edition of
Bahd'rflldh and the New Era.
This apparent generosity on the part of
the Bureau is actually a stewardship inas-
much as our donations are but transmissions
of the gifts we receive from all parts of the
Baha'i world Community. One copy of
each published work in all Oriental and Oc-
cidental languages is acceptable to the Bu-
reau for its International Library; besides,
the additional gifts which are placed when
discrimination finds the recipient.
Within this period under consideration,
we gratefully acknowledge to Shoghi Ef-
fendi a habitual remembrance of the Bureau
as shown by the number of books and book-
lets from his hands. The Publishing Com-
mittee of America has sent its quota full
and overflowing. Three hundred copies of
the new French leaflet were sent by Mme.
Dreyfus-Barney, which, with an ample sup-
ply of the precious translation of The Un-
foldment of World Civilization, The Goal of
a New World Order, and The World Econ-
omy of Bahd'u'lldh increases our indebted-
ness to the friends in Paris. The arrival of
the French translations was timely; and they
were placed with contacts made among
journalists, internationalists, and diplomat-
ists, who could not be so easily reached with
the English texts. The National Spiritual
Assembly of 'Iraq gave a handsomely bound
copy of the Kurdish translation of Babd'u'-
lldh and the New Era (and sent another to
the New York Public Library by our re-
quest) . M. Privat honoured the Bureau with
a copy of his book La Sagesse de I* Or lent,
which has a chapter on Baha'i reprinted in
this volume by his consent. Mrs. Samuel
Rodman of Batavia, New York, made a
Braille transcript of the Hidden Words and
Prayers for an Englishman; while Mr. Vuk
Echtner made a Braille transcript of some
Verses of Baha'u'llah to the benefit of our
slender lending Library in Esperanto. Also,
Miss Zamenhof made a contribution thereto.
Mr. E. T. Hall sent copies of his poem "The
Poet." A staunch Albanian Baha'i, Mr.
Refo Chapari, presented the Bureau with six
volumes and fifteen pamphlets in his native
tongue. Recipients have been found for
some other contributions, more particularly
the fifteen copies in Swedish of Bahd'u'lldh
and the New Era, sent by Mrs. Rudd-Palm-
gren; the twenty-five copies of the Nor-
wegian translation sent by Miss Johanna
Schubarth; and the twenty-five copies of
the Spanish from Miss Holsapple at her post
in Bahia, Brazil. If other donations have
not been listed, we beg of their donors an
acceptance of the appreciation intended for
all — not less because it fails a precise record.
In January of 1937, by request of Mme.
Kamensky, President of the International
Theosophical Society, Geneva, a Precis on
the Baha'i Faith was written and presented
to her — another index of the consideration
which this friendly movement has shown to
Baha'i Principles and teachers throughout
the world. Also by request, Professor
Probst-Biraben of Cannes, France, Oriental-
ist and writer for several journals on sociol-
ogy and culture, received Baha'i literature to
include in his survey given at the congress
"de 1' Academic Mediterraneenne" held at
Monaco from July 24, 1937. Professor Ernst
Jaekh, Director of the New Commonwealth
Society, and other members of that Institute
for research into the problems of interna-
tional justice and security from the political
aspect, accepted copies of The Unfoldment
of World Civilization. Other noteworthy
contacts are remembered under one hearty
appreciation of the friends to the Faith in
Europe.
Recognition is given to the traveler who
included Geneva in his itinerary during this
110
THE BAHA'f WORLD
period. 'Abdu'l-Baha's daughter, Ruha
Khanum, Mirza Jalal, the Master's son-in-
law, came with their son, Dr. Munib Shahid.
The occasional visits of Mirza Ezzatollah
Zabih kept the Bureau in touch with the
group he helped to found in Lyons while he
worked there as consultant on Persian silks
and designs in the textile industry. The late
Mme. Borel, who held these meetings in her
home, also came. Their collaborator, Miss
Lidja Zamenhof, visited two days in August,
1936, to the delight of the friends as well as
of the Esperantists invited to meet her at
the Bureau. The charming Misses Kunz of
Urbana, Illinois, came for two months that
summer. Mme. Vautier, our faithful ally
in Zurich, paid a visit and brought news of
the wee circle reading the Teachings there.
In the autumn Miss Jack spent weeks of
earned rest making copy of study materials
for the flock in Sofia. At the end of Feb-
ruary, 1937, the visit of Mrs. Schopflocher
gave zest towards action. In May, 1937,
Frau Marie Ott of Wurttemberg brought
news of the friends in Germany; and in late
summer, Miss Ethel Dawe came as an emis-
sary from the friends in Australia.
As the totalitarian states in Europe do
not allow the circulation of spiritual con-
cepts towards World Commonwealth, Baha'i
activity is wanting in many countries —
thereby the scope of this article is enor-
mously reduced. It is an inalienable principle
of Baha'i Faith to have no part in anarch-
ism; therefore, Baha'is obey the civil regula-
tions of any government under which they
reside.
In Spain, during April and May of 1936,
or just before war made traveling scarcely
feasible, Mrs. India Haggerty and Miss Daisy
Marshall found unlimited opportunities to
share the Teachings — fervor has it that all
whom one meets are possible recipients of the
Faith.
In France, the Cause has made strides dur-
ing this period, as definitely shown by the
proper report prepared by the Spiritual As-
sembly of Paris for this volume. Nor will
the growth of the Cause in England be
traced herein, for the chronicle of events
recorded by the National Spiritual Assembly
is accumulative evidence of a higher integra-
tion attained.
The National Spiritual Assembly of Ger-
many and Austria was dissolved by order of
the government on June 9, 1937; and all
Baha'i activities were proscribed. From that
time nothing has been done in affairs, but
prior to that date, these significant events
suggest the mode of life in community: the
revision of the first translation of Babd'n'lldb
and the New Era for a second, annotated
edition, besides the preparation of several
other volumes. The National Convention
was held in Stuttgart during the Ridvan,
1936; and later in the season, the northern
centers held their conference on teaching.
That summer the School in Esslingen reached
its apogee — as English, American, Scandina-
vian, and Persian visitors attested in a flood
of letters that spread the contagion of long-
ing towards the first. Baha'i Summer School
in Europe.
After that episode, Mrs. Maxwell visited
in the southern and northern centers, giving,
as always, an inimitable recital of the days
in 1898, when she accompanied the first
party which went out to seek the Master in
imprisonment. Previously, in fact, until de-
parture with her mother from Berlin on
December 25th for Haifa, Miss Mary Max-
well (now Ruhiyyih Khanum) made brave
tour of all the centers, giving her prepared
lecture in German on the Administrative
Order of Baha'i Faith. Her memory will
ever be thus associated — and with that of
her cousin Jeanne Bolles — with the revival
of the Youth Groups in Esslingen and Ham-
burg, and with the formation of the study
group in Munich in collaboration with Mrs.
Bolles and Miss Matthiesen.
Another of the travelers in Germany after
that School session was Mme. Barry Orlova,
who visited all the centers and won their
hearts by her dramatic appeal. She has the
gift of penetrating the German psyche — as
was confessed with joy by folk who found
themselves thus understood. In Berlin, Mme.
Orlova discovered a scientist, whom she had
first met in Russia: this is Mr. Paul PerofT,
whose contribution towards the Baha'i
World Order lies in writings wherein the
basis for the reconciliation of science and
religion is demonstrated as higher mathe-
matics. In December of 1936 came further
opportunity for Mme. Orlova's work in Ber-
CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES
111
lin, including an appearance before the All
People's Association in collaboration with
Mrs. Schopflocher.
The Feast of BahaVllah was observed in
Stuttgart on November 12, 1936, as cus-
tomary, a solemn and impressive celebration
with appropriate music, poems composed
for that day of praise, and readings from the
Revelation of God in this Day.
At the Ridvan in 1937, the Annual Con-
vention met in Heidelberg. A special fea-
ture lay in the reports of Dr. Grossmann,
his wife and sister, concerning their pil-
grimage to Haifa. Mr. Mark Tobey, mem-
ber of the National Spiritual Assembly,
came from England, warmly welcomed by
the friends. In May, Miss Agnes Alexander
visited Stuttgart and other centers for a few
days. She had made the pilgrimage to Haifa
from her teaching base in Japan; but
her journey through Europe was not de-
layed because she had pledged to arrive
for the season of two summer schools in
America, and beyond that, Honolulu is her
destination.
The Baha'i Community in Vienna was
favored by visitors throughout this period.
A summer traveler was Mrs. Langdon-Davies
from Dartington Hall's group in England.
A new Baha'i came from Munich at Christ-
mas, and, somewhat later, a new Baha'i came
from Budapest. Miss Matthiesen taught in
Innsbruck and Gmunden and paid visits to
Vienna: on one occasion she addressed a
large gathering of women. Several lectures
were given by Mrs. Schopflocher to the
Baha'i s and their friends, and two were de-
livered at a club (in March of 1937). Mrs.
Gregory met with the friends as she traveled
towards Stockholm. The talks with Mrs.
Bolles and Miss Jeanne were deeply appre-
ciated by the friends. Addresses were also
given before the Baha'i Community by a
sympathizer of the Cause, a professor of
philosophy at the University; and by the
President of the Austrian Peace Society
founded by the Baroness Suttner. In the
summer of 1936, after an interview with a
Baha'i, a journalist prepared a long article
entitled "Viennese spread Persian Religion,"
which appeared in the Wiener Journal, a
much read paper. About that time, Miss
Zamenhof arranged the section for Baha'i at
the Esperanto Congress and gave an excellent
lecture.
From July to November of 1936, no pub-
lic meetings were held by order of the
government, although the Nineteen Day
Feast was permitted to the Baha'is with the
presence of an official observer. Again at
Christmas time, the ban was declared for
some weeks. On July 1, 1937, another de-
cree forbidding general meetings was issued
by the government — no further details are
available at this writing.
A glimpse into the culture of our
Viennese friends is disclosed by the questions
which occupy the researches of at least two
of their more brilliant members. One is a
scientist, who has come up through atheism
into the challenge of modern science and is
now writing a book on its reconciliation with
religion; the other has been led to the Cause
by the writings of Dr. Auguste Forel, and is
now trying to resolve the proposition: is it
untenable to admit God as the principle of
causality and yet to affirm the freedom of
the human will? If so, is not religious truth
a question of esthetic judgment (i.e., intui-
tion, Revelation, Manifestation are a problem
of awareness rather than of pure knowl-
edge) ?
In Budapest, the fascinating city that fills
in the gap between the West and the Near
East, there has been a renascence. In 1911,
'Abdu'1-Baha was invited by a coterie of
savants to present the Faith there. Besides
the invitation extended by the Turanian So-
ciety, of which Professor Vambery was a
member, the Theosophical Society arranged
a gathering for Him. His portrait was
painted by an artist; and other events bear
witness to the life which He stirred in Buda-
pest. The interest waned for want of a
moving spirit to live amidst and steadfastly
encourage others until the unity of an As-
sembly triumphs.
After a teaching tour which has for mile-
stone a formidable list of the capitals of
Europe, Mrs. Bolles and Miss Jeanne Bolles
made Budapest their base. They rallied the
interested and discovered new seekers until
a study group was formed composed of the
newly-declared and the not-yet-declared
Baha'is. Miss Renie Selbermann, who first
heard the Teachings in London, is now active
112
THE BAHA'f WORLD
as secretary. A singer, Mme. Josey Micahels,
thrilled the London friends during a visit in
October of 1937 by her expectations for the
advancement of the Cause in her country.
Another visitor, Mme. Stark, gave an account
of the Master's stay in Budapest, and was
grateful to the American teachers who had
revived the love of these Principles in her
native land. The Hidden Words is now be-
ing translated into Hungarian; and there is
every sign of this being a live-wire group.
In Sofia, Bulgaria, Miss Marion Jack's con-
secrated endeavor has given direction to-
wards the formation of the first Spiritual
Assembly in the Balkans. And now this
unit is reaching out to other cities in Bul-
garia. Besides the regular meetings, these
friends have received the inspiration of
traveling teachers. More frequently, Miss
Jack translates the Baha'i writings into
French, which is then translated into Bul-
garian and presented to the members of the
Community and their friends. German is
also used as a medium by the group; never-
theless, the language problem has been suffi-
ciently great to prove that Baha'is in Sofia
are animated by the spirit which overcomes.
In Belgrade a group was formed through
the activity of Mrs. Louise Gregory, and is
now directed by Mme. Draga Ilic, an invalid
lady, who knows how to carry on through
the power of the Spirit. Some Russian stu-
dents were investigating the Teachings in
this group.
In Praha, Mr. Vuk Echtner's exemplary
activities both direct and by correspondence,
Baha'i and Esperantist, have discovered rich
possibilities for the acceptance of the Cause
in Czechoslovakia. Mme. Pa via Moudra, a
veteran peace worker, has translated the
fqdn into Czech and made numerous open-
ings for the Cause. Much is expected of a
new Baha'i, Mme. Benesova of Castelovice.
From several points of view, it would
seem that Scandinavia is an immediate pos-
sibility for the establishment of the Cause in
Europe. All of the teachers who have done
pioneer work in those parts are highly en-
couraged by the response. In Copenhagen,
Miss Sorenson has arranged the publication
of a number of books into Danish. Mme.
Orlova came to her aid with the teaching
work during September and October of 1936.
Through Mme. Orlova's contacts in the
theatre, new personalities became sympathiz-
ers of the Baha'i Principles; and it is hoped
that time will prove the depth of their
admiration.
In Stockholm, Mme. Orlova did notable
work with Mrs. Schopflocher, who had made
a pioneer's way from London, across con-
tinent into the Balkans and then the north-
ern countries. She also visited Helsingfors.
This team put forth splendid efforts and were
assisted by friends in the press, by an opera
singer whom Mme. Orlova had known in
Russia and who offered her home for several
meetings in Stockholm, and by Countess
Marie Levenhaubt and Count Claes-Eric,
from whom Mrs. Schopflocher obtained trib-
utes written for The Bahd'i World. The
generous publicity totals thirteen articles
published in Norway, eleven in Sweden, and
one in Denmark. Mrs. Schopflocher visited
the old University at Upsala and talked with
some of its faculty. She pressed on until
she had covered sixteen towns in Sweden
and Norway.
In Oslo, Miss Johanna ^Schubarth and Mr.
Ludwig Anjer are striving to win the inter-
est of their compatriots. At present, Miss
Schubarth holds a little meeting for reading
the Teachings; while Mr. Anjer makes favor-
able contacts, more particularly, through the
channel of correspondence with Esperantists.
Miss Schubarth arranged for friends to meet
Mrs. Louise Gregory during her fortnight in
Oslo in May, 1936; and Miss Root during
her three days visit in July; then Mrs. Bolles,
who spent three days of August there. In
July, the newspaper interview given by Mr.
and Mrs. French stimulated interest; and the
same paper used an interview with Mr. and
Mrs. Charles Bishop, who remained for five
weeks in the autumn of that year. The first
public lectures on Baha'i were given: one
arranged by the American Women's Club at
their clubrooms after luncheon; one before
the Theosophical Society, and another Baha'i
lecture on "Religion and Peace" presented
under the auspices of the Theosophical So-
ciety at Nobel Institute Hall; and one ar-
ranged by Mr. Anjer at a hall for students of
the University. Books were placed in Li-
braries, including that of the Nansen Foun-
dation and the Nobel Peace Foundation.
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
113
Finland was visited by Miss Martha Root,
the archetype of traveling teachers. Her
exploits around the world are narrated first
hand and published in this volume.
This view of "men moving about some-
where" is not the sole index of Baha'i ac-
tivity in Europe; nor is "running to and fro"
the sole activity. From our point of view,
the activating principle lies in the rays of
the Sun of Truth, and is the germ of a new
life stirring in the soul. Geography presents
no barriers to this. When this activat-
ing principle finds instruments it can use,
then teaching the Faith is not so much a
system of instruction as it is a propaga-
tion— the bringing forth of a spiritual
generation.
Thus, to teach is not to spill over with
words and pamphlets, unheeding of the lis-
tener, without mutual recognition on the
spiritual plane. To teach, or so we are per-
suaded, is to move from the humblest estate
up into the presence of the great ones of earth
— and back again — bearing the Touchstone
which discovers the souls who are making up
the Unity created by the Ancient of Days;
to teach is to speak the Great and Holy Name
which commands the Resurrection of the
living dead ("if the Name be correctly pro-
nounced"— that is, in Truth and righteous-
ness) ; and to teach is to be "the pure leaven
that leaveneth the world of being, and fur-
nisheth the power through which the arts
and wonders of the world are made mani-
fest." * There is room in creation for emer-
alds and orchids and peacocks, but the people
of Faith are as leaven. Meal does not rise if
silver and gems be substituted for the homely
leaven; neither will society reach its prom-
ised maturity without the activity of the
dependent upon God. And what if the true
Baha'i activity be Baha'i consciousness it-
self? In this sense, let it be understood what
Baha'i activity means to Europe. God alone
is the Arbiter of its ultimate destinies. Of
His divine strategy it has been said, "There
are many schemers, but God is the best of
the schemers." 2
ANNUAL REPORT — NATIONAL SPIRITUAL
ASSEMBLY OF THE BAHA'IS OF THE
UNITED STATES AND CANADA
1936-1937
D,
'EAR Baha'i friends:
Like the clear ringing of a bell, Shoghi
Effendi's cablegram addressed to the last
Convention, a call to the deepest spirit of
faith, summoned the American Baha'i com-
munity to fulfill that noble mission estab-
lished for us by the Master in the darkest
days of the European War in Tablets which
were charged with His vitalizing purpose,
the unification of the world of man.
"Convey (to) American believers abiding
gratitude efforts unitedly exerted (in) teach-
ing field. Inaugurated campaign should be
vigorously pursued, systematically extended.
Appeal (to) assembled delegates ponder his-
toric appeal voiced by 'Abdu'1-Baha (in)
Tablets (of the) Divine Plan. Urge earnest
deliberation with incoming National As-
sembly (to) insure its completest fulfill-
ment. First century (of) Baha'i era draw-
ing to a close. Humanity entering outer
fringes most perilous stage its existence. Op-
portunities (of) present hour unimaginably
precious. Would to God every State within
American Republic and every Republic in
American continent might ere termination
(of) this glorious century embrace (the)
light (of the) Faith of Baha'u'llah and es-
tablish structural basis of His World Order."
Accompanying this message, both in time
and in intention, came the text of the Guard-
ian's general letter dated March 11, 1936,
printed shortly after the Convention as the
booklet entitled "The Unfoldment of World
Civilization." Reverently and gratefully
can we draw nearer the universal vision of
human destiny as that vision today expresses
itself through the Guardianship, realizing
more fully how the summons to the believers
is an essential aspect of the current world
movement, and the current world move-
1 Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'lldh,
p. 161.
2 The Qur'in.
114
THE BAHA'f WORLD
ment itself reflects, in all its phases and de-
grees, the Will manifested through Baha'u-
'llah. With the mighty task, therefore, are
given us the tools of understanding and the
irresistible force of faith by which alone the
task can be performed.
Where else, in this day of bewilderment,
can the people find such a vivid and com-
pelling picture of true civilization as that
passage on pages 43 and 44 of "The Unfold-
ment," which begins: "The unity of the
human race, as envisaged by Baha'u'llah, im-
plies the establishment of a world common-
wealth in which all nations, races, creeds and
classes are closely and permanently united
. . ."? Where else is the statesman to turn
for policy, the religionist for light to reveal
the victory of religion amid the collapse of
human creed? Here, as in all the Guardian's
letters since the one entitled "The World
Order of Baha'u'llah," we have given us the
larger implications of membership in the
Baha'i Faith, those implications which con-
stitute a teaching that applies to the great-
est ones of earth as to the most humble and
lowly. Before we can be teachers qualified
to assist in establishing the "structural basis"
of Baha'u'llah's World Order in all the
American Republics, we must be devoted
students, ever in immediate and intimate
touch with Shoghi EfTendi's evolving mind
and aim.
At a time like this, when the American
Baha'i community gathers together through
its representatives for consultation on the
most important matters of the Cause, it is
good for us to compare not only how far we
all as individuals fall short of our God-given
possibilities, but also to what degree our
local Baha'i community reflects the spirit of
the new World Commonwealth and conveys
that spirit to the general public in our city.
Do those who learn about the Cause from us
become conscious that the Baha'is, even
though perhaps few in number and weak in
resources, stand wholly apart from the forces
of disintegration that confuse and confound
Empires, creeds and social systems? Have
we become evidences that the "nucleus and
pattern" of a new cycle has been created in
the hearts and minds of Baha'is? Humble
consideration of such crucial questions may
well lie at the heart of our consultation
during these days of the annual meeting, not
to produce vain regret or personal discontent,
but to clear the path for greater courage,
more magnanimity and a purer faith.
The world power and spiritual authority
of the Cause cannot be publicly demon-
strated until we ourselves have attained the
right inner attitudes corresponding to the
real nature and purpose of the Revelation,
Let us attain the full conviction that we are
citizens of the only world commonwealth
in existence, even though in the world of
material affairs our affairs seem weak, our
activities relatively insignificant, our aims
impossible of realization. It is that right
inner attitude, humble as to self but chal-
lenging as to truth, in which the creative
and upbuilding process described by the
Guardian as the antithesis to the forces of
disintegration can move steadily forward to
its eventual triumph.
This past year has for the first time ex-
tended directly the collective responsibility
of the American Baha'is into regions out-
side the United States and Canada. Mexico,
Central America, the Caribbean area and
South America have become provinces to
incorporate as soon as possible into the inter-
national Baha'i community — a teaching field
to be developed with all available energy.
The detailed review of the remarkable work
undertaken in that tremendous new territory
pertains to the function of the Inter-
America Committee. These activities are
emphasized here because they mark a begin-
ning of our response to the whole mission
laid upon America in the Divine Plan.
Surely, the hour for a deeper and riper ma-
turity on the part of American believers
has come!
Important Events
The first action of the National Spiritual
Assembly elected last year was to hold con-
sultation with those members of the Na-
tional and Regional Teaching Committees
present at the Convention, and some experi-
enced teachers. That consultation was most
helpful in crystallizing the thoughts and
views and achieving a comprehensive Teach-
ing Plan. As reported later, the Plan in-
cluded: the publication of the Tablets of the
Divine Plan in booklet form under the title
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
115
of "America's Spiritual Mission*'; the ap-
pointment of a larger number of Regional
Teaching Committees, with added power and
responsibility for action; the addition of a
special Teaching Fund in the amount of
$30,000 to the annual Budget; the appoint-
ment of a new Inter-America Teaching
Committee; the adoption of a schedule of
meetings of the National Spiritual Assembly
which provided for more regional consul-
tation and also for public meetings; and
the preparation of a Baha'i map of North
America.
Four new Spiritual Assemblies were estab-
lished on April 21, 1936: Rockford, Illinois;
Springfield, Massachusetts; Dayton, Ohio,
and Glendale, California, bringing the num-
ber of organized communities to seventy-
two. During the year, the Assembly of
Topeka, Kansas, found it advisable to dis-
solve in order to give the declared believers
opportunity for more thorough study and
preparation.
A file of 529 Tablets of 'Abdu'1-Baha,
alphabetically arranged and ready for pub-
lication, has been turned over by the Com-
mittee on Editing Tablets after several years
of arduous and devoted labor. The profound
hope is expressed that these Tablets may soon
be made available as Volume Four of Tablets
revealed by cAbdu'l-Baha.
As has been reported through BAHA'I
NEWS, a beautifully engrossed copy of
Baha'u'llah's Tablet to the American Repub-
lics, and of two Prayers revealed by 'Abdu'l-
Baha, were conveyed to President Roosevelt
under most unusual circumstances.
Miss Martha L. Root's visit to America
was announced by a cablegram received from
Shoghi Effendi on July 27. Although Miss
Root has been physically unable to carry out
the extensive plans by which many com-
munities would have received her during her
journey across the country, nevertheless this
very lamentable physical disability has
touched the hearts more deeply with realiza-
tion of those heroic qualities by which she
was enabled to traverse the continents and
meet and confirm so many influential leaders
for many years. At present Miss Root in-
tends to depart for China and Japan in a
few weeks. She will go with the loving
prayers and grateful admiration of all her
co-workers in this country. In her career
we may witness one believer's whole-souled
response to the Master's Divine Plan, a pio-
neer in whose footsteps the collective com-
munity must now endeavor to follow.
This Baha'i year has been blessed with a
number of most substantial gifts to the
Cause: the Baha'i Hall at Geyserville, com-
pleted before the opening of the 1936 Sum-
mer School, now being followed by the con-
struction of a beautiful dormitory; the
Baha'i Hall now under construction at
Green Acre; the entire cost of publishing
'The Baha'i World," Volume VI; and most
helpful special cash donations to the Na-
tional Fund. The gift of a large house and
considerable land to Green Acre, property
adjoining Green Acre, was made during the
present year, although the legal transfer will
be effected after this Convention.
A matter of distinct interest was the de-
rogatory reference made to the Cause in the
Atlantic Monthly last summer, in an article
written by the editor of that magazine which
has for several generations been regarded
highly as an instrument of American cul-
ture. Correspondence was immediately un-
dertaken by a representative of the National
Spiritual Assembly, and literature was made
available in order to remove this unfortunate
ignorance on the part of so responsible a man.
While there has been no public retraction, we
may feel assured that the episode is not likely
to be repeated. We believers, of course, long
for that day when, as 'Abdu'1-Bahd declared
in 1912, the Cause of Baha'u'llah will be
violently assaulted by numerous enemies, for,
as the Master added, all such attacks re-
dound to the advantage of the Faith.
"Baha'u'llah and the New Era," by the
late John E. Esslemont, has long served as
the most useful introductory work to place
in the hands of interested inquirers. A
number of corrections were brought to
Shoghi Effendi's attention this year, and the
Guardian advised that the book be revised
before republication, and an Index prepared.
The new edition incorporates the point of
view explained to us by the Guardian's
"World Order" letters, substitutes new
translations for the author's excerpts from
Bah£'i Sacred Writings whenever possible,
and provides a few corrections of fact. This
116
THE BAHA'f WORLD
important work is now more useful than
ever as a summary of Baha'i history and
teachings for the public and the Baha'i stu-
dent himself.
A number of local Assemblies have either
completed their legal incorporation or have
sent the necessary documents to the National
Spiritual Assembly for approval, These As-
semblies are: San Francisco, Milwaukee, De-
troit, Cleveland, Kenosha and Los Angeles.
This is an important action, and a necessary
one for each Baha'i community after attain-
ing a certain growth and stability.
The Guardian has approved the publica-
tion of his successive "World Order" letters
in book form, under the title of "The World
Order of BahaVllah." The manuscript has
been turned over to the Publishing Com-
mittee, and the volume will be available in
a few months. The general communications
received from Shoghi Effendi are, therefore,
to be available hereafter in two forms: the
book "Baha'i Administration," containing
the letters establishing the local and National
Assemblies and the Convention, and dealing
with the internal relationships of the Baha'i
community; and "The World Order of
Baha'u'llah," presenting the international in-
stitutions and explaining the relations of the
Faith to the non-Baha'i world.
Public meetings have been held by the Na-
tional Spiritual Assembly this year in Temple
Foundation Hail, San Francisco, Nashville
and New York. The accompanying consul-
tation and contact with believers in vari-
ous sections of the country has been an in-
valuable experience, and the effort to
assist in teaching has symbolized the vital
importance of teaching more vigorously at
this time.
The use of radio in teaching has greatly
increased. It is surely impressive to note
that the Spiritual Assembly of Lima was re-
cently requested to carry out a five-day pro-
gram of devotional character for the in-
auguration of a new station in that city.
The result of the six daily talks arranged by
the five Assemblies of the New York metro-
politan district, as a preparation for the pub-
lic meeting of the National Assembly, was
very encouraging. Latent spiritual capacity
not accessible through meetings for printed
literature was aroused by this larger public
medium, an indication of the greater things
that will be accomplished in future years.
Indeed, as we realize that Baha'i teaching
is a universal function, not limited to a pro-
fessional clergy or to church services — that
Baha'i teaching includes all the functions of
education as well as of religion in the former
meaning of that word — it is impossible for
us to overestimate the potential resources
that will be employed as the American Baha'i
community consolidates its powers and gath-
ers new strength and capacity. All the arts,
all the sciences, all the institutions of human
association are alike doors of opportunity and
mediums of expression for the spirit of
Baha'u'llah. The Cause in America has al-
ready laid so firm a foundation that the con-
firmation of only a relatively few persons
of outstanding capacity can double and re-
double our existing public influence. A
newspaper editor or two, a scientist, a
dramatist, a novelist, some great executives,
some souls with humanitarian vision, a few
persons with financial resources — such a
group, not large in number but varied in
talent and influence, could rapidly infuse our
teaching with tremendous power; for the
sacrifice and devotion of the believers for
two generations have created the instruments
which such souls could galvanize with new
life. No doubt, that blessing will come to
us when we have done our full part in service
to the Faith.
Meanwhile, the mysterious moving of the
spirit is exemplified in such significant
achievements outside the community as the
use of the House of Worship as front-cover
illustration by the Bell Telephone Company
of Illinois and the United States Steel Cor-
poration.
Over a long period of years, the question
of a book of Baha'i Prayers has received care-
ful attention. Committees and individual
believers have contributed devotedly to the
task, but short of a collection of prayers
selected and translated by the Guardian him-
self, no compilation could satisfy the need.
Despite the many other duties and obliga-
tions discharged by Shoghi Effendi, he has
this year signified that he has made transla-
tions of prayers, and part of the manuscript
has already been received. The title is to be
"Prayers and Meditations by Baha'u'llah,"
CURRENT BAHA'i ACTIVITIES
117
as we were informed in a letter dated March
2, 1937. The part already received consists
of 182 typewritten pages; the complete vol-
ume will therefore represent a considerable
body of text. Indeed, the work may parallel
the "Gleanings From the Writings of
Baha'u'llah" with which we were so blessed
in 1935.
The Guardian has likewise sent his own
translation of the three obligatory daily
prayers, and these are now being printed in
a booklet of convenient size. Shoghi
Effendi's explanation concerning the daily
prayers will appear in the next issue of
BAHA'I NEWS.
These translations carry us into the heart
of the Baha'i life, offering us individually
the supreme privilege of drinking from the
well-spring of all healing, all purity and all
energy of inner renewal. The full rhythm
of Baha'i life is becoming manifest, in the
Nineteen Day Feasts, the Anniversaries, the
month of Fasting, and the daily prayers. It
is a rhythm not supported by our social en-
vironment but in conflict with it, revealing
a harmony of mind, soul and spirit, and a
new type of community relationship, which
requires the constant effort of faith and zeal
to be maintained. The effort is the source
of power and blessing in the Cause.
For some years, local Assemblies have ar-
ranged public displays of a Temple model,
sometimes with a collection of Baha'i books
and pictures. Recently the National As-
sembly has taken steps to provide nine Tem-
ple models, to be made from a carefully
scaled and hand-carved original, and after
sending one of these models to Haifa, and
retaining one or two more for special dis-
play in national teaching activities, the re-
mainder can be purchased or rented by local
Assemblies for their own use. The Temple
Trustees will approve any other model which
seems accurate and acceptable, and thus it
should soon be possible to obtain the use of
models in different size and of varying cost.
Two of the American believers have made
arrangements for the publication of books
through non-Baha'i firms which have dis-
tinct interest and importance for the Cause.
"Portals of Freedom," by Howard Colby Ives
has already been issued, and "The Gospel of
Mary Magdalene," a novel by Juliet Thomp-
son, will appear in a few months. Mr. Ives
has drawn vivid pictures of 'Abdu'1-Baha in
His association with the author and others
during 1912, while Miss Thompson has in-
fused the dramatic movement of the early
days of Christianity with the spirit of the
Master's references to those days.
If we would follow the important episodes
of this year in adequate detail, we must turn
to the reports successively published in
BAHA'I NEWS from the Teaching, Publicity
and other Committees, and to the annual
Committee reports issued in April, with
others ready for similar publication after
the Convention. In all the seventy-one
Baha'i communities, in the smaller groups,
and in the valiant work of traveling teachers
and pioneer souls, the work of the Faith is
being performed with a new measure of in-
tensity, power and effectiveness. With in-
credible swiftness we are all being drawn into
contact with the fundamental problems of
a disordered world. Here the Baha'i s are
upholding the light of inter-racial amity,
there they withstand attack from religionists
who still think that the liberal attitude is
merely a kind of permission for spiritual
separateness to continue, without guidance,
without control by the Father of all man-
kind. As we encounter any universal issue,
even if in the form of what might appear
to be a trivial local or personal matter, let
us not disregard the fact that these small
matters come to prepare us to deal correctly
with the same issue on the largest possible
scale later on. Indeed, the personal contacts
of believers in any local community actually
involve most of the fundamental problems
of the Cause in its relation to the world.
Until these contacts are truly universal, we
are not prepared to carry out the real mis-
sion of the Faith.
The activities of Baha'i youth have con-
tinued their rapid development. The or-
ganization of a public Symposium held in
such a large number of cities both here and
abroad, and the publication of the youth
quarterly, are notable achievements. They
moreover provide instruments for attracting
and confirming non-Baha'i youth, and thus
constitute a unique aspect of our teaching
work.
It was, in fact, from an officer of the Na-
118
THE BAHA'f WORLD
tional Youth Committee that the National
Assembly received the suggestion concern-
ing the observance of the Twenty-Fifth An-
niversary of 'Abdu'l-Baha's American visit,
a suggestion which, as reported to local As-
semblies in the form of definite plans in-
volving public meetings and special pub-
licity, has aroused a most beautiful enthusi-
asm in all parts of America.
Communications from the Guardian
Since the cablegram sent by the Guardian
to the last Convention, already mentioned,
the following communications have been
received during the current Baha'i year.
On April 10, 1936, the Guardian wrote
that he was sending a silk cloth embroidered
with the Greatest Name, executed by Baha'i
Zoroastrian ladies of Bombay. It is to be
shown to the friends at this Convention.
On May 7, this cablegram was received:
"Deeply appreciate Assembly's determina-
tion. High responsibility rests upon its
members. Tremendous effort required.
Praying unprecedented success."
On April 19, the Guardian conveyed the
request of the National Spiritual Assembly
of the Baha'is of Australia and New Zealand
that American believers contribute articles to
The Herald of the South.
Replying to a cablegram asking for advice
on whether the reprint of the Tablets of the
Divine Plan should contain any supplemen-
tary material, such as oral statements which
were published in the original edition, the
Guardian on May 19 cabled: "Heartily ap-
prove publication pamphlet. Advise publish
as preamble appropriate passages from
Gleanings and 'Abdu'l-Baha's Will regarding
importance teaching. Pamphlet's title left
(to) Assembly's discretion. Convention
plea addressed to American believers cannot
achieve its purpose unless dauntless pioneers
arise and, forsaking homeland, permanently
reside (in) countries where light of Faith
(has) not yet penetrated. Cabling three
hundred pounds as nucleus (of) special fund
to be established (for) furtherance (of) this
exalted, highly meritorious purpose."
From a letter dated May 30, 1936, the
following passages are quoted: "The Guard-
ian hopes that as new centers are established
in Central and South America, the Message
of Baha'u'llah to the Presidents of the
American Republics may be transmitted to
them directly by believers already residing in
their respective countries." "The Guardian
does not advise your Assembly to sell the
Maiden property, as the Master has definitely
stated in the Tablet which you have quoted,
to 'take care of that house, because the light
of the love of God was lighted in it.' By
renting the house, the N. S. A. can for the
present avoid the expenses entailed by its
repairs and upkeep." "The set of adminis-
trative principles Baha'i communities already
possess, together with the text of By-Laws,
are sufficiently elaborate, at the present stage
of the evolution of the Cause, and should
not be over-developed by a mass of specific
statements related to secondary and excep-
tional cases." "Regarding persons whose con-
dition (i.e., mental condition) has not been
defined by the civil authorities after medical
diagnosis, the Assembly on the spot must
investigate every case that arises and, after
consultation with experts, deliver its verdict.
Such a verdict, however, should, in impor-
tant cases, be preceded by consultation with
the N. S. A. No doubt, the power of prayer
is very great, yet consultation with experts is
enjoined by BahdVllah. Should these ex-
perts believe that an abnormal case exists, the
withholding of voting rights is justified."
And this postscript, in the Guardian's
hand: —
"I fervently hope and pray that the year
into which we have just entered may be
signalized by fresh conquests and unpre-
cedented triumphs in the teaching field
within the United States and beyond its
confines. A systematic, carefully conceived,
and well-established plan should be devised,
vigorously pursued and continuously ex-
tended. Initiated by the national represen-
tatives of the American believers, the van-
guard and standard-bearers of the valiant
army of BahaVllah, this plan should receive
the whole-hearted, the sustained and ever-
increasing support, both moral and financial,
of the entire body of His followers in that
continent. Its supreme immediate objective
should be the permanent establishment of at
least one center in every State of the Ameri-
can Republic and in every Republic of the
American continent not yet enlisted under
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
119
the banner of His Faith. Its ramifications
should gradually be extended to the European
continent, and its scope should be made to
include those countries, such as the Baltic
States, Poland, Greece, Spain and Portugal,
where no avowed believer has established
definite residence. The field is immense, the
task gigantic, the privilege immeasurably
precious. Time is short, and the obligation
sacred, paramount and urgent. The Ameri-
can community must muster all its force,
concentrate its resources, summon to its aid
all the faith, the determination and energies
of which it is capable, and set out, single-
minded and undaunted, to attain still greater
heights in its mighty exertions for the
Cause of Baha'u'llah."
Here, in these words, lie the essence of all
plans and policies for the American believers
for years to come! Secondary matters must
surely be considered only in the light of
their contribution to the supreme goal, and
not permitted to supersede the primary mo-
tive and the primary task.
In a letter dated July 5, Shoghi Effendi
gave approval to a recommendation received
from a local Assembly and reported to the
Guardian by the National Assembly con-
cerning the preparation of an exhibit of
Baha'i books, pictures and other material
which, once assembled, can be traveled from
city to city and used by the various local
Assemblies.
On July 27, this cablegram announced the
coming of Miss Root: "Beloved, indefatig-
able Martha sailing New York (on board
the) Ber gens fiord. Feel certain (the) be-
lievers will accord befitting welcome (to
this) well beloved star servant of Baha'u-
'llah."
Three days later the following cablegram
gave additional emphasis to the teaching
work: —
"Entreat American believers ponder afresh
urgency rededicate themselves task complete
fulfillment Divine Plan. National Assem-
bly's energetic leadership, careful planning
ineffectual unless supplemented by vigorous
action by every believer, however humble,
however inexperienced. Time is short. Sands
(of) chaotic, despairing civilization steadily
running out. Founded on unity, under-
standing so splendidly achieved, functioning
within framework (of) administrative
Order (so) laboriously erected, inspired (by
the) vision (of the) Temple edifice (so)
nobly reared, galvanized into action (by the)
realization (of the) rapidly-deteriorating
world situation, (the) American Baha'i com-
munity should rise as never before (to the)
height (of the) opportunity now confront-
ing it. Audacity, resolution (and) self-
abnegation imperatively demanded. Impa-
tiently and prayerfully waiting."
Such a message is an emphatic and final
reminder that in this teaching effort we may
not delay so long and proceed so slowly as
during the years of the Plan of Unified Ac-
tion for completing the structure of the
House of Worship.
Concerning the teaching plan reported to
the friends in the June issue of BAHA'I NEWS,
on July 28 the Guardian, through his secre-
tary, wrote: "The Guardian has read with
keenest interest the new statement adopted
by the N. S. A. concerning teaching, and
wishes me to assure you ... of his most
genuine appreciation of the steps that your
Assembly is taking for the expansion of the
teaching work throughout America. He is
praying for your success from the bottom of
his heart."
That same letter explained the principle
to be observed in the preservation of Baha'i
relics: "Regarding the preservation of relics
associated with 'Abdu'1-Baha, the general
principle should be that any object used by
Him in person should be preserved for pos-
terity, whether in the local or the national
Archives. It is the duty and responsibility
of the Baha'i Assemblies to ascertain care-
fully whether such objects are genuine or
not, and to exercise the utmost care and dis-
cretion in the matter."
It also conveyed this advice in connection
with the holding of public meetings at Nash-
ville: "The holding of public meetings in
that city should be avoided only in case it
would lead to grave and very serious results.
Slight local criticisms and unpopularity
should not act as a deterrent. The issue (i. e.,
of race prejudice) should be met squarely
and courageously, and an effort should be
made to attract at first the most cultured ele-
ment among the colored, and through them
establish contact with the whites and the
120
THE BAHA'f WORLD
masses. Such individuals and groups,
whether white or colored, who are relatively
free from racial prejudice, should be ap-
proached, separately if necessary, and an
endeavor should be made to bring them to-
gether eventually, not only on formal occa-
sions and for specific purposes, but in inti-
mate social gatherings, in private homes as
well as in formally recognized Baha'i centers.
"The summer schools provide a splendid
setting and environment to which the best
element among the colored race should be
specially attracted. Through such association
prejudice can be gradually eradicated, and
'Abdu'l-Baha's ardent wish fully realized."
Then this statement in the Guardian's
hand: "I am eagerly awaiting the news of the
progress of the activities initiated to promote
the teaching work within, and beyond the
confines of the American continent. The
American believers, if they wish to carry out,
in the spirit and the letter, the parting wishes
of their beloved Master, must intensify their
teaching work a thousandfold and extend its
ramifications beyond the confines of their
native land and as far as the most distant
outposts of their far-flung Faith. The Tab-
lets of the Divine Plan invest your Assembly
with unique and grave responsibilities, and
confer upon it privileges which your sister
Assemblies might well envy and admire. The
present opportunity is unutterably precious.
It may not recur again. Undaunted by the
perils and the uncertainties of the present
hour, the American believers must press on
and prosecute in its entirety the task which
now confronts them. I pray for their suc-
cess from the depths of my heart."
The importance of Baha'i Archives was
again stressed in a letter dated September 25,
1936: "The importance of the institution of
Baha'i Archives is not due only to the many
teaching facilities it procures, but is essen-
tially to be found in the vast amount of his-
torical data and information it offers both to
the present-day administration of the Cause,
and to the Baha'i historians of the future."
On October 29 this cablegram was re-
ceived: "Overjoyed, unspeakably grateful
American believers' signal response my
reiterated appeals. Inaugurated campaign
fraught (with) consequences involving im-
mediate destinies (of the) American com-
munity. Shadows encircling sore-tried hu-
man society noticeably deepening. World
crisis (is) inexorably moving towards cli-
max, challenging (the) torchbearers (of)
Baha'i civilization (to) scale loftier heights
(of) individual heroism, (to) scatter more
widely throughout (the) length (and)
breadth (of the) American continents, (to)
participate more strenuously (in) concerted
effort organized by National, Regional
(and) local agencies dedicated (to the)
prosecution (of) noble enterprise, (to) pour
forth more abundantly (their) resources in
support (of the) Fund created for its fur-
therance, (and) resolve more determinedly
(to) conquer whatever obstacles might re-
tard its ultimate fruition. (The) Dawn-
Breakers (in) previous age have on Iranian
soil signalized by their acts (the) birth (of
the) Faith (of) BahaVllah. Might not
American believers, their spiritual descend-
ants, prove themselves in turn capable (of)
ushering in on world scale the civilization of
which that Faith is (the) direct source and
sole begetter."
The power which pours forth through the
Guardian's successive messages seems over-
whelming. Within the space of a few
months, his messages have traversed an area
of significance which in the past would have
reached through thousands of years. The in-
tensity, the swiftness of these passing mo-
ments have no parallel in the recorded his-
tory of mankind.
On November 2, the Guardian advised the
National Spiritual Assembly to extend to
Miss Lidja Zamenhof a hearty welcome in
connection with her plan to visit America,
and to take full advantage of this splendid
opportunity for extending the scope of the
teaching work.
On November 5 the Assembly was in-
formed that the Kurdish translation of "Ba-
haVllah and the New Era" had been
confiscated by the authorities in 'Iraq, and
requested to exert influence in order to have
them returned and their circulation per-
mitted.
The Guardian's letter of November 14 ap-
proved the extension of the Committee on
Braille Transcriptions to include members in
other countries. This letter explained the
Guardian's contribution to the Teaching
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
121
Fund as follows: "He feels that this is a mat-
ter to be left entirely to the discretion of the
N. S. A. He believes that the continuous ex-
penditure of a considerable sum to provide
for traveling expenses of teachers who are in
need constitutes in these days the chief obli-
gation of the National Fund. An effort
should be made to facilitate, as much as pos-
sible, the extension of the teaching work by
helping those who are financially unable, to
reach their destination and once there to en-
courage them to settle and earn the means of
their livelihood."
Answering a question as to the form in
which the successive "World Order" letters
should appear when published as a book, this
letter stated: "He prefers that you retain the
separate titles of these letters, the full text of
which should be published in the order in
which they have been written. As to the
sub-captions, he leaves this matter to the dis-
cretion of your Assembly." Then followed
details concerning the changes to be made in
the revised edition of the Esslemont book.
The letter concluded with these words, in
the Guardian's hand: "I cannot allow this
communication to be sent without add-
ing a few words in person and stress afresh
the significance of the undertaking in which
the entire Baha'i community has embarked.
The promulgation of the Divine Plan, un-
veiled by our departed Master in the darkest
days of one of the severest ordeals which hu-
manity has ever experienced, is the key which
Providence has placed in the hands of the
American believers whereby to unlock the
doors leading them to fulfill their unimagin-
ably glorious destiny. As the proclamation
of the Message reverberates throughout the
land, as its resistless march gathers momen-
tum, as the field of its operation widens, and
the numbers of its upholders and champions
multiply, its potentialities will correspond-
ingly unfold, exerting a most beneficent in-
fluence, not only on every community
throughout the Baha'i World, but on the im-
mediate fortunes of a travailing society. The
repercussions of this campaign are already
apparent in Europe, India, Egypt, Iraq and
even among the sorely-tried communities in
Iran and Russia. The Faith of God is gain-
ing in stature, effectiveness and power. Not
until, however, the great enterprise which
you are now conducting runs its full course
and attains its final objective, at its ap-
pointed time, can its world-encompassing
benefits be fully apprehended or revealed.
The perseverance of the American believers
will, no doubt, ensure the ultimate realiza-
tion of these benefits.'*
In a letter dated November 18, the Assem-
bly was requested to give Shoghi Effendi a
power of attorney in connection with a house
and land transferred to the Palestine Branch
of the American National Assembly by
Siyyid Husayn el-Husayn, a believer of
Haifa, a property situated between the Bab's
Shrine and the tomb of the Greatest Holy
Leaf. The title deed was sent the next day,
together with another title deed for two
pieces of land donated by the wife of the late
4Abbas-Quli, former custodian of the Shrines
on Mt. Carmel. The Guardian stated that
the total area of the property owned by the
Palestine Branch was now approximately
58,800 square pics, every 1,600 square pics
equaling 919 square metres.
The letter dated March 2, 1937, referred
to the Guardian's translation of the three
daily obligatory prayers, which were en-
closed, and stated that the first installment
of his translation of prayers and meditations
of BahaVllah would soon be sent. The
names of a Baha'i family who have settled
permanently in Buenos Aires, moving there
from Aleppo, Syria, were also given, that the
American believers may extend cooperation
in their teaching work.
The Guardian's love for the faithful be-
lievers was ardently expressed in two cable-
grams received in recent weeks. On March 4
this message was received: "Assure dear Lunt
ardent prayers, profound attachment. Ex-
tend every possible assistance." This came in
reply to the Assembly's cablegram reporting
the news of his serious illness and the hospital
treatment that had been arranged. On April
14 came this message: "Distressed sudden
passing dearly beloved Dr. Bagdadi. Loss
inflicted (upon) national interests (of)
Faith irreparable. His exemplary faith, au-
dacity, unquestioning loyalty (and) inde-
fatigable exertions (are) unforgettable. Ad-
vise Baha'i communities (of) Chicago (and)
surrounding regions hold befitting gathering
(in) Temple for which he so valiantly (and)
122
THE BAHA'f WORLD
devotedly labored. Ardently praying for
him and bereaved family."
Plans and Policies
The formation of teaching agencies em-
bodying regional, national and inter-Ameri-
can activities, as outlined in BAHA'I NEWS
for June, 1936, was not a plan but merely a
tool or instrument intended to establish fa-
cilities for increased individual action and
more efficient collective efforts. Aside from
its usefulness such projects are but passive
blueprints. What is always needed are the
builders who can turn the blueprint into an
actual edifice. That this preliminary method
of uniting the American Baha'i community
for its international teaching task has ac-
quired dynamic life and vigor seems evident
from the Guardian's expression of happiness
already mentioned. The detailed facts will
be presented to the delegates and friends by
representatives of the Teaching Committee
at a later session.
To summarize the rulings and statements
made by the National Assembly this year,
the following subjects are cited: —
1 . The Assembly feels that it is not able to
pass upon the merits of charts and similar
material which contain elements of fact not
subject to confirmation in the Baha'i Writ-
ings.
2. A fcrm has been provided for use
when new Spiritual Assemblies are estab-
lished by joint declaration of exactly nine
believers.
3 . A form of bequest has been reported in
BAHA'I NEWS for use by believers desiring to
provide for the Cause in their will.
4. The cooperation to be extended to
Baha'i authors was reported in BAHA'I NEWS
last fall.
5. The Historical Record Cards will not
be made a permanent and continuous form
of information. The supply of cards has
been exhausted, and those which have been
received constitute a most interesting source
of information concerning the membership
of the American Baha'i community at the
present stage of its existence.
6. An improved form of monthly Finan-
cial Report, in which the status of the total
annual budget is carried forward from
month to month, has been adopted and sup-
plied to the local Assemblies through the new
monthly bulletin.
7. It has been felt desirable to reprint in
BAHA'I NEWS those passages from Shoghi
Effendi's general letters which set forth the
fundamental teachings.
8. After consultation with the Teaching
Committee, a number of steps were taken in
order to clarify certain questions, as fol-
lows:—
A. Teachers visiting new areas should
have a proper letter of credentials.
B. Such teachers should be provided with
a list of questions to fill out and return
to the National Teaching Committee,
that valuable information may be se-
cured and made available to other
teachers visiting the same area.
C. The placing of books in Public Libra-
ries by traveling teachers in a new area
is an expense coming under the Teach-
ing budget. The budget of the Li-
brary Committee is for use in placing
books through the local Assemblies.
D. Budgets of cash and also of free litera-
ture have been given the National and
Regional Teaching Committees. Such
funds are not intended to finance
teaching activities of local Assemblies.
E. As reported in BAHA'I NEWS, a distinc-
tion has been made between public and
non-public teaching activities. In
areas outside the jurisdiction of local
Assemblies, teachers holding public
meetings are to have recognition and
approval from the National or Re-
gional Teaching Committee.
F. Local Assemblies and individual teach-
ers, when announcing the Cause in
public programs, should make use of
the terms used by 'Abdu'1-Baha or the
Guardian as the description or title of
the Faith.
G. Requests for funds to meet traveling
and other teaching expenses are to
come to the National Assembly in the
form of recommendations by the Na-
tional or Regional Teaching Commit-
tee and not directly from individual
teachers.
9. On receiving a question concerning the
propriety of using parts of a prayer and not
the complete prayer in compilations, it was
CURRENT BAHA'i ACTIVITIES
123
recorded that excerpts can be taken from
prayers provided that the meaning is not
changed, the fact that it is only an excerpt is
made clear, and the reference to the source is
given in each case. This applies particularly
to Study Outlines.
10. The matter of the residential qualifi-
cation of believers has been interpreted, to
remove the ambiguous situation existing
where believers reside in one established com-
munity but hold their voting right in an-
other, adjoining city.
11. The publishing of Baha'i compilations
through non-Baha'i firms has been clarified
ani reported through BAHA'I NEWS.
12. The Temple Trustees wish to approve
all models of the Temple before they are sold
or publicly displayed, and to have the sale
arranged through the Trustees.
As this secondary material on administra-
tive matters is not readily available, scattered
as it is through different issues of BAHA'I
NEWS, and in the Minutes of the National
Spiritual Assembly, a compilation has been
made and published under the title of
"Baha'i Procedure," which codifies the state-
ments and rulings as well as procedures
adopted over a period of years. With this
material has been incorporated passages from
the Guardian's letters setting forth the fun-
damental principles of Baha'i administration
and his explanation of the Baha'i attitude on
important current issues. The publication is
in the form of loose leaf sheets, perforated to
place in any ring binder of standard letter-
head size.
A vast amount of detail would be spared
to the meetings of the National Assembly,
and doubtless also to local Assemblies, if the
believers will acquaint themselves with this
secondary administrative material. An en-
lightened public opinion within the Baha'i
community is our best safeguard against im-
proper action or unsound attitude, and no
amount of centralized authority can be a
substitute for a community which has be-
come thoroughly informed. We may well
bear in mind also the Guardian's view, al-
ready reported, that care should be taken not
to develop the secondary material at the ex-
pense of the primary aim of the Faith. Our
ideal should be to arrive at conscious knowl-
edge and right attitude on how matters
should be arranged within the Baha'i com-
munity, for the basis of the community is
conscience and not external law.
American Teacher* Abroad
From time to time, as letters and reports
are received, the friends are made acquainted
with the activities of our co-workers who
live or travel in other lands. Indeed, these
activities have become so important and far-
reaching that it has been felt advisable to in-
clude this subject in the Convention agenda.
During the current Baha'i year, the Ameri-
can believers abroad have been: Martha L.
Root, Agnes Alexander, Clara and Adelaide
Sharp; Marion Jack, Charles and Helen
Bishop, Mark Tobey, Lorol Schopflocher,
Gita Orlova, Siegfried Schopflocher, Frances
Stewart, Elizabeth Pilkington, Leonora
Holsapple, Louis and Louise Gregory, Nellie
S. French, Edward and Loulie Mathews,
Amelia B. Collins, Lena Gutbarlet, Mrs.
Jeanne Bolles, Isabel Dodge, and Beatrice
Irwin. Of such believers Baha'u'llah has
said: "They that have forsaken their country
for the purpose of teaching Our Cause —
these shall the Faithful Spirit strengthen
through its power." We admire and ap-
preciate their services. We long for greater
capacity to promote their plans.
In Memoriam
Year by year the true American Baha'i
pioneers — those who founded the Faith on
this continent — are removed from our ranks
and raised to the higher station of service in
the Kingdom unseen. The passing of such
workers as Paul K. Dealey, Mary Hanford
Ford and Dr. Zia Bagdadi within the past
few months brings us a sense of personal loss
and reminds us that those who remain bear a
greater responsibility in attempting to con-
firm their like and restore their qualities of
faith to the workers on earth. Our prayers
accompany these spirits who have fulfilled
their mission in the body and now go to their
reward.
Babd'i Trusteeships
As the believers know, the large Baha'i
properties like the Temple, Green Acre and
Bosch Summer School are held under separate
deeds by trustees composed of members of
124
THE BAHA'f WORLD
the National Spiritual Assembly. This year,
for the first time, a general survey has been
made of the five Baha'i Trusteeships, and
this survey is to be presented as a report to
the Convention. The report is a matter of
distinct interest and importance, because the
work of these Trusteeships has come to con-
stitute a large part of the responsibility of
the National Assembly, and a considerable
asset not merely as Baha'i property but as in-
struments of teaching. It is as believers learn
how to combine true efficiency in practical
affairs with their spiritual activities that we
attain the balance of character, action and
devotion distinguishing the religious life of
this new age.
The Guardian's Marriage
We come now to that event which has
brought such depth of joy to all Baha'is
throughout the world and forms the great
climax of this Baha'i year — the Guardian's
marriage.
On March 27 this cablegram was received:
"Announce Assemblies celebration marriage
beloved Guardian. Inestimable honor con-
ferred upon handmaid of BahaVllah Ruhiy-
yih Khanum Miss Mary Maxwell. Union of
East and West proclaimed by Baha'i Faith
cemented." (Signed) Ziaiyyih, Mother of
the Guardian.
The following acknowledgments were ca-
bled immediately by the National Assembly.
To Ziaiyyih Khanum: "Assemblies will re-
joice your heart-stirring announcement. Be-
seech divine blessings."
To Shoghi Effendi: "Joyously acclaim his-
toric event so auspiciously uniting in eternal
bond the destiny of East and West."
On March 30, this message came from the
Guardian: "Deeply moved your message. In-
stitution (of) Guardianship, head corner-
stone (of the) Administrative Order (of
the) Cause (of) BahaVllah, already en-
nobled through its organic connection with
(the) Twin Founders (of the) Baha'i Faith,
is now further reinforced through direct as-
sociation with West and particularly with
(the) American believers, whose spiritual
destiny is to usher in (the) World Order
(of) BahaVllah. For my part (I) desire
(to) congratulate community (of) Ameri-
can believers on acquisition (of) tie vitally
binding them to so weighty an organ of their
Faith."
On April 3, the National Spiritual Assem-
bly sent this further message on behalf of all
American Baha'is: "Hearts overflowing with
gratitude, we are sending $1349, being $19
each from seventy-one American Assemblies
for immediately strengthening new tie bind-
ing American Baha'is to institution of
Guardianship. We trust this modest contri-
bution will be accepted as token (of) ever-
increasing devotion and unity (of) Ameri-
can believers in service to World Order (of)
BahaVllah."
On April 5 was received the Guardian's
response: "Accept. Deeply touched (by)
American believers' spontaneous expression
of ever-increasing devotion to crowning
institution (of) World Order (of) Baha'u-
'llah. Noblest contribution individual be-
lievers can make at this juncture to conse-
crate newly acquired tie is to promote with
added fervor unique plan conceived for them
by 'Abdu'1-Baha."
Any comment would Hbe unbecoming, for
this historic event will forever be enshrined
for Baha'is in the Guardian's own words.
In conclusion, one of the prayers newly
translated by Shoghi Effendi is offered up in
appeal that the Holy Spirit may penetrate
the soul of every Baha'i and confirm our
steadfast unity on the field of action.
"Glorified art Thou, O Lord our God! We
beseech Thee by Him Who is Thy Most
Great Name, Who hath been sorely afflicted
by such of Thy creatures as have repudiated
Thy truth, and Who hath been hemmed in
by sorrows which no tongue can describe, to
grant that we may remember Thee and, cele-
brate Thy praise, in these days when all have
turned away from Thy beauty, have disputed
with Thee, and turned away disdainfully
from Him Who is the Kevealer of Thy
Cause. None is there, O our Lord, to help
Thee except Thine own Self, and no power
to succor Thee save Thine own power.
trWe entreat Thee to enable us to cleave
steadfastly to Thy love and Thy remem-
brance. This is, verily, within our power,
and Thou art the One that knoweth all that
is in us. Thou, in truth, art knowing, ap-
prised of all. Deprive us not, O our Lord, of
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
the splendors of the light of Thy face, whose
brightness hath illuminated the whole earth.
No God is there beside Thee, the Most Pow-
erful, the All-Glorious, the Ever-Forgiving"
Yours faithfully,
National Spiritual Assembly
By: HORACE HOLLEY, Secretary.
1937-1938
Dear Baha'i friends:
This, the Thirtieth Annual Convention of
American Baha'is, establishes a considerable
extension of the principle of consultation as
applied to our national Baha'i affairs. By
the increase in the number of delegates, the
Baha'i community has utmost representation
in the annual meeting. The Convention can,
therefore, fully and faithfully reflect the
spirit and action of the body of the believers
and, as the Guardian stated, constitute a firm
foundation for the organic Baha'i institution
it is called upon to elect.
It is for lack of this principle of consulta-
tion, whose roots draw sustenance from Di-
vinely revealed truth, that the civilizations
and cultures of the non-Baha'i world have
during this past year suffered further disinte-
gration. Mass feelings and needs, divorced
from the spirit of oneness, seek in violence
under misguided leadership a solution of
problems which but augments their difficul-
ties and destroys their basis. There is not one
active Baha'i teacher who will not testify to
the fact that individual souls are more recep-
tive to the Message of Baha'u'llah than ever
before, driven from their former allegiances
by the realization that societies, whether
large or small, which are imbued with suspi-
cion or prejudice, hatred or fear, offer no ref-
uge to the conscious human being in this age.
Far more than any eloquence, the deeply-
laid, providentially protected unity of the
Baha'i body itself stands as the visible proof
that religion has been renewed by God's will.
The most dramatic, the most moving evi-
dence of the degree to which the world has
turned away from the Path of Truth can be
found in the Baha'i history of this current
year. We believers of the West have long
admired the heroism and steadfastness of our
fellow-Baha'is in the Orient, whom succes-
sive waves of persecution both ecclesiastical
and secular have failed to disturb in their su-
blime faith. For ourselves, however, we have
assumed that such conditions could never
arise, relying upon a greater prevalence of
public enlightenment or tolerance and upon
the historical tradition of the separation of
church and state. When, therefore, word
came that the sacred Faith of Baha'u'llah
had been denounced and its institutions and
meetings forbidden in the very heart of Eu-
rope, we could not bu.t realize the instability
and impermanence of all things dependent
upon human will and aim, and the need for a
great deepening of faith in our own inner
lives and a reconsecration to the unity of our
spiritual community. The increase in the
number of delegates thus may be appreciated
as no mere arithmetical change, but a
strengthening of the very foundations of the
administrative order in America.
This reference to the Guardian's protec-
tive action during the current year brings us
to another subject vitally connected with the
mainsprings of our faith — his translation of
"Prayers and Meditations by Baha'u'llah."
Here, indeed, in the devotional realm — in the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit — exists that
Divine Elixir which can alone transmute the
base metal of human nature into pure gold.
This bounty has been given us at the crucial
hour of need. Only as we enter into the new
heaven of His Spirit can we live and strive
free from the subtle or brutal influences of a
misguided world. Our purity of aim, our
unity of spirit and activity, must realize this
new heaven upon earth. Ail else is subsidi-
ary to that victory in the realm of heart and
spirit.
It is, moreover, no coincidence of material
fact but another working of the higher Will
which during the same Baha'i year presents
us with the Guardian's "World Order" let-
ters in book form. For this work is the ex-
pression of the Guardianship itself, a degree
of consecration and inspiration to which
none other can attain, and the view of truest
wisdom upon the present condition of the
world and the future of Bahi'u'llah's Faith.
There is consequently a direct tie for us in
our present development between the book
of prayers and meditation and the Guar-
dian's letters dealing with the character and
126
THE BAHA'I WORLD
evolution of the Cause. For our under-
standing of and our loyalty to the latter
must be taken to represent the extent to
which the spirit of devotion has truly en-
tered our lives. For the first time in recorded
history, revealed religion has combined and
united the regeneration of the inner life with
a social program fulfilling human personality
in all degrees. No longer can piety and de-
votion assert ways of action or attitudes of
thought as justification of anti-social forms
of life. The Baha'i knows well that he will
not evolve spiritually if he spends his whole
time in isolated prayer without association
with other believers. He knows well that the
end of worship today is not solitude on the
mountain. He knows that he is not free to
invent his own cosmic or social philosophy to
express a personal and subjective religion.
The religious life in this age can be lived un-
der guidance, and the fears or ambitions se-
cretly cherished in the soul have their healing
as we forget ourselves in the task of estab-
lishing the World Order of Baha'u'llah.
The Twofold Task
The plans and achievements of the current
Baha'i year were born of the Guardian's mes-
sage to the last Convention and the deep and
abiding response that message evoked. "Dual
gift Providentially conferred (upon) Amer-
ican Baha'i community invests recipients
with dual responsibility fulfill historic
mission. First, prosecute uninterruptedly
teaching campaign inaugurated (at) last
Convention in accordance (with) Divine
Plan. Second, resume with inflexible de-
termination exterior ornamentation (of) en-
tire structure (of) Temple. Advise ponder
message conveyed (to) delegates (through)
esteemed coworker, Fred Schopflocher. No
triumph can more befittingly signalize ter-
mination (of) first century (of) Baha'i era
than accomplishment (of) this twofold
task. Advise prolongation (of) Conven-
tion sessions (to) enable delegates consult
National Assembly to formulate feasible
Seven Year Plan (to) assure success Temple
enterprise. No sacrifice too great for com-
munity so abundantly blessed, (so) repeat-
edly honored."
In the clear light of this call to action and
sacrifice let us trace the steps by which the
powers of the Holy Spirit have been set in
motion and a foundation laid for the mighty
victory to be realized by 1944.
1. A pledge of $100,000 was made at the
Convention.
2. We were informed that the Guardian
wished a special committee of technical ex-
perts to make a thorough study of the proj-
ect, involving consideration of all available
contractors and the costs and contractual
elements of each successive stage in the work.
3. The incoming National Spiritual As-
sembly issued, as an insert to BAHA'I NEWS
of June, 1937, the items of the annual Bud-
get and an explanation of the first portion of
the Seven Year plan.
4. The technical committee reported its
findings at the meeting of the National As-
sembly held on August 28, 29 and 30, and
after consultation with the committee and
with Mr. John J. Earley a contract was
placed for the ornamentation of the gallery
section. Mr. Earley began the work at once,
and the progress report dated April 6, 1938,
conveyed the following information: "On
March 25, the first car Was shipped from the
Earley Studio and arrived at Wilmette, Illi-
nois, the last of the month. This car con-
tained contractors' equipment, reinforcing
steel and the wooden molds for the placing
of the ornamentation that will be poured at
the building. On March 28, the second car
was shipped from Rosslyn, Virginia. This
car contained 54,000 pounds of crushed
stone and sand to be used in the pouring of
the ornamentation at the building; 28 (fin-
ished) columns, 51 imposts, 2 sections of
cornice ornamentation and 2 sections of win-
dow band ornament.
"The original clay models were completed
by the sculptor during the early part of the
month (March). The plaster models were
being completed during the latter part of the
month; the carving of the surfaces of the
plaster cast of the pylons will be completed
during the early part of April. Similarly the
plaster casts for the spandrel ornamentation
at the corners of the main arches will be
completed during April. . . . Work will
continue uninterruptedly at the Temple, and
will be in full swing by the end of the month
and during the forthcoming Annual Con-
vention." The engineering supervision of
CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES
127
Temple construction has been carried out by
Mr. McDaniel without cost to the Fund.
This is a truly gratifying and inspiring
record of progress, for it means that before
the end of 1938 or soon after all units of the
gallery section will have been placed upon
the Temple, and the unique effect already
achieved by the dome and clerestory sections
will be vastly enhanced.
The Guardian's joy on learning of the
plans reported to the friends in June was ex-
pressed in the following cablegram: "Im-
measurably gratified National Assembly's in-
itial step presentation Seven Year Plan . . .
redirect with added force nationwide appeal
to entire community insure uninterrupted
completion first unit and accumulation suffi-
cient funds enable placing without delay
final contract." His approval of the tech-
nical committee's recommendations was re-
ceived on September 2: "Approve commit-
tee's decision. Place contract immediately."
As we consider this development of the
Temple work, and recall the fact that the
1937 Convention resolved to rededicate it-
self "to the achievement of the holy task
before the end of the first century of the
Baha'i era," we should be profoundly grate-
ful for the conditions of complete unity and
continuous guidance under which the tre-
mendous undertaking has begun. Nothing
could testify more strongly to the general
progress of the Baha'i community than the
certitude prevailing now in contrast to the
hesitation and uncertainty which accompa-
nied the launching of the first "Plan of Uni-
fied Action" in 1926.
The arena of social confusion and fear in
which this concentration of Baha'i faith and
energy has proceeded was once more inter-
preted for us by the Guardian in his cable-
gram dated August 4, 1937: —
"Much heartened (by) compelling evi-
dences accelerated speed with which teach-
ing campaign inaugurated throughout Amer-
icas (is) now progressing. ... In a world
perilously near cataclysmic convulsions des-
tined experience, at a time when forces of
repression are launching their assaults and
conspiring (to) undermine foundations (of)
most powerful strongholds (of) Faith (of)
Baha'u'llah in land of its birth and in heart
of both Asiatic (and) European continents,
an inescapable, well-nigh staggering responsi-
bility rests on America, its one chief remain-
ing citadel. Who among its stalwart defend-
ers will arise, untrammelled (and) unafraid,
to implant its banner in those States, prov-
inces (and) Countries where its standard is
still unhoisted? Entreat afresh American
community heed vital urgency (of) my im-
passioned plea (and) spur efforts bring
speedy termination (of) first Stage in evolu-
tion (of) so important (a) phase of dual
task they have so enthusiastically shoul-
dered."
The progress of the teaching work carried
on during the year cannot be reported as defi-
nitely as the developments in Temple con-
struction. The activities of every commit-
tee, every Assembly, every group and of
individual believers from day to day have
their direct relation to the promotion of the
Faith. Thus, for example, one should not
overlook the work of the Committee on
Braille Transcriptions which brings light to
the eye of the soul, nor the achievements of
the Summer Schools, nor the special oppor-
tunities resulting from the program main-
tained by Miss Zamenhof, Orcella Rexford
and others, many details of which come to us
in the periodic reports of the Teaching Com-
mittee and in the annual reports just pub-
lished in BAHA'I NEWS.
That each established Baha'i community
should undergo continuous growth in num-
bers as well as in experience and capacity
must be assumed. The spiritual reinforce-
ment augments miraculously from year to
year, and upon that rising tide even a small
and fragile craft will dare to leave its moor-
ings. There are, however, certain fixed
standards which can be applied to the prog-
ress of teaching each year: first, the forma-
tion of new Spiritual Assemblies, and second,
the establishment of groups in new areas. At
the date of this writing, nine local groups
are authorized to form an Assembly on April
21, and one former Assembly may be re-
established. This is truly a notable record.
Such a result cannot be achieved without
the most vigorous action on the part of the
National and Regional Teaching Commit-
tees, traveling teachers and, in the case of
such centers as Oklahoma City, a most im-
pressive response to the Guardian's call for
128
THE BAHA'f WORLD
pioneers. The essential characteristic of
teaching work at present is its quality of ac-
celeration. A decade passed from 1912 to
1922 when, separated from the Master by
the War and then bereft by His ascension,
the American Baha'i community struggled
to maintain its place. Under the Guardian
there followed a remarkedly brief period of
readjustment to the Administrative Order,
and the progress of Temple construction has
symbolized that new force of acceleration
which will surely increase each day until the
World Order is firmly established. Already
our teaching area is the Americas and not the
United States and Canada alone. Already we
are acquiring experience in dealing with
problems of language, nationality and cul-
tural differences which contains the poten-
tiality of the universal outlook of world
citizenship. The sphere of our collective re-
sponsibility has been extended by Shoghi
Eflfendi to fill that vast social area to which
Baha'u'llah extended His gaze and upon
which He laid His blessing when He revealed
that Tablet addressed to the "Rulers of
America, and Presidents of the Republics
therein."
But the forward movement also has its
tests requiring us to examine the character of
our community life from time to time. The
Assembly Roll this year omitted Santa Bar-
bara, Akron, Rockford and Rochester, while
adding the new Assembly of Jersey City.
The Guardian's message, sent through Mr.
Schopflocher, calling upon local Assemblies
to incorporate, acquire capacity for handling
practical affairs, and place themselves in a
position to receive endowments, has resulted
in a great increase of legal incorporation.
The necessary papers have been worked out
by the Assemblies of Cleveland, Kenosha,
Racine, Milwaukee, Seattle and Minneapolis,
and those submitted by Binghamton and
Boston are in process at the present time.
Perhaps we have not yet fully realized the
power and importance of a local Assembly
in the maturity of its development. To-
gether they will in future control far more
property than the National body of Trustees.
Each will have its House of Worship and ac-
cessory buildings; each will maintain facili-
ties for education and the humanitarian
functions of the Faith. Whether that ma-
turity is near or remote in time, the outcome
is inevitable, and consequently the basis for
that further development must be laid as
soon as possible.
American believers who have served under
the Inter-America Committee in foreign
lands have been Beatrice Irwin, Eve Nicklin
and Mrs. Frances Stewart. Louis Gregory's
activities in Haiti belong partly to this and
partly to the record of last year. Miss Nick-
lin proved that a believer with professional
training can establish herself financially in
another country, but unfortunately found
soon after she had established herself in
Bahia that her residence as a foreigner had
become untenable. As reported in April,
1938, BAHA'I NEWS, an active group has
been formed in Mexico City, and the election
of a Spiritual Assembly in that capital of a
neighboring people was authorized by the
Guardian. Here, indeed, is an event of the
utmost significance. A Spiritvial Assembly
in Mexico City can only be realized as the
strong pillar of a bridge that will eventually
link together in the Baha'i Order all the na-
tions and peoples of the New World.
American believers residing in other lands
are: Leonora Holsapple, in Bahia, Mrs. Clara
Sharp and Adelaide Sharp in Tihran, Marion
Jack in Sofia, Mrs. Isobel Stebbins Dodge
in Peru, Bertha Matthisen in Europe, and
Martha Root, now in India. During the
year, Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell returned from
Haifa, Agnes Alexander returned from Ja-
pan, Mrs. Louise Gregory from Belgrade,
Mrs. Rouhanghiz Bolles and Miss Bolles
from Europe, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bishop,
Mrs. Annie Romer and Mrs. Gita Orlova
from England and the continent of Europe.
Miss Margaret Lent, after serving at the In-
ternational Baha'i Center in Geneva, Switz-
erland, has again established herself in the
United States. Let us pay homage to these
devoted Baha'i workers for their significant
services to the Faith. Mark Tobey, member
of the National Spiritual Assembly of the
British Isles, is now in the United States for
a visit of some months.
Direct or indirect fruits of their activi-
ties are: the institution of Summer Schools
in Iran and England, the formation of a
Baha'i group in Budapest, and extensive
publicity as well as the quickening of the
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
129
spirit of faith in many European countries,
South Africa and the Orient.
Mr. and Mrs. E. R. Ma thews returned
after an extensive journey, during which
Mrs. Mathews established distribution or
reference centers for Baha'i literature in Rio
de Janeiro, Cape Town, Johannesburg, the
Seychelles Islands, the Islands of Java and
Bali, Manila and the Island of Zangopango,
the Philippines.
Although Siegfried Schopflocher's teach-
ing work in the Orient was carried on last
year, a picture of the results, in the form of
newspaper and magazine clippings, was not
available when last year's annual report was
prepared. These clippings and programs re-
veal a most impressive public presentation
of the teachings before many audiences. It
is hoped that copies will be made available
for the scrapbooks maintained by the Pub-
licity Committee.
Between August 18 and October 4, 1937,
Mrs. Nellie S. French served the Cause in
Honolulu, New Zealand and Australia, find-
ing many opportunities for interviews and
publicity and responding to the call of the
Baha'i communities for public meetings. An
interview was given over the radio at Mel-
bourne.
The powers of the spirit seem to accom-
pany Martha Root wherever she goes. Sail-
ing from San Francisco, May 20, she visited
the Honolulu believers and after effective
teaching work in Japan, she arrived at
Shanghai immediately prior to the military
invasion and attack upon that city. Sent
to Manila with other American citizens for
safety, Martha there experienced the great
earthquake. Undaunted, she proceeded to
India and Burma, and for many months has
carried out a most extensive program ar-
ranged by the Baha'i Assemblies. We un-
derstand that the Guardian wishes her to
continue serving in India until the fall of
1938.
Another teaching work achieved by an
American believer in the foreign field re-
sulted from Mrs. Joel Stebbins* visit to Peru
during the summer of 1937, where, with
her daughter, important contacts were made.
Miss Lidja Zamenhof, daughter of the
founder of Esperanto, has been in the United
States since September, 1937, arriving on
invitation extended by the National Spiritual
Assembly and warmly endorsed by the
Guardian. Her distinguished services have
been shared with the Esperantists. Miss
Zamenhof has held Esperanto classes so far
in New York, Philadelphia and Detroit, un-
der the auspices of the local Esperanto
groups but with the cordial cooperation of
the Baha'i Assemblies. She has made a num-
ber of direct Baha'i addresses and in her
Esperanto contacts has turned many to con-
sideration of the Baha'i Faith. The plans
made with her by our Committee on Uni-
versal Language call for meetings in Lima,
Ohio and a class in Esperanto at Green Acre
in July. These Esperanto classes are not only
for beginners but also they are to prepare
Esperanto students to become proficient
teachers. This honored guest emphasizes
the truth that a believer who becomes tech-
nically expert in any branch of knowledge
or activity based on idealism, thereby opens
a door by which the teachings of Baha'u'llah
may enter the consciousness of some large
special group. Perhaps we have not suffi-
ciently realized the degree to which Baha'is
are expected to acquire knowledge and at-
tain capacity in fields outside as well as
within the Cause. The Esperantists, in-
spired by their founder, Dr. Zamenhof, are
idealists who have already asserted their ac-
ceptance of one of the laws revealed by
Baha'u'llah. Those present at the Conven-
tion will surely wish to meet and greet this
honored fellow-believer and co-worker, Lidja
Zamenhof, translator of Baha'i books into
Esperanto and Baha'i speaker at a number of
International Esperanto Congresses in recent
years.
The American Baha'i community has
realized how much of the Seven Year Plan
has come into the realm of possibility
through the donation of $100,000 to the
Fund. The Fund has also this year received
another munificent gift of $25,000. Our
Baha'i properties have likewise been consid-
erably extended through the generous gifts
of a number of American believers.
Roy Wilhelm's original gift of property at
West Englewood, blessed by the Unity Feast
held by the Master in 1912, has been ex-
tended by additional property donated by
him toward the end of the last Baha'i year,
130
THE BAHA'f WORLD
and by two lots transferred to the Trustees
by Mr. and Mrs. Walter Goodfellow. The
Bahd'i Summer School at Geyserville, the
monument to the ardent love of Mr. and
Mrs. John Bosch, has been greatly enriched
by the new and beautiful dormitory pre-
sented by Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Collins. The
Green Acre property has been extended and
consolidated by the acquisition of the so-
called Ball cottage and land given by Mr.
and Mrs. Siegfried Schopflocher. Its facili-
ties have furthermore been considerably de-
veloped by Mrs. Florence Morton's donation
of the new Baha'i Hall and the accommo-
dations added to the Inn and two of the ad-
joining cottages. The publication cost of
the Guardian's translation of "Prayers and
Meditations by Baha'u'llah" was also met by
a generous and loving gift offered by an
American Baha'i.
In the model produced by John J. Barley
we have our first glimpse of the Baha'i
House of Worship as it will appear with
completed external decoration, and scaled to
the proportions of the present structure
which represents an alteration made by Mr.
Bourgeois, at the direction of 'Abdu'1-Baha,
in his original design. Twenty reproduc-
tions of the model have been obtained. Of
these, one was presented to the Guardian,
one is for exhibit in Temple Foundation
Hall, several have been transferred to the
Teaching Committee for temporary travel-
ing exhibit by local Assemblies and groups,
and models have been purchased for perma-
nent exhibit by the Spiritual Assemblies of
New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los An-
geles, Montreal and Buffalo. The model sent
to Montreal was a gift from Ruhiyyih Kha-
num to the local Baha'i community. Other
Assemblies are urged to consider the desira-
bility of possessing a Temple model, which
so clearly depicts the form and appearance
of the House of Worship and thus creates
visible evidence of the universal significance
of the Faith.
On August 30, 1937, the members of the
National Assembly gathered at the grave of
Alfred E. Lunt in Beverly, Massachusetts, by
request of the Guardian, whose cabled mes-
sage received August 16 declared: "Future
generations will appraise his manifold out-
standing contributions to rise and establish-
ment (of) Faith (of) Baha'u'llah (in the)
American continent."
Gratitude for distinctive and important
services to the Cause impels special mention
of the passing of Mr. Thomas Collins, whose
name will ever be associated with the Amer-
ican Pilgrim House at Haifa and with the
Hall and dormitory at the Geyserville Sum-
mer School, though he was not enrolled offi-
cially as a Baha'i.
Communications from the Gttard/an
Our knowledge of the Bah£'i teachings,
and our capacity to act under guidance, have
been enriched and stimulated by a number
of letters and cablegrams from Shoghi Ef-
fendi, some of which have already been cited
in this report. Reviewing now their pub-
lication in BAHA'I NEWS, Nos. 108 to 115,
we have: —
Shoghi Effendi's cablegram to the 1937
Convention.
His interpretation of BahaVllah's law on
daily obligatory prayer.
His explanation of the command concern-
ing daily work.
An observation and direction with refer-
ence to teaching in the Southern States.
Plea for complete rededication to the
ideals of the teaching campaign during the
observance of the Twenty-fifth Anniversary
of 'Abdu'l-Baha's visit to America.
The cablegram received April 5, 1937, ac-
cepting the donation made by the National
Assembly for all local Assemblies "for im-
mediate strengthening new tie binding
American Baha'i s to institution of the
Guardianship." Shoghi Effendi in his accep-
tance declared: "Noblest contribution indi-
vidual believers can make at this juncture
... is to promote with added fervor (the)
unique plan conceived for them by 'Abdu'l-
Baha."
Published after the 1937 Convention also
were the Guardian's words concerning Dr.
Zia M. Bagdadi: "His exemplary faith, au-
dacity, unquestioning loyalty, indefatigable
exertions unforgettable."
The Guardian's message to the incoming
National Assembly.
The letter dated June 4, 1937, containing
these words: "the twofold task they have
arisen to perform will, if carried out in time,
CURRENT BAHA'i ACTIVITIES
131
release the potentialities with which the
community of the Greatest Name has been
so generously and mysteriously endowed by
6Abdu'l-Baha."
An explanation of the Baha'i attitude
toward Esperanto.
The cablegram of July 4: "Immeasurably
gratified National Assembly's initial step
presentation Seven- Year Plan" and setting
forth five successive steps upon which its
successful operation depends.
The cablegram of August 4 pointing out
the "inescapable, well-nigh staggering re-
sponsibility" resting upon America and ap-
pealing for individuals to arise, "untram-
melled and unafraid, to implant its banners
in those States, Provinces and Countries
where its standard is still unhoisted," con-
cluding with a moving appeal that we heed
afresh the vital urgency of his impassioned
plea.
On September 2 was received the cable-
gram approving the recommendations of the
Technical Committee and directing that the
Temple contract be placed immediately.
The October, 1937, issue of BAHA'I NEWS
reported the Guardian's statement that
Baha'i meetings should not coincide with
the time of church services; and the mes-
sage which the Guardian sent through Sieg-
fried Schopflocher for local Assemblies on
the subject of incorporation and endow-
ments.
The cablegram directing that hereafter
171 delegates be elected to the Convention,
received November 21, was published in
BAHA'I NEWS of January. In the same issue
was made known to the friends the Guard-
ian's cablegram of December 20: "Hand
Omnipotence removed archbreaker Baha'u-
'llah's Covenant. His hopes shattered, his
plottings frustrated, society his fellow-con-
spirators extinguished. God's triumphant
Faith forges on, its unity unimpaired, its
purity unsullied, its stability unshaken.
Such death calls for neither exultation nor
recrimination but evokes overwhelming pity
so tragic downfall unparalleled in religious
history."
That event turned the hearts of the be-
lievers to those texts in the Will and Testa-
ment of 'Abdu'1-Baha which recounted the
actions of His enemies and established their
disobedience to the Manifestation of God,
especially the violation enacted by Muham-
mad-4 Ali, son of Baha'u'llah.
Whenever the Guardian's letters to the
National Assembly contain passages of gen-
eral instruction and interest, they are re-
ported to the entire community, and such
references are found in BAHA'I NEWS of Jan-
uary, February and April, 1938. The ex-
planation of the Baha'i attitude on pacifism,
on the matter of reproductions of the Mas-
ter's likeness, on Baha'i music and on his
view of the progress of the Plan may be
found therein.
Shoghi Effendi's letter of November 25,
1937, which developed the theme of the in-
creased number of delegates, was published
in February, 1938. The challenging issues
with which the American believers as a
body are now being confronted were out-
lined in his own words as postscript to that
letter, and no doubt the believers have given
these words their most careful attention.
We were informed in the body of that
same letter that the details of the adminis-
trative order have been sufficiently devel-
oped, and that both individual believers and
the National Assembly must "henceforth di-
rect their attention to the greater and vital
issues which an already established Adminis-
tration is now called upon to face and
handle."
Finally, up to the date of the preparation
of this report, we have the Guardian's words
of January 30 on "certain vital require-
ments," of the Plan, with the prayer, "May
the all-conquering Spirit of BahdVllah be
so infused into each component part of this
harmoniously functioning System as to en-
able it to contribute its proper share to the
consummation of the Plan."
In conclusion, the National Spiritual As-
sembly feels it incumbent to ask for con-
sideration of the fundamental fact that the
Faith of Baha'u'lldh is not a static creed but
a dynamic and world-renewing Power. At
each stage of its evolution a higher and
more conscious inner understanding, conse-
cration and sacrifice is required of every be-
liever. Attitudes, feelings and methods that
might have seemed proper and sufficient in
an earlier stage may be harmful and de-
structive when that stage has been ended
Site (marked x) showing spot where Badi', bearer of
Baha'u'llah's Tablet to the Shah of fran, was martyred.
Laborers at work on restoration of the House of Baha'u'llah's father, in
Takur, Mazindaran, fran.
132
CURRENT BAHA'l ACTIVITIES
133
and a new phase of the Faith begun to un-
fold. The degree of discipline inevitably in-
creases from childhood to maturity as re-
sponsibility replaces the care and protection
extended to the helpless child. All around
us, discipline has become entirely a matter
of force and external power, frequently bru-
tal and brutalizing in its effects upon human
beings. In the Faith of Baha'u'llah, love and
worship precede discipline, making it possi-
ble for each devoted soul to respond volun-
tarily to the organic laws and precepts; and
this capacity for self-imposed discipline
transforms the age-old concept of social
power from material force to spiritual au-
thority, spiritually accepted and willingly
obeyed. Moreover, while the springs of ac-
tion within disbelieving persons release the
urges of nature or reflect prevailing human
values, the follower of Baha'u'llah can draw
upon an illimitable Source of dynamic en-
ergy in his will to serve. Both on the side
of discipline and on the side of self-expres-
sion, the believer is expected to rise above
what is called the human condition and
show forth the realities of the true man.
But these mysteries are not so much attrib-
utes of knowledge as attributes of will.
When the Faith enters every new stage of
development, it is our will which must be-
come re-directed and re-inspired. Argu-
ment and discussion cannot invoke the mys-
terious potency released only as we purify
the elements of intention and will. If we
will anything less than unity, disunity must
inevitably result.
It is by a deepening realization of the re-
sponsibility laid upon the American Baha'i
community that we can make the transi-
tion to the new stage of reality indicated by
the Guardian this year. The resolution to
adopt and fulfill the Seven-Year Plan, amidst
the general darkening of the world's hori-
zons, must survive every conceivable test
before the resolution can become firmly es-
tablished. The task surpasses the capacity
of human emotion and thought, as faithful-
ness to the achievement of the task saves us
from the limitations of human nature as they
have existed in the past. Solely by con-
centration upon the two aspects of the
Plan in our daily lives and meetings can
we hope to become worthy of its ultimate
success.
Faithfully yours,
NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY,
By: HORACE HOLLEY,
Secretary.
ANNUAL REPORT — NATIONAL SPIRITUAL
ASSEMBLY OF THE BAHA'IS OF IRAN
1936-1937
JtilGHTY-SIX delegates present. Na-
tional Assembly elected. Beg confirmations.
Rawhani." This telegram was sent to the
Guardian by Baha'is from all over Iran who
had dared to hold their annual Convention
in Tihran, convening and residing in the
Haziratu'1-Quds. The Guardian's answer,
never delivered, later reached Iran in his let-
ter of 'Azamat 15, 93: "Supreme Concourse
voicing praise of resolution and endurance of
the people of Baha in that land of tribula-
tion. This servant is grateful and well sat-
isfied. I implore success for the delegates,
the Assembly members and the body of the
friends, from Him who is the true ally and
defender. Shoghi." Wider spread of Baha'i
laws and teachings, purchase of Baha'i sa-
cred places, abolition of any lingering race
prejudice, simplification of methods of re-
cording the census, chiefly occupied the Con-
vention. It recommended that:
Interracial marriages are to be urged; spe-
cial consideration for minority groups by the
majority is to be stressed, where Baha'is of
a given background predominate; titles, such
as Shaykh, Arbab, etc. and proper names
likewise indicative of race or of non-Baha'i
backgrounds are to be avoided, as is mem-
bership in non-Baha'i religious organizations.
Teaching Committees and classes and char-
acter training groups are to be established in
each center, and coordinated; two special
Baha'i teachers in addition to others which
the National Assembly will send out, are to
Haziratu'1-Quds of the Baha'is of Tihran, now in course of construction.
134
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
135
travel and reside in each Baha'i district; the
friends, especially those of Tihran, are to
make teaching trips throughout Iran when-
ever possible; teaching of the Administrative
Order, the tablet on child training and es-
tablishment of the Nineteen Day Feast and
other laws, are to be emphasized. The Na-
tional Assembly is to collect its revenues
proportionately from each Baha'i district,
and all Iran will contribute toward com-
pletion of the Tihran Haziratu'1-Quds and
purchase of lands adjacent to the site of the
Tihran Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. The friends
will be encouraged to contribute what they
wish both to their Local and National As-
sembly. An Archives Committee and a
Tihran Haziratu'1-Quds Committee will be
appointed in all centers, and it is hoped that
once established the National Archives may
be transferred to the Haziratu'1-Quds . . .
In the fifth session, following chanting of
the Master's Visitation Tablet during which
all stood in reverence, the following were
elected members of Iran's third National
Spiritual Assembly: 'Ali-Akbar Furutan
(Secretary), Valiyu'llah Varqa (Chair-
man), Jinab-i-Fadil-i-Mazindarani, Shu'a-
'u'llah 'Ala'i (Treasurer), Amin-Amin, Dr.
Yunis Afrukhtih (Vice-Chairman), Mah-
mud Badi'i, 'Inayatu'llah Ahmadpur, Ah-
mad Yazdani.
A letter received from the Guardian re-
garding current activities especially empha-
sizes the sending out of teachers throughout
fran and neighboring countries such as Af-
ghanistan, Baluchistan, Arabia and the
islands of the franian Gulf; the further es-
tablishment of the Administrative Order,
and the purchase of lands sacred to the
Faith. Regarding teaching, the Guardian
says in part: "The National Assemblies of
East and West, particularly that of America,
have arisen with all their strength to further
this important work in neighboring and dis-
tant lands. The National Assembly of fran
must seek precedence in this great service
and win great victories." Elsewhere the
Guardian has directed Amin-Amin to pay
to this National Assembly 1,000 tumans as
the nucleus — since added to by the friends
here— of a traveling teachers' fund.
This year the National Assembly has met
twice weekly, devoting half its sessions to
teaching work. Wherever possible, two lo-
cal teachers have been sent out through their
respective districts and their expenses paid.
Teaching tablets have been widely spread
and measures inaugurated to collect teach-
ing funds. Teaching classes have been
formed and a National Teaching Committee
established. The following teachers have
been sent out to the furthermost parts of
fran: IshraqKhivari and 'Abdu'llah Mutlaq,
Khurasan; 'Ali Adhari, 'Iraq; Tarazu-
'llah Samandari, Gilan, Mazindaran; Ibra-
him Adhar-Munir, Kurdistan-i-fran; 'Ab-
bas 'Alavi, Khuzistan; Fadil-i-Yazdi, the
Southern Ports; Nabil-Zadih, Baluchistan,
Sistan; Hasan Nushabadi, Fars. The fol-
lowing, appointed by the Central Local As-
sembly in various Baha'i districts, are like-
wise continuing to teach: Th£bit-i-Sharqi,
Isfahan; Vahid Kashfi, Ramadan; F4dil-i-
Tihrani, Kashan; Muhammad-Tahir Mal-
miri, Yazd; Haj Rahmaniyan, Tihran and
vicinity; Haydar-'Ali Usku'i, Adhirbayjan;
§adiq-Shamcbariq, Zahidan; Fa^lu'llah Nu-
ri, Yazd, Isfahan (this last traveling at his
own expense). Other teachers include:
Mihdi Arjumand and Abu'l-Qasim Mum-
tazi, Shiraz; Ascadu'l-Hukam£y-i-Qazvini,
Gilan; Khanum Fadil-i-Shirazi and Nur-i-
Din Mumtazi, Tihran and vicinity; Ustad
Isma'il-i-Ubudiyat and wife, of Tihran, vol-
unteers, to Shiraz.
For many years this National Assembly
has desired to send a teacher into Afghanis-
tan; the Government finally granted a pass-
port but the Afghanistan Legation refused
its visa. Reports from teachers within this
country, however, are most encouraging:
The Jewish population of Shiraz has been
stirred in an extraordinary manner by the
teaching of Mihdi Arjumand. They flocked
to hear him in such numbers that two lead-
ing mullas came and challenged him to a de-
bate; infuriated by defeat, the two preached
against him in their mosques, calling him an
infidel, forbidding association with him, and
urging the Jews to avoid him; disregarded,
they lodged a complaint with the authori-
ties. At present twenty-one teaching meet-
ings are held weekly in Shiraz, and are
attended by one hundred and fifty non-Ba-
hd'is, nineteen of whom have already ac-
cepted the Faith. New members of the
136
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Tabriz Youth Group have recently brought
into the Faith thirty people of all classes,
both Armenians and Muslims, in Mahal-
Ahar, a district where Armenian and Mus-
lim villages abound. Two new Armenian
believers of Barda'-Qarah-Bagh are spread-
ing a considerable number of handwritten
Baha'i teachings. Several have accepted the
Faith in the village of Mulla-Yusif, famed
martyr and Letter of the Living. The Cause
is likewise progressing in other Adhirbayjan
districts. From Isfahan, Thabit-i-Sharqi
traveled to Kuhkalaviyyih, informed three
hundred and eighty-eight outpost believers
in Kata'Bavir-i-Ahmadi of new develop-
ments in the Cause, established a Local As-
sembly and two primary schools for children.
Many young people of capacity are being
attracted in Isfahan where daily meetings
are held for all ages. Over eighty people
have recently been studying the Faith in
Yazd where teaching meetings are held
nightly. In Mashhad, the highly successful
Teaching Committee is made up of both
men and women. In the Southern Ports dis-
trict, Khurramshahr and Abadan are re-
ported most favorable to the Cause, and
progressive work continues in Bushihr.
Twenty-eight teaching meetings are held
weekly in Tihran; each, however, may be
attended only by the host, one Baha'i and
one non-Baha'i; despite restrictions, more
non-Baha'is are being attracted than for-
merly. Jinab-i-Fadil, Ahmad Yazdani and
Aqay-i-Furutan direct special classes for
men and women believers; many other gath-
erings especially for Baha'is are likewise
held. To offset the non-Baha'i influences to
which our children are subjected ever since
Government closure of all Baha'i schools,
Baha'is of fran are emphasizing character
training work more than ever before. Every
Friday thousands of Baha'i children (1,200
under eighty teachers in Tihran alone) meet
to study the Faith. The character training
course, using text -books by 'Ali-Akbar
Furutan, lasts five years and includes Baha'i
history, laws and types of behavior. The
sixth to twelfth year of study are devoted
to: "Lessons in Religion" by Muhammad-
'Ali Qd'imi; the "Maqalih"; J. E. Essie-
mont; the "fqan"; "Some Answered Ques-
tions"; the "Aqdas." When the Baha'is of
Najafabad refused to send their children to
non-Baha'i institutions and appealed to the
Isfahan and National Assemblies for advice,
Abu'l-Qasim Faydi, University of Beirut
graduate and formerly appbinted head of
the Boys' Tarbiyat School, sacrificed his po-
sition with the Anglo-franian Oil Co. in
Tihran to educate the Baha'i children of
Najafabad. In a communication to this
National Assembly, the Guardian praised
him highly, saying in part: "I am infinitely
grateful to and pleased with him. I wish
success for this energetic and spiritual young
man from the depths of my heart."
Regarding purchase of land sacred to the
Faith, every Naw-Ruz, 2,000 tumans from
the Huquq Fund are added at the Guardian's
direction to the fund for Baha'i shrines.
Qulam-Husayn Kayvan has undertaken a
nine months' journey at his own expense to
aid the Shrine Committee and increase the
Shrine Fund, and investigations are being
made to determine location of the shop of the
Bab in Bushihr and the birthplace of
Baha'u'llah in Tihran. A complete list of
Baha'i shrines in fran, Based on documents,
pictures and the Nabil Narrative, is being
made by Jinab-i-Fadil and two members of
the Shrine Committee. Recent purchases
include: a house belonging to the King of
Martyrs and the Beloved of Martyrs in
Isfahan; the burial place of nine martyrs,
also of the martyr Aqa Muhammad Bulur-
Furush, in Yazd; the men's quarters and
half the andarun of the Haji-Mirza Jani
house in Kashan; one-fourth of the Castle
of Chihriq and the Dasht-i-Malik, Adhir-
bayjan; one-half of the house where
Vahid resided in Nayriz. All fran has
contributed to repairing surroundings of
the Bab's House in Shiraz and to a fund
for purchasing lands adjacent to the
Maqam-i-A'la.
Persecution of the Baha'is still continues;
the following are typical episodes: Early in
Nur, 93, two Government orders were sent
out prohibiting Baha'i meetings throughout
Iran. The National Secretary had previ-
ously been grilled and threatened by the
municipal authorities; Valiyu'llah Varqa
then called on the Chief of Police on behalf
of this National Assembly, saying that we
had forbidden all meetings in the Haziratu'l-
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
137
Quds and even the use of its playgrounds,
and making representations regarding the
rough treatment — despite repeated Govern-
ment reassurances — of Baha'is by the police
throughout Iran; the Chief replied that he
would prevent any further such episodes,
and authorized private Baha'i gatherings of
not more than fifty persons. The National
Assembly then directed all communities to:
remove the Assembly office from the Hazi-
ratu'1-Quds; hold Administrative meetings
privately, reduce committee membership,
prohibit public meetings, limit private meet-
ings to forty persons, elect the National
Spiritual Assembly for 94 by mail. Mean-
while, despite these measures, unfair treat-
ment of Baha'is continues. In Mashhad the
soldier Sayfu'llah Furughiyan of Furugh,
wishing to register himself as a Baha'i, was
imprisoned, received fifty lashes, was or-
dered to adopt one of the four recognized
religions and told that he would be flogged
until he should cease to call himself a Baha'i.
By the authorities at Maraghih, the fam-
ilies of Rasul Nasir-Pur and Allah-Quli
were forced out of their homes by night in
the village of 'Alaviyan; they sought refuge
in Maraghih where they are in great straits.
At the instigation of the mulla Muhammad-
Javad Shamsu'l-'Ulama, some six hundred
people plundered the fields and cattle of the
Baha'i villagers in Khurmazard and Ahaq
(near Maraghih), causing damages estimated
at 40,000 riyals. In Faran, Shah Khalilu-
'llah was ordered to destroy the Haziratu'l-
Quds and Baha'i cemetery but steps were
taken to cancel this. In Shahabad ('Iraq)
police officials entered the Haziratu'1-Quds
and destroyed the Greatest Name which was
set in the wall, and although the perpe-
trators were later dismissed, the authorities
retained the major part of the Baha'i
archives. In Yazd, the Chief of Police sealed
up the Haziratu'1-Quds; on inquiry, the au-
thorities said this was done in obedience to
an order from Tihran; one Baha'i was re-
quired to guarantee that no meetings would
be held in the building. In Kirman, the
"Himmati" Baha'i kindergarten was closed;
in Nayriz, non-Baha'is in public school No.
6 have persecuted the Baha'i children and
despite the school authorities' repeated as-
surances, continue to do so unchecked. Ba-
ha'is who have lost their positions because
of their declaration of faith include: two
Shiraz hospital nurses, Nuriyyih Sarvistani
and Qudsiyyih Zahiri; Qulam-Husayn Tha-
biti, reporting for work at the Qa'inat
Department of Finance; Husayn 'Ala'i, Ka-
shan, dismissed from the Finance Depart-
ment after twenty years of service. In
Shiraz, Aqay-i-Banan was summoned by
the Intelligence Bureau and shown a copy of
a report sent by the Local to the National
Assembly regarding Convention delegates;
he was questioned as to Baha'i elections, and
told that all Baha'i activities must cease;
asked for a written guarantee of this, he
said that he had no authority to give one,
and that while other gatherings might be
suspended, the Local Assembly must con-
tinue to meet, as otherwise even the authori-
ties would have no means of dealing with
the Baha'is; this was finally agreed to. In
Bandar-i-Pahlavi, Rasht, and Kirmanshah
similar attempts were made by the authori-
ties to destroy the Administrative Order,
without success. In Bandar-i-Shah, the
friends are always persecuted on the obliga-
tory holidays; charged with closing his shop
on Ridvan 12, Haydar Rahmaniyan was ar-
rested and taken to Gurgan; on the Ascen-
sion of the Bab, when the friends had gath-
ered at the home of 'Ali-Ta'i, police arrested
Virdi and Haydar Rahmaniyan; when 'Ali-
Ta'i protested, the Chief of Police replied:
"The Government has done away with Ha-
san and Husayn (martyred Imams, publicly
venerated for centuries), and here you are
trying to start the same thing over again."
When a postman, leaving the shop of Zuhur-
u'llah Subhani, vilified the Cause, the lat-
ter summoned a policeman, was himself ar-
rested and taken under guard on four
different occasions to Gurgan for question-
ing, while the postman went free. Until
recently, the Cause in Sangsar had progressed
to such a point that the Muslims were show-
ing the greatest affection for the Baha'is; a
new Governor was then appointed, who or-
dered the suspension of Baha'i meetings.
One day he upbraided Haj Rahmaniyan for
selling the former Baha'i school equipment
to 'Ali Maqsudi, teacher of a Baha'i class
for adults, and when Rahmaniyan replied
that the property was his to dispose of, the
THE BAIiA'i WORLD
- in
The shop bf
the of the
in
Entrance to the Bath attended by the Bab in the vicinity
of His house in Shiraz.
Governor demurred, confiscated the furni-
ture and transferred it to the Government
School. He then proceeded to the Hazi-
ratu'1-Quds, forced an entry, and shouted to
a believer there, Aqay-i-Subhani, "What is
a Baha'i? You are a Muslim!" When Sub-
hdni insisted that he was a Baha'i, the Gov-
ernor struck him several times in the face;
as they led Subhani away in custody, the
Governor said, "I will destroy all of you."
Subhani answered, "We will gladly die a
thousand times over for being Baha'is"; and
while the people watched, he chanted verses
— "What is one body to give when I would
give a hundred souls" — and the guards
struck him. At the Police Station the Gov-
ernor joined his men in beating and kicking
this Baha'i till blood spurted from his nose
and mouth; then they shut him in a cell
with no food or light. The local Assembly
immediately dispatched Haj Rahmaniyan to
Tihran to confer with the National Assem-
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
139
bly. Meanwhile the Governor, having im-
prisoned 'Ali-Akbar Rahmaniyan, an eye-
witness whose report of the above episode
displeased him, sent in false reports to the
capital, asked for the expulsion of four local
Baha'is and then imprisoned Jalal 'Azami,
brought under custody from Simnan. Fi-
nally, as a result of telegrams sent by rela-
tives to His Majesty, the prisoners were
released, but were — with Haj Rahmaniyan
— banished to Tihran, where they are still
residing, unable to obtain redress. Mean-
while, censorship of Baha'i mail and non-
delivery of Baha'i telegraphic communica-
tions are the rule.
The problem of legalizing Baha'i mar-
riages in fran has not yet been solved; for
some years, no Baha'i marriage has been offi-
cially registered. The Baha'is will not use
the Muslim, Christian, Zoroastrian or Jewish
registries, and none other are authorized. As
the Baha'is are considerably more numerous
than some of the recognized groups, the situ-
ation is especially trying. In addition to the
Baha'i marriage ceremony, the friends at
present mail a properly-filled non-Muslim
certificate to the General Registry Office, to-
gether with a statement of the marriage;
copies of this statement are likewise sent to
the Ministry of Justice, and the Census and
Identification Bureaus. The authorities
threaten prosecution unless the authorized
registry offices are not used.
The seclusion of women, at last pro-
hibited, was a great obstacle to the progress
of the Faith in fran; today Baha'i women no
longer carry on their work separately, but
serve with the men as in western countries.
This fact, together with the official establish-
ment of the Nineteen Day Feast all over
fran, are important new developments. In
localities where the Baha'is are too numer-
ous to meet at the same Feast, several gath-
erings are held.
On Baha 11, 94, rumors of the Guardian's
marriage suddenly spread all over Tihran.
Having wired Baghdad on April 1, 1937, for
confirmation of the reports, fran sent the
following telegram to Hadrat-i-Ziya'iyyih
Khanum: "Hearts supremely happy. All
send humble felicitations." We then dis-
patched this news, which the Baha'is of
fr£n had longed to hear, all over the country
by letter. A communication^later received
from Mirza Hadi, enclosed copy of the fol-
lowing telegram, which the authorities had
withheld: "Convey to the friends in fran
the great glad-tidings of the Guardian's mar-
riage. This crowning honor bestowed on
Amatu'1-Baha, Ruhiyyih Kh£num, daughter
of two self-sacrificing servants of the Holy
Threshold, Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell. Ziya-
'iyyih.*' This telegram, sent in answer to
that of this National Assembly, likewise was
never delivered to us: "Felicitations of the
friends well-pleasing. Unity of East and
West well fortified. Bonds between fran
and America well-forged. Ziya'iyyih." Fes-
tivities and celebrations were held all over
Iran, many messages of rejoicing were sent
to Haifa, and as a special tribute to this mo-
mentous occasion the Tihran Assembly made
plans to roof over the great auditorium of
the Haziratu'1-Quds.
franian believers who passed away in 93
include the following: Zaynu'l-Abidin
Ibrari, leading citizen of Yazd, and eye-
witness of its historic martyrdoms. Once
of the 'ulama, he was many times banished
for teaching the Cause, following his con-
version by Haydar-'Ali, Varqa the martyr,
and Muhammad Riday-i-Yazdi. (Mihr 20,
1315, Sari, Mazindaran.) Qabil Abadi'i,
Baha'i poet and teacher, many times impris-
oned and persecuted. (Day 16, 1315, Aba-
dih.) Muhammad-Husayn Ulfat, well-
known Baha'i of Yazd, formerly a Shaykhi
and of the 'ulama; he served throughout
fran, and was teaching in Tihrdn when the
end came. (Urdibihisht, 1315.) Memorial
meetings commemorated his passing. Mu-
hammad-Natiq, learned, famous Bah£'i poet,
writer and teacher. (Sharaf 8, 93.) The
Guardian wrote of him: "... Rest assured
that his ceaseless services will be recorded in
the annals of the Cause and will never be
forgotten . . ." Hasan Fu'adi, some of
whose writings appeared in the Khurshid-i-
Kh£var; a refugee from 'Ishqabdd, he was
serving as an instructor when he died.
(Shahrivar 11, 1315, Tihran.) Mihdi-Quli
Mirza Mawzvin, staunch believer and son of
the well-known Baha'i poet, Husayn Quli
Mirza Mawzun, who served and suffered in
MaUyir. (Khurdad, 1315, Hamaddn.) Dr.
Sarhang Ibrihim Piruz-Bakht, Chief of the
140
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Health Department of the Military Schools,
(Bahman 3, Tihran). Relatives of the de-
ceased, predominantly Muslims, insisting on
Muhammadan rites, selected a grave atlmam-
Zadih 'Abdu'lUh and drew up a funeral
cortege which was to be directed by a colonel
from the War Ministry; nevertheless the
Doctor's daughter, Furughu'z-Zaman, Bei-
rut midwifery graduate, and his sister, Batul
Shafa'i, remained firm in their decision that
the deceased be accorded a Baha'i funeral,
and Shu'aVllah 'Ala'i of the War Ministry
urged that their wish be granted. On the
following morning, therefore, a great throng
of Baha'is, Muslims and many high ranking
officers from the War Ministry, including
His Excellency the Minister of War, accom-
panied the bier on foot for some distance;
military escort was given the cortege to the
Baha'i cemetery, many following by car.
Prayers were chanted by Aqay-i-Subhani
and others, and Ahmad Yazdani paid tribute
to the deceased and spoke on obedience to
the divine Manifestations; the body having
been prepared in the Baha'i mortuary for
burial, Jinab-i-Fadil chanted the commit-
ment tablet. Rarely has Tihran seen such an
imposing ceremony, or one attended by so
many non-Baha'is.
1937-1938
Ranging from confiscation by police of
the ballot-box during the election of Baha'i
Convention delegates in Qazvin, to the cruel
beating of a Baha'i child in the bazars of
Jahrum, persecutions of all kinds continue to
be the lot of the Baha'is of Iran.
In Sangsar, nine Baha'is of whom five
were Assembly members, were imprisoned
for two months because they had closed their
shops on the day of the Declaration of the
Bab. When their relatives sent repeated tele-
grams to the authorities in Tihran, the Mu-
nicipal Administration dispatched Major
Muhammad-* Ali Imam-Qaysi, who warned
them on pain of life-imprisonment or death
to adopt a recognized religion. The prison-
ers— Shahriyar Vahid, Chiragh-'Ali Tiby-
£ni, Allahvardi Paymani, 'Ali-Muhammad
Mithaqi, Baqir-'Ali Rahmaniyan, Husayn-
'Ali Parvin, Ma'sum Laqa'i, 'Abbas Gula-
stani, Ibrahim Husayn-Z£dih — as well as a
number of Baha'i women also questioned and
threatened, boldly asserted their faith. A
tenth believer, Isma'il Sajiai, was imprisoned
for using the word "Baha'i" in answer to the
Major's questioning. A second investigator,
Ma'sum Khan, arrived from Tihran, and
when the prisoners were finally released, they
were shown an order from the capital to the
effect that should they close their shops ex-
cept on recognized holidays they would not
be allowed to reopen them. Furthermore, the
secretary of the Local Assembly, Aqay-i-
Furughiyan, was insulted and brutally
struck by the acting Chief of Police, Sartib
Qarib, and was dismissed from his position
as secretary in the City Hall. One official of
Sangsar, the Military Governor Sargard
Siminu, has however dealt justly toward the
Baha'is and refrained from discriminating
against them.
In Tihran, preachers and their followers
entered a teaching meeting at the home of
Ibrahim Vahdat and tried to break up the
gathering. Shortly thereafter police arrested
Mr. Vahdat and he was held in prison over
two weeks, during which time he spread the
Faith among his fellow-prisoners. The officer
'Abdu'l-Husayn fmani, active Tihran Ba-
ha'i, was discharged from the police force
for attending Baha'i meetings, although later
he was transferred to the retired list. Several
Baha'i women of Mashhad, serving in the
Shah-Riday Hospital, were dismissed for pro-
fessing their faith. The Local Assembly sec-
retary of Rida'iyyih, Dr. Hatif, was dis-
missed from his position in the Red Lion and
Sun (franian Red Cross) for the same rea-
son, as was Sadiq Bakhtavar, assistant post-
master of Ardabil; 'Ali-Akbar fmani, head
of the Ardabil Finance Department, was
transferred to Tabriz. In Ahvaz, Dhabihu'l-
lah Nabili, who had been an officer and was
discharged from the army on account of his
faith, lost his position in the Bureau of
Standards for the same reason; his wife, serv-
ing in the Department of Education, was
likewise dismissed.
Five Local Assembly members of Saysan
were ordered by the State of Adhirbdyjan
to leave the town, but efforts were made
on their behalf and the order withdrawn.
Some of the Assembly members in Uska,
Miyanduab, and Maraghih were required by
police to pledge in writing that they would
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
141
attend no meetings or Assembly sessions.
The preacher Siyyid Mir-Habib of Maraghih
attacked the Baha'is from the pulpit in an
attempt to arouse the populace against them.
When the Baha'is asked the Chief of Police
to put a stop to this he said, "I did not think
a person calling himself a Baha'i would come
to me for redress." Police in Ardabil confis-
cated the Assembly records, held a Baha'i of-
ficer, 'Ali-Akbar fqani, for questioning and
obliged an Assembly member, Muhammad-
'Ali 'Inayati to guarantee that no meetings
would be held in his home. Municipal au-
thorities of Miyanduab arrested the Local
Assembly secretary Muhammad-Hasan Iq-
tisad and others, confiscating Baha'i books
and records. When the Ahvaz Assembly
was in session, police arrested six of the mem-
bers, imprisoning four; later their release was
arranged and the Assembly continues to
function.
In the village of Cham-Tang there were
five Baha'i families. The whole village at-
tacked them with picks and shovels, striking
them until they were near death. Of three
women who were severely injured, one, in an
advanced state of pregnancy, was expected
to lose her child. Rustam, son of 'Abdu'l-
Karim Afshar, was not expected to live. Of
the five families — who removed to Hindi] an
and appealed to the authorities, — others
badly injured were: 'Abdu'l-Karim Husayn
Afshar, 'Abdu'r-Rasul Husayn Afshar,
Khuda Karam Bihmi'i, Sulayman Fayd-
Nakhli. The Hindi j an Local Assembly,
in reporting to the National Spiritual
Assembly, stressed the fact that the
persecutions would spread unless quickly
checked.
Baha'is of Bandar-i-Shah were held for
questioning because they had closed their
shops and attended meetings on Baha'i sacred
days. More recently, local Baha'i bakers
were forbidden to stop work on those days,
but since they refused to obey the order it is
expected that they will be expelled from the
town. Police summoned a Birjand Local As-
sembly member, Sana'ullah Ridvani, and
told him that not even four Baha'is had the
right to gather in one place. Later they
broke into a session of the Assembly and
forced its adjournment. All Baha'i meet-
ings in Kirmanshah have been suppressed, al-
though the Local Assembly continues to
function.
Authorities of Iraq confiscated all Baha'i
books and documents in the house of the
seven martyrs, and removed all Baha'i rec-
ords from the Haziratu'1-Quds. They sum-
moned the sister of Hadrat-i-Shahid, 'Am-
mih-Jan, and Mihdi §alihi, custodian of the
martyrs' house, and questioned them as to
meetings, names of Local Assembly mem-
bers, and the like. They are now requiring
individual Baha'is to pledge themselves not
to hold meetings.
When Hidayatu'llah §idaquatpur was ly-
ing sick in bed at Marvast near Lazd, and
some friends had come to visit him, soldiers
and police burst into the house and threat-
ened the inmates with death. They mocked
the Cause and the Baha'is present, kicked
them and beat them with the butts of their
rifles. The corporal Himmat-Quli Bahrami
wrote down the names of those present, and
took away two Baha'i books; a rug and some
furniture were also removed. Appeals to the
authorities both locally and in the capital
proved unavailing. In the bazars of Jahrum,
the inhabitants mocked the Baha'is and then
struck down a Baha'i child, and when the
parent protested they turned on him and beat
him as well. When municipal authorities of-
fered no assistance the Baha'is referred the
case to the Spiritual Assembly of Shiraz,
through whose efforts the disturbances were
checked.
An officer of Kirmanshah, Dr. 'Abdu'llah
Javid, was degraded to the ranks and sen-
tenced to two years service in the conscript
army as a private, for registering his faith as
Baha'i. (Officers are required to answer
truthfully as to their religion and yet are
not permitted to answer that they belong to
any other than the four recognized reli-
gions.) His superiors made every effort to
have him sign as Muslim; they made light of
the Cause, and reminded him that the Sh£h
had declared the Baha'i Faith to be a sect or
group, not a recognized religion; one of
them, chief of the medical staff, agreed that
the Baha'i Faith would eventually regenerate
the world but said that "the time had not
yet come" to speak openly of it. Dr. Javid,
whose future career was at stake and who
was to have but four more months of mili-
142
THE BAHA'f WORLD
tary service before entering private practice,
stood firm and accepted the sentence. This
case is typical of many.
Enemies of the Cause in Kushk-Bdgh near
Sabzivar fell upon the Bahd'i 'Abdu'r-
Rahim and were beating him to death when
he was saved by a passing motorist. The as-
sailants, who were not prosecuted, then
plotted against the Baha'is with groups in
neighboring villages, and when Siyyid 'Ali-
Muhammad-i-§udkharvi who was walking
alone in Kumiz, a band of nine men and
several women surrounded him and beat him
until he was unconscious. He came to him-
self and started for help, and they attacked
him again. Then some villagers saved him,
and carried him into his house, and later one
of his sons took him to Sabzivar to ask for
justice, but it was not known whether any-
thing would be done by the authorities. The
Sabzivar Local Assembly informed the Na-
tional Spiritual Assembly that unless the at-
tackers were punished, lives and property of
all Baha'is in the district would be endan-
gered, and the trouble would spread to other
areas. The ringleader in this case was Kar-
bild'i-Husayn Rasuli, parliamentary deputy
of §udkharv and Kumiz; others of the guilty
were: Mulla 'Abbas, son of 'Ali-Akbar; Haji
Sayfu'llah T*rzavi and §afiyu'lldh Shafi'i;
it is noted that Shaykh-'Abdu'l-Husayn, the
local mulla, secretly stirs up the populace
against the Baha'is.
As the foregoing demonstrates, the Ba-
hd'is of fran are steadfastly enduring the af-
flictions which the progress of the Cause has
brought about. Representations are made to
the authorities regarding each episode as it
occurs. Recently a general memorandum
was presented by the National Spiritual As-
sembly to the Prime Minister listing the fol-
lowing cases in which the Government offi-
cially and openly shows discrimination
against the Baha'is: First, Baha'is are refused
the good-record certificate — necessary in
fran — although fulfilling all the require-
ments; as soon as they state their faith, issu-
ing of the document is postponed on some
pretext, or they are flatly told that being a
Bahd'i in itself constitutes a bad record. Sec-
ond, if seeking work in governmental de-
partments, a Bahd'i is immediately rejected
when his religion becomes known. Third,
when trying to obtain justice, it often hap-
pens that a Bahd'i asking police help is him-
self imprisoned and the guilty party freed;
that, if a Bahd'i 's goods are stolen, police
make no effort to recover them. Frequently
the officials themselves insult and threaten
the Baha'is, even declaring it permissible to
deprive them of life and property, and ob-
viously the masses of the people follow suit.
The impression is widespread that injustice
done to Baha'is will go unpunished. Fourth,
the only marriages recognized by the Gov-
ernment are the Muslim, Christian, Jewish
and Zoroastrian. fran has four marriage reg-
istries, one for each of these religions, and
since the use of any of these by a Baha'i is
tantamount to a recantation of his faith,
Baha'i couples can only send in written no-
tice of their marriage to the necessary Gov-
ernment bureaus, including the general reg-
istry and the Minister of Justice.
Official notice was recently given of a new
marriage regulation, one section of which,
imposing six months imprisonment on any
man seeking marriage or divorce without
presenting himself at one of the four regis-
tries— was directed toward the Baha'is. The
National Spiritual Assembly took this mat-
ter up with the Minister of Justice, Matin-i-
Daftari, and he promised to take steps along
this line but the situation remains un-
changed. The Baha'is, obliged to continue
as before, marry according to Bahd'i law and
formally notify the authorities concerned.
The National Assembly presented a memo-
randum on the problem to the Prime Minis-
ter, Aqdy-i-Jam, enclosing a statement of
Baha'i marriage procedure, and pointing out
the following: the marriage law of fran is re-
ligious, not civil; there are more Baha'is in
fran than there are Christians, Jews or Zo-
roastrians; the Baha'is are obliged as such to
be law-abiding citizens, but cannot register
themselves as adherents of another faith,
or conceal their faith from the Govern-
ment. So far the authorities have done
nothing to solve the Bahd'i marriage prob-
lem in frdn.
Meanwhile a wave of teaching activity,
carried forward by both men and women in
spite of every opposition, marks the Bahd'i
year 94 in frdn. The following letter re-
ceived from the Guardian was the signal for
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
143
the Baha'is here to arise and teach as never
before:
". . . In view of the importance of the
question of teaching in these days and the
need of participation by the dear friends of
that region in the recent vital and glorious
undertakings of the friends in America, who
with all their might have engaged in consoli-
dating the Administrative Order and extend-
ing the scope of teaching activity through-
out the continents of North and South
America — the National Assembly of the Ba-
ha'is of that land must endeavor more than
ever before to increase the number of men
and women believers and to further stimu-
late the individual Baha'is. It is hoped that
in these last remaining years of the first cen-
tury of the Baha'i era, the followers of the
Cause of the Ancient Beauty in that blessed
country will achieve great victories . . .
Instructions have been sent Amin-Amin to
pay at the beginning of each year the sum of
2,000 tumans to the members of that As-
sembly to be used for the important work of
teaching in that country, so that the sum
shall be spent in selecting and sending out
teachers, organizing the teaching work, and
consolidating all matters relative to teach-
ing activities both in the capital and the
provinces of Iran. The passionate exertions
of the sorely-tried friends of that sacred
land, in these days when the divine confirma-
tions are manifest in full effulgence in most
of the countries throughout the world, will
attract the blessings of heaven and the un-
failing help of the one Lord . . ." (Novem-
ber 17, 1937)
The National Spiritual Assembly has dis-
patched the following eleven teachers
throughout Iran: Haydar-'Ali Usku'i,
Adhirbayjan; 'Abbas 'Alavi, Isfahan; Haj
Aqa Rahmaniyan, Mazindaran and §ahray-
i-Turkaman ; Ishraq Kha var i , Khurasan ; Abd-
u'llah Mutlaq, Khuzistan (this teacher be-
came seriously ill in Abadan, and was obliged
to return to Tihran, where he is still confined
to his bed) ; 'Ali-Aqa Adhari, 'Iraq; Taraz-
u'llah Samandari, Adhirbayjan, Gilan;
Hasan Nushabadi Rahmani, Yazd; Ibrahim
Adharmunir, Kashan, Isfahan, Abidih,
Shiraz; Munir Nabilzadih, Qayinat; 'All
Mumtazi (Fadil-i-Yazdi), Kirman, Khuzi-
stan.
The following eight Baha'is serve as district
teachers: Muhammad Thabit-i-Sharqi, Isfa-
han; Ramadan-'Ali Baqa'i, Mazindardn;
Muhammad Majd, Khurasan; Abdu'l-Qasim
Mumtazi, Tihran; Fadil-i-Tihrani, Kashan;
Haj Muhammad-Tahir Malmiri, Yazd;
§adiq Sham'Bariq, Zahidan; Ahmad Musta-
qimi, Hamadan.
The following eleven have made voluntary
teaching trips as indicated: As'adu'1-Huka-
may-i-Qazvini, Isfahan, Shiraz; Ishraqiy-i-
Sangsari, Mazindaran (this young man left
his business in Tihran for four months, and
despite the intense heat traveled through
Mazindaran, everywhere visiting the friends
and stimulating teaching activities) ; Bahiy-
yih Khanum Izadi, Isfahan, Abadih, Shiraz;
Khanum Fadil-i-Shirazi, Tihran district,
Mazindaran; Tahirih Khanum 'Amidi,
Shiraz; Isma'il 'Ubudiyyat-i-Najjar, Tihran
district; Mawhibatu'llah Ha'i Najafabadi,
Isfahan, Abadih, Pars, Ardistan (this young
teacher left his business for a highly success-
ful teaching trip, three months of which was
spent instructing the Baha'i children of
Ardistan; he is now about to undertake an-
other trip to last six months) ; Jinab-i-Fadil-
i-Mazindarani and Rahmatu'llah cAla'i,
Hamadan, Kirmanshah, 'Iraq; Faraju'llah
'Abdi and Ja'far Mulki, Hamadan district;
'Ali-Quli Amzajirdi, Gilan; 'Azizu'llah
Mithaqi, Adhirbayjan.
Siyyid Hasan-i-Hashimi-zadih, excep-
tional teacher, has accepted the invitation of
this National Assembly to leave his profes-
sion and devote all his time to spreading the
Cause. Dawud-Quli Raf'ani will settle in
Baluchistan and Sistan for teaching pur-
poses; this young man was formerly an of-
ficer in the army, and was discharged for de-
claring his faith. He has spent some time in
Baluchistan, and is familiar with the leaders
of the people, the language and customs, and
anxious to work among them. Three mem-
bers of the National Spiritual Assembly have
likewise made trips to accelerate teaching ac-
tivity; they are: Mahmud Badi'i, Isfahan,
Shiraz; Dr. Afrukhtih (vice-chairman),
Isfahan, Yazd, Kirman; Ahmad Yazdani,
Mazindaran, Gilan. (Other members of the
National Assembly, which this year was
elected by mail, are: Valiyu'llah Varqa,
chairman; 'Ali-Akbar Furutan, secretary;
144
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Shu'a'u'llah 'Ala1!, treasurer; Amin-Amin;
Jinab-i-Fadil; 'Inayatu'llah Ahmadpur.)
Sixty-four Nineteen Day Feasts are now
held regularly in Tihrdn; new Baha'is are
first made known to the Census Committee,
from which they receive their identification
card, and after that are introduced to the
Nineteen Day Feast Committee. Teaching
meetings are numerous, and in Tihran ten
leading teachers, of whom four are members
of the National Spiritual Assembly, are at
the disposal of all seekers in the capital. As
a result of this greatly stimulated activity,
Baha'is as individuals have come to under-
stand the responsibility of teaching, many
people have accepted the Faith, and others
who were inimical are now favorably dis-
posed toward the Cause.
Nineteen teaching meetings have been held
each week in Yazd. During the last six
months of 1937, eight hundred people were
taught in two hundred and eighty gather-
ings. Thirty Yazd believers, both men and
women, have volunteered to go on teaching
trips. Here as elsewhere, advanced courses
are given for new believers. Rasjht has held
regular meetings six nights a week. In Babul
(formerly Barfurush) and environs, the
friends despite great economic difficulties are
very active; Aqay-i-Rahmaniyan, who has
worked extensively with them, teaching, and
establishing Spiritual Assemblies in Ashraf,
Chalus and elsewhere, especially praises the
twelve Baha'i families of Gunbad-i-Qabus;
the Turkaman inhabitants are friendly with
them, and one of the local 'ulama has ac-
cepted the Faith. Kirman reports three
teaching meetings a week, Shiraz ten, 'Iraq
five in addition to nine teaching conferences
during the past year. New teaching plans
are being furthered in Mashhad, and Aqay-i-
Mutlaq reports a successful campaign, in
spite of his illness, in Abadan, Khurramshahr
and Ahvaz. After teaching many Baluchi-
stan notables in Zahidan and Zabul, Nabil-
zadih traveled to Khash, where, in the in-
tense heat, he succumbed to the insidious
local fever; later, during a six months stay in
Birjand, he attracted one hundred and
thirty-five new believers, whose children
have likewise been entered in the Baha'i
character-training classes. In the face of
sickness, unfavorable climate, and primitive
conditions, the present labors of Iran's teach-
ers represent a spectacular achievement.
Recently added to sacred and historic
places now owned by the Baha'is are: two-
thirds of the house of Haji Mirza Abu'l-
Qasim, frequented by the Bab and adjoining
the buildings next to His House in Shiraz.
House of the martyr, Hadrat-i-Khal (the
Bab's maternal uncle) , Shiraz. Burial places
of Saraju'sh-Shuhada', Habibu'llah Mirza,
Aqa Javad, the martyrs, Malayir. Burial
place of the four martyrs of 'Iraq, Shahid
Mulla-BasJhi; Jalii Mulla Muhammad-' Ali;
Nabil Aqa Rahmatu'llah; 'Aziz Aqa Naw-
shad. Burial place of Hasan-'Ali Khan, the
martyr, Isfahan. Three-fourths of the house
of Mahbubu'sh-Shuhada', the martyr, Isfa-
han. Two houses at the end of the Street of
the Sword-Makers, near the House of the
Bab, Shiraz. Burial places of the eight mar-
tyrs of Ardikan, also of the martyrs Siyyid
Yahya, Sirjan; Ustad Mirza Davarani, Raf-
sanjan; Husayn-'Ali Firuzabadi, Firuzabad-
i-Yazd. The National Spiritual Assembly
has ordered purchase of the Bab's place of
business in Bushihr and* of the bath fre-
quented by Him in the Street of the Sword-
Makers, Shiraz, and likewise hopes to acquire
the entire house in Chihar-Burj, Rida'iyyih
(formerly Urumiyyih) where the Bab
stayed; repairs on one section of this house,
also on that of the seven martyrs of 'Iraq,
are going forward.
Local Assemblies which for various causes
had ceased to exist in the following towns
have now been reestablished: Gurgan;
Bujnurd, Nasrabad-i-Jam, Turbat-i-Jam,
(Khurasan) ; Durakhsh, Sarchah, Khusf
(Qayinat).
During the past year building of the Tih-
ran Haziratu'1-Quds was continued. The
eastern section was finished, the doors set in
and all debts paid. New pledges were then
collected for roofing the auditorium, and
when European firms approached in this
connection asked as much as 358,000 tumans
to do the work, the devoted Baha'i 'Ali-Aqa
Haddad and his sons 'Abbas-Aqa and Akbar-
Aqa, undertook to complete this part of the
building for 40,000 tumans.
A further activity of the National Assem-
bly has been connected with Iranian Baha'is
who formerly lived in the USSR; Soviet au-
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
145
thorities have recently expelled all Iranian
subjects from Russia, and it is learned that
some Baha'is of 'Ishqabad and Baku have
been imprisoned there. The National Assem-
bly has done all in its power to aid those suf-
ferers who have returned to fran; it has re-
quested the Government to allow free entry
of their belongings into the country, and
sent funds raised in Tihran to the Local As-
semblies of Mashhad and Rasht to be used on
their behalf; these Assemblies and that of
Bandar-i-Pahlavi and Tabriz are doing all
they can to provide for them.
The Baha'i youth of Iran are showing
themselves fully capable of carrying on the
work of the Faith. The Central Committee
of Baha'i Youth, recently formed in the cap-
ital, corresponds with other Baha'i youth
groups and coordinates youth activity.
Other committees include the Athletics
Committee, which supervises sports and
health, and committees for teaching public
speaking, foreign languages, and advanced
Baha'i subjects. Ten meetings, four of
which were for women, were held in Tihran
February 25-27 by the youth, with a total
attendance of 381 persons; the uniform pro-
gram of these meetings included the chant-
ing of prayers, deliberations as to teaching
and the role of Baha'i youth, and refresh-
ments. Salim-i-Nunu, just returned from
Haifa, delivered messages from the Guard-
ian, and Aqay-i-Panahi presented flowers on
behalf of the Baha'i youth of 'Ishqabad, also
pledging 500 riyals for teaching work. One
of these meetings was held at the village of
Hasanabad, where a memorable luncheon
was served by the villagers and the youth
donated 175 tumans toward completion
of the local Haziratu'1-Quds; similar
gatherings were held by youth throughout
the country.
ANNUAL REPORT — NATIONAL
ASSEMBLY OF THE BAHA5
THE BRITISH ISLES
SPIRITUAL
IS OF
APRIL, 1936 APRIL, 1937
JL HE current year may justly be described
as outstanding in the history of the Faith in
this land. We have been conscious of a new
and vital spirit within the community, and
outward signs of its activity have not been
lacking. Looking backward, over even so
short a period, we may discern three stages in
the general development. First an awaken-
ing among all the believers, second a realisa-
tion of community consciousness, fostered
by, and coincident with, the establishment
of the Administrative Order, and thirdly the
beginning of a wider and more effective
teaching work.
The year began with an event of outstand-
ing importance; the receipt of Shoghi Ef-
fendi's general letter entitled "The Unfold-
ment of World Civilization," a copy of
which was sent to every believer. To this,
more than to any other outward cause, may
be attributed the expansion of consciousness
which has been apparent in the English Ba-
ha'i community. Our attention was directed
in a compelling manner to the wide and uni-
versal aspects of Baha'u'llah's Revelation; we
were given an indication of the course of
history in the next few years, and were
forced to realise the crucial necessity of
building, firmly and steadily, the fabric of
the New World Order in Great Britain. In
this letter the Guardian called attention to
two processes at work within society — one
of disintegration affecting every phase of hu-
man life, and one of construction associated
directly with the rise of the Faith of Baha'-
u'llah. Subsequent world-shattering events
— to name but two, the abdication of Ed-
ward VIII with the consequent attacks upon
the church, and the outbreak of war in Spain
between the upholders of two social doc-
trines to whose alignment of forces the
Guardian had already referred in a previous
letter — bear striking testimony to the
Guardian's unerring perception, and in asso-
ciation with a host of other ills — strikes and
lock-outs, civil disturbances, universal re-
armament— confirm his dictum that human-
ity is now entering the outer fringe of the
darkest period of its history. "The signs of
impending convulsions and chaos can^now be
discerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order
appeareth to be lamentably defective."
146
THE B A H A ' 1 WORLD
This clear analysis of the present world
picture, followed in the second half of his
letter by an intimation of the entrancing
vision of "The Most Great Peace," aroused in
the hearts of the friends a desire to play their
part in the establishment of that great day.
In this noble aim the National Spiritual As-
sembly provided initiative and leadership,
and served as the channel for a flow of en-
couragement and guidance which constantly
came from the Guardian. The activity, con-
solidation and strengthening of the National
Spiritual Assembly has been one of the sig-
nificant items of the year. Through the
measures which it has initiated, the contact
it has maintained with the community, the
supervision it has exercised over the local As-
semblies and isolated believers, and through
much practise in the Baha'i technique of
consultation, it has won the confidence of
the friends and acquired a valuable experi-
ence to be handed on to subsequent national
bodies.
Early in the year a Teaching Bulletin was
issued by the National Teaching Committee
at approximately regular intervals of a
month. It proved a valuable means of draw-
ing the believers together and of stimulating
them to fresh activity. It also gave instruc-
tion in, and stressed the importance of, Ad-
ministration. Very soon, however, the Na-
tional Spiritual Assembly felt the need of
some means of direct and less circumscribed
communication with the friends, and the
Teaching Bulletin was discontinued and the
Bahd'j Journal brought into being. The Ba-
hd'i Journal exists as the official organ of the
National Spiritual Assembly and has proved
one of the greatest assets to the Faith in Eng-
land. It has been of especial service in assist-
ing the N.S.A. to carry out its desire of real-
ising, in the whole country, that organic
unity which is at the core of Baha'i society.
Its scope and tenor will progress with the
Faith.
In addition to the regular publication of
the Bahd'i Journal, the National Spiritual
Assembly has circularized the friends on
three occasions, once in November calling
attention to the principle of unity underly-
ing all Baha'i life, and urging the observ-
ance of two Baha'i laws — regular attendance
at the Nineteen Day Feast, and regular sub-
scription to the Fund . . . and on two other
occasions in connection with the Publishing
Company.
Letters have been sent throughout the
whole Baha'i world on two occasions . . .
the first in September containing a brief re-
port of our activities, and the second in April
1937 in connection with the Publishing
Company.
The idea had been considered of holding a
Summer School, and the Guardian signified a
desire for it. The National Spiritual Assem-
bly recognized, not only the value of Sum-
mer School as an institution but the oppor-
tuneness of a national undertaking which
would call for the support and effort of all
the believers. A Committee was appointed
to investigate all the possibilities and to make
recommendations to the National Spiritual
Assembly. Due to its perseverance and un-
tiring work and the support of the National
Assembly, the first British Baha'i Summer
School was held in August, 1936, at Mat lock
Bath. Its success was beyond the most san-
guine hopes, and a fresh spirit of fellowship
and dedication was engendered and diffused
throughout the country. The classes were
of a high standard. It would be hard to
overestimate the significance of this achieve-
ment in the development of the Faith in
England, for it demanded and received the
enthusiasm and full support of all the believ-
ers, it undoubtedly attracted Divine confir-
mation and stands as our first important na-
tional undertaking. The Guardian signified
his pleasure at its success and sent the follow-
ing message: — "The institution of the Sum-
mer School constitutes a vital and inseparable
part of any teaching campaign, and as such
ought to be given the full importance it de-
serves in the teaching plans and activities of
the believers. It should be organized in such
a way as to attract the attention of the non-
believers to the Cause and thus become an
effective medium for teaching." Plans are
already complete for the second Summer
School in August, 1937.
In July, 1936, the World Fellowship of
Faiths held its second International Congress
in London, the subject being "World Fellow-
ship Through Religion." Representatives of
all the leading Faiths were present and a ses-
sion was allotted to each one. The Baha'i
N
o
o>
"O
u
rt
.2
1
O
CJ
147
148
THE BAHA'f WORLD
paper, approved by Shoghi Effendi, was com-
posed and read by Mr. Townshend. In intro-
ducing the Baha'i session, the chairman, Sir
Herbert Samuel, said in effect that if he were
asked to say which of all the Faiths repre-
sented was the nearest to the aim of the Con-
gress, he would reply the Baha'i, for World
fellowship and unity is the raison d'etre of
the Bahi'i Community. Mrs. Helen Bishop,
Madame Orlova and Mr. St. Barbe Baker
spoke for the Faith, and Mr. Hirst, of Leeds,
made a plea for recognition of the Baha'i
principles.
Two important decisions of the National
Spiritual Assembly made during the year are
as follows: — One, reported in Babd'i Journal
number one and clarified in the following
number, reads: "Individual believers must
not communicate with persons of eminence
in governmental or political circles, except
through the National Spiritual Assembly."
The second ruling delimited the area of juris-
diction of the London Spiritual Assembly to
within a radius of twelve and a half miles of
Charing Cross.
In January, 1937, a convention of Baha'i
students was held in Paris. Si* people at-
tended from England and one of them read
a paper.
A cable was sent to the American Na-
tional Spiritual Assembly during the period
of the floods in the Mississippi valley, ex-
pressing the sympathy of the British friends
with America in this national disaster.
The following Committees of the Na-
tional Spiritual Assembly have been working
during the year: — Teaching; Reviewing;
Contacts; Library; Summer School. The Re-
viewing Committee has approved a book on
the Faith and some articles. The Contacts
Committee is in close touch with the N.S.A.
and sends literature to many people. The
Library Committee has been appointed only
recently but has succeeded in placing books
in various public libraries. Mrs. George was
appointed to maintain contact with the iso-
lated believers, a service which is greatly ap-
preciated by them.
TEACHING
In April, 1936, the following message was
received from the Guardian: — "There is un-
doubtedly no higher call than that of bring-
ing the Message to a world tormented and
torn on every side by the forces of destruc-
tive materialism. It is for us to realize the
full measure of the responsibility that has
been laid upon our shoulders in this matter,
and having attained full consciousness of our
responsibility to unitedly arise to contribute
all that we can towards its discharge." Al-
though teaching has never ceased and has
been notable in certain instances such as
Summer School and the work in Devonshire,
it is realized that this year in England has
been a period of internal consolidation, of
gathering our energies, of investigating the
most opportune fields and the most effective
methods, of gaining experience and of pre-
paring for efficient teaching work. The
N.S.A. believed that one great factor not yet
integrated into the scheme of national teach-
ing, is the potentiality of every believer, no
matter what his capacities or talents may be,
to teach the Cause, and it strongly recom-
mends that this matter should receive the
deep and prayerful consideration of every
follower of Baha'u'llah.
Early in the year Mr. and Mrs. Bishop
came to England and in addition to working
in London made a tour of various parts of
the country, speaking to audiences gathered
by resident Baha'is. They returned to Ge-
neva in September. After examination of
Mrs. Bishop's report the National Spiritual
Assembly wrote to Shoghi Effendi requesting
her services for another year, a petition
which the Guardian granted. Mrs. Bishop
was asked to go to Torquay, where in asso-
ciation with Mr. Tobey and Mrs. McKinley
active work was begun. From December
until April a constant and intense cam-
paign was conducted, Mrs. Bishor) speaking
in churches, intellectual institutions and pri-
vate homes. The result of this work was that
three people declared themselves and were
enrolled, while a large number were greatly
attracted to the Faith and the Teachings
were widely spread in that district. Follow
up work will be continued by the five be-
lievers now there, who are preparing them-
selves for intensive work with a view to en-
larging the group into an Assembly.
In the work of the Spiritual Assemblies
there is apparent at this end of the year, a
different and more impressive method than
CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES
149
could be seen at the beginning. In both Lon-
don and Manchester the old type of teaching
in wide generalizations has been succeeded by
intensive and vital discussion groups.
In London, the removal of the centre to
46 Bloomsbury Street made it necessary to
conduct a more intimate type of meeting,
similar to a fireside group. This has proved
highly effective and large attendances are the
rule. Fireside meetings have been conducted
at various homes, and in Crouch End a group
has been formed under the jurisdiction of the
London Spiritual Assembly. This group re-
cently rented the Hornsea Town Hall and
conducted a well attended and successful
public meeting. Plans are being made for a
series of public lectures in Caxton Hall dur-
ing May. London has enrolled seven new
believers during the year.
In Manchester a new and vigorous spirit is
at work. The Spiritual Assembly has taken
a hall in the centre of the city and is making
full use of it. The Nineteen Day Feast has
become firmly established in the community,
and with an increased understanding of the
Administrative Order, a new teaching pro-
gramme is being undertaken. Two new be-
lievers have been enrolled.
The Baha'i Theatre Group may be men-
tioned under the heading of Teaching, for
this group, organized and directed by Ma-
dame Orlova, has proved an effective means
of attracting young people to the Faith and
of giving them first hand experience of Ba-
ha'i consultation. At Naw-Ruz the group
presented scenes from "As You Like It" and
is now working on a pageant of the "Seven
Valleys."
In March, 1937, Mr. Siegfried Schop-
flocher brought a message from the Guardian
to the effect that he wishes us to stress two
things: — humanity has come of age, and the
appearance of BahaVllah. These are the
two factors to resolve the modern "riddle of
existence."
A small pamphlet was composed by the
National Spiritual Assembly and five thou-
sand copies printed, available at a penny
each.
From the very beginning of the year the
National Spiritual Assembly felt the need
for literature printed in England, but owing
to lack of resources the need remained un-
filled. Shortly however, circumstances arose
with which all the friends are acquainted,
which led to the decision to form a Publish-
ing Company, for the purpose of publishing
Baha'i books through an established print-
ing house. In this project the National Spir-
itual Assembly was fully supported and en-
couraged by the Guardian, who sent £50
towards the Fund needed. The National Spir-
itual Assembly pledged and gave its full sup-
port, both moral and financial, and sought
the help of the friends. The response was
immediate and generous, but only from a
limited number. The N.S.A. is confident,
however, that when the project itself, and
the wide range of its probable results, are
more fully understood, every believer will
sacrifice for its success. With the permission
of the Guardian, a circular letter was printed
and sent throughout the Baha'i World, seek-
ing the help of the world-wide Baha'i com-
munity. It is surely a symptom of the al-
mighty assistance of BahaVllah, that within
the short space of one year, we should have
successfully accomplished a national under-
taking and embarked on another which bids
fair to become international in scope. For
Shoghi Effendi has likened the establishment
of the Publishing Company to the building
of the Temple in America and indicates that
its success may "mark the inauguration of a
new era of expansion of the Cause through-
out the British Isles and the rest of the far-
flung British Empire." At its last meeting
the N.S.A. was advised that there was £153
in the Publishing Fund, which is sufficient to
establish the Company legally with a limited
capital liability of £100. Proper legal ad-
vice has been obtained and the N.S.A. has
recorded its decision to register the Company
as "The Bahi'i Publishing Company, Lim-
ited." Investigations are being made as to
the most favorable method of associating the
N.S.A. with the Company. It may be truly
said that upon the progress of this plan de-
pends that expansion of the Teaching work
which it is now our chief duty to promote.
On March 29th the following cable was
received from Haifa: — " Announce Assem-
blies celebration marriage beloved Guardian.
Imperishable honor bestowed upon hand-
150
THE BAHA'l WORLD
maid of Baha'u'llah Ruhiyyih Khanum Miss
Mary Maxwell. Ziya'iyyih, Mother of
Guardian." To this joyful news the Na-
tional Spiritual Assembly, the Spiritual
Assemblies of London and Manchester, and
the Bournemouth Group, cabled their ex-
pressions of delight. The union of East and
West, so dear to the Master's heart, has been
cemented in his own Family.
During the year the National Spiritual As-
sembly has met twelve times; ten times in
London, once in Manchester and once at
Summer School. It was found necessary to
purchase a typewriter for the secretarial
work.
One of the greatest problems with which
the N.S.A. has had to contend, has been the
National Fund. Although this year, re-
ceipts are slightly in excess of expenses, it
will be seen from the Treasurer's report how
very limited are the funds at the disposal of
the N.S.A. It is felt that the friends do not
yet realize the importance of regular contri-
bution to the Fund, or that it is a Bahd'i
Law, and not a principle ... a command
of Baha'u'lUh.
This report would not be complete with-
out some reference to the encouragement and
guidance which has been received from the
Guardian during the year. His constant
message has been to persevere and teach the
Cause. "Persevere and never feel disheart-
ened." "Rest assured and persevere." . . .
"Now is the beginning of your work. And
as in the beginning of every task, you are
bound to meet all sorts of difficulties. The
more you strive to overcome these, the
greater will be your reward, and the nearer
you will get to that glorious success which,
as repeatedly promised by Baha'u'llah, must
needs crown the efforts of all those who,
whole-heartedly and with pure detachment,
strive to work for the spread and establish-
ment of His Cause." And lately these inspir-
ing words to an individual believer, pub-
lished with his permission. "The goal is
clear, the path safe and certain, and the as-
surances of Baha'u'114h as to the eventual
success of our efforts quite emphatic."
In comparison with the greatness and
eventual destiny of the Faith of Baha'u'lUh,
the year may well seem to be of little signifi-
cance. But in comparison with previous
years, and remembering the difficulties which
have been overcome both within and with-
out the Faith, and remembering too the
smallness of our numbers, we can realize
with gratitude the meaning of the Guard-
ian's words referring to "this auspicious stage
in the evolution of the Faith" in England.
The uniting of all the friends in an organic
unity, the strengthening of the position and
authority of the National Spiritual Assem-
bly, the firm establishment of the Adminis-
trative Order, as attested by the Guardian,
the publication of the Rahd'i Journal, the in-
ception of Summer School, the teaching cam-
paign in Devonshire, the consolidation of the
Faith in London and Manchester within the
Administrative structure and the subsequent
beginning of new teaching work in those
centres, the initial success of the plan for the
Publishing Company, the enthusiasm and ac-
tive work of the London Youth Group—
these are among the outstanding features of
the ninety-third year of the Baha'i era in
Great Britain.
"All-praise and glqry be to God Who,
through the power of His might, hath deliv-
ered His creation from the nakedness of non-
existence, and clothed it with the mantle of
life . . . O, how blessed the day when, aided
by the grace and might of the one true God,
man will have freed himself from the bond-
age of the world and all that is therein, and
will have attained unto true and abiding rest
beneath the shadow of the Tree of Knowl-
edge."
Faithfully, in His Service,
National Spiritual Assembly,
by DAVID HOFMAN, Secretary.
APRIL, 1937— APRIL, 1938
IN our last annual report we noted an
awakening of community consciousness
among the believers throughout the country.
The current year has been characterised by a
continuation of this process, with the ac-
companiment of growing pains. The guid-
ing hand of Baha'u'llah has been apparent in
creating conditions which have forced us to
face our own problems and to stand on our
own feet as a functioning community with-
in the Baha'i World Order.
We have been deprived of the services of
the American teachers by their departure
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
151
from England, but their work has been con-
tinued, which in itself is a testimony to the
ability and determination of the English
community to develop from its own re-
sources. The National Spiritual Assembly
wishes to express its deep gratitude to all
those visiting teachers who have done so
much to help us during the past two years.
They not only taught the Faith to enquir-
ers, but prepared the believers to do the
same, and keenly as we feel their loss we can
only be grateful for the opportunity which
we now have of nursing the tender plant of
the Faith in this land, and with the help of
God, sending its roots deep into the soil.
This growing unity of the believers ex-
pressed itself at Summer School and at the
Teaching Conference in December, when
friends from all over the country assembled
together. As a means to further this process
the Conference recommended to the N.S.A.
that three annual rallying points for all the
believers be established. The recommenda-
tion was confirmed and the three occasions
chosen were Convention, Summer School and
a mid-winter Teaching Conference. Na-
tional community consciousness has been
fostered in various other ways such as the
distribution of the Bahd'i Journal, the meet-
ings of the N.S.A. being held in Manchester
and London and correspondence with iso-
lated believers.
While doing everything possible to con-
solidate the community, the N.S.A. has re-
mained aware of the danger of becoming ex-
clusive which might lie in such a policy. A
statement was made about this in one num-
ber of the Bahd'i Journal. The unity and
close association of the friends is of utmost
importance, but we must not lose sight of
our relationship to all humanity. " Consort
with all people with joy and fragrance."
Our Nineteen Day Feasts, meetings, and
other activities should not become ingrown,
but should be related to the tremendous
drama of current history, to the sense of
crisis, and to the spiritual struggle whose
effect is so apparent in the contingent world.
TEACHING
At the beginning of the year the National
Spiritual Assembly decided not to appoint a
new Teaching Committee, but to take
charge of this work itself. Miss Baxter
was appointed Teaching Secretary to keep
records of the work and to supply the N.S.A.
and teachers with information for follow-up
work. This arrangement has worked out
very well.
In Devonshire the believers have con-
tinued the work so ably started by Mrs.
Bishop. Mrs. Stevens conducts a regular
study group in Torquay, and Mr. Tobey has
held meetings in Dartington Hall. Mr.
Hansford has declared himself a believer.
Mr. Balyuzi and Mr. Hofman have both
spoken at Dartington Hall, and Mr. Tobey
has spoken in public in Torquay. The
group in Devonshire will miss Mr. Tobey,
who has just left for America for an indefi-
nite stay, but it is felt that the Faith is
now established there and will continue to
grow through the assistance of Baha'u'llah
and the efforts of the resident believers.
Mrs. Romer, who was here for a few
months, made several contacts in Brighton
with clubs and societies, and held meetings
in a private home. She was able to arrange
a public lecture in the Unitarian Church,
where Mrs. Bishop had already spoken. The
N.S.A. delegated the follow-up work in this
place to the London Spiritual Assembly and
voted £10 for expenses. London reports
that Mrs. Cranmer has been made secretary
for this work.
A group of people in Salisbury have be-
come interested in the Faith. Lady Blom-
field, Mrs. Bishop, Miss Wellby, Mr. Bal-
yuzi and Mr. St. Barbe Baker have visited
them. Hospitality has been extended to
Baha'i teachers by Mrs. Hill, who has also
arranged the meetings.
The Baha'is of Bradford have taken part
in some of the Manchester activities. Re-
cently Miss Joan Wilkinson wrote to the
N.S.A. to ask for a teacher for a group of
young people whom she had interested in
the Faith, and Mr. Hofman went there in
April and reports a good meeting with keen
interest. This work will be followed up by
sending more teachers to help the four resi-
dent Baha'is.
Two groups have been addressed in Bris-
tol and a lively meeting was held in Letch-
worth at the Theosophical Lodge.
In Manchester regular meetings have been
152
THE BAHA'I WORLD
held at the Centre. Special meetings were
held for the international Baha'i youth day,
at the Teaching Conference, and at Naw-
Ruz. Mrs. Bishop helped the Assembly
greatly, and visited many outlying places to
speak of the Faith.
Two series of public lectures were held at
Caxton Hall, London, but they were not
considered successful. Regular public meet-
ings have been held in the Centre and the
group at Crouch End and Muswell Hill have
continued their work. A few fireside meet-
ings have been held. Madame Orlova ad-
dressed the children's group of one of the
Co-operative Society's branches and the
Free Religious Movement at Lindsay Hall.
Lady Blomfield spoke to the Society for the
study of religions, with Sir Denison Ross in
the chair.
The Teaching Conference, held in Man-
chester during December, was vital and in-
spiring. Two methods of teaching were
discussed, personal and collective. In the
first place it was considered that the indi-
vidual could only affect others by striving
to attain a higher state of consciousness
through prayer and devotion. By under-
standing the Teachings and their applica-
tion to daily life and world problems, the
believers could become assured and calm in
a troubled world, and this would be an at-
traction to others. In teaching organised
by an Assembly it had been found that
public lectures were not successful. Fire-
side groups and social meetings, informally
conducted, were agreed to be the best ways.
SUMMER SCHOOL
The Summer School of 1937 proved once
again the immense services which this in-
stitution can render to the Faith. It was
opened by Lady Blomfield, at the Friendship
Holidays Association Centre, Matlock Bath.
Many non-Baha'is were present, and it is
hoped, in accordance with the Guardian's
instruction, to make each Summer School
more and more attractive to those who have
not inquired deeply into the Faith. It was
felt that the lectures covered too wide a
field, in spite of the fact that they were
enjoyed by Baha'i s and visitors alike. The
Summer School Committee recommended
that future schools should be held in a place
which could be entirely occupied by the
School, as although contacts can be made
when we share a place with others, it is more
difficult to develop Summer School as a
Baha'i institution. The N.S.A. has ap-
proved this recommendation and this year
it is hoped to occupy the entire premises
of Cudham Hall in Kent.
The lectures were supplemented by eve-
ning talks and entertainment. Mr. St.
Barbe Baker showed pictures of the gardens
round the Shrines on Mount Carmel, among
which was a picture of the Master.
PUBLISHING TRUST
The details of this project have occupied
the N.S.A. during the whole of the year.
There was great difficulty in associating the
N.S.A. with the Trust because of the fact
that we are not incorporated and have no
legal status. Mr. Menasse, the lawyer en-
gaged by the N.S.A., has been most helpful
and the Trust Deed is now registered, and
deposited at the bank. The Trustees are,
Mrs. Brown, Mr. Albert Joseph and Mr.
Norton. They hold the funds of the Pub-
lishing Trust under the supervision of the
National Spiritual Assembly.
The Fund stands at £232, for about £86
of which we are indebted to subscriptions
from Baha'is in other parts of the world.
The N.S.A. has decided that the Trust shall
act as wholesale distributor for Baha'i litera-
ture, and will gradually take over the stock
now managed by the London library. This
cannot be done at once, but application has
been made to the London Spiritual Assembly
for cupboard space, and as soon as this is
available the Trust will start work. Mrs.
Brown has been appointed treasurer and Mr.
Hofman manager. A separate bank account
and separate set of books will be kept. The
Trust will sell literature to local Spiritual
Assemblies or individuals, and act as book-
sellers for such publications as "The Promise
of All Ages," "Paris Talks," and other litera-
ture, the copyright of which is held by in-
dividuals.
The first publication of the Trust itself is
now at the printers. This is a revised and
re-edited edition of Dr. Esslemont's booklet
"BahaVllah and His Message." Much care
has gone into the preparation of this pam-
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
153
phlet, and the literary and artistic talents
of several of the believers have been utilised.
It is hoped to produce an introduction to the
Faith which will be up to date and of uni-
versal appeal. Copies will be sent through-
out the Baha'i world and it is hoped that
orders will come from abroad.
A Life of Baha'u'llah, by H. M. Balyuzi,
is now with the Reviewing Committee, and
a prayer book is in process of compilation.
LONDON
The London Spiritual Assembly has added
three believers to its membership, and re-
ports that the Nineteen Day Feasts and other
feast days are receiving better attendance
than before. Some valuable work has been
done on the classification of material left to
the Assembly by Dr. Esslemont and Mr.
Simpson and to quote the Archives Com-
mittee, "There is much of great interest and
value, especially amongst the correspond-
ence between Dr. Esslemont and Mr. Simp-
son. In time to come I am sure they will
shed much light on the early days of the
Cause."
Mr. Grant, the editor of the Rangoon
Times, who has done great service to the
Faith through his paper, has been in London
for some months. He has been the guest at
dinner of the London Assembly and has
spoken at the Centre. Mrs. Routh of Aus-
tralia has also been a welcome visitor, and
has helped greatly with Teaching and social
work at the Centre.
An exhibition of Baha'i books, photo-
graphs, and other objects has been kept in
the Centre since Naw-Ruz.
A bulletin has been issued regularly for
the last few months.
MANCHESTER
The growth and consolidation of the com-
munity in Manchester, has been one of the
most encouraging features of the year. The
Spiritual Assembly has had many problems
to face, but the growing attendance at their
public meetings, of non-Baha'is, is an indi-
cation of the vital spirit within the com-
munity. Four new believers have been
added.
Visitors and teachers have been sent to
outlying groups and isolated believers, and
the success of the Teaching Conference was
due in no small measure to the warmth of
hospitality accorded by the Manchester
friends.
A news-letter has been started for circu-
lation among members of the community.
In October, Mrs. Slade retired from the
N.S.A. and Mrs. Langdon-Davies was elected
to the vacancy.
Mrs. Weeks, who used to mimeograph the
Journal before it wa-s printed, has presented
the N.S.A. with her duplicating machine,
and it has been lent to the London Spiritual
Assembly.
An attempt was made to secure incorpora-
tion, but was unsuccessful.
One of the greatest difficulties with which
the N.S.A. has to cope, is the National Fund.
It has not yet reached the healthy condition
of receiving a steady flow of contributions
from the believers. Until this condition is
reached the Faith cannot grow steadily and
surely as it should, and all national under-
takings will have to be spasmodic, financed
by appeals to the believers. The work of
the N.S.A. has now reached a point where
it should be carefully planned in advance,
upon a definite budget. It is therefore
recommended for the attention of the Con-
vention and the incoming N.S.A., that this
problem receive deep and serious attention,
and that every effort be made to ensure a
regular income, however small, to the Na-
tional Fund.
The growing tension in world affairs, and
the sense of the imminent breakdown of the
existing order, force us to consider what
steps we shall take to preserve our work in
the event of war. Under these conditions
we must also consider what are the most
effective means of bringing the message of
Baha'u'llah to the attention of large num-
bers of people. It is recommended that this
latter problem be considered separately
from Teaching.
Two years ago the following message was
received from the Guardian: "There is un-
doubtedly no higher call than that of bring-
ing the Message to a world tormented and
torn on every side by the forces of destruc-
tive materialism. It is for us to realise the
full responsibility that has been laid upon
154
THE BAHA'f WORLD
our shoulders in this matter, and having at-
tained full consciousness of our responsi-
bility to unitedly arise to contribute all that
we can towards its discharge."
The N.S.A. recommends for consideration
the suggestion that the Faith in England
should, for one year, regard itself, and at-
tempt to function as, a teaching organism.
Let all our efforts and energies be directed
to this supreme aim. The work of individ-
uals, spiritual assemblies, and the national
assembly can be co-ordinated through the
methods and institutions of the administra-
tion. Our prayers, our thoughts, our ac-
tions, can be focussed on this end, and we
may be sure of the Guardian's support and
of the assistance of the Holy Spirit.
"I say unto you that any one who will
rise up in the Cause of God at this time
shall be filled with the spirit of God, and
that He will send His hosts from heaven
to help you if you have faith. And now I
give you a commandment which shall be for
a Covenant between you and me; that ye
have faith; that your faith be steadfast as
a rock that no storms can move, that noth-
ing can disturb, and that it endure through
all things even to the end; even should ye
hear that your Lord has been crucified, be
not shaken in your faith; for I am with you
always, whether living or dead; I am with
you to the end. As ye have faith so shall
your powers and blessings be. This is the
standard — this is the standard — this is the
standard."
Faithfully, in His Service,
National Spiritual Assembly,
by DAVID HOFMAN, Secretary.
THE BAHA'I FAITH IN EGYPT
1936-1938
JCfGYPT today ranks among Eastern na-
tions as a center of modern civilization. Her
cultured classes, aware of modern trends, are
furthering her social progress along interna-
tional lines. She demonstrates a new spirit
of tolerance, greatly needed in a part of the
world where religious fanaticism has not yet
been relegated to the past.
Following the historic pronouncement in
1925 of the Muslim courts, which declared
the total independence from Islam of the
Baha'i Faith, the Baha'i Cause has spread
widely throughout the country, and not
only the principles but also the laws of
Bahd'u'llah have been firmly established. To-
day even matters of personal status, includ-
ing marriage, divorce, alimony and the like,
are subject in Egyptian Baha'i communities
to the decision of the Spiritual Assembly,
functioning on the basis of the laws of the
"Kitab-i-Aqdas."
"Baha'is," declares a recently issued state-
ment of our National Spiritual Assembly
which is illustrative of the highly developed
state of Baha'i Administration in Egypt,
"according to the instructions of the be-
loved Guardian may under no circumstances
refer cases to Muslim religious courts. Civil
cases, however, may be referred to the courts
involved, although the National Assembly
prefers to have them considered by our own
bodies. Cases involving Baha'is and non-
Baha'is may be referred to Baha'i Assem-
blies providing both parties agree in writing
to accept Baha'i arbitration. As regards
criminal cases, all Baha'is are subject to the
laws of the country."
Thanks to the valuable gift of an acre of
cultivated land, presented to the National
Spiritual Assembly by Sharubim Eflfendi
'Ubayd of Cairo and legally transferred to
that body, the National Spiritual Assembly
is entitled to all civil rights authorized by
law. In order to give the Declaration of
Trust permanent legal force, the amend-
ments which were adopted subsequent to
1935, as well as a document empowering
the above-mentioned donor to the usufruct
of the land for a period of five years, arc
being legalized. However, the final official
recognition of the Baha'i community by the
Government is still pending, and at this
writing we await the reply of His Excel-
lency the Prime Minister to a renewed pe-
tition, duly approved by the Guardian, re-
garding this.
Current opposition to us is chiefly exer-
cised by Muslims on religious grounds. Not
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
155
long ago, when Malakat Khanum, beloved
daughter of Mahmud Eflfendi Nochougati,
passed away in Port Said on September 17,
1937, an event followed which exemplifies
the current situation. At the request of
Mahmud Effendi, the Local Spiritual Assem-
bly resolved for the first time to conduct the
funeral ceremonies entirely according to Ba-
ha'i rites. Non-Baha'i relatives of the de-
ceased threatened that unless Muslim rites
were observed, they would cause an uproar
in Port Said and would take away the body
by force. The Baha'is proving inflexible,
the relatives then begged that the funeral
procession should at least stop at the Mosque
for prayers; again the Baha'is, realizing the
implication of this, refused, and communi-
cated with the Chief of Police, who pro-
vided them with an armed guard. Draped
with a rose-colored cloth and covered with
flowers, the coffin was borne through the
streets of the city; musicians preceded the
casket, school girls dressed in white and
carrying red roses accompanied it, and the
local Baha'i community and their friends
followed. The streets were thronged with
those who had come to watch the Baha'i
cortege. Baha'i tablets were chanted at the
grave, and later a great number of Muslims,
Christians and Jews came to the Baha'i Cen-
ter to offer condolences and listen to Baha'i
prayers. The friends felt that the last link
binding them to the old order had now been
broken.
In compliance with the request of the Na-
tional Spiritual Assembly of India and
Burma, this National Assembly approached
the Muslim religious court with a view to
obtaining an exact copy of the text of their
verdict of 1925; the copy received was that
of the Court of Appeals, and we have now
applied for a copy of the pronouncement
given by the Court of First Instance. We
have likewise made English translations of
our Baha'i Laws on Matters of Personal
Status, and have forwarded these to the
Guardian, and to the National Spiritual As-
semblies of the United States and Canada,
of India and of Australia. We have further
appointed a committee to study the question
of the Huquq ("Rights of God" or tithes)
and to collect all Baha'i sacred writings on
this subject; the resulting compilation will
enable us to establish still one more of the
laws of BahaVllah.
As present conditions are not favorable to
an extended teaching campaign, Baha'is are
being urged by their Assemblies to redouble
their individual efforts along this line. Meet-
ings, Feasts, studies planned by the Annual
Conventions, are a continuous inspiration,
and the number of declared believers is al-
ways on the increase. Our teaching activi-
ties will be greatly confirmed by the con-
struction of the Haziratu'l-Quds in Cairo, a
project encouraged by repeated donations
from the Guardian and soon to be carried
out. The visit of our beloved friend, Mr.
F. Schopflocher of America, during the
winter of 1937, also resulted in important
teaching work; his speech at the Y.M.C.A.
in Alexandria was published in the "Egyp-
tian Gazette," and another article appeared
in "La Bourse fegyptienne," which also pub-
lished an article by our friend Mme. Ghar-
zuzi.
At the suggestion of the Guardian, this
National Assembly requested 'Abdu'l-
Hamid Effendi Ibrahim, an Alexandria be-
liever and one of those three Baha'is who
served the Cause in Ethiopia, to proceed to
the Sudan and establish a permanent resi-
dence there. He reached Khartum, the cap-
ital, in May, 1937, and opened a tailor shop.
His latest report gives us full details of the
manners, customs and beliefs of the Sudan,
and he assures us that through the confirma-
tions of Baha'u'llah he will be able to es-
tablish the Faith in that land. In October,
1936, Dr. M. §alih, present chairman of the
Spiritual Assembly of Alexandria, visited
the Baha'is of Tunis in compliance with the
Guardian's request. The friends there made
use of the occasion to study the Bahd'i Ad-
ministrative Order, and were supplied by
this National Assembly with copies of our
Declaration of Trust and By-Laws, also
of Baha'i Laws on matters of Personal
Status. Dr. Silih hopes to visit Tunis again
in 1938.
156
THE BAHA'f WORLD
REPORT OF ACTIVITIES OF THE NATIONAL
SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF THE
BAHA'IS OF 'IRAQ
APRIL, 1936 APRIL, I9}8
JLHE National Spiritual Assembly has un-
dertaken during the period April, 1936-1938
to achieve a twofold task, namely, that of
internal consolidation and of diffusing the
Divine fragrance among the masses. The
following events will perhaps give an idea
relating to this.
In compliance with the expressed and re-
peated requests of the Beloved Guardian to
carry the Divine Message to Sulaymaniyyih,
the center of Iraqi Kurdistan, the N.S.A.
requested the N.S.A. of Iran for a teacher,
who on his arrival was entrusted with this
urgent and high mission to the Kurds. Dur-
ing his stay of nearly four months (Feb-
ruary till June, 1936) in Sulaymaniyyih the
teacher, 'Abdu'l-Hamid Ishraq Khavari,
succeeded in sounding the Call within the
very walls of Khalidiyyih Mosque which, it
is said, Baha'u'llah had visited during His
sad retirement to the uninhabited mountain
of Sargalu. He attracted a considerable
number of inquirers of various classes —
mullas, government officials, shopkeepers,
and others, from whose sight he attempted
to remove the age-long veils of superstition,
and to open their eyes to the unprecedented
glory of the King of Days.
Among the investigators, the enlightened
few were able to perceive, to some extent, the
immensity and the indispensability of Ba-
haVllah's unique Dispensation; while the
ignorant and the uneducated, at the insti-
gation of the jealous mullas who feared the
threatening influence of the Faith, caused
such an increasing stir and tumult as to
arouse the alarm of the local government,
who on the ground of maintaining public
order and security ordered the Baha'i teacher
to leave that town for Baghdad within
twenty-four hours.
One month before this expulsion, the
N.S.A. had sent Jamil Naji, a believer of
Baghdad, with his family to take up his resi-
dence in Sulaymaniyyih for the purpose of
assisting and following up the work of Mr.
Khavari. This young man, who lived there
for four months and was a hair-dresser by
profession, proved to be of help to Khavari
in time of danger, and was able to attract a
number of inquirers, to whom he proved the
Divine origin and explained the outline of
the new World Order. He, too, was, need-
less to say, boycotted by the ignorant and
the prejudiced, and was finally obliged to
return to Baghdad. Two other young
friends, at their own expense, paid flying
visits to Kurdistan, one in the spring and
the other in the fall of 1936.
Though the immediate consequences of
the Baha'i endeavor to plant the seeds of
the Faith among the Kurds may seem to be
insignificant; though the Cause of Baha'u-
'llah was maliciously opposed and publicly
denounced by the fanatic among that peo-
ple, yet the reverberations of the Divine
Call, which was suddenly sounded in the
very midst of the Kurdish center, reached
the ears of the authorities in Baghdad who
were informed by the governor of Sulay-
maniyyih that the Iranian Baha'i teacher
Khavari and his co-worker Naji, by an-
nouncing the Advent of the Promised One,
and proclaiming His Message, were only
carrying out the instructions given them by
the N.S.A. in the capital. Accordingly a
detective policeman called at the home of
the secretary of the N.S.A. and politely re-
quested him to call at his convenience at
the Criminal Investigation Department.
That same day (August 2, 1936) the officer
at the C.I.D. kindly received our secretary,
and the following conversation ensued: —
Officer: "Does your Assembly have an of-
ficial permission from the Government to
hold its meetings?"
Secretary: "No, the Baha'i Faith is not a
society, but a religion like other religions."
Officer: "What are the aims and purposes
of this religion?"
Sec'y: "To spread love and concord
amongst men, and to remove differences and
hatred."
Officer: "When was the Baha'i Faith es-
tablished m 'Iraq?"
Sec'y: "Since the declaration of Its Au-
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
157
thor Baha'u'llah in 1863, which took place
in Baghdad."
Officer: "Do you keep a register of the
names of all those who have embraced
It?"
Sec'y: "No."
Officer: "How many Baha'is are there in
'Iraq?"
Sec'y: "This cannot be ascertained, not
only in Baghdad or in 'Iraq but throughout
the world, because this is a personal matter
of belief and conscience which many who
are Baha'is may not have as yet professed.
This undeclared belief and admiration in
the Faith, however, does not exclude one
from being a Baha'i."
Officer: "How does the Assembly collect
money for its expenditures?"
Sec'y: "Whenever there is need for money
the believers are requested to contribute,
each according to his own desire."
Officer: "Are all the Baha'is of 'Iraq of
'Iraq nationality?"
Sec'y: "No, the Cause is universal."
Officer: "Of how many persons is the ex-
ecutive body composed? What are their
names, their functions, professions and ad-
dresses?"
Sec'y: "It is composed of nine persons.
The required information about each is as
follows. . . .
Officer: "Are all these mentioned 'Iraqis?"
Sec'y: "Yes."
From that day and for several weeks the
secretary of the N.S.A. and more particu-
larly Mr. Khavari were kept under the close
watch of detectives.
In obedience to another of the Guardian's
directions that the Assembly be registered
though it be as a commercial society, the
N.S.A. undertook to transfer to its own
name the plot of land which it had pur-
chased for building the Haziratu'1-Quds.
Such a transference, however, could not be
effected without the Assembly being for-
mally recognized by the Government. This
led to submission to the concerned authori-
ties in the Ministry of Interior of an applica-
tion for registration, together with the Dec-
laration of Trust and By-Laws in Arabic
(reproduced in the Baha'i World, Vol. VI).
A few days later the members of the N.S.A.
were summoned through the secretary to
appear before the C.I.D., where after in-
quiries regarding their identities were made,
their finger-prints were taken.
During the month of June, 1936, when
the Ministry of Defense was studying the
question of allowing the various religions
and sects, to which the men of that Minis-
try belonged, to enjoy and observe their
own holy days, the N.S.A. seized the op-
portunity and submitted a petition to ex-
empt Baha'is from work on their nine holy
days. Besides the copy of the petition to
the Ministry of Defense, another was sent
to the Ministry of Justice and a third to
the Prime Minister. The secretary of the
N.S.A., having been summoned by the Min-
istry of Justice, had an interview with the
Legal Draftsman who among other ques-
tions inquired regarding the independence of
the Faith and the Assembly's authority,
rights and duties in relation to the personal
status of Baha'is. He also asked if the As-
sembly had obtained formal permission to
hold meetings, and was told that an appli-
cation for this purpose had already been
submitted. Though the representative of
the Assembly called many times on the au-
thorities concerned, yet it is believed that,
pending the official recognition of the Faith,
the Baha'is employed in the different gov-
ernment offices and departments cannot
stop work during the Baha'i holy days.
As to the registration the Guardian, hav-
ing read the National Spiritual Assembly's
detailed report about its activities concern-
ing the aforementioned developments, sent
in December, 1936, a letter in which he in-
structed the Assembly immediately to stop
communication with the government on ac-
count of unsettlement in the political sphere
of 'Iraq following the military coup d'etat
on October 29, 1936.
The Kurdish translation of "Baha'u'llah
and the New Era" which had for nearly two
years been confiscated by the Government,
while still at the book-binder's, was, with
the overthrow of that government, released
on December 8, 1936. Through the efforts
of an isolated believer at Karkuk (some 70
miles west of Sulaymaniyyih) the N.S.A.
placed at the public library of that city one
copy each of "The Baha'i World," Vol. V,
"The fqan" (in Arabic), "BahdVllah and
158
THE BAHA'f WORLD
the New Era" (in Arabic and in Kurdish) .
Also about one hundred copies of Dr. Essle-
mont's book in Kurdish were distributed
among leading Kurdish personalities of this
country. A formal acknowledgment from
the Government Director of Education of
Karkuk District was received, in which he
thanked the Assembly for their "precious
gift."
The Nineteen Day Feasts are now being
regularly observed in Baghdad and are prov-
ing to be of great importance and joy to
the assembled believers. In these meetings,
which are held every Baha'i month, holy
Tablets are first chanted; then a translation
is given of a summary of whatever letters,
circulars and other glad tidings which may
have been received by that time from vari-
ous centers of the Baha'i world. This is
followed by a discussion of affairs and out-
standing issues regarding which the Spir-
itual Assembly wishes to consult the friends;
and the last part of the feast is partaking
of refreshments which are enjoyed by all
present.
In obedience to the Guardian's instruc-
tions to the American Baha'i Youth Com-
mittee "to create an international body of
active young men and women," and in co-
operation with said committee, the Baha'i
Youth Committee of Baghdad held two
symposiums. On March 4, 1937, a special
meeting, for the young Baha'is only, was
devoted to the reading of the Guardian's
message to the Youth, to the discussion of
ways and means to propagate the Teach-
ings, and the passing of a resolution to en-
courage individual believers to settle in Su-
laymaniyyih and other cities where the
Light has not yet penetrated. They also
signed the letter of greetings to the Be-
loved Guardian, which they sent to the Na-
tional Youth Secretary of U.S.A., to be
forwarded to Shoghi Effendi.
On March 7, 1937, the young men held
a public meeting in the Haziratu'1-Quds, to
which they invited a number of broad-
minded non-Baha'is, who were delighted to
hear the various talks given by the Baha'i
youths. The programme included the fol-
lowing topics: —
1. Prayer (Baha'u'llah's Tablet of Wis-
dom).
2. Introductory Word about the Revela-
tion of Baha'u'llah.
3. Religion as the Source of True Civili-
zation.
4. The Baha'i Faith at the World Con-
gress of Religions.
5. Religion and Science.
6. The Coming of Age of Humanity.
7. Prayer.
This participation of the 'Iraqi young men
in the celebration of the International Ba-
ha'i Youth Day is surely stimulating in their
souls an increasing consciousness of the un-
derlying unity and love which bind them to-
gether with their spiritual brethren in other
countries.
Recently an important step has been taken
by the local assembly of Baghdad, viz., the
printing and preparation of "declaration
forms" to be filled in and signed by every
believer who wishes to be entitled to the
voting rights and membership in the Baha'i
community. The N.S.A. has approved of
this action, which will be enforced in the
near future.
The construction of the New Haziratu'l-
Quds in Baghdad has begun and the build-
ing has reached a few feet in height above
ground level, though the work will, for
financial reasons, have to be temporarily
stopped.
The translation by a Baghdadi believer of
the precious book, Nabil's Narrative, "The
Dawn-Breakers," into Arabic has almost
been completed. This translation, which
the Guardian described as "temporary" un-
til a better and more masterly one is
achieved, will be printed and published by
the N.S.A. for use by Arabic-speaking be-
lievers in the Near East countries.
CURRENT BAHA'l ACTIVITIES
159
THE CAUSE OF BAHA'U'LLAH IN AUSTRALIA
AND NEW ZEALAND
i,
1937
.N a continent such as Australia, measur-
ing 12,000 miles across, and with New
Zealand four days' steaming away from her
most eastern shores, the greatest obstacle to
be overcome is that of distance. Contact
with members of the different Assemblies
and Groups is an affair of extreme difficulty,
and especially is this felt with regard to
National Spiritual Assembly matters and in
the meeting of delegates for the annual con-
ventions.
Yet, in spite of this enormous drawback
the N.S.A. has, since its formation four
years ago, held an annual series of meetings,
at which members from Auckland, N.Z.,
from Sydney, N.S.W., and from Adelaide,
S.A., have met for a week at a time.
In passing through Melbourne, Vic., the
members of the National Spiritual Assembly
have contacted the Group in that city, and
hopes are entertained for a Spiritual Assem-
bly there in the near future.
The Baha'i Group in Perth, W.A., was
last year numerically strong enough to form
an Assembly, whereupon the N.S.A. dis-
patched one of its members to advise and
instruct them on administrative matters.
After the annual elections, N.S.A. meet-
ings have been held for some days, at which
the plan of the year's work has been mapped
out; thereafter, for the term of their office,
all communication has been by correspond-
ence. This entails heavy work for the Sec-
retary, and a great deal of time, but other-
wise appears to function quite successfully,
though nothing of course can take the place
of personal contact.
That the number of Baha'is in these lands
is steadily increasing no one can doubt. And
what is more important is that the members
are gaining a wider knowledge of the Ad-
ministration, a deeper loyalty to the Faith,
a more correct interpretation of the word
"Unity," and a fuller realization of the fact
that faith is by deeds and not by words;
in consequence of all this they are feel-
ing a deeper desire to put their faith to the
test.
In spite of what appears to be very slow
progress, it is good to look backwards along
the last few years, and to be able to see the
solid foundations which have already been
laid down, and upon which the various
ramifications of the Cause can rest seciirely
in the future in these Southern lands.
Perhaps the most important piece of work
yet accomplished has been the placing of the
Administration of the Cause on a legal
foundation; this has already been accom-
plished in Adelaide and in Auckland, and is
being undertaken in Sydney at the present
time.
Under the auspices of the National Spir-
itual Assembly a Baha'i Quarterly has been
published, and copies are being sent out reg-
ularly to all Baha'is in the Southern Hem-
isphere, as well as to the various National
Assemblies of the world. This paper gives
an account of the work done by the various
committees, and keeps members in touch
with the N.S.A. and its rulings. Its object
is to keep the believers informed of the af-
fairs of the Cause, and to "cement the ties
of friendship between groups and individ-
uals and the promotion of a secure bond of
fellowship in the service of the New World
Order."
In accordance with the Guardian's wish
that the Baha'i Magazine, "Herald of the
South," should remain in publication, the
N.S.A. has made every effort to raise the
standard of the Magazine, and to improve
the set-up and cover design.
Since the formation of the National Spir-
itual Assembly in 1934, two conventions
have been held, both in Sydney. This city
makes the most convenient center, as the
delegates from New Zealand have a four
days' trip before them before they are able
to reach our eastern shore, and much pre-
cious time would be wasted if the meeting
place were still farther to the west. In
1936, however, it being the Centenary Year
of South Australia, the meetings of the
N.S.A. were held in Adelaide. Friends were
invited and hospitality extended to the vis-
itors. Joyous gatherings and festivities
were arranged.
160
THE BAHA'f WORLD
All Assemblies and Groups hold fireside
meetings in addition to the usual weekly
meeting. In Auckland a special Guest Eve-
ning is held once each month; friends and
enquirers are invited, supper is served, and
there is informal asking and answering of
questions regarding the Cause. These
friendly talks seem to be greatly appreci-
ated.
Youth Circles are being formed by the
various groilps, and show great promise.
Those two beloved pioneers, "Father and
Mother" (Mr. and Mrs. Hyde Dunn) are
still working as earnestly as ever for the
Cause. They hold fireside meetings reg-
ularly in their home, and spread the Teach-
ings of Baha'u'llah among an ever-widening
circle of earnest enquirers.
Baha'i publications have been presented
to all the chief libraries of Australia and
New Zealand, and inquiries made in Sydney
show that these books are in constant de-
mand.
In the hills outside Sydney, amidst delight-
ful bush scenery, is the country home of
two devoted members of the Sydney Group.
Through their goodness of heart and love
for the Cause, they have placed this home
at the disposal of the Sydney Assembly, to
be used as a Summer School. The Founda-
tion Stone has already been laid by "Father,"
and it is hoped that a Summer School may
be held there in the near future.
Advertised public meetings are held by all
Assemblies, and some valuable contacts have
been made. Feasts are, of course, attended
by all Baha'is, bringing love and unity and
a better understanding to all; they are a
great spiritual blessing.
Interesting and helpful visits have been
paid to this country by Miss Effie Baker and
Mr. Fred Schopflocher. The former has re-
turned to her home near Melbourne after
many years of service at the Pilgrim House
at Haifa. Miss Baker visited Perth, Ade-
laide, Sydney and Melbourne on her way
home. We shall always remember this self-
less servant of God, who made the Holy
places seem very much nearer to us, and
who showed us by the example of her own
life, the meaning of self-sacrifice and true
severance. Mr. Fred Schopflocher also made
our hearts burn within us, as he spoke to
us on the affairs of the Beloved Cause. He
set up a high standard in his radiant per-
sonality, and left us a memory of one endued
with happiness, peace, and content — the goal
towards which Baha'is must all strive, and
which should be the distinguishing mark of
every follower of Baha'u'llah.
ANNUAL
SPIRITUAL
OF
REPORT — THE NATIONAL
ASSEMBLY OF THE BAH A 'IS
INDIA AND BURMA
1937-1938
J.O the Baha'is of India and Burma
Through the delegates to the 10th Annual
Convention.
Beloved friends: —
Another year has passed — a year which
was a natural consequence of the years we
have left behind. It is satisfactory to note
that believers all over India and Burma have
become more and more conscious of their
responsibilities and their efforts toward the
advancement of the beloved Faith and have
been assuming more and more organized
form.
The year under review is replete with
many important events and is marked with
conspicuous, sustained endeavors on the part
of the believers for the consolidation of the
institutions of the Cause and for the expan-
sion of their activities in the service of the
beloved Faith.
LOCAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLIES:—
Local Spiritual Assemblies constitute the
bedrock on which stands the edifice of the
Cause of God and as such the responsibili-
ties that devolve upon them can be easily
imagined. People all around us are accus-
tomed to exclusiveness and division in all
affairs. Our environments are charged
with a spirit of justification of division in
all matters. It is, therefore, one of the first
duties of a Baha'i institution to protect the
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
161
believers under its jurisdiction from this all-
pervading influence. The task is not easy
as the human ego revolts against the su-
preme sanction of universal love. It is the
duty of the members of a Baha'i institu-
tion to see that the learned associates with
the simple and unlearned, the rich with the
poor, the mystic with the literalist, the
Hindu with the Muslim, the Muslim with
the Parsee, the high caste with the low
caste and on terms removing the advantage
of long established presumptions and privi-
leges. "Bear in mind," says Shoghi Effendi,
"that the keynote of the Cause of God is not
dictatorial authority, but humble fellow-
ship; not arbitrary power, but the spirit of
frank and loving consultation."
As the years roll by the magnitude of the
work of a local Spiritual Assembly unfolds
itself in a manner that the institution, if its
members are conscious of their responsibili-
ties, has to expand and direct its activities
on the lines laid down, in no uncertain
terms, in its constitution.
It is gratifying to note that all the local
Spiritual Assemblies showed signs of renewed
energy and continued activity in propagat-
ing the Divine Faith. They have been hold-
ing regular meetings including the Nine-
teen Day Feast and have been organizing
themselves on the lines laid down in the offi-
cial Procedure for the conduct of a local
Spiritual Assembly. We admit that in some
of the Assemblies the spirit of the "Proced-
ure" has not yet been properly grasped, but
it is hoped that gradually these Assemblies
will realize their responsibilities and will
function in consonance with the spirit and
letter of the Laws laid down for their de-
velopment.
Every ounce of the energy of a local Spir-
itual Assembly ought to be conserved and
directed to the propagation and protection
of the Divine Cause. Its members, while
attending to their other duties, must so shape
their affairs that the outcome of their ef-
forts for solving the manifold questions that
confront them, be cohesion of forces and a
coming together of believers for the one and
only object — the propagation of the Divine
Faith. All personal thoughts, mutual con-
siderations must be sacrificed to achieve this
purpose. We pray that the Great Spirit re-
leased by Baha'u'llah shall train the mem-
bers of our Assemblies and that they will
become more and more self-sacrificing in
handling the affairs of the beloved Faith.
"A Baha'i Community differs from other
voluntary gatherings in that its foundation
is so deeply laid and broadly extended that
it can include any sincere soul." Whereas
in the more advanced countries of the world
a broad spirit is shown in the matter of re-
ligious belief, in India and Burma a most in-
tolerant spirit is prevalent. Here a sincere
person is faced with many social difficulties.
Hence the Cause, for all its power of growth
and progress, develops slowly as regards the
number of its active adherents. In spite of
all these disabilities we are glad to report that
besides the increase in the number of iso-
lated believers which approach to a total of
15, the various Assemblies, with the excep-
tion of a few, have made appreciable addi-
tions to the respective communities. Bom-
bay has added 16 new members, Delhi 3,
Poona 11, Calcutta 3, Karachi 2, Rangoon
3, total 53. It is hoped that the work put
in this year will produce its result in the
year to come and we shall be in a position
to give better account in this respect.
THE STUDY GROUP AT LAHORE
met almost every Sunday and made an in-
tensive study of "fqan" (Urdu) (Book of
Certitude) . The average attendance varied
between seven and ten. The Birthday of Ba-
ha'u'llah as well as the Baha'i New Year
Day was celebrated and many who were in-
terested responded to the invitation. At the
three religious conferences held in Lahore, a
Baha'i representative read a paper. The Ba-
ha'i Central Library was used by many Ba-
ha'is as well as by non-Baha'i friends. Un-
der the auspices of the Baha'i Study Circle,
lectures in Iranian were delivered by Jenabe
Isfandiar K.B. Bakhtiari of Karachi at the
Punjab Literary League, Sanatan Dharam
College and Dyal Sigh College. This group
is likely to develop into a Baha'i Assembly
very soon. We added one member as a be-
liever this year.
PUBLICITY.— In the absence of any
Committee, the National office did all it
could in giving publicity to the beloved
Cause. Taking advantage of Miss Martha
162
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Root's tour, leaflets were sent in advance to
the press of the provinces she visited an-
nouncing her arrival in their part of the
country and giving a history of her world
tours. This branch of our activity requires
a little more attention and it is hoped a
strong National Committee will take it into
its hand and conduct its affairs regularly
and vigorously.
TEACHING.— The object on which the
combined forces of the whole Baha'i Com-
munity of India and Burma should be con-
centrated is teaching the Divine Faith. In
fact, all our energies, all our efforts, all our
measures are meant to be directed for the
realization of this one object. The National
Spiritual Assembly being fully cognizant of
it has ever tried to shoulder this grave re-
sponsibility according to the means which
the Community places at its disposal. Suc-
cess, however, should not be measured by
high sounding proposals but by deeds and
results that our endeavors achieve.
In the beginning of the year the Re-
gional Teaching Committees were formed
but this being the first year for such Com-
mittees, it is natural that a considerable
time would be consumed in organizing the
personnel, surveying the field, planning a
program of action and collecting and pre-
paring material. In order that they might
have the benefit of the experience and ad-
vice of the older Baha'is, these committees
were placed under different local Spiritual
Assemblies who, it is hoped, will now launch
these committees on a wide teaching cam-
paign in their respective jurisdictions.
In compliance with a resolution of the
N.S.A. Mr. Isfandiar K. B. Bakhtiari under-
took a teaching tour to Kashmir — a country
yet unvisited by any of the Baha'i teachers.
He met with great success, found the people
of the country most receptive and in such
a fertile field he did much lecturing work,
thus bringing the beloved Faith to the notice
of the intelligentsia of the place. He was
so full of hope about the great possibilities
for the Cause in that country that he pro-
posed to the N.S.A. the despatch of another
teacher to that country. Consequently Prof.
Pritam Singh was voted to follow up his
work. Prof. Pritam Singh, availing himself
of the occasion of an exhibition there, ex-
hibited some Baha'i photographs and books,
making them the basis of his talks with the
people whom he found interested in the
beloved Cause. Both Prof. Pritam Singh and
Mr. Isfandiar K. B. Bakhtiari spoke in un-
equivocal terms of the great possibilities that
this great country holds for the Faith, pro-
vided systematic and continued teaching
work is conducted there.
Probably the most remarkable feature of
this year's teaching work is the arrival in
this country of the world-famous teacher,
our dear sister Martha Root. She arrived
amongst us in October, 1937, and ever since
her arrival she has not rested for a while
but has been continually touring the coun-
try. The details of her untiring efforts in
the interests of the beloved Faith have been
published in the News Letters and can be
referred to therein.
Our dear sister, Miss Martha L. Root,
visited altogether 14 towns, viz., Bombay,
Surat, Poona, Calcutta, Rangoon, Mandalay,
Daidanaw, Shantiniketan, Madras, Trivan-
dram, Colombo, Ajmer, Indore and Karachi,
and most of these places were visited by
her twice. She has attended since her ar-
rival here, four large gatherings; three of
which were big religious congresses while
the fourth one was a large gathering of ori-
ental scholars. In every place she visited
and in every congress she spoke she deliv-
ered the Divine Message in the most stirring
and appropriate language. About two hun-
dred articles about the Divine Faith have
appeared in the newspapers of Ceylon and In-
dia from September 13, 1937, to February
13, 1938, and the Cause has been known to
almost every educated person of the places
visited by her. The most outstanding fea-
ture of her tour, probably, has been her visit
to South India which was visited last year
by our dear and able sister, Mrs. Shirin K.
Fozdar, and which our beloved Guardian
wished to be pioneered by the N.S.A. of In-
dia and Burma. Our valiant sister, Mrs.
Shirin K. Fozdar, in company with our dear
sister Miss Martha Root again carried out a
most efficient and effective tour in these
parts and with their eloquent representation
of the Holy Cause they impressed the nota-
bles and highly intellectual persons of this
yet unvisited part of the country.
CURRENT BAHA'l ACTIVITIES
163
Mrs. Shirin Fozdar with Dr. K. M. Foz-
dar, according to a resolution of the N.S.A.,
joined Miss Martha Root at Madras for a
tour in Southern India. They traveled to
Ceylon where they followed up the work
which a few weeks earlier Miss Martha Root
had done. Ceylon had never been visited
by any Baha'i teacher and our beloved
Guardian had repeatedly instructed us to
tap this island. Our teachers, therefore,
did their best in teaching the Cause and it is
gratifying to note that their efforts were
crowned with unexpected success and the
Cause was known in that island to the point
that, according to the opinion of these
teachers, a little more effort in teaching
there would certainly produce a strong
Spiritual Assembly.
During the latter half of the year under
review, the Local Spiritual Assembly of
Bombay requested that Mr. Siyyid Mahfuzul
Haq Ilmi's services be lent to them for two
months. The request was acceded to and
Mr. Ilmi was assisted to render such valu-
able services that the Baha'i community of
Bombay strongly requested the N.S.A. to
extend the period of Mr. Ilmi's stay. The
request was again granted and from reports
it appears that Mr. Ilmi's stay there has been
very fruitful both in teaching and in bring-
ing the friends together.
YOUTH ORGANIZATION.— The one
great thing that we have accomplished in
the year under report is the organization of
youth committees throughout India and
Burma, led, of course, by a National Youth
Committee. On a request by the American
National Youth Committee, symposiums
were held in the various centres under the
supervision of the respective Local Spiritual
Assemblies on the 27th of February.
The committees have been actively work-
ing since then and the Baha'i Youth of In-
dia and Burma are coming closer and closer
to each other.
PUBLICATIONS.— The Hindi and
Sindhi translations of "BahaVllah and the
New Era" were ready for the press when it
came to the notice of the N.S.A. that a new
English edition of the book had been pub-
lished containing many improved additions.
It was, therefore, decided that these trans-
lations should be printed according to the
new edition. The book was received here
after waiting for a considerable time and on
receipt the altered texts were translated in
the two languages and the work of printing
proceeded. The books are now nearing com-
pletion and will be out shortly. "Mufa-
wadaat-i-'Abdu'l-Baha" in Urdu is also in
the press and will soon be available for dis-
tribution. The small pamphlet, "Dawn of
the New Day," was printed and about 5000
were distributed free at the time of lectures
by traveling teachers 'in different towns and
cities of the country.
BAHA'f MAGAZINE.— As has been hap-
pening with this important publication of
the Divine Faith from its very inception, its
publication had to be postponed this year
again for lack of sufficient funds. Its ab-
sence was keenly felt by the community,
especially by the Urdu friends, and repeated
requests were received to re-start it at an
early date. At its half-yearly meeting,
therefore, the N.S.A. decided that the Maga-
zine should be re-published. Meanwhile the
Bombay Spiritual Assembly requested that
the services of Mr. Ilmi be lent to them for
two months. This was done, but at the
expiration of this time, an application signed
by a number of believers was received
through the Bombay Local Assembly re-
questing that Mr. Ilmi be allowed to pro-
long his sojourn among them. The request
was again granted and as Mr. Ilmi was the
editor of the Magazine it had also to be
published from Bombay.
We will fail in our duty if we do not ex-
press here our sincere and heartfelt grati-
tude to Mr. Hormuzdyar Khudabakhsh Sa-
bit who most selflessly edited the Iranian
Section of the Baha'i Magazine. His illumi-
nating and ably written articles, we are sure,
must have been greatly appreciated by the
readers.
Beloved friends, this is what we have all
accomplished through our combined en-
deavors and we now place before you what
we desire to do in the year to come.
LOCAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLIES.— In
order to bring the friends closer so that they
may coordinate their efforts, the N.S.A. pro-
poses that inter-communication between the
various Assemblies should be started and
where possible inter-Assembly meetings be
164
THE BAHA'f WORLD
undertaken. By inter-communication we
mean that the secretaries of the different As-
semblies may correspond with one another
through brief monthly letters which should
consist of two parts — part one containing
the news of the Cause for the month, and
part two containing proposals and resolu-
tions to be carried out the next month and
the methods by which they are proposed to
be carried out. This, we hope, will help the
friends to better know one another and will
help the secretaries to know of the condi-
tions prevailing in the sister Assemblies.
PUBLICITY.— Although the Cause has
now been known from Kashmir to Cape
Comorin and from Mandalay to Bombay, we
should not relax in our efforts towards this
most important arm of our service. We
hope that a strong publicity committee com-
posed of as few members as possible will be
formed and that a campaign, regular and
well-organized, will be launched. In order
to make our committees fully organic and
efficient, either their members should be se-
lected from amongst the persons who are
well qualified and willing to do the work or
they should be asked, after the selection, to
study the procedure and program of the par-
ticular sub-committee of the American
N.S.A. Without this the forming of sub-
committees is fruitless.
TEACHING.— The N.S.A., in its last an-
nual sessions, formed regional teaching com-
mittees and entrusted them with the work
of spreading the Cause in their allotted re-
gions. They could not, however, function
for causes which we assume were beyond
their power to control. We hope that under
the six-year plan which we are going to un-
fold and explain elsewhere, these Regional
Teaching Committees will function vigor-
ously and conscientiously for the promotion
of the Divine Cause.
It is a matter for joy and happiness that
our dear sister Miss Martha Root is still
among us and will stay here till the end of
the present Christian year. Her selfless ef-
forts have aided us a great deal. She has
made known the Divine Faith through the
length and breadth of the country and has
smoothed our way to a great extent. It is
now up to us that we should follow up the
work that she has so strenuously achieved.
We must be grateful to our beloved Guard-
ian for sending among us one of the most
famous and most effective teachers of the
Cause and the one practical way of showing
this gratitude is to help our sister in dif-
fusing the fragrances of the holy Teachings
and to vigorously take up the work that she
has done for us. The effort, no doubt, calls
for a great sacrifice but we are sure that the
faithful servants of BahaVllah will rise up
to the occasion and show such sacrifice and
self-immolation as will gladden the heart of
our beloved Guardian and will practically
help the Cause in these regions. The steps to
teaching the Cause are sowing the seed and
then watering in a way that it may yield
abundant fruit. We have up to the present
been engaged in sowing the seeds. The time,
we believe, has come that we should water
the seeds to bring forth fruit. This can be
done in only one way and that is by friends
sojourning in places where the beloved Cause
is not sufficiently known and in places where
its voice has not yet been raised. In one of
its last sessions the N.S.-4- decided to request
the Local Assemblies of Bombay, Poona and
Karachi to encourage friends to sojourn for
business or some other means of livelihood
in such places and establish themselves there
with the primary intention of providing a
rendezvous where the friends may gather,
and thus help them to be active in teaching
the Cause and in increasing their numbers
until a Spiritual Assembly is formed; or,
where there are no friends, to take up the
work of teaching and thus spread the Cause
in the locality. We once more repeat this
request to the three above-named Local As-
semblies and urge them to give a practical
form to the N.S.A. resolution. We may
make it clear here that in our opinion the
Cause cannot prosper unless we send out
teachers not only with the purpose of lectur-
ing in a place for two or three days but with
the object of staying in that place for such
considerable time as will bring about, if not
the establishment of a Local Spiritual As-
sembly, at least the creation of a study
group matured to a point that its members
will look after the interests of the Cause and
increase their numbers with a view to form-
ing themselves into an Assembly. Here an-
other great necessity and essential responsi-
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
165
bility looms up. It is important that local
Assemblies and groups should be visited reg-
ularly by visiting teachers who should stay
in these Assemblies for a considerable time
to consolidate themselves and to expand the
Cause within their confines. We are aware
that we have very few teachers for the pur-
pose, but whatever be the number of these
teachers we cannot afford to overlook this
important duty. The expenses of these
teachers will, of course, be met by the Local
Assemblies to which they are deputed on re-
quest. These teachers will not only teach
the Cause but also try to stimulate the
friends to energetic Baha'i service making
them cognizant of the great responsibilities
that devolve upon them as the faithful
servants of BahaVllah.
Feeling the lack of teachers among us the
N.S.A. in one of its last sessions decided to
hold a summer school in India. The purpose
of the summer school has been explained by
our beloved Guardian in the following
terms: "The basic purpose of all Baha'i
Summer Schools, whether in East or West, is
to give the believers the opportunity to ac-
quaint themselves, not only by mere study
but through whole-hearted and active col-
laboration in various Baha'i activities, with
essentials of the Administration, and in this
way enable them to become efficient and able
promoters of the Cause. The teaching of
the Administration is, therefore, an indis-
pensable feature of every Baha'i Summer
School and its special significance can be
better understood if we realize the great
need of every believer to-day for a more ade-
quate understanding of the social principles
and laws of the Faith. It is now when the
Cause is passing through some of the most
difficult stages of its development, that the
friends should equip themselves with the
necessary knowledge of the Administration."
This, then, being the purpose you can well
imagine how important it is to establish at
least one school in India and Burma. The
question of finances is, of course, one of the
hindrances, but we propose that the partici-
pants in the school shall bear their own ex-
penses. The school will last for one month
only and the expenses will be such as to suit
even the most moderate pocket. The deci-
sion of the N.S.A. lavs down that the time
and place for the Summer School will be
fixed by the Convention every year and we
request you to take this matter into consid-
eration and fix the time and the place for the
first Baha'i Summer School in India.
The first Baha'i century is drawing to a
close. Another six years and we shall have
passed it. It does not look creditable that a
century should pass and we should remain
where we are. We propose that a six-year
plan be adopted to do some solid work for
the beloved Cause. It is our suggestion that
each local Assembly be made responsible to
establish a new Assembly in the province of
its Regional Teaching Committee by setting
its heart for the achievement of this purpose
by every possible means.
This is our suggestion. The N.S.A. will
discuss its details if you lend your support to
it after discussing it among yourselves since
the step is so important that without your
sincere and efficient support it has no chances
of success. It will require the sojourn, for a
considerable time, of a teacher in the place
selected for the realization of our objective.
The teacher will be directly under the Local
Spiritual Assembly through its Regional
Teaching Committee. The financial details
and the procedure of action will be discussed
and formulated by the N.S.A., after your
conscientious and whole-hearted approval,
and transmitted to you through the National
Office.
PUBLICATION.— Through the constant
prayers and effective instructions of the Be-
loved Guardian the Holy Faith has been de-
veloping of late in surprisingly quick strides.
The continuous tours of Mrs. Shirin Fozdar
and Prof. Pritam Singh, the quickening
visits of Mr. Siegfried Schopflocher and Miss
Martha Root, the tours of Messrs. Isfandiar
Bakhtiari, Hishmatu'llah and Mahfuzul Haq
Ilmi have given an unprecedented publicity
to our Faith and the demand for literature
has been growing with the growing public-
ity. It does not require much thought to
conclude that our equipment in literature
both for free distribution and for sale should
be as adequate as possible to meet the ever-
increasing demand. We propose the forma-
tion of an Indian Publishing Committee on
the lines of American Publishing Committee
who should advise the N.S.A., after studying
166
THE BAHA'f WORLD
the needs of the Cause, as to which pam-
phlets should be published for free distribu-
tion, and the right to direct the free distri-
bution shall also be vested in this Committee.
The Committee shall also consider and de-
cide upon which books and their translations
in different languages should be undertaken.
A Reviewing Committee should also be
formed to whom these translations shall be
submitted for review and report to the Pub-
lishing Committee who will then recommend
them to the N.S.A. for final decision. The
Publishing Committee shall also control the
National Book-stall. It shall adopt all mod-
ern ways and means to effect the sale of the
literature. It shall be continually writing to
the local Assemblies and individual believers
requesting them to patronize the Book-stall.
It shall write to the American Publishing
Committee, provided the N.S.A. permits it
to do so, to supply all orders from India and
Burma received direct by them through the
Indian Publishing Committee. All Indian
and Burmese Local Assemblies shall also sell
the Baha'i literature which they hold in their
stocks through this Committee which means
that the prices of the stocks held by these
Assemblies shall be fixed and controlled by
this Committee and the Assemblies shall not
sell at a higher or lower price than that fixed
by this Committee.
BAHA'f MAGAZINE.— This publication
shall also be placed under the management
and direction of the Indian Publishing Com-
mittee who will be responsible for its public-
ity and sale. The Magazine, however, will be
conducted on its literary side by its editors
who will be assisted by contributors whom
you might now choose. We suggest that a
contributor for this Magazine may be chosen
from each local Assembly. Our past experi-
ence, we regret to state, has been very bitter
in this respect; we, therefore, request you to
choose a contributor who is capable of and is
willing to undertake the work. In order to
improve the financial side of the Magazine
we propose two ways: either each Local As-
sembly shall pay monthly a fixed amount of
subscription to it from its own funds or that
each Local Assembly shall be made responsi-
ble for a certain number of subscribers, the
individual believers shall be approached by
the Publishing Committee. We confess that
the measures proposed are such as are com-
manded to be avoided as much as possible but
in view of the heavy burden on the National
Fund and the training of the friends in this
respect we suggest that they may be accepted
temporarily until such time as the National
Fund is in a position where such measures
will become unnecessary of themselves.
CHILDREN'S EDUCATION. — The
N.S.A. has always been mindful of this
important duty; but as the financial consid-
erations stand in the way we cannot give
practical shape to our thoughts. When,
therefore, we learned last year that our dear
brothers of Poona have established a Primary
School for the education of children we felt
greatly relieved and in our heart of hearts
thanked these noble souls for this noble dis-
charge of their duty. We take this oppor-
tunity to remind the believers of the neces-
sity of a Koodikstan in India and Burma for
the education of Baha'i children. This has
been on the Agenda of the N.S.A. for the
last many years and a reserve fund for the
purpose is in the bank.% It is now high time
that we should take this matter in hand and
do something tangible in this respect.
FINANCES. — Beloved friends, you have
understood what we propose to do in the year
before us. Every one of us understands in
the words of the beloved Guardian that "the
progress and extension of Spiritual activities
is dependent and conditioned upon material
means." The Baha'i National Fund is the
bedrock on which stands the edifice of all
our proposals and all our activities. Unless
we strengthen the bedrock we cannot hope
to have a stable edifice — nay, any edifice at
all. We have labored all our Baha'i lives to
see the beloved Cause prosper in our land and
our selfless labors and unsolicited sacrifice
have brought it to the threshold of vast pos-
sibilities. Aided and assisted by the wonder-
ful administration that our beloved Guard-
ian has effectively established among us we
have been progressing from one step to an-
other until we have reached the point where
a little more energetic and effective effort
will usher us into a vast field of victory. Is
it meet for the lovers of Baha'u'llah, for the
faithful servants of the Blessed Beauty to re-
lax their endeavors which have brought us
to the door of success and victory? Beloved
CURRENT BAHA'f ACTIVITIES
167
friends, just look back a little at our early
Iranian brothers and sisters. They gave their
all, their lives, to further the Cause of their
Beloved. With their holy blood they wa-
tered the tree which the Powerful Fingers of
God had planted and while hastening to the
Court of the Beloved they entrusted this
Holy Tree to our care and trust. Should we
fail these Holy Martyrs? Should we be
found wanting in discharging the responsi-
bilities that our Beloved Faith places on our
shoulders? We are surely faithful and loyal,
as you have proved, to the beloved Cause.
Now you will cheerfully advance to the
plain of service and sacrifice and resolve to
bring to fruition the proposals that we have
placed before you. The National Treasurer
will read to you his report and will give you
the last year's accounts. In view of the pro-
posals that we have ventured to place before
you the budget will naturally be heavy. You
are, therefore, called upon to give generously
and liberally to the National Fund. We sug-
gest that the entire body of the believers in
India and Burma should know of their re-
sponsibility and each believer should be asked
— nay urged — to so arrange his affairs that
he can give his mite to the beloved Faith.
The local Spiritual Assemblies should take
this responsibility of persuading the believ-
ers in their respective jurisdictions while
the National office should approach the
individual believers with the important re-
quest.
ABBASALLY BUTT,
Secretary.
BAHA'I ACTIVITIES IN INDIA AND BURMA
D,
1936-1938 A SUMMARY
CURING the years under review great
and significant progress has been made in the
way of teaching the Cause in India as well as
in Burma. Hitherto South India or the
Madras Presidency has not been reached by
the Baha'is and the valley of Kashmir in the
North had not been opened up to Baha'i
teaching. Many teachers like Mirza Mah-
mood Zarghani, late Mirza Mehram, Syed
Mustafa Roumie and among the American
teachers late Mrs. Keith Ransom-Kehler,
Mrs. Schopflocher, Miss Martha Root and
others had visited the Indian State of Hyder-
abad (Deccan), but this state being the seat
of Moslem orthodoxy, the work of the Ba-
ha'i teachers had by no means been an easy
one. This year (1937) Mrs. Shirin Fozdar
on her return from the teaching tour in
Burma spent some time in the Madras Presi-
dency (South India) and visited Madras,
Bangalore and Mysore. Her lectures at
Adyar (Madras), the Headquarters of the
Theosophical Society, were very much ap-
preciated. She succeeded in organising a
unity group there.
In Northern India the follow-up work
was continued with great earnestness. At
every Conference of Religions held in differ-
ent pa/ts of India in the North, a Baha'i rep-
resentative was invited and the papers pre-
sented were listened to with the deepest
interest. During the last two years several
such Conferences were held but the one at
Nasik and the other at Calcutta (Parliament
of Religions) held in January, 1937, are
worthy of mention. At both these Mrs.
Shirin Fozdar lectured to thousands of peo-
ple assembled there. Pamphlets were freely
distributed and great enthusiasm prevailed.
A special feature of the period under re-
view has been the facility afforded by broad-
casting authorities to broadcast the message
of Baha'u'llah from stations like Bombay,
Delhi and Lahore. These broadcast lectures
were listened to with great eagerness and
opened a new avenue for propagating the
Baha'i Faith in this vast country.
The press in India as well as in Burma has
been very helpful. Articles concerning the
Cause have appeared from time to time in
papers such as the "Illustrated Weekly of
India," Bombay, The "Rangoon Times" of
Rangoon (Burma), the "Advocate" of Cal-
cutta and the "Daily Gazette" of Karachi.
Several monthly magazines have published
articles from the pen of competent Baha'i
writers. Through this agency the Cause has
been spread all over India and Burma. Dur-
ing the period under review almost all the
big University centres in India were visited
168
THE BAHA'f WORLD
by the Baha'i teachers, some places being vis-
ited by two or three Baha'i teachers in suc-
cession. The important towns visited were
Delhi, Agra, Lucknow, Aligarh, Benares,
Calcutta, Lahore, Allahabad, Hyderabad
(Deccan), Rangoon, Bombay, Poona, Banga-
lore, Mysore and Bolepur (Ta gore's Univer-
sity). Mr. Fred Schopflocher of Canada, a
distinguished Baha'i, made a rapid tour of
Burma and India during December of 1936
and January of 1937. He delivered many
lectures and interviewed prominent people,
among whom were many professors and stu-
dents, and created a very favorable impres-
sion in the Moslem University of Aligarh
and in the Benares Hindu University — great
seats of learning in India.
Contacts were formed with the Theo-
sophical Society as well as with the Brahmo
Samaj, both liberal and progressive religious
movements having a large membership
among the educated Indians. These organ-
izations received the Baha'is with open arms
and evinced great interest in the Baha'i
teachings. In addition to this intensive
teaching, tours were undertaken in the prov-
inces of Sindh, in Burma and in the Indian
state of Kashmir, the last place having been
visited by Mr. Isfandiar K. B. Bakhtiari of
Karachi in June and by Mr. Pritam Singh in
September, 1937. The eighth and ninth All-
India Baha'i Conventions were held in Delhi
and Karachi respectively in 1936 and 1937.
Public lectures arranged in this connection
at Karachi (1937) attracted great notice
and were attended by all classes of people
among the intelligentsia. Corresponding
Conventions were held in Burma as well.
At special request of the Mysore Univer-
sity authorities, a set of Baha'i books were
presented to the University library on behalf
of the National Spiritual Assembly of India
and Burma. Copies of the Urdu, Bengali,
Burmese and Gujrati translations of Essle-
mont's "Baha'u'llah and the New Era" were
presented to different libraries throughout
India and Burma. The Hindi and Sindhi
translations were in the press and when pub-
lished will be duly placed in the libraries.
The Regional Teaching Committees have
lately been constituted under the supervision
of Local Spiritual Assemblies and have taken
up the teaching work in hand. India being
a vast country of many languages and many
faiths, the task of the National Spiritual As-
« sembly is by no means an easy one. What
we need is an effective campaign of teaching
and as recommended by the Guardian this is
to be done by individual Baha'is wherever
they be residing.
In conclusion it is interesting to note that
an experiment in education has been set on
foot by starting a primary school in Poona
open to children of all classes and creeds.
The school is being run*on Baha'i lines and is
soon expected to develop into a High School.
An ear-marked Kudikstan Fund has also
been started for establishing a school for Ba-
ha'i children. This in brief is the work done
by the Baha'is in India and much more has
yet to be done. The work of teaching is
proceeding apace and, it is hoped, the Cause
will make more rapid strides in the years to
come.
PRITAM SINGH,
Editor, Indian Section.
Srinagar (Kashmir)
September 1, 1937.
EXCERPTS FROM BAHA'I SACRED
WRITINGS
PRAYERS AND MEDITATIONS
BY BAHA'U'LLAH
G.
"LORIFIED art Thou, O Lord my God!
Every man of insight confesseth Thy sover-
eignty and Thy dominion, and every discern-
ing eye perceiveth the greatness of Thy maj-
esty and the compelling power of Thy might. •
The winds of tests are powerless to hold back
them that enjoy near access to Thee from
setting their faces towards the horizon of
Thy glory, and the tempests of trials must
fail to draw away and hinder such as are
wholly devoted to Thy will from approach-
ing Thy court.
Methinks, the lamp of Thy love is burning
in their hearts, and the light of Thy tender-
ness is lit within their breasts. Adversities
are incapable of estranging them from Thy
Cause, and the vicissitudes of fortune can
never cause them to stray from Thy pleasure.
I beseech Thee, O my God, by them and
by the sighs which their hearts utter in their
separation from Thee, to keep them safe*
from the mischief of Thine adversaries, and
to nourish their souls with what Thou hast
ordained for Thy loved ones on whom shall
come no fear and who shall not be put to
grief.
Unto Thee be praise, O Lord my God! I
entreat Thee, by Thy signs that have encom-
passed the entire creation, and by the light
of Thy countenance that hath illuminated
all that are in heaven and on earth, and by
Thy mercy that hath surpassed all created
things, and by Thy grace that hath suffused
the whole universe, to rend asunder the veils
that shut me out from Thee, that I may
hasten unto the Fountain-Head of Thy
mighty inspiration, and to the Day-Spring
of Thy Revelation and bountiful favors, and
may be immersed beneath the ocean of Thy
nearness and pleasure.
Suffer me not, O my Lord, to be deprived
of the knowledge of Thee in Thy days, and
divest me not of the robe of Thy guidance.
Give me to drink of the river that is life in-
deed, whose waters have streamed forth from
the Paradise (Rid van) in which the throne
of Thy Name, the All-Merciful, was estab-
lished, that mine eyes may be opened, and
my face be illumined, and my heart be as-
sured, and my soul be enlightened, and my
steps be made firm.
Thou art He Who from everlasting was,
through the potency of His might, supreme
over all things, and, through the operation of
His will, was able to ordain all things. Noth-
ing whatsoever, whether in Thy heaven or on
Thy earth, can frustrate Thy purpose. Have
mercy, then, upon me, O my Lord, through
Thy gracious providence and generosity, and
incline mine ear to the sweet melodies of the
birds that warble their praise of Thee, amidst
the branches of the tree of Thy oneness.
Thou art the Great Giver, the Ever-For-
giving, the Most Compassionate.
Glorified art Thou, O Lord my God! I
beseech Thee by Him Who is Thy Most
Great Name, Who hath been sorely afflicted
by such of Thy creatures as have repudiated
Thy truth, and Who hath been hemmed in
by sorrows which no tongue can describe, to
grant that I may remember Thee and cele-
brate Thy praise, in these days when all have
turned away from Thy beauty, have dis-
puted with Thee, and turned away disdain-
fully from Him Who is the Revealer of Thy
Cause. None is there, O my Lord, to help
Thee except Thine own Self, and no power
to succor Thee save Thine own power.
I entreat Thee to enable me to cleave
steadfastly to Thy Love and Thy remem-
169
Interior of room in Haji Mirza Jani's house where the Bab stayed while
in Kashan, fran.
Interior of Vahid's room in the Fortress
of Khajih in Nayriz, fran.
170
EXCERPTS FROM BAHA'f SACRED WRITINGS 171
brance. This is, verily, within my power,
and Thou art the One that knoweth all that
is in me. Thou, in truth, art knowing, ap-
prised of all. Deprive me not, O my Lord,
of the splendors of the light of Thy face,
whose brightness hath illuminated the whole
world. No God is there beside Thee, the
Most Powerful, the All-Glorious, the Ever-
Forgiving.
Magnified be Thy name, O Lord my God!
Thou art He Whom all things worship and
Who worshipeth no one, Who is Lord of all
things and is the vassal of none, Who know-
eth all things and is known of none. Thou
didst wish to make Thyself known unto
men; therefore, Thou didst, through a word
of Thy mouth, bring creation into being and
fashion the universe. There is none other
God except Thee, the Fashioner, the Creator,
the Almighty, the Most Powerful.
I implore Thee, by this very word that
hath shone forth above the horizon of Thy
will, to enable me to drink deep of the living
waters through which Thou hast vivified the
hearts of Thy chosen ones and quickened the
souls of them that love Thee, that I may, at
all times and under all conditions, turn my
face wholly towards Thee.
Thou art the God of power, of glory and
bounty. No God is there beside Thee, the
Supreme Ruler, the All-Glorious, the Om-
niscient.
Lauded be Thy name, O my God! Thou
beholdest me in the clutches of my oppres-
sors. Every time I turn to my right, I hear
the voice of the lamentation of them that
are dear to Thee, whom the infidels have
made captives for having believed in Thee
and in Thy signs, and for having set their
faces towards the horizon of Thy grace and
of Thy loving-kindness. And when I turn
to my left, I hear the clamor of the wicked
doers who have disbelieved in Thee and in
Thy signs, and persistently striven to put
out the light of Thy lamp which sheddeth
the radiance of Thine own Self over all that
are in Thy heaven and all that are on Thy
earth.
The hearts of Thy chosen ones, O my
Lord, have melted because of their separation
from Thee, and the souls of Thy loved ones
are burnt up by the fire of their yearning
after Thee in Thy days. I implore Thee, O
Thou Maker of the heavens and Lord of all
names, by Thy most effulgent Self and Thy
most exalted and all-glorious Remembrance,
to send down upon Thy loved ones that
which will draw them nearer unto Thee, and
enable them to hearken unto Thine utter-
ances.
Tear asunder with the hand of Thy tran-
scendent power, O my Lord, the veil of vain
imaginings, that they who are wholly de-
voted to Thee may see Thee seated on the
throne of Thy majesty, and the eyes of such
as adore Thy unity may rejoice as the splen-
dors of the glory of Thy face. The doors of
hope have been shut against the hearts that
long for Thee, O my Lord! Their keys are
in Thy hands; open them by the power of
Thy might and Thy sovereignty. Potent art
Thou to do as Thou pleasest. Thou art,
verily, the Almighty, the Beneficent.
Praise be to Thee, O Lord my God! I
swear by Thy might! Successive afflictions
have withheld the pen of the Most High
from laying bare that which is hidden from
the eyes of Thy creatures, and incessant trials
have hindered the tongue of the Divine Or-
dainer from proclaiming the wonders of Thy
glorification and praise. With a stammer-
ing tongue, therefore, I call upon Thee,
O my God, and with this my afflicted pen
[ occupy myself in remembrance of Thy
name.
Is there any man of insight, O my God,
that can behold Thee with Thine own eye,
and where is the thirsty one who can direct
his face towards the living waters of Thy
love? I am the one, O my God, who hath
blotted out from his heart the remembrance
of all except Thee, and hath graven upon it
the mysteries of Thy love. Thine own might
beareth me witness! But for tribulations,
how could the assured be distinguished from
the doubters among Thy servants? They
who have been inebriated with the wine of
Thy knowledge, these, verily, hasten to meet
every manner of adversity in their longing to
pass into Thy presence. I implore Thee, O
Beloved of my heart and the Object of my
soul's adoration, to shield them that love me
from the faintest trace of evil and corrupt
The of the
the lib His In
Mural on the wall of Manuchihr Khan's
tomb, fran.
172
EXCERPTS FROM BAHA'f SACRED WRITINGS 173
desires. Supply them, then, with the good
of this world and of the next.
Thou art, verily, He Whose grace hath
guided them aright, He Who hath declared
Himself to be the All-Merciful. No God is
there but Thee, the All-Glorious, the Su-
preme Helper.
Praise be to Thee, O Lord my God! I be-
seech Thee by this Revelation whereby dark-
ness hath been turned into light, through
which the Frequented Fane hath been built,
and the Written Tablet revealed, and the
Outspread Roll uncovered, to send down
upon me and upon them who are in my
company that which will enable us to soar
into the heavens of Thy transcendent glory,
and will wash us from the stain of such
doubts as have hindered the suspicious from
entering into the tabernacle of Thy unity.
I am the one, O my Lord, who hath held
fast to the cord of Thy loving-kindness, and
clung to the hem of Thy mercy and favors.
Do Thou ordain for me and for my loved
ones the good of this world and of the world
to come. Supply them, then, with the Hid-
den Gift Thou didst ordain for the choicest
among Thy creatures.
These are, O my Lord, the days in which
Thou hast bidden Thy servants to observe
the fast. Blessed is he that observeth the
fast wholly for Thy sake and with absolute
detachment from all things except Thee.
Assist me and assist them, O my Lord, to
obey Thee and to keep Thy precepts. Thou,
verily, hast power to do what Thou choosest.
There is no God but Thee, the All-Know-
ing, the All-Wise. All praise be to God, the
Lord of all worlds.
Glorified be Thy name, O Lord my God!
Thou beholdest my dwelling-place, and the
prison into which I am cast, and the woes I
suffer. By Thy might! No pen can re-
count them, nor can any tongue describe or
number them. I know not, O my God, for
what purpose Thou hast abandoned me to
Thine adversaries. Thy glory beareth me
witness! I sorrow not for the vexations I
endure for love of Thee, nor feel perturbed
by the calamities that overtake me in Thy
path. My grief is rather because Thou de-
layest to fulfill what Thou hast determined
in the Tablets of Thy Revelation, and or-
dained in the books of Thy decree and judg-
ment.
My blood, at all times, addresseth me say-
ing: "O Thou Who art the Image of the
Most Merciful! How long will it be ere
Thou riddest me of the captivity of this
world, and deliverest me from the bondage
of this life? Didst Thou not promise me
that Thou shalt dye the earth with me, and
sprinkle me on the faces of the inmates of
Thy Paradise?" To this I make reply: "Be
thou patient and quiet thyself. The things
thou desirest can last but an hour. As for
me, however, I quaff continually in the
path of God the cup of His decree, and wish
not that the ruling of His will should cease
to operate, or that the woes I suffer for the
sake of my Lord, the Most Exalted, the All-
Glorious, should be ended. Seek thou my
wish and forsake thine own. Thy bondage
is not for my protection, but to enable me
to sustain successive tribulations, and to pre-
pare me for the trials that must needs re-
peatedly assail me. Perish that lover who
discerneth between the pleasant and the
poisonous in his love for his beloved! Be
thou satisfied with what God hath destined
for thee. He, verily, ruleth over thee as He
willeth and pleaseth. No God is there but
Him, the Inaccessible, the Most High."
Magnified be Thy name, O Lord my God!
I know not what the water is with which
Thou hast created me, or what the fire Thou
hast kindled within me, or the clay where-
with Thou hast kneaded me. The restless-
ness of every sea hath been stilled, but not
the restlessness of this Ocean which moveth
at the bidding of the winds of Thy will.
The flame of every fire hath been extin-
guished except the Flame which the hands
of Thine omnipotence have kindled, and
whose radiance Thou hast, by the power of
Thy name, shed abroad before all that are
in Thy heaven and all that are on Thy earth.
As the tribulations deepen, it waxeth hotter
and hotter.
Behold, then, O my God, how Thy Light
hath been compassed with the onrush-
ing winds of Thy decree, how the tempests
that blow and beat upon it from every
side have added to its brightness and in-
174
THE BAHA'f WORLD
creased its splendor. For all this let Thee
be praised.
I implore Thee, by Thy Most Great Name,
and Thy most ancient sovereignty, to look
upon Thy loved ones whose hearts have been
sorely shaken by reason of the troubles that
have touched Him Who is the Manifestation
of Thine own Self. Powerful art Thou to
do what pleaseth Thee. Thou art, verily,
the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.
0 Thou Whose face is the object of the
adoration of all that yearn after Thee,
Whose presence is the hope of such as are
wholly devoted to Thy will, Whose nearness
is the desire of all that have drawn nigh
unto Thy court, Whose countenance is the
companion of those who have recognized
Thy truth, Whose name is the mover of
the souls that long to behold Thy face,
Whose voice is the true life of Thy lovers,
the words of Whose mouth are as the wa-
ters of life unto all who are in heaven and
on earth!
1 beseech Thee, by the wrong Thou hast
suffered and the ills inflicted upon Thee by
the hosts of wrongful doers, to send down
upon me from the clouds of Thy mercy
that which will purify me of all that is not
of Thee, that I may be worthy to praise
Thee and fit to love Thee.
Withhold not from me, O my Lord, the
things Thou didst ordain for such of Thy
handmaidens as circle around Thee, and on
whom are poured continually the splendors
of the sun of Thy beauty and the beams of
the brightness of Thy face. Thou art He
Who from everlasting hath succored whoso-
ever hath sought Thee, and bountifully
favored him who hath asked Thee.
No God is there beside Thee, the Mighty,
the Ever-Abiding, the All-Bounteous, the
Most Generous.
Lauded be Thy name, O Lord my God!
Darkness hath fallen upon every land, and
the forces of mischief have encompassed all
the nations. Through them, however, I
perceive the splendors of Thy wisdom, and
discern the brightness of the light of Thy
providence.
They that are shut out as by a veil from
Thee have imagined that they have the
power to put out Thy light, and to quench
Thy fire, and to still the winds of Thy
grace. Nay, and to this Thy might bear-
eth me witness! Had not every tribulation
been made the bearer of Thy wisdom, and
every ordeal the vehicle of Thy providence,
no one would have dared oppose us, though
the powers of earth and heaven were to be
leagued against us. Were I to unravel the
wondrous mysteries of Thy wisdom which
are laid bare before me, the reins of Thine
enemies would be cleft asunder.
Glorified be Thou, then, O my God! I be-
seech Thee by Thy Most Great Name to
assemble them that love Thee around the
Law that streameth from the good-pleasure
of Thy will, and to send down upon them
what will assure their hearts.
Potent art Thou to do what pleaseth Thee.
Thou art, verily, the Help in Peril, the Self-
Subsisting.
GLEANINGS FROM
BAHA'
-LiAUDED and glorified art Thou, O Lord,
my God! How can I make mention of Thee,
assured as I am that no tongue, however deep
its wisdom, can befittingly magnify Thy
name, nor can the bird of the human heart,
however great its longing, ever hope to
ascend into the heaven of Thy majesty and
knowledge.
If I describe Thee, O my God, as Him
Who is the All-Perceiving, I find myself
compelled to admit that They Who are the
highest Embodiments of perception have
THE WRITINGS
U'LLAH
OF
been created by virtue of Thy behest. And
if I extol Thee as Him Who is the All-Wise,
I, likewise, am forced to recognize that the
Well Springs of wisdom have themselves
been generated through the operation of
Thy Will. And if I proclaim Thee as the
Incomparable One, I soon discover that they
Who are the inmost essence of oneness have
been sent down by Thee and are but the
evidences of Thine handiwork. And if I
acclaim Thee as the Knower of all things, I
must confess that they Who are the Quin-
EXCERPTS FROM BAHA'f SACRED WRITINGS 175
tessence of knowledge are but the creation
and instruments of Thy Purpose.
Exalted, immeasurably exalted, art Thou
above the strivings of mortal man to unravel
Thy mystery, to describe Thy glory, or even
to hint at the nature of Thine Essence. For
whatever such strivings may accomplish,
they never can hope to transcend the limita-
tions imposed upon Thy creatures, inasmuch
as these efforts are actuated by Thy decree,
and are begotten of Thine invention. The
loftiest sentiments which the holiest of
saints can express in praise of Thee, and the
deepest wisdom which the most learned of
men can utter in their attempts to compre-
hend Thy nature, all revolve around that
Center Which is wholly subjected to Thy
sovereignty, Which adoreth Thy Beauty, and
is propelled through the movement of Thy
Pen.
Nay, forbid it, O my God, that I should
have uttered such words as must of neces-
sity imply the existence of any direct rela-
tionship between the Pen of Thy Revelation
and the essence of all created things. Far,
far are They Who are related to Thee above
the conception of such relationship! All
comparisons and likenesses fail to do justice
to the Tree of Thy Revelation, and every
way is barred to the comprehension of the
Manifestation of Thy Self and the Day
Spring of Thy Beauty.
Far, far from Thy glory be what mortal
man can affirm of Thee, or attribute unto
Thee, or the praise with which he can
glorify Thee! Whatever duty Thou hast
prescribed unto Thy servants of extolling to
the utmost Thy majesty and glory is but a
token of Thy grace unto them, that they
may be enabled to ascend unto the station
conferred upon their own inmost being, the
station of the knowledge of their own selves.
No one else besides Thee hath, at any
time, been able to fathom Thy mastery, or
befittingly to extol Thy greatness. Un-
searchable and high above the praise of men
wilt Thou remain for ever. There is none
other God but Thee, the Inaccessible, the
Omnipotent, the Omniscient, the Holy of
Holies.
The beginning of all things is the knowl-
edge of God, and the end of all things is
strict observance of whatsoever hath been
sent down from the empyrean of the Divine
Will that pervadeth all that is in the heav-
ens and all that is on the earth.
The Revelation which, from time imme-
morial, hath been acclaimed as the Purpose
and Promise of all the Prophets of God, and
the most cherished Desire of His Messen-
gers, hath now, by virtue of the pervasive
Will of the Almighty and at His irresistible
bidding, been revealed unto men. The ad-
vent of such a Revelation hath been her-
alded in all the sacred Scriptures. Behold
how, notwithstanding such an announce-
ment, mankind hath strayed from its path
and shut out itself from its glory.
Say: O ye lovers of the One true God!
Strive, that ye may truly recognize and
know Him, and observe befittingly His pre-
cepts. This is a Revelation, under which,
if a man shed for its sake one drop of blood,
myriads of oceans will be his recompense.
Take heed, O friends, that ye forfeit not
so inestimable a benefit, or disregard its
transcendent station. Consider the multi-
tude of lives that have been, and are still
being, sacrificed in a world deluded by a
mere phantom which the vain imaginations
of its peoples have conceived. Render
thanks unto God, inasmuch as ye have at-
tained unto your heart's Desire, and been
united to Him Who is the Promise of all
nations. Guard ye, with the aid of the one
true God — exalted be His glory — the integ-
rity of the station which ye have attained,
and cleave to that which shall promote His
Cause. He, verily, enjoineth on you what
is right and conducive to the exaltation of
man's station. Glorified be the All-Merci-
ful, the Revealer of this wondrous Tablet.
This is the Day in which God's most
excellent favors have been poured out upon
men, the Day in which His most mighty
grace hath been infused into all created
things. It is incumbent upon all the peoples
of the world to reconcile their differences,
and, with perfect unity and peace, abide be-
neath the shadow of the Tree of His care
and loving-kindness. It behooveth them to
cleave to whatsoever will, in this Day, be
conducive to the exaltation of their stations,
and to the promotion of their best interests.
176
THE BAHA'I WORLD
Happy are those whom the all-glorious Pen
was moved to remember, and blessed are
those men whose names, by virtue of Our
inscrutable decree, We have preferred to
conceal.
Beseech ye the one true God to grant that
all men may be graciously assisted to fulfill
that which is acceptable in Our sight. Soon
will the present-day order be rolled up, and
a new one spread out in its stead. Verily,
thy Lord speaketh the truth, and is the
Knower of things unseen.
This is the Day whereon the Ocean of
God's mercy hath been manifested unto
men, the Day in which the Day Star of His
loving-kindness hath shed its radiance upon
them, the Day in which the clouds of His
bountiful favor have overshadowed the
whole of mankind. Now is the time to
cheer and refresh the down-cast through the
invigorating breeze of love and fellowship,
and the living waters of friendliness and
charity.
They who are the beloved of God, in
whatever place they gather and whomso-
ever they may meet, must evince, in their
attitude towards God, and in the manner
of their celebration of His praise and glory,
such humility and submissiveness that every
atom of the dust beneath their feet may
attest the depth of their devotion. The con-
versation carried by these holy souls should
be informed with such power that these
same atoms of dust will be thrilled by its
influence. They should conduct themselves
in such manner that the earth upon which
they tread may never be allowed to address
to them such words as these: "I am to be
preferred above you. For witness, how pa-
tient I am in bearing the burden which the
husbandman layeth upon me. I am the in-
strument that continually imparteth unto
all beings the blessings with which He Who
is the Source of all grace hath entrusted me.
Notwithstanding the honor conferred upon
me, and the unnumbered evidences of my
wealth — a wealth that supplieth the needs
of all creation — behold the measure of my
humility, witness with what absolute sub-
missiveness I allow myself to be trodden be-
neath the feet of men. . . ."
Show forbearance and benevolence and
love to one another. Should any one
among you be incapable of grasping a cer-
tain truth, or be striving to comprehend it,
show forth, when conversing with him, a
spirit of extreme kindliness and good- will.
Help him to see and recognize the truth,
without esteeming yourself to be, in the
least, superior to him, or to be possessed of
greater endowments.
The whole duty of man in this Day is to
attain that share of the flood of grace which
God poureth forth for him. Let none, there-
fore, consider the largeness or smallness of
the receptacle. The portion of some might
lie in the palm of a man's hand, the portion
of others might fill a cup, and of others
even a gallon-measure.
Every eye, in this Day, should seek what
will best promote the Cause of God. He,
Who is the Eternal Truth, beareth Me wit-
ness! Nothing whatever can, in this Day,
inflict a greater harm upon this Cause than
dissension and strife, contention, estrange-
ment and apathy, among the loved ones of
God. Flee them, through the power of God
and His sovereign aid, ahd strive ye to knit
together the hearts of men, in His Name,
the Unifier, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.
Beseech ye the one true God to grant that
ye may taste the savor of such deeds as are
performed in His path, and partake of the
sweetness of such humility and submissive-
ness as are shown for His sake. Forget your
own selves, and turn your eyes towards your
neighbor. Bend your energies to whatever
may foster the education of men. Nothing
is, or can ever be, hidden from God. If ye
follow in His way, His incalculable and im-
perishable blessings will be showered upon
you. This is the luminous Tablet, whose
verses have streamed from the moving Pen
of Him Who is the Lord of all worlds.
Ponder it in your hearts, and be ye of them
that observe its precepts.
Behold, how the divers peoples and kin-
dreds of the earth have been waiting for the
coming of the Promised One. No sooner
had He, Who is the Sun of Truth, been
made manifest, than, lo, all turned away
from Him, except them whom God was
pleased to guide. We dare not, in this Day,
lift the veil that concealeth the exalted sta-
EXCERPTS FROM BAHA'f SACRED WRITINGS 177
tion which every true believer can attain, for
the joy which such a revelation must pro-
voke might well cause a few to faint away
and die.
He Who is the Heart and Center of the
Bay an hath written: "The germ that holdeth
within itself the potentialities of the Reve-
lation that is to come is endowed with a
potency superior to the combined forces of
all those who follow Me." And, again, He
saith: "Of all the tributes I have paid to
Him Who is to come after Me, the greatest
is this, My written confession, that no words
of Mine can adequately describe Him, nor
can any reference to Him in My Book, the
Bayan, do justice to His Cause."
Whoso hath searched the depths of the
oceans that lie hid within these exalted
words, and fathomed their import, can be
said to have discovered a glimmer of the un-
speakable glory with which this mighty, this
sublime, and most holy Revelation hath been
endowed. From the excellence of so great
a Revelation the honor with which its faith-
ful followers must needs be invested can be
well imagined. By the righteousness of the
one true God! The very breath of these
souls is in itself richer than all the treasures
of the earth. Happy is the man that hath
attained thereunto, and woe betide the heed-
less.
Verily I say, this is the Day in which man-
kind can behold the Face, and hear the
Voice, of the Promised One. The Call of
God hath been raised, and the light of His
countenance hath been lifted up upon men.
It behooveth every man to blot out the trace
of every idle word from the tablet of his
heart, and to gaze, with an open and un-
biased mind, on the signs of His Revelation,
the proofs of His Mission, and the tokens of
His glory.
Great indeed in this Day! The allusions
made to it in all the sacred Scriptures as
the Day of God attest its greatness. The
soul of every Prophet of God, of every Di-
vine Messenger, hath thirsted for this won-
drous Day. All the divers kindreds of the
earth have, likewise, yearned to attain it.
No sooner, however, had the Day Star of
His Revelation manifested itself in the
heaven of God's Will, than all, except those
whom the Almighty was pleased to guide,
were found dumbfounded and heedless.
O thou that hast remembered Me! The
most grievous veil hath shut out the peo-
ples of the earth from His glory, anH hin-
dered them from hearkening to His call.
God grant that the light of unity may en-
velop the whole earth, and that the seal,
"the Kingdom is God's," may be stamped
upon the brow of all its peoples.
By the righteousness of God! These are
the days in which God hath proved the
hearts of the entire company of His Mes-
sengers and Prophets, and beyond them those
that stand guard over His sacred and in-
violable Sanctuary, the inmates of the ce-
lestial Pavilion and dwellers of the Taber-
nacle of Glory. How severe, therefore, the
test to which they who join partners with
God must needs be subjected!
O Husayn! Consider the eagerness with
which certain peoples and nations have an-
ticipated the return of Imam-Husayn, whose
coming, after the appearance of the Qa'im,
hath been prophesied, in days past, by the
chosen ones of God, exalted be His glory.
These holy ones have, moreover, announced
that when He Who is the Day Spring of the
manifold grace of God manifesteth Himself,
all the Prophets and Messengers, including
the Qa'im, will gather together beneath the
shadow of the sacred Standard which the
Promised One will raise. That hour is now
come. The world is illumined with the ef-
fulgent glory of His countenance. And yet,
behold how far its peoples have strayed from
His path! None have believed in Him ex-
cept them who, through the power of the
Lord of Names, have shattered the idols of
their vain imaginings and corrupt desires and
entered the city of certitude. The seal of
the choice Wine of His Revelation hath, in
this Day and in His Name, the Self -Suf-
ficing, been broken. Its grace is being poured
out upon men. Fill thy cup, and drink it
in His Name, the Most Holy, the All-
Praised.
The time foreordained unto the peoples
and kindreds of the earth is now come. The
promises of God, as recorded in the holy
178
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Scriptures, have all been fulfilled. Out of
Zion hath gone forth the Law of God, and
Jerusalem, and the hills and land thereof,
are filled with the glory of His Revelation.
Happy is the man that pondereth in his
heart that which hath been revealed in the
Books of God, the Help in Peril, the Self-
Subsisting. Meditate upon this, O ye be-
loved of God, and let your ears be attentive
unto His Word, so that ye may, by His grace
and mercy, drink your fill from the crystal
waters of constancy, and become as stead-
fast and immovable as the mountain in His
Cause.
In the Book of Isaiah it is written: "Enter
into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for
fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His
majesty." No man that meditateth upon
this verse can fail to recognize the greatness
of this Cause, or doubt the exalted character
of this Day — the Day of God Himself. This
same verse is followed by these words: "And
the Lord alone shall be exalted in that Day/'
This is the Day which the Pen of the Most
High hath glorified in all the holy Scrip-
tures. There is no verse in them that doth
not declare the glory of His holy Name,
and no Book that doth not testify unto the
loftiness of this most exalted theme. Were
We to make mention of all that hath been
revealed in these heavenly Books and holy
Scriptures concerning this Revelation, this
Tablet would assume impossible dimensions.
It is incumbent, in this Day, upon every
man to place his whole trust in the manifold
bounties of God, and arise to disseminate,
with the utmost wisdom, the verities of His
Cause. Then, and only then, will the whole
earth be enveloped with the morning light of
His Revelation.
All glory be to this Day, the Day in
which the fragrances of mercy have been
wafted over all created things, a Day so
blest that past ages and centuries can never
hope to rival it, a Day in which the coun-
tenance of the Ancient of Days hath turned
towards His holy seat. Thereupon the
voices of all created things, and beyond
them those of the Concourse on high, were
heard calling aloud: "Haste thee, O Carmel,
for lo, the light of the countenance of God,
the Ruler of the Kingdom of Names and
Fashioner of the heavens, hath been lifted
upon thee."
Seized with transports of joy, and raising
high her voice, she thus exclaimed: "May my
lite be a sacrifice to Thee, inasmuch as Thou
hast fixed Thy gaze upon me, hast bestowed
upon me Thy bounty, and hast directed
towards me Thy steps. Separation from
Thee, O Thou Source of everlasting lite,
hath well nigh consumed me, and my re-
moteness from Thy presence hath burned
away my soul. All praise be to Thee for
having enabled me to hearken to Thy call,
for having honored me with Thy footsteps,
and for having quickened my soul through
the vitalizing fragrance of Thy Day and
the thrilling voice of Thy Pen, a voice Thou
didst ordain as Thy trumpet-call amidst
Thy people. And when the hour at which
Thy resistless Faith was to be made mani-
fest did strike, Thou didst breathe a breath
of Thy spirit into Thy Pen, and lo, the
entire creation shook to its very founda-
tions, unveiling to mankind such mysteries
as lay hidden within the treasuries of Him
Who is the Possessor \>f all created things."
No sooner had her voice reached that most
exalted Spot than We made reply: "Render
thanks unto Thy Lord, O Carmel. The fire
of thy separation from Me was fast con-
suming thee, when the ocean of My presence
surged before thy face, cheering thine eyes
and those of all creation, and filling with
delight all things visible and invisible. Re-
joice, for God hath in this Day established
upon thee His throne, hath made thee the
dawning-place of His signs and the day
spring of the evidences of His Revelation.
Well is it with him that circleth around
thee, that proclaimeth the revelation of thy
glory, and recounteth that which the bounty
of the Lord thy God hath showered upon
thee. Seize thou the Chalice of Immortal-
ity in the name of thy Lord, the All-Glori-
ous, and give thanks unto Him, inasmuch
as He, in token of His mercy unto thee,
hath turned thy sorrow into gladness, and
transmuted thy grief into blissful joy. He,
verily, loveth the spot which hath been made
the seat of His throne, which His footsteps
have trodden, which hath been honored by
His presence, from which He raised His call,
and upon which He shed His tears.
EXCERPTS FROM BAHA'f SACRED WRITINGS 179
"Call out to Zion, O Carmel, and an-
nounce the joyful tidings: He that was
hidden from mortal eyes is come! His all-
conquering sovereignty is manifest; His all-
encompassing splendor is revealed. Beware
lest thou hesitate or halt. Hasten forth and
circumambulate the City of God that hath
descended from heaven, the celestial Kaaba
round which have circled in adoration the
favored of God, the pure in heart, and the
company of the most exalted angels. Oh,
how I long to announce unto every spot on
the surface of the earth, and to carry to
each one of its cities, the glad-tidings of
this Revelation — a Revelation to which the
heart of Sinai hath been attracted, and in
whose name the Burning Bush is calling:
'Unto God, the Lord of Lords, belong the
kingdoms of earth and heaven/ Verily this
is the Day in which both land and sea re-
joice at this announcement, the Day for
which have been laid up those things which
God, through a bounty beyond the ken of
mortal mind or heart, hath destined for
revelation. Ere long will God sail His Ark
upon thee, and will manifest the people of
Baha who have been mentioned in the Book
of Names.'1
Sanctified be the Lord of all mankind, at
the mention of Whose name all the atoms
of the earth have been made to vibrate, and
the Tongue of Grandeur hath been moved
to disclose that which had been wrapt in
His knowledge and lay concealed within the
treasury of His might. He, verily, through
the potency of His name, the Mighty, the
All-Powerful, the Most High, is the ruler of
all that is in the heavens and all that is on
earth.
Bestir yourselves, O people, in anticipa-
tion of the days of Divine justice, for the
promised hour is now come. Beware lest ye
fail to apprehend its import and be ac-
counted among the erring.
Contemplate with thine inward eye the
chain of successive Revelations that hath
linked the Manifestation of Adam with that
of the Bab. I testify before God that each
one of these Manifestations hath been sent
down through the operation of the Divine
Will and Purpose, that each hath been the
bearer of a specific Message, that each hath
been entrusted with a divinely-revealed Book
and been commissioned to unravel the mys-
teries of a mighty Tablet. The measure of
the Revelation with which every one of
them hath been identified had been defi-
nitely foreordained. This, verily, is a token
of Our favor unto them, if ye be of those
that comprehend this truth. . . . And when
this process of progressive Revelation cul-
minated in the stage at which His peerless,
His most sacred, and exalted Countenance
was to be unveiled to men's eyes, He chose
to hide His own Self behind a thousand
veils, lest profane and mortal eyes discover
His glory. This He did at a time when
the signs and tokens of a divinely-appointed
Revelation were being showered upon Him
— signs and tokens which none can reckon
except the Lord, your God, the Lord of all
worlds. And when the set time of conceal-
ment was fulfilled, We sent forth, whilst
still wrapt within a myriad veib, an infini-
tesimal glimmer of the effulgent Glory en-
veloping the Face of the Youth, and lo, the
entire company of the dwellers of the
Realms above were seized with violent com-
motion and the favored of God fell down
in adoration before Him. He hath, verily,
manifested a glory such as none in the whole
creation hath witnessed, inasmuch as He
hath arisen to proclaim in person His Cause
unto all who are in the heavens and all who
are on the earth.
That which thou hast heard concerning
Abraham, the Friend of the All-Merciful, is
the truth, and no doubt is there about it.
The Voice of God commanded Him to offer
up Ishmael as a sacrifice, so that His stead-
fastness in the Faith of God and His de-
tachment from all else but Him may be
demonstrated unto men. The purpose of
God, moreover, was to sacrifice him as a
ransom for the sins and iniquities of all the
peoples of the earth. This same honor, Jesus,
the Son of Mary, besought the one true God,
exalted be His name and glory, to confer
upon Him. For the same reason was
Husayn offered up as a sacrifice by Muham-
mad, the Apostle of God.
No man can ever claim to have com-
prehended the nature of the hidden and
manifold grace of God; none can fathom His
180
THE BAHA'f WORLD
all-embracing mercy. Such hath been the
perversity of men and their transgression, so
grievous have been the trials that have af-
flicted the Prophets of God and their chosen
ones, that all mankind deserveth to be tor-
mented and to perish. God's hidden and
most loving providence, however, hath,
through both visible and invisible agencies,
protected and will continue to protect it
from the penalty of its wickedness. Ponder
this in thine heart, that the truth may be
revealed unto thee, and be thou steadfast in
His path.
It hath been decreed by Us that the Word
of God and all the potentialities thereof
shall be manifested unto men in strict con-
formity with such conditions as have been
foreordained by Him Who is the All-Know-
ing, the All- Wise. We have, moreover, or-
dained that its veil of concealment be none
other except its own Self. Such indeed is
Our Power to achieve Our Purpose. Should
the Word be allowed to release suddenly all
the energies latent within it, no man could
sustain the weight of so mighty a Revela-
tion. Nay, all that is in heaven and on
earth would flee in consternation before it.
Consider that which hath been sent down
unto Muhammad, the Apostle of God. The
measure of the Revelation of which He was
the bearer had been clearly foreordained by
Him Who is the Almighty, the Ail-Power-
ful. They that heard Him, however, could
apprehend His purpose only to the extent of
their station and spiritual capacity. He, in
like manner, uncovered the Face of Wisdom
in proportion to their ability to sustain the
burden of His Message. No sooner had man-
kind attained the stage of maturity, than
the Word revealed to men's eyes the latent
energies with which it had been endowed —
energies which manifested themselves in the
plenitude of their glory when the Ancient
Beauty appeared, in the year sixty, in the
person of 4Ali-Muhammad, the Bab.
All-praise and glory be to God Who,
through the power of His might, hath de-
livered His creation from the nakedness of
non-existence, and clothed it with the
mantle of life. From among all created
things He hath singled out for His special
favor the pure, the gem-like reality of man,
and invested it with a unique capacity of
knowing Him and of reflecting the great-
ness of His glory. This twofold distinction
conferred upon him hath cleansed away
from his heart the rust of every vain desire,
and made him worthy of the vesture with
which his Creator hath deigned to clothe
him. It hath served to rescue his soul from
the wretchedness of ignorance.
This robe with which the body and soul
of man hath been adorned is the very foun-
dation of his well-being and development.
Oh, how blessed the day when, aided by the
grace and might of the one true God, man
will have freed himself from the bondage
and corruption of the world and all that is
therein, and will have attained unto true
and abiding rest beneath the shadow of the
Tree of Knowledge!
The songs which the bird of thine heart
had uttered in its great love for its friends
have reached their ears, and moved Me to
answer thy questions, and reveal to thee
such secrets as I am allowed to unfold. In
thine esteemed letter thou hadst inquired
which of the Prophets* of God should be
regarded as superior to others. Know thou
assuredly that the essence of all the Prophets
of God is one and the same. Their unity is
absolute. God, the Creator, saith: There is
no distinction whatsoever among the Bear-
ers of My Message. They all have but one
purpose; their secret is the same secret. To
prefer one in honor to another, to exalt cer-
tain ones above the rest, is in no wise to be
permitted. Every true Prophet hath re-
garded His Message as fundamentally the
same as the Revelation of every other Prophet
gone before Him. If any man, therefore,
should fail to comprehend this truth, and
should consequently indulge in vain and un-
seemly language, no one whose sight is keen
and whose understanding is enlightened
would ever allow such idle talk to cause
him to waver in his belief.
The measure of the revelation of the
Prophets of God in this world, however,
must differ. Each and every one of them
hath been the Bearer of a distinct Message,
and hath been commissioned to reveal Him-
self through specific acts. It is for this rea-
son that they appear to vary in their great-
ness. Their Revelation may be likened unto
EXCERPTS FROM BAHA'f SACRED WRITINGS 181
the light of the moon that sheddeth its ra-
diance upon the earth. Though every time
it appeareth, it revealeth a fresh measure
of its brightness, yet its inherent splendor
can never diminish, nor can its light suffer
extinction.
It is clear and evident, therefore, that any
apparent variation in the intensity of their
light is not inherent in the light itself, but
should rather be attributed to the varying
receptivity of an ever-changing world.
Every Prophet Whom the Almighty and
Peerless Creator hath purposed to send to
the peoples of the earth hath been entrusted
with a Message, and charged to act in a
manner that would best meet the require-
ments of the age in which He appeared.
God's purpose in sending His Prophets unto
men is twofold. The first is to liberate the
children of men from the darkness of igno-
rance, and guide them to the light of true
understanding. The second is to insure the
peace and tranquillity of mankind, and pro-
vide all the means by which they can be
established.
The Prophets of God should be regarded
as physicians whose task is to foster the well-
being of the world and its peoples, that,
through the spirit of oneness, they may heal
the sickness of a divided humanity. To
none is given the right to question thsir
words or disparage their conduct, for they
are the only ones who can claim to have
understood the patient and to have correctly
diagnosed its ailments. No man, however
acute his perception, can ever hope to reach
the heights which the wisdom and under-
standing of the Divine Physician have at-
tained. Little wonder, then, if the treat-
ment prescribed by the Physician in this day
should not be found to be identical with that
which He prescribed before. How could it
be otherwise when the ills affecting the
sufferer necessitate at every stage of his sick-
ness a special remedy? In like manner, every
time the Prophets of God have illumined the
world with the resplendent radiance of the
Day Star of Divine knowledge, they have
invariably summoned its peoples to embrace
the light of God through such means as best
befitted the exigencies of the age in which
they appeared. They were thus able to scat-
ter the darkness of ignorance, and to shed
upon the world the glory of their own
knowledge. It is towards the inmost es-
sence of these Prophets, therefore, that the
eye of every man of discernment must be
directed, inasmuch as their one and only
purpose hath always been to guide the erring,
and give peace to the afflicted. These are
not days of prosperity and triumph. The
whole of mankind is in the grip of manifold
ills. Strive, therefore, to save its life
through the wholesome medicine which the
almighty hand of the unerring Physician
hath prepared.
And now concerning thy question regard-
ing the nature of religion. Know thou that
they who are truly wise have likened the
world unto the human temple. As the body
of man needeth a garment to clothe it, so
the body of mankind must needs be adorned
with the mantle of justice and wisdom. Its
robe is the Revelation vouchsafed unto it
by God. Whenever this robe hath fulfilled
its purpose, the Almighty will assuredly re-
new it. For every age requireth a fresh
measure of the light of God. Every Divine
Revelation hath been sent down in a man-
ner that befitted the circumstances of the
age in which it hath appeared.
As to thy question regarding the sayings
of the leaders of past religions. Every wise
and praiseworthy man will no doubt eschew
such vain and profitless talk. The incom-
parable Creator hath created all men from
one same substance, and hath exalted their
reality above the rest of His creatures. Suc-
cess or failure, gain or loss, must, therefore,
depend upon man's own exertions. The
more he striveth, the greater will be his
progress. We fain would hope that the ver-
nal showers of the bounty of God may cause
the flowers of true understanding to spring
from the soil of men's hearts, and may wash
from them all earthly defilements.
Ponder a while. What is it that prompted,
in every Dispensation, the peoples of the
earth to shun the Manifestation of the All-
Merciful? What could have impelled them
to turn away from Him and to challenge
His authority? Were men to meditate on
these words which have flowed from the Pen
of the Divine Ordainer, they would, one and
all, hasten to embrace the truth of this God-
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THE BAHA'f WORLD
given, and ever-enduring Revelation, and
would testify to that which He Himself
hath solemnly affirmed. It is the veil of
idle imaginations which, in the days of the
Manifestations of the Unity of God and the
Day Springs of His everlasting glory, hath
intervened, and will continue to intervene,
between them and the rest of mankind. For
in those days, He Who is the Eternal Truth
manifesteth Himself in conformity with
that which He Himself hath purposed, and
not according to the desires and expecta-
tions of men. Even as He hath revealed:
"So oft, then, as an Apostle cometh to
you with that which your souls desire not,
do ye swell with pride, and treat some as
impostors, and slay others."
There can be no doubt whatever that had
these Apostles appeared, in bygone ages and
cycles, in accordance with the vain imagina-
tions which the hearts of men had devised,
no one would have repudiated the truth of
these sanctified Beings. Though such men
have been, night and day, remembering the
one true God, and have been devoutly en-
gaged in the exercise of their devotions, yet
they failed in the end to recognize, and par-
take of the grace of, the Day Springs of
the signs of God and the Manifestations of
His irrefutable evidences. To this the Scrip-
tures bear witness. Thou hast, no doubt,
heard about it.
Consider the Dispensation of Jesus Christ.
Behold, how all the learned men of that gen-
eration, though eagerly anticipating the
coming of the Promised One, have neverthe-
less denied Him. Both Annas, the most
learned among the divines of His day, and
Caiaphas, the high priest, denounced Him
and pronounced the sentence of His death.
In like manner, when Muhammad, the
Prophet of God — may all men be a sacrifice
unto Him — appeared, the learned men of
Mecca and Medina arose, in the early days of
His Revelation, against Him and rejected
His Message, while they who were destitute
of all learning recognized and embraced His
Faith. Ponder a while. Consider how Balal,
the Ethiopian, unlettered though he was,
ascended into the heaven of faith and certi-
tude, whilst 'Abdu'llah Ubayy, a leader
among the learned, maliciously strove to op-
pose Him. Behold, how a mere shepherd
was so carried away by the ecstasy of the
words of God that he was able to gain ad-
mittance into the habitation of his Best-Be-
loved, and was united to Him Who is the
Lord of Mankind, whilst they who prided
themselves on their knowledge and wisdom
strayed far from His path and remained de-
prived of His grace. For this reason He
hath written: "He that is exalted among
you shall be abased, and he that is abased
shall be exalted." References to this theme
are to be found in most of the heavenly
Books, as well as in the sayings of the
Prophets and Messengers of God.
Verily I say, such is the greatness of this
Cause that the father flieth from his son, and
the son flieth from his father. Call ye to
mind the story of Noah and Canaan. God
grant that, in these days of heavenly delight,
ye may not deprive yourselves of the sweet
savors of the All-Glorious God, and may par-
take, in this spiritual Springtime, of the
outpourings of His grace. Arise in the
name of Him Who is the Object of all
knowledge, and, with absolute detachment
from the learning of men* lift up your voices
and proclaim His Cause. I swear by the Day
Star of Divine Revelation! The very mo-
ment ye arise, ye will witness how a flood of
Divine knowledge will gush out of your
hearts, and will behold the wonders of His
heavenly wisdom manifested in all their
glory before you. Were ye to taste of the
sweetness of the sayings of the All-Merciful,
ye would unhesitatingly forsake your selves,
and would lay down your lives for the Well-
Beloved.
Who can ever believe that this Servant of
God hath at any time cherished in His heart
a desire for any earthly honor or benefit?
The Cause associated with His Name is far
above the transitory things of this world.
Behold Him, an exile, a victim of tyranny,
in this Most Great Prison. His enemies have
assailed Him on every side, and will con-
tinue to do so till the end of His life. What-
ever, therefore, He saith unto you is wholly
for the sake of God, that haply the peoples
of the earth may cleanse their hearts from
the stain of evil^ desire, may rend its veil
asunder, and attain unto the knowledge of
the one true God — the most exalted station
to which any man can aspire. Their belief
EXCERPTS FROM BAHA'f SACRED WRITINGS 183
or disbelief in My Cause can neither profit
nor harm Me. We summon them wholly
for the sake of God. He, verily, can afford
to dispense with all creatures.
Know thou that when the Son of Man
yielded up His breath to God, the whole
creation wept with a great weeping. By
sacrificing Himself, however, a fresh ca-
pacity was infused into all created things.
Its evidences, as witnessed in all the peoples
of the earth, are now manifest before thee.
The deepest wisdom which the sages have
uttered, the profoundest learning which any
mind hath unfolded, the arts which the
ablest hands have produced, the influence
exerted by the most potent of rulers, are but
manifestations of the quickening power re-
leased by His transcendent, His all-per-
vasive, and resplendent Spirit.
We testify that when He came into the
world, He shed the splendor of His glory
upon all created things. Through Him the
leper recovered from the leprosy of per-
versity and ignorance. Through Him, the
unchaste and wayward were healed. Through
His power, born of Almighty God, the eyes
of the blind were opened, and the soul of
the sinner sanctified.
Leprosy may be interpreted as any veil
that interveneth between man and the recog-
nition of the Lord, his God. Whoso allow-
eth himself to be shut out from Him is in-
deed a leper, who shall not be remembered
in the Kingdom of God, the Mighty, the
All-Praised. We bear witness that through
the power of the Word of God every leper
was cleansed, every sickness was healed,
every human infirmity was banished. He it
is Who purified the world. Blessed is the
man who, with a face beaming with light,
hath turned towards Him.
Blessed is the man that hath acknowl-
edged his belief in God and in His signs, and
recognized that "He shall not be asked of
His doings." Such a recognition hath been
made by God the ornament of every belief,
and its very foundation. Upon it must de-
pend the acceptance of every godly deed.
Fasten your eyes upon it, that haply the
whisperings of the rebellious may not cause
you to slip.
Were He to decree as lawful the thing
which from time immemorial had been for-
bidden, and forbid that which had, at all
times, been regarded as lawful, to none is
given the right to question His authority.
Whoso will hesitate, though it be for less
than a moment, should be regarded as a
transgressor.
Whoso hath not recognized this sublime
and fundamental verity, and hath failed to
attain this most exalted station, the winds
of doubt will agitate him, and the sayings
of the infidels will distract his soul. He
that hath acknowledged this principle will
be endowed with the most perfect constancy.
All-honor to this all-glorious station, the re-
membrance of which adorneth every exalted
Tablet. Such is the teaching which God
bestoweth on you, a teaching that will de-
liver you from all manner of doubt and
perplexity, and enable you to attain unto
salvation in both this world and in the next.
He, verily, is the Ever-Forgiving, the Most
Bountiful.
Know of a certainty that in every Dis-
pensation the light of Divine Revelation
hath been vouchsafed unto men in direct
proportion to their spiritual capacity. Con-
sider the sun. How feeble its rays the mo-
ment it appeareth above the horizon. How
gradually its warmth and potency increase
as it approacheth its zenith, enabling mean-
while all created things to adapt themselves
to the growing intensity of its light. How
steadily it declineth until it reacheth its set-
ting point. Were it, all of a sudden, to man-
ifest the energies latent within it, it would,
no doubt, cause injury to all created things.
... In like manner, if the Sun of Truth
were suddenly to reveal, at the earliest stages
of its manifestation, the full measure of the
potencies which the providence of the Al-
mighty hath bestowed upon it, the earth of
human understanding would waste away and
be consumed; for men's hearts would nei-
ther sustain the intensity of its revelation,
nor be able to mirror forth the radiance of
its light. Dismayed and overpowered, they
would cease to exist.
Praise be to Thee, O Lord My God, for
the wondrous revelations of Thine inscruta-
ble decree and the manifold woes and trials
Thou hast destined for Myself. At one
184
THE BAHA'f WORLD
time Thou didst deliver Me into the hands
of Nimrod; at another Thou hast allowed
Pharaoh's rod to persecute Me. Thou, alone,
canst estimate, through Thine all-encom-
passing knowledge and the operation of
Thy Will, the incalculable afflictions I have
suffered at their hands. Again Thou didst
cast Me into the prison-cell of the ungodly,
for no reason except that I was moved to
whisper into the ears of the well-favored
denizens of Thy Kingdom an intimation of
the vision with which Thou hadst, through
Thy knowledge, inspired Me, and revealed
to Me its meaning through the potency of
Thy might. And again Thou didst decree
that I be beheaded by the sword of the in-
fidel. Again I was crucified for having
unveiled to men's eyes the hidden gems of
Thy glorious unity, for having revealed to
them the wondrous signs of Thy sovereign
and everlasting power. How bitter the hu-
miliations heaped upon Me, in a subsequent
age, on the plain of Karbila! How lonely
did I feel amidst Thy people! To what a
state of helplessness I was reduced in that
land! Unsatisfied with such indignities, My
persecutors decapitated Me, and, carrying
aloft My head from land to land paraded it
before the gaze of the unbelieving multi-
tude, and deposited it on the seats of the
perverse and faithless. In a later age, I was
suspended, and My breast was made a target
to the darts of the malicious cruelty of My
foes. My limbs were riddled with bullets,
and My body was torn asunder. Finally, be-
hold how, in this Day, My treacherous ene-
mies have leagued themselves against Me,
and are continually plotting to instill the
venom of hate and malice into the souls of
Thy servants. With all their might they
are scheming to accomplish their purpose.
. . . Grievous as is My plight, O God, My
Well-Beloved, I render thanks unto Thee,
and My Spirit is grateful for whatsoever
hath befallen me in the path of Thy good-
pleasure. I am well pleased with that which
Thou didst ordain for Me, and welcome,
however calamitous, the pains and sorrows I
am made to suffer.
O My Well-Beloved! Thou hast breathed
Thy Breath into Me, and divorced Me from
Mine own Self. Thou didst, subsequently,
decree that no more than a faint reflection,
a mere emblem of Thy Reality within Me
be left among the perverse and envious. Be-
hold, how, deluded by this emblem, they
have risen against Me, and heaped upon Me
their denials! Uncover Thy Self, there-
fore, O My Best-Beloved, and deliver Me
from My plight.
Thereupon a Voice replied: "I love, I
dearly cherish this emblem. How can I con-
sent that Mine eyes, alone, gaze upon this
emblem, and that no heart except My heart
recognize it? By My Beauty, which is the
same as Thy Beauty! My wish is to hide
Thee from Mine own eyes: how much more
from the eyes of men!"
I was preparing to make reply, when lo,
the Tablet was suddenly ended, leaving My
theme unfinished, and the pearl of Mine ut-
terance unstrung.
God is My witness, O people! I was asleep
on My couch, when lo, the Breeze of God
wafting over Me roused Me from My slum-
ber. His quickening Spirit revived Me, and
My tongue was unloosed \o voice His Call.
Accuse Me not of having trangressed against
God. Behold Me, not with your eyes but
with Mine. Thus admonisheth you He Who
is the Gracious, the All-Knowing. Think
ye, O people, that I hold within My grasp
the control of God's ultimate Will and Pur-
pose? Far be it from Me to advance such
claim. To this I testify before God, the
Almighty, the Exalted, the All-Knowing,
the All-Wise. Had the ultimate destiny of
God's Faith been in My hands, I would have
never consented, even though for one mo-
ment, to manifest Myself unto you, nor
would I have allowed one word to fall from
My lips. Of this God Himself is, verily, a
witness.
O Son of Justice! In the night season the
beauty of the immortal Being hath repaired
from the emerald height of fidelity unto the
Sadratu'l-Muntaha, and wept with such a
weeping that the Concourse on high and the
dwellers of the realms above wailed at His
lamenting. Whereupon there was asked,
Why the wailing and weeping? He made
reply: As bidden I waited expectant upon
the hill of faithfulness, yet inhaled not from
EXCERPTS FROM BAHA'f SACRED WRITINGS 185
them that dwell on earth the fragrance of
fidelity. Then summoned to return I beheld,
and lo! certain doves of holiness were sore
tried within the claws of the dogs of earth.
Thereupon the Maid of Heaven hastened
forth unveiled and resplendent from Her
mystic mansion, and asked of their names,
and all were told but one. And when urged,
the first letter thereof was uttered, where-
upon the dwellers of the celestial chambers
rushed forth out of their habitation of glory.
And whilst the second letter was pronounced
they fell down, one and all, upon the dust.
At that moment a voice was heard from
the inmost shrine: "Thus far and no far-
ther." Verily, We bear witness unto that
which they have done, and now are doing.
O Afnan, O thou that hast branched from
Mine ancient Stock! My glory and My lov-
ing-kindness rest upon thee. How vast is
the tabernacle of the Cause of God! It hath
overshadowed all the peoples and kindreds
of the earth, and will, erelong, gather to-
gether the whole of mankind beneath its
shelter. Thy day of service is now come.
Countless Tablets bear the testimony of the
bounties vouchsafed unto thee. Arise for
the triumph of My Cause, and, through the
power of thine utterance, subdue the hearts
of men. Thou must show forth that which
will ensure the peace and the well-being of
the miserable and the down-trodden. Gird
up the loins of thine endeavor, that per-
chance thou mayest release the captive from
his chains, and enable him to attain unto true
liberty.
Justice is, in this day, bewailing its plight,
and Equity groaneth beneath the yoke of op-
pression. The thick clouds of tyranny have
darkened the face of the earth, and envel-
oped its peoples. Through the movement of
Our Pen of glory We have, at the bidding
of the omnipotent Ordainer, breathed a new
life into every human frame, and instilled
into every word a fresh potency. All cre-
ated things proclaim the evidences of this
world-wide regeneration. This is the most
great, the most joyful tidings imparted by
the pen of this wronged One to mankind.
Wherefore fear ye, O My well-beloved ones!
Who is it that can dismay you? A touch of
moisture sufficeth to dissolve the hardened
clay out of which this perverse generation
is molded. The mere act of your gathering
together is enough to scatter the forces of
these vain and worthless people. . . .
Every man of insight will, in this day,
readily admit that the counsels which the
Pen of this wronged One hath revealed con-
stitute the supreme animating power for
the advancement of the world and the ex-
altation of its peoples. Arise, O people, and,
by the power of God's might, resolve to gain
the victory over your own selves, that haply
the whole earth may be freed and sanctified
from its servitude to the gods of its idle
fancies — gods that have inflicted such loss
upon, and are responsible for the misery of,
their wretched worshipers. These idols
form the obstacle that impeded man in his
efforts to advance in the path of perfection.
We cherish the hope that the Hand of Di-
vine power may lend its assistance to man-
kind, and deliver it from its state of griev-
ous abasement.
In one of the Tablets these words have
been revealed: O people of God! Do not
busy yourselves in your own concerns; let
your thoughts be fixed upon that which will
rehabilitate the fortunes of mankind and
sanctify the hearts and souls of men. This
can best be achieved through pure and holy
deeds, through a virtuous life and a goodly
behavior. Valiant acts will ensure the tri-
umph of this Cause, and a saintly character
will reinforce its power. Cleave unto right-
eousness, O people of Baha! This, verily, is
the commandment which this wronged One
hath given unto you, and the first choice of
His unrestrained Will for every one of you.
O friends! It behooveth you to refresh
and revive your souls through the gracious
favors which in this Divine, this soul-stir-
ring Springtime are being showered upon
you. The Day Star of His great glory hath
shed its radiance upon you, and the clouds
of His limitless grace have overshadowed
you. How high the reward of him that hath
not deprived himself of so great a bounty,
nor failed to recognize the beauty of his
Best-Beloved in this, His new attire. Watch
over yourselves, for the Evil One is lying in
wait, ready to entrap you. Gird yourselves
against his wicked devices, and, led by the
light of the name of the All-Seeing God,
186
THE BAHA'f WORLD
make your escape from the darkness that
surroundeth you. Let your vision be world-
embracing, rather than confined to your
own self. The Evil One is he that hindereth
the rise and obstructeth the spiritual progress
of the children of men.
It is incumbent upon every man, in this
Day, to hold fast unto whatsoever will pro-
mote the interests, and exalt the station, of
all nations and just governments. Through
each and every one of the verses which the
Pen of the Most High hath revealed, the
doors of love and unity have been unlocked
and flung open to the face of men. We have
erewhile declared — and Our Word is the
truth — : "Consort with the followers of all
religions in a spirit of friendliness and fel-
lowship." Whatsoever hath led the chil-
dren of men to shun one another, and hath
caused dissensions and divisions amongst
them, hath, through the revelation of these
words, been nullified and abolished. From
the heaven of God's Will, and for the pur-
pose of ennobling the world of being and of
elevating the minds and souls of men, hath
been sent down that which is the most ef-
fective instrument for the education of the
whole human race. The highest essence and
most perfect expression of whatsoever the
peoples of old have either said or written
hath, through this most potent Revelation,
been sent down from the heaven of the Will
of the All-Possessing, the Ever- Abiding God.
Of old it hath been revealed: "Love of one's
country is an element of the Faith of God."
The Tongue of Grandeur hath, however, in
the day of His manifestation proclaimed: "It
is not his to boast who loveth his country,
but it is his who loveth the world." Through
the power released by these exalted words
He hath lent a fresh impulse, and set a new
direction, to the birds of men's hearts, and
hath obliterated every trace of restriction
and limitation from God's holy Book.
O people of Justice! Be as brilliant as the
light, and as splendid as the fire that blazed
in the Burning Bush. The brightness of the
fire of your love will no doubt fuse and
unify the contending peoples and kindreds
of the earth, whilst the fierceness of the
flame of enmity and hatred cannot but re-
sult in strife and ruin. We beseech God
that He may shield His creatures from the
evil designs of His enemies. He verily hath
power over all things.
All-praise be to the one true God — exalted
be His glory — inasmuch as He hath, through
the Pen of the Most High, unlocked the
doors of men's hearts. Every verse which
this Pen hath revealed is a bright and shin-
ing portal that discloseth the glories of a
saintly and pious life, of pure and stainless
deeds. The summons and the message which
We gave were never intended to reach or
to benefit one land or one people only. Man-
kind in its entirety must firmly adhere to
whatsoever hath been revealed and vouch-
safed unto it. Then and only then will it
attain unto true liberty. The whole earth
is illuminated with the resplendent glory of
God's Revelation. In the year sixty He
Who heralded the light of Divine Guidance
— may all creation be a sacrifice unto Him —
arose to announce a fresh revelation of the
Divine Spirit, and was followed, twenty
years later, by Him through Whose coming
the world was made the recipient of this
promised glory, this wondrous favor. Be-
hold how the generality* of mankind hath
been endued with the capacity to hearken
unto God's most exalted Word — the Word
upon which must depend the gathering to-
gether and spiritual resurrection of all
men. . . .
Incline your hearts, O people of God, unto
the counsels of your true, your incomparable
Friend. The Word of God may be likened
unto a sapling, whose roots have been im-
planted in the hearts of men. It is incum-
bent upon you to foster its growth through
the living waters of wisdom, of sanctified
and holy words, so that its root may become
firmly fixed and its branches may spread out
as high as the heavens and beyond.
O ye that dwell on earth! The distin-
guishing feature that marketh the preemi-
nent character of this Supreme Revelation
consisteth in that We have, on the one hand,
blotted out from the pages of God's holy
Book whatsoever hath been the cause of
strife, of malice and mischief amongst the
children of men, and have, on the other,
laid down the essential prerequisites of con-
cord, of understanding, of complete and
enduring unity. Well is it with them that
keep My statutes.
EXCERPTS FROM BAHA'i SACRED WRITINGS 187
Time and again have We admonished
Our beloved ones to avoid, nay to flee from,
anything whatsoever from which the odor
of mischief can be detected. The world is
in great turmoil, and the minds of its people
are in a state of utter confusion. We en-
treat the Almighty that He may graciously
illuminate them with the glory of His Jus-
tice, and enable them to discover that which
will be profitable unto them at all times
and under all conditions. He, verily is the
All-Possessing, the Most High.
Lay not aside the fear of God, O ye the
learned of the world, and judge fairly the
Cause of this unlettered One to Whom all
the Books of God, the Protector, the Self-
Subsisting, have testified. . . . Will not the
dread of Divine displeasure, the fear of Him
Who hath no peer or equal, arouse you? He
Whom the world hath wronged hath, at no
time, associated with you, hath never studied
your writings, nor participated in any of
your disputations. The garb He weareth,
His flowing locks, His headdress, attest the
truth of His words. How long will ye per-
sist in your injustice? Witness the habita-
tion in which He, Who is the incarnation of
justice, hath been forced to dwell. Open
your eyes, and, beholding His plight, medi-
tate diligently upon that which your hands
have wrought, that haply ye may not be
deprived of the light of His Divine utter-
ance, nor remain bereft of your share of the
ocean of His knowledge.
Certain ones among both commoners and
nobles have objected that this wronged One
is neither a member of the ecclesiastical or-
der nor a descendant of the Prophet. Say:
O ye that claim to be just! Reflect a little
while, and ye shall recognize how infinitely
exalted is His present state above the station
ye claim He should possess. The Will of the
Almighty hath decreed that out of a house
wholly devoid of all that the divines, the
doctors, the sages, and scholars commonly
possess His Cause should proceed and be
made manifest.
The Breathings of the Divine Spirit awoke
Him, and bade Him arise and proclaim His
Revelation. No sooner was He roused from
His slumber than He lifted up His voice and
summoned the whole of mankind unto God,
the Lord of all worlds. We have been
moved to reveal these words in considera-
tion of the weakness and frailty of men;
otherwise, the Cause We have proclaimed is
such as no pen can ever describe, nor any
mind conceive its greatness. To this bear-
eth witness He with Whom is the Mother
Book.
The Ancient Beauty hath consented to
be bound with chains that mankind may be
released from its bondage, and hath accepted
to be made a prisoner within this most
mighty Stronghold that the whole world
may attain unto true liberty. He hath
drained to its dregs the cup of sorrow, that
all the peoples of the earth may attain unto
abiding joy, and be filled with gladness.
This is of the mercy of your Lord, the Com-
passionate, the Most Merciful. We have ac-
cepted to be abased, O believers in the Unity
of God, that ye may be exalted, and have
suffered manifold afflictions, that ye might
prosper and flourish. He Who hath come to
build anew the whole world, behold, how
they that have joined partners with God
have forced Him to dwell within the most
desolate of cities!
•
I sorrow not for the burden of My im-
prisonment. Neither do I grieve over My
abasement, or the tribulation I suffer at the
hands of Mine enemies. By My life! They
are My glory, a glory wherewith God hath
adorned His own Self. Would that ye know
it!
The shame I was made to bear hath un-
covered the glory with which the whole of
creation had been invested, and through the
cruelties I have endured, the Day Star of
Justice hath manifested itself, and shed its
splendor upon men.
My sorrows are for those who have in-
volved themselves in their corrupt passions,
and claim to be associated with the Faith of
God, the Gracious, the All-Praised.
It behoove th the people of Bah a to die to
the world and all that is therein, to be so de-
tached from all earthly things that the in-
mates of Paradise may inhale from their
garment the sweet smelling savor of sanc-
tity, that all the peoples of the earth may
recognize in their faces the brightness of
the All-Merciful, and that through them
Badi', the bearer of BahaVllah's Tablet to the Shah of Iran,
shown in chains before his martyrdom. (Note the brasier in
which irons were heated and applied to his flesh.)
Two early believers of Tihran about to be bastinadoed.
188
EXCERPTS FROM BAHA'f SACRED WRITINGS 189
may be spread abroad the signs and tokens
of God, the Almighty, the All- Wise. They
that have tarnished the fair name of the
Cause of God, by following the things of
the flesh — these are in palpable error!
O Jews! If ye be intent on crucifying
once again Jesus, the Spirit of God, put Me
to death, for He hath once more, in My
person, been made manifest unto you. Deal
with Me as ye wish, for I have vowed to lay
down My life in the path of God. I will
fear no one, though the powers of earth and
heaven be leagued against Me. Followers of
the Gospel! If ye cherish the desire to slay
Muhammad, the Apostle of God, seize Me
and put an end to My life, for I am He, and
My Self is His Self. Do unto Me as you
like, for the deepest longing of My heart
is to attain the presence of My Best-Beloved
in His Kingdom of Glory. Such is the Di-
vine decree, if ye know it. Followers of
Muhammad! If it be your wish to riddle
with your shafts the breast of Him Who
hath caused His Book the Bayan to be sent
down unto you, lay hands on Me and per-
secute Me, for I am His Well-Beloved, the
revelation of His own Self, though My name
be not His name. I have come in the shad-
ows of the clouds of glory, and am invested
by God with invincible sovereignty. He,
verily, is the Truth, the Knower of things
unseen. I, verily, anticipate from you the
treatment ye have accorded unto Him that
came before Me. To this all things, verily,
witness, if ye be of those who hearken. O
people of the Bayan! If ye have resolved to
shed the blood of Him Whose coming the
Bab hath proclaimed, Whose advent Mu-
hammad hath prophesied, and Whose Reve-
lation Jesus Christ Himself hath announced,
behold Me standing, ready and defenseless,
before you. Deal with Me after your own
desires.
God is my witness! Had it not been in
conflict with that which the Tablets of God
have decreed, I would' have gladly kissed the
hands of whosoever attempted to shed my
blood in the path of the Well-Beloved. I
would, moreover, have bestowed upon him
a share of such worldly goods as God had
allowed me to possess, even though he who
perpetrated this act would have provoked
the wrath of the Almighty, incurred His
malediction, and deserved to be tor-
mented throughout the eternity of God,
the All-Possessing, the Equitable, the All-
Wise.
Know verily that whenever this Youth
turneth His eyes towards His own self, he
findeth it the most insignificant of all crea-
tion. When he contemplates, however, the
bright effulgences He hath been empowered
to manifest, lo, that self is transfigured be-
fore Him into a sovereign Potency permeat-
ing the essence of all things visible and in-
visible. Glory be to Him Who, through
the power of truth, hath sent down the
Manifestation of His own Self and entrusted
Him with His message unto all mankind.
AMERICA'S SPIRITUAL MISSION-
TEACHING TABLETS REVEALED
BY 'ABDU'L-BAHA
To the Assemblies and Meetings of the be-
lievers of God and the maid-servants of the
Merciful in the United States and Canada.
u
PON them be BahaVllah u'l-Abha!
He is God!
O ye blessed souls:
I desire for you eternal success and pros-
perity and beg perfect confirmation for
each one in the divine world. My hope for
you is that each one may shine forth like
unto the morning star from the horizon of
the world and in this Garden of God become
a blessed tree, producing everlasting fruits
and results.
Therefore I direct you to that which is
conducive to your heavenly confirmation
and illumination in the Kingdom of God!
It is this: Alaska is a vast country; al-
though one of the maid-servants of the
Merciful has hastened to those parts, serving
190
THE BAHA'f WORLD
as a librarian in the Public Library, and ac-
cording to her ability is not failing in teach-
ing the Cause, yet the call of the Kingdom
of God is not yet raised through that spa-
cious territory.
His Holiness Christ says: Travel ye to the
East and to the West of the world and sum-
mon the people to the Kingdom of God.
Hence the mercy of God must encompass all
humanity. Therefore do ye not think it
permissible to leave that region deprived of
the breezes of the Morn of Guidance. Con-
sequently, strive as far as ye are able to send
to those parts fluent speakers, who are de-
tached from aught else save God, attracted
with the fragrances of God, and sanctified
and purified from all desires and temptations.
Their sustenance and food must consist of
the teachings of God. First they must them-
selves live in accordance with those prin-
ciples, then guide the people. Perchance,
God willing, the lights of the most great
guidance may illumine that country and
the breezes of the rose garden of the love
of God may perfume the nostrils of the in-
habitants of Alaska. Should we become con-
firmed in thus rendering such a service, rest
ye assured that ye shall crown your heads
with the diadem of everlasting sovereignty,
and at the threshold of oneness you will be-
come the favored and accepted servants.
Likewise the Republic of Mexico is very
important. The majority of the inhabitants
of that country are devoted Catholics. They
are totally unaware of the reality of the
Bible, the Gospel and the new divine teach-
ings. They do not know that the basis of
the religions of God is one and that the Holy
Manifestations are like unto the Sun of
Truth, rising from the different dawning-
places. Those souls are submerged in the
sea of dogmas. If one breath of life be
blown over them, great results will issue
therefrom. But it is better for those who
intend to go to Mexico to teach, to be
familiar with the Spanish language.
Similarly, the six Central American Re-
publics, situated south of Mexico— Guate-
mala, Honduras, Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa
Rica, Panama and the seventh country
Belize or British Honduras. The teachers
going to those parts must also be familiar
with the Spanish language.
You must give great importance to teach-
ing the Indians, that is, the aborigines of
America. For these souls are like the ancient
inhabitants of Peninsular Arabia, who pre-
vious to the Manifestation of His Holiness
Muhammad were treated as savages. But
when the Muhammadic light shone forth in
their midst, they became so illumined that
they brightened the world. Likewise, should
these Indians and aborigines be educated and
obtain guidance, there is no doubt that
through the divine teachings, they will be-
come so enlightened as in turn to shed light
to all regions.
All the above countries have importance,
but especially the Republic of Panama,
wherein the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans
come together through the Panama Canal.
It is a center for travel and passage from
America to other continents of the world,
and in the future it will gain most great
importance.
Likewise the islands of the West Indies,
such as Cuba, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Jamaica,
the islands of the Lesser Antilles, Bahama
Islands, even the small Watling Island, have
great importance; especially the two black
republics, Haiti and Santo Domingo, situated
in the cluster of the Greater Antilles. Like-
wise the cluster of the islands of Bermuda
in the Atlantic Ocean have importance.
In a similar way, the republics of the con-
tinent of South America — Colombia, Ecua-
dor, Peru, Brazil, British Guiana, Dutch Gui-
ana, French Guiana, Bolivia, Chile, Argen-
tina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Venezuela; also the
islands to the north, east and west of South
America, such as Falkland Islands, the Gala-
pagos, Juan Fernandez, Tobago and Trini-
dad. Likewise the city of Bahia, situated on
the eastern shore of Brazil. Because it is
some time that it has become known by this
name, its efficacy will be most potent.
In short, O ye believers of God! Exalt
your effort and magnify your aims. His
Holiness Christ says: Blessed are the poor,
for theirs shall be the Kingdom of Heaven.
In other words: Blessed are the nameless and
traceless poor, for they are the leaders of
mankind. Likewise it is said in the Qur'an:
"We desire to bestow our gifts upon those
who have become weak on the face of the
earth, and make them a nation and the heirs
EXCERPTS FROM BAHA'f SACRED WRITINGS 191
(of spiritual truth) ." Or, we wish to grant
a favor to the impotent souls and suffer them
to become the inheritors of the Messengers
and Prophets.
Therefore, now is the time that you may
divest yourselves from the garment of at-
tachment to this phenomenal realm, be
wholly severed from the physical world, be-
come angels of heaven and travel and teach
through all these regions.
I declare by Him, beside whom there is
no one, that each one of you shall become the
Israfil of Life, blowing the breath of life into
the souls of others.
Upon you be greeting and praise!
Supplication
O Thou Incomparable God! O Thou Lord
of the Kingdom! These souls are Thy
heavenly army. Assist them and with the
cohorts of the Supreme Concourse, make
them victorious; so that each one of them
may become like unto a regiment and con-
quer these countries through the love of
God and the illumination of divine teach-
ings.
O God! Be Thou their supporter and
their helper, and in the wilderness, the moun-
tain, the valley, the forests, the prairies and
the seas, be Thou their confidant — so that
they may cry out through the power of the
Kingdom and the breath of the Holy Spirit!
Verily Thou are the Powerful, the Mighty
and the Omnipotent, and Thou art the "Wise,
the Hearing and the Seeing.
Haifa, Palestine,
April 8, 1916.
To the believers and the maid-servants of
the Merciful of the Bahd'i Assemblies and
meetings in the United States and Canada.
He is God!
O ye real Bahd'is of America:
Praise be to His Highness the Desired
One that ye have become confirmed in the
promotion of divine teachings in that vast
Continent, raised the call of the Kingdom of
God in that region and announced the Glad
Tidings of the manifestation of the Lord of
Hosts and His Highness the Promised One.
Thanks be unto the Lord that ye have be-
come assisted and confirmed in this aim.
This is purely through the confirmations of
the Lord of Hosts and the breaths of the
Holy Spirit. At present your confirmation
is not known and understood. Ere long ye
shall observe that each one of you like unto a
brilliant and shining star will diffuse the
light of guidance from that horizon and that
ye have become the cause of eternal life to
the inhabitants of America.
Consider! The station and the confirma-
tion of the apostles in the time of Christ
was not known, and no one looked on them
with the feeling of importance — nay, rather,
they persecuted and ridiculed them. Later
on it became evident what crowns studded
with the brilliant jewels of guidance were
placed on the heads of the apostles, Mary
Magdalene and Mary the mother of John.
Likewise your confirmation is not known
at the present time. I hope that ere long it
may throw a mighty reverberation through
the pillars of the earth. Therefore it is the
hope of 'Abdu'l-Baha" that just as ye are con-
firmed and assisted on the continent of
America, ye may also be confirmed and as-
sisted in other continents of the globe — that
is, ye may carry the fame of the Cause of
God to the East and to the West and spread
the Glad Tidings of the appearance of the
Kingdom of the Lord of Hosts throughout
the five continents of the world.
When this divine call travels from the con-
tinent of America to Europe, Asia, Africa,
Australia and the Islands of the Pacific, the
American believers shall be established on the
throne of everlasting Glory, the fame of their
illumination and guidance shall reach to all
regions and the renown of their greatness
become world-wide. Therefore, a party,
speaking the languages, severed, holy, sancti-
fied and filled with the love of God, must
turn their faces to and travel through the
three great island groups of the Pacific
Ocean, — Polynesia, Micronesia and Melane-
sia, and the islands attached to these groups,
such as New Guinea, Borneo, Java, Sumatra,
Philippine Islands, Solomon Islands, Fiji
Islands, New Hebrides, Loyalty Islands, New
Caledonia, Bismarck Archipelago, Ceram,
Celebes, Friendly Islands, Samoa Islands, So-
ciety Islands, Caroline Islands, Low Archi-
192
THE BAHA'i WORLD
pelago, Marquesas, Hawaiian Islands, Gilbert
Islands, Moluccas, Marshall Islands, Timor
and the other islands. With hearts overflow-
ing with the love of God, with tongues
commemorating the mention of God, with
eyes turned to the Kingdom of God, they
must deliver the Glad Tidings of the mani-
festation of the Lord of Hosts to all the
people. Know ye of a certainty that in what-
even if necessary on foot and with the
utmost poverty, and while passing through
the cities, villages, mountains, deserts and
oceans, cry at the top of my voice "Ya-
BahaVl-Abha!1*' and promote the divine
teachings. But now this is not feasible for
me; therefore I live in great regret; per-
chance, God willing, yc may become as-
sisted therein.
The grave of the author of "NabiPs Narrative," "Akka, Palestine.
ever meeting ye may enter, in the apex of
that meeting the Holy Spirit shall be waving
and the heavenly confirmations of the Blessed
Perfection shall encompass all.
Consider ye, that Miss Agnes Alexander,
the daughter of the Kingdom, the beloved
maid-servant of the Blessed Perfection,
traveled alone to Hawaii and the Island of
Honolulu, and now she is gaining spiritual
victories in Japan! Reflect ye how this
daughter was confirmed in the Hawaiian
Islands. She became the cause of the guid-
ance of a gathering of people.
Likewise Miss Knobloch traveled alone to
Germany. To what a great extent she be-
came confirmed! Therefore, know ye of a
certainty that whosoever arises in this day to
diffuse the divine fragrances, the cohorts of
the Kingdom of God shall confirm him and
the bestowals and the favors of the Blessed
Perfection shall encircle him.
Oh, how I long that it could be made pos-
sible for me to travel through these parts,
At this time, in the island of Hawaii,
through the efforts of Miss Alexander, a
number of souls have reached the shore of
the sea of faith; Consider ye, what happi-
ness, what joy is this! I declare by the Lord
of Hosts that had this respected daughter
founded an empire, that empire would not
have been so great! For this sovereignty is
eternal sovereignty and this glory is everlast-
ing glory.
Likewise, if some teachers go to other
islands and other parts, such as the continent
of Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, also to
Japan, Asiatic Russia, Korea, French Indo-
China, Siam, Straits Settlements, India, Cey-
lon and Afghanistan, most great results will
be forthcoming. How good would it be
were there any possibility of a commission
composed of men and women, to travel to-
gether through China and Japan, — so that
this bond of love may become strengthened,
and through this going and coming they may
establish the oneness of the world of human-
EXCERPTS FROM BAHA'f SACRED WRITINGS 193
ity, summon the people to the Kingdom of
God and spread the teachings.
Similarly, if possible, they should travel to
the continent of Africa, Canary Islands,
Cape Verde Islands, Madeira Islands, Re-
union Island, St. Helena, Zanzibar, Mauri-
tius, etc., and in those countries summon the
people to the Kingdom of God and raise the
cry of "Ya-Baha'u'1-Abha!" They must also
upraise the flag of the oneness of the world of
humanity in the island of Madagascar.
Books and pamphlets must be either trans-
lated or composed in the languages of these
countries and islands, to be circulated in
every part and in all directions.
It is said that in South Africa, a diamond
mine is discovered. Although this mine is
most valuable, yet after all it is stone. Per-
chance, God willing, the mine of humanity
may be discovered and the brilliant pearls
of the Kingdom be found.
In brief, this world-consuming war has set
such a conflagration to the hearts that no
word can describe it. In all the countries of
the world the longing for Universal Peace
is taking possession of the consciousness of
men. There is not a soul who does not yearn
for concord and peace. A most wonderful
state of receptivity is being realized. This is
through the consummate wisdom of God, so
that capacity may be created, the standard of
the oneness of the world of humanity be up-
raised, and the fundamentals of Universal
Peace and the divine principles be promoted
in the East and the West.
Therefore, O ye believers of God! Show
ye an effort and after this war spread ye the
synopsis of the divine teachings in the British
Isles, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary,
Russia, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland,
Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Portu-
gal, Roumania, Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria,
Greece, Andora, Liechtenstein, Luxemburg,
Monaco, San Marino, Balearic Isles, Corsica,
Sardinia, Sicily, Crete, Malta, Iceland, Faroe
Islands, Shetland Islands, Hebrides and Ork-
ney Islands.
In all these countries, like unto the morn-
ing stars shine ye forth from the horizon of
guidance. Up to this time you have dis-
played great magnanimity, but after this, ye
must add a thousand times to your effort and
throughout the above countries, capitals,
islands, meetings and churches, invite man-
•kind to the Kingdom of Abha! The circle
of your exertion must become widened. The
more it is broadened and extended, the greater
will be your confirmation.
You have observed that while 'Abdu'l-
Baha was in the utmost bodily weakness and
feebleness, while He was indisposed, and had
not the power to move — notwithstanding
this physical state He traveled through many
countries, in Europe and America, and in
churches, meetings and -conventions was oc-
cupied with the promotion of the divine
principles and summoned the people to the
manifestation of the Kingdom of Abha.
You have also observed how the confirma-
tions of the Blessed Perfection encompassed
all. What result is forthcoming from ma-
terial rest, tranquillity, luxury and attach-
ment to this corporeal world! It is evident
that the man who pursues these things will
in the end become afflicted with regret and
loss.
Consequently, one must close his eyes
wholly to these thoughts, long for eternal
life, the sublimity of the world of humanity,
the celestial developments, the Holy Spirit,
the promotion of the Word of God, the
guidance of the inhabitants of the globe,
the promulgation of Universal Peace and the
proclamation of the oneness of the world of
humanity! This is the work! Otherwise like
unto other animals and birds one must oc-
cupy himself with the requirements of this
physical life, the satisfaction of which is
the highest aspiration of the animal kingdom,
and one must stalk across the earth like unto
the quadrupeds.
Consider ye! No matter how much man
gains wealth, riches and opulence in this
world, he will not become as independent as
a cow. For these fattened cows roam freely
over the vast tableland. All the prairies and
meadows are theirs for grazing, and all the
springs and rivers are theirs for drinking!
No matter how much they graze, the fields
will not be exhausted! It is evident that
they have earned these material bounties
with the utmost facility.
Still more ideal than this life is the life
of the bird. A bird, on the summit of a
mountain, on the high, waving branches, has
built for itself a nest more beautiful than the
194
THE BAHA'f WORLD
palaces of the kings! The air is in the utmost
purity, the, water cool and clear as crystal,
the panorama charming and enchanting. In
such glorious surroundings, he expends his
numbered days. All the harvests of the plain
are his possessions, having earned all this
wealth without the least labor. Hence, no
matter how much man may advance in this
world, he shall not attain to the station of
this bird! Thus it becomes evident that in
the matters of this world, however much
man may strive and work to the point of
death, he will be unable to earn the abun-
dance, the freedom and the independent life
of a small bird. This proves and establishes
the fact that man is not created for the life
of this ephemeral world: — nay, rather, is he
created for the acquirement of infinite per-
fections, for the attainment to the sublimity
of the world of humanity, to be drawn nigh
unto the divine threshold, and to sit on the
throne of everlasting sovereignty!
Upon you be Baha'u'1-Abha!
Any soul starting on a trip of teaching to
various parts, and while sojourning in strange
countries, may peruse the following supplica-
tion— day and night.
O God! O God! Thou seest me enamored
and attracted toward Thy Kingdom, the
u'l-Abha, enkindled with the fire of Thy
love amongst mankind, a herald of Thy King-
dom in these vast and spacious countries,
severed from aught else save Thee, relying
on Thee, abandoning rest and comfort, re-
mote from my native home, a wanderer in
these regions, a stranger fallen on the ground,
humble before Thine exalted threshold, sub-
missive toward Thy most high realm, sup-
plicating Thee in the middle of nights and
in the heart of evenings, entreating and in-
voking Thee in the morn and eve; — so that
Thou mayest assist me in the service of Thy
Cause, the promotion of Thy Teachings and
the exaltation of Thy Word in the Easts of
the earth and the Wests thereof.
O Lord! Strengthen my back and con-
firm me in Thy servitude with all my pow-
ers, and do not leave me alone and by myself
in these countries.
O Lord! Associate with me in my loneli-
ness and accompany me in my journeys
through these foreign lands.
Verily, Thou art the confirmer of whom-
soever Thou wiliest in that which Thou de-
sirest, and verily Thou art the Powerful, the
Omnipotent.
Haifa, Palestine,
April 11, 1916.
To the Assemblies and meetings of the be-
lievers of God and the maid-servants of the
Merciful in the United States and Canada.
Upon them be BahaVllah u'l-Abha!
He is God!
O ye heavenly souls, sons and daughters of
the Kingdom:
God says in the Qur'an, "Take ye hold of
the Cord of God, all of you, and become ye
not disunited."
In the contingent world there are many
collective centers which are conducive to
association and unity between the children of
men. For example, patriotism is a collective
center; nationalism is a collective center;
identity of interests is a collective center;
political alliance is a collective center; the
union of ideals is a collective center, and the
prosperity of the world of humanity is de-
pendent upon the organization and promo-
tion of the collective centers. Nevertheless,
all the above institutions are, in reality, the
matter and not the substance, accidental and
not eternal — temporary and not everlasting.
With the appearance of great revolutions and
upheavals, all these collective centers are
swept away. But the Collective Center of
the Kingdom, embodying the Institutes and
Divine Teachings, is the eternal Collective
Center. It establishes relationship between
the East and the West, organizes the oneness
of the world of humanity, and destroys the
foundation of differences. It overcomes and
includes all the other collective centers. Like
unto the ray of the sun, it dispels entirely
the darkness encompassing all the regions,
bestows ideal life, and causes the effulgence
of divine illumination. Through the breaths
of the Holy Spirit it performs miracles; the
Orient and the Occident embrace each other,
the North and South become intimates and
associates, conflicting and contending opin-
ions disappear, antagonistic aims are brushed
aside, the law of the struggle for existence is
EXCERPTS FROM BAHA'f SACRED WRITINGS 195
abrogated, and the canopy of the oneness of
the world of humanity is raised on the apex
of the globe, casting its shade over all the
races of men. Consequently, the real Collec-
tive Center is the body of the divine teach-
ings, which include all the degrees and em-
brace all the universal relations and necessary
laws of humanity.
Consider! The people of the East and the
West were in the utmost strangeness. Now
to what a high degree they are acquainted
with each other and united together! How
far are the inhabitants of Iran from the re-
motest countries of America! And now ob-
serve how great has been the influence of the
heavenly power, for the distance of thousands
of miles has become identical with one step!
How various nations that have had no rela-
tions or similarity with each other are now
united and agreed through this divine po-
tency! Indeed to God belongs power in the
past and in the future! And verily God is
powerful over all things!
Consider! When the rain, the heat, the
sun and the gentle zephyrs cooperate with
each other, what beautiful gardens are pro-
duced! How the various kinds of hyacinths,
flowers, trees and plants associate with each
other and are conducive to the adornment
and charm of one another! Hence the one-
ness of the bounty of the sun, the oneness
of rain and the oneness of the breeze have so
overcome all other considerations that the
variety of hues, fragrances and tastes have
increased the adornment, the attraction and
sweetness of the whole. In a similar manner,
when the divine Collective Center and the
outpouring of the Sun of Reality and the
breaths of the Holy Spirit are brought to-
gether, the variety of races and the differ-
ences existing between countries will become
the cause of the embellishment, decoration
and elegance of the world of humanity.
Therefore, the believers of God through-
out all the republics of America, through the
divine power, must become the cause of
the promotion of heavenly teachings and the
establishment of the oneness of humanity.
Every one of the important souls must arise,
blowing over all parts of America the breath
of life, conferring upon the people a new
spirit, baptizing them with the fire of the
love of God, the water of life, and the breaths
of the Holy Spirit so that the second birth
may become realized. For it is written in
the Gospel, "That which is born of the flesh
is flesh; and that which is born of the spirit
is spirit."
Therefore, O ye believers of God in the
United States and Canada! Select ye im-
portant personages, or else they by them-
selves, becoming severed from rest and com-
posure of the world, may arise and travel
throughout Alaska, the Republic of Mexico,
and south of Mexico in the Central American
Republics, such as Guatemala, Honduras, Sal-
vador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and
Belize; and through the great South Ameri-
can Republics, such as Argentina, Uruguay,
Paraguay, Brazil, French Guiana, Dutch Gui-
ana, British Guiana, Venezuela, Ecuador,
Peru, Bolivia and Chile; also in the group of
the West Indies Islands, such as Cuba, Haiti,
Puerto Rico, Jamaica and Santo Domingo,
and the group of Islands of the Lesser An-
tilles, the Islands of Bahama and the Islands
of Bermuda; likewise to the islands to the
east, west and south of South America, such
as Trinidad, Falkland Islands, Galapagos
Islands, Juan Fernandez and Tobago. Visit
ye especially the city of Bahia, on the eastern
shore of Brazil. Because in the past years
this city was christened with the name, Bahia,
there is no doubt that it has been through
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Consequently, the believers of God must
display the utmost effort, upraise the divine
melody throughout those regions, promul-
gate the heavenly teachings and waft over
all, the spirit of eternal life; so that those
Republics may become so illumined with the
splendors and the effulgences of the Sun of
Reality that they may become the objects of
the praise and commendation of all other
countries. Likewise, you must give great
attention to the Republic of Panama, for in
that point the Occident and the Orient find
each other united through the Panama Canal,
and it is also situated between the two great
oceans. That place will become very im-
portant in the future. The Teachings once
established there will unite the East and the
West, the North and the South.
Hence the intention must be purified, the
effort ennobled and exalted, so that you may
establish affinity between the hearts of the
196
THE BAHA'f WORLD
world of humanity. This glorious aim will
not become realized save through the promo-
tion of divine teachings which are the foun-
dations of the holy religions.
Consider how the religions of God served
the world of humanity! How the religion
of Torah became conducive to the glory and
honor and progress of the Israelitish nation!
How the breaths of the Holy Spirit of His
Holiness Christ created affinity and unity be-
tween divergent communities and quarreling
families! How the sacred power of His Holi-
ness Muhammad became the means of uniting
and harmonizing the contentious tribes and
the different clans of Peninsular Arabia — to
such an extent that one thousand tribes were
welded into one tribe; strife and discord were
done away with; all of them unitedly and
with one accord strove in advancing the
cause of culture and civilization, and thus
were freed from the lowest degree of degrada-
tion, soaring toward the height of everlast-
ing glory! Is it possible to find a greater
Collective Center in the phenomenal world
than this? In comparison to this Divine Col-
lective Center, the national collective center,
the patriotic collective center, the political
collective center and the cultural and in-
tellectual collective center are like child's
play!
Now strive ye that the Collective Center
of the sacred religions — for the inculcation
of which all the Prophets were manifested
and which is no other than the spirit of the
Divine Teachings — be spread in all parts of
America, so that each one of you may shine
forth from the horizon of Reality like unto
the morning star, divine illumination
may overcome the darkness of nature,
and the world of humanity may become en-
lightened. This is the most great work!
Should you become confirmed therein,
this world will become another world, the
surface of the earth will become the de-
lectable Paradise, and eternal Institutions be
founded.
Let whosoever travels to different parts to
teach, peruse over mountain, desert, land and
sea this supplication!
O God! O God! Thou seest my weak-
ness, lowliness and humility amongst Thy
creatures; nevertheless I have trusted in Thee
and have arisen in the promotion of Thy
Teachings amongst Thy strong servants, re-
lying on Thy power and might!
O Lord! I am a broken-winged bird and
desire to soar in this Thy space to which there
is no limit. How is it possible for me to
do this save through Thy providence and
grace, Thy confirmation and assistance!
O Lord! Have pity on my weakness and
strengthen me with Thy power!
O Lord! Have pity on my impotency and
assist me with Thy might and majesty!
O Lord! Should the breaths of the Holy
Spirit confirm the weakest of creatures, he
shall attain to the highest station of greatness
and shall possess anything he desireth. In-
deed Thou hast assisted Thy servants in the
past, and they were the weakest of Thy
creatures, the lowliest of Thy servants and
the most insignificant of those who lived
upon the earth; but through Thy sanction
and potency they took precedence over the
most glorious of Thy people and the most
noble of Thy mankind. Whereas formerly
they were as moths, they became royal fal-
cons and whereas before they were as bubbles,
they became seas. Through Thy bestowal,
Thy mercy and Thy most great favor they
became stars shining in the horizon of guid-
ance, birds singing in the rose-gardens of
immortality, lions roaring in the forests of
knowledge and wisdom and whales swim-
ming in the oceans of life.
Verily, Thou art the Clement, the Power-
ful, the Mighty, and the Most merciful of
the Merciful!
Haifa, Palestine,
March 8, 1917.
To the believers of God and the maid-
servants of the Merciful of the Bahd'i
Assemblies in the United States of America
and Canada.
Upon them be BahaVllah u'l-Abha!
He is God!
O ye apostles of Baha'u'llah — May my life
be a ransom to you!
The blessed Person of the Promised One is
interpreted in the Holy Book as the Lord of
Hosts — the heavenly armies. By heavenly
armies those souls are intended who are en-
EXCERPTS FROM BAHA'f SACRED WRITINGS 197
tirely freed from the human world, trans-
formed into celestial spirits and have become
divine angels. Such souls are the rays of the
Sun of Reality who will illumine all the con-
tinents. Each one is holding in his hand
a trumpet, blowing the breath of life over
all the regions. They are delivered from
human qualities and the defects of the
world of nature, are characterized with the
characteristics of God, and are attracted with
the fragrances of the Merciful. Like unto
the apostles of Christ, who were filled with
Him, these souls also have become filled with
His Holiness Baha'u'llah; that is, the love of
Baha'u'llah has so mastered every organ, part
and limb of their bodies, as to leave no effect
from the promptings of the human world.
These souls are the armies of God and the
conquerors of the East and the West. Should
one of them turn his face toward some direc-
tion and summon the people to the Kingdom
of God, all the ideal forces and lordly con-
firmations will rush to his support and rein-
forcement. He will behold all the doors open
and all the strong fortifications and impreg-
nable castles razed to the ground. Singly and
alone he will attack the armies of the world,
defeat the right and left wings of the hosts
of all the countries, break through the lines
of the legions of all the nations and carry his
attack to the very center of the powers of
the earth. This is the meaning of the Hosts
of God.
Any soul from among the believers of
Baha'u'llah who attains to this station, will
become known as the Apostle of Baha'u'llah.
Therefore strive ye with heart and soul so
that ye may reach this lofty and exalted posi-
tion, be established on the throne of ever-
lasting glory, and crown your heads with
the shining diadem of the Kingdom, whose
brilliant jewels may irradiate upon centuries
and cycles.
O ye kind friends! Uplift your mag-
nanimity and soar high toward the apex of
heaven so that your blessed hearts may be-
come illumined more and more, day by day,
through the Rays of the Sun of Reality, that
is, His Holiness Baha'u'llah; at every moment
the spirits may obtain a new life, and the
darkness of the world of nature may be en-
tirely dispelled; thus you may become incar-
nate light and personified spirit, become en-
tirely unaware of the sordid matters of this
world and in touch with the affairs of the
divine world.
Consider you what doors His Holiness
Baha'u'llah has opened before you, and what
a high and exalted station He has destined
for you, and what bounties He has prepared
for you! Should we become intoxicated with
this cup, the sovereignty of this globe of
earth will become lower in our estimation
than the children's plays. Should they place
in the arena the crown of the government of
the whole world, and invite each one of us to
accept it, undoubtedly we shall not conde-
scend, and shall refuse to accept it.
To attain to this supreme station is, how-
ever, dependent on the realization of certain
conditions:
The first condition is firmness in the
Covenant of God. For the power of the
Covenant will protect the Cause of Baha'u-
'llah from the doubts of the people of error.
It is the fortified fortress of the Cause of God
and the firm pillar of the religion of God.
Today no power can conserve the oneness of
the Baha'i world save the Covenant of God;
otherwise differences like unto a most great
tempest will encompass the Baha'i world. It
is evident that the axis of the oneness of the
world of humanity is the power of the Cove-
nant and nothing else. Had the Covenant
not come to pass, had it not been revealed
from the Supreme Pen and had not the Book
of the Covenant, like unto the ray of the
Sun of Reality, illuminated the world, the
forces of the Cause of God would have been
utterly scattered and certain souls who were
the prisoners of their own passions and lusts
would have taken into their hands an axe,
cutting the root of this Blessed Tree. Every
person would have pushed forward his own
desire and every individual aired his own
opinion! Notwithstanding this great Cove-
nant, a few negligent souls galloped with
their chargers into the battlefield, thinking
perchance they might be able to weaken the
foundation of the Cause of God: but praise
be to God all of them were afflicted with re-
gret and loss, and ere long they shall see
themselves in poignant despair. Therefore,
in the beginning one must make his steps
firm in the Covenant so that the confirma-
tions of Baha'u'llah may encircle from all
198
THE BAHA'f WORLD
sides, the cohorts of the Supreme Concourse
may become the supporters and the helpers,
and the exhortations and advices of 'Abdu'l-
Baha, like unto the pictures engraved on
stone, may remain permanent and inefface-
able in the tablets of the hearts.
The second condition: Fellowship and love
amongst the believers. The divine friends
must be attracted to and enamored of each
other and ever be ready and willing to sacri-
fice their own lives for each other. Should
one soul from amongst the believers meet an-
other, it must be as though a thirsty one with
parched lips has reached to the fountain of
the water of life, or a lover has met his true
beloved. For one of the greatest divine wis-
doms regarding the appearance of the Holy
Manifestations is this: The souls may come
to know each other and become intimate with
each other; the power of the love of God may
make all of them the waves of one sea, the
flowers of one rose garden, and the stars of
one heaven. This is the wisdom for the ap-
pearance of the Holy Manifestations! When
the most great bestowal reveals itself in the
hearts of the believers, the world of nature
will be transformed, the darkness of the con-
tingent being will vanish, and heavenly il-
lumination will be obtained. Then the whole
world will become the Paradise of Abha,
every one of the believers of God will become
a blessed tree, producing wonderful fruits.
O ye friends! Fellowship, fellowship!
Love, love! Unity, unity! — So that the
power of the Baha'i Cause may appear and
become manifest in the world of existence.
Just at this moment I am engaged in your
commemoration and this heart is in the ut-
most glow and excitement! Were you to rea-
lize how this consciousness is attracted with
the love of the friends, unquestionably you
would obtain such a degree of joy and fra-
grance that you would all become enamored
with each other!
The third condition: Teachers must con-
tinually travel to all parts of the continent,
nay, rather, to all parts of the world, but they
must travel like 'Abdu'1-Baha, who journeyed
throughout the cities of America. He was
sanctified and free from every attachment
and in the utmost severance. Just as His
Holiness Christ says, "Shake off the very
dust from your feet."
You have observed that while in America
many souls in the utmost of supplication and
entreaty desired to offer some gifts, but this
servant, in accord with the exhortations and
behests of the Blessed Perfection, never ac-
cepted a thing, although on certain occasions
we were in most straitened circumstances.
But on the other hand, if a soul for the sake
of God, voluntarily and out of his pure desire,
wishes to offer a contribution (toward the
expenses of a teacher) in order to make the
contributor happy, the teacher may accept a
small sum, but must live with the utmost
contentment.
The aim is this: The intention of the
teacher must be pure, his heart independent,
his spirit attracted, his thought at peace, his
resolution firm, his magnanimity exalted and
in the love of God a shining torch. Should
he become as such, his sanctified breath will
even affect the rock; otherwise there will be
no result whatsoever. As long as a soul is
not perfected, how can he efface the defects
of others. Unless he is detached from aught
else save God, how can he teach severance to
others!
In short, O ye believers of God! Endeavor
ye, so that you may take hold of every means
in the promulgation of the religion of God
and the diffusion of the fragrances of God.
Amongst other things is the holding of the
meetings for teaching so that blessed souls
and the old ones from amongst the believers
may gather together the youths of the love of
God in schools of instruction and teach them
all the divine proofs and irrefragible argu-
ments, explain and elucidate the history of
the Cause, and interpret also the prophecies
and proofs which are recorded and are extant
in the divine Books and Epistles regarding
the Manifestation of the Promised One, so
that the young ones may go in perfect knowl-
edge in all these degrees.
Likewise, whenever it is possible a com-
mittee must be organized for the translation
of the Tablets. Wise souls who have mas-
tered and studied perfectly the Iranian, Ara-
bic, and other foreign languages, or know one
of the foreign languages, must commence
translating Tablets and books containing the
proofs of this Revelation, and publishing
those books, circulate them throughout the
five continents of the globe.
EXCERPTS FROM BAHA'f SACRED WRITINGS 199
Similarly, the Magazine, the Star of the
West, must be edited with the utmost regu-
larity, but its contents must be the promul-
gation of the Cause of God that both East
and West may become informed of the most
important events.
In short, in all the meetings, whether pub-
lic or private, nothing should be discussed
save that which is under consideration, and
all the articles be centered around the Cause
of God. Promiscuous talk must not be
dragged in and contention is absolutely for-
bidden.
The teachers traveling in different direc-
tions must know the language of the country
in which they will enter. For example, a
person being proficient in the Japanese lan-
guage may travel to Japan, or a person know-
ing the Chinese language may hasten to
China, and so forth.
In short, after this universal war, the peo-
ple have obtained extraordinary capacity to
hearken to the divine teachings, for the
wisdom of this war is this: That it may be-
come proven to all that the fire of war is
world-consuming, whereas the rays of peace
are world-enlightening. One is death, the
other is life; this is extinction, that is im-
mortality; one is the most great calamity,
the other is the most great bounty; this is
darkness, that is light; this is eternal humilia-
tion and that is everlasting glory; one is the
destroyer of the foundation of man, the other
is the founder of the prosperity of the human
race.
Consequently, a number of souls may arise
and act in accordance with the aforesaid
conditions, and hasten to all parts of the
world, especially from America to Europe,
Africa, Asia and Australia, and travel
through Japan and China. Likewise, from
Germany teachers and believers may travel
to the continents of America, Africa, Japan
and China; in brief, they may travel through
all the continents and islands of the globe.
Thus in a short space of time, most wonder-
ful results will be produced, the banner of
Universal Peace will be waving on the apex
of the world and the lights of the oneness of
the world of humanity may illumine the
universe.
In brief, O ye believers of God! The text
of the Divine Book is this: If two souls
quarrel and contend about a question of the
Divine questions, differing and disputing,
both are wrong. The wisdom of this in-
controvertible law of God is this: That be-
tween two souls from amongst the believers
of God, no contention and dispute may
arise; that they may speak with each other
with infinite amity and love. Should
there appear the least trace of controversy,
they must remain silent, and both parties
must continue their discussions no longer,
but ask the reality .of the question from
the Interpreter. This is the irrefutable
command!
Upon you be Baha'u'1-Abha!
Slip plication
O God! O God! Thou seest that black
darkness hath encompassed all the regions,
all the countries are burning with the con-
flagration of dissension and the fire of war
and carnage is ignited in the Easts of the
earth and the Wests thereof. The blood is
being shed, the corpses are outstretched and
the heads are decapitated and thrown on the
ground in the battlefield.
Lord! Lord! Have pity on these ignorant
ones, look upon them with the eye of forgive-
ness and pardon. Extinguish this fire so that
these gloomy clouds covering the horizon may
be scattered; the Sun of Reality may shine
forth with the rays of conciliation; this
darkness be rent asunder and all the countries
be illumined with the lights of peace.
Lord! Awaken them from the depths of
the sea of animosity, deliver them from these
impenetrable darknesses, establish affinity be-
tween their hearts and enlighten their eyes
with the light of peace and reconciliation.
Lord! Rescue them from the fathomless
depths of war and bloodshed! Arouse them
out of the gloom of error, rend asunder the
veil from their eyes, brighten their hearts
with the light of guidance, deal with them
through Thy favor and mercy and do not
treat them according to Thy justice and
wrath through which the backs of the mighty
ones are shaken!
Lord! Verily the wars have prolonged,
the calamities have increased, and every
building hath turned into ruin.
Lord! Verily the breasts are agitated and
the souls are convulsed. Have mercy on
200
THE BAHA'f WORLD
these poor ones and do not leave them to do
with themselves that which they desire!
Lord! Send forth throughout Thy coun-
tries humble and submissive souls, their faces
illumined with the rays of guidance, severed
from the world, speaking Thy remembrance
and praise and diffusing Thy holy fragrances
amongst mankind!
Lord! Strengthen their backs, reinforce
their loins and dilate their breasts with the
signs of Thy most great love.
Lord! Verily they are weak and Thou art
the Powerful and the Mighty; and they are
impotent and Thou art the Helper and the
Merciful!
Lord! Verily the sea of transgression is
waving high and these hurricanes will not
be calmed down save through Thy bound-
less grace which hath embraced all the
regions!
Lord! Verily the souls are in the deep val-
leys of lust and nothing will awaken them
save Thy most wonderful bounties.
Lord! Dispel these darknesses of tempta-
tions and illumine the hearts with the lamp
of Thy love, through which all the countries
will be enlightened. Confirm those believers
who, leaving their countries, their families
and their children, travel throughout the re-
gions for the sake of the love of Thy beauty,
the diffusion of Thy fragrances and the pro-
mulgation of Thy teachings. Be thou their
companion in their loneliness, their helper in
a strange land, the remover of their sorrow,
the comforter in their calamity, their de-
liverer in their hardship, the satisfier of their
thirst, the healer of their malady and the
allayer of the fire of their longing.
Verily, Thou art the Clement, the Posses-
sor of Mercy, and Verily Thou art the Com-
passionate and the Merciful.
Haifa, Palestine,
April 19, 20 and 22, 1917.
To the friends and maid-servants of God in
the Northeastern States.
Upon them be greeting and praise!
O ye heavenly heralds:
These are the days of Naw-Ruz. I am
always thinking of those kind friends! I beg
for each and all of you confirmations and
assistance from the threshold of Oneness, so
that those gatherings may become ignited like
unto candles, in the republics of America,
enkindling the light of the love of God in
the hearts; thus the rays of the heaven-
ly teachings may begem and brighten the
states of America like the infinitude of
immensity with the stars of the most great
guidance.
The Northeastern states on the shores of
the Atlantic — Maine, New Hampshire,
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut,
Vermont, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and
New York — in some of these states believers
are found, but in some of the cities of these
states up to this date people are not yet
illumined with the lights of the Kingdom
and are not aware of the heavenly teachings;
therefore, whenever it is possible for each one
of you, hasten ye to those cities and shine
forth like unto the stars with the light of
the most great guidance. God says in the
glorious Qur'an, "The soil was black and
dried. Then we caused the rain to descend
upon it and immediately 4t became green,
verdant, and every kind of plant sprouted up
luxuriantly." In other words, he says the
earth is black, but when the spring showers
descend upon it that black soil is quickened,
and variegated flowers are pushed forth. This
means the souls of humanity belonging to
the world of nature are black like unto the
soil. But when the heavenly outpourings
descend and the radiant effulgences appear,
the hearts are resuscitated, are liberated from
the darkness of nature and the flowers of
divine mysteries grow and become luxuriant.
Consequently man must become the cause of
the illumination of the world of humanity
and propagate the holy teachings revealed in
the sacred books through divine inspiration.
It is stated in the blessed Gospel: Travel ye
toward the East and toward the West and
enlighten the people with the light of the
most great guidance, so that they may take a
portion and share of the eternal life. Praise
be to God, that the Northeastern states are
in the utmost capacity. Because the ground
is rich, the rain of the divine outpouring is
descending. Now you must become heavenly
farmers and scatter pure seeds in the prepared
soil. The harvest of every other seed is
EXCERPTS FROM BAHA'f SACRED WRITINGS 201
limited, but the bounty and the blessing of
the seed of the Divine Teachings is unlimited.
Throughout the coming centuries and cycles
many harvests will be gathered. Consider the
work of former generations. During the
lifetime of His Holiness Christ the believing,
firm souls were few and numbered, but the
heavenly benedictions descended so plenti-
fully that in a number of years countless
souls entered under the shade of the Gospel.
God has said in the Qur'an, "One grain will
bring forth seven sheaves, and every sheaf
shall contain one hundred grains." In other
words, one grain will become seven hundred;
and if God so wills he will double these also.
It has often happened that one blessed soul
has become the cause of the guidance of a
nation. Now we must not look at our own
ability and capacity; nay, rather, we must be-
hold the favors and bounties of God in these
days, who has made the drop to find the ex-
pression of the sea and the atom the import-
ance of the sun.
Upon you be greeting and praise!
Haifa, Palestine,
March 26, 1916.
To the believers of God and the maid-
servants of the Merciful of the Northeastern
States of the United States of America —
Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, Penn-
sylvania, Nciv Jersey, New York.
He is God!
O ye real friends:
All the regions in the estimation of the
True One are one region and all the cities
and villages are ideally equal and similar to
each other. Neither holds distinction over
another. All of them are the fields of God
and the habitation of the souls of men. But
through faith and assurance and the pre-
cedence of one part over another the dweller
imparts holiness and sanctification to the
dwelling and some of the countries becoming
exceptional, attain to the most great distinc-
tion.
For example, notwithstanding that some of
the countries of Europe and America are dis-
tinguished for the purity of the air, the
wholesomeness of the water, and the charm
of the mountains, plains and prairies and are
preferred above all the rest, yet Palestine be-
came an honor to all other regions of the
world because all the holy divine Manifesta-
tions from the time of His Holiness Abra-
ham to the time of the appearance of the Seal
of the Prophets, have either lived in this re-
gion or emigrated to or traveled through
here.
Likewise Yathroh and Bat-ha attained to
the most great bounty and the light of the
Prophets has shone from that horizon. For
this reason Palestine and Hedjaz are dis-
tinguished above all other regions.
Likewise as the continent of America in
the estimation of the True One is the field
of the effulgence of light, the Kingdom of
the manifestation of mysteries, the home of
the righteous ones and the gathering place of
the free, therefore, every section thereof is
blessed; but because these nine states have
been favored in faith and assurance, hence
through this precedence they have obtained
spiritual privilege. They must realize the
value of this bounty; because they have ob-
tained such a favor and in order to render
thanksgiving for this most great bestowal,
they must arise in the diffusion of divine
fragrances so that the blessed verse of the
Qur'an:
"God is the light of heaven and earth: the
similitude of His light is a niche in a wall,
wherein a lamp is placed, and the lamp en-
closed in a case of glass; the glass appears as
if it were a shining star. It is lighted with
the oil of a blessed tree, an olive neither of
the East, nor of the West; it wanteth little
but that the oil thereof would give light, al-
though no fire touched it. This is the light
added unto light. God will direct unto His
light whom He pleaseth."
— may be realized.
He says, "The world of nature is the
world of darkness, because it is the origin of
a thousand depravities; nay, rather, it is dark-
ness upon darkness." The illumination of
the world of nature is dependent upon the
splendor of the Sun of Reality. The grace
of guidance is like unto the candle which is
enkindled in the glass of knowledge and wis-
202
THE BAHA'l WORLD
dom and that glass of knowledge and wis-
dom is the mirror of the heart of humanity.
The oil of that luminous lamp is from the
fruits of the Blessed Tree and that oil is so
refined that it will burn without light. When
the intensity of the light and the trans-
lucency of the glass and the purity of the
mirror are brought together, it will become
light upon light.
In brief, in these nine blessed states
'Abdu'1-Baha journeyed and traveled from
place to place, explained the wisdom of the
heavenly books and diffused the fragrances.
In most of these states he founded the Divine
Edifice and opened the door of teaching. In
those states he sowed pure seeds and planted
blessed trees.
Now the believers of God and the maid-
servants of the Merciful must irrigate these
fields and with the utmost power engage
themselves in the cultivation of these heav-
enly plantations so that the seeds may grow
and develop, prosperity and blessing be rea-
lized and many rich and great harvests be
gathered in.
The Kingdom of God is like unto a farmer
who comes into possession of a piece of pure
and virgin soil. Heavenly seeds are scattered
therein, the clouds of divine providence pour
down and the rays of the Sun of Reality shine
forth.
Now all these bounties exist and appear in
full in these nine states. The divine Gar-
dener passed by that holy ground and scat-
tered pure seeds from the lordly teachings
in that field; the rain of the bounties of God
poured down and the heat of the Sun of
Reality — that is, the merciful confirmations
— shone with the utmost splendor. It is my
hope that each one of those blessed souls may
become a peerless and unique irrigator and
the East and the West of America may be-
come like unto a delectable paradise so that
all of you may hear from the Supreme Con-
course the cry of "Blessed are you, and again
blessed are you!"
Upon you be greeting and praise!
The following supplication is to be read
by the teachers and friends daily:
O Thou Kind Lord! Praise be unto Thee
that Thou hast shown unto us the highway
of guidance, opened the doors of the King-
dom and manifested Thyself through the
Sun of Reality. To the blind Thou hast
given sight; to the deaf Thou hast granted
hearing; Thou hast resuscitated the dead;
Thou hast shown the *way to those who have
gone astray; Thou hast led those with parched
lips to the fountain of guidance; Thou hast
suffered the thirsty fish to reach the ocean of
reality and Thou hast invited the wandering
birds to the rose garden of grace.
O Thou Almighty! We people are Thy
servants and Thy poor ones! We are remote,
we yearn for Thy presence; we are thirsty
for the water of Thy fountain; we are ill,
longing for Thy medicine. We are walking
in Thy path and have no aim or hope save the
diffusion of Thy fragrances so that the souls
may raise the cry of "O God! Guide us to the
straight path!" May they open their eyes
by beholding the lights and become freed
from the darkness of ignorance! May they
walk around the lamp of guidance! May
the portionless receive a share! and may the
deprived ones become the confidants of the
mysteries!
O Almighty! Look upon us with the
glance of mercifulness! Grant us heavenly
confirmation! Bestow upon us the breaths
of the Holy Spirit! So that we may become
assisted in service and like unto brilliant stars
we may shine in these regions with the light
of guidance! Verily! Thou art the Power-
ful, the Mighty, and Thou art the Wise and
the Seeing!
Haifa, Palestine,
February 2, 1917.
To the friends and the maid-servants of the
Merciful in the Southern States.
Upon them be greeting and praise!
O ye heralds of the Kingdom of God:
A few days ago an epistle was written to
those divine believers, but because these days
are the days of Naw-Ruz, you have come to
my mind and I am sending you this greeting
for this glorious feast. All the days are
blessed, but this feast is the national fete of
f ran. The Iranians have been holding it for
EXCERPTS FROM BAHA'f SACRED WRITINGS 203
several thousand years past. In reality every
day which man passes in the mention of God,
the diffusion of the fragrances of God and
calling the people to the Kingdom of God,
that day is his feast. Praise be to God that
you are occupied in the service of the King-
dom of God and are engaged in the promul-
gation of the religion of God by day and by
night. Therefore all your days are feast days.
There is no doubt that the assistance and the
bestowal of God shall descend upon you.
In the Southern States of the United States,
the friends are few, that is, in Delaware,
Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North
Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida,
Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky,
Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas.
Consequently you must either go yourselves
or send a number of blessed souls to those
states, so that they may guide the people to
the Kingdom of Heaven. One of the Holy
Manifestations, addressing a believing soul,
says, "If a person become the cause of the
illumination of one soul, it is better than a
boundless treasury." Again He says, "O 'Ali!
If God guide, through thee, one soul, it is
better for thee than all the riches!" Again
He says, "Direct us to the straight path!"
that is, Show us the right road. It is also
mentioned in the Gospel, "Travel ye to all
parts of the world and give ye the glad tid-
ings of the appearance of the Kingdom of
God."
In brief, I hope you will display in this
respect the greatest effort and magnanimity.
It is assured that you will become assisted
and confirmed. A person declaring the glad
tidings of the appearance of the realities and
significances of the Kingdom is like unto a
farmer who scatters pure seeds in the rich
soil. The spring cloud will pour upon them
the rain of bounty, and unquestionably the
station of the farmer will be raised in the
estimation of the lord of the village, and
many harvests will be gathered.
Therefore, ye friends of God! Appreciate
ye the value of this time and be ye engaged
in the sowing of the seeds, so that you may
find the heavenly blessing and the lordly
bestowal. Upon you be BahaVl-Abha!
Haifa, Palestine,
March 27, 1916.
To the believers of God and the maid-
servants of the Merciful in the Southern
States.
Upon them be Baha'u'llah u'l-Abha!
O ye blessed, respected souls:
The philosophers of the ancients, the think-
ers of the Middle Ages and the scientists of
this and the former centuries have all agreed
upon the fact that the best and the most
ideal region for the habitation of man is the
temperate zone, for in this belt the intellects
and thoughts rise to the highest stage of ma-
turity, and the capability and ability of civi-
lization manifest themselves in full efflores-
cence. When you read history critically and
with a penetrating eye, it becomes evident
that the majority of the famous men have
been born, reared and have done their work
in the temperate zone, while very very few
have appeared from the torrid and frigid
zones.
Now these sixteen Southern States of the
United States are situated in the temperate
zone, and in these regions the perfections of
the world of nature have been fully revealed.
For the moderation of the weather, the beauty
of the scenery and the geographical config-
uration of the country display a great effect
in the world of minds and thoughts. This
fact is well demonstrated through observa-
tion and experience.
Even the holy, divine Manifestations have
had a nature in the utmost equilibrium, the
health and wholesomeness of their bodies
most perfect, their constitutions endowed
with physical vigor, their powers functioning
in perfect order, and the outward sensations
linked with the inward perceptions, working
together with extraordinary momentum and
coordination.
Therefore in these sixteen states, because
they are contiguous to other states and their
climate being in the utmost of moderation,
unquestionably the divine teachings must re-
veal themselves with a brighter effulgence,
the breaths of the Holy Spirit must display a
penetrating intensity, the ocean of the love
of God must be stirred with higher waves,
the breezes of the rose garden of the divine
love be wafted with higher velocity, and the
204
THE BAHA'l WORLD
fragrances of holiness be diffused with swift-
ness and rapidity.
Praise be to God that the divine outpour-
ings are infinite, the melody of the lordly
principles is in the utmost efficacy, the most
great Orb shining with perfect splendor, the
cohorts of the Supreme Concourse are at-
tacking with invincible power, the tongues
are sharper than the swords, the hearts are
more brilliant than the light of electricity,
the magnanimity of the friends precedes all
the magnanimities of the former and subse-
quent generations, the souls are divinely at-
tracted, and the fire of the love of God is
enkindled.
At this time and at this period we must
avail ourselves of this most great opportunity.
We must not sit inactive for one moment;
we must sever ourselves from composure,
rest, tranquillity, goods, property, life and
attachment to material things. We must
sacrifice everything to His Highness, the
Possessor of existence, so that the powers of
the Kingdom may show greater penetration
and the brilliant effulgence in this New Cycle
may illumine the worlds of minds and ideals.
It is about twenty-three years that the
fragrances of God have been diffused in
America, but no adequate and befitting mo-
tion has been realized, and no great acclama-
tion and acceleration has been witnessed.
Now it is my hope that through the heavenly
power, the fragrances of the Merciful, the
attraction of consciousness, the celestial out-
pourings, the heavenly cohorts and the gush-
ing forth of the mountain of divine love, the
believers of God may arise and in a short
time the greatest good may unveil her coun-
tenance, the Sun of Reality may shine forth
with such intensity that the darkness of the
world of nature may become entirely dis-
pelled and driven away; from every corner a
most wonderful melody may be raised, the
morning birds may break into such a song
that the world of humanity may be quick-
ened and moved, the solid bodies may become
liquefied, and the souls who are like unto
adamantine rocks may open their wings and
through the heat of the love of God fly
heavenward.
Nearly two thousand years ago, Armenia
was enveloped with impenetrable darkness.
One blessed soul from among the disciples of
Christ hastened to that part, and through his
effort, ere long that province became il-
lumined. Thus it has become evident how
the power of the Kingdom works!
Therefore, rest ye assured in the confirma-
tions of the Merciful and the assistances of
the Most High; become ye sanctified above
and purified from this world and the in-
habitants thereof; suffer your intention to
become for the good of all; cut your attach-
ment to the earth and like unto the essence
of the spirit become ye light and delicate.
Then with a firm resolution, a pure heart, a
rejoiced spirit, and an eloquent tongue, en-
gage your time in the promulgation of the
divine principles so that the oneness of the
world of humanity may pitch her canopy in
the apex of America and all the nations of
the world may follow the divine policy. This
is certain, that the divine policy is justice
and kindness toward all mankind. For all
the nations of the world are the sheep of
God, and God is the kind shepherd. He has
created these sheep. He has protected them,
sustained and trained them. What greater
kindness than this? And*every moment we
must render a hundred thousand thanksgiv-
ings that, praise be to God, we are freed from
all the ignorant prejudices, are kind to all the
sheep of God, and our utmost hope is to serve
each and all, and like unto a benevolent
father educate every one.
Upon you be greeting and praise!
Every soul who travels through these cities,
villages and hamlets of these states and is en-
gaged in the diffusion of the fragrances of
God, must peruse this commune every morn-
ing:
O God! O God! Behold me! Not-
withstanding my lowliness and my lack of
capacity and ability, I am bent upon the ac-
complishment of the greatest works, aiming
to promote Thy Word amongst the republics
and resolved to spread Thy teachings amongst
all mankind. Far be it from me to become
confirmed in this work save Thou mayst
assist me with the breaths of the Holy Spirit!
Make me victorious through the armies of
Thy Supreme Kingdom and encircle me
with Thy confirmations, which shall make
the moth the eagle, the drop the river and
the seas, and the scintillas the suns and the
moons!
EXCERPTS FROM BAHA'f SACRED WRITINGS 205
O Lord! Confirm me with Thine insuper-
able power and Thy penetrating potency, so
that my tongue may speak out Thy praises
and glorifications amongst Thy creatures,
and my heart become overflowed with the
wine of Thy love and knowledge. Verily,
Thou art the powerful to do that which Thou
wiliest, and Thou art mighty over all things!
Haifa, Palestine,
February 3, 1917.
To the friends of God and the maid -servants
of the Merciful in the Central States.
0 ye heavenly souls, O ye spiritual assem-
blies, O ye lordly meetings:
For some time past correspondence has
been delayed, and this has been on account
of the difficulty of mailing and receiving
letters. But because at present a number of
facilities are obtainable, therefore, I am en-
gaged in writing you this brief epistle so that
my heart and soul may obtain joy and fra-
grance through the remembrance of the
friends. Continually this wanderer suppli-
cates and entreats at the threshold of His
Holiness the One and begs assistance, bounty
and heavenly confirmations in behalf of the
believers. You are always in my thought.
You are not nor shall you ever be forgotten.
1 hope by the favor of His Holiness the Al-
mighty that day by day you may add to your
faith, assurance, firmness and steadfastness,
and become instruments for the promotion of
the holy fragrances. In the great book, the
divine Qur'an, God, addressing his Messen-
ger, His Holiness Muhammad (upon him be
greeting and praise!), says, "Verily thou dost
guide the people to the straight path." In
other words, Thou dost show mankind the
direct road. Consider how guidance is a
matter of infinite importance, for it points to
the loftiness of the station of His Holiness
the Messenger.
Although in the states of Illinois, Wiscon-
sin, Ohio, Michigan and Minnesota — praise
be to God — believers are found who are as-
sociating with each other in the utmost
firmness and steadfastness — day and night
they have no other intention save the diffu-
sion of the fragrances of God, they have no
other hope except the promotion of the heav-
enly teachings, like the candles they are
burning with the light of the love of God,
and like thankful birds are singing songs,
spirit-imparting, joy-creating, in the rose gar-
den of the knowledge of God, — yet in the
states of Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, North
Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas
few of the believers exist. So far the sum-
mons of the Kingdom of God and the proc-
lamation of the oneness of the world of hu-
manity has not been made in these states
systematically and enthusiastically. Blessed
souls and detached teachers have not traveled
through these parts repeatedly; therefore
these states are still in a state of heedlessness.
Through the efforts of the friends of God
souls must be likewise enkindled in these
states, with the fire of the love of God and
attracted to the Kingdom of God, so that
section may also become illumined and the
soul imparting breeze of the rose garden of
the Kingdom may perfume the nostrils of the
inhabitants. Therefore, if it is possible, send
to those parts teachers who are severed from
all else save God, sanctified and pure. If
these teachers be in the utmost state of at-
traction, in a short time great results will be
forthcoming. The sons and daughters of the
kingdom are like unto the real farmers.
Through whichever state or country they
pass they display self-sacrifice and sow divine
seeds. From that seed harvests are produced.
On this subject it is revealed in the glorious
Gospel: When the pure seeds are scattered in
the good ground heavenly blessing and bene-
diction is obtained. I hope that you may
become assisted and confirmed, and never
lose courage in the promotion of the divine
teachings. Day by day may you add to your
effort, exertion, and magnanimity.
Upon you be greeting and praise!
Haifa, Palestine,
March 29, 1916.
To the believers and the maid-servants of
God in the Central States.
Upon them be BahaVHah u'l-Abha!
He is God!
God says in the great Qur'an, "He special-
izes for His Mercy whomsoever He willeth."
O ye old believers and intimate friends:
206
THE BAHA'f WORLD
These twelve central states of the United
States are like unto the heart of America,
and the heart is connected with all the organs
and parts of man. If the heart is strength-
ened, all the organs of the body are rein-
forced, and if the heart is weak all the phys-
ical elements are subjected to feebleness.
Now praise be to God that Chicago and
its environs from the beginning of the diffu-
sion of the fragrances of God have been a
strong heart. Therefore, through divine
bounty and providence it has become con-
firmed in certain great matters.
Firstly: The Call of the Kingdom was in
the very beginning raised from Chicago.
This is indeed a great privilege, for in future
centuries and cycles, it will be as an axis
around which the honor of Chicago will
revolve.
Secondly: A number of souls with the ut-
most firmness and steadfastness arose in that
blessed spot in the promotion of the Word
of God and even to the present moment,
having purified and sanctified the heart from
every thought, they are occupied with the
promulgation of the teachings of God.
Hence the call of praise is raised uninter-
ruptedly from the Supreme Concourse.
Thirdly: During the American journey
'Abdu'1-Baha several times passed through
Chicago and associated with the friends of
God. For some time he sojourned in that
city. Day and night he was occupied with
the mention of the True One and summoned
the people to the Kingdom of God.
Fourthly: Up to the present time, every
movement initiated in Chicago, its effect was
spread to all parts and to all directions, just
as everything that appears in and manifests
from the heart influences all the organs and
limbs of the body.
Fifthly: The first Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in
America was instituted in Chicago, and this
honor and distinction is infinite in value.
Undoubtedly out of this Mashriqu'l-Adhkar
thousands of other Mashriqu'l-Adhkars will
be born.
Likewise (were instituted in Chicago) the
general Annual Conventions, the foundation
of the Star of the West, the Publishing So-
ciety for the publication of books and Tab-
lets and their circulation in all parts of
America, and the preparations now under
way for the celebration of the Golden Cen-
tenary Anniversary of the Kingdom of God.
I hope that this Jubilee and this Exhibition
may be celebrated in the utmost perfection
so that the call to the world of unity, "There
is no God but One God, and all the Mes-
sengers, from the beginning to the Seal of
the Prophets (Muhammad) were sent on the
part of the True One!" may be raised; the
flag of the oneness of the world of humanity
be unfurled, the melody of Universal Peace
may reach the ears of the East and the West,
all the paths may be cleared and straightened,
all the hearts may be attracted to the King-
dom of God, the tabernacle of unity be
pitched on the apex of America, the song of
the love of God may exhilarate and rejoice
all the nations and peoples, the surface of the
earth may become the eternal paradise, the
dark clouds may be dispelled and the Sun of
Truth may shine forth with the utmost in-
tensity.
O ye friends of God! Exert ye with heart
and soul, so that association, love, unity and
agreement be obtained between the hearts,
all the aims may be merged into one aim, all
the songs become one song and the power of
the Holy Spirit may become so overwhelm-
ingly victorious as to overcome all the forces
of the world of nature. Work! This is
the great Work, should ye become assisted
therein. Thus America may become the
fulcrum of merciful susceptibilities, and
the throne of the Kingdom of God is estab-
lished upon earth with the greatest joy and
majesty.
This phenomenal world will not remain in
an unchanging condition even for a short
while. Second after second it undergoes
change and transformation. Every founda-
tion will finally become collapsed; every
glory and splendor will at last vanish and
disappear, but the Kingdom of God is eternal
and the heavenly sovereignty and majesty
will stand firm, everlasting. Hence in the
estimation of a wise man the mat in the
Kingdom of God is preferable to the throne
of the government of the world.
Continually my ear and eye are turned to-
ward the Central States; perchance a melody
from some blessed souls may reach my ears —
souls who are the dawning-places of the love
of God, the stars of the horizon of sanctifica-
EXCERPTS FROM BAHA'f SACRED WRITINGS 207
tion and holiness — souls who will illumine
this dark universe and quicken to life this
dead world. The joy of 'Abdu'1-Baha de-
pends upon this! I hope that you may be-
come confirmed therein.
Consequently, those souls who are in a
condition of the utmost severance, purified
from the defects of the world of nature,
sanctified from attachment to this earth,
vivified with the breaths of eternal life —
with luminous hearts, with heavenly spirit,
with attraction of consciousness, with celes-
tial magnanimity, with eloquent tongues nad
with clear explanations — such souls must
hasten and travel through all parts of the
Central States. In every city and village
they must occupy themselves with the diffu-
sion of the divine exhortations and advices,
guide the souls and promote the oneness of
the world of humanity. They must play the
melody of international conciliation with
such power that every deaf one may attain
hearing, every extinct person may be set
aglow, every dead one may obtain new life
and every indifferent soul may find ecstasy.
It is certain that such will be the consum-
mation.
The spreaders of the fragrances of God
may peruse this commune every morning:
O Lord! O Lord! Praise and thanksgiv-
ing be unto Thee for Thou hast guided me to
the highway of the Kingdom, suffered me to
walk in this straight and far-stretching path,
illumined my eye by beholding the lights,
made me listen to the melodies of the birds
of holiness from the Kingdom of Mysteries
and attracted my heart with Thy love among
the righteous ones.
O Lord! Confirm me with the Holy
Spirit, so that I may call in Thy Name
amongst the nations and give the glad tid-
ings of the manifestation of Thy Kingdom
amongst mankind.
O Lord! I am weak, strengthen me with
Thy power and potency. My tongue falters,
suffer me to utter Thy commemoration and
praise. I am lonely, console me through my
entrance into Thy Kingdom. I am remote,
cause me to approach to the threshold of Thy
Mercifulness. O Lord! Make me a brilliant
lamp, a shining star and a blessed tree,
adorned with fruits, its branches overshad-
owing all these regions! Verily Thou art the
Mighty, the Powerful and Unconstrained!
Haifa, Palestine,
February 8, 1917.
To the believers of God and the maid-serv-
ants of the Merciful in the Western States.
He is God!
O ye sons and daughters of the Kingdom:
Day and night I have no other occupation
than the remembrance of the friends, pray-
ing from the depth of my heart in their be-
half, begging for them confirmation from
the Kingdom of God and supplicating the
direct effect of the breaths of the Holy
Spirit. I am hopeful from the favors of His
Highness the Lord of Bestowals, that the
friends of God during such a time may be-
come the secret cause of the illumination of
the hearts of humanity, breathing the breath
of life upon the spirits — whose praiseworthy
results may become conducive to the glory
and exaltation of humankind throughout all
eternity. Although in some of the Western
States, like California, Oregon, Washington
and Colorado, the fragrances of holiness are
diffused, numerous souls have taken a share
and a portion from the fountain of everlast-
ing life, they have obtained heavenly bene-
diction, have drunk an overflowing cup from
the wine of the love of God and have heark-
ened to the melody of the Supreme Con-
course— yet in the states of New Mexico,
Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Arizona
and Nevada, the lamp of the love of God is
not ignited in a befitting and behooving
manner, and the call of the Kingdom of God
has not been raised. Now, if it is possi-
ble, show ye an effort in this direction.
Either travel yourselves, personally, through-
out those states or choose others and send
them, so that they may teach the souls. For
the present those states are like unto dead
bodies: they must breathe into them the
breath of life and bestow upon them a
heavenly spirit. Like unto the stars they
must shine in that horizon and thus the rays
of the Sun of Reality may also illumine those
states.
God says in the great Qur'an, "Verily God
208
THE BAHA'f WORLD
is the helper of those who have believed. He
will lead them from darkness into light."
This means: God loves the believers, conse-
quently He will deliver them from darkness
and bring them into the world of light.
It is also recorded in the blessed Gospel:
Travel ye throughout the world and call ye
the people to the Kingdom of God. Now
this is the time that you may arise and per-
form this most great service and become the
cause of the guidance of innumerable souls.
Thus through this superhuman service the
days of peace and conciliation may illumine
and enlighten all the regions and the world
of humanity may find peace and composure.
During my stay in America I cried out in
every meeting and summoned the people to
the propagation of the ideals of universal
peace. I said plainly that the continent of
Europe had become like unto an arsenal and
its conflagration was dependent upon one
spark, and that in the coming years, or with-
in two years, all that which is recorded in the
Revelation of John and the Book of Daniel
would become fulfilled and come to pass.
This matter, in all probability, was published
in the San Francisco Bulletin, October 12,
1912. You may refer to it, so that the truth
may become clear and manifest; thus ye may
fully realize that this is the time for the dif-
fusion of the fragrances.
The magnanimity of man must be heav-
enly or, in other words, it must be assisted by
the divine confirmation, so that he may be-
come the cause of the illumination of the
world of humanity.
Upon you be greeting and praise.
Haifa, Palestine,
April 1, 1916.
To the believers of God and the maid-serv-
ants of the Merciful in the Western States of
the Untied States: New Mexico, Colorado,
Arizona, Nevada, California, Wyoming,
Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Utah.
Upon them be BahaVllah u'l-Abha!
He is God!
O ye friends and the maid-servants of the
Merciful, the chosen ones of the Kingdom:
The blessed state of California bears the
utmost similarity to the Holy Land, that is,
the country of Palestine. The air is of the
utmost temperance, the plain very spacious,
and the fruits of Palestine are seen in that
state in the utmost of freshness and delicacy.
When 'Abdu'1-Baha was traveling and jour-
neying through those states, he found him-
self in Palestine, for from every standpoint
there was a perfect likeness between this re-
gion and that state. Even the shores of the
Pacific Ocean, in some instances, show per-
fect resemblance to the shores of the Holy
Land — even the flora of the Holy Land have
grown on those shores — the study of which
has led to much speculation and wonder.
Likewise in the state of California and
other Western States, wonderful scenes of
the world of nature, which bewilder the
minds of men, are manifest. Lofty moun-
tains, deep canyons, great and majestic wa-
terfalls, and giant trees are witnessed on all
sides, while its soil is in the utmost fertility
and richness. That blessed state is similar to
the Holy Land and that region and that
country like unto a delectable paradise, is in
many ways identical with Palestine. Now
just as there are natural resemblances, heav-
enly resemblances must also be acquired.
The lights of the divine traces are mani-
fest in Palestine. The majority of the Israel-
itish Prophets raised the call of the Kingdom
of God in this holy ground. Having spread
the spiritual teachings, the nostrils of the
spiritually-minded ones became fragrant, the
eyes of the illumined souls became bright-
ened, the ears were thrilled through this song,
the hearts obtained eternal life from the
soul-refreshing breeze of the Kingdom of
God and gained supreme illumination from
the splendor of the Sun of Reality. Then
from this region the light was spread to Eu-
rope, America, Asia, Africa and Australia.
Now California and the other Western
States must earn an ideal similarity with the
Holy Land, and from that state and that re-
gion the breaths of the Holy Spirit be dif-
fused to all parts of America and Europe,
that the call of the Kingdom of God may ex-
hilarate and rejoice all the ears, the divine
principles bestow a new life, the different
parties may become one party, the divergent
ideas may disappear and revolve around one
unique center, the East and the West of
EXCERPTS FROM BAH A' I SACRED WRITINGS 209
America may embrace each other, the an-
them of the oneness of the world of human-
ity may confer a new life upon all the
children of men, and the tabernacle of Uni-
versal Peace be pitched on the apex of Amer-
ica;— thus Europe and Africa may become
vivified with the breaths of the Holy Spirit,
this world may become another world, the
body politic may attain to a new exhilara-
tion, and just as in the state of California
and other Western States the marvelous
scenes of the world of nature are evident and
manifest, the great signs of the Kingdom of
God may also be unveiled so that the body
may correspond with the spirit, the outward
world may become a symbol of the inward
world, and the mirror of the earth may be-
come the mirror of the Kingdom, reflecting
the ideal virtues of heaven.
During My journey and traveling in those
parts, I beheld wonderful scenes and beauti-
ful panoramas of nature, orchards and rivers;
national parks and general conclaves; deserts,
plains, meadows and prairies; and the grains
and fruits of that region greatly attracted
My attention; even to the present moment
they are in My mind.
Particularly was I greatly pleased with the
meetings in San Francisco and Oakland, the
gatherings in Los Angeles, and the believers
who came from the cities of other states.
Whenever their faces cross My memory, im-
mediately infinite happiness is realized.
Therefore I hope that the divine teachings
like unto the rays of the sun may be diffused
in all the Western States, and the blessed
Verse of the Qur'an, "It is a good City and
the Lord is the Forgiver!" may become real-
ized. Likewise, the significance of another
Qur'anic Verse, "Do ye not travel through
the land and behold the traces of the Mercy
of God?" become revealed in the utmost
effulgence.
Praise be to God that through the divine
bounty and providence, in that region the
field of service is vast, the minds are in the
utmost degree of intelligence and progress,
sciences and arts are being promoted, the
hearts like unto mirrors are in the utmost
state of purity and translucency, and the
friends of God are in perfect attraction.
Therefore it is hoped that meetings for teach-
ing will be organized and instituted, and for
the diffusion of the fragrances of God wise
teachers may be sent to cities, even to vil-
lages.
The teachers of the Cause must be heav-
enly, lordly and radiant. They must be em-
bodied spirit, personified intellect, and arise
in service with the utmost firmness, stead-
fastness and self-sacrifice. In their journeys
they must not be attached to food and cloth-
ing. They must concentrate their thoughts
on the outpourings of the Kingdom of God
and beg for the confirmations of the Holy
Spirit. With a divine power, with an attrac-
tion of consciousness, with heavenly glad
tidings and celestial holiness they must per-
fume the nostrils with the fragrances of the
Paradise of Abha.
The following commune is to be read by
them every day:
O God! O God! This is a broken- winged
bird and his flight is very slow — assist him so
that he may fly toward the apex of prosper-
ity and salvation, wing his way with the ut-
most joy and happiness throughout the illim-
itable space, raise his melody in Thy Supreme
Name in all the regions, exhilarate the ears
with this call, and brighten the eyes by be-
holding the signs of guidance!
O Lord! I am single, alone and lowly. For
me there is no support save Thee, no helper
except Thee and no sustainer beside Thee.
Confirm me in Thy service, assist me with
the cohorts of Thy angels, make me victori-
ous in the promotion of Thy Word and suffer
me to speak out Thy wisdom amongst Thy
creatures. Verily, Thou art the custodian of
the poor and the defender of the little ones,
and verily Thou art the Powerful, the
Mighty and the Unconstrained!
Haifa, Palestine,
February 15, 1917.
To the believers of God and the maid-serv-
ants of the Merciful in the Provinces of the
Dominion of Canada.
He is God!
O ye daughters and sons of the Kingdom:
Although in most of the states and cities
of the United States — praise be to God — the
210
THE BAHA'f WORLD
fragrances of God are diffused and innumer-
able souls are turning their faces and advanc-
ing toward the Kingdom of God, yet in
some of the states the flag of oneness is not
upraised as it ought to be and must be, and
the mysteries of the Holy Books, like the
Bible, the Gospel and the Qur'an, are not
promulgated. Through the unanimous ef-
fort of the friends, the banner of oneness
must be unfurled in those states, and the di-
vine teachings be promoted, so that they may
also receive a portion and a share of the heav-
enly bestowals and the most great guidance.
Likewise in the provinces of Canada, such as
Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, Nova
Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario,
Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British
Columbia, Ungava, Keewatin, Mackenzie,
Yukon, and the Franklin Islands in the
Arctic Circle — the believers of God must
become self-sacrificing and like unto the can-
dles of guidance become ignited in the prov-
inces of Canada. Should they show forth such
a magnanimity, it is assured that they will
obtain universal divine confirmations, the
heavenly cohorts will reinforce them uninter-
ruptedly, and a most great victory will be
obtained. Perchance, God willing, the call of
the Kingdom may reach the ears of the Eski-
mos, the inhabitants of the Islands of Frank-
lin in the north of Canada, as well as Green-
land. Should in Greenland the fire of the
love of God be ignited, all the ices of that
continent will be melted and its frigid cli-
mate will be changed into a temperate cli-
mate— that is, if the hearts will obtain the
heat of the love of God, that country and
continent will become a divine garden and a
lordly orchard, and the souls, like unto the
fruitful trees, will obtain the utmost fresh-
ness and delicacy. Magnanimity is necessary,
heavenly exertion is called for. Should you
display an effort, so that the fragrances of
God be diffused amongst the Eskimos, its
effect will be very great and far-reaching.
God says in the great Qur*an, "A day will
come wherein the lights of unity will en-
lighten all the world. The earth will be irra-
diated with the light of its Lord.** In other
words, "The earth will become illumined
with the light of God. That light is the
light of unity." "There is no God but God."
The continent and the islands of Eskimos are
also parts of this earth. They must similarly
receive a portion of the bestowals of the
most great guidance.
Upon you be greeting and praise.
Haifa, Palestine,
April 5, 1916.
To the believers of God and the maid-serv-
ants of the Merciful in the Dominion of
Canada, Newfoundland, Prince Edward Is-
land, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec,
Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta,
British Columbia, Yukon, Mackenzie, Kee-
watin, Ungava, Franklin Islands, and Green-
land.
Upon them be Baha'u'llah u*l-Abha!
He is God!
O ye kind friends and the maid-servants of
the Merciful:
In the great Qur'an, God says, "Thou
shalt see no difference in the creatures of
God." In other words, He says: From the
ideal standpoint, there is *ho variation be-
tween the creatures of God, because they are
all created by Him. From the above premise,
a conclusion is drawn, that there is even no
difference between the various countries;
nevertheless, the future of the Dominion of
Canada is very great, and its historical events
infinitely glorious. Thus it shall become the
object of the glance of providence and the
manifestation of the favors of the Supreme
Lord.
'Abdu*l-Baha during His journey and so-
journ through that Dominion obtained the
utmost joy. Before My departure, many
souls warned Me not to travel to Montreal,
saying, the majority of the inhabitants are
Catholics, and are in the utmost fanaticism,
that they are submerged in the sea of imi-
tations, that they have not the capability to
hearken to the call of the Kingdom of God,
that the veil of bigotry has so covered the
eyes that they have deprived themselves from
beholding the signs of the most great guid-
ance, and that the dogmas have taken posses-
sion of the hearts entirely, leaving no trace
of reality. They asserted that should the
Sun of Reality shine with perfect splendor
throughout that dominion, the dark, im-
EXCERPTS FROM BAHA'f SACRED WRITINGS 211
penetrable clouds of superstitions have so en-
veloped the horizon that it would be utterly
impossible for any one to behold its rays.
But these stories did not have any effect on
the resolution of 'Abdu'1-Baha. He, trust-
ing in God, turned His face toward Mon-
treal. When He entered that city He ob-
served all the doors open, He found the
hearts in the utmost receptivity and the ideal
power of the Kingdom of God removing
every obstacle and obstruction. In the
churches and meetings of that Dominion He
called men to the Kingdom of God with the
utmost joy, and scattered such seeds which
will be irrigated with the hand of Divine
Power. Undoubtedly those seeds will grow,
becoming green and verdant, and many rich
harvests will be gathered. In the promotion
of the divine principles He found no antag-
onist and no adversary. The believers He
met in that city were in the utmost spiritu-
ality, and attracted with the fragrances of
God. He found that through the effort of
the maid-servant of God, Mrs. Maxwell, a
number of the sons and daughters of the
Kingdom in that Dominion were gathered
together and associated with each other, in-
creasing this joyous exhilaration day by day.
The time of sojourn was limited to a number
of days, but the results in the future are in-
exhaustible. When a farmer comes into the
possession of a virgin soil, in a short time he
will bring under cultivation a large field.
Therefore I hope that in the future Montreal
may become so stirred, that the melody
of the Kingdom may travel to all parts of
the world from that Dominion and the
breaths of the Holy Spirit may spread from
that center to the East and the West of
America.
O ye believers of God! Do ye not look
upon the smallness of your number and the
multitudes of the nations. Five grains of
wheat will be endued with heavenly blessing,
whereas a thousand tons of tares will yield no
results or effect. One fruitful tree will be
conducive to the life of society, whereas a
thousand forests of wild trees offer no fruits.
The plain is covered with pebbles, but pre-
cious stones are rare. One pearl is better than
a thousand wildernesses of sand, especially
this pearl of great price, which is endowed
with divine blessing. Ere long thousands
of other pearls will be born from it. When
that pearl associates and becomes the inti-
mate of the pebbles, they also all change
into pearls.
Therefore, again I repeat, that the future
of Canada, whether from the standpoint of
civilization or from the viewpoint of the vir-
tues of the Kingdom, is very great. Day by
day civilization and freedom shall increase.
Likewise the cloud of the Kingdom will
water the seeds of guidance sown in that Do-
minion. Consequently, rest ye not, seek ye
no composure, attach not yourselves to the
luxuries of this ephemeral world, free your-
selves from every attachment, and strive
with heart and soul to become fully estab-
lished in the Kingdom of God. Gain ye the
heavenly treasures. Day by day become ye
more illumined. Draw ye nearer and nearer
unto the threshold of oneness. Become ye
the manifestors of spiritual favors and the
drawing-places of infinite lights! If it is
possible, send ye teachers to other portions of
Canada, likewise dispatch ye teachers to
Greenland and the home of the Eskimos.
As regards the teachers, they must com-
pletely divest themselves from the old gar-
ments and be invested with a new garment.
According to the statement of Christ, they
must attain to the station of rebirth: — that
is, whereas in the first instance they were
born from the womb of the mother, this
time they must be born from the womb of
the world of nature. Just as they are now
totally unaware of the experiences of the
foetal world, they must also forget entirely
the defects of the world of nature. They
must be baptized with the water of life, the
fire of the love of God and the breaths of the
Holy Spirit; be satisfied with little food, but
take a large portion from the heavenly table.
They must disengage themselves from temp-
tation and covetousness and be filled with
the spirit. Through the effect of their pure
breath, they must change the stone into the
brilliant ruby and the shell into pearl. Like
unto the cloud of vernal shower, they must
transform the black soil into the rose garden
and orchard. They must make the blind
seeing, the deaf hearing, the extinguished
one enkindled and set aglow, and the dead
quickened.
Upon you be BahaVllah u'l-Abha!
212
THE BAHA'f WORLD
The spreaders of the fragrances of God
should peruse every morning the following
supplication:
Praise be to Thee, O God! Verily these
are Thy servants, who are attracted by the
fragrances of Thy Mercifulness, enkindled
by the ignited fire in the tree of Thy Single-
ness, and their eyes are, brightened by be-
holding the effulgences of the light in the
Sinai of Thy Oneness!
O Lord! Loosen their tongues in Thy
commemoration amongst Thy people; suffer
them to speak Thy praise through Thy favor
and grace, assist them with the cohorts of
Thine angels, strengthen their loins in Thy
service and make them the signs of Thy
guidance amongst Thy creatures!
Verily Thou art the Powerful, the Ex-
alted, the Pardoner and the Merciful!
O God! O God! Thou beholdest this
weak one begging the strength of Thy King-
dom! This poor one supplicating the treas-
ures of Thy heaven! This thirsty one long-
ing for Thy Fountain of the water of eternal
life! This sick one invoking Thy perfect re-
covery through Thy boundless Mercy, which
Thou hast specialized for Thy chosen serv-
ants in Thy Supreme Kingdom!
O Lord! I have no other helper save Thee,
no other comforter beside Thee, and no other
sustainer except Thee! Assist me with Thine
angels in the diffusion of Thy holy fra-
grances and the dissemination of Thy teach-
ings amongst Thine elected people!
O Lord! Suffer me to sever myself from
aught else save Thee, holding past to the hem
of Thy garment; make me sincere in Thy
religion, firm in Thy love and living in ac-
cordance with that which Thou hast com-
manded me in Thy Book.
Verily, Thou art the Powerful, the
Mighty and the Omnipotent!
Haifa, Palestine,
February 21, 1917.
COMMEMORATION OF THE
TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY
OF 'ABDU'L-BAHA'S VISIT
TO AMERICA
BY MARDIYYIH NABIL CARPENTER
i
T was a long, long trip. The more we
traveled, the greater seemed the expanse of
the sea. The weather was brilliant and fine
throughout; there was no storm and no end
to the sea."
At last the American Baha'is were hearing
'Abdu'l-Baha's voice, seeing Him there be-
fore them. It was the afternoon of April
11, 1912; they had met His ship in the
morning, and now they gathered to welcome
Him at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Edward B.
Kinney, 780 West End Avenue, in New
York. They had thronged the rooms, so that
many had to stand; and He had begun to
address them:
"How are you? Welcome! Welcome!
"After arriving today, although weary
with travel, I had the utmost longing and
yearning to see you and could not resist this
meeting. Now that I have met you all My
weariness has vanished, for your meeting is
the cause of spiritual happiness.
"I was in Egypt and was not feeling well;
but I wished to come to you in America. My
friends said: 'This is a long journey; the sea
is wide; You should remain here.' But the
more they advised and insisted, the greater
My longing to take this trip and now I have
come to America to meet the friends of God.
This long voyage will prove how great is My
love for you. There were many troubles and
vicissitudes but in the thought of meeting
you, all these things vanished and were for-
gotten.
"I am greatly pleased with the city of
New York. Its harbor entrance, its piers,
buildings and broad avenues are magnificent
and beautiful. Truly this is a wonderful
city. As New York has made such progress
in material civilization, I hope that it may
advance spiritually in the kingdom and cove-
nant of God so that the friends here may be-
come the cause of illumination of America;
that this city may become the city of love
and that the fragrances of God may be
spread from this place to all parts of the
world. I have come for this. I pray that
you may be manifestations of the love of
Baha'u'llah; that each one of you may be-
come like a clear lamp of crystal from which
the rays of the bounties of the Blessed Per-
fection may shine forth to all nations and
peoples. This is My highest aspiration. . . .
"I am very happy to meet you all here to-
day. Praise be to God that your faces are
shining with the love of Baha'u'llah! To be-
hold them is the cause of great spiritual
happiness. We have arranged to meet you
every day at the homes of the friends.
"In the East people were asking Me, 'Why
do you undertake this long voyage? Your
body cannot endure such hardships of travel.'
When it is necessary, My body can endure
everything. It has withstood forty years of
imprisonment and can still undergo the ut-
most trials.
"I will see you again. Now I will greet
each one of you personally. It is My hope
that you will all be happy and that we may
meet again and again."
'Abdu'1-Baha now shook hands with each
one, and left for the Hotel Ansonia.
He had been a prisoner most of His life.
Born in Tihran, Iran, on May 23, 1844, at
the age of eight He was one of that little
band of exiles who crossed the Iranian bor-
der, going toward Baghdad. With them He
was exiled from prison to prison, and con-
213
Penmanship of the father of Baha'u'llah, Mirza Buzurg.
214
ABDU'L-BAHA'S VISIT TO AMERICA
215
fined at last in the fortress-city of 'Akka, on
August 31, 1868. Forty years passed; then
the Sultan, 'Abdu'l-Hamid, fell; on August
31, 1908, the gates of 'Akka were flung
open and 'Abdu'1-Baha went free. He was
sixty-four, He had lived forty years in a
place where the air broke men and killed
them, and there was no pain that had not
struck at His heart. He was free now, but
He could not rest. He saw mankind on the
brink of war; He saw the passing of the old
world, and He came West, to lay the founda-
tion of the new. In 1911, He brought the
teachings of His Father, Baha'u'llah, to Eu-
rope. Returning to Egypt, He then sailed
for the United States, where He traveled and
taught from April 11 to December 5, 1912.
His fellow-travelers on the steamship
Cedric, of the White Star Line, spoke with
Him, inquiring as to His mission. To one,
the owner of an American newspaper, 'Abd-
u'l-Baha said: 'I am going to America at the
invitation of the Peace Congresses of that
place, as the fundamental principles of our
Cause are universal peace, the oneness of the
world of humanity and the equality of the
rights of men. As this age is the age of lights
and the century of mysteries, this great ob-
ject is sure to be universally acknowledged
and this Cause is certain to encompass the
East and the West/* A woman, member of
the Unitarian faith, asked Him to give her a
message for the Unitarians. He answered
her: "The most important of all purposes is
to diffuse divine love, amity and accord
among the people . . . hence tell your As-
sembly: Rejoice, the standard of the king-
dom of heaven is hoisted! Rejoice, the divine
springtime has appeared! Rejoice, the Pro-
claimer of the kingdom has raised His
voice !" On April 8 and thereafter greetings
and welcome were wirelessed to the ship by
Baha'i communities from coast to coast. On
April 11, crowds of Baha'is stood at the pier,
waving hats and handkerchiefs, while the
Cedric docked. As soon as the gangplank
was lowered, newspapermen went aboard to
interview 'Abdu'1-Baha; they asked the ob-
ject of His voyage and He said: "Our object
is universal peace and the unity of mankind.
... I have come to America to see the advo-
cates of universal peace. I hope the Peace
Congresses of America will come forward
and take the first practical step." They
questioned: "How can universal peace be
realized?" He said: "Its realization depends
upon effecting a change in the ideas of the
inhabitants of the world. Today, universal
peace is the panacea for all human ills."
"What are those ills?" "One of those ills
is the restlessness and discontent of the peo-
ple under the yoke of the war expenditures
of the Powers of the world. What the people
earn through labor is extorted from them by
the governments and spent for war purposes.
. . . Thus the burden on men is becoming
more and more unbearable ..." The re-
porters asked, "May not peace lead to trouble
and may not war help progress?" He an-
swered, "No. Today war is the cause of all
trouble! If war can be gotten rid of, all
these troubles will disappear . . . However,
this cannot be brought into existence except
through the education of the people and the
development of their thought and ideas."
The docking of the Cedric in New York
with 'Abdu'1-Baha abroad was the direct
fulfillment of the words of a man of Shiraz,
who, sixty-eight years before, at the very
hour of 'Abdu'l-Baha's birth, had proclaimed
the coming of a great world Teacher. For
sixty-two years now the Bab had lain dead,
Persian bullets in His breast. But out of
Persia a young nobleman had arisen, and had
brought a world Faith. They had seized His
jewels and palaces, they had closed Him in an
underground pit, and hemmed Him in with
guards. They had killed His followers, and
not dared to kill Him, and they had exiled
Him from one land to another, and the Shah
of Persia and the Sultan of Turkey had used
all their power to shut back the words that
came from His lips. And He, Baha'u'llah,
had established His Faith. He had revealed
new laws, suited to future world civilization,
based on that oneness of the human race and
that coming of age of mankind, which His
advent proclaimed; He had regenerated and
brought into harmony the religions of the
past; He had provided for agencies to safe-
guard His new World Order. And whereas
before, once the Founder of a Faith had
passed away, His followers turned one
against another and destroyed the unity that
He had created — Baha'u'llah with His own
hand appointed an Exemplar, an Interpreter,
216
THE BAHA'i WORLD
so that Baha'is the world over were bound by
their devotion to His eldest son, 'Abdu'l-
Baha. "The promise," wrote Baha'u'llah,
"the promise of all ages is now fulfilled.
That which had been announced in the holy
writ of God, the Beloved, the Most High, is
made manifest."
'Abdu'1-Baha, standard-bearer of the civil-
ization of the future, set foot in the United
States, prototype of the future federation of
mankind. In every city, on every train, peo-
ple crowded close to Him. In New York
City alone, during the seventy-nine days He
spent there, He made public addresses in, or
formal visits to, fifty-five different places.
His rooms were filled with visitors wherever
He went, all day long, from early in the
morning. Philosophers, scientists, ecclesias-
tics, social workers, educators, diplomats,
were found in His audiences, intently listen-
ing to Him, studying His presentation of the
Baha'i teachings as the means of regenerat-
ing and unifying humanity. Everywhere in
editorial comment and publication of news
concerning Him, the daily press was reverent
and respectful. He addressed Columbia and
Leland Stanford Universities; He attended
conference at Lake Mohonk, visited the
open forum at Green Acre, Eliot, Maine,
spoke before scientific associations, socialistic
bodies, welfare organizations. Temples and
churches, synagogues, women's clubs, col-
leges, metaphysical groups — willingly opened
their doors to His message. He was guest of
honor in leading mansions throughout the
country, and He visited as well the homes of
the very poor. He addressed Bowery Mis-
sion, in the slums of New York. He spoke
with all types of men and women; children
of all races clung to Him. And never, in all
His traveling and teaching, did He accept
remuneration, for His service was given
without price.
By the shore of the Lake near Chicago,
'Abdu'1-Baha laid the foundation-stone of a
great Temple; the first world temple, the
first sanctuary for all sorts and conditions of
men, and all races, and all faiths — ever to be
raised in the western hemisphere.
When, in 1937, Baha'is throughout the
country commemorated in numberless gath-
erings the twenty-fifth anniversary of cAbd-
u'1-Baha's coming to the United States, a
special meeting was held in the Temple,
marking the arrival of 'Abdu'1-Baha in New
York, April 11, 1912; on this occasion rep-
resentatives of many groups that had been
addressed by Him during His journey, joined
with the Baha'is to do Him honor. Among
the guest speakers, Mrs. Dorothy Bushnell
Blumberg, President of the Chicago Branch
of the Women's International League for
Peace, said in effect that thinking people, as
they see the increase of material comfort and
security, do not wish the achievement of
these ends to be made at the cost of spiritual
values; that a new age of cosmopolitanism is
upon us, whose ultimate outcome will be a
world race and culture; that those of us who
believe in the oneness of the human race are
fortunate, and must strive for the enlighten-
ment of the many who will resist the onward
march of cosmopolitanism.
Mr. Albert Windust, Chairman, then read
from 'Abdu'l-Baha's address before the New
York Peace Society, in part as follows: "To-
day, there is no greater glory for man than
that of service in the cause of the 'Most
Great Peace' . . . His Holiness Baha'u'llah
was imprisoned and subjected to severe perse-
cutions . . . Through all these ordeals He
strove day and night to proclaim the oneness
of humanity and promulgate the message of
universal peace. From the prison of 4Akka
He addressed the kings and rulers of the
earth in lengthy letters summoning them to
international agreement and explicitly stat-
ing that the standard of the 'Most Great
Peace' would surely be upraised in the
world."
Another guest, Mr. A. C. MacNeal, Presi-
dent of the Chicago Branch of the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored
People, quoted from the address given by
'Abdu'1-Baha before the Fourth Annual
Conference of the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People: "Ac-
cording to the words of the Old Testament,
God has said: 'Let us make man in our image,
after our likeness.' This indicates that . . .
the perfections of God, the divine virtues,
are reflected or revealed in the human reality
. . . This is an evidence that man is the
most noble of God's creatures . . . Let us
now discover more specifically how he is the
image and likeness of God, and what is the
'ABDU'L-BAHA'S VISIT TO AMERICA
217
standard, or criterion, by which he can be
measured and estimated. This standard can
be no other than the divine virtues which are
revealed in him ... If a man possesses
wealth, can we call him an image and like-
ness of God? Or is human honor and noto-
riety the criterion of divine nearness? Can
we apply the test of racial color and say that
man of a certain hue — white, black, brown,
yellow, red — is the true image of his Cre-
ator? We must conclude that color is not
the standard . . . for color is accidental in
nature. The spirit and intelligence of man
is the essential. . . . Man is not man simply
because of bodily attributes. The character
and purity of the heart is all important."
A third speaker, Mr. Brenes-Mesen, repre-
senting the President of the Theosophical So-
ciety, conveyed to the Baha'is the following
message: "Out of the Morning of Eternity,
where infinite Wisdom and all embracing
Love abide, at intervals, when duty weakens
and nations decline, splendorous souls come
to this earth again to grace mankind with a
new Springtime of faith . . . They come
forth to enkindle the dormant fires in the
souls of men, to point out once more the
guiding star rising on the horizon of a new
humanity. Such are the Masters of Wisdom,
and Compassion, manifestations of the om-
nipotent Love, the Holy Spirit.
"To this saintly lineage do belong Baha'-
u'llah, the Splendor of God, and 'Abdu'l-
Baha, the Servant of God. They have
brought before the eyes of men, amidst a di-
vided world, the principles of the Unity of
Mankind; and in the midst of so many sects,
the salutary doctrine of the common foun-
dation of all forms of religion in the mani-
festation of the Holy Spirit; and amidst the
contentious social and economical conflicts
of our epoch they remind us of our obliga-
tion to do some fruitful labor in the spirit of
service, of the need of voluntary sharing of
our wealth with others to foster universal
peace and that we may realize the brother-
hood of men.
"Knowing and without stint admiring
those principles, when 'Abdu'1-Baha set foot
in the United States the Theosophical So-
ciety bestowed on Him the gracious hos-
pitality of its platform. He was a Teacher
and a brother, He had our heartfelt welcome.
"The* achievements of Baha'ism in this
country so magnificently embodied in this
Baha'i House of Worship, are proclaiming
the satisfaction that so many souls find in
the beauty, the truth and transcendence of
the teachings flowing from this wellspring of
Wisdom.
"In behalf of the Theosophical Society of
America, and at the request of its President,
I tender to you, with our congratulations,
our cordial wishes for the spiritual prosperity
of Baha'ism, for we are one in our endeavors
of spiritualizing the world."
In introducing this speaker, the Chairman
had remarked that one of the outstanding
addresses of 'Abdu'1-Baha in Chicago was
that delivered before the Theosophical So-
ciety, on which occasion He had said: "In
the matrix of the mother, we were the re-
cipients of endowments and blessings of God,
yet these were as nothing compared to the
powers and graces bestowed upon us after
birth into this human world. Likewise if we
are born from the matrix of this physical
. . . environment into the freedom and
loftiness of the life and vision spiritual, we
shall consider this mortal existence and its
blessings as worthless by comparison."
An extract from the address of 'Abdu'l-
Baha to the Plymouth Congregational
Church was now read, in part as follows:
"In our solar system the center of illumina-
tion is the sun itself . . . the one source of
the existence and development of all phe-
nomenal things . . . But if we reflect deeply
we will perceive that the great bestower and
giver of life is God; the sun is the intermedi-
ary of His will and plan . . . Likewise, in
the spiritual realm . . . there must be a cen-
ter of illumination, and that center is ...
the Word of God . . . the prophet or mani-
festation of God . . ." Following this,
guest-speaker Mr. Kennicott Brenton, House
Secretary and Resident of Hull-House, rep-
resenting Mrs. Kenneth F. Rich, Resident
Head of the famous institution founded by
Jane Addams — spoke as follows:
"Hull-House is deeply aware of its honor
in being invited to join with you in honoring
your departed leader. In this we recognize
an inner significance. Both this wonderful
temple and our busy, homely group of class
rooms and workshops are expressions of the
218
THE BAHiA't V^ORLD
same life principle. In yours is a, realization
of world unity; ours of the common interest
uniting neighborhoods and races, ignoring
religious and class barriers. Throughout his-
tory, the spirit of discord has been able to
'divide and rule*. Man's pattern has made
him peculiarly susceptible to factional loyal-
ties. We have seen how love of country and
adherence to group loyalties can even lead to
self-destruction. . . . Hull -House and the
things which it has done for the betterment
of its neighbors were possible only because it
became a rallying point for the combined
goodwill of widely separated groups and sec-
tions. Accomplishment in prevention of
child labor, sweatshops, bad Routing, was
won by a call to unite the good intention of
all factions — never by appeal to factionalism
or strife.
"Instead of emphasizing man's diversity
of interest, Jane Addams said: 'The things
which make men alike are finer and better
than the things that keep them apart'. . . .
Rather than hope for justice from some ma-
terialistic system, she knew: * Justice can only
be worked out upon this earth by those who
will not tolerate a wrong to the feeblest
member of the community'.
"Both our great leaders have gone on but
we recognize in them the spirit which can
reclaim the world."
The Chairman called attention to the fact
that 'Abdu'l-Baha's first public address in
Chicago was delivered at Hull-House, and
quoted from that address: "There is need of
a superior power to overcome human preju-
dices; a power which nothing in the world of
mankind can withstand. . . . That irresisti-
ble power is the love of God."
In introducing the next speaker, Mr. Allen
B. McDaniel, of Washington, D. C., member
of the National Spiritual Assembly of the
Baha'is of the United States and Canada, the
Chairman read from the words of 'Abdu'l-
Baha delivered at All-Souls Church: "In
Persia, His Holiness Baha'u'llah was able to
unite people of varying thought, "creed and
denomination. The inhabitants of that
country were Christians, Muhammadans,
Jews, Zoroastrians, and a great variety of sub-
divided forms and beliefs, together with
racial distinctions, such as Semitic, Arabic,
Persian, Turk, and others, but through the
power and efficacy of religion, Baha'u'llah
,% united these differing peoples, and caused
* them to Consort together in perfect agree-
ment. And now let us consider that the
American, British, French, Germans, Turks,
Persians, Arabs, are all ... members of the
same household. Why should dissension exist
among them? . . . There is no doubt that
the only cause is ignorance. . . ." Mr.
McDaniel then spoke on "The Gathering of
the Peoples and Nations," ably epitomizing
the excerpts from 'Abdu'l-Baha's addresses
that had been read throughout the meeting.
This program, which was followed by a
reception, closed with the showing of the
motion picture of 'Abdu'1-Baha: His arrival
by automobile at the home of Mr. and Mrs.
Howard MacNutt in Brooklyn, New York;
His walking and conversing with Persian in-
terpreters and others, His greeting the chil-
dren present, His delivery, as He strode back
and forth before the large gathering on the
grounds, of a message of* glad-tidings to all
humanity: "Rejoice! . . . The divine Gos-
pel has appeared! Rejoice! . . . The Great
Day has come! Rejoice! 7 . . The glad-tid-
ings and prophecies of the Prophets are ful-
filled! Rejoice . . . The Glory of Carmel
has shown on the worlds! Rejoice! . . .
The East and West have joined hands!"
In memory of that other day when 'Abd-
u'l-Baha had dedicated the Temple site, the
Baha'is of the United States and Canada, as-
sembled at the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar for their
annual Convention, heard the story of how,
exactly forty-nine years after Baha'u'llah,
then a captive about to be exiled from Bagh-
dad, had declared His mission — 'Abdu'l-
Baha His son had laid the corner-stone of the
Baha'i Temple in the heart of the American
continent.
During the evening of His arrival in Chi-
cago, 'Abdu'1-Baha addressed an audience of
several hundred at the last session of the
Baha'i Temple Unity, speaking in part as
follows:
"The real temple is the very Word of God;
for to it all humanity must turn and it is the
center of unity for all mankind . . . Tem-
ples are the symbols of the divine uniting
force, so that when the people gather there
. . . they may recall the fact that the law
has been revealed for them and that the law
ss Henrietta Brittingham , 139
ss Celia Richmond (Scc'y of Miss Farmer) 140
logene Hoagg 142
)t identified 143
ss Hodgkins 144
n;othy Parson Thompson 145
uise Culver 146
ss Mildred Thompson 147
ima Thompson 148
lian Hipp 149
uise Thompson 150
Mrs. Dix
Mrs. Baseley
Mrs. Louise M. Erickson
Miss Blair
Mrs. Stebbins
Mrs. Alice Shane Devins
Carrie Kinney
Mrs. Tatum
Not identified
Mrs. Pearl Abbot
Miss Margarite Blanchard
'ABDU'L-BAHA'S VISIT TO AMERICA
219
is tq unite them /. . . That is why His Holi-
ness Baha'u'Ilah has commanded that a
p|ace of worship )>e built . . . that all re--
ligions, races and sects may come together
within the universal shelter ... It is the
Mashriqu'l-Adhkar (the Dawning-Point of
tb# remembrance of God) . . . For thou-
sands of years the human race has been at
wir. It is enough . . . For thousands of
years the nations have denied each other,
co/tsidering each other as infidel and inferior.
Itvis sufficient . . ." And He closed. with a
pVayer for the American nation: "O thou
kind Lord! . . . Confirm this revered na-
tion to upraise the standard of the oneness of
humanity, to promulgate the Most Great
Peace, to become thereby most glorious and
praiseworthy among all .the nations of the
world ..."
» Then the next day, on the w.tfcdy shores of
the Lake, at Wilmette. They had pitched a
teht, large enough for five hundred persons,
arid had made a special entry way to the
aipunds for the carnage of 'Abdu'1-Baha;
bftfc He entered on foot, walking briskly, a
long line of Baha'is following Him. Within
tl|e tent, seats had been placed in three cir-
cles, with a broad space at the center, reached
by; nine aisles. At high noon, 'Abdu'1-Baha
advanced to the inner circle and spoke:
"The power which has gathered you here
tt^day notwithstanding the cold and windy
weather is indeed mighty and wonderful. It
is the power of God, the divine favor of
Baha'u'llah which has drawn you to-
gether . . .
"Thousands of Mashriqu'l-Adhkars for all
religionists will be built in the Orient and
Occident, but this being the first one erected
in the Occident has great importance . . .
It has the same importance as the Mashriqu'l-
Adhkar in 'Ishqabad, Caucasus Russia, the
first one built there. In Persia there are
many; some are houses which have been util-
ized for the purpose, others are homes en-
tirely devoted to the Divine Cause. . . .
But the great 'Dawning-Point' has been
founded in 'Ishqabad. It possesses superla-
tive importance. ..."
Outside the tent, in the woods and fields
along the Lake Shore, 'Abdu'1-Bahi prepared
for ,the breaking of the Temple ground; us-
ing first a golden trowel presented bv
C. Holmes of Nfew Xork, He then slipped
this back into its leather Utoe, and called for
other implements; an ax was brought, then
a shovel; with these, *Ab<&U-Baha and mem-
bers of every race and Stionality present,
excavated a place to hold the dedication
stone. As each man or woman came for-
ward, his face or nationality was announced:
Persia, Syria, Egypt, India, Japan, South
Africa, England, France, Germany, rfolland,
Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Jews of the
world, and the North American Indians,
were of those represented; at 'the end 'Abd-
u'l-Baha set the stone in its place, on behalf
of all the peoples of the world. And He said,
"The Temple is already built."
Now, within the Temple, those who had
been present that other day were asked to
rise; they numbered fifteen. One of them,
Mrs. Nettie Tobin of Chicago, was* called
upon to tell how she had brought, painfully,
from far away and as though driven to it, a
fragment of limestone rock to the Temple
site, and how this had been chosen by 'Abd-
u'l-Baha as the dedication stone. Mrs. Cor-
inne True of Wilmette, whose devotion to
the work of building the Temple was com-
pared to that of a mother rearing her child,
gave a brief message of inspiration, and Dr.
'Ali-Kuli Khan, sent by 'Abdu'1-Baha to the
United States in 1901 to spread the Baha'i
teachings, spoke of the work still to be ac-
complished in completing the outer orna-
mentation of the Temple, and of the plan
drawn up by the Guardian of the Faith,
Shoghi EfTendi, for the realization of this
within the first century of the Baha'i era.
This second commemorative gathering, pro-
.gram-chairmen of which were Edna Eastman
and Albert Windust, and further partici-
pants, Ruth Randall Brown, Nina Matthisen,
and Montfort Mills, was climaxed by the
darkening of the auditorium, after which the
motion picture of 'Abdu'1-Baha was thrown
upon the screen. In deep silence, the audi-
ence wafched as the majestic figure of the
Center of the Covenant stood before them;
many had never viewed this scene before,
while some were still left who could remem-
ber His face, His walk, and could hear in
memory His ringing voice.
"It is My purpose," 'Abdu'1-Bah* had said
on the day of His arrival in New York, "to
220
THE BAHA'i WORLD
set forth in America the fundamental prin-
ciples of the revelation ... of BahaVllah.
It will then become the duty of the Baha'is
in this country to give these principles un-
foldment and application in the minds,
hearts and lives of the people." During the
long months of travel, of daily association
with hundreds of groups and individuals,
He had spared Himself no hardship in order
to give to America this fresh revelation of
spiritual power, this new Faith, suited to the
needs of a new age. Everywhere, at every
hour He had taught the principles brought
by BahaVllah: that each must search after
truth for himself; that all races are as one;
that all religions are fundamentally one, and
have as their purpose the establishment of
harmony; that religion, "the sole . . . basis
of ... an ordered and progressive society/*
must go hand-in-hand with science; that
equal opportunities are to be provided for
men and women alike; that extremes of
wealth and poverty are to be abolished, that
an auxiliary international language is to be
adopted; and He had shown that the Baha'i
world sy$tem provides the agencies for the
establishing of permanent and universal
peace.
It was a clear, not a beautiful day when
they gathered on board the steamship Celtic
to take leave of Him. He spoke to each one,
distributed to each the flowers that had been
brought. Then He addressed them for the
last time:
"This is My last meeting with you, for
now I am on board the steamship ready to
sail away. These are My final words of ex-
hortation. I have repeatedly summoned you
to the cause of the unity of the world of hu-
manity, announcing that all mankind are the
servants of the same God; that God is the
creator of all; He is the provider and life-
giver; all are equally beloved by Him and are
His servants upon whom His mercy and
compassion descend. Therefore you must
manifest the greatest kindness and love to-
ward the nations of the world, setting aside
fanaticism, abandoning religious, national,
and racial prejudice.
"The earth is one nativity, one home, and
all mankind are the children of one Father.
God has created them and they are the re-
cipients of His compassion. Therefore if
anyone offends another, he offends God. It
is the wish of our heavenly Father that every
heart should rejoice and be filled with happi-
ness; that we should live together with felic-
ity and joy. The obstacle to human hap-
piness is racial or religious prejudice, the
competitive struggle for existence and in-
humanity toward each other.
"Your eyes have been illumined; your ears
are attentive, your hearts knowing. You
must be free from prejudice and fanaticism,
beholding no differences between the races
and religions. You must look to God for He
is the real shepherd and all humanity are His
sheep. He loves them, and loves them
equally. As this is true, should the sheep
quarrel among themselves? They should
manifest gratitude and thankfulness toward
God, and the best way to thank God is to
love one another.
"Beware lest ye offend any heart, lest ye
speak against anyone in his absence, lest ye
estrange yourselves from the servants of
Gpd. You must consider all His servants as
your own family and kindred. Direct your
whole effort toward the happiness of those *
who are despondent, bestow food upon the
hungry, clothe the needy and glorify the
humble. Be a helper to every helpless one,
and manifest kindness to your fellow crea-
tures in order that ye may attain the good
pleasure of God. This is conducive to the
illumination of the world of humanity and
eternal felicity for yourselves. I seek from
God everlasting glory in your behalf; there-
fore this is My prayer and exhortation.
"Consider what is happening in the Bal-
kans. Human blood is being shed, properties
are destroyed, possessions pillaged, cities and
villages devastated. A world-enkindling fire
is astir in the Balkans. God has created men
to love each other, but instead they kill each
other with cruelty and bloodshed. God has
created them that they may cooperate and
mingle in accord, but instead they ravage,
plunder and destroy in the carnage of battle.
God has created them to be the cause of
mutual felicity and peace but instead dis-
cord, lamentation and anguish rise from the
hearts of the innocent and afflicted.
"As to you, your efforts must be lofty.
Exert yourselves with heart and soul so that
perchance through your efforts the light of
;ABDU'L-BAHA'S VISIT TO AMERICA
221
Universal Peace may shine and this darkness
of estrangement and enmity may be dispelled
from amongst men; that all men may be-
come as one family and consort together in
love and kindness; that the East may assist
the West and the West give help to the East,
for all are the inhabitants of one planet, the
people of one original nativity and the flocks
of one shepherd.
"Consider how ihe Prophets who have
been sent, the great souls who have appeared
and the sages who have arisen in the world,
have exhorted mankind to unity and love.
This has been the essence of their mission and
teaching. This has been the goal of their
guidance and message. The Prophets, saints,
seers and philosophers have sacrificed their
lives in order to establish these principles and
teachings amongst men. Consider the heed-
lessness of the world, for notwithstanding
the efforts and sufferings of the Prophets of
God, the nations and peoples are still engaged
in hostility and fighting. Notwithstanding
the heavenly commandments to love one an-
other, they are still shedding each other's
blood. How heedless and ignorant are the
people of the world! How gross the dark-
ness which envelops them! Although they
are the children of a compassionate God they
continue to live and to act in opposition to
His will and good pleasure. God is loving
and kind to all men, and yet they show the
utmost enmity and hatred toward each
other. God is the giver of life to them,
and yet they constantly seek to destroy
life. God blesses and protects their homes;
they ravage, sack and destroy each other's
homes. Consider their ignorance and heed-
lessness!
"Your duty is of another kind for you are
informed of the mysteries of God. Your eyes
are illumined, your ears are quickened with
hearing. You must therefore look toward
each other and then toward mankind with
the utmost love and kindness. You have no
excuse to bring before God if you fail to live
according to His command, for you are in-
formed of that which constitutes the good
pleasure of God. You have heard His com-
mandments and precepts. You must there-
fore be kind to all men; you must even treat
your enemies as your friends. You must
consider your evil-wishers as your well-wish-
ers. Those who are not agreeable toward you
must be regarded as those who are congenial
and pleasant, so that perchance this darkness
of disagreement and conflict may disappear
from amongst men and the light of the di-
vine may shine forth; so that the Orient may
be illumined and the Occident filled with
fragrance; nay, so that East and West may
embrace each other in love and deal with one
another in sympathy and affection. Until
man reaches this high station, the world of
humanity shall not find rest and eternal fe-
licity shall not be attained. But if man lives
up to these divine commandments, this world
of earth shall be transformed into a world of
heaven and this material sphere shall be
transformed into a paradise of glory. It is
My hope that you may become successful in
this high calling, so that like brilliant lamps
you may cast light upon the world of hu-
manity and quicken and stir the body of ex-
istence like unto a spirit of life. This is
eternal glory. This is everlasting felicity.
This is immortal life. This is heavenly at-
tainment. This is being created in the image
and likeness of God. And unto this I call
you, praying to God to strengthen and bless
you."
They left the ship and looked up to where
'Abdu'1-Baha stood on the deck. He was
smiling very faintly, His eyes tender,
thoughtful, somehow full of sorrow. He
waved His hand gently toward them. And
they knew that they would never fail Him,
and still they wept.
PART TWO
THE WORLD ORDER OF
BAHA'U'LLAH
PRESENT-DAY ADMINISTRATION OF THE
BAHA'I FAITH
INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT
BY HORACE HOLLEY
I
T HAS been the general characteristic of
religion that organization marks the inter-
ruption of the true spiritual influence and
serves to prevent the original impulse from
being carried into the world. The organi-
zation has invariably become a substitute for
religion rather than a method or an instru-
ment used to give the religion effect. The
separation of peoples into different traditions
unbridged by any peaceful or constructive
intercourse has made this inevitable. Up to
the present time, in fact, no Founder of a
revealed religion has explicitly laid down the
principles that should guide the administra-
tive machinery of the Faith He has estab-
lished.
In the Baha'i Cause, the principles of
world administration were expressed by Ba-
haVllah, and these principles were developed
in the writings of 'Abdu'1-Baha, more espe-
cially in His Will and Testament.
The purpose of this organization is to
make possible a true and lasting unity among
peoples of different races, classes, interests,
characters, and inherited creeds. A close and
sympathetic study of this aspect of the Ba-
ha'i Cause will show that the purpose and
method of Baha'i administration is so per-
fectly adapted to the fundamental spirit of
the Revelation that it bears to it the same
relationship as body to soul. In character,
the principles of Baha'i administration rep-
resent the science of cooperation; in applica-
tion, they provide for a new and higher type
of morality worldwide in scope. In the clash
and confusion of sectarian prejudice, the
Bahd'i religion is impartial and sympathetic,
offering a foundation upon which reconcilia-
tion can be firmly based. Amid the complex
interrelations of governments, the religion
stands absolutely neutral as to political pur-
poses and entirely obedient to all recognized
authority. It will not be overlooked by the
student that Baha'u'llah is the only religious
teacher making obedience to just govern-
ments and rulers a definite spiritual com-
mand.
In this brief analysis of the several fea-
tures of the Baha'i system of administration
the purpose is rather to place in the hands of
the believers themselves a convenient sum-
mary of the available instructions than to
clarify this aspect of the teachings to the
non-Baha'i. Until one has made contact
with the spirit of the Baha'i teachings and
desires to cooperate wholeheartedly with
their purpose, the administrative phase of the
Faith can have little real meaning or appeal.
At the time of the passing of 'Abdu'l-
Baha, the organization was fully defined but
not yet established among His followers.
The responsibility for carrying out the in-
structions was placed by 'Abdu'1-Baha upon
His grandson, Shoghi Effendi, to whom was
assigned the function of "Guardian of the
Cause." Obedience to the authority of the
Guardian was definitely enjoined upon all
Baha'is by 'Abdu'1-Baha, but this authority
carries with it nothing of an arbitrary or
personal character, being limited as to pur-
pose and method by the writings of Baha'-
u'llah and 'Abdu'1-Baha. The Guardian
unifies the efforts to bring into complete ap-
plication those principles of world adminis-
tration already clearly defined.
To assist the Guardian in his manifold
225
226
THE BAHA'f WORLD
responsibilities and duties and particularly in
the promotion of the teaching work, 'Abd-
u'l-Baha provided for the appointment of
a group of co-workers to be known as "The
Hands of the Cause of God." The appoint-
ment of this body is a function of the
Guardian, and these from their own number
are to elect nine persons who will be closely
associated with the Guardian in the discharge
of his duties. It is the function of the
Guardian also to appoint his own successor,
this appointment to be ratified by the nine
Hands of the Cause.
It is the genius of the Baha'i Faith that
the principle underlying the administration
of its affairs aims to improve the life and
upbuild the character of the individual be-
liever in his own local community, wherever
it may be, and not to enhance the prestige of
those relatively few who, by election or ap-
pointment, hold positions of higher author-
ity. Baha'i authority is measured by self-
sacrifice and not by arbitrary power. This
fundamental aim can be seen clearly on
studying the significant emphasis which
'Abdu'1-Baha placed upon the local Baha'i
community. The local group, involving as it
does men and women in all the normal ac-
tivities and relations of life, is the foundation
upon which rests the entire evolution of the
Cause. The local Baha'i community is given
official recognition only after its number of
adult declared believers has become nine or
more. Up to this point, the community
exists as a voluntary group of workers and
students of the Cause.
In this connection, the word "commu-
nity" is not used in the sense of any locality,
exclusively Baha'i in membership, nor of any
manner of living differing outwardly from
the general environment, such as has been
attempted by religionists and also members
of philosophic and economic movements in
the past. A Baha'i community is a unity of
minds and hearts, an association of people
entirely voluntary in character, established
upon a common experience of devotion to
the universal aims of Bah£'u'llah and agree-
ment as to the methods by which these aims
can be advanced.
A Baha'i community differs from other
voluntary gatherings in that its foundation
is so deeply laid and broadly extended that it
can include any sincere soul. Whereas other
associations are exclusive, in effect if not in
intention, and from method if not from
ideal, Baha'i association is inclusive, shut-
ting the gates of fellowship to no sincere
soul. In every gathering there is latent or
developed some basis of selection. In religion
this basis is a creed limited by the historical
nature of its origin; in politics this is party
or platform; in economics this is a mutual
misfortune or mutual power; in the arts
and sciences this basis consists of special
training or activity or interest. In all these
matters, the more exclusive the basis of selec-
tion, the stronger the movement — a condi-
tion diametrically opposed to that existing in
the Baha'i Cause. Hence the Cause, for all
its spirit of growth and progress, develops
slowly as regards the numbers of its active
adherents. For people are accustomed to ex-
clusiveness and division in all affairs. The
important sanctions have ever been warrants
and justifications of division. To enter the
Baha'i religion is to leave these sanctions be-
hind— an experience which at first invariably
exposes one to new trials and sufferings, as
the human ego revolts against the supreme
sanction of universal love. The scientific
must associate with the simple and un-
learned, the rich with the poor, the white
with the colored, the mystic with the literal-
ist, the Christian with the Jew, the Muslim
with the Parsee: and on terms removing the
advantage of long established presumptions
and privileges.
But for this difficult experience there are
glorious compensations. Let us remember
that art grows sterile as it turns away from
the common humanity, that philosophy like-
wise loses its vision when developed in soli-
tude, and that politics and religion never
succeed apart from the general needs of
mankind. Human nature is not yet known,
for we have all lived in a state of mental,
moral, emotional or social defense, and the
psychology of defense is the psychology of
inhibition. But the love of God removes
fear; the removal of fear establishes the
latent powers, and association with others in
spiritual love brings these powers into vital,
positive expression. A Bahd'i community
is a gathering where this process can take
place in this age, slowly at first, as the new
THE WORLD ORDER OF B A H A ' U 'LL A H
227
impetus gathers force, more rapidly as the
members become conscious of the powers
unfolding the flower of unity among men.
Where the community is small and insig-
nificant, in comparison with the population
of the city or town, the first condition of
growth is understanding of the Manifesta-
tion of Baha'u'llah, and the next condition is
that of true humility. If these two condi-
tions exist, the weakest soul becomes en-
dowed with effective power in service to the
Cause. The result of unity, in fact, is to
share the powers and faculties of all with
each.
The responsibility for and supervision of
local Baha'i affairs is vested in a body known
as the Spiritual Assembly. This body (lim-
ited to nine members) is elected annually on
April 1, the first day of Ridvan (the Fes-
tival commemorating the Declaration of Ba-
ha'u'llah) by the adult declared believers of
the community, the voting list being drawn
up by the outgoing Spiritual Assembly.
Concerning the character and functions of
this body, 'Abdu'1-Baha has written as fol-
lows:
"It is incumbent upon everyone (every
believer) not to take any step (of Baha'i
activity) without consulting the Spiritual
Assembly, and they must assuredly obey
with heart and soul its bidding and be sub-
missive unto it, that things may be properly
ordered and well arranged. Otherwise every
person will act independently and, after his
own judgment, will follow his own desire,
and do harm to the Cause.
"The prime requisites for them that take
counsel together are purity of motive, radi-
ance of spirit, detachment from all else save
God, attraction to His divine fragrance, hu-
mility and lowliness amongst His loved ones,
patience and long-suffering in difficulties and
servitude to His exalted Threshold. Should
they be graciously aided to acquire these at-
tributes, victory from the unseen Kingdom
of Baha'i shall be vouchsafed to them. In
this day, Assemblies of consultation are of
the greatest importance and a vital necessity.
Obedience unto them is essential and obliga-
tory. The members thereof must take coun-
sel together in such wise that no occasion for
ill-feeling or discord may arise. This can be
attained when every member expresses with
absolute freedom his own opinion and setteth
forth his argument. Should anyone oppose,
he must on no account feel hurt, for not un-
til matters are fully discussed can the right
way be revealed. The shining spark of truth
cometh forth only after the clash of differ-
ing opinions. If after discussion a decision
be carried unanimously, well and good; but
if, the Lord forbid, differences of opinion
should arise, a majority of voices must pre-
vail.
"The first condition is absolute love and
harmony amongst the members of the As-
sembly. They must be wholly free from
estrangement and must manifest in them-
selves the Unity of God, for they are the
waves of one sea, the drops of one river,
the stars of one heaven, the rays of one sun,
the trees of one orchard, the flowers of one
garden. Should harmony of thought and
absolute unity be non-existent, that gather-
ing shall be dispersed and that Assembly be
brought to naught.
"The second condition: They must when
coming together turn their faces to the
Kingdom on high and ask aid from the realm
of Glory. . . . Discussions must all be con-
fined to spiritual matters that pertain to the
training of souls, the instruction of children,
the relief of the poor, the help of the feeble
throughout all classes in the world, kindness
to all peoples, the diffusion of the fragrances
of God and the exaltation of His Holy
Word. Should they endeavor to fulfill these
conditions the grace of the Holy Spirit shall
be vouchsafed unto them and that Assembly
shall become the center of the divine bless-
ings, and hosts of divine confirmation shall
come to their aid, and they shall day by day
receive a new effusion of spirit."
The letters of Shoghi Effendi quote the
fundamental instructions contained in the
writings of BahaVllah and 'Abdu'l-Bah£ on
the character of Baha'i administration, and
give them definite application: "A careful
study of Bahd'u'llah's and 'Abdu'l-Baha's
Tablets will reveal that other duties (besides
teaching the Cause), no less vital to the in-
terests of the Cause, devolve upon the elected
representatives of the friends in every lo-
cality.
"They must endeavor to promote amity
and concord amongst the friends and secure
228
THE BAHA'f WORLD
an active and wholehearted cooperation for
the service of the Cause.
"They must do their utmost to extend at
all times the helping hand to the poor, the
sick, the disabled, the orphan, the widow,
irrespective of color, caste and creed.
"They must promote by every means in
their power the material as well as spiritual
enlightenment of youth, the means for the
education of children; institute, whenever
possible, Baha'i educational institutions; or-
ganize and supervise their work, and provide
the best means for their progress and devel-
opment. . . .
"They must bend every effort to promote
the interests of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar (that
is, House of Worship)1 and hasten the day
when the work of this glorious Edifice 2 will
have been consummated.
"They must encourage and stimulate by
every means at their command, through sub-
scriptions, reports and articles, the develop-
ment of the various Baha'i magazines.
"They must undertake the arrangement of
the regular meetings of the friends, the feasts
and anniversaries, as well as the special gath-
erings designed to serve and promote the
social, intellectual and spiritual interests of
their fellowmen.
"They must supervise in these days when
the cause is still in its infancy all Baha'i
publications and translations, and provide in
general for a dignified and accurate presen-
tation of all Baha'i literature and its distri-
bution to the general public.
"These rank among the most outstanding
obligations of the members of every Spiritual
Assembly. In whatever locality the Cause
has sufficiently expanded, and in order to
insure efficiency and avoid confusion, each of
these manifold functions will have to be re-
ferred to a special Committee, responsible to
that Assembly, elected by it from among the
friends in that locality, and upon whose
work the Assembly will have to exercise
constant and general supervision.
"In every locality, be it city or hamlet,
where the number of adult declared believers
exceed nine, a local Spiritual Assembly must
be forthwith established.
"As the progress and extension of spiritual
activities is dependent and conditioned upon
material means, it is of absolute necessity
that immediately after the establishment of
local as well as national Spiritual Assemblies,
a Baha'i Fund be established, to be placed
under the exclusive control of the Spiritual
Assembly. All donations and contributions
should be offered to the Treasurer of the As-
sembly, for the express purpose of promoting
the interests of the Cause throughout that
locality or country. It is the sacred obliga-
tion of every conscientious and faithful serv-
ant of Baha'u'llah, who desires to see His
Cause advance, to contribute freely and gen-
erously for the increase of that Fund. The
members of the Spiritual Assembly will at
their own discretion expand it to promote
the teaching campaign, to help the needy, to
establish educational Baha'i institutions, to
extend in every way their sphere of service.
"Nothing whatever should be given to the
public by any individual among the friends,
unless fully considered and approved by the
Spiritual Assembly in his locality; and, if this
(as is undoubtedly the case) is a matter that
pertains to the general interests of the Cause
in that land, then it is incumbent upon the
Spiritual Assembly to submit it to the con-
sideration and approval of the National Body
representing all the various local Assemblies.
Not only with regard to publication, but all
matters without any exception whatsoever,
regarding the interests of the Cause in that
locality, individually or collectively, should
be referred exclusively to the Spiritual As-
sembly in that locality, which shall decide
upon it, unless it be a matter of national in-
terest, in which case it shall be referred to the
National (Baha'i) Body. With this National
Body also will rest the decision whether a
given question is of local or national interest.
(By national affairs is not meant matters
that are political in their character, for the
friends of God the world over are strictly
forbidden to meddle with political affairs in
any way whatever, but rather things that
affect the spiritual activities of the body of
the friends in that land.)
"Full harmony, however, as well as co-
operation among the various local Assemblies
and the members themselves, and particu-
larly between each Assembly and the Na-
1 Referring particularly to Spiritual Assemblies in
America.
2 On the shore of Lake Michigan.
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
229
tional Body is of the utmost importance, for
upon it depends the unity of the Cause of
God, the solidarity of the friends, the full,
speedy and efficient working of the spiritual
activities of His loved ones.
"The various Assemblies, local and na-
tional, constitute today the bedrock upon
the strength of which the Universal House
(of Justice) is in future to be firmly estab-
lished and raised. Not until these function
vigorously and harmoniously can the hope
for the termination of this period of tran-
sition be realized. . . . Bear in mind that the
keynote of the Cause of God is not dicta-
torial authority, but humble fellowship; not
arbitrary power, but the spirit of frank and
loving consultation. Nothing short of the
spirit of a true Baha'i can hope to reconcile
the principles of mercy and justice, of free-
dom and submission, of the sanctity of the
right of the individual and of self -surrender,
of vigilance, discretion and prudence on the
one hand, and fellowship, candor, and cour-
age on the other."
Experience in the life of a Baha'i com-
munity and participation in the details of its
several activities impresses one with the fact
that Baha'i unity has in it new elements
which work powerfully to expand one's area
of sympathy, deepen one's insight, develop
one's character and bring order and stability
into all of one's affairs. There can be no
higher privilege than the experience of at-
tempting to serve faithfully upon a Spiritual
Assembly, conscious as its members are of
the unique standard upheld by 'Abdu'1-Baha
and bringing as it does the opportunity of
dealing with a large range and diversity of
human problems from an impersonal point
of view. It is inevitable that the nine elected
members shall exemplify diverse interests and
types of character, with the result that unity
of heart and conscience with the other eight
members is a direct training to enter into
spiritual unity with the larger body of man-
kind. No such schools of discipline and in-
spiration exist on earth today, for one must
bear in mind that a Baha'i community can
never be an exclusive group nor a closed cir-
cle of interests, but, on the contrary, its
fundamental purpose is to unify and co-
operate with every possible element in the
surrounding population.
The local Spiritual Assembly after elec-
tion organizes by electing from its own
number a chairman, corresponding secre-
tary, recording secretary and treasurer. It
should appoint from its own members or
from the local Baha'i community working
committees responsible for the various per-
manent activities of the Cause.
Since a Spiritual Assembly is established
upon a new and higher ideal, the character,
knowledge and purity of its members is es-
sential to success. Wherever personal ambi-
tion, narrowness or impurity enters a Spir-
itual Assembly, the results are invariably to
check the growth of the Cause and, if these
conditions are prolonged, to destroy the
foundation already laid. The careful student
of the teachings will accept this result as one
more vindication of the all-surrounding
spirit protecting this Faith. The elimination
of an unworthy group from the Baha'i
Cause would be a bitter disappointment but
not an evidence that the Cause had failed.
On the contrary, the Cause could only be
declared a failure if personal ambition, pride,
narrowness and impurity should so prevail as
to build a world-wide organization able to
pervert the original purpose.
The local Spiritual Assemblies of a coun-
try are linked together and coordinated
through another elected body of nine mem-
bers, the National Spiritual Assembly. This
body comes into being by means of an annual
election held by elected delegates represent-
ing the local Baha'i communities. The dele-
gates are elected by all the adult declared be-
lievers of a community in which a Spiritual
Assembly exists. The National Convention
in which the delegates are gathered together
is composed of an elective body based upon
the principle of proportional representation.
The total number of delegates is fixed by
Shoghi Effendi for each country, and this
number is fulfilled by assigning to each local
community the number of delegates called
for by its relative numerical strength. These
National Conventions are preferably held
during the period of Ri^van, the twelve days
beginning April 21, which commemorate the
Declaration made by Baha'u'llah in the Gar-
den of Ri$v£n near Baghdad. The recogni-
tion of delegates is vested in the outgoing
National Spiritual Assembly.
Mural paintings on the walls of the Mansion at Bahji where BahaVllah
spent the last years of His life.
230
Mural paintings on the walls of the Mansion at Bahji where Baha'u'llah spent the last
years of His life.
231
232
THE BAHA'f WORLD
A National Convention is an occasion for
deepening one's understanding of Baha'i ac-
tivities and of sharing reports of national and
local activities for the period of the elapsed
year. It has been the custom to hold a pub-
lic Baha'i Congress in connection with the
Convention. The function of a Baha'i dele-
gate is limited to the duration of the Na-
tional Convention and participation in the
election of the new National Spiritual As-
sembly. While gathered together, the dele-
gates are a consultative and advisory body
whose recommendations are to be carefully
considered by the members of the elected
National Spiritual Assembly.
Delegates unable to attend the Conven-
tion in person are permitted to vote for the
new National Spiritual Assembly by mail.
The relation of the National Spiritual As-
sembly to the local Spiritual Assemblies and
to the body of the believers in the country
is thus defined in the letters of the Guard-
ian of the Cause:
"Regarding the establishment of National
Assemblies, it is of vital importance that in
every country, where the conditions are fa-
vorable and the number of the friends has
grown and reached a considerable size — that
a National Spiritual Assembly be immedi-
ately established, representative of the friends
throughout that country.
"Its immediate purpose is to stimulate,
unify and coordinate, by frequent personal
consultations, the manifold activities of the
friends as well as the local Assemblies; and
by keeping in close and constant touch with
the Holy Land, initiate measures, and direct
in general the affairs of the Cause in that
country.
"It serves also another purpose, no less
essential than the first, as in the course of
time it shall evolve into the National House
of Justice (referred to in 'Abdu'l-Baha's
Will as the 'Secondary House of Justice')
which according to the explicit text of the
Testament will have, in conjunction with
the other National Assemblies throughout
the Baha'i World, to elect directly the mem-
bers of the International or Universal House
of Justice, that Supreme Council that will
guide, organize and unify the affairs of the
Movement throughout the world.
"This National Spiritual Assembly which,
pending the establishment of the Universal
House of Justice, will have to be re-elected
once a year, obviously assumes grave re-
sponsibilities for it has to exercise full au-
thority over all the local Assemblies in its
province, and will have to direct the activi-
ties of the friends, guard vigilantly the Cause
of God, and control and supervise the affairs
of the Movement in general.
"Vital issues, affecting the interests of the
Cause in that country, such as the matter of
translation and publication, the Mashriqu'l-
Adhkar, the teaching work, and other similar
matters that stand distinct from strictly
local affairs, must be under the full juris-
diction of the National Assembly.
"It will have to refer each of these ques-
tions, even as the local Assemblies, to a
special committee, to be elected by the
members of the National Spiritual Assembly
from among all the friends in that country,
which will bear to it the same relations as
the local committees bear to their respective
local Assemblies.
"With it, too, rests the decision whether
a certain point at issue is strictly local in its
nature, and should be reserved for the con-
sideration and decision of the local Assembly,
or whether it should fall under its own
province and be a matter which ought to
receive its special attention.
"It is the bounden duty, in the interest of
the Cause we all love and serve, of the mem-
bers of the incoming National Assembly,
once elected by the delegates at Convention
time, to seek and have the utmost regard,
individually as well as collectively, for the
advice, the considered opinion and the true
sentiments of the assembled delegates. Ban-
ishing every vestige of secrecy, of undue
reticence, of dictatorial aloofness from their
midst, they should radiantly and abundantly
unfold to the eyes of the delegates by whom
they were elected, their plans, their hopes
and their cares. They should familiarize the
delegates with the various matters that will
have to be considered in the current year,
and calmly and conscientiously study and
weigh the opinions and judgments of the
delegates. The newly elected National As-
sembly, during the few days when the Con-
vention is in session, and after the dispersion
of the delegates, should seek ways and means
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
233
to cultivate understanding, facilitate and
maintain the exchange of views, deepen con-
fidence, and vindicate by every tangible evi-
dence their one desire to serve and advance
the common weal.
"The National .Spiritual Assembly, how-
ever, in view of the unavoidable limitations
imposed upon the convening of frequent and
long-standing sessions of the Convention,
will have to retain in its hands the final deci-
sion on all matters that affect the interests
of the Cause — such as the right to decide
whether any local Assembly is functioning
in accordance with the principles laid down
for the conduct and the advancement of the
Cause.
"The seating of delegates to the Conven-
tion (that is, the right to decide upon the
validity of the credentials of the delegates at
a given Convention) , is vested in the outgo-
ing National Assembly, and the right to de-
cide who has the voting privilege is also ulti-
mately placed in the hands of the National
Spiritual Assembly, either when a local Spir-
itual Assembly is for the first time being
formed in a given locality, or when differ-
ences arise between a new applicant and an
already established local Assembly.
"Were the National Spiritual Assembly to
decide, after mature deliberation, to omit the
holding of the Baha'i Convention and Con-
gress in a given year, then they could, only
in such a case, devise ways and means to
insure that the annual election of the Na-
tional Spiritual Assembly should be held by
mail, provided it can be conducted with suf-
ficient thoroughness, efficiency and dispatch.
It would also appear to me unobjectionable
to enable and even to require in the last re-
sort such delegates as cannot possibly under-
take the journey to the seat of the Baha'i
Convention to send their votes, for the elec-
tion of the National Spiritual Assembly only,
by mail to the National Secretary."
Concerning the matter of drawing up the
voting list to be used at the annual local
Baha'i elections, the responsibility for this is
placed upon each local Spiritual Assembly,
and as a guidance in the matter the Guardian
has written the following:
"To state very briefly and as adequately as
present circumstances permit, the principal
factors that must be taken into consideration
before deciding whether a person may be re-
garded a true believer or not: Full recogni-
tion of the station of the Forerunner, the
Author and the True Exemplar of the Baha'i
Cause, as set forth in 'Abdu'l-Baha's Will
and Testament; unreserved acceptance of
and submission to whatsoever has been re-
vealed by their Pen; loyal and steadfast ad-
herence to every clause of our Beloved's
sacred W/7/; and close association with the
spirit as well as the form of the present-day
Baha'i administration — -these I conceive to
be the fundamental and primary considera-
tions that must be fairly, discreetly and
thoughtfully ascertained before reaching
such a vital decision."
'Abdu'l-Baha's instructions provide for the
further development of Baha'i organization
through an International Spiritual Assembly
to be elected by the members of the National
Spiritual Assemblies. This international
body has not yet come into existence, but its
special character has been clearly defined:
"And now, concerning the Assembly
(Baytu'l-'Ad'l: that is, House of Justice)
which God hath ordained as the source of all
good and freed from all error, it must be
elected by universal suffrage, that is, by the
believers. Its members must be manifesta-
tions of the fear of God, and day-springs of
knowledge and understanding, must be
steadfast in God's Faith, and the well-wish-
ers of all mankind. By this Assembly is
meant the Universal Assembly: that is, in
each country a secondary Assembly must be
instituted, and these secondary Assemblies
must elect the members of the Universal one.
"Unto this body all things must be re-
ferred. It enacteth all ordinances and regu-
lations that are not to be found in the ex-
plicit Holy Text. By this body all the diffi-
cult problems are to be resolved, and the
Guardian of the Cause is its sacred head and
the distinguished member, for life, of that
body. Should he not attend in person its de-
liberations, he must appoint one to represent
him. . . . This assembly enacteth the laws
and the executive enforceth them. The leg-
islative body must reinforce the executive,
the executive must aid and assist the legisla-
tive body, so that, through the close union
and harmony of these two forces, the foun-
dation of fairness and justice may become
234
THE BAHA'f WORLD
firm and strong, that all the regions of the
world may become even as Paradise itself.
"Unto the Most Holy Book everyone must
turn, and all that is not expressly recorded
therein must be referred to the Universal
Assembly. That which this body, either
unanimously or by a majority, doth carry,
that is verily the truth and the purpose of
God Himself. Whoso doth deviate there-
from is verily of them that love discord, hath
shown forth malice and turned away from
the Lord of the Covenant."
Even at the present time, the Baha'is in all
parts of the world maintain an intimate and
cordial association by means of regular corre-
spondence and individual visits. This con-
tact of members of different races, nation-
alities and religious traditions is concrete
proof that the burden of prejudice and the
historical factors of division can be entirely
overcome through the spirit of oneness estab-
lished by BahaVllah.
The general student of religion will not
fail to note four essential characteristics of
Baha'i administration. The first is its com-
pletely successful reconciliation of the usu-
ally opposed claims of democratic freedom
and unanswerable authority. The second is
the entire absence from the Baha'i Cause of
anything approaching the institution of a
salaried professional clergy. The Baha'i con-
ception of religion is one which combines
mysticism, which is a sacred personal experi-
ence, with practical morality, which is a use-
ful contact between the individual and his
fellow man. In the nature of things, some
souls are more advanced than others, and the
function of spiritual teaching is given special
importance in the writings of BahaVllah
and 'Abdu'1-Baha. The Baha'i teacher, how-
ever, has no authority over the individual
conscience. The individual conscience must
be subordinated to the decisions of a duly
elected Spiritual Assembly, but this relation-
ship is entirely different in character and
results from the relationship of an individual
with minister or priest.
The third characteristic is the absence of
internal factionalism, that bane of all organ-
ized effort, and the sure sign of the presence
of spiritual disease. The predominant spirit
of unity which distinguishes the Baha'i
Cause in its relation to the world, making
its followers strive for reconciliation rather
than partisan victory, creates an internal
condition, unlike that which exists in move-
ments which accept partisan victory, in one
or another form, as their very reason for
being. Such movements can but disinte-
grate from within; the Baha'i Order can
but grow.
Significant also is the fourth characteris-
tic, namely, that the Baha'i Cause has
within it an inherent necessity operating
slowly but surely to bring its administra-
tion into the hands of those truly fitted for
the nature of the work. The lesser vision
gives way invariably for the larger vision,
itself replaced by the still larger vision in
due time. The result is an inevitable im-
provement in the qualities placed at the
service of the Cause, until the highest at-
tributes of humanity will be enrolled. In
the Baha'i Cause we are actually witnessing
the fulfillment of that strange and cryptic
saying, "The meek shall inherit the earth."
That the administrative machinery is not
an end in itself but merely the means to
spread everywhere the light of faith and
brotherhood, is frequently expressed by the
Guardian in his general letters, and this brief
survey may well close with one of those
passages:
"Not by the force of numbers, not by the
mere exposition of a set of new and noble
principles) not by an organized campaign of
teaching — no matter how worldwide and
elaborate in its character — not even by the
staunchness of our faith or the exaltation of
our enthusiasm, can we ultimately hope to
vindicate in the eyes of a critical and skep-
tical age the supreme claim of the Abhd
Revelation. One thing and only one thing
will unfailingly and alone secure the un-
doubted triumph of this sacred Cause,
namely, the extent to which our own inner
life and private character mirror forth in
their manifold aspects the splendor of those
eternal principles proclaimed by Baba'u-
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
235
A PROCEDURE FOR THE CONDUCT OF THE LOCAL
SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY
Adopted by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the
United States and Canada
INTRODUCTION
"A perusal of some of the words of Baha'-
u'llah and 'Abdu'1-Baha on the duties and
functions of the Spiritual Assemblies in
every land (later to be designated as the lo-
cal Houses of Justice), emphatically reveals
the sacredness of their nature, the wide scope
of their activity, and the grave responsibility
which rests upon them." — SHOGHI EFFENDI,
March *, 1922.
"The Lord hath ordained that in every city
a House of Justice be established wherein
shall gather counsellors to the number of
Baha. ... It behooveth them to be the
trusted ones of the Merciful among men and
to regard themselves as the guardians ap-
pointed of God for all that dwell on earth.
It is incumbent upon them to take counsel
together and to have regard for the in-
terests of the servants of God, for His sake,
even as they regard their own interests, and
to choose that which is meet and seemly.
Thus hath the Lord your God commanded
you. Beware lest ye put away that which is
clearly revealed in His Tablet. Fear God,
O ye that perceive." — BAHA'U'LLAH.
"It is incumbent upon every one not to
take any step without consulting the Spir-
itual Assembly, and they must assuredly
obey with heart and soul its bidding and be
submissive unto it, that things may be prop-
erly ordered and well arranged. Otherwise
every person will act independently and
after his own judgment, will follow his own
desire, and do harm to the Cause.
"The prime requisites for them that take
counsel together are purity of motive, radi-
ance of spirit, detachment from all else save
God, attraction to His Divine Fragrance,
humility and lowliness amongst His loved
ones, patience and long-suffering in difficul-
ties and servitude to His exalted Threshold.
Should they be graciously aided to acquire
these attributes, victory from the unseen
Kingdom of Baha shall be vouchsafed to
them. In this day, Assemblies of consulta-
tion are of the greatest importance and a
vital necessity. Obedience unto them is es-
sential and obligatory. The members thereof
must take counsel together in such wise that
no occasion for ill-feeling or discord may
arise. This can be attained when every mem-
ber expresseth with absolute freedom his
own opinion and setteth forth his argument.
Should any one oppose, he must on no ac-
count feel hurt for not until matters are
fully discussed can the right way be revealed.
The shining spark of truth cometh forth
only after the clash of differing opinions.
If, after discussion, a decision be carried
unanimously, well and good; but if, the
Lord forbid, differences of opinion should
arise a majority of voices must prevail. . . .
"The first condition is absolute love and
harmony amongst the members of the As-
sembly. They must be wholly free from
estrangement and must manifest in them-
selves the Unity of God, for they are the
waves of one sea, the drops of one river, the
stars of one heaven, the rays of one sun,
the trees of one orchard, the flowers of one
garden. Should harmony of thought and
absolute unity be non-existent, that gather-
ing shall be dispersed and that Assembly be
brought to naught. The second condition: —
They must when coming together turn their
faces to the Kingdom on High and ask aid
from the Realm of Glory. They must then
proceed with the utmost devotion, courtesy,
dignity, care and moderation to express their
views. They must in every matter search
out the truth and not insist upon their own
opinion, for stubbornness and persistence in
one's views will lead ultimately to discord
and wrangling and the truth will remain
hidden. The honored members must with
all freedom express their own thoughts, and
it is in no wise permissible for one to belittle
the thought of another, nay, he must with
moderation set forth the truth, and should
differences of opinion arise a majority of
236
THE BAHA'f WORLD
voices must prevail, and all must obey and
submit to the majority. It is again not per-
mitted that any one of the honored mem-
bers object to or censure, whether in or out
of the meeting, any decision arrived at pre-
viously, though that decision be not right,
for such criticism would prevent any de-
cision from being enforced. In short, what-
soever thing is arranged in harmony and
with love and purity of motive, its result is
light, and should the least trace of estrange-
ment prevail the result shall be darkness
upon darkness. ... If this be so regarded,
that Assembly shall be of God, but other-
wise it shall lead to coolness and alienation
that proceed from the Evil One. Discus-
sions must all be confined to spiritual mat-
ters that pertain to the training of souls, the
instruction of children, the relief of the
poor, the help of the feeble throughout all
classes in the world, kindness to all peoples,
the diffusion of the fragrances of God and
the exaltation of His Holy Word. Should
they endeavor to fulfill these conditions the
Grace of the Holy Spirit shall be vouch-
safed unto them, and that Assembly shall
become the center of the Divine blessings,
the hosts of Divine confirmation shall come
to their aid and they shall day by day re-
ceive a new effusion of Spirit." — 'ABDU'L-
BAHA.
"The importance, nay the absolute neces-
sity, of these local Assemblies is manifest
when we realize that in the days to come
they will evolve into the local House of
Justice, and at present provide the firm
foundation on which the structure of the
Master's Will is to be reared in future.
"In order to avoid division and disruption,
that the Cause may not fall a prey to con-
flicting interpretations, and lose thereby its
purity and pristine vigor, that its affairs may
be conducted with efficiency and prompt-
ness, it is necessary that every one (that is,
every member of the Baha'i community)
should conscientiously take an active part
in the election of these Assemblies, abide by
their decision, enforce their decree, and co-
operate with them wholeheartedly in their
task of stimulating the growth of the Move-
ment throughout all regions. The members
of these Assemblies, on their part, must dis-
regard utterly their own likes and dislikes,
their personal interests and inclinations, and
concentrate their minds upon those meas-
ures that will conduce to the welfare and
happiness of the Baha'i community and pro-
mote the common weal." — SHOGHI EF-
FENDI, March 12, 1923.
"Let us recall His explicit and often-
repeated assurance that every Assembly
elected in that rarefied atmosphere of self-
lessness and detachment is, in truth, ap-
pointed of God, that its verdict is truly in-
spired, that one and all should submit to its
decision unreservedly and with cheerfulness."
— SHOGHI EFFENDI, February 23, 1924.
I. FUNCTIONS OF THE LOCAL SPIRITUAL
ASSEMBLY
The various functions of the local Spir-
itual Assembly, and its nature as a consti-
tutional body, are duly set forth in Article
VII of the By-Laws of the National Spir-
itual Assembly, and are more definitely de-
fined in the By-Laws of a local Spiritual
Assembly approved by the National Spiritual
Assembly and recommended by the Guard-
ian. Each local Spiritual Assembly, and all
members of the local Baha'i community,
shall be guided and controlled by the pro-
visions of those By-Laws.
II. MEETINGS OF THE LOCAL SPIRITUAL
ASSEMBLY
In addition to its observance of the gen-
eral functions vested in the institution of a
Spiritual Assembly, each Spiritual Assembly
has need of a procedure for the conduct of
its meetings. The following items represent
the outline of the parliamentary rules of
procedure which the National Spiritual As-
sembly has adopted and recommends to each
and every local Spiritual Assembly through-
out the United States and Canada.
Calling of Meetings
A meeting of the Spiritual Assembly is
valid only when it has been duly called, that
is, when each and every member has been
informed of the time and place. The gen-
eral practice is for the Assembly to decide
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
237
upon some regular time and place for its
meetings throughout the Baha'i year, and
this decision when recorded in the Minutes
is sufficient notice to the members. When
the regular schedule cannot be followed, or
the need arises for a special meeting, the
secretary, on request by the chairman or
any three members of the Spiritual Assembly,
should send due notice to all the members.
Order of Business
Roll call by the Secretary (or Recording
Secretary) .
Prayer.
Reading and approval of Minutes of pre-
vious meetings.
Report of Secretary (or Corresponding
Secretary) , including presentation of
letters received by the Assembly since
its last meeting, and of any and all
recommendations duly adopted by the
community at the last Nineteen Day
Feast.
Report of Treasurer.
Report of Committees.
Unfinished business.
New business, including conferences with
members of the community and with
applicants for enrollment as members
of the community.
Closing Prayer.
Conduct of Business
A Spiritual Assembly, in maintaining its
threefold function of a body given (within
the limits of its jurisdiction) an executive,
a legislative and a judicial capacity, is
charged with responsibility for initiating ac-
tion and making decisions. Its meetings,
therefore, revolve around various definite
matters which require deliberation and col-
lective decision, and it is incumbent upon
the members, one and all, to address them-
selves to the subject under discussion and
not engage in general speeches of an irrele-
vant character.
Every subject or problem before an As-
sembly is most efficiently handled when the
following process is observed: first, ascer-
tainment and agreement upon the facts;
second, agreement upon the spiritual or ad-
ministrative Teachings which the question
involves; third, full and frank discussion of
the matter, leading up to the offering of a
resolution; and fourth, voting upon the reso-
lution.
A resolution, or motion, is not subject to
discussion or vote until duly made and sec-
onded. It is preferable to have each resolu-
tion clear and complete in itself, but when
an amendment is duly made and seconded,
the chairman shall call for a vote on the
amendment first and then on the original
motion. An amendment must be relevant
to, and not contravene, the subject matter
of the motion.
The chairman, or other presiding officer,
has the same power and responsibility for
discussion and voting upon motions as other
members of the Assembly.
Discussion of any matter before the As-
sembly may be terminated by a motion duly
made, seconded and voted calling upon the
chairman to put the matter to a vote or to
proceed to the next matter on the agenda.
The purpose of this procedure is to prevent
any member or members from prolonging
the discussion beyond the point at which
full opportunity has been given all members
to express their views.
When the Assembly has taken action upon
any matter, the action is binding upon all
members, whether present or absent from
the meeting at which the action was taken.
Individual views and opinions must be sub-
ordinated to the will of the Assembly when
a decision has been made. A Spiritual As-
sembly is an administrative unit, as it is a
spiritual unit, and therefore no distinction
between "majority" and "minority" groups
or factions can be recognized. Each mem-
ber must give undivided loyalty to the
institution to which he or she has been
elected.
Any action taken by the Assembly can
be reconsidered at a later meeting, on mo-
tion duly made, seconded and carried. This
reconsideration, according to the result of
the consultation, may lead to a revision or
the annulment of the prior action. If a ma-
jority is unwilling to reconsider the prior
action, further discussion of the matter by
any member is improper.
The Assembly has a responsibility in fill-
ing a vacancy caused by the inability of any
member to attend the meetings. "It is only
238
THE BAHA'f WORLD
too obvious that unless a member can attend
regularly the meetings of his local Assembly,
it would be impossible for him to discharge
the duties incumbent upon him, and to ful-
fill his responsibilities as a representative of
the community. Membership in a local Spir-
itual Assembly carries with it, indeed, the
obligation and capacity* to remain in close
touch with local Baha'i activities, and ability
to attend regularly the sessions of the As-
sembly."— SHOGHI EFFENDI, January 27,
1935.
The Spiritual Assembly, as a permanent
body, is responsible for maintaining all its
records, including Minutes of meetings, cor-
respondence and financial records, through-
out its existence as a Baha'i institution.
Each officer, therefore, on completing his or
her term of office, shall turn over to the
Assembly all records pertaining to the busi-
ness of the Assembly.
III. CONSULTATION WITH THE
COMMUNITY
A. The institution of the Nineteen Day
Feast provides the recognized and regular
occasion for general consultation on the part
of the community, and for consultation be-
tween the Spiritual Assembly and the mem-
bers of the community. The conduct of the
period of consultation at Nineteen Day
Feasts is a vital function of each Spiritual
Assembly.
From Words of 'Abdu'1-Baha, "The Nine-
teen Day Feast was inaugurated by the Bab
and ratified by Baha'u'llah, in His Holy
Book, the 'Aqdas,' so that people may
gather together and outwardly show fellow-
ship and love, that the Divine mysteries may
be disclosed. The object is concord, that
through this fellowship hearts may become
perfectly united, and reciprocity and mutual
helpfulness be established. Because the mem-
bers of the world of humanity are unable to
exist without being banded together, co-
operation and helpfulness is the basis of hu-
man society. Without the realization of
these two great principles no great move-
ment is pressed forward." London, Eng-
land, December 29, 1912. (Quoted in
BAHA'f NEWS No. 33.)
The Nineteen Day Feast has been de-
scribed by the Guardian as the foundation
of the World Order of BahaVllah. It is to
be conducted according to the following
program: the first part, entirely spiritual in
character, is devoted to readings from Baha'i
Sacred Writings; the second "part consists of
general consultation on the affairs of the
Cause. The third part is the material feast
and social meeting of all the believers, and
should maintain the spiritual nature of the
Feast.
Baha'is should regard this Feast as the
very heart of their spiritual activity, their
participation in the mystery of the Holy Ut-
terance, their steadfast unity one with an-
other in a universality raised high above the
limitations of race, class, nationality, sect,
and personality, and their privilege of con-
tributing to the power of the Cause in the
realm of collective action.
Calendar of the Nineteen Day Feast
March 21 July 13 November 23
April 9 August 1 „ December 12
April 28 August 20 December 3 1
May 17 September 8 January 19
June 5 September 27 February 7
June 24 October 16 March 2
November 4
The Spiritual Assembly is responsible for
the holding of the Nineteen Day Feast. If
the Baha'i calendar for some adequate rea-
son cannot be observed, the Assembly may
arrange to hold a Feast at the nearest possi-
ble date.
Only members of the Baha'i community,
and visiting Baha'is from other communi-
ties, may attend these meetings, but young
people of less than twenty-one years of age,
who have studied the Teachings and de-
clared their intention of joining the com-
munity on reaching the age of twenty-one,
may also attend.
Regular attendance at the Nineteen Day
Feast is incumbent upon every Baha'i, ill-
ness or absence from the city being the only
justification for absence. Believers are ex-
pected to arrange their personal affairs so as
to enable them to observe the Baha'i cal-
endar.
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
239
Order of Business for the
Consultation Period
The chairman or other appointed repre-
sentative of the Spiritual Assembly presides
during the period of consultation.
The Spiritual Assembly reports to the
community whatever communications have
been received from the Guardian and the
National Spiritual Assembly, and provides
opportunity for general discussion.
The Assembly likewise reports its own ac-
tivities and plans, including committee ap-
pointments that may have been made since
the last Feast, the financial report, arrange-
ments made for public meetings, and in gen-
eral share with the community all matters
that concern the Faith. These reports are to
be followed by general consultation.
A matter of vital importance at this meet-
ing is consideration of national and interna-
tional Baha'i affairs, to strengthen the ca-
pacity of the community to cooperate in
promotion of the larger Baha'i interests and
to deepen the understanding of all believers
concerning the relation of the local com-
munity to the Baha'i World Community.
Individual Baha'is are to find in the Nine-
teen Day Feast the channel through which
to make suggestions and recommendations
to the National Spiritual Assembly. These
recommendations are offered first to the local
community, and when adopted by the com-
munity come before the local Assembly,
which then may in its discretion forward
the recommendation to the National Spir-
itual Assembly accompanied by its own con-
sidered view.
Provision is to be made for reports from
committees, with discussion of each report.
Finally, the meeting is to be open for sug-
gestions and recommendations from individ-
ual believers on any matter affecting the
Cause.
The local Baha'i community may adopt
by majority vote any resolution which it
wishes collectively to record as its advice
and recommendation to the Spiritual As-
sembly.
Upon each member of the community
lies the obligation to make his or her utmost
contribution to the consultation, the ideal
being a gathering of Baha'is inspired with
one spirit and concentrating upon the one
aim to further the interests of the Faith.
The Secretary of the Assembly records
each resolution adopted by the community,
as well as the various suggestions advanced
during the meeting, in order to report these
to the Spiritual Assembly for its considera-
tion. Whatever action the Assembly takes
is to be reported at a later Nineteen Day
Feast.
Matters of a personal nature should be
brought before the Spiritual Assembly and
not to the community at the Nineteen Day
Feast. Concerning the attitude with which
believers should come to these Feasts, the
Master has said, "You must free yourselves
from everything that is in your hearts, be-
fore you enter." (Baha'i News Letter of the
N. S. A. of Germany and Austria, Decem-
ber, 1934.)
B. The Annual Meeting on April 21, called
for the election of the Spiritual Assembly,
provides the occasion for the presentation of
annual reports by the Assembly and by all
its Committees.
The chairman of the outgoing Assembly
presides at this meeting.
The order of Business includes: Reading
of the call of the meeting, reading of ap-
propriate Baha'i passages bearing upon the
subject of the election, appointment of tell-
ers, distribution of ballots, prayers for the
spiritual guidance of the voters, the election,
presentation of annual reports, tellers' report
of the election, approval of the tellers' re-
port.
C. The Annual Meeting for the election of
Convention delegate (or delegates) is like-
wise presided over by the Assembly chair-
man, and except for the annual reports the
Order of Business is similar to that observed
at the meeting held each April 21. It is
preferable for the Spiritual Assembly to ar-
range a special meeting for the election of
delegates, and not to hold this election during
the consultation period of a Nineteen Day
Feast.
D. In addition to these occasions for gen-
eral consultation, the Spiritual Assembly is
to give consultation to individual believers
whenever requested.
During such consultation with individual
believers, the Assembly should observe the
240
THE BAHA'f WORLD
following principles: the impartiality of each
of its members with respect to all matters
under discussion; the freedom of the indi-
vidual Baha'i to express his views, feelings
and recommendations on any matter affect-
ing the interests of the Cause, the confiden-
tial character of this consultation, and the
principle that the Spiritual Assembly does
not adopt any resolution or make any final
decision, until the party or parties have
withdrawn from the meeting.
Appeals from decisions of a local Spiritual
Assembly are provided for in the By-Laws
and the procedure fully described in a state-
ment published in BAHA'I NEWS, February,
1933.
When confronted with evidences of
unhappiness, whether directed against the
Assembly or against members of the com-
munity, the Spiritual Assembly should real-
ize that its relationship to the believers is not
merely that of a formal constitutional body
but also that of a spiritual institution called
upon to manifest the attributes of courtesy,
patience and loving insight. Many condi-
tions are not to be remedied by the exercise
of power and authority but rather by a sym-
pathetic understanding of the sources of the
difficulty in the hearts of the friends. As
'Abdu'1-Baha has explained, some of the
people are children and must be trained,
some are ignorant and must be educated,
some are sick and must be healed. Where,
however, the problem is not of this order but
represents flagrant disobedience and disloy-
alty to the Cause itself, in that case the As-
sembly should consult with the National
Spiritual Assembly concerning the necessity
for disciplinary action.
Members of the Baha'i community, for
their part, should do their utmost by prayer
and meditation to remain always in a posi-
tive and joyous spiritual condition, bearing
in mind the Tablets which call upon Baha'is
to serve the world of humanity and not
waste their precious energies in negative
complaints.
IV. BAHA'I ANNIVERSARIES, FESTIVALS AND
DAYS OF FASTING
The Spiritual Assembly, among its vari-
ous duties and responsibilities, will provide
for the general observance by the local com-
munity of the following Holy Days:
Feast of Ridvan (Declaration of Baha'-
u'llah) April 21-May 2, 1863.
Declaration of the Bab, May 23, 1844.
Ascension of BahaVllah, May 29, 1892.
Martyrdom of the Bab, July 9, 1850.
Birth of the Bab, October 20, 1819.
Birth of BahaVllah, November 12, 1817.
Day of the Covenant, November 26.
Ascension of 'Abdu'1-Baha, November
28, 1921.
Period of the Fast, nineteen days begin-
ning March 2.
Feast of Naw-Ruz (Baha'i New Year),
March 21.
THE ANNUAL BAHA'f CONVENTION
A Statement by the National Spiritual Assembly
(Approved by the Guardian)
Despite the repeated explanations given
by the Guardian on this subject, there seems
to exist each year, prior to and also during
the Convention period, some misunderstand-
ing as to the nature of the Annual Meeting.
In order to establish a definite standard of
Convention procedure, the following state-
ment has been approved and adopted, and
in accordance with the vote taken by the
National Assembly, a copy of the statement
is placed in the hands of the presiding officer
of the Convention to control the Conven-
tion procedure, after being read to the dele-
gates by the officer of the National Spiritual
Assembly by whom the Convention is con-
vened.1
"The delegates present at this Annual
Baha'i Convention are called upon to render
a unique, a vital service to the Faith of
Baha'u'llah. Their collective functions and
1 This reference to "being read to the delegates"
was in connection with the 1934 Convention only.
The statement is here published for the general in-
formation of the believers.
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242
THE BAHA'I WORLD
responsibilities are not a matter of arbitrary
opinion, but have been clearly described by
the Guardian of the Cause. If civil govern-
ments have found it necessary to adopt the
doctrine that 'ignorance of the law is no
excuse,' how much more essential it is for
Baha'is, individually and collectively, to base
their responsible actions upon thorough com-
prehension of the fundamental principles
which underlie that Administrative Order
which in its maturity is destined to become
the World Order of Bahd'u'llah.
"Considerable confusion would have been
avoided at Conventions held during the past
three years had the delegates, and all mem-
bers of the National Spiritual Assembly it-
self, given sufficient consideration to the
fact that BAHA'i NEWS of February, 1930,
contained an explanation of the Annual
Convention which had been prepared by the
National Spiritual Assembly, submitted to
Shoghi Effendi, and definitely approved by
him. It is because this statement of four
years ago has gone unnoticed that successive
Conventions, acting upon some matters as
a law unto themselves, have inadvertently
contravened the Guardian's clear instruc-
tions.
"The National Spiritual Assembly now
calls attention to two specific portions of
the 1930 statement approved by the Guard-
ian which have been neglected in subsequent
Conventions: first, the ruling that non-dele-
gates do not possess the right to participate
in Convention proceedings; and, second, that
the time of the election of members of the
National Spiritual Assembly shall be fixed
in the Agenda at such a time as to allow the
outgoing Assembly full time to report to
the delegates, and to allow the incoming
Assembly to have full consultation with the
assembled delegates. It is surely evident that
a procedure or principle of action once au-
thorized by the Guardian is not subject to
alteration by any Baha'i body or individual
believer to whom the procedure directly ap-
plies.
"In order to remove other sources of mis-
understanding, the National Spiritual As-
sembly now feels it advisable to point out
that the Guardian's letters on the subject of
the Convention, received and published in
BAHA'I NEWS this year,1 do not, as some be-
lievers seem to feel, organically change the
character and function of the Annual Meet-
ing, but reaffirm and strengthen instructions
and explanations previously given. In the
light of all the Guardian's references to this
subject, compiled and published by the Na-
tional Spiritual Assembly in BAHA'! NEWS of
November, 1933 and February, 1934, the
following brief summary has been prepared
and is now issued with the sole purpose of
contributing to the spiritual unity of the
chosen delegates here present: —
"1. The Annual Baha'i Convention has
two unique functions to fulfill, discussion
of current Baha'i matters and the election
of the National Spiritual Assembly. The
discussion should be free and untrammeled,
the election carried on in that spirit of
prayer and meditation in which alone every
delegate can render obedience to the Guard-
ian's expressed wish. After the Convention
is convened by the Chairman of the Na-
tional Spiritual Assembly, and after the roll
call is read by the Secretary of the Assem-
bly, the Convention proceeds to the election
of its chairman and Secretary by secret bal-
lot and without advance nomination, ac-
cording to the standard set for all Baha'i
elections.
"2. Non-delegates may not participate in
Convention discussion.' All members of the
National Spiritual Assembly may participate
in the discussion, but only those members
who have been elected delegates may vote
on any matter brought up for vote during
the proceedings.
"3. The outgoing National Spiritual As-
sembly is responsible for rendering reports of
its own activities and of those carried on by
its committees during the past year. The
annual election is to be held at a point mid-
way during the Convention sessions, so that
the incoming Assembly may consult with
the delegates.
"4. The Convention is free to discuss any
Baha'i matter, in addition to those treated
in the annual reports. The Convention is
responsible for making its own rules of pro-
cedure controlling discussion; for example,
concerning any limitations the delegates may
find it necessary to impose upon the time
February, 1934.
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243
244
THE BAHA'f WORLD
allotted to or claimed by any one delegate.
The National Assembly will maintain the
rights of the delegates to confer freely and
fully, free from any restricted pressure, in
the exercise of their function.
"5. The Convention as an organic body
is limited to the actual Convention period.
It has no function to discharge after the
close of the sessions except that of electing
a member or members to fill any vacancy
that might arise in the membership of the
National Spiritual Assembly during the year.
"6. The Convention while in session has
no independent legislative, executive or ju-
dicial function. Aside from its action in
electing the National Spiritual Assembly,
its discussions do not represent actions but
recommendations which shall, according to
the Guardian's instructions, be given con-
scientious consideration by the National As-
sembly.
"7. The National Spiritual Assembly is the
supreme Baha'i administrative body within
the American Baha'i community, and its ju-
risdiction continues without interruption
during the Convention period as during the
remainder of the year, and independently of
the individuals composing its membership.
Any matter requiring action of legislative,
executive or judicial nature, whether arising
during the Convention period or at any other
time, is to be referred to the National Spir-
itual Assembly. The National Assembly is
responsible for upholding the administrative
principles applying to the holding of the An-
nual Convention as it is for upholding all
other administrative principles. If, there-
fore, a Convention departs from the prin-
ciples laid down for Conventions by the
Guardian, and exceeds the limitations of
function conferred upon it, in that case, and
in that case alone, the National Spiritual
Assembly can and must intervene. It is the
National Spiritual Assembly, and not the
Convention, which is authorized to decide
when and why such intervention is required.
"8. The National Spiritual Assembly feels
that it owes a real duty to the delegates, and
to the entire body of believers, in presenting
any and all facts that may be required in
order to clarify matters discussed at the
Convention. There can be no true Baha'i
consultation at this important meeting if any
incomplete or erroneous view should prevail.
"9. The National Assembly in adopting
and issuing this statement does so in the sin-
cere effort to assure the constitutional free-
dom of the Convention to fulfill its high
mission. The path of true freedom lies in
knowing and obeying the general principles
given to all Baha'i s for the proper conduct
of their collective affairs. While the entire
world plunges forward to destruction, it is
the responsibility of the National Spiritual
Assembly to uphold that Order on which
peace and security solely depends."
THE NON-POLITICAL CHARACTER OF THE BAHA'f FAITH
A Statement Prepared by the National Spiritual Assembly in Response to the Request
for Clarification of the Subject Voiced by the 1933 Annual Convention
It is the view of the National Spiritual As-
sembly that the Guardian's references to the
non-political character of the Baha'i Faith,
when studied as a whole, are so clear that
they can be fully grasped by all believers
and rightly applied by all Local Spiritual
Assemblies to any problems they may en-
counter. Should special circumstances arise,
however, the National Assembly will make
every effort to assist any Local Assembly to
arrive at fuller understanding of this im-
portant subject.
The first reference to consider is taken
from the letter written by Shoghi Effendi
on March 21, 1932, published under the title
of "The Golden Age of the Cause of Baha'-
u'llah."
"I feel it, therefore, incumbent upon me to
stress, now that the time is ripe, the im-
portance of an instruction which, at the
present stage of the evolution of our Faith,
should be increasingly emphasized, irrespec-
tive of its application to the East or to the
West. And this principle is no other than
that which involves the non-participation by
the adherents of the Faith of Baha'u'llah,
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
245
whether in their individual capacities or col-
lectively as local or national Assemblies, in
any form of activity that might be inter-
preted, either directly or indirectly, as an
interference in the political affairs of any par-
ticular government.
"Let them refrain from associating them-
selves, whether by word or by deed, with
the political pursuits of their respective na-
tions, with the policies of their governments
and the schemes and programs of parties and
factions. In such controversies they should
assign no blame, take no side, further no de-
sign, and identify themselves with no system
prejudicial to the best interests of that world-
wide Fellowship which it is their aim to guard
and foster. Let them beware lest they allow
themselves to become the tools of unscrupu-
lous politicians, or to be entrapped by the
treacherous devices of the plotters and the
perfidious among their countrymen. Let
them so shape their lives and regulate their
conduct that no charge of secrecy, of fraud,
of bribery or of intimidation may, however
ill-founded, be brought against them. . . .
It is their duty to strive to distinguish, as
clearly as they possibly can, and if needed
with the aid of their elected representatives,
such posts and functions as are either diplo-
matic or political, from those that are purely
administrative in character, and which un-
der no circumstances are affected by the
changes and chances that political activities
and party government, in every land, must
necessarily involve. Let them affirm their
unyielding determination to stand, firmly
and unreservedly, for the way of Baha'u-
'llah, to avoid the entanglements and bicker-
ings inseparable from the pursuits of the
politician, and to become worthy agencies of
that Divine Polity which incarnates God's
immutable Purpose for all men. . . .
"Let them proclaim that in whatever
country they reside, and however advanced
their institutions, or profound their desire
to enforce the laws and apply the principles
enunciated by BahaVllah, they will, unhesi-
tatingly, subordinate the operation of such
laws and the application of such principles
to the requirements and legal enactments of
their respective governments. Theirs is not
the purpose, while endeavoring to conduct
and perfect the administrative affairs of
their Faith, to violate, under any circum-
stances, the provisions of their country's
constitution, much less to allow the ma-
chinery of their administration to supersede
the government of their respective coun-
tries."
This instruction raised the question
whether believers should vote in any pub-
lic election. A Tablet revealed by 'Abdu'l-
Baha to Mr. Thornton Chase was sent to
the Guardian, and the following reply was
received, dated January 26, 1933:
"The Guardian fully recognizes the au-
thenticity and controlling influence of this
instruction from 'Abdu'1-Baha upon the
question. He, however, feels under the re-
sponsibility of stating that the attitude taken
by the Master (that is, that American citi-
zens are in duty bound to vote in public
elections) implies certain reservations. He,
therefore, lays it upon the individual con-
science to see that in following the Master's
instructions no Baha'i vote for an officer nor
Baha'i participation in the affairs of the Re-
public shall involve acceptance by that in-
dividual of a program or policy that con-
travenes any vital principle, spiritual or
social, of the Faith." The Guardian added
to this letter the following postscript: "I
feel it incumbent upon me to clarify the
above statement, written in my behalf, by
stating that no vote cast, or office under-
taken, by a Baha'i should necessarily consti-
tute acceptance, by the voter or office holder,
of the entire program of any political party.
No Baha'i can be regarded as either a Re-
publican or Democrat, as such. He is, above
all else, the supporter of the principles
enunciated by BahaVllah, with which, I am
firmly convinced, the program of no politi-
cal party is completely harmonious."
In a letter dated March 16, 1933, the
Guardian sent these further details:
"As regards the non-political character
of the Baha'i Faith, Shoghi Effendi feels
that there is no contradiction whatsoever
between the Tablet (to Thornton Chase,
referred to above) and the reservations to
which he has referred. The Master surely
never desired the friends to use their influ-
ence towards the realization and promotion
of policies contrary to any of the principles
of the Faith. The friends may vote, if they
246
THE BAHA'f WORLD
can do it, without identifying themselves
with one party or another. To enter the
arena of party politics is surely detrimental
to the best interests of the Faith and will
harm the Cause. It remains for the indi-
viduals to so use their right to vote as to
keep aloof from party politics, and always
bear in mind that they are voting on the
merits of the individual, rather than because
he belongs to one party or another. The
matter must be made perfectly clear to the
individuals, who will be left free to exercise
their discretion and judgment. But if a
certain person' does enter into party politics
and labors for the ascendancy of one party
over another, and continues to do it against
the expressed appeals, and warnings of the
Assembly, then the Assembly has the right
to refuse him the right to vote in Baha'i
elections."
CONCERNING MEMBERSHIP IN NON-BAHA'f RELIGIOUS
ORGANIZATIONS
The instruction written by Shoghi Ef-
fendi concerning membership in non-Baha'i
religious organizations, published in the July,
1935, number of BAHA'I NEWS, has brought
forth some interesting and important com-
munications from local Spiritual Assemblies
and also from individual believers, to all of
which the National Spiritual Assembly has
given careful and sympathetic attention.
The National Assembly itself, on receiv-
ing that instruction, made it the subject of
extensive consultation, feeling exceedingly
responsible for its own understanding of the
Guardian's words and anxious to contribute
to the understanding of the friends.
In October, 1935, the Assembly sent in
reply to some of these communications a
general letter embodying its thoughts on the
subject, and a copy of that letter was for-
warded to Shoghi Effendi for his approval
and comment. His references to its con-
tents, made in letters addressed to the Na-
tional Spiritual Assembly on November 29
and December 11, 1935, are appended to this
statement.
Now that Shoghi Eflfendi's approval has
been received, the National Assembly feels
it desirable to publish, for the information
of all the American believers, the substance
of the October letter.
While so fundamental an instruction is
bound to raise different questions corre-
sponding to the different conditions exist-
ing throughout the Baha'i community, the
most important consideration is our collec-
tive need to grasp the essential principle un-
derlying the new instruction, and our ca-
pacity to perceive that the position which
the Guardian wishes us to take in regard to
church membership is a necessary and inevi-
table result of the steady development of
the World Order of Baha'u'llah.
This essential principle is made clear when
we turn to Shoghi Eflfendi's further refer-
ence to the subject as published in BAHA'I
NEWS for October, 1935 — words written by
the Guardian's own hand.
In the light of these words, it seems fully
evident that the way to approach this in-
struction is in realizing the Faith of Baha'-
u'llah as an ever-growing organism des-
tined to become something new and greater
than any of the revealed religions of the
past. Whereas former Faiths inspired hearts
and illumined souls, they eventuated in for-
mal religions with an ecclesiastical organi-
zation, creeds, rituals and churches, while
the Faith of Baha'u'llah, likewise renewing
man's spiritual life, will gradually produce
the institutions of an ordered society, ful-
filling not merely the function of the
churches of the past but also the function
of the civil state. By this manifestation of
the Divine Will in a higher degree than in
former ages, humanity will emerge from
that immature civilization in which church
and state are separate and competitive in-
stitutions, and partake of a true civilization
in which spiritual and social principles are
at last reconciled as two aspects of one and
the same Truth.
No Bah&'i can read the successive World
Order letters sent us by Shoghi EflFendi with-
out perceiving that the Guardian, for many
years, has been preparing us to understand
and appreciate this fundamental purpose
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
247
and mission of the Revelation of BahaVllah,
Even when the Master ascended, we were
for the most part still considering the
Baha'i Faith as though it were only the
"return of Christ" and failing to perceive
the entirely new and larger elements latent
in the Teachings of BahaVllah.
Thus, in the very first of the World Or-
der letters, written February 27th, 1929,
Shoghi Effendi said: "Who, I may ask, when
viewing the international character of the
Cause, its far-flung ramifications, the in-
creasing complexity of its affairs, the di-
versity of its adherents, and the state of
confusion that assails on every side the in-
fant Faith of God, can for a moment ques-
tion the necessity of some sort of admin-
istrative machinery that will insure, amid
the storm and stress of a struggling civili-
zation, the unity of the Faith, the preserva-
tion of its identity, and the protection of its
interests?"
Although for five years the Guardian had
been setting forth the principles of Baha'i
Administration in frequent letters, in 1927
he apparently felt it necessary to overcome
some doubts here and there as to the validity
of the institutions the Master bequeathed to
the Baha'i s in His Will and Testament. The
series of World Order letters, however, goes
far beyond the point of defending and ex-
plaining their validity as an essential ele-
ment in the Faith of BahaVllah — the
Guardian vastly extended the horizon of our
understanding by making it clear that the
Administrative Order, in its full develop-
ment, is to be the social structure of the
future civilization.
Thus, in that same letter quoted above,
he wrote: "Not only will the present-day
Spiritual Assemblies be styled differently in
future, but will be enabled also to add to
their present functions those powers, duties,
and prerogatives necessitated by the recog-
nition of the Faith of BahaVllah, not
merely as one of the recognized religious
systems of the world, but as the State Re-
ligion of an independent and Sovereign
Power. And as the Baha'i Faith permeates
the masses of the peoples of East and West,
and its truth is embraced by the majority
of the peoples of a number of the Sovereign
States of the world, will the Universal House
of Justice attain the plenitude of its power,
and exercise, as the supreme organ of the
Baha'i Commonwealth, all the rights, the
duties, and responsibilities incumbent upon
the world's future super-state."
This passage stands as the keystone in the
noble structure which Shoghi Effendi has
raised in his function as interpreter of the
Teachings of BahaVllah. The Master de-
veloped the Cause to the point where this
social Teaching, always existent in the Tab-
lets of BahaVllah, could be explained to the
believers and given its due significance as
the fulfillment of Baha'i evolution. As the
Guardian expressed it: "That Divine Civili-
zation, the establishment of which is the
primary mission of the Baha'i Faith."
("World Order of BahaVllah," pp. 3-4.)
For us these words mean that a Baha'i is
not merely a member of a revealed Religion,
he is also a citizen in a World Order even
though that Order today is still in its in-
fancy and still obscured by the shadows
thrown by the institutions, habits and atti-
tudes derived from the past. But since the
aim and end has been made known, our
devotion and loyalty must surely express
itself, not in clinging to views and thoughts
emanating from the past, but in pressing
forward in response to the needs of the new
creation.
That true devotion, which consists in
conscious knowledge of the "primary mis-
sion," and unified action to assist in bring-
ing about its complete triumph, recognizes
that a Baha'i today must have singleness of
mind as of aim, without the division arising
when we stand with one foot in the Cause
and one foot in the world, attempting to
reconcile diverse elements which the Mani-
festation of God Himself has declared to
be irreconcilable.
The principle underlying the Guardian's
instruction about membership in non-Baha'i
religious bodies has already been emphasized
by Shoghi Effendi in another connection —
the instruction about the non-political char-
acter of the Faith which he incorporated in
his letter entitled "The Golden Age of the
Cause of BahdVllah." For example: "I feel
it, therefore, incumbent upon me to stress,
now that the time is ripe, the importance of
an instruction which, at the present stage
248
THE BAHA'f WORLD
of the evolution of our Faith, should be
increasingly emphasized, irrespective of its
application to the East or to the West. And
this principle is no other than that which
involves the non-participation by the ad-
herents of the Faith of BahaVllah, whether
in their individual capacities or collectively
as local or national Assemblies, in any form
of activity that might be interpreted, either
directly or indirectly, as an interference in
the political affairs of any particular govern-
ment."
Again, when the question was raised as to
membership in certain non-Baha'i organiza-
tions not directly religious or political in
character, the Guardian replied: "Regarding
association with the World Fellowship of
Faiths and kindred Societies, Shoghi Effendi
wishes to reaffirm and elucidate the general
principle that Baha'i elected representatives
as well as individuals should refrain from
any act or word that would imply a depar-
ture from the principles, whether spiritual,
social or administrative, established by Ba-
haVllah. Formal affiliation with and ac-
ceptance of membership in organizations
whose programs or policies are not wholly
reconcilable with the Teachings is of course
out of the question." (BAHA'I NEWS,
August, 1933.)
Thus, not once but repeatedly the Guard-
ian has upheld the vital principle underlying
every type of relationship between Baha'is
and other organizations, namely, that the
Cause of BahaVllah is an ever-growing
organism, and as we begin to realize its
universality our responsibility is definitely es-
tablished to cherish and defend that univer-
sality from all compromise, all admixture
with worldly elements, whether emanating
from our own habits rooted in the past or
from the deliberate attacks imposed by ene-
mies from without.
It will be noted that in the instruction
published in July, 1935, BAHA'I NEWS, the
Guardian made it clear that the principle
involved is not new and unexpected, but
rather an application of an established prin-
ciple to a new condition. "Concerning mem-
bership in non-Baha'i religious associations,
the Guardian wishes to re-emphasize the
general principle already laid down in his
communications to your Assembly and also
to the individual believers that no Baha'i
who wishes to be a whole-hearted and sin-
cere upholder of the distinguishing principles
of the Cause can accept full membership
in any non-Baha'i ecclesiastical organi-
zation. . . . For it is only too obvious that
in most of its fundamental assumptions the
Cause of BahaVllah is completely at vari-
ance with outworn creeds, ceremonies and
institutions. . . . During the days of the
Master the Cause was still in a stage that
made such an open and sharp dissociation
between it and other religious organizations,
and particularly the Muslim Faith, not only
inadvisable but practically impossible to es-
tablish. But since His passing events
throughout the Baha'i world, and particu-
larly in Egypt where the Muslim religious
courts have formally testified to the inde-
pendent character of the Faith, have de-
veloped to a point that has made such an
assertion of the independence of the Cause
not only highly desirable but absolutely es-
sential."
To turn now to the Guardian's words
published in October BA&A'I NEWS: "The
separation that has set in between the in-
stitutions of the Baha'i Faith and the Islamic
ecclesiastical organizations that oppose it
. . . imposes upon every loyal upholder of
the Cause the obligation of refraining from
any word or action that might prejudice
the position which our enemies have ... of
their own accord proclaimed and established.
This historic development, the beginnings
of which could neither be recognized
nor even anticipated in the years im-
mediately preceding 'Abdu'l-Baha's passing,
may be said to have signalized the Formative
Period of our Faith and to have paved the
way for the consolidation of its administra-
tive order. . . . Though our Cause unre-
servedly recognizes the Divine origin of all
the religions that preceded it and upholds
the spiritual truths which lie at their very
core and are common to them all, its in-
stitutions, whether administrative, religious
or humanitarian, must, if their distinctive
character is to be maintained and recog-
nized, be increasingly divorced from the
outworn creeds, the meaningless ceremonials
and man-made institutions with which these
religions are at present identified. Our ad-
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
249
versaries in the East have initiated the strug-
gle. Our future opponents in the West will,
in their turn, arise and carry it a stage fur-
ther. Ours is the duty, in anticipation of
this inevitable contest, to uphold unequivo-
cally and with undivided loyalty the in-
tegrity of our Faith and demonstrate the
distinguishing features of its divinely ap-
pointed institutions."
Nothing could be clearer or more em-
phatic. These words, asserting again the es-
sential universality of the Cause, likewise
repeat and renew the warning that the or-
ganized religions, even in America, will be-
come bitterly hostile to the Faith of Baha'-
u'llah, denounce and oppose it, and seek its
destruction in vain effort to maintain their
own "outworn creeds" and material power.
Informed of this inevitable development,
can a Baha'i any longer desire to retain a
connection which, however liberal and pleas-
ing it now seems, is a connection with a
potential foe of the Cause of God? The
Guardian's instruction signifies that the time
has come when all American believers must
become fully conscious of the implications
of such connections, and carry out their loy-
alty to its logical conclusion.
Shoghi Effendi's latest words are not
merely an approval of the foregoing state-
ment, but a most helpful elucidation of some
of the problems which arise when the friends
turn to their local Assemblies for specific
advice under various special circumstances.
"The explanatory statement in connec-
tion with membership in non-Baha'i re-
ligious organizations is admirably conceived,
convincing and in full conformity with the
principles underlying and implied in the un-
folding world order of Baha'u'llah." (No-
vember 29, 1933.)
"The Guardian has carefully read the
copy of the statement you had recently pre-
pared concerning non -membership in non-
Baha'i religious organizations, and is pleased
to realize that your comments and expla-
nations are in full conformity with his views
on the subject. He hopes that your letter
will serve to clarify this issue in the minds
of all the believers, and to further convince
them of its vital character and importance
in the present stage of the evolution of the
Cause.
". . . In this case,1 as also in that of suf-
fering believers, the Assemblies, whether
local or national, should act tactfully, pa-
tiently and in a friendly and kindly spirit.
Knowing how painful and dangerous it is
for such believers to repudiate their former
allegiances and friendships, they should try
to gradually persuade them of the wisdom
and necessity of such an action, and instead
of thrusting upon them a new principle, to
make them accept it inwardly, and out of
pure conviction and desire. Too severe and
immediate action in such cases is not only
fruitless but actually harmful. It alienates
people instead of winning them to the Cause.
"The other point concerns the advisabil-
ity of contributing to a church. In this case
also the friends must realize that contribu-
tions to a church, especially when not reg-
ular, do not necessarily entail affiliation. The
believers can make such offerings, occasion-
ally, and provided they are certain that while
doing so they are not connected as mem-
bers of any church. There should be no
confusion between the terms affiliation and
association. While affiliation with ecclesi-
astical organizations is not permissible, asso-
ciation with them should not only be tol-
erated but even encouraged. There is no
better way to demonstrate the universality
of the Cause than this. Baha'u'llah, indeed,
urges His followers to consort with all re-
ligions and nations with utmost friendliness
and love. This constitutes the very spirit
of His message to mankind." (December
11, 1935.)
The National Spiritual Assembly trusts
that the subject will receive the attention
of local Assemblies and communities, and
that in the light of the foregoing explana-
tions the friends will find unity and agree-
ment in applying the instruction to what-
ever situations may arise. In teaching new
believers let us lay a proper foundation so
that their obedience will be voluntary and
assured from the beginning of their enroll-
ment as Baha'is. In our attitude toward the
older believers who are affected by the in-
struction let us act with the patience and
kindliness the Guardian has urged.
1 A special case involving an aged believer, afflicted
with illness, for whom severance of church relations
might have been too great a shock.
250
THE BAHA'f WORLD
BAHA'fS AND WAR
A Statement by the National Spiritual Assembly l
One of the chief responsibilities of Baha'is
in this transitional era is to grasp the prin-
ciple upon which rests their loyalty to the
Faith of BahaVllah in relation to their duty
toward their civil government. This prob-
lem arises in its most difficult form in con-
nection with our individual and collective
attitude toward war.
Nothing could be more powerful than
the Baha'i teachings on the subject of
Peace. Not only does BahaVllah confirm
the teachings of all former Manifestations
which uphold amity and fellowship between
individual human beings, and the supremacy
of love as the end and aim of mutual inter-
course and association, but He likewise ex-
tends the divine law of Peace to govern-
ments and rulers, declaring to them that
they are called upon to establish Peace and
Justice upon earth, and uproot forever the
dire calamity of international war.
Despite His Revelation, a most agonizing
and excruciating conflict raged in Europe
for four years, and since that war many
other wars and revolutions have dyed the
earth, while at present the heaven of human
hope is black with the approach of a final
world-shaking catastrophe.
What wonder that faithful Baha'is, ab-
horring and detesting war as insane repudia-
tion of divine law, as destroyer of life and
ruin of civilization, should now, in these
fateful days, ponder how they may save their
loved ones from the calamity of the battle-
field, and how they may contribute their
utmost to any and every effort aimed at the
attainment of universal Peace?
Conscious of these heart-stirrings, and
mindful of its responsibility toward all
American believers, and particularly that ra-
diant youth which would first of all be sac-
rificed in the event of a declaration of war
by the government, the National Spiritual
Assembly wishes to express its view upon
the matter, in the hope that the result of
its study of the Teachings and of the Guard-
ian's explanations will assist in bringing a
unity of opinion and a clarification of
thought among the friends.
Concerning the duty of Baha'i s to their
government, we have these words, written
by Shoghi Effendi on January 1, 1929 (see
"Bah£'i Administration," page 152): "To
all these (that is, restrictive measures of the
Soviet regime) the followers of the Faith
of Baha'u'llah have with feelings of burning
agony and heroic fortitude unanimously and
unreservedly submitted, ever mindful of the
guiding principle of Baha'i conduct that in
connection with their administrative activi-
ties, no matter how grievously interference
with them might affect the course of the
extension of the Movement, and the suspen-
sion of which does not constitute in itself
a departure from the principle of loyalty to
their Faith, the considered judgment and
authoritative decrees issued by their respon-
sible rulers must, if they be faithful to
BahaVllah's and 'Abdu'l-Baha's express in-
junctions, be thoroughly respected and loy-
ally obeyed. In matters, however, that vi-
tally affect the integrity and honor of the
Faith of Baha'u'llah, and are tantamount to
a recantation of their faith and repudiation
of their innermost belief, they are convinced,
and are unhesitatingly prepared to vindicate
by their life-blood the sincerity of their con-
viction, that no power on earth, neither the
arts of the most insidious adversary nor the
bloody weapons of the most tyrannical op-
pressor, can ever succeed in extorting from
them a word or deed that might tend to
stifle the voice of their conscience or tarnish
the purity of their faith."
In view of the fact that early Christians
were persecuted because they refused to
render military service, the question might
be raised whether the above statement means
that the Guardian includes refusal to bear
arms as one of those matters which "vitally
affect the integrity and honor of the Faith
. . . and are tantamount to a recantation of
their faith and repudiation of their inner-
1 "The Guardian has carefully read the N. S. A.'s
statement on the Baha'i attitude toward war, and
approves of its circulation among the believers." —
Shoghi Effendi, through his secretary, Haifa, Janu-
ary 10, 1936.
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252
THE BAHA'f WORLD
most belief" — a question the more important
in that the early Christians preferred perse-
cution to military service.
The answer to this question is that the
Guardian instructs us that the obligation to
render military duty placed by governments
upon their citizens is a form of loyalty to
one's government which the Baha'i must ac-
cept, but that the believers can, through
their National Assembly, seek exemption
from active army duty provided their gov-
ernment recognizes the right of members of
religious bodies making peace a matter of
conscience to serve in some non-combatant
service rather than as part of the armed
force.
The National Spiritual Assembly has in-
vestigated carefully this aspect of the situa-
tion, and has found that, whereas the gov-
ernment of the United States did, in the
last war, provide exemption from military
duty on religious grounds, nevertheless this
exemption was part of the Statutes bearing
directly upon that war, and with the cessa-
tion of hostilities the exemption lapsed. In
other words, there is today no basis on
which any Baha'i may be exempted from
military duty in a possible future conflict.
The National Assembly, consequently, can-
not at present make any petition for exemp-
tion of Baha'is from war service, for such
petitions must be filed with reference to some
specific Act or Statute under which exemp-
tion can be granted. The Assembly under-
stands that, in the event of war, there will be
some kind of provision for exemption en-
acted, but as far as Baha'is are concerned, no
steps can be taken until this government de-
clares itself in a state of war.
This explanation, it is hoped, will satisfy
those who for some years have been urging
that protection be secured for American
Baha'i youth.
On the other hand it must be pointed out
that it is no part of our teaching program
to attract young people to the Cause merely
in order to take advantage of any exemption
that may later on be officially obtained for
duly enrolled Baha'is. The only justifiable
reason for joining this Faith is because one
realizes that it is a divine Cause and is ready
and willing to accept whatever may befall a
believer on the path of devotion. The perse-
cutions which have been inflicted upon Ba-
ha'is so frequently make it clear that the
path of devotion is one of sacrifice and not
of ease or special privilege.
Another question encountered here and
there among believers is what can Baha'is do
to work for Peace? Outside the Cause we
see many organizations with peace programs,
and believers occasionally feel that it is their
duty to join such movements and thereby
work for a vital Baha'i principle.
It is the view of the National Spiritual
Assembly that activity in and for the Cause
itself is the supreme service to world peace.
The Baha'i community of the world is the
true example of Peace. The Baha'i principles
are the only ones upon which Peace can be
established. Therefore, by striving to en-
large the number of declared believers, and
broadcasting the Teachings of Baha'u'llah,
we are doing the utmost to rid humanity of
the scourge of war. Of what use to spend
time and money upon incomplete human
programs when we have the universal pro-
gram of the Manifestation of God? The firm
union of the Baha'is in active devotion to
the advancement of their own Faith — this is
our service to Peace, as it is our service to all
other human needs — economic justice, race
amity, religious unity, etc, Let non-believers
agitate for disarmament and circulate peti-
tions for this and that pacifist aim — a Baha'i
truly alive in this Faith will surely prefer to
base his activities upon the foundation laid
by Baha'u'llah, walk the path which the
Master trod all His days, and heed the appeals
which the Guardian has given us to initiate
a new era in the public teaching of the
Message.
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
253
THE WILL AND TESTAMENT OF ABDU L-BAHA
Excerpts Made by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahd'is of the
United States and Canada, by Direction of Shoghi Effendi,
Guardian of the Bahd'i Faith
INTERPRETATIONS OF THE WILL AND TESTAMENT
Center of the Covenant the Interpreter
of His Word — a Covenant so firm and
mighty that from the beginning of time
until the present day no religious Dispen-
sation hath produced its like. — 'Abdu'l-
Bahd. ("The Dispensation of BahaVllah,"
page 44.)
'Abdu'1-Baha, Who incarnates an institu-
tion for which we can find no parallel what-
soever in any of the world's recognized reli-
gious systems, may be said to have closed the
Age to which He Himself belonged and
opened the one in which we are now labor-
ing. His Will and Testament should thus be
regarded as the perpetual, the indissoluble
link which the mind of Him Who is the
Mystery of God has conceived in order to in-
sure the continuity of the three ages that
constitute the component parts of the Baha'i
Dispensation. . . ,
The creative energies released by the Law
of BahaVllah, permeating and evolving
within the mind of 'Abdu'1-Baha, have, by
their very impact and close interaction,
given birth to an Instrument which may be
viewed as the Charter of the New World
Order which is at once the glory and the
promise of this most great Dispensation. The
Will may thus be acclaimed as the inevitable
offspring resulting from that mystic inter-
course between Him Who communicated the
generating influence of His divine Purpose
and the One Who was its vehicle and chosen
recipient. Being the Child of the Covenant
— the Heir of both the Originator and the
Interpreter of the Law of God — the Will and
Testament of 'Abdu'1-Baha can no more be
divorced from Him Who supplied the orig-
inal and motivating impulse than from the
One Who ultimately conceived it. Bah&'u-
'llah's inscrutable purpose, we must ever bear
in mind, has been so thoroughly infused into
the conduct of 'Abdu'1-Baha, and their mo-
tives have been so closely wedded together,
ELL is it with him who fixeth his gaze
upon the Order of BahaVllah and rendereth
thanks unto his Lord! For He assuredly will
be made manifest. God hath indeed ordained
it in the Bayan. — The Bab. ("The Dispen-
sation of BahaVllah," pages 54-55.)
The world's equilibrium hath been upset
through the vibrating influence of this most
great, this new World Order. Mankind's
ordered life hath been revolutionized through
the agency of this unique, this wondrous
System — the like of which mortal eyes have
never witnessed. — Bahd'u'lldh. ("The Dis-
pensation of BahaVllah," page 54.)
It is incumbent upon the Aghsan, the
Afnan and My kindred to turn, one and all,
their faces towards the Most Mighty Branch.
Consider that which We have revealed in
Our Most Holy Book: "When the ocean of
My presence hath ebbed and the Book of My
Revelation is ended, turn your faces toward
Him Whom God hath purposed, Who hath
branched from this Ancient Root/* The ob-
ject of this sacred verse is none except the
Most Mighty Branch (4Abdu'l-Baha). Thus
have We graciously revealed unto you Our
potent Will, and I am verily the Gracious,
the All-PowerfuL— BahaVllah. ("The Dis-
pensation of BahaVllah," page 42.)
There hath branched from the SadratVl-
Muntaha this sacred and glorious Being, this
Branch of Holiness; well is it with him that
hath sought His shelter and abideth beneath
His shadow. Verily the Limb of the Law of
God hath sprung forth from this Root which
God hath firmly implanted in the Ground of
His Will, and Whose Branch hath been so
uplifted as to encompass the whole of crea-
tion.— Baba'u'llab. ("The Dispensation of
BahaVlUh," page 43.)
In accordance with the explicit text of the
Kitdb-i-Aqdas, BahaVllah hath made the
of the at
db« last of His
Documents of historical interest displayed in the Central Hall of the Mansion
at Bahji, 'Akka.
254
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
255
that the mere attempt to dissociate the teach-
ings of the former from any system which
the ideal Exemplar of those same teachings
has established would amount to a repudia-
tion of one of the most sacred and basic
truths of the Faith.
The Administrative Order, which ever
since 'Abdu'l-Baha's ascension has evolved
and is taking shape under our very eyes in no
fewer than forty countries of the world, may
be considered as the framework of the Will
itself, the inviolable stronghold wherein this
new-born child is being nurtured and de-
veloped. This Administrative Order, as it
expands and consolidates itself, will no doubt
manifest the potentialities and reveal the full
implications of this momentous Document —
this most remarkable expression of the Will
of One of the most remarkable Figures of
the Dispensation of BahaVllah. It will, as
its component parts, its organic institutions,
begin to function with efficiency and vigor,
assert its claim and demonstrate its capacity
to be regarded not only as the nucleus but
the very pattern of the New World Order
destined to embrace in the fullness of time
the whole of mankind. — Sbogbi Effeudi.
("The Dispensation of Baha'u'llah," pages
51-52.)
EXCERPTS FROM THE WILL AND TESTAMENT OF ABDU L-BAHA
A,
.LL-PRAISE to Him Who, by the Shield
of His Covenant, hath guarded the Temple
of His Cause from the darts of doubtfulness,
Who by the Hosts of His Testament hath
preserved the Sanctuary of His Most Benefi-
cent Law and protected His Straight and
Luminous Path, staying thereby the on-
slaught of the company of Covenant-break-
ers, that have threatened to subvert His Di-
vine Edifice; Who hath watched over His
Mighty Stronghold and All-glorious Faith,
through the aid of men whom the slander of
the slanderer affects not, whom no earthly
calling, glory and power can turn aside from
the Covenant of God and His Testament,
established firmly by His clear and manifest
words, writ and revealed by His All-glorious
Pen and recorded in the Preserved Tablet.
Salutation and praise, blessing and glory
rest upon that primal branch of the Divine
and Sacred Lote-Tree, grown out, blest, ten-
der, verdant and flourishing from the Twin
Holy Trees; the most wondrous, unique and
priceless pearl that doth gleam from out the
Twin Surging Seas; upon the offshoots of the
Tree of Holiness, the twigs of the Celestial
Tree, they that in the Day of the Great Di-
viding have stood fast and firm in the Cove-
nant; upon the Hands (pillars) of the Cause
of God that have diffused widely the Divine
Fragrances, declared His Proofs, proclaimed
His Faith, published abroad His Law, de-
tached themselves from all things but Him,
stood for righteousness in this world, and
kindled the Fire of the Love of God in the
very hearts and souls of His servants; upon
them that have believed, rested assured, stood
steadfast in His Covenant and followed the
Light that after my passing shineth from the
Day spring of Divine Guidance — for behold!
he is the blest and sacred bough that hath
branched out from the Twin Holy Trees.
Well is it with him that seeketh the shelter
of his shade that shadoweth all mankind.
O ye beloved of the Lord! The greatest
of all things is the protection of the True
Faith of God, the preservation of His Law,
the safeguarding of His Cause and service
unto His Word. Ten thousand souls have
shed streams of their sacred blood in this
path, their precious lives they offered in sac-
rifice unto Him, hastened wrapt in holy
ecstasy unto the glorious field of martyrdom,
upraised the Standard of God's Faith and
writ with their life-blood upon the Tablet of
the world the verses of His Divine Unity.
The sacred breast of His Holiness, the Ex-
alted One (may my life be a sacrifice unto
Him) , was made a target to many a dart of
woe, and in Mizindaran, the Blessed feet of
the Abh£ Beauty (may my life be offered up
for His loved ones) were so grievously
scourged as to bleed and be sore wounded.
His neck also was put into captive chains
and His feet made fast in the stocks. In
every hour, for a period of fifty years, a new
trial and calamity befell Him and fresh afflic-
tions and cares beset Him. One of them:
256
THE BAHA'I WORLD
after having suffered intense vicissitudes, He
was made homeless and a wanderer and fell a
victim to still new vexations and troubles.
In 'Iraq, the Day-Star of the world was so
exposed to the wiles of the people of malice
as to be eclipsed in splendor. Later on He
was sent an exile to the Great City (Con-
stantinople) and thence to the Land of
Mystery ( Adrianople) , whence, grievously
wronged, He was eventually transferred to
the Most Great Prison ('Akka) . He Whom
the world hath wronged (may my life be
offered up for His loved ones) was four times
banished from city to city, till at last con-
demned to perpetual confinement, He was
incarcerated in this Prison, the prison of
highway robbers, of brigands and of man-
slayers. All this is but one of the trials that
have afflicted the Blessed Beauty, the rest
being even as grievous as this.
According to the direct and sacred com-
mand of God we are forbidden to utter slan-
der, are commanded to show forth peace and
amity, are exhorted to rectitude of conduct,
straightforwardness and harmony with all
the kindreds and peoples of the world. We
must obey and be the well-wishers of the
governments of the land, regard disloyalty
unto a just king as disloyalty to God Him-
self and wishing evil to the government a
transgression of the Cause of God.
O God, my God! Thou seest this wronged
servant of Thine, held fast in the talons of
ferocious lions, of ravening wolves, of blood-
thirsty beasts. Graciously assist me, through
my love for Thee, that I may drink deep of
the chalice that brimmeth over with faith-
fulness to Thee and is filled with Thy bounti-
ful Grace; so that, fallen upon the dust, I
may sink prostrate and senseless whilst my
vesture is dyed crimson with my blood. This
is my wish, my heart's desire, my hope, my
pride, my glory. Grant, O Lord my God,
and my Refuge, that in my last hour, my
end, may even as musk shed its fragrance of
glory! Is there a bounty greater than this?
Nay, by Thy Glory! I call Thee to witness
that no day passeth but that I quaff my fill
from this cup, so grievous are the misdeeds
wrought by them that have broken the
Covenant, kindled discord, showed their
malice, stirred sedition in the land and dis-
honored Thee amidst Thy servants. Lord!
Shield Thou from these Covenant-breakers
the mighty Stronghold of Thy Faith and
protect Thy secret Sanctuary from the on-
slaught of the ungodly. Thou art in truth
the Mighty, the Powerful, the Gracious, the
Strong.
O God, my God! Shield Thy trusted
servants from the evils of self and passion,
protect them with the watchful eye of Thy
loving kindness from all rancor, hate and
envy, shelter them in the impregnable
stronghold of Thy Cause and, safe from the
darts of doubtfulness, make them the mani-
festations of Thy glorious Signs, illumine
their faces with the effulgent rays shed from
the Dayspring of Thy Divine Unity, gladden
their hearts with the verses revealed from
Thy Holy Kingdom, strengthen their loins
by Thine all-swaying power that cometh
from Thy Realm of Glory. Thou art the
All-Bountiful, the Protector, the Almighty,
the Gracious!
O ye that stand fast in the Covenant!
When the hour cometh that this wronged
and broken-winged bird will have taken
flight unto the celestial concourse, when it
will have hastened to the Realm of the Un-
seen and its mortal frame will have been
either lost or hidden neath the dust, it is in-
cumbent upon the Afnan, that are steadfast
in the Covenant of God, and have branched
from the Tree of Holiness, the Hands (pil-
lars) of the Cause of God (the glory of the
Lord rest upon them) , and all the friends and
loved ones, one and all to bestir themselves
and arise with heart and soul and in one ac-
cord, to diffuse the sweet savors of God, to
teach His Cause and to promote His Faith.
It behooveth them not to rest for a moment,
neither to seek repose. They must disperse
themselves in every land, pass by every clime
and travel throughout all regions. Bestirred,
without rest and steadfast to the end they
must raise in every land the triumphal cry
"O Thou the Glory of Glories!" (Ya-Baha'-
u'l-Abha), must achieve renown in the
world wherever they go, must burn brightly
even as a candle in every meeting and must
kindle the flame of Divine love in every as-
sembly; that the light of truth may rise re-
splendent in the midmost heart of the world,
that throughout the East and throughout
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
257
the West a vast concourse may gather under
the shadow of the Word of God, that the
sweet savors of holiness may be diffused, that
faces may shine radiantly, hearts be filled
with the Divine spirit and souls be made
heavenly.
In these days, the most important of all
things is the guidance of the nations and
peoples of the world. Teaching the Cause
is of utmost importance for it is the head
corner-stone of the foundation itself. This
wronged servant has spent his days and
nights in promoting the Cause and urging
the peoples to service. He rested not a mo-
ment, till the fame of the Cause of God was
noised abroad in the world and the celestial
strains from the Abha Kingdom roused
the East and the West. The beloved of
God must also follow the same example.
This is the secret of faithfulness, this is the
requirement of servitude to the Threshold of
Baha!
The disciples of Christ forgot themselves
and all earthly things, forsook all their
cares and belongings, purged themselves of
self and passion and with absolute detach-
ment scattered far and wide and engaged in
calling the peoples of the world to the Divine
Guidance, till at last they made the world
another world, illumined the surface of the
earth and even to their last hour proved self-
sacrificing in the pathway of that Beloved
One of God. Finally in various lands they
suffered glorious martyrdom. Let them that
are men of action follow in their footsteps!
O my loving friends! After the passing
away of this wronged one, it is incumbent
upon the Aghsan (Branches) , the Af nan
(Twigs) of the Sacred Lote-Tree, the Hands
(pillars) of the Cause of God and the loved
ones of the Abha Beauty to turn unto Shoghi
Eflfendi — the youthful branch branched
from the two hallowed and sacred Lote-Trees
and the fruit grown from the union of the
two offshoots of the Tree of Holiness — as he
is the sign of God, the chosen branch, the
guardian of the Cause of God, he unto whom
all the Aghsan, the Afnan, the Hands of the
Cause of God and His loved ones must turn.
He is the expounder of the words of God and
after him will succeed the first-born of his
lineal descendants.
The sacred and youthful branch, the
guardian of the Cause of God, as well as the
Universal House of Justice, to be universally
elected and established, are both under the
care and protection of the Abha Beauty, un-
der the shelter and unerring guidance of His
Holiness, the Exalted One (may my life be
offered up for them both) . Whatsoever they
decide is of God. Whoso obeyeth him not,
neither obeyeth them, hath not obeyed God;
whoso rebelleth against him and against
them hath rebelled against God; whoso op-
poseth him hath opposed God; whoso con-
tendeth with them hath contended with
God; whoso disputeth with him hath dis-
puted with God; whoso denieth him hath
denied God; whoso disbelieveth in him hath
disbelieved in God; whoso deviateth, sepa-
rateth himself and turneth aside from him
hath in truth deviated, separated himself and
turned aside from God. May the wrath, the
fierce indignation, the vengeance of God rest
upon him! The mighty stronghold shall re-
main impregnable and safe through obedi-
ence to him who is the guardian of the Cause
of God. It is incumbent upon the mem-
bers of the House of Justice, upon all the
Aghsan, the Afnan, the Hands of the Cause
of God to show their obedience, submis-
siveness and subordination unto the guard-
ian of the Cause of God, to turn unto him
and be lowly before him. He that opposeth
him hath opposed the True One, will make a
breach in the Cause of God, will subvert His
word and will become a manifestation of the
Center of Sedition. Beware, beware, lest the
days after the ascension (of BahaVllah) be
repeated when the Center of Sedition waxed
haughty and rebellious and with Divine
Unity for his excuse deprived himself and
perturbed and poisoned others. No doubt
every vainglorious one that purposeth dis-
sension and discord will not openly declare
his evil purposes, nay rather, even as impure
gold, would he seize upon divers measures
and various pretexts that he may separate the
gathering of the people of Baha. My object
is to show that the Hands of the Cause of
God must be ever watchful and so soon as
they find anyone beginning to oppose and
protest against the guardian of the Cause of
God cast him out from the congregation of
the people of Baha and in no wise accept any
excuse from him. How often hath grievous
258
THE BAHA'f WORLD
error been disguised in the garb of truth,
that it might sow the seeds of doubt in the
hearts of men!
O ye beloved of the Lord! It is incum-
bent upon the guardian of the Cause of God
to appoint in his own life-time him that shall
become his successor, that differences may
not arise after his passing. He that is ap-
pointed must manifest in himself detach-
ment from all worldly things, must be the
essence of purity, must show in himself the
fear of God, knowledge, wisdom and learn-
ing. Thus, should the first-born of the
guardian of the Cause of God not manifest
in himself the truth of the words: — "The
child is the secret essence of its sire," that is,
should he not inherit of the spiritual within
him (the guardian of the Cause of God) and
his glorious lineage not be matched with a
goodly character, then must he (the guardian
of the Cause of God), choose another branch
to succeed him.
The Hands of the Cause of God must elect
from their own number, nine persons that
shall at all times be occupied in the impor-
tant services in the work of the guardian of
the Cause of God. The election of these nine
must be carried either unanimously or by
majority from the company of the Hands of
the Cause of God and these, whether unani-
mously or by a majority vote, must give
their assent to the choice of the one whom
the guardian of the Cause of God hath
chosen as his successor. This assent must be
given in such wise as the assenting and dis-
senting voices may not be distinguished
(secret ballot).
O friends! The Hands of the Cause of
God must be nominated and appointed by
the guardian of the Cause of God. All must
be under his shadow and obey his command.
Should any, within or without the company
of the Hands of the Cause of God, disobey
and seek division, the wrath of God and His
vengeance will be upon him, for he will have
caused a breach in the true Faith of God.
The obligations of the Hands of the Cause
of God are to diffuse the Divine Fragrances,
to edify the souls of men, to promote learn-
ing, to improve the character of all men and
to be, at all times and under all conditions,
sanctified and detached from earthly things.
They must manifest the fear of God by their
conduct, their manners, their deeds and their
words.
This body of the Hands of the Cause of
God is under the direction of the guardian of
the Cause of God. He must continually urge
them to strive and endeavor to the utmost of
their ability to diffuse the sweet savors of
God, and to guide all the peoples of the
world, for it is the light of Divine Guidance
that causeth all the universe to be illumined.
To disregard, though it be for a moment,
this absolute command which is binding
upon everyone, is in no wise permitted, that
the existent world may become even as the
Abha Paradise, that the surface of the earth
may become heavenly, that contention and
conflict amidst peoples, kindreds, nations and
governments may disappear, that all the
dwellers on earth may become one people
and one race, that the world may become
even as one home. Should differences arise
they shall be amicably and conclusively set-
tled by the Supreme Tribunal, that shall in-
clude members from all the governments and
peoples of the world.
O ye beloved of the iTord! In this sacred
Dispensation, conflict and contention are in
no wise permitted. Every aggressor deprives
himself of God's grace. It is incumbent
upon everyone to show the utmost love, rec-
titude of conduct, straightforwardness and
sincere kindliness unto all the peoples and
kindreds of the world, be they friends or
strangers. Sa intense must be the spirit of
love and loving-kindness, that the stranger
may find himself a friend, the enemy a true
brother, no difference whatsoever existing
between them. For universality is of God
and all limitations earthly. Thus man must
strive that his reality may manifest virtues
and perfections, the light whereof may shine
upon everyone. The light of the sun shineth
upon all the world and the merciful showers
of Divine Providence fall upon all peoples.
The vivifying breeze reviveth every living
creature and all beings endued with life ob-
tain their share and portion at His heavenly
board. In like manner, the affections and
loving-kindness of the servants of the One
True God must be bountifully and univer-
sally extended to all mankind. Regarding
this, restrictions and limitations are in no
wise permitted.
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
259
Wherefore, O my loving friends! Consort
with all the peoples, kindreds and religions of
the world with the utmost truthfulness, up-
rightness, faithfulness, kindliness, good-will
and friendliness; that all the world of being
may be filled with the holy ecstasy of the
grace of Baha, that ignorance, enmity, hate
and rancor may vanish from the world and
the darkness of estrangement amidst the peo-
ples and kindreds of the world may give way
to the Light of Unity. Should other peoples
and nations be unfaithful to you show your
fidelity unto them, should they be unjust
toward you show justice towards them,
should they keep aloof from you attract
them to yourself, should they show their en-
mity be friendly towards them, should they
poison your lives sweeten their souls, should
they inflict a wound upon you be a salve to
their sores. Such are the attributes of the
sincere! Such are the attributes of the
truthful.
And now, concerning the House of Jus-
tice which God hath ordained as the source
of all good and freed from all error, it must
be elected by universal suffrage, that is, by
the believers. Its members must be manifes-
tations of the fear of God and daysprings of
knowledge and understanding, must be
steadfast in God's faith and the well-wishers
of all mankind. By this House is meant the
Universal House of Justice, that is, in all
countries, a secondary House of Justice must
be instituted, and these secondary Houses of
Justice must elect the members of the Uni-
versal one. Unto this body all things must
be referred. It enactcth all ordinances and
regulations that are not to be found in the
explicit Holy Text. By this body all the
difficult problems are to be resolved and the
guardian of the Cause of God is its sacred
head and the distinguished member for life
of that body. Should he not attend in per-
son its deliberations, he must appoint one to
represent him. Should any of the members
commit a sin, injurious to the common weal,
the guardian of the Cause of God hath at his
own discretion the right to expel him, where-
upon the people must elect another one in
his stead. This House of Justice enacteth the
laws and the government enforce th them.
The legislative body must reinforce the ex-
ecutive, the executive must aid and assist the
legislative body so that through the close
union and harmony of these two forces, (Jie
foundation of fairness and justice may be-
come firm and strong, that all the regions of
the world may become even as Paradise
itself.
O ye beloved of the Lord! It is incumbent
upon you to be submissive to all monarchs
that are just and show your fidelity to every
righteous king. Serve ye the sovereigns of
the world with utmost truthfulness and loy-
alty. Show obedience unto them and be
their well-wishers. Without their leave and
permission do not meddle with political
affairs, for disloyalty to the just sovereign is
disloyalty to God himself.
This is my counsel and the commandment
of God unto you. Well is it with them that
act accordingly.
O dearly beloved friends! I am now in
very great danger and the hope of even an
hour's life is lost to me. I am thus con-
strained to write these lines for the protec-
tion of the Cause of God, the preservation of
His Law, the safeguarding of His Word, and
the safety of His Teachings. By the Ancient
Beauty! This wronged one hath in no wise
borne nor doth he bear a grudge against any
one; towards none doth he entertain any ill-
feeling and uttereth no word save for the
good of the world. My supreme obligation,
however, of necessity, prompteth me to
guard and preserve the Cause of God. Thus,
with the greatest regret, I counsel you say-
ing:— "Guard ye the Cause of God, protect
His law and have the utmost fear of dis-
cord. This is the foundation of the belief of
the people of Baha (may my life be offered
up for them)." "His Holiness, the Exalted
One (the Bab), is the Manifestation of the
Unity and Oneness of God and the Forerun-
ner of the Ancient Beauty. His Holiness the
Abh£ Beauty (may my life be a sacrifice for
His steadfast friends) is the Supreme Mani-
festation of God and the Dayspring of His
Most Divine Essence. All others are servants
unto Him and do His bidding." Unto the
Most Holy Book every one must turn and all
that is not expressly recorded therein must
be referred to the Universal House of Jus-
tice. That which this body, whether unani-
260
THE BAHA'f WORLD
mously or by a majority doth carry, that is
verily the Truth and the Purpose of God
himself. Whoso doth deviate therefrom is
verily of them that love discord, hath shown
forth malice and turned away from the Lord
of the Covenant. By this House is meant
that Universal House of Justice which is to
be elected from all countries, that is, from
those parts in the East and West where the
loved ones are to be found, after the manner
of the customary elections in Western coun-
tries such as those of England.
It is incumbent upon these members (of
the Universal House of Justice) to gather
in a certain place and deliberate upon all
problems which have caused difference, ques-
tions that are obscure and matters that are
not expressly recorded in the Book. What-
soever they decide has the same effect as the
Text itself. And inasmuch as this House of
Justice hath power to enact laws that are not
expressly recorded in the Book and bear upon
daily transactions, so also it hath power to
repeal the same. Thus for example, the
House of Justice enacteth today a certain
law and enforceth it, and a hundred years
hence, circumstances having profoundly
changed and the conditions having altered,
another House of Justice will then have
power, according to the exigencies of the
time, to alter that law. This it can do be-
cause that law formeth no part of the Divine
Explicit Text. The House of Justice is both
the Initiator and the Abrogator of its own
laws.
And now, one of the greatest and most
fundamental principles of the Cause of God
is to shun and avoid entirely the Covenant-
breakers, for they will utterly destroy the
Cause of God, exterminate His Law and
render of no account all efforts exerted in
the past. O friends! It behooveth you to
call to mind with tenderness the trials of His
Holiness, the Exalted One and show your
fidelity to the Ever-Blest Beauty. The
utmost endeavor must be exerted lest all
these woes, trials and afflictions, all this
pure and sacred blood that hath been shed
so profusely in the Path of God, may prove
to be in vain.
O ye beloved of the Lord! Strive with all
your heart to shield the Cause of God from
the onslaught of the insincere, for souls such
as these cause the straight to become crooked
and all benevolent efforts to produce con-
trary results.
O God, my God! I call Thee, Thy Proph-
ets and Thy Messengers, Thy Saints and Thy
Holy Ones, to witness that I have declared
conclusively Thy Proofs unto Thy loved
ones and set forth clearly all things unto
them, that they may watch over Thy Faith,
guard Thy Straight Path and protect Thy
Resplendent Law. Thou art, verily, the All-
knowing, the All- wise!
Whosoever and whatsoever meeting be-
cometh a hindrance to the diffusion of the
Light of Faith, let the loved ones give them
counsel and say: "Of all the gifts of God
the greatest is the gift of Teaching. It
draweth unto us the Grace of God and is our
first obligation. Of such a gift how can we
deprive ourselves? Nay, our lives, our goods,
our comforts, our rest, we offer them all as a
sacrifice for the Abha Beauty and teach the
Cause of God." Caution and prudence, how-
ever, must be observed even as recorded in
the Book. The veil must in no wise be sud-
denly rent asunder. The Glory of Glories
rest upon you.
O ye the faithful loved ones of 'Abdu'l-
Baha! It is incumbent upon you to take the
greatest care of Shoghi Effendi, the twig that
hath branched from and the fruit given
forth by the two hallowed and Divine Lote-
Trees, that no dust of despondency and sor-
row may strain his radiant nature, that day
by day he may wax greater in happiness, in
joy and spirituality, and may grow to be-
come even as a fruitful tree.
For he is, after 'Abdu'1-Baha, the guard-
ian of the Cause of God, the Afnan, the
Hands (pillars) of the Cause and the beloved
of the Lord must obey him and turn unto
him. He that obeyeth him not, hath not
obeyed God; he that turneth away from him,
hath turned away from God and he that de-
nieth him, hath denied the True One. Be-
ware lest anyone falsely interpret these
words, and like unto them that have broken
the Covenant after the Day of Ascension (of
BahaVllah) advance a pretext, raise the
standard of revolt, wax stubborn and open
wide the door of false interpretation. To
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261
262
THE BAHA'f WORLD
none is given the right to put forth his own
opinion or express his particular convictions.
All must seek guidance and turn unto the
Center of the Cause and the House of Jus-
tice. And he that turneth unto whatsoever
else is indeed in grievous error.
The Glory of Glories rest upon you.
Let no one, while this System is still in its
infancy, misconceive its character, belittle
its significance or misrepresent its purpose.
The bedrock on which this Administrative
Order is founded is God's immutable Purpose
for mankind in this day. The Source from
which it derives its inspiration is no one less
than BahaVllah Himself. Its shield and de-
fender are the embattled hosts of the Abha
Kingdom. Its seed is the blood of no less
than twenty thousand martyrs who have
offered up their lives that it may be born and
flourish. The axis round which its institu-
tions revolve are the authentic provisions of
the "Will and Testament" of 'Abdu'1-Baha.
Its guiding principles are the truths which
He Who is the unerring Interpreter of the
teachings of our Faith has so clearly enunci-
ated in His public addresses throughout the
West. The laws that govern its operation
and limit its functions are those which have
been expressly ordained in the Kitab-i-Aqdas.
The seat round which its spiritual, its hu-
manitarian and administrative activities will
cluster are the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar and its
Dependencies. The pillars that sustain its
authority and buttress its structure are the
twin institutions of the Guardianship and of
the Universal House of Justice. The central,
the underlying aim which animates it is the
establishment of the New World Order as
adumbrated by BahaVllah. The methods it
employs, the standard it inculcates, incline it
to neither East nor West, neither Jew nor
Gentile, neither rich nor poor, neither white
nor colored. Its watchword is the unifica-
tion of the human race; its standard the
"Most Great Peace"; its consummation the
advent of that golden millennium — the Day
when the kingdoms of this world shall have
become the Kingdom of God Himself, the
Kingdom of BahaVllah. — SHOGHI EFFENDL
("The Dispensation of BahaVllah," pages
64 and 65.)
i
EXCERPTS FROM THE LETTERS OF SHOGHI EFFENDI
HAVE been acquainted by the perusal of
your latest communications with the nature
of the doubts that have been publicly ex-
pressed, by one who is wholly misinformed
as to the true precepts of the Cause, regard-
ing the validity of institutions that stand
inextricably interwoven with the Faith of
BahaVllah. Not that I for a moment view
such faint misgivings in the light of an open
challenge to the structure that embodies the
Faith, nor is it because I question in the least
the unyielding tenacity of the faith of the
American believers, if I venture to dwell
upon what seems to me appropriate observa-
tions at the present stage of the evolution of
our beloved Cause. I am indeed inclined to
welcome these expressed apprehensions inas-
much as they afford me an opportunity to
familiarize the elected representatives of the
believers with the origin and character of the
institutions which stand at the very basis of
the world order ushered in by BahaVllah.
We should feel truly thankful for such futile
attempts to undermine our beloved Faith —
attempts that protrude their ugly face from
time to time, seem for a while able to create
a breach in the ranks of the faithful, recede
finally into the obscurity of oblivion, and are
thought . of no more. Such incidents we
should regard as the interpositions of Provi-
dence, designed to fortify our faith, to clar-
ify our vision, and to deepen our understand-
ing of the essentials of His Divine Revela-
tion.
It would, however, be helpful and instruc-
tive to bear in mind certain basic principles
with reference to the Will and Testament of
'Abdu'l-Babd, which together with the
Kitdb-i-Aqdas, constitutes the chief deposi-
tory wherein are enshrined those priceless ele-
ments of that Divine Civilization, the estab-
lishment of which is the primary mission of
the Bah&'i Faith. A study of the provisions
of these sacred documents will reveal the
close relationship that exists between them,
as well as the identity of purpose and method
which they inculcate. Far from regarding
their specific provisions as incompatible and
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
263
contradictory in spirit, every fair-minded in-
quirer will readily admit that they are not
only complementary, but that they mutually
confirm one another, and are inseparable
parts of one complete unit. A comparison
of their contents with the rest of Baha'i
Sacred Writings will similarly establish the
conformity of whatever they contain with
the spirit as well as the letter of the authenti-
cated writings and sayings of BahaVllah
and 'Abdu'1-Baha. In fact, he who reads the
Ac/das with care and diligence will not find
it hard to discover that the Most Holy Book
[Ac/das] itself anticipates in a number of
passages the institutions which 'Abdu'1-Baha
ordains in His Will. By leaving certain mat-
ters unspecified and unregulated in His Book
of Laws [Aqdas], BahaVllah seems to have
deliberately left a gap in the general scheme
of Baha'i Dispensation, which the unequivo-
cal provisions of the Master's Will has filled.
To attempt to divorce the one from the
other, to insinuate that the Teachings of
BahaVllah have not been upheld, in their
entirety and with absolute integrity, by
what 'Abdu'1-Baha has revealed in his Will,
is an unpardonable affront to the unswerving
fidelity that has characterized the life and
labors of our beloved Master.
I will not attempt in the least to assert or
demonstrate the authenticity of the Will and
Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahd, for that in itself
would betray an apprehension on my part as
to the unanimous confidence of the believers
in the genuineness of the last written wishes
of our departed Master. I will only confine
my observations to those issues which may
assist them to appreciate the essential unity
that underlies the spiritual, the humanita-
rian, and the administrative principles
enunciated by the Author and the Inter-
preter of the Baha'i Faith.
I am at a loss to explain that strange men-
tality that inclines to uphold as the sole cri-
terion of the truth of the Baha'i Teachings
what is admittedly only an obscure and un-
authenticated translation of an oral state-
ment made by 'Abdu'1-Baha, in defiance and
total disregard of the available text of all of
His universally recognized writings. I truly
deplore the unfortunate distortions that have
resulted in days past from the incapacity of
the interpreter to grasp the meaning of *Abd-
u.'1-Baha, and from his incompetence to
render adequately such truths as have been
revealed to him by the Master's statements.
Much of the confusion that has obscured the
understanding of the believers should be at-
tributed to this double error involved in the
inexact rendering of an only partially under-
stood statement. Not infrequently has the
interpreter even failed to convey the exact
purport of the inquirer's specific questions,
and, by his deficiency of understanding and
expression in conveying the answer of 'Abd-
u'l-Baha, has been responsible for reports
wholly at variance with the true spirit and
purpose of the Cause. It was chiefly in view
of this misleading nature of the reports of the
informal conversations of 'Abdu'1-Baha with
visiting pilgrims, that I have insistently
urged the believers of the West to regard
such statements as merely personal impres-
sions of the sayings of their Master, and to
quote and consider as authentic only such
translations as are based upon the authenti-
cated text of His recorded utterances in the
original tongue.
It should be remembered by every fol-
lower of the Cause that the system of Baha'i
administration is not an innovation imposed
arbitrarily upon the Baha'is of the world
since the Master's passing, but derives its
authority from the Will and Testament of
6 Abdu'l-Baha, is specifically prescribed in un-
numbered Tablets, and rests in some of its
essential features upon the explicit provisions
of the Kitdb-i-Aqdas. It thus unifies and
correlates the principles separately laid down
by BahaVllah and 'Abdu'1-Baha, and is in-
dissolubly bound with the essential verities
of the Faith. To dissociate the administra-
tive principles of the Cause from the purely
spiritual and humanitarian teachings would
be tantamount to a mutilation of the body
of the Cause, a separation that can only re-
sult in the disintegration of its component
parts, and the extinction of the Faith itself.
Local and National Houses of Justice
It should be carefully borne in mind that
the local as well as the international Houses
of Justice have been expressly enjoined by
the Kitdb-i-Aqdas; that the institution of
the National Spiritual Assembly, as an inter-
mediary body, and referred to in the Master's
264
THE BAHA'I WORLD
Will as the "Secondary House of Justice,"
has the express sanction of 'Abdu'1-Baha; and
that the method to be pursued for the elec-
tion of the International and National Houses
of Justice has been set forth by Him in His
Will, as well as in a number of His Tablets.
Moreover, the institutions of the local and
national Funds, that are now the necessary
adjuncts to all Local and National Spiritual
Assemblies, have not only been established
by 'Abdu'1-Baha in the Tablets He revealed
to the Baha'is of the Orient, but their im-
portance and necessity have been repeatedly
emphasized by Him in His utterances and
writings. The concentration of authority in
the hands of the elected representatives of
the believers; the necessity of the submission
of every adherent of the Faith to the con-
sidered judgment of Baha'i Assemblies; His
preference for unanimity in decision; the
decisive character of the majority vote; and
even the desirability for the exercise of close
supervision over all Baha'i publications, have
been sedulously instilled by 'Abdu'1-Baha, as
evidenced by His authenticated and widely-
scattered Tablets. To accept His broad and
humanitarian Teachings on one hand, and to
reject and dismiss with neglectful indiffer-
ence His more challenging and distinguish-
ing precepts, would be an act of manifest
disloyalty to that which He has cherished
most in His life.
That the Spiritual Assemblies of today
will be replaced in time by the Houses of
Justice, and are to all intents and purposes
identical and not separate bodies, is abun-
dantly confirmed by 'Abdu'1-Baha Himself.
He has in fact in a Tablet addressed to the
members of the first Chicago Spiritual As-
sembly, the first elected Baha'i body insti-
tuted in the United States, referred to them
as the members of the "House of Justice" for
that city, and has thus with His own pen
established beyond any doubt the identity of
the present Baha'i Spiritual Assemblies with
the Houses of Justice referred to by Baha'-
u'llah. For reasons which are not difficult
to discover, it has been found advisable to
bestow upon the elected representatives of
Baha'i communities throughout the world
the temporary appellation of Spiritual As-
semblies, a term which, as the position and
aims of the Baha'i Faith are better under-
stood and more fully recognized, will gradu-
ally be superseded by the permanent and
more appropriate designation of House of
Justice. Not only will the present-day Spir-
itual Assemblies be styled differently in fu-
ture, but will be enabled also to add to their
present functions tho$e .^powers, duties, and
prerogatives necessitated by the recognition
of the Faith of Baha'u'llah, not merely as one
of the recognized religious systems of the
world, but as the State Religion of an inde-
pendent and Sovereign Power. And as the
Baha'i Faith permeates the masses of the
peoples of East and West, and its truth is
embraced by the majority of the peoples of a
number of the Sovereign States of the world,
will the Universal House of Justice attain
the plenitude of its power, and exercise, as
the supreme organ of the Baha'i Common-
wealth, all the rights, the duties, and re-
sponsibilities incumbent upon the world's
future superstate.
It must be pointed out, however, in this
connection that, contrary to what has been
confidently asserted, the establishment of the
Supreme House of Justice is in no way de-
pendent upon the adoption of the Baha'i
Faith by the mass of the peoples of the
world, nor does it presuppose its acceptance
by the majority of the inhabitants of any one
country. In fact, 'Abdu'1-Baha, Himself,
in one of His earliest Tablets, contemplated
the possibility of the formation of the Uni-
versal House of Justice in His own lifetime,
and but for the unfavorable circumstances
prevailing under the Turkish regime, would
have, in all probability, taken the prelimi-
nary steps for its establishment. It will be
evident, therefore, that given favorable cir-
cumstances, under which the Baha'is of fran
and of the adjoining countries under Soviet
Rule may be enabled to elect their national
representatives, in accordance with the guid-
ing principles laid down in 'Abdu'l-Baha's
writings, the only remaining obstacle in the
way of the definite formation of the Interna-
tional House of Justice will have been re-
moved. For upon the National Houses of
Justice of the East and West devolves the
task, in conformity with the explicit provi-
sions of the Will, of electing directly the
members of the International House of Jus-
tice. Not until they are themselves fully
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
265
representative of the rank and file of the
believers in their respective countries, not
until they have acquired the weight and the
experience that will enable them to function
vigorously in the organic life of the Cause,
can they approach their sacred task, and pro-
vide the spiritual basis for the constitution
of so august a body in the Baha'i world.
The Institution of Guardianship
It must be also clearly understood by every
believer that the institution of Guardianship
does not under any circumstances abrogate,
or even in the slightest degree detract from,
the powers granted to the Universal House
of Justice by BahaVllah in the Kitdb-i-
Aqdas, and repeatedly and solemnly con-
firmed by 'Abdu'1-Baha in His Will. It does
not constitute in any manner a contradiction
to the Will and Writings of BahaVllah, nor
does it nullify any of His revealed instruc-
tions. It enhances the prestige of that
exalted assembly, stabilizes its supreme posi-
tion, safeguards its unity, assures the con-
tinuity of its labors, without presuming in
the slightest to infringe upon the inviolabil-
ity of its clearly defined sphere of jurisdic-
tion. We stand indeed too close to so monu-
mental a document to claim for ourselves a
complete understanding of all its implica-
tions, or to presume to have grasped the
manifold mysteries it undoubtedly contains.
Only future generations can comprehend the
value and the significance attached to this
Divine Masterpiece, which the hand of the
Master-builder of the world has designed for
the unification and the triumph of the
world-wide Faith of BahaVllah. Only those
who come after us will be in a position to
realize the value of the surprisingly strong
emphasis that has been placed on the institu-
tion of the House of Justice and of the
Guardianship. They only will appreciate the
significance of the vigorous language em-
ployed by 'Abdu'1-Baha with reference to
the band of Covenant-breakers that has op-
posed Him in His days. To them alone will
be revealed the suitability of the institutions
initiated by 'Abdu'1-Baha to the character of
the future society which is to emerge out of
the chaos and confusion of the present
age. . . .
The Animating Purpose of Babd'i
Institutions
And, now, it behooves us to reflect on the
animating purpose and the primary func-
tions of these divinely-established institu-
tions, the sacred character and the universal
efficacy of which can be demonstrated only
by the spirit they diffuse and the work they
actually achieve. I need not dwell upon
what I have already reiterated and empha-
sized that the administration of the Cause is
to be conceived as an instrument and not a
substitute for the Faith of Baha'u'llah, that
it should be regarded as a channel through
which His promised blessings may flow, that
it should guard against such rigidity as
would clog and fetter the liberating forces
released by His Revelation. . . . Who, I
may ask, when viewing the international
character of the Cause, its far-flung ramifi-
cations, the increasing complexity of its af-
fairs, the diversity of its adherents, and the
state of confusion that assails on every side
the infant Faith of God, can for a moment
question the necessity of some sort of ad-
ministrative machinery that will insure, amid
the storm and stress of a struggling civiliza-
tion, the unity of the Faith, the preservation
of its identity, and the protection of its
interests? To repudiate the validity of the
assemblies of the elected ministers of the
Faith of Baha'u'llah would be to reject
these countless Tablets of Baha'u'llah and
'Abdu'1-Baha, wherein they have extolled
their privileges and duties, emphasized the
glory of their mission, revealed the im-
mensity of their task, and warned them of
the attacks they must needs expect from the
unwisdom of friends, as well as from the
malice of their enemies. It is surely for
those to whose hands so priceless a heritage
has been committed to prayerfully watch
lest the tool should supersede the Faith itself,
lest undue concern for the minute details
arising from the administration of the Cause
obscure the vision of its promoters, lest par-
tiality, ambition, and worldliness tend in the
course of time to becloud the radiance, stain
the purity, and impair the effectiveness of
the Faith of BahaVllah.
(February 27, 1929.)
266
THE BAHA'f WORLD
A,
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
-MID the reports that have of late
reached the Holy Land, most of which wit-
ness to the triumphant march of the Cause, a
few seem to betray a certain apprehension
regarding the validity of the institutions
which stand inseparably associated with the
Faith of Baha'u'llal}. These expressed mis-
givings appear to be actuated by certain
whisperings which have emanated from
quarters which are either wholly misin-
formed regarding the fundamentals of the
Baha'i Revelation, or which deliberately con-
trive to sow the seeds of dissension in the
hearts of the faithful.
Viewed in the light of past experience, the
inevitable result of such futile attempts,
however persistent and malicious they be, is
to contribute to a wider and deeper recogni-
tion by believers and unbelievers alike of the
distinguishing features of the Faith pro-
claimed by Baha'u'llah. These challenging
criticisms, whether or not dictated by malice,
cannot but serve to galvanize the souls of its
ardent supporters, and to consolidate the
ranks of its faithful promoters. They will
purge the Faith from those pernicious ele-
ments whose continued association with the
believers tends to discredit the fair name of
the Cause, and to tarnish the purity of its
spirit. We should welcome, therefore, not
only the open attacks which its avowed ene-
mies persistently launch against it, but
should also view as a blessing in disguise
every storm of mischief with which they
who apostatize their faith or claim to be its
faithful exponents assail it from time to
time. Instead of undermining the Faith,
such assaults, both from within and without,
reinforce its foundations, and excite the in-
tensity of its flame. Designed to becloud its
radiance, they proclaim to all the world the
exalted character of its precepts, the com-
pleteness of its unity, the uniqueness of its
position, and the pervasiveness of its influ-
ence.
I do not feel for one moment that such
clamor, mostly attributable to impotent rage
against the resistless march of the Cause of
God, can ever distress the valiant warriors of
the Faith. For these heroic souls, whether
they be contending in America's impregna-
ble stronghold, or struggling in the heart
of Europe, and across the seas as far as the
continent of Australia, have already abun-
dantly demonstrated the tenacity of their
faith and the abiding value of their con-
viction.
I feel it, however, incumbent upon me by
virtue of the responsibility attached to the
Guardianship of the Faith, to dwell more
'fully upon the essential character and the
distinguishing features of that world order
as conceived by Baha'u'llah. . . .
It behooves us, dear friends, to endeavor
not only to familiarize ourselves with the
essential features of this supreme Handiwork
of Baha'u'llah, but also to grasp the funda-
mental difference existing between this
world-embracing, divinely-appointed Order
and the chief ecclesiastical organizations of
the world, whether they pertain to the
Church of Christ, or to the ordinances of
the Muhammadan Dispensation.
For those whose priceless privilege is to
guard over, administer the affairs, and ad-
vance the interests of these Baha'i institu-
tions will have, sooner or later, to face this
searching question: "Where and how does
this Order established by BahaVllah, which
to outward seeming is but a replica of the
institutions established in Christianity and
Islam, differ from them? Are not the twin
institutions of the House of Justice and of
the Guardianship, the institution of the
Hands of the Cause of God, the institution
of the national and local Assemblies, the
institution of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, but
different names for the institutions of the
Papacy and the Caliphate, with all their at-
tending ecclesiastical orders which tfie
Christians uphold and advocate? What can
possibly be the agency that can safeguard
these Baha'i institutions, so strikingly re-
semblant, in some of their features, to those
which have been reared by the Fathers of
the Church and the Apostles of Muhammad,
from witnessing the deterioration in charac-
ter, the breach of unity, and the extinction
of influence, which have befallen all organ-
ized religious hierarchies? Why should they
not eventually suffer the same fate that has
overtaken the institutions which the sue-
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
267
cessors of Christ and Muhammad have
reared?"
Upon the answer given to these challeng-
ing questions will, in a great measure, depend
the success of the efforts which believers in
every land are now exerting for the estab-
lishment of God's kingdom upon the earth.
Few will fail to recognize that the Spirit
breathed by BahaVllah upon the world, and
which is manifesting itself with varying de-
grees of intensity through the efforts con-
sciously displayed by His avowed supporters
and indirectly through certain humanitarian
organizations, can never permeate and exer-
cise an abiding influence upon mankind un-
less and until it incarnates itself in a visible
Order, which would bear its name, wholly
identify itself with His principles, and
function in conformity with His laws. That
BahaVllah in His Book of Aqdas, and later
'Abdu'1-Baha inliisWill — a document which
confirms, supplements, and correlates the
provisions of the Aqdas — have set forth in
their entirety those essential elements for
the constitution of the world Baha'i Com-
monwealth, no one who has read them will
deny. According to these divinely ordained
administrative principles, the Dispensation
of BahaVllah — the Ark of human salvation
— must needs be modeled. From them, all
future blessings must flow, and upon them
its inviolable authority must ultimately rest.
For BahaVllah, we should readily recog-
nize, has not only imbued mankind with a
new and regenerating Spirit. He has not
merely enunciated certain universal princi-
ples, or propounded a certain philosophy,
however potent, sound and universal these
may be. In addition to these He, as well as
'Abdu'1-Baha after Him, have, unlike the
Dispensations of the past, clearly and specifi-
cally laid down a set of Laws, established
definite institutions, and provided for the
essentials of a Divine Economy. These are
destined to be a pattern for future society, a
supreme instrument for the establishment of
The Most Great Peace, and the one agency
for the unification of the world, and the
proclamation of the reign of righteousness
and justice upon the earth. Not only have
they revealed all the directions required for
the practical realization of those ideals which
the Prophets of God have visualized, and
which from time immemorial have inflamed
the imagination of seers and poets in every
age; they have also, in unequivocal and em-
phatic language, appointed those twin insti-
tutions of the House of Justice and of the
Guardianship as their chosen Successors, des-
tined to apply the principles, promulgate
the laws, protect the institutions, adapt loy-
ally and intelligently the Faith to the re-
quirements of progressive society, and con-
summate the incorruptible inheritance which
the Founders of the Faith have bequeathed
to the world.
Should we look back to the past, were we
to search out the Gospel and the Qur'an, we
will readily recognize that neither the Chris-
tian nor the Islamic Dispensations can offer a
parallel either to the system of Divine Econ-
omy so thoroughly established by Baha'-
u'llah, or to the safeguards which He has
provided for its preservation and advance-
ment. Therein, I am profoundly convinced,
lies the answer to those questions to which
I have already referred.
None, I feel, will question the fact that
the fundamental reason why the unity of
the Church of Christ was irretrievably shat-
tered, and its influence was in the course of
time undermined was that the Edifice which
the Fathers of the Church reared after the
passing of His First Apostle was an Edifice
that rested in nowise upon the explicit di-
rections of Christ Himself. The authority
and features of their administration were
wholly inferred, and indirectly derived, with
more or less justification, from certain vague
and fragmentary references which they
found scattered amongst His utterances as
recorded in the Gospel. Not one of the
sacraments of the Church; not one of the
rites and ceremonies which the Christian
Fathers have elaborately devised and osten-
tatiously observed; not one of thfe elements
of severe discipline they rigorously imposed
upon the primitive Christians; none of these
reposed on the direct authority of Christ, or
emanated from His specific utterances. Not
one of these did Christ conceive, none did
He specifically invest with sufficient author-
ity to either interpret His Word, or to add
to that which He had not specifically en-
joined.
For this reason, in later generations, voices
268
THE BAHA'f WORLD
were raised in protest against the self-ap-
pointed Authority which arrogated to itself
privileges and powers which did not emanate
from the clear text of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ, and which constituted a grave de-
parture from the spirit which that Gospel
did inculcate. They argued with force and
justification that the canons promulgated
by the Councils of the Church were not di-
vinely-appointed laws, but were merely hu-
man devices which did not even rest upon
the actual utterances of Jesus. Their con-
tention centered around the fact that the
vague and inconclusive words, addressed by
Christ to Peter, "Thou art Peter, and upon
this rock I will build my Church," could
never justify the extreme measures, the elab-
orate ceremonials, the fettering creeds and
dogmas, with which His successors have
gradually burdened and obscured His Faith.
Had it been possible for the Church Fathers,
whose unwarranted authority was thus
fiercely assailed from every side, to refute
the denunciations heaped upon them by
quoting specific utterances of Christ regard-
ing the future administration of His Church,
or the nature of the authority of His Suc-
cessors, they would surely have been capable
of quenching the flame of controversy, and
preserving the unity of Christendom. The
Gospel, however, the only repository of the
utterances of Christ, afforded no such shelter
to these harassed leaders of the Church, who
found themselves helpless in the face of the
pitiless onslaught of their enemy, and who
eventually had to submit to the forces of
schism which invaded their ranks.
In the Muhammadan Revelation, how-
ever, although His Faith as compared with
that of Christ was, so far as the administra-
tion of His Dispensation is concerned, more
complete and more specific in its provisions,
yet in the matter of succession it gave no
written, no binding and conclusive instruc-
tions to those whose mission was to propa-
gate His Cause. For the text of the Qur'£n,
the ordinances of which regarding prayer,
fasting, marriage, divorce, inheritance, pil-
grimage, and the like, have after the revolu-
tion of thirteen hundred years remained in-
tact and operative, gives no definite guidance
regarding the Law of Succession, the source
of all the dissensions, the controversies, and
schisms which have dismembered and dis-
credited Islam.
Not so with the Revelation of Baha'-
u'llah. Unlike the Dispensation of Christ,
unlike the Dispensation of Muhammad, un-
like all the Dispensations of the past, the
apostles of BahiVilah in every land, wher-
ever they labor and toil, have before them
in clear, in unequivocal and emphatic lan-
guage, all the laws, the regulations, the prin-
ciples, the institutions, the guidance, they
require for the prosecution and consum-
mation of their task. Both in the admin-
istrative provisions of the Baha'i Dispensa-
tion, and in the matter of succession, as
embodied in the twin institutions of the
House of Justice and of the Guardianship,
the followers of BahaVllah can summon to
their aid such irrefutable evidences of Di-
vine Guidance that none can resist, that
none can belittle or ignore. Therein lies the
distinguishing feature of the Baha'i Reve-
lation. Therein lies the strength of the
unity of the Faith, of the validity of a Rev-
elation that claims not tQ destroy or belittle
previous Revelations, but to connect, unify
and fulfill them. . . .
We should also bear in mind that the dis-
tinguishing character of the Baha'i Revela-
tion does not consist solely in the complete-
ness and unquestionable validity of the
Dispensation which the teachings of Baha'-
u'llah and 'Abdu'1-Baha have established.
Its excellence lies also in the fact that those
elements which in past* Dispensations have,
without the least authority from their
Founders, been a source of corruption and
of incalculable harm to the Faith of God,
been strictly excluded by the clear text of
BahaVllah's writings. Those unwarranted
practices, in connection with the sacrament
of baptism, of communion, of confession of
sins, of asceticism, of priestly domination,
of elaborate ceremonials, of holy war and of
polygamy, have one and all been rigidly sup-
pressed by the Pen of BahaVllah, whilst the
rigidity and rigor of certain observances,
such as fasting, and which are necessary to
the devotional life of the individual, have
been considerably abated. . . .
Dear friends! Feeble though our Faith
may now appear in the eyes of men, who
either denounce it as an offshoot of Islam,
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
269
or contemptuously ignore it as one more of
those obscure sects that abound in the West,
this priceless gem of Divine Revelation, now
still in its embryonic state, shall evolve
within the shell of His law, and shall forge
ahead, undivided and unimpaired, till it em-
braces the whole of mankind. Only those
who have already recognized the supreme
station of Baha'u'llah, only those whose
hearts have been touched by His love, and
have become familiar with the potency of
His spirit, can adequately appreciate the
value of this Divine Economy — His ines-
timable gift to mankind. (March 21, 1930.)
THE GOAL OF A NEW WORLD ORDER
JL HE inexorable march of recent events
has carried humanity so near to the goal
foreshadowed by Baha'u'llah that no respon-
sible follower of His Faith, viewing on all
sides the distressing evidences of the world's
travail, can remain unmoved at the thought
of its approaching deliverance.
It would not seem inappropriate, at a time
when we are commemorating the world
over, the termination of the first decade
since 'Abdu'l-Baha's sudden removal * from
our midst, to ponder, in the light of the
teachings bequeathed by Him to the world,
such events as have tended to hasten the
gradual emergence of the World Order an-
ticipated by Baha'u'llah.
Ten years ago, this very day, there flashed
upon the world the news of the passing of
Him Who alone, through the ennobling in-
fluence of His love, strength and wisdom,
could have proved its stay and solace in the
many afflictions it was destined to suffer.
How well we, the little band of His
avowed supporters who lay claim to have
recognized the Light that shone within Him,
can still remember His repeated allusions,
in the evening of His earthly life, to the
tribulation and turmoil with which an un-
regenerate humanity was to be increasingly
afflicted. How poignantly some of us can
recall His pregnant remarks, in the presence
of the pilgrims and visitors who thronged
His doors on the morrow of the jubilant
celebrations that greeted the termination of
the World War — a war, which by the hor-
rors it evoked, the losses it entailed and the
complications it engendered, was destined
to exert so far-reaching an influence on
the fortunes of mankind. How serenely,
yet how powerfully, He stressed the cruel
deception which a Pact, hailed by peoples
1 November 28, 1921.
and nations as the embodiment of triumph-
ant justice and the unfailing instrument of
an abiding peace, held in store for an un-
repentant humanity. "Peace, Peace," how
often we heard Him remark, "the lips of po-
tentates and peoples unceasingly proclaim,
whereas the fire of unquenched hatreds still
smoulders in their hearts" How often we
heard Him raise His voice, whilst the tumult
of triumphant enthusiasm was still at its
height and long before the faintest misgiv-
ings could have been felt or expressed, con-
fidently declaring that the Document,
extolled as the Charter of a liberated human-
ity, contained within itself seeds of such
bitter deception as would further enslave
the world. How abundant are now the
evidences that attest the perspicacity of His
unerring judgment!
Ten years of unceasing turmoil, so laden
with anguish, so fraught with incalculable
consequences to the future of civilization,
have brought the world to the verge of a
calamity too awful to contemplate. Sad in-
deed is the contrast between the manifesta-
tions of confident enthusiasm in which the
Plenipotentiaries at Versailles so freely in-
dulged and the cry of unconcealed distress
which victors and vanquished alike are now
raising in the hour of bitter disillusion.
Neither the force which the Framers and
Guarantors of the Peace Treaties have mus-
tered, nor the lofty ideals which originally
animated the Author of the Covenant of
the League of Nations, have proved a suffi-
cient bulwark against the forces of internal
disruption with which a structure so labori-
ously contrived had been consistently as-
sailed. Neither the provisions of the so-
called Settlement which the victorious
Powers have sought to impose, nor the ma-
chinery of an institution which America's
270
THE BAHA'f WORLD
illustrious and far-seeing President had con-
ceived, have proved, either in conception or
practice, adequate instruments to ensure the
integrity of the Order they had striven to
establish. "The ills from which the world
now suffers" wrote 'Abdu'1-Baha in Janu-
ary, 1920, "will multiply; the gloom which
envelops it will deepen. The Balkans will
remain discontented. Us restlessness will in-
crease. The vanquished Powers will con-
tinue to agitate. They will resort to every
measure that may rekindle the flame of war.
Movements, newly-born and worldwide in
their range, will exert their utmost effort for
the advancement of their designs. The
Movement of the Left will acquire great
importance* Its influence will spread."
Economic distress, since those words were
written, together with political confusion,
financial upheavals, religious restlessness and
racial animosities, seem to have conspired to
add immeasurably to the burdens under
which an impoverished, a war- weary world
is groaning. Such has been the cumulative
effect of these successive crises, following
one another with such bewildering rapidity,
that the very foundations of society are
trembling. The world, to whichever conti-
nent we turn our gaze, to however remote a
region our survey may extend, is everywhere
assailed by forces it can neither explain nor
control.
Europe, hitherto regarded as the cradle of
a highly-vaunted civilization, as the torch-
bearer of liberty and the mainspring of the
forces of world industry and commerce,
stands bewildered and paralyzed at the sight
of so tremendous an upheaval. Long-cher-
ished ideals in the political no less than in
the economic sphere of human activity are
being severely testecl under the pressure of
reactionary forces on one hand and of an in-
sidious and persistent radicalism on the other.
From the heart of Asia distant rumblings,
ominous and insistent, portend the steady
onslaught of a creed which, by its negation
of God, His Laws and Principles, threatens
to disrupt the foundations of human
society. The clamor of a nascent national-
ism, coupled with a recrudescence of skep-
ticism and unbelief, come as added misfor-
tunes to a continent hitherto regarded as
the symbol of age-long stability and undis-
turbed resignation. From darkest Africa
the first stirrings of a conscious and de-
termined revolt against the aims and meth-
ods of political and economic imperialism
can be increasingly discerned, adding their
share to the growing vicissitudes of a trou-
bled age. Not even America, which until
very recently prided itself on its traditional
policy of aloofness and the self-contained
character of its economy, the invulnerabil-
ity of its institutions and the evidences of
its growing prosperity and prestige, has been
able to resist the impelling forces that have
swept her into the vortex of an economic
hurricane that now threatens to impair the
basis of her own industrial and economic
life. Even far-away Australia, which,
owing to its remoteness from the storm-
centers of Europe, would have been expected
to be immune from the trials and torments
of an ailing continent, has been caught in
this whirlpool of passion and strife, im-
potent to extricate herself from their en-
snaring influence.
Never indeed have there been such wide-
spread and basic upheavals, whether in the
social, economic or political spheres of hu-
man activity as those now going on in dif-
ferent parts of the world. Never have there
been so many and varied sources of danger
as those that now threaten the structure of
society. The following words of Baha'u-
'llah are indeed significant as we pause to
reflect upon the present state of a strangely
disordered world: "How long will humanity
persist in its waywardness? How long will
injustice continue? How long is chaos and
confusion to reign amongst men? How
long will discord agitate the face of society?
The winds of despair are, alas, blowing from
every direction, and the strife that divides
and afflicts the human race is daily increas-
ing. The signs of impending convulsions
and chaos can now be discerned, inasmuch
as the prevailing order appears to be la-
mentably defective."
The disquieting influence of over thirty
million souls living under minority condi-
tions throughout the continent of Europe;
the vast and ever-swelling army of the un-
employed with its crushing burden and de-
moralizing influence on governments and
peoples; the wicked, unbridled race of arma-
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
271
ments swallowing an ever-increasing share
of the substance of already impoverished
nations; the utter demoralization from
which the international financial markets
are now increasingly suffering; the on-
slaught of secularism invading what has
hitherto been regarded as the impregnable
strongholds of Christian and Muslim ortho-
doxy— these stand out as the gravest symp-
toms that bode ill for the future stability
of the structure of modern civilization.
Little wonder if one of Europe's preeminent
thinkers, honored for his wisdom and re-
str^int, should have been forced to make so
bold an assertion: "The world is passing
through the gravest crisis in the history of
civilization." "We stand," writes another,
"before either a world catastrophe, or per-
haps before the dawn of a greater era of
truth and wisdom." "It is in such times,"
he adds, "that religions have perished and
are born."
Might we not already discern, as we scan
the political horizon, the alignment of those
forces that are dividing afresh the continent
of Europe into camps of potential combat-
ants, determined upon a contest that may
mark, unlike the last war, the end of an
epoch, a vast epoch, in the history of human
evolution? Are we, the privileged cus-
todians of a priceless Faith, called upon to
witness a cataclysmical change, politically as
fundamental and spiritually as beneficent as
that which precipitated the fall of the Ro-
man Empire in the West? Might it not hap-
pen— every vigilant adherent of the Faith
of Baha'u'llah might well pause to reflect —
that out of this world eruption there may
stream forces of such spiritual energy as
shall recall, nay eclipse, the splendor of those
signs and wonders that accompanied the es-
tablishment of the Faith of Jesus Christ?
Might there not emerge out of the agony of
a shaken world a religious revival of such
scope and power as to even transcend the
potency of those world-directing forces with
which the Religions of the Past have, at
fixed intervals and according to an inscru-
table Wisdom, revived the fortunes of de-
clining ages and peoples? Might not the
bankruptcy of this present, this highly-
vaunted materialistic civilization, in itself
clear away the choking weeds that now
hinder the unfoldment and future efflor-
escence of God's struggling Faith?
Let BahaVllah Himself shed the illumi-
nation of His words upon our path as we
steer our course amid the pitfalls and miser-
ies of this troubled age. More than fifty
years ago, in a world far removed from the
ills and trials that now torment it, there
flowed from His Pen these prophetic words:
"The world is in travail and its agitation
waxeth day by day. Its face is turned
towards waywardness and unbelief. Such
shall be its plight that to disclose it now
would not be meet and seemly. Its per-
versity will long continue. And when the
appointed hour is come, there shall suddenly
appear that which shall cause the limbs of
mankind to quake. Then and only then
will the Divine Standard be unfurled and
the Nightingale of Paradise warble its mel-
ody."
Dearly - beloved friends! Humanity,
whether viewed in the light of man's indi-
vidual conduct or in the existing relation-
ships between organized communities and
nations, has, alas, strayed too far and suf-
fered too great a decline to be redeemed
through the unaided efforts of the best
among its recognized rulers and statesmen —
however disinterested their motives, how-
ever concerted their action, however un-
sparing in their zeal and devotion to its
cause. No scheme which the calculations of
the highest statesmanship may yet devise, no
doctrine which the most distinguished ex-
ponents of economic theory may hope to ad-
vance, no principle which the most ardent
of moralists may strive to inculcate, can
provide, in the last resort, adequate founda-
tions upon which the future of a distracted
world can be built. No appeal for mutual
tolerance which the worldly-wise might
raise, however compelling and insistent, can
calm its passions or help restore its vigor.
Nor would any general scheme of mere or-
ganized international cooperation, in what-
ever sphere of human activity, however in-
genious in conception or extensive in scope,
succeed in removing the root cause of the
evil that has so rudely upset the equilibrium
of present day society. Not even, I venture
to assert, would the very act of devising the
machinery required for the political and
The new and to the
New garden and approach to the Bab's Shrine, looking eastward towards the
Iranian Pilgrim House.
272
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
273
economic unification of the world — a princi-
ple that has been increasingly advocated in
recent times — provide in itself the antidote
against the poison that is steadily under-
mining the vigor of organized peoples and
nations.
What else, might we not confidently af-
firm, but the unreserved acceptance of the
Divine Program enunciated, with such sim-
plicity and force as far back as sixty years
ago, by BahaVllah, embodying in its essen-
tials God's divinely appointed scheme for
the unification of mankind in this age,
coupled with an indomitable conviction in
the unfailing efficacy of each and all of its
provisions, is eventually capable of with-
standing the forces of internal disintegration
which, if unchecked, must needs continue
to eat into the vitals of a despairing society.
It is towards this goal — the goal of a new
World Order, Divine in origin, all-embrac-
ing in scope, equitable in principle, chal-
lenging in its features — that a harassed hu-
manity must strive.
To claim to have grasped all the implica-
tions of BahaVllah's prodigious scheme for
world-wide human solidarity, or to have
fathomed its import, would be presumptu-
ous on the part of even the declared sup-
porters of His Faith. To attempt to visual-
ize it in all its possibilities, to estimate its
future benefits, to picture its glory, would
be premature at even so advanced a stage
in the evolution of mankind.
All we can reasonably venture to attempt
is to strive to obtain a glimpse of the first
streaks of the promised Dawn that must, in
the fullness of time, chase away the gloom
that has encircled humanity. All we can do
is to point out, in their broadest outlines,
what appears to us to be the guiding prin-
ciples underlying the World Order of Baha'-
u'llah, as amplified and enunciated by
'Abdu'1-Baha, the Center of His Covenant
with all mankind and the appointed Inter-
preter and Expounder of His Word.
That the unrest and suffering afflicting
the mass of mankind are in no small meas-
ure the direct consequences of the World
War and are attributable to the unwisdom
and shortsightedness of the framers of the
Peace Treaties only a biased mind can re-
fuse to admit. That the financial obliga-
tions contracted in the course of the war,
as well as the imposition of a staggering
burden of reparations upon the vanquished,
have, to a very great extent, been responsi-
ble for the maldistribution and consequent
shortage of the world's monetary gold sup-
ply, which in turn has, to a very great
measure, accentuated the phenomenal fall in
prices and thereby relentlessly increased the
burdens of impoverished countries, no im-
partial mind would question. That inter-
governmental debts have imposed a severe
strain on the masses of the people in Europe,
have upset the equilibrium of national budg-
ets, have crippled national industries, and
led to an increase in the number of the
unemployed, is no less apparent to an un-
prejudiced observer. That the spirit of vin-
dictiveness, of suspicion, of fear and rivalry,
engendered by the war, and which the pro-
visions of the Peace Treaties have served to
perpetuate and foster, has led to an enor-
mous increase of national competitive arma-
ments, involving during the last year the
aggregate expenditure of no less than a thou-
sand million pounds, which in turn has ac-
centuated the effects of the worldwide de-
pression, is a truth that even the most
superficial observer will readily admit. That
a narrow and brutal nationalism, which the
post-war theory of self-determination has
served to reinforce, has been chiefly respon-
sible for the policy of high and prohibitive
tariffs, so injurious to the healthy flow of
international trade and to the mechanism
of international finance, is a fact which few
would venture to dispute.
It would be idle, however, to contend that
the war, with all the losses it involved, the
passions it aroused and the grievances it left
behind, has solely been responsible for the
unprecedented confusion into which almost
every section of the civilized world is
plunged at present. Is it not a fact — and
this is the central idea I desire to emphasize
— that the fundamental cause of this world
unrest is attributable, not so much to the
consequences of what must sooner or later
come to be regarded as a transitory disloca-
tion in the affairs of a continually changing
world, but rather to the failure of those into
whose hands the immediate destinies of peo-
ples and nations have been committed, to
274
THE BAHA'f WORLD
adjust their systems of economic and po-
litical institutions to the imperative needs
of a fast evolving age? Are not these in-
termittent crises that convulse present-day
society due primarily to the lamentable in-
ability of the world's recognized leaders to
read aright the signs of the times, to rid
themselves once for all of their preconceived
ideas and fettering creeds, and to reshape
the machinery of their respective govern-
ments according to those standards that are
implicit in Baha'u'llah's supreme declara-
tion of the Oneness of Mankind — the chief
and distinguishing feature of the Faith He
proclaimed? For the principle of the One-
ness of Mankind, the corner-stone of Baha'-
u'llah's world-embracing dominion, implies
nothing more or less than the enforcement
of His scheme for the unification of the
world — the scheme to which we have already
referred. "In every Dispensation," writes
'Abdu'1-Baha, "the light of Divine Guidance
has been focussed upon one central theme.
... In this wondrous Revelation, this glori-
ous century, the foundation of the Faith of
God and the distinguishing feature of His
Law is the consciousness of the Oneness of
Mankind."
How pathetic indeed are the efforts of
these leaders of human institutions who, in
utter disregard of the spirit of the age, are
striving to adjust national processes, suited
to the ancient days of self-contained na-
tions, to an age which must either achieve
the unity of the world, as adumbrated by
Bahd'u'llah, or perish. At so critical an hour
in the history of civilization it behooves
the leaders of all the nations of the world,
great and small, whether in the East or in
the West, whether victors or vanquished, to
give heed to the clarion call of Baha'u'llah
and, thoroughly imbued with a sense of
world solidarity, the sine qua non of loy-
alty to His Cause, arise manfully to carry
out in its entirety the one remedial scheme
He, the Divine Physician, has prescribed for
an ailing humanity. Let them discard, once
for all, every preconceived idea, every na-
tional prejudice, and give heed to the sub-
lime counsel of 'Abdu'1-Baha", the authorized
Expounder of His teachings. "You can best
serve your country," was 'Abdu'l-Bahi's re-
joinder to a high official in the service of the
federal government of the United States of
America, who had questioned Him as to the
best manner in which he could promote the
interests of his government and people, "if
you strive, in your capacity as a citizen of
the world, to assist in the eventual appli-
cation of the principle of federalism under-
lying the government of your own country
to the relationships now existing between
the peoples and nations of the world."
In "The Secret of Divine Civilization"
("The Mysterious Forces of Civilization"),
'Abdu'l-Baha's outstanding contribution to
the future re-organization of* the world, we
read the following:
"True civilization will unfurl its banner
in the midmost heart of the world when-
ever a certain number of its distinguished
and high-minded sovereigns — the shining ex-
emplars of devotion and determination —
shall, for the good and happiness of all man-
kind, arise, with firm resolve and clear
vision, to establish the Cause of Universal
Peace. They must make the Cause of Peace
the object of general consultation, and seek
by every means in tReir power to establish
a Union of the nations of the world. They
must conclude a binding treaty and estab-
lish a covenant, the provisions of which shall
be sound, inviolable and definite. They must
proclaim it to all the world and obtain for
it the sanction of all the human race. This
supreme and noble undertaking — the real
source of the peace and well-being of all
the world — should be regarded as sacred by
all that dwell on earth. All the forces of
humanity must be mobilized to ensure the
stability and permanence of this Most Great
Covenant. In this all-embracing pact the
limits and frontiers of each and every na-
tion should be clearly fixed, the principles
underlying the relations of governments
towards one another definitely laid down,
and all international agreements and obli-
gations ascertained. In like manner, the size
of the armaments of every government
should be strictly limited, for if the prepara-
tions for war and the military forces of any
nation should be allowed to increase, they
will arouse the suspicion of others. The
fundamental principle underlying this sol-
emn Pact should be so fixed that if any gov-
ernment later violate any one of its provi-
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
275
sions, all the governments on earth should
arise to reduce it to utter submission, nay
the human race as a whole should resolve,
with every power at its disposal, to destroy
that government. Should this greatest of
all remedies be applied to the sick body of
the world, it will assuredly recover from its
ills and will remain eternally safe and se-
cure."
"A few," He further adds, "unaware of
the power latent in human endeavor, con-
sider this matter as highly impracticable, nay
even beyond the scope of man's utmost ef-
forts. Such is not the case, however. On
the contrary, thanks to the unfailing grace
of God, the loving-kindness of His favored
ones, the endeavors of unrivalled wise and
capable souls, and the thoughts and ideas of
the peerless leaders of this age, nothing what-
soever can be regarded as unattainable. En-
deavor, "ceaseless endeavor, is required. Noth-
ing short of an indomitable determination
can possibly achieve it. Many a cause past
ages have regarded as purely visionary, yet
in this day have become most easy and prac-
ticable. Why should this most great and
lofty cause — the day-star of the firmament
of true civilization and the cause of the
glory, the advancement, the well-being and
the success of all humanity — be regarded
as impossible of achievement? Surely the
day will come when its beauteous light shall
shed illumination upon the assemblage of
man."
In one of His Tablets 'Abdu'1-Baha, elu-
cidating further His noble theme, reveals
the following:
"In cycles gone by, though harmony was
established, yet, owing to the absence of
means, the unity of all mankind could not
have been achieved. Continents remained
widely divided, nay even among the peoples
of one and the same continent association
and interchange of thought were well nigh
impossible. Consequently intercourse, un-
derstanding and unity amongst all the peo-
ples and kindreds of the earth were unat-
tainable. In this day, however, means of
communication have multiplied, and the five
continents of the earth have virtually
merged into one. ... In like manner all
the members of the human family, whether
peoples or governments, cities or villages,
have become increasingly interdependent.
For none is self-sufficiency any longer pos-
sible, inasmuch as political ties unite all
peoples and nations, and the bonds of trade
and industry, of agriculture and education,
are being strengthened every day. Hence
the unity of all mankind can in this day be
achieved. Verily this is none other but one
of the wonders of this wondrous age, this
glorious century. Of this past ages have
been deprived, for this century — the cen-
tury of light — has been endowed with
unique and unprecedented glory, power and
illumination. Hence the miraculous unfold-
ing of a fresh marvel every day. Eventually
it will be seen how bright its candles will
burn in the assemblage of man.
"Behold how its light is now dawning
upon the world's darkened horizon. The
first candle is unity in the political realm,
the early glimmerings of which can now be
discerned. The second candle is unity of
thought in world undertakings, the con-
summation of which will ere long be wit-
nessed. The third candle is unity in free-
dom which will surely come to pass. The
fourth candle is unity in religion which is
the corner-stone of the foundation itself,
and which, by the power of God, will be
revealed in all its splendor. The fifth candle
is the unity of nations — a unity which in
this century will be securely established,
causing all the peoples of the world to re-
gard themselves as citizens of one common
fatherland. The sixth candle is unity of
races, making of all that dwell on earth
peoples and kindreds of one race. The sev-
enth candle is unity of language, that is,
the choice of a universal tongue in which
all peoples will be instructed and converse.
Each and every one of these will inevitably
come to pass, inasmuch as the power of the
Kingdom of God will aid and assist in their
realization."
Over sixty years ago, in His Tablet to
Queen Victoria, BahaVllah, addressing "the
concourse of the rulers of the earth," re-
vealed the following:
"Take ye counsel together, and let your
concern be only for that which profiteth
mankind and bettereth the condition
thereof. . , . Regard the world as the hu-
man body which though created whole and
276
THE BAHA'f WORLD
perfect has been afflicted, through divers
causes, with grave ills and maladies. Not
for one day did it rest, nay its sicknesses
waxed more severe, as it fell under the treat-
ment of unskilled physicians who have
spurred on the steed of their worldly de-
sires and have erred grievously. And, if at
one time, through the care of an able physi-
cian, a member of that body was healed,
the rest remained afflicted as before. Thus
informeth you the All-Knowing, the All-
Wise. . . . That which the Lord hath or-
dained as a sovereign remedy and mightiest
instrument for the healing of all the world
is the union of all its peoples in one uni-
versal Cause, one common Faith. This can
in no wise be achieved except through the
power of a skilled, all-powerful and inspired
Physician. This verily is the truth, and all
else naught but error."
In a further passage Baha'u'llah adds
these words:
"We see you adding every year unto your
expenditures and laying the burden thereof
on the people whom ye rule; this verily is
naught but grievous injustice. Fear the
sighs and tears of this wronged One, and
burden not your peoples beyond that which
they can endure. ... Be reconciled among
yourselves, that ye may need armaments no
more save in a measure to safeguard your
territories and dominions. Be united, O con-
course of the sovereigns of the world, for
thereby will the tempest of discord be stilled
amongst you and your peoples find rest.
Should any one among you take up arms
against another, rise ye all against him, for
this is naught but manifest justice."
What else could these weighty words sig-
nify if they did not point to the inevitable
curtailment of unfettered national sover-
eignty as an indispensable preliminary to the
formation of the future Commonwealth of
all the nations of the world? Some form of
a world superstate must needs be evolved,
in whose favor all the nations of the world
will have willingly ceded every claim to
make war, certain rights to impose taxation
and all rights to maintain armaments, ex-
cept for purposes of maintaining internal
order within their respective dominions.
Such a state will have to include within its
orbit an international executive adequate to
enforce supreme and unchallengeable au-
thority on every recalcitrant member of the
commonwealth; a world parliament whose
members shall be elected by the people in
their respective countries and whose election
shall be confirmed by their respective gov-
ernments; and a supreme tribunal whose
judgment will have a binding effect even
in such cases where the parties concerned
did not voluntarily agree to submit their
case to its consideration. A world com-
munity in which all economic barriers will
have been permanently demolished and the
interdependence of Capital and Labor defi-
nitely recognized; in which the clamor of
religious fanaticism and strife will have
been forever stilled; in which the flame of
racial animosity will have been finally ex-
tinguished; in which a single code of inter-
national law — the product of the considered
judgment of the world's federated represen-
tatives— shall have as its sanction the instant
and coercive intervention of the combined
forces of the federated units; and finally a
world community in which the fury of a ca-
pricious and militant nationalism will have
been transmuted into an abiding conscious-
ness of world citizenship — such indeed, ap-
pears, in its broadest outline, the Order an-
ticipated by BahdVlldh, an Order that shall
come to be regarded as the fairest fruit of
a slowly maturing age.
"The Tabernacle of Unity," Baha'u'llah
proclaims in His message to all mankind,
"has been raised; regard ye not one another
as strangers. ... Of one tree are all ye the
fruit and of one bough the leaves. . . . The
world is but one country and mankind its
citizens. . . . Let not a man glory in that
he loves his country; let him rather glory
in this, that he loves his kind."
Let there be no misgivings as to the ani-
mating purpose of the world-wide Law of
BahdVllah. Far from aiming at the sub-
version of the existing foundations of so-
ciety, it seeks to broaden its basis, to re-
mold its institutions in a manner consonant
with the needs of an ever-changing world.
It can conflict with no legitimate alle-
giances, nor can it undermine essential loy-
alties. Its purpose is neither to stifle the
flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in
men's hearts, nor to abolish the system of
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
277
national autonomy so essential if the evils
of excessive centralization are to be avoided.
It does not ignore, nor does it attempt to
suppress the diversity of ethnical origins, of
climate, of history, of language and tradi-
tion, of thought and habit, that differentiate
the peoples and nations of the world. It
calls for a wider loyalty, for a larger aspira-
tion than any that has animated the human
race. It insists upon the subordination of
national impulses and interests to the im-
perative claims of a unified world. It re-
pudiates excessive centralization on one
hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniform-
ity on the other. Its watchword is unity in
diversity such as 'Abdu'1-Baha Himself has
explained:
"Consider the flowers of a garden.
Though differing in kind, color, form and
shape, yet, inasmuch as they are refreshed
by the waters of one spring, revived by the
breath of one wind, invigorated by the rays
of one sun, this diversity increaseth their
charm and addeth unto their beauty. How
unpleasing to the eye if all the flowers and
plants, the leaves and blossoms, the fruit,
the branches and the trees of that garden
were all of the same shape and color! Di-
versity of hues, form and shape enricheth
and adorneth the garden, and heighteneth
the effect thereof. In like manner, when
divers shades of thought, temperament, and
character, are brought together under the
power and influence of one central agency,
the beauty and glory of human perfection
will be revealed and made manifest. Naught
but the celestial potency of the Word of
God, which ruleth and transcendeth the
realities of all things, is capable of harmo-
nizing the divergent thoughts, sentiments,
ideas and convictions of the children of
men."
The call of Baha'u'llah is primarily di-
rected against all forms of provincialism,
all insularities and prejudices. If long-cher-
ished ideals and time-honored institutions,
if certain social assumptions and religious
formulas have ceased to promote the wel-
fare of the generality of mankind, if they
no longer administer to the needs of a con-
tinually evolving humanity, let them be
swept away and relegated to the limbo of
obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why
should these, in a world subject to the im-
mutable law of change and decay, be ex-
empt from the deterioration that must
needs overtake every human institution? For
legal standards, political and economic theo-
ries are solely designed to safeguard the in-
terests of humanity as a whole, and not
humanity to be crucified for the preservation
of the integrity of any particular law or
doctrine.
Let there be no mistake. The principle of
the Oneness of Mankind — the pivot round
which all the teachings of BahaVllah re-
volve— is no mere outburst of ignorant emo-
tionalism or an expression of vague and
pious hope. Its appeal is not to be merely
identified with a re-awakening of the spirit
of brotherhood and good-will among men,
nor does it aim solely at the fostering of
harmonious cooperation among individual
peoples and nations. Its implications are
deeper, its claims greater than any which
the Prophets of old were allowed to advance.
Its message is applicable not only to the in-
dividual, but concerns itself primarily with
the nature of those essential relationships
that must bind all the states and nations as
members of one human family. It does not
constitute merely the enunciation of an
ideal, but stands inseparably associated with
an institution adequate to embody its truth,
demonstrate its validity, and perpetuate its
influence. It implies an organic change in
the structure of present-day society, a
change such as the world has not yet ex-
perienced. It constitutes a challenge, at
once bold and universal, to outworn shib-
boleths of national creeds — creeds that have
had their day and which must, in the ordi-
i\ary course of events as shaped and con-
trolled by Providence, give way to a new
gospel, fundamentally different from, and
infinitely superior to, what the world has
already conceived. It calls for no less than
the reconstruction and the demilitarization
of the whole civilized world — a world or-
ganically unified in all the essential aspects
of its life, its political machinery, its spir-
itual aspiration, its trade and finance, its
script and language, and yet infinite in the
diversity of the national characteristics of
its federated units.
It represents the consummation of hu-
278
THE BAHA'f WORLD
man evolution — an evolution that has had
its earliest beginnings in the birth of family
life, its subsequent development in the
achievement of tribal solidarity, leading in
turn to the constitution of the city-state,
and expanding later into the institution of
independent and sovereign nations.
The principle of the Oneness of Man-
kind, as proclaimed by BahaVllah, carries
with it, no more and no less, than a solemn
assertion that attainment to this final stage
in this stupendous evolution is not only
necessary but inevitable, that its realization
is fast approaching, and that nothing short
of a power that is born of God can succeed
in establishing it.
So marvellous a conception finds its earli-
est manifestations in the efforts consciously
exerted and the modest beginnings already
achieved by the declared adherents of the
Faith of BahaVllah who, conscious of the
sublimity of their calling and initiated into
the ennobling principles of His Administra-
tion, are forging ahead to establish His
Kingdom on this earth. It has its indirect
manifestations in the gradual diffusion of
the spirit of world solidarity which is spon-
taneously arising out of the welter of a dis-
organized society.
It would be stimulating to follow the
history of the growth and development of
this lofty conception which must increas-
ingly engage the attention of the responsible
custodians of the destinies of peoples and
nations. To the states and principalities
just emerging from the welter of the great
Napoleonic upheaval, whose chief preoccu-
pation was either to recover their rights to
an independent existence or to achieve their
national unity, the conception of world soli-
darity seemed not only remote but incon-
ceivable. It was not until the forces of
nationalism had succeeded in overthrowing
the foundations of the Holy Alliance that
had sought to curb their rising power, that
the possibility of a world order, transcend-
ing in its range the political institutions
these nations had established, came to be
seriously entertained. It was not until after
the World War that these exponents of ar-
rogant nationalism came to regard such an
order as the object of a pernicious doctrine
tending to sap that essential loyalty upon
which the continued existence of their na-
tional life depended. With a vigor that re-
called the energy with which the members
of the Holy Alliance sought to stifle the
spirit of a rising nationalism among the
peoples liberated from the Napoleonic yoke,
those champions of an unfettered national
sovereignty, in their turn, have labored and
are still laboring to discredit principles upon
which their own salvation must ultimately
depend.
The fierce opposition which greeted the
abortive scheme of the Geneva Protocol;
the ridicule poured upon the proposal for a
United States of Europe which was subse-
quently advanced, and the failure of the
general scheme for the economic union of
Europe, may appear as setbacks to the ef-
forts which a handful of foresighted people
are earnestly exerting to advance this noble
ideal. And yet, are we not justified in de-
riving fresh encouragement when we ob-
serve that the very consideration of such
proposals is in itself an evidence of their
steady growth in the minds and hearts of
men. In the organized attempts that are
being made to discredit so exalted a concep-
tion are we not witnessing the repetition,
on a larger scale, of those stirring struggles
and fierce controversies that preceded the
birth, and assisted in the reconstruction, of
the unified nations of the West?
To take but one instance. How confident
were the assertions made in the days pre-
ceding the unification of the states of the
North American continent regarding the
insuperable barriers that stood in the way
of their ultimate federation! Was it not
widely and emphatically declared that the
conflicting interests, the mutual distrust, the
differences of government and habit that
divided the states were such as no force,
whether spiritual or temporal, could ever
hope to harmonize or control? And yet
how different were the conditions prevailing
a hundred and fifty years ago from those
that characterize present-day society! It
would indeed be no exaggeration to say that
the absence of those facilities which modern
scientific progress has placed at the service
of humanity in our time made of the prob-
lem of welding the American states into a
single federation a task infinitely more com-
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
279
plex than that which confronts a divided hu-
manity in its efforts to achieve the unifica-
tion of all mankind.
Who knows that for so exalted a concep-
tion to take shape a suffering more intense
than any it has yet experienced will have to
be inflicted upon humanity? Could any-
thing less than the fire of a civil war with all
its violence and vicissitudes — a war that
nearly rent the great American Republic —
have welded the states, not only into a
Union of independent units, but into a Na-
tion, in spite of all the ethnic differences
that characterized its component parts?
That so fundamental a revolution, involving
such far-reaching changes in the structure of
society, can be achieved through the ordi-
nary processes of diplomacy and education
seems highly improbable. We have but to
turn our gaze to humanity's bloodstained
history to realize that nothing short of in-
tense mental as well as physical agony
has been able to precipitate those epoch-
making changes that constitute the greatest
landmarks in the history of human civiliza-
tion.
Great and far-reaching as have been those
changes in the past, they cannot but appear,
when viewed in their proper perspective, ex-
cept as subsidiary adjustments preluding
that transformation of unparalleled majesty
and scope which humanity is in this age
bound to undergo. That the forces of a
world catastrophe can alone precipitate such
a new phase of human thought is, alas, be-
coming increasingly apparent. That nothing
short of the fire of a severe ordeal, unparal-
leled in its intensity, can fuse and weld the
discordant entities, that constitute the ele-
ments of present-day civilization, into the
integral components of the world Common-
wealth of the future is a truth which future
events will increasingly demonstrate.
The prophetic voice of BahaVllah warn-
ing, in the concluding passages of the Hid-
den Words, "the peoples of the world" that
"an unforeseen calamity is following them
and that grievous retribution awaiteth
them" throws indeed a lurid light upon the
immediate fortunes of sorrowing humanity.
Nothing but a fiery ordeal, out of which
humanity will emerge, chastened and pre-
pared, can succeed in implanting that sense
of responsibility which the leaders of a new-
born age must arise to shoulder.
I would again direct your attention to
those ominous words of BahaVllah which I
have already quoted: "And when the ap-
pointed hour is come, there shall suddenly
appear that which shall cause the limbs of
mankind to quake."
Has not 'Abdu'1-Baha Himself asserted in
unequivocal language that "another war,
fiercer than the last, will assuredly break
out"?
Upon the consummation of this colossal,
this unspeakably glorious enterprise — an en-
terprise that baffled the resources of Roman
statesmanship and which Napoleon's des-
perate efforts failed to achieve — will depend
the ultimate realization of that millennium
of which poets of all ages have sung and
seers have long dreamed. Upon it will de-
pend the fulfillment of the prophecies ut-
tered by the Prophets of old when swords
shall be beaten into ploughshares and the
lion and the lamb lie down together. It
alone can usher in the Kingdom of the
Heavenly Father as anticipated by the Faith
of Jesus Christ. It alone can lay the foun-
dation for the New World Order visualized
by BahaVllah— a World Order that shall
reflect, however dimly, upon this earthly
plane, the ineffable splendors of the Abha
Kingdom.
One word more in conclusion. The proc-
lamation of the Oneness of Mankind — the
head corner-stone of BahaVllah's all-em-
bracing dominion — can under no circum-
stances be compared with such expressions
of pious hope as have been uttered in the
past. His is not merely a call which He
raised, alone and unaided, in the face of the
relentless and combined opposition of two
of the most powerful Oriental potentates of
His day — while Himself an exile and pris-
oner in their hands. It implies at once a
warning and a promise — a warning that in
it lies the sole means for the salvation of a
greatly suffering world, a promise that its
realization is at hand.
Uttered at a time when its possibility had
not yet been seriously envisaged in any part
of the world, it has, by virtue of that celes-
tial potency which the Spirit of BahaVllah
has breathed into it, come at last to be re-
280
THE BAHA'f WORLD
garded, by an increasing number of thought-
ful men, not only as an approaching possi-
bility, but as the necessary outcome of the
forces now operating in the world.
Surely the world, contracted and trans-
formed into a single highly complex organ-
ism by the marvellous progress achieved in
the realm of physical science, by the world-
wide expansion of commerce and industry,
and struggling, under the pressure of world
economic forces, amidst the pitfalls of a
materialistic civilization, stands in dire need
of a restatement of the Truth underlying
all the Revelations of the past in a language
suited to its essential requirements. And
what voice other than that of BahaVllah —
the Mouthpiece of God for this age — is ca-
pable of effecting a transformation of society
as radical as that which He has already ac-
complished in the hearts of those men and
women, so diversified and seemingly irrec-
oncilable, who constitute the body of His
declared followers throughout the world?
That such a mighty conception is fast
budding out in the minds of men, that
voices are being raised in its support, that its
salient features must fast crystallize in the
consciousness of those who are in authority,
few indeed can doubt. That its modest
beginnings have already taken shape in the
world-wide Administration with which the
adherents of the Faith of BahaVllah stands
associated only those whose hearts are tainted
by prejudice can fail to perceive.
Ours, dearly-beloved co-workers, is the
paramount duty to continue, with un-
dimmed vision and unabated zeal, to assist
in the final erection of that Edifice the
foundations of which Baha'u'llah has laid in
our hearts. Ours is the duty to derive added
hope and strength from the general trend of
recent events, however dark their immediate
effects, and to pray with unremitting fer-
vor that He may hasten the approach of the
realization of that Wondrous Vision which
constitutes the brightest emanation of His
Mind and the fairest fruit of the fairest
civilization the world has yet seen.
Might not the hundredth anniversary l of
the Declaration of the Faith of Baha'u'llah
mark the inauguration of so vast an era in
human history? (November 28, 1931.)
NON-POLITICAL CHARACTER OF THE BAHA'f FAITH
We stand too close to so colossal a Reve-
lation to expect in this, the first century of
its era, to arrive at a just estimate of its tow-
ering grandeur, its infinite possibilities, its
transcendent beauty. Small though our
present numbers may be, however limited
our capacities, or circumscribed our influ-
ence, we, into whose hands so pure, so ten-
der,* so precious, a heritage has been en-
trusted, should at all times strive, with
unrelaxing vigilance, to abstain from any
thoughts, words, or deeds, that might tend
to dim its brilliance or injure its growth. . . .
Dear friends: Clear and emphatic as are
the instructions which our departed Master
has ^iterated in countless Tablets be-
queathed by Him to his followers through-
out the world, a few, owing to the restricted
influence of the Cause in the West, have
been purposely withheld from the body of
His occidental disciples, who, despite their
numerical inferiority, are now exercising
such a preponderating influence in the direc-
tion and administration of its affairs. I feel
it, therefore, incumbent upon me to stress,
now that the time is ripe, the importance of
an instruction which, at the present stage of
the evolution of our Faith, should be in-
creasingly emphasized, irrespective of its ap-
plication to the East or to the West. And
this principle is no other than that which
involves the non-participation by the adher-
ents of the Faith of Baha'u'llah, whether in
their individual capacities or collectively as
local or national Assemblies, in any form of
activity that might be interpreted, either
directly or indirectly, as an interference in
the political affairs of any particular gov-
ernment. Whether it be in the publications
which they initiate and supervise; or in their
official and public deliberations; or in the
posts they occupy and the services they
render; or in the communications they ad-
dress to their fellow-disciples; or in their
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282
THE BAHA'f WORLD
dealings with men of eminence and author-
ity; or in their affiliations with kindred so-
cieties and organizations, it is, I am firmly
convinced, their first and sacred obligation
to abstain from any word or deed that might
be construed as a violation of this vital
principle. Theirs is the duty to demon-
strate, on one hand, their unqualified loyalty
and obedience to whatever is the con-
sidered judgment of their respective govern-
ments.
Let them refrain from associating them-
selves, whether by word or by deed, with the
political pursuits of their respective nations,
with the policies of their governments and
the schemes and programs of parties and
factions. In such controversies they should
assign no blame, take no side, further no
design, and identify themselves with no sys-
tem prejudicial to the best interests of that
world-wide Fellowship which it is their aim
to guard and foster. Let them beware lest
they allow themselves to become the tools
of unscrupulous politicians, or to be en-
trapped by the treacherous devices of the
plotters and the perfidious among their
countrymen. Let them so shape their lives
and regulate their conduct that no charge
of secrecy, of fraud, of bribery or of intimi-
dation may, however ill-f ounded, be brought
against them. Let them rise above all par-
ticularism and partisanship, above the vain
disputes, the petty calculations, the tran-
sient passions that agitate the face, and en-
gage the attention, of a changing world. It
is their duty to strive to distinguish, as
clearly as they possibly can, and if needed
with the aid of their elected representatives,
such posts and functions as are either diplo-
matic or political from those that are purely
administrative in character, and which un-
der no circumstances are affected by the
changes and chances that political activities
and party government, in every land, must
necessarily involve. Let them affirm their
unyielding determination to stand, firmly
and unreservedly, for the way of Baha'-
u'llah, to avoid the entanglements and bick-
erings inseparable from the pursuits of the
politician, and to become worthy agencies
of that Divine Polity which incarnates God's
immutable Purpose for all men.
It should be made unmistakably clear that
such an attitude implies neither the slight-
est indifference to the cause and interests
of their own country, nor involves any in-
subordination on their part to the authority
of recognized and established governments.
Nor does it constitute a repudiation of their
sacred obligation to promote, in the most
effective manner, the best interests of their
government and people. It indicates the
desire cherished by every true and loyal fol-
lower of Bah&'u'llah to serve, in an unsel-
fish, unostentatious and patriotic fashion, the
highest interests of the country to which he
belongs, and in a way that would entail no
departure from the high standards of in-
tegrity and truthfulness associated with the
teachings of His Faith. (March 21, 1932.)
AMERICA AND THE MOST GREAT PEACE
Dearly-beloved friends! It is not for me,
nor does it seem within the competence of
any one of the present generation, to trace
the exact and full history of the rise and
gradual consolidation of this invincible arm,
this mighty organ, of a continually advanc-
ing Cause. It would be premature at this
early stage of its evolution, to attempt an
exhaustive analysis, or to arrive at a just
estimate, of the impelling forces that have
urged it forward to occupy so exalted a
place among the various instruments which
the Hand of Omnipotence has fashioned,
and is now perfecting, for the execution of
His divine Purpose. Future historians of
this mighty Revelation, endowed with pens
abler than any which its present-day sup-
porters can claim to possess, will no doubt
transmit to posterity a masterly exposition
of the origins of those forces which, through
a remarkable swing- of the pendulum, have
caused the administrative center of the
Faith to gravitate, away from its cradle, to
the shores of the American continent and
towards its very heart — the present main-
spring and chief bulwark of its fast evolving
institutions. On them will devolve the task
of recording the history, and of estimating
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
283
the significance, of so radical a revolution in
the fortunes of a slowly maturing Faith.
Theirs will be the opportunity to extol the
virtues and to immortalize the memory of
those men and women who have partici-
pated in its accomplishment. Theirs will
be the privilege of evaluating the share
which each of these champion-builders of
the World Order of Bahayilah has had in
ushering in that golden Millennium, the
promise of which lies enshrined in His teach-
ings.
Does not the history of primitive Chris-
tianity and of the rise of Islam, each in its
own way, offer a striking parallel to this
strange phenomenon the beginnings of which
we are now witnessing in this, the first cen-
tury of the Baha'i Era? Has not the Divine
Impulse which gave birth to each of these
great religious systems been driven, through
the operation of those forces which the irre-
sistible growth of the Faith itself had re-
leased, to seek away from the land of its
birth and in more propitious climes a ready
field and a more adequate medium for the
incarnation of its spirit and the propagation
of its cause? Have not the Asiatic churches
of Jerusalem, of Antioch and of Alexandria,
consisting chiefly of those Jewish converts,
whose character and temperament inclined
them to sympathize with the traditional
ceremonies of the Mosaic Dispensation, been
forced, as they steadily declined, to recog-
nize the growing ascendancy of their Greek
and Roman brethren? Have they not been
compelled to acknowledge the superior valor
and the trained efficiency which have en-
abled these standard-bearers of the Cause of
Jesus Christ to erect the symbols of His
world-wide dominion on the ruins of a col-
lapsing Empire? Has not the animating
spirit of Islam been constrained, under the
pressure of similar circumstances, to abandon
the inhospitable wastes of its Arabian Home,
the theatre of its greatest sufferings and ex-
ploits, to yield in a distant land the fairest
fruit of its slowly maturing civilization?
"Prow the beginning of time until the
present day," 'Abdu'1-Baha" Himself affirms,
"the light of Divine Revelation bath risen
in the East and shed its radiance upon the
West. The illumination thus shed hath,
however, acquired in the West an extraordi-
nary brilliancy. Consider the Faith pro-
claimed by Jesus. Though it first appeared
in the East, yet not until its light had been
shed upon the West did the full measure of
its potentialities be manifest" "The day is
approaching," He, in another passage, assures
us, "when ye shall witness how, through the
splendor of the Faith of Bahd'u'lldh, the
West will have replaced the East, radiating
the light of Divine Guidance." "In the
books of the Prophets," He again asserts,
"certain glad-tidings are. recorded which are
absolutely true and free from doubt. The
East hath ever been the dawning-place of
the Sun of Truth. In the East all the Proph-
ets of God have appeared. . . . The West
hath acquired illumination from the East but
in some respects the reflection of the light
hath been greater in the Occident. This is
specially true of Christianity. Jesus Christ
appeared in Palestine and His teachings were
founded in that country. Although the
doors of the Kingdom were first opened in
that land and the bestowals of God were
spread broadcast from its center, the people
of the West have embraced and promulgated
Christianity more fully than the people of
the East."
Little wonder that from the same uner-
ring pen there should have flowed, after
'Abdu'l-Baha's memorable visit to the West,
these often-quoted words, the significance
of which it would be impossible for me to
overrate: "The continent of America" He
announced in a Tablet unveiling His Divine
Plan to the believers residing in the North-
Eastern States of the American Republic,
"is in the eyes of the one true God the land
wherein the splendors of His light shall be
revealed, where the righteous will abide and
the free assemble." "May this American
democracy," He Himself, while in America,
was heard to remark, "be the first nation to
establish the foundation of international
agreement. May it be the first nation to pro-
claim the unity of mankind. May it be the
first to unfurl the standard of the 'Most
Great Peace.9 . . . The American people are
indeed worthy of being the first to build the
tabernacle of the great peace and proclaim
the oneness of mankind. . . . May America
become the distributing center of spiritual
enlightenment and all the world receive this
284
THE BAHA'f WORLD
heavenly blessing. For America has devel-
oped powers and capacities greater and more
wonderful than any other nations. . . . May
the inhabitants of this country become like
angels of heaven with faces turned continu-
ally toward God. May all of them become
servants of the omnipotent One. May they
rise from their present material attainments
to such a height that heavenly illumination
may stream from this center to all the peo-
ples of the world. . . . This American
nation is equipped and empowered to accom-
plish that which will adorn the pages of his-
tory, to become the envy of the world and
be blest in both the East and the West for
the triumph of its people. . . . The Ameri-
can continent gives signs and evidences of
very great advancement. Its future is even
more promising, for its influence and illumi-
nation are jar-reaching. It will lead all na-
tions spiritually."
Would it seem extravagant, in the light
of so sublime an utterance, to expect that in
the midst of so enviable a region of the earth
and out of the agony and wreckage of an
unprecedented crisis there should burst forth
a spiritual renaissance which, as it propagates
itself through the instrumentality of the
American believers, will rehabilitate the
fortunes of a decadent age? It was 'Abdu'l-
Baha Himself, His most intimate associates
testify, Who, on more than one occasion,
intimated that the establishment of His
Father's Faith in the North American con-
tinent ranked as the most outstanding among
the threefold aims which, as He conceived
it, constituted the principal objective of His
ministry. It was He who, in the heyday of
His life and almost immediately after His
Father's ascension, conceived the idea of in-
augurating His mission by enlisting the in-
habitants of so promising a country under
the banner of BahaVllah. He it was Who
in His unerring wisdom and out of the
abundance of His heart chose to bestow on
His favored disciples, to the very last day
of His life, the tokens of His unfailing so-
licitude and to overwhelm them with the
marks of His special favor. It was He Who,
in His declining years, as soon as delivered
from the shackles of a long and cruel in-
carceration, decided to visit the land which
had remained for so many years the object
of His infinite care and love. It was He
Who, through the power of His presence
and the charm of His utterance, infused into
the entire body of His followers those sen-
timents and principles which could alone
sustain them amidst the trials which the very
prosecution of their task would inevitably
engender. Was He not, through the sev-
eral functions which He exercised whilst
He dwelt amongst them, whether in the lay-
ing of the corner-stone of their House of
Worship, or in the Feast which He offered
them and at which He chose to serve them in
person, or in the emphasis which He on a
more solemn occasion placed on the impli-
cations of His spiritual station — was He not,
thereby, deliberately bequeathing to them
all the essentials of that spiritual heritage
which He knew they would ably safeguard
and by their deeds continually enrich? And
finally who can doubt that in the Divine
Plan which, in the evening of His life, He
unveiled to their eyes He was investing them
with that spiritual primacy on which they
could rely in the fulfillment of their high
destiny? %
"O ye apostles of Babd'u'lldh!" He thus
addresses them in one of His Tablets, "May
my life be sacrificed for you! . . . Behold
the portals which Babd'u'lldb hath opened
before you! Consider how exalted and lofty
is the station you are destined to attain; how
unique the favors with which you have been
endowed." "My thoughts," He tells them
in another passage, "are turned towards you,
and my heart leaps within me at your men-
tion. Could ye know how my soul glows
with your love, so great a happiness would
flood your hearts as to cause you to become
enamored with each other " "The full
measure of your success " He declares in
another Tablet, "is as yet unrevealed, its sig-
nificance still unapprehended. Ere long ye
will, with your own eyes, witness how bril-
liantly every one of you, even as a shining
star, will radiate in the firmament of your
country the light of Divine Guidance and
will bestow upon its people the glory of an
everlasting life" "The range of your future
achievements" He once more affirms, "still
remains undisclosed. 1 fervently hope that
in the near future the whole earth may be
stirred and shaken by the results of your
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
285
achievements." "The Almighty," He as-
sures them, "will no doubt grant you the
help of His grace, will invest you with the
tokens of His might, and will endue your
souls with the sustaining power of His holy
Spirit" "Be not concerned," He admonishes
them, "with the smallness of your numbers,
neither be oppressed by the multitude of an
unbelieving world. . . . Exert yourselves;
your mission is unspeakably glorious. Should
success crown your enterprise, America will
assuredly evolve into a center from which
waves of spiritual power will emanate, and
the throne of the Kingdom of God will, in
the plenitude of its majesty and glory, be
firmly established." (April 21, 1933.)
THE BAHA'f ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER
Dearly-beloved brethren in 'Abdu'1-Baha!
With the ascension of BahaVllah the Day-
Star of Divine guidance which, as foretold
by Shaykh Ahmad and Siyyid Kazim, had
risen in Shiraz, and, while pursuing its west-
ward course, had mounted its zenith in Adri-
anople, had finally sunk below the horizon
of 'Akka, never to rise again ere the com-
plete revolution of one thousand years. The
setting of so effulgent an Orb brought to a
definite termination the period of Divine
Revelation — the initial and most vitalizing
stage in the Baha'i era. Inaugurated by
the Bab, culminating in BahaVllah, antici-
pated and extolled by the entire company of
the Prophets of this great prophetic cycle,
this period has, except for the short interval
between the Bab's martyrdom and Baha'u-
'llah's shaking experiences in the Siyah-Chal
of Tihran, been characterized by almost fifty
years of continuous and progressive Revela-
tion— a period which by its duration and
fecundity must be regarded as unparalleled
in the entire field of the world's spiritual his-
tory.
The passing of 'Abdu'1-Baha, on the other
hand, marks the closing of the Heroic and
Apostolic Age of this same Dispensation —
that primitive period of our Faith the splen-
dors of which can never be rivaled, much
less be eclipsed, by the magnificence that
must needs distinguish the future victories
of Bahd'u'llah's Revelation. For neither the
achievements of the champion-builders of
the present-day institutions of the Faith of
BahaVllah, nor the tumultuous triumphs
which the heroes of its Golden Age will in
the coming days succeed in winning, can
measure with, or be included within the
same category as, the wondrous works asso-
ciated with the names of those who have
generated its very life and laid its pristine
foundations. That first and creative age of
the Baha'i era must, by its very nature,
stand above and apart from the formative
period into which we have entered and the
golden age destined to succeed it.
'Abdu'1-baha, Who incarnates an institu-
tion for which we can find no parallel what-
soever in any of the world's recognized
religious systems, may be said to have closed
the Age to which He Himself belonged and
opened the one in which we are now labor-
ing. His "Will and Testament" should thus
be regarded as the perpetual, the indissoluble
link which the mind of Him Who is the
Mystery of God has conceived in order to
insure the continuity of the three ages that
constitute the component parts of the
Baha'i Dispensation. The period in which
the seed of the Faith had been slowly ger-
minating is thus intertwined both with the
one which must witness its efflorescence and
the subsequent age in which that seed will
have finally yielded its golden fruit.
The creative energies released by the Law
of BahaVllah, permeating and evolving
within the min4 of 'Abdu'1-Baha, have, by
their very impact and close interaction,
given birth to an Instrument which may be
viewed as the Charter of the New World
Order which is at once the glory and the
promise of this most great Dispensation. The
Will may thus be acclaimed as the inevit-
able offspring resulting from that mystic
intercourse between Him Who communi-
cated the generating influence of His divine
Purpose and the One Who was its vehicle and
chosen 'recipient. Being the Child of the
Covenant — the Heir of both the Originator
and the Interpreter of the Law of God — the
"Will and Testament" of 'Abdu'1-Baha can
of the »ew erf the the
A view of the new entrance to the Bab's Shrine on Mt. Carmel, showing extension of the
terrace facing the Shrine.
286
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
287
no more be divorced from Him Who supplied
the original and motivating impulse than
from the One Who ultimately conceived it.
BahaVllah's inscrutable purpose, we must
ever bear in mind, has been so thoroughly
infused into £he conduct of 'Abdu'1-Baha,
and their motives have been so closely
wedded together, that the mere attempt to
dissociate the teachings of the former from
any system which the ideal Exemplar of those
same teachings has established would amount
to a repudiation of one of the most sacred and
basic truths of the Faith.
The Administrative Order, which ever
since 'Abdu'l-Baha's ascension has evolved
and is taking shape under our very eyes in
no fewer than forty countries of the world,
may be considered as the framework of the
Will itself, the inviolable stronghold where-
in this new-born child is being nurtured and
developed. This Administrative Order, as it
expands and consolidates itself, will no doubt
manifest the potentialities and reveal the full
implications of this momentous Document —
this most remarkable expression of the Will
of One of the most remarkable Figures of the
Dispensation of BahaVllah. It will, as its
component parts, its organic institutions, be-
gin to function with efficiency and vigor,
assert its claim and demonstrate its capacity
to be regarded not only as the nucleus but
the very pattern of the New World Order
destined to embrace in the fullness of time
the whole of mankind.
It should be noted in this connection that
this Administrative Order is fundamentally
different from anything that any Prophet
has previously established, inasmuch as Ba-
haVllah has Himself revealed its principles,
established its institutions, appointed the
person to interpret His Word and conferred
the necessary authority on the body designed
to supplement and apply His legislative or-
dinances. Therein lies the secret of its
strength, its fundamental distinction, and
the guarantee against disintegration and
schism. Nowhere in the sacred scriptures
of any of the world's religious systems, nor
even in the writings of the Inaugurator of
the Baha'i Dispensation, do we find any pro-
visions establishing a covenant or providing
for an administrative order that can compare
in scope and authority with those that lie
at the very basis of the Baha'i Dispensation.
Has either Christianity or Islam, to take as
an instance two of the most widely diffused
and outstanding among the world's recog-
nized religions, anything to offer that can
measure with, or be regarded as equivalent
to, either the Book of BahaVllah's Covenant
or to the "Will and Testament" of 'Abdu'l-
Baha? Does the text of either the Gospel or
the Qur'an confer sufficient authority upon
those leaders and councils that have claimed
the right and assumed the function of inter-
preting the provisions of their sacred scrip-
tures and of administering the affairs of
their respective communities? Could Peter,
the admitted chief of the Apostles, or the
Imam 'Ali, the cousin and legitimate suc-
cessor of the Prophet, produce in support of
the primacy with which both had been in-
vested written and explicit affirmations from
Christ and Muhammad that could have
silenced those who either among their con-
temporaries or in a later age have repudiated
their authority and, by their action, pre-
cipitated the schisms that persist until the
present day? Where, we may confidently
ask, in the recorded sayings of Jesus Christ,
whether in the matter of succession or in
the provision of a set of specific laws and
clearly defined administrative ordinances, as
distinguished from purely spiritual principles,
can we find anything approaching the de-
tailed injunctions, laws and warnings that
abound in the authenticated utterances of
both BahaVllah and 'Abdu'1-Baha? Can any
passage of the Qur'an, which in respect to its
legal code, its administrative and devotional
ordinances marks already a notable advance
over previous and more corrupted Revela-
tions, be construed as placing upon an un-
assailable basis the undoubted authority with
which Muhammad had, verbally and on sev-
eral occasions, invested His successor? Can
the Author of the Babi Dispensation, how-
ever much He may have succeeded through
the provisions of the Bayan in averting a
schism as permanent and catastrophic as
those that afflicted Christianity and Islam —
can He be said to have produced instruments
for the safeguarding of His faith as definite
and efficacious as those which must for all
time preserve the unity of the organized fol-
lowers of the Faith of BahdVlUh?
288
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Alone of all the Revelations gone before
it this Faith has, through the explicit direc-
tions, the repeated warnings, the authenti-
cated safeguards incorporated and elaborated
in its teachings, succeeded in raising a struc-
ture which the bewildered followers of bank-
rupt and broken creeds might well approach
and critically examine, and seek, ere it is too
late, the invulnerable security of its world-
embracing shelter.
No wonder that He Who through the
operation of His Will has inaugurated so
vast and unique an Order and Who is the
Center of so mighty a Covenant should have
written these words: "So firm and mighty is
this Covenant that from the beginning of
time until the present day no religious Dis-
pensation hath produced its like." "What-
soever is latent in the innermost of this holy
cycle" He wrote during the darkest and
most dangerous days of His ministry, "shall
gradually appear and be made manifest, for
now is but the beginning of its growth and
the dayspring of the revelation of its signs."
"Fear not" are His reassuring words fore-
shadowing the rise of the Administrative
Order .established by His Will, "fear not if
this Branch be severed from this material
world and cast aside its leaves; nayy the
leaves thereof shall flourish, for this Branch
will grow after it is cut off from this world
below, it shall reach the loftiest pinnacles of
glory, and it shall bear such fruits as will
perfume the world with their fragrance."
To what else if not to the power and maj-
esty which this Administrative Order — the
rudiments of the future all-enfolding Baha'i
Commonwealth — is destined to manifest, can
these utterances of BahaVllah allude: "The
world's equilibrium hath been upset through
the vibrating influence of this most great,
this new World Order. Mankind's ordered
life hath been revolutionized through the
agency of this unique, this wondrous System
— the like of which mortal eyes have never
witnessed"
The Bab Himself, in the course of His
references to "Him Whom God will make
manifest" anticipates the System and glori-
fies the World Order which the Revelation
of Bah*Vllah is destined to unfold. "Well
is it with him" is His remarkable statement
in the third chapter of the Bayan, "who
fixetb bis gaze upon the Order of Bahd'-
u'lldh and rendereth thanks unto his Lord!
For He will assuredly be made manifest.
God hath indeed irrevocably ordained it in
the Bayan."
In the Tablets of BahaVliah where the
institutions of the International and local
Houses of Justice are specifically designated
and formally established; in the institution
of the Hands of the Cause of God which first
BahaVllah and then 'Abdu'1-Baha brought
into being; in the institution of both local
and national Assemblies which in their em-
bryonic stage were already functioning in the
days preceding 'Abdu'l-Baha's ascension; in
the authority with which the Author of our
Faith and the Center of His Covenant have
in their Tablets chosen to confer upon them;
in the institution of the Local Fund which
operated according to 'Abdu'l-Baha's specific
injunctions addressed to certain Assemblies
in fran; in the verses of the Kitab-i-Aqdas
the implications of which clearly anticipate
the institution of the Guardianship; in the
explanation which 'Abdu'1-Baha, in one of
His Tablets, has given to, and the emphasis
He has placed upon, the hereditary principle
and the law of primogeniture as having been
upheld by the Prophets of the past — in these
we can discern the faint glimmerings and
discover the earliest intimation of the nature
and working of the Administrative Order
which the Will of 'Abdu'1-Baha was at a
later time destined to proclaim and formally
establish.
An attempt, I feel, should at the present
juncture be made to explain the character
and functions of the twin pillars that sup-
port this mighty Administrative Structure
— the institutions of the Guardianship and
of the Universal House of Justice. To de-
scribe in their entirety the diverse elements
that function in conjunction with these in-
stitutions is beyond the scope and purpose of
this general exposition of the fundamental
verities of the Faith. To define with ac-
curacy and minuteness the features, and to
analyze exhaustively the nature of the rela-
tionships which, on the one hand, bind to-
gether these two fundamental organs of the
Will of 'Abdu'1-Baha and connect, on the
other, each of them to the Author of
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
289
the Faith and the Center of His Covenant is
a task which future generations will no
doubt adequately fulfill. My present inten-
tion is to elaborate certain salient features of
this scheme which, however close we may
stand to its colossal structure, are already so
clearly defined that we find it inexcusable to
either misconceive or ignore.
It should be stated, at the very outset, in
clear and unambiguous language, that these
twin institutions of the Administrative Order
of Baha'u'llah should be regarded as divine
in origin, essential in their functions and
complementary in their aim and purpose.
Their common, their fundamental object is
to insure the continuity of that divinely-
appointed authority which flows from the
Source of our Faith, to safeguard the unity
of its followers and to maintain the integrity
and flexibility of its teachings. Acting in
conjunction with each other these two in-
separable institutions administer its affairs,
coordinate its activities, promote its interests,
execute its laws and defend its subsidiary in-
stitutions. Severally, each operates within a
clearly defined sphere of jurisdiction; each is
equipped with its own attendant institutions
— instruments designed for the effective dis-
charge of its particular responsibilities and
duties. Each exercises, within the limitations
imposed upon it, its powers, its authority, its
rights and prerogatives. These are neither
contradictory, nor detract in the slightest
degree from the position which each of these
institutions occupies. Far from being incom-
patible or mutually destructive, they supple-
ment each other's authority and functions,
and are permanently and fundamentally
united in their aims.
Divorced from the institution of the Guar-
dianship the World Order of BahaVllah
would be mutilated and permanently de-
prived of that hereditary principle which, as
'Abdu'1-Baha has written, has been invariably
upheld by the Law of God. "In all the
Divine Dispensations" He states, in a Tablet
addressed to a follower of the Faith in Iran,
"the eldest son hath been given extraordinary
distinctions. Even the station of prophet-
hood hath been his birthright" Without
such an institution the integrity of the
Faith would be imperiled, and the stability
of the entire fabric would be gravely en-
dangered. Its prestige would suffer, the
means required to enable it to take a long, an
uninterrupted view over a series of genera-
tions would be completely lacking, and the
necessary guidance to define the sphere of
the legislative action of its elected representa-
tives would be totally withdrawn.
Severed from the no less essential institu-
tion of the Universal House of Justice this
same system of the Will of 'Abdu'1-Baha
would be paralyzed in its action and would
be powerless to fill in those gaps which the
Author of the Kitab-i-Aqdas has deliberately
left in the body of His legislative and ad-
ministrative ordinances.
"He is the Interpreter of the Word of
God" 'Abdu'1-Baha, referring to the func-
tions of the Guardian of the Faith, asserts,
using in His Will the very term which He
Himself had chosen when refuting the argu-
ment of the Covenant-breakers who had
challenged His right to interpret the utter-
ances of Baha'u'llah. "After him," He adds,
"will succeed the first-born of his lineal
descendants" "The mighty stronghold"
He further explains, "shall remain impreg-
nable and safe through obedience to him who
is the Guardian of the Cause of God." "It
is incumbent upon the members of the House
of Justice, upon all the Aghsdn, the Af-
ndn, the Hands of the Cause of God, to
show their obedience, submissiveness and
subordination until the Guardian of the
Cause of God."
"It is incumbent upon the members of the
House of Justice," Baha'u'llah, on the other
hand, declares in the Eighth Leaf of the
Exalted Paradise, "to take counsel together
regarding those things which have not out-
wardly been revealed in the Book, and to
enforce that which is agreeable to them. God
will verily inspire them with whatsoever He
willeth, and He verily is the Provider, the
Omniscient." "Unto the Most Holy Book"
(the Kitab-i-Aqdas), 'Abdu'1-Baha states in
His Will, "every one must turn, and all that
is not expressly recorded therein must be re-
ferred to the Universal House of Justice.
That which this body, whether unanimously
or by a majority doth carry, that is verily
the truth and the purpose of God Himself.
Whoso doth deviate therefrom is verily of
them that love discord, hath shown forth
A view of one of the garden walks behind the Shrine of the Bab on Mt. Carmel, Haifa.
290
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
291
malice, and turned away from the Lord of
the Covenant"
Not only does 'Abdu'1-Baha confirm in
His Will BahaVllah's above-quoted state-
ment, but invests this body with the addi-
tional right and power to abrogate, according
to the exigencies of time, its own enactments,
as well as those of a preceding House of Jus-
tice. "Inasmuch as the House of Justice"
is His explicit statement in His Will, "hath
power to enact laws that are not expressly
recorded in the Book and bear upon daily
transactions, so also it hath power to repeal
the same. . . . This it can do because these
laws form no part of the divine explicit
text."
Referring to both the Guardian and the
Universal House of Justice we read these
emphatic words: "The sacred and youthful
Branch^ the Guardian of the Cause of Gody
as well as the Universal House of Justice
to be universally elected and established,
are both under the care and protection of
the Abhd Beauty, under the shelter and un-
erring guidance of the Exalted One (the
Bab) (may my life be offered up for them
both) . Whatsoever they decide is of God"
From these statements it is made in-
dubitably clear and evident that the Guard-
ian of the Faith has been made the Interpreter
of the Word and that the Universal House
of Justice has been invested with the func-
tion of legislating on matters not expressly
revealed in the teachings. The interpretation
of the Guardian, functioning within his own
sphere, is as authoritative and binding as the
enactments of the International House of
Justice, whose exclusive right and preroga-
tive is to pronounce upon and deliver the
final judgment on such laws and ordinances
as BahaVllah has not expressly revealed.
Neither can, nor will ever, infringe upon the
sacred and prescribed domain of the other.
Neither will seek to curtail the specific and
undoubted authority with which both have
been divinely invested.
Though the Guardian of the Faith has
been made the permanent head of so august
a body he can never, even temporarily, as-
sume the right of exclusive legislation. He
cannot override the decision of the majority
of his fellow-members, but is bound to insist
upon a reconsideration by them of any en-
actment he conscientiously believes to con-
flict with the meaning and to depart from
the spirit of Bah4 Vllah's revealed utterances.
He interprets what has been specifically re-
vealed, and cannot legislate except in his
capacity as member of the Universal House
of Justice. He is debarred from laying down
independently the constitution that must
govern the organized activities of his fellow-
members, and from exercising his influence
in a manner that would encroach upon the
liberty of those whose sacred right is to elect
the body of his collaborators.
It should be borne in mind that the institu-
tion of the Guardianship has been anticipated
by 'Abdu'1-Baha in an allusion He made in
a Tablet addressed, long before His own as-
cension, to three of His friends in Iran. To
their question as to whether there would be
any person to whom all the Baha'is would
be called upon to turn after His ascension He
made the following reply: "As to the question
ye have asked me, know verily that this is a
well-guarded secret. It is even as a gem
concealed within its shell. That it will be
revealed is predestined. The time will come
when its light will appear, when its evidences
will be made manifest, and its secrets un-
raveled"
Dearly beloved friends! Exalted as is the
position and vital as is the function of the
institution of the Guardianship in the Ad-
ministrative Order of Baha'u'llah, and stag-
gering as must be the weight of responsibility
which it carries, its importance must, what-
ever be the language of the Will, be in no
wise over-emphasized. The Guardian of the
Faith must not under any circumstances, and
whatever his merits or his achievements, be
exalted to the rank that will make him a co-
sharer with 'Abdu'1-Baha in the unique posi-
tion which the Center of the Covenant oc-
cupies— much less to the station exclusively
ordained for the Manifestation of God. So
grave a departure from the established tenets
of our Faith is nothing short of open blas-
phemy. As I have already stated, in the
course of my references to 'Abdu'l-Baha's
station, however great the gulf that separates
Him from the Author of a Divine Revelation
it can never measure with the distance that
stands between Him Who is the Center of
BahdVlUh's Covenant and the Guardians
292
THE BAHA'f WORLD
who are its chosen ministers. There is a far,
far greater distance separating the Guardian
from the Center of the Covenant than there
is between the Center of the Covenant and
its Author.
No Guardian of the Faith, I feel it my
solemn duty to place on record, can ever
claim to be the perfect exemplar of the teach-
ings of BahaVllah or the stainless mirror
that reflects His light. Though overshadowed
by the unfailing, the unerring protection of
BahaVllah and of the Bab, and however
much he may share with 'Abdu'1-Baha the
right and obligation to interpret the Baha'i
teachings, he remains essentially human and
cannot, if he wishes to remain faithful to his
trust, arrogate to himself, under any pre-
tense whatsoever, the rights, the privileges
and prerogatives which BahaVllah has chosen
to confer upon His Son. In the light of this
truth to pray to the Guardian of the Faith, to
address him as lord and master, to designate
him as his holiness, to seek his benediction,
to celebrate his birthday, or to commemo-
rate any event associated with his life would
be tantamount to a departure from those
established truths that are enshrined within
our beloved Faith. The fact that the Guard-
ian has been specifically endowed with such
power as he may need to reveal the purport
and disclose the implications of the utterances
of BahaVllah and of 'Abdu'1-Baha does not
necessarily confer upon him a station co-equal
with those Whose words he is called upon to
interpret. He can exercise that right and
discharge this obligation and yet remain infi-
nitely inferior to both of them in rank and
different in nature.
To the integrity of this cardinal principle
of our Faith the words, the deeds of its pres-
ent and future Guardians must abundantly
testify. By their conduct and example they
must needs establish its truth upon an unas-
sailable foundation and transmit to future
generations unimpeachable evidences of its
reality.
For my own part to hesitate in recogniz-
ing so vital a truth or to vacillate in proclaim-
ing so firm a conviction must constitute a
shameless betrayal of the confidence reposed
in me by 'Abdu'1-Baha and an unpardonable
usurpation of the authority with which He
Himself has been invested.
A word should now be said regarding the
theory on which this Administrative Order
is based and the principle that must govern
the operation of its chief institutions. It
would be utterly misleading to attempt a
comparison between this unique, this
divinely-conceived Order and any of the
diverse systems which the minds of men, at
various periods of their history, have con-
trived for the government of human institu-
tions. Such an attempt would in itself be-
tray a lack of complete appreciation of the
excellence of the handiwork of its great
Author. How could it be otherwise when
we remember that this Order constitutes the
very pattern of that divine civilization which
the almighty Law of BahaVllah is designed
to establish upon earth? The divers and ever-
shifting systems of human polity, whether
past or present, whether originating in the
East or in the West, offer no adequate cri-
terion wherewith to estimate the potency of
its hidden virtues or to appraise the solidity
of its foundations.
The Baha'i Commonwealth of the future,
of which this vast Administrative Order is
the sole framework, is, both in theory and
practice, not only unique in the entire his-
tory of political institutions, but can find no
parallel in the annals of any of the world's
recognized religious systems. No form of
democratic government; no system of autoc-
racy or of dictatorship, whether monarchical
or republican; no intermediary scheme of a
purely aristocratic order; nor even any of the
recognized types of theocracy, whether it be
the Hebrew Commonwealth, or the various
Christian ecclesiastical organizations, or the
I ma mate or the Caliphate in Islam — none of
these can be identified or be said to conform
with the Administrative Order which the
masterhand of its perfect Architect has fash-
ioned.
This new-born Administrative Order in-
corporates within its structure certain ele-
ments which are to be found in each of the
three recognized forms of secular govern-
ment, without being in any sense a mere
replica of any one of them, and without
introducing within its machinery any of the
objectionable features which they inherently
possess. It blends and harmonizes, as no
government fashioned by mortal hands has
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'lTLLAH
293
as yet accomplished, the salutary truths
which each of these systems undoubtedly
contains without vitiating the integrity of
those God-given verities on which it is ulti-
mately founded.
The Administrative Order of the Faith of
BahaVllah must in no wise be regarded as
purely democratic in character inasmuch as
the basic assumption which requires all
democracies to depend fundamentally upon
getting their mandate from the people is
altogether lacking in this Dispensation. In
the conduct of the administrative affairs of
the Faith, in the enactment of the legislation
necessary to supiplement the laws of the
Kitab-i-Aqdas, the members of the Uni-
versal House of Justice, it should be borne
in mind, are not, as BahaVllah's utterances
clearly imply, responsible to those whom they
represent, nor are they allowed to be gov-
erned by the feelings, the general opinion, and
even the convictions of the mass of the faith-
ful, or of those who- directly elect them.
They are to follow, in a prayerful attitude,
the dictates and promptings of their con-
science. They may, indeed they must, ac-
quaint themselves with the conditions pre-
vailing among the community, must weigh
dispassionately in their minds the merits of
any case presented for their consideration,
but must reserve for themselves the right
of an unfettered decision. frGod will verily
inspire them with whatsoever he willeth"
is BahaVllah's incontrovertible assurance.
They, and not the body of those who either
directly or indirectly elect them, have thus
been made the recipients of the divine guid-
ance which is at once the life-blood and
ultimate safe-guard of this Revelation.
Moreover, he who symbolizes the hereditary
principle in this Dispensation has been made
the interpreter of the words of its Author,
and ceases consequently, by virtue of the
actual authority vested in him, to be the
figure-head invariably associated with the
prevailing systems of constitutional mon-
archies.
Nor can the Baha'i Administrative Order
be dismissed as a hard and rigid system of
unmitigated autocracy or as an idle imita-
tion of any form of absolutistic ecclesiastical
government, whether it be the Papacy, the
Imimate or any other similar institution, for
the obvious reason that upon the interna-
tional elected representatives of the followers
of BahaVlUh has been conferred the exclu-
sive right of legislating on matters not ex-
pressly revealed in the Baha'i writings.
Neither the Guardian of the Faith nor any
institution apart from the International
House of Justice can ever usurp this vital and
essential power or encroach upon that sacred
right. The abolition of professional priest-
hood with its accompanying sacraments of
baptism, of communion and of confession of
sins, the laws requiring the election by
universal suffrage of all local, national, and
international Houses of Justice, the total ab-
sence of episcopal authority with its attend-
ant privileges, corruptions and bureaucratic
tendencies, are further evidences of the non-
autocratic character of the Baha'i Adminis-
trative Order and of its inclination to demo-
cratic methods in the administration of its
affairs.
Nor is this Order identified with the name
of BahaVllah to be confused with any sys-
tem of purely aristocratic government in
view of the fact that it upholds, on the one
hand, the hereditary principle and entrusts
the Guardian of the Faith with the obliga-
tion of interpreting its teachings, and pro-
vides, on the other, for the free and direct
election from among the mass of the faithful
of the body that constitutes its highest legis-
lative organ.
Whereas this Administrative Order cannot
be said to have been modeled after any of
these recognized systems of government, it
nevertheless embodies, reconciles and assimi-
lates within its framework such wholesome
elements as are to be found in each one of
them. The hereditary authority which the
Guardian is called upon to exercise, the vital
and essential functions which the Universal
House of Justice discharges, the specific pro-
visions requiring its democratic election by
the representatives of the faithful — these
combine to demonstrate the truth that this
divinely revealed Order, which can never be
identified with any of the standard types of
government referred to by Aristotle in his
works, embodies and blends with the spiritual
verities on which it is based the beneficent
elements which are to be found in each one
of them. The admitted evils inherent in
294
THE BAHA't WORLD
each of these systems being rigidly and
permanently excluded, this unique Order,
however long it may endure and however ex-
tensive its ramifications, cannot ever degen-
erate into any form of despotism, of oli-
garchy, or of demagogy which must sooner
or later corrupt the machinery of all man-
made and essentially defective political in-
stitutions.
Dearly-beloved friends! Significant as are
the origins of this mighty administrative
structure, and however unique its features,
the happenings that may be said to have
heralded its birth and signalized the initial
stage of its evolution seem no less remarkable.
How striking, how edifying the contrast be-
tween the process of slow and steady con-
solidation that characterizes the growth
of its infant strength and the devastating
onrush of the forces of disintegration that
are assailing the outworn institutions,
both religious and secular, of present-day
society!
The vitality which the organic institutions
of this great, this ever-expanding Order so
strongly exhibit; the obstacles which the high
courage, the undaunted resolution of its
administrators have already surmounted; the
fire of an unquenchable enthusiasm that
glows with undiminished fervor in the hearts
of its itinerant teachers; the heights of
self-sacrifice which its champion-builders
are now attaining; the breadth of vision, the
confident hope, the creative joy, the inward
peace, the uncompromising integrity, the
exemplary discipline, the unyielding unity
and solidarity which its stalwart defenders
manifest; the degree to which its moving
Spirit has shown itself capable of assimilating
the diversified elements within its pale, of
cleansing them of all forms of prejudice and
of fusing them with its own structure — these
are evidences of a power which a disillu-
sioned and sadly shaken society can ill afford
to ignore.
Compare these splendid manifestations of
the spirit animating this vibrant body of
the Faith of BahaVllah with the cries and
agony, the follies and vanities, the bitterness
and prejudices, the wickedness and divisions
of an ailing and chaotic world. Witness the
fear that torments its leaders and paralyzes
the action of its blind and bewildered states-
men. How fierce the hatreds, how false the
ambitions, how petty the pursuits, how deep-
rooted the suspicions of its peoples! How
disquieting the lawlessness, the corruption,
the unbelief that are eating into the vitals of
a tottering civilization!
Might not this process of steady deteriora-
tion which is insidiously invading so many
departments of human activity and thought
be regarded as a necessary accompaniment to
the rise of this almighty Arm of BkhaVllah?
Might we not look upon the momentous hap-
penings which, in the course of the past
twenty years, have so deeply agitated every
continent of the earth, as ominous signs
simultaneously proclaiming the agonies of a
disintegrating civilization and the birthpangs
of that World Order — that Ark of human
salvation — that must needs arise upon its
ruins?
The catastrophic fall of mighty mon-
archies and empires in the European con-
tinent, allusions to some of which may be
found in the prophecies ^of BahaVllah; the
decline that has set in, and is still continu-
ing, in the fortunes of the Shi'ih hierarchy
in His own native land; the fall of the Qajar
dynasty, the traditional enemy of His Faith;
the overthrow of the Sultanate and the Cali-
phate, the sustaining pillars of Sunni Islam,
to which the destruction of Jerusalem in the
latter part of the first century of the Chris-
tian era offers a striking parallel; the wave
of secularization which is invading the Mu-
hammadan ecclesiastical institutions in Egypt
and sapping the loyalty of its staunchest sup-
porters; the humiliating blows that have
afflicted some of the most powerful Churches
of Christendom in Russia, in Western Europe
and Central America; the dissemination of
those subversive doctrines that are undermin-
ing the foundations and overthrowing the
structure of seemingly impregnable strong-
holds in the political and social spheres of
human activity; the signs of an impending
catastrophe, strangely reminiscent of the Fall
of the Roman Empire in the West, which
threatens to engulf the whole structure of
present-day civilization — all witness to the
tumult which the birth of this mighty Organ
of the Religion of BahaVllah has cast into
the world — a tumult which will grow in
295
296
THE BAHA'f WORLD
scope and in intensity as the implications of
this constantly evolving Scheme are more
fully understood and its ramifications more
widely extended over the surface of the globe.
A word more in conclusion. The rise and
establishment of this Administrative Order
— the shell that shields and enshrines so pre-
cious a gem — constitutes the hallmark of this
second and formative age of the Baha'i era.
It will come to be regarded, as it recedes
farther and farther from our eyes, as the
chief agency empowered to usher in the con-
cluding phase, the consummation of this
glorious Dispensation.
Let no one, while this System is still in
its infancy, misconceive its character, belittle
its significance or misrepresent its purpose.
The bedrock on which this Administrative
Order is founded is God's immutable Purpose
for mankind in this day. The Source from
which it derives its inspiration is no one less
than BahSVlldh Himself. Its shield and de-
fender are the embattled hosts of the Abha
Kingdom. Its seed is the blood of no less
than twenty thousand martyrs who have
offered up their lives that it may be born and
flourish. The axis round which its institu-
tions revolve are the authentic provisions of
the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'1-Baha. Its
guiding principles are the truths which He
Who is the unerring Interpreter of the teach-
ings of our Faith has so clearly enunciated in
His public addresses throughout the West.
The laws that govern its operation and limit
its functions are those which have been ex-
pressly ordained in the Kitab-i-Aqdas. The
seat round which its spiritual, its humani-
tarian and administrative activities will clus-
ter are the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar and its De-
pendencies. The pillars that sustain its au-
thority and buttress its structure are the
twin institutions of the Guardianship and
of the Universal House of Justice. The cen-
tral, the underlying aim which animates it is
the establishment of the New World Order
as adumbrated by BahaVllah. The methods
it employs, the standard it inculcates, incline
it to neither East nor West, neither Jew nor
Gentile, neither rich nor poor, neither white
nor colored. Its watchword is the unification
of the human race; its standard the "Most
Great Peace"; its consummation the advent
of that golden millennium — the Day when
the kingdoms of this world shall have become
the Kingdom of God Himself, the Kingdom
of BahaVllah. (February 8, 1934.)
THE UNFOLDMENT OF WORLD CIVILIZATION
your co-sharer in the building up of
the New World Order which the mind of
BahaVllah has visioned, and whose features
the pen of 'Abdu'1-Baha, its perfect Archi-
tect, has delineated, I pause to contemplate
with you the scene which the revolution of
well-nigh fifteen years after His passing un-
folds before us.
The contrast between the accumulating
evidences of steady consolidation that accom-
pany the rise of the Administrative Order
of the Faith of God, and the forces of dis-
integration which batter at the fabric of a
travailing society, is as clear as it is arresting.
Both within and outside the Baha'i world the
signs and tokens which, in a mysterious man-
ner, are heralding the birth of that World
Order, the establishment of which must
signalize the Golden Age of the Cause of
God, are growing and multiplying day by
day. No fair-minded observer can any
longer fail to discern them. He cannot be
misled by the painful slowness characterizing
the unfoldment of the civilization which the
followers of BahaVllah are laboring to estab-
lish. Nor can he be deluded by the ephem-
eral manifestations of returning prosperity
which at times appear to be capable of check-
ing the disruptive influence of the chronic
ills afflicting the institutions of a decaying
age. The signs of the times are too numerous
and compelling to allow him to mistake their
character or to belittle their significance. He
can, if he be fair in his judgment, recognize
in the chain of events which proclaim on
the one hand the irresistible march of the
institutions directly associated with the Reve-
lation of BahaVllah and foreshadow on the
other the downfall of those powers and prin-
cipalities that have either ignored or opposed
it — he can recognize in them all evidences of
the operation of God's all-pervasive Will, the
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
297
shaping of His perfectly ordered and world-
embracing Plan.
"Soon," Baha'u'llah's own words proclaim
it, "will the present day Order be rolled up,
and a new one spread out in its stead. Verily,
thy Lord speaketh the truth and is the
Knower of things unseen" "By Myself,"
He solemnly asserts, "the day is approaching
when We will have rolled up the world and
all that is therein, and spread out a new
Order in its stead. He, verily, is powerful
over all things" "The world's equilibrium"
He explains, "hath been upset through the
vibrating influence of this Most Great, this
new World Order. Mankind's ordered life
hath been revolutionized through the agency
of this unique, this wondrous System, the
like of which mortal eyes have never wit-
nessed " "The signs of impending convul-
sions and chaos," He warns the peoples of
the world, "can now be discerned, inasmuch
as the prevailing Order appeareth to be la-
mentably defective."
Dearly-beloved friends! This New World
Order, whose promise is enshrined in the
Revelation of Baha'u'llah, whose funda-
mental principles have been enunciated in
the writings of the Center of His Covenant,
involves no less than the complete unifica-
tion of the entire human race. This unifi-
cation should conform to such principles as
would directly harmonize with the spirit
that animates, and the laws that govern the
operation of, the institutions that already
constitute the structural basis of the Admin-
istrative Order of His Faith.
No machinery falling short of the stand-
ard inculcated by the Baha'i Revelation, and
at variance with the sublime pattern ordained
in His teachings, which the collective efforts
of mankind may yet devise can ever hope to
achieve anything above or beyond that "Les-
ser Peace" to which the Author of our Faith
has Himself alluded in His writings. "Now
that ye have refused the Most Great Peace,"
He, admonishing the kings and rulers of the
earth, has written, "hold ye fast unto this
the Lesser Peace, that haply ye may in some
degree better your own condition and that
of your dependents" Expatiating on this
Lesser Peace, He thus addresses in that same
Tablet the rulers of the earth: "Be reconciled
among yourselves, that ye may need no more
armaments save in a measure to safeguard
your territories and dominions. . . . Be
united, O kings of the earth, for thereby will
the tempest of discord be stilled amongst
you, and your peoples find rest, if ye be of
them that comprehend. Should any one
among you take up arms against another, rise
ye all against him, for this is naught but
manifest justice"
The Most Great Peace, on the other hand,
as conceived by Baha'u'llah — a peace that
must inevitably follow, as the practical con-
sequence of the spiritualization of the world
and the fusion of all its races, creeds, classes
and nations — can rest on no other basis, and
can be preserved through no other agency,
except the divinely appointed ordinances that
are implicit in the World Order that stands
associated with His holy name. In His Tab-
let, revealed almost seventy years ago to
Queen Victoria, BahaVllah, alluding to this
Most Great Peace, has declared: "That which
the Lord hath ordained as the sovereign
remedy and mightiest instrument for the
healing of all the world is the union of all
its peoples in one universal Cause, one com-
mon Faith. This can in no wise be achieved
except through the power of a skilled, an
all-powerful and inspired Physician. This,
verily, is the truth, and all else naught but
error. . . . Consider these days in which the
Ancient Beauty, He Who is the Most Great
Name, hath been sent down to regenerate
and unify mankind. Behold how with drawn
swords they rose against Him, and committed
that which caused the Faithful Spirit to
tremble. And whenever We said unto them:
fLo, the World Reformer is come,9 they made
reply: 'He, in truth, is one of the stirrers of
mischief.'" "It beseemeth all men in this
Day," He, in another Tablet, asserts, "to
take firm hold on the Most Great Name, and
to establish the unity of all mankind. There
is no place to flee to, no refuge that any one
can seek, except Him"
Humanity's Coming of Age
The Revelation of BahaVllah, whose su-
preme mission is none other but the achieve-
ment of this organic and spiritual unity of
the whole body of nations, should, if we be
faithful to its implications, be regarded as
signalizing through its advent the coming of
298
THE BAHA'f WORLD
age of the entire human race. It should be
viewed not merely as yet another spiritual
revival in the ever-changing fortunes of man-
kind, not only as a further stage in a chain
of progressive Revelations, nor even as the
culmination of one of a series of recurrent
prophetic cycles, but rather as marking the
last and highest stage in the stupendous evo-
lution of man's collective life on this planet.
The emergence of a world community, the
consciousness of world citizenship, the found-
ing of a world civilization and culture — all
of which must synchronize with the initial
stages in the unfoldment of the Golden Age
of the Baha'i Era — should, by their very
nature, be regarded, as far as this planetary
life is concerned, as the further-most limits
in the organization of human society, though
man, as an individual, will, nay, must indeed
as a result of such a consummation, continue
indefinitely to progress and develop.
That mystic, all-pervasive, yet indefinable
change, which we associate with the stage of
maturity inevitable in the life of the individ-
ual and the development of the fruit must,
if we would correctly apprehend the utter-
ances of BahaVllah, have its counterpart in
the evolution of the organization of human
society. A similar stage must sooner or later
be attained in the collective life of mankind,
producing an even more striking phenome-
non in world relations, and endowing the
whole human race with such potentialities of
well-being as shall provide, throughout the
succeeding ages, the chief incentive required
for the eventual fulfillment of its high des-
tiny. Such a stage of maturity in the process
of human government must, for all time, if
we would faithfully recognize the tremen-
dous claim advanced by BahaVllah, remain
identified with the Revelation of which He
was the Bearer.
In one of the most characteristic passages
He Himself has revealed, He testifies in a
language that none can mistake to the truth
of this distinguishing principle of Bahd'i be-
lief: "It hath been decreed by Us that the
Word of God and all the potentialities
thereof shall be manifested unto men in strict
conformity with such conditions as have
been foreordained by Him Who is the All-
Knowing, the All-Wise. . . . Should the
Word be allowed to release suddenly all the
energies latent within it, no man could sus-
tain the weight of so mighty a revelation.
. . . Consider that which hath been sent
down unto Muhammad, the Apostle of God.
The measure of the Revelation of which He
was the Bearer had been clearly foreordained
by Him Who is the Almighty, the All-Pow-
erful. They that heard Him, however, could
apprehend His purpose only to the extent of
their station and spiritual capacity. He, in
like manner, uncovered the Face of Wisdom
in proportion to their ability to sustain the
burden of His Message. No sooner had man-
kind attained the stage of maturity, than the
Word revealed to men's eyes the latest en-
ergies with which it had been endowed —
energies which manifested themselves in
the plenitude of their glory when the
Ancient Beauty appeared, in the year
sixty, in the person of 'Alt -Muhammad,
the Bab."
'Abdu'1-Baha, elucidating this funda-
mental verity, has written: "All created
things have their degree or stage of maturity.
The period of maturity^in the life of a tree
is the time of its fruit -bear ing. . . . The
animal attains a stage of full growth and
completeness, and in the human kingdom
man reaches his maturity when the light of
his intelligence attains its greatest power and
development. . . . Similarly there are periods
and stages in the collective life of humanity.
At one time it was passing through its stage
of childhood, at another its period of youth,
but now it has entered its long-predicted
phase of maturity, the evidences of which are
everywhere apparent. . . . That which was
applicable to human needs during the early
history of the race can neither meet nor sat-
isfy the demands of this day, this period of
newness and consummation. Humanity has
emerged from its former state of limitation
and preliminary training. Man must now
become imbued with new virtues and powers,
new moral standards, new capacities. New
bounties, perfect bestowals, are awaiting and
already descending upon him. The gifts and
blessings of the period of youth, although
timely and sufficient during the adolescence
of mankind, are now incapable of meeting
the requirements of its maturity."
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299
300
THE BAHA'f WORLD
The Process of Integration
Such a unique and momentous crisis in the
life of organized mankind may, moreover,
be likened to the culminating stage in the
political evolution of the great American Re-
public— the stage which marked the emerg-
ence of a unified community of federated
states. The stirring of a new national con-
sciousness, and the birth of a new type of
civilization, infinitely richer and nobler than
any which its component parts could have
severally hoped to achieve, may be said to
have proclaimed the coming of age of the
American people. Within the territorial
limits of this nation, this consummation may
be viewed as the culmination of the process
of human government. The diversified and
loosely related elements of a divided com-
munity were brought together, unified and
incorporated into one coherent system.
Though this entity may continue gaining in
cohesive power, though the unity already
achieved may be further consolidated, though
the civilization to which that unity could
alone have given birth may expand and flour-
ish, yet the machinery essential to such an
unfoldment may be said to have been, in its
essential structure, erected, and the impulse
required to guide and sustain it may be re-
garded as having been fundamentally im-
parted. No stage above and beyond this
consummation of national unity can, within
the geographical limits of that nation, be
imagined, though the highest destiny of its
people, as a constituent element in a still
larger entity that will embrace the whole
of mankind, may still remain unfulfilled.
Considered as an isolated unit, however, this
process of integration may be said to have
reached its highest and final consummation.
Such is the stage to which an evolving
humanity is collectively approaching. The
Revelation entrusted by the Almighty Or-
dainer to BahaVllah, His followers firmly
believe, has been endowed with such poten-
tialities as are commensurate with the ma-
turity of the human race — the crowning and
most momentous stage in its evolution from
infancy to manhood.
The successive Founders of all past Re-
ligions Who, from time immemorial, have
shed, with ever-increasing intensity, the
splendor of one common Revelation at the
various spages which have marked the ad-
vance of mankind towards maturity may
thus, in a sense, be regarded as preliminary
Manifestations, anticipating and paving the
way for the advent of that Day of Days
when the whole earth will have fructified and
the tree of humanity will have yielded its
destined fruit.
Incontrovertible as is this truth, its chal-
lenging character should never be allowed to
obscure the purpose, or distort the principle,
underlying the utterances of Baha'u'llah —
utterances that have established for all time
the absolute oneness of all the Prophets, Him-
self included, whether belonging to the past
or to the future. Though the mission of the
Prophets preceding Baha'u'llah may be
viewed in that light, though the measure of
Divine Revelation with which each has been
entrusted must, as a result of this process of
evolution, necessarily differ, their common
origin, their essential unity, their identity of
purpose, should at no time and under no cir-
cumstances be misapprehended or denied.
That all the Messengers of God should be
regarded as "abiding in the same Tabernacle)
soaring in the same Heaven, seated upon the
same Throne, uttering the same Speech, and
proclaiming the same Faith" must, however
much we may extol the measure of Divine
Revelation vouchsafed to mankind at this
crowning stage of its evolution, remain the
unalterable foundation and central tenet of
Baha'i belief. Any variations in the splendor
which each of these Manifestations of the
Light of God has shed upon the world should
be ascribed not to any inherent superiority
involved in the essential character of any one
of them, but rather to the progressive ca-
pacity, the ever-increasing spiritual recep-
tiveness, which mankind, in its progress to-
wards maturity, has invariably manifested,
The Final Consummation
Only those who are willing to associate the
Revelation proclaimed by Baha'u'llah with
the consummation of so stupendous an evo-
lution in the collective life of the whole
human race can grasp the significance of the
words which He, while alluding to the glories
of this promised Day and to the duration of
the Bahi'i Era, has deemed fit to utter. "This
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
301
is the King of Days/' He exclaims, "the Day
that hath seen the coming of the Best-Be-
loved, Him Who, through all eternity, hath
been acclaimed the Desire of the World'9
"The Scriptures of past Dispensations'9 He
further asserts, "celebrate the great jubilee
that must needs greet this most great Day of
God. Well is it with him tkat hath lived to
see this Day and hath recognized its station"
"It is evident99 He, in another passage ex-
plains, "that every age in which a Manifesta-
tion of God hath lived is divinely-ordained,
and mayy in a sense, be characterized as God's
appointed Day. This Day, however, is
unique, and is to be distinguished from those
that have preceded it. The designation 'Seal
of the Prophets9 fully revealeth its high sta-
tion. The Prophetic Cycle hath verily ended.
The Eternal Truth is now come. He hath
lifted up the ensign of power, and is now
shedding upon the world the unclouded
splendor of His Revelation." "In this most
mighty Revelation," He, in categorical lan-
guage, declares, "all the Dispensations of the
past have attained their highest, their final
consummation. That which hath been made
manifest in this preeminent, this most exalted
Revelation, standeth unparalleled in the an-
nals of the past, nor will future ages witness
its like.99
'Abdu'l-Baha's authentic pronouncements
should, likewise, be recalled as confirming,
in no less emphatic manner, the unexampled
vastness of the Baha'i Dispensation. "Cen-
turies," He affirms in one of His Tablets,
"nay, countless ages, must pass away ere the
Day-Star of Truth shineth again in its mid-
summer splendor, or appeareth once more in
the radiance of its vernal glory. . . . The mere
contemplation of the Dispensation inaugu-
rated by the Blessed Beauty would have suf-
ficed to overwhelm the saints of bygone ages
— saints who longed to partake, for one mo-
ment, of its great glory.99 "Concerning the
Manifestations that will come down in the
future 'in the shadows of the clouds9 99 He,
in a still more definite language, affirms,
"know, verily, that in so far as their relation
to the Source of their inspiration is con-
cerned, they are under the shadow of the
Ancient Beauty. In their relation, however,
to the age in which they appear, each and
every one of them 'doetb whatsoever He
willeth.9" "This holy Dispensation99 He,
alluding to the Revelation of Bahi Vllah, ex-
plains, "is illumined with the light of the
Sun of Truth shining from its most exalted
station, and in the plenitude of its resplend-
ency, its heat and glory"
Pangs of Death and Birth
Dearly-beloved friends: Though the Reve-
lation of BahaVllah has been delivered, the
World Order which such a Revelation must
needs beget is as yet unborn. Though the
Heroic Age of His Faith is passed, the crea-
tive energies which that Age has released have
not as yet crystallized into that world so-
ciety which, in the fullness of time, is to
mirror forth the brightness of His. glory.
Though the framework of His Administra-
tive Order has been erected, and the Forma-
tive Period of the Baha'i Era has begun, yet
the promised Kingdom into which the seed of
His institutions must ripen remains as yet
uninaugurated. Though His Voice has been
raised, and the ensigns of His Faith have been
lifted up in no less than forty countries of
both the East and the West, yet the whole-
ness of the human race is as yet unrecog-
nized, its unity unproclaimed, and the stand-
ard of its Most Great Peace unhoisted.
"The heights,99 Baha'u'llah Himself testi-
fies, "which, through the most gracious favor
of God, mortal man can attain in this Day
are as yet unrevealed to his sight. The world
of being hath never had, nor doth it yet
possess, the capacity of such a revelation.
The day, however, is approaching when the
potentialities of so great a favor will, by
virtue of His behest, be manifested unto
men.99
For the revelation of so great a favor a
period of intense turmoil and wide-spread
suffering would seem to be indispensable.
Resplendent as has been the Age that has
witnessed the inception of the Mission with
which Baha'u'llah has been entrusted, the
interval which must elapse ere that Age
yields its choicest fruit must, it is becoming
increasingly apparent, be overshadowed by
such moral and social gloom as can alone
prepare an unrepentant humanity for the
prize she is destined to inherit.
Into such a period we are now steadily and
irresistibly moving. Amidst the shadows
302
THE BAHA'f WORLD
which are increasingly gathering about us
we can faintly discern the glimmerings of
Baha'u'llah's unearthly sovereignty appearing
fitfully on the horizon of history. To us,
the "generation of the half-light," living at
a time which may be designated as the period
of the incubation of the World Common-
wealth envisaged by Baha'u'llah, has been
assigned a task whose high privilege we can
never sufficiently appreciate, and the arduous-
ness of which we can as yet but dimly recog-
nize. We may well believe, we who are called
upon to experience the operation of the dark
forces destined to unloose a flood of agonizing
afflictions, that the darkest hour that must
precede the dawn of the Golden Age of our
Faith has not yet struck. Deep as is the
gloom that already encircles the world, the
afflictive ordeals which that world is to suffer
are still in preparation, nor can their black-
ness be as yet imagined. We stand on the
threshold of an age whose convulsions pro-
claim alike the death-pangs of the old order
and the birth-pangs of the new. Through
the generating influence of the Faith an-
nounced by Baha'u'llah this New World
Order may be said to have been conceived.
We can, at the present moment, experience
its stirrings in the womb of a travailing age
— an age waiting for the appointed hour at
which it can cast its burden and yield its
fairest fruit.
"The whole earth," writes Baha'u'llah, "is
now In a state of pregnancy. The day is
approaching when it will have yielded its
noblest fruits, when from it will have sprung
forth the loftiest trees, the most enchanting
blossoms, the most heavenly blessings. Im-
measurably exalted is the breeze that wafteth
from the garment of thy Lord, the Glorified!
For lo, it hath breathed its fragrance and
made all things new! Well is it with them
that comprehend'9 "The onrushing winds
of the grace of God," He, in the Suratu'l-
Haykal, proclaims, "have passed over all
things. Every creature hath been endowed
with all the potentialities it can carry. And
yet the peoples of the world have denied this
grace! Every tree hath been endowed with
the choicest fruits, every ocean enriched with
the most luminous gems. Man, himself, hath
been invested with the gifts of understand-
ing and knowledge. The whole creation hath
been made the recipient of the revelation of
the All-Merciful, and the earth the repository
of things inscrutable to all except God, the
Truth, the Knower of things unseen. The
time is approaching when every created
thing will have cast its burden. Glorified be
God Who hath vouchsafed this grace that
encompasseth all things, whether seen or un-
seen!"
"The Call of God," 'Abdu'1-Baha has
written, "when raised, breathed a new life
hito the body of mankind, and infused a
new spirit into the whole creation. It is for
this reason that the world hath been moved
to its depths, and the hearts and consciences
of men been quickened. Erelong the evi-
dences of this regeneration will be revealed,
and the fast asleep will be awakened"
Universal Fermentation
As we view the world around us, we are
compelled to observe the manifold evidences
of that universal fermentation which, in
every continent of the globe and in every
department of human life, be it religious,
social, economic or political, is purging and
reshaping humanity in anticipation of the
Day when the wholeness of the human race
will have been recognized and its unity estab-
lished. A two-fold process, however, can be
distinguished, each tending, in its own way
and with an accelerated momentum, to bring
to a climax the forces that are transforming
the face of our planet. The first is essentially
an integrating process, while the second is
fundamentally disruptive. The former, as it
steadily evolves, unfolds a System which may
well serve as a pattern for that world polity
towards which a strangely disordered world
is continually advancing; while the latter,
as its disintegrating influence deepens, tends
to tear down, with increasing violence, the
antiquated barriers that seek to block hu-
manity's progress towards its destined goal.
The constructive process stands associated
with the nascent Faith of Baha'u'llah, and is
the harbinger of the New World Order that
Faith must erelong establish. The destruc-
tive forces that characterize the other should
be identified with a civilization that has
refused to answer to the expectation of a
new age, and is consequently falling into
chaos and decline.
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
303
A titanic, a spiritual struggle, unparal-
leled in its magnitude yet unspeakably glori-
ous in its ultimate consequences, is being
waged as a result of these opposing tenden-
cies, in this age of transition through which
the organized community of the followers of
Baha'u'llah and mankind as a whole are pass-
ing.
The Spirit that has incarnated itself in the
institutions of a rising Faith has, in the course
of its onward march for the redemption of
the world, encountered and is now battling
with such forces as are, in most instances, the
very negation of that Spirit, and whose con-
tinued existence must inevitably hinder it
from achieving its purpose. The hollow and
outworn institutions, the obsolescent doc-
trines and beliefs, the effete and discredited
traditions which these forces represent, it
should be observed, have, in certain instances,
been undermined by virtue of their senility,
the loss of their cohesive power, and their
own inherent corruption. A few have been
swept away by the onrushing forces which
the Baha'i Faith has, at the hour of its birth,
so mysteriously released. Others, as a direct
result of a vain and feeble resistance to its rise
in the initial stages of its development, have
died out and been utterly discredited. Still
others, fearful of the pervasive influence of
the institutions in which that same Spirit had,
at a later stage, been embodied, had mobilized
their forces and launched their attack, des-
tined to sustain, in their turn, after a brief
and illusory success, an ignominious .defeat.
This Age of Transition
It is not my purpose to call to mind, much
less to attempt a detailed analysis of, the
spiritual struggles that have ensued, or to
note the victories that have redounded to the
glory of the Faith of Baha'u'lldh since the
day of its foundation. My chief concern is
not with the happenings that have distin-
guished the First, the Apostolic Age of the
Baha'i Dispensation, but rather with the out-
standing events that are transpiring in, and
the tendencies which characterize, the forma-
tive period of its development, this Age of
Transition, whose tribulations are the precur-
sors of that Era of blissful felicity which is
to incarnate God's ultimate purpose for all
mankind.
To the catastrophic fall of mighty king-
doms and empires, on the eve of 'Abdu'l-
Baha's departure, Whose passing may be said
to have ushered in the opening phase of the
Age of Transition in which we now five, I
have, in a previous communication, briefly
alluded. The dissolution of the German
Empire, the humiliating defeat inflicted upon
its ruler, the successor and lineal descendant
of the Prussian King and Emperor to whom
Baha'u'llah had addressed His solemn and
historic warning, together with the extinc-
tion of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, the
remnant of the oncp-great Holy Roman Em-
pire, were both precipitated by a war whose
outbreak signalized the opening of the Age of
Frustration destined to precede the establish-
ment of the World Order of Baha'u'llah.
Both of these momentous events may be
viewed as the earliest occurrences of that
turbulent Age, into the outer fringes of
whose darkest phase we are now beginning
to enter.
To the Conqueror of Napoleon III, the
Author of our Faith had, on the morrow of
the King's victory, addressed, in His Most
Holy Book, this clear and ominous warning:
"O King of Berlin! . . . Take heed lest pride
debar thee from recognizing the Dayspring
of Divine Revelation, lest earthly desires shut
thee out, as by a veil, from the Lord of the
Throne above and of the earth below. Thus
counseleth thee the Pen of the Most High.
He, verily, is the Most Gracious, the All-
Bountiful. Do thou remember the one whose
power transcended thy power (Napoleon
III), and whose station excelled thy station.
Where is he? Whither are gone the things
he possessed? Take warning, and be not of
them that are fast asleep. He it was who
cast the Tablet of God behind him, when
We made known unto him what the hosts of
tyranny had caused Us to suffer. Where-
fore, disgrace assailed him from all sides, and
he went down to dust in great loss. Think
deeply, O King, concerning him, and con-
cerning them who, like unto thee, have con-
quered cities and ruled over men. The
All-Merciful brought them down from their
palaces to their graves. Be warned, be of
them who reflect."
"O banks of the Rhine!" BahdVllah, in
another passage of that same Book, prophe-
Titt oi the held if
Baha'is of Sydney, Australia, welcome a traveling friend from America, Mrs. Nellie
French, seated between "Father and Mother Dunn," the pioneers of the Cause in the
Southern Hemisphere.
304
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
30J
sies, "We have seen you covered with gore,
inasmuch as the swords of retribution were
drawn against you; and so you shall have
another turn. And We hear the lamenta-
tions of Berlin, though she be today in con-
spicuous glory" . . .
Divine Retribution
The whole of mankind is groaning, is dy-
ing to be led to unity, and to terminate its
age-long martyrdom. And yet it stubbornly
refuses to embrace the light and acknowledge
the sovereign authority of the one Power that
can extricate it from its entanglements, and
avert the woeful calamity that threatens to
engulf it.
Ominous indeed is the voice of Baha'u-
'llah that rings through these prophetic
words: rrO ye peoples of the world! Know,
verily, that an unforeseen calamity follow-
eth you, and grievous retribution awaiteth
yon. Think not that which ye have com-
mitted hath been effaced in My sight " And
again: "We have a fixed time for you, O
peoples. If ye jail, at the appointed hour,
to turn towards God, He, verily, will lay
violent hold on you, and will cause grievous
afflictions to assail you from every direction.
How severe, indeed, is the chastisement with
which your Lord will then chastise you!"
Must humanity, tormented as she now is,
be afflicted with still severer tribulations ere
their purifying influence can prepare her to
enter the heavenly Kingdom destined to be
established upon earth? Must the inaugu-
ration of so vast, so unique, so illumined an
era in human history be ushered in by so
great a catastrophe in human affairs as to
recall, nay surpass, the appalling collapse of
Roman civilization in the first centuries of
the Christian Era? Must a series of profound
convulsions stir and rock the human race ere
BahaVllah can be enthroned in the hearts
and consciences of the masses, ere His undis-
puted ascendancy is universally recognized,
and the noble edifice of His World Order is
reared and established?
The long ages of infancy and childhood,
through which the human race had to pass,
have receded into the background. Human-
ity is now experiencing the commotions in-
variably associated with the most turbulent
stage of its evolution, the stage of adoles-
cence, when the impetuosity of youth and
its vehemence reach their climax, and must
gradually be superseded by the calmness, the
wisdom, and the maturity that characterize
the stage of manhood. Then will the human
race reach that stature of ripeness which will
enable it to acquire all the powers and ca-
pacities upon which its ultimate development
must depend.
World Unity the Goal
Unification of the whole of mankind is
the hall-mark of the stage which human
society is now approaching. Unity of fam-
ily, of tribe, of city-state, and nation have
been successively attempted and fully estab-
lished. World unity is the goal towards
which a harassed humanity is striving. Na-
tion-building has come to an end. The an-
archy inherent in state sovereignty is moving
towards a climax. A world, growing to ma-
turity, must abandon this fetish, recognize
the oneness and wholeness of human relation-
ships, and establish once for all the machin-
ery that can best incarnate this fundamental
principle of its life.
"A new life," Baha'u'llah proclaims, "is,
in this age, stirring within all the peoples of
the earth; and yet none hath discovered its
cause, or perceived its motive" ffO ye chil-
dren of men," He thus addresses His genera-
tion, ffthe fundamental purpose animating
the faith of God and His Religion is to safe-
guard the interests and promote the unity of
the human race. . . . This is the straight
path, the fixed and immovable foundation.
Whatsoever it raised on this foundation, the
changes and chances of the world can never
impair its strength, nor will the revolution
of countless centuries undermine its struc-
ture." "The well-being of mankind," He
declares, "its peace and security are unattain-
able unless and until its unity is firmly estab-
lished." "So powerful is the light of unity,"
is His further testimony, "that it can illu-
minate the whole earth. The one true God,
He Who knoweth all things, Himself testi-
fieth to the truth of these words. . . , This
goal excelleth every other goal, and this
aspiration is the monarch of all aspirations"
"He Who is your Lord, the All-Merciful,"
He moreover, has written, "cherisheth in His
heart the desire of beholding the entire hu-
306
THE BAHA'l WORLD
man race as one soul and one body. Haste
ye to win your share of God*s good grace and
mercy in this Day that eclipseth all other
created days"
The unity of the human race, as envisaged
by Baha'u'llah, implies the establishment of
a world commonwealth in which all nations,
races, creeds and classes are closely and per-
manently united, and in which the autonomy
of its state members and the personal free-
dom and initiative of the individuals that
compose them are definitely and completely
safeguarded. This commonwealth must, as
far as we can visualize it, consist of a world
legislature, whose members will, as the trus-
tees of the whole of mankind, ultimately
control the entire resources of all the com-
ponent nations, and will enact such laws as
shall be required to regulate the life, satisfy
the needs and adjust the relationships of all
races and peoples. A world executive, backed
by an international Force, will carry out the
decisions arrived at, and apply the laws en-
acted by, this world legislature, and will
safeguard the organic unity of the whole
commonwealth. A world tribunal will ad-
judicate and deliver its compulsory and final
verdict in all and any disputes that may arise
between the various elements constituting
this universal system. A mechanism of
world inter-communication will be devised,
embracing the whole planet, freed from na-
tional hindrances and restrictions, and func-
tioning with marvellous swiftness and per-
fect regularity. A world metropolis will act
as the nerve center of a world civilization,
the focus towards which the unifying forces
of life will converge and from which its en-
ergizing influences will radiate. A world
language will either be invented or chosen
from among the existing languages and will
be taught in the schools of all the federated
nations as an auxiliary to their mother
tongue. A world script, a world literature, a
uniform and universal system of currency,
of weights and measures will simplify and
facilitate intercourse and understanding
among the nations and races of mankind. In
such a world society, science and religion,
the two most potent forces in human life,
will be reconciled, will cooperate, and will
harmoniously develop. The press will, under
such a system, while giving full scope to the
expression of the diversified views and con-
victions of mankind, cease to be mischiev-
ously manipulated by vested interests,
whether private or public, and will be lib-
erated from the influence of contending gov-
ernments and peoples. The economic re-
sources of the world will be organized, its
sources of raw materials will be tapped and
fully utilized, its markets will be coordinated
and developed, and the distribution of its
products will be equitably regulated.
National rivalries, hatreds, and intrigues
will cease, and racial animosity and prejudice
will be replaced by racial amity, understand-
ing and cooperation. The causes of religious
strife will be permanently removed, economic
barriers and restrictions will be completely
abolished, and the inordinate distinction be-
tween classes will be obliterated. Destitution
on the one hand, and gross accumulation of
ownership on the other, will disappear. The
enormous energy dissipated and wasted on
war, whether economic or political, will be
consecrated to such ends as will extend the
range of human inventions and technical de-
velopment, to the increase of the productiv-
ity of mankind, to the extermination of dis-
ease, to the extension of scientific research,
to the raising of the standard of physical
health, to the sharpening and refinement of
the human brain, to the exploitation of
the unused and unsuspected resources of
the planet, to the prolongation of human
life, and to the furtherance of any other
agency that can stimulate the intellectual,
the moral, and spiritual life of the entire
human race.
A world federal system, ruling the whole
earth and exercising unchallengeable author-
ity over its unimaginably vast resources,
blending and embodying the ideals of both
the East and the West, liberated from the
curse of war and its miseries, and bent on the
exploitation of all the available sources of
energy on the surface of the planet, a system
in which Force is made the servant of Jus-
tice, whose life is sustained by its universal
recognition of one God and by its allegiance
to one common Revelation — such is the goal
towards which humanity, impelled by the
unifying forces of life, is moving.
"One of the great events," affirms 'Abd-
u'l-Baha, "-which is to occur in the Day
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
307
of the manifestation of that incomparable
Branch is the hoisting of the Standard of
God among all nations. By this is meant
that all nations and kindreds will be gathered
together under the shadow of this Divine
Banner, -which is no other than the Lordly
Branch itself, and will become a single na-
tion. Religious and sectarian antagonism,
the hostility of races and peoples, and differ-
ences among nations, will be eliminated. All
men will adhere to one religion, will have one
common faith, will be blended into one race
and become a single people. All will dwell
in one common fatherland, which is the
planet itself" "Now, in the world of be-
ing," He has moreover explained, "the Hand
of Divine power hath firmly laid the founda-
tions of this all-highest bounty, and this
wondrous gift. Whatsoever is latent in the
innermost of this holy Cycle shall gradually
appear and be made manifest, for now is but
the beginning of its growth, and the day-
spring of the revelation of its signs. Ere the
close of this century and of this age, it shall
be made clear and evident how wondrous was
that spring-tide, and how heavenly was that
gift."
No less enthralling is the vision of Isaiah,
the greatest of the Hebrew Prophets, pre-
dicting, as far back as twenty-five hundred
years ago, the destiny which mankind must,
at its stage of maturity, achieve: f'AnJ He
(the Lord) shall judge among the nations,
and shall rebuke many people: and they shall
beat their swords into plowshares, and their
spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not
lift up sword against nation, neither shall
they learn war any more. . . . And there
shall come forth a rod out of the stem of
Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his
roots. . . . And he shall smite the earth with
the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of
his lips shall he slay the wicked. And right-
eousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and
faithfulness the girdle of his reins. The wolf
also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leo-
pard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf
and the young lion and the fatling together.
..... And the sucking child shall play on the
hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall
put his hand on the cockatrice9 s den. They
shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy
mountain: for the earth shall be full of the
knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover
the sea."
The writer of the Apocalypse, prefiguring
the millennial glory which a redeemed, a
jubilant humanity must witness, has simi-
larly testified: "And 1 saw a new heaven and
a new earth: for the first heaven and the first
earth were passed away; and there was no
more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city,
new Jerusalem, coming down from God out
of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for
her husband. And I heard a great voice out
of heaven saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle of
God is with men, and he will dwell with
them, and they shall be his people, and God
himself shall be with them, and be their God.
And God shall wipe away all tears from their
eyes; and there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there
be any more pain: for the former things are
passed away.9 "
Who can doubt that such a consummation
— the coming of age of the human race —
must signalize, in its turn, the inauguration
of a world civilization such as no mortal eye
hath ever beheld or human mind conceived?
Who is it that can imagine the lofty stand-
ard which such a civilization, as it unfolds
itself, is destined to attain? Who can meas-
ure the heights to which human intelligence,
liberated from its shackles, will soar? Who
can visualize the realms which the human
spirit, vitalized by the outpouring light of
BahaVllah, shining in the plenitude of its
glory, will discover?
What more fitting conclusion to this
theme than these words of Baha'u'll&h, writ-
ten in anticipation of the golden age of His
Faith — the age in which the face of the
earth, from pole to pole, will mirror the
ineffable splendors of the Abha Paradise?
"This is the Day whereon naught can be
seen except the splendors of the Light that
shineth from the face of thy Lord, the
Gracious, the Most Bountiful. Verily, We
have catised every soul to expire by virtue of
Our irresistible and all-subduing sovereignty.
We have then called into being a new crea-
tion, as a token of Our grace unto men. I
am, verily, the All-Bountiful, the Ancient
of Days. This is the Day whereon the un-
seen world crieth out: *Great is thy blessed-
ness, O earth, for thou hast been made the
308
THE BAHA'f WORLD
foot-stool of thy God, and been chosen as the
seat of His mighty throne!' The realm of
glory exclaimeth: 'Would th&t my life could
be sacrificed for thee, for He Who is the Be-
loved of the All-Merciful hath established
His sovereignty upon thee, through the
power of His name that hath been promised
unto all things, whether of the past or of the
future.' "
(March 11, 1936.)
THE SPIRIT AND FORM (5F THE BAHA'I
ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER
"And now as I look into the future, 1 hope to see the friends at all times, in- every land,
and of every shade of thought and character, voluntarily and joyously rallying round
their local and in particular their national centers of activ&y, upholding and promoting
their interests with complete unanimity and contentment, with perfect understanding,
genuine enthusiasm, and sustained vigor. This indeed is the one joy and yearning of my
life, for it is the fountain-head from which all future blessings will flow, the broad
foundation upon which the security of the Divine Edifice must ultimately rest." —
SHOGHI EFFENDI.
FOREWORD
The 1926-27 National Spiritual Assembly
of the Baha'is of the United States and Can-
ada completed a task which, while pertaining
to the outer and more material aspects of the
Cause, nevertheless has a special significance
for its spirit and inward sacred purpose. This
task consisted in creating in a legal form
which gives proper substance and substantial
character to the administrative processes em-
bodied in the Baha'i Teachings. The form
adopted was that known as a Voluntary
Trust, a species of corporation recognized
under the common law and possessing a long
and interesting history. The famous Cove-
nant adopted by the Pilgrim Fathers on the
Mayflower, the first legal document in
American history, is of the same nature as
the Declaration of Trust voted by the Na-
tional Spiritual Assembly. This Declaration
of Trust, with its attendant By-Laws, is
published for the information of the Baha'is
of the world. Careful examination of the
Declaration and its By-Laws will reveal the
fact that this document contains no arbi-
trary elements nor features new to the Baha'i
Cause. On the contrary, it represents a most
conscientious effort to reflect those very ad-
ministrative principles and elements already
set forth In the letters of the Guardian,
Shoghi Effendi, and already determining the
methods and relationships of Baha'i collec-
tive association. The provision both in the
Declaration and in the By-Laws for amend-
ments in the future will permit the National
Spiritual Assembly to adapt this document
to such new administrative elements or prin-
ciples as the Guardian may at any time give
forth. The Declaration, in fact, is nothing
more or less than a legal parallel of those
moral and spiritual laws of unity inherent in
the fullness of the Baha'i Revelation and
making it the fulfillment of the ideal of Re-
ligion in the social as well as spiritual realm.
Because in the Baha'i Faith this perfect cor-
respondence exists between spiritual and so-
cial laws, the Baha'is believe that administra-
tive success is identical with moral success;
and that nothing less than the true Bahd'i
spirit of devotion and sacrifice can inspire
with effective power the world-wide body of
unity, revealed by Baha'u'll&h. Therefore it
has seemed fitting and proper to accompany
the Declaration of Trust with excerpts from
the letters of Shoghi Effendi which furnished
the source whence the provisions of the
Declaration were drawn, and which further-
more give due emphasis to that essential
spirit without which any and every social or
religious form is but a dead and soulless body.
Horace Holley.
Certificate of Incorporation of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the
United States and Canada.
309
Declaration of Trust and By-Laws of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of
the United States and Canada.
310
DECLARATION OF TRUST
By the National Spiritual Assembly of the BaW'is of the
United Stated and Canada
We, Allen B. McDaniel of Washington, D. C, Horace Holley of New
York City, N. Y., Carl Scheffler of Evanston, III, Roy C. Wilhelm of
West Englewood, N. J., Florence Morton of Worcester, Mass., Amelia
Collins of Princeton, Mass., Ali-Kuli Khan of New York City, N. Y.,
Mountfort Mills of New York City, N. Y., and Siegfried Schop-
flocher of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, duly chosen by the repre-
sentatives of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada at the
Annual Meeting held at San Francisco, Calif., on April 29, April
30, May i, and May 2, 1926, to be the National Spiritual As-
sembly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada, with full
power to establish a Trust as hereinafter set forth, hereby declare that
from this date the powers, responsibilities, rights, privileges and obliga-
tions reposed in said National Spiritual Assembly of'the Baha'is of
the United States and Canada by Baha'u'llah, Founder of the Baha'i
Faith, by 'Abdu'1-Baha, its Interpreter and Exemplar, and by Shoghi
Effendi, its Guardian, shall be exercised, administered and carried on
by the above-named National Spiritual Assembly and their duly quali-
fied successors under this Declaration of Trust.
The National Spiritual Assembly in adopting this form of associa-
tion, union and fellowship, and in selecting for itself the designation
of Trustees of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada, does so
as the administrative body of a religious community which has had
continuous existence and responsibility for over eighteen years. In
consequence of these activities the National Spiritual Assembly is
called upon to administer such an ever-increasing diversity and volume
of affairs and properties for the Baha'is of the United States and
Canada, that we, its members, now feel it both desirable and neces-
sary to give our collective functions more definite legal form. This
action is taken in complete unanimity and with full recognition of the
sacred relationship thereby created. We acknowledge in behalf of
ourselves and our successors in this Trust the exalted religious stand*
ard established by Baha'u'llah for Baha'i administrative bodies in the
311
312 THE BAHA'f WORLD
utterance: "Be ye Trustees of the Merciful One among men'9;
and seek the help of God and His guidance in order to fulfil that
exhortation.
Article I
<v
The name of said Trust shall be the National Spiritual Assembly
of the Bahd'is of the United States and Canada.
Article II
Sharing the ideals and assisting .the efforts of our fellow feaha'is
to establish, uphold and promote the spiritual, educational and humani-
tarian teachings of human brotherhood, radiant faith, exalted char-
acter and selfless love revealed in the lives and utterances of all the
Prophets and Messengers of God, Founders of the world's revealed
religions — and given renewed creative energy and universal applica-
tion to the conditions of this age in the life and utterances of Baha'u'l-
lah — we declare the purposes and objects of this Trust to be to ad-
minister the affairs of the Cause of Baha'u'llah for the benefit of the
Baha'is of the United States and Canada according to the principles
of Baha'i affiliation and administration created and established by
Baha'u'llah, defined and explained by 'Abdu'1-Baha, and amplified
and applied by Shoghi Effendi and his duly constituted successor and
successors under the provision of the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-
Baha.
These purposes are to be realized by means of devotional meet-
ings; by public meetings and conferences of an educational, humani-
tarian and spiritual character;* by the publication of books, magazines
and newspapers; by the construction of temples of universal worship
and of other institutions and edifices for humanitarian service; by
supervising, unifying, promoting and generally administering the
activities of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada in the ful-
filment of their religious offices, duties and ideals; and by any other
means appropriate to these ends, or any of them.
Other purposes and objects of this Trust are :
a. The right to enter into> make, perform and carry out contracts
of every sort and kind for the furtherance of the objects of this
Trust with any person, firm, association, corporation, private,
public or municipal or body politic, or any state, territory or
colony thereof, of any foreign government; and in this
connection, and in all transactions under the terms of this
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 313
Trust, to do any and all things which a co-partnership or
natural person could do or exercise, and which now or here-
after may be authorized by law.
b. To hold and be named as beneficiary under any trust estab-
lished by law or otherwise or under apy will or other testa-
mentary instrument in connection with * any gift, devise, or
bequest in which a trust or trusts is or are established in any
part of the world as well as in the United States and Canada ; to
receive gifts, devises or bequests of money or other property.
c. f All and whatsoever the several purposes and objects set forth
in the written utterances of Baha'u'llah, 'Abdu'1-Baha and
Shoghi Effendi, under which certain jurisdiction, powers and
rights are granted to National Spiritual Assemblies.
d. Generally to do all things and acts which in the judgment of
said Trustees, i.e., the National Spiritual Assembly of the
Baha'is of the United States and Canada, are necessary, proper
and advantageous to promote the complete and successful ad-
ministration of this Trust.
Article III
Section I. All persons, firms, corporations and associations extend-
ing, credit to, contracting with or having any claim against the Trustees,
i.e., the National Spiritual Assembly, and the members thereof, of any
character whatsoever, whether legal or equitable and whether arising
out of contract or tort, shall look solely to the -funds of the Trust and
to the property of the Trust estate for payment or indemnity, or for
the payment of any debt, damage, judgment or decree or any money
that may otherwise become due or payable from the Trustees, so that
neither the Trustees nor any of them, nor any of their officers or
agents appointed by them hereunder, nor any beneficiary or bene-
ficiaries herein named shall be personally liable therefor.
Section 2. Every note, bond, proposal, obligation or contract in
writing or other agreement or instrument made or given under this
Trust shall be explicitly executed by the National Spiritual Assembly,
as Trustees by their duly authorized officers or agents.
Article IV
The Trustees, i.e., the National Spiritual Assembly, shall adopt for
the conduct of the affairs entrusted to them under this Declaration of
314 THE BAHA'f WORLD
Trust, such by-laws, rules of procedure or regulations as are required
to define and carry on its own«administrative functions and those of
the several local and other elements composing the body of the Baha'is
of the United States and Canada, not inconsistent with the terms of
this instrument and all-in accordance with the explicit instructions given
us to date by Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Cause of BahaVllah,
which instructions are already known to the Baha'is of the United
States and Canada and accepted by them in the government and prac-
tice of their religious affairs.
Article V
The central office of this Trust shall be located in the City of New
York, State of New York, United States of America.
Article VI
The seal of this Trust shall be circular in form, bearing the following
description :
National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States
and Canada. Declaration of Trust, 1927.
Article VII
This Declaration of Trust may be amended by majority vote of
the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States
and Canada at any special meeting duly called for that purpose, pro-
vided that at least thirty (30) days prior to the date fixed for said
meeting a copy of the proposed amendment or amendments is mailed
to each member of the Assembly by the Secretary.
BY-LAWS OF THE NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY
Article I
The National Spiritual Assembly, in the fulfilment of its sacred
duties under this Trust, shall have exclusive jurisdiction and authority
over all the activities and affairs of the Baha'i Cause throughout the
United States and Canada, including paramount authority in the
administration of this Trust. It shall endeavor to stimulate, unify
and coordinate the manifold activities of the local Spiritual Assemblies
(hereinafter defined) and of individual Baha'is in the United States
and Canada and by all possible means assist them to promote the one-
ness of mankind. It shall be charged with the recognition of such
local Assemblies, the scrutiny of local membership rolls, the calling
of the Annual Meeting or special meetings and the seating of delegates
to the Annual Meeting and their apportionment among the various
local Baha'i communities. It shall appoint all national Baha'i com-
mittees and shall supervise the publication and distribution of Baha'i
literature", the reviewing of all writings pertaining to the Bah4fi Cause,
the construction and administration of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar and its
accessory activities, and the collection and disbursement of all funds
for the carrying on of this Trust. It shall decide whether any matter
lies within its own jurisdiction or within th£ jurisdiction of any local
Spiritual Assembly. It shall, in such cases as it considers suitable and
necessary, entertain appeals from the decisions of local Spiritual As-
semblies and shall have the right of final decision in all cases where
the qualification of an individual or group for continued voting rights
and membership in the Baha'i body is in question. It shall furthermore
represent the Baha'is of the United States and Canada in all their
cooperative and spiritual activities with the Baha'is of other lands, and
shall constitute the sole electoral body of the United States and Canada
in the formation of the Universal House of Justice provided for in
the Sacred Writings of the Baha'i Cause. Above all, the National
Spiritual Assembly shall ever seek trf attain that station of unity in
devotion to the Revelation of Baha'u'llah which will attract the con-
firmations of the Holy Spirit and enable the Assembly to serve the
founding of the Most Great Peace. In all its deliberation and action
For amendment made to April 20, 1938, see notes at foot of pages 317, 320, 321, 322.
315
THE BAHA'f WORLD
the National Assembly shall have constantly before it as Divine guide
and standard the utterance of Baha'u'llah: —
"It behooveth them (i.e., Spiritual Assemblies) to bp the trusted
ones of the Merciful among men and to consider themselves as the
guardians appointed of God for all that dwelt on earth. It is incum-
bent upon them to take counsel together and to have regard for the
interests of the servants of God, for His sake, even as they regard
their own interests, and to choose that which is meet and seemly."
Article II
The Baha'is of the United States and Canada, for whose benefit
this Trust has been established, shall consist of all persons resident in
the United States and Canada who are recognized by the National
Spiritual Assembly as -having fulfilled the requirements of voting mem-
bership in a local . Baha'i community. To become a voting member
of a Baha'i community a person shall
a. Be a resident of the locality defined by the area of jurisdiction
of the local Spiritual Assembly, as provided by Article VII,
Section 12, of this instrument.
b. Have attained the age, of 21 years.
c Have established to the satisfaction of the local Spiritual As-
sembly, subject to the approval of the National Assembly, that
he possesses the qualifications of Baha'i faith and practice 're-
quired under the following standard : Full recognition of the
station of the Forerunner (the Bab), the Author (Baha'u'llah),
and 'Abdu'1-Baha the True Exemplar of tne Baha'i Cause : un-
reserved acceptance of, and submission to, whatsoever has been
revealed by their Pen; loyal and steadfast adherence to every
clause of 'Abdu'l-Baha's sacred Will; and close association
with the spirit as well as the form of present-day Baha'i ad-
ministration throughout the world.
Article III
The National Assembly shall consist of nine members chosen from
among the Baha'is of the United States and Canada, who shall be
elected by the said Baha'is in manner hereinafter provided, and who
shall continue in office for the period of one year, or until their suc-
cessors shall be elected.
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 317
Article IV
The officers of the National Spiritual Assembly shall consist of a
Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer, and such other
officers as may be found necessary for the proper conduct of its affairs.
The officers shall be elected by a majority vote of the entire membership
of the Assembly taken by secret ballot.
Article V
The first meeting of a newly-elected National Assembly shall be
called by the member elected to membership by the highest number of
votes or, in case two or more members have received the same said
highest number of votes, then by the member selected by lot from
among those members ; and this member shall preside until the perma-
nent Chairman shall be chosen. All subsequent meetings shall be
called by the Secretary of the Assembly at the request of the Chair-
man or, in his absence or incapacity, of the Vice-Chairman, or of any
three members of the Assembly; provided, however, that the Annual
Meeting of the Assembly shall be held at a time and place to be fixed
by a majority vote of the Assembly, as hereinafter provided.
Article VI
Five members of the National Assembly present at a meeting shall
constitute a quorum, and a majority vote of those present and consti-
tuting a quorum shall be sufficient for the conduct of business, except
as otherwise provided in these By-Laws, and with due regard to the
principle of unity and cordial fellowship involved in the institution
of a Spiritual Assembly. The transactions and decisions of the Na-
tional Assembly shall be recorded at each meeting by the Secretary,
who shall supply copies of the -minutes to the Assembly members after
each meeting, and preserve the minutes in the official records of the
Assembly.
Artfcle VII
Whenever in any locality of the United States and Canada, be it
city, town or village, the number of Baha'is resident therein recog-
nized by the National Spiritual Assembly exceeds nine, these may on
April 21 st of any year convene and elect by plurality vote a local ad-
ministrative body of nine members, to be known as the Spiritual As-
Article IV, amended to read ". . . by a majority vote of the Assembly taken by secret
ballot."
318 THE BAHA'f WORLD
sembly of the Baha'is of that community. Every such Spiritual As-
sembly shall be elected annually thereafter upon each successive 2ist
day of April. The members shall hold office for the term of one year
and until their successors are elected and qualified.
When, however, the number of Baha'is in any community is
exactly nine, these may on April 2ist of any year, or in successive
years, constitute themselves the local Spiritual Assembly by joint
declaration. Upon the recording of such declaration by the S&retary
of the National Spiritual Assembly, said body of nine shall become
established with the rights, privileges and duties of a local Spiritual
Assembly as set forth in this instrument.
Section i. Each newly-elected local Spiritual Assembly shall at
once proceed in the manner indicated in Articles IV and V of these
By-Laws to the election of its officers, who shall consist of a Chairman,
Vice-Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer, and such other officers as the
Assembly finds necessary for the conduct of its business and the ful-
filment of its spiritual duties* Immediately thereafter the Secretary
chosen shall transmit to the Secretary of the National Assembly the
names of the members of the newly-elected Assembly and a list of
its officers.
Section 2. The general powers and duties of a local Spiritual As-
sembly shall be as set forth in the writings of BahaVllah, 'Abdu'l-
Baha and Shoghi Effendi.
Section 3. Among its more specific duties, a local Spiritual As-
sembly shall have full jurisdiction of all Baha'i activities and affairs
within the local community, subject, however, to the exclusive and
•paramount authority of the National Spiritual Assembly as defined
herein.
Section 4. Vacancies in the membership of a local Spiritual
Assembly shall be filled by election at a special meeting of the local
Baha'i community duly called for that purpose by the Assembly.
In the event that the number of vacancies exceeds four, making a
quorum of the local Assembly impossible, the election shall be held
under the supervision of the National Spiritual Assembly.
'Section 5. The business of the local Assembly shall be conducted
in like manner as provided for the deliberations of the National As-
sembly in Article VI above.
Section 6. The local Assembly shall pass upon and approve the
qualifications of each member of the Baha'i community before such
members shall be admitted to voting membership; but where an indi-
vidual is dissatisfied with the ruling of the local Spiritual Assembly
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 319
upon his Baha'i qualifications, such individual may appeal from the
ruling to the National Assembly, which shall thereupon take jurisdic-
tion of and finally decide the case.
Section 7. On or before the ist day of February of each year
the Secretary of each local Assembly shall send to the Secretary of
the National Assembly a duly certified list of the voting members of
the local Baha'i community for the information and approval of the
Natiorfel Assembly.
Section 8. All matters arising within a local Baha'i community
which afe of purely local interest and do not affect the national inter*
ests of the Cause shall be under the primary jurisdiction of the Spiritual
Assembly of that locality; but decision whether a particular matter
involves the interest and welfare of the national Baha'i body shall
rest with the National Spiritual Assembly.
Section 9. Any member of a local Baha'i community may appeal
from a decision of his Spiritual Assembly to the National Assembly,
which shall determine whether it shall take jurisdiction of the matter
or leave it to the local Spiritual Assembly for reconsideration. In the
event that the National Assembly assumes jurisdiction of the matter,
its finding shall be final.
Section 10. Where any dissension exists within a local Baha'i com-
munity of such a character that it cannot be remedied by the efforts of
the local Spiritual Assembly, this condition shall be referred by the
Spiritual Assembly for consideration to the National Spiritual As-
sembly, whose action in the matter shall be final.
Section n. All questions arising between two or more local
Spiritual Assemblies, or between members of different Baha'i com-
munities, shall be submitted in the first instance to the National
Assembly, which shall have original and final jurisdiction in all such
matters.
Section 12. The sphere of jurisdiction of a local Spiritual As-
sembly, with respect to residential qualification of membership, and
voting fights of a believer in any Baha'i community, shall be the
locality included within the civil limits of the city, town or village,
but Baha'is who reside in adjacent, outlying or suburban districts and
can regularly attend the meetings of the local Baha'i community, may
be enrolled on the membership list of the adjacent Spiritual Assembly
and enjoy full voting rights pending the establishment of a local
Spiritual Assembly in their home community.
All differences of opinion concerning the sphere of jurisdiction of
any local Spiritual Assembly or concerning the affiliation of any Bahi'i
320 THE BAHA'f WORLD
or group of Baha'is in the United States and Canada shall be referred
to the National Spiritual Assembly, whose decision in the matter shall
be final.
Article VIII
The Annual Meeting of the National Spiritual Assembly at which
its members shall be elected shall be known as the National Convention
of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada, and shall be held at
a time and {fiace to be fixed by the National Assembly, which shall
give sixty days' notice of the meeting to each local Baha'i community
tftrough its Spiritual Assembly. The National Assembly shall at the
same time inform each Spiritual Assembly of the number of dele-
gates to the Convention it has assigned to the local Baha'i community
in accordance with the principle of proportionate representation in such
manner that the entire number of delegates composing the National
Convention shall be ninety-five. Upon receipt of this notice each local
Spiritual Assembly shall, within a convenient period and after giving
due and sufficient notice thereof, call a meeting of the voting members
on its rolls for the purpose of electing their delegate or delegates to
the National Convention; and, not later than thirty days before the
date of the Convention, the Secretary of each local Spiritual Assembly
shall certify to the Secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly the
names and adddresses of the delegates so elected.
Section I. All delegates to the Convention shall b$ elected by
plurality vote of those present at their election.
Section 2. All delegates to be seated at the Convention must be
enrolled as voting members of the Baha'i community represented by
them.
Section 3. The rights and privileges of a delegate may not be
assigned nor may they be exercised by proxy.
Section 4. The recognition and seating of delegates to the Na-
tional Convention shall be vested in the National Spiritual Assembly.
Section 5. Delegates unable to be present in person at the Con-
vention shall have the right to vote for members of the National Spir-
itual Assembly by mail or telegram under such conditions as may be
indicated by the National Assembly.
Section 6. If in any year the National Spiritual Assembly shall ton-
sider that it is impracticable or unwise to assemble together the dele-
gates to the National Convention, the National Spiritual Assembly
shall provide ways and means by which the business of the Convention
may be conducted by correspondence or telegram. Any action taken
Article VIII, amended to read ". . . number of delegates composing the National Con-
vention shall be one hundred seventy-one."
Article VIII, Section 1, amended to read <f. . . by plurality vote. Members who for
illness or other unavoidable reasons are unable to be present at the election in person shall
have the right to transmit their ballots by mail or telegram under conditions acceptable to
the local Spiritual Assembly.''
Article VIII, Section 6, amended to end with words ". . . by correspondence or telegram."
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 321
under such circumstances shall be by a majority vote of all the
delegates/
Section 7. The presiding officer of the National Spiritual Assem-
bly present at the National Convention shall call to order the delegates,
who shall then proceed to the permanent organization of the meeting,
electing a presiding officer, a Secretary and such other officers as are
necessary for the proper conduct of the business of the Convention.
Section 8. The principal business of the National Convention shall
be the election of the nine members of the incoming National Spiritual
Assembly, the consideration of the reports of the financial and other
activities of the outgoing National Assembly and its various com-
mittees, and deliberation upon the affairs of the Baha'i Cause in gen*
eral, it being understood, however, in accordance with the principles of
Baha'i administration defined by the Guardian that all deliberation
and action of the delegates at the National Convention, other than the
election of the members of the incoming National Spiritual Assembly,
shall constitute merely advice and recommendation for consideration
by the said Assembly, final decision on all matters concerning the
affairs of the Baha'i Cause in the United States and Canada being
vested solely in that body.
Section 9. The general order of business to be taken up at the
National Convention shall be prepared by the National Spiritual Assem-
bly, but any and all matters pertaining to the Cause introduced by any
of the delegates may upon motion and vote be taken up as part of the
deliberations of the Convention.
Section 10. The election of the members of the National Spiritual
Assembly shall be by plurality vote of the delegates recognized by the
outgoing National Spiritual Assembly, i.e., the members elected shall
be the nine persons receiving the greatest number of votes on the
first ballot cast by delegates present at the Convention and delegates
whose ballot has been transmitted to the Secretary of the National
Spiritual Assembly by mail or telegram. In case by reason of a tie
vote or votes the full membership is not determined on the first
ballot, then one or more additional ballots shall be taken until all
nine members are elected.
Section n. All official business transacted at the National Con-
vention shall be recorded and preserved in the records of the National
Assembly.
Section 12. After the termination of the National Convention and
until the next such Annual Meeting has been called in session, the dele-
gates shall continue as a consultative body capable of rendering a dis-
Article VIII, Section 7, amended to read ". . . electing by ballot a presiding officer," etc.
Article VIII, Section 12, deleted.
322 THE BAHA'f WORLD
tinctive service to the work of the Cause, and they shall make every
effort to contribute to the unified spirit information and useful action
of the National Spiritual Assembly throughout the year.
Section 13. Vacancies in the membership of the National Spiritual
Assembly shall be filled by a plurality vote of the delegates composing
the Convention which elected the Assembly, the ballot to be taken by
correspondence or in any other manner decided upon by the National
Spiritual Assembly.
Article IX
Where the National Spiritual Assembly has been given in these
By-Laws exclusive and final jurisdiction, and paramount executive
authority, in all matters pertaining to the activities and affairs of the
Baha'i Cause in the United States and Canada, it is understood that any
decision made or action taken upon such matters shall be subject in
every instance to ultimate review and approval by the Guardian of the
Cause or the Universal House of Justice.
Article X
Whatever functions and powers are not specifically attributed to
local Spiritual Assemblies in these By-Laws shall be considered vested
in the National Spiritual Assembly, which body is authorized to dele-
gate such discretionary functions and powers as it deems necessary
and advisable to the local Spiritual Assemblies within its. jurisdiction.
Article XI
In order to preserve the spiritual character and purpose of Baha'i
elections, the practice of nominations or any other electoral method
detrimental to a silent and prayerful election shall not prevail, so
that each elector may vote for none but those whom prayer and reflec-
tion have inspired him to uphold.
Among the most outstanding and sacred duties incumbent upon
those who have been called upon to initiate, direct and coordinate the
affairs of the Cause as members of local or national Spiritual Assem-
blies are : —
To win by every means in their power the confidence and affection
of those whom it is their privilege to serve ; to investigate and acquaint
themselves with the considered views, the prevailing sentiments and
the personal convictions of those whose welfare it is their solemn obliga-
tion to promote; to purge their deliberations and the general conduct
Article VIII, Section 13, amended to be Section 12.
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 323
of their affairs of self-contained aloofness, the suspicion of secrecy,
the stifling atmosphere of dictatorial assertiveness and of every word
and deed that may savor of partiality, self-centeredness and prejudice;
and while retaining the sacred right of final decision in their hands,
to invite discussion, ventilate grievances, welcome advice, and foster
the sense of inter-dependence and co-partnership, of understanding and
mutual confidence between themselves and all other Baha'is.
Article XII
These By-Laws may be amended by majority vote of the National
Spiritual Assembly at any of its regular or special meetings, provided
that at least fourteen days prior to the date fixed for the said meeting*
a copy of the proposed amendment or amendments is mailed to each
member of the Assembly by the Secretary.
Interior view of "Bolton Place," the home of a Baha'i family at Yerrinbool, which has
been dedicated as the first Baha'i Summer School of Australia and New Zealand.
Friends gathered on the opening day of the Yerrinbool Baha'i Summer School
on May 2, 1937.
324
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
325
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THE BAHA'f WORLD
'TREUHANDSCHAFTSERKLARUNG
DES NATIONALEN GEISTIGEN RATS DER
BAJiA'f IN DEUTSCHLAND UND
6STERREICH
4
THE DECLARATION AND BY-LAWS OF THE NATIONAL SPIRITUAL
ASSEMBLY OF THE BAHA'IS OF GERMANY AND AUSTRIA
IR, Marta Blanche Brauns-Forel,
Karlsruhe i. B.; Paul Ferdinand Gollmer,
Stuttgart; Max Greeven, Bremen; Dr. Her-
mann Grossmann, Neckargemiind; Edith
Elisabeth Anna Horn, Stuttgart; Anna
Maria Kostlin, Esslingen a. N.; Dr. Adelbert
Friedrich Alexander Marinus Miihhchlegel,
Stuttgart; Dr. Karl Eugen Schmidt, Stutt-
gart; Alice Corinna Gabriele Emma Amelie
(Tahirih) Schwarz-Solivo, Stuttgart, er-
klaren hiermit als der durch die Abgeordne-
ten der Baha'i inDeutschland und Osterreich
anlasslich der Jahrestagung in Stuttgart am
22. April 1934 ordnungsmassig gewahlte
und mit alien Vollmachten zur Errichtung
der nathfolgenden Treuhandschaft ausge-
stattete Nationale Gehtige Rat der Bahd'f in
Deutschland und Osterreich, dass vom heuti-
gen Tage an die diesem Rate durch Baha'u-
'llah, den Begriinder des Baha'i -Glaubens,
'Abdu'1-Baha, den Ausleger und das Vorbild,
und Shoghi Effendi, den Hiiter desselben,
iibertragenen Befugnisse, Verantwortlich-
keiten, Rechte, Vorrechte und Pflichten von
dem vorgenannten Nationalen Geistigen Rat
und seinen ordnungsmassig bestellten Nach-
folgern gemass dieser Treuhandschaftser-
klarung ausgeiibt, verwalter und fortgef iihrt
werden sollen.
Die Annahme dieser Form des Zusam-
menschiusses, der Vereinigung und Gemein-
schaft, und die Zulegung der Bezeichnung
als Treuhander der Baha'i in Deutschland
und Osterreich erfolgt durch den Natio-
nalen Geistigen Rat als dem seit mehr als
dreiundzwanzig Jahren bestehenden und
verantwortlichen Verwaltungskorper einer
Religionsgemeinschaft. Infolge dieser Ta-
tigkeit erwachst dem Nationalen Geistigen
Rat die Pflicht zur Verwaltung der standig
mannigfacher und umfangreicher werden-
den Angelegenheiten und Vermogenswerte
der Baha'i in Deutschland und Oesterreich,
weshalb wir als dessen Mitglieder es fur
wunschenswert und notwendig erachten,
unserer gemeinsamen Tatigkeit eine fester
umrissene, gesetzmassige Form zu geben.
Wir tun dies in volliger Einmiitigkeit und
in voller Erkenntnis der damit geschaffen
heiligen Bindung. Wir anerkennen fur uns
und unsere Nachfolger in dieser Treuhand-
schaft die erhabene religiose Richtschnur,
die fur Baha'i -Verwaltungskorperschaf ten
in dem Worte Baha'u'llah's zum Ausdruck
kommt: ,,Seid Treuhander des Barmherzi-
gen unter den Menschen", und suchen den
Beistand Gottes und Seine Fuhrung, damit
wir dieser Ermahnung folgen konnen.
ARTIKEL I
Die genannte Treuhandgemeinschaft
fiihrt die Bezeichnung, ,,der Nationale Geis-
tige Rat der Baha'i m Deutschland und
Osterreich".
ARTIKEL II
Wir teilen die Ideale unserer Mit-Baha'i
und arbeiten mit ihnen an der Aufrichtung,
Erhaltung und Forderung der geistigen, er-
ziehlichen und menschenfreundlichen Leh-
ren menschlicher Bruderschaft, strahlenden
Glaubens, erhabenen Charakters und selbst-
loser Liebe, wie sie im Leben und in den
Ausserungen aller Propheten und Botschaf-
ter Gottes, der Bergriinder der Offenbarungs-
religionen in der Welt, geofTenbart und mit
erneuter Kraft und allumfassender Geltung
f iir die Gegebenheiten dieses Zeitalters durch
das Leben und die Worte BahaVllah's
verkiindet worden sind. Wir erklaren als
Zweck und Gegenstand dieser Treuhandge-
meinschaft die Verwaltung der Angelengen-
heiten der Sache BahdVllah's zum Besten
der Baha'i in Deutschland und Osterreich
gamass den von BahdVllah geschaffenen
und eingefiihrten, von 'Abdu'1-Baha naher
bestimmten und erlauterten und von Shoghi
Effendi und dessen nach dem Willen und
Testament 'Abdu'l-Baha's ordnungsmSssig
eingesetzten Nachfolger und Nachfolgern
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
333
erweiterten und angewandten Grundsatzen
fur die Baha'i-Zugehorigkeit und -Verwalt-
ung.
Der Erfiillung dieses Zweckes sollen
Andachtszusammenkunfte, offentliche Ver-
sammlungen und Zusammenkiinfte erzieh-
lichen, menschenfreundlichen und geistigen
Charakters, die Veroffentlichung von
Biichern, Zeitschriften und Zeitungen, die
Errichtung von Tempeln allgemeiner An-
betung und anderer Einrichtungen und
Bauten fur menschenfreundliche Dienste,
die Uberwachung, Vereinheitlichung, For-
derung und allgemeine Verwaltung der
Angelegenheiten der Baha'i in Deutschland
und Osterreich in Erfiillung ihrer religiosen
Dienste, Pflichten und Ideale, sowie jedes
sonstige diesen Zielen oder einem von ihnen
forderliche Mittel dienen.
Weiterer Zweck und Gegenstand dieser
Treuhandgemeinschaft ist:
a. das Recht, mit irgendwelchen Per-
sonen, Unternehmungen, Vereinigung-
en, privaten, offentlichcn oder ge-
meindlichen Korperschaf ten, dem Staat
oder irgendwelchen seiner Lander,
Gebiete oder Kolonien oder mit
irgendwelchen fremden Regierungen
in jeder Art und Weise Vertrage
abzuschliessen, zu vollziehen und zu
erfiillen, die zur Forderung der Ziele
dieser Treuhandschaft dienen, und im
Zusammenhang damit und bei alien
Verrichtungen, die im Rahmen dieser
Treuhandschaft erfolgen, alles und
jedes zu tun, was eine Gesellschaft
oder natiirliche Person zu tun oder
auszuuben vermag und was gegen-
w'artig oder kiinftig vom Gesetz zu-
gelassen ist,
b. bei alien durch Gesetz oder anderswie
errichteten Verbanden oder Nach-
lassen und sonstigen letztwilligen
Verfiigungen in Verbindung mit
Schenkungen, Vermachtnissen oder
Auflassungen jeder Art, in welchen ein
oder mehrere Treuhander in irgend
einem Teil der Welt sowohl als auch
in Deutschland und Osterreich bestellt
werden, aufzutreten und als emp-
fangsberechtigt zu gel ten und Schen-
kungen, Vermachtnisse oder Auflas-
sungen in Geld oder sonstigen
Vermogenswerten anzunehmen,
c. alles und was immer in den schrift-
lichen Ausserungen Bah£Vllah's,
'Abdu'l-Baha's, Shoghi Effendi's und
seiner ordnungsmassigen Nachfolger,
durch die den Nationalen Geistigen
Raten gewisse Spruchrechte, Befug-
nisse und Gerechtsame gewahrt sind,
an verschiedenen Zwechen und Zielen
niedergelegt ist,
d. gemeinhin alles zu tun und zu be-
wirken, was nach Ansicht der be-
nannten Treuhander d. h. des Natio-
nalen Geistigen Rates der Baha'i in
Deutschland und Osterreich zur
Forderung der vollstandigen und
erfolgreichen Verwaltung dieser Treu-
handgemeinschaft erforderlich, ge-
eignet und von Vorteil ist.
ARTIKEL III
1. Abschnitt. Allen Personen, Unter-
nehmungen, Korperschaften und Vereini-
gungen gegeniiber, die den Treuh'andern
d. h. dem Nationalen Geistigen Rat und den
Mitgliedern desselben in ihrer Eigenschaft
als solche Kredit gewahren, Vertrage mit
ihnen schliessen oder irgendwelche An-
sprviche gegen sie, gleichviel welcher Art,
ob rechtlich oder billig, zu Recht oder zu
Unrecht, haben, gilt lediglich das Treu-
handvermogen und der Treuhandbesitz als
Masse fur Zahlung oder Sichersteliung
bezw. fur die Begleichung irgendwelcher
Schulden, Ersatzanspruche, Auflagen und
Bescheide oder irgendwelcher Betrage, die
in sonstiger Weise seitens der Treuhander
geschuldet oder zahlbar werden konnten,
sodass weder die Treuhander, noch irgend-
einer von ihnen, noch irgendeiner ihrer kraf t
dieses ernannten Beamten oder Beauf tragten,
noch irgendwelche hierin genannte Berech-
tigte, sei es einzeln oder gemeinsam, person-
lich dafiir haften.
2. Abschnitt. Alle Bescheinigungen,
Schuldanerkenntnisse, Antrage, schriftlichen
Verpflichtungen und Vertrage oder sonstig-
en Vereinbarungen und Urkunden, die im
Rahmen dieser Treuhandschaft getroffen
oder gegeben werden, werden ausdriicklich
vom Nationalen Geistigen Rat als Treu-
hander durch dessen ordnungsmassig er-
334
THE BAHA'f WORLD
machtigte Beamte und Beauftragte voll-
zogen,
ARTIKEL IV
Die Treuhander, d. h. der Nationale
Geistige Rat, nehmen fiir die Durchfuhrung
der ihm in dieser Treuhandschaftserklarung
anvertrauten Obliegenheiten die zur Fest-
legung und Erledigung der eigenen Ver-
waltungsaufgaben wie auch derjenigen der
verschiedenen ortlichen und sonstigen Glie-
derungen, die die Baha'i in Deutschland und
Osterreich verkorpern, erforderlichen Satz-
unger, Bestimmungen und Dienstvorschrif t-
en gem ass den Zwecken dieser Einrichtung
und in Ubereinstimmung mit den seitheri-
gen ausdriicklichen, den Baha'i in Deutsch-
land und Osterreich bereits bekannten und
von ihnen in der Fiihrung und Handhabung
ihrer religiosen Angelegenheiten vibernom-
men Weisungen Shoghi Effendi's, des
Hiiters des Baha'i-Glaubens, an.
ARTIKEL V
Die Hauptgeschaftsstelle dieser Treu-
handgemeinschaft befindet sich an dem-
jenigen Ort, der durch den Nationalen
Geistigen Rat von Zeit zu Zeit bestimmt
wird.
ARTIKEL VI
Das Siegel dieser Treuhandgemeinschaft
besitzt runde Form und zeigt folgende In-
schrift:
Der Nationale Geistige Rat der Babd'i
in Deutschland und Osterreich e, V.
Treuhandschaftserklarung 1955.
ARTIKEL VII
Diese Treuhandschaftserklarung kann
durch absoluten Mehrheitsbeschluss des
Nationalen Geistigen Rats der Baha'i in
Deutschland und Osterreich in jeder be-
sondern Versammlung, die zu diesem
Zwecke ordnungsmassig einberufen wor-
den ist, erganzt werden, vorausgesetzt, dass
mindestens dreissig Tage vor dem fiir die
Versammlung festgesetzten Zeitpunkt eine
Abschrift der vorgeschlagenen Erganzung
oder Erganzungen an jedes Ratsmitglied
durch den Sekretar mittels eingeschriebenen
Briefes versandt wird. *
SATZUNG DES NATIONALEN GEISTIGEN RATS
ARTIKEL I
Der Nationale Geistige Rat besitzt in
Erfiillung seiner geheiligten Pflichten im
Rahmen dieses Treuhandverhaltnisses aus-
schliessliches Spruch- und Hoheitsreich
iiber alle Veranstaltungen und Angelegen-
heiten der Baha'i -Sache in Deutschland und
Osterreich unter Einschluss der Oberhoheit
in bezug auf die Verwaltung dieser Treu-
handschaft. Er soil darnach streben, die
(nachstehend erlauterte) Arbeit der ort-
lichen Geistigen Rate sowie diejenige der
einzelnen Baha'i in Deutschland und Oster-
reich anzuspornen, zusammenzufassen und
gleichzurichten, und sie in jeder nur mog-
lichen Weise in der Forderung der Einheit
der Menschheit unterstutzen. Ihm obliegt
die Anerkennung derartiger ortlicher Rate,
die Priifund der ortlichen Mitgliederrollen,
die Einberufung der Jahrestagung oder be-
sonderer Versammlungen und die Einsetzung
der Abgeordneten zur Jahrestagung und
ihre ziffernmassige Verteilung auf die ver-
schiedenen Baha'i-Gemeinden. Er ernennt
samtliche nationalen Baha'i -Ausschiisse und
iiberwacht die Veroffentlichung und Ver-
teilung vom Baha'i -Schrifttum, die Uber-
priifung aller die Baha'i -Sache betreffenden
Schrif ten, den Bau und die Verwaltung des
allgemeinen Mashriq'l-Adhkar's und seiner
Nebeneinrichtungen und die Erhebung und
Verwendung aller Gelder zur Fortfiihrung
dieser Treuhandschaft. Er entscheidet, ob
irgendwelche Angelegenheiten dem Bereiche
seines eigenen Spruchrechtes oder demjenigen
eines ortlichen Geistigen Rates angehoren.
Er nimmt in Fallen, die ihm geeignet
und notwendig erscheinen, Berufungen aus
Entscheidungen ortlicher Geistiger Rate
an und besitzt das Recht zur endgiil-
tigen Entscheidung in alien Fallen, in denen
die Befahigung eines Einzelnen oder einer
Gruppe, standig das Wahlrecht auszutiben
oder Mitglied der Bahd'i-Gemeinschaft zu
sein, in Frage steht. Er vertritt die Bahd'i
in Deutschland und Osterreich iiberall, wo
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
335
es sich um die Zusammenarbeit und geistige
Betatigung mit den Baha'i anderer Lander
handelt, und bildet das alleinige Wahlorgan
der Baha'i in Deutschland und Osterreich
bei Schaffung des in den heiligen Schriften
der Sache vorgesehenen Universalen Hauses
der Gerechtigkeit. Vor allem aber soil der
Nationale Geistige Rat stets jene Stufe der
Einheit in Ergebenheit, gegeniiber der Of-
fenbarung Baha'u'llah's erstreben, die die
Bestatigung des Heiligen Geistes anzieht
und den Rat zum Dienste an der Begriin-
dung des Grossten Friedens fahig machen
wird. Bei alien seinen Beratungen und
Handlungen soil der Nationale Geistige Rat
als gottlichen Fiihrer und Massstab standig
die Ausserung Baha'u'llah's vor Augen
haben:
,,Es geziemt ihnen. (d. h. den Geistigen
Raten), die Vertrauten des Barmherzigen
unter den Menschen zu sein und sich fur
Gottes auserwahlte Hiitter von allem, was
auf Erden ist, zu halten. Es obliegt ihnen,
miteinander zu beraten und auf die Be-
lange der Diener Gottes acht zu haben, um
Seiner Selbst willen, wie sie auf die eigenen
Belange achten, und das zu wahlen, was
geziemend ist und schicklich."
ARTIKEL II
Die Baha'i in Deutschland und Osterreich,
zu deren Gunsten diese Treuhandschaft
errichtet ist, umfassen alle in Deutschland
und Osterreich wohnhaften Personen, die
vom Nationalen Geistigen Rat als den Er-
fordernissen zum stimmberechtigten Mit-
glied einer Baha'i-Gemeinde geniigend aner-
kannt sind. Wer stimmberechtigtes Mitglied
einer Baha'i-Gemeinde werden will, muss
a. in dem Ortsgebiet wohnen, das durch
den Rechtsbereich des ortlichen Geis-
tigen Rates gemass dem zweiten Ab-
schnitt des Artikels VII dieser Satzung
bestimmt ist,
b. das einundzwanzigste Lebensjahr vol-
lendet haben,
c. zur Zufriedenheit des ortlichen Geis-
tigen Rates, die zon der Zustimmung
durch den Nationalen Geistigen Rat
abhangt, dargetan haben, dass er den
folgenden Bahd'i-Glaubensforderun-
gen und -brauchen geniigt:
voile Anerkennung der Stufe des
Vorlaufers (des Bab), des Begriinders
(BahaVllah's) und 'Abdu'l-Baha's,
des Erklarers und wahren Vorbildes
des Baha'i-Glaubens, vorbehaltlose
Annahme von allem, was durch ihre
Feder geoffenbart ist, und Unterwerf-
ung darunter, treues und standhaftes
Festhalten an alien Teilen des gehei-
ligten Willens 'Abdu'l-Baha's und
enge Verbundenheit sowohl mit dem
Geiste als auch mit der Form der
gegenwartigen Baha'i -Verwaltung in
der Welt.
ARTIKEL III
Der Nationale Geistige Rat besteht aus
neun aus dem Kreise der Baha'i in Deutsch-
land und Osterreich gewahlten Mitgliedern,
die von den genannten Baha'i in der weiter
unten beschriebenen Weise gewahlt werden
und fur die Dauer eines Jahres oder dis zur
Wahl ihrer Nachfolger im Amte bleiben.
ARTIKEL IV
Die geschaftsfuhrenden Mit glieder des
Nationalen Geistigen Rates bestehen aus
einem Vorsitzer, stellvertretenden Vorsitzer,
Sekretar und Rechner und was sonst zur
geeigneten Fiihrung seiner Geschafte an
Amtern fur notig erachtet wird. Die ge-
schaftsfiihrenden Mitglieder werden mit
absoluter Stimmenmehrheit durch samtliche
Ratsmitglieder in geheimer Abstimmung
gewahlt.
ARTIKEL V
Die erste Versammlung des neugewahlten
Nationalen Geistigen Rates wird durch das-
jenige Mitglied einberufen, das bei der Wahl
die hochste Stimmenzahl erhalten hat, oder,
soweit zwei oder mehrere Mitglieder die
gleiche Stimmenzahl aufweisen, durch das
unter diesen ausgeloste Mitglied. Dieses
Mitglied fiihrt den Vorsitz bis zur Wahl
des standigen Vorsitzers. Alle folgenden
Sitzungen werden durch den Sekretar des
Rates auf Ersuchen des Vorsitzers oder, bei
dessen Abwesenheit oder Verhinderung des
stellvertretenden Vorsitzers oder dreier be-
liebiger Ratsmitglieder einberufen, wobei
jedoch die Jahrestagung, wie weiterhin fest-
gelegt, in bezug auf Zeitpunkt und Ort von
der Versammlung durch absoluten Mehr-
heitsbeschluss festgelegt wird.
336
THE BAHA'i WORLD
ARTIKEL VI
Der Nationale Geistige Rat ist beschluss-
fahig, sobald fiinf Mitglieder desselben in
einer Sitzung anwesend sind, und die durch
diese gefassten, absoluten Mehrheitsbe-
schliisse gelten, soweit nicht diese Satzung
ein Anderes bestimmt, in gebuhrendem
Hinblick auf den in der Einrichtung der
geistigen Rate enthaltenen Grundsatz der
Einheit und aufrichtigen Gemeinschaft als
ausreichend zur Fiihrung der Geschafte.
Die Verhandlungen und Entscheidungen des
Nationalen Geistigen Rates sind bei jeder
Sitzung durch den Sekretar zu protokol-
lieren, der den Ratsmitgliedern nach jeder
Sitzung Abschriften der Protokolle zustellt
und die Protokolle unter den offiziellen
Urkunden des Rates aufbewahrt.
ARTIKEL VII
Wo immer in Deutschland und Oster-
reich, in einer Stadt oder einer landlichen
Gemeinde, die Zahl der darin wohnenden,
vom Nationalen Geistigen Rat anerkannten
Baha'i neuen ubersteigt, konnen diese am 21.
April eines Jahres zusammenkommen und
mit relativer Stimmenmehrheit eine ortliche
Verwaltungskorperschaf t von neun Personen
als Geistigen Rat der betreffenden Gemeinde
wahlen. Jeder solche Geistige Rat wird
darauf alljahrlich an jedem folgenden 21.
Tag des Aprils gewahlt. Die Mitglieder
bleiben fur die Dauer eines Jahres und bis
zur Wahl und Benennung ihrer Nachfolger
im Amte.
Soweit dagegen die Zahl der Baha'i in
einer Gemeinde genau neun betragt, konnen
sich diese am 21. April eines Jahres und in
den nachfolgenden Jahren durch gemein-
same Erklarung zum ortlichen Geistigen
Rat ernennen. Durch Beurkundung einer
solchen Erklarung seitens des Sekretars des
Nationalen Geistigen Rats gilt der besagte
Neunerrat als mit alien Rechten, Vorrech-
ten und Pflichten eines ortlichen Geistigen
Rates, wie sie in dieser Satzung festgelegt
sind, eingesetzt.
i. Abschnitt. Jeder neugewahlte ort-
liche Geistige Rat verfahrt sofort gemass
den in den Artikeln IV und V dieser
Satzung enthaltenen Anweisungen iiber die
Wahl seiner geschaftsfiihrenden Mitglieder,
die aus einem Vorsitzer, stellvertretenden
Vorsitzer, Sekretar und Rechner und was
der Rat sonst fur die Fuhrung seiner Ge-
schafte und die Erfiiliung seiner Geistigen
Pflichten an Amtern fur notig erachten mag,
bestehen. Unmittelbar darnach iibermittelt
der gewahlte Sekretar dem Sekretar des
Nationalen Geistigen Rates die Namen der
Mitglieder des neugewahlten Rates und eine
Liste seiner geschaftsfiihrenden Mitglieder.
2. Abschnitt. Die allgemeinen Befug-
nisse und Pflichten eines ortlichen Geistigen
Rates ergeben sich aus den Schrif ten Baha'u-
'llah's, 'Abdu'l-Baha's und Shoghi Effendi's.
3. Abschnitt. Unter die besonderen
Pflichten eines ortlichen Geistigen Rates
fallt das voile Spruchrecht iiber alle Baha'i-
Veranstaltungen und -Angelegenheiten in-
nerhalb der Gemeinde, unbeschadet der
hierin erklarten aussch'liesslichen Oberhoheit
des Nationalen Geistigen Rates.
4. Abschnitt. Ausscheidende Mitglieder
eines ortlichen Geistigen Rates werden auf
einer zu diesem Zwecke durch den Rat
ordnungsmassig einberufenen, besonderen
Gemeindeversammlung durch Wahl erganzt.
Falls die Zahl der ausscheidenden Mitglieder
hoher als vier ist, sodass die Beschlussfahig-
keit des orlichen Rates entfallt, wird die
Wahl unter der Oberaufsicht des Natio-
nalen Geistigen Rates vorgenommen.
5. Abschnitt. Die Geschafte des ort-
lichen Rates werden in gleicher Weise
gefuhrt, wie oben in Artikel VI fur die
Verhandlungen des Nationalen Geistigen
Rates festgelegt ist.
6. Abschnitt. Der ortliche Rat iiber-
priift und anerkennt die Eignung jedes
Mitgliedes der Baha'i-Gemeinde vor dessen
Zulassung als wahlberechtigtes Mitglied,
doch steht es jedem, der mit dem Befund
des ortlichen Geistigen Rates iiber seine
Eignung als Baha'i unzufrieden ist, frei,
gegen den Befund beim Nationalen Geistigen
Rat Berufung einzulegen, der den Fall auf-
greift und endgiiltig dariiber entscheidet.
7. Abschnitt. Am oder vor dem ersten
Tag im Februar jedes Jahres sendet der
Sekretar jedes ortlichen Rates dem Sekretar
des Nationalen Geistigen Rates eine ord-
nungsmassig beglaubigte Liste der stimm-
berechtigten Mitglieder der Baha'i -Gemeinde
zur Unterrichtung und Gutheissung durch
den Nationalen Geistigen Rat.
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
337
8. Abschnitt. Alle sich innerhalb einer
Baha'i-Gemeinde ergebenden Angelegen-
heiten von rein ortlichen Interessen, die nicht
die nationalen Belange der Sache beriihren,
unterstehen in erster Instanz dem Spruch-
recht des betreffenden ortlichen Geistigen
Rates, doch liegt die Entscheidung dariiber,
ob in einem Fall durch die Angelegenheit die
Belange und die Wohlfahrt der nationalen
Baha'i -Gemeinschaft beruhrt werden, beim
Nationalen Geistigen Rat.
<?. Abschnitt. Jedem Mitglied einer
Baha'i-Gemeinde steht es frei, gegen eine
Entscheidung seines Geistigen Rates beim
Nationalen Geistigen Rat Berufung einzu-
legen, der dariiber befindet, ob er die Sache
zur Entscheidung aufgreifen oder sie beim
ortlichen Geistigen Rat zur nochmaligen
Erwagung belassen will. Greif t der Natio-
nale Geistige Rat die Sache zur Entscheidung
auf , so ist seine Findung endgiiltig.
10. Abschnitt. Bestehen innerhalb einer
Baha'i-Gemeinde Meinungsverschiedenheit-
en, die nicht durch die Bemiihungen des
ortlichen Geistigen Rates beigelegt werden
konnen, so ist die Angelegenheit durch den
Geistigen Rat dem Nationalen Geistigen
Rate zur Erwagung zu iiberweisen, des-
sen Vorgehen in der Sache dann endgiiltig
ist.
n. Abschnitt. Alle Streitf ragen zwischen
zwei oder mehreren ortlichen Geistigen
Raten oder zwischen Mitgliedern verschied-
ener Baha'i-Gemeinden sollen in erster In-
stanz dem Nationalen Geistigen Rate unter-
breitet werden, dem bei alien derartigen
Angelegenheiten das erste und letzte Spruch-
recht eigen ist.
12. Abschnitt. Der Rechtsbereich der
einzelnen ortlichen Geistigen Rate in bezug
auf die ortliche Befindung zur Mitglied-
schaft und Wahlberechtigung eines Glau-
bigen in einer Baha'i-Gemeinde entspricht
der durch die verwaltungsrechtlichen Gren-
zen einer Stadt oder einer landlichen Ge-
meinde bezeichneten Gemarkung, doch
konnen Baha'i, die in angrenzenden, abseits
liegenden oder vorstadtischen Bezirken
wohnen und regelmassig an den Versamm-
lungen der Baha'i-Gemeinden teilzunehmen
vermogen, bis zur Errichtung eines ortlichen
Geistigen Rates in ihrer Heimatgemeinde in
die vom angrenzenden Geistigen Rat ge-
f iihrte Mitgliederrolle eingeschrieben werden
und voiles Wahlrecht geniessen.
Alle Auffassungsverschiedenheiten in be-
zug auf das Rechtsgebiet eines ortlichen
Geistigen Rates oder bezuglich der Anglie-
derung irgend eines Baha'i oder einer Gruppe
in Deutschland und Oesterreich sind dem
Nationalen Geistigen Rat zu unterbreiten,
desen Entscheidung in der Sache endgiiltig
ist.
ARTIKEL VIII
Die Jahresversammlung des Nationalen
Geistigen Rates, auf der die Wahl seiner
Mitglieder erfolgt, fuhrt die Bezeichnung
Nationaltagung der Baha'i in Deutschland
und Osterreich. Zeitpunkt und Ort f iir die
Abhaltung bestimmt der Nationale Geistige
Rat, der alle Baha'i-Gemeinden durch ihre
Geistigen Rate sechzig Tage zuvor von der
Versammlung in Kenntnis setzt. Der Na-
tionale Geistige Rat teilt jedem Geistigen
Rat gleichzeitig die von ihm der Baha'i-Ge-
meinde gemass dem Grundsatz der Ver-
haltnisvertretung zugeteilte Anzahl von Ab-
geordneten zur Nationaltagung mit, wobei
die Gesamtzahl der Abgeordneten, die die Na-
tionaltagung darstellen, neunzehn betragen
soil. Nach Empfang dieser Benachrichtig-
ung beruf t jeder ortliche Geistige Rat inner-
halb eines angemessenen Zeitraumes und
unter Beachtung ordnungsmassiger und aus-
reichender Ankiindigung eine Versammlung
der in seiner Rolle verzeichneten stimm-
berechtigten Mitglieder zwecks Wahl ihres
oder ihrer Abgeordneten zur Nationaltagung
ein, worauf die Sekretare der einzelnen
ortlichen Geistigen Rate dem Sekretar des
Nationalen Geistigen Rates spatestens dreis-
sig Tage vor dem Zeitpunkt der Tagung die
Namen und Anschriften der so gewahlten
Abgeordneten bescheinigen.
1. Abschnitt. Alle Tagungsabgeordneten
sind mit relativer Stimmenmehrheit zu wahl-
en. Mitglieder, die durch Krankheit oder
andere unvermeidliche Griinde verhindert
sind, an der Wahl personlich teilzunehmen,
haben das Recht, ihre Stimme brieflich oder
telegrafisch in einer Weise abzugeben, die
dem ortlichen Geistigen Rat geniigt.
2. Abschnitt. Alle fur die Tagung ein-
zusetzenden Abgeordneten miissen als
stimmberechtigte Mitglieder der von ihnen
338
THE B4;HA't WORLD
vertretenen Baha'i -Gemeinden eingetragen
sein.
3. Abschnitt. Die Rechte und Vorrechte
der Abgeordneten konnen weder iibertragen
noch abgetreten werden.
4. Abschnitt. Die Anerkennung und
Einsetzung der Abgeordneten zur National-
tagung erfolgt im Nationalen Geistigen
Rate.
5. Abschnitt. Soweit Abgeordnete nicht
personlich an der Tagung teilnehmen kon-
nen, ha ben sie das Recht, Mitglieder des Na-
tionalen Geistigen Rates schriftlich oder
telegrafiseh zu den vom Nationalen Geisti-
gen Rat festzusetzenden Bedingungen zu
wahlen.
6. Abschnitt. Halt der Nationale Geistige
Rat in irgend einem Jahre die Zusammen-
rufung der Abgeordneten zur Nationaltag-
ung fur undurchf iihrbar oder nicht geraten,
so setzt der Nationale Geistige Rat die Mittel
und Wege f ur die briefliche oder telegrafische
Durchfiihrung der Geschafte der National-
tagung fest.
7. Abschnitt. Das auf der National-
tagung anwesende vorsitzende, geschafts-
fiihrende Mitglied des Nationalen Geistigen
Rates ruf t die Abgeordneten auf, die darauf
zur endgiiltigen Ordnung der Versammlung
schreiten, einen Vorsitzenden, Schriftfuhrer
und was weiter an Amtern fiir die geeignete
Fuhrung der Geschafte der Tagung erfor-
derlich ist, wahlen.
8. Abschnitt. Die Hauptaufgabe der Na-
tionaltagung ist die Wahl der neun Mit-
glieder zum kommenden Nationalen Geisti-
gen Rate, die Entgegennahme der Berichte
iiber die finanzielle und sonstige Tatigkeit
des ausscheidenden Nationalen Geistigen
Rates und seiner verschiedenen Ausschiisse
und Beratung iiber die Angelegenheiten der
Baha'i -Sache im allgemeinen, selbstverstand-
lich in Obereinstimmung mit den von
Shoghi Effendi ausgedriickten Grundsatzen
der Baha'i -Verwaltung, wonach alle Bera-
tungen und Handlungen der Abgeordneten
zur Nationaltagung ausser der Wahl der
Mitglieder zum kommenden Nationalen
Geistigen Rate nur Ratschlage und Emp-
f ehlungen zur Beachtung durch den genann-
ten Rat darstellen, wahrend die Entscheid-
ung in alien Fragen, die die Angelegenheiten
der Baha'i-Sache in Deutschland und Oster-
reich betreffen, ausschliesslich bei dieser
Korperschaft liegt.
9. Abschmitt. Die auf der Nationaltag-
ung anzunehmende Geschattsordnung wird
durch den Nationalen Geistigen Rat vorbe-
reitet, doch konnen alle auf die Sache bezug-
lichen Angelegenheiten die von irgend einem
Abgeordneten vorgebracht werden, auf An-
trag, iiber den abzustimmen ist, als Punkt der
Tagungsberatungen aufgenommen werden.
ro. Abschnitt. Die Wahl der Mitglieder
des Nationaien Geistigen Rates erfolgt mit
relativer Stimmenmehrheit durch die vom
ausscheidenden Nationalen Geistigen Rat
anerkannten Abgeordneten, d. h. als ge-
wahlt gelten diejenigen neun Personen, die
im ersten Wahlgang der bei der Tagung an-
wesenden Abgeordneten sowie derjenigen
Abgeordneten, deren Stimme dem Sekretar
des Nationalen Geistigen Rates schriftlich
oder telegrafiseh iibermittelt worden ist, die
grosste Anzahl Stimmen erhalten haben.
Falls infolge Stimmengleichheit die voile
Mitgliedszahl nicht im ersten Wahlgang
erreicht wird, finden ein oder mehrere
weitere Wahlgange statt, bis samtliche neun
Mitglieder gewahlt sind.
n. Abschnitt. Alle bei der National-
tagung offiziell behandelten Angelegenheiten
sind unter die Protokolle des Nationalen
Geistigen Rates aufzunehmen und mit die-
sen zu bewahren.
12. Abschnitt. Nach Schluss der Na-
tionaltagung und bis zur Einberufung der
nachsten Jahrestagung wirken die Abgeord-
neten als zu besonderem Dienste in der Ar-
beit fiir die Sache befahigte beratende Kor-
perschaft fort, in jeder Weise bemuht, zum
einheitlichen Geiste und zu fruchtbringen-
der Tatigkeit des Nationalen Geistigen
Rates wahrend des Jahres beizutragen.
13. Abschnitt. Freigewordene Mitglieds-
sitze des Nationalen Geistigen Rates werden
mit relativer Stimmenmehrheit seitens der
Abgeordneten der Nationaltagung, die den
Rat seinerzeit gewahlt haben, neu besetzt,
wobei die Wahl in brieflicher oder irgend
sonstiger durch den Nationalen Geistigen
Rat bestimmter Form erfolgt.
ARTIKEL IX
Soweit dem Nationalen Geistigen Rat
durch diese Satzung in irgendwelchen, die
THE WORLD ORDER -0F BAHA'U'LLAH
339
Tatigkeit und die Angelegenheiten der
Baha'i -Sache in Deutschland und Osterreich
betreffenden Fragen ausschliessliches und
hochstrichterliches Spruchrecht sowie voll-
ziehende Oberhoheit ubertragen ist, gilt dies
mit der Weisung, dass alle beziiglich solcher
Fragen getroffenen Entscheidungen oder er-
folgten Massnahmen in jedem Falle dem
Hiiter der Sache oder dem Universalen
Hause der Gerechtigkeit zur endgiiltigen
Prufung und Billigung zu unterbreiten sind.
ARTIKEL X
Soweit Aufgaben und Befugnisse durch
diese Satzung nicht ausdrucklich den ort-
lichen Geistigen Raten ubertragen sind, gel-
ten sie als dem Nationalen Geistigen Rate
verliehen, wobei dieser Korperschaft das
Recht zur Obertragung solcher beliebiger
Verrichtungen und Befugnisse zusteht, die
sie innerhalb ihres Spruchrechtes als fur
ortliche Geistige Rate erforderlich und rat-
sam erachtet.
ARTIKEL XI
Zur Wahrung des geistigen Charakters
und Zweckes der Baha'i-Wahlen soil weder
der Brauch der Wahlvorschlage noch irgend
ein sonstiges, eine stille und von Gebeten
getragene Wahl beeintrachtigendes Wahl-
verfahren aufkommen, sodass jeder Wahler
fur niemanden stimmen soil, als wen ihm
Gebet und (Jberlegung eingegeben haben.
Zu den hervorragendsten und geheiligt-
sten Pflichten derer, die berufen werden, die
Angelegenheiten der Sache als Mitglieder
ortlicher oder nationaler Geistiger Rate auf-
zugreifen, zu fiihren und gleichzurichten,
gehort:
auf jede nur mogliche Weise das Ver-
trauen und die Zuneigung derer zu ge-
winnen, denen zu dienen sie das Vorrecht
haben; die Meinungen, vorherrschenden
Empfindungen und die personliche t)ber-
zeugung derjenigen, deren Wohlergehen
zu fordern ihre feierliche Pflicht ist, zu
erforschen und sich mit ihnen vertraut zu
machen; ihre Erwagungen und die allge-
meine Fiihrung ihrer Angelegenheiten von
verschlossener Teilnahmslosigkeit, dem
Anschein der Heimlichkeit, dem ersticken-
den Dunstkreis diktatorischer Bestim-
mungen und von alien Worten und
Handlungen zu reinigen, die den Ein-
druck von Parteilichkeit, Selbstsucht und
Vorurteilen erwecken konnen, und unter
Vorbehalt des geheiligten Rechtes endgiil-
tiger Entscheidung zur Besprechung ein-
zuladen, Beschwerden nachzugehen, Rat-
schlage zu begriissen und das Gefiihl der
gegenseitigen Abhangigkeit und Mitbe-
teiligung, des Verstandnisses und wechsel-
seitigen Vertrauens unter sich und alien
iibrigen Baha'i zu pflegen. ^
ARTIKEL XII
Diese Satzung kann vom Nationalen
Geistigen Rat in jeder regelmassigen oder
besonderen Sitzung mit absoluter Stimmen-
mehrheit erganzt werden, vorausge*setzt,
dass mindestens vierzehn Tage vor dem fur
die betreffende Versammlung festgesetzten
Zeitpunkt eine Abschrift der vorgeschla-
genen Erganzung oder Erganzungen an jedes
Ratsmitglied durch den Sekretar mittels
Einschreibebriefes versandt wird.
In alien Fallen, in denen iiber den durch
den Wortlaut ausgedriickten Sinn dieser
Treuhandschaftserklarung und Satzung Un-
klarheit besteht, ist der englische Wortlaut
der Declaration of Trust and By Laws der
Bah£'i der Vereinigten Staaten und Kanadas
zu Rate zu ziehen.
Stuttgart, den 10. Februar 1935.
340
THE BAHA'f WORLD
*c* XXI o'* iSO - •
NO: v>7. of i«i>193.
T nereby certify that ... fcjto
of trie '<*q>*iU Q* l
has tnis day beer, registered inder
Registration \ct, XXI of 1860.
Given under my hand at Lahore
this
day of
One thousand nine hundred and thirty three.
Registration Tee.fc, so/-/- v fllty) only.
;tocK ^
Registrar,
niej, Punjab.
Certificate of Incorporation of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is
of India and Burma.
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 341
*>JLJj!\\''\
- t*!r» ^
i^^^ M&u&iuy,
^^AAil'ft^lM) \3u*s 4AJlj\^^^>Jfc *±s&
fc»fe*;->j^©) J>.^W^"^^^^^\JIAIWJW'
^^>v -v/ ' • • . "-Mr- .i*\A'i. n -•..-«.<»: ,i'-
Declaration of Trust and By-Laws of the National Spiritual Assembly of the
Baha'is of 'Iraq.
342 THE BAHA'I
MJ ^bV^^UfcjJJ^U^U^ UJUAJU^^
P>>W>j($^j(UOj^
i .L^.iiA.^^^^-il^O^r^iJ^^,
^^li^b^^^V^^^i^^^ij^i - ^
^'tKd^^^U'^^bu^l^
_,_._,_ Y*
^Ls^O1
Ulitfe'jiiu;
— r
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ViWU^Ujij.^^
^lijllir' J^ ^? U^'^^^^AV?^Jtol«^^//;'^y
^UafrL.'Vj iC'.l _;.i|.!L-.>. (T IL J.i.r»i.id.i •.. ". .1 • . 1 1. 1 i.. »fv
;
"
^I^XU Jjdni^ X\>J6-£
^a^''^r4U^v^l4Ufe'^VklUi.
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 343
^
"
(•
'
x
>^
344 THE BAHA'f WORLD
«
• Ss^L^'(>jJJ^-Nil^Vj^t6^^J^l^u^-HJ
•Siy^JfJ^^ilU^ iM3>/
ty-^j)^*^} o*-^ ^Mj^^J^r^^^Mf
* •• t U * i . \ • * - / .y. • . • "*(/•- h « u !•—* 1 ^+*~ *
*&'.,-.-.
^'ik>^^j ^J^*i'^ilS<l^J&
: 'A-J*Y±^ y/W»X j'^^^Q^^^r^^
tr*^* ^W^^y^J^1 (. !^1>1 'JU1«' VijJ^ :<^LlJ £i (j'y^o'
U
• -
^^^^!y>^l^^Ij^l^ipf^u/-U^^
• |^Al^^^U^r^V*^^^^j6^^
o ' ' /"j " .TiuM' In
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 345
^^^JjJw^j^^&&^ i^
•••'••*;uov,,, '
•^*£(^ o^w^ ww^^^^cf. ^
• • %<"\ i£i • 'V" **Jo ''kl'lj'^' li^-^ilLa^1^ • I^iW ^ud!LiAJ!'']JJ
^^J^^»a5jAliA^ (3J
^J^^]jU^4l^
«^^U!Ai^^fiui!)i\Ji!^ (\} )
i^^fiu4!)i\Ji!/yyi^^ r w )
" ^WiH^ 5>U^.^'
.*•!.. rf *T «..•!. ^.^'
I * • /l&tfil
346 THE BAHA'f WORLD
.
<^^^^^^^ (*
* • I ' -
• I (/ , •• — ""^ '***+-*?** — * \fy*** • ^-/. . u^^^iv^v*1 i y;
J^'^^d^Uu^l^; 2A)i ti/V^^^.^^C^l^l^/ll; f lifli^? ^ W
"Ol^^LJUjJ; t^J^«Sl[)^Sii5i>^lj^^ ^'\
^^•^^^^JJ^U^jg -^^aj^JUlH^^r^i
^^^^D/^J^^i^'"^^1^
" ^''^^'^U^^^l^^^Lf-J^ Jj\^UifUli^ Ujj^'4f9' ^
^'fiS^^UiJKiwUNtf -^W^.^-UU*]; -uitfi; i^^D^^JVS'
tijr^ ^V TL^W'"^"^' 'rTl-^~vS';'lLr 'v»U*»^v*^^vy*iytNy«=»l-»w'jUyJ^
IM 1i t < * ^^^i^^W^-ft^1
JUbo^i^oL^y^l^^^^ cv
\JL ^ J^I^^J^dJU^Cj-^WW/^.'^^j't \!
y^^fc^dJU^^Ui^^^'^^^ij!
'M . i i •, -» \ • \ 1 1 , /\\ » \ "*»,.. t i i „ .*.-•*
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 347
x,, ,/ *V^!te^
1 . i ^>*oiUei *fe tfii^^jrfty u& J^fe^^^uy r^ » )
^*^^^^^,j)^^^
d'V^'^^
•> 1>1» Up sj W^Ml^OU!, ^j li o]b ^ J
'
^^'UJf^e^r^^ •^i^A 'Sr^U \i^3d>?li^
' 4^'JuiJi/xfc X^'Qje-^LVl^^^
• . ^>^^^^'^j^^>v^X^l^
(SSr^u^uy^ v^^1^^ ^fu^j^uy'/trib
348 THE BAHA'f WORLD
v>c/vf ;^^4V *iv^c^>x>v*>^
^<)/&&&ty'tfsScP'J > V^J'>^c/x>^ Vy V,
— »• *•* ~ ,— ^ ^ ^ .^ -. »*^ ^--— ^ -^ ^ e*r, (y Cj *+^ '' 'tif
&&4iS> •/m<s(s*tf'it<>> ?&<*?<;> WMI^WS+JM
yyfOMilhfrl&topyil i— aeVXrfwnf f«Kifr^X» ^>i/
*-!^ utt^*^*^ as^^-r.-^1/ -<v ^ii^jsSi^
^?^Xtfi»i^tO^*^^M^^««A-^
^hipUttfitP'/ .>•,¥'> -^K^ttij^jj? 'V*.';"^!^-
IP^^^^^^^/^ ^Vy'fcAtfsW^fct^^
o^pfciri ^''V^i/^^^V^yVJ^x .
U*!«f A'i /i^( Jto^iJA i5-i^i.L*//lj(LatVi^ . wj LTJ- • V: ^il>;.;
Declaration of Trust of the National Spiritual Assembly
of the Bahi'is of Egypt.
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 349
//W'^'t/^
" ' 'l
Declaration of Trust of the National Spiritual Assembly
of the Baha'is of Egypt.
350
THE BAHA'f WORLD
, A -"- • '• />i »' V* ^> '
— - ' -' I/ / '
• ;.., -, . ,i> / ./.^'
rf
I
Facsimile of Document related to the Incorporation of the National Spiritual
Assembly of the Baha'is of Egypt.
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 351
>,r •• /•<-% A ' t 'il -V.V-
^ ***' V* L>*
*- - >~ : ^
352
THE BAHA'f WORLD
,,1.
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
353
„ » HI ' , » >
. --
354
THE BAHA'f WORLD
®ff>
vw \tyCf ffifofrfr dy ^M£^WM?^()&I* ^AA^V^A^VoVe cv
Certificate of Incorporation of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of
Australia and New Zealand.
00
r«-v
ON
CM
O
a
J
a»
1
355
356
THE BAHA'f WORLD
BY-LAWS OF THE SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF
THE BAHA'IS OF THE CITY
OF NEW YORK1
4 ARTICLE I
1 HE Baha'is of the City of New York
adopt this Corporation in order to supply
proper legal status to the conduct of the af-
fairs of a religious community which has had
continuous existence for more than thirty
years, being one of the first two local Baha'i
communities established in North America.
During this period the community has been
recognized, encouraged and instructed in let-
ters and communications addressed to it by
'Abdu'1-Baha, who in one communication
designated New York "The City of the Cov-
enant." It was in this city that 'Abdu'l-
Baha devoted the larger portion of His
American visit in 1912. The Assembly has
been recognized since the Ascension of 'Abd-
u'l-Baha in letters addressed to it by the
Guardian of the Baha'i Faith. The New
York Baha'i community has been continu-
ously and uninterruptedly represented by
delegates in the Annual Meetings held by the
recognized national Baha'i body of North
America since the formation of that body in
1909. The Spiritual Assembly is at present
enrolled in the list of Local Spiritual As-
semblies recognized by the National Spir-
itual Assembly.
The Trustees, i.e., the Spiritual Assembly,
recognize that this action has been taken in
full unanimity and agreement. They ac-
knowledge for themselves and on behalf of
their successors the sacred meaning and uni-
versal purpose of the Baha'i Faith, the teach-
ings and principles of which fulfill the di-
vine promise of all former revealed religions.
ARTICLE II
In administering the affairs of the Baha'i
Religion under this Corporation for the ben-
efit of the Baha'is of the City of New York
in accordance with the religious teachings
and administrative principles of this Faith,
the Spiritual Assembly shall act in conform-
ity with the functions of a Local Spiritual
Assembly as defined in the By-Laws adopted
by the National Spiritual Assembly and pub-
lished by that body for the information and
guidance of Baha'i s throughout the United
States and Canada.
ARTICLE III
The Spiritual Assembly, in the fulfillment
of its obligations and responsibilities under
this Corporation, shall have exclusive juris-
diction and authority over all the local ac-
tivities and affairs of the Baha'i community
of the City of New York, including para-
mount authority in the administration of
this Corporation. It shall be responsible for
maintaining the integrity and accuracy of all
Baha'i teaching, whether written or oral,
undertaken throughout the local commu-
nity. It shall make available the published
literature of the Faith. It shall represent
the community in its relation to the Na-
tional Spiritual Assembly, in its relation to
the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith, to other
local Baha'i communities, and to the general
public in the City of New* York. It shall
be charged with the recognition of all ap-
plicants requesting membership in the local
Baha'i community. It shall pass upon the
right of any and all members of the com-
munity whose membership is in question to
retain their status as voting members of
the community. It shall call the meetings
of the community, including the Baha'i An-
niversaries and Feasts, the meetings of con-
sultation, the Annual Meeting and the meet-
ing for the election of delegates to the
Annual Meeting of the National Spiritual
Assembly. It shall appoint and supervise all
committees of the Baha'i community. It
shall collect and disburse all funds intended
for the maintenance of this Corporation. It
shall have full and complete custody of the
headquarters or meeting place of the Baha'i
community. It shall report to the National
Spiritual Assembly annually, or when re-
quested, the membership roll of the Baha'i
community, for the information and ap-
proval of the national Baha'i body. The
Spiritual Assembly, however, shall recognize
the authority and right of the National
Spiritual Assembly to declare at any time
1 The pattern for all local Bah&'i constitutions.
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
357
what activities and affairs of the Baha'i com-
munity of the City of New York are na-
tional in scope and hence subject to the
jurisdiction of the national Baha'i body. It
shall likewise recognize the right of any
member of the community to appeal to the
National Spiritual Assembly for review and
decision of any matter in which the previ-
ous decision of the local Spiritual Assembly
is felt by the member to be contrary to the
explicit teachings of the Baha'i Faith or op-
posed to its best interests. It shall, on the
other hand, have the authority and right to
appeal from the decision of the National
Assembly to the Guardian of the Baha'i
Faith for review and final decision of any
matter related to the Faith in the City of
New York.
ARTICLE IV
The Spiritual Assembly, in administering
this Corporation, shall ever bear in mind the
ideals upheld in the Sacred Writings of the
Baha'i Faith respecting the relationships of
a Spiritual Assembly to its Baha'i commu-
nity, respecting the relations of Baha'is to
one another in the community, and the re-
lationships of Baha'is to all non-Baha'is,
without prejudice of race, creed, class or
nationality. The Assembly shall therefore
above all recognize its sacred duty to main-
tain full and complete unity throughout the
Baha'i community, to relieve and comfort
the sick and distressed, to assist the poor
and destitute, to protect the orphans, the
crippled and the aged, to educate the chil-
dren of Baha'is according to the highest re-
ligious and intellectual standards, to compose
differences and disagreements among mem-
bers of the community, to promulgate the
principles of Divine Civilization revealed
by Baha'u'llah, and to promote in every
way possible the Baha'i aim of the oneness
of mankind. It shall faithfully and de-
votedly uphold the general Baha'i activities
and affairs initiated and sustained by the
National Spiritual Assembly. It shall co-
operate wholeheartedly with other local
Spiritual Assemblies throughout North
America in all matters declared by the Na-
tional Spiritual Assembly to be of general
Baha'i importance and concern. It shall
rigorously abstain from any action or in-
fluence, direct or indirect, that savors of in-
tervention on the part of a Baha'i body in
matters of public politics and civil jurisdic-
tion. It shall encourage intercourse between
the Baha'i community of the City of New
York and other recognized Baha'i commu-
nities, issuing letters of introduction to
Baha'is traveling from New York and pass-
ing upon letters of introduction issued by
other Baha'i Assemblies. It shall regard its
authority as a means of rendering service to
Baha'is and non-Baha'is and not as a source
of arbitrary power. While retaining the
sacred right of final decision in all mat-
ters pertaining to the Baha'i community, the
Spiritual Assembly shall ever seek the advice
and consultation of all members of the com-
munity, keep the community informed of
all its affairs, and invite full and free dis-
cussion on the part of the community of all
matters affecting the Faith.
ARTICLE V
The Baha'is of the City of New York, for
whose benefit this Corporation has been es-
tablished, shall consist of all persons resident
in the City of New York who are recognized
by the Spiritual Assembly as having fulfilled
the requirements of voting membership in
this local Baha'i community. To become a
voting member of this Baha'i community a
person shall:
a. Be a resident of the City of New York
as defined by the area of jurisdiction of the
Spiritual Assembly, as provided hereinafter
in this instrument.
b. Have attained the age of 21 years.
r. Have established to the satisfaction of
the Spiritual Assembly, subject to the ap-
proval of the National Spiritual Assembly,
that he (or she) possesses the qualifications
of Baha'i Faith and practice required under
the following standard: Full recognition of
the Station of the Fore-runner (the Bab),
the Author (Baha'u'llah), and 'Abdu'l-
Baha, the Exemplar of the Baha'i religion;
unreserved acceptance of, and submission to,
whatsoever has been revealed by Them; loyal
and steadfast adherence to every clause of
'Abdu'l-Bahd's sacred Will and Testament;
and close association with the spirit as well
as the form of Baha'i administration
throughout the world.
358
THE BAHA'f WORLD
ARTICLE VI
The Spiritual Assembly shall consist of
nine Trustees chosen from among the Baha'is
of the City of New York, who shall be
elected by these Baha'is in a manner herein-
after provided and who shall continue in
office for the period of one year, or until
their successors shall be elected.
ARTICLE VII
The officers of the Spiritual Assembly
shall consist of a Chairman, Vice-Chairman,
Secretary and Treasurer, and such other offi-
cers as may be found necessary for the
proper conduct of its affairs. The officers
shall be elected by a majority vote of the
entire membership of the Assembly taken
by secret ballot.
ARTICLE VIII
The first meeting of a newly-elected As-
sembly shall be called by the member elected
to membership by the highest number of
votes, or, in case two or more members have
received the same said highest number of
votes, then by the member selected by lot
from among those members; and this mem-
ber shall preside until the permanent Chair-
man shall be chosen. All subsequent meet-
ings shall be called by the Secretary of the
Assembly at the request of the Chairman,
or, in his absence or incapacity, of the Vice-
Chairman, or of any three members of the
Assembly; provided however that the An-
nual Meeting of the Assembly shall be held
on April 21st, in accordance with the ad-
ministrative principles recognized by all
Baha'i Assemblies.
Section i. Five members of the Assem-
bly present at a meeting shall constitute a
quorum, and a majority vote of those pres-
ent and constituting a quorum shall be suf-
ficient for the conduct of business, except
as otherwise provided in these By-Laws, and
with due regard to the principles of unity
and cordial fellowship involved in the in-
stitution of a Spiritual Assembly. The trans-
actions and decisions of the Assembly shall
be recorded at each meeting by the Secre-
tary, who shall have the minutes adopted
and approved by the Assembly, and preserve
them in the official records of the Assembly.
Section 2. Vacancies in the membership
of the Spiritual Assembly shall be filled by
election at a special meeting of the local
Baha'i community duly called for that pur-
pose by the Assembly. In the event that
the number of vacancies exceeds four, mak-
ing a quorum of the Spiritual Assembly im-
possible, the election shall be under the su-
pervision of the National Spiritual Assembly.
ARTICLE IX
The sphere of jurisdiction of the Spiritual
Assembly, with respect to residential quali-
fication of membership, and voting rights of
a believer in the Baha'i community, shall
be the locality included within the civil lim-
its of the City of New York, but Baha'is,
who reside in adjacent, outlying or suburban
districts and can regularly attend the meet-
ings of the local Baha'i community, may be
enrolled on the membership list of the Spir-
itual Assembly and enjoy full voting rights
pending the establishment of a local Spiritual
Assembly in their home community.
ARTICLE X
Section i. In the event that any decision
of the Assembly is unacceptable to any
member or members of the community, the
Assembly shall after endeavoring to compose
the differences of opinion invite the said
member or members to make appeal to the
national Baha'i body and notify that body
of the condition of the matter and the readi-
ness of the Assembly to become party to
the appeal.
Section 2. In the same manner, if any
difference arises between the Assembly and
another local Assembly, or Assemblies, in
North America, the Assembly shall report
the matter to the national Baha'i body and
inform that body of its readiness to make
joint appeal together with the other Assem-
bly or Assemblies.
Section 3. If, however, the result of such
appeal is unsatisfactory to the Spiritual As-
sembly or the Assembly at any time has rea-
son to believe that actions of the National
Spiritual Assembly are affecting adversely
the welfare and unity of the Baha'i com-
munity of the City of New York, it shall,
after seeking to compose its difference of
opinion with the national body in direct con-
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
359
sultation, have the right to make appeal to
the Guardian of the Faith.
Section 4. The Assembly shall likewise
have the right to make complaint to the
National Spiritual Assembly in the event
that matters of local Baha'i concern and in-
fluence are referred to the national body by
a member or members of the local commu-
nity without previous opportunity for action
by the local Assembly.
ARTICLE XI
The Annual Meeting of the Corporation
at which its Trustees shall be elected shall
be held on April 21 at an hour and place
to be fixed by the Assembly, which shall
give not less than fifteen days' notice of the
meeting to all members of the local Baha'i
community.
Section i. The Assembly shall accept
those votes transmitted to the Assembly be-
fore the election by members who by reason
of sickness or other unavoidable reason are
unable to be present at the election in person.
Section 2. The election of members to
the Spiritual Assembly shall be by plurality
vote.
Section 3. All voting members of the lo-
cal Baha'i community are eligible for elec-
tion as members of the Spiritual Assembly.
Section 4. The Assembly shall prepare
an agenda for the Annual Meeting in which
shall be included reports of the activities of
the Assembly since its election, a financial
statement showing all income and expendi-
ture of its fund, reports of its committees
and presentation of any other matters per-
taining to the affairs of the Baha'i commu-
nity. The Assembly, both preceding
and following the annual election, shall
invite discussion and welcome sugges-
tions from the community, in order that
its plans may reflect the community mind
and heart.
Section 5. The result of the election shall
be reported by the Spiritual Assembly to the
National Assembly.
ARTICLE XII
In addition to the Annual Meeting, the
Assembly shall arrange for regular meetings
of the Baha'i community throughout the
year at intervals of nineteen days, in ac-
cordance with the calendar incorporated in
the teachings of the Baha'i Faith.
ARTICLE XIII
The Spiritual Assembly, on notice from
the National Spiritual Assembly, shall re-
port the number of voting members in the
local community, that the national Baha'i
body may be duly informed of the number
of delegates to be assigned to the Baha'i
community of the City of New York in
accordance with the principle of proportion-
ate representation controlling the annual
election of members to the National Spir-
itual Assembly.
Section i. When informed of the num-
ber of delegates assigned to the local com-
munity, the Spiritual Assembly shall call a
special meeting of the community for the
purpose of electing said number of delegates
to represent the community at the Annual
Meeting of the National Spiritual Assembly.
Section 2. The election of delegates to
the Annual Meeting of the National Spir-
itual Assembly shall be by plurality vote.
Section 3. All voting members of the
local Bahi'i community are eligible for elec-
tion as delegates to the Annual Meeting of
the National Assembly.
Section 4. The result of the election shall
be reported by the Spiritual Assembly to the
National Spiritual Assembly, and the Spir-
itual Assembly shall meet all the conditions
laid down by the national Baha'i body for
the recognition of local Spiritual Assemblies
and the participation of local Baha'i com-
munities in the annual election of the na-
tional Baha'i body.
ARTICLE XIV
The seal of this Corporation shall be cir-
cular in form, bearing the following descrip-
tion: The Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is
of the City of New York, Corporate Seal.
ARTICLE XV
These By-Laws may be amended by ma-
jority vote of the Spiritual Assembly at any
of its regular or special meetings, provided
that at least fourteen days prior to the date
fixed for the said meeting a copy of the
proposed amendment or amendments is
mailed to each member of the Assembly by
the Secretary.
360
THE BAHA'f WORLD
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
STATE OF NEW YORK
BY
EDWARD J. FLYNN
Secretary of State and Custodian of the Great Seal Thereof.
MAJilKKLLI
|Jt la Jjmbg Ctrrtifab. That-.,
{ of the County of.. — Jjftw YflJEte, „ m said State, and Cler\ of the
prewe Court therein, being a Court of Record, on the day of the date of the annexed
lificate and duly authorized to grant the same; that the same is m due form and exe'
fcd by the proper officer, that the seal affixed to said certificate is the seal of said County
Court, that the signature thereto of said cler\ is in his proper handwriting, and is
Line; and that full faith and credit may and ought to be given to his official acts.
Fhe Great
Seal of the State is hereunto affixed.
I my hand at the City of Albany, the~-.~ , JbK&xi1ky.?rjC4.r,aJj,,,,.,,«« „ „„,...„„.,
of. fitt&filHbflC. ~~ in the year of our Lord one thousand
hundred and thirty-elx.
--
J Srpuly ftrrrttarg
Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of New York.
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
Certificate
7220 B
STATE OF NEW YORK
COUNTY OF NEW .YORK
u. :
I, ALBERT M ARINELLI, Clerk of the County of New York and also
Clerk of the Supreme Court in and for said county,
DO HEREjgY CERTIFY, that I have compared the within photo-
graphic copy of
the original of wpicji is. filed /«ad recorded in my office, under
and I do further certify, that such photographic copy is a correct transcript
of such record and of the whole of said original.
In WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand
the seal oftQid court arfd county at Ac City of New York, this JzL
day of .$l<%^...'T^.^t 193 O.
._-._ ^ cammtf of 'New Yort and
Clerk cf the Suprtmt Court.
The fee charged for
Copy was
tfiis
^
County Clerk.
362 THE BAHA'i WORLD
CERTIFICATE OF ifrCORPORATIOH
THE SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF THE B AHA 'IS
OF THE Cm OF NEWiYCM
Pursuant to Section 193 of the Religious
Corporation Law of the State of New York
We, the undersigned, all being of full age, and citizens of the
United States, and residents of the State of Hew York, desiring to fora
a corporation pursuant to Section 195 of the Religious Corporation Law
of the State of Hew York, do hereby make, sign, and acknowledge this
certificate as follows i
FIRST} The purpose and objects for which the corporation is formed
are to administer the affairs of the Beha'i Religion for the benefit of
the Baha'is of the City of Hew York in accordance with the religious
teachings and administratiTe principles of this Faith*
SECOND: The name of the corporation is to be "The Spiritual Assembly
of the Baha'is of the City of Hew York."
THIBD: The territory in which its activities are principally to be
conducted is Hew York City and vicinity*
FOURTH: The principal place of worship is to be located in the City
of New York, County of New York, State of Hew York,
FIFTH: The number of trustees is to be nine.
SIXTH: The names and places of residence of the persons to be trustees
until the first annual meeting are as follows:
NAME PLACE OF RESIDENCE
Ophelia Crum 101 West 55th Street, Hew York City
Horace Holley 125 East 10th Street, Hew York City
Bertha Herklotz 1810 Cortelyou Road, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Hooper Harris 162 West 15th Street, New York City
Julia Threlkeld 101 West 55th Street, New York City
-Lonlie A. Mathews 450 East 57th Street, New York City
Marie B. Moore 41 Convent Avenue, New York City
Marion Little 465 Park Avenue, Hew ~ork City*
Edward B, Kinney 204 West 55th Street, Hew York City
SEVENTH: The time for holding its annual meeting is to be on the
twenty-first day of April in each year*
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
The first Beating was held on March 50,1952, at Baha'i Center,
119 West 57th Street, New York City.
363
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, We have made, signed and acknowledged this
certificate in triplicate. Dated this thirty-first day of llarch,1952.
Before me on this thirty-first day of March, 1932, personally appeared
Horace Holley, Ophelid Crum, and Bertha Herklotz, who being by me severally
sworn did acknowledge that they had executed the written certificate of
incorporation*
COMMISSIONER OP DEEDS.
NEW YORK CITY
"t« York Co. Clerk'. N*. SO
New York Co. R«|.*«r'» No 20 S 4
'ioA <£*,!(«« F«b 2, 1934
364 THE BAHA'f WORLD
INC.
4201
OP^WORPORATION
THE SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF THE BAHA'IS
OP THE CIR OF NEI YORK
FEE PAID $.
DatB MAR 3 11932
County Clerfc
By
Cashi^f.
A1NOOO MHOA AA3N
W3l:
oo :s W-K
oaoaooaa :
COPY ISSUED
i
Fee Paid/..
CountClerk, N, Y. Co.
By
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
365
VOL 8 M#129
•w*
THEODORE DAMMAKU
April
Fifteenth
,^
SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF THE BAHA'IS OF KENOSHA
dw^ti^^
to enter into, make P perform and carry out contracts of every sort and
Jcind mith any person , firm^ association or corporation> public or private? to
take end hold property, both real and personalj whether acquired by gift,
"^^
*f s9 ^
Loula . Voelg
^ .<-'&&*' ^op inv rpy (
/^
^^
Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Kenosha,
Wisconsin, U. S. A.
3*6 THE BAHA'f WORLD
226193 VOL
CERTIFICATE Of OflGANIZATIOM
KNOW ALL ME* BY THEtf PKESEHT8I That we, the undersigned
Genevieve Kraai, chairman, and Lou IS J, Voclf, secretary
of the Spiritual Aaaenbly of the BahaMa of Ken 03 ha, do
nereby certify that, at the annual tneeting of the member a
of the Kenoaha Bah*'! Cozamnity, neld in the city of Ken-
osha, county of Kenosha and atat- of Wisconsin, on the 81st
day of April, A.D. 1936, for that purpose, the following
peraona, namely, Louia J. Voelt, Iva Russell, Earl Parker,
Grace Anderaon, William C. Schehd, O^r trade Collins, Carrie
Gates, Genevieve Kraal and Theodore Lo rent ten were elected
to be the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Kenoaha, In
accordance with the principles of the local Baha«i admin-
istration recognized and affirmed by the National Spiritual
Assembly of the Baha'ifl of the United States «7id Canada,
with full power and authority, as the authorised represen-
tative bod. of the JUnoaha Baha'l Coaaunity, to supply pro-
per legal status to their conduct of the affairs of this
religious community by electing and establishing themselves
and their successors In office a-i trustees to be incorpor-
ated under the provisions of Section 167,05, Subsections
(1*2) of the Wisconsin Statutes, and the acta amendatory
thereof ana supplementary tnereto, and they ha?e so elected
and declared tnenselves and their successors in office to
be trustees for such purpose, and we do further declare and
state, that*
AftTICLS I
the corporate name by which such trustees are to
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 367
-2-
be known ahull be th* SPIBITUAL ASSEMBLY OF THE BABA'XS OF
KEflOSHA, and ita location ahell be in tbe city of Ktnoaha,
county of Konoaha an* at*te of Wisconain.
ARTIOE IX
The trustees, nine in number, hereinabore mentioned
shall hold their offieea until April 21ft JUP, 1957 or until
their auccaaaora are duly elected and thereafter the dnly
elected trustees snail hold their offieea for a term of one
year from and after April SlatT of the year in which they are
elected or until their successors aha 11 haTe been doly elect*
ed.
AKTICLE III
The purposes and objects for which it is deaired to
incorporate the a«id truatees aa aforesaid are declared to he
for the administration of the Faith of Baha<uflleh for the
benefit of the Bah*1 is of the city of KenosU* state of Wis-
consin, according to the principles of feahs'l affiliation and
administration created and established by Bahafufll&h, defined
and explained by tAbdu'l-Saha, end amplified and applied by
Shoghi Effandi and his duly constituted successor and success-
ors under the provision of the Will and Testament of 'Abdu9!*
Baha.
These purposes are to be realized by <&&ans of de?o~
tiooal meetings; by public meetings end conferences of aa
368 THE BAHA'f WORLD
-3.
VOL 8 NKS133
educational, humanitarian and apiritual character j*by super*
wising, unifying proaotinj and generally adninistering tht
aotlvltlea and affairs of the Kenosha Baha'i Coaaunity; and
by any other aeans appropriate to these ends or any of then.
Further purposes and objects of this corporation
shall bet
1. To enter Into, ma' e, perforo and carry out eon*
tracts of every sort and kind with any person, fira, asso-
ciation or corporation, public or pr irate; to take and hdld
property, both real and personal* whether acquired by gift,
grant, devise, bequest or purchase, and to sell, convey or
otherwise dispose of the saae; to borrow aoney and to secure
the payment of the saae by mortgage of its real and personal
property or otherwise; and for the purpose of attaining or
furthering any of its objects, to do any and all other acts
and things, and to exercise any and all powers which a co-
partnership or natural person could do and exercise, and
which now or hereafter may be authorized by lav, which said
business is to be carried on within the state of Wisconsin,
and especially within the county of Kenosha in said state,'
for the purposes of this incorporation In promoting relig-
ious, charitable and educational works and no other, and it
is expressly understood that no dividend or pecuniary pro-
fits shall be declared or paid to the aaabers of this corp-
oration.
£, To carry out all and thetmr the several pur-
poses and objects sat forth in the written utterances of
BahaVllah, Ubdu'1-Baha and Shoghi Effendi, under which
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 369
certain Jurisdiction, powers and righte art f ran ltd to loot!
Spiritual Aaaenblies.
£• Generally to do all thine* And acts which in
the Judgment of aaid truateef, I.e., the Spiritual Assembly
of the Bahama of Kenosh*, are necessary, proper and advan-
tageous to promote the complete and auccessfvl adcuiniatra-
tlon of thia corporation*
ARTICLE If
The trustees, I.e., the Spiritual Assembly of the
Baha'ia of Ktnoaha, shall adopt for the conduct of the affaira
entrusted to them under this Incorporation, such by-laws,
rules of procedure or regulations as fire required to define
and carry on ita own loc.al functions, not Inconsistent with
the terns of tnit certificate and not inconsistent with the
Declaration of Tr-st, By-La we, rules of procedure or regula-
tions of the national Spiritual Assembly of the Beha'is of the
United States and Canada, tne paramount snd central adminis-
trative eutnority in and for North America, and all in accord-
ance with the explicit Instructions given to date by Shoghl
Cff«ndi, Guardian oC the Faith of Beha'uUlsh which instruc-
tions are already known to the Behit»i8 of Kenosha and accepted
by them In the government and practice of their religious
affaira.
ARTICLE Y
The aeal of this corporation ahull be circular in
form, bearing the following descriptions
370 THE BAHA'I WORLD
VOL 8 PACE 135
Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Kenosha*
Incorporated, 1937.
ARTICLE VI
This Certificate of Organization may be amended
by majority vote of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is
of Kenosha at any special meeting called for that purpose,
provided that at least thirty (30) days prior to the date
fixed for said meeting a copy of the proposed amendment or
amendments is mailed to each member of the Assembly by the
secretary*
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, we, as chairman and secretary
respectively of the said Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'ls
of Kenosha have hereunto set our hands nnd seals
day of April, A.D. 1937*
SIGNED yjLAA
Chairman
COUNTERSIGNED fr+c^ * /*& (SEAL )
Secret
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 371
vot 8
BTAT£ OF WX0CONSH
66
coran or KDIOSHA
Personally cane before at thia //fJJTday
of Aprll^ A.Df 1937, the above named Genevieve Kraal, the
Chairmen, and Louie J. Voeli, the Secretary of the Spiritual
Aaieably of the Barte'is of Kenoaha, tne boJy above named, to
me known to be the ptraons »ho executed th« foregoing Instru-
ment, and acknowledged the aa«e a a th,elr «ct &nd deed*
And the aald Qenevieve Kraal and Lou la J, VctU be*
ing by Be duly a worn, each for himaelf deposed and said that
the aaid fonevleve Kr^at is the Clwirman and the said Louis
J« Voele ia the Secreury of the aald Spiritual Addeoiblr of
tne Baha'ia of keuoanii, and that this certificate v&s execu-
ted by ita authority.
Circuit Court Cojcm\33lon«r,
Ken os h* Countj, Wiaconsin*
8TATB Or WISCONSIN )
) 86
COOHTt Or KEM06BA )
Oenevieve Krtai, Chair win, and Louis J, Voele,
Secretary, being each first duly strorn, sevtraliy say: that
they were the signers of the original Certificate of Organ-
isation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of KenoshA,
and that the fortgolng has been compared by then with the
original Certificate of Organization, and that the same is a
true copy of such original Certificate of Organization, and
of the wnola thereof.
Subscribed and sworn to
before ne* this 20th day
of April, A.D. 1937.
/}
U
Circuit Court Codiaa loner
Keaoaha County, Wisconsin*
372
THE BAHA'l WORLD
VOL
226172
226193
f
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
373
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COMEi
3-6123
I, THEODORE DAMMANN, Secretary of State of the State of
Wisconsin, do hereby certify that on the 14th day of February,
A* D* 1938, Articles of Incorporation were filed In my office
under the provisions of subsection (1) of Section 187.05 of the
Wisconsin Statutes, which articles Provide:
NAME* SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF THE BAHA'IS OF RACINE
LOCATION: Racine
BUSINESS AND PURPOSES: to enter Into, make, perform and carry out
contracts of every sort and kind with any person, firm, association or
corporation, public or private, etc.,
THEREFORE, the State of Wisconsin does hereby grant unto the
said' corporation tho powers and privileges conferred by the Wisconsin
Statutes fbr the purposes above stated and in accordance with said
Articles.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto
set my hand und affixed my official
seal-, at the Capitol, In the City of
Madison, this 14th day of February,
A. D. 1938.
secretary of State.
Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahi'is of Racine,
Wisconsin, U. S. A.
374 THE BAHA'f WORLD
Racine, Wisconsin
Certificate of Organisation
Know all Men by these Presents: That we, the undersigned
Andrew J.ffelson, Chairman, and Harold R.Olson, Secretary of the
Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'ie of Racine, Wis. do hereby
certify that, at the annual meeting of the members of the Racine
Baha'i Community, held in the City of Racine, County of Racine
and State of Wisconsin, on the 21st, day of April, A.D* 1937,
for that purpose, the following per sons, namely, Andrew J. Kelson,
Harold H.Olson, Carolyn Dary, Florence Hanson, Clara Leopold,
Muriel Petereon, Adolph Hanson, Alfred Hanson and Hans P.Hanson,
were eleeted to be the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of
Raoine, in accordance with the principles of the local Baha'i
administration recognized and affirmed by the National* Spiritual
Assembly of the Baha'it of the United States and Canada, with full
power and authority, at the authorised representative body of the
Hacine Baha'i Community, to supply proper legal statue to their
conduct of the affaire of this religious community by electing
and establishing themselves and their successors in office as
Trustees to be incorporated under the provisions of Section 187,05,
Subseetionsd & 2) of the Wisconsin Statutes, and the acts
amendatory thereof and supplementary thereto, and they hare elected
and declared themselves and their successors in office to be
Trustees for such purposs, and we do further declare and stats that
Article 1
The corporate name by which such Trustees are to be known shall
be the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'ie of Racine, and its locatio
shall be in the city of Racine, County of Racine, and State of
Wisconsin
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 375
Article 2
the Trustees* nine in number, herein above mentioned shall hold their
offices until April 21st, A. D. 1938 or until their successors are duly
elected and thereafter the duly elected Trustees shall hold their
officft for * term of one year from and after April 21st, of the year
in which they are elected* or until their successors shall hare been
duly elected*
Article 3
The purpose and objects for which it is desired to incorporate the
said Trustees as aforesaid are declared to be for the administration
of the Faith of Baha'u'llah for the benefit of the Baha'is of the
city of Racine, State of Wisconsin, according to the principles of
Bnha'i affiliation and administration created and established by
baha'u'llah* defined and explained by 'Abdull-Baha, and amplified
by Shogi Kffendi and his duly constituted successor and successors
under the prorision of the fill and Testament of 9Abdufi*£aha.
These purposes are to be realised by meant of devotional meetings)
by publie meetings and conferences of an educational, humanitarian
and spiritual character, by supervising* unifying, promoting and
generally administering the activities and affairs of the) Racine
Baha'l Community; and by any other means appropriate to these end*
or any of them.
further purposes and objects of this corporation shall be:
!• To enter into, make, perform and cary out contracts of every
sort and kind with any person, fin* association or corporation,
public or private; to take and hold property, both real and personal,
whether acquired by gift* grant, dcviec, bequest or purchase, and
to sell, convey or otherwise dispoeo of the same; to borrow money
and to socuro the payment of tho oftmt tor mortgage of ito real and
person*! property or otherwise; and for tho purpose of attaining or
furthering any of its objects,
376 THE BAHA'f WORLD
and all powers which a copartnership or natural person could
do and exercise, and which now or hereafter may be authorized
by law, which said business is to be carried on witnin the
stats of Wisconsin, %nd especially within the county of Aacine
in said state, for the purposes of this corporation in promoting
religious, charitable and educational works and no other, and it
is expressly understood that no dividend or pecuniary profits
shall be declared or paid to the members of this corporation.
2, to carry out all and whatever the several purposes and
objects set forth in the written utterances of Baha'u'llah,
'Abdu'l»Baha and Shoghi Effendi, under which certain Jurisdic •
tion, powers and rights are granted to locnl Spiritual Assemblies.
9. Generally to do all things and acts which in the
Judgement of said Trustees, i.e. , the Spiritual Assembly of the
Baha'is of Hacine, are necessary, proper and advantageous to
promote the complete and successfull administration of this
corporation*
Article 4
Ths trustees, i.e., the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is
of Racine, shall adopt for the conduct of the affairs entrusted
to the* under this incorporation, such bylaws, rules of pro*
cedure or regulations as are required to define and carry on
its own local functions, not inconsistent with the Declaration
ef T rue t,E)r<» Laws. rules of procedure or regulations of the
lational Spiritual Assembly of the Buhalie of the United States
and Canada, the paramount and central administrative autho*
rity in and for North America, and all in accordance with the
explicit instructions given to date by Shoghi Eff end i, Guardian
Of the Faith of Baha'u'llah which instructions are already
known to the Baha'is of Racine »nd accepted by them in the
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 377
government and practice of their religious affairs*
Article 6
The seal of this corporation shall be circular in form,
bearing the following description:
Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Racine.
Incorporated, 1937*
Article •
This Certificate of Organisation may be amended by
majority rote of the Spiritual Aftscably of the Baha'is of
Racine at any special meeting called for that purpose*
proTided that at least thirty (80) days prior to the date
fixed for said meeting a cow of the proposed amendment or
amendments is mailed to each member of the Assembly by the
secretary.
In Witness Whereof* we* as chairman and secretary
respectively of said Spiritual Assembly of the Bahafis of
Racine hare hereunto set our hands and seals this 4th.
day of February A.D. 1938*
Signed,
Countersigned
eoretary
378 THE BAHA'f WORLD
8tato of Wisconsin ;
1 88
County of Raolao )
Personally eame before me this Fourth day
of February A.D. 193B, tho above named Androw J, Kelson, tho
Chairman, and Harold H.Olsen, tho Secretary of tho Spiritual
Aooombly of tho Baha'i. of Haeino, tho bod/ abort named, to mo
fcao*n to bo tho poroone who executed tho forgoing iaotruaoot*
and aoknowlodgod tho oamo ao thoir aot and dood.
And tho oaid And row J.Ioloon and Harold H.Oloon boing
by m duly oworn.oaoh for hlaotlf dopoood and oaid that tho oaid
Androw J.Ioloon io tho Chairman and tho oaid Harold R.OIaoa io
tho Socrotary of tho oaid Spiritual Aooorfly of tho £aha9io of
Baoino.and that thio oortificato wao oiuoutM^r ita? authority.
Notary
Stato Of Wl.oon.in ) my *™* "^** S.pt.lo.l939
j 88
County of Raoino )
Androw J.Holton, Chairman, and Harold A.0laon,8oerotary»
bolag oaeh fir.t duly .woarn.o.Torally .ay: that thty voro tho
.ignoro of tho original Cortifioato of Orgoniiation of tho 8pi»
ritual Ao.ombly of tho Baha*i. of Kaoino. and that tho forogoing
hao boon oomparod by thorn with tho original Cortifioato of Organ*
i sat ion, and that tho oa«o it a truo copy of ouoh original
Cortifioato of Organ i i at ion, and of tho wholo thoroof*
•ubooribod and worn to
bofoM ^o thio 4th /Jay
8oerotary
re
rcy Co'6mis/rB/on expires Sept. 10, 1939
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
379
429407
/
Register* Office
Racine County. Wit.
380
THE BAHA'I WORLD
CERTIFICATE OF INCORPORATION OF
THE SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF THE
BAHA'IS OF DETROIT,
MICHIGAN, U.S.A.
(ECCLESIASTICAL CORPORATIONS)
ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION
We, the undersigned, desiring to become incorporated under the proriaiona of Act No. 327, P. A. 1931, do hereby
mate, execute and adopt the following article* of association, to-wit :
First, The name assumed by this corporation and by which it shall be known in law, is
me. Spiritual, ASS^ City. oJT Detroit
Second, Tht location of said church ahall be in the Qi tj
(City or Vill
of Detroit* county of
(Name of City or Village)
Wayne
-and state of Michigan; Post office address 201 EM £ ...Kirbj..
Third, The time for which said corporation ahall be created shall be Unlimited.
Fourth, The members of said church or sodety shall worship and labor together according to the discipline, rules
usaie of thJS&tLQml ..... Spl r ltUfiJL_Aaa^njbl 7 Of the ^ BfiOia..fia....Qflni»oli^», the United
and usaie of th
States of A^Hca^romlime to time authorised and declared by the National Spiritual
Fifth, (Here Insert any desired additional prorialons authorized by the Act).
The. trustees of The Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the City
of _petroit may, in their corporate name, take and hold all property,
real and personal^ d?visedj bequeathed, transferred or conveyed to
them for the use and benefit jpf jbhe s aid .Spiritual Assembly of.__the.
Bajha'.is of the City of Detroit. _
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
381
In Witness Whereof, we, the parties hereby associating for the purpose of glTing legal effect to these articles, he
unto sign our names and places of residence:
Michigan, this
«. aeA/v «?7-
to me to be the persons nnrned in, who executed
strument, and severally nrknowledped that
they executed the same freely and for the intents and purposes therein mentioned.
My Commfssioft Expfn^ Feb. 6,
382
T H*E B A H A ' I WORLD
Form 3— -12-11-35— 12M
ORIGINAL
(Eccledaatical Corporation)
MICHIGAN
Articles of Association
The Spiritual Assembly of the
Baha'is of the City of Detroit
Under Art No. 327, Public Aeta, 1931
(Thia blank prepared by Michigan Corporation an*
Securities CommlMAon.)
I FB 18 'S3?
1 $ 1937
FRANK C.JORDAN
SECRETARY OF STATE
State
I, FRANK C. JORDAN, Secretary of State of the State of California,
Jo hereby certify that I have carefully compared the transcript, to which this
certificate is attached, with the record on file in my office of which it purports
to be a copy, and that the same is a full, true and correct copy thereof.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, / have hereunto set my hand and have caused
the Great Seal of the State of California to be affixed hereto
»?m MIMTIM ernci
Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Los Angeles,
California, U. S. A.
383
384 THE BAHA'f WORLD
ENDORSED
FILED
In the office of the Secretary of State
of the State of California
FEB 23 1938
FRANK C. JORDAN
SECRETARY OF STATE
By CHAS. J. HAGERTY
Deputy
Incorporation No. 171160.
Certificate of Amendment to Articles of Incorporation of the
Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the City of
Los Angeles, California.
To THE SECRETARY OF STATE OF CALIFORNIA:
THIS is TO CERTIFY that the undersigned are the Chairman and Secretary
respectively of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the City of Los Angeles,
California, a corporation.
That on the 27th day of January, 1938, the Board of Trustees of said cor-
poration held a special meeting of the Trustees of said corporation at Room 207
Beaux Arts Building, Los Angeles, California, the place of business of said
corporation. That at said meeting the following Resolution to amend the
Articles of Incorporation of said corporation was duly and regularly adopted
by a majority vote of the Trustees of the corporation, nine being present and
voting therefor, the number of Trustees being nine:
RESOLVED: That paragraph No. 2 of the Articles of Incorporation of
this corporation, be amended to read as follows:
"2. That the purpose and objects for which the corporation is formed
is to administer the affairs of the Baha'i religion, for the benefit of the
Baha'is of the City of Los Angeles, State of California, in accordance
with the religious teachings and administrative purposes of this faith.
"That the following By-laws will be adopted by The Spiritual Assembly
of the Baha'is of the City of Los Angeles:
"Article 1.
"The Baha'is of the City of Los Angeles, California, adopt this Corpora-
tion in order to supply proper legal status to their conduct of affairs
of a religious community which has had a continuous existence for
twenty-nine (29) years. During this period the community has been
recognized, encouraged and instructed in letters and communications
addressed to it by 'Abdu'1-Baha, the perfect Exemplar of the Baha'i
Faith. 'Abdu'1-Baha visited Los Angeles on October 18 and 19, 1912.
At 1 P.M., October 19, He visited the grave of Thornton Chase at
Inglewood Cemetery. That night He said to the friends: 'You must
celebrate yearly, annually, the day of his departure from this life* (Sep-
tember 30, 1912) 'and all of you on My behalf, may go and visit his
blessed tomb; and if possible spread a feast for the poor and give charity
to those who are deprived on that occasion.' Mr. Chase was the first
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 385
Baha'i in America. Since 'Abdu'l-Baha's passing, in the year 1921, the
Baha'is of Los Angeles have been encouraged and instructed by Shoghi
Effendi, the first Guardian of the Bahd'i Faith and sacred head for life
of its Universal House of Justice. The Los Angeles Baha'i community
has been continuously and uninterruptedly represented by delegates in
the Annual Meetings held by the recognized national Baha'i body of
North America since the formation of that body in 1909. The Spiritual
Assembly of the Baha'is of Los Angeles, California, is at present enroled
(sic) in the list of local Spiritual Assemblies recognized by the National
Spiritual Assembly.
"The Trustees, i. e., the Spiritual Assembly, recognize that this action
has been taken in full unanimity and agreement. They acknowledge for
themselves and on behalf of their successors the sacred meaning and
universal purpose of the Baha'i Faith, the teachings and principles of
which fulfil the divine promise of all former revealed religions.
"Article 2.
"In administering the affairs of the Baha'i Religion under this corpora-
tion for the benefit of the Baha'is of the City of Los Angeles in accord-
ance with the religious teachings and administrative principles of this
Faith, the Spiritual Assembly shall act in conformity with the functions
of a local Spiritual Assembly as defined in the By-laws adopted by the
National Spiritual Assembly and published by that body for the infor-
mation and guidance of Baha'is throughout the United States and
Canada.
"Article 3.
"The Spiritual Assembly, in the fulfilment of its obligations and re-
sponsibilities under this corporation, shall have exclusive jurisdiction and
authority over all the local activities and affairs of the Baha'i community
of the City of Los Angeles, including paramount authority in the admin-
istration of this corporation. It shall be responsible for maintaining
the integrity and accuracy of all Baha'i teaching, whether written or
oral, undertaken throughout the local community. It shall make avail-
able the published literature of the Faith. It shall represent the
community in its relations to the National Spiritual Assembly, in its
relations to the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith, to other local Baha'i
communities, and to the general public in the City of Los Angeles. It
shall be charged with the recognition of all applicants requesting mem-
bership in the local Baha'i community. It shall pass upon the right of
any and all members of the community whose membership is in ques-
tion to retain their status as voting members of the community. It
shall call the meetings of the community, including the Baha'i Anni-
versaries and Feasts, the meetings of consultation, the Annual Meeting
and the meeting for the election of delegates to the Annual Meeting
of the National Spiritual Assembly. It shall appoint and supervise
all committees of the Baha'i .community. It shall collect and disburse
all funds intended for the maintenance of this corporation. It shall
have full and complete custody of the headquarters or meeting place of
the Baha'i community. It shall report to the National Spiritual
Assembly annually, or when requested, the membership roll of the Baha'i
community, for the information and approval of the national Baha'i
body. The Spiritual Assembly, however, shall recognize the authority
386 THE BAHA'f WORLD
and right of the National Spiritual Assembly to declare at any time
what activities and affairs of the Baha'i community of the City of Los
Angeles are national in scope and hence subject to the jurisdiction of
the National Baha'i body. It shall likewise recognize the right of any
member of the community to appeal to the National Spiritual Assembly
for review and decision of any matter in which the previous decision
of the local Spiritual Assembly is felt by the member to be contrary
to the explicit teachings of the Baha'i Faith or opposed to its best
interests. It shall, on the other hand, have the authority and right to
appeal from the decision of the National Assembly to the Guardian of
the Baha'i Faith for review and final decision of any matter related to
the Faith in the City of Los Angeles.
"Article 4.
"The Spiritual Assembly, in administering this corporation, shall ever
bear in mind the ideals upheld in the Sacred Writings of the Baha'i
Faith respecting the relationships of a Spiritual Assembly to its Baha'i
community, respecting the relations of Baha'is to one another in the
community, and the relationships of Baha'is to all non-Baha'is, without
prejudice of race, creed, class or nationality. The Assembly shall there-
fore above all recognize its sacred duty to maintain full and complete
unity throughout the Baha'i community, to relieve and comfort the
sick and distressed, to assist the poor and destitute, to protect the
orphans, the crippled and the aged, to educate the children of Baha'is
according to the highest religious and intellectual standards, to compose
differences and disagreements among members of the community, to
promulgate the principles of Divine Civilization revealed by Baha'u'llah,
and to promote in every way possible the Baha'i aim of the oneness of
mankind. It shall faithfully and devotedly uphold the general Baha'i
activities and affairs initiated and sustained by the National Spiritual
Assembly. It shall co-operate wholeheartedly with other local Spiritual
Assemblies throughout North America in all matters declared by the
National Spiritual Assembly to be of general Baha'i importance and con-
cern. It shall rigorously abstain from any action or influence, direct
or indirect, that savors of intervention on the part of a Baha'i body in
matters of public politics and civil jurisdiction. It shall encourage inter-
course between the Baha'i community of the City of Los Angeles and
other recognized Baha'i communities, issuing letters of introduction
to Baha'is traveling from Los Angeles and passing upon letters of
introduction issued by other Baha'i Assemblies. It shall regard its
authority as a means of rendering service to Baha'is and non-Baha'is
and not as a source of arbitrary power. While retaining the sacred right
of final decision in all matters pertaining to the Baha'i community, the
Spiritual Assembly shall ever seek the advice and consultation of all
members of the community, keep the community informed of all its
affairs, and invite full and free discussion on the part of the community
of all matters affecting the Faith.
"Article 5.
"The Baha'is of the City of Los Angeles, for whose benefit this corpora-
tion has been established, shall consist of all persons resident in the City
of Los Angeles who are recognized by the Spiritual Assembly as having
fulfilled the requirements of voting membership in this local Baha'i
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 387
community. To become a voting member of this community a person
shall
"(a) Be a resident of the City of Los Angeles as defined by the area
of jurisdiction of the Spiritual Assembly, as provided hereinafter in
this instrument.
"(b) Have attained the age of 21 years.
"(c) Have established to the satisfaction of the Spiritual Assembly,
subject to the approval of the National Spiritual Assembly, that he
(or she) possesses the qualifications of Baha'i faith and practice required
under the following standard: Full recognition of the Station of the
Fore-runner (the Bab), the Author (Bahd'u'llah) , and 'Abdu'1-Baha
the Exemplar of the Baha'i religion; unreserved acceptance of, and
submission to, whatsoever has been revealed by Them; loyal and steadfast
adherence to every clause of 'Abdu'l-Baha's sacred Will and Testament;
and close association with the spirit as well as the form of Baha'i admin-
istration throughout the world.
"Article 6.
"The Spiritual Assembly shall consist of nine Trustees chosen from
among the Baha'is of the City of Los Angeles, who shall be elected by
these Baha'is in a manner hereinafter provided and who shall continue
in office for the period of one year, or until their successors shall be
elected.
"Article 7.
'The officers of the Spiritual Assembly shall consist of a Chairman,
/ice-Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer, and such other officers as may
>e found necessary for the proper conduct of its affairs. The officers
hall be elected by a majority vote of the entire membership of the
\ssembly taken by secret ballot.
"Article 8.
'The first meeting of a newly-elected Assembly shall be called by the
member elected to membership by the highest number of votes or, in
case two or more members have received the same said highest number
of votes, then by the member selected by lot from among those
members; and this member shall preside until the permanent Chairman
shall be chosen. All subsequent meetings shall be called by the Secretary
of the Assembly at the request of the Chairman or, in his absence or
incapacity, of the Vice-Chairman, or of any three members of the
Assembly; provided, however, that the Annual Meeting of the Assembly
shall be held on April 21st, in accordance with the administrative
principles recognized by all Baha'i Assemblies.
"Section 1. Five members of the Assembly present at a meeting shall
constitute a quorum, and a majority vote of those present and consti-
tuting a quorum shall be sufficient for the conduct of business, except
as otherwise provided by these By-Laws, and with due regard to the
principle of unity and cordial fellowship involved in the institution
of a Spiritual Assembly. The transactions and decisions of the Assembly
shall be recorded at each meeting by the Secretary, who shall have the
minutes adopted and approved by the Assembly, and preserve them in
the official records of the Assembly.
388 THE BAHA'f WORLD
"Section 2. Vacancies in the membership of the Spiritual Assembly
shall be filled by election at a special meeting of the local Baha'i com-
munity duly called for that purpose by the Assembly. In the event that
the number of vacancies exceeds four, making a quorum of the Spiritual
Assembly impossible, the election shall be under the supervision of the
National Spiritual Assembly.
"Article 9.
"The sphere of jurisdiction of the Spiritual Assembly, with respect to
residential qualification of membership, and voting rights of a believer
in the Baha'i community, shall be the locality included within the civil
limits of the city of Los Angeles, but Baha'is who reside in adjacent,
outlying or suburban districts and can regularly attend the meetings
of the local Baha'i community, may be enrolled on the membership
list of the Spiritual Assembly and enjoy full voting rights pending the
establishment of a local Spiritual Assembly in their home community.
"Article 10.
"Section 1. In the event that any decision of the Assembly is unac-
ceptable to any member or members of the community, the Assembly
shall after endeavoring to compose the difference of opinion invite the
sajd member or members to make appeal to the national Baha'i body
and notify that body of the condition of the matter and the readiness
of the Assembly to become party to the appeal.
"Section 2. In the same manner, if any difference arises between the
Assembly and another local Assembly, or Assemblies,>»m North America,
the Assembly shall report the matter to the national Baha'i Body and
inform that body of its readiness to make joint appeal together with the
other Assembly or Assemblies.
"Section 3. If, however, the result of such appeal is unsatisfactory
to the Spiritual Assembly, or the Assembly at any time has reason to
believe that actions of the National Spiritual Assembly are affecting
adversely the welfare and unity of the Baha'i community of the City
of Los Angeles, it shall, after seeking to compose its difference of opinion
with the national body in direct consultation, have the right to make
appeal to the Guardian of the Faith.
"Section 4. The Assembly shall likewise have the right to make com-
plaint to the National Spiritual Assembly in the event that matters of
local Baha'i concern and influence are referred to the national body by
a member or members of the local community without previous oppor-
tunity for action by the local Assembly.
"Article 11.
"The Annual Meeting of the Corporation at which its Trustees shall
be elected shall be held on April 21, at an hour and place to be fixed by
the Assembly, which shall give not less than fifteen days' notice of the
meeting to all members of the local Baha'i community.
"Section 1. The Assembly shall accept those votes transmitted to the
Assembly before the election by members who by reason of sickness or
other unavoidable reason are unable to be present at the election in
person.
"Section 2. The election of members to the Spiritual Assembly shall
be by plurality vote.
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 389
"Section 3. All voting members of the local Baha'i community are
eligible for election as members of the Spiritual Assembly.
"Section 4. The Assembly shall prepare an agenda for the Annual
Meeting in which shall be included reports of the activities of the
Assembly since its election, a financial statement showing all income
and expenditure of its fund, reports of its committees and presentation
of any other matters pertaining to the affairs of the Baha'i community.
The Assembly both preceding and following the annual election, shall
invite discussion and welcome suggestions from the community, in
order that its plans may reflect the community mind and heart.
"Section 5. The result of the election shall be reported by the Spiritual
Assembly to the National Assembly.
"Article 12.
"In addition to the Annual Meeting, the Assembly shall arrange for
regular meetings of the Baha'i community throughout the year at
intervals of nineteen days, in accordance with the calendar incorporated
in the teachings of the Baha'i Faith.
"Article 13.
"The Spiritual Assembly, on notice from the National Spiritual
Assembly, shall report the number of voting members in the local com-
munity, that the national Baha'i body may be duly informed of the
number of delegates to be assigned to the Baha'i community of the
City of Los Angefes in accordance with the principle of proportionate
representation controlling the annual election of members to the
National Spiritual Assembly.
"Section 1. When informed of the number of delegates assigned to
the local community, the Spiritual Assembly shall call a special meeting
of the community for the purpose of electing said number of delegates
to represent the community at the Annual Meeting of the National
Spiritual Assembly.
"Section 2. The election of delegates to the Annual Meeting of the
National Spiritual Assembly shall be by plurality vote.
"Section 3. All voting members of the local Baha'i community are
eligible for election as delegates to the Annual Meeting of the National
Assembly.
"Section 4. The result of the election shall be reported by the Spiritual
Assembly to the National Spiritual Assembly, and the Spiritual Assembly
shall meet all the conditions laid down by the national Baha'i body for
the recognition of local Spiritual Assemblies and the participation of
local Baha'i communities in the annual election of the national Baha'i
body.
"Article 14.
"The seal of the corporation shall be circular in form, bearing the fol-
lowing description: The Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'i s of the City
of Los Angeles, California, Corporate Seal*
"Article 15.
"These By-Laws may be amended by majority vote of the Spiritual
Assembly at any of its regular or special meetings, provided that at
J90 THE BAHA'l WORLD
least fourteen days prior to the date fixed for the said meeting a copy
of the proposed amendment or amendments is mailed to each member
of the Assembly by the Secretary."
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: That paragraph No. 4 of said Articles
of Incorporation be amended to read as follows:
"4. That the number of Trustees, that is, the Spiritual Assembly of
the Baha'is of the City of Los Angeles, California, shall be nine, which
Trustees are to act in the capacity of Directors.
"That the names and residences of the Trustees who are to act in the
capacity of Trustees to serve until the selection of their successors, are
as follows:
"Mrs. Rouan Carter 3930 Ingraham Street
"Mrs. Oni Finks 453 East Avenue 28
"Mrs. Olive Dible 575 N. Vermont Ave.
"Charles R. Witt 860 South Norton Avenue
"Loren A. Whitmore 2509 Fifth Avenue
"Mrs. Sara Kenny 1941 North Serrano
"P. Windsor Howard 1532 Las Palmas Avenue
"Willard P. Hatch 3440 Wilshire Boulevard
"Hascle Cornbleth 3152 West llth Street
"all in the City of Los Angeles, California."
That on the same date a majority of the members of said corporation filed
with said Trustees a written consent, consenting to the adoption of the above
Resolution to amend the Articles of Incorporation of the corporation, as pro-
vided in the said Resolution of the Board of Trustees, a copy of which Consent
is as follows:
Consent to Amendment of Articles and Adoption of Resolution
by the Trustees of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is
of the City of Los Angeles, California.
The undersigned, being a majority of the members of said corporation, and
of the voting power, hereby consent to, approve and adopt the amendment to
the Articles of Incorporation of said corporation, as follows:
That paragraph No. 2 be amended to read as follows:
"2. That the purpose and objects for which the corporation is formed
is to administer the affairs of the Baha'i religion, for the benefit of the
Baha'is of the City of Los Angeles, State of California, in accordance
with the religious teachings and administrative purposes of this faith.
"That the following By-Laws will be adopted by The Spiritual Assembly
of the Baha'is of the City of Lps Angeles:
"Article 1.
"The Baha'is of the City of Los Angeles, California, adopt this Corpora-
tion in order to supply proper legal status to their conduct of affairs of a
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 391
religious community which has had a continuous existence for twenty-
nine (29) years. During this period the community has been recog-
nized, encouraged and instructed in letters and communications
addressed to it by 'Abdu'1-Baha, the perfect Exemplar of the Baha'i
Faith. 'Abdu'1-Baha visited Los Angeles on October 18 and 19, 1912.
At 1 P.M., October 19, He visited the grave of Thornton Chase at
Inglewood Cemetery. That night He said to the friends: 'You must
celebrate yearly, annually, the date of his departure from this life'
(September 30, 1912) 'and all of you on My behalf, may go and visit
his blessed tomb; and if possible spread a feast for the poor and give
charity to those who are deprived on that occasion.' Mr. Chase was the
first Baha'i in America. Since 'Abdu'l-Baha's passing, in the year 1921,
the Baha'is of Los Angeles have been encouraged and instructed by
Shoghi Effendi, the first Guardian of the Baha'i Faith and sacred head
for life of its Universal House of Justice. The Los Angeles Baha'i
community has been continuously and uninterruptedly represented by
delegates in the Annual Meetings held by the recognized national
Bahi'i body of North America since the formation of that body in
1909. The Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Los Angeles, California,
is at present enroled (sic) in the list of local Spiritual Assemblies recog-
nized by the National Spiritual Assembly.
"The Trustees, i. e., the Spiritual Assembly, recognize that this action
has been taken in full unanimity and agreement. They acknowledge
for themselves and on behalf of their successors the sacred meaning and
universal purpose of the Baha'i Faith, the teachings and principles of
which fulfil the divine promise of all former revealed religions.
"Article 2.
"In administering the affairs of the Baha'i Religion under this corpora-
tion for the benefit of the Baha'is of the City of Los Angeles in accord-
ance with the religious teachings and administrative principles of this
Faith, the Spiritual Assembly shall act in conformity with the functions
of a local Spiritual Assembly as defined in the By-laws adopted by the
National Spiritual Assembly and published by that body for the infor-
mation and guidance of Baha'is throughout the United States and
Canada.
"Article 3.
"The Spiritual Assembly, in the fulfilment of its obligations and
responsibilities under this corporation, shall have exclusive jurisdiction
and authority over all the local activities and affairs of the Baha'i
community of the City of Los Angeles, including paramount authority
in the administration of this corporation. It shall be responsible for
maintaining the integrity and accuracy of all Baha'i teaching, whether
written or oral, undertaken throughout the local community. It shall
make available the published literature of the Faith. It shall represent
the community in its relations to the National Spiritual Assembly, in
its relations to the Guardian of the Bah4'i Faith, to other local Baha'i
communities, and to the general public in the City of Los Angeles. It
shall be charged with the recognition of all applicants requesting mem-
bership in the local Baha'i community. It shall pass upon the right
of any and all members of the community whose membership is in
question to retain their status as voting members of the community.
392 THE BAHA'f WORLD
It shall call the meetings of the community, including the Baha'i Anni-
versaries and Feasts, the meetings of consultation, the Annual Meeting
and the meeting for the election of delegates to the Annual Meeting
of the National Spiritual Assembly. It shall appoint and supervise
all committees of the Baha'i community. It shall collect and disburse
all funds intended for the maintenance of this corporation. It shall
have full and complete custody of the headquarters or meeting place
of the Baha'i community. It shall report to the National Spiritual
Assembly annually, or when requested, the membership roll of the
Baha'i community, for the information and approval of the national
Baha'i body. The Spiritual Assembly, however, shall recognize the
authority and right of the National Spiritual Assembly to declare at any
time what activities and affairs of the Baha'i community of the City
of Los Angeles are national in scope and hence subject to the jurisdic-
tion of the National Baha'i body. It shall likewise recognize the right
of any member of the community to appeal to the National Spiritual
Assembly for review and decision of any matter in which the previous
decision of the local Spiritual Assembly is felt by the member to be
contrary to the explicit teachings of the Baha'i Faith or opposed to its
best interests. It shall, on the other hand, have the authority and right
to appeal from the decision of the National Assembly to the Guardian
of the Baha'i Faith for review and final decision of any matter related
to the Faith in the City of Los Angeles.
"Article 4.
"The Spiritual Assembly, in administering this corporation, shall ever
bear in mind the ideals upheld in the Sacred Writings of the Baha'i
Faith respecting the relationships of a Spiritual Assembly to its Baha'i
community, respecting the relations of Baha'is to one another in the
community, and the relationships of Baha'is to all non-Baha'is, without
prejudice of race, creed, class or nationality. The Assembly shall there-
fore above all recognize its sacred duty to maintain full and complete
unity throughout the Baha'i community, to relieve and comfort the sick
and distressed, to assist the poor and destitute, to protect the orphans,
the crippled and the aged, to educate the children of Baha'is according
to the highest religious and intellectual standards, to compose differences
and disagreements among members of the community, to promulgate
the principles of Divine Civilization revealed by Baha'u'llah, and to
promote in every way possible the Baha'i aim of the oneness of mankind.
It shall faithfully and devotedly uphold the general Baha'i activities
and affairs initiated and sustained by the National Spiritual Assembly.
It shall co-operate wholeheartedly with other local Spiritual Assemblies
throughout North America in all matters declared by the National
Spiritual Assembly to be of general Baha'i importance and concern.
It shall rigorously abstain from any action or influence, direct or
indirect, that savors of intervention on the part of a Baha'i body in
matters of public politics and civil jurisdiction. It shall encourage
intercourse between the Baha'i community of the City of Los Angeles
and other recognized Baha'i communities, issuing letters of introduction
to Baha'is traveling from Los Angeles and passing upon letters of intro-
duction issued by other Baha'i Assemblies. It shall regard its authority
as a means of rendering service to Baha'is and non-Baha'is and not as a
source of arbitrary power. While retaining the sacred right of final
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 393
decision in all matters pertaining to the Baha'i community, the Spiritual
Assembly shall ever seek the advice and consultation of all members
of the community, keep the community informed of all its affairs, and
invite full and free discussion on the part of the community of all
matters affecting the Faith.
"Article 5.
"The Baha'is of the City of Los Angeles, for whose benefit this corpora-
tion has been established, shall consist of all persons resident in the City
of Los Angeles who are recognized by the Spiritual Assembly as having
fulfilled the requirements of voting membership in this local Baha'i
community. To become a voting member of this community a person
shall
"(a) Be a resident of the City of Los Angeles as defined by the area of
jurisdiction of the Spiritual Assembly, as provided hereinafter in this
instrument.
"(b) Have attained the age of 21 years.
"(c) Have established to the satisfaction of the Spiritual Assembly,
subject to the approval of the National Spiritual Assembly, that he (or
she) possesses the qualifications of Baha'i faith and practice required
under the following standard: Full recognition of the Station of the
Fore-runner (the Bab), the Author (Baha'u'llah), and 'Abdu'1-Baha
the Exemplar of the Baha'i religion; unreserved acceptance of, and
submission to, whatsoever has been revealed by Them; loyal and stead-
fast adherence to every clause of 'Abdu'l-Baha's sacred Will and Testa-
ment; and close association with the spirit as well as the form of Baha'i
administration throughout the world.
"Article 6.
"The Spiritual Assembly shall consist of nine Trustees chosen from
among the Baha'is of the City of Los Angeles, who shall be elected
by these Baha'is in a manner hereinafter provided and who shall con-
tinue in office for the period of one year, or until their successors shall
be elected.
"Article 7.
"The officers of the Spiritual Assembly shall consist of a Chairman,
Vice-Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer, and such other officers as may
be found necessary for the proper conduct of its affairs. The officers
shall be elected by a majority vote of the entire membership of the
Assembly taken by secret ballot.
"Article 8.
"The first meeting of a newly-elected Assembly shall be called by the
member elected to membership by the highest number of votes or, in
case two or more members have received the same said highest number
of votes, then by the member selected by lot from among those mem-
bers; and this member shall preside until the permanent Chairman shall
be chosen. All subsequent meetings shall be called by the Secretary of
the Assembly at the request of the Chairman or, in his absence or
incapacity, of the Vice-Chairman, or of any three members of the
Assembly; provided, however, that the Annual Meeting of the Assembly
394 THE BAHA'f WORLD
shall be held on April 21st, in accordance with the administrative prin-
ciples recognized by all Baha'i Assemblies.
"Section 1. Five members of the Assembly present at a meeting shall
constitute a quorum, and a majority vote of those present and consti-
tuting a quorum shall be sufficient for the conduct of business, except
as otherwise provided by these By-Laws, and with due regard to the
principle of unity and cordial fellowship involved in the institution of
a Spiritual Assembly. The transactions and decisions of the Assembly
shall be recorded at each meeting by the Secretary, who shall have the
minutes adopted and approved by the Assembly, and preserve them in
the official records of the Assembly.
"Section 2. Vacancies in the membership of the Spiritual Assembly
shall be filled by election at a special meeting of the local Baha'i com-
munity duly called for that purpose by the Assembly. In the event
that the number of vacancies exceeds four, making a quorum of the
Spiritual Assembly impossible, the election shall be under the super-
vision of the National Spiritual Assembly.
"Article 9.
"The sphere of jurisdiction of the Spiritual Assembly, with respect to
residential qualification of membership, and voting rights of a believer
in the Baha'i community, shall be the locality included within the civil
limits of the city of Los Angeles, but Baha'is who reside in adjacent,
outlying or suburban districts and can regularly attend the meetings
of the local Baha'i community, may be enrolled on the membership list
of the Spiritual Assembly and enjoy full voting rights pending the estab-
lishment of a local Spiritual Assembly in their home community.
"Article 10.
"Section 1. In the event that any decision of the Assembly is unac-
ceptable to any member or members of the community, the Assembly
shall after endeavoring to compose the difference of opinion invite the
said member or members to make appeal to the national Baha'i body and
notify that body of the condition of the matter and the readiness of
the Assembly to become party to the appeal.
"Section 2. In the same manner, if any difference arises between the
Assembly and another local Assembly, or Assemblies, in North America,
the Assembly shall report the matter to the national Baha'i body and
inform that body of its readiness to make joint appeal together with the
other Assembly or Assemblies.
"Section 3. If, however, the result of such appeal is unsatisfactory
to the Spiritual Assembly, or the Assembly at any time has reason to
believe that actions of the National Spiritual Assembly are affecting
adversely the welfare and unity of the Baha'i community of the City
of Los Angeles, it shall, after seeking to compose its difference of opinion
with the national body in direct consultation, have the right to make
appeal to the Guardian of the Faith.
"Section 4. The Assembly shall likewise have the right to make com-
plaint to the National Spiritual Assembly in the event that matters of
local Baha'i concern and influence are referred to the national body by
a member or members of the local community without previous oppor-
tunity for action by the local Assembly.
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 395
"Article 11.
"The Annual Meeting of the Corporation at which its Trustees shall be
elected shall be held on April 21, at an hour and place to be fixed by
the Assembly, which shall give not less than fifteen days' notice of the
meeting to all members of the local Baha'i community.
"Section 1. The Assembly shall accept those votes transmitted to the
Assembly before the election by members who by reason of sickness or
other unavoidable reason are unable to be present at the election in
person.
"Section 2. The election of members to the Spiritual Assembly shall
be by plurality vote.
"Section 3. All voting members of the local Baha'i community are
eligible for election as members of the Spiritual Assembly.
"Section 4. The Assembly shall prepare an agenda for the Annual
Meeting in which shall be included reports of the activities of the
Assembly since its election, a financial statement showing all income and
expenditure of its fund, reports of its committees and presentation of
any other matters pertaining to the affairs of the Baha'i community.
The Assembly both preceding and following the annual election, shall
invite discussion and welcome suggestions from the community, in order
that its plans may reflect the community mind and heart.
"Section 5. The result of the election shall be reported by the Spiritual
Assembly to the National Assembly.
"Article 12.
"In addition to the Annual Meeting, the Assembly shall arrange for
regular meetings of the Baha'i community throughout the year at inter-
vals of nineteen days, in accordance with the calendar incorporated in
the teachings of the Baha'i Faith.
"Article 13.
"The Spiritual Assembly, on notice from the National Spiritual
Assembly, shall report the number of voting members in the local
community, that the national Baha'i body may be duly informed of the
number of delegates to be assigned to the Baha'i community of the City
of Los Angeles in accordance with the principle of proportionate repre-
sentation controlling the annual election of members to the National
Spiritual Assembly.
"Section 1. When informed of the number of delegates assigned to
the local community, the Spiritual Assembly shall call a special meeting
of the community for the purpose of electing said number of delegates
to represent the community at the Annual Meeting of the National
Spiritual Assembly.
"Section 2. The election of delegates to the Annual Meeting of the
National Spiritual Assembly shall be by plurality vote.
"Section 3. All voting members of the local Bahi'i community are
eligible for election as delegates to the Annual Meeting of the National
Assembly.
"Section 4. The result of the election shall be reported by the Spiritual
Assembly to the National Spiritual Assembly, and the Spiritual Assembly
shall meet all the conditions laid down by the national Bahd'i body for
the recognition of local Spiritual Assemblies and the participation of
396 THE BAHA'l WORLD
local Baha'i communities in the annual election of the national Baha'i
body.
"Article 14.
"The seal of the corporation shall be circular in form, bearing the fol-
lowing description: The Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'i s of the City
of Los Angeles, California, Corporate Seal.
"Article 15.
"These By-Laws may be amended by majority vote of The Spiritual
Assembly at any of its regular or special meetings, provided that at
least fourteen days prior to the date fixed for the said meeting a copy
of the proposed amendment or amendments is mailed to each member
of the Assembly by the Secretary."
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: That paragraph No. 4 of said Articles
of Incorporation be amended to read as follows:
"4. That the number of Trustees, that is, the Spiritual Assembly of
the Baha'is of the City of Los Angeles, California, shall be nine, which
Trustees are to act in the capacity of Directors.
"That the names and residences of the Trustees who are to act in the
capacity of Trustees to serve until the selection of their successors, are
as follows:
"Mrs. Rouan Carter 3930 Ingraham Street
"Mrs. Oni Finks 453 East Avenue 28
"Mrs. Olive Dible 575 N. Vermont Ave.
"Charles R. Witt 860 South Norton Avenue
"Loren A. Whitmore 2509 Fifth Avenue
"Mrs. Sara Kenny 1941 North Serrano
"P. Windsor Howard 1532 Las Palmas Avenue
"Willard P. Hatch 3440 Wilshire Boulevard
"Hascle Cornbleth 3152 West llth Street
"all in the City of Los Angeles, California."
Dated: January 27th, 1938. ROUAN ELLA CARTER
ONI A. FINKS
CHARLES R. WITT
OLIVE B. DIBLE MARGARET CAMPBELL
WILLARD P. HATCH SARA M. KENNY
HASCLE CORNBLETH LORIN A. WHITMORE
That there are nine members of said corporation; that a majority, to- wit,
all of the members, said nine being a majority of the voting power of the
corporation, signed and filed with said corporation the written consent above
set forth. That nine members are all that are entitled to vote on or consent
to the adoption of an amendment to the Articles of Incorporation.
That the proceedings to amend the Articles were taken under Subdivision
2, of Section 362-a of the Civil Code of the State of California.
Dated: January 27th, 1938. ROUAN ELLA CARTER,
Chairman.
ONI A. FINKS,
Secretary.
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 397
STATE OF CALIFORNIA, T
Us
COUNTY OF Los ANGELES, j
Rouan Ella Carter and Oni A. Finks, each being first duly sworn, deposes
and says: That she is the Chairman, and she is the Secretary, respectively of
The Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the City of Los Angeles, California;
and each for herself says that she has read the foregoing Certificate of Amend-
ment to Articles of Incorporation of said corporation, and knows the contents
thereof, and that the same is true of her own knowledge.
ROUAN ELLA CARTER.
ONI A. FINKS.
Subscribed and sworn to before me
this 29th day of January, 1938.
RUTH B, ALTIZER,
Notary Public in and for the said
Los Angeles County, State of Cali-
fornia. (SEAL)
398 THE BAHA'f WORLD
United States of America
I* } '"
State of Wisconsin
Dn»r«.«tofS*te
To ALL To WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, GREETINGS:
I, THEODORE DAMMANN, Secretary of State of the State of
Wisconsin, do hereby certify that on the llth day of March. A. D»
1938, Articles of Incorporation were filed In my office under
the provisions of subsection (1) of Section 187»05 of the
Wisconsin Statutes, which articles provide:
NAME: SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF THE BAHA'IS OF MILWAtJKEE
LOCATION: Milwaukee
BUSINESS AND PURPOSES t to enter into, make, perform and carry
out contracts of every sort and kind with any peraonr flrmf ^assoclatio
or corporation, public or private; to take and hold property » both rea
and personal, whether acquired by gift, grant, devise, bequest or
purchase, and to sell, convey or otherwise dlspoaa of the same, etc.,
THEREFORE, the State of Wisconsin does hereby grant unto the
aald corporation the powers and privileges conferred by the Wisconsin
Statutes for the purposes above stated and in accordance with said
Articles*
In Witness Whereof 9 I have hereunto
set my hand and affixed my official seal,
at the Capitol, in the City of Madison,
this llth day of March, A. D. 1953..
Secretary o
Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Milwauke
Wisconsin, U. S. A.
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 399
CERTXFXCA1& OP OROAHXZATIQH
KNOW ALL MS BY THBSB PRESENTS: That we, the undcrelgncd Clarence
F. suhm, chairman, mad Claire Irlokt, eeoretary of the Spiritual
Assembly of the Baha'ia of Milwaukee, do hereby certify that, at
the annual meeting of the membera of the Milwaukee Beha'i Community,
held in the city of Milwaukee, oouaty of Milwaukee and etate of
Wieoonain, on the 21et day of April, A.D. 1937, for that purpoee,
the following peraona, namely Clarence P« Suta, Charlee H. Beiaer,
Claire Frioke, Harold 0. Sohiller, Jeanette A. Clark, Beula B. Brown,
Dr. Jaaee W* Lewie, Dr. Maloolm M. Zinc and Herbert R. Suh» were
elected to be the Spiritual AaaaBlly of the Baha'ia of Milwauloie,
in acoordaooe with the principle* of tha local Bahafi adminietraticn
reoofnised and affirmed by tha national Spiritual Aaaeatly of the
Baha'ia of the United Statea and Canada, with full power and
authority, ae the authorised repreeentatire body of the Milwaukee
Bah*1! Co«ranity, to aupply proper legal atatua to their conduct
of the affaire of thia religloua community by electing and eetab*
liehing theme elrce and their eucoeeeore ia Of floe aa truateea to
be inoorporated under the profiaiona of Seotion 187*06, Subeeotione
(1 * 2) of the Wiaoonain Statutes, and the aota amendatory thereof
and aupplementary thereto, and they hare ao elected and declared
theaaelrea and their auoceeaora in office to be truateea for auoh
purpoee, and we do further declare and etate, that,
AB7ICLB X
The corporate name by which euob truateea art to be known
ahall be the SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OP TUB BAHA1 IS OF MXLWAUOB, and
italocatlon ahall be in the city of Milwaukee, county of Milwaukee
and at ate of Wieoonain*
400 THE BAHA'f WORLD
mirrxui
ffho traatooo. aiao la aa»tor9 koroiaakoro aoatloaoA ahall
kold tkoir offioo maUl April Slat A.D. 19M or amtil tkoir
ouooooooro ara daly alootod and tkaroaftor tko Aaly olaoto*
traotooo akall holt tkoir offiooo for a ton of ono jroar from MA
•ftor April Slot of tho joar la whioH tho/ art olootot or aatil
thoir taooooooro *all baro kooa duly oloolod.
ARf ICLI III
Ho yarfoooa aM okjooto for vhiok 1% lo dMirod to laoor*
yorato tko oaid traotooo ao aforooaid aro took rot to ¥o ftr tho
ataiaiotratloa of tho raitk of Mha9avUah for tho koaafit of tho
Baka9io of tho Oily of Milwtakoo, Stato of tioooaau* aooortiaf
to tko triaoiploo of Saka1! aff iliatioa and adalaiatratioa oroatoA
aad oatallioktt ky Baka9alllakt Aofiaoi and ox»laiaot *T UMm1!*
lakat aad tap 11 f ltd ana atpliod ky Skogki Iffoaii and kit Aaly
ooaotitatod taoooooor aad oaoooaooro aador no proriiioa of tko
Will and footawat of 9Akdafl-laka«
Tkooo parpoooo aro to ko roalitod ky aoaM of AoTOtioaal
•ootiaTfot ky paklio aootiafo aad oonfortnoot of aa o*aoatioaalt
kaaaaitariaa and opiritaal okaraotor; ky «aporrioiaf9 aaifyiai,
proaotiat aad itaorally adMaiatoriae tko aotiTitioo aad affairf
of tko Mllwgaktt lafca'i Ooaaanity; and ky any otkor Maao appro*
priato to tkooo oado or aay of tkta,
fartkor pmrpooto and okjooto of tkio oorporatioa okall kos
!• fo onttr iatotaakot porfora aad oarry oat oontraoto of
OTtry oort aad kind with any porooa, firm, aotooiitioa or cor-
poration, pmklio or priratt; to tako and hold proportyt kotk roal
and poraoaa!9 vhottor aotalrod k; lift, grant. AoTioo. kofuaot or
parohaot9 and to oollt aonray or otharwioa diopota of tho oaao;
to korrow aonoy aad to aaouro tho payaoat of tho oaaa by
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 401
of its reel and peraonal property or otherwise; and for
purpose of attaining or furthering any of its object*, to do any
and all otter mots and things, and to exercise any and all powers
whioh a copartnership or natural person oould do and exercise,
and whioh now or hereafter flu? ba authoriitd by law, whioh iaid
business ia to be oarritd on within the atate of tfieoonsltt, and
eapeoially within the oounty of Milwaukee in laid atate, for the
purposes of this incorporation in promoting religious, oharitable
and eduoational works and no other, and it is expressly understood
that no diridend or pecuniary profits shall be declared or paid to
the members of this corporation.
£« To carry out all and what ere r the sereral purposes and
ob J sots sst forth in the written uttersaoes of Baha'u'llah,
'AMu'l-Baha and Shoghi Bfftadi, under* Horn oertaia Jurisdiction,
powers and rights are granted to losal Spiritual Assemblies.
3. Generally to do all things and acts whioh in the Judg-
ment of said trustees, i.e., the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is
of Milwaukee, are necessary, proper and adrantagsous to promots the
complete and suooessful administration of this corporation,
ARTICLE IV
The trustees, i. e., the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is
of Milwaukee, shall adopt for the conduct of the affairs entrusted
to them under this incorporation, such By-Laws, rulss of procedure
or regulstions as are required to define and oarry on its own
looal functions, not inconsistent with the terms of this certif-
icate and not inconsistent with the Declaration of Trust, By-Laws,
rules of procedure or regulations of the National Spiritual
Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada, the para*
mount and oentral administrates authority in and for Berth America,
402 THE BAHA'f WORLD
and all in aooordanoe with the explicit instruction given to
date by Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Faith of Baha'u1 Hah,
which instructions are already known to the Baha'ia of
Milwaukee and accepted by them in the government and practice
of their religious affairs.
ARTICLE V
The seal of this corporation shall be circular in formf
bearing the following description:
Spiritual Assembly of the Bate 'is of Milwaukee,
Incorporated, 1938.
ARTICLE VI
This Certificate of Organization may be amended by majority
vote of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Milv aukee at any
special meeting called for that purpose* provided that at least
thirty (30) days prior to the date fixed for said meeting a copy
of the proposed amendment or amendments is mailed to each member
of the Assembly by the secretary.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, we, as chairman and secretary
respectively of the said Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of
Milwaukee have hereunto set our hands sad seals this fourteenth
dey of February, 1938 .
SIGNED Clarence P» Suhm . ( SEAL)
Chairmen
COUNTERSIGNED Claire Frioke. ( SEAL)
Secretary
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 403
STATS OP WISCONSIN )
) SS
COUNTY 0? MILWAUKEE )
Personally came before me this
day of March, 1938 the above named Clarence P. Suhmf the
Chairman, and Claire Frioke, the Secretary of the Spiritual
Assembly of the Beha'ia of Milwaukee, the body above named, to me
known to be the persons who executed the foregoing instrument, and
acknowledged the aame as their act and deed.
And the aaid Clarence P. Suhm, and Claire Prioke being bfr me
duly sworn, each for niraaelf deposed and aaid that the said
Clarence P. Suhm is the Chairman and the aaid Claire Pricke is the
Secretary of the said Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Milwaukee,
and that this certificate was executed by its authority*
( Signed) Geo* J. Graebner
Circuit ^ourt Commissioner
Milwaukee County, Wisconsin.
STATE OP WISCONSIN )
) ss
COUNTY OP MILWAUKEE )
Clarence F. Suhmt Chairman, and Claire Pricke, Secretary,
being eaoh first duly sworn, severally aay: that they were the
signers of the original Certificate of Organization of the
Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Milwaukee, and that the fore
going has been compared by them with the original Certificate of
Organization, and tha< the same la a true copy of such original
Certificate of Organization, and of the whote thereof.
chairman
Subscribed and swo,
bef o re
secretary
t Qfemmissioner,
uw,
404
THE BAHA'f WORLD
THE_SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY 0? THC BAH/. 'IS OF C1EVELALD, OHIO.
The undersigned, a majority of whom are citizens of the United States, desiring to form a corporation, not for profit, under the
General Corporation Act of Ohio, do hereby certify.
FIRST. The name of said corporation shall bt^?|g,^
SECOND. The place in this State where the principal office of the corporation is to be located is .
__ Cleveland _ Cuyahoga County.
THIRD. The purpose or purposes for which said corporation is formed are:
This Corporation is organized for religious purposes and ito particular business
and objects ara to promote the teachings of the Baha'i Religion and to odriini^tor
its affairs in accordance with the religious teichings and administrrtive principles
of this Faith, including the maintenance of u place or places of worship.
FOURTH. The following persons shall serve said corporation as trustees until the first annual meeting or other meeting called
to elect trustee*.
Dale C. Cole
Katherine Cole
Addie T. Wilier
Louise Smith
Marion Potter
Mabel Perry
Alice Doolittle
Mery Elmore
Mayrae Jackson
3174 Corydon Road
3174 Corydon Road
Central Y-A-C-A
1£315 Oaceolti Ave.
Hsthav/ay-3ro\/n Dormitory
10606 Earlo Ave.
2111 Karlindalo Rd . , C.K.
^325 Boat ybth-lit.
500 Eest llOth-bt.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF. We have hereunto subscribed our names, this „ 1?5h
THE STATE OF OHIO. COUNFY OF.
day of APJX1 ..
Alice I. Doolittle
Marion Potter
E. Louise Gn.ith
/Catherine P. Cole
Dale G. Cole
Mayme Jackson
Mnbel Perry
Mary J. Llmore
Addie T. Miller
Personally appeared before me, the undersigned, a Notary Public, in and for said county, this l$tb _ day of
April „ . . l9gJ3L . the above named JP«la ,.S.;^ejffa^
___ . > „ . . .
Karion Potter; M .bel Perry; Alice Doolittle
^
who each severally acknowledged the signing of the foregoing
articles of incorporation to be his free act and deed, for the uses and purposes therein mentioned.
WITNESS my hand and official seal on the day and year last aforesaid
Alexander H. Martin
United States of America )
STATfc OF OHIO < s
Office of the Secretary of Stale )
I. tClliiam J. Krtmrfty, Secretary of State, of the State of Ohio.
do hereby certify that the foregoing is an exemplified copy, carefully compared by me with
the original record now in my official custody as Secretary of State, and found to be true and
correct, of the Articles of Incorporation of ^.^.-.-.-.-.-.^-_-^.-.^.^J^^-,.w.-.-.-.- ^ .-.-.-.-^.-.-__
THE 2PIRI TUAL *SS KMBLY . _0.y _'RT£ flAHA ' IS OF CLjSyiXAjiP , QUIC .
filed in this office on the.,
recorded in Volume ^55
13th
.Page
June
38
day of . oune . 19. ?°. and
"^ , Of the Records of Incorporations
WITNESS my hand and official seal at
Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of
Cleveland, Ohio, U. S. A.
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 405
0£
Of
THE smiTU/U, ASSEMBLY Of tKE BAHA'XS Of
MINHESOT*
Wef the undarsifinedf for the purpose of f onaine a corporation under
and pursuant to the provisions of Chapter flfty»ei0ht (58) General Statute 1923*
and laws aoendatoiy thereof and supplementary there to t do ha re toy associate
oureolTes together ae a bo4y corporate, and adopt tho following Certificate
of Incorporation
ARTICLE 1
The mwe of thie Corporation ehall be Bffi flpifl ITU/a AS3EHBUT 0? THE
BAJUf13 OP UlNNE/KPQL13t ttCniUSOTi*
The prinolpal place of Busluene of thie corporation ehall be In the
City of Minnoapoliot County of Hennepii&t State of Uinneeota*
The general nature of ite ousinoea and iurpoeee ehall be to expound*
exemplify, proauljate uiid proaote the religious dootrines, tenets and precepts
of BahA9ufllah«
To buy i oim* hold, lease f oortcac* ajid reoeire by gift or Asvise9 real
estate or personal property neoeosary to carry on the businees and purposes
of the corporation*
Its plan of operation le us follotfti To hold regular neeftn^s At such
tiiass AS nay be desisted ly the ^se^bly*
That ouch Assembly slkdl oo^iot of nine (9) i*»mb«rs of lawful ego* who
are acceptable us ouch iiuubers acconlinc to tlie low and reflations of the Mia*i
Adligion* Die conduct of (his KsseeaUly shall be governed in accordance with the
udminictrative princiflso as fully set forth in tho ty-lm of this Assembly*
Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of
Minneapolis, Minnesota, U. S. A.
40* THE BAHA'f WORLD
AKIICLE a
Tha tln» for the ottMnownt of this corporation • hi ill bo .tyTM ?\*$
and the period of its duration shall bo thirty yonro§
ARTICU: in
ft* mtt>a and .olaooa of reaideaoe of tho ptraonfl forminc this corporation are)
Hcnoa Roeidenct
Mra. H. W. feint 24 W« Grant Minneapolis Minn
Dr. C, 8« ?riiik 24 v;« Grant Minneapolis Minn
Mrs, Luolllifiatea ^038 H ho r idem ATO» So* Minneapolis Minn.
24r» John Batoa ^038 choridui Ave* So, Minneapolis Minn
Xra. B* Uor»an 34^0 aUabury Hto« Minneapolis Minn
Kauicab it, A« JfeoCutoiaon 2511 Hennopin Are* Minneapolis Minn
ifra* Agnai .ted 5 West 33*d Minneapolis Minn
Fritzi L. Steinnoti 1426 La 3alle Are. Minneapolis Minn
Elaa H. steiruaeta 1425 La S&llt ATtt Minneapolis Minn
ARTICLE IV
.. Tto mana^aont 01* thla oorporatiou shall bo voatod iu a Board of Truatoof
co«posod of nine members t The naraoo and addroosea of tho First Board Of TTUitOOi
aro as foliar i
H«nea Hoaidonoo
«T3» H. % Frdnk 24 W. Grant Minneapolis Minn
Dr. Cf s. Prink 24 W. Grant Minneapolis Minn
Mrs* Lucillo Bates 2038 Sheridan ATO« 9o« Minneapolis Minn
Mr« John Batea 2038 Shoridan ATOt 9o« Minneapolis Minn
Mrs. B. Morgan 3420 Hllabury Ate. Minneapolis *inn
Kaukab H, A« IHMCutQhoon 2511 Hennopin A?o« Minneapolis Minn
Mr a. Agma Mead 5 tfoat 03rd Minneapolis Minn
Fritzi L« Stolnmetis 1425 La Salla Are, Minneapolis Minn
Blaa H. dteinmeta 1426
Salle Ato. Minneapolis Mlnn
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
fho first officers of thia corporation shall ba
Chalrnan Slsa H. St*ino*ts fioa chairo&n jfrs. B. Uorgan
Soorotary lire* H. !• friak Treasuror Jritai U Stainaata
AU tho abovo nanad off ioara aud truatoaa shall bold thair raopootito office
aforoaald until tho f Irot anzual iaaoting of th* Corporation to bo hold on tha
aist day of April 1996 at whioh tiao and anmally tteroaf tor a Board of
Trust seo shall bo olootod fron and ty Uio «0boro of tho oorporatloiu fho
anziaal aootlnc of this corporation shall bo hold at its prlnoipal plaoo of
ntetti*^ on tho aist day of ^pril aaoh year. Xnodiataly aftor tha olootion
«
of tho 7ruitooi9 or aa soon thoroaftor as praotioablo9 tho trustsos ahaU «iot
and oloot from thoir muabort a ohainaan and Tioo ohalrmaa^ ooorotary and
trsasurtr, AQy off ioo oxoopt tnat of ohainaan and vioo-ohainaia aay bo hold
by ono person. n» trustees and offiooro of this Corporation shall hold t)»i*
rospootifo offioos until their auooooaoro hatro been duly olootod art ontorod
upon tho diaohargs of their dutioa*
Tho first rooting of tha zaanbora aid Board of frusta* shall bo hold on
tho 21st day of «jrll 1938 at 8il5 o'oloolu
AR2ICJLE Y
Tho taxoa of onmbarship in this oorporation ahall bo for ouo yoar or
until suoooaaora ara olootod and qualiriod aa providod by tha bylmai*
fhia oorporation shall hare no oafital otook and ahall not bo oonduotad
for joooniary profit*
AOTICLE TI
?no hlghoat anount of indobtodnaao or liability to nhioh thia oorporatiom
ahall at aigr tiiaa bo autjoot ahall bo tho fu» of *tW%9PP.I»l..
In ?oatlflwy Wharoof . Wo Kara haronnto sot our handa thia *.WW. day of
" * *^ •
407
to to AMMO, of,
408
THE BAHA'I WORLD
Minneapolis Baha'i Community, 1938.
State of Minnesota
County of Hexmepin
On this .fcOtb day of April 1938, personally appeared btfore m*
Irs.H.W.Frlnk, Dr. C.S.Frink, Mr*?. John Bates. Mrs, Lad lie Bates.
fTO. "B-_ UnT^ort . YoYftlraVt U. A If A«*n** + ,Ml» m. A« I«MJ. «^^_^_ %^^ ^ ^ ^M_iA._i v
f
8teiamets9 £lsa
to zae known to bt th« persons nttood in and who aaojoatod the foregoing
of Incorporation and oaoh aoJcnowledgsd that he eaosouted
•earn as his free aot and deed, and for the uses and purposes
expressed.
Hotary Public, Hennepln q
expires
.-'
^
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
409
1 926629
ARTICLES OF
INCORPORATION OF
A - 1 .25
THE SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF
THE"~BAHA'IS OF
OFRCE OF REGISTER OF DEEDS
STATk OF MINNESOTA
COUNTY Of HtNN6*»N
/ 6«r*4/ certify
f.t tt*4 for
*'*!ock/ *., and wat
3 6 V ^
410
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Certificate of tteaistration of Societies,
ACT XXI OF I860.
No. 727 Of 1934. 1035.
1 hereby certify tr.ot me
of the Baha'is of th*
CLlt* aC__ Bombay - — -
Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the
Baha'is of Bombay, India.
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 411
Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of
the Baha'is of Poona, India.
412
THE BAHA'I WORLD
.^V^/^i^
l^^V^v(^lV>V^'l^>^/'vV^>•4^'^•
^f;^;i:;;:^;|%;^i!^
;
•,,:'",; , , V«t*''w th^'X^ailWCBlJiw-.^ M:.:™^.,,^.^^!^,.^™^ 1S84.'1 ".:;;-;, ;
/^VlKwiiili^^ ''-' ";'\» ';!''
'11^^
Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of
Adelaide, Australia.
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
413
V16d States Of ;° 350407
To All To Whom These PRESENTS Shall Come:
THIS iS tO Certify That by the records of the UNITED STATES
PATENT OFFICE it appears that NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF THE
BAHA'IS OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA, of New York, N. Y.,
a CGirtmon-law corporation,
did, on the 7th day of April, 1937 , duly file in said
Office an application for REGISTRATION of a certain
TRADE-MARK
shown in the drawing for the goods specified in the statement, copies of which
drawing and statement are hereto annexed, and duly complied with the require-
ments of the law in such case made and provided, and with the regulations pre-
scribed by the COMMISSIONER OF PATENTS.
And, upon due examination, it appearing that the said applicant is entitled
to have said TRADE-MARK registered under the law, the said TRADE-MARK
has been duly REGISTERED this day in the UNITED STATES PATENT
OFFICE, to
National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United
States and Canada, its successors or assigns.
certificate shall remain in force for TWENTY YEARS, unless sooner
ated by law.
In Testimony Whereof 1 have hereunto set my hand
and caused the seal of the PATENT OFFICE to be affixed, at
the city of Washington, this twenty-eighth day of September,
in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and thirty-
f seven, and of the independence of the United States the one
hundred and sixty-second ~
ATTEST:
Commissioner of Patents.
Law Examiner.
Trade-Mark Certificate, obtained from the United States Government, covering
"World Order" magazine.
414
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Sept. 28, 1937
Trade-Mark 350,407
UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE
National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahalt of
the United States and Canada, New York. N. T.
Act of February 20. 1905
Application April 7, 19S7. Serial No. 391.033
WORLD
ORDER
is
STATEMENT
To the Commissioner of Patents:
National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of
the United States and Canada, a common-law
corporation organized and operated under decla-
ration of trust, and doing business at 119 Waverly
Place. New York. N. Y . has adopted and used the
trade-mark shown in the accompanying drawing.
on MAGAZINES, in Class 38. Prints and publica-
tions. and presents herewith five specimens show-
Ing the trade- mark as actually used by applicant
upon the goods, and requests that the same be
registered in the United States Patent Office in
accordance with the act of February 20. 1905.
The trade-mark has been continuously used
and applied to said goods in applicant's business
since April. 1935.
The trade-mark Is applied or affixed to the
goods by printing the same thereon.
The present applicant Is a common-law cor-
poratlon which does not operate under the laws
of any particular State of the United States but
is recognized as a religious body by the Treasury
Department of the United States and the decla-
ration of trust has been certified to by the State
Department.
The undersigned hereby appoints Mr. William
C. Linton. of 1319 F Street, N. W.. Washington.
D. C.. U. S. A., registration No. 10.109. its attor-
ney. with full power of substitution and revoca-
tlon. to prosecute this application, to make alter-
ations and amendments therein, to sign the draw-
ing. to receive the certificate of registration and
to transact all business in the Patent Office con-
nected therewith.
NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OP
THE BAHA'IS OF THE UNITED
STATES AND CANADA.
By HORACE HOLLEY.
Secretary.
Trade-Mark Certificate, obtained from the United States Government,
covering "World Order*' magazine.
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
415
LJ
Baha'i Marriage Certificate adopted and enforced by the National Spiritual Assembly
of the Baha'is of Iran.
416
THE BAHA'f WORLD
9
fcr
9
J;
'^ j
oui jgi JU^JI J^i -l
u» ^ ^
i!i UA Jl)
U w»l
9
Baha'i Marriage Certificate adopted and enforced by the National Spiritual
Assembly of the Baha'is of Egypt.
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 417
85:
<LJ!
j^ (jUjJl J^l J^- J! JUJJ
* r jjl
- w
U^lfAJ
» > »
Baha'i Marriage Certificate adopted and enforced by the National Spiritual
Assembly of the Baha'is of 'Iraq.
418
THE BAHA'f WORLD
i t» tl 109 •* ft* tern
1 I I
Certificate of
A No
OUhog
Carufied tW tbe «bov« ». » tot* «**«* fn
> the
» fegMtfer of Mama^* kq* at the
%
«-- / ^^'
in the town of
Ji ci ,
Certificate of Marriage issued by the Palestine Government and delivered to the Spiritual
Assembly of the Baha'is of Haifa for official registration.
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
419
> ..... ji
... t\...
. . '^ i,yjj, ,,
Cfe^^
Bah^'i Divorce Certificate adopted and enforced by the National Spiritual
Assembly of the Bahd'is of lr£n.
420
THE BAHA'f WORLD
€ j^aWLJ U .UJI^ S^^Il ^i Jf .UiM jui >-jl ^ jL
l f U!
AiAC Jv
jJ1 J— ^i' Jl f AiM ^UJ^ Jf .
-J s
i. AC
i -it ol ) > vi J>. \^ii 1/1.
Uft^Vl <L. ;X.\<flCx> A.il<^lj
ju j^^JI ^ f lr ^ Jf dlij
Jil JU
f j.. JA
A»V!
jy.
1,1- 5j^ \^:* jO LJj l^ 4JU-.1 vAl, J^^Jjj viiJ JJ VUJ ii-TjJl • j^ Oj^ jj
Baha'i Divorce Certificate adopted and enforced by the National Spiritual
Assembly of the Baha*is of Egypt.
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH 421
TRANSLATION OF VOICE RECORD
OF 'ABDU'L-BAHA
(From the franian)
ONE
Praise be to God! that we are present in this radiant meeting and turned toward the
Kingdom of Abha. That which we behold is due to the Grace and Bounty of the Blessed
Perfection. We are atoms and He is the Sun of Reality. We are drops and He is the
Greatest Ocean. Though we are poor, yet the Treasury of the Kingdom is full of over-
flowings. Though we are weak, yet the Confirmation of the Supreme Concourse is
abundant. Though we are helpless, yet our refuge and shelter is His Holiness Baha'u'llah.
TWO
Praise be to God!
His Traces are evident.
Praise be to God!
His Lights are radiating.
Praise be to God!
His Ocean is full of waves.
Praise be to God!
His Radiance is intense.
Praise be to God!
His Bestowals are abundant.
Praise be to God!
His Favors are manifest.
THREE
Glad Tidings! Glad Tidings!
The Morn of Guidance hath dawned.
Glad Tidings! Glad Tidings!
The Sun of Reality hath shone forth.
Glad Tidings! Glad Tidings!
The Breeze of Favor hath wafted.
Glad Tidings! Glad Tidings!
The raindrops of the Cloud of Bounty
have showered.
Glad Tidings! Glad Tidings!
The Sun of the Supreme Horizon hath
radiated to all the world with
boundless Effulgence.
Glad Tidings! Glad Tidings!
The hearts are all in the utmost purity.
Glad Tidings! Glad Tidings!
It is the Splendor of His Highness Baha.
Glad Tidings! Glad Tidings!
Zion is dancing.
Glad Tidings! Glad Tidings!
The Kingdom of God is full of Exhil-
aration and Commotion.
422
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Land of the Bahal Community
Haifa.
Map of Baha'i holdings showing extension of properties surrounding and dedicated to the
Shrine of the Bab on Mt. Carmel.
THE INSTITUTION OF THE
MASHRIQU'L-ADHKAR
Visible Embodiment of the Universality of the Faith of Babd'u'lldh
FOREWORD
LANY discerning minds have testified
to the profoundly significant change which
has taken place during recent years in
the character of popular religious thinking.
Religion has developed an entirely new
emphasis, more especially for the layman,
quite independent of the older sectarian
divisions.
Instead of considering that religion is a
matter of turning toward an abstract creed,
the average religionist today is concerned
with the practical applications of religion
to the problems of human life. Religion, in
brief, after having apparently lost its in-
fluence in terms of theology, has been re-
stored more powerfully than ever as a spirit
of brotherhood, an impulse toward unity,
and an ideal making for a more enlightened
civilization throughout the world.
Against this background, the institution
of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar stands revealed as
the supreme expression of all those modern
religious tendencies animated by social ideals
which do not repudiate the reality of spirit-
ual experience but seek to transform it into
a dynamic striving for unity. The Mashriq-
u'l-Adhkar, when clearly understood, gives
the world its most potent agency for ap-
plying mystical vision or idealistic aspiration
to the service of humanity. It makes visible
and concrete those deeper meanings and
wider possibilities of religion which could
not be realized until the dawn of this uni-
versal age.
The term "Mashriqu'l-Adhkar" means
literally, "Dawning-place of the praise of
God."
To appreciate the significance of this
Baha'i institution, we must lay aside all cus-
tomary ideas of the churches and cathedrals
of the past. The Mashriqu'l-Adhkar fulfills
the original intention of religion in each dis-
pensation, before that intention had become
altered and veiled by human invention and
belief.
The Mashriqu'l-Adhkar is a channel re-
leasing spiritual powers for social regenera-
tion because it fills a different function than
that assumed by the sectarian church. Its
essential purpose is to provide a community
meeting-place for all who are seeking to
worship God, and achieves this purpose by
interposing no man-made veils between the
worshiper and the Supreme. Thus, the
Mashriqu'l-Adhkar is freely open to people
of all Faiths on equal terms, who now realize
the universality of Baha'u'llah in revealing
the oneness of all the Prophets. Moreover,
since the Baha'i Faith has no professional
clergy, the worshiper entering the Temple
hears no sermon and takes part in no ritual
the emotional effect of which is to establish
a separate group consciousness.
Integral with the Temple are its accessory
buildings, without which the Mashriqu'l-
Adhkar would not be a complete social in-
stitution. These buildings are to be devoted
to such activities as a school for science, a
hospice, a hospital, an asylum for orphans.
Here the circle of spiritual experience at last
joins, as prayer and worship are allied di-
rectly to creative service, eliminating the
static subjective elements from religion and
laying a foundation for a new and higher
type of human association.
HORACE HOLLEY.
423
424
THE BAHA'f WORLD
THE SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE
MASJHtRIQU'L ADHKAR
A LETTER FROM SHOGHI EFFENDI
The Beloved of the Lord and the Hand-
maids of the Merciful throughout the
United States and Canada.
M.-.
.Y well-beloved friends:
Ever since that remarkable manifestation
of Baha'i solidarity and self-sacrifice which
has signalized the proceedings of last year's
memorable Convention, I have been expect-
antly awaiting the news of a steady and con-
tinuous support of the Plan which can alone
ensure, ere the present year draws to its
close, the resumption of building operations
on our beloved Temple.
Moved by an impulse that I could not re-
sist, I have felt impelled to forego what may
be regarded as the most valuable and sacred
possession in the Holy Land for the further-
ing of that noble enterprise which you have
set your hearts to achieve. With the hearty
concurrence of our dear Baha'i brother,
Ziaoullah Asgarzadeh, who years ago do-
nated it to the Most Holy Shrine, this pre-
cious ornament of the Tomb of BahaVllah
has been already shipped to your shores, with
our fondest hope that the proceeds from its
sale may at once ennoble and reinforce the
unnumbered offerings of the American be-
lievers already accumulated on the altar of
Baha'i sacrifice. I have longed ever since
to witness such evidences of spontaneous
and generous response on your part as would
tend to fortify within me a confidence that
has never wavered in the inexhaustible vi-
tality of the Faith of BahaVllah in that
land.
I need not stress at this moment the high
hopes which so startling a display of un-
sparing devotion to our sacred Temple has
already aroused in the breasts of the multi-
tude of our brethren throughout the East.
Nor is it I feel necessary to impress upon
those who are primarily concerned with its
erection the gradual change of outlook
which the early prospect of the construction
of the far-famed Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in
America has unmistakably occasioned in
high places among the hitherto sceptical and
indifferent towards the merits and the prac-
ticability of the Faith proclaimed by Baha'-
u'llah. Neither do I need to expatiate upon
the hopes and fears of the Greatest Holy
Leaf, now in the evening of her life, with
deepening shadows caused by failing eye-
sight and declining strength swiftly gath-
ering about her, yearning to hear as the one
remaining solace in her swiftly ebbing life
the news of the resumption of work on an
Edifice, the glories of which she has, from
the lips of 'Abdu'1-Baha Himself, learned
to admire. I cannot surely overrate at the
present juncture in the progress of our task
the challenging character of these remaining
months of the year as a swiftly passing op-
portunity which it is in our power to seize
and utilize, ere it is too late, for the edifica-
tion of our expectant brethren throughout
the East, for the vindication in the eyes of
the world at large of the realities of our
Faith, and last but not least for the realiza-
tion of what is the Greatest Holy Leaf's
fondest desire.
As I have already intimated in the course
of my conversations with visiting pilgrims,
so vast and significant an enterprise as the
construction of the first Mashriqu'l-Adhkar
of the West should be supported, not by the
munificence of a few but by the joint con-
tributions of the entire mass of the con-
vinced followers of the Faith. It cannot be
denied that the emanations of spiritual
power and inspiration destined to radiate
from the central Edifice of the Mashriqu'l-
Adhkar will to a very large extent depend
upon the range and variety of the contrib-
uting believers, as well as upon the nature
and degree of self-abnegation which their
unsolicited offerings will entail. Moreover,
we should, I feel, regard it as an axiom and
guiding principle of Baha'i administration
that in the conduct of every specific Baha'i
activity, as different from undertakings of
a humanitarian, philanthropic, or charitable
character, which may in future be con-
INSTITUTION OF M A SHRI QU ' L - A DHK AR 425
ducted under Baha'i auspices, only those
who have already identified themselves with
the Faith and are regarded as its avowed
and unreserved supporters should be invited
to join and collaborate. For apart from the
consideration of embarrassing complications
which the association of non-believers in the
financing of institutions of a strictly Baha'i
character may conceivably engender in the
administration of the Baha'i community of
the future, it should be remembered that
these specific Baha'i institutions, which
should be viewed in the light of Baha'u'llah's
gifts bestowed upon the world, can best
function and most powerfully exert their
influence in the world only if reared and
maintained solely by the support of those
who are fully conscious of, and are unre-
servedly submissive to, the claims inherent
in the Revelation of Baha'u'llah. In cases,
however, when a friend or sympathizer of
the Faith eagerly insists on a monetary con-
tribution for the promotion of the Faith,
such gifts should be accepted and duly ac-
knowledged by the elected representatives
of the believers with the express understand-
ing that they would be utilized by them only
to reinforce that section of the Baha'i Fund
exclusively devoted to philanthropic or char-
itable purposes. For, as the Faith of Baha'-
u'llah extends in scope and in influence, and
the resources of Baha'i communities corre-
spondingly multiply, it will become increas-
ingly desirable to differentiate between such
departments of the Baha'i treasury as min-
ister to the needs of the world at large, and
those that are specifically designed to pro-
mote the direct interests of the Faith itself.
From this apparent divorce between Baha'i
and humanitarian activities it must not,
however, be inferred that the animating
purpose of the Faith of Baha'u'llah stands
at variance with the aims and objects of the
humanitarian and philanthropic institutions
of the day. Nay, it should be realized by
every judicious promoter of the Faith that
at such an early stage in the evolution and
crystallization of the Cause such discrimi-
nating and precautionary measures are in-
evitable and even necessary if the nascent
institutions of the Faith are to emerge tri-
umphant and unimpaired from the present
welter of confused and often conflicting in-
terests with which they are surrounded.
This note of warning may not be thought
inappropriate at a time when, inflamed by
a consuming passion to witness the early
completion of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, we
may not only be apt to acquiesce in the de-
sire of those who, as yet uninitiated into
the Cause, are willing to lend financial as-
sistance to its institutions, but may even
feel inclined to solicit from them such aid
as it is in their power to render. Ours
surely is the paramount duty so to acquit
ourselves in the discharge of our most sacred
task that in the days to come neither the
tongue of the slanderer nor the pen of the
malevolent may dare to insinuate that so
beauteous, so significant an Edifice has been
reared by anything short of the unanimous,
the exclusive, and the self-sacrificing striv-
ings of the small yet determined body of
the convinced supporters of the Faith of
Baha'u'llah. How delicate our task, how
pressing the responsibility that weighs upon
us, who are called upon on one hand to
preserve inviolate the integrity and the iden-
tity of the regenerating Faith of Baha'u-
'llah, and to vindicate on the other its broad,
its humanitarian, its all-embracing princi-
ples!
True, we cannot fail to realize at the pres-
ent stage of our work the extremely limited
number of contributors qualified to lend
financial support to such a vast, such an
elaborate and costly enterprise. We are fully
aware of the many issues and varied Baha'i
activities that are unavoidably held in abey-
ance pending the successful conclusion of
the Plan of Unified Action. We are only
too conscious of the pressing need of some
sort of befitting and concrete embodiment
of the spirit animating the Cause that would
stand in the heart of the American Conti-
nent both as a witness and as a rallying cen-
ter to the manifold activities of a fast grow-
ing Faith. But spurred by those reflections
may we not bestir ourselves and resolve as
we have never resolved before to hasten by
every means in our power the consumma-
tion of this all-absorbing yet so meritorious
task? I beseech you, dear friends, not to
allow considerations of number, or the con-
sciousness of the limitation of our resources,
or even the experience of inevitable setbacks
3 3
3*3
"*
« W5
Si
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*5 3
^ 8
i!
if
JS £
*-» O
•s-1
Si
•
8,
426
INSTITUTION OF M A SHRIQU ' L - ADJH.K A R 427
which every mighty undertaking is bound
to encounter, to blur your vision, to dim
your hopes, or to paralyze your efforts in
the prosecution of your divinely appointed
task. Neither, do I entreat you, suffer
the least deviation into the paths of expe-
diency and compromise to obstruct those
channels of vivifying grace that can alone
provide the inspiration and strength vital
not only to the successful conduct of its
material construction, but to the fulfillment
of its high destiny.
And while we bend our efforts and strain
our nerves in a feverish pursuit to provide
the necessary means for the speedy construc-
tion of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, may we not
pause for a moment to examine those state-
ments which set forth the purpose as well
as the functions of this symbolical yet so
spiritually potent Edifice? It will be readily
admitted that at a time when the tenets
of a Faith, not yet fully emerged from the
fires of repression, are as yet improperly
defined and imperfectly understood, the
utmost caution should be exercised in re-
vealing the true nature of those institutions
which are indissolubly associated with its
name.
Without attempting an exhaustive survey
of the distinguishing features and purpose
of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, I should feel con-
tent at the present time to draw your atten-
tion to what I regard as certain misleading
statements that have found currency in va-
rious quarters, and which may lead gradu-
ally to a grave misapprehension of the true
purpose and essential character of the Mash-
riqu'l-Adhkar.
It should be borne in mind that the cen-
tral Edifice of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, round
which in the fullness of time shall cluster
such institutions of social service as shall
afford relief to the suffering, sustenance to
the poor, shelter to the wayfarer, solace to
the bereaved, and education to the ignorant,
should be regarded apart from these De-
pendencies, as a House solely designed and
entirely dedicated to the worship of God
in accordance with the few yet definitely
prescribed principles established by Bahd'u-
'llah in the Kitib-i-Aqdas. It should not be
inferred, however, from this general state-
ment that the interior of the central Edifice
itself will be converted into a conglomera-
tion of religious services conducted along
lines associated with the traditional pro-
cedure obtaining in churches, mosques, syna-
gogues, and other temples of worship. Its
various avenues of approach, all converging
towards the central Hall beneath its dome,
will not serve as admittance to those sec-
tarian adherents of rigid formulae and man-
made creeds, each bent, according to his
way, to observe his rites, recite his prayers,
perform his ablutions, and display the par-
ticular symbols of his faith within sepa-
rately defined sections of Baha'u'llah's Uni-
versal House of Worship. Far from the
Mashriqu'l-Adhkar offering such a spectacle
of incoherent and confused sectarian observ-
ances and rites, a condition wholly incom-
patible with the provisions of the Aqdas
and irreconcilable with the spirit it incul-
cates, the central House of Baha'i worship,
enshrined within the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar,
will gather within its chastened walls, in a
serenely spiritual atmosphere, only those
who, discarding forever the trappings of
elaborate and ostentatious ceremony, are
willing worshipers of the one true God, as
manifested in this age in the Person of
Baha'u'llah. To them will the Mashriqu'l-
Adhkar symbolize the fundamental verity
underlying the Baha'i Faith, that religious
truth is not absolute but relative, that Di-
vine Revelation is not final but progressive.
Theirs will be the conviction that an all-
loving and ever-watchful Father Who, in
the past, and at various stages in the evo-
lution of mankind, has sent forth His
Prophets as the Bearers of His Message and
the Manifestations of His Light to mankind,
cannot at this critical period of their civili-
zation withhold from His children the
Guidance which they sorely need amid the
darkness which has beset them, and which
neither the light of science nor that of hu-
man intellect and wisdom can succeed in
dissipating. And thus having recognized
in Baha'u'llah the source whence this celes-
tial light proceeds, they will irresistibly feel
attracted to seek the shelter of His House,
and congregate therein, unhampered by
ceremonials and unfettered by creed, to
render homage to the one true God, the
Essence and Orb of eternal Truth, and to
rt
jj
CX
o
428
INSTITUTION Op M A SHRI QU ' L - ADHK AR
429
exalt and magnify the name of His Messen-
gers and Prophets Who, from time imme-
morial even unto our day, have, under divers
circumstances and in varying measure, mir-
rored forth to a dark and wayward world
the light of heavenly Guidance.
But however inspiring the conception of
Baha'i worship, as witnessed in the central
Edifice of this exalted Temple, it cannot be
regarded as the sole, nor even the essential,
factor in the part which the Mashriqu'I-
Adhkar, as designed by Baha'u'llah, is des-
tined to play in the organic life of the Baha'i
community. Divorced from the social, hu-
manitarian, educational and scientific pur-
suits centering around the Dependencies of
the Mashriqu'I-Adhkar, Baha'i worship,
however exalted in its conception, however
passionate in fervor, can never hope to
achieve beyond the meager and often transi-
tory results produced by the contemplations
of the ascetic or the communion of the
passive worshiper. It cannot afford lasting
satisfaction and benefit to the worshiper
himself, much less to humanity in general,
unless and until translated and transfused
into that dynamic and disinterested service
to the cause of humanity which it is the su-
preme privilege of the Dependencies of the
Mashriqu'I-Adhkar to facilitate and pro-
mote. Nor will the exertions, no matter
how disinterested and strenuous, of those
who within the precincts of the Mashriqu'I-
Adhkar will be engaged in administering the
affairs of the future Baha'i Commonwealth,
fructify and prosper unless they are brought
into close and daily communion with those
spiritual agencies centering in and radiating
from the central Shrine of the Mashriqu'I-
Adhkar. Nothing short of direct and con-
stant interaction between the spiritual forces
emanating from this House of Worship cen-
tering in the heart of the Mashriqu'I-
Adhkar, and the energies consciously dis-
played by those who administer its affairs in
their service to humanity can possibly pro-
vide the necessary agency capable of re-
moving the ills that .have so long and so
grievously afflicted humanity. For it is as-
suredly upon the consciousness of the effi-
cacy of the Revelation of Baha'u'llah, rein-
forced on one hand by spiritual communion
with His Spirit, and on the other by the in-
telligent application and the faithful execu-
tion of the principles and laws He revealed,
that the salvation of a world in travail must
ultimately depend. And of all the institu-
tions that stand associated with His Holy
Name, surely none save the institution of
the Mashriqu'I-Adhkar can most adequately
provide the essentials of Baha'i worship and
service, both so vital to the regeneration of
the world. Therein lies the secret of the
loftiness, of the potency, of the unique po-
sition of the Mashriqu'I-Adhkar as one of
the outstanding institutions conceived by
BahdVllah.
Dearly-beloved friends! May we not as
the trustees of so priceless a heritage, arise
to fulfill our high destiny?
Haifa, Palestine,
October 25, 1929.
PROGRESS IN ORNAMENTATION OF THE
UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF WORSHIP
BY ALLEN B. MCDANIEL
D,
CURING the summer of 1937, a Tech-
nical Committee, composed of outstanding
business and technical men — selected both
from within and without the Cause on the
basis of qualifications — made a thorough
study and review of the field of architec-
tural concrete with special relation to the
ornamentation of the Universal House of
Worship. This Committee reported to the
National Spiritual Assembly at its August
meeting at Green Acre, recommending the
continuance of the external ornamentation
with the exposed aggregate type of archi-
tectural concrete, the re-employment of Mr.
John J. Earley for the gallery story orna-
mentation, and the further use of the serv-
ices of The Research Service as managing
and supervising engineers.
Work was begun on the gallery story or-
namentation at the Earley Studios, Rosslyn,
430
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Va., early in September, 1937, and subse-
quently at the Temple. Advance orders
were placed for the materials, such as quartz
for aggregates and steel for reinforcement,
to save costs on a rising market.
Measurements were taken of the faces of
the gallery story at the Temple, and tem-
plates were made and shipped to the Studio,
where the necessary working drawings and
wooden models were prepared.
As the ornamentation of this story com-
prised a base or door section, a window area
enclosed with piers and a flat arch, and a
top portion of spandrels and a cornice, the
project was planned with a view to carry-
ing on the work with the highest efficiency
and greatest economy. The economic plan,
which resulted from a careful, preliminary
study and was consistently followed during
construction, involved several major steps:
(1) preparation of the models and molds
for the ornamentation of the three sections
of the large window area, for the spandrels,
for the cornice and for the pylons; (2) con-
struction of the wooden forms for the pour-
ing of the base section of the piers, of the
architraves and of the arches at the Temple;
(3) pouring, seasoning and shipment of the
concrete casts; (4) placement of reinforce-
ment and pouring of concrete of base sec-
tion at the building; (5) erection of win-
dow casts and pouring of piers and casings;
(6) concreting of arches above window
opening; (7) placement of three spandrel
sections; (8) erection of cornice casts; (9)
capping of cornice; and (10) construction
of pylons in place on the structure. These
operations were carried on at the Studio and
at the Temple as the work progressed to
expedite the use of men and materials, and
to produce coordination of activities.
The preparation of the original clay mod-
els— the first step in the work at the Studio
— was completed early in March, 1938.
Meanwhile, the plaster models — from which
the molds were made — were under way and
were finished by the early part of April.
Casting of the various sections of the or-
namentation proceeded as the molds became
available. This phase of the work was or-
ganized on a production basis; the molds
were re-used enough times to make the re-
quired number of casts for each section —
18 spandrels, 27 upper window heads, 27
left window heads, 117 columns* 126 cor-
nice elements, and other similar pieces.
In April, 1938, work was begun at the
Temple with the placing of the concrete to
form the exterior decoration of the base or
door section. As the casts were completed
and seasoned at the plant, shipments were
made to the Temple and the sections set in
place. This erection work was so sched-
uled and organized as to build from the bot-
tom up and to complete the various portions
around the building in sequence. This
method has produced such successful re-
sults that by the middle of November,
1938, the nine faces were finished — with the
exception of the pylons — about three weeks
ahead of schedule.
The final completion of the gallery story
ornamentation is dependent on weather con-
ditions but the casting of ihe nine pylons
will be done next Spring as soon as the con-
tractor can resume operations. Outdoor
work of this particular nature is impracti-
cable during the Winter and early Spring
months.
The estimated cost of the work is $125,-
000.00. The contractor through judicious
planning and efficient handling has effected
some savings. A few parts of the process
have cost more than anticipated. In the
end, the actual cost will be fairly close to
the estimated cost, unless unforeseen con-
ditions arise.
As the placing of the ornamentation has
progressed, the unfolding beauty of the
Temple has aroused increasing interest
among people of this great community in
the heart of the American continent. Vis-
itors in ever increasing numbers are becom-
ing attracted to and visiting this Universal
House of Worship— a beacon of faith, hope
and light in a darkening, chaotic world.
at on
Finished Units for Gallery Section.
Design in Unit for Gallery Section.
431
432
THE BAHA'f WORLD
o,
INTERESTING EXPERIENCES WITH
TEMPLE VISITORS
BY GERTRUDE STRUVEN
"UR beloved Master has said, regarding
the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, "This is the begin-
ning of organization; it is like unto the first
church founded in Christianity; it is an
expression of the elevation of the Word of
God," and again, "When built, then, the
Mashriqu'l-Adhkar will be the greatest
teacher, for it is an expression of the eleva-
tion of the Word of God."
Recently the Guardian has stated, "The
Master's promises about the spiritual power
to be released by the completion of the Tem-
ple will not be fulfilled until the external
decoration is done."
Again in a letter recently received from
the Guardian by Mr. Hilpert Dahl, who has
charge of the Guide activities at this time,
he gives an added impetus to this work
when he says: —
"Regarding the guide work at the Tem-
ple; the Guardian attaches the highest im-
portance to it, inasmuch as it affords a
splendid opportunity for presenting the Mes-
sage on a very large scale. The responsi-
bilities which this function calls for are as
vital and far-reaching as the privileges it
confers on the individual believer.
"The Baha'i guide has indeed a very sacred
obligation to discharge. Not only has he
to perfect his knowledge of the Cause, but
also to develop all those qualities of tact,
wisdom and of ability to present the Mes-
sage which every Baha'i teacher requires.
It is the duty .of those who are in charge of
organizing the guide work at the Temple
to make every effort to widen its scope,
raise the standard of its personnel, and thus
increase its effectiveness."
At meetings held every Thursday evening
in the Foundation hall, methods of present-
ing the Teachings are discussed from many
angles. Interest is being shown by the
guides and by some new believers who are
studying with the idea of becoming guides.
Many questions are asked and discussed by
all who wish to participate.
Because of radio announcements, groups
ranging from twenty to six hundred often
come, usually by appointment. They are
assigned special speakers who give the Mes-
sage to the group as a whole; afterwards
the visitors are divided into smaller groups
and shown the Temple. More questions are
asked and answered by the guides who con-
duct them. Small, casual groups are usu-
ally given much more time and their needs
are more fully met.
Guides should be prepared for almost any
kind of surprise visits. While large groups
are supposed to make appointments, they
often come in hordes, quite unexpectedly.
Recently our caretaker was occupied with
an expected group of 108 employees of the
Public Service Company of Northern Illi-
nois, when an unannounced crowd of 320
women of the National Credit Association,
arrived in several huge busses. There were
only two guides present that day, but the
caretaker spoke to them all% together at first
and then they were escorted through the
building. Although it is not so satisfactory
to be in a large group, these visitors showed
much appreciation of what they had re-,,
ceived.
The important thing is how many return
as individuals to investigate for themselves
and find real attraction in this glorious Faith.
An increasing number of those who return
bringing others is noticeable and the effect
of the Century of Progress Exposition made
a definite increase in people of capacity.
Numbers of Wilmette citizens come quietly
by themselves to the Sunday afternoon lec-
tures, but they appear not to want to be
noticed or approached.
When people come from places near As-
semblies or groups of Baha'i s, they are in-
vited to register stating their wishes for no-
tices of meetings, traveling teachers, or for
literature to be sent them. These names
are given to the person who is appointed to
do this work. A list will follow, giving
some idea of the many and varied clubs
which are served; some make yearly visits,
others come even more frequently. Among
the latter are students of the National Col-
INSTITUTION OF M A S HRI QU 'L - ADHK A R
433
lege of Education which is within a few ,
blocks of the Temple. They come often,
sometimes with their instructors, or with
their head mistress, who is herself very
friendly to the Cause. They ha^e, by the
way, an extensive Baha'i library of their
own and they also subscribe to the "World
Order" magazine. Many of these students
come to us for information which they
wish to use in their studies of Comparative
Religion and allied subjects.
Another club which is a frequent visitor
is the large Nature and Hiking "Prairie
Club" of Chicago. They have been for sev-
eral Christmases on hikes to see the famous
holiday illuminations of the north shore
and also to stop at the Temple. They come
rain or shine. One year at the time of their
outing there was snow and sleet, but in spite
of the bad weather, eighty-one came. This
time they asked the privilege of asking ques-
tions. Most of their questions proved to
be about Muhammad — His relation to this
Revelation, His Teachings and how they
agreed with the Christian Teachings. For-
tunately, the guide had been making a study
of this subject and the evening was enjoyed
by both visitors and guide.
Occasionally groups have come saying,
"We have only a few minutes to stay,
so we must hurry," but they have be-
come so interested that they have stayed for
hours.
Groups come from many neighboring
towns and cities, as well as from other states
and countries. We are always delighted
when they remark, "We have been seeing
the sights and points of interest all through
this region, but this — this — exceeds them all
by far." During the Century of Progress
Exposition, many visitors from far and near
said that this Temple was above and beyond
anything they had seen, and of itself was
worth the whole trip. A large proportion
of these received much of the Teachings
also.
The following is a list which gives some
idea of visiting Clubs:
19 Members of the Nineteenth Century
Club of Oak Park
21 Members of the Eastern Star of Wil-
mette
5 5 Members of the Know Your Town Club
of Stolp School, Wilmette
National College of Education in Evanston,
different visits: —
43 students
63 students with instructor
32 students with 17 children of the
Model School
7 students Class in History of Re-
ligion
200 Geographic Society of Chicago
550 Members Chicago Recreation Tour, un-
der Chicago Board of Education
On one Sunday there were 879 visitors
(exclusive of the Sunday afternoon audi-
ence) which included: —
600 W.P.A. Educational Project, Board of
Education, Chicago
57 Members Altrui Club of Chicago
Women
60 Members Chicago Chemistry Club
25 Members of Howard School of Wil-
mette, with their teacher; following is
a letter of appreciation from them: —
Baha'i House of Worship
Sheridan Road,
We the Travel Club of Howard School
wish to send this note of thanks to you.
We sincerely thank the three ladies, the
caretaker and the head-engineer for their
kindness in showing us over your beautiful
building last week, Tuesday June first. Your
interesting talks opened new doors to us.
A new view of religion was revealed to us.
We deeply appreciate what you did for us.
Sincerely,
Howard Travel Club
Club President, Mary Jane Henderson
Club Secretary, Elian Burns.
Numbers of other letters similar to this
have been received.
125 W.P.A. Free Educational Tour, Chi-
cago
37 North Shore Boys Club
16 Fellowship 1st Methodist Church, Ev-
anston (16 boys)
23 — two primary school grades with their
teachers
434
THE BAHA'f WORLD
24 Members Bethel Lutheran Young Ladies
Society of Chicago
56 Industrial Art Teachers
40 Evanston Girl Scouts
143 Free Chicago Tours for Chicagoans
64 Portage Park Woman's Club and Peo-
ple's Church of Chicago
35 Boys from the Society of the Divine
Word, St. Mary's Mission House,
Techny, with Father Kraft
125 Boys from the same society, with three
priests
35 Students in Landscape Architecture,
State University, of Ames, Iowa
61 Albion College, Altoona, Michigan —
Class in Sociology, Dean Whitehouse,
leader
21 Students Von Steuben School, Chicago
32 Members Congregational Church
9 Universal Study Club
175 Liberty ville Woman's Club
98 Englewood Woman's Club
81 Electrical Association of Chicago
18 Riverside Study Club
50 Young People's Group— -People's Lib-
eral Church, Chicago
28 Northridge Woman's Club of Wilmette
225 Wilmette Woman's Club
with
30 Dramatic Club of Chicago
33 1st Baptist Church, Evanston
25 Epworth League, Methodist Episcopal
Church, Ravenswood
5 5 Daughters of Indiana
14 Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church,
Chicago
44 Budapest University Chorus
40 Bohemian Club, Chicago
150 Chicago Tour Club
10 Culture Club
65 Schurz Out Door Club
30 C.C.C. boys
40 People's Church, Junior Woman's Club
86 1st English Lutheran Church, Chicago
99 Chicago Free Tours
24 Chicago Ladies' Aid Association
30 Eleanor Club
25 Ladies' Society of Idritt Co-operative
of Chicago
24 Members Elmhurst Woman's Club
17 Members Presbyterian Church, High-
land Park
200 Members Chicago Free Tours
In connection with the groups listed, there
follows a brief record of the total numbers
of visitors to the Temple since the records
were begun: —
For the years from 1932 to July 1937,
inclusive, the record of visitors, exclusive
of those attending Sunday meetings, cov-
ered 54 months in which time we had 67,321
visitors, comprising 15,836 groups, large and
small.
The largest group recorded, coming with-
out appointment, 320. The largest number
of Sunday casual visitors, with no Clubs
present, was 438, on September 22, 1935.
Only occasional visitors are conducted
through the Temple during the cold months
when there is no regular heat.
With the small groups which come daily
in the season, we meet every type of question
imaginable. The Orthodox ask again and
again the same old questions; a few open
their minds, perhaps for only a few mo-
ments.
One group of a slightly "unorthodox or-
thodoxy" recently endeavored in their visit,
to be patient, polite and tolerant, and asked
their questions, listened quietly to our expla-
nations, and tried to harmonize them with
their own ideas and beliefs. One of their
number who was more able to comprehend
would repeat the answer; for instance, "You
say that this man Baha'u'llah brought the
same Light as Jesus the Christ, and so noth-
ing is taken away from Christ, but is a
fulfillment?" Thus she seemed to form
a link between the guide and the question-
ers, rather lessening the tension in the group
themselves.
They expressed themselves as very grate-
ful for the time and "trouble" which had
been taken. Upon leaving, one of their num-
ber, very conscientiously said, "We do not
wish you to understand that we accept all
that you have told us." They were as-
sured that they were as free as the air.
Some of their questions were: —
How do you regard "heaven and hell"?
How do you interpret the Resurrection? Do
you not think that "He will come in
the clouds?"
Do you not believe in the "redeeming blood
of Jesus, and that none other can be
saved?"
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Finished Units Awaiting Shipment to
the Temple.
Plaster Model, Base Section of
Pylon.
Finished Unit, Section of Window
Head.
Carving an Original Model
435
436
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Do you have some observance answering to
the "Lord's Supper"?
Do you observe baptism?
On the other hand, we have had young
divinity students; one especially, just be-
ginning to preach and not yet crystallized
into the theological mold, nor as yet subject
to the dictation of a congregation, was much
impressed with the Teachings. On depart-
ing he took with him a volume of "Baha'-
u'llah and the New Era," in order to con-
tinue his investigation and requested further
contacts if any teachers were in his vicinity.
Other liberal young ministers also have gone
harmoniously along with us, as we discussed
the Teachings and principles. They have
had no reservations and seemed to be in per-
fect harmony.
One guide says, "I find that although
sometimes questions begin at once when
entering the Temple doors, or even outside,
more questions are likely to arise at the
Model, where it is practically impossible to
speak of the beautiful symbolism of the
Temple without at the same time giving the
Teachings. There the Oneness of mankind,
of religion, and of God are dwelt upon.
Here also we try to arrive at some under-
standing of the personality and capacity of
the visitor."
While going up the stairs to the "House
of Worship," the guide tries to seize a mo-
ment in which to pray for guidance in this
service. As soon as a visitor arrives at the
auditorium, after a gasp of wonder and ad-
miration, and almost without exception, he
asks the cause back of this edifice. Then
comes the question: "Why was it built way
out here in Wilmette, or even in Chicago?
There must be some great force behind you
that you are enabled to design and erect this
inspiring Temple."
The guides are, indeed, aware of a "force"
which is agitating all things. They feel the
Temple to be a fortress, and are conscious
many times of spiritual support, and feel
uplifted and empowered to deliver with au-
thority and ardor, the Message of Baha'u-
'llah. The Temple is the easiest place in the
world in which to deliver this glorious Mes-
sage, and thus those who serve gain invalu-
able experience in meeting all races, creeds,
nationalities; high and low, rich and
poor, religious, un-reiigious, enthusiastic and
apathetic, educated and ignorant; angry
ones, blind, seeing and indifferent. Some
there are who have never read a religious
book; many young people know nothing
about the church or the Bible. One little
couple of lovers wandered in and out, never
realizing that there was anything above the
Foundation hall. When told, they "didn't
think they would go up."
There have been several atheists who pro-
fessed great longing for faith but clung
tenaciously to their own cherished ideas.
One of these was a young Jew, a doctor and
scientist. He said he longed for faith, but
being scientific, he could not believe in God;
there is no proof. After some conversation,
it seemed advisable to give him 'Abdu'l-
Baha's Tablet to Dr. Forel. He soon
brought it back, explaining, "I read it be-
cause you were so kind, but 'Abdu'1-Baha
assumes so many things!" He had first de-
cided not to read it, but finally having done
so, found no truth in it. One's heart ached
for him that he might cry out from the
depths of his soul, "Lord^ I believe! Help
Thou my unbelief!"
Another Jewish visitor was quite differ-
ent. He was a beautiful old man, a Rabbi,
who believed in the divinity of Moses —
something rare in our experience — and
stated that "anyone who studied deeply the
teachings of Moses would clearly under-
stand that." He said he was coming again.
He might well have been the old "grand-
father" spoken about by one of three lovely
young Jewish girls who came later. We did
not at first know they were Jewish. They
were obliged, due to the number of visitors
at that time, to join with another two,
young people who stated they were from
Rome, Italy, and we assumed them to be
Catholic. They seemed interested in every-
thing told them. Presently these two left,
and the young trio began asking their ques-
tions. One of them asked, "Do you have
services in the Auditorium and worship the
sun, as we have been told?" When told our
belief in the Oneness of mankind, she asked,
"Do you think racial intermarriage would
help to bring about world harmony and
peace?" Answered, "yes," she said "my
grandfather believes that also." "Your
INSTITUTION OF M A S HRI QU 'L - ADHK AR
437
grandfather must be a very wise man — is he
not?" and she said sweetly, "Yes, he is, and
he believes much that you have told us; he
would love your teachings; I am going to
bring him."
The guide said, "This is, however, a very
delicate question, and must be approached
very wisely and carefully. Ethnologists de-
clare there is actually no superior race; one
race may be in the ascendant at one time,
and centuries hence it may become degraded,
and another advanced, according to their
adherence to the laws of God, or according
to God's plan for them.
After a talk in which they asked many
good questions, one of the girls became sud-
denly aware of what this "Oneness of Man-
kind" might involve, and rather breath-
lessly asked, "You believe in intermarriage
between colored and white?" She was told
that for the future, the ideal was to have no
race feeling whatsoever; and that two young
people wishing to marry, must according to
Baha'i law, have the consent of both parents.
According to Baha'u'llah, we were one
race, one family in the sight of God; that
racial, religious and political prejudices were
recognized as the definite causes of separa-
tion and war between men; and that "War
is the most dreadful thing in the world of
humanity." She said, "Do you believe that
eventually all nations will become unified
and have one religion?"
Answer, "By abolishing these causes, man
will be enabled to live in peace and tranquil-
lity."
Baha'u'llah has said, "The generality of
mankind is still immature. Had it acquired
sufficient capacity We would have bestowed
upon it so great a measure of Our knowledge
that all who dwell on earth and in heaven
would have found themselves by virtue of
the grace streaming from Our pen, com-
pletely independent of all knowledge save
the knowledge of God, and would have been
securely established upon the throne of abid-
ing tranquillity."
During the Jewish holidays, a large num-
ber of Jewish women visited us. Many were
older women, hearty and cordial. Some of
them wore shawls on their heads. They were
very understanding, and when the group left,
one of them stepped forward, laying her
hands on those of the guide, and said with
a beaming smile, "You are good people; I
hope you will have the greatest success. God
bless you!"
Another group of fresh and charming
young girls came from Northwestern Uni-
versity. They were confessedly surprised
and delighted to receive the explanations
about the building, and a great deal about
the Cause. They were so happy, they sat
down on the floor in Foundation hall, two
perched upon the table, and all absolutely ab-
sorbed, fairly showered their questions on the
guide — questions regarding World Peace, ra-
cial unity, political unity.
"What relation does Baha'u'llah bear to
Christ?"
"Do Baha'is believe Him to be equal in
station to Christ?" and "Then He does not
take anything away from Christ, rather
fulfills?"
They had previously asked, "Why do we
need a new revelation, when Christ revealed
all and more than we have ever lived up to?"
"Why should He come from Persia?"
"Do you use the Bible as your 'Book,' and
do you use that in your service?" Then
"What do you mean by the "Holy Utter-
ances?" This seems to be the most arresting
question, and often marks the point when
they begin to comprehend that this is truly
a new Revelation and a new Dispensation.
"Which are the nine religions to which the
number 'nine* refers?"
"Do you believe in Baptism . . . re-incar-
nation . . . How do you regard Resurrection,
the Trinity"? — These and many other ques-
tions were explained. But the most absorb-
ing thing to them was, "The New World
Order" and the part which youth will play
in this Day.
A large proportion of our visitors are
young people, and their open hearts and
minds, the lack of prejudice, the enthusiasm
and sense of justice which they express do
indeed bring joy and gladness to our hearts.
An odd coincidence happened in July.
On the 5th, a poor family of six Iranians
came with the expressed desire to see the
Temple. The man stated that they had been
Greek Catholics, but since coming to Chi-
cago they had become "Christian." He said,
"I have had a vision of Jesus. Seven times
438
THE BAHA'f WORLD
it happened, and now I can ask at any time,
questions, and Jesus will answer me." The
man kept up a constant stream of conversa-
tion, giving no opportunity for the guide to
say anything, except to speak a little regard-
ing Muhammad, whom the visitor repudi-
ated. He kept repeating, "You are all wrong,
all wrong in believing that there was ever
another divine being upon earth beside
Jesus!" We soon pleasantly arose and con-
cluded the interview. As they left, the guide
said, "Perhaps we are agreed on one thing;
we all desire what God desires for us." At
this the woman said with fire in her flashing
black eyes, "Do you believe every word in
the Bible?"
These people came from a town near
Tabriz, Iran.
The next day, long after hours, two more
Iranian Christians came, and urgently asked
the same guide to show them the Temple,
and to tell them about BahaVllah, of whom
they knew something. These two, a young
man and woman, were also from that town
near Tabriz, Iran. The man began an ani-
mated talk, derogatory to Muhammad, which
the guide tried to check, stating that we be-
lieved His Holiness Muhammad to be one of
a great line of Prophets. He remarked that
"he admired Muhammad as a fine business
man from the first, and that he himself could
be like Muhammad, if he desired." The
guide explained that Muhammad was one of
the Prophets of God, of a kingdom above
that of man, and that neither he nor any
other man could ever become a Muhammad
or a Christ." He asked very meaningly if
the guide had ever read the life of Muham-
mad. She answered, "Yes, but I did not be-
lieve the statements of His enemies." Then
he said, "In other words, your mind is fixed."
The guide replied, "BahaVllah, All-Knowing
has given us the true station of Muhammad
and we believe He was a Manifestation of
God. Also, Muhammad's own words bear
witness to the Truth."
Then the guide tried politely to end the
discussion, "as we feel that argument ends
nowhere." He apologized and asked one
more question! "Did you ever read that
statement by Christ, where He says, "I am
the last, and after me there will be no other,
and before Me there were none?" When the
guide said that she had never seen it, he
offered to send it to her, but it has never
arrived.
These two groups came on successive days,
from the same town near Tabriz, Iran. They
came with the same request, to see the Tem-
ple and to hear of Baha'u'llih but showed
not the slightest interest. Both were fanatic-
ally Christian in their claims, and both at-
tacked Muhammad.
The young man declared that he had never
heard that the Bab was a prophet. Does it
not seem strange that an occidental Chris-
tian, now Baha'i, should be called upon to
defend His Holiness Muhammad to Iranians,
who avowed faith in Christ and denied Mu-
hammad, and, who, in the natural order of
things, would have been followers of Mu-
hammad?
On another day a young man from Turk-
istan came straight here, as soon as he landed
in America. He said, "I saw a picture of this
Temple in my country, and made up my mind
immediately that I was going to see that
Temple. And here I am!"^ He was a fol-
lower of no religion, but the young American
woman who escorted him advised him to
accept religion and hoped he might find in
this Revelation that which he needed. He
asked many very vital questions and went
away quite filled.
On the same day, a very interesting young
Syrian, not a Muhammadan, came in. This
man had been several times before and was
interested. He liked the idea of each Baha'i
being expected to teach according to his
capacity. He said, "I like that; isn't it really
the true philosophy of America, if it were
lived up to?"
Many children of varying ages come with
the idea of writing compositions on the Tem-
ple. One group of these came with their
teacher. The guide gave them very careful
and explicit details with their particular pur-
pose in view. The children were much in-
terested. The teacher offered to send the
guide one of the best compositions. The
guide suggested that he also send one of the
poorest. When the essays came they had all
sorts of ideas incorporated in them — old
rumors that have circulated for years, such
as sun worship, a separate room in the Tem-
ple for each faith and so on. None of these,
Sculptor at Work.
The Architect's Beautiful Vision.
439
440
THE BAHA'I WORLD
of course, had been given in the interview.
In respect to truth, the best composition
was no better than the worst.
At the time when the castings of the orna-
mentation of the dome were being hoisted
into place, two ladies from a neighboring
town advanced toward the Temple, and as
often happens, the guide met them outside to
begin making their acquaintance. One quite
aggressively stated, "You had a bad storm
last night and I see you are repairing the
damage." The guide, rather taken aback,
and to gain a little time, asked her to repeat
her statement. "You are repairing the dam-
age after the terrible storm." It was diffi-
cult to convince her that there had been no
storm, nor any damage to the Temple, and
that the ornamentation was for the first time
being applied. Then she made another state-
ment, "This is a Bnddhist Temple." This
too was explained. After these false starts,
they began to listen and became very much
attracted, asking real questions, and when
they left they were transformed from the
two ladies who had entered, into quite awak-
ened seekers. One, as she arose to go, said
with a deep sigh, "Well! It pays to come to
the source in order to find out."
Another funny thing was said by a lady of
the village whose windows looked out on
the Temple. This was just as the very first
pieces of stone were being applied. When
she comprehended that they were covering
the glass inner dome, she said in real dismay,
"What! You don't mean to tell me you are
going to cover my beautiful, grey bubble?"
A searching catechism was given one of
the guides, by one who was thought to be a
Jesuit priest. His questions were planned and
very specific. This guide felt that she had
been divinely guided, for answers which were
spiritual and harmonious, came so easily, and
afterwards she realized some of the pitfalls
which had been unconsciously avoided.
One of the guides had always dreaded
meeting scientists. One day an unusually
interesting scientist presented himself. To
her surprise there was no superior attitude,
but true humility, and a very fruitful con-
versation ensued. As he left he said, "I am
fully aware that you have knowledge of
which I am entirely ignorant." Also words
to the effect that science had reached a point
where it must next reach out toward the
realms of the spiritual. He appeared much
impressed by his visit.
On one Sunday morning a family from
California who were touring the country
telephoned, asking if we had a Sunday School.
When they arrived they asked to leave the
children in the Sunday classes which were in
session. They made the tour of the build-
ing, then in the afternoon they all returned
to hear the lecture. They came as they were,
in camping clothes, and felt pleased with
their day's occupation. They had been told
by the conductor on the "El" that they
should see the beautiful Baha'i Temple. This
happens to be quite a regular thing. Hotel
clerks, train dispatchers, ticket agents, taxi
drivers and bus drivers, all are interested to
direct any strangers who seem unacquainted
with the region, and to recommend that they
see the Temple.
There came a middle-aged German, who
wished to know "What Baha'u'llah had
brought," and "what He had done." At
first this man feared that differences and
disagreements would creep in, as in the past,
and he very much wanted to know what
could be done to prevent it. He was seek-
ing, and this Universal Faith in many ways
appealed to him. He "was a Mennonite, but
could not subscribe to their notions." He
asked if Baha taught life after death, and said
also, "You say all religions, Jews, Catholic,
Protestant all are free to worship here? How
(very doubtfully) do you expect to have
peace and worship without friction amongst
these antagonistic groups?" Thus was a
wonderful opportunity given to explain to a
real seeker the foundations of World Unity.
Again a group of young Adventists from
the South, among other things asked, "What
do you believe as to the life beyond the
grave, and the Resurrection?" They said
their church was divided, the older members
believed in the literal "rising from the grave,"
but they did not. They were happy in hear-
ing of BahaVllah's wonderful Teachings re-
garding the condition of the soul after it
leaves this world.
Groups of young boys are among our fre-
quent visitors; some are called down from
playing on the "ramp" which is to boys the
most intriguing and tempting recreation.
Models of the Baha'i Temple Being Constructed
at Wilmette, Illinois, U. S. A. Above, one of
the new plaster models carved and cast in the
studio of John J. Early, the contractor for the
outside ornamentation of the Temple itself.
Below, an old model entirely made by hand of
cardboard and wood.
441
442
THE BAHA'f WORLD
One group expecting to be scolded, came
down and were pleasantly surprised at being
invited to come in and see the building, the
boilers, the model and so on. They became
interested in it all. Some of the most lovely
experiences have been with boys, unspoiled
as yet, and who, in regard to prejudices and
religion, are purehearted. Their hearts won,
they become fascinated, first by the Temple
and then by mutual discussions on peace
and war, racial prejudice, justice, but always
and especially peace. A few of these boys
have appeared surprisingly thoughtful along
spiritual lines, boys from 13 to 15 years of
age. We have several times continued our
acquaintance, taken them over to the care-
taker's home, shown them pictures, and
talked more at length on subjects of the day.
They have even returned later and brought
more boys and introduced us as "their
friends." These are informal little visits.
Sometimes they play the piano and are as
nice and happy as can be.
Another time a little boy and girl about
five and six years old came. They listened
very seriously and later the little boy, thumbs
in his tiny suspenders, said to the little girl:
"Do you know — I like the mechanics of this
building very much!"
An interesting group from Washington
state and from Iowa came in one morning.
One of the men asked, "How do you look
upon God? Ail-Powerful, All-Knowing and
Just, yet, how can He allow these dreadful
conditions in the world? If I was making
an image or figure, I should wish to make it
perfect. I can't understand how this can
be." The guide replied that both Muham-
mad and Baha'u'llah state that "if God had
pleased He had surely made all men one
people. His purpose, however, is to enable
the pure in spirit and the detached in heart
to ascend, by virtue of their own innate pow-
ers, unto the shores of the Most Great Ocean,
that thereby they who seek the Beauty of the
All-Qlorious may be distinguished and sepa-
rated from the wayward and perverse. Thus
hath it been ordained by the all-glorious and
resplendent Pen . . ." Man suffers from his
own breaking of God's laws, and weak ones
receive Justice from God in the world of the
spirit.
His companion said that he had always
thought that men should be all of one faith
but couldn't imagine how, even in hundreds
of years, it could be so. He said, "How could
the three great divisions in America, for in-
stance, the Jewish, the Catholic and the Prot-
estant ever become reconciled and become
one faith?" Then they said, "What do you
believe of BahdVllah? Whom do you be-
lieve He is?" "Does Baha'u'llah get His
Teachings from the Bible or where does He
get them?" And there they often get their
first realization that this is a New Revelation
and that Muhammad and Christ brought
their own Book, as does BahaVllah, and
that these are the "Holy Utterances,"
A very cultured and sincere East Indian
family, in native costume, were here recently.
The man said he had first been Muslim, then
he became Agnostic, then an investigator,
studying Theosophy and philosophy of differ-
ent schools, after which he returned to the
Muslim Faith. He was especially interested
in economics. He will, after their visit here,
return to Jerusalem. It was suggested that
he visit Haifa, enroute. fie intends doing so,
after which he will return to Lahore.
There is a Chicago gentleman, born in In-
dia, who frequently brings his Indian friends
and visitors to the Temple.
On one of the frequent visits of the stu-
dents from the National College of Educa-
tion, the professor who came with them
asked, "What will keep the Cause from slip-
ping in the future? Would it dispose of,
or absorb other Religions?"
Some odd questions come to us: "Do you
believe in the Consummation of Time" (This
was a "poser" for the guide) . "How do you
account for the separation of the Jews?"
One brusque gentleman, in a hurry, said he
would stop to listen if the guide would
"prove the existence of God in one sentence."
One man interested in organs declared omi-
nously, "Your church will never prosper
without an organ." Many times it is said,
even after careful explanation, "I can never
accept the idea of anyone, no matter how
wise and beautiful, taking the place of
Christ."
Almost every day some one comes with
the idea that we "are Sun-Worshipers, and
that is the reason for our having so much
glass in our building."
INSTITUTION OF M A SH RIQU 'L - ADHK A R
443
Odd and startling personalities do not pass
us by. A man declaring himself to be God,
entered, stating that his father could create,
and that he himself had the same power.
It comes as a surprise to a number of peo-
ple, to recall that all Religions have, includ-
ing their own, arisen in the East. One girl,
when asked where did the Christian religion
arise, replied promptly, too promptly,
"Rome."
It has more than once been asked, "Why
do you not join with us in our church which
is already established? Then you would not
be obliged to erect this great building during
the depression. And others cannot think it
right when there is so much suffering, to
spend so much money on any building. Some-
times this has given an opportunity to en-
lighten the questioner. Few, if any, have
seemed to consider the many workmen who
have been employed, nor the benefits to the
arts and trades which have accrued in such
an important work.
Again one asks, "How are you able to build
such an edifice ... are your members all
wealthy?" When it has been explained to
them how some of the loving Baha'is in the
Orient had sacrificed even food, in order to
give because of their love for the Faith, they
could not comprehend, and have remarked,
"It seems too bad for such poor people to
give money for a Temple which they may
never see, nor have any part in." They ask,
"Where are the other churches of this cult?"
"Who is your leader?" It has been asked by
others, "How can one become a Baha'i, and
a member of your community?"
Often the guides are refreshed in meeting
those who come delighting in the freedom
from the restrictions and limitations of the
past, from racial, religious and other narrow
and outworn prejudices. These ask about our
"Ultimate Goal" and love what we have to
tell of this great World Order of BaM'u'llah,
and especially "The Most Great Peace" and
the "Oneness of Mankind." Although they
may not all understand fully, their hearts are
definitely turned toward good, and praise the
aims and principles. To some it appears as
though the Message was too great, too glori-
ous, and more than they are able to expect
after the gloomy night. These may return
to satisfy their longings.
We have been blessed on several occasions,
with the visits of pure and severed nuns, who
have come so quietly and simply, and in their
purity of heart have accepted the Truth.
They have gone their way to continue their
lives of devotion to God.
And as we serve in the Temple, 'Abdu'l-
Baha's ineffable promises must more and more
spur us on, so that when the "thousands who
will come to the Temple" do come in the
future, and when the "outer ornamentation
is completed," there will be teachers ready
and able to share with them this glorious
Message which they will then eagerly seek.
We already have a faint foretaste of the
future needs as we guide the steadily increas-
ing numbers, inquirers and even sight-seers,
representing so very many countries, creeds
and classes.
Not long ago, a gracious tribute was paid
to the Baha'is and to the influence of the
Temple, by the editor of "Wilmette Life,"
when in an editorial he wrote:
"The 28th annual convention of the Baha'i
religious societies of the United States and
Canada, held in the Universal House of Wor-
ship in Wilmette last week-end, directs atten-
tion to the value of this devout group to
the north shore. Aside from the beauty of
its temple which should be an addition of
note to the architecture of any city in the
world, the fact that it is the Mecca of Baha'is
of the entire western world is of importance.
It means that innumerable adherents of the
cult will make pilgrimages to this seat of
their interest, and in so doing will bring ma-
terial and spiritual blessings upon north shore
communities.
With the completion of the temple and
its auxiliary buildings it is certain that many
devotees of the Baha'i Faith will come to
live among us, to become good neighbors and
valued friends. Therein lies the greatest
value of the temple and its builders to the
north shore."
'Abdu'1-Baha has said, "When the founda-
tion of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar is laid in
America and that divine edifice is completed,
a most wonderful and thrilling motion will
appear in the world of existence. . . . From
that point of light, the spirit of teaching,
spreading the Cause of God and promoting
the teachings of God will permeate to all
444
THE BAHA'f WORLD
parts of the world. I hope that ere long the
foundation of this celestial Temple will be
laid. Thus may it be conducive to the hap-
piness of 'Abdu'1-Baha." (From "Unveiling
of the Divine Plan" and quoted in Jean Mas-
son's little book, "The Mashriqu'l-Adhkar")
". . . When the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar is ac-
complished, when the lights are emanating
therefrom, . . . the people shall hasten to
worship in that heavenly temple, the fra-
grances of God will be elevated, the divine
teachings will be established in the hearts like
the establishment of the spirit in mankind;
the people will then stand firm in the Cause
of your Lord, the Merciful." (Star of the
West, Vol. VI, p. 133)
REFERENCES TO TEMPLE
I. FROM U. S. STEEL NEWS, MARCH, 1937
CEMENT CREATES BEAUTY
Classical statues such as the ancient Greeks
laboriously sculptured out of costly marble
can be modeled today out of art marble chips
and Atlas White portland cement, the latter
a product of Universal Atlas Cement Co.
The life-sized figure shown on this page,
made of white marble chips and Atlas White
in a plaster of Paris mold and then polished
and rubbed with carborundum, has a smooth
and dazzling white finish. However, almost
any colors, textures and forms of ornamental
concrete can be obtained with Atlas White
cement through the use of colored aggregates
and skillful workmanship.
Another outstanding example of the per-
fection that has been obtained in the art of
casting concrete made with Atlas White ce-
ment is the Bahai Temple, depicted on the
front cover. For the ornamental concrete
tracery of the dome an opaque white quartz
and a clear crystalline quartz were used with
Atlas White. The dome required the placing
of 387 precast concrete sections. Eventually
the whole structure, which is 150 ft. high,
will be covered with ornamental concrete
castings.
2. FROM RE VISTA ATLAS, PORTUGUESE
EDITION, DECEMBER, 1934
AS VISTAS DA PAGINA OPPOSTA e
da capa de frente mostram a notavel cupula
de concreto ornamental do templo de Baha'i,
perto de Chicago (E.U.A.) Toda a cupula e
como um enorme rendilhado de concreto feito
com cimento ATLAS WHITE e um aggre-
gado branco composto de quartzo e feldes-
patho. Ate agora s6 a cupula foi terminada
com um revestimento de concreto orna-
mental, mas no seu estado final todo o edificio
tera o mesmo acabamento.
Este trabalho de belleza excepcional foi exe-
cutado pelo esculptor architectonico John J.
Earley, de Washington. O concreto, de cor
branco puro deslumbrante, foi vazado em
sec$oes nas officinas e de alii enviado ao tem-
plo, onde se collocou no seu lugar. Este
processo exigiu infinita precisao na forma e
dimensoes das pec,as, mas devido ao grande
cuidado exercido, todas se ajustaram perfeita-
mente, sem as juntas serem facilmente visi-
3. FROM REVISTA ATLAS, SPANISH
EDITION, DECEMBER, 1934
LAS VISTAS DE LA PAGINA OPUESTA
y de la caratula ensenan la notable cupula
de hormigon ornamental del templo Baha'i,
cerca de Chicago (E. U.) Toda la cupula
se compone de una traceria de forma como
de encaje, de hormigon prevaciado hecho con
cemento ATLAS WHITE y un agregado
bianco compuesto de cuarzo y feldespato.
Hasta ahora, solo la cupula se ha terminado
con un revestimiento de hormigon orna-
mental; pero en su estado final todo el edi-
ficio tendra el mismo acabado.
Esta labor de belleza excepcional f ue ejecu-
tada por el escultor arquitectonico John J.
Earley, de Washington. El hormigon, de
color bianco puro resplandeciente, se vacio
en secciones en el taller; de alii se envio al
templo, donde se coloco en su lugar. Este
procedimiento exigio exactitud inusitada en
la forma y dimensiones de las piezas; pero,
gracias al grande esmero con que se hicieron,
todas ajustaron perfectamente sin serial mam-
fiesta de juntas.
INSTITUTION OF M A S HR I Q U ' L - A D HK A R
445
*i a* i~» *» *«* »* •**» w*f
in A* el * «f * tti *»* «* * *
ittir*, to
WHEN BAHA1S BD1LD A TEMPLE
BAHA'IS of the world are building a unique
Temple or House of Worship, on the
shores of Lake Michigan, in Wilmette,
Illinois, just north of Chicago. Thousands of
visitors from all parts of the world have been
shown through this building since it was opened,
and guides on duty each day have answered their
questions regarding, not only the unusual con-
structional and architectural features, but also
what the edifice stands for spirituality.
This beautiful Baha'i House of Worship is
A close-up of the lace -like design and scroll work on the dome
of the Bah&'f House of Worship im given in the picture below.
the first to be built in the Western Hemisphere
and because it is unique in design is attracting
the attention of architects all over the world.
The late Louis Bourgeois, the architect, ex-
plained that the design and details were inspired
by the teachings of Baha'u'llah, the Founder of
the Baha'i Faith. Into this new architectural
design is woven in symbolic form, the oneness of
mankind and the unity of all religions, as well
as the design of all previous styles of architecture,
together with an entirely new motif which sym-
A view of the interior of the dome in the Baha't Houee of Wo*»Mp
is shown below giving some idea of the bracing necessary In the
construction work.
446
THE BAHA'f WORLD
bolizes in the merging of circle within circle, the
merging of all religions into one, which is the
goal of the Baha'i Faith.
This Temple is a nine-sided structure with
nine doors, nine ribs in the Dome and when
completed will have nine fountains and walks
leading up to it. In fact, all the dimensions
and measurements are divisible by nine. One
can read in this many significant meanings but
perhaps the most significant is, that just as the
numeral nine contains all the figures leading to
it, so the Baha'i Teachings include the funda-
mental teachings of Moses, Christ and all God's
former Messengers to mankind,
The super-structure of the Temple is to be
clothed with a geometrical ornamentation, ex-
quisite in character and beauty. These traceries
when examined are made up of the most beauti-
ful combinations of the triangle, the square and
the circle. The Swastika cross, the looped cross,
the Greek cross and the Roman cross. The five
pointed star, the six pointed star, the glorious
nine pointed star and last but not least the
looped life symbol of the old Egyptian hiero-
glyphics.
The six pointed star is the emblem of the
Jewish Dispensation, the five pointed star was
used by the early Christians as the symbol
of Christ, and the cross which is also used,
as a symbol came very much later with the
introduction of theology into the Christian
teachings.
The nine pointed star is the emblem of the
Baha'i Dispensation. The Baha'i Temple itself
is a nine pointed star. Looked at from an aero-
plane it would seem a great star dropped upon
the ground, and when lighted at night all its
nine points will appear brilliantly. The nine
pointed star forms the beautiful rose-like top of
each window and door of the Temple's lower
story. While at the center of each star will
gleam the decorative lettered form of a Persian
phrase, which translated into English reads: "0
Thou Glory of the Most Glorious."
The essential purpose of this institution is to
provide a meeting place for all who seek to wor-
ship God, and since the Founders of all the great
religions of the world are recognized as Divine
Messengers or Prophets therefore all of their fol-
lowers regardless of race, class, creed or other
man-made classifications are invited to come to
this universal house of worship. Moreover,
since the Baha'i Faith has no paid ministers or
priests, in other words no professional clergy,
the worshipper entering the Temple in the
future, will hear no sermon, take part in no
ritual and will be free to meditate and listen to
readings from the text of the Holy Books.
The exterior ornamental concrete will cover
the entire building similar to the Dome which
is now completed.
— From The Highway Traveler,
October — November, 1937.
BAHA'I CALENDAR AND
FESTIVALS
FOREWORD
BY DR. J. E. ESSLEMONT
From Babd'u'lldh and the New Era
A,
.MONG different peoples and at differ-
ent times many different methods have been
adopted for the measurement of time and
fixing of dates, and several different calen-
dars are still in daily use, e.g.) the Gregorian
in Western Europe, the Julian in many coun-
tries of Eastern Europe, the Hebrew among
the Jews, and the Muhammadan in Muslim
countries.
The Bab signalized the importance of the
dispensation which He came to herald, by
inaugurating a new calendar. In this, as in
the Gregorian Calendar, the lunar month is
abandoned and the solar year is adopted.
The Baha'i year consists of 19 months of
19 days each (i.e., 361 days), with the addi-
tion of certain "intercalary days" (four in
ordinary and five in leap years) between the
eighteenth and nineteenth months in order
to adjust the calendar to the solar year. The
Bab named the months after the attributes
of God. The Baha'i New Year, like the
ancient Iranian New Year, is astronomically
fixed, commencing at the March equinox
(March 21), and the Baha'i era commences
with the year of the Bab's declaration (i.e.,
1844 A.D., 1260 A.H.).
In the not far distant future it will be
necessary that all peoples in the world agree
on a common calendar.
It seems, therefore, fitting that the new
age of unity should have a new calendar free
from the objections and associations which
make each of the older calendars unaccept-
able to large sections of the world's popula-
tion, and it is difficult to see how any other
arrangement could exceed in simplicity and
convenience that proposed by the Bab.
BAHA'I FEASTS, ANNIVERSARIES,
AND DAYS OF FASTING
Feast of Ridvan (Declaration of BahaVilah), April 21-May 2, 1863.
Feast of Naw-Ruz (New Year), March 21.
Declaration of the Bab, May 23, 1844.
The Day of the Covenant, November 26.
Birth of BahaVllah, November 12, 1817.
Birth of the Bab, October 20, 1819.
Birth of 'Abdu'1-Baha, May 23, 1844.
Ascension of BahaVilah, May 29, 1892.
Martyrdom of the Bab, July 9, 1850.
Ascension of 'Abdu'1-Baha, November 28, 1921.
Fasting season lasts 19 days beginning with the first day of the month of 'Ala',
March 2 — the feast of Naw-Ruz follows immediately after.
447
448 THE BAHA'f WORLE>'
BAHA'I HOLY DAYS ON WHICH WORK
SHOULD BE SUSPENDED
The first day of Ridvan,
The ninth day of Ridvan,
The twelfth day of Ridvan, .
The anniversary of the declaration of the Bab,
The anniversary of the birth of BahaVllah,
The anniversary of the birth of the Bab,
The anniversary of the ascension of BahaVllah,
The anniversary of the martyrdom of the Bab,
The Feast of Naw-Ruz.
NOTE: 'Abdu'1-Baha, in one of His Tablets addressed to a believer of Nayriz, Iran, has
written the following: "Nine days fn the year have been appointed on which
work is forbidden. Some of these days have been specifically mentioned in the
Book. The rest follows as corollaries to the Text. . . . Work on the Day of
the Covenant (Fete Day of 'Abdu'1-Baha), however, is not prohibited. Cele-
bration of that day is left to the discretion of the friends. Its observation is
not ^obligatory. The days pertaining to the Abha Beauty (BahaVllah) and
the Primal Point (the Bab), that is to say these nine days, are the only ones
on which work connected with trade, commerce, industry and agriculture is not
allowed. In like manner, work connected with any form of employment,
whether governmental or otherwise, should be suspended."
As a corollary of this Tablet it follows that the anniversaries of the birth and
ascension of 'Abdu'1-Baha are not to be regarded as days on which work is pro-
hibited. The celebration of these two days, however, is obligatory.
Baha'is in East and West, holding administrative positions, whether public or
private, should exert the utmost effort to obtain special leave from their superiors
to enable them to observe these nine holy days.
ADDITIONAL MATERIAL GLEANED FROM
NABIL'S NARRATIVE (VOL. II), REGARD-
ING THE BAHA'I CALENDAR
JLHE Badi' Calendar (Baha'i Calendar) fifth day of Jamadiyu'l-Avval, of the year
has been taken by me from the rfKitdb-i- 1260 A.M. It has been ordained that the
Asmd'y" one of the works written by the solar calendar be followed, and that the
Bab. As I have observed in these days that vernal Equinox, the day of Naw-Ruz, be
certain believers are inclined to regard the regarded as the New Year's Day of the Badi*
year in which BahaVllah departed from Calendar. The year sixty, in which the fifth
Baghdad to Constantinople as marking the day of Jamadiyu'l-Avval coincided with the
beginning of the Badi' Calendar, I have re- sixty-fifth day after Naw-Ruz, has accord-
quested Mirza Aqa Jan, the amanuensis of ingly been regarded as the first year of the
BahaVllah, to ascertain His will and desire Badi' Calendar. As in that year, the day of
concerning this matter. BahaVllah an- Naw-Ruz, the vernal Equinox, preceded by
swered and said: 'The year sixty A.H. (1844 sixty-six days the date of the Declaration of
A.D.), the year of the Declaration of the the Bab, I have therefore, throughout my
Bab, must be regarded as the beginning of history, regarded the Naw-Ruz of the year
the Badi* Calendar/ The Declaration of the sixty-one A.H. (the Naw-Ruz immediately
Bab took place on the evening preceding the following the Declaration of the Bab) as the
BAHA'f CALENDAR AND FESTIVALS
449
first Naw-Ruz of the Badi4 Calendar. I have
accordingly considered the Naw-Ruz of this
present year, the year 1306 A.H., which is the
47th solar year after the Declaration of the
Bab, as the 46th Naw-Ruz of the Badi*
Calendar.
Soon after BahaVllah had left the fort-
ress of 'Akka and was dwelling in the house
of Malik, in that city, He commanded me
tq transcribe the text of the Badi' Calendar
and to instruct the believers in its details.
On the very day in which I received His
command, I composed, in verse and prose,
an exposition of the main features of £foat
Calendar and presented it to Him. The
versified copy, being now unavailable, I am
herein transcribing the version in prose.
The days of the week are named as follows:
Days
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
Arabic Name
Jalal
Jamal
Kamal
Fidal
'Idal
Istijlal
Istiqlal
English Name
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Translation
Glory
Beauty
Perfection
Grace
Justice
Majesty
Independence
The names of the months, which are the same as the days of each month, are as
follows:
Month
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
10th
llth
12th
13th
14th
15th
16th
17th
18th
19th
Arabic Name
Baha
Jalal
Jamal
'Azamat
Niir
Rahmat
Kalimat
Kamal
Asma*
'Izzat
Mashiyyat
llm
Qudrat
Qawl
Masa'il
Sharaf
Sultan
Mulk
Translation
Splendor
Glory
Beauty
Grandeur
Light
Mercy
Words
Perfection
Names
Might
Will
Knowledge
Power
Speech
Questions
Honor
Sovereignty
Dominion
Loftiness
first Days
March 21
April 9
April 28
May 17
June 5
June 24
July 13
August 1
August 20
September 8
September 27
October 16
November 4
November 23
December 12
December 31
January 19
February 7
March 2
Ayyam-i-Ha (Intercalary Days) February 26 to March 1 inclusive
four in ordinary and five in leap years.
The first day of each month is thus the
day of Baha, and the last day of each month
the day of 'Ala'.
The Bab has regarded the solar year, of
365 days, 5 hours, and fifty odd minutes, as
consisting of 19 months of 19 days each, with
the addition of certain intercalary days. He
has named the New Year's Day, which is the
Day of Naw-Ruz, the day of Bah£, of the
month of Baha. He has ordained the month
of 'Ala to be the month of fasting, and has
decreed that the day of Naw-Ruz should
mark the termination of that period. As the
Bab did not specifically define the place for
the four days and the fraction of a day in the
Badi' Calendar, the people of the Bayan were
at a loss as to how they should regard them.
The revelation of the Kitab-i-AqJas in the
450
THE, BAHA'f WORLD
Baha'i Youth Conference of Lima, Ohio, U. S. A., March 22, 1938.
city of 'Akka resolved this problem and
settled the issue. Baha'u'llah designated
those days as the "Ayyam-i-Ha" and or-
dained that they should immediately precede
the month of 'Ala', which is the month of
fasting. He enjoined upon His followers to
devote these days to feasting, rejoicing, and
charity. Immediately upon the termination
of these intercalary days, Baha'u'llah ordained
the month of fasting to begin. I have heard
it stated that some of the people of the
Bay an, the followers of Mirza Yahya, have
regarded these intercalary days as coming im-
mediately after the month of 'Ala', thus
terminating their fast five days before the
day of Naw-Ruz. This, notwithstanding
the explicit text of the Baydn which states
that the day of Naw-Ruz must needs be the
first day of the month of Baha, and must
follow immediately after the last day of the
month of 'Ala. Others, aware of this con-
tradiction, have started their fasting on the
fifth day of the month of 'Ala, and included
the intercalary days within the period of
fasting.
Every fourth year the number of the inter-
calary days is raised from four to five. The
day of Naw-Ruz falls on the 21st of March
only if the vernal Equinox precedes the set-
ting of the sun on thaj; day. Should the
vernal Equinox take place after sunset, Naw-
Ruz will have to be celebrated on the follow-
ing day.
The Bab has, moreover, in His writings,
revealed in the Arabic tongue, divided the
years following the date of His Revelation,
into cycles of nineteen years each. The names
of the years in each cycle are as follows:
1. Alif
2. Ba'
3. Ab
4. Dal
5. Bab
6. Vav
7. Abad
8. Jad
9. Baha
10. Hubb
11. Bahhaj
12. Javab
13. Ahad
14. Vahhab
15. Vidad
16. Badi
17. Bahi
18. Abha
19. Vahid
A.
B.
Father.
D.
Gate.
V.
Eternity.
Generosity.
Splendor.
Love.
Delightful.
Answer.
Single.
Bountiful.
Affection.
Beginning.
Luminous.
Most Luminous.
Unity.
BAHA'f CALENDAR AND FESTIVALS
451
Each cycle of nineteen years is called
Vahid. Nineteen cycles constitute a period
called Kull-i-Shay*. The numerical value of
the word "Vahid" is nineteen, that of "Kull-
i-Shay'" is 361. "Vahid" signifies unity,
and is symbolic of the unity of God.
The Bab has, moreover, stated that this
system of His is dependent upon the accept-
ance and good-pleasure of "Him Whom God
shall make manifest." One word from Him
would suffice either to establish it for all
time, or to annul it forever.
For instance, the date of the 21st of April,
1930, which is the first day of Ridvan, and
which according to the Kitdb-i-Aqdas must
coincide with the "thirteenth day of the sec-
ond Baha'i month," and which fell this year
(1930) on Monday, would, according to the
system of the Badi* Calendar, be described
as follows:
"The day of Kamal, the day of Qud-
rat, of the month of Jalal, of the year
Bahhaj, of the fifth Vahid, of the first Kull-
i-Shay'."
HISTORICAL DATA GLEANED FROM NABfL'S
NARRATIVE (VOL. II) REGARDING
BAHA'U'LLAH
A. BAGHDAD
arrival latter part Jamadiyu'th-
Thani, 1269 A.H.
March 12-April 10, 1853 A.D.
departure for Sulaymaniyyih on
Wednesday, April 10, 1854 A.D.-
Rajab 12, 1270 A.H.
B. SULAYMANIYYIH
Before reaching Sulaymaniyyih, He
lived for a time on the Sar-Galu
mountain.
During His absence from Baghdad,
His family transferred their resi-
dence from House of Haji 'Ali-
Madad to that of Sulayman-i-
Ghannam.
Nabil arrived at Baghdad 6 months
after BahaVllah's departure for
Sulaymaniyyih.
C. BAGHDAD
arrived from Sulaymaniyyih on
Wednesday, March 19, 1856 A.D.-
Rajab 12, 1272 A.H.
Works Revealed
During This
Period
Qullu't-Ta'am
House of Haji 'Ali-
Madad
(in old Baghdad)
House of Sulayman-i-
Ghannam
Prayers
Qasidiy-i-Varqa'iyyih
Saqiyas-Ghayb-i-
Baqa
Tafsir-i-Hurufat-i-
Muqatta'ih
$ahifiy-i-Shattiyyih
Haft-Vadi
(Seven Valleys)
Tafsir-i-Hu
Lawh-i-Huriyyih
Kitab-i-tqdn
Kalim4t-i-Maknunih
(Hidden Words)
Houses Occupied
During This
Period
452
THE BAHA'f WORLD
C. BAGHDAD — continued
departure from Mazra'iy-i-Vash-
shash: Thursday, March 26, 1863
A.D.-Shavval 5, 1279 A.H.
Tablet of the Holy Mariner revealed
while in the Mazra'iy-i-Vashsh£sh.
departure from Baghdad for Con-
stantinople, Wednesday afternoon
(first day of Ridvan), April 22,
1863 A.D.-Dhil-Qa'dih 3, 1279
A.H.
Suriy-i-$abr revealed on first day of
Ridvan.
arrival at Garden of Najibiyyih
(Garden of Ridvan), April 22,
1863 A.D.-Dhi'1-Qa'dih 3, 1279
A.H.
arrival of Baha'u'llah's Family at
Garden of Ridvan on eighth day
after first of Ridvan.
departure from Garden of Ridvan
for Constantinople last day of
Ridvan, at noon on Sunday, May
3, 1863 A.D.-Dhi'1-Qa'dih 14,
1279 A.H.
length of overland journey from
Garden of Ridvan to Samsun on
Black Sea: 110 days.
Works Revealed
During This
Period
Subhana-Rabbiya'l-
A'la
Shikkar-Shikan-
Shavand
Hur-i-'Ujab
Halih-Halih-Ya
Bisharat
Ghulamu'l-Khuld
Bdzavu-Bidih-Jami
Mallahu'1-Quds
(Holy Mariner)
Suriy-i-§abr
Houses Occupied
During This
Period
Firayjat (arrival early afternoon —
stayed seven days) , arrived on Sun-
day, May 3, 1863 A.D.-Dhi'l-
Qa'dih 14, 1279 A.H. (Firayjat
is about 3 miles distant from
Baghdad)
Judaydih,
Dili -'Abbas,
Qarih-Tapih,
Salahiyyih (stayed two nights),
Dust-Khurmatu,
Tawuq,
Karkuk (stayed two days) ,
Irbil,
Zab River*
Bartallih,
Mosul (stayed 3 days),
Zakhu,
Jazirih,
Nisibin,
Hasan-Aqa,
M4rdin,
Diyar-Bakr,
Ma'dan-Mis,
Khirput (stayed 2 or 3 days) ,
Ma'dan-Nuqrih,
Dilik-Tash,
Sivas,
Tuqat,
Amasia, (stayed 2 days) (cont'd)
HISTORICAL DATA
453
Ilahiyyih (while approaching Sam-
sun, "Lawh-i-Hawdaj" was re-
vealed), (last day of v overland
journey),
Samsun (stayed 7 days), Black
Sea port. Sailed in a Turkish
steamer about sunset for Constan-
tinople
Sinope (arrived next day about
noon), Black Sea port; stayed few
hours,
Anyabuli (arrived next day) .
D. CONSTANTINOPLE
Works Revealed Dur-
ing This Period
Houses Occupied Dur-
ing This Period
Duration
arrival at noon on
Subhanika-Ya-Hu
House of Shamsi Big
1 month
Sunday, August 16,
Lawh-i-'Abdu'l-'Aziz
(2 -story, near Khir-
1863 A.D.
Va-Vukala
gih Sharaf Mosque)
RabiVl-Avval 1,
1280 A.H.
Length of sea voyage
House of Visi Pasha
3 months
from Samsun to
(3 -story, near Sul-
Constantinople 3
tan Muhammad
days.
Mosque)
Length of journey
from Constantinople
to Adrianople 12
days.
1. Kuchik-Chakmachih (3 hours from Constantinople
2. Buyuk-Chakmachih (arrived about noon)
-spent one night)
3. Salvari
4. Birkas
5. Baba-iski
E. ADRIANOPLE
Works Revealed Dur-
ing This Period
Houses Occupied Dur-
ing This Period
Duration
arrival on Saturday,
Suriy-i-Ashab
1. Khan-i-'Arab
3 nights
December 12, 1863
(caravanserai, two-
AD.-Rajab i, 1280
story, near house
A.H.
Lawh-i-Hajj I
of 'Izzat-Aqa)
Length of stay: 4
years, 8 months, 22
days.
" « « ii
Length of overland
Kitab-i-Badi;
2. House in Muradiyyih
1 week
journey from Con-
Suriy-i-Muluk
quarter, near Tak-
stantinople to Adri-
(Tablet of the
yiy-i-Mawlavi
anople: 12 days.
Kings)
Departure from Adri-
3 . House in Muradiyyih
6 months
anople on Wednes-
Suriy-i-Amr
quarter, near house
day, August 12,
Suriy-i-Damm
2
1868 A.D.-Rabi-
Alvah-i-Laylatu'l-
4. Khaniy-i-Amru'llah
Vth-T_hani 22,
Quds
(several stories,
1285 A,H.
Mun&jathay-i- Siyam
near Sultan-Salim
(Prayers for Fast-
Mosque)
Lawh-i-Sayy£h
5. House of Rift Big
1 year
454
THE BAHA'f WORLD
E. ADRIANOPLE — continued
Works Revealed Dur-
ing This Period
Houses Occupied Dur-
ing This Period
Duration
Lawh-i-Napulyun I
(First Tablet to
Napoleon III)
Lawh-i-Sultan
(Tablet to the Shah
of Persia)
Lawh-i-Nuqtih
6. House of Amru'llah
(3 -story. North
of Sultan - Salim
Mosque)
7. House of 'Izzat-
Aqa
3 months?
11 months
1. Uzun-Kupri
2. Kashanih (arrived about noon. Lawh-i-Ra'is (Tablet of Ra'is) was revealed
in this place)
3. Gallipoli (length of journey from Adrianople to Gallipoli about 4 days)
(after a few days' stay sailed before noon in Austrian steamer for
Alexandria, Egypt)
4. Madelli (arrived about sunset — left at night)
5. Smyrna (stayed 2 days, left at night)
6. Alexandria (arrived in the morning, transshipped and left at night for Haifa)
7. Port Said (arrived morning, left the same day at night)
8. Jaffa (left at midnight)
9. Haifa (arrived in the morning, landed and after a few hours left on a sailing
vessel for 'Akka)
F. 'AKKA
Works Revealed Dur-
ing This Period
Houses Occupied Dur-
ing This Period
Duration
arrival on Monday,
Kitab-i-Aqdas
1. Barracks
2 years, 2
August 31, A.D.
Lawh-i-Napulyun II
months,
1868-Jamadiyu'l-
(Second Tablet to
5 days
Avval 12, 1285
Napoleon III)
A.H.
Lawh-i-Malikih
2. House of Malik
3 months
(Tablet to Queen
3. House of Rabnh
^
Victoria)
Purest Branch died on
Lawh - i - Malik - i- Rus
4. House of Mansur
2 or 3
Thursday, June 23,
(Tablet to the
months
1870 A.D.-Rabi'-
Czar)
u'1-Avval 23, 1287
Suriy-i-Haykal
5. House of 'Abbiid
A.H.
Lawh-i-Burhan
(where Kitab-i-
Lawh-i-Ru'ya
Aqdas was re-
Lawh-i-Ibn-i-Dhi'b
vealed)
(Epistle to Son of
6. Mazra'ih
the Wolf)
Passed away May 29,
Lawh-i-Pap
7. Qasr
1892 A.D.
(Tablet to the
(Mansion, where
Pope)
He passed away)
,
Baha'i Youth Conference of Poona, India, March 22, 1938.
455
YOUTH ACTIVITIES THROUGHOUT
THE BAHA'I WORLD
THE WORLD ACTIVITIES OF BAHA'f YOUTH
APRIL, 1936-APRIL, 1938
BY MARION HOLLEY
I. INTRODUCTION
"This New World Order, whose promise is enshrined in the Revelation of Bahd'u'lldh
. . . involves no less than the complete unification of the entire human race." l
I
T IS difficult for any young Baha'i to re-
member the events of the past two years
apart from the Guardian. No other period
of Baha'i history seems so connected with
him, so much in debt at each turn for his
guidance and vision. Not as a result of
hero-worship, but through plain honesty
alone, this debt must be acknowledged and
its sources traced in any survey of achieve-
ment for the years 1936-1938. For the es-
sence of that achievement was surely the sud-
den understanding of our Faith as fact not
hope, not ideals for Utopia but citizenship
in a live community, the appearance of
which marked this earth's coming of age.
The impact of a potent pamphlet, "The
Unfoldment of World Civilization," written
in March, 1936, produced this vitalizing
effect. The oneness of man; the abolition
of prejudices of race, class, and religion; the
hope for the Most Great Peace — fragments
of belief before — by the electric shock of the
Guardian's words were at once crystallized
into a whole man, a citizen of the world, no
less. Every young Baha'i tingled with the
experience, and as his consciousness grew
clear, he knew himself transferred instan-
taneously and irrevocably to a higher level of
social and individual conduct. What a goal,
what an assurance, what power became his
from that moment! Thus by a few words
did the Guardian consolidate a world com-
munity and every Baha'i, young or old, as-
sumed his place in it.
"Conscious of their high calling, confident
in the society-building power which their
Faith possesses, they press forward, unde-
terred and undismayed, in their efforts to
fashion and perfect the necessary instruments
wherein the embryonic * World Order of
Baha'u'llah can mature and develop." 2
But this clarification, swift and dramatic
as it was, constituted only an introduction.
There followed countless letters to individ-
uals and great statements of policy to the
National Assemblies, which strengthened and
made more tangible the first vision. World
citizenship, young Baha'is came to under-
stand, required not a verbal loyalty but pro-
found and far-reaching change of action.
Distinction! Here was the keynote. In a
civilization ridden by mounting passions,
strife and hatred between economic classes,
barbaric war among nations and political
alignments, cruel neglect of human need,
and a tragic inquietude of spirit — Baha'is
were called to faithful practice of the love of
God and man.
Professor Jan Huizinga of Leyden Uni-
versity had written in 1936: "We are living
in a demented world. And we know it.
Everywhere there are doubts as to the solidity
of our social structure, vague fears of the
imminent future, a feeling that our civiliza-
tion is on the way to ruin. They are not
1 Shoghi Effendi, "The Unfoldment of World Civi-
li?ation," p. 2.
2 I bid., p. 35.
456
The Baha'i Temple at Wilmette, Illinois, U. S. A., viewed from Lake Michigan.
458
THE BAHA'f WORLD
merely the shapeless anxieties which beset us
in the small hours of the night when the
flame of life burns low. They are consid-
ered expectations founded on observation and
judgment of an overwhelming multitude of
facts." 3
These facts Baha'is were not encouraged
to deny. The Guardian himself faced them;
he analyzed their causes and prepared the
followers of Baha'u'llah for their culmina-
tion in "a period of intense turmoil and wide-
spread suffering" which would "proclaim
alike the death-pangs of the old order and
the birth-pangs of the new." * But most
pertinent, he drew with clarity the outlines
of that modern man who, alone, should have
fortitude to withstand the turmoil and con-
struct the coming civilization. That he
would be a different man from the one in the
streets every young Baha'i was compelled to
admit. "I desire for you distinction,"
'Abdu'1-Baha had said many years earlier. At
last such distinction had become a prime
requisite, if the Faith for which so many
sacrifices had already been made was to move
triumphantly forward.
But what kind of distinction? Basically,
of course, it rests on a quickening of the
blood and bone of the individual; it consists
in new energy based on spiritual confidence
and ideal, in what the religious have called
rebirth, a transformation which results only
from the influence of the Manifestation of
God. The "task of converting satanic
strength into heavenly power is one that We
have been empowered to accomplish," Baha'-
u'llah proclaimed.5 A life lacking such
transformation is certainly not yet of Him.
Shoghi Effendi wrote to this point in sev-
eral letters, from which the following ex-
cerpts are made: "How to attain spirituality
is indeed a question to which every young
man and woman must sooner or later try to
find a satisfactory answer. It is precisely be-
cause no such satisfactory answer has been
given or found, that the modern youth finds
itself bewildered, and is being consequently
carried away by the materialistic forces that
are so powerfully undermining the founda-
tions of man's moral and spiritual life. . . ." 6
"... The dangers facing the modern youth
are becoming increasingly grave, and call for
immediate solution. But, as experience clearly
shows, the remedy to this truly sad and per-
plexing situation is not to be found in tradi-
tional and ecclesiastical religion. . . . What
can control youth and save it from the pit-
falls of the crass materialism of the age is the
power of a genuine, constructive and living
Faith such as the one revealed to the world
by Baha'u'llah. Religion, as in the past, is
still the world's sole hope, but not that form
of religion which our ecclesiastical leaders
strive vainly to preach. Divorced from true
religion, morals lose their effectiveness and
cease to guide and control man's individual
and social life. But when true religion is
combined with true ethics, then moral prog-
ress becomes a possibility and not a mere
ideal. The need of our modern youth is for
such a type of ethics founded on pure reli-
gious faith." 7
The past two years have seen the issuance
of a clear challenge to Baha'i youth to prove
the faith which is undoubtedly theirs in
every moment of their lives. Shoghi Effendi
has also announced that certain of Baha'-
u'llah's laws must now be universally ap-
plied, i.e., prayer, fasting, monogamy, the
consent of the parents in marriage, and ab-
staining from alcohol.
Perhaps to contemporary society, how-
ever, the most arresting points of distinction
are the obedience to government and the so-
lution of all group problems through consul-
tation. A Baha'i is one whose method must
accord with his goal, and his goal is the soli-
darity of men. Almost every other modern
technique of social change acts through pres-
sure groups, strikes, opposition, and refusal
to cooperate* This profound variance of
method creates for the young Baha'i innum-
erable problems of relationship — in his occu-
pation, to his country if at war, with groups
working for world peace or economic reor-
ganization, and most acutely with his gov-
ernment if its policy is suppression of his
beliefs or Faith.
3 "In the Shadow of Tomorrow," quoted in World
Order, August, 1937, p. 194.
4 "Unfoldment of World Civilization," pp. 8-9.
5 "Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah,"
p. 200.
8 Through his secretary, December 8, 1935. Baha'i
News, No. 102, p. 3.
7 Through his secretary, April 17, 1936. Baht'i
News, No. 104, p. 1.
BAHA'i YOUTH ACTIVITIES
459
Each year a Baha'i youth must increase in
tact, patience, deeper wisdom, above all in a
love of man and God which no opposition,
however persistent, can shake. While his aim
is the Most Great Peace, he is no pacifist.
"Non-cooperation is too passive a philosophy
to become an effective way for social re-
construction." 8 Pledged to the use of jus-
tice in every situation, he may not resort to
forceful means for its accomplishment. "The
Baha'is ... are advised to avoid, as much
as they can, getting mixed in labor strikes
and troubles, and particularly to desist from
all acts of physical violence which indeed run
counter to the very spirit of the Cause." 9
Although his world view precludes a fervid
nationalism, he is constantly in mind of
Baha'u'llah's instruction: "In every country
or government where any of this community
reside, they must behave toward that gov-
ernment with faithfulness, trustfulness and
truthfulness." 10
One further policy remains. For Baha'i
youth it means a careful attention to voca-
tion, perhaps an organized research, un-
doubtedly in this period of world depression,
arduous effort. ". . . Idle people who lack
the desire to work can have no place in the
new World Order. . . . Every individual, no
matter how handicapped and limited he may
be, is under the obligation of engaging in
some work or profession, for work, specially
when performed in the spirit of service, is
according to Baha'u'llah a form of worship.
It has not only a utilitarian purpose, but has
a value in itself, because it draws us nearer to
God, and enables us to better grasp His pur-
pose for us in this world." n
Such are the requirements of Baha'i dis-
tinction! That youth who dedicates himself
to the standard, whose resolution to attain it
remains firm, and whose enthusiasm never
diminishes, becomes then equal to his part in
the great "building process ... to which
the life of the world-wide Baha'i Com-
munity is wholly consecrated." 12
American youth have a specific role to
fulfill in this process, first enunciated by the
Guardian to the Annual Convention of 1936
in an historic message. "Would to God," he
cabled, "every State within American Re-
public and every Republic in American con-
tinent might ere termination this glorious
century embrace light Faith of Baha'u'llah
and establish structural basis of His World
Order." The plan for such gigantic achieve-
ment is contained in the Teaching Tablets
of 'Abdu'1-Baha. Here are found the objec-
tives each one must strive to reach by 1944.
With the establishment of this goal, Shoghi
Effendi truly released a spiritual dynamic in
the heart of the American continent which is
stirring into fire the ardor of every young
Baha'i.
But even as the Guardian disclosed a task
of heroic proportion, he rewarded our effort
in advance. The period of this survey was
crowned by an event so joyous, so intimately
connected with Baha'i youth that the re-
sponse to it can never be couched in words.
By his marriage, an "inestimable honor
(was) conferred upon (the) handmaid of
Baha'u'llah, Ruhiyyih Khanum, Miss Mary
Maxwell." 18
To young Baha'is, Ruhiyyih Khanum rep-
resented the peak of distinction, of loyalty
to the letter and spirit of the Faith, of de-
votion to its beloved Guardian. Her services
as a member of the first American Youth
Committee, her stirring eloquence as a
teacher, the moving power with which she
had spoken of the Dawn-Breakers in the ses-
sions at Green Acre and Louhelen, her subse-
quent travels in Europe and especially her
superb work in Germany, had aroused in her
contemporaries warm admiration. When
through her the American believers acquired
a "tie vitally binding them" to the institu-
tion of Guardianship, symbolizing for all
time the union of the East and West, — the
hearts of her co-workers were touched by
emotions of the deepest gratitude and love.
Although the full significance of the event
could never be appreciated, they knew that
Ruhiyyih Khanum had set another standard
of virtue, that in her life she must now
achieve an unprecedented sacrifice.
And they resolved to follow her in this
path, to the limit of their abilities.
8 Shoghi Effendi to Helen Bishop, November 21,
1935.
9 Shoghi Effendi to Bernard B. Gottlieb, June 30,
1937.
10"Bahi'i Scriptures," par. 74.
11 Shoghi Effendi through his secretary, March 22,
1937. Bahd'i News, No. 108, p. 1,
12 "Unfoldment of World Civilization," p. 35.
18 Cablegram, Babd'f News, No. 107, p. 1. ,
460
BAHA'f YOUTH ACTIVITIES
461
II. THE AMERICAS
ff. . . An inescapable, well-nigh staggering responsibility rests on America, its one chief
remaining citadel." M
Since its first appointment in 1933, th?
Youth Committee of America has supported
a responsibility, not only for the progress of
the Faith in the United States and Canada,
but throughout tne Baha'i world. This was
a result of the Guardian's explicit instruc-
tion, and each year has brought a more effec-
tive effort, a sounder consolidation of the
"international body of active young Baha'i
men and women . . ." Partly because of
the Committee and its careful planning, but
more than all because of the wholehearted re-
sponse of local groups, Baha'i youth around
the world have achieved a" unity, vitality,
and intelligence which did not -exist before
1933.15
The status of youth activities in America
is numerically shown in a survey made dur-
ing the summer of 1937. Sixty-eight com-
munities reported. Of these, twenty-eight
had youth committees, forty-four organized
youth groups, and nine others had one or a
few interested youth. The total number of
young people studying the Baha'i Faith was
six hundred and twenty-one, of whom three
hundred and thirty-four were Baha'is.
The National Youth Committee itself re-
flected the new interest in a marked increase
of function. Extended business meetings
were held during 1937 at the Louhelen and
Green Acre Summer Schools, which most of
the members were able to attend. Six gen-
eral letters were addressed to young Baha'is
through the columns of Baha'i News and
Bahd'i Youth, and the latter publication was
enlarged in size and circulation to become
the chief medium for local and international
work. A correspondence bureau was set up
as a new Committee function, with two sec-
retaries responsible for Asia and Europe. The
World Baha'i Youth Symposiums were
scheduled annually, as a concerted proof of
Baha'i unity. Youth Sessions at the Summer
Schools continued to develop in importance.
A plan was adopted for intensive study days
during five months of 1937-38, "to deepen
and widen the range of our knowledge."
Effort was continuously exerted to obtain
registration of those young people who de-
sired to become Baha'is. upon reaching the
age of twenty-one. In addition to such, na-
tional activities, local groups reported a
wealth of original and sustained programs,
through which the circle of Baha'i influence
was steadily widened during these two years.
In a letter to the National Committee, un-
der date of July 28, 1937, Shoghi Effendi
again renewed his hopes' for it in these words:
"He would urge you not to spare any effort
in the discharge of the responsibilities and
obligations that have been laid on your shoul-
ders for the initiation, organization and con-
duct of Baha'i youth work. It is your duty
to continually remind the Baha'i youth of
America to cling steadfastly to the ideals in-
culcated in the Teachings, and to give them
the full scope, encouragement and guidance
they require for the application of these
ideals not only in their own limited circle
but in the larger world outside."
A point by point consideration of activi-
ties follows:
A. BAHA'I' YOUTH — This quarterly, which
at the beginning was no more than a mimeo-
graphed bulletin, has become a significant
"conference ground," a source of interna-
tional communication, an organ representa-
tive of the best thought and planning of
Baha'i youth. In 1936 editorial and business
responsibilities were separated, and in the fall
of 1937 the publication was moved to New
York City, with an increase to sixteen pages
and one thousand copies each quarter. Its
material, from March, 1936, to October,
1937, was diversified, including editorials
and general articles from twenty-one young
authors, letters from the Guardian, verse,
suggestions for study, international news,
general letters from the Youth Committee,
and announcements. The study suggestions
are worth noting: a list of books for three
types of students, eight outlines for Sym-
posium discussions, a bibliography on consul-
tation, "Some Definitions," "Root Principles
of the Baha'i Faith," and a "Self -Inventory
14 Cablegram from Shoghi Effendi to the National
Assembly, August 4, 1937.
15 For comparison sec previous surveys of youth ac-
tivities in Babf! World, Vol. V and Vol. VI.
462
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Sheet." Doubtless the most important arti-
cles published were two by Ruhiyyih
Khanum, written by her just prior to the
Guardian's marriage, descriptive of Haifa
and the Holy Shrine. (June and October,
1937.)
B. INTERNATIONAL BUREAU As the busi-
ness of the Youth Committee grew, it be-
came apparent that some division of secre-
tarial work would have to be made, and thus
in 1936 an international secretary was ap-
pointed. This action received the hearty ap-
proval of Shoghi Effendi, who wrote on
November 21, 1936, establishing the Bu-
reau's policy as follows: "He firmly believes
that it is high time for young Baha'i men
and women in every land to get in close and
constant touch with each other's activities,
and to develop the necessary medium where-
by they can acquire a common and powerful
consciousness of the responsibilities and
duties that have been laid upon their shoul-
ders as builders of the New World Order of
Baha'u'lUh. The formation of a Bureau for
international Baha'i Youth work is, there-
fore, a most timely suggestion, and one
which the Guardian confidently believes will
awaken wide response throughout the entire
Baha'i world. The Baha'i youth is in need
of a common basis for cooperation and of an
organ for the direction and expansion of its
activities, and for the promotion and appli-
cation among its members of the highest and
noblest ideals upheld by the Cause. May
your meritorious endeavors in this connec-
tion yield the most satisfactory results. In
your general communications to the Baha'i
youth, the Guardian wishes you to lay special
emphasis on the Baha'i teaching of the One-
ness of Mankind which, as you certainly
know, is the distinctive feature of the Reve-
lation of Bahi'u'llah." (Through his secre-
tary to Tahirih K. Mann).
Upon recommendation of the Committee
to the National Spiritual Assembly, nine as-
sociate members were then appointed to
represent the following nations: England,
Germany, France, South Australia, India,
Palestine, Egypt, 'Iraq, and fr£n.16 These
members were helpful in distributing to
young Baha'is in their areas the information
sent out by the international secretary.
During 1936-37 four general letters were
addressed to some sixty Baha'is abroad. In
addition, a large correspondence was devel-
oped with Baha'i youth in more than a dozen
countries. The work progressed so rapidly
that it was necessary to designate a second
international secretary for 1937-38. Thus
the future of world-wide communication,
upon which real solidarity must depend, was
adequately ensured.
C. WORLD BAHA'I YOUTH SYMPOSIUMS —
The second annual celebration by Baha'i
youth, acting simultaneously throughout the
world, was held on March 7, 1937, under the
general theme "Religion — A Way of Civil-
ization." Careful preliminary work was
done by the American National Committee
in preparing publicity, circularizing local
youth groups, and providing a series of out-
lines for discussion of the eight sub-topics
chosen, (i.e., True Religion, America and
the Most Great Peace, Science and Religion,
World Economics, Paths of Unity, The
Meaning of World Order, Baha'i Youth and
the World Today, Humanity's Coming of
Age.) Most of the January, 1937, issue of
Bahd'i youth was devoted to these plans, and
the March issue was especially edited for
public distribution. In the Eastern and Cen-
tral areas of the United States, regional con-
ferences were held in preparation, and sev-
eral communities were able to arrange radio
broadcasts of their symposiums.
Measured numerically, the success of these
meetings eclipsed the first year's effort for
eighteen American conferences were held,
plus eleven others in Germany, India, Eng-
land, Hungary, 'Iraq, and Iran. Audiences
in Chicago, Milwaukee, New York, Teaneck
and Karachi were estimated as between one
and three hundred persons. It is especially
interesting that five of the conferences were
held in Germany (Heidelberg, Stuttgart,
Esslingen, Goppingen, and Karlsruhe), un-
doubtedly due to the stimulation of the Na-
tional Youth Committee first appointed in
the summer of 1936. This significant nation-
al effort on the part of German youth came
only shortly before the official proscription
of the Baha'i Faith by that country.
16 Appointees were Dorothy Cansdale, Friedrich
Macco, M. Hakim, Bertram Dewing, Sohrab Bahmani,
Massoud Rassikh, Mustafa Kamil, Jamil I. Baghdadi,
and Haji Mirza Bozork Afnan Aalaaie.
BAHA'i YOUTH ACTIVITIES
463
The support of the Guardian was enlisted
by a cablegram sent on March seventh, as
follows: "Youth Committee reports twenty-
four symposiums March seventh in five
countries pledging continued loyalty by
public presentation Faith. Request prayers
confirmation." To this he replied: "De-
lighted. Assure Youth Committee fervent
prayers. Deepest loving appreciation."
Later a scrapbook record of the symposiums,
including signed letters from the Baha'i
youth at each one, was sent to Shoghi Effendi.
One young Baha'i aptly summarized the
significance of these meetings: "Our feeling
of unity was strengthened through working
together on this project, and we gained a
much greater realization of the scope of this
wonderful Faith."
At this writing plans are in motion for the
third annual series of Symposiums, scheduled
for February 27, 1938. Using as a general
theme "Humanity's Coming of Age," the
National Youth Committee has suggested
nine topics, embracing in scope both personal
and social applications of the Baha'i Faith.
(These are: Dawn-Breakers, Changing Hu-
man Nature, Portals to Freedom, Creative
Living, Why Be Religious?, World Order —
Not Utopia, World Citizenship, The World
— An Organism, Peace Realists.)
Every method is being utilized to reach
young Baha'is in all parts of the world, not
only through the columns of Baha'i Youth,
but by a series of four general letters to be
mailed to two hundred international ad-
dresses.
D. SUMMER SCHOOLS
One of the most remarkable developments
in America has been the interest of young
people in the three Summer Schools, their
successful promotion of Youth Sessions at
Green Acre and Louhelen, the constant in-
crease of attendance, especially of non-
Baha'is, and the penetration to local com-
munities of a compelling enthusiasm born
through these efforts.
Shoghi Effendi has recognized these values
in several letters of reply to the greetings
sent by Youth Sessions, fn 1937 he wrote of
"the remarkable spirit of enthusiasm, of fel-
lowship and of united and constructive serv-
ice that animated the Baha'i Youth Week at
the Green Acre Summer School."17 That
same summer he stated what is doubtless the
paramount object of every like Session, "that
the spirit engendered by that meeting will be
so deeply infused into the hearts of all the
attendants as to stimulate them to rededicate
themselves afresh to their sacred task of
spreading the Teachings among their fellow-
youth throughout the American Conti-
nent." 18
A major part of the following material is
quoted from official reports of the Schools,
published in Bahd'i Youth for October,
1936 and 1937.
1. GREEN ACRE YOUTH SESSION
Prior to 1936 no more than a week-end
conference had been scheduled for Baha'i
youth at Green Acre. But by decision of the
National Spiritual Assembly, the first week
of August, 1936, was specified for the Youth
Session and a Committee was appointed to
arrange it. This enterprise was supported by
over thirty young people and was thus re-
peated during the same week in 1937.
"Sixty-five young people attended Green
Acre's second annual Youth Week. This was
almost double the number of last year. But,
figures cannot do justice to a week spent in
study of the World Order of Baha'u'llah,
and in the fellowship of Baha'is gathered at
historic Green Acre.
"The opening Sunday program consisted
of a feast in the afternoon held at the new
study hall by the Eliot Assembly. In the
evening, Marion Holley of Pasadena, Cali-
fornia, formerly secretary of the National
Youth Committee, spoke to a large audience.
"On the week days devotions were held
from 9:15 to 9:30, after which a forty-five
minute forum was held. The forum topics
were: Changing Human Personality, Baha'i
Marriage, Economics and the Baha'i Teach-
ings, Understanding Current Events, and
Moral Aspects of the Baha'i Teachings.
"Mr. Horace Holley conducted the class
on Administration, which began each day at
10:30. An introductory talk on some phase
of the Administrative Order was followed
by open-forum discussion until noon.
17 To the National Youth Committee, September
7, 1937.
18 To the National Youth Committee regarding
Louhelen, July 28, 1937.
464
THE BAHA'f WORLD
"Several beach parties were held after-
noons during the week. Tuesday afternoon
Mr. Schopflocher read his notes from Haifa.
Wednesday afternoon was given over to a
consideration of the recent cablegrams re-
ceived from the Guardian. Mr. Quigley of
New York conducted the discussion and
then introduced Mrs. Mabel Ives, who led a
discussion on methods of pioneer teach-
ing. ...
"The highlight of the whole week came on
Saturday evening, when about one hundred
young people from Eliot and surrounding
communities were guests at a supper-dance.
The members of the National Youth Com-
mittee were introduced by Toastmaster
Quigley. Several musical numbers and a skit
followed. Marion Holley spoke on 'The
Next Great American Frontier, Prejudice'
which must be conquered by this generation.
Dancing until midnight followed the supper.
"That this social event had created a great
feeling of friendliness for the Baha'is among
many young people in the vicinity of Eliot
was shown by the way they kept returning
to Green Acre in the weeks following." 19
2. LOUHELEN YOUTH SESSION
Louhelen has set the example from the first
in its Youth Session. Beginning in 1934 with
an attendance of twenty-seven youth, its en-
rollment advanced in 1935 to fifty-seven, in
1936 to eighty- two, and to ninety-six in
1937, past which point present facilities will
not permit it to go. Each year the Summer
School Program Committee has appointed a
youth committee to share responsibility in
planning, the members of which have usu-
ally lived in one area, (i.e., Chicago in 1936,
Lima in 1937). These young members have
directed not only the program of study and
recreation, but have worked out a system of
self-government, much needed for a confer-
ence of this size.
Excerpts from official reports follow:
"The program (June 22-26, 1936) was
opened each day with a devotional meeting
in which selections from the Sacred writings
were read by various members of the young
people. This was followed by three courses
conducted, respectively, by Prof. Stanwood
Cobb on 'Security for a Failing World,' and
'Islam,' Prof. Glenn Shook on 'Comparative
Religions/ 'Administrative Order,' and Mrs.
Dorothy Baker on The Baha'i Life.'
"A forum was conducted by the young
people every afternoon. The following sub-
jects were discussed at these meetings: the
matter of registration with the Local Spir-
itual Assembly of all young Baha'is who in-
tend to become voting members at the age of
twenty-one; the position of Baha'is in time
of war; the social life of young Baha'is; and
methods of spreading the Faith.
"The remainder of the day was given over
to recreation. The young people found
opportunity to visit informally with one
another and with the teachers who sympa-
thetically joined in all the youth activi-
ties." 20
"With eighty-two young people and nu-
merous counsellors and teachers registered,
the Youth Session at Louhelen Summer
School, June 27 to July 1, 1937, was emi-
nently successful.
"The National Youth Committee met
during the Session, giving inspiration and
ideas to the group. Members came from as
far away as California and Montreal, Can-
ada.
"The forum style classes, which followed
morning devotions and lasted until noon,
were conducted in a manner that often
evoked comments from the floor. Willard
McKay's lectures on the New World Order
and the series of talks on the Baha'i Life,
given by Kenneth Christian, Mr. and Mrs.
Emeric Sala, and Marion Holley, in several
instances furnished material for use in the
afternoon open forum. Twice it was neces-
sary to hold extra discussion groups in the
late afternoon. Classes always lasted far
over dismissal time.
"During the second morning hour there
were two classes, advanced and elementary.
Miss Garreta Busey conducted the advanced
class on the Dispensation of BahdVllah,
while Annamarie Kunz and Margaret Kunz
jointly led the elementary group in the his-
tory and principles of the Cause. . . .
"With all the fun, the atmosphere was
not frivolous but gave promise of greater
youth activities, as individuals left Louhelen
"B«&fY Youth, Vol. Ill, No. 3, page 14.
., Vol. II, No. 3, p. 12.
BAHA'I YOUTH ACTIVITIES
465
with a greater understanding of the Teach-
ings and a deeper determination to serve the
Cause." 21
3. GEYSERVILLE SUMMER SCHOOL
"Geyserville Summer School has never yet
sponsored a Youth Session, and it is doubtful
whether it will, so successfully have the
young Baha'is adapted their activities to the
life of the regular sessions. When in the fu-
ture, Geyserville and all of the Baha'i Schools
have attained their maturity as real universi-
ties of the new world, it may be that a spe-
cialization of program will result in classes
for those of various ages. It is interesting,
however, to dally with the thought that a
Baha'i university may be so original in design
that it will function, perhaps, as an expres-
sion of Baha'i community life, all-embracing
of those groups which make up a normal
community. Of these, adult Baha'is, young
Baha'is and Baha'i children are equally im-
portant.
"In the ten years since the inception of
Geyserville Summer School, young Baha'is
have assumed an ever-increasing role and
have made a growing contribution to the
program. Actually, these ten years have seen
the development of one generation of youth
which has taken its place in adult life. An-
other generation, from five to ten years
younger, now officially denotes itself as the
Youth Group. While immediately behind
it, pressing into genuine and conscious ac-
tion, comes a third generation which, al-
though organized as the Children's Class, is
already competent to teach the Cause. It is
this constant pressure of the age-groups up-
ward which brings to the Baha'i Faith fresh
vigor and incentive, and the trend was par-
ticularly noticeable this year in Geyserville,
since each group made its own outstanding
contribution to the sessions.
"Each morning the regular lectures were
attended by the young Baha'is who then met
in a discussion group immediately after lunch
to study and assimilate these talks. About
twenty-five youth joined in this procedure,
inviting to assist them various adult coun-
sellors. In addition, each day was devoted
to the consideration of certain questions most
commonly asked by young people. A differ-
ent member of the group led the discussion
at every meeting. These typical questions
have been compiled and should be found use-
ful in Baha'i youth groups throughout the
country.
"The young Baha'is were especially suc-
cessful this year in creating enthusiasm
among local Geyserville youth, who not only
joined in the recreation, including daily
swimming and dancing in the new Baha'i
Hall twice a week, but came regularly to
meetings, even buying their own litera-
ture. . . .
"The spirit of Geyserville is one not to be
forgotten, and brings a constant inspiration
to the daily actions of those who are priv-
ileged to participate. Surely the fine coop-
eration which exists between young and old
should be fully credited, for thereby the
School is enriched, its sessions diversified, and
its community life given a reality which is
wholesome and beautiful. Thus does Baha'-
u'llah create His new society!" 22
Again in 1937 (July 3-18), Baha'i yoiith
of the western region met with the regular
session, participating in the adult classes and
discussions. Certain specific activities were,
however, developed by a youth committee
for the fourteen young Baha'is. These in-
cluded three round-tables per week, two
public meetings presenting a symposium of
young speakers, and a program for the an-
nual High Jinks.
E. STUDY DAYS — A new departure in con-
centrated study was suggested to local
groups for their 1937-38 programs. The
National Committee, believing that "to pre-
pare ourselves thoroughly for life in the
Baha'i community and for youth work and
effective teaching, we must have much more
than a mere surface knowledge of the Baha'i
Faith," developed outlines and references for
five study days. Subjects included "Baha'i
— a Spiritual Being," "Baha'i Theory of
Knowledge," "Baha'i— the Activist," "Ba-
ha'i—the Realist," and "Baha'i History." 28
F. OTHER OUTSTANDING WORK — So diverse
have become the interests of young Ameri-
can believers that a detailed account is no
longer possible in a survey of this nature.
There are a few projects, however, to enu-
21 /£/</., Vol. Ill, No. 3, pp. 13-14.
., Vol. II, No. 3, pp. 12-13.
News, No. 110, p. 6.
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BAHA'f YOUTH ACTIVITIES
467
merate which may stimulate further orig-
inality in teaching methods.
Foremost are several achievements by
Baha'i university students. A number of
these, studying at the University of Illinois
in Urbana, in 1936-37 organized their study
group as an official University activity. Their
picture appeared in the college year book,
The llliOy together with the names of officers
and faculty advisors. As a consequence, this
youth group received much favorable notice,
opportunities to present the Cause to stu-
dents developed, and cooperation was offered
to such other organizations as the Campus
Peace Committee. In the following year the
group took Under consideration the establish-
ment of a credit-course in the University
curriculum dealing with the Baha'i Faith.
Although no immediate result could be an-
ticipated, the Urbana Baha'i youth have dem-
onstrated the possibility of official university
action, and are undoubtedly first in the field.
At Syracuse University, Joseph McK.
Noyes, with the backing of two other Baha'i
students, wrote an open letter which was
published in the college newspaper on Feb-
ruary 23, 1937, under the title, "Baha'i
Movement." The letter grew out of campus
discussion on world peace and set forth the
Baha'i attitudes and program, inviting fur-
ther investigation. This small group of
students also sponsored several luncheon
meetings for Baha'i speakers of note. At
Syracuse University, also, a Baha'i is invited
each year to outline the Teachings to the
class in comparative religions, under Pro-
fessor Piper.
Such an exposition was also made for a
similar class at Scripps College, Claremont,
California, in the spring of 1937.
Young Baha'is of Wilmette have recently
begun informal meetings for students resi-
dent at International House, the University
of Chicago.
Thus throughout the country Baha'is are
beginning to introduce the Faith to univer-
sity students and professors. It is a branch
of public teaching which deserves increasing
emphasis in the next years.
No youth have made greater strides
through cooperation with other youth
groups than the Montreal Baha'is. It is felt
that their report of a conference in 1936
merits full publication. Delegates were
again sent to the Montreal Youth Congress
of May, 1937, with similar results.
"The problems confronting youth today,
— problems of war and peace, employment
and unemployment, and the proper educa-
tion required to fit young people for world
citizenship, — are creating a unity which
promises to surmount political and religious
barriers. In practically every country youth
is arising in a sincere effort to uproot the
throttling weeds of universal greed, hatred
and fear which threaten to strangle the flow
of the precious life blood of true civilization.
"One such effort crystallized in a Youth
Congress which was held in Montreal in
May, with delegates representing fifty thou-
sand young people of the city from one hun-
dred and thirty-five different groups. Two
delegates and two observers were sent from
the Baha'i Youth Group.
"The Baha'is found the opinions expressed
and the spirit of unity maintained in com-
plete harmony with their own Teachings.
It was an invaluable opportunity to contact
many young people, intelligent and open-
minded, and to express in a broad way the
universal principles of Baha'u'llah, interject-
ing into the discussions and resolutions the
Baha'i spirit and thought. Two suggestions
made by Bahd'i delegates were applauded and
adopted. One delegate recommended a
Negro representative for the central Board of
Council. Another, in speaking to a motion
which condemned the policies of three ag-
gressive nations, asked for a broader, more
universal view of the question which would
understand and remove causes rather than
condemn their effects. It was suggested
that, since the whole world-wide society of
nations, composed of but one human race, is
a single organism bound together by ties of
trade, industry and transportation, no unit
should be condemned as all are equally guilty
in permitting these causes to exist. The mo-
tion was dropped. Another motion was en-
larged by a Baha'i to include an interchange
of delegates among the groups represented,
that all might have a greater opportunity to
appreciate and learn of other points of view.
"The part played by the Baha'is was rela-
tively small but as each delegate was required
468
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Interior of the new Baha'i Hall recently erected on the property of the Geyservillc Baha'i
Summer School in California, U. S. A.
to give the name of the group he represented,
it was a splendid chance for indirect teach-
ing work. Nor will the many contacts
established be lost, for the Baha'i Youth
Group of Montreal is already making plans
to invite members of the Congress to speak
on its platform." 24
A Christmas teaching conference has be-
come almost an institution for the young
Baha'is of the Eastern States. Their second
two-day meeting was held on December 26-
27, 1936, in New York City, with delegates
from seven other cities in attendance. It was
an occasion for a thorough interchange of
viewpoint, and on Sunday afternoon, the
regular public meeting was conducted by
visiting Baha'i youth.
G. REGISTRATION OF BAHA'f YOUTH In
July, 1936, the Youth Committee reported a
statement adopted by the National Spiritual
Assembly, relative to registration with local
Assemblies. The text of the statement fol-
lows, together with certain comments from
the original article:
" * Young people between the ages of fif-
teen and twenty-one, whether children of
Baha'is or not, may record with their local
Assembly their intention of becoming mem-
bers of the community on reaching the vot-
ing age, and thereby receive the privilege of
attending Nineteen Day Feasts and other
Baha'i meetings, but without the privilege
of voting. They may read selections in the
spiritual program of the Nineteen Day Feast
but not serve as chairman of that program.
If matters affecting Baha'i youth are under
discussion they may report their views on the
subject. They may also be appointed as
members of local youth committees by the
Spiritual Assemblies. Children of Baha'i
parents do not receive this privilege auto-
matically but must make the same declara-
tion of intention as other young people.
Baha'i parents are not to coerce their chil-
dren to make this declaration, but are ex-
pected to point out to their children the im-
portance of voluntarily associating them-
selves with the Baha'i Faith.'
"Although this ruling has been in effect,
in briefer form, for more than a year, Baha'i
youth have neglected to obey it, nor have
the local Assemblies given it that emphasis
which it merits. . . .
"Baha'u'llah has said in the appendix to
2*Baba'i Youth, Vol. II, No. 2, pp. 10-11,
BAHA'f YOUTH ACTIVITIES
469
His Book of Laws that 'the age of maturity
is in the fifteenth year; women and men are
alike in this respect.' Thus at the age of
fifteen, every young believer who is pledged
in his heart to the Faith of Baha'u'llah,
should assume those responsibilities and
duties which He has enjoined. At that age
the observance of prayer and fasting is called
for; and in its ruling on registration, the Na-
tional Assembly has made it possible for
Baha'i youth to partake in a most important
institution of community life — the Nineteen
Day Feast. Just as no serious adult Baha'i
can neglect this right to vote or overlook the
varied duties of citizenship in the Adminis-
tration, so no young Baha'i can call himself
by that name and neglect to register form-
ally with his Assembly.
"At this important time, when the Cause
stands upon the threshold of a great new-
drive, of an effort in teaching unexcelled*
even by our illustrious predecessors; when
the gigantic challenge of establishing this
Faith in every State and every Republic in
America has just been thrown to us; and
when as young Baha'is we have just received
a special message from the Guardian to Vin-
dicate* through 'our words and deeds' the
power we have gained from Baha'u'llah, —
surely there is no one of us who will delay in
fulfilling the National Assembly's re-
quest." 25
The message of Shoghi Effendi, to which
the above article refers, was addressed to
"The Twenty-Eighth Annual Convention,
Baha'i Youth," on May 21st, 1936. It em-
bodied a call which he had never more forc-
ibly put. To close this section with his
words is to epitomize the profoundest hopes
of the American Baha'i youth, and to open
the prospect of that future they and their
fellows aspire to win.
•". . . In these days of universal affliction,
of widespread disillusionment and discontent,
the eyes of jthe entire Baha'i world are di-
rected towards the activities which the Ba-
ha'i youth are initiating in various countries
with the view of hastening the unfoldment
of the Divine Plan. Their hopes for a better
and saner world center chiefly in you who
have been called upon to vindicate through
both your words and deeds those verities
which alone can effectively establish unity
and peace in the world.
'"Jo achieve this truly gigantic task the
Baha'i youth throughout the world must not
only strive to spread the knowledge of the
Teachings, but also and above all to live
them as completely as circumstances permit.
They should attract people to the Cause not
so much through the exposition of its prin-
ciples and teachings but through the power
of their individual lives. The Baha'i youth
must indeed exemplify through their lives,
both as individuals and as conscious and ac-
tive members of the Baha'i community, the
purity, the effectiveness and sublime charac-
ter of their Faith. They can teach best when
they live up to the standard inculcated by
Baha'u'llah." 2G
III. EUROPE AND ASIA
t(The whole of mankind is groaning, is dying to be led to unity, and to terminate its age-
long martyrdom" ~7
Europe, for centuries the center of life to
civilized nations, has in our own times be-
come a mother of death. The energies of her
concentrated peoples, so various and fecund,
are directed with intense devotion to self-
destruction, unnatural as it is deadly. It is
as if, bent upon suicide, Europe had agreed
to consummate it with bravado, with drums
and goose-step, passion and parade, suave
night attack and diplomatic gesture. The
certainty of tragedy is guaranteed in every
war office, its swift beauty in the fleets of
stream-lined bombers. What madness, one
wonders, has bitten her peoples, what incur-
able convulsion has seized and separated
them? How shall the world be immunized
against this virulence?
It is neither valor nor sense to ignore the
real terror of the situation. The culmination
of violence initiated in Ethiopia, extended to
Spain, and imitated in Asia with universal
effect, will not be forestalled by conclaves of
decorated statesmen whose impotence or bad
2-"> Baha'i 'Youth, Vol. II, No. 2, p. 4.
26 Ibid.
27 "Unfoldmcnt of World Civilization," p. 41,
470
THE BAHA't WORLD
intentions have already been proved. Nor
will mass excitements, however widely pre-
scribed, make a likely medicine. Must we
not frankly admit that the question is no
longer one of rescue for our decadent, too
subtle society, but rather, toward what order
shall the living work, both now and here-
after?
This is the question to which Baha'u'llah
made a full and superb answer. As if to
spread His vision throughout Europe before
too late, the Guardian, during the past few
years, has encouraged Baha'is to travel and
teach there, and American believers have re-
sponded with special enthusiasm. Notable
youth work has been done by such indi-
viduals as Ruhiyyih Khanum, Jeanne
Bolles, David Hofman (an Englishman
whose first Baha'i training was received
in America), Helen Bishop, Mrs. W. S.
Maxwell, Mrs. Ruhanguiz Bolles, Lorol
Schopflocher, and Mme. Orlova. Their
reports, in addition to those received by
the International Bureau, have been free-
ly utilized in this survey of progress,
alphabetically arranged according to coun-
tries.
A. BULGARIA — Miss Bolles reports several
young Baha'is in Sofia. No special meeting
has as yet been established.
B. ENGLAND— London has a large and active
youth group, including several Iranian stu-
dents, with members who are versatile and
qualified. Many of the lectures at the Baha'i
Summer Schools of 1936 and 1937 were pre-
sented by them; they include several of Eng-
land's outstanding Baha'i speakers; while a
number are supporting the Baha'i Theatre
Group. This London group sent five dele-
gates to the International Baha'i Student
Conference in Paris, January, 1937. It has
participated in the two world Baha'i Youth
Symposiums. On October 14, 1937, it
sponsored a Youth Rally at Caxton Hall,
Westminster, attended by almost fifty new
people, which proved most vital in program
and response. The four speakers, Bahi'i
youth of promise, were Claudia Aldridge,
Marguerite Wellby, Louis Rosenfield, and
Molly Brown. A regular meeting is held
throughout the winter, and in summer
months the schedule gains zest with youth
picnics. Plans are now in hand for intensive
study week-ends, a "miniature Summer
School."
A most unique activity is the Baha'i The-
atre Group organized in London under the
sponsorship of the National Spiritual Assem-
bly, by Mme. Barry-Orlova with the aid of
Mary Basil Hall. By the fall of 1937 the
company had grown to fifty-three, Baha'i
and non-Baha'i youth of diverse nationalities
and beliefs.28 The company has sought orig-
inal material; its repertoire in 1937 included
"As You Like It," a dramatization of Baha'-
u'llah's "Seven Valleys," an acting version
of the "Drama of the Kingdom" by Mary
Basil Hall, and "The Little Wood" by Minna
Davis. Under the direction of Mme. Orlova
the Group received professional training,
was presented by the Men of the Trees So-
ciety, the Inter-Religious Fellowship, and the
London Baha'i Assembly, and began its sec-
ond year on an independent financial basis.
A comment by Mme. Orlova reveals the pos-
sible significance for other Baha'i communi-
ties of this interesting endeavor: "The mem-
bers were not all Baha'i, but it is beautiful to
see what a method of teaching this Theatre
Group idea becomes, not only for the actual
members, but for their family and friends.
Everyone is impressed by the Baha'i coopera-
tion, lack of prejudice, and spirit of 'the
play's the thing.' ... In the Group there
was neither creed nor nation."
C. FRANCE — A distinctive achievement of
Baha'i youth in France has been the Oriental
Students' Union which, since 1930, has
sponsored yearly conferences in Paris of
Baha'i students scattered throughout Eu-
rope. This conference has long been valued
by Shoghi Effendi as a significant contribu-
tion to the Faith. The last meeting in Janu-
ary, 1937, widened its scope to include all
young Baha'is who might be able to attend,
and as previously mentioned, the London
Youth Group sent five delegates. The fol-
lowing account was published in Baba'j
Youth, June, 1937:
"In the city of Paris, on the second and
third of January, 1937, the Union of Baha'i
Students held their seventh annual confer-
ence. Besides the many students from Paris,
28 The By-Laws provided that two members must
always belong to a Spiritual Assembly, local or na-
tional.
for the at
U, S, A,-1 &
to all th« *$
at to the
The Baha'i Hall in Green Acre, a recent addition to the properties of the oldest
Baha'i Summer School in America, open annually at Eliot, Maine, U. S. A.
471
472
THE BAHA'f WORLD
the provinces, and foreign countries, special
visitors were present from England, Ger-
many, and the United^States.
"The importance attached by the Guard-
ian to this annual activity of European
Baha'i youth is shown in a paragraph from a*
letter from him to the conference, written
by his secretary: 'It is needless to say how
much the Guardian values and appreciates
profoundly these efforts which your Com-
mittee put forth so ardently to advance the
friendship, the mutual understanding and
cooperation between the members of the
body of Baha'i students scattered widely
across Europe. The fact that such a con-
ference has taken place regularly has, for him
a significance of the greatest importance, in
these days when the young people of the
world are turning away so rapidly from the
religious institutions and churches in the
midst of which they were born. In an age
when the forces of irreligion and materialism
are invading all ranks of society and seriously
ravaging the hearts and minds of men, it is
truly splendid to see young Baha'is assemble,
men and women, for the purpose of discuss-
ing and studying the fundamental teachings,
spiritual and moral, which Baha'u'llah has
brought to the world and to examine the
ways and means required for spreading and
disseminating them/
"M. Hakim, who presided at the confer-
ence, presented a report of youth activities
in America.
"Mile. Irady spoke on the subject,^'The
Place of Women in the Baha'i Faith/ Other
speakers were Mme. Orlova and Mrs. Schop-
flocher from America, Mile. Migette from
Lyons who came with a group of Baha'is and
friends.
"On the second day a group of London
Baha'is were welcomed. Miss Claudia
Aldridge read a paper entitled 'Relations
Among Members of a Baha'i Community.'
Other speakers at this session were Mr.
Bakchayech, E)r. Miihlschlegel, Mile. Zamen-
hof , and Mr. Zabih."
The visit of Mrs. W. S. Maxwell to Lyons
resulted in the establishment of a new youth
group in June, 1936, whose first members
were Mile. Lucienne Migette, Mile. Andre
Flour, Mr. and Mrs. Moddaber, and Mr.
Yazdi. It is interesting that Mile. Migette
is "Chef de la Surveillance des Eaux de
Lyon" and holds the highest degree in chem-
istry. As mentioned above, this group sent
delegates to the seventh conference of the
Union of Baha'i Students in Paris.
The International Bureau is also in com-
munication with M. Soghomons of Mar-
seilles, who states that although no group has
been founded, there are several interested
students who wish to be informed of Baha'i
youth activities.
D. GERMANY — Young Baha'is of Germany
would doubtless be the first to attribute
much of the stimulation which their work
has received to the extended travels of
Ruhiyyih Khanum in their country. Partly
as a result of her suggestion, made during the
"Sommerwoche" in 1936, they successfully
petitioned the National Spiritual Assembly
to appoint a Youth Committee, the first of
its kind in Germany. Original members were
Friedrich Strauss, secretary, and Friedrich
Macco of 'Heidelberg; Annemarie Brauns,
Karlsruhe; Ruth Schmalfuss, Leipzig; and
Wilhelm Gollmer, Stuttgart. On September
10, 1936, the Committee was first addressed
by the Guardian, as follows:
"To the Baha'i Youth Committee of Ger-
many and Austria,
"Beloved friends and co-workers:
"Your very warm message of August 22
addressed to the Guardian has been duly re-
ceived, and its contents have deeply moved
and cheered his heart.
"He is indeed rejoiced by the news of the
formation of a Baha'i Youth Committee in
Germany and Austria, as he feels convinced
that the time has come when young Baha'i
men and women in these two countries
should come together and organize their ac-
tivities upon a firm foundation. Your Com-
mittee therefore fulfills a deep-felt and most
urgent need, and will, it is hoped, increas-
ingly develop into a powerful and effective
medium for the coordination of Baha'i youth
activities throughout Austria and Germany.
The responsibility that has been laid upon
your shoulders is certainly heavy and deli-
cate, particularly in these days when the at-
tention of the youth all over the world is
being wholly and forcibly diverted in direc-
BAHA'f YOUTH ACTIVITIES
473
tions that are fundamentally irreconcilable
with the very spirit and mission of the
Cause. Your chief task is, therefore, to ex-
ercise a wise and continued control over
young believers in order to prevent them
from being dragged away by the strong ma-
terialistic current of the age.
"It should be your committee's constant
endeavor to stress to all young believers the
supreme necessity of their adhering faith-
fully and intelligently to the principles and
laws of the Cause, to consider the Faith as
their highest allegiance, and consequently to
concentrate heart and soul on finding the
ways and means that would enable it to
rapidly spread and effectively establish itself
in the consciousness of mankind.
"With the best wishes and fervent prayers
of the Guardian for the success and exten-
sion of your labors, and with his cordial
greetings,
"Yours in His Service,
"H. Rabbani."
"Dear friends:
"The work you have initiated deserves the
highest praise and will no doubt attract the
richest blessings. The steady expansion of
your activities is vital to the spread of the
Cause in Germany and Austria at the present
stage of its development. Persevere and
never lose heart. The hosts of the Abha
Kingdom will guide and help you. My
prayers are with you always.
"Your true and grateful brother,
"Shoghi." 20
During the life of the Committee, some-
what less than a year due to official pro-
scription of the Faith, close contact was
maintained between it and the American
Committee and mutual assistance was given.
All German Baha'i communities were circu-
larized, asked to establish regular youth
meetings, and a census was begun. Five local
groups arranged conferences for the World
Youth Symposium of March 7, 1937. (See
report above.) The Committee held its sec-
ond meeting during the celebration of Na-
tional Day by the Baha'is of Germany and
Austria, April 24-2 5, 1937, at which time a
special program was planned for Baha'i
youth attending the Summer School session
in August. This session was later canceled.
The last official communication from these
courageous young B^aha'is was received after
this meeting aproposrof the Summer School,
when Friedrich Macco wrote: "I hope that
we may then greet friends from America
again. Perhaps it will be possible for one of
the youth to come. Such visits are of extra
importance because they make a real under-
standing possible."
Though short-lived, the National Youth
Committee of Germany and Austria awak-
ened a vital and widespread interest in the
Baha'i Faith among young believers, consoli-
dated its program with admirable rapidity,
and set a standard in persistent and devoted
effort for future generations to fulfill.
E. HUNGARY — In Budapest the Cause has
rapidly advanced, through pioneer work of
several American believers, notably Miss
Jeanne and Mrs. J. Ruhanguiz Bolles and
Mrs. Lorol Schopflocher, and with the en-
thusiastic cooperation of the local group
which was formed. Miss Bolles has reported
a special response from young people of tal-
ent and initiative. Although no youth group
had then been formed, Budapest joined in
the celebration of International Youth Day
on March 6, 1937. The following facts
were obtained from Miss Bolles:
"The Symposium took place in a private
reception room of the Gellert Hotel and was
attended by twenty-four young people, all
Hungarians with the exception of one Hun-
garian-American, daughter of a minister.
Among those present was the brother of a
journalist who recently wrote in his book,
'On the Eve of Palestine,' that the problems
of the Holy Land can only be solved by a
Messiah. Also present was the daughter of
the artist, Robert Nadler, who painted 'Abd-
u'1-Baha's picture during His sojourn there
in 1913. There were a number of students,
too, as well as two doctors, one of languages
and one of chemistry.
"The Symposium was conducted by
Jeanne Bolles, acting as chairman, who also
gave an introductory talk on the general title
and theme of the day, 'Religion, A Way of
Civilization/ Mrs. Schopflocher spoke on
'Science and Religion/ Mrs. J. Ruhanguiz
Bolles, last speaker, addressed the audience in
™ Baha'i Youfb, Vol. II, No. 4, p. 12.
474
THE BAHA'l WORLD
German on what the thinkers of the world
are saying in relation to religion and the
coming of a new Manifestation. At the
close of the meeting, a young Hungarian,
Mrs. Komlos, spontaneously arose to say a
few words in appreciation of the Faith and
of those Baha'is who had come to Hungary
to teach.
"A tea followed the meeting. Many
questions were asked in English, German and
French. A number of young people who had
not previously come to the meetings asked if
they might now attend them. The spirit
was one of dignity and harmonious anima-
tion throughout. The meeting lasted from
five to nine P.M.
"Miss Bolles left a small library of Ger-
man and English books with the group. The
'Hidden Words' are now being translated by
a believer into Hungarian."
F. NORWAY — Word has been received from
Miss Johanna Schubarth that a small study
circle of four young people was begun in the
winter of 1936.
Thus in half a dozen nations of Europe the
Baha'i Faith is firmly rooted in that genera-
tion whose task will be to build, after disas-
trous conflict, a society actually consonant
with twentieth-century accomplishments
and needs. "As we view the world around
us/' Shoghi Effendi wrote in 1936, "we are
compelled to observe the manifold evidences
of that universal fermentation which, in
every continent of the globe and in every
department of human life, be it religious, so-
cial, economic or political, is purging and
reshaping humanity in anticipation of the
Day when the wholeness of the human race
will have been recognized and its unity estab-
lished." 30 Young Baha'is are able to con-
tribute constructively to this process be-
cause they are conscious of it, have clarified
their goals, and derive a constant vigor from
their Faith. The value to Europe of her
Baha'i youth can be fairly weighed only in
the scale of this contribution toward an
ordered world.
Now the peoples of Asia are subject to
many of the same stresses as have been noted
in Europe, their awakening sense of nation-
alism creates foreboding, their social institu-
tions are even less suited to modern require-
ments. It is thus significant that among
them the principles enunciated by Baha'-
u'llah are also penetrating, and in several
chief countries young Baha'is are able to re-
port a notable progress in the past two years.
A. EGYPT — Mrs. Lorol Schopflocher visited
Ismailia in May, 1936, and met with several
young Baha'is who started a study group.
Mrs. Schopflocher also toured other Egyptian
communities at the Guardian's request, em-
phasizing youth work wherever she spoke.
In 1937 an inquiry was received by the
International Bureau from the Local Assem-
bly in PORT SAID, for methods to begin youth
activity. Mr. Jean Chawafaty, local secre-
tary, planned to organize such work.
B. INDIA — Three Baha'i communities of In-
dia and Burma have already established youth
groups — Bombay, Karachi, and Poona, — and
the extension of this work is now a national
objective. "Acting on a resolution passed
by the National Spiritual Assembly at their
annual meeting, some of the local Spiritual
Assemblies have already reported re-organ-
ization of local Youth Committees while
news from other centers is awaited. It is
hoped that the Baha'i Youth of India and
Burma will soon organize themselves into a
strong National Youth Committee and begin
serving the Divine Faith with energy and
enthusiasm. . . ." 31
Young believers in Bombay sponsor a
study class with special emphasis upon train-
ing for Baha'i teaching. They have also
acted as hosts to the students of the Islamia
College, Andheri.
The Karachi Youth Group has celebrated
each International Symposium, often wel-
comes world Baha'i travelers and cooperated
especially on the occasion of Mr. Siegfried
Schopflocher's visit, and has proved itself a
valuable asset to the local Assembly. There
are sixteen active members in this group.
C. IRAN — Young Baha'is of Iran have long
been responsible for a number of well-defined
activities. The nature of their work is
shown by the following report prepared for
the Iranian national secretary, which was re-
printed in Bahd'i News:
"The duties of this group can be summar-
ized as follows:
80 "Unfoldment of World Civilization," p. 10.
News, March, 1937, p. 3.
the of
Members of the Young Men's Baha'i Group of Tihran, Iran.
475
476
THE BAHA'f WORLD
1. To encourage the Baha'i youth and to
bring about the means for their association
with each other on a spiritual basis;
2. To exhort Baha'i youth in living the life
and carrying out the ordinances and prin-
ciples of the Cause by purifying their souls
and rejecting old habits and manners which
may be against the Baha'i principles;
3. To bring about, to the best possible ex-
tent, the means for physical training of the
youth;
4. To give to the Baha'i youth mental and
intellectual training and to foster their edu-
cation as much as possible;
5. To extend help and assistance to needy
Baha'i youth and to give needful guidance
to students;
6. To enter into correspondence with Baha'i
groups throughout the world;
7. To make efforts towards the promotion
of activities for teaching the Cause, and
8. To put the Baha'i youth in touch with
their social duties and to increase their
knowledge of Baha'i principles.
"The Baha'i Youth Committee in Tihran
has lately arranged, among other duties, to
give from time to time representations de-
picting the lives of early believers of the
Cause in Iran. Such representations have
been arranged so far to commemorate the
life of Qurratu'l-'Ayn (the famous Baha'i
poetess and martyr), Jinab-i-Varqa (the
martyr), Jinab-i-Zaynu'1-Muqarrabin, Haji
Amin and Haji Mirza Haydar-'Ali, the
famous Baha'i teacher.
"The Youth Committee proposes to give
similar plays for the Western believers. On
May 15th, a representation was given . . .
in commemoration of the life of our de-
parted friend of the West, the late Monsieur
H. Dreyfus. A detailed account of the life
of this famous pioneer of the Cause in the
West was given to the audience which num-
bered over a hundred people.
"The. chief idea of giving such representa-
tions is to put friends here in touch with the
wonderful and most valuable services ren-
dered by such noble souls to the Cause and
to encourage the present generation to fol-
low the example of courage, faithfulness and
the spirit of sacrifice left by our early be-
lievers." 82
The International Bureau has maintained
contact with youth groups in Shiraz and
Tabriz, both of which are constantly active
in spreading the Faith.
D. 'IRAQ — The following facts were ob-
tained from correspondence between the
youth of Baghdad and the International
Bureau:
On December 9, 1936, word was received
from Baghdad that a Youth Committee had
been established, the purpose of which was
to:
1 . Plan for a class of study of the Cause, its
principles, history and administrative or-
der.
2. Arrange the program of public meetings
which are held in the Haziratu'1-Quds.
3. Arrange Nineteen Day Feasts.
4. Correspond with the various Baha'i
groups and individuals in 'Iraq and also
keep in touch with youth throughout the
world.
Mr. Kamil 'Abbas became secretary. The
group began the study of "Baha'u'llah and
the New lira," and translated into Arabic
articles from the Bahd' i *W orld y Volume V.,
especially the letters of the Guardian con-
cerning Baha'i youth activities (dated Jan-
uary, 1933), which became "the program
of every member of the Committee." A
general letter from the International Bureau
was translated and sent throughout 'Iraq.
The International Youth Symposium was
celebrated for the second time on March 4
and 7, with a teaching conference for be-
lievers and a public meeting attended by
about fifty youth.
So far this group consists wholly of men.
E. SYRIA — The Baha'i students at the Amer-
ican University of Beirut numbered fourteen
during 1936-37. Their secretary, Mr. A.
Balyuzi, has written that they meet every
other week for study and to receive news of
Baha'i activities around the world. They
frequently entertain visitors from East and
West, who pass through Beirut en route to
Haifa.
Such are the evidences, then, that the
Baha'i Faith is winning the universal support
of young people. Since 1933 the develop-
ment of their work has been truly remark -
32 /£/</., February, 1937, p. 9-10.
BAHA'f YOUTH ACTIVITIES
477
able; yet they stand only at the threshold
of opportunity. In the light of their ex-
panding services, the following instruction
of Shoghi Effendi is pertinent, for in it is es-
tablished that balance which must always
characterize the Baha'i community.
"The chief purpose underlying all such
activities undertaken by our Baha'i youth
throughout the world is to stimulate enthusi-
asm, promote instruction and foster the de-
velopment of the spirit of solidarity and
cooperation among young Baha'i men and
women, in order to enable them at a later
age to collaborate intelligently and harmoni-
ously with their fellow-believers of whatever
class, age or origin. Such activities should
be undertaken within the framework of the
Administrative Order. They should neither
be overemphasized nor curtailed. The forma-
tion of youth committees is a means to
achieve the end stated above, and is not an
end in itself." 33
EXCERPTS FRO
March, 1936
L Message from Haifa — in two parts.
II. Editorials:
The Most Joyful Tidings
Heritage
Widening Our Horizons
III. Articles:
Nobility
Independent Investigation
Concerning Divine Education
A Baha'i Prays
IV. Special Features:
Outlines of Study for the
Second Series of International
Why I Am a Baha'i
An Open Letter
M BAHA'f YOUTH
to October, 1937
Ruhiyyih Khanum
Marion Holley
Kenneth Christian
Heshmat Ala'i
Kenneth Christian
David Hofman
Lewis Zerby
Zeah Hoi den
Youth Symposiums
Joseph McK. Noyes
MESSAGE FROM HAIFA
The Mansion, Bahji,
DJan. 22, 1937.
EAR fellow-youth:
Here in this mansion made sacred to us
all by the blessed Presence of Baha'u'llah, my
thoughts turn to you and my heart brims
over and I feel I must write to you all.
Everywhere is the presence of the Guard-
ian. His care, his foresight, the mighty
works he has accomplished in these last —
what must have been to him — terribly try-
ing years. The Mansion of BahaVlUh he
bought, he rebuilt, thus fulfilling a cherished
desire of the Master; its peace and beauty
are indescribable, upon the walls smile the
faces of those who stood out in the front
ranks: Bahiyyih Khanum gazes wistfully at
us, that signal figure of the Heroic age of
our Faith; Mirza Abu'1-Fadl, an example of
the greatness of human wisdom and knowl-
edge being transformed into the humble serv-
ant of Baha; Lua, the early flame of the
West, her pure eyes raised as if to the Mas-
ter's face; Dr. Esslemont, modesty and spirit-
ual altitude shining in his quiet visage; Keith,
smiling her warm and radiant smile, our
first American martyr. Within the central
hall, with its cool white walls, blue stenciled,
its marble pillars rising to symmetrical arches,
stands an illumined model of our Temple
surrounded by the framed facsimiles of
Queen Marie's statements, her picture, and
38 Through his secretary to Marion Holley, Novem-
ber 8, 1937.
478
THE BAHA'f WORLD
the certificates of incorporation of different
Spiritual Assemblies. Costly rugs hang on
the walls and examples of the penmanship
of the famous calligraphist, Mishkim-Qalam,
in many forms; birds with rose-bedecked
plumage that spell Baha, the Greatest Name
and other decorative writings. There are
many photographs of the different Baha'i
groups, of Baha'i pioneers, of the National
Assemblies. Everywhere are displayed treas-
ures of our Faith; illuminated tablets in the
script of the Blessed Perfection, indescrib-
ably fine and perfect, and of the Master;
most precious of all is a part of the "Hidden
Words" as revealed by Baha'u'llah in His
own hand.
Here one remembers at once the words in
Nabil; "Methinks I was in a place of which
it could be truly said: 'Therein no toil shall
reach us, and no weariness shall touch us' ";
"No vain discourse shall they hear therein,
nor any falsehood, but only the cry, 'Peace!
Peace!' "; "Their cry therein shall be, 'Glory
be to Thee, O God!' and their salutation
therein, 'Peace!' and the close of their cry,
'Praise be to God, Lord of all creatures!" "
Here in the Mansion one feels this.
But in the Tomb of BahaVllah it seems
as if all the world were there, in That Pres-
ence. One felt the all-ness of the earth, no
distance, no separation except that of rela-
tion, all beneath His watchful gaze. It is
not something one says, "now I must begin
to feel it because this is the Holy Tomb," no,
it meets you as you approach Bahji even as
a light meets you when you enter the circle
of its radiance. It is as tangible as silence,
or heat . . . this peace.
As Baha'u'llah must have been in His room
... so one feels Him upon entering it.
Phrases come back, cherished and dear to the
mind of a Baha'i: "A mild, dignified voice
bade me be seated; 'Praise to be God that
thou hast attained!' ... I bowed myself
before one who is the object of a love and
devotion that Kings might envy and Em-
perors sigh for in vain. . . ." "What is
His occupation?"; "He cheers the disconso-
late and feeds the hungry"; "What of His
rank and position?"; "He has none, apart
from befriending the poor and the strangers
..." and, when, en route to the Siyah-
Chal in TTmran: "An old and decrepit woman
was seen to emerge from the midst of the
crowd, with a stone in her hand, eager to cast
it in the face of Baha'u'llah; 'I adjure you,'
she pleaded, 'give me a chance to fling my
stone in his face!' 'Suffer not this woman to
be disappointed, deny her not what she re-
gards as a meritorious act in the sight of
God,' " were His words. And "That which
ensued is well-known, and if sometime you
should happen to visit the prison of His
Majesty, ask the director and chief of this
place to show you two chains, one of which
is known as Quara-Guhar and the other as
Salasil. I swear by the stars of justice, that
during four months, I was weighted and tor-
mented by one or the other of these chains."
All this comes back as we stand in the
utter simplicity of His room; beside the bed
one lamp of white china, with a plain glass
chimney, something pristine in its unorna-
mented form; a deep blue painted ceiling;
white cotton curtains in the windows; a low
Divan on the floor and before this, a pair of
bed room slippers. Here the "Glory of God"
passed away from the earthly eyes of men.
But into everything, the garden, the deco-
ration of the Mansion, tne Tombs of the
Bab and 'Abdu'1-Baha, glimmering amidst
the lights of Haifa across the bay, the ar-
chives, has pervaded like the refrain of a
mighty song, the presence of the Guardian.
All bespeaks his loving care, his ceaseless toil,
and that authority with which he was in-
vested by 'Abdu'1-Baha. No one could de-
scribe the beauty of Shoghi EfTendi; his utter
unselfishness, unself -consciousness; his in-
effable sweetness; his indefatigable capacities
for work and creation. We have achieved
much in the Cause these last years since the
ascension of the Master, but whose sugges-
tions, guidance, example and patience, has
inspired us? And here, where five thousand
books adorn the shelves of an international
Baha'i library, prominent among them:
Nabil; The fqan; the Gleanings; the Admin-
istration; the Bahd'i World; the World
Order letters. How poor indeed would be-
come the shelves of our inner experience and
knowledge if we should remove these gifts
of his from our Baha'i life.
Do we remember enough that last injunc-
tion of our Master: "that no dust of de-
spondency may stain his radiant nature"?
'a In
Two Baha'i youth, the daughters of Mr. David Brooks of "Rockwood,"
Booleroo Centre.
479
480
THE BAHA'f WORLD
We all love and adore him who is not only
our "first Guardian," but our precious trust
to serve and work with in this turning point
of history. But are we always sufficiently
aware of our privilege? Of our responsibil-
ity? He reaches out to us, seeking tools
with which to construct the edifice whose
plan BahaVllah conceived and the Master
formulated. The tools must be strong, keen,
apt to the task required of each one. These
qualifications we can attain through adhering
to the spirit, the Laws and the Ordinances of
our Faith, combined with, "instant, exact
and complete obedience." That Disciple of
the blessed B&b who quaffed the fount of
martyrdom with his Lord, whose remains
were inextricably mingled with the mangled
body of his Beloved; was not his faith epi-
tomised when he, asked to recant, declared:
"Never! ... in Him I have found my para-
dise and in the observance of His law I recog-
nize the ark of my salvation." He won his
immortal reward when, the Bab having said
that did one of them really love Him, they
would with their own hand take His life;
all hesitated, anguished at such a thought,
but that youth, however, was willing to obey
his Lord even to this and in these words the
Bab rewarded the station of obedience for
all time. "This same youth who has risen to
comply with my wish, will, together with
me, suffer martyrdom. Him will I choose
to share with me its crown."
Here in Haifa beats the heart of the Cause;
it is the administrative and spiritual center
of our world; in these environs rest the re-
mains of "Him Whom God will make mani-
fest"; of the blessed Bab; of 'Abdu'1-Baha,
the Servant of the servants of God; of
Bahiyyih Khanum. Here lives and toils,
more than twelve hours each day, Shoghi
Effendi. The great dynamic powers of our
Faith are released from here, but they must
have arteries, veins, capillaries, that the body
of the Cause may be nourished and strong
to serve despairing mankind.
A new Baha'i year is approaching. Let
us all, Baha'i youth and those who are friends
of our Faith and Aims, arise with a refresh-
ened courage, a dauntless hope for our vic-
tories, an ever deeper devotion, that we may
attain to these words of BahaVllah:
"The whole duty of man in this Day is to
attain that share of the flood of grace which
God poureth forth for him. Let none, there-
fore, consider the largeness or smallness of
the receptacle. The portion of some might
lie in the palm of a man's hand, the portion
of others might fill a cup, and of others even
a gallon measure"; "The %seal of the choice
Wine of His Revelation hath, in this Day
and in His Name, the Self -Sufficing, been
broken. Its grace is being poured out upon
all men. Fill thy cup, and drink in His
Name, the Most Holy, the All-Praised."
Your loving co-worker,
(Mary Maxwell)
Ruhiyyih Khanum.
I
MESSAGE FROM HAIFA — A SEQUEL
F one could have walked into a museum
of the authentic relics of the days and life
of Christ, what would it have meant to the
Christian believers? If they had seen His
sandals, dusty from the road between Beth-
lehem and Jerusalem, or the mantle that
hung from His shoulders — or the cloth that
protected His head from the sun; what at-
mosphere of assurance, of wonder, even of
adoration would have stirred the inheritors
of His Faith. If their eyes could have rested
on even one fragmentary line penned by His
hand. . . .
To most of the people of the world the
meaning of such things is beyond their im-
agining; but to Baha'i s, believers in the new-
est Revelation of God's Will as yet revealed
to unfolding mankind upon this planet, this
inestimable privilege has been vouchsafed.
An iron door swings open upon Mount
Carmel and we enter the International Ar-
chives of the Faith of BahaVllah. A modest
series of rooms adjoining the resting place
of the Bab, greet us. Framed tablets seem at
first glance to be this room's distinguishing
adornment; they stand about and are dis-
played in cases, we are told these are origi-
nals in the writing of the Bab, BahaVllah
and 'Abdu'l-Bah£. Here is a brief message
of BahaVllah addressing His son: "O thou
who art the apple of mine eye!"; here are the
tablets of both her father and brother tn
BAHA'f YOUTH ACTIVITIES
481
Bahiyyih Khanum. We glance closer and
slowly, unbelievably, the reality of what they
are penetrates. This is the exquisite penman-
ship, in the shikastih script, of the Bab, the
fine flow of perfectly formed letters are upon
a marvellously illuminated background;
flames, golden clouds surround them till the
design of their script takes form in a feather,
gourd or sun set in brilliant flowers with
borders in symmetrical designs, resting back-
grounds of burning blue, green or red. All
the famed beauty of the Iranian illuminated
manuscript frames, one after another, those
simple black-ink words. Then, as we gaze,
charmed by the beauty, marvelling at the
penmanship, we begin to realize that the
hand of a Revelator of God's Will and Laws
to mankind, penned those words. That the
weight of their import revolutionized the
thought of a nation; caused, through the op-
position to the onward march of this new
step in human progress the weakening of
Islamic institutions; inspired 20,000 men,
women and children to drink the cup of
martyrdom; established the bedrock on
which a world religion could be built.
We pass on to gaze upon the miniature
of the Bab: nobility, refinement of being to
its utmost perfection, resides in the lines of
that quiet figure. His mien is so impressive;
all the story of His life comes back to us as
described in the narrative of Nabil, "The
Dawn-Breakers"; the sweetness of His voice
chanting prayers, the gentleness of his ways,
the fire of his love for God, for "Him Whom
God will make manifest," for his fellow-men.
The dignity of His bearing which overawed
all His enemies — the inexpressible fortitude
and readiness with which He bore banish-
ment, imprisonment and final martyrdom.
Like spring-tide seems to be everything asso-
ciated with Him; His youthfulness, the ex-
quisiteness of His speech and writing, the
flame-like quality He inspired into His Faith
and followers.
Passing to the adjacent picture we come
to gaze upon "Him Whom God will make
manifest." Our heart has been constricting
as slowly we began to be grasped by the mag-
nitude of the relics we are being permitted
to see. Now it seems to throb heavily, we
feel it beating; we try to feel what we are
feeling as we gaze at the photograph of
Baha'u'llah and remember the description of
Professor E. G. Browne: "The face of him on
whom I gazed I can never forget, though I
cannot describe it. Those piercing eyes
seemed to read one's very soul; power and
authority sat on that ample brow; while the
deep lines on the forehead and face implied
an age which the jet-black hair and beard
flowing down in indistinguishable luxuriance
to the waist seemed to belie. No need to ask
in whose presence I stood, as I bowed myself
before One who is the object of a devotion
and love which kings might envy and em-
perors sigh for in vain!" What confusion
this picture arouses; we remember Who He
is to us — we remember His words — words
such as have never before been written by
any hand — we remember His Revelation's
purpose; the unity of the races of men upon
this planet as their home in which they shall
live under the benediction of The Most Great
Peace. All this from within, and now we
must reconcile this inner, more abstract
world of experience, with the depicted figure
upon which our eyes rest. The two forces
clash at first. The human individuality of
a Prophet reproduced in a photo is something
the spirit of man has never before had to
cope with. Here our fond fancies, our per-
sonal rovings into the realm of imagination,
cease and we gaze at that figure, loved,
adored, followed by men as a "Prophet,"
down through the centuries, as He was. It is
a shock. The personification of divine attrib-
utes has always been a mystery to Man, but
to those who came after the ascension of the
Prophet, they could try to adjust or shelve
the connection between Godly perfection in
a human form, to suit very much their own
desires; just imagine it and be perfectly con-
tent with their self-made solution. But here
is a picture: here are the eyes that gazed into
the souls of men, into the secret heart of the
problems afflicting them; here the fingers
that took pen in hand and revealed the de-
crees of a Beneficent God to His seeking and
suffering children; here the Figure that paced
as He spoke when words rolled from His
tongue giving laws for a New World Order
of the Human race, for the healing of its ail-
ing body and soul. Our imagination stops.
We are curtailed by coming face to face with
what has been denied everyone except the
482
THE BAHA'f WORLD
immediate generation that surrounded a
Prophet, of seeing the Form in which the
Light became embodied.
Still suffused with shock we cannot yet
disentangle and understand, we pass on some-
what dazed. But if the Photograph of Baha'-
u'llah moves and baffles the soul, confounds
the reason, when we see some of His tablets
we become inwardly impotent. All the tor-
rent of torrential rain, all the weight of
light that streams and beats from the sun's
rays, seem expressed in that head-long script;
as if no force could withstand it, no sheet
bear it. Its motion is not stilled by being
confined to paper — it moves on and on, the
power of those words. All the majesty, the
fierce abandon of nature, the magnitude of
the cosmos, seems to be symbolized by it, or
be but symbols of it. And we still cannot
adjust this shock within. "I am a man, and
before me is the picture of a seated man, but
he has given life to a dead world and light
to the darkness of our chaos and despair, how
can this be?" We are stupefied.
Passing into the next room we come to the
effects of Baha'u'llah. We see His fezzes,
brocaded; ivory, green, deep red. We see His
bedding, quite simple even as that simple
room in which He passed away in Bahji
across the Bay. We see even His slippers;
these are all little bridges towards the picture
of that seated figure; He used them — They
are stuff of stuff. We see His comb and re-
member those words of His, "the comb, too,
I have given thee that thou mayest tend My
raven locks, and not to wound My throat."
It lies there, a link again between the outer
and inner, the Unknown and Unknowable
God Who reveals Himself to us through His
Manifestation. We see the pen case of Baha'-
u'llah, and can well understand after gazing
at the torrential flow of this tablet, "At this
point the pen broke and the ink gave forth
nothing but blackness ..." We even see
that mirror in its case in which He must
have gazed upon His own reflected visage.
. . . "Naught is seen ... in My beauty but
His Beauty, and in My being but His Being,
and in Myself but His Self. . . ."
We then turn to the things associated with
'Abdu'1-Baha. Here a sudden cozy feeling of
relief comes to our heart; the Master was
always with us, showering left and right his
love and kindness, his quick sympathy, his
laughter and smiles. Here was a being more
tangible, here the perfect man, here the In-
terpreter and Expounder of that unapproach-
able power which streamed from Bahd'u'llah.
The West has even found its way to him;
a pair of much used field glasses are among
his things, a pair of European summer shoes,
even a vocabulary of English-Persian words,
with correct English accent annotated by his
hand. The warmth of his perfection wraps
us "round and consoles that which has
been moved and startled in us by that one
glimpse into the face of Him Whom God will
make manifest." We pass on arid come to see
at last a pair of spectacles worn by that wife
of Baha'u'llah who was the Master's mother;
sometimes Baha'u'llah used them too. This
seems the last straw to that sense of mystery
and awe that has been accumulating as our
load of feeling as we passed from one historic
document to another. Suddenly life seems
much greater than it was before. Its beauty,
its privilege enhanced far beyond what mor-
tals dare to dream; all this "wonder" that un-
derlies our universe and Ihtes; all this great-
ness and glory; all this abandon and beauty
of God — so close He lets it come to us that
into the form of man, chosen as God's burn-
ing glass, the crucible of His Revelation,
He permits and chooses His attributes to
abode. "I was a man as other men asleep
upon my couch when the breezes of the
All Praised were wafted over me," wrote
Baha'u'llah.
Oh, how dear life is to us! How priceless
that into a human form — one of us men —
the station; irrevocable, fixed, seated upon
the infinite throne of Prophethood, should
come for a space to dwell and guide us on
our way. The inner and outer are recon-
ciled; our hearts are subdued, still stunned,
as we leave the archives by another door than
that by which we entered. But a nearness,
a sweet sense of mystery that neither saddens
nor appalls, goes with us. We feel prouder
to be men, better to be men, for God al-
lowed our humble estate to feel the weight
of His Perfection.
Can any Faith offer this to the experience
of men except that of Baha'u'llah?
Ruhiyyih Khanum
Haifa, Feb. 1st, 1937.
BAHA'I YOUTH ACTIVITIES
EDITORIALS
THE MOST JOYFUL TIDINGS
483
JLHIS is the year 1936, but for the Baha'is
of the world March twenty-first will mark
the beginning of the ninety-third year since
the proclamation of their Faith. For them,
Naw-Ruz, this New Year Day, will be
fraught with especial significance, carrying
as it will an acute sense of the contrast be-
tween the age-old cultures in which they
move and act, and this infant ideal, unno-
ticed as yet, which throughout centuries
to come will be shaping the destinies of men
to a new pattern.
Not in recent years will this contrast have
been so striking. The message enunciated by
Baha'u'llah can make no compromise with
the unruly and disordered world of today.
These bitter rivalries with which nations have
separated themselves, their egocentric spirit
of nationalism, the arbitrary treatment of
minorities within great governments, indif-
ference to human misery, the neglect of ele-
mentary needs for food and shelter and a
function in society without which individual
life cannot subsist, the callous dismissal of
fundamental and solid virtues, and this sickly
state of faith in the priceless heritage of be-
ing human, these together indicate a condi-
tion of universal thought and action which
is unbecoming, tragic and without result.
Living in this world, the Baha'is are not
of it. Their faith in God and man is a chal-
lenge to it, and their constancy to the social
goals laid down by Baha'u'llah as a frame-
work for His all-embracing World Order, is
an indubitable testimony to the fact that,
however dreary human society may have be-
come, there is a promise of progress for it in
the future.
Young Baha'is, who for the first time this
Naw-Ruz are meeting in an international
celebration of their unity, are pledging to
that future their best strength and their pro-
foundest idealism, confident of the outcome
because they are confident of the truth of
Baha'u'llah's declaration.
"Justice is, in this day, bewailing its plight,
and Equity groaneth beneath the yoke of op-
pression. The thick clouds of tyranny have
darkened the face of the earth, and envel-
oped its peoples. Through the movement of
Our Pen of glory We have, at the bidding of
the omnipotent Ordainer, breathed a new life
into every human frame, and instilled into
every word a fresh potency. All created
things proclaim the evidences of this world-
wide regeneration. This is the most great,
the most joyful tidings imparted by the pen
of this wronged One to mankind." (Glean-
ings from the Writings of Bahd'u'lldh, page
92.) Marion Holley.
HERITAGE
IRE World Faith of Baha'u'llah, still less
than a century old, contains already an un-
believably priceless heritage for the stricken
world of today and the centuries to come.
Here is a world-wide human unity, based
not on the ties of blood, nationality, or eco-
nomic interest — but on that mysterious real-
ity called "the love of God." And this bond
of unity has extended over three generations.
Could there be a healthier demonstration of
the power of true religious faith in the face
of a world torn by dissensions, hatreds, and
mounting fear?
History books, recounting the episodes of
the past, have related the fervor with which
large groups of people have died for a dy-
namic spiritual belief. However, since cen-
turies have elapsed and brought a lessening
of faith and a waning of religion, moderns
have tended to scorn the power of religion to
awaken men and women to heroism so com-
plete that even death is faced unflinchingly.
But European travelers and historians have
brought to the attention of the western
world the great dynamic in the Baha'i Faith,
a dynamic which led over ten thousand Iran-
ian Baha'is to death by martyrdom. So again
the world sees the heroism of a living Faith!
And let us not forget also the unseen hero-
ism of Baha'is the world over who battle
484
THE BAHA'i WORLD
, ,
ffVi/^
'1 '' "
K»ifi« '
,'VTf —7
; , /O < 7
"J
Baha*i Youth Group of the University of Illinois. From the University Annual, the
ILLIO, 1937. This is the first Baha'i Youth Group in America to be organized as an
official University activity.
superstition, ignorance, and hatred as they
labor unceasingly for the establishment of
the Oneness of Mankind.
But this unity and this heroism are results
of a great outpouring of truth, a Revelation
from God unparalleled in all history by the
magnitude and potency of its Teachings.
BahaVllah has brought the key to religious
unity, to an understanding of progressive
revelation. BahaVllah has supplied the
means for social unity and the solution to
the perplexing problems of human strife.
BahaVllah has revealed the divinely ap-
pointed institutions of a World Order which
will mark humanity's coming of age.
And more than that, the world has seen
the principles of love actually lived by the
triumvirate of Baha*i leaders — the Bab, who
heralded the coming of the Day of God;
BahaVllah, Founder of the Baha'i Faith
who gave the blue-prints and principles of
World Order; and 'Abdu'1-Baha, the Divine
Exemplar who carried His Father's message
to the world of the west. These three pro-
mulgated their heavenly mission in the face
of all kinds of human opposition and hatred.
So we receive a heritage of unity, of hero-
ism, of an outpouring of truth, and of the
divine art of living.
Can modern youth add to this heritage?
Yes. By dedication to its promulgation. By
the living of its spiritual principles. By
passing on to others the dynamic of the love
of God (that mysterious reality permeating
all the Baha'i Teachings) so that security,
peace, and happiness may be brought to peo-
ple bewildered by this changing world.
Kenneth Christian.
BAHA'f YOUTH ACTIVITIES
485
I
WIDENING OUR HORIZONS
NDEED it is impossible for the spiritual
quality to gain life except through the acts
which are its meaning and expression. The
ignoring of this relationship between the
physical and the spiritual has, in the past,
tended frequently to sap the strength from
religion." — The Conflict of Values, by J. R.
Bellerby.
Faith is the recognition of values given to
mankind from Above. It is a conscious
knowledge. This is a new orientation given
to the term "faith" by Baha Vllah.
World Citizenship implies knowledge as
well as feeling of the whole body of mankind.
It is neither an intellectual fixation nor an
emotional conviction. It is both and neither.
Love implies action, and sympathy with ac-
tion. As a result of reaction between hydro-
gen and oxygen, water is created. So is Faith
a ratult of the synthesis of feeling and in-
tellect.
There is a small per cent of the population
in this country who can afford to enjoy the
so-called luxury of life, through traveling
abroad, coming in contact with great minds,
artists, scientists and other gifted groups, but
the rest of the people are, in a sense, under-
privileged. Culture, as distinct from civi-
lization, may not be directly tied up with
wealth; nevertheless, it is through the oppor-
tunities which our environment provides for
us and the degree of our effort to absorb
knowledge and wisdom, we are called cul-
tured and refined.
From the Baha'i standpoint, culture is a
necessity and must supplement our modern
civilization if we want a balanced society.
To become a cultured person, one needs to
have a wide range of information, not in
one or two particular walks of life, but,
rather, general information about the nature
of the relationships among the different man-
ifestations of life. A cultured man need not
be a musician, painter, architect, or a sculp-
tor, but, rather, it is the development of the
sense of appreciation, and discrimination be-
tween the ugly and the beautiful. Culture
is not purely acquired, as a vocation; it is the
refinement of our senses of values in the
realms of nature and human relationship.
The foundation of a world civilization
and culture is summed up in these words:
"Ye are the fruits of one tree — leaves of
one branch." It is the organic unity which
gives the tree its life. A tree ceases to exist
the moment its component parts deprive
themselves of the light and the heat of the
sun, and fail to cooperate for the common
goal which is the life and the growth of the
organism as a whole. This organic unity is
as genuine in human society as it is in the
case of a tree.
When 'Abdu'1-Baha was in Paris, in 1911,
looking at the headlines of the papers, he saw,
"A TRAIN HAS DROPPED INTO THE
RIVER SEINE, AND A DOZEN PARIS-
IANS ARE DROWNED." 'Abdu'1-Baha
said, "Every day thousands are killed as a
result of the Italian invasion into Tripoli,
and there is very little mention of it." . . .
This spirit of provincialism science has con-
quered in view of the fact we can know,
through radio, news from the farthest corner
of the earth as if it is our next-door neighbor,
yet we do not show any interest in foreign
affairs. A general look at the American pa-
pers, with the exception of a few New York
papers, shows this fact. Are people really
disinterested in the affairs of their fellow
men? Do they think that two bodies of
water on both sides of this continent will
keep them immune from contamination from
the rest of the world?
We Baha'is declare ourselves primarily as
citizens of the world, and next come our
national, racial, or class allegiances. As a
matter of fact, our loyalty to the world
citizenship is absorbing so much of our en-
ergy that it has overshadowed any secondary
loyalties. Furthermore, we claim that this
loyalty to mankind is genuine and rational.
Otherwise, we are apt to be equally fanatic,
no matter how broad is the scope of our
loyalty, as others are to their respective na-
tions, races, and classes.
In order that a loyalty be genuine, knowl-
edge is the first condition, and so action
follows. A loyalty, or faith, without knowl-
edge is blind. It might be active, but not
necessarily constructive. Knowledge with-
out faith is a time-table without a destina-
tion, and so the motivating power is lost.
486
THE BAHA'f WORLD
We Baha'is have the faith and loyalty to
our world citizenship, and, as an outsider
may well witness, that faith is translated into
action. What we need is more knowledge,
— the thing of which the outside world has,
in a sense, an excess, or, at least, it has lost
the faith and consequently has given way to
inactivity and fatalism. We must acquire
more knowledge and inspire those that have
knowledge to step out into the arena of
action.
Here are a few concrete suggestions how
to acquire more knowledge and informa-
tion about our fellow-man throughout the
world.
1. Reading of some leading papers — gen-
erally New York papers — their sections
on foreign affairs carefully.
2. Subscribing, or borrowing from lend-
ing libraries, one or two leading maga-
zines— preferably from foreign coun-
tries, and one or two of this country,
such as "Events."
3. Study some standard text on post-war
history.
Only the deepening of personal knowledge
in such manner can result in the attainment
of real knowledge of modern world condi-
tions to supplement loyalty and action as
world citizens. Hishmat Ala'i.
NOBILITY
KENNETH
A. "NEW HOUR" has struck in the his-
tory of the Baha'i Faith!
Such was the message sent us a year ago
by the Guardian. And now to the 1936
Convention has come an epochal message
containing the terse phrases: "Humanity en-
tering (the) outer fringes (of the) most
dangerous stages (of) its existence."
The insight, the timeliness, the dramatic
potentialities behind this message place a
great responsibility upon us. To shoulder
the Divine Plan and to carry out faithfully
our part in the erection of the World Order
necessitates, in my opinion, a careful exami-
nation of our individual attitudes.
We cannot teach and serve the Faith of
BahaVllah sincerely and adequately until as
individuals we are clearly impelled by the
spiritual standards of conduct which become
allegiance to the Baha'i Faith. Continued
adherence by Baha'i youth to the spiritual
code of conduct for the new age will spread
an influence incalculable in its benefits.
Putting such a code into practice is definitely
part of our task.
Recent communications from the Guard-
ian have revealed the fact that he wishes
Baha'i youth to be clearly distinguished
from the blase moderns. In three things
should we be agreed regarding our conduct.
First, alcoholic drinks are to be scrupulously
avoided. Second, "undue familiarity" should
not mark any of our social relations. Third,
CHRISTIAN
the flippancy of modern thought and speech
should be looked at in its true light as worth-
less, half-hearted effort to conceal social
uneasiness.
The day of lip service is gone. BahaVllah
proclaimed a revelation of deed service. In
this period of Formation the youth of the
Baha'i world community must break from
the worthless standards of the times and un-
fold the standards of God. After all are not
alcoholic drinking, undue familiarity, and
modern flippancy characteristics of people
frantically searching for a security they do
not feel? Have we not knowledge of the
eternal Security? Are not these three mod-
ern tendencies typical evidences of the bank-
ruptcy of the age? And is it not our op-
portunity to build up a new age in which
man and woman, the world over, may
live in peace and creative harmony re-
moved far from the cheap idealism of the
present?
We can at once begin the establishment
of these new standards if as individuals and
as groups we adopt the spiritual attitude of
nobility which will differentiate us from
others. BahaVllah has written in Hidden
Words: "Noble have I created thee, yet thou
hast abased thyself. Rise then unto that for
which thou wast created."
In one of his talks in the United States
'Abdu'1-Baha said, "It is possible so to ad-
just oneself to the practice of nobility that
B A H A ' I YOUTH ACTIVITIES
487
The Baha'i Youth Group of Poona, India, at the Naw-Ruz feast, March 21, 1938, year
95 of the Baha'i era.
its atmosphere surrounds and colors every
act. When actions are habitually and con-
sistently adjusted to noble standards, with
no thought of the words that might herald
them, then nobility becomes the accent of
life. At such a degree of evolution one
scarcely needs try any longer to be good — all
acts are become the distinctive expression of
nobility."
As the Cause of God forges ahead in this
New Hour, a time fraught with tremendous
responsibilities and opportunities, let us ex-
amine our conduct critically. Are we living
forerunners of a new age? Or are we stereo-
typed puppets in the blase modern manner?
The Guardian is challenging us to pioneer in
the realm of human conduct. Let us make
nobility the accent of our lives!
INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION
DAVID HOFMAN
*NE of the most significant trends of
modern times is the frank examination of
traditional standards and values. Ortho-
doxy in religion, morals, social attitude,
economy and art has crumpled under the
pragmatic test of daily life and has suffered
the scorn of new generations seeking a wider
expression than is possible within the limited
area of existing convention.
It would be a mistake to attribute this
movement solely to such superficial causes as
changing fashion or "the scientific age." The
criticism of long-accepted values goes far
deeper, down to the very foundation of so-
cial life. It is not the result of youth mak-
ing fun of its elders, nor of "neoisms"
despising previous ideas. There is through-
out the world a definite desire for some
standard, some criterion of conduct and
thought which can restore perspective to the
bewilderment of modern life.
The incapacity of ancient creeds and moral
codes to meet the conditions of twentieth-
century life has been amply demonstrated,
with their consequent abandonment in fact,
if not in theory. And here lies our danger.
For while refusing to accept existing atti-
tudes as a criterion of Tightness, we neverthe-
less maintain our own personal prejudices
and use them as our standard of measure-
488
THE BAHA'f WORLD
ment. The resultant chaos is possibly just
as bad as the crucifixion entailed in main-
taining outmoded codes in an age advanced
beyond their use. Institutionalism has at
least a semblance of unity. Free thought
which does not transcend personal prejudices,
can have none.
We have begun well. The enlightenment
is really under way; but if we would 'escape
the charge of decadence we must pursue our
investigation further and build our life on a
new foundation capable of supporting a new
society. If, in our investigation, we seek
only a confirmation of our cherished ideas,
we cannot make progress. If, on the other
hand, now that we have thrown off the
shackles of shibboleth and fear, we proceed
to search diligently, untrammeled by ration-
alism, seeking only Truth, such a unity of
thought will unite the human race as
has never before been witnessed. For the
knowledge at the disposal of humanity
today is already sufficient for the establish-
ment of a universal principle. It is only
the left-over prejudices and provincialisms
of the previous age which prevent its ac-
ceptance.
That principle has already been set forth
by Bah4'u'llah, and has taken firm root in
modern ideology. It remains for us to put it
into practice and build our World Order on
its unshakable foundation.
CONCERNING DIVINE EDUCATION
LEWIS ZERBY
(Sophomore at University of Illinois)
JLHE purpose of the one true God, exalted
be his Glory, in revealing Himself to men is
to lay bare those gems that lie hidden within
the mine in their true and immortal selves."
"Regard man as a mine rich in gems of
inestimable value. Education can, alone,
cause it to reveal its treasures, and enable
mankind to benefit therefrom."
("Gleanings from the 'writings of Babd'-
u'llab.")
It is impossible to separate spiritual edu-
cation, or true education, from the divine
wisdom and power which is revealed to hu-
manity by the Exalted Manifestations of
God's infinite Grace. The educational insti-
tutions of today are failing to recognize this
essential truth and so they are not realizing
their true purpose. Educators are striving
"to lay bare those gems that lie hidden with-
in the mine" of their students' "inmost
selves" by means of human power and wis-
dom; and although they are necessarily
failing, they do not know the cause of their
failure.
One reason education is failing today is
that the teachers are not giving the students
an opportunity to develop all of their inner
capacities. Educators do not know the ca-
pacity of man. Only the Manifestation un-
derstands man's great power for good and
only the Manifestation commands man to
completely fulfill this capacity to do good by
living according to God's commands. The
Prophet of God teaches men truth by com-
manding them to act as He acts, and the life
which results from this action is the goal of
spiritual education.
The divinely educated man is not merely
a person who is intellectually complete. Al-
though he pursues factual knowledge, he is
primarily a servant of God who has developed
a beautiful and radiant character by obeying
the Divine Commands. This character can
be developed only by a wholehearted en-
deavor to live as the Manifestation of God
lived. The perfect life and the God-like
character which result from it are the ulti-
mate aim of all true education.
'Abdu'1-Baha and Baha'u'llah both point
out very clearly that education is in essence
self-expression. This is the meaning of the
phrase "to lay bare those gems" that lie
hidden in man's inmost self. The Prophet of
God never educates a person merely by teach-
ing him intellectual facts and scientific data.
He stimulates man to live a creative life by
causing him to worship those ideals the wor-
ship of which brings about the expression of
divine characteristics. The life of an edu-
cated person is characterized by the virtues
BAHA'f YOUTH ACTIVITIES
489
of integrity, courage, sovereignty, strength,
and power, as well as the virtues of love, pa-
tience, humility, and mercy. These are the
gems that lie hidden in man's inmost self,
and these are the gems that only divine wis-
dom and power can lay bare. The purpose
of spiritual education is to cause man to ex-
press these gems in his entire life, a life which
is truly "characterized by the attributes of
divinity."
i
A BAHA'I PRAYS
ZEAH HOLD£N
OBSERVE that this soul of mine seeks a
spiritual complement in its evolution. There
is something about life which business, social,
and cultural enjoyment cannot include.
That something is nearness to God.
"They that valiantly labor in quest of
God, will, when once they have renounced
all else but Him, be so attached and wedded
unto that City (of Certitude), that a mo-
ment's separation from it would to them be
unthinkable. . . That City is none other
than the Word of God." . . .
If with the impenetrable armor of attach-
ment to the world I insulate myself from
God, I cannot hope to attain, but if, through
the power of His Word, I subdue the worldly
or exterior part of my mind, I engender the
inward life of that which I fain would be,
my soul is released, and I am spiritually free.
To approach God I must know Him. And
as I learn to know Him in Baha'u'llah and
behold His perfect reflection of all the at-
tributes I love so well, my heart, in its po-
tential likeness, stirs with an irrepressible
longing to glow more luminously with the
beauty of His image.
May I not hope to meet Him in mutual
recognition? Since "God is always aware of
His creature," the moment I apply that truth
and apprehend its significance, that mo-
ment, be it in the stillness of the night
or in the pandemonium of the day, I be-
come aware of Him! To actually realize
(make real) that God is in my presence
is to be in His presence! In this state
of exaltation and sublimity I am with
God!
Without words, in the language of the
spirit, I commune with the Almighty, the
Powerful, the Knower of all things. With
my heart I entreat and supplicate, and I
listen. . . .
Pray without ceasing? It is the frequently
necessary reawakening of my consciousness
of God by which I remain in perpetual
prayer.
The Word of God can direct me how to
pray and what to pray for, but I must do
the praying myself.
"The highest and most elevating state is
the state of prayer." "The greatest attain-
ment is conversation with God."
OUTLINES OF STUDY
For the Second Series oj? International Youth Symposiums, March 7, 1937
2. Promulgation of Universal Peace, Vol.
II, pp. 373-374, 339, 359, 387, 358.
3. Foundations of World Unity, pp. 79-
82, 18-19, 66-68.
4. Gleanings, p. 81.
SUGGESTED PROCEDURE:
Consider briefly the world's need of the
renewal of Religion. Show that God is
the one infallible remedy for present con-
ditions. Give evidence that now as never''
before the world is ripe for Unity and a
Universal teaching.
TRUE RELIGION
ZEAH HOLDEN
AIM:
To show that the Religion of Go4 is one
Religion based upon progressive revelation
through His Divine Manifestations, and
that the foundation of religion has been
restored by BahaVllah.
REFERENCES:
1. Promulgation of Universal Peace, Vol.
I, pp. 138-141, 155-157, 148.
490
THE BAHA'f WORLD
QUESTIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT:
1. Why do we need a re-formation of re-
ligion in this century?
2. What is the cause of irreligion?
3. What is the origin of false religious
beliefs and prejudices?
4. How can the Manifestations of God
destroy them?
5. How do we determine the validity of a
Prophet?
6. How has BahaVllah restored the foun-
dation of Religion?
7. Discuss the essential and the non-essen-
tial ordinances of God.
8. Discuss the Reality of religion versus
dogmatic beliefs.
* 9. How does religion indicate the oneness
of humanity and the oneness of God?
AMERICA AND THE MOST GREAT
PEACE
GRACE SHEPARD
AIM:
To find means to pursue our ultimate goal,
namely, a permanently established Peace.
To find out ways of taking part in the
role which, according to Shoghi Effendi's
letter, America and the Most Great Peace,
America is to play in the establishment of
that Most Great Peace.
REFERENCES:
Bahd'u'lldh and the New Era, J. E. Essle-
mont, page 282, par. 5 through page
283, par. 3, pages 185, 186.
America and the Most Great Peace, Shog-
hi Effendi, pp. 3, 11, 18,26.
Outline of History, H. G. Wells, pp.
1090-2.
Isaiah, chapter 32, 17.
II. Timothy, chapter 2, 22.
SUGGESTED PROCEDURE:
Outline a number of problems which
young Americans will meet in working for
the establishment of international peace.
Show the solution of these problems found
in the Baha'i Teachings.
QUESTIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT:
1. What is the attitude of non-Baha'i
American youth in general on World
Peace?
2. What do the Baha'i Teachings say
about America's future?
3. How is America to assume the lead in
international peace arbitration?
4. How is America peculiarly fitted to
establish a permanent world peace?
5. How do the Baha'i Teachings fill the
universal need for a Peace Plan funda-
mentally sound and acceptable to the
varied national cultures?
SCIENCE AND RELIGION
CLARENCE W. LAROCQUE
AIM:
To prove that true Science and true Re-
ligion are one in Reality, and that there-
fore they cannot conflict.
REFERENCES:
1. Man the Unknown, by Alexis Carrel,
pp. 133-150, 274-322.
2. 'Abdu'l-Bahd on Divine Philosophy,
pp. 91-140.
3. Promulgation of Universal Peace, Vol.
II, pp. 352-355, 368-369, 388, 438-
• 440.
SUGGESTED PROCEDURE:
Outline briefly the progress that has been
made in the attempt to reconcile scientific
fact and religious belief: (a) old attitude
of Religion toward Science; (b) old atti-
tude of Science toward Religion; (c)
present attitudes of both schools; and, (d)
reasons for necessary and assured recon-
ciliation in future.
POINTS TO STRESS AND DEVELOP:
1 . Religious teachings of the past were ob-
scured by dogma and ritual, their es-
sential reality hidden, and were there-
fore outdated when the Age of Science
dawned. (Quote: P.U.P. Vol. II, pp.
438-440.)
2. Conflict really began with question of
evolution of man. Stress evolutionary
theory as elucidated by 'Abdu'1-Baha.
(Quote: P.U.P. Vol. II, pp. 352-355).
3. Necessity for investigation of reality.
Science is discoverer of realities. Re-
ligion to be acceptable, must conform
to science and reason. (Quote: P.U.P.
Vol. II, p. 388; Divine Philosophy, p.
102).
4. The union of Science and Religion will
take us far toward the goal of a Divine
civilization. (Quote: Man the Un-
22,
Speakers at the Baha'i Youth Symposium and Baha'i friends, March 22, 1936, at Los
Angeles, California, U. S. A.
491
492
known, p. 279; P.C/.P. Vol. II, pp.
369).
THE BAHA'f WORLD
368-
WORLD ECONOMICS
WILFRID BARTON
AIM:
( 1 ) To outline the main features of eco-
nomic disorder in the world today and,
(2) To explain the manner in which the
Baha'i Teachings solve these problems.
REFERENCES:
For (1):
The Goal of a New World Order,
Shoghi Effendi. The Unfoldment of
World Civilization, Shoghi Effendi.
Security for a failing World, Stanwood
Cobb.
For (2):
Pamphlet — Baha'i Teachings on Eco-
nomics— (compilation of Economics
Committee of N.S.A.)
Baha'i Magazine, Vol. 1 3 .
Babd'i Scriptures.
Some Answered Questions, 'Abdu'l-
Baha.
Bahd9uylldh and the New Era, Essle-
mont.
Further References:
Economic Organization in the New
World Order, Haney (Baha'i Magazine,
Vol. 24, pp. 298-302).
The Supreme Affliction, Lunt. (/or.
cit. Vol. 23, pp. 97-132.)
SUGGESTED PROCEDURE:
To state the problem in all its various
aspects; and then to consider each aspect
in the light of the Baha'i teachings.
POINTS TO STRESS AND DEVELOP:
(1) Main features of economic disorder
— extremes of poverty and wealth — star-
vation amidst plenty; universal unemploy-
ment; economic class struggle — dishar-
mony between capital and labor — strikes;
insecurity for the aged, the disabled, the
orphans; instability of international trade
and finance.
REFERENCES:
Goal of a New World Order — pp. 10-
16.
Unfoldment of World Civilization — pp.
28-31.
Security for a Failing World — Chap.
14, The New Economic State.
(2) Main features of Baha'i Economic
Order:
a. Spiritual nature of economic prob-
lem. Babd'i Scriptures — par. 831.
b. Institution of Storehouse or House
of Finance — cornerstone of the eco-
nomic life of each community. Pam-
phlet on Economics — pp. 9 and 10; or,
Babd'i Magazine, Vol. 13, pp. 227, 231.
Bahd'i Scriptures — par. 831.
c. Graduated Income Taxes limiting
excessive fortunes.
Some Answered Questions, p. 314.
Babd'i Scriptures, par. 666, 667.
Pamphlet on Economics, pp. 5 and 6.
d. Profit Sharing in Industry.
Babd'i Scriptures, par. 669, 670.
Some Answered Questions, pp. 315, 316.
Pamphlet on Economics, p. 5.
e. Voluntary Giving.
Bahd'i Scriptures, par. 754.
Pamphlet on Economics, pp. 7, 8.
f . Work incumbent on All.
Bahd'i Scriptures, par/259-261.
Bahdyuylldh and the New Era, pp. 168,
169.
g. Inheritance of Wealth.
Pamphlet on Economics, pp. 6, 7.
Bahd'u'lldh and the New Era, p. 172.
h. A World Super-State.
Goal of a New World Order, pp. 16-28.
Babd'i Scriptures, par. 669, 761, 762.
FINAL COMMENTS:
The introduction and conclusion are im-
portant. The opening paragraph should
immediately strike and focus the attention.
The concluding paragraph should knit all
preceding parts together and give a feeling
of completion and finality.
PATHS OF UNITY
FARRUCK IDAS
AIM:
To consider that religion is the only force
that can bring about a permanent result
in unifying the world and to show how
the Baha'i Faith is the only religion that is
prepared to accomplish World Unity.
BAHA'f YOUTH ACTIVITIES
493
REFERENCES:
1. The Goal of a New World Order, by
Shoghi Etfendi.
2. Foundations of World Unity, by
'Abdu'1-Baha.
3. World Order, Feb., 1936, "Oneness of
Mankind," by Hussein Rabbani.
4. World Order, August, 1936, "Divine
Plan," by G. A. Shook.
5. World Order, June, 1935, "Unity of
the World," by Guglielmo Ferrero.
6. A Christian Sociology for Today, Chap-
ter "A World Order," by M. B.
Reckitt.
7. The Grand Strategy of Evolution,
Chapter "The New Leviathan," by
W. Patten.
SUGGESTED PROCEDURE:
Briefly consider the need of world unity
from the standpoint of the material fac-
tors that science has provided to bring the
world together geographically. Show the
weaknesses of existing efforts of collective
security such as sciences, politics, econom-
ics, and art. Present the spiritual basis
prescribed in the teachings of Baha'u'llah
for establishing world unity.
POINTS TO STRESS AND DEVELOP:
1. The unity of mankind must first be
established in the hearts of people before
it can take definite form. Religion is the
only force that can create in the individ-
ual a true consciousness of the oneness of
mankind.
2. The conception of world unity implies
the cooperation of diverse social groups
and not the uniformity sought by advo-
cates of the Utopian vision.
3. The need of an order through which
unified humanity might function.
THE MEANING OF WORLD ORDER
FRED ASCAH
AIM:
To stress the requirements and necessity
for a World Government. To find in
the World Order of Baha'u'llah the only
practical plan which fulfills all require-
ments.
REFERENCES:
1. John Strachey, The Coming Struggle
for Power. "Nationalism," chap. 4;
"Communism," chap. 19.
2. Fred Henderson, The Case for Social-
ism.
3. Beverly Nichols, Cry Havoc.
4. H. G. Wells, Outline of History, chap.
37, section 5; chap. 39, sections 9-13.
5. J. E. Esslemont, The New Era, chap. 9.
6. G. O. Latimer, World Order Maga-
zine, May, 1936. "A World Com-
munity."
7. Shoghi Effendi, The Unfoldment of
World Civilization, "The Future
World Commonwealth."
SUGGESTED PROCEDURE:
Demonstrate how our disunited govern-
ments and narrow nationalisms led us into
the World War, with subsequent economic
upheavals. Stress the present world-wide
decay of democracy, morals and religion.
Outline some of the various peace, govern-
mental, and economic plans designed to al-
leviate man's distress — none with a uni-
versal appeal except the Baha'i divine plan.
Impress an ordered world as given in ref-
erences 5 and 7. Show in our apparently
slow, but steady growth, a sign of great
strength.
BAHA'f YOUTH AND THE WORLD
TODAY
EDITH DOROTHEA MORRELL
AIM:
To distinguish the Baha'i Faith from other
Youth Movements, and to realize that it
is the Baha'i Cause that is the fulfillment
of the religious, economic and social needs
of young people today.
REFERENCES:
1. In Defense Of Modern Youth, by Ellis
Chadbourne, Part II, IV, VI.
2. Wake Up And Live, by Dorothea
Brande, chapter I.
3. The Shape Of Things To Come, by H.
G. Wells, Book V, p. 381-431.
4. The Churchman, November 15, 1936,
"Lost: Grandfather's Faith."
5. Security For A Failing World, by Stan-
wood Cobb, chap. IV, XV, XVII.
6. World Order, September, 1936, The
Unfoldment of World Civilization.
7. Bahd'f Youth, July 1936— "Nobility."
494
THE BAHA'f WORLD
SUGGESTED PROCEDURE:
Consider the concept of life as expressed
by the youth today and show how the
Baha'i Youth maintains a state of balance
in a frenzied world.
QUESTIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT:
1. What does Baha'u'llah stress as the
fundamental basis for order and bal-
ance?
2. Funk & Wagnall state that the balance
of power can be attained not by a
single nation nor a few nations but by
a community of nations, Show how
the Baha'i teachings correspond to this.
3. What do you think of the plans set
forth by H. G. Wells as the only pos-
sible world- wide reconstruction?
4. What, as a Baha'i youth, would be the
basis of your security in religion, eco-
nomics and society.
5. Show how the lack of poise or balance
in the individual comes from having no
objective in life.
6. Give some concrete examples of the
breaking down of Christian institu-
tions.
7. Consider the artist and the funda-
mental steps he takes to create strength
or power in his art and compare them
to the Baha'i concept of life.
1. the will to create.
2. a sense of values.
3. application.
4. harmony or balance.
5. strength or power.
P. S. All outside reading obtainable in the
public libraries.
HUMANITY'S COMING OF AGE
MARGUERITE REIMER
AIM:
To consider the material and spiritual
progress of humanity and to show its col-
lective attainment.
REFERENCES:
H. Overstreet — We Move in New Direc-
tions. Foreword and chaps. 1-9-11-13.
H. A. Gibbons — Nationalism and Inter-
nationalism, chap. 6.
A. W. Martin— Seven Great Bibles, Intro-
duction, pp. xviii.
Shoghi Eftendi—Unfoldment of World
Civilization.
The Future World Commonwealth, p.
15-16.
'Abdu'1-Baha — Bahd'i Scriptures, pars.
639-917-920.
Baha'i Peace Program, p. 5.
Some Answered Questions, p. 193-4.
Baha'u'llah— Gleaning*, p. 76-77.
Thornton Chase — The Bahd'i Revelation,
p. 43-47.
SUGGESTED PROCEDURE:
Change is a law of life — Everything goes
in cycles.
The source of all knowledge is the Word
of the Manifestation and by this Word
Mankind progresses materially and spirit-
ually. Until this time our unfoldment
has been within a limited range but now
we have the advantage of our attainments
collectively. We have reached maturity
and when we apply the principles for this
day to our problems the results will be
harmony.
QUESTIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT:
1. Show how evolution is the underlying
principle of the new age both materially
and spiritually.
2. What references to this age do we find
in the books of former Prophets?
3. What evidences are there that this age
is the consummation of all former ages?
4. How does the new age, although in the
springtime of its development, repre-
sent the maturity of civilization?
5. Why cannot man progress materially
without first having spiritual attain-
ment?
6. What is the difference between religion
and theology?
7. What has prevented religious unity?
8. What is the Center of humanity's col-
lective maturity today?
BAHA't YOUTH ACTIVITIES
495
AN OPEN LETTER
BY JOSEPH McK. NOYES, A.S. '38
The following letter appeared in the
Syracuse Daily Orange, daily paper of Syra-
cuse University, on Tuesday, February 23,
1937, under the title "Baha'i Movement":
To the Editor:
Since I have been in college I have noted
with interest the thought and activity to-
ward peace in this and many other universi-
ties. Altho many plans and ideas have been
offered, one great world-wide movement has
been practically unknown here.
This plan, the Baha'i movement, has been
known to me for about six years. During
this time I have learned to believe in its possi-
bilities and to credit its claims; but only
within the last week have I realized the true
purpose and practicability of it.
The theme of this movement was most
simply expressed by its founder more than
seventy years ago, "Let not a man glory in
this that he loves his country; rather, let him
glory in this that he loves his kind." Your
first impression of this movement may be
that its aims and teachings are too idealistic
to ever be realized. I had that feeling until
very recently.
Whereas most of the peace plans that we
know can fail because of the shortcomings of
"human nature," the dynamic power of this
movement is great enough to change human
nature for the better. This same power has
done so in the past, and "history repeats it-
self." This cause is world-wide. Already its
followers are numbered not in thousands, but
in millions.
It is more than just a movement or "an-
other religion." It is a divine plan that is the
climax of all previous religious teachings. A
stable and practical World Unity is its ulti-
mate goal. To achieve this, some of its out-
standing features and principles are: Social
and economic security; elimination of preju-
dices of all kinds; adoption of a universal
language; the independent investigation of
truth; agreement between Science and Reli-
gion; universal education; equality between
men and women; and a strong international
House of Justice. Upon this firm founda-
tion, lasting world peace and unity can be-
come a reality.*
But this letter is not written to show the
merits of this movement. I am trying to
express the sincerity with which I believe in
this movement as the solution to our peace
and social problems, in the hope that you
will investigate it. There are many books on
this subject in our own and the city library.
Others can be borrowed from interested per-
sons and believers on this campus.
Many of you heard and met Mr. Mount-
fort Mills at the International Relations club
luncheon on Feb. 11. He has been a believer
in this Cause for many years and came to
Syracuse in its interests. There are two other
students on this campus who believe in this
movement as I do, and who have authorized
me to mention them in this communication
— namely, Ned Blackmer, F.A. '38; and Vir-
ginia Setz, L.A. '37. It is a cause worthy of
your investigation, and of your support if
you can feel its significance. We solicit your
interest — or at least your curiosity.
I know it to be worthy of my support; I
pray that my support may be worthy
of it.
WHY I AM A BAHA'I
When I was a little girl I went with my
family to visit 'Abdu'1-Baha in Haifa, Pales-
tine. He was so kind to me. Even then I
felt that here was someone who was so strong
that nothing could sway him. Later I read
Baha'u'llah's writings and in them I felt that
same assurance and strength.
— Florence Mattoon.
The logic of the spiritual teachings of
Baha'u'llah appealed to me because for the
first time I found spiritual teachings that
were facts rather than suppositions of so-
called "mysteries." . . . The World Order
program, which entails every aspect of the
Baha'i Faith, is undeniably for this age.
— Samuel Fox.
496
THE BAHA'f WORLD
The Baha'i Faith first attracted me be-
cause of its universality, its applicability to
present-day problems, and because, like the
darkie in the song, "I want some ob my
Hebbun right here on earth." Now, with-
out the faith and knowledge BahaVllah
gives me, life would be but an aimless wan-
dering. — Clarence La Rocque.
The Revelation of BahaVllah leads the
trend of modern thought yet conforms with
the highest ideals of tradition. It solves
all problems, individual or universal, and
through it one can attain the real under-
standing of true unity and fellowship. That
is why I am a Baha'i.
— Marguerite Reimer.
In a world of chaos and prejudice the need
of Faith is a great one. When one finds the
haven of a Faith and impelling love, also
science in accord with religion, racial under-
standing, and an answer to life's tedious
problems — this is the Baha'i Faith. I am a
Baha'i because I know that BahaVllah is the
prophet of this day and that His guidance
leads to a useful and happy life.
— Farruck loas.
Feeling the need of a universal religion
capable of meeting modern problems, I com-
pletely accept the Baha'i Teachings, the
Baha'i administration of justice, its scientific
outlook, tolerance and altruism. I believe
the Baha'i Faith is the foundation of the
world order toward which we all look in the
future. — Grace Shepard.
Why am I a Baha'i? Because the Baha'i
Faith appeals to reason as well as spirit; be-
cause it unites harmoniously the material and
spiritual life of the group as well as the indi-
vidual; because it is the only means of bring-
ing humanity from chaos into order; and be-
cause it has given to me spiritual poise and
certainty in a world shaken to its spiritual
foundations. — Lilyan Fancher Bush.
The shining of the Sun of Truth, or the
Word of God, revealed by Baha'u'llah will
bring forth Baha'is just as inevitably as the
shining of the material sun of the present
springtime will bring plants and blossoms in
its own season. I am, then, irresistibly a
Baha'i because Baha'u'llah is the Cause of
resuscitation for today.
— Zeah Hoi den.
REFERENCES TO THE
BAHA'I FAITH
REFERENCES TO THE
BAHA'I FAITH
Alphabetical List of Authors
Archduchess Anton of Austria
Charles Baudouin
President Eduard Benes
Prof. Norman Bentwich, Hebrew Univer-
sity, Jerusalem
Princess Marie Antoinette de Broglie
Aussenac
Prof. E. G. Browne, M.A., M.B., Cambridge
University
Luther Burbank
Dr. J. Estlin Carpenter, D.Litt., Manchester
College, Oxford
General Renato Piola Caselli
Rev. T. K. Cheyne, D.Litt., D.D., Oxford
University, Fellow of British Academy
Sir Valentine Chirol
Rev. K. T. Chung
Right Hon. The Earl Curzon of Kedleston
Prof. James Darmesteter, £cole des Hautes
ttudes, Paris
Rev. J. Tyssul Davis, B.A.
Dr. Auguste Forel, University of Zurich
Dr. Herbert Adams Gibbons
Arthur Henderson
Dr. Henry H. Jessup, D.D.
President David Starr Jordan
Prof, Jowett, Oxford University
Prof. Dimitry Kazarov, University of Sofia
Miss Helen Keller
Prof. Dr. V. Lesny
Harry Charles Lukach
Dowager Queen Marie of Rumania
Alfred W. Martin, Society for Ethical Cul-
ture, New York
President Masaryk of Czechoslovakia
Dr. Rokuichiro Masujima, Doyen of Juris-
prudence of Japan
Mr. Renwick J. G. Millar
Prof, Herbert A. Miller, Bryn Mau/r College
The Hon. Lilian Helen Montagu, J.P.,
D.H.L.
Arthur Moore
Angela Morgan
A. L. M. Nicolas
Prof. Yone Noguchi
Rev. Frederick W. Oakes
H.R.H. Princess Olga of Yugoslavia
Sir Flinders Petrie, Archeologist
Prof. R. F. Piper
Prof. B. Popovitch
Charles H. Prisk
Dr. Edmund Privat, University of Geneva
Herbert Putnam, Congressional Library,
Washington, D. C.
Eugen Relgis
Ernest Renan
Prof. Dr. J. Rypka
Rt. Hon. Sir Herbert Samuel, G.C.B., M.P.
fimile Schreiber, Publicist
Prof. Hari Prasad Shastri, D.Litt.
Rev. Griffith J. Sparham
Ex-Governor William Sulzer
Shri Purohit Swami
Leo Tolstoy
Prof. Arminius Vambery, Hungarian Acad-
emy of Pesth
Sir Francis Younghusband, K.C.S.I., K.C.I.E.
A
BY DOWAGER QUEEN MARIE OF
RUMANIA
1.
WOMAN l brought me the other day a
Book. I spell it with a capital letter because
it is a glorious Book of love and goodness,
strength and beauty.
She gave it to me because she had learned
I was in grief and sadness and wanted to
help. . . . She put it into my hands saying:
"You seem to live up to His teachings."
And when I opened the Book I saw it was
the word of 'Abdu'1-Baha, prophet of love
and kindness, and of his father the great
1 Miss Martha L. Root. — Editor.
498
REFERENCES TO THE BAHA'f FAITH
499
teacher of international good-will and un-
derstanding— of a religion which links all
creeds.
Their writings are a great cry toward
peace, reaching beyond all limits of frontiers,
above all dissension about rites and dogmas.
It is a religion based upon the inner spirit of
God, upon the great, not- to-be-overcome
verity that God is love, meaning just that.
It teaches that all hatreds, intrigues, suspi-
cions, evil words, all aggressive patriotism
even, are outside the one essential law of
God, and that special beliefs are but surface
things whereas the heart that beats with
divine love knows no tribe nor race.
It is a wondrous Message that Baha'u'llah
and his son 'Abdu'1-Baha have given us.
They have not set it up aggressively, know-
ing that the germ of eternal truth which lies
at its core cannot but take root and spread.
There is only one great verity in it: Love,
the mainspring of every energy, tolerance
toward each other, desire of understanding
each other, knowing each other, helping each
other, forgiving each other.
It is Christ's Message taken up anew, in
the same words almost, but adapted to the
thousand years and more difference that lies
between the year one and today. No man
could fail to be better because of this Book.
I commend it to you all. If ever the name
of BahaVllah or 'Abdu'1-Baha comes to
your attention, do not put their writings
from you. Search out their Books, and let
their glorious, peace-bringing, love-creating
words and lessons sink into your hearts as
they have into mine.
One's busy day may seem too full for
religion. Or one may have a religion that
satisfies. But the teachings of these gentle,
wise and kindly men are compatible with all
religion, and with no religion.
Seek them, and be the happier.
(From the Toronto Daily Sfar, May 4,
1926.)
2.
Of course, if you take the stand that
creation has no aim, it is easy to dismiss life
and death with a shrug and a "that ends it
all; nothing comes after."
But how difficult it is so to dismiss the
universe, our world, the animal and vege-
table world, and man. How clearly one sees
a plan in everything. How unthinkable it
is that the miraculous development that has
brought man's body, brain and spirit to what
it is, should cease. Why should it cease?
Why is it not logical that it goes on? Not
the body, which is only an instrument, but
the invisible spark or fire within the body
which makes man one with the wider plan
of creation.
My words are lame, and why should I
grope for meanings when I can quote from
one who has said it so much more plainly,
4Abdu'l-Baha, whom I know would sanction
the use of his words:
"The whole physical creation is perishable.
Material bodies are composed of atoms.
When these atoms begin to separate, decom-
position sets in. Then comes what we call
death.
"This composition of atoms which con-
stitutes the body or mortal element of any
created being, is temporary. When the power
of attraction which holds these atoms to-
gether is withdrawn, the body as such ceases
to exist.
"With the soul it is different. The soul is
not a combination of elements, is not com-
posed of many atoms, is of one indivisible
substance and therefore eternal.
"It is entirely out of the order of physi-
cal creation; it is immortal! The soul, being
an invisible, indivisible substance, can suf-
fer neither disintegration nor destruction.
Therefore there is no reason for its coming
to an end.
"Consider the aim of creation: Is it pos-
sible that all is created to evolve and develop
through countless ages with merely this
small goal in view — a few years of man's life
on earth? Is it not unthinkable that this
should be the final aim of existence? Does a
man cease to exist when he leaves his body?
If his life comes to an end, then all previous
evolution is useless. All has been for nothing.
All those eons of evolution for nothing!
Can we imagine that creation had no greater
aim than this?
"The very existence of man's intelligence
proves his immortality. His intelligence is
the intermediary between his body and his
spirit. When man allows his spirit, through
500
THE BAHA'f WORLD
his soul, to enlighten his understanding, then
does he contain all creation; because man be-
ing the culmination of all that went before,
and thus superior to all previous evolutions,
contains all the lower already-evolved world
within himself. Illumined by the spirit
through the instrumentality of the soul,
man's radiant intelligence makes him the
crowning-point of creation!"
Thus does 'Abdu'1-Baha explain to us the
soul — the most convincing elucidation I
know.
(From the Toronto Dally Star, September
28, 1926.)
3.
At first we all conceive of God as some-
thing or somebody apart from ourselves.
We think He is something or somebody defi-
nite, outside of us, whose quality, meaning
and so-to-say "personality" we can grasp
with our human, finite minds, and express
in mere words.
This is not so. We cannot, with our
earthly faculties entirely grasp His meaning
— no more than we can really understand
the meaning of Eternity.
God is certainly not the old Fatherly gen-
tleman with the long beard that in our
childhood we saw pictured sitting amongst
clouds on the throne of judgment, holding
the lightning of vengeance in His hand.
God is something simpler, happier, and yet
infinitely more tremendous. God is All,
Everything. He is the power behind all
beginnings. He is the inexhaustible source
of supply, of love, of good, of progress, of
achievement. God is therefore Happiness.
His is the voice within us that shows us
good and evil.
But mostly we ignore or misunderstand
this voice. Therefore did He choose his Elect
to come down amongst us upon earth to
make clear His word, His real meaning.
Therefore the Prophets; therefore Christ,
Muhammad, Baha Vllah, for man needs from
time to time a voice upon earth to bring God
to him, to sharpen the realization of the ex-
istence of the true God. Those voices sent
to us had to become flesh, so that with our
earthly ears we should be able to hear and
understand.
Those who read their Bible with "peeled
eyes" will find in almost every line some
revelation. But it takes long life, suffering
or some sudden event to tear all at once
the veil from our eyes, so that we can truly
see. . . .
Sorrow and suffering are the surest and
also the most common instructors, the
straightest channel to God — that is to say,
to that inner something within each of us
which is God.
Happiness beyond all understanding comes
with this revelation that God is within us,
if we will but listen to His voice. We need
not seek Him in the clouds. He is the All-
Father whence we came and to whom we
shall return when, having done with this
earthly body, we pass onward.
If I have repeated myself, forgive me.
There are so many ways of saying things,
but what is important is the truth which
lies in all the many ways of expressing it.
(From the Philadelphia "Evening ftulletin"
Monday, September 27, 1926.)
4.
"Lately a great hope has come to me from
one, 'Abdu'1-Baha. I have found in His and
His Father, Baha'u'llah's Message of Faith all
my yearning for real religion satisfied. If
you ever hear of Baha'is or of the Baha'i
Movement which is known in America, you
will know what that is. What I mean: these
Books have strengthened me beyond belief
and I am now ready to die any day full of
hope. But I pray God not to take me away
yet for I still have a lot of work to do."
5.
"The Baha'i teaching brings peace and
understanding.
"It is like a wide embrace gathering to-
gether all those who have long searched for
words of hope.
"It accepts all great prophets gone before,
it destroys no other creeds and leaves all
doors open.
"Saddened by the continual strife amongst
believers of many confessions and wearied
of their intolerance towards each other, I
discovered in the Baha'i teaching the real
spirit of Christ so often denied and misun-
derstood:
"Unity instead of strife, hope instead of
REFERENCES TO THE BAHA'f FAITH
501
condemnation, love instead of hate, and a
great reassurance for all men."
6.
"The Baha'i teaching brings peace to the
soul and hope to the heart.
"To those in search of assurance the
words of the Father are as a fountain in the
desert after long wandering." 1934.
7.
"More than ever today when the world
is facing such a crisis of bewilderment and
unrest, must we stand firm in Faith seeking
that which binds together instead of tearing
asunder."
"To those seaching for light, the Baha'i
Teachings offer a star which will lead them
to deeper understanding, to assurance, peace
and good will with all men." 1936.
BY PROFESSOR E. G. BROWNE
1.
Introduction to Myron H. Phelps' 6 Abbas
Efiendi, pages xv-xx; 1903 rev. 1912 —
I have often heard wonder expressed by
Christian ministers at the extraordinary suc-
cess of Babi missionaries, as contrasted with
the almost complete failure of their own.
"How is it," they say, "that the Christian
doctrine, the highest and the noblest which
the world has ever known, though sup-
ported by all the resources of Western civil-
ization, can only count its converts in Mu-
hammadan lands by twos and threes, while
Babiism can reckon them by thousands?"
The answer, to my mind, is plain as the sun
at midday. Western Christianity, save in the
rarest cases, is more Western than Christian,
more racial than religious; and by dallying
with doctrines plainly incompatible with the
obvious meaning of its Founder's words, such
as the theories of "racial supremacy," "im-
perial destiny," "survival of the fittest," and
the like, grows steadily more rather than less
material. Did Christ belong to a "dominant
race," or even to a European or "white race"?
... I am not arguing that the Christian
religion is true, but merely that it is in mani-
fest conflict with several other theories of
life which practically regulate the conduct
of all States and most individuals in the
Western world, a world which, on the whole,
judges all things, including religions, mainly
by material, or to use the more popular term,
"practical," standards. . . . There is, of
course, another factor in the success of the
Babi propagandist, as compared with the
Christian missionary, in the conversion of
Muhammadans to his faith: namely, that the
former admits, while the latter rejects,
the Divine inspiration of the Qur'an and the
prophetic function of Muhammad. The
Christian missionary must begin by attack-
ing, explicitly or by implication, both these
beliefs; too often forgetting that if (as hap-
pens but rarely) he succeeds in destroying
them, he destroys with them that recogni-
tion of former prophetic dispensations (in-
cluding the Jewish and the Christian) which
Muhammad and the Qur'an proclaim, and
converts his Muslim antagonist not to Chris-
tianity, but to Skepticism or Atheism.
What, indeed, could be more illogical on the
part of Christian missionaries to Muhamma-
dan lands than to devote much time and
labor to the composition of controversial
works which endeavor to prove, in one and
the same breath, first, that the Qur'an is a
lying imposture, and, secondly, that it bears
witness to the truth of Christ's mission, as
though any value attached to the testimony
of one proved a liar! The Babi (or Baha'i)
propagandist, on the other hand, admits that
Muhammad was the prophet of God and that
the Qur'an is the Word of God, denies noth-
ing but their finality, and does not discredit
his own witness when he draws from that
source arguments to prove his faith. To the
Western observer, however, it is the com-
plete sincerity of the Babis, their fearless dis-
regard of death and torture undergone for
the sake of their religion, their certain con-
viction as to the truth of their faith, their
generally admirable conduct towards man-
kind and especially towards their fellow-
believers, which constitutes their strongest
claim on his attention.
2.
Introduction to Myron H. Phelps' 'Abbas
Efendiy pages xii-xiv —
It was under the influence of this en-
thusiasm that I penned the introduction to
502
THE BAHA'f WORLD
First Baha'i Youth Group of Lyons, France. Photographed in the garden of Mr. Yazdi,
Lyons, France, June 14, 1936.
my translation of the Traveller's Narrative.
. . . This enthusiasm, condoned, if not
shared, by many kindly critics and review-
ers, exposed me to a somewhat savage attack
in the Oxford Magazine, an attack conclud-
ing with the assertion that my Introduction
displayed "a personal attitude almost incon-
ceivable in a rational European, and a style
unpardonable in a university teacher." (The
review in question appeared in the Oxford
Magazine of May 25, 1892, page 394, . . .
"the prominence given to the Bab in this
book is an absurd violation of historical
perspective; and the translations of the
Traveller's Narrative a waste of the powers
and opportunities of a Persian Scholar.")
Increasing age and experience (more's the
pity!) are apt enough, even without the as-
sistance of the Oxford Magazine, to modify
our enthusiasm; but in this case, at least,
time has so far vindicated my judgment
against that of my Oxford reviewer that he
could scarcely now maintain, as he formerly
asserted, that the Babi religion "had affected
the least important part of the Muslim
World and that not deeply." Every one
who is in the slightest degree conversant
with the actual state of things (September
27, 1903), m Persia now recognizes that the
number and influence of the Babis in that
country is immensely greater than it was
fifteen years ago.
3.
A Traveller's Narrative, page 309 —
The appearance of such a woman as
Qurratu'l-'Ayn is in any country and any
age a rare phenomenon, but in such a coun-
try as Persia it is a prodigy — nay, almost a
miracle. Alike in virtue of her marvelous
beauty, her rare intellectual gifts, her fervid
eloquence, her fearless devotion and her
glorious martyrdom, she stands forth incom-
parable and immortal amidst her country-
women. Had the Babi religion no other
claim to greatness, this were sufficient — that
it produced a heroine like Qurratu'l-'Ayn.
4.
Introduction to A Traveller's Narrative,
pages ix, x—
Though I dimly suspected whither I was
going and whom I was to behold (for no
distinct intimation had been given to me) ,
a second or two elapsed ere, with a throb
of wonder and awe, I became definitely con-
REFERENCES TO THE BAHA'f FAITH
503
scious that the room was not untenanted.
In the corner where the divan met the wall
sat a wondrous and venerable figure, crowned
with a .felt head-dress of the kind called taj
by dervishes (but of unusual height and
make) , round the base of which was wound
a small white turban. The face of him on
whom I gazed I can never forget, though I
cannot describe it. Those piercing eyes
seemed to read one's very soul; power and
authority sat on that ample brow; while the
deep lines on the forehead and face implied
an age which the jet-black hair and beard
flowing down in indistinguishable luxuriance
almost to the waist seemed to belie. No
need to ask in whose presence I stood, as
I bowed myself before one who is the ob-
ject of a devotion and love which kings
might envy and emperors sigh for in
vain.
A mild, dignified voice bade me be seated,
and then continued: " Praise be to God, that
thou bast attained! . . . Thou hast come to
see a prisoner and an exile. . . . We desire
but the good of the world and the happiness
of the nations; yet they deem us a stirrer-up
of strife and sedition worthy of bondage and
banishment. . . . That all nations should
become one in faith and all men as brothers;
that the bonds of affection and unity be-
tween the sons of men should be strength-
ened; that diversity of religion should cease,
and differences of race be annulled — what
harm is there in this? . . . Yet so it shall be;
these fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall
pass away, and the 'Most Great Peace* shall
come. . . . Do not you in Europe need this
also? Is not this that which Christ foretold?
. . . Yet do we see your kings and rulers
lavishing their treasures more freely on means
for the destruction of the human race than
on that which would conduce to the happi-
ness of mankind. . . . These strifes and this
bloodshed and discord must cease, and all
men be as one kindred and one family. . . .
Let not a man glory in this that he loves his
country; let him rather glory in this: that he
loves his kind. . . ."
Such, so far as I can recall them, were the
words which, besides many others, I heard
from Baha. Let those who read them con-
sider well with themselves whether such doc-
trines merit death and bonds, and whether
the world is more likely to gain or lose by
their diffusion.
5.
Introduction to A Traveller's Narrative,
pages xxxv, xxxvi —
Seldom have I seen one whose appearance
impressed me more. A tall, strongly built
man holding himself straight as an arrow,
with white turban and raiment, long black
locks reaching almost to the shoulder, broad
powerful forehead, indicating a strong intel-
lect, combined with an unswerving will, eyes
keen as a hawk's, and strongly marked but
pleasing features — such was my first im-
pression of 'Abbas Effendi, "The Master"
('Agha) as he par excellence is called by the
Babis. Subsequent conversation with him
served only to heighten the respect with
which his appearance had from the first in-
spired me. One more eloquent of speech,
more ready of argument, more apt of illus-
tration, more intimately acquainted with the
sacred books of the Jews, the Christians and
the Muhammadans, could, I should think, be
scarcely found even amongst the eloquent,
ready and subtle race to which he belongs.
These qualities, combined with a bearing at
once majestic and genial, made me cease to
wonder at the influence and esteem which he
enjoyed even beyond the circle of his father's
followers. About the greatness of this man
and his power no one who had seen him could
entertain a doubt.
BY DR. J. ESTLIN CARPENTER
Excerpts from Comparative Religions, pages
70, 71—
From that subtle race issues the most
remarkable movement which modern Mu-
hammadanism has produced. . . . Disciples
gathered round him, and the movement was
not checked by his arrest, his imprisonment
for nearly six years and his final execution
in 1850. ... It, too, claims to be a
universal teaching; it has already its noble
army of martyrs and its holy books; has
Persia, in the midst of her miseries, given
birth to a religion which will go round the
world?
504
THE BAHA'f WORLD
BY THE REV. T. K. CHEYNE,
D.LITT., D.D.
Excerpts from The Reconciliation of Races
and Religions, (1914) —
There was living quite lately a human
being * of such consummate excellence that
many think it is both permissible and in-
evitable even to identify him mystically with
the invisible Godhead. . . . His 2 combina-
tion of mildness and power is so rare that we
have to place him in a line with super-normal
men. . . . We learn that, at great points in
his career after he had been in an ecstasy,
such radiance of might and majesty streamed
from his countenance that none could bear
to look upon the effulgence of his glory and
beauty. Nor was it an uncommon occur-
rence for unbelievers involuntarily to bow
down in lowly obeisance on beholding His
Holiness.
The gentle spirit of the Bab is surely high
up in the cycles of eternity. Who can fail,
as Professor Browne says, to be attracted by
him? "His sorrowful and persecuted life;
his purity of conduct and youth; his courage
and uncomplaining patience under misfor-
tune; his complete self -negation; the dim
ideal of a better state of things which can be
discerned through the obscure mystic utter-
ances of the Bay an; but most of all, his
tragic death, all serve to enlist our sympa-
thies on behalf of the young prophet of
Shiraz."
"II sentait le besoin d'une reforme pro-
fond a introduire dans les moeurs publiques.
... II s'est sacrifie pour 1'humanite; pour
elle il a donne son corps et son ame, pour
elle il a subi les privations, les affronts, les
injures, la torture et le martyre." (Mons.
Nicolas.)
If there has been any prophet in recent
times, it is to BahiVllah that we must go.
Character is the final judge. BahaVllah was
a man of the highest class — that of prophets.
But he was free from the last infirmity of
noble minds, and would certainly not have
separated himself from others. He would
have understood the saying: "Would God all
the Lord's people were prophets!" What he
does say, however, is just as fine: "I do not
desire lordship over others; I desire all men
to be even as I am."
The day is not far off when the details of
'Abdu'l-Baha's missionary journeys will be
admitted to be of historical importance.
How gentle and wise he was, hundreds could
testify from personal knowledge, and I, too,
could perhaps say something. ... I will
only, however, give here the outward frame-
work of 'Abdu'l-Baha's life, and of his apos-
tolic journeys, with the help of my friend
Lutfullah. . . .
During his stay in London he visited Ox-
ford (where he and his party — of Persians
mainly — were the guests of Professor and
Mrs. Cheyne), Edinburgh, Clifton and
Woking. It is fitting to notice here that the
audience at Oxford, though highly academic,
seemed to be deeply interested, and that Dr.
Carpenter made an admirable speech. . . .
BY PROFESSOR VAMBERY
Testimonial to the Religion of 'Abdu'1-Baha.
(Published in Egyptian Gazette, Sept. 24,
1913, by Mrs. J. Stannard.) —
I forward this humble petition to the
sanctified and holy presence of 'Abdu'1-Baha
'Abbas, who is the center of knowledge,
famous throughout the world, and loved by
all mankind. O thou noble friend who art
conferring guidance upon humanity — May
my life be a ransom to thee!
The loving epistle which you have conde-
scended to write to this servant, and the rug
which you have forwarded, came safely to
hand. The time of the meeting with your
Excellency, and the memory of the benedic-
tion of your presence, recurred to the mem-
ory of this servant, and I am longing for the
time when I shall meet you again. Although
I have traveled through many countries and
cities of Islam, yet have I never met so lofty
a character and so exalted a personage as your
Excellency, and I can bear witness that it is
not possible to find such another. On this
account, I am hoping that the ideals and ac-
complishments of your Excellency may be
crowned with success and yield results under
all conditions; because behind these ideals
and deeds I easily discern the eternal welfare
and prosperity of the world of humanity.
This servant, in order to gain first-hand
Baha'u'lUh.
2 Bab.
REFERENCES TO THE BAHA't FAITH
505
information and experience, entered into the
ranks of various religions, that is, outwardly,
I became a Jew, Christian, Muhammadan
and Zoroastrian. I discovered that the devo-
tees of these various religions do nothing else
but hate and anathematize each other, that
all their religions have become the instru-
ments of tyranny and oppression in the hands
of rulers and governors, and that they are the
causes of the destruction of the world of
humanity.
Considering those evil results, every per-
son is forced by necessity to enlist himself on
the side of your Excellency, and accept with
joy the prospect of a fundamental basis
for a universal religion of God, being laid
through your efforts.
I have seen the father of your Excellency
from afar. I have realized the self-sacrifice
and noble courage of his son, and I am lost
in admiration.
For the principles and aims of your Ex-
cellency, I express the utmost respect and
devotion, and if God, the Most High, con-
fers long life, I will be able to serve you
under all conditions. I pray and supplicate
this from the depths of my heart.
Your servant,
(Mamhenyn.)
VAMBERY.
BY HARRY CHARLES LUKACH
Quotation from The Fringe of the East,
(Macmillan & Co., London, 1913.) —
Baha'ism is now estimated to count more
than two million adherents, mostly com-
posed of Persian and Indian Shi'ihs, but in-
cluding also many Sunnis from the Turkish
Empire and North Africa, and not a few
Brahmans, Buddhists, Taoists, Shintoists and
Jews. It possesses even European converts,
and has made some headway in the United
States. Of all the religions which have been
encountered in the course of this journey —
the stagnant pools of Oriental Christianity,
the strange survivals of sun-worship, and
idolatry tinged with Muhammadanism, the
immutable relic of the Sumerians — it is the
only one which is alive, which is aggressive,
which is extending its frontiers, instead of
secluding itself within its ancient haunts.
It is a thing which may revivify Islam, and
make great changes on the face of the Asiatic
world.
BY SIR VALENTINE CHIROL
Quotations from The Middle Eastern Ques-
tion or Some Political Problems of Indian
Defense, chapter XI, page 116. (The Re-
vival of Babiism.) —
When one has been like Sa'di, a great per-
sonage, and then a common soldier, and then
a prisoner of a Christian feudal chief; when
one has worked as a navvy on the fortifica-
tions of the Count of Antioch, and wandered
back afoot to Shiraz after infinite pain and
labor, he may well be disposed to think that
nothing that exists is real, or, at least, has any
substantial reality worth clinging to. Today
the public peace of Persia is no longer subject
to such violent perturbations. At least, as
far as we are concerned, the appearances of
peace prevail, and few of us care or have
occasion to look beyond the appearances.
But for the Persians themselves, have the
conditions very much changed? Do they
not witness one day the sudden rise of this or
that favorite of fortune and the next day his
sudden fall? Have they not seen the Atabak-
i-A'zam twice hold sway as the Shah's all-
powerful Vazir, and twice hurled down
from that pinnacle by a bolt from the blue?
How many other ministers and governors
have sat for a time on the seats of the mighty
and been swept away by some intrigue as
sordid as that to which they owed their own
exaltation? And how many in humbler sta-
tions have been in the meantime the recipi-
ents of their unworthy favors or the victims
of their arbitrary oppression? A village
which but yesterday was fairly prosperous is
beggared today by some neighboring land-
lord higher up the valley, who, having duly
propitiated those in authority, diverts for the
benefit of his own estates the whole of its
slender supply of water. The progress of a
governor or royal prince, with all his cus-
tomary retinue of ravenous hangers-on, eats
out the countryside through which it passes
more effectually than a flight of locusts. The
visitation is as ruinous and as unaccountable.
Is it not the absence of all visible moral cor-
relation of cause and effect in these phe-
nomena of daily life that has gone far to
506
THE BAHA'f WORLD
produce the stolid fatalism of the masses, the
scoffing skepticism of the more educated
classes, and from time to time the revolt of
some nobler minds? Of such the most recent
and perhaps the noblest of all became the
founder of Babiism.
Chapter XI, page 120 —
The Bab was dead, but not Babiism. He
was not the first, and still less the last, of a
long line of martyrs who have testified that
even in a country gangrened with corrup-
tion and atrophied with indifTerentism like
Persia, the soul of a nation survives, inarticu-
late, perhaps, and in a way helpless, but still
capable of sudden spasms of vitality.
Chapter XI, page 124 —
Socially one of the most interesting fea-
tures of Babiism is the raising of woman to
a much higher plane than she is usually ad-
mitted to in the East. The Bab himself had
no more devoted a disciple than the beauti-
ful and gifted lady, known as Qurratu'l-
'Ayn, the "Consolation of the Eyes," who,
having shared all the dangers of the first
apostolic missions in the north, challenged
and suffered death with virile fortitude, as
one of the Seven Martyrs of Tihran. No
memory is more deeply venerated or kindles
greater enthusiasm than hers, and the influ-
ence which she yielded in her lifetime still
inures to her sex.
BY PROFESSOR JOWETT of Oxford
Quotation from Heroic Lives, pages 305 —
Prof. Jowett of Oxford, Master of Balliol,
the translator of Plato, studied the move-
ment and was so impressed thereby that he
said: "The Babite [Baha'i] movement may
not impossibly turn out to have the promise
of the future." Dr. J. Estlin Carpenter
quotes Prof. Edward Caird, Prof. Jowett's
successor as Master of Balliol, as saying, "He
thought Babiism (as the Baha'i movement
was then called) might prove the most im-
portant religious movement since the foun-
dation of Christianity." Prof. Carpenter
himself gives a sketch of the Baha'i move-
ment in his recent book on Comparative
Religions and asks, "Has Persia, in the midst
of her miseries, given birth to a religion that
will go around the world?"
BY ALFRED W. MARTIN
Excerpts from Comparative Religion and the
Religion of the Future, pages 81-91 —
Inasmuch as a fellowship of faiths is at
once the dearest hope and ultimate goal of
the Baha'i movement, it behooves us to take
cognizance of it and its mission. . . . Today
this religious movement has a million and
more adherents, including people from all
parts of the globe and representing a remark-
able variety of race, color, class and creed.
It has been given literary expression in a
veritable library of Asiatic, European, and
American works to which additions are an-
nually made as the movement grows and
grapples with the great problems that grow
out of its cardinal teachings. It has a long
roll of martyrs for the cause for which it
stands, twenty thousand in Persia alone,
proving it to be a movement worth dying
for as well as worth living by.
From its inception it has been identified
with Baha'u'llah, who paid the price of pro-
longed exile, imprisonment, bodily suffering,
and mental anguish for the faith he cherished
— a man of imposing personality as revealed
in his writings, characterized by intense moral
earnestness and profound spirituality, gifted
with the selfsame power so conspicuous in
the character of Jesus, the power to appreci-
ate people ideally, that is, to see them at the
level of their best and to make even the low-
est types think well of themselves because of
potentialities within them to which he
pointed, but of which they were wholly un-
aware; a prophet whose greatest contribution
was not any specific doctrine he proclaimed,
but an informing spiritual power breathed
into the world through the example of his
life and thereby quickening souls into new
spiritual activity. Surely a movement of
which all this can be said deserves — nay,
compels — our respectful recognition and sin-
cere appreciation.
. . . Taking precedence over all else in its
gospel is the message of unity in religion.
... It is the crowning glory of the Baha'i
movement that, while deprecating sectarian-
ism in its preaching, it has faithfully prac-
tised what it preached by refraining from
becoming itself a sect. ... Its representa-
tives do not attempt to impose any beliefs
REFERENCES TO THE BAHA'f FAITH
507
upon others, whether by argument or brib-
ery; rather do they seek to put beliefs that
have illumined their own lives within the
reach of those who feel they need illumina-
tion. No, not a sect, not a part of human-
ity cut off from all the rest, living for itself
and aiming to convert all the rest into ma-
terial for its own growth; no, not that, but a
leaven, causing spiritual fermentation in all
religions, quickening them with the spirit of
catholicity and fraternalism.
. . . Who shall say but that just as the
little company of the Mayflower, landing on
Plymouth Rock, proved to be the small be-
ginning of a mighty nation, the ideal germ
of a democracy which, if true to its princi-
ples, shall yet overspread the habitable globe,
so the little company of Baha'is exiled from
their Persian home may yet prove to be the
small beginning of the world-wide move-
ment, the ideal germ of democracy in reli-
gion, the Universal Church of Mankind?
BY PROF. JAMES DARMESTETER
Excerpt ,from Art in "Persia: A Historical
and Literary Sketch" (translated by G. K.
Nariman), and incorporated in Persia and
Parsis, Part I, edited by G. K. Nariman.
Published under patronage of the fran
League, Bombay, 1925. (The Marker
Literary Series for Persia, No. 2.) —
The political reprieve brought about by
the Sufis did not result in the regeneration
of thought. But the last century which
marks the end of Persia has had its revival
and twofold revival, literary and religious.
The funeral ceremonies by which Persia cele-
brates every year for centuries — the fatal day
of the 10th of Muharram, when the son of
'AH breathed his last at Karbila — have de-
veloped a popular theater and produced a
sincere poetry, dramatic and human, which
is worth all the rhetoric of the poets. During
the same times an attempt at religious reno-
vation was made, the religion of Babiism.
Demoralized for centuries by ten foreign
conquests, by the yoke of a composite reli-
gion in which she believed just enough to
persecute, by the enervating influence of a
mystical philosophy which disabled men for
action and divested life of all aim and ob-
jects, Persia has been making unexpected
efforts for the last fifty-five years to re-make
for herself a virile ideal. Babiism has little
of originality in its dogmas and mythology.
Its mystic doctrine takes its rise from Siif ism
and the old sects of the 'Aliides formed
around the dogma of divine incarnation.
But the morality it inculcates is a revolution.
It has the ethics of the West. It suppresses
lawful impurities which are a great barrier
dividing Islam from Christendom. It de-
nounces polygamy, the. fruitful source of
Oriental degeneration. It seeks to reconsti-
tute the family and it elevates man and in
elevating him exalts woman up to his level.
Babiism, which diffused itself in less than
five years from one end of Persia to another,
which was bathed in 1852 in the blood of its
martyrs, has been silently progressing and
propagating itself. If Persia is to be at all
regenerate it will be through this new faith.
BY CHARLES BAUDOUIN
Excerpts from Contemporary Studies, Part
III, page 131. (Allen & Unwin, London,
1924.) —
We Westerners are too apt to imagine that
the huge continent of Asia is sleeping as
soundly as a mummy. We smile at the van-
ity of the ancient Hebrews, who believed
themselves to be the chosen people. We are
amazed at the intolerance of the Greeks and
the Romans, who looked upon the members
of all races as barbarians. Nevertheless, we
ourselves are like the Hebrews, the Greeks
and the Romans. As Europeans we believed
Europe to be the only world that matters,
though from time to time we may turn a
paternal eye towards America, regarding our
offspring in the New World with mingled
feelings of condescension and pride.
Nevertheless, the great cataclysm of 1914
is leading some of us to undertake a critical
examination of the inviolable dogma that the
European nations are the elect. Has there
not been of late years a demonstration of
the nullity of modern civilization — the
nullity which had already been proclaimed
by Rousseau, Carlyle, Ruskin, Tolstoy, and
Nietzsche? We are now inclined to listen
more attentively to whispers from the East.
508
THE BAHA'f WORLD
National Baha'i Youth Committee of the
United States and Canada, Louhelen Sum-
mer School, Davison, Michigan, U. S. A.,
June, 1937.
Our self-complacency has been disturbed by
such utterances as that of Rabindranath
Tagore, who, lecturing at the Imperial Uni-
versity of Tokio on June 18, 1916, foretold
a great future for Asia. The political civil-
ization of Europe was "carnivorous and can-
nibalistic in its tendencies." The East was
patient, and could afford to wait till the
West, "hurry after the expedient," had to
halt for want of breath. "Europe, while
busily speeding to her engagements, disdain-
fully casts her glance from her carriage win-
dow at the reaper reaping his harvest in the
field, and in her intoxication of speed, cannot
but think him as slow and ever receding
backwards. But the speed comes to its end,
the engagement loses its meaning, and the
hungry heart clamors for food, till at last
she comes to the lonely reaper reaping his
harvest in the sun. For if the office cannot
wait, or the buying and selling, or the crav-
ing for excitement — love waits, and beauty,
and the wisdom of suffering and the fruits of
patient devotion and reverent meekness of
simple faith. And thus shall wait the East
till her time comes."
Being thus led to turn our eyes towards
Asia, we are astonished to find how much we
have misunderstood it; and we blush when
we realize our previous ignorance of the fact
that, towards the middle of the nineteenth
century, Asia gave birth to a great religious
movement — a movement signalized for its
spiritual purity, one which has had thousands
of martyrs, one which Tolstoy has described.
H. Dreyfus, the French historian of this
movement, says that it is not "a new reli-
gion," but "religion renewed," and that it
provides "the only possible basis for a mutual
understanding between religion and free
thought." Above all, we are impressed by
the fact that, in our own time, such a mani-
festation can occur, and that the new faith
should have undergone a development far
more extensive than that undergone in the
same space of time nearly two thousand years
ago, by budding Christianity.
... At the present time, the majority of
the inhabitants of Persia have, to a varying
extent, accepted the Babiist faith. In the
great towns of Europe, America, and Asia,
there are active centers for the propaganda
of the liberal ideas and the doctrine of human
community, which form%the foundations of
Baha'ist teaching.
We shall not grasp the full significance of
this tendency until we pass from the descrip-
tion of Baha'ism as a theory to that of
Baha'ism as a practice, for the core of reli-
gion is not metaphysics, but morality.
The Baha'ist ethical code is dominated by
the law of love taught by Jesus and by all
the prophets. In the thousand and one de-
tails of practical life, this law is subject to
manifold interpretations. That of Baha'u-
'llah is unquestionably one of the most com-
prehensive of these, one of the most exalted,
one of the most satisfactory to the modern
mind. . . .
That is why Baha'u'llah is a severe critic
of the patriotism which plays so large a part
in the national life of our day. Love of our
native land is legitimate, but this love must
not be exclusive. A man should love his
country more than he loves his house (this
is the dogma held by every patriot) ; but
BahaVllah adds that he should love the
divine world more than he loves his country.
From this standpoint, patriotism is seen to be
an intermediate stage on the road of renunci-
ation, an incomplete and hybrid religion,
REFERENCES TO THE BAHA'f FAITH
509
something we have to get beyond. Through-
out his life BahaVllah regarded the ideal
universal peace as one of the most important
of his aims. . . .
. . . BahaVllah is in this respect enunci-
ating a novel and fruitful idea. There is a
better way of dealing with social evils than
by trying to cure them after they have come
to pass. We should try to prevent them by
removing their causes, which act on the indi-
vidual, and especially on the child. Nothing
can be more plastic than the nature of the
child. The government's first duty must be
to provide for the careful and efficient edu-
cation of children, remembering that educa-
tion is something more than instruction.
This will be an enormous step towards the
solution of the social problem, and to take
such a step will be the first task of the
Baytu'l-'Ad'l (House of Justice). "It is or-
dained upon every father to rear his son or
his daughter by means of the sciences, the
arts, and all the commandments; and if any
one should neglect to do so, then the mem-
bers of the council, should the offender be a
wealthy man, must levy from him the sum
necessary for the education of his child.
When the neglectful parent is poor, the cost
of the necessary education must be borne by
the council, which will provide a refuge for
the unfortunate."
The Baytu'l-'Ad'l, likewise, must prepare
the way for the establishment of universal
peace, doing this by organizing courts of
arbitration and by influencing the govern-
ments. Long before the Esperantists had
begun their campaign, and more than twenty
years before Nicholas II had summoned the
first Hague congress, BahaVllah was insist-
ing on the need for a universal language and
courts of arbitration. He returns to these
matters again and again: "Let all the nations
become one in faith, and let all men be
brothers, in order that the bonds of affection
and unity between the sons of men may be
strengthened. . . . What harm can there
be in that? ... It is going to happen.
There will be an end to sterile conflicts, to
ruinous wars; and the Great Peace will
come!" Such were the words of BahdVllah
in 1890, two years before his death.
While adopting and developing the Chris-
tian law of love, BahdVllah rejected the
Christian principle of asceticism. He dis-
countenanced the macerations which were a
nightmare of the Middle Ages, and whose
evil effects persist even in our own days. . . .
Baha'ism, then, is an ethical system, a
system of social morality. But it would be
a mistake to regard Baha'ist teaching as a
collection of abstract rules imposed from
without. Baha'ism is permeated with a sane
and noble mysticism; nothing could be more
firmly rooted in the inner life, more benignly
spiritual; nothing could speak more inti-
mately to the soul, in low tones, and as if
from within. . . .
Such is the new voice that sounds to us
from Asia; such is the new dawn in the East.
We should give them our close attention;
we should abandon our customary mood of
disdainful superiority. Doubtless, Baha'u-
'llah's teaching is not definitive. The Persian
prophet does not offer it to us as such. Nor
can we Europeans assimilate all of it; for
modern science leads us to make certain
claims in matters of thought — claims we
cannot relinquish, claims we should not try
to forego. But even though BahaVllah's
precepts (like those of the Gospels) may not
fully satisfy all these intellectual demands,
they are rarely in conflict with our scientific
outlooks. If they are to become our own
spiritual food, they must be supplemented,
they must be relived by the religious spirits
of Europe, must be rethought by minds
schooled in the Western mode of thought.
But, in its existing form, Baha'ist teaching
may serve, amid our present chaos, to open
for us a road leading to solace and to com-
fort; may restore our confidence in the spir-
itual destiny of man. It reveals to us how
the human mind is in travail; it gives us an
inkling of the fact that the greatest happen-
ings of the day are not the ones we were
inclined to regard as the most momentous,
not the ones which are making the loudest
noise.
DR. HENRY H. JESSUP, D.D.
From the World's Parliament of Religion;
Volume II, 1 3th Day, under Criticism and
Discussion of Missionary Methods, page
1122. At the Columbian Exposition of
1893, at Chicago. Edited by the Rev.
510
THE BAHA'f WORLD
John Henry Barrows, D.D. (The Parlia-
ment Publishing Company, Chicago,
1893.) —
This, then, is our mission: that we who are
made in the image of God should remember
that all men are made in God's image. To
this divine knowledge we owe all we are, all
we hope for. We are rising gradually toward
that image, and we owe to our fellowmen to
aid them in returning to it in the Glory of
God and the Beauty of Holiness. It is a
celestial privilege and with it comes a high
responsibility, from which there is no escape.
In the Palace of Bahji, or Delight, just
outside the Fortress of 'Akka, on the Syrian
coast, there died a few months since, a fa-
mous Persian sage, the Babi Saint, named
BahaVllah— the "Glory of God"— the head
of that Vast reform party of Persian Mus-
lims, who accept the New Testament as the
Word of God and Christ as the Deliverer of
men, who regard all nations as one, and all
men as brothers. Three years ago he was
visited by a Cambridge scholar and gave
utterance to sentiments so noble, so Christ-
like, that we repeat them as our closing
words:
"That all nations should become one in
faith and all men as brothers; that the bonds
of affection and unity between the sons of
men should be strengthened; that diversity
of religions should cease and differences of
race be annulled. What harm is there in
this? Yet so it shall be. These fruitless
strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away,
and the 'Most Great Peace' shall come. Do
not you in Europe need this also? Let not a
man glory in this, that he loves his country;
let him rather glory in this, that he loves
his kind."
BY THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL CURZON
Excerpts from Persia, Vol. I, pages 496-504.
(Written in 1892.) —
Beauty and the female sex also lent their
consecration to the new creed and the hero-
ism of the lovely but ill-fated poetess of
Qazvin, Zarrin-Taj (Crown of Gold) or
Qurratu'l-'Ayn (Solace of the Eyes), who,
throwing off the veil, carried the missionary
torch far and wide, is one of the most af-
fecting episodes in modern history. . . .
The lowest estimate places the present num-
ber of Babis in Persia at half a million. I
am disposed to think, from conversations
with persons well qualified to judge, that
the total is nearer one million. They are to
be found in every walk of life, from the
ministers and nobles of the Court to the
scavenger or the groom, not the least arena
of their activity being the Mussulman priest-
hood itself. It will have been noticed that
the movement was initiated by Siyyids,
Hajis and Mullas, i.e., persons who, either
by descent, from pious inclination, or by
profession, were intimately concerned with
the Muhammadan creed; and it is among
even the professed votaries of the faith that
they continue to make their converts. . . .
Quite recently the Babis have had great
success in the camp of another enemy, hav-
ing secured many proselytes among the Jew-
ish populations of the Persian towns. I hear
that during the past year (1891) they are
reported to have made 150 Jewish converts
in Tihran, 100 in Hamadan, 50 in Kashan,
and 75 per cent of the Jews at Gulpayigan.
. . . The two victims, whose names were
Haji Mirza Hasan and Haji Mirza Husayn,
have been renamed by the Babis: Sultanu'sji-
Shuhada', or King of Martyrs, and Mah-
bubu'sh-Shuhada*, or Beloved of Martyrs —
and their naked graves in the cemetery have
become places of pilgrimage where many a
tear is shed over the fate of the "Martyrs of
Isfahan." ... It is these little incidents,
protruding from time to time their ugly
features, that prove Persia to be not as yet
quite redeemed, and that somewhat stag-
gers the tall-talkers about Iranian civiliza-
tion. If one conclusion more than another
has been forced upon our notice by the
retrospect in which I have indulged, it is
that a sublime and murmuring [?] devotion
has been inculcated by this new faith, what-
ever it be. There is, I believe, but one in-
stance of a Babi having recanted under
pressure of menace of suffering, and he re-
verted to the faith and was executed within
two years. Tales of magnificent heroism
illumine the bloodstained pages of Babi his-
tory. Ignorant and unlettered as many of
its votaries are, and have been, they are yet
prepared to die for their religion, and fires
REFERENCES TO THE BAHA'f FAITH
511
of Smithfield did not kindle a nobler cour-
age than has met and defied the more refined
torture-mongers of Tihran. Of no small
account, then, must be the tenets of a creed
that can awaken in its followers so rare and
beautiful a spirit of self-sacrifice. From the
facts that Babiism in its earliest years found
itself in conflict with the civil powers and
that an attempt was made by Babis upon
the life of the Shah, it has been wrongly in-
ferred that the movement was political in
origin and Nihilist in character. It does not
appear from a study of the writings either
of the Bab or his successors, that there is any
foundation for such a suspicion. . . . The
charge of immorality seems to have arisen
partly from the malignant inventions of op-
ponents, partly from the much greater free-
dom claimed for women by the Bab, which
in the oriental mind is scarcely dissociable
from profligacy of conduct. ... If Babiism
continues to grow at its present rate of pro-
gression, a time may conceivably come when
it will oust Muhammadanism from the field
in Persia. . . . Since its recruits are won
from the best soldiers of the garrison whom
it is attacking, there is greater reason to
believe that it may ultimately prevail. . . .
The pure and suffering life of the Bab, his
ignominious death, the heroism and martyr-
dom of his followers, will appeal to many
others who can find no similar phenomena in
the contemporaneous records of Islam. . . .
BY SIR FRANCIS YOUNGHUSBAND
Excerpts from The Gleam. (1923.) —
1.
The story of the Bab, as Mirza 'Ali-Mu-
hammad called himself, was the story of
spiritual heroism unsurpassed in Svabhava's
experience; and his own adventurous soul
was fired by it. That a youth of no social
influence and no education should, by the
simple power of insight, be able to pierce
into the heart of things and see the real
truth, and then hold on to it with such firm-
ness of conviction and present it with such
suasion that he was able to convince men
that he was the Messiah and get them to
follow him to death itself, was one of those
splendid facts in human history that
Svabhava loved to meditate on. This was a
true hero whom he would wish to emulate
and whose experiences he would profit by.
The Bab's passionate sincerity could not be
doubted, for he had given his life for his
faith. And that there must be something
in his message that appealed to men and sat-
isfied their souls, was witnessed to by the
fact that thousands gave their lives in his
cause and millions now follow him.
If a young man could, in only six years of
ministry, by the sincerity of his purpose and
the attraction of his personality, so inspire
rich and poor, cultured and illiterate, alike,
with belief in himself and his doctrines that
they would remain staunch, though hunted
down and without trial sentenced to death,
sawn asunder, strangled, shot, blown from
guns; and if men of high position and cul-
ture in Persia, Turkey and Egypt in num-
bers to this day adhere to his doctrines, his
life must be one of those events in the
last hundred years which is really worth
study. And that study fortunately has
been made Jby the Frenchman Gobineau and
by Professor E. G. Browne, so that we are
able to have a faithful representation of its
main features. . . .
Thus, in only his thirtieth year, in the
year 1850, ended the heroic career of a true
God-man. Of the sincerity of his convic-
tion that he was God-appointed, the manner
of his death is the amplest possible proof.
In the belief that he would thereby save
others from the error of their present be-
liefs he willingly sacrificed his life. And
of his power of attaching men to him, the
passionate devotion of hundreds and even
thousands of men who gave their lives in his
cause is convincing testimony. . . .
He himself was but "a letter out of that
most mighty book, a dewdrop from that lim-
itless ocean." The One to come would re-
veal all mysteries and all riddles. This was
the humility of true insight. And it has
had its effect. His movement has grown
and expanded, and it has yet a great future
before it.
During his six years of ministry, four of
which were spent in captivity, he had per-
meated all Persia with his ideas. And since
his death the movement has spread to Tur-
512
THE BAHA'f WORLD
key, Egypt, India and even into Europe and
America. His adherents are now numbered
by millions. "The Spirit which pervades
them," says Professor Browne, "is such that
it cannot fail to affect most powerfully all
subject to its influence."
2.
For many years I have been interested in
the rise and progress of the Baha'i Move-
ment. Its roots go deep down into the past
and yet it looks far forward into the future.
It realizes and preaches the oneness of man-
kind. And I have noticed how ardently its
followers work for the furtherance of peace
and for the general welfare of mankind.
God must be with them and their success
therefore assured.
Excerpts from Modern Mystics. (1935, p.
142.)
3.
This martyrdom of the Bab took place
on July 9, 1850, thirty-one years from the
date of his birth.
His body was dead. His spirit lived on.
Husayn had been slain in battle. Quddus
had been done to death in captivity. But
Baha'u'llah lived. The One who shall be
made manifest was alive. And in him and
in others had been engendered such love for
the Bab and what he stood for as, in the
words of the chronicler, no eye had ever be-
held nor mortal heart conceived: if branches
of every tree were turned into pens, and all
the seas into ink, and Earth and Heaven
rolled into one parchment, the immensity of
that love would still remain untold. This
love for the Cause still survived. And it
was sufficient. Baha'u'llah was, indeed, de-
spoiled of his possessions, deserted by his
friends, driven into exile from his native land
and, even in exile, confined to his house.
But in him the Cause was still alive — and
more than alive, purified and ennobled by
the fiery trials through which it had passed.
Under the wise control, and direction of
Baha'u'llah from his prison-house, first at
Baghdad and then at 'Akka in Syria, there
grew what is now known as the Baha'i
Movement which, silently propagating itself,
has now spread to Europe and America as
well as to India and Egypt, while the bodily
remains of the Bab, long secretly guarded,
now find a resting-place on Mount Carmel
in a Tomb-shrine, which is a place of pil-
grimage to visitors from all over the world.
Excerpt from The Christian Commonwealth,
January 22, 1913: " 'Abdu'1-Baha at Ox-
ford"—
'Abdu'1-Baha addressed a large and deeply
interested audience at Manchester College,
Oxford, on December 3 1 . The Persian leader
spoke in his native tongue, Mirza Ahmad
Sohrab interpreting. Principal Estlin Car-
penter presided, and introduced the speaker
by saying that they owed the honor and
pleasure of meeting 'Abdu'1-Baha to their
revered friend, Dr. Cheyne, who was deeply
interested in the Baha'i teaching. The move-
ment sprung up during the middle of the
last century in Persia, with the advent of a
young Muhammadan who took to himself
the title of the Bab (meaning door or gate,
through which men could arrive at the
knowledge or truth of God), and who com-
menced teaching in Persiajn the year 1844.
The purity of his character, the nobility of
his words, aroused great enthusiasm. He
was, however, subjected to great hostility by
the authorities, who secured his arrest and
imprisonment, and he was finally executed
in 1850. But the movement went on, and
the writings of the Bab, which had been
copious, were widely read. The movement
has been brought into India, Europe, and
the United States. It does not seek to create
a new sect, but to inspire all sects with a
deep fundamental love. The late Dr. Jow-
ett once said to him that he had been so
deeply impressed with the teachings and
character of the Bab that he thought Babi-
ism, as the present movement was then
known, might become the greatest religious
movement since the birth of Christ.
BY REV. J. TYSSUL DAVIS, B.A.
Quotation from A League of Religions. Ex-
cerpts from Chapter X: "Baha'ism — The
Religion of Reconciliation." (The Lind-
sey Press, London, England.) —
The Baha'i religion has made its way . . .
because it meets the needs of its day. It fits
REFERENCES TO THE BAHA'f FAITH
513
the larger outlook of our time better than
the rigid exclusive older faiths. A charac-
teristic is its unexpected liberality and tol-
eration. It accepts all the great religions as
true, and their scriptures as inspired. The
Baha'ists bid the followers of these faiths
disentangle from the windings of racial, par-
ticularist, local prejudices, the vital, immor-
tal thread, the pure gospel of eternal worth,
and to apply this essential element of life.
Instances are quoted of people being recom-
mended to work within the older faiths, to
remain, vitalizing them upon the principles
of the new faith. They cannot fear new
facts, new truths as the Creed-defenders
must. They believe in a progressive revela-
tion. They admit the cogency of modern
criticism and allow that God is in His na-
ture incomprehensible, but is to be known
through His manifestations. Their ethical
ideal is very high and is of the type we West-
erners have learnt to designate "Christlike."
"What does he do to his enemies that he
makes them his friends?" was asked con-
cerning the late leader. What astonishes
the student is not anything in the ethics or
philosophy of this movement, but the ex-
traordinary response its ideal has awakened
in such numbers of people, the powerful in-
fluence this standard actually exerts on con-
duct. It is due to four things: (1) It makes
a call on the Heroic ILlement in man. It
offers no bribe. It bids men endure, give up,
carry the cross. It calls them to sacrifice,
to bear torture, to suffer martyrdom, to
brave death. (2) It offers liberty of
thought. Even upon such a vital question
as immortality it will not bind opinion. Its
atmosphere is one of trust and hope, not of
dogmatic chill. ( 3 ) It is a religion of love.
"Notwithstanding the interminable cata-
logue of extreme and almost incredible suf-
ferings and privations which this heroic
band of men and women have endured —
more terrible than many martyrdoms — there
is not a trace of resentment or bitterness to
be observed among them. One would sup-
pose that they were the most fortunate of
the people among whom they live, as indeed
they do certainly consider themselves, in
that they have been permitted to live near
their beloved Lord, beside which they count
their sufferings as nothing" (Phelps). Love
for the Master, love for the brethren, love
for the neighbors, love for the alien, love for
all humanity, love for all life, love for God
— the old, well-tried way trod once before
in Syria, trodden again. (4) It is a religion
in harmony with science. It has here the
advantage of being thirteen centuries later
than Islam. This new dispensation has been
tried in the furnace, and has not been found
wanting. It has been proved valid by the
lives of those who have endured all things
on its behalf. Here is something more ap-
pealing than its logic and rational philos-
ophy. "To the Western observer" (writes
Prof. Browne), "it is the complete sincerity
of the Babis, their fearless disregard of death
and torture undergone for the sake of their
religion, their certain conviction as to the
truth of their faith, their generally admirable
conduct toward mankind, especially toward
their fellow-believers, which constitute their
strongest claim on his attention."
"By their fruits shall ye know them!" We
cannot but address to this youthful religion
an All Hail! of welcome. We cannot fail to
see in its activity another proof of the living
witness in our own day of the working of
the sleepless spirit of God in the hearts of
men, for He cannot rest, by the necessity of
His nature, until He hath made in conscious
reality, as in power, the whole world His
own.
BY HERBERT PUTNAM
Librarian of Congress
The dominant impression that survives in
my memory of 'Abdu'1-Baha is that of an
extraordinary nobility: physically, in the
head so massive yet so finely poised, and
the modeling of the features; but spiritually,
in the serenity of expression, and the sug-
gestion of grave and responsible meditation
in the deeper lines of the face. But there
was also, in his complexion, carriage, and
expression, an assurance of the complete
health which is a requisite of a sane judg-
ment. And when, as in a lighter mood, his
features relaxed into the playful, the as-
surance was added of a sense of humor with-
out which there is no true sense of propor-
tion. I have never met any one concerned
with the philosophies of life whose judgment
514
THE BAHA'f WORLD
} w$* M K ;?T l^fl
Mr. Hyde Dunn, the pioneer teacher of Australia and New Zealand, laying the cornerstone
of the first Baha'i Summer School in the Southern Hemisphere, at Yerrinbool, New South
Wales, on October 11, 1936.
might seem so reliable in matters of practi-
cal conduct.
My regret is that my meetings with him
were so few and that I could not benefit by
a lengthier contact with a personality com-
bining a dignity so impressive with human
traits so engaging.
I wish that he could be multiplied!
BY LEO TOLSTOY
Translated from a letter to Mme. Isabel
Grinevskaya, Oct. 22, 1903
I am very glad that Mr. V. V. Stassov has
told you of the good impression which your
book has made on me, and I thank you for
sending it.
I have known about the Babis for a long
time, and have always been interested in
their teachings. It seems to me that these
teachings, as well as all the rationalistic so-
cial religious teachings that have arisen lately
out of the original teachings of Brahmanism,
Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam
distorted by the priests, have a great future
for this very reason that these teachings, dis-
carding all these distorting incrustations that
cause division, aspire to unite into one com-
mon religion of all mankind.
Therefore, the teachings of the Babis, in-
asmuch as they have rejected the old Mu-
hammadan superstitions and have not estab-
lished new superstitions which would divide
them from other new superstitions (unfor-
tunately something of the kind is noticed in
REFERENCES TO THE BAHA'I FAITH
515
the exposition of the Teachings of the Bdb) ,
and inasmuch as they keep to the.principal
fundamental ideas of brotherhood, equality
and love, have a great future before them.
In the Muhammadan religion there has
been lately going on an intensive spiritual
movement. I know that one such move-
ment is centered in the French colonies in
Africa, and has its name (I do not remem-
ber it), and its prophet. Another move-
ment exists in India, Lahore, and also has its
prophet and publishes its paper "Review of
Religions."
Both these religious teachings contain
nothing new, neither do they have for their
principal object a changing of the outlook of
the people and thus do not change the rela-
tionship between the people, as is the case
with Babiism, though not so much in its the-
ory (Teachings of the Bab) as in the prac-
tice of life as far as I know it. I therefore
sympathize with Babiism with all my heart
inasmuch as it teaches people brotherhood
and equality and sacrifice of material life for
service to God.
Translated from a letter to Frid ul Khan
Wadelbekow
(This communication is dated 1908 and is
found among epistles written to Cauca-
sian Muhammadans.)
... In answer to your letter which ques-
tions how one should understand the term
God. I send you a collection of writings
from my literary and reading club, in which
some thoughts upon the nature of God are
included. In my opinion if we were to free
ourselves from all false conception of God
we should, whether as Christians or Muham-
madans, free ourselves entirely from pictur-
ing God as a personality. The conception
which then seems to me to be the best for
meeting the requirements of reason and heart
is found in 4th chap. St. John, 7-12-15 that
means God is Love. It therefore follows
that God lives in us according to the meas-
ure or capacity of each soul to express His
nature. This thought is implicit more or
less clearly in all religions, and therefore in
Muhammadanism.
Concerning your second question upon
what awaits us after death I can only reply
that on dying we return to God from whose
Life we came. God, however, being Love
we can on going over expect God only.
Concerning your third question, I answer
that so far as I understand Islam, like all
other religions, Brahmanism, Buddhism,
Confucianism, etc., it contains great basic
truths but that these have become cor-
rupted by superstition, and coarse interpreta-
tions and filled with unnecessary legendic
descriptions. I have had much help in my
researches to get clear upon Muhammadan-
ism by a splendid little book "The sayings of
Muhammad."
The teachings of the Babis which come to
us out of Islam have through BahaVllah's
teachings been gradually developed and now
present us with the highest and purest form
of religious teaching.
BY DR. EDMUND PRIVAT
1.
The practical and spiritual understanding
between nations, the realization of the unity
of mankind above all barriers of language
and religion, the feeling of responsibility
towards all who suffer from grief or in-
justice, are only different branches of the
same central teaching which gives the
Baha'i Movement such a faithful and active
family of workers in so many countries.
2.
La superstition, 1'intolerance et Palliance
des pretres avec la tyrannic s£vit en Islam
comme ailleurs. La grande lumiere s'assom-
brit dans la fumee tenebreuse des formes
vides et des passions fanatiques. II y cut
plusieurs fois des reveils et des retours a la
purete* du message.
Chez nous, en Perse, le Bab vecut en
saint et mourut en martyr a Tabriz, il y a
pres d'un siecle. BahaVllah lui succe*da,
exile de Perse, emprisonne' par le sultan turc.
II proclamait que Punite divine exclut les
rivalite's. La soumission a Dieu doit rap-
procher les hommes. Si la religion les separe,
c'est qu'elle a perdu son principal sens.
En plein milieu du dix-neuvieme siecle,
au temps des Lamartfine et des Victor Hugo,
le grand saint musulman fixait aux Baha'i,
516
THE BAHA'f WORLD
ses disciples, un programme et des principes
plus actuels que jamais. . . .
Llslam a toujours proclame ce dogme
avec majeste, mais les religions luttent en
brandissant le nom d'un prophete ou d*un
autre, au lieu d'insister sur leur enseigne-
ment, qui pourrait les rapprocher. Baha'-
u'llah tachait de faire tomber les parois, non
pas Mahometisme avant tout, mais vraiment
Islam, c'est-a-dire soumission commune a la
volonte supreme.
On ne parlait alors ni d'un Wilson, ni
d'un Zamenhof, mais 1'exile de Bahji mon-
trait aux generations futures le chemin
qu'elles devaient prendre. Son fils 'Abdu'l-
Baha repandit plus tard son message en Eu-
rope et en Amerique. Meme un libre pen-
seur comme Auguste Forel s'y rallia de
grand coeur. Le cercle amical des Baha'i
s'etend autour du monde.
En Perse, un million d'entre eux sou-
tlennent des ecoles, fameuses dans le pays.
(From "La Sagesse de 1'Orient," Chap. Ill)
BY DR. AUGUSTE FOREL
. . . J'avais cent les lignes qui precedent
en 1912. Que dois-je ajouter aujourd'hui
en aout 1921, apres les horribles guerres qui
viennent de mettre 1'humanite a feu et a
sang, tout en d^voilant plus que jamais la
terrible ferocite de nos passions haineuses?
Rien, sinon que nous devons demeurer d'au-
tant plus fermes, d'autant plus inebranlables
dans notre lutte pour le Bien social. Nos
enfants ne doivent pas se decourager; ils doi-
vent au contraire profiter du chaos mondial
actuel pour aider a la penible organisation
superieure et supranational de L'humanite,
a 1'aide d'une federation universelle des
peuples.
En 1920 seulement j'ai appris a con-
naitre, a Karlsruhe, la religion supraconfes-
sionnelle et mondiale des Baha'is fondle en
Orient par le person Baha'u'llah il y a 70
ans. C'est la vraie religion du Bien social
humain, sans dogmes, ni pretres, reliant entre
eux tous les hommes sur notre petit globe
terrestre. Je suis devenu Bahd't. Que cefte
religion vive et prospere pour le bien de 1'hu-
manite'; c'est la mon voeu le j&lus ardent. . . .
(Excerpt from Dr. Auguste ForePs Will)
BY GENERAL RENATO PIOLA CASELLI
Having been engaged all of his life in the
training of men, he does this (i.e., write on
the subject of religion) more as a "shepherd
of a flock" might do, in hope of persuading
his friends and brothers to turn spontane-
ously to the Illumined Path of the Great
Revelation.
BY FREDERICK W. OAKES
The Enlightener of human minds in re-
spect to their religious foundations and priv-
ileges is of such vital importance that no one
is safe who does not stop and listen for its
quiet meaning, and is to the mind of men, as
the cooling breeze that unseen passes its
breath over the varying leaves of a tree.
Watch it! And see how uniformly, like an
unseen hand passing caressingly over all its
leaves: Full of tender care and even in its
gifts of love and greater life: Caresses each
leaf. Such it is to one who has seated him-
self amid the flowers and fruit trees in the
Garden Beautiful at 'Akka, just within the
circle of that Holy and Blessed shrine where
rests the Mortal part of the Great Enlight-
ener. His handiwork is there, you touch the
fruit and flowers his hand gave new life's
hopes to, and kneeling as I did beside Shoghi
Effendi, Guardian of the Marvelous Mani-
festation, felt the spirit's immortal love of
Him who rests there. While I could not
speak the words of the Litany, my soul knew
the wondrous meaning, for every word was
a word of the soul's language that speaks of
the Eternal love and care of the Eternal
Father. So softly and so living were the re-
flections from his beautiful personality, that
one needed not spoken words to be inter-
preted. And this Pilgrim came away re-
newed and refreshed to such a degree, that
the hard bands of formalism were replaced
by the freedom of love and light that will
ever make that sojourn there the prize mem-
ory and the Door of revelation never to be
closed again, and never becloud the glori-
ous Truth of Universal Brotherhood. A
calm, and glorious influence that claims the
heart and whispers to each of the pulsing
leaves of the great family in all experiences
of life, "Be not afraid. It is I!"— And
REFERENCES TO THE BAH A 'I FAITH
517
Friends present at the laying of the cornerstone of the first Baha'i Summer School
in Australia.
makes us long to help all the world to know
the meaning of those words spoken by The
Great Revealer, "Let us strive with heart
and soul that unity may dwell in the world."
And to catch the greatness of the word
"Strive," in quietness and reflection.
BY RENWICK J. G. MILLAR
Editor of John O'Groat Journal, Wick,
Scotland
I was in Chicago for only some ten days,
yet it would take a hundred chapters to
describe all the splendid sights and institu-
tions I was privileged to see. No doubt Chi-
cago has more than its fair share of alien
gangsters and gunmen, and the despicable
doings of this obnoxious class has badly
vitiated its civic life and reputation. But
for all that it is a magnificent city — in
many respects probably the finest in Amer-
ica; a city of which its residents have in-
numerable reasons to be proud. . . .
Every day indeed was filled up with sight-
seeing and the enjoyment of lavish hospi-
tality. One day, for example, I was enter-
tained to lunch at the Illinois Athletic Club
as the guest of Mr. Robert Black, a pros-
perous Scot belonging to Wigtonshire, who
is in the building trade. He is an ex-presi-
dent of the St. Andrew's Society. Mr. Fal-
coner and other Scots friends were present,
and they were all exceedingly kind and com-
plimentary. I could not, in short, have been
treated with more distinction if I had been
a prominent Minister of State instead of a
humble Scottish journalist out on a mission
of fraternity and good will.
On the same day I met by appointment
Mr. Albert R. Windust with whom I went
out to see the Baha'i Temple which is in
course of being erected at Wilmette, a
suburb of Chicago on the shore of Lake
Michigan. It is about an hour's ride out on
the elevated railway. Only the foundation
and basement have so far been constructed,
and the work was meanwhile stopped, but,
we understand, is now shortly to be re-
sumed. I have no hesitation in saying that
when completed this Temple will be one of
the most beautiful pieces of architecture in
the world. I had the privilege of an intro-
duction to the architect, a Frenchman, M.
Bourgeois, who speaks English fluently. We
spent a considerable time with him in his
beautiful studio overlooking the Lake, and
he did me the honour of showing me the
plans of the Temple, drawings which cost
him years of toil, and they are far beyond
anything I could have imagined in beauty
and spiritual significance. M. Bourgeois,
who is well advanced in years, is a genius
and mystic — a gentleman of charming per-
THE BAHA'f WORLD
sonality. In all that I had the pleasure of
seeing in his studio I had a privilege that is
given to few. My signature is in his per-
sonal book, which contains the names of
some of the great ones of the earth! Mr.
Windust, who is a leading Baha'i in the city,
is a quiet and humble man, but full of fine
ideas and ideals. He treated me with the
utmost brotherly courtesy. How is it, I
kept asking myself, that it should be mine
to have all this privilege and honour? There
was no reason save that they told me I had
touched the chords of truth and sincerity in
referring to and reviewing the Baha'i writ-
ings and principles in a few short articles in
this Journal. The Temple is designed to
represent these principles — universal religion,
universal brotherhood, universal education,
and the union of science and religion. Mean-
time the Chicagoans are seemingly indiffer-
ent to all its spiritual significance; but some
day they will wake up to a realisation of the
fact that its symbolism will mark the city
as one of destiny in the world.
BY CHARLES H. PRISK
Editor, Pasadena Star News
Humanity is the better, the nobler, for
the Baha'i Faith. It is a Faith that enriches
the soul; that takes from life its dross.
I am prompted thus to express myself be-
cause of what I have seen, what I have heard,
what I have read of the results of the Move-
ment founded by the Reverend Baha'u'llah.
Embodied within that Movement is the
spirit of world brotherhood; that brother-
hood that makes for unity of thought and
action.
Though not a member of the Baha'i Faith,
I sense its tremendous potency for good.
Ever is it helping to usher in the dawn of
the day of "Peace on Earth Good Will to
Men." By the spread of its teachings, the
Baha'i cause is slowly, yet steadily, making
the Golden Rule' a practical reality.
With the high idealism of BahaVllih as
its guide, the Baha'i Faith is as the shining
light that shineth more and more unto the
perfect day. Countless are its good works.
For example, to the pressing economic prob-
lems it gives a new interpretation, a new
solution. But above all else it is causing
peoples everywhere to realize they are as one,
by heart and spirit divinely united.
And so I find joy in paying this little trib-
ute to a cause that is adding to the sweetness,
the happiness, the cleanness of life.
BY PROF. HARI PRASAD SHASTRI, D.Lnr.
My contact with the Baha'i Movement
and my acquaintance with its teachings,
given by Haqhrat-i-Baha'u'llah, have filled
me with real joy, as I see that this Move-
ment, so cosmopolitan in its appeal, and so
spiritual in its advocacy of Truth, is sure
to bring peace and joy to the hearts of mil-
lions.
Free from metaphysical subtleties, prac-
tical in its outlook, above all sectarianism,
and based on God, the substratum of the
human soul and the phenomenal world, the
Baha'i Movement carries peace and illumina-
tion with it.
As long as it is kept free from orthodoxy
and church-spirit, and above personalities, it
will continue to be a blessing to its fol-
lowers.
BY SHRI PUROHIT SWAMI
I am in entire sympathy with all of the
principles that the Baha'i Movement stands
for; there is nothing which is contrary to
what I am preaching. I think at this stage
of the world such teachings are needed more
than anything else. I find the keynote of
the Teachings is the spiritual regeneration of
the world. The world is getting more and
more spiritually bankrupt every day, and if
it requires anything it requires spiritual life.
The Baha'i Movement stands above all caste,
creed and color and is based on pure spiritual
unity.
BY PROF. HERBERT A. MILLER
In World Unify Magazine
The central drive of the Baha'i Move-
ment is for human unity. It would secure
this through unprejudiced search for truth,
making religion conform to scientific dis-
REFERENCES TO THE BAHA'f FAITH
519
covery and insisting that fundamentally all
religions are alike. For the coming of uni-
versal peace, there is great foresight and wis-
dom as to details. Among other things there
should be a universal language; so the Baha'i s
take a great interest in Esperanto though
they do not insist on it as the ultimate lan-
guage. No other religious movement has
put so much emphasis on the emancipation
and education of women. Everyone should
work whether rich or poor and poverty
should be abolished. . . . What will be the
course of the Baha'i Movement no one can
prophesy, but I think it is no exaggeration
to claim that the program is the finest fruit
of the religious contribution of Asia.
BY VISCOUNT SAMUEL, G.C.B., M.P.
In John O'London's Weekly,
March 25th, 1933.
1.
It is possible indeed to pick out points of
fundamental agreement among all creeds.
That is the essential purpose of the Baha'i
Religion, the foundation and growth of
which is one of the most striking move-
ments that have proceeded from the East in
recent generations.
2.
If one were compelled to choose which
of the many religious communities of the
world was closest to the aim and purpose of
this Congress, I think one would be obliged
to say that it was the comparatively little
known Baha'i Community. Other faiths
and creeds have to consider, at a Congress
like this, in what way they can contribute
to the idea of world fellowship. But the
Baha'i Faith exists almost for the sole pur-
pose of contributing to the fellowship and
the unity of mankind.
Other communities may consider how far
a particular element of their respective faith
may be regarded as similar to those of other
communities, but the Baha'i Faith exists for
the purpose of combining in one synthesis
all those elements in the various faiths which
are held in common. And that is why I
suggest that this Bahd'i community is really
more in agreement with the main idea which
has led to the summoning of the Congress
than any particular one of the great re-
ligious communities of the world.
Its origin was in Persia where a mystic
prophet, who took the name of the Bab, the
"Gate," began a mission among the Persians
in the earlier part of the nineteenth century.
He collected a considerable number of ad-
herents. His activities were regarded with
apprehension by the Government of Persia
of that day. Finally, he and his leading dis-
ciples were seized by the -forces of the Persian
Government and were shot in the year 1850.
In spite of the persecution, the movement
spread in Persia and in many countries of
Islam. He was followed as the head of the
Community by the one who has been its
principal prophet and exponent, Baha'u'llah.
He was most active and despite persecution
and imprisonment made it his life's mission
to spread the creed which he claimed to
have received by direct divine revelation.
He died in 1892 and was succeeded as the
head of the Community by his son, 'Abdu'l-
Baha, who was born in 1844. He was living
in Haifa, in a simple house, when I went
there as High Commissioner in 1920, and I
had the privilege of one or two most in-
teresting conversations with him on the
principles and methods of the Baha'i Faith.
He died in 1921 and his obsequies were at-
tended by a great concourse of people. I
had the honour of representing His Majesty
the King on that occasion.
Since that time, the Baha'i Faith has se-
cured the support of a very large number
of communities throughout the world. At
the present time it is estimated that there
are about eight hundred Baha'i communi-
ties in various countries. In the United
States, near Chicago, a great Temple, now
approaching completion, has been erected by
American adherents to the faith, with as-
sistance from elsewhere. Shoghi Effendi, the
grandson of 'Abdu'1-Baha, is now the head
of the community. He came to England
and was educated at Balliol College, Ox-
ford, but now lives in Haifa, and is the
center of a community which has spread
throughout the world.
(Introductory address delivered at the
Baha'i session of the World Congress of
Faiths, held in London, July, 1936.)
520
THE BAHA'l WORLD
BY REV. K. T. CHUNG
Last summer upon my return from a
visit to Japan, I had the pleasure of meeting
Mrs. Keith Ransom-Kehler on the boat. It
was learnt that this lady is a teacher of the
Baha'i Cause, so we conversed upon various
subjects of human life very thoroughly. It
was soon found that what the lady imparted
to me came from the source of Truth as I
have felt inwardly all along, so I at once
realized that the Baha'i Faith can offer
numerous and profound benefits to mankind.
My senior, Mr. Y. S. Tsao, is a well-read
man. His mental capacity and deep experi-
ence are far above the average man. He
often said that during this period of our
country when old beliefs have lost their hold
upon the people, it is absolutely necessary
to seek a religion of all-embracing Truth
which may exert its powerful influence in
saving the situation. For the last ten years,
he has investigated indefatigably into the
teachings of the Baha'i Cause. Recently,
he has completed his translations of the book
on the New Era and showed me a copy of
the proof. After carefully reading it, I
came to the full realization that the Truth
as imparted to me by Mrs. Ransom-Kehler
is veritable and unshakeable. This Truth
of great value to mankind has been emi-
nently translated by Mr. Tsao and now the
Chinese people have the opportunity of read-
ing it, and I cannot but express my pro-
found appreciation for the same. . . .
Should the Truth of the Baha'i Faith be
widely disseminated among the Chinese peo-
ple, it will naturally lead to the coming of
the Kingdom of Heaven. Should every-
body again exert his efforts towards the ex-
tension of this beneficent influence through-
out the world, it will then bring about world
peace and the general welfare of humanity.
(From Rev. K. T. Chung's Preface to the
Chinese version of Dr. Esslemont's Book.)
BY PROF. DIMITRY KAZAROV
University, Sofia, Bulgaria
Une des causes principales de la situation
actuelle du monde c'est que 1'humanite est
trop en arriere encore dans son deVeloppe-
ment spirituel. Voila pourquoi tout enseig-
nement qui a pour but a eveiller et fortifier
la conscience morale et religieuse des hommes
est d'une importance capitale pour 1'avenir
de notre race. Le Baha'i sme est un de ces
enseignements. II a ce merite qu'en portant
des principes qui sont communs de toutes
les grandes religions (et specialement du
christianisme) cherche a les adapter aux con-
ditions de la vie actuelle et a la psychologic
de 1'homme moderne. En outre il travail
pour 1'union des hommes de toute nationalite
et race dans une conscience morale et re-
ligieuse commune. Il n'a pas la prevention
d'etre autant une religion nouvelle qu'un
trait d'union entre les grandes religions ex-
ist antes: ce sur quoi il insiste surtout ce n'est
pas d'abandoner la religion a laquelle nous
appartenons deja pour en chercher une autre,
mais a faire un effort pour trouver dans
cette meme religion Pelement qui nous unit
aux autres et d'en faire la force determi-
nante de notre conduite toute entiere. Cet
element (commun a toutes les grandes re-
ligions) c'est la conscience que nous sommes
avant tout des etres spirituels, unis dans une
meme entite spirituelle dont nous ne sommes
que des parties-unies entre elles par 1'attribut
fondamental de cette entite spirituelle — a
savoir I'amour. Manifester, realiser, de-
velopper chez nous et chez les autres (sur-
tout chez les enfants) cette conscience de
notre nature spirituelle et I'amour comme
son attribut fondamental c'est la chose prin-
cipale que nous devons poursuivre avant
tout et par toutes les manifestations de no-
tre activite. C'est en meme temps le seul
moyen par lequel nous pouvons esperer de
realiser une union toujours grandissant parmi
les hommes.
Le Bahd'isme est un des enseignements
qui cherche a eveiller chez nous — n'importe
a quelle religion nous appartenons — juste-
ment cette conscience de notre nature spiri-
tuelle.
Il y a plus de 20 ans un groupe d'hommes
et femmes de differentes nationalites et re-
ligions, animes par le desir de travailler pour
1'union des peuples, ont commence* a publier
un journal en esperanto sous le titre "Uni-
versala Unigo." Le premier article du pre-
mier numero de ce journal etait consacre* au
Baha'isme et a son fondateur. Il me semble
REFERENCES TO THE BAHA'f FAITH
521
que ce fait est une preuve eclatante de ce
que je viens de dire sur le Baha'isme.
BY REV. GRIFFITH J. SPARHAM
Highgate Hill Unitarian Christian Church,
London, England
In his book "A League of Religions," the
Rev. J. Tyssul Davis, formerly minister of
the Theistic Church in London, and at pres-
ent minister of a Unitarian Church in Bris-
tol, England, the writer sets out to, demon-
strate that each great religious movement
in the world has contributed something of
peculiar importance to the spiritual life of
man. Thus, he says, the great contribution
of Zoroastrianism has been the thought of
Purity; of Brahmanism that of Justice; of
Muhammadanism that of Submission; of
Christianity that of Service; and so on. In
each instance he lays his finger on the one
thing par excellence for which the particu-
lar religious culture seemed to him to stand,
and tries to catch its special contribution in
an epigrammatic phrase. Coming, in this
way, to Baha'ism, he names it "the Religion
of Reconciliation." In his chapter on
Baha'ism he says:
"The Baha'i religion has made its way
because it meets the need of the day. It fits
the larger outlook of our time, better than
the rigid older faiths. A characteristic is
its unexpected liberality and toleration. It
accepts all the great religions as true and
their scriptures as inspired."
These, then, as he sees Baha'i sm, are its
essential features: liberality, toleration, the
spirit of reconciliation; and that, not in the
sense, as Mr. H. G. Wells has it in his "Soul
of a Bishop," of making a "collection" of
approved portions of the world's varied and
differing creeds, but in the sense, as he also
puts it in the same book, of achieving a
great "simplification."
"Baha'ists," says Dr. Davis, "bid the fol-
lowers of these (that is, the world's) faiths
disentangle from the windings of racial, par-
ticularist, local prejudices, the vital, im-
mortal thread of the pure gospel of eternal
worth, and to apply this essential element
to life/'
That is Dr. Davis's interpretation of the
genius of Baha'ism, and that it is a true one,
no one who has studied Baha'ism, even su-
perficially, can question, least of all the out-
sider. Indeed one may go further and assert
that no one who has studied Baha'ism,
whether superficially or otherwise, would
wish to question it; particularly if he ap-
proaches the subject from a liberal and un-
prejudiced point of view. In the last act
of his "Wandering Jew," Mr. Temple Thur-
ston puts into the mouth of Matteos, the
Wandering Jew himself, the splendid line,
"All men are Christians — all are Jews." He
might equally well have written, "All men
are Christians — all are Baha'is." For, if the
sense of the Unity of Truth is a predomi-
nant characteristic of liberally-minded peo-
ple, whatever may be their religious tradi-
tion, it is predominantly a characteristic of
Baha'ism; since here is a religious system
based, fundamentally, on the one, simple,
profound, comprehensive doctrine of the
unity of God, which carries with it, as its
necessary corollary and consequence, the
parallel doctrine of the unity of Man.
This, at all events, is the conviction of
the present writer; and it is why, as a Uni-
tarian, building his own faith on the same
basic principles of divine and human unity,
he has long felt sympathy with and good
will toward a religious culture which stands
on a foundation identical with that of the
faith he holds. And a religion that affirms
the unity of things must of necessity be a
religion of reconciliation; the truth of which
in the case of Baha'ism is clear.
BY ERNEST RENAN
Passage tire de Renan "Les Apotres, P."
Edition Levy, Paris, 1866
Notre siecle a vu des mouvements reli-
gieux tout aussi extraordinaires que ceux
d'autrefois, mouvements qui ont provoque
autant d'enthousiasme, qui ont eu deja, pro-
portion gardee, plus de martyrs, et dont
Pavenir est encore incertain.
Je ne parle pas des Mormons, secte a
quelques egards si sotte et si abjecte que
Ton hesite a la prendre au serieux.
II est instructif, cependant, de voir en
plein 19eme stecle des milliers d'hommes de
522
THE BAHA'f WORLD
notre race vivant dans le miracle, croyant
avec une foi aveugle des merveilles qu'ils
disent avoir vues et touchees. II y a deja
toute une litterature pour montrer Paccord
du mormonisme et de la science; ce qui
vaut mieux, cette religion, fondee sur de
niaises impostures, a su accomplir des pro-
diges de patience et d'abnegation; dans
cinq cents ans des docteurs prouveront sa
divinite par les merveilles de son etablisse-
ment.
Le Babisme, en Perse, a ete un phenomene
autrement considerable. Un homme doux et
sans aucune pretention, une sorte de Spinoza
modeste et pieux, s'est vu, presque malgre
lui, eleve au rang de thaumaturge d'incar-
nation divine, et est devenu le chef d'une
secte nombreuse, ardente et fanatique, qui
a f ailli amener une revolution comparable a
celle de PIslam. Des milliers de martyrs
sont accourus pour lui avec Pallegresse au-
devant de la mort. Un jour sans pareil peut-
etre dans Phistoire du monde fut celui de la
grande boucherie qui se fit des Babis, a
Teheran. "On vit ce jour-la dans les rues
et les bazars de Teheran," dit un narrateur
qui a tout su d'original, "un spectacle que la
population semble devoir n'oublier jamais.
Quand la conversation encore aujourd'hui
se met sur cette matiere, on peut juger Tad-
miration melee d'horreur que la foule
eprouve et que les annees n'ont pas diminuee.
On vit s'avancer entre les bourreaux des en-
fants et des femmes les cjiairs ouvertes sur
tout le corps, avec des meches allumees, flam-
bantes, fichees dans les blessures. On trainait
les victimes par des cordes et on les faisait
marcher a coups de fouet. Enfants et
femmes s'avangaient en chantant un verset
qui dit: En verite nous venons de Dieu et
nous retournons a Lui. Leurs voix s'ele-
vaient, ^clatantes, au-dessus du silence pro-
fond de la foule. Quand un des supplicie*s
tombait et qu'on le faisait relever a coups de
fouet ou de bai'onnette, pour peu que la
perte de son sang qui ruisselait sur tous ses
membres lui laissat encore un peu de force,
il se mettait a danser et criait avec un sur-
croi d'enthousiasme: "En verite nous
sommes a Dieu et nous retournons a Lui."
Quelques-uns des enf ants expire rent pendant
le trajet; les bourreaux jet^rent leurs corps
sous les pieds de leurs peres et de leurs soeurs,
qui marcherent fierement dessus et ne leur
donnerent pas deux regards. Quand on
arriva au lieu d'execution, on proposa encore
aux victimes la vie pour leur abjuration. Un
bourreau imagina de dire a un pere que, s'il
ne cedait pas, il couperait la gorge a ses deux
fils sur sa poitrine. C'etaient deux petits
gardens dont Pain^ avait 14 ans et qui,
rouges de leur sang, les chairs calcinees,
ecoutaient froidement le dialogue; le pere
repondit, en se couchant par terre, qu'il
etait pret et Paine des enfants, reclamant
avec emportement son droit d'ainesse, de-
manda a etre egorge le premier.1 Enfin tout
fut acheve. La nuit tomba sur un amas de
chairs informes; les tetes etaient attachees
en paquets au poteau justicier et les chiens
des faubourgs se dirigeaient par troupes de
ce cote.
Cela se passait en 1852. La secte de
Mozdak sous Chosroes Nousch fut etouffee
dans un pareil bain de sang. Le devoue-
ment absolu est pour les nations nai'ves la
plus exquise des jouissances et une sorte de
besoin. Dans Paffaire des Babis, on vit des
gens qui etaient a peine de la secte, venir se
denoncer eux-memes afin qu'on les adjoignit
aux patients. 1 1 est si doux a Phomme de
soufTrir pour quelque chose, que dans bien
des cas Pappat du martyre suffit pour faire
croire.
Un disciple qui fut le campagnon de sup-
plice du Bab, suspendu a cote de lui aux
remparts de Tabriz et attendant la mort,
n'avait qu'un mot a la bouche: "Es-tu con-
tent de moi, maitre?"
BY HON. LILIAN HELEN MONTAGUE,
J.P., D.H.L.
As a Jewess I am interested in the Baha'i
Community. The teaching lays particular
stress on the Unity of God and the Unity
of Man, and incorporates the doctrine of the
Hebrew Prophets that the Unity of God is
revealed in the Unity of men. Also, we
1 Un autre detail que je tiens de source premiere
est celui-ci: Quelques sect air es, qu'on voulait amener
a retractation, furent attaches a la gueule de canons
amorce's d'une meche longue et brulant lentement.
On leur proposait de couper la meche, s'ils reniaient
le Bib. Eux, les bras tendus vers le feu, le sup-
pliaient de se hater et de venir bien vite consommer
leur bonheur.
REFERENCES TO THE BAHA'f FAITH
523
seem to share the conception of God's mes-
sengers as being those people who in their
deep reverence for the attributes of God, His
beauty, His truth, His righteousness and His
justice, seek to imitate Him in their imper-
fect human way. The light of God is re-
flected in the soul of him who seeks to be
receptive. Like the members of the Baha'i
community, we Jews are scattered all over
the world, but united in a spiritual brother-
hood. The Peace ideal enumerated by the
Hebrew Prophets is founded on faith in the
ultimate triumph of God's justice and right-
eousness.
BY NORMAN BENTWICH
"Palestine may indeed be now regarded
as the land not of three but of four faiths,
because the Baha'i creed, which has its center
of faith and pilgrimage in Acre and Haifa, is
attaining to the character of a world-re-
ligion. So far as its influence goes in the
land, it is a factor making for international
and interreligious understanding."
(From "Palestine*' by Norman Bentwich,
p. 235.)
BY EMILE SCHREIBER
1.
Trots prophetes
Alors que le marxisme sovietique proclame
le materialisme historique, alors que les jeunes
generations sionistes sont egalement de plus
en plus indiffe rentes aux croyances etablies,
une nouvelle religion est ne'e en Orient, et
sa doctrine prend, dans les circonstances ac-
tuelles, un interet d'autant plus grand que,
s'ecartant du domaine purement philoso-
phique, elle preconise en economic politique
des solutions qui coincident curieusement
avec les preoccupations de notre epoque.
Cette religion, de plus, est par essence
antiraciste. Elle est nee en Perse, vers 1840,
et les trois prophetes successifs qui 1'ont
prechee sont des Persans, c'est-a-dire des
musulmans de naissance.
Le premier, le createur, s'appelait le Bab.
Jl precha vers 1850, et pre*conisa, outre la
reconciliation des diflferents cultes qui divi-
sent 1'humanite, la liberation de la femme,
reduite aujourd'hui encore a un quasi escla-
vage dans tout Plslam.
Une Persane d'une rare beaute, et qui,
chose rare chez les musulmanes, etait douee
d'un grand talent oratoire, repondant au
nom difficile a prononcer de Qourratou-'l-
'A'in, 1'accompagna dans ses reunions, n'hesi-
tant pas, en donnant elle-meme Pexemple, a
preconiser la suppression du voile pour les
femmes.
Le Bab et elle reussirent a convaincre, a
Pepoque, des dizaines'de milliers de Persans
et le shah de Perse les emprisonna 1'un et
1'autre, ainsi que la plupart de leurs partisans.
Le Bab fut pendu. Sa belle collaboratrice
fut etranglee dans sa prison. Leurs disciples
furent exiles a Saint- Jean- d* Ac re, devenue
temple du "Baha'isme." C'est ainsi que j'ai
visite la maison du successeur du Bab, Baha'-
u'llah, transformed aujourd'hui en temple
du "Baha'isme." C'est ainsi que s'intitule
cette religion, qui est plutot une doctrine
philosophique, car elle ne comporte ni culte
defini, ni surtout de clerge. Les pretres,
disent les Baha'istes, sont tentes de fausser,
dans un but de lucre, 1'idealisme desinteresse
des createurs de religions.
Baha'u'llah, le principal des trois pro-
phetes, repandit sa doctrine non seulement en
Orient, mais dans beaucoup de pays d'Eu-
rope, et surtout aux £tats-Unis ou son in-
fluence fut telle que le nombre des Baha'istes
attient aujourd'hui plusieurs millions. II
fut persecute* par les Perses et mourut en
exil.
Son fils, 'Abdu'1-Baha, lui succeda et for-
mula, d'apres les principes de son pere, la
doctrine economique du Baha'isme; elle
indique une prescience etonnante des
evenements qui se sont deroules depuis:
la guerre d'abord, la crise ensuite. II
mourut peu apres la guerre, ayant vu la
realisation de la premiere partie de ses pro-
pheties.
L'originalite du Bahi'isme est de chercher
a faire passer dans le domaine pratique, et
plus particulierement dans le domaine social,
les principes essentiels du judalsme, du ca-
tholicisme et de 1'islamisme, en les combi-
nant et en les adaptant aux besoins de notre
Epoque.
Le Bah&'isme proclame que les rapports
sociaux deviennent fatalement impossibles
524
THE BAHA'f WORLD
dans une societe ou Pidealisme individuel ne
donne pas une base certaine aux engagements
qui lient les hommes entre eux.
L'individu se sent de plus en plus isole
au milieu d'une jungle sociale qui menace, a
beaucoup d'egards, son bien-etre et sa se-
curite. La bonne volonte* et Phonnetete, ne
produisant plus dans sa vie et dans son tra-
vail le resultat qu'il attend, tendent a perdre
pour lui toute valeur pratique. De la nais-
sent, selon les caracteres, Pindifference et le
decouragement, ou Paudace, le manque
de scrupules qui tendent a se procurer
par tous les moyens, meme les plus r^pre-
hensibles, les benefices materiels necessaires
a Pexistence.
La societe, n'etant plus soumise a aucun
controle, ni politique ni moral, devient un
vaisseau sans gouvernail ou personne ne peut
plus rien prevoir et qui est sujet a des crises
de plus en plus f requentes et de plus en plus
violentes. L'epoque actuelle, declarent les
prophetes persans, marque la fin d'une civili-
sation qui ne sert plus les interets de Phu-
manite.
Elle aboutit a la faillite complete des in-
stitutions morales et materielles destinees a
assurer le bien-etre et la securite des hommes,
c'est-a-dire P£tat, P£glise, le Commerce et
Plndustrie. Le principe fondamental d'ou
peut venir le salut de la civilisation engagee
dans des voies qui conduisent a sa destruction
est la solidarite des nations et des races. Car
Pinterpene*tration des peuples est devenue
telle qu'il leur est impossible de trouver isole-
ment la voie de la prosperite.
Ces propheties, qui pouvaient paraitre ex-
cessives et quelque peu pessimistes a Pepoque
ou elles ont e*te* faites, vers 1890, ne sont
pas, les evenements Pont prouve', de simples
jeremiades. II reste a examiner comment,
partant de ces donnees, qui ne sont que trop
exactes, le Baha'isme, congu dans la Perse
lointaine et si arrieree a Pepoque, aboutit
aux memes conclusions que la plupart des
economistes modernes qui, dans les differents
pays de civilisation occidentale, proclament
qu'en dehors d'une collaboration Interna-
tionale il n'y a pas d'issue possible a la crise
actuelle entrainant tous les peuples a une
misere toujours plus grande.
(From LES ficnos, Paris, France, Septem-
ber 27, 1933.)
2.
Une religion "econotnique"
Les principes du Baha'isme, fprmules par
son principal prophete, Baha'u'llah? peuvent
paraitre serieusement compromis en un temps
oil la frene*sie nationaliste, recemment ag-
gravee de racisme, semble en eloigner de plus
en plus Papplication.
Toute la question est de savoir si ceux qui
sont en faveur aujourd'hui, dans tant de
pays, sont susceptibles de resoudre le pro-
bleme non pas de la prosperite, mais simple-
ment du logement et de la faim, dans les
difTercntes nations qui nient par leurs theo-
ries et tous leurs actes la solidarite des peuples
et des races.
Une nouvelle guerre mondiale sera sans
doute necessaire pour que Phumanite, qui
n'a pas encore compris la lec.on de 1914, se
rende enfin compte que les solutions de vio-
lence et de conquete ne peuvent engendrer
que la ruine generate, sans profit pour aucun
des belligerants.
Quoi qu'il en soit, les principales pensees
economiques de Baha'u'llJh, telles qu'elles
ont etc formulees il y a un demisiecle, prou-
vent que la sagesse et le simple bon sens ont
cela de commun avec les ecrevisses, c'est qu'il
leur arrive frequemment de marcher a re-
culons.
Voici les principaux preceptes de ce
moderne Marc-Aurele:
"L'evolution humaine se divise en cycles
organiques, correspondant a la duree d'une
religion, laquelle est d'environ un millier
d'annees. Un cycle social nouveau com-
mence toutes les fois qu'apparait un prophete
dont Pinfluence et les enseignements renou-
vellent la vie interieure de Phomme et font
deferler a travers le monde une nouvelle
vague de progres.
"Chaque nouveau cycle detruit les croy-
ances et les institutions usees du cycle prece-
dent et fonde sur d'autres croyances, en
etroite conformite, celles-la, avec les besoins
actuels de Phumanite', une civilisation nou-
velle.
"L'influence de chaque prophete s'est, dans
le passe, limitee a une race ou a une religion,
en raison de Pisolement g^ographique des
regions et des races, mais le siecle dans lequel
nous entrons necessite la creation d'un ordre
REFERENCES TO THE BAHA'f FAITH
52$
organique s'etendant au monde entier. Si le
vieil esprit de tribu persiste, la science de-
truira le monde, ses forces destructrices ne
pouvant £tre controlees que par une hu-
manite imie travaillant pour la prosperite et
le bien commun.
"La loi de la lutte pour la vie n'existe plus
pour Phomme des qu'il devient conscient de
ses pouvoirs spirituels et moraux. Elie est
alors remplacee par la loi plus haute de la
cooperation. Sous cette loi, Pindividu jouira
d'un statut beaucoup plus large que celui
qui est accorde aux citoyens passifs du corps
politique actuel. L'administration publique
passera des mains de partisans politiques qui
trahissent la cause du peuple aux mains
d'hommes capables de considerer une charge
publique comme une mission sacree.
"La stability economique ne depend pas
de Papplication de tel plan socialiste ou
communiste plus ou moins theorique, mais
du sentiment de la solidarite morale qui unit
tous les hommes et de cette conception que
les richesses ne sont pas la fin de la vie, mais
seulement un moyen de vivre.
"L'important n'est pas en une aveugle
soumission generale a tel systeme politique,
a tel reglement, qui ont pour effet de sup-
primer chez Pindividu tout sentiment de
responsabilite morale, mais en un esprit
d'entr'aide et de cooperation. Ni le principe
democratique, ni le principe aristocratique
ne peuvent fournir separement a la societe
une base solide. La democratic est impuis-
sante contre les querelles intestines et Paris-
tocratie ne subsiste que par la guerre. Une
combinaison des deux principes est done
necessaire.
"En cette periode de transition entre le
vieil age de la concurrence et Pere nouvelle
de la cooperation, la vie meme de Phuma-
nite est en peril. Les ambitions nationalistes,
la lutte des classes, la peur et les convoitises
economiques sont autant de forces qui pous-
sent a une nouvelle guerre internationale.
Tous les Gouvernements du monde doivent
soutenir et organiser une assemble dont les
membres soient elus par Pelite des nations.
Ceux-ci devront mettre au point, au-dessus
des e*goismes particuliers, le nouveau statut
economique du monde en dehors duquel tous
les pays, mais surtout PEurope, seront con-
duits aux pires catastrophes.'*
'Abdu'1-Bahd, son successeur, reprenant la
doctrine de son pere, concluait dans un dis-
cours prononce a New- York en 1912:
"La civilisation materielle a atteint, en
Occident, le plus haut degre de son develop-
pement. Mais c'est en Orient qu'a pris nais-
sance et que s'est developpee la civilisation
spirituelle. Un lien s'e*tablira entre ces deux
forces, et leur union est la condition de
Pimmense progres qui doit etre accompli.
"Hors de la, la securite et la confiance
feront de plus en plus defaut, les luttes et
les dissensions s'accroitront de jour en jour
et les divergences entre nations s'accentue-
ront davantage. Les pays augmenteront
constamment leurs armements; la guerre,
puis la certitude d'une autre guerre mondiale
angoisseront de plus en plus les esprits.
L'unite du genre humain est le premier fon-
dement de toutes les vertus."
Ainsi parla *Abdu'l-Baha en 1912, et tout
se passa comme il Pavait*predit.
Mais ces paroles n'ont pas vieilli; elles
pourraient, sans le moindre changement,
etre repetees en 1933. Aujourd'hui, comme
il y a vingt ans, la menace de la guerre est
jie nouveau suspendue au-dessus de nos tetes
et les causes de haines et de conflits s'accumu-
lent a tel point que, s'il existe vraiment un
flux et un reflux des idees, on peut presque
conclure, avec une certaine dose d'optimisme,
que nous n'avons jamais etc si pres de venir
aux idees de cooperation qui, seules, peuvent
nous sauver.
(From LES £CHOS, Paris, France, Septem-
ber 28, 1933.)
3.
Malgre les tristesses de notre epoque et
peut-etre meme a cause d'elles, je reste con-
vaincue que les idees a la fois divines et
humaines qui sont Pessence du Baha'isme
finiront par triompher, pourvu que chacun
de ceux qui en comprennent Pimmense in-
teret continue quoi qu'il advienne a les de-
fendre et a les propager.
(Excerpt from a letter dated October 29,
1934.)
BY DR. ROKUICHIRO MASUJIMA
"The Japanese race is of rational mind.
No superstition can play with it. Japan is
526
THE BAHA'f WORLD
the only country in the world where re-
ligious tolerance has always existed. The
Japanese Emperor is the patron of all re-
ligious teachings. The Baha'i publications
now form part of His Majesty's Library as
accepted by the Imperial House. . . .
"The search for truth and universal edu-
cation inculcated by the Baha'i Teachings, if
soundly conducted, cannot fail to interest
the Japanese mind. Baha'ism is bound to
permeate the Japanese race in a short time."
BY Miss HELEN KELLER
The philosophy of Baha'u'lUh deserves the
best thought we can give it. I am return-
ing the book so that other blind people who
have more leisure than myself may be
"shown a ray of Divinity" and their hearts
be "bathed in an inundation of eternal love."
I take this opportunity to thank you for
your kind thought of me, and for the in-
spiration which even the most cursory read-
ing of Baha'u'llah's life cannot fail to im-
part. What nobler theme than the "good
of the world and the happiness of the na-
tions" can occupy our lives? The message
of universal peace will surely prevail. It is
useless to combine or conspire against an
idea which has in it potency to create a
new earth and a new heaven and to quicken
human beings with a holy passion of service.
(In a personal letter written to an American
Baha'i after having read something from
the Braille edition of "Baha'u'lUh and the
New Era.")
BY SIR FLINDERS PETRIE
The Baha'i Movement of Persia should be
a welcome adjunct to true Christianity; we
must always remember how artificial the
growth of Latin Christian ideas has been as
compared with the wide and less defined
beliefs native to early Christian faith.
(In a letter to the "Daily Sketch," London,
England, December 16, 1932.)
wait for the diplomats. Diplomats alone
cannot bring the peace, but it is a great
thing that official people begin to speak
about these universal peace principles. Take
these principles to the diplomats, to the uni-
versities and colleges and other schools, and
also write about them. It is the people who
will bring the universal peace.
(In an audience with an American Baha'i
journalist in Praha, in 1928.)
BY ARCHDUCHESS ANTON OF AUSTRIA
Archduchess Anton of Austria, who be-
fore her marriage was Her Royal Highness
Princess Ileana of Rumania, in an audi-
ence with Martha L. Root, June 19, 1934,
in Vienna, gave the following statement
for The Bahd'i World, Vol. V: "I like the
Baha'i Movement, because it reconciles
all Faiths, and teaches that science is
from God as well as religion, and its ideal
is peace."
BY DR. HERBERT ADAMS GIBBONS
American Historian
I have had on my desk, and have read
several times, the three extracts from 'Abd-
u'1-Baha's Message of Social Regeneration.
Taken together, they form an unanswerable
argument and plea for the only way that the
world can be made over. If we could put
into effect this program, we should indeed
have a new world order.
"The morals of humanity must undergo
change. New remedy and solution for hu-
man problems must be adopted. Human
intellects themselves must change and be
subject to the universal reformation." In
these three sentences we really have it all.
(Excerpt from personal letter dated May
18, 1934.)
BY FORMER PRESIDENT MASARYK OF
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
Continue to do what you are doing, spread
these principles of humanity and do not
BY H. R. H. PRINCESS OLGA OF JUGOSLAVIA
H. R. H. Princess Olga, wife of H. R. H.
Prince Regent Paul of Jugoslavia, daughter
of H. R. H. Prince Nicholas of Greece and
cousin of His Majesty King George II of
Greece, is deeply interested in religion and
in education, and her wonderful kindnesses
to every one have been commented upon
REFERENCES TO THE BAHA'f FAITH
527
beautifully in several English books and
magazines as well as by the Balkan press.
"I like the Baha'i Teachings for universal
education and universal peace," said this
gracious Princess in her charming villa on
the Hill of Topcidor, Belgrade, on January
16, 1936; "I like the Baha'i Movement and
the Young Men's Christian Association, for
both are programs to unite religions. With-
out unity no man can live in happiness."
Princess though she is, she stressed the im-
portant truth that every man must do his
job! "We are all sent into this world for a
purpose and people are too apt to forget the
Presence of God and true religion. I wish
the Baha'i Movement every success in the
accomplishment of its high ideals."
BY EUGEN RELGIS
Excerpt from Cosmometapolis, 1935,
pp. 108-109
Nous avons trace dans ces pages seulement
la signification du Bahaisme, sans examiner
tous ses principes et son programme pratique
dans lequel sont harmonisees avec 1'ideal re-
ligieux "les aspirations et les objectifs de la
science sociale." Mais on doit attirer 1'at-
tention de tous les esprits libres sur ce
mouvement, dont les promoteurs ont le
merite d'avoir contribue a la clarification de
Pancienne controverse entre la religion et la
science — et d'avoir donne a maint homme un
peu de leur tolerance et de leur optimisme:
"L'humanite ^tait jusqu'ici restee dans le
stade de Tenfance; elle approche maintenant
de la maturite" ('Abdu'1-Baha, Washington,
1912).
Qui osera repeter aujourd'hui, dans la
mele'e des haines nationales et sociales, cette
sentence de progres? C'est un Oriental qui
nous a dit cela, a nous, orgueilleux ou scep-
tiques Occidentaux. Nous voudrions voir
aujourd'hui, dans PAllemagne hitleriste, dans
les pays terrorises par le f ascisme, paralyses
par la dictature politique, — un spectacle
d£crit par le suisse Auguste Fofel d'apr^s
Panglais Sprague qui a vue en Birmanie et
en Inde, des bouddhistes, des mahom£tans,
des chretiens et des juifs, qui allaient bras-
dessus bras-dessous, comme des fr&res, "au
grand etonnement de la population qui n'a
jamais vu une chose pareille!"
BY ARTHUR HENDERSON
Excerpt from a letter dated
January 26, 1935
I have read the pamphlet on the "New
World Order" by Shoghi Effendi. It is an
eloquent expression of the doctrines which
I have always associated with the Baha'i
Movement and I would like to express my
great sympathy with the aspirations towards
world unity which underlie his teaching.
BY PROF. DR. V. LESNY
1.
The conditions are so changed now, since
the technique of the present time has de-
stroyed the barriers between nations, that
the world needs a uniting force, a kind of
super-religion. I think Baha'i sm could de-
velop to such a kind of religion. I am
quite convinced of it, so far as I know the
Teachings of Baha'u'llah. . . . There are
modern saviors and Baha'u'llah is a Savior
of the twentieth century. Everything must
be done on a democratic basis, there must
be international brotherhood. We must
learn to have confidence in ourselves and
then in others. One way to learn this is
through inner spiritual education, and a
way to attain such an education may be
through Baha'ism.
2.
I am still of the opinion that I had four
years ago that the Baha'i Movement can
form the best basis for international good-
will, and that Baha'u'llah Himself is
the Creator of an eternal bond between
the East and the West. . . . The Baha'i
Teaching is a living religion, a living phi-
losophy. . . .
I do not blame Christianity, it has done
a good work for culture in Europe, but
there are too many dogmas in Christianity
at the present time. . . . Buddhism was
very good for India from the sixth century
B.C. and the Teachings of Christ have been
good for the whole world; but as there is
a progress of mind there must be no stop-
ping and in the Bahd'i Faith one sees the
continued progress of religion.
528
THE BAHA'f WORLD
BY PRINCESS MARIE ANTOINETTE DE
BROGUE AUSSENAC
A cette cpoque ou Phumanite semble sor-
tie d'un long sommeil pour revivre a PEsprit,
consciemment ou inconsciemment, rhomme
cherche et s'elance a la poursuite de Tin-
visible et de sciences qui nous y conduisent.
L'angoisse religieuse aussi n'a jamais ete
plus intense.
Par sa grande evolution 1'homme actuel
est pret a recevoir le grand message de
BahaVllah dans son mouvement synthetique
qui nous fait passer de Tancienne compre-
hension des divisions a la comprehension
moderne ou nous cherchons a suivre les ondes
qui se propagent traversant toute limitation
humaine et de la creation.
Chaque combat que nous livrons a nos
penchants nous degage des voiles qui sepa-
rent le monde visible du monde invisible et
augmente en nous cette capacite de percep-
tion et de s'accorder aux longueurs d'ondes
les plus variees, de vibrer au contact des
rythmes les plus divers de la creation.
Tout ce qui nous vient directement de la
nature est toujours harmonic absolue. Le
tout est de capter Tequilibre de toute chose
et lui donner la voix au moyen d'un instru-
ment capable d'emettre les memes harmo-
nies que notre ame, ce qui nous fait vibrer
et devenir le lien entre le passe et Favenir en
attaignant une nouvelle etape correspondant
a revolution du monde.
En religion, la Cause de BahaVllah, qui
est la grande revelation de notre epoque, est
la meme que celle du Christ, son temple et
son fondement les memes mis en harmonic
avec le degre de maturite moderne.
BY DAVID STARR JORDAN
Late President of Stanford University
'Abdu'1-Baha will surely unite the East
and the West: for He treads the mystic way
with practical feet.
be optimists even when events seem to prove
the contrary! And Baha'is can be hopeful,
for there is a power in these Teachings to
bring to humanity tranquillity, peace and a
higher spirituality.
BY EX-GOVERNOR WILLIAM SULZER
While sectarians squabble over creeds, the
Baha'i Movement goes on apace. It is grow-
ing by leaps and bounds. It is hope and
progress. It is a world movement — and it is
destined to spread its effulgent rays of en-
lightenment throughout the earth until
every mind is free and every fear is ban-
ished. 'The friends of the Baha'i Cause be-
lieve they see the dawn of the new day — the
better day — the day of Truth, of Justice, of
Liberty, of Magnanimity, of Universal
Peace, and of International Brotherhood, the
day when one shall work for all, and all
shall work for one.
(Excerpt from the Roy croft Magazine)
BY LUTHER BURBANK
I am heartily in accord with the Baha'i
Movement, in which I have been interested
for several years. The religion of peace is
the religion we need and always have needed,
and in this Baha'i is more truly the religion
of peace than any other.
BY PROF. BOGDAN POPOVITCH
The Baha'i Teaching carries in its Mes-
sage a fine optimism — we must always in
spite of everything be optimists; we must
BY PROF. YONE NOGUCHI
I have heard so much about 'Abdu'1-Baha,
whom people call an idealist, but I should
like to call Him a realist, because no ideal-
ism, when it is strong and true, exists with-
out the endorsement of realism. There is
nothing more real than His words on truth.
His words are as simple as the sunlight;
again like the sunlight, they are universal.
. . . No Teacher, I think, is more important
today than 'Abdu'1-Baha.
BY PROFESSOR RAYMOND FRANK PIPER
These writings (Baha'i) are a stirring fu-
sion of poetic beauty and religious insight.
I, like another, have been "struck by their
comprehensiveness." I find they have ex-
traordinary power to pull aside the veils that
REFERENCES TO THE BAHA'f FAITH
529
darken my mind and to open new visions of
verity and life.
BY ANGELA MORGAN
One reason I hail with thanksgiving the
interpretation of religion known as the
Baha'i Faith and feel so deep a kinship with
its followers is that I recognize in its Revela-
tion an outreach of the Divine to stumbling
humanity; a veritable thrust from the ra-
diant Center of Life.
Every follower of this faith that I have
ever met impressed me as a living witness
to the glory at the heart of this universe.
Each one seemed filled with a splendor of
spirit so great that it overflowed all bounda-
ries and poured itself out upon the world
here in this moment of time, by some con-
centrated act of love toward another hu-
man being.
BY ARTHUR MOORE
The lovely peace of Carmel, which still
attracts mystics of different faiths, domi-
nates Haifa. On its summit are the Druses
in their two villages; at its feet the German
Templars, whose avenue leads up to the now
large and beautiful terraced property of the
Persian Baha'is on the mountainside. Here
the tombs of the Bab and of 'Abdu'1-Baha,
set in a fair garden, are a place of interna-
tional pilgrimage. On Sundays and holidays
the citizens of Haifa of all faiths come for
rest and recreation where lie the bones of
that young prophet of Shiraz who nearly a
hundred years ago preached that all men are
one and all the great religions true, and fore-
told the coming equality of men and women
and the birth of the first League of Nations.
BY PROF. DR. JAN RYPKA
The Baha'is of Iran are resolutely firm in
their religion. Their firmness does not have
its roots in ignorance. The Iranian inborn
character causes them to see things some-
what too great, slightly exaggerated, and
their dissensions with the ruling Islam make
them a little bitter towards it. Everything
else in their characters is accounted for as
due to their Teachings; they are wonderfully
ready to help and happy to sacrifice. Faith-
fully they fulfill their office and professional
duties. Long ago they already solved the
problem of the Eastern woman; their chil-
dren are carefully educated. They are some-
times reproached for their lack of patriotism.
Certainly, as specifically Iranian as the Shi'ih
Faith, the Baha'i Faith can never become;
but the Baha'i Religion like Christianity
does not preclude the love of one's father-
land. . . . Are the Europeans not suffi-
ciently patriotic! According to my experi-
ences, the Baha'is in that respect, are very
unjustly criticized by their Muhammadan
brothers. During the centuries the Shi'ih
Religion has developed a deep national tra-
dition; with this the universal Baha'i Faith
will have a hard battle. Nevertheless, the
lack of so great numbers is richly recom-
pensed by the fervor and the inner spirit of
the Iranian Baha'i Community. The Baha'i
world community will educate characters
which will appear well worthy of emulation
by people of other Faiths, yes, even by the
world of those now enemies of the Baha'i
Cause.
The experience acquired in the West, for
me was fully verified also in the Iranian
Orient. The Baha'i Faith is undoubtedly an
immense cultural value. Could all those
men whose high morality I admired and still
admire have reached the same heights only
in another way, without it? No, never! Is
it based only on the novelty of the Teach-
ings, and in the freshness of its closest fol-
lowers?
BY A. L. M. NICOLAS
Je ne sais comment vous remercier ni com-
ment vous exprimer la joie qui inonde mon
coeur. Ainsi done, il faut non seulement
admettre mais aimer et admirer le Bab.
Pauvre grand Prophete ne au fin fond de la
Perse sans aucun moyen d'instruction et qui
seul au monde, entoure d'ennemis, arrive par
la force de son genie a creer une religion
universelle et sage. Que Baha'u'llah lui ait,
par la suite, succede*, soit, mais je veux qu'on
admire la sublimite du Bab, qui a d'ailleurs
paye de sa vie, de son sang la reforme qu'il a
prechee. Citez-moi un autre exemple, sem-
blable. Enfin, je puis mourir tranquille.
530
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Gloire a Shoghi Effendi qui a calme mon
tourment et mes inquietudes, gloirc a lui
qui reconnais la valeur de Siyyid 'Ali-
Muhammad dit le Bab.
Je suis si content que je baise vos mains
qui ont trace mon adresse sur Penveloppe
qui m'apporte le message de Shoghi. Merci,
Mademoiselle. Merci du fond du coeur.
BY PRESIDENT EDUARD BENES
I have followed it (the Baha'i Cause)
with deep interest ever since my trip to
London to the First Races Congress in July,
1911, when I heard for the first time of the
Baha'i Movement and its summary of the
principles for peace. I followed it during
the war and after the war. The Baha'i
Teaching is one of the spiritual forces now
absolutely necessary to put the spirit first in
this battle against material forces. . . . The
Baha'i Teaching is one of the great instru-
ments for the final victory of the spirit and
of humanity.
IN MEMORIAM
ALFRED EASTMAN LUNT
BY Louis G. GREGORY AND HARLAN OBER
A,
.LFRED EASTMAN LUNT departed
this life, August 12, 1937, at his home in
Beverly, Massachusetts. His immediate fam-
ily— a widow and five children, and a host
of friends mourn his loss. His funeral was
attended by his relatives, neighbors and vis-
iting Baha'is from Green Acre and neigh-
boring centers. The service in its simplicity,
contained the solace of Heavenly Teachings
and prayers, and proved to be a means of
teaching others the Faith that he loved.
The National Spiritual Assembly, on
August 16, 1937, received the following ca-
blegram from the Guardian:
"Shocked distressed premature passing es-
teemed beloved Lunt. Future generations
will appraise his manifold outstanding con-
tributions to rise and establishment Faith
BahaVllah American continent. Commu-
nity his bereaved co-workers could ill afford
lose such critical period so fearless champion
their Cause. Request entire body their Na-
tional representatives assemble his grave pay
tribute my behalf to him who so long and
since inception acted as pillar institution
they represent. Convey Boston community
assurance prayers, deepest brotherly sympa-
thy their cruel irreparable loss."
He was for more than a generation one of
the most distinguished and useful servants
of BahaVllah. He was well prepared by
college and legal education at Harvard Uni-
versity. As a student he heard the Great
Message from Dr. 'Ali-Kuli Khan, lecturing
in the University. He obtained from it a
new life and inspiration toward achievement.
He had very unusual abilities which shone
in the field of writing and in his chosen
profession, the law.
As a youth he edited and published a
weekly newspaper. As a Harvard student,
he managed its Illustrated Magazine, making
it successful as a business enterprise. While
in college he was chosen President of its
Republican Club, and then President of the
National Republican College League, which
included clubs organized in most of the col-
leges of the United States. He served ac-
tively in this capacity in several Presidential
campaigns, and those acquainted with his
achievements, and the respect with which
he was held, are confident that had he not
chosen to turn his energies with concen-
trated attention toward the Baha'i Faith,
realizing that all other means were ineffec-
tive, he would have risen to positions of
great importance in the government.
As a lawyer, he became Solicitor of his na-
tive city, and an associate in a well estab-
lished and popular law firm in Boston.
Called by Miss Sarah J. Farmer to act as het
legal counsel, he took the leadership in evolv-
ing those plans that protected her spiritual
program and the Green Acre properties.
His services to the Green Acre Fellow-
ship, at a very critical period in its existence,
as well as over a number of years, were
perhaps among the most valuable of his ca-
reer, a career noteworthy for the variety and
number of its accomplishments. Although
the opposition retained very able counsel and
aroused adverse public sentiment and wide-
spread newspaper criticism, carrying the
matter to the Supreme Court of the State of
Maine, the final decision was a complete vic-
tory for the Baha'is and the friends of Miss
Farmer. A few years later, this victory hav-
ing established a new trend, Green Acre
came under the jurisdiction of the National
Spiritual Assembly, as the first Bah£'i Sum-
mer School in America.
Although greatly pleased with this evi-
dence of the legal and organizing ability of
Mr. Lunt, the head of his law business was
531
532
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Alfred E. Lunt.
greatly disturbed by the poignant press
criticism, linking his associate with the
Baha'i Faith. To the demand that he choose
between his activity in the Faith and his
remunerative position, Mr. Lunt chose to
open his own office.
In his work he was ever guided by the
Baha'i ideal of service, and his clientele was
a very broad one. His wise and sympa-
thetic understanding brought many clients
of foreign birth, and though often poor and
unable to pay adequately for his services, he
never failed them, but with wise guidance,
increased their understanding, and ac-
quainted them with the spirit and point of
view which was the inspiration of his own
life.
For many years he was counsel for an im-
portant Massachusetts Committee of Manu-
facturers and Merchants in the handling of
their legislative problems. This position
bringing him in close contact with outstand-
ing industrialists and merchants, not only
revealed his exceptional ability and leader-
ship, but also gave him an enormous fund
of experience which was destined to be of
great service to The Cause in the upbuilding
of the Administrative Order. In frequent
discussions with these important men he was
able to show them that the spirit and the
wisdom revealed in the Teachings of Baha'-
u'llah alone offered that solid foundation
upon which industrial peace could be built.
He was a patient and tireless worker, al-
ways devoted to principle and showing a
faith and courage worthy of the heroic age.
His personal interests were seemingly for-
gotten in his devotion to the Faith. But a
few years ago, when actually in the midst of
great financial difficulties, a very wealthy
friend offered to associate him in a law firm
with a minimum guarantee of an income an-
nually of ten thousand dollars. Although
it required no commitments on his part,
save to work, yet because it came from a
source which he felt might wish to affect
IN MEMORIAM
533
unfavorably his allegiance to his Faith, the
offer was refused.
The trials and vicissitudes of fortune ap-
peared only to confirm his faith, for in all
situations he showed those characteristics,
which 'Abdu'1-Baha, in referring to the
Green Acre controversy, described as "lion
hearted."
He was from the beginning of the Cause
in Boston, a member of its governing body.
During many years he was elected by the
Boston friends as one of the delegates to the
Annual Convention. Of this body, he was
many times chosen Chairman, the duties of
which office he discharged with extraordi-
nary ability. He conceived it to be his duty,
not only to be acquainted with all the im-
portant matters under consideration, and to
act with justice, but to stimulate all the del-
egates, in the assumption and exercise of
their privileges and responsibilities.
He was a member of the Baha'i Temple
Unity, the first corporation organized to
build the Mashriqu'l Adhkar. With the ex-
ception of two short intervals he had mem-
bership in the National Spiritual Assembly
during the entire period of its existence. In
these two national bodies, serving sometimes
as chairman, sometimes as secretary, and as
a member of its various committees, he
showed signal devotion and ability.
This brief account does not of course per-
mit a detailed report of a life of singular
dedication, of great breadth of interest, of
remarkable sincerity and courage. Those
privileged to have corresponded with him,
appreciated his understanding heart, and the
firmness and inspiration of his faith.
Mention, however, should be made of the
fact that he was not only outstanding as
an administrator with great range of vision
and exact knowledge of details regarding
the Cause in America, but he was also a
teacher whose addresses and writings were
characterized by spiritual insight, knowledge
of the Divine Teachings and understanding
of the needs of the soul. He delved deeply
into the inner meanings of the Sacred Writ-
ings, and followed closely those movements
which were affecting a rapidly changing so-
ciety.
He was affectionate and kind, reflecting
the Divine love in his readiness to serve the
neglected, poor and weak, a mark of true
nobility. He made himself one with people
of various races, classes and nationalities in
the line of service. He had his place also
among the strong, who drew upon his fine
endowment of power, and from whom, his
capacities and virtues won admiration.
Faithful unto death was he, traveling long
distances over the country for administra-
tion and teaching when his body was weak-
ened with a malady which finally proved
fatal. Meanwhile he showed no lessening of
spiritual attraction, devotion and power.
Just two days before his passing, he wrote
a most cheerful and hopeful letter to one of
his friends, telling of his plans for future
activities.
Those who mourned his passing were con-
soled by the spiritual fragrance that attended
it, and by the eloquent tributes paid him
by the Guardian's cables, as well as by the
testimony of many friends. An extraordi-
nary honor was shown him by the members
of the National Spiritual Assembly, which
body at the Guardian's request, and in his
behalf, journeyed to his grave, to offer
prayers. Truly his was the victorious life.
"The true man appeareth before the Mer-
ciful like unto the Heavens. His bright
and shining qualities are the stars. His traces
are the educators of existence." From the
Will of Baha'u'llah.
It is impossible, even for those who love
him, properly to evaluate his life, which the
future alone will truly disclose. It may be
said with absolute certainty, however, that
he lived and moved in the Divine Teach-
ings, and especially in his later years, in the
advices, the assurances and the sympathetic
understanding of the Guardian. The entire
loyalty of a heart, singularly pure and de-
voted, turned completely toward his Guard-
ian and the Guardian of the world.
In a letter to one of the American friends,
Shoghi Effendi wrote: "The passing of Mr.
Lunt constitutes yet another blow to the
American Baha'i Community, and leaves a
void in both the teaching and administrative
fields, which few of our present day be-
lievers can fill. The memory of his mani-
fold and undeniably rich and valuable serv-
ices will be deeply enshrined in the hearts
and minds of those who had the privilege
THE BAHA'f WORLD
of working closely with him, or had been
sufficiently informed about his tireless 'activi-
ties for the Faith. . . .
"Words fail to express the sorrow and re-
gret I feel at the untimely death of such a
precious, ardent and capable champion of
our beloved Faith. The loss is indeed irrep-
arable, for he was the living embodiment
of such a rare combination of qualities as
few can display and none can surpass. I
will continue to pray for his dear departed
soul from the depths of my sorrowful yet
grateful heart."
ALFRED EASTMAN LUNT
"Haste forth —
To thy Celestial Habitation, Veil-beloved,'
'Lion of God's Cause'!"
We rejoice to hear of thy release!
Yet—
Might not God have shared thee — had we
loved more?
How may a soul "aglow with flame of the
undying fire" live —
Except midst love?
"Forty years" you sought, with "iron-sight"
to elevate this Truth!
To hasten justice, to conquer pettiness and
lust for power,
The curse of prejudice, the fear of failure,
the blight of intellect!
"Forty years" braving a wilderness of trials
— knowing
That phantasmal human hopes were doomed
to traceless dust!
One of the "living" of the chosen few en-
gaged to point a nation's course
Toward spiritual dominion!
From that hour
When first the Light of Revelation broke
upon these Western Shores —
You labored — till out of the chaos and the
groping loomed
The pattern of a "New World Order!"
Labored ceaselessly,
Until the Divine of Plans revealed its thrill-
ing goal!
How must He, its Source and Center —
Whose thoughts turned toward us —
Whose heart leaped at our mention, have re-
joiced,
To see, amid "this jungle of materialism"
thy challenge —
Hurling certainty against the fury of an un-
believing age!
Poets! Seers!
Shall ring thy epic, chronicled in love and
service!
That the unborn may recapture — may re-
live with pride and gratitude thy story!
How you stood, undaunted — in an epoch
"steeped in falsity,"
An advocate unfalterirtg in principle!
To compromise unyielding —
A pillar! in this Cause "so far beyond the
ken of men and angels!"
"Martyr hosts,
Who guard man's station, acclaim thee:
'Servant!'"
Thou, who in this Day "that casts a mighty
tumult in men's hearts" —
Refused to swerve — hailing this passage "a
spiritual adventure!"
We, who aspire to pioneer for God, and dare
to build anew a broken world,
Guard sacredly the faith thy love renewed,
when stilled thy noble heart!
IN MEMORIAM
535
MEMORIAL SERVICE TO DR. ZIA MABSUT
BAGDADI, HELD IN THE BAHA'I HOUSE
OF WORSHIP, MAY 8, 1937
INTRODUCTORY WORDS BY MRS. TRUE
Mrs. Corinne True,
Mr. Albert Windust,
O Chairmen.
N April llth, less than a month ago,
the Baha'i friends assembled in this House
of Worship commemorating the Twenty-
fifth Anniversary of the Arrival of 'Abdu'i-
Bahd in America, were shocked by the news
of the sudden death of their beloved Baha'i
brother, Dr. Zia M. Bagdadi, at Augusta,
Georgia. Sincere expressions of sympathy
for his bereaved family were heard among
the friends and all were anxious to learn
more of the details of his passing. A few
days later it was learned that the cause of
death was heart failure; that his body had
been laid away in the burial lot of one of
the Baha'is of that city; that his widow
Zeenat, and daughter Parvene were coura-
geously endeavoring to adjust themselves
and were planning to go to Beirut, Syria,
the home of Dr. Bagdadi's family in that
country.
The loss suffered by the Cause in America
began to be realized by the Baha'is and
found full expression in a cablegram from
our beloved Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, to
the National Spiritual Assembly, as follows:
"Distressed sudden passing dearly beloved
Dr. Bagdadi. Loss inflicted (upon) national
interests (of) Faith irreparable. His exem-
plary faith, audacity, unquestioning loyalty,
indefatigable exertions unforgettable. Ad-
vise Baha'i communities (,of ) Chicago (and)
surrounding regions hold befitting memorial
gathering (in) Temple for which he so
valiantly labored. Ardently praying for him
and bereaved family.
(Signed) Shoghi."
Friends: In response to the request of our
beloved Guardian and the desire of our
hearts to hold a memorial service for our
departed brother, Dr. Zia M. Bagdadi, we
have gathered here this evening.
We feel that he would wish us to make
this a joyous and not a sad occasion. May
all who are present here turn in mind and
heart toward the Holy Shrine of BahaVllah,
as we read this supplication (known as the
"Midnight Prayer") :
O Lord, I have turned my face unto the
kingdom of Thy oneness and am immersed
in the sea of Thy mercy.
O Lord, enlighten my spirit by beholding
Thy light in this dark night and make me
happy by the wine of Thy love in this won-
derful age. O Lord, make me hear Thy call,
and open before my face the doors of heaven,
so that I may behold Thy glory and become
attracted to Thy beauty.
Verily, Thou art the light, the gift and
the giver, the ancient and the merciful!
DR. BAGDADI' s GRANDFATHER AND FATHER
Referring to NabiPs Narrative, The
Dawn-Breakers, pages 272 and 273, we find
that Dr. Bagdadi's grandfather, "Shaykh
Muhammad-i-Shibl and his youthful son,
Muhammad-Mustafa," accompanied Tahirih
from 'Iraq to Iran.
A little over a year after Dr. Bagdadi ar-
rived in America, word was received of the
death of his father, Muhammad-Mustafa
(Bagdadi), whose portrait and the news of
his passing were published in Babd'i News
(Vol. I of the Star of the West), No. 17
issue, wherein is recorded: "In him the Cause
has lost a great and useful servant. All
loved and revered him and looked up to him
as one of the spiritual souls of the earlier
days. His winsome manner and gentleness
of heart attracted all those who came in con-
tact with him and carried away the sweet
fragrance of his life."
In a Tablet from 'Abdu'1-Baha published
in the Star of the West, Volume X, No. 12,
are these endearing words of the beloved
Master: "Convey on my behalf, to Dr. Zia
Bagdadi the utmost love and kindness. In
my estimation, he is very near, for he is the
son of his honor Agha Muhammad-
Mustafa."
536
THE B A H A ' I WORLD
Dr. Zia M. Bagdadi.
DR. BAGDADI'S WORK ON THE STAR OF
THE WEST
Mr. Windust, who was one of the found-
ers and editors of the Star of the West, spoke
of Dr. Bagdadi 's services to that magazine,
as follows — Dr. Bagdadi became associate
editor of this Baha'i publication, June 5,
1911, beginning with issue No. 5, Volume
II, wherein we read: "It gives us pleasure to
welcome to the editorial staff of the Star of
the West, Dr. Zia Mabsut Bagdadi ("Zia
Effendi"), the youngest son of the late M.
Mustafa Bagdadi. Dr. Bagdadi received
his early education in the Orient at the
Arabian Literature school, Turkish Govern-
ment school and the American school. His
childhood was blessed by seeing and being
with the Blessed Perfection BahaVllah, and
in every year of his youth he visited the
Center of the Covenant, 'Abdu'l-Baha. He
came to America in September, 1909, to
complete a course in medicine, graduating
from the Chicago College of Medicine and
Surgery in May of this year (1911). He
intends to practice in America and be en-
gaged in serving the Cause of BahaVllah.
We are confident the Star of the West has
in him an able and willing associate."
In the Star of the West, Volume III, No.
15 issue, we find the following: "A word of
explanation is given regarding the re-appear-
ance of our Persian section after many
months. As the editor, Mirza Ahmad
Sohrab, accompanied 'Abdu'l-Baha on most
of His journeyings throughout America, it
was almost impossible for him to look after
the Persian section, and now that he has
returned to the East, it has become neces-
sary to place that department in other hands.
Dr. Zia Bagdadi, who has been associated
with him in this work, has consented to
render this service. He is located in Chi-
cago."
Throughout the remainder of the issues
of Volume III, and all of Volumes IV and V
IN MEMORIAM
537
— there were 19 issues in each volume — Dr.
Bagdad! compiled and wrote the manuscript
in the form of pages, which were photo-
graphed, reduced to page size, etched on
zinc, which became the printing plates for
the Persian sections of the Star of the West
— a total of 262 pages. His beautiful style
of writing was distinctly Arabic in char-
acter. This labor was accomplished by Dr.
Bagdadi in addition to translating Tablets
of 'Abdu'1-Baha and speaking on the*Cause
wherever the opportunity arose — all this
aside from his practice of medicine and sur-
gery.
DR. BAGDADI WITH 'ABDU'L-BAHA
IN CHICAGO
Reference was made to the photograph of
'Abdu'1-Baha, together with five of the Ori-
ental Baha'is, taken by Mr. Killius in Lin-
coln Park, Chicago, in 1912. Standing di-
rectly behind 'Abdu'1-Baha, on the right, is
Dr. Bagdadi. In looking at this photograph,
one is impressed with the thought that our
beloved Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, has, in
his cablegram, perfectly described the quali-
ties of Dr. Bagdadi.
This photograph was taken directly across
the street from the Plaza Hotel. In this
connection, it is interesting to note that
when it was taken, no one dreamed that in
this same part of Lincoln Park, the Chi-
cago Historical Society would erect the
splendid museum which stands there today.
DR. BAGDADI'S DEVOTED LABOR FOR THE
TEMPLE
Shoghi Effendi, in his cablegram request-
ing the holding of this memorial gathering
for Dr. Bagdadi, states: . . . "Advise Baha'i
Communities of Chicago and surrounding
regions hold befitting memorial gathering in
Temple for which he so valiantly and de-
votedly labored." . . .
In this connection we were reminded by
Mrs. True, of the photograph taken on this
Temple site March 21, 1921, and published
in the Star of the West, Volume XII, No. 2.
It was the beginning of actual work for the
construction of the first MasJhriqu'l-Adhkar
in America; that is, the breaking of ground
for the digging of the first of the nine
caissons to bed rock — the one directly in
line with Haifa from the center of the build-
ing. In this photograph Dr. Bagdadi is seen
digging the first shovelful of earth — the
other friends present following him in break-
ing the ground. It was indeed fitting that
Dr. Bagdadi should have this honor, and his
association with this great event * is suffi-
cient evidence of the esteem his fellow-
believers had for his valiant and devoted la-
bors for the Temple and the Cause of
BahaVllah.
NOTEWORTHY QUALITIES OF DR. BAGDADI
Mr. Windust spoke of the time when his
family met 'Abdu'1-Baha in an upper room
at the home of Mrs. Davies in Chicago.
When He saw the youngest child, He took
her upon His lap and called for someone to
bring candy for the little one. Dr. Bagdadi
instantly responded, leaping down the stairs
two or more steps at a time, obtained the
candy, and sprang up stairs with it, handing
the bowl to 'Abdu'1-Baha as a courier would
present an urgent message to a king. It was
an impressive demonstration to many who
witnessed it, of the divine qualities of "in-
stant, exact and complete obedience" Dr.
Bagdadi so remarkably possessed.
Mrs. Grace Ober also testified to this out-
standing characteristic of Dr. Bagdadi, by
telling the following experience: "I was
keeping house in New York for 'Abdu'l-
Baha and His party of interpreters at the
time when He attended the Peace Confer-
ence at Lake Mohonk. Late at night, the
bell rang furiously and at the door stood Dr.
Bagdadi, no hat upon his head, his hair
disheveled, and his clothes covered with dust.
He rushed into the house saying 'Abdu'l-
Baha had sent him to bring a rug to Lake
Mohonk at the earliest possible moment. I
begged him to have something to eat, to
bathe and rest for a little while. But quickly
finding what he wanted he rushed away with
it. During the short time he was in the
house I learned that 'Abdu'1-Baha wished to
present a gift to the Secretary of the Peace
Conference, Mr. W. H. Short, Sec'y of the
1 This breaking of ground for the actual construc-
tion of the caissons to bed rock should not be
confused with the boring operations begun on Sep-
tember 24, 1920, to obtain a core of soil strata
before beginning the digging of the caissons, which
began March 21, 1921. — Editors
538
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Friends assembled on Mashriqu'l-Adhkar grounds, Chicago, March 21, 1921.
Dr. Zia M. Bagdadi digging first shovelful of earth.
New York Peace Society, before the close
of its sessions next day, and that it was nec-
essary that some one of His party go to the
city for it and return at once. Dr. Bagdadi
had instantly volunteered. He discovered
there was no passenger train at that
hour and boarded a freight train, arriving
in the condition I described. I learned
later that in returning he again rode on a
freight train as there was no other trans-
portation at that early morning hour. Dr.
Bagdadi was the embodiment of the
quality of "Instant, exact and complete
obedience."
The chairman expressed the thought that
every one present at this memorial gather-
ing, who knew Dr. Bagdadi, no doubt cher-
ished in his heart and memory some par-
ticular remembrance or many remembrances
of our dearly beloved Dr. Bagdadi.
FIRMNESS IN THE COVENANT, AN OUT-
STANDING QUALITY OF DR. BAGDADI
When 'Abdu'1-Baha came to America in
1912, He awakened and began to educate
the Baha'is to the Most Great Characteristic
of the Revelation of BahaVllah, namely,
The Center of the Covenant — that which
the previous Divine Manifestations did
not bring. From that time until the day
of His ascension in 1921, He stressed its
importance with ever increasing emphasis,
thus preparing them for the hour when
His Will and Testament was brought to
light.
During these years Dr. Bagdadi was a
pillar of strength to the Baha'is of America
manifesting firmness in the Covenant and
all that it implies. He alone seemed to un-
derstand the deep meanings of this most
great characteristic — that is: through the
power of the Covenant no one can create a
sect or division in the Baha'i Faith; through
this most great characteristic, the Center of
the Covenant will protect the Cause from
now until at least one thousand years, and
perhaps until thousands of years have passed
away.
Those who attended the eighth session of
the Baha'i Congress at Hotel McAlpin, New
York City, April 30th, 1919, will never for-
get Dr. Bagdadi's presentation of this most
important matter. Although he had been
ill for three days, he arose to astonishing
heights and depths of understanding in this
address, unfolding all the qualities Shoghi
Eflfendi mentions in the cablegram prompt-
ing this memorial gathering — of "exem-
plary faith, audacity, unquestioning loyalty,
indefatigable exertion" — combined with a
dramatic appeal that was arresting and soul
stirring. This outstanding address of that
remarkable Congress was taken stenographi-
cally and printed in Volume XI of the Star
of the West.
DR. BAGDADI WRITES OF SEEING AND BEING
WITH BAHA'U'LLAH
In the year 1929, Dr. Bagdadi wrote a
book telling of his birthplace and travels in
IN MEMORIAM
539
the Orient under the title, Treasures of the
East. In it he describes the peerless pano-
rama of the Plain of 'Akka surrounded by
mountains and sea, in the center of which
is the Mansion of Bahji, located about one
mile from the Mediterranean and three miles
from the town of 'Akk£, Palestine. It was
here Baha'u'llah lived the last few years of
His exile until He departed to the Supreme
World in 1892. Dr. Bagdad! tells that here,
when he was a child, he had the great privi-
lege of seeing and being with Baha'u'llah.
He wrote:
"I had the greatest honor and privilege to
see BahaVllah and sit at His feet many days
and nights in this Mansion. Here He used
to hold my hand while walking to and fro
in His large room, revealing Tablets, chant-
ing the prayers with the most charming and
melodious voice, while one of the attendants
took them down. Here I saw Him teaching
and blessing the pilgrims who came from all
lands. On hot days He would take me with
Him to the outer alcove of the Mansion
where it was somewhat cooler. I would
stand in a corner with folded arms, my eyes
fixed on His incomparable countenance,
while the gentle breezes blew on His soft jet
black hair which reached almost to the waist,
flowing beneath the taj, like a crown, that
covered His head and a part of His broad,
full, high forehead.
"From His light-colored garments which
were similar to those of all the ancient
prophets, I had always inhaled the fragrance
of the pure attar of roses. At times He
would spend half an hour on the alcove, and
my eyes would remain fixed on His majestic
face. But whenever He glanced at me with
His brown, piercing, yet most affectionate
eyes, then I had to turn mine away and look
down on the floor.
"At my birth, Baha'u'llah named me
'Zia' (Light) and gave me the Turkish title
'Effendi.' But on my first visit to Him,
when He inquired about my health, I re-
plied in Arabic 'Mabsoot' (I am happy). He
questioned, 'How is your father?' I an-
swered, 'Mabsoot'; and 'How is your
mother?' He asked. 'Mabsoot' was my re-
ply. He laughed heartily and after that He
always called me Mabsoot Eflfendi (The
Happy One)."
MRS. LAURIE C. WILHELM
BY ROY C. WILHELM
Mother's strong religious tendency began
with her mother who was religious funda-
mentally though I do not recall her ever
having attended a church; and she did not
believe that a system in which professional
religionists preached for hire was in accord
with the admonitions and example of Jesus.
During my early years Grandmother often
spoke to me of so many of the Bible prophe-
cies being fulfilled and said she believed the
Promised Age was near and we must all be
watchful to recognize the Great Day when
it came. Mother and father were members
of a denomination to which they sent me in
my youth — though they were not orthodox
in their views, rather they shared Grand-
mother's beliefs that the Creator of all hu-
manity was interested in all humanity.
About 1890 Mother became dissatisfied
with the churches and began searching for
reality. She investigated various teachings
including the philosophies of the East, Chris-
tian Science, etc. I sometimes wondered,
"What next?" Mother also felt deeply that
the Great Day was near, that it might come
even in our time — and how would we be
able to recognize its fulfillment!
Mother had a friend, kindred in thought,
in Miss Laura Jones, also of our old home
town — Zanesville, Ohio: they often met to-
gether, and wondered if the Spirit might be
upon the earth at this time: how shall we
find Him, etc. Shortly after the early 90's
Miss Laura moved to Chicago. There she
heard of the Baha'i Faith, and wrote to
Mother that she had found that for which
they had been seeking. In her letter she in-
cluded some pamphlets, among which was a
copy of the "Hidden Words." Mother read
these, and accepted immediately. About
1898 or 1899, when I was a traveling sales-
man, Mother mailed me a page from a news-
paper containing a photograph of 'Abdu'l-
Baha and an article in which something was
said to the effect that many regarded Him as
a return of the Spirit. Having in mind
Mother's various explorations I was not so
deeply impressed, but wrote upon the mar-
gin, "Strange if true" and returned it to her.
In 1901 and 1902, Mother and Father vis-
540
THE B A H A ' I WORLD
Mrs. Laurie C. Wilhelm.
ited me in New York. We went about to
various meetings and among them the Baha'i
meetings at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Ar-
thur P. Dodge: there we met May Maxwell,
Mr. and Mrs. Hoar, Dr. Getsinger and
others. I was conscious of a strong heart
attraction before much understanding came.
I recall that two or three years later a fare-
well reception was given to Mirza Abu'l-
Fadl at the Dodge home.
Mother devoted much time to studying
the Bible: she became so impressed with the
connection and with the spirit and reason-
ableness of 'Abdu'l-Baha's teachings and ex-
planations that her waking hours seemed
mainly devoted to plans for reaching other
sections. In 1907 Mother and I went to
'Akka. 'Abdu'1-Baha told Mother she was
the cock which crowed preceding the dawn.
During the dinner, our last day there, He
took an unusually large bowl and filled it
with bread and broth: then He asked for our
bowls, and filling them with bread and broth
from His bowl He told us to eat, and as we
had received food from His bowl, now we
must return to America and likewise offer
His food to the people.
In 1908 we moved from New York to
West Englewood. During this summer a
hundred or more of the Baha'i friends of
New York and vicinity assembled for a picnic
in the woods near our home. In those days
it was very difficult to awaken interest.
Meetings were held in two or three homes,
and a dozen or so persons were attracted, but
several moved away, two passed from this
world, and such changes took place that it
was several years more before a group was
permanently started. I am reminded of a re-
mark that 'Abdu'1-Baha once made, — that
it required a great expenditure of effort to
accomplish even small things in this world.
Mother devoted her life to corresponding
with friends and inquirers far and near. Even
during those last two and a half years of
physical helplessness, her mind was centered
IN MEMORIAM
541
Mrs. Mary Hanford Ford.
upon means for the advancement of the
Faith. These past few weeks, when she could
speak only with difficulty, she would often
make suggestions, or perhaps inquire whether
I had heard from this person or another, or
had written them recently.
It is indeed comforting to now have the
assurance of the Guardian that Mother is
making a near approach to the Beloved.
MARY HANFORD FORD (Nov. 1, 1856 —
FEB. 2, 1937)
BY RUHANIYYIH (MADAME 'Au'-KuLi)
KHANUM
Daughter of a Meadville, Pennsylvania,
banker, wife of the owner and editor of the
Kansas City, Missouri, Evening Mail, Mary
Hanford Ford was widely known as an au-
thority on art, literature and music, and as a
student of economic problems and of devel-
opments in the field of science. At one time
art critic on the Kansas City Star, she was
associated with leading intellectuals in the
United States and Europe.
In 1901 Mrs. Ford was residing in Chicago
in an environment typical of her varied in-
terests. Her household consisted of her
three children, Roland, Lynette and Gareth;
of a German woman and her young child; of
an American woman and her son; of a young
Negro student of Shakespeare. An account
of her home, — known as "The Haunted
House" — has, through Dr. Richard Hodgson,
reached the archives of the American So-
ciety for Psychical Research. At this time
Mrs. Ford was a "Spiritist," her chief inter-
est, however, lying not in psychic phenomena
but in the spiritual life. An atheist during
her youth, she had regained faith at her
father's death-bed, feeling that the continu-
ity of the soul had there been revealed to
her, and she had begun an exhaustive study
of religion. Her personal library, including
many first editions, ran the length of the
house. She now began a course in compara-
542
THE BAHA'l WORLD
tive religions, the ninth lesson of which
proved to be a presentation of the Baha'i
Faith. The following summer she attended
the Green Acre School of Religions, heard
Mirza Abu'1-Fadl and 'Ali-Kuli Khan, and
became a Baha'i; shortly thereafter, aided
by Miss Florence Breed, she began to teach
the Baha'i Cause in Boston.
To Madame 'Ali-Kuli Khan when she
visited 'Akka in 1906, 'Abdu'l-Bah4 said of
Mrs. Ford: "It is true that Mrs. Ford has
served humanity long and faithfully. Now
tell her, if she will arise to serve the Cause
of Baha'u'llah with equal zeal and fidelity,
her name will be mentioned in all the worlds
of God." The remainder of her long life
was devoted to fulfilling the Master's wish,
and in many tablets He addressed her as "O
thou herald of the Kingdom of God!" Not
only in the United States but also in Italy,
Switzerland, France and England she taught
the Baha'i Faith unceasingly, attracting
thousands of people through her devotion,
and her objective, brilliant, well-stocked
mind. Meanwhile she continued her work
as an art critic and writer; among her pub-
lished books are "The Oriental Rose," "The
World of 'Abdu'1-Baha" and "The Secret of
Life." Even during her last months, she
taught the Cause and worked on a novel
dealing with industrial conditions. Accom-
panied by her daughter, Mrs. Lynette Storm,
Mrs. Ford was in Clearwater, Florida, when
the end came. She died whispering, "It is so
beautiful, Lynette, it is so very beautiful!"
At a distinguished gathering held at the
Baha'i Center in New York City to com-
memorate the passing of Mrs. Ford, many
non-Baha'i friends paid her tribute.1 Among
them, Mr. Clarence Howells of the Fellow-
ship of Reconciliation said, "A religion can
be proven best by the lives of those who prac-
tise it. The proof of the value of those
teachings she gave, was expressed in the life
of Mary Hanford Ford. Surely the Baha'i
Teachings are true, for they are effective in
that light." Miss Frances R. Grant, Vice-
President of the Roerich Museum, New York
City: "About Mrs. Ford there was this joy of
devotion, and I must believe that though
duty pleases God, it is joy that best gladdens
Him, and it is the joyous devotee that is
closest to His heart." Mr. H. T. Mason of
the All Nations Club: "When we speak of
the saints — I think she was the reincarnation
of all of them." Mr. D. A. Mott, leader of
the Vegetarian Society: "She belonged to
everybody. We never thought of her with
a family and children; the human race was
her family . . . Some day . . . the truth of
her statements will be recognized, and also
her greatness as a teacher." Mrs. Villa Faulk-
ner Page, Founder-Leader of the Fellowship
Life More Abundant: "We have listened
with hearts deeply moved to the words
spoken of one whom we all so dearly love;
not loved . . . but lov e" Dr. C. G. Pease,
President of the Non-Smokers League: "Let
us follow in her footsteps." Mr. Aldo Ran-
degger, noted composer, played his "The
Apotheosis of the Soul" in her memory.
Baha'i speakers included Mr. James F. Mor-
ton, former President of the American Es-
peranto Society, who said: "She opened the
eyes of many of us to visions that otherwise
we could not have had. In the Esperanto
Movement she was a tower of strength."
Mrs. Annie Romer: "The prayers . . . which
she offered ... on behalf of others filled
many hours. She said we did not ask enough
of the bounty of God." Mr. §afa Kinney:
"For years upon years we worked shoulder
to shoulder, like two horses at the plough;
ploughing God's field that His plants might
grow there . . ." Madame 'Ali-Kuli Khan,
chairman of the gathering: "Mrs. Ford's
friends all know how clear and sure were her
faith and her spiritual mission." 'Ali-Kuli
Khan: "A saying of Goethe's is paraphrased
thus: 'To live in a great idea is to think as
possible, things that seem impossible. So is
the case with a great character; when both
the great idea and the great character meet
in the same person, things appear which fill
the world with wonders for thousands of
years' "; he then read the following from a
letter of Shoghi EfFendi regarding Mrs. Ford:
"Her unique and outstanding gifts enabled
her to promote effectively the best interests
of the Faith in its new-born and divinely-
conceived institutions. I will pray for her
soul from the depths of my heart. Her serv-
ices will always be remembered and extolled."
1 There was given also, several days alter, a beau-
tiful musicale, by Miss Rata Present, of Buffalo, in
loving tribute to Mrs. Ford.
IN MEMORIAM
543
Elmore Eugene Duckett.
ELMORE EUGENE DUCKETT
BY WILLARD P. HATCH
"Verily, thy Lord is the All-Knowing, His
authority embraceth all things, rest thou as-
sured in the gracious favor of thy Lord.
The eye of His loving-kindness shall ever-
lastingly be directed towards thee." —
"Gleanings From The Writings of Baha'-
u'llah."
"We work and pray for the Unity of Man-
kind, that all the races of the earth may
become one race, all the countries one coun-
try, and that all hearts may beat as one heart,
working together for perfect Unity and
Brotherhood."— 'Abdu'1-Baha, in "The One-
ness of Mankind."
Mr. Elmore Eugene Duckett was thirty-
nine years old when he passed away on Janu-
ary 1, 1937. He possessed a "remarkable
spiritual insight."
'Abdu'1-Baha, the great Exemplar of the
Baha'i World Religion, in addressing an au-
dience gathered together at Hull House, in
Chicago, on April 30, 1912, said in part:
"One of the important questions which
affect the unity and solidarity of human-
kind is the fellowship and equality of the
white and colored races. . . .
"In this country, the United States of
America, patriotism is common to both
races; all have equal rights in citizenship,
speak one language, receive the blessings of
the same civilization, and follow the precepts
of the same religion. . . . the one point of
distinction is that of color. . . . God is not
pleased with, neither should any reasonable
or intelligent man be willing to recognize,
inequality in the races because of this dis-
tinction. . . . His Holiness BahaVllah has
proclaimed the oneness of the world of hu-
manity."
Elmore Duckett did not find it difficult, as
a Baha'i, to become free from racial ani-
mosity. A "remarkable spiritual insight,"
544
THE&BAHA'f WORLD
however, was not the only gift he possessed.
All of his life he worked hard with the
strength that was his. To a casual observer,
Elmore was, in a happy way, one of those
classified as belonging to Labor; but he
showed how different the Baha'i conception
of Labor is, by taking part in "no rebellious
demands," and by being completely free
from any deep-seated feeling of animosity
against capitalists.
Concerning a phase of Labor problems,
'Abdu'1-Baha writes, expressing the Baha'i
attitude:
". . . . Rules and laws should be estab-
lished to regulate the excessive fortunes of
certain private individuals, and limit the
misery of millions of the poor masses — How-
ever, absolute equality is just as impossible,
for absolute equality in fortunes, honors,
commerce, agriculture, industry would end
in want of comfort, in discouragement. . . .
It is therefore preferable for moderation to
do its work. The main point is by means of
laws and regulations to hinder the constitu-
tion of the excessive fortunes of certain in-
dividuals and to protect the essential needs
of the masses. . . . The owner of the factory
will no longer put aside daily a treasure which
he has absolutely no need of (without taking
into consideration that, if the fortune is dis-
proportionate, the capitalist succumbs under
a formidable burden, and gets into great
difficulties and troubles; the administration
of an excessive fortune is very difficult and
exhausts man's natural strength), and the
workmen and artisans will no longer be in the
greatest misery and -want, they will no longer
be submitted to the worst privations at the
end of their life.
"As now man is not forced by the Govern-
ment, if by the natural tendency of his good
heart, with the great^t spirituality he goes
to this expense for the poor, this will be a
thing very much praised, approved and pleas-
ing." ' \
Elmore Duckett was fully aware of 'Abd-
u'1-Baha's words — yet was he aware that one
man alone, except He be a Christ or Baha'u-
'llah, could not bring about the change of
conditions mentioned therein. Therefore he
put his affair^ in the hands of God, and as
one of the great body of workmen in a
Jwge factory, labored in the Baha'i spirit to
such an extent that he was publicly awarded
a badge of hofcor before his follow-workmen,
by those at the head of the factory, for over
ten years of commendable service. He took
this award for el&ctly what it was worth,
for he kneW that, if such action was not
based upon the knowledge and love of God,
then it was most likely an inexpensive way
of trying to keep the men satisfied; but he
evidenced forbearance and patience, as Ba-
ha'i s are taught to do.
True it is that the length of one's days,
as has been pointed out by the Divine Ex-
emplar, is not important; to bear fruit in
one's life is what counts. Elmore Duckett,
in his relatively short life, was a tree that
bore a quantity of fruit.
Elmore was born in Cripple Creek, Colo-
rado, November 17, 1898. His family moved
to Denver, Colorado, when he was ten years
of age. Thereafter they traveled to Arizona,
and it was in Bisbee, in 1915, that Elmore's
cousin, who was to become his wife three
years later, convinced him of the truth of
the Baha'i Faith. This she did, aided by her
mother.
Of- this period Elmore Duckett's widow
writes: "He (Elmore) became a wonderful
Baha'i in a very short time — as he had never
taken any interest in any religious faith, he
was free from all dogmas and creeds. . . .
He studied Spanish and became very pro-
ficient, with the thought in mind of going
to Old Mexico to work and teach the Cause.
In his study of the Spanish language, he met
many people in High School, and the private
night classes, who were entertained in our
home, and given the Baha'i Message. . . .
We were married in Houston, Texas, June 5,
1918. We moved to Los Angeles May , 1 9 2 2 ,
where Kenneth (their only child) was born
August 17, 1922."
Unity was the one thing Elmore loved
most and he had a quiet and unobtrusive na-
ture which attracted many friends to him.
He lived in Monrovia, California, suburb of
Los Angeles, at the time of his passing away.
The Monrovia paper carried a notice of his
death, and, among other things, wrote: "Mr.
Duckett was chairman of the Spiritual As-
sembly of the Bah£'is of Los Angeles and
had been a member of the Community of
the Baha'is of that city for many years.
IN MEMORIAL
545
His entire time, other than what was neces-
sary for the maintenance of *the material
needs of his family, was devoted to the
promulgation of the oneness of humanity
and he 'consorted with all people with love
and fragrance.' He believed in the funda-
mental oneness of religion and prayed con-
stantly for 'the most great peace/ that has
been visioned by the Prophets and poets of
the past, and which surely must be the con-
summation of the evolution of man on this
plane."
When Elmore Duckett's final illness over-
took him, he firmly believed that it was be-
cause of the fumes he was forced to breathe
daily in the prosecution of his work. He be-
lieved that the inflammation of his heart
and the lining of his lungs was an inevitable
result of the conditions surrounding his
labor, a result that was hidden from him
until it was too late to do anything about it.
His unusual physical strength gave way
slowly, after he was obliged to stop work,
before the onslaught of this insidious inflam-
mation. Before its fatal effect was clear to
him, he planned, on recovery, never to return
to the factory position he had previously
held, which, as he expressed it, he thought
would be suicide; but intended to take part
in the effort to carry the Baha'i Faith to
one of the few states where it was not already
established. His wish was to move to Reno,
Nevada.
These hopes of moving to Nevada gave
way before the increasing encroachments of
Elmore's illness. Finally he learned that,
should he live, he would become a bed-
ridden and helpless invalid. Having always
been so strong physically, he could not bear
to contemplate this thought. He did not
think, perhaps, of the spiritual uses of suffer-
ing, nor of the spiritual services he could
render, even if ill. He preferred to die, and
it was reported that he implored Baha'u'llah
to release him into the next world. His
prayer was granted.
To indicate something of the love Elmore
had inspired in the hearts of his fellow-
believers, as part of their love for God in the
qualities they saw reflected, it is only neces-
sary to write of the meeting of the Spiritual
Assembly, of which he had been chairman,
gathered together to discuss his funeral. It
was voted at the meeting that each member
of the Assembly should mention one good
quality of the deceased. The result was a
moving compilation. Among the qualities
mentioned were: "sincerity; sacrifice of time
for the Cause; devotion to the Cause;
thoughtfulness of others; a good Baha'i in
the use of time; kindness, generosity to the
Cause and to his friends; humility; his lack
of fault-finding; a peace-maker."
At his expressed wish, Elmore was buried
in the last grave remaining in the plot of
ground where Thornton Chase, first Ameri-
can Baha'i, is at rest, in Inglewood Ceme-
tery, outside of Los Angeles, California.
On March 8, 1937, Shoghi Effendi sent the
following message to Mrs. Finks, Secretary of
the Spiritual Assembly of Los Angeles, Cali-
fornia.
"Please convey to the relatives of the late
Mr. Duckett the Guardian's sympathy and
condolences on the occasion of the passing
away of their beloved and esteemed friend.
The services which he has rendered the Cause
Shoghi Effendi deeply appreciates and he will
specially pray for the progress of his soul in
the Abha Kingdom."
COLONEL DR. IBRAHIM PIRUZBAKHT
BY ZIKRULLAH KHADEM
Colonel Dr. Piruzbakht was the eldest son
of the late Kazim Khan Amir Tuman, a dis-
tinguished Commanding Officer of his time,
very pious and devoted to his duty, belonging
to the family of Caucasian refugees. The
following is a brief description of this family.
One of the notorious events of the Qajar
regime was the war breaking out between
fran and Russia, in consequence of which
some important provinces of Caucasia in Iran
fell into the hand of the Russians. Groups
of nobility, urged by patriotic feelings, left
Caucasia for fran and were then called im-
migrants. A number of them entered mili-
tary services and others occupied high posi-
tions. At this happy era of the reign of
H. M. Rida Shah Pahlavi under whose care
and wise policy marvellous progress has been
made in the country, a number* of the Re-
called immigrants are also numbered among
the devoted and reliable officers and conv
546
THE BAHA'f
manding Officers of the Army. D/. Piruz-
bakht was also of this f ran-loving family,
born in fmrsm in the year 34 of the Baha'i
era corresponding with the year 1878 of
the Christian era. He carried on his studies
in the Cossak house, in the Iranian College
and in the Medical School from which he
received his diploma in medicine.
Early in his youth, he married his cousin,
Farah Angiz Khanum, but feeling the need of
completing his studies he traveled to Russia,
France and Belgium, getting his diploma in
medicine, surgery and midwifery from the
Liege School of the latter country in 1907,
corresponding with the year 63 of the Baha'i
era, and returning to his country in the same
year, after 7 years of absence. It should also
be mentioned that at Colonel Piruzbakht's
time there were no means for one to educate
himself in fr£n such as are available now-a-
days and his special efforts in such lines were
indicative of ability and love for education.
After his return from Europe Dr. Piruz-
bakht was employed as physician in the Cos-
saks* quarters. He later accompanied his
father on a journey to Luristan and Adhir-
bayjan and after staying in those provinces
for some time he returned to Tihran where
he spent the rest of his life. He attained the
rank of Captain during his services in the
Cossaks* Quarters.
The writer has been in frequent contact
with this honorable Doctor since he began
his service in the Gendarmerie Dept. (Road
Guards Dept.) and the following is an ac-
count of my personal knowledge of the de-
ceased.
During the early formation of the Gendar-
merie Dept. in Iran in the year 1914, Dr.
Piruzbakht served as Vice-Director and later
as Comptroller General and physician for a
number of years and finally attained the
rank of Major. After the dissolution of the
Gendarmerie Dept. in 1918, he was appointed
by the General Health Dept. as Head of the
Sanitation Office at Karej, 42 kilometers
from Tihran, where a quarantine was being
maintained. In 1920, he was employed as
Doctor to the Provincial Dept. of Finance,
Public Domains and Alimentation of Tihrdn
which was an important Government Dept.
and he carried on this duty during the office
of the American Advisors, Colonel Mc-
Cormack and Mr. Colnman. In 192J, he
received appointment as Director of the
Sepah Hospital (a military hospital) and
during the last years of his life he served
with the rank of Colonel as the Director of
the Health Dept. of the Military Schools.
He discharged his duty most faithfully and
sincerely throughout the entire course of his
services.
In the year 1914, Dr. Piruzbakht was
serving as Vice-Director at the Gendarmerie
Dept., having already completed his studies in
medicine. He began to investigate the Baha'i
religion. His official position, as well as his
family situation, were such as did not allow
him to have any contact with the Baha'i folk,
owing to adverse religious feelings in Iran
which threatened to put him and a number
of Baha'is in grave difficulties. Therefore
religious conversations were confined to the
Doctor and myself for several months. He
was meanwhile given a number of Baha'i
books which he studied very carefully and
it was not long before this holy being became
a believer and he bought many volumes of
Baha'i books which were available at that
time. He was so inspired and inflamed by
the Baha'i books and tablets that, disregard-
ing his official position and personal restraint,
he expressed his enthusiastic willingness to
meet the believers. The first meeting took
place in the house of the late Mirza Azizollah
Vargha, one of the devoted servants of the
Cause and a distinguished believer; and the
late Semandar Qazvini and Mirza 'AH Akbar
Rafsanjani — two well-known teachers of the
Cause — were present at this little reception.
In the course of the discussions he displayed
such a spiritual zeal and depth of knowledge
of intellectual matters that he was heartily
admired by all those present. After that
meeting he recklessly maintained contact
with the Baha'i groups and individuals and
his admirable character and faith earned him
such love and endearment in the Baha'i com-
munity that he was appointed, in 1919, as
member of the Spiritual Assembly of Tihran
and also as Chief of the Tarbiyat School for
Boys. Dr. Piruzbakht meanwhile undertook
to pay the tuition for some poor pupils.
After his conversion, Dr. Piruzbakht kept
in contact with the members of his family
attempting to convert them to the Faith. He
IN JVfEMORIAM
547
did convert a number of them and some of
the rest became friendly to the Cause. Mean-
while, notwithstanding his busy time, he
managed to have talks with some of the men
of high position and even with the Swedish
Officers in the Gendarmerie, giving them
books and tablets to read and acquainting
them with the importance of the Baha'i
Cause and the great material and moral bene-
fits which the principles of the Cause ren-
dered to the country of Iran and to
the world. The deceased, being so keen in
serving the Cause, was always chosen as
a member of important Baha'i Com-
mittees in Tihran where he permanent-
ly stayed after embracing the Cause.
This year he was a member of both the
Teaching and the East and West Commit-
tees.
Three Tablets from 'Abdu'1-Baha and two
letters from the Guardian, all showing his
ideal position and conferring on him his-
torical honors, have been issued.
As was stated above, this admirable soul
spent his dear time in fran and abroad in
the field of education. During his hours of
leisure from official duty, he held a private
dispensary at his house which he used not for
personal interest but for serving the poor and
promoting the Cause. He paid medical visits
to friends and strangers, usually without re-
ceiving fees. He was so kind to all classes
of people without distinction of faith, that
even some of the Muslim religious authori-
ties, while knowing him to be a Baha'i, re-
ferred to him because of their confidence in
his good faith and right conduct. Men of
various creeds often called at the Doctor's
dispensary and when he was through with his
patients he had a friendly meeting with the
visitors.
After a serious illness, Dr. Piruzbakht's
noble life ended at the age of 5 9 on Saturday
the 5th of Shahr of the Baha'i year 93 cor-
responding with January 23, 1937. A num-
ber of his non-Bahd'i relatives insisted on
burial in a Moslem grave, but thanks to the
admirable courage and efforts of his daughter,
Miss Furughu'z-Zamdn, a graduate of mid-
wifery from the French Faculty of Medicine
in Beirut, the deceased was taken to Gulastdn
Javad, the Bah4'i cemetery. Hundreds of
officers including Commanding Officers and
senior officers of the Army, with a large
crowd of Baha'is and non-Baha'is were pres4-
ent at the funeral. They followed* the bier
afoot some distance up the street and then
drove their cars to the cemetery. The
funeral service was carried through in
the most honorable manner worthy of the
position of a devoted Colonel and a learned
Doctor.
A memorial service in his name was held
at the house of the deceased for several days,
in the course of which thousands of people
came to condole with the members of his
family and to take part in the ceremony of
chanting prayers and reading tablets. All
felt as if they really had lost a dear relative
or friend.
Let us pray that the surviving members of
his family will all follow his example in
serving the Cause and attaining the high
spiritual position he attained.
MIRZA MUHAMMAD KAZIM-PUR
Mirza Muhammad Kazim-Pur was the son
of Haji Muhammad Kazim-i-Shirazi, a de-
vout Muslim business-man, widely known
for his charitable activities, who had left
Shiraz and settled in Yazd in the year
1236 (Persian date, ca. 1857). With
his three brothers, Ahmad, 'Abdu'llah and
'Ali-Akbar, Mirza Muhammad became a
Baha'i during the lifetime of Baha'u'llah,
and like them was an active servant of the
Faith.
In 1281 the people of Yazd rose against
the Baha'is, plundered the home of 'Abdu-
'llah and put him to death. The remaining
three brothers were spared, Muhammad and
'Ali-Akbar being in Shahrud on business, and
Ahmad in 'Ishq4bad.
Following the Yazd upheaval, the family
of Mirzd Muhammad moved to Shahrud;
some years later, Mirza Muhammad, 'Ali-
Akbar and their households left for 'Ishqa-
bad, and during this journey, were blessed
with a visit to 'Abdu'1-Baha in 1289. Re-
turning to 'Ishq&bad, Mirza Muhammad
some years • later went back to Shdhrud,
where he engaged in business activities and
service to the Cause. He was so energetic in
spreading the Faith that he provoked the
anger of the townspeople, who, incited by
548
THE BAHA'i WORLD
Mirza Muhammad Kazim-Pur.
the mujtahid Shaykh- Ahmad, rose against all
the Baha'is of Shahrud.
For four years, he and his family were sub-
jected to daily persecution, and finally in
1298 a crisis was reached, when, by order of
the same mujtahid, a mob of some 4,000
people, armed with sticks, stones and knives,
broke into his house to kill him and his two
sons, 'Abdu'l-Husayn Kazim-Pur-i-Amri,
and 'Abbas. They seized Muhammad and
his elder son 'Abdu'l-Husayn, and after beat-
ing them and subjecting them to extreme
torture, threw them into the streets for dead.
Mirza Muhammad and his son survived,
were treated by two doctors for about a
month and left for Tihran. Here Mirza
Muhammad continued in his devoted services
to the Faith. In 1309 he and his wife
Sakinih-Banu visited the Guardian in Haifa.
On Wednesday the 22nd of Dayman 1316
(1937) he passed away suddenly at his place
of business; he was seventy-three years of
age.
DR. Y. S. TSAO
The sad news has reached me from Shang-
hai that our beloved Chinese brother, Dr. Y.
S. Tsao, died suddenly in his car on the way
to his home, on February 8, at 4:30 p. m.
Our brother, Mr. M. H. A. Ouskouli, writes
me that Dr. Tsao had not been sick and also
he asked me to write the BAHA'I MAGAZINE
and ask if Dr. Tsao's picture could be pub-
lished with a short article.
The work which Dr. Tsao has done for the
Cause of God in China is an everlasting
monument. It was he who translated Essle-
mont's book into Chinese. He was working
on the translation of "Some Answered Ques-
tions." About a month ago, his helper, Mr.
Tang, died and so there was a setback and
now Dr. Tsao has flown to the Kingdom of
BahaVllah, as Mr. Ouskouli writes me.
Dr. Tsao first heard of the Baha'i Faith
through Martha Root when he was the Presi-
dent of Tsing Hua College, the Boxer In-
IN MEMORIAM
549
Dr. Muhammad Bashir of Alexandria, Egypt.
dcmnity College. Martha bravely went out
to the College without any previous intro-
duction, but was received most kindly by
Dr. Tsao and his wife, who is Swedish by
birth, but American naturalized. After-
wards Dr. and Mrs. Tsao entertained us in
their home and invited me to speak in the
Auditorium of the College on the Baha'i
Faith to the whole student body, and a sec-
ond time he called a meeting for any students
who might be interested to meet and talk
with us.
After eight years of service at Tsing Hua
College, Peiping, Dr. and Mrs. Tsao moved to
Shanghai, where they have lived since, and
where they have formed the bond with the
Iranian Baha'is who also live in Shanghai.
Dr. Tsao was educated at Yale University
and also studied at Harvard.
May the Baha'is pray for this wonderful
soul who has so suddenly left us, and also for
his devoted wife who must now carry on
alone.
In His love and service,
AGNES B. ALEXANDER.
Tokyo, February 17, 1937.
DR. MUHAMMAD BASHIR
Baha'is and non-Baha'is throughout Egypt
still mourn the unexpected death on De-
cember 21, 1936, of a leading pioneer and
-philanthropist, Dr. Muhammad Bashir of
Alexandria, former chairman of the National
Spiritual Assembly of this country.
Son of a distinguished early believer, the
late Ibrahim Efrendi 'All, Dr. Bashir was
born at Port Said November 30, 1891. Re-
ceiving his primary education in Port Said,
he graduated from high school in the Syrian
Anglican College of Haifa and in August,
1909, proceeded to the United States with
Dr. Zia Bagdad! , arriving in New York on
September 14 of that year. In 1913 he com-
pleted his medical course at Valparaiso Col-
lege.
The following quotations are from the
diary of the late doctor: "In May, 1911, I
left for Chicago to attend the Annual Con-
vention ... I saw a great number of friends
in attendance, and had the pleasure of ac-
companying Mrs. True and a group of
Baha'is to the grounds of the Mashriqu'l-
Adhkar. I had the honor of meeting 'Abd-
u'l-Baha on September 3, 1912, at the house
550
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Miss Malakat Nushugati of Port Said, Egypt.
of Mrs. True. The Master received me with
His lordly kindness and love, saying, 'Your
father is a blessed father, and God willing,
you shall be a blessed son; God willing, you
shall be the herald of the Glad-tidings of
God/ "
It was during that critical period of some
nine years ago, when the Baha'is resolved to
approach the Government with a view to
clarifying their position in Egypt, that Dr.
Basjbir was chairman of the National Spirit-
ual Assembly, and his courage strengthened
and inspired every believer. He did much to
promote the Annual Conventions and to con-
solidate the Administrative Order. His serv-
ices to the Cause in Egypt can never be
forgotten.
Miss MALAKAT NUSHUGAT!
A recent event, though outwardly sad,
served to signalize the severing of one of the
last links of the chain of ancient fetters of
Islam, and marked a marvellous achievement
in freeing Baha'is from its outworn dogmas.
The passing away of Miss Malakat Nushu-
gati, daughter of Mahmud Effendi Nushu-
gati, a distinguished Baha'i of Port Said, on
September the 17th, 1937, crowned the Faith
of Baha'u'llah with a fresh triumph. En-
couraged by the father of the deceased the
Spiritual Assembly of Port Said resolved to
perform, for the first time, the funeral cere-
mony according to purely Baha'i rites. This
firm resolution was met with bitter opposi-
tion on the part of Miss Nushiigati's non-
Baha'i relatives. These relatives not only in-
sisted that the funeral be held according to
Muslim rites, but threatened the Baha'is that
unless they yielded to their request, they
would seize the body by force and create a
public disturbance. When they saw that the
Baha'is remained inflexible in their resolve to
perform a purely Baha'i ceremony, they
pleaded that at least the body should be car-
ried to the Mosque and there the Muslim
IN MEMORIAM
551
prayers be read, but the Baha'is courageously
persisted in their plan.
A letter was sent by the Spiritual Assem-
bly to the Commandant of Police, informing
him of the situation. The funeral at 4
o'clock proceeded to the burial place; in the
front marched a band playing suitable music
and followed by the girls of the American
School, dressed in white and carrying bou-
quets of roses. The body was borne for
about a half mile by loving Baha'i friends,
the coffin was draped in pink and decorated
with flowers. The police, as a result of the
much-appreciated action of the authorities,
joined the procession, forming a guard of
honor and extending every courtesy to the
dead. Crowds had gathered along the way to
witness this first Baha'i funeral. The body
was then placed in a car and, followed by
ten automobiles, proceeded to the cemetery.
At the grave Baha'i burial tablets were
chanted and as a considerable number of
non-Baha'is were present, it was noted with
what keen interest they followed the service.
The same evening Baha'is as well as large
numbers of Muslims, Christians and Jews at-
tended the meeting in -the Baha'i Hall and
offered their condolences and sympathy.
During the whole occasion only the Baha'i
tablets were chanted.
APRIL, 1936 — APRIL, 1938
IN MEMORIAM
Death proffereth unto every confident be-
liever the cup that is life indeed. It be-
stoweth joy, and is the bearer of gladness.
It conferreth the gift of everlasing life. —
BAHA'U'LLAH.
Mrs. Kate Burke, Chicago.
Mrs. Carolyn Harbin, Miami Beach,
Florida.
Mr. Maurice Cohen, New Haven, Conn.
Mrs. E. B. Bullock, San Francisco, Cali-
fornia.
Mrs. Louise Herman, Columbus, Ohio.
Mrs. Anna Steinmetz, Minneapolis, Minn.
Dr. Edwin Karl Fisher, Los Angeles, Calif.
Mrs. Elizabeth McGwan, Buffalo, N. Y.
Mrs. Rosa Harmon, Kenosha, Wis.
Mrs. Dora Dunbar Maule, McMinville,
Oregon.
Mr. Myron Potter, Cleveland, Ohio.
Mrs. Edyth Blindt Bloom, Burlington,
Iowa.
Mrs. Helen Bell, Cleveland, Ohio.
Miss Helen Clevenger, New York.
Mrs. Gertrude Harris, New York.
Mr. Irving Johnson, Chicago.
Mr. Charles N. Dible, Los Angeles, Calif.
(Not reported at the time of his passing,
September, 1934.)
Mrs. Gertrude Anderson, Chicago, 111.
Mr. Jacob Schmit, St. Paul, Minn.
Miss Jessie Bush, Newark, New Jersey.
Miss Elizabeth Chandler, Ithaca, New
York.
Mrs. Elizabeth Hurlbut, San Francisco,
California.
Miss Lillie Kendall, Aptos, California.
Mr. S. A. Roberts, Kelvin, Arizona.
Mrs. Frances Carre, Mariposa, California.
Dr. Albert Johnston, Montreal, Quebec,
Canada.
Mrs. Evelyn Moore, Cambridge, Massa-
chusetts.
Miss Antoinette Sealts, Lima, Ohio.
Mr. William Z. Ralph, Portland, Oregon.
Miss A. R. Phipps, Oriskany, N. Y.
Mrs. Cunningham, Montreal, Quebec,
Canada.
Mrs. A. B. Spear, Los Angeles, Calif.
Mrs. Phoebe R. Nelson, Chicago, 111.
Mrs. Elizabeth R. Wilkinson, Brookline,
Mass.
Mr. Elmore E. Duckett, Los Angeles, Calif.
Mr. Worsley G. Hambrough, San Diego,
Calif.
Mr. Claude Warren, Binghamton, N. Y.
Mrs. Laurie C. Wilhelm, West Englewood,
New Jersey.
Mr. Samuel Hadsell, Phoenix, Arizona.
Mrs. Muriel Rucker, Toronto, Canada.
Mrs. Mary Arch, Washington, D. C
Mrs. Edward Ruppers, Phoenix, Arizona.
Mrs. Daisy G. Fry, Visalia, Calif.
Miss Avis Morris, San Francisco, Calif.
J52
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Mr. Paul K. Dealy, Fairhope, Alabama.
Mr. T. C. Gunning-Davis, Chicago, 111.
Mr. Charles Parker', Hales Corners, Wise.
Mrs. Rose Henderson, Toronto, Canada.
Mrs. Mae Stone, Topeka, Kansas.
Mrs. Mary Hanford Ford, Toledo, Ohio.
Mr. Worsley G. Hambrough, San Diego,
Calif.
Mr. Claude Warren, Binghamton, N. Y.
Mr. Charles Edsall, Montclair, N. J.
Mrs. Addie L. Cole, Los Angeles, Calif.
Mrs. Cecile Hill, Toledo, Ohio.
Mrs. Mary D. Culver, Eliot, Maine.
Mrs. E. L. Cavanee, Urbana, 111.
Mrs. Flora P. Stone, Urbana, 111.
Dr. Zia M. Bagdadi, Augusta, Ga.
Miss Harriet Williams, Boston, Mass.
Miss Mary Ruth Nitsche, Muskegon, Mich.
Miss Bertha L. Lackey, Worcester, Mass.
Mrs. Carrie Timleck, Geneva, N. Y.
Mr. Lloyd C. Hawley, San Francisco,
fcalif.
Miss Esther Davis, La Jolla, Calif.
Mr. Alfred E. Lunt, Beverly, Mass.
Mrs. Lucy A. Northrop, Oakland, Calif.
Mrs. Abbie Campbell, Los Angeles, Calif.
Mr. Cecil Carmody, New York.
Dr. Hettie West, Los Angeles, Calif.
Mrs. Laura L. Drum, Washington, D. C.
Mrs. Elizabeth Stein, Lima, Ohio.
Mr. J. B. Gordon Hall, Fernandina, Fla.
Mr. James Coe (former member of Racine
Baha'i community).
Mrs. Mary A. Meredith, Buffalo, N. Y.
Mrs. Margaret Lyons, Colorado Springs,
Col.
Mr. Dudley J. Stevison, Chicago, 111.
Mr. Gordon Hall, Fernandina, Fla.
Mr. Howard Fenton, Akron, Ohio.
Mrs. Andrew Fleming, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Mrs. Cordie C. Cline, Yuba City, Calif.
Mrs. Mabel Nickerson, Chicago, 111.
Some notable Iranian believers who passed
away during 1936-37.
Zaynu'l-'Abidin Abrari, Yazd.
Qabil Abadi'i, Abadih.
Muhammad-Husayn Ulfat, Tihran.
Muhammad-Natiq.
Hasan Fu'adi, Tihran.
Mihdi-Quli Mirza Mawzun, Hamadan.
PART THREE
BAHA'I DIRECTORY, 1937-1938
94 OF THE BAHA'i ERA
1 .
BAHA'i NATIONAL SPIRITUAL
ASSEMBLIES
National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Australia and New Zealand,
Care of Miss Hilda Brooks, Box 447 D, Adelaide, SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Caucasus,
Care of Mr. Diya'u'llah Asgharzadih,
Rid van 45 Alexandria Grove, North Finchley, London, N. 12, ENGLAND.
National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Egypt,
P. O. Box 13, Daher, Cairo, EGYPT.
Telegraphic Address: Bahabureau, Cairo.
National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Germany and Austria,
Care of Herr Frederich Schweizer, Karlstr. 26, Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, GERMANY.
National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Great Britain and Ireland,
Baha'i Center, 46 Bloomsbury Street, London, W. C. 1, ENGLAND.
Telegraphic Address: National Asgarzadih, London.
National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of India and Burma,
P. O. Box 14, Simla, INDIA.
Telegraphic Address: Baha'i, Simla.
National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of 'Iraq,
P. O. Box 5, Baghdad, 'IRAQ.
National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Iran,
Care of Mirza *Ali-Akbar Furutan, Khiaban-i-Mehdieh, No. 2002, Tihran, IRAN.
Telegraphic Address: Rawhani, Parsiyan, Tihran.
National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Turkistan,
Care of Mr. DiyaVllah Asgharzadih,
45 Alexandria Grove, North Finchley, London, N. 12, ENGLAND.
National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada,
Secretariat, 130 Evergreen Place, West Englewood, N. J., U. S. A.
Telegraphic Address: Bah£'i, New York.
International Baha'i Bureau,
No. 19a, Ave. de Champel, Geneva, SWITZERLAND.
Telegraphic Address: Bahd'i, Geneva.
555
556 THE BAHA'l WORLD
2.
BAHA'i LOCAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLIES
AND GROUPS
This list has been compiled by the International Bahd'i Bureau of Geneva, Switzer-
land. Omissions, errors and changes should be reported immediately to the Bureau,
address International Bahd'i Bureau, No. i$a, Ave. de Cbatnpel.
* Denotes Local Spiritual Assembly.
ABYSSINIA — Brenitza-Beloslatinska: Mr. Bentcho Chris-
Addis-Ababa: Sabri Elias, P. O. Box 193. toff.
Dragoman-Gare: Mr. Christo Knijarof Chef-
ALBANIA— Du-Duvane.
Gjinokaster: Mr. Refo Chapari, State Hos- Elhova: Dr. Cristo Tchervenkof, Mayor,
pital. Plovdiv-Gare: Mr. and Mrs. Lucca Kon-
stantinoff, Philopova. Dr. Anghelova,
AUSTRALIA Gladston Prodojinia.
* Adelaide, S. A.: Mr. H. Fitzner, 447 D, *Sofia: Miss Marion Jack> Union Palace
G.P.O. HoteL
Booleroo Center, S. A.: Mr. D. A. Brooks. Striklovo: Mr. Dimitri Angueloff, Russenka.
Broken Hill, N. S. W.: Mrs. Fraser-Pater- Varna: Mr- Nicholas Avramof, Ul. Polkov-
son, Box 1 5 1 A, G.P.O. nik> Suychtark.
Gladstone, S. A.: Mr. M. Appleton.
Goldsborough, Victoria: Miss Effie Baker, BURMA (see India and Burma) —
G. P. O.
Healesville, Victoria: Mr. L. Hancock. CANADA (see United States and Canada) —
Kopio, S. A.: Mr. C. Ruhe.
Melbourne, Victoria: Miss M. Stephens, Box CAUCASUS— Khilli.
1237, G.P.O. j:*Baku. Kugchay.
*Perth, W. A.: Mrs. A. O. Miller, 73 Ber- *Bala-Khani. Naftalan.
wick St. Batum. Petrovki.
^Sydney, Victoria Park: Miss Gladys Moody, *Burda. ^Saliyan.
Kembla Bldg., Margaret St. Q!?ini- Shakki.
Darband. Shamakhi.
A „ Erivan. Shiravan.
AUSTRIA— . —
* Vienna: Herr Franz Pollinger, Ramperstor- ^anJin- L ltlls-
fereasse 25/4.
CHINA —
Canton: Mr. C. S. Liu, Bureau for the Im-
_ , . provement of Sericulture, Department of
Antwenx Mme. Stemmann, J3 Ave. Van Reconstnlction> Ronglok.
Hong Kong: Mr. Pei Tswi, Manager, Bank
of China.
BRAZIL— Shanghai: Mirza H. A. Ouskouli, Box 5 5 1 .
Bahia: Miss Leonora Holsapple, Avenida
Oceanica 30. CZECHOSLOVAKIA—
Brno 14, C.S.R.: Mr. and Mrs. Mahmud
BULGARIA— Khamsy, Tyrspva 42.
Bourgas: Mr. Nichola Vassilef, Ul. Struma Castolovice 226, C.S.R.: Frau Mariane Bene-
31- sova, Hradece-Krilov^.
BAHA'f, DIRECTORY, 1937-1938
557
Praha II: Mr. Vuk Echtner, c/o Bruckner, u.
Pujcovny 2.
DENMARK —
Dresden A 24: Herr Paul Kohler, Feld-
schlosschenstr. 22.
*Esslingen: Frau Liesl Rommel, Keplerstr.
10.
Copenhagen: Miss Johanne Sorensen, Skov- *Frankfurt a/M.: Fraulein Edith Horn,
laeet 4, Hellerup.
EGYPT —
* Alexandria: P.O. Box 1865.
Assiut: Mr. 'Ali §alih.
Beni-Suef : Mr. Fathi Kamal.
*Cairo: P.O. Box 13, Daher.
Damietta: Mr. Fu'ad Zaynu'l-'Abidin,
A.I.P.A.
Dessouk: Mr. Sa'ad Salim Nusayr, Chief
Clerk of the Prison.
Burnitzstr. 8.
Geislingen/Steige: Herr u. Frau Hans Kraiss,
Altenstadt, Oleweg 22.
Goppingen: Frau Anna Schoch, Ulrichstr.
24.
Graal: Herr K. Klitzing, Haus Gertrud.
* Hamburg 24: Fraulein Anna Bostelmann,
Uhlandstr. 43.
'"Heidelberg: Fraulein Friedl Bleck, Mozart-
str. 9a.
Heilbronn: Frau Marie Ott, Rabeweg 4.
Isma'iliyyih: Mr. Khalil 'Ayad, Imprimerie Heppenheim: Herr Hans G. Schmidt, Post-
Suez Canal Co.
schliessfach 41.
Kafru'z-Zayat: Mr. Siyyid Farahat, Agricul- Karlsruhe-Riippur-Gartenstadt: Frau Marta
tural Bank.
Brauns, Resedenweg 70.
Kantara: Mr. Muhammad 'Avayda, Customs Leipzig C-l: Frau Lina Benke, Antonstr. 21.
Dept.
Kawmu'ss-§a*ayidih: Mr. Hasan Muhammad-
Hasan.
Mahallatu'l-Kubra : Mr. ' Abdu'l-Hamid
Zaki.
Mansurih: Mr. Mikha'il Sa'ad, Broadcasting
Section.
Nagh-Hamadih: Abu'l-Futuh Batah.
*Port Said: P.O.B. 213.
Rashid: Mr. Mikha'il Yusuf, Station Master.
Shibinu'1-Kawm: Mr. Ibrahim Stefanos.
Suez: Mr. Nashid Bassilios, Train Guard,
E.S.R.
Tanta: Mr. Ibrahim 'Abdu'l-Masih, State
Telegraphs.
FRANCE —
Grenoble: Mr. Nahvi Massouda, Maison des
£tudiants.
Lyon: Mile. Lucienne Migette, 12 Rue St.
Polycarpe.
Marseille: Mme. Marie Soghomonian, 17 Ch.
St. Trone, Ste. Marguerite.
'•"Paris: Mr. C. N. Kennedy, 104, Ave. de
Versailles.
Vence, A. M.: Mme. Adele Routsztein, Villa
Simone, Ste. Elizabeth.
Versailles: Dr. Ayadi, 5 Rue Alexis Foucolt.
GERMANY —
* Berlin: Herr Theo Lehne, Dallgow-D6-
beritz, Parkstr. 24.
Munich: Herr A. Grassl, Lindwurmstrasse
67.
Neckargemiind b/Heidelberg: Herr Dr. u.
Frau H. Grossman, Goringstr. 37.
*Rostock-Warnemunde: Fraulein Charlotte
Walcker, Schillerstr. 23.
* Stuttgart: Herr Albrecht Nagel, Schlossstr.
68.
Warnemiinde: Frau Charlotte Schwedler,
Personalbahnhof.
Zuffenhausen/Wttbg.: Frau Anna Marie
Schweizer, Karlstr. 26.
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND —
Abascragh: Mr. G. Townshend, Abascragh
Rectory, County Galway.
Ashburton, Devon: Mrs. McKinley, Rose-
land.
Babbacombe, Devon: Mrs. L. Stevens, Three
Hills, Hampton Ave.
Birmingham: Mr. J. Marshall, 67 Nansen
Rd., Alum Rock.
Blackburn: Mrs. Harold Cooper, Feniscowles
Old Hall, Pleasington.
Bournemouth: Miss Grace Challis, Rizwan,
Broadstone, Dorset.
Bradford: Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Norton, 41
Cranbourne Rd.
Bristol: Mrs. Dora Weeks, 53 Hill View,
Henleaze.
Cheltenham: Mrs. A. H. Ginman, 2 All
Saints Terrace, Hewlett Rd.
558
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Cheshire: Mr. and Mrs. Busby, 12 Norwood
Ave., Bramhall.
Cornwall: Mrs. Frazer, 173 Charleston Rd.,
St. Austell.
Darlington: Mr. A. W. Siddiqui, 18 New-
lands.
Farnham, Surrey: Mrs. Leitch, Fairfield
Lodge.
^London: Mr. G. H. Mukhless, 46 Blooms-
bury Street, London, W. C. 1.
''Manchester: Mr. J. Lee, Baha'i Centre,
Commerce House, 39 High St.
Okehampton, Devon: Mrs. Scaramucci,
South Zeal.
Orpington, Kent: Miss Baxter, Timbers-
combe, Station Rd.
Pleasington: Mrs. Nay lor, c/o Mrs. Cooper.
Reading: Mr. Z. Behravesh, 53 Alexander
Rd.
Stokenchurch, Bucks: Mrs. Isabel Slade, Mal-
lard's Court.
Totnes: Mrs. Langdon-Davies, 6 Huxham's
Cross, Dartington.
Worcester: Mrs. Harrison, 2 Blanquette Ave.,
Droitwich Rd.
York: Mrs. Ken worthy, 23 Arran Place,
Dodsworth Ave.
HAWAIIAN ISLANDS (see United States and
Canada) —
HOLLAND—
Amsterdam: Mr. Arnold van Ogtrop, A.T.M.
van Ogtrop Buro, Heeren Gracht 312.
Brummen, Gelderland: Herr and Frau Epple,
Zutphenscheweg 74.
Eindhoven: Mr. W. E. M. Grosfeld, Rechte-
straat 49.
Enschede: Herr G. J. Bertelinck, Hoogstraat
3.
Haarlem: Fraulein Kathe Braun, Spruit en
Boschstr. 15.
The Hague: Mr. and Mrs. Max Greeven,
Parkflat "Marloh."
HUNGARY —
Budapest: Miss Renee Felbermann, II Lisz-
nyai utca 15.
Gy6r: Mrs. George Steiner, Apkur u. 8.
ICELAND —
Reykjavik: Miss Holmfridur Arnadottir,
Eiriksgata no. 8.
INDIA AND BURMA —
Aligarh: Dr. M. S. Burney, Shahpara.
Amritsar: Mr. Ghulam Muhammad Sani,
153/54 Parja St. Hathi Darwaza.
Attock P.O. Shadi Khan (N.W.R.): c/o
Dr. Ghulam Qadir, Civil Hospital.
:;'Bombay: P.O. Box 470.
Bulandshahr (U.P.): Mr. Siyyid Irtida
Husayn, Government High School.
-'Calcutta: P.O. Box 8940.
Chittagong: Mr. Amiru'l-Islam, Islamkutir,
Andarkillah.
*Daidanaw-Kalazoo: Mr. Ko Ba Sein, P.O.
Kungyangoon (Hanthawaddy).
*Delhi: Mr. M. A. §amadani, Multani
Dhandha, Paharganj.
Hyderabad (Deccan): Mr. 'Abdu'1-Aziz,
B.A., B.T., Vice-Principal, Opp; Taluq-
dar Abkari, Nar£yangudda.
::-Karachi: Baha'i Hall, Pires St., Bunder
Road Extension.
Kawlin (Burma) : Mr. Khuda Bakhsh.
Khanpur (Bahawalpur State) : Mr. Muham-
mad Ishaq, B.Sc., Amin-Manzil.
Lahore: Prof. Pritam Singh, M.A., 39 Tem-
ple Road.
Lucknow: Siyyid Akhtar Jihan, *Aziz Man-
zil, Asjiraf^bad.
Madras: Mr. Ishaq Pahlayan, Chowk, Tripli-
cane.
};'Mandalay: Miss Hla Hla, 9/34th St.,
Koyandan.
Mozang (Lahore) : Mr. Uthman Ghani,
Diikusha Park Lane.
*Poona: P.O. Box 8.
'^Rangoon: P.O. Box 299.
Rawdih, Chapra (Saran) : Mr. Ahmad-'Ali.
Simla: Mr. 'Abbas-'Ali Butt, P.O. Box 14.
Sinthi, P.O. Tdtkon (Burma): Mr. M. A.
'Aziz, Station Master.
Sirsa (Hissar) : Dr. 'Abdu'l Shakur, Sabzi
Mendi.
Siwani (Bikdnir State) : Mr. Sami'ul Hasan
Zaydi, Station Master.
Surat: Mr. N. R. Vakil, Khapatia Chakla.
Tawnggyi (Burma): 'Abdul Rashid,
Ywam4 Road.
Thayetkon (Burma) :*Dr. M. A. Latif, Civil
Hospital.
Vyganellore, Agraharam, Kulitalai: Mr. A.
Rang^swami Iyer, Nazir.
Yamethin (Burma) : Dr. M. A. Kh£n, Civil
Hospital.
BAHA'f DIRECTORY, 1937-1938
559
IRAN —
Iran (see sub-section "Baha'i Administrative
Divisions in Iran").
'IRAQ —
PALESTINE AND TRANSJORDANIA —
*'Adasiyyih: P.O. Box 11, Samakh.
*'Akka: Mr. 4Abdu'l-Rahman Jarrah.
*Haifa: P.O, Box 23.
Hebron: Mr. M. 'Abdu'l-Latif.
*Adhy4bih: Mr. 'Ali Faraj, c/o 'Abbas Jaffa: Mr. Mansur A. Irani.
Ganji Shahraban.
*'Avashiq: c/o 'Abbas Ganji, Shahrabdn.
Baghdad: P.O. Box 5.
Basrih: c/o Zakariyya Doccat, Port Direc-
torate, Ashar.
Khiniqin:
Karbila: Mr. Adib R. Baghdad!, Sec-
ondary School.
Majdal: Mr, Misbah Murad.
Salt, Transjordania: Mr. Hasan H. Ruhi,
Salt Secondary School.
POLAND —
Warsaw: Miss L. Zamenhof, Krolewska 41.
RUMANIA —
* Mosul: Mr. Jamil Hanna, c/o Mulla Bucharest: Comitetul Baha'i stn. Dr. Istrate
Ahmad H. Mallah, Ninevah St.
10.
ISLANDS —
RUSSIA —
Society Islands: Papeete, Tahiti, Mr. and Leningrad: Isabel Grinevskaya, Prospect Na-
Mrs. Georg Spitze.
himson, No. 10, log. 32.
ITALY —
SOUTH AFRICA —
Florence: Signora Campani, Viale Duca di Cape Town: Mrs. Tucker, Three Anchor
Genova, 24.
Livorno: R. Mouzun, Allievo Ufficiale, R.
Academia Navale.
Rome: General R. Pioh Caselli, Via G. B. De
Rossi, No. 15 Rome.
Bay.
Pretoria: Mrs. F. A. Carey, 220 Johann St.
Southern Rhodesia: Mr. and Mrs. Jack Dee,
Salisbury.
JAPAN —
Kobe: Mr. Daiun Inouye, Sairinji, 42 Nishi-
miyauchi cho, Hyogo.
Kyoto: Mr. Tokujiro Torii, c/o Kyoto School SWEDEN —
for the Blind.
SUDAN —
Khartoum: 'Abdu'l-Hamid Yusuf, 22 Rue
Sirdar.
Tokyo: Mrs. Yuriko Furukawa, 501 Zchome vick.
Ra'mmen: Fru Rudd-Palmgren, Villa Oster-
Sendagaya Shibuya-ku.
Skara: Mr. Eric Borgren, Editor.
35 B.
SWITZERLAND —
Yokohama: Prof. K. D. Koyama, c/o Yoko- Stockholm: Miss A. Zetterlund, Kocksgatan
hama City College of Commerce.
JUGOSLAVIA —
Belgrade: Mrs. Draga Ilic, Kneginje Ljubice Geneve: International Baha'i Bureau, No.
19a Ave. de Champel.
Halse-Wolfhalden: Mr. Fritz Semle, Kinder-
heim Morgensonne.
26.
NEW ZEALAND —
'•"Auckland: Miss M. Stevenson, 3 Cowie Kilchberg, b/Zurich: Mrs. Gladys Vautier,
Road, Parnell.
Thames: Miss M. Borrows, Broad Street.
Monchhofstr. 32.
Monte S/Mendrisio Ticino: E. Mundwyler.
Wellington: Mrs. J. MacQuarrie, Willis St. Zurich: Mr. Leo Bernhard, Brunaustr. 61.
Yaninee: Mr. and Mrs. Hawthorne.
SYRIA —
* Aleppo: Post Box 445.
* Beirut: P.O. Box 774.
'•"Damascus: Shaykh 'Abdu'r-Rahm£n Hindi.
NORWAY —
Oslo: Miss Johanna Schubarth, Stromsveien
20, Apart. 42.
560
THE BAHA'l WORLD
;;;i^'W
First stage in the construction of the Haziratu'1-Quds of Baghdad, 'Iraq.
Mashqara (Lebanon): Mr. Zaynu'l-'Abidin
Baghdad!.
TUNISIA —
* Tunis: c/o Mr. M. Buchucha, 115 Rue El-
Ma rr.
TURKEY —
Adana: Miss Z. Naci, c/o American Hos-
pital, B.P. 15.
Beyoglu: Dr. Sarkis Tomasyan, Ferikeuy No.
89.
Istanbul: Bey Mecdi, fr.O.B. 660.
Jaques Abravanel, Hotel Lausanne
Palace, Tepebachi.
Izmir: Mr. Hakki Nomer, c/o Halim Alan-
yali, B.P. 345.
Kadikoy: Mr. Abbas Huseng, Moda Caddesi
No. 169.
Uskudar: Mr. Mehemet Ibrahim DjaFerzad,
Pasha Limani, Susuz Bag No. 13.
TURKISTAN
Andijan.
Artiq.
Aryul.
Biram-'Ali.
'•Bukhara.
Charju.
'••Gul-Tapih.
*'Is_hqabad.
Khawqand.
Kislavodski.
Marqilan.
:-Marv.
5:'Qahqahih.
::"Samarqand.
;:>Tajan.
Takht-i-Bazar.
>:Tas_hkand.
Yultan.
UNITED STATES AND CANADA (see sub-sec-
tion 4) —
WEST INDIES, BRITISH —
Barbados: Miss Ella Robarts, c/o Mrs. Hy-
man, Woodside Bay Street, Bridgetown.
BAHA'f DIRECTORY, 1937-1938 561
3.
OFFICERS AND COMMITTEES OP THE
NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF THE
BAHA'IS OF THE UNITED STATES
AND CANADA
Mr. Mountfort Mills, Chairman
Mr. Allen B. McDaniel, Vice-Chairman
Mr. Horace Holley, Secretary
Mr. Roy C. Wilhelm, Treasurer
'Mr. Carl Scheffler
Mr. Leroy C. loas
Mrs. Nellie S. French
Mr. George Orr Latimer
Mrs. Dorothy B. Baker
National Office: 130 Evergreen Place,
West Englewood, New Jersey.
Office of the Secretary: 119 Waverly
Place, New York, N. Y.
COMMITTEES OF THE NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY
ARCHIVES AND HISTORY —
Mr. Edwin W- Mattoon, Chairman.
Mrs. Carl Scheffler, Secretary, 1821 Lincoln
St., Evanston, Illinois.
Mrs. R. D. Pettet.
Mr. Charles Mason Remey.
Miss Julia Sobel.
ACCOUNTANT —
Mr. A. F. Matthiseji, 4612 Maiden St., Chi-
cago, Illinois*
ANNUAL SOUVENIR OF 'ABDU'L-BAHA,
1^37—
Mr. William de Forge, Chairman.
Mr. Curtis Kelsey.
Dr. Wilbur.
Miss Ophelia B. Crum.
Mrs. Grace Krug.
Mrs. Carrie Kinney.
Miss Bertha L. Herklotz.
THE BAHA'I WORLD, VOLUME VII, EDI-
TORIAL—
Mr. Horace Holley, Chairman.
Mrs. Nellie S. French, Secretary, 390 Grove
St., Pasadena, California.
Mrs. Ruth Brandt.
Mrs. Alexander Morten.
Mrs. Dudley Blakeley.
Miss Marion Holley.
Mrs. Mar^iyyih Carpenter.
Mrs. Victoria Bedikian, Assistant Photograph
Editor.
Mrs. Charles Bishop.
Miss Agnes Alexander.
Mr. Louis G. Gregory.
BRAILLE TRANSCRIPTION —
Mrs. Samuel Rodman, Chairman, 24 Ross
Street, Batavia, New York.
Miss Ella Quant.
Miss Hilda Stauss.
Mrs. S. W. French.
CONTACTS —
Miss Lucy Marshall, Chairman, 20 Broderick
Street, San Francisco, Calif.
Miss Ethel Revell.
*Mrs. Sarah Kenny.
Mrs. Jacob Kunz.
Mrs. Emeric Sala.
Mrs. Allen B. McDanieL
Mrs. Stanley Kemp.
Miss Marion Holley.
INDEX —
Mrs. H. A. Harding, Chairman, 704 W.
Nevada Street, Urbana, Illinois.
Mrs. Mabel Paine.
Mrs. Joel Stebbins.
Mrs. B. H. Kirkpatrick.
Mrs. Mary Rabb.
LEGAL —
Mr. George O. Latimer, Chairman, 1927
N.E, Fortieth Avenue, Portland, Ore-
gon.
Mr. Mountfort Mills.
Mr. Carl Scheffler.
562
THE BAHA'f WORLD
LIBRARY —
Miss Martha Woodsum, Chairman.
Mrs. Wesley Bastedo, Secretary, 1332 River-
' side Drive, New York, N. Y.
INTER- AMERICA —
Mrs. E. R. Ma thews, Chairman, Box 1064,
Colorado Springs, Colo.
Mrs. A. E. Stewart, Secretary.
Mr. Miguel Calderon.
Mr. E. R. Mathews.
PUBLICITY —
Mrs. A. F. Matthisen, Chairman, 4612 Mai-
den St., Chicago, Illinois.
Mrs. Edna Eastman.
Mr. Clarence LaRocque.
PUBLICITY COMMITTEE REVIEWING —
Mr. and Mrs. Willard McKay, 833 Prender-
gast Avenue, Jamestown, New York.
PUBLISHING —
Mr. Horace Hoi ley, Chairman.
Mrs. C. R. Wood, Secretary, 135 East 50th
Street, New York, N. Y.
Mr. R. C. Wilhelm.
Mrs. Emma F. Smith.
Miss Bertha Herklotz.
Mrs. Marie B. Moore.
Mr. William DeForge.
Mr. Thomas Wood.
PUBLISHING COMMITTEE — EDITORIAL DIVI-
SION—
Mrs. Marie B. Moore.
Miss Helen Campbell.
Miss Teresita E. Ryan.
RADIO —
Mrs. Frank A. Baker, Chairman, 615 West
Elm Street, Lima, Ohio.
Mrs. Bishop Brown.
Miss Elsie Austin.
REVIEWING —
Dr. Genevieve L. Coy, Chairman.
Mrs. Horace Holley, Secretary, 119 Waverly
Place, New York, N. Y.
Mrs. Patrick Quinlan.
STUDY OUTLINES —
ty[iss Gretchen Westervelt, Chairman, 16
Garden St., Potsdam, New York.
Mrs. Willard McKay.
Miss Imogene Talbott.
Miss June Miller;
Mrs. J. W. Gift.
TEACHING-^
Mr. Leroy C. iQas, Chairman.
Miss Charlotte M. Linfoot, Secretary, 376
60th St., Oakland, California.
Mr. George O. Latimer.
Mrs. Thomas H. Collins.
Prof. Forsyth N. Ward.
Mrs. Arthur L. Dahl.
REGIONAL TEACHING — ALABAMA AND
FLORIDA —
Mrs. Lucile Hoke, Secretary, c/o Chalmers
Music Co., 12 Flagler St., Miami, Florida.
Mrs. W. B. Guy.
Dr. W. C. Thomas.
REGIONAL TEACHING — TENNESSEE, GEOR-
GIA AND KENTUCKY — %
Mrs. Georgie Wiles, Secretary, R. F. D. 2,
West Nashville, Tennessee.
Mr. E. Vogt.
Mrs. Thelma Allison.
REGIONAL TEACHING — MISSISSIPPI AND
LOUISIANA —
Mrs. R. D. Little, P. O. Box 61, Covington,
La.
REGIONAL TEACHING — KANSAS AND MIS-
SOURI—
Miss Opal Howcll, Secretary, 4527 Forest
Avenue, Kansas City, Mo.
Mr. Paul Brown.
Mr. J. B. Becktel.
Mr. J. J. Williams.
REGIONAL TEACHING — WISCONSIN, MICHI-
GAN AND ILLINOIS —
Mrs. H. E. Walrath, Secretary, 4639 Beacon
St., Chicago, Illinois.
Mr. Robert Theiss.
Mr. Charles Reimer.
Mr. Monroe loas.
Mrs. Robert Carson.
Mrs. D. C. Rolfe.
BAHA'f DIRECTORY, 1937-1938
563
REGIONAL TEACHING — OHIO AND INDI-
ANA—
Mrs. Edward Meissler, Secretary, 319 West-
wood Drive, Lima, O.
Mr. Dale S. Cole.
Miss Charlotte Lindenburg.
Dr. Lillian Sielken.
REGIONAL TEACHING — MARYLAND, DELA-
WARE, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, VIRGINIA
AND WEST VIRGINIA —
Mrs. F. W. Hipsley, Secretary, 4406 Went-
worth Road, Baltimore, Md.
Mr. Charles Mason Remey.
Mr. Stanwood Cobb.
REGIONAL TEACHING — NEW YORK, PENN-
SYLVANIA AND NEW JERSEY —
Mrs. Mildred Mattahedeh, Secretary, 544
East 86th Street, New York City, New
York.
Mr. Philip Sprague.
Miss Helen Campbell.
Mr. Curtis Kelsey.
Miss Jessie E. Revell.
Dr. Genevieve L. Coy.
Mrs. Helen Inderlied.
Dr. Albert Heist.
REGIONAL TEACHING — MAINE, NEW
HAMPSHIRE, VERMONT, MASSACHUSETTS,
RHODE ISLAND AND CONNECTICUT —
Mrs. F. S. Morton, Secretary, 5 Wheeler Ave-
nue, Worcester, Mass.
Mrs. Harold M. Bowman.
Mrs. Victor Archambault.
Mrs. Wendell E. Bacon.
Mrs. Howard Struven.
REGIONAL TEACHING — PROVINCE OF ON-
TARIO, CANADA —
Mr. Gerrard Sluter, Secretary, 334 George
St., Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Mr. George Spendlove.
Mr. William Suter.
REGIONAL TEACHING — PROVINCE OF QUE-
BEC, NEW BRUNSWICK, NOVA SCOTIA,
PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND AND NEW-
FOUNDLAND—
Mrs. Ruth Lee, Secretary, 2682 Soissons Ave.,
Montreal, P.Q., Canada.
Miss Anne Savage.
Mr. Ernest V. Harrison.
Mr. Siegfried Schopflocher,
REGIONAL TEACHING — CALIFORNIA, ARI-
ZONA AND NEVADA — *
Mrs. Oni A. Finks, Secretary, 453 East Ave-
nue 28, Los Angeles, Calif.
Mrs. C. H. Bugbee.
Mr. Joseph H. Bray.
Mrs. Sara Kenny.
Mrs. Florence Cox.
REGIONAL TEACHING — OREGON AND IDA-
HO; BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA —
Miss Doris Foye, Secretary, P. O. Box 228,
Seattle, Washington.
Mrs. Levinia Sprau.
Mr. Rowland Estall.
Mr. Stanley Kemp.
Mrs. Louise Caswell.
TEACHING AND TRAINING CHILDREN —
Mr. Carl Scheffler, Chairman, 1821 Lincoln
St., Evanston, Illinois.
Mr. Stanwood Cobb.
Mr. Robert S. Hammond.
Mrs. Viola Tuttle.
Dr. Genevieve L. Coy.
Mrs. Florida Sanford.
TEACHING LITERATURE —
Mr. George O. La timer, Chairman, 1927
N.E. 40th Avenue, Portland, Ore.
Mrs. Louise Caswell.
Mrs. Alice Robertson.
TEMPLE PROGRAM —
Miss Sophie Loeding, Chairman.
Mrs. Clarence Ullrich, Secretary, 904 N.
Hays Avenue, Oak Park, Illinois.
Mrs. Enos M. Barton.
Mrs. Edward Lindstrom.
Miss Edna True.
Mr. Robert S. Hammond.
TEMPLE LIBRARIAN AND PHOTOGRAPHS —
Mr. H. E. Walrath, 4639 Beacon St., Chi-
cago, Illinois.
UNIVERSAL AUXILIARY LANGUAGE —
Executive Committee —
Mrs. Patrick Quinlan, Chairman, 70 Colum-
bia Heights, Brooklyn, N. Y.
564
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Miss Josephine Kruka.
Mr. Lothar Schurgast.
Consulting Members —
Mr. Charles Witt.
Mrs. Sara Witt.
Mr. A. E. Regal.
Mrs. Elsa Chaslon.
Miss Lucy Marshall.
WORLD ORDER MAGAZINE —
Mr. Stan wood Cobb.
Mr. Horace Holley, 1 19 Waverly Place, New
York, N. Y.
Mrs. Marjory Morten.
Mrs. C. R. Wood, Business Manager, 135
East 50th Street, New York, N. Y.
YOUTH —
Mr. Kenneth Christian, Chairman.
Miss Zeah Holden, Secret lary, 48 Terrace
Avenue, Albany, N. Y.
Miss Florence Mat toon.
Miss Marguerite Reimer.
Miss Dorothy Wever.
Miss Wilfrid Barton.
Miss Farruck loas.
Mr. Samuel Fox.
Mr. Clarence LaRocque.
Mr. Lloyd Schoeny.
Miss Mae Graves.
Miss Evelyn Cliff .
Mr. Fred Ascah.
Miss Grace Shepherd.
Mr. Philip Sprague.
International Correspondents —
Miss Tahirih Mann
Miss Annamarie Kunz
SUMMER SCHOOL PROGRAM FOR SEASON —
Green Acre — Eliot, Maine, Dr. Genevieve L.
Coy, Chairman.
Mr. Glenn A. Shook.
Mrs. Mary Coristine.
Central States — Louhelen Ranch, Davison,
Michigan.
Mr. L. W. Eggleston, Chairman.
Mrs. 'Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick, Secretary.
Mr. Bishop Brown.
Mr. E. J. Miessler.
Mrs. Dorothy B. Baker.
Miss Garreta Busey.
Pacific States — Geyserville, California.
Mr. John D. Bosch, Chairman.
Mr. Leroy C. loas, Secretary.
Mrs. Thomas H. Collins.
Mr. George O. Latimer.
Mrs. Ella G. Cooper.
Mr. Siegfried Schopflocher.
Miss Charlotte Linfoot.
Prof. N. F. Ward.
Mr. Irwin Somerhalder.
GREEN ACRE ARTS AND CRAFTS —
Miss Agnes O'Neil, Chairjnan.
Mrs. Harold B. Bowditch.
Mrs. Harold Bowman.
Mrs. Ivy Edwards.
GREEN ACRE PLAYS AND PAGEANTS —
Mrs. Harold B. Bowditch, Chairman.
Mr. Raphael Pumpelly.
Mrs. Magda Polivanov.
Mr. Max Miller.
Dr. Ambrose.
Mr. Philip Sprague.
Miss Peggy Crandall.
Mr. Lionel Loveday.
BAHA'l DIRECTORY, 1937-1938
4.
LOCAL BAHA'l SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLIES
GROUPS AND ISOLATED BELIEVERS
IN THE UNITED STATES AND
CANADA
BAHA'f ASSEMBLIES
565
Phoenix, Arizona, Mrs. Ruth Humphrey,
P. O. Box 4053.
Berkeley, Calif., Mrs. Laura Kelsey Allen,
537 Santa Barbara Road.
Geyserville, Calif., Mrs. John D. Bosch.
Glendale, Calif., Mrs. Charlotte E. Grover,
1310 E. Acacia Avenue.
Los Angeles, Calif., Mrs. Oni A. Finks, 453
E. Avenue 28.
Oakland, Calif., Miss Gladyce Linfoot, 376
60th Street.
Pasadena, Calif., Miss Emmalu Wever, 535
South Pasadena Avenue.
San Francisco, Calif., Miss Nadeen G.
Cooper, 748 Page Street, Apt. 7.
Montreal, Canada, Mrs. Emeric Sala, 194
Riverside Drive, St. Lambert, P. Q.
Vancouver, B. C., Miss Doris Skinner, 1555
13th Avenue, West.
Colorado Springs, Colorado, Mrs. Gladys
Roberts, 915 North Hancock Avenue.
Denver, Colorado, Dr. C. E. Meyer, 449 5 1/2
Perry Street.
New Haven, Connecticut, Mrs. Elsa Isaacs,
1 04 Grand Avenue.
Washington, D. C., Mr. George D. Miller,
1717 Kilbourne Place, N.W.
Jacksonville, Florida, Miss Kathryn L. Ver-
non, 707 Post Street.
Miami, Florida, Mrs. Margaret H. Atwater,
44 N. W. 10th Avenue.
St. Augustine, Florida, Miss Mae Thitchener,
20 River Road.
Augusta, Georgia, Mrs. C. T. Sego, Brans-
ford Road.
Honolulu, Hawaii, Mrs. Elma Adolphson,
712 17th Avenue.
Maui, Hawaii, Mrs. Mary T. Fantom,
Sprecklesville.
Chicago, Illinois, Mrs. H. S. Walrath, 4639
Beacon Street.
Evanston, Illinois, Mrs. Inez B. Ford, 2645
Girard Avenue.
Park Ridge, Illinois, Mrs. J. H. Redson, 612
So. Washington Street.
Peoria, Illinois, Mrs. Marion Rhodes, 142
High Street, Apt. D.
Rockford, Illinois, Dr. Edward L. Fernald,
607 Empire Building.
Springfield, Illinois, Mrs. Anna K. Jurgens,
201 W. Calhoun Avenue.
Urbana, Illinois, Mr. H. J. Snider, 506 W.
Penn. Avenue.
Wilmette, Illinois, Mr. Carl A. Hannen, 536
Sheridan Road.
Winnetka, Illinois, Mrs. Robert Carson,
1518 Asbury Avenue.
Indianapolis, Indiana, Mrs. Lorraine Barlet,
3527 Evergreen Avenue.
South Bend, Indiana, Mrs. Sarah M. Russell,
1031 Lincoln Way West.
Eliot, Maine, Miss Louise N. Thompson.
Baltimore, Maryland, Mrs. George Stallings,
23 S. Highland Avenue.
Cabin John, Maryland, Mrs. Pauline A.
Hannen.
Boston, Mass., Mrs. E. M. Oglesby, 30 Hoi-
yoke Street.
Springfield, Mass., Mrs. Wendell E. Bacon,
Monson, Mass.
Worcester, Mass., Miss Fanny M. Holmes,
103 Webster Street.
Detroit, Michigan, Miss Jessie B. Hall, 49 E.
Willis Street.
Flint, Michigan, Miss Elizabeth J. Phelps,
P. O. Box 355.
Lansing, Michigan, Mr. George Angell,
R. F. D. 3, Box 540.
Muskegon, Michigan, Mrs. Iva Smack, 132
Allen Avenue.
Minneapolis, Minnesota, Mrs. Helen W.
Frink, 1216 Nicollet Avenue.
St. Paul, Minnesota, Mr. Julian Abas, 235
Fuller Avenue.
Kansas City, Missouri, Miss Opal Howell,
4527 Forest Avenue.
566
THE BAHA'f WORLD
The Baha'is of Daidanaw, Kalazoo, " 'Abdu'l-Baha's Village" in Burma.
* Jersey City, New Jersey, Mr. Bernard B.
Gottlieb, 445 Mercer Street.
Montclair, New Jersey, Miss Anna E. Van
Blarcum, 19 Walnut Crescent.
Newark, New Jersey, Mrs. F. Clark, 2 1 Mil-
ford Avenue.
Teaneck, New Jersey, Mr. Archie G. Tich-
enor, 12 Valley Rd., Haworth, N. J.
Binghamton, New York, Miss Roberta May-
bin, 178 Court Street.
Buffalo, New York, Mrs. Morris S. Bush, 406
West Utica Street.
Geneva, New York, Mrs. Marguerite Firoozi,
22 DeLancy Drive.
New York, N. Y., Miss B. L. Herklotz,
Room 615, 119 W. 5 7th Street.
Rochester, New York, Miss Christine
McKay, 228 Castlebar Road.
Yonkers, New York, Mrs. Lillian' Stoddard,
100 Saratoga Avenue.
Cincinnati, Ohio, Miss Hilda Stauss, 3640
Epworth Ave., Westwood, Cincinnati, O.
Cleveland, Ohio, Mrs, Dale S. Cole, 3174
Corydon Road.
Columbus, Ohio, Mrs. Margarete Acebo,
R. F. D. 1, Reynoldsburg, Ohio.
Dayton, Ohio, Mrs. Helen McCoy, 24 Lex-
ington Avenue.
Lima, Ohio, Mrs. Elma Miessler, 319 West-
wood Drive.
Toledo, Ohio, Miss Ruth E. Phillips, 2215
Scottwood Avenue.
Portland, Oregon, Mr. J. W. Latimer, 1927
N.E. 40th Avenue.
Philadelphia, Penna., Miss Jessie E. Re veil,
2531 North 19th Street.
Pittsburgh, Penna., Mrs. Bishop Brown,
Ingomar, Pa.
Nashville, Tennessee, Mrs. E. H. Peebles,
Nolensville, Tennessee.
Monroe, Washington, Mrs. Levina Sprau,
P. O. Box 277.
Spokane, Washington, Mrs. Isabelle M.
Campbell, 1427 S. Madison St.
Seattle, Washington, Miss Doris Foye, P. O.
Box 228.
Kenosha, Wisconsin, Mr. Louis J. Voelz,
6108 Sheridan Road.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Mrs. Jeannette Clark,
1814A. North Oakland Ave.
Racine, Wisconsin, Mr. Harold R. Olsen,
1332 Russet Street.
BAHA'f DIRECTORY, 1937-1938 567
BAHA'f GROUPS
CALIFORNIA — Roseville, Mrs. Arthur Page, Box 500, East
Clearlake Highlands, Mrs. Flora M. Clark, Detroit.
Box 47.
Knightsen, Mrs. Helena R. Somerhalder. MINNESOTA—
Long Beach, Mr. Clyde W. Tracy, 1324 Duluth> Mr- E- Bauers> "4 Arlington Ave.
Florida St. NEBRASKA—
Sacramento, Miss Elizabeth L. Duffy, 1514 Qm^ ^ A,ma Sothman> 2QJ Keeline
12th St. Bu'ldine
Southgate, Mrs. Josephine F. Clark, 8180 S'
Dearborn. NEW HAMPSHIRE—'
CONNECTICUT- Portsmouth, Mr. Louis Gregory.
Hartford, Mrs. H. P. Drew, 138 Bedford NEW JERSEY—
Stg Asbury Park, Miss Jane Durand, 1305 Com-
FLORIDA- stock St'
Orlando, Mrs. D. Tornstrom, Box 250, Pine XJEW YORK
Castle- Capital District, Miss Zeah Holden, 48 Ter-
IDAHO— race Ave*> AlbanX-
Boise, Mrs. Ethel Thompson, R.F.D. Ithaca> Miss H' B' Townley, 24i Cayuga
No. 1. Street-
Jamestown, Mrs. Doris McKay, 833 Pender-
KANSAS — gast Ave.
Topeka, Miss Ruth Ashworth, 2210 Laurel Syracuse, Dr. Mildred Blackmer, 501 Uni-
St. versity PI.
MASSACHUSETTS — OKLAHOMA —
Provincetown, Mrs. Ralph Harlow, Box 305. Oklahoma City, Mrs. Albert P. Entzminger,
423 N.E. Tenth St.
MICHIGAN —
Ann Arbor, Mrs. Wm. M. Parker, 1601 WISCONSIN —
Pontiac St. Madison, Mrs. Joel Stebbins, Observatory
Fruitport, Mrs. Frazier, R.F.D. No. 1, Box Hill.
138. Green Bay, Mr. Leo Kundert, Box 894.
REGISTERED ISOLATED BELIEVERS
CALIFORNIA — Covina, Miss Vera H. Graham, 543 5th St.
Alma, Miss Julia Culver, Chemeketa Park; El Monte, D. J. Adams, Jr., 625 McGirk
Mr. and Mrs. L. N. Ball, Chemeketa Park. Ave., R.F.D. No. 2.
Arroyo Grande, Dr. B. C. Smith, c/o E. R. Escondido, Mrs. Carl Steinhauser, R.F.D.
Rhyne, Star Route. No. 1, Box 54.
Burlingame, Mr. and Mrs. George Kuhlman, Exeter, Miss Myriam F. Partridge, 19 Clar-
33 Channing Road; Mrs. Charles Camp- ence St.
bell, 815 Fairfield St. Fort Bragg, Mrs. Anna H. E. Hale, Box 550.
Carmel, Mrs. John O'Shea, Box 166, R.F.D. Glen Ellen, Mrs. O. M. Small, Box 57.
No. 1. Healdsburg, Mrs. W. M. Stout, 427 Mathe-
Chula Vista, Miss Feme Adams, 773 2nd son St.; Miss Madeline Stout, 427 Mathe-
Ave. son St.
Claremont, Miss Charlotte Dakin, 405 Yale Hinkley, Miss Doris Goodrick, R.F.D. No. 1.
Ave. Hollywood, James Dodson, 1532 Las Palmas.
568
THE BAHA'I WORLD
Laguna Beach, Mrs. Grace Vollmer, P.O.
Box 12.
Lakeport, Mrs. Clark Rood. **•
Lindsay, Mrs. Mary Carr, R.F.D. No. 1,
Box 109.
Manhattan Beach, Miss Sarah M. Smoot, Box
195, Hermosa Beach; Mrs. Lyda Conover,
216 Poinsettia Ave.
Mariposa, Mrs. Inglis J. Carre, General De-
livery.
Minnelusa, Mr. and Mrs. C. N. Wells, Big
Bear Lake.
Oakley, Mr. Max F. Schober, R.F.D. No. 1,
Box 129.
Orleans, Mr. and Mrs. John L. Gibson, Gen-
eral Delivery.
Pacific Beach, Miss Esther Davis, Box 29B.
Palo Alto, Mrs. Arthur L. Dahl, Jr., 524
Oberlin St.
Paradise, Mr. Robert L. Gulick, Sr.
Reprisa, Mrs. Barnet Huse.
Salinas, Mrs. F. Brubaker, 158 West Alisal.
San Bernardino, Miss Dagmar Dole, 540
19th St.
San Diego, Mrs. Catherine E. Hall, 4475
Thorn St.; Mr. Richard Alderson, 3552
31st St.; Miss Lillian Fenn, 2439 Third
Ave.
Santa Clara, Mrs. John Honn, 1374 Idaho St.
Santa Maria, Mrs. S. D. Montgomery, 612
S. Lincoln St.
Santa Monica, Mrs. Clara C. Beal, 1222B 6th
St.
Santa Paula, Mrs. C. E. Carpenter, 415
North 6th St.
Santa Rosa, Mrs. Hazel Tomlinson, 1035
Clark St.
St. Helena, Mrs. Emma H. Harmon.
Turlock, Mrs. Maude Fisher, 332 North Cen-
ter St.
Visalia, Mrs. Daisy G. Frye, 240 N.E.
Fourth Ave.; Miss Anne Holley, Green-
acre Drive.
Whit tier, Miss Jane Coulter; Mrs. Ann
Burch, 102 W. Broadway.
Woodlake, Mrs. Estelle Wacaser.
Yuba City, Mrs. Cordie C. Cline, 778 Olive
St.; Miss Ada L. Chandon, 778 Olive St.
COLORADO —
Cripple Creek, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis W. Frink,
2 Welty Block; Mrs. Gladys Frink, Gen-
eral Delivery; Dr. John H. Austin.
CONNECTICUT —
Danbury, Mr. Donald Kinney, R.F.D. #4.
Greenwich, Miss Nellie Hope Lloyd, The
Maples.
FLORIDA —
Fernandina, Mr. J. Stone, Box 423; Mr. Gor-
don Hall, 3 1 5 Calhoun St.
Lakeland, Mr. and Mrs. Byron S. Lane, 708
N. Iowa.
Miami, Mrs. Amelie Willard Bodmer, 3580
Royal Palm Ave., Coconut Grove; Mrs.
Mae A. Fisher, 3580 Royal Palm Ave.,
Coconut Grove.
Okechobee, Mrs. A. J. Sanderfur.
Ruskin, Mrs. Cora L. Jones, Box 27.
Williston, Miss Josie Finson, Box 2.
GEORGIA —
Atlanta, Mr. and Mrs. B. D. Couch, 669
Lee St.; Dr. J. C. Oakshette, Nassau Ho-
tel, 162 Luckie St.
Savannah, Mrs. L. C. Haskell, 211 E. Vic-
tory Dr.
IDAHO—
Coeur d'Alene, Mr. J. F. Behrens, 2111 Sher-
man Ave., R.F.D. #4.
Kooskia, Mr. George W. Stewart, R.F.D. 1,
Box 22.
INDIANA —
Fowler, Mrs. Dana Wells, 2nd St.
Smithville, Mrs. R. W. Patrick.
Winamac, Mr. Robert J. Sevier, R.F.D. $4.
ILLINOIS —
Alton, Ida L. Dixon, 1229 Alby.
Elmhurst, Miss Mary Fisher, 300 North
York.
Freeport, Dr. David and Misses Ella
and Lillian Bokof, 518 W. Galena Ave.;
Mrs. H. S. Brandt, 430 Nursery
Ave.
Magnolia, Mrs. Lucy B. Swindler, R.F.D.
Mattoon, Miss Bertha B. Newby, 1618
Charleston.
Moline, Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Smith, 2417
16th Ave.
Ottawa, Miss Frances A. Muffler, Ryburn
Memorial Hospital.
Robinson, Miss Emma Borchardt, c/o O. T.
Bierson, Woodworth Blk.
BAHA'f DIRECTORY, 1937-1938
569
Quincy, Miss Helen Greeman, 1100 Payson
Ave.
Serena, Mr. William E. Muffler, R.F.D. #1;
Mrs. Gertrude Muffler, R.F.D. #1.
Wheaton, Mr. Glenn R. Ray, Box 352.
IOWA —
Centerville, Mr. Frank Bibby, 808 Haynes
Ave.
Correctionville, Mrs. Sophie L. Hayes, Box
307.
Des Moines, Miss Grace M. Decker, Cham-
berlain Hotel.
KANSAS —
Kansas City, Miss Beulah Magruder, c/o
Bethany Hospital.
KENTUCKY —
Cave City, Mr. Edward White.
Hopkinsville, Mrs. Nettie J. LaPrade, 1930
Oak St.
Louisville, Mrs. Gertrude Christine, 507 W.
Hill St.; Mrs. Elizabeth J. Wheeler, 2014
Grinsted Ave.
Mammoth Cave, Mr. Tom Martin.
LOUISIANA —
Covington, Mrs. Marion M. Little, Box 61.
Norwood, Mr. and Mrs. N. S. Eden.
MAINE —
Augusta, Mr. Thomas B. Guy, 317 Water
St.
Gardiner, Mr. Fred L. Kelly.
North Fryeburg, Mrs. Rebecca Dixon, c/o
Dr. Charles, R.F.D.
Lovell, Mrs. Everett Heald.
Portland, Mrs. Melissa J. Toms, 170 West-
brook St.
West Boothbay Harbor, Rev. Willis A.
Moore, D.D.
MARYLAND—
Salisbury, Mr. and Mrs. L. W. Hammond,
c/o Mr. O. S. Winfree.
MASSACHUSETTS —
Hampdon, Miss Mary Isham, R.F.D. #2.
Provincetown, Mrs. Harriet Seaver, "Nau-
tilus"; Miss Louise Von Brockdorff, Brad-
ford St., 50 A.
Salem, Mr. and Mrs. J. F. Crowley, 18 Mt.
Vernon; Mrs. Annie B. Walker, 18 Mt.
Vernon.
MICHIGAN —
Bloomfield Hills, Mr. and Mrs. Dudley
Blakely, Cranbrook Institute of Science.
Cheboygan, Mrs. Florence Bauer, 366 Young
St.
Dexter, Mrs. Jean Hunter Thurber, 112
Ann Arbor St.
Edmore, Earl H. Kaley, R.F.D. #3.
Greenville, Miss Alma E. Albertson, R.F.D.
#2; Mr. John M. Irish, 422 W. Cass.
Idlewild, Mrs. Helen Zenobia Thompson,
Box 56.
Kalamazoo, Miss Elizabeth Dickerman, 2026
S. Burdick; Mrs. Mary Dickerman, 2026
S. Burdick.
Lawrence, Mrs. John F. Hay, R.F.D. #2.
Marysville, Mrs. Oscar Ketels, Box 843.
Olivet, Mrs. J. E. Kirkpatrick.
Pentwater, Mr. Clarence Wilder, R.F.D. #1;
Mr. and Mrs. De Witt Wickham, R.F.D.
#1-
Port Huron, Miss Rosemarie Dollinger, 1002
Huron Ave.
Wyoming Park, Mr. and Mrs. William Nel,
2446 Cherrywood Court.
MINNESOTA —
Moorehead, Mrs. C. B. Hill, 119-8th St.,
South.
Preston, Miss Frances Moore, 22Ql/2-lst
Ave., S.W.
MISSISSIPPI —
Greenwood, Mrs. H. W. Bivins, 1000 Park-
way.
MISSOURI —
Jefferson, Bruce Beck, R.F.D. 1, Box 178.
St. Louis, Mr. Louis H. Hudson, 4628a Del-
mar Ave.; Mr. Wm. C. Hudson, 2013
De Kalb St.; Miss Mary Wall, 4647 Mar-
garetta St.; Mr. Frank Zykan, 1517a
Picker St.; Madame Aurelia Bethlen, 4349
Olive St.
MONTANA —
Butte, Mrs. Betty Nelson, 315 W. Granite;
Mr. and Mrs. Matthew H. Caldwell,
Box 1058; Miss Florence Hamm, 1117 N.
Emmett St.
570
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Haugan, Dr. Grover Burnett.
NORTH DAKOTA —
Helena, Mr. and Mrs. Chas. Q. Adams, 221 Fargo, Miss Charlotte Marie Wright, Gen-
Pine St.; Mrs. Chas. M. Bryan, 507-6th eral Delivery.
St.
Winifred, Mr. John H. Wilcott.
NEBRASKA —
Lincoln, Mrs. Eva M. Fulton, 1942 Euclid.
Waterbury, Mrs. Henry Luehr, R.F.D. 1, Lenoir, Charles Thomas Graham, 2 1 5 North
Box 43. Church Street.
NORTH CAROLINA —
Canton, Milton W. Zim.
Charlotte, Mrs. Mary Ann Berry, 232 W.
Tryon.
NEW HAMPSHIRE —
Ashuelot, Mr. and Mrs. Hiram O. Bolton,
Box 55.
Hinsdale, Mrs. Lorna L. Kendrick, North-
field St.; Dr. Fred D. Kendrick, North-
field St.; Mrs. Hazel Owen.
Pittsfield, Mrs. Harry Taylor.
NEW JERSEY —
Atlantic City, Mrs. Sara Terry Taylor, 25 N.
Ohio Ave.; Mr. John H. Taylor, 25 N.
Ohio Ave.; Mr. Saul R. Bogatin, 15 North
Connecticut Ave.; Mrs. Eva Allen Batey,
23 North Ohio Ave.
Marlton, Mrs. J. Margaret Aducat, R.F.D.
#3.
Morristown, Mrs. Wm. H. Hoar, 26 Maple
Ave.; Miss Dorothy Hoar, 26 Maple Ave.;
Mrs. E. D. Houze, 142 Speedwell Ave.
Trenton, Mr. J. Newell Ayres, 403 Em-
meline Ave., R.F.D. #5.
NEW MEXICO—
Las Vegas, Mr. and Mrs. D. A. Bressett,
Montezuma Route.
Santa Rosa, Mr. and Mrs. Leon Hutchins.
NEW YORK —
Batavia, Mrs. M. R. Rodman, 24 Ross St.
Dunkirk, Miss C. H. Philippbaar, 727 Wash-
ington Ave.
Larchmont, Mrs. J. E. Mills, 5 Highwood
Way.
Lima, Mr. and Mrs. Vincent Tola's, Lake
Ave.
Little Falls, Harry E. Ford, Fairfield Road.
Malone, Kenneth Christian, 17 Jane Street.
Potsdam, Miss Gretchen Westervelt, U
Garden Street.
Stratford, Mrs. Emily Gustin.
Utica, Mrs. A. E. Stewart, 1645 Kemble
Street.
OHIO—
Bethesda, Mrs. Cora M. Jenkins, Box 204.
Bexley, Miss Charlotte Lindenberg, 2512
Bryden Road; Mrs. Florence M. Reeb,
2512 Bryden Road; Mrs. Kenneth M,
Jones, 3628 Washburn Ave., R.F.D.
#5.
Bryan, Alice A, Motter, 603 South Beech St.
Bucyrus, Mr. and Mrs. C. H. Pettit, 412
River St.
Circleville, Mrs. Maye Ruth Graham, 350 E.
Mound St.
Eaton, Miss Alica M. Button, Vine and
Israel Sts.
Elba, Mrs. Nate D. Gill. %
Fremont, Dr. and Mrs. W. B. Cooper, 1013
Croghan St.
Loveland, Mr. Rudolph Stauss, R.F.D. #3.
OREGON —
Rogue River, Mrs. C. A. Jensen, R.F.D. #1.
Talent, Mr. Walter Krug.
Timber, Mrs. Delia Mae Robertson.
PENNSYLVANIA —
Easton, Mrs. Lauretta N. Moore, 117 So,
5th St.
Needmore, Mrs. Thelma Ranck.
Warfordsburg, Mrs. Myrtle S. Ranck.
SOUTH DAKOTA —
Watertown, Miss Agnes Leo, Box 14.
Yankton, Mrs. Marjory A, S. Wolfe, Box 76,
TENNESSEE —
Memphis, Mrs. Thos. H. Watkins, 733 N.
Bellevue.
TEXAS—
Austin, Miss Anna Reinke, 4410 Ave. C.
Corpus Christi, Mrs. Kathryn Frankland,
c/o H. G. Sherman.
BAHA'f DIRECTORY, 1937-1938
571
Denton, Miss M. B. Herrick, 1513 No. Lo- WASHINGTON —
cust St. Bellingham, Mrs. Elizabeth Rudisile, R.F.D.
Huston, Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Mowry, 112^ #3, Box 674.
Pineview Place. Bremerton, Mrs. Mary P. Remey, R.F.D. #2,
Lubbock, Mr. and Mrs. Carl Henninger, Box 470; Mrs. S. V. Corbit, R.F.D. #2,
21 11-1 8th St.; Mr. James Henninger, Box 416.
2111-18th St.
Chelan, Mrs. Charlotte C. Gillen; Mrs. June
Winter Haven, Mr. and Mrs. Leslie R. Haw-
thorn.
VERMONT —
Harris, Box 333.
Ferndale, Mr. and Mrs. F. C. Swope.
Olympia, Mr. Arthur M. Jones, 2422 Co-
lumbia St.
Burlington, Mrs. Olga K. Mills, 83 Summit Omak, Mr. J. D. Hilts.
St. Steilacoom, Mr. and Mrs. Claude Layman,
Box 250.
VIRGINIA — Tacoma, Mrs. Ida Finch, 709 South
Arlington, Mrs. Caroline E. Stewart, 4623 Grant.
N. Carlin, Spring Road; Mrs. J. E. Rice,
592 5 -14th St. North. WISCONSIN—
Cartersville, Mrs. A. D. Taite, R.F.D. #2, Berlin, Mr. and Mrs. L. M. Kraege, 1031
Box 39. Kossuth St.
Darlington Heights, Mrs. A. T. Johns. Greenbush, Mrs. James Parker Hall.
Grottoes, Mrs. John Minor Echols, R.F.D. Manitowoc, Miss Elcore Georgensen, 929
#1, Box 49. North 14th.
Petersburg, Mrs. E. A. Fields, 208a Halifax
St. WYOMING —
Richmond, Mrs. A. B. Cromwell, 15 Frank- Laramie, Mr. and Mrs. Raphael Lillywhite,
lin St.; Mrs. E. Murray, 104/2 W. Grace. 508 Garfield St.
5 .
BAHA'I ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS
IN IRAN
I. DISTRICT: TIHRAN
1. TIHRAN, 2. Hasanabad, 3. Chishmih-
Shahi, 4. Ja'farabadj, 5. 'Aliyabad, 6.
Isma'ilabad, 7. Sharif abad, 8. 'Abdu'llah-
abad, 9. Maqsudabad, 10. Jalaliyyih, 11.
Kamaliyyih, 12. QaPih-Nay, 13. Ha^rat-
i-'AbduVAzim, 14. Khaniyabad, 15.
Kabirabdd, 16. Diya'dbad, 17. 'Adlabad,
18. Muzaffariyyih, 19. Salur, 20. Chihar-
Tdqi, 21. Vardmin, 22. Tajin (?), 23.
Palasht, 24. Qulhak, 25. Tajrish, 26. Qai
'ih-Sa'jidatiyyih, 27. Kalak, 28. Garm-
Darrih, 29. Ritfaabdd, 30. Qal'ih-Hasan-
Khan, 31. Jawqin, 32. Fashandak, 33.
Shahrak, 34. Awr*z*n, 35. Shafjakhdnaj,
36. Justan, 37. Karkabud, 38. Gatihdih,
39. Shahr-i-Qum.
II. DISTRICT: ABADIH
1. ABADIH, 2. Isfandabad, 3. Iqlid, 4.
Idrisabad, 5. Bahman, 6. Bavanat, 7.
Chinar, 8. Khurrami, 9. Dihbid, 10.
Dirghuk, 11. §ughad, 12. 'Aliyabad-i-
Sufla, 13. Firaghih, 14. Kushkak, 15.
NajafaWd-i-Sufla, 16. Himmatabad, 17.
Vazirabad, 18. 'Abbdsabad-i-Bahman, 19.
'Abbdsabad-i-Haj-'AH-Khan, 20. Sivinj-
i-Bavan^it, 21. Bazm-i-Bavanat, 22. Munj-
i-Bav£nat., 23. Mazayjan-i-Bavanat, 24.
Suryan-i-Bavanat, 25. Surmaq, 26. Chir-
i-Bav^nat, 27. Sarvistan-i-Bavandt, 28.
Firuzi.
III. DISTRICT: KASHAN
1. KASHAN, 2. Amirdn, 3. Niish4bad,
4. Yazdil, 5. Masjikan, 6. Vddlqdn, 7. Na-
raq, 8. Jdsb, 9. Jawshiqdn, 10. Qamsar,
572
THE BAHA'f WORLD
11. Mazgan, 12. Barzuk, 13. Abiy£nih,
14. Qazaan, 15. Rabat-i-Turk, 16. Aran,
17. Girugan-i-Jasb, 18. Mirq.
IV. DISTRICT: KIRMAN
1. KIRMAN, 2. Rafsinjan, 3. Bandar-
'Abbas, 4. Sirjan, 5. Bam, 6. Anar, 7.
Ravar, 8. Khurramabad, 9. Zarand, 10.
Chatrud, 11. Baghayn, 12. Rdbur, 13.
Hutak, 14. Jibal-i-Bariz, 15. Jiruft, 16.
Nuq, 17. Pariz, 18. Davaran, 19. Qanat-
i-Ghassan, 20. Qaryatu'l-'Arab, 21. Kha-
braqta, 22. Bandar-i-Langah, 23. Kuhan-
ban, 24. Langar, 25. Hasanabad, 26.
Hurmuzdabad, 27. Jupar, 28. Tuq, 29.
Parin.
V. DISTRICT: QAZVIN AND ZANJAN
1. QAZVfN, 2. Qadimabad, 3. Amina-
bad, 4. Nusratabad, 5. Muhammadabad,
6. Shahristan, 7. Gulkin, 8. 'Ali-Ri^a-
abad, 9. Kulah-Darrih, 10. Ishtihard, 11.
Sirus, 12. Rudbar, 13. Sarkhan, 14. Zan-
jan.
VI. DISTRICT: ADHIRBAYJAN
1. TABRfZ, 2. Milan, 3. Usku, 4.
Bavayl-i-4Ulya, 5. Bavayl-i-Sufla, 6. flkhi-
chi, 7. Mamaqan, 8. Gavgan, 9. Dih-
kharqan, 10. Shishavan, 11. 'Ajabshe'r,
12. Mihrabad, 13. Hirawabad, 14. Ru-
vusht, 15. Munab, 16. Maraghih, 17.
'Alaviyan, 18. Khurmazad, 19. Aqjah-
dizaj, 20. Malik-Kandi, 21. Qijilu, 22.
Miyanduab, 23. Qurah-Chal, 24. Naw-
ruzlu, 25. Savujbulagh, 26. Rida'iyyih,
27. Qahramanlii, 28. Shahpur, 29. Khuy,
30. Vishlaq, 31. Pirkandi, 32. Ivavuqli,
33. Julfa, 34. Marand, 35. Zunuz, 36.
Kundulaj, 37. Yagan, 38. Khamnah,
39. Shabastar, 40. Saysan, 41. Matanaq,
42. Diznab, 43. Babakandi, 44. Miyanaj,
45. Sarab, 46. Qadijan, 47. Ardabil, 48.
Hirawibad-i-Khalkhal, 49. Khujin, 50.
Al-i-Hashim, 51. Ahar, 52. Haddadan,
53. Girdulqan, 54. Khanbaghi, 55.
Qavshuq, 56. Qarah-Shiran.
VII. DISTRICT: YAZD
1. YAZD, 2. Ardakln, 3. Amirabad, 4.
Husayn*b4d, 5. 'Izzabad, 6. 'Aliyab£d,
7. Sharafabid, 8. Mihdiyabad-i-Rustdq,
9. 'Asrdbad, 10. Mariyamabdd, 11.
Kuchihbayk, 12. Khurramshah, 13.
Mihdiyabdd-i-Humah, 14. Taft, 15.
Nirsiyabdd, 16. Nasr£bad-i-Pishkuh, 17.
Khudabad-i-Pishkuh, 18. Manshad, 19.
Hurmuzak, 20. Marvast, 21. Dahaj, 22.
Qasimabad, 23. Maybud, 24. Hasanabad-
i-Qutbabad, 25. Ahmadabad-i-Ardak£n,
26. Sadrabad, 27. Ilihabad, 28. Nusrata-
bad, 29. Mahmudabad, 30. Abrandabad,
31. Kasnaviyyih, 32. Na'imabad, 33.
Rahmatabad, 34. Muhammadabad-i-
Ch4hak, 35. Hasanabad-i-Humah, 36.
Khavidak, 37. Fahraj, 38. Saryazd, 39.
Mihriz, 40. Havazm, 41. Gavafshad, 42.
Hanza', 43. Hidish, 44. Banadak-i-Sadat,
45. Khayrabad, 46. Mazra'ih-Sayd-
Mirza, 47. Biyabanak, 48. Anarak, 49.
Shahr-i-Babak, 50. Hirat, 51. Hirabar-
jan, 52. Ahristan, 53, Mubarakah, 54.
Farasha, 55. Shamsi, 56. Sanhivid, 57.
Shuruk, 58. Chavurchiy-i-Shahr-i-Ba-
bak, 5 9. Qanat-i-Nuh-i-Shahr-i-Babak,
60. Givar-i-Manshad, 61. Yajchdan-i-Bu-
luk, 62. Bafru.
VIII. DISTRICT: ISFAHAN*
1. ISFAHAN, 2. Najafabad, 3. Ardistan,
4. Zavarih, 5. Burujin, 6. Qahfirukh, 7.
Dastjird-i-Imamzadih, 8. Saman, 9.
Dihaqan, 10. Jaz, 11. Dizaj, 12. Khulin-
jan, 13. Isgandazi, 14. Afus, 15. Tiran,
16. Muhammadiyyih, 17. Kishih, 18. Rus-
tam, 19. Musiyabad, 20. Mihdiyabad,
21. Kata, 22. Dihaq, 23. Kurd-i-Sufla,
24. Durchah, 25. Khurzuq, 26. Laftuvan,
27. Shaydan, 28. pal'ln-Shah, 29. Shah-
rak, 30. Talkhunchih, 31. Damanu (?),
32. Varnamkhas, 33. Sidih-Linjan, 34.
Baghbahaduran, 35. Chadigan, 36. Ad-
jan, 37. Quchanak-Faridan, 38. Chay-
gan, 39. Shahrida, 40. Najin, 41. Cham-
gawdan, 42. Riz, 43. Hamgin, 44.
Shahr-i-Kurd, 45. Masinan, 46. Tiran-i-
Gardan, 47. Maghdharan, 48. San'an, 49.
Kamiram, 50. Tushiz, 51. Faradminih,
52. Jarquviyyih, 53. Sanadgan, 54.
Dumanih, 55. Adirjan, 56. Surinjan, 57.
Qadarkhan, 58. Vishigan, 59. Marasan,
60. Nikan.
IX. DISTRICT: PARS
1. SHfRAZ, 2. Nayriz, 3. Sarvistan, 4.
Ddriyan, 5. Sa'di, 6. Qulat, 7. Zdkhirz,
BAHA'f DIRECTORY, 1937-1938
573
Miss Leonora Holsapple (upper left), the pioneer teacher
of the Faith in Brazil, and Mrs. Nellie French, on the
occasion of the latter's visit to South America, March,
1937. The children belong to Miss Holsapple*s class for
the under-privileged.
8. Zarqan, 9. Kinarih-MarvdasJit, 10.
'Imadabad-i-Marvdasht, 11. Kusjiak-i-
Marvdasjht, 12. Faruq, 13. Shamsabad-i-
Burzu, 14. Fathabad, 15. Shamsabad-i-
Takht, 16. Jahrum, 17. Bushihr, 18.
Darab, 19. Kazirun, 20. Fassa (?), 21.
Bayda, 22. Qasr-i-Marvdasjit, 23. Khayra-
bad-i-Bayda, 24. Ibrahimabad-i-Bayda,
25. Qarih-Naw-i-Bayda, 26. Qasimabad-
i-Bay^a, 27. Milyun.
X. DISTRICT: RAMADAN
1. HAMADAN, 2. Malayir, 3. Jurab, 4.
Avarzaman, 5. Tiiysargan, 6. Nahavand,
7. Amzajird, 8. Bahar, 9. Lalijin, 10.
Husaynabad, 11. Uqchulu, 12. Chu-
puqlu, 13. Qurvah-Kurdistan, 14. Sari-
Qamisji, 15. Mirzakandi, 16. Uchtappih,
17. Jamsjiidabad, 18. Uqbulaq, 19.
Latga, 20. Qiziljahkand, 21. Qarahbulaq,
22. Khanbaghi, 23. Kajah-Gunbad, 24.
fssibulaq, 25. Sirishabad, 26. Nadirshah,
27. Akinlu, 28. Pirtaj.
XL DISTRICT: QA'INAT
1. BiRJAND, 2. Kundur, 3. Isqarar, 4.
Bidisag, 5. Nawfirist, 6. Sarchah, 7.
Asiyaban, 8. Durukhsh, 9. Dastjird, 10.
574
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Samulabad, 11. Sud, 12. Nawkand, 13.
Khusf, 14. Tufab, 15. Khuvanyak, 16.
Sikan, 17. Qal'ih-Kuh, 18. Zirk, 19.
Nuk, 20. Nawzad, 21. Khan.
XII. DISTRICT: 'IRAQ
1. 'IRAQ, 2. Sultanabad, 3. Khalajabad,
4. Gulpayigan, 5. Shahabad, 6. Mashhad,
7. Husaynabad, 8. Varqa, 9. Amirih.
XIII. DISTRICT: GILAN
1. RASHT, 2. Bandar-i-Pahlavi, 3.
Ghaziyan, 4. Lahijan, 5. Langarud, 6.
Rudsar, 7. Shahvar, 8. Diya'bar, 9.
Siyahkal, 10. Sangar, 11. Rudbar, 12.
Minjil.
XIV. DISTRICT: KHUZISTAN
1. AHVA2, 2. Shushtar, 3. Dizful, 4.
Abadan, 5. Khurramshahr, 6. Qusvih
(?), 7. Manyuhi, 8. Salihabad, 9. Masjid-
i-Sulayman, 10. Haftgil, 11. Tuf-
Chishmih, 12. Bahbahan, 13. Ramhur-
muz, 14. Cham-Khalf-'fsa, 15. §afaiy-
yih, 16. Fayliyyih, 17. Chamtang, 18.
Chihil-Masni, 19. Jabrabad, 20. Hindi-
jan, 21. Kurrihpa, 22. Chamtangu, 23.
Chamsha'ban.
XV. DISTRICT: KIRMANSHAH
1. KIRMANSHAH, 2. Khurramabad, 3.
Burujird, 4. Sanandaj, 5. Sunqur, 6.
Karand, 7. Shahabad, 8. Qasr, 9. Dinvar.
XVI. DISTRICT: KHURASAN
1. MASHHAD, 2. Sharif ^bad, 3.
Sarakhs, 4. Kalat, 5. Bulan, 6. Chah-
chaha, 7. Nasrabad-i-Jam, 8. Turbat-i-
Jam, 9. Tayyibat, 10. Bakharz, 11.
Husaynabad, 12. Quchan, 13. Bajgir£n,
14. Shirvan, 15. Muhammadabad-i-Dari-
gaz, 16. Lutfabad, 17. Bujnurd, 18.
Jajarm, 19. Ruvin, 20. Isfara'in, 21.
Qariyiy-i- Amand-Turkaman-Jahra, 2 2 .
Shahr-i-Miravih, 23. Nishabiir (Rid-
van), 24. Ma'muri, 25. Farrukh, 26.
Dastgird, 27. Ishaqabad, 28. RuMbad,
29. Sarvalayat, 30. Ma'dan, 31. Sabzavar,
32. Sudldiar, 33. Kushk-Bagh, 34. Rabat-
i-Gaz, 35. Zarqan, 36. $afiyabad, 37.
Ja'farabad, 38. Juvin, 39. Kuhmish, 40.
Davarzan, 41. Turbat-i-Haydariyyih, 42.
Pitraw, 43. Zavih, 44. Marghzar, 45.
Dawlatabad, 46. Gulbu, 47. Rashtkhar,
48. Khurq, 49. Murtadaviyyih, 50.
Dughabad (Furugh), 51. Hasanabad,
52. Mihnah, 53. Khayrabad, 54. Miyan-
dihi, 55. Shamsabad, 56. 'AH, 57. Zahira-
bad, 58. 'Abdu'labad, 59. AzghaAd, 60.
Furshah, 61. Nay, 62. Yunis, 63. Hisar,
64. Namaq, 65. Katahtalkh, 66. Qara-
chah, 67. Kashmar, 68. Maghan, 69.
Khalilabad, 70. Shafi'abad, 71. Juymind,
72. Kdkhk, 73. Shahr-Gunabad, 74.
Rawshanavand, 75. Firdaws, 76. Baghis-
tan, 77. Bustaq, 78. Sihqal'ih, 79. Burun,
80. Gazin, 81. Sarayan, 82. Sarand, 83.
Bijistan, 84. Bushruviyyih, 85. Khayru'l-
Qura, 86. Tabas, 87. Baghdihak, 88.
Zahidan, 89. Zabul, 90. Mirjavah, 91.
Khash, 92. Saravan, 93. iranshahr.
XVII. DISTRICT: SANGSAR
1. SANGSAR, 2. Shahmirzad, 3. Shah-
rud, 4. Aftar, 5. Simnan, 6. Damghan.
XVIIL DISTRICT: SARI
1. SARf, 2. Mahfuruzak, 3. Arata, 4.
Chalih-Zamin, 5. Shahi, 6. Kafshgar-
Kulah, 7. Amirih, 8. Rawshankuh, 9.
fval, 10. Ashraf-Kuhban.
XIX. DISTRICT: BANDAR-I-GAZ
1. BANDAR-I-GAZ, 2. Bandar-i-Shah,
3. Gurgan, 4. Gunbad-Qabus, 5. Gum-
ish-Tappih, 6. Dasht-i-Gurgan.
XX. DISTRICT: BABUL
1. BABUL, 2. 'Arabkhayl, 3. Bahnamir,
4. Daya'kala, 5. Bandar-i-Mashhadsar, 6.
Bandar-i-Firaydun-Kinar, 7. Nur, 8.
Takur, 9. Amul, 10. Kipurchal.
BAHA'f DIRECTORY, 1937-1938
575
ADDRESSES OF CENTRES OF BAHA'f
ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS
OF IRAN, 1937-1938
10,
11,
12,
ADHIRBAYJAN, centre: Tabriz. Ad-
dress: care Mr. Ahad, Salimi Brothers.
Telegraphic address: care Ahmad-Pur
Furutan, Tabriz.
ISFAHAN, centre: Isfahan. Address:
care Payman Co. Telegraphic address:
Rawhani, Payman Isfahan.
ABADIH, centre: Abadih. Address:
care Dr. M. Husayn Agah. Telegraphic
address: care Dr. Agah, Abadih.
BANDAR-I-JAZ, centre: Bandar-i-Jaz.
Address: care Mr. 'Abbas Rawshan.
Telegraphic address: care Muhammad
Sangi, Bandar-i-Jaz.
BABUL, centre: Babul. Address: care
Dr. F. Bassari. Telegraphic address:
care Dr. Furugh, Babul.
KHURASAN, centre: Mashhad. Address:
care Mr. A. Sulaymani, Pahlavi Bank.
Telegraphic address: care Sulaymani,
Pahlavi Bank, Masjhhad.
KHUZISTAN, centre: Ahvaz. Address:
care Bastani Co. Telegraphic address:
care Bastani, Ahvaz.
ZAHIDAN, centre: Zahidan. Address:
care Suhayli Bros. Co. Telegraphic ad-
dress: care Suhayli, Zahidan.
SANGSAR, centre: Sangsar. Address:
care Mr. Ch. Tibyani. Telegraphic ad-
dress: care Chiraghali Tibyani, Sangsar.
SARI, centre: Sari. Address: care Mr.
A. Bahruzi, Treasury Dept. Tele-
graphic address: care Bahruzi, Treasury
Dept., Sari.
TIHRAN, centre: Tihran. Address: care
Mr. A. Furutan, Amiriyyih av., Mih-
diyyih Str. 2002. Telegraphic address:
Rawhani, Tihran.
'IRAQ, centre: 'Iraq. Address: Mr. F.
Darakhshan, Saray-i-Gulshan. Tele-
graphic address: Rawhani, care Darakh-
shan Gulshan, 'Iraq.
13. PARS, centre: Shiraz. Address: care Dr.
Badri, Darius avenue. Telegraphic ad-
dress: care Munajim, Shiraz.
14. QAYINAT, centre: Birjand. Address:
Bazar-i-Ghulam-Husayn Sabiti. Tele-
graphic address: care Bazari Sabiti, Bir-
jand.
15. QAZVJ'N and ZANJAN, centre: Qazvin.
Address: care Mr. As'adu'l-Hukama.
Telegraphic address: care Asad, Qazvin.
16. KASHAN, centre: Kashan. Address:
care Furughi & Sons Co. Telegraphic
address: care Furughi, Kashan.
17. KIRMAN, centre: Kirman. Address:
Mr. Shahriyar Aryani, Saray-i-Vakil.
Telegraphic address: care Vakil, Aryani,
Kirman.
18. KIRMANSHAH, centre: Kirmanshah. Ad-
dress: care Dr. H. Muayyad. Tele-
graphic address: care Dr. Muayyad, Kir-
manshah.
19. GILAN, centre: Rasht. Address: care
A. Samandari, Ittihadiyyih Pharmacy.
Telegraphic address: care Samandari,
Rasjht.
20. NAYRI'Z, centre: Nayriz. Address: care
Mr. M. Izadi, Mahalliy-i-Pahlavi. Tel-
egraphic address: care fzadi, Mahalliy-i-
Pahlavi, Nayriz.
21. RAMADAN, centre: Hamadan. Address:
care Mr. Ihsani, Saray-i-H&ji Safar
Khan. Telegraphic address: care §afar
Ihsani, Hamadan.
22. YAZD, centre: Yazd. Address: care
Payman Co. Telegraphic address: care
Payman, Yazd.
576
THE BAHA'f WORLD
7.
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF B AH A 'U 'LL AH'S
BEST-KNOWN WRITINGS
Alvah-i-Laylatu'1-Quds.
Asl-i-Qullu'1-Khayr.
Az-B*gh-i-flahi.
Baz-Av-u-Bidih-Jami.
Bishirat (Glad-Tidings).
Chihar-Vadi (Four Valleys) .
GhuUmu'J-Khuld.
Haft-Vadi (Seven Valleys).
Halih-Halih-Y*-Bisharat.
Hur-i-'Ujab.
Hunifat-i-'Allin.
Ishraqat (Effulgences).
Kalimat-i-Firdawsiyyih (Words of Para-
dise).
Kalimat-i-Maknunih (Hidden Words).
Kitab-i-'Ahd (Book of Covenant).
Kitab-i-Aqdas (Most Holy Book).
Kitab-i-Badi*.
Kitab-i-fqan (Book of Certitude) .
Kitab-i-Sultan (Tablet to the Shah of Per-
sia).
Lawh-i-' Abdu'l-'Aziz-Va-Vukala.
Lawh-i-'Abdu'l-Vahhab.
Lawh-i-'Abudu'r-Razzaq.
Lawh-i-Ahbab.
Lawh-i- Ahmad (Tablet of Ahmad).
Lawh-i-Amvaj.
Lawh-i- Anta'1-Kafi .
Lawh-i-Aqdas.
Lawh-i-Ashraf.
Lawh-i-'Ashiq-va-Ma'shuq.
Lawh-i- Ayiy-i-Nur.
Lawh-i-Baha.
Lawh-i-Baqa.
Lawh-i-Basitatu'1-Haqiqih.
Lawh-i-Bismilih.
Lawh-i-Bulbulu'1-Firaq.
Lawh-i-Burhan.
Lawh-i-Dunya (Tablet of the World).
Lawh-i-Fitnih.
Lawh-i-Ghulamu'1-Khuld.
Lawh-i-Habib.
Lawh-i-Haft-Pursish.
Lawh-i-Iiaqq.
La wh-i-Ha wda j .
Lawh-i-Hikmat (Tablet of Wisdom).
Lawh-i-Hirtik.
Lawh-i-Husayn.
Lawh-i-Ibn-i-Dhi'b (Epistle to the Son of
the Wolf).
Lawh-i-Ittihad.
Lawh-i-Jamal.
Lawh-i-Karim.
Lawh-i-Karmil.
Lawh-i-Kullu't-Ta'am.
Lawh-i-Malikih (Tablet to Queen Victoria).
Lawh-i-Malik-i-Rus (Tablet to the Czar of
Russia).
Lawh-i-Mallahu'1-Quds (Tablet of the Holy
Mariner) .
La wh-i-ManikcJai -Sahib.
Lawh-i-Maqsud.
Lawh-i-Maryam.
Lawh-i-Mawlud.
Lawh-i-MuMhilih.
Lawh-i-Nasir.
Lawh-i-Napulyun I (First Tablet to Napo-
leon III).
Lawh-i-Napulyun II (Second Tablet to Na-
poleon III).
Lawh-i-Nuqtih.
Lawh-i-Pap (Tablet to the Pope).
Lawh-i-Pisar-'Amm.
Lawh-i-Qina*.
Lawh-i-Quds.
Lawh-i-Rafi'.
Lawh-i-Ra'is (Tablet to Ra'is).
Lawh-i-Raqsha'.
Lawh-i-Rasul.
Lawh-i-Ruh.
Lawh-i-Ru'ya.
Lawh-i-Sahab.
Lawh-i-Salman I.
Lawh-i-Salman II.
Lawh-i-Samsun.
Lawh-i-Sayyah.
Lawh-i-Shaykh-Fani .
Lawh-i-Tawhid.
Lawh-i-Tibb.
Lawh-i-Tuqa.
Lawh-i- Yusuf.
Lawh-i-Zaynu'1-Muqarrabin.
Lawh-i-Ziyarih.
Madinatu'r-Rida.
Madinatu't-Tawhid.
BAHA'i BIBLIOGRAPHY
577
Mathnavi.
Munajathay-i-Siyam.
Qad-Ihtaraqa'1-Mukhlisun.
Qasidiy-i-Varqa'iyyih.
Rashh-i-'Ama.
RidvinuVAdl.
Ridvanu'l-Iqrar.
$ahifiy-i-Shattiyyih.
Salaf-i-Mayyit (Prayer for the Dead).
Saqi-Az-Ghayb-i-Baqa.
Shikkar-Shikan-Shavand.
Subhana-Rabbiya'1-A'la.
Subhanaka-Ya-Hu.
Suratu-'llah.
Suriy-i-Ahzan.
Suriy-i-Amin.
Suriy-i-Amr.
Suriy-i-A'rab.
Siiriy-i-Ashab.
Suriy-i-Asma'.
Suriy-i-Bayan.
Suriy-i-Burhan.
Suriy-i-Darnm.
Suriy-i-Dhahih.
Suriy-i-Dhibh.
Suriy-i-Dhikr.
Suriy-i-Fadl.
Suriy-i-Fath.
Suriy-i-Fu'ad.
Suriy-i-Ghusn (Tablet of the Branch).
Suriy-i-Hajj I.
Suriy-i-Hajj II.
Suriy-i-Haykal.
Suriy-i-Hifz.
Suriy-i-Hijr.
Suriy-i-'Ibad.
Suriy-i-Ism.
Suriy-i-Ismuna'1-Mursil.
Suriy-i-Javad.
Suriy-i-Khitab.
Suriy-i-Ma'ani.
Suriy-i-Man*.
Suriy-i-Muluk.
Suriy-i-Nida.
Suriy-i-Nush.
Suriy-i-Qadir.
Suriy-i-Qahiff.
Suriy-i-Qalam.
Suriy-i-Qamis.
Suriy-i-Sabr.
Suriy-i-Sultan.
Suriy-i-Vafa.
Suriy-i-Ziyarih.
Suriy-i-2ubur.
Suriy-i-Zuhur.
Tafsir-i-Hu.
Tafsir-i-Hurufat-i-Muqatta'ih.
Tafsir-i-Suriy-i-Va'sh-Shams.
Tajalliyat (Revelations).
Tarazat (Ornaments) .
Ziyarat-Namih (The Visiting Tablet).
Ziyarat-Namiy-
Ziyarat-Namiy-
Ziyarat-Namiy-
Ziyarat-Namiy-
Ziyarat-Namiy-
-Awliya.
-Babu'1-Bab va Quddus.
-Bayt.
-Maryam.
-Siyyidu'sh-Shuhada.
8 .
LIST OF THE BAB'S BEST-KNOWN WORKS
1. The Iranian Bayan.
2. The Arabic Bayan.
3. The Qayyumu'1-Asma'.
4. The Sahifatu'l-Haramayn.
5. The Dala'il-i-Sabfih.
6. Commentary on the Surih of Kawthar.
7. Commentary on the Surih of Va'l-'Asr.
8. The Kitab-i-Asma'.
9. §ahifiy-i-Makhdhumiyyih.
10. Sahifiy-i-Ja'fariyyih.
11. Ziyarat-i-Shah-'Abdu'l-'Azim.
12. Kitab-i-Panj-Sha'n.
13. §ahifiy-i-Radav'yyih.
14. Risaliy-i-'Adliyyih.
15. Risaliy-i-Fiqhiyyih.
16. Risaliy-i-Dhahabiyyih.
17. Kitabu'r-Ruh.
18. Suriy-i-Tawhid.
19. Lawh-i-Hurufat.
20. Tafsir-i-Nubuvvat-i~Khassih.
21. Risaliy-i-Furu'-i-'Adliyyih.
22. Khasa'ly-i-Sab'ih.
23. Epistles to Muhammad Shah and Haji
Mirza Aqasi.
N. B. — The B£b Himself states in one pas-
sage of the Iranian Bayan that His writings
comprise no less than 500,000 verses.
BAHA'I BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Baha'i Publications of America.
(a) Books About the Baha'i Faith.
(b) Writings of the Bab.
(c) Writings of Baha'u'llah.
(d) Writings of 'Abdu'1-Baha.
(e) Writings of Shoghi Effendi.
(f) Prayers.
(g) Baha'i Literature in Pamphlet
Form.
(h) Compilations.
(i) Outlines and Guides for Baha'i
Study Classes.
2. Baha'i Publications of England.
3. Baha'i Publications in French.
4. Baha'i Publications in Italian.
5. Bahi'i Publications in Dutch.
6. Baha'i Publications in Danish.
7. Baha'i Publications in Swedish.
8. Baha'i Publications in Portuguese.
9. Baha'i Publications in Albanian.
10. Baha'i Publications in Esperanto.
11. Baha'i Publications in Russian.
12. Baha'i Publications in German.
13. Baha'i Publications in Bulgarian.
14. Baha'i Publications in Rumanian.
1 5. Baha'i Publications in Czech.
16. Baha'i Publications in Serbian.
17. Baha'i Publications in Hungarian.
18. Baha'i Publications in Greek.
19. Baha'i Publications in Maori.
20. Baha'i Publications in Spanish.
21. Baha'i Publications in Norwegian.
22. Baha'i Publications in Croatian.
23. Baha'i Publications in Icelandic.
24. Baha'i Publications in Oriental Lan-
guages.
(a) Iranian.
(b) Urdu.
(c) Arabic.
(d) Turkish.
(e) Burmese.
(f) Chinese.
(g) Hebrew,
(h) Tartar,
(i) Gujrati.
(j) Japanese,
(k) Armenian.
(1) Tamil,
(m) Kurdish,
(n) Sindhi.
(o) Bengali,
(p) Hindi.
(q) Abyssinian.
25. Baha'i Literature in Braille (for the
Blind).
26. Baha'i Periodicals.
27. References to the Baha'i Faith in Books
and Pamphlets by Non-Baha'i Authors.
28. References to the Baha'i Faith in Maga-
zines by Non-Baha'i Writers.
29. References to the Baha'i Faith by Ba-
ha'is in Non-Baha'i Publications.
1 .
The books and pamphlets in this section have been published under Babd'i auspices or
approved by a recognized Bahd'i body.
BAHA'f PUBLICATIONS OF AMERICA
Published and Distributed by the Publishing Committee of the
National Spiritual Assembly, P. O. Box 148, Grand Central Annex, New York, N. Y.,
-with the exception of the older publications (marked by an asterisk *),
which are now out of print.
(a) BOOKS ABOUT THE BAHA'f FAITH
Babd'i Proofs, The, by Mirza Abu'1-Fa^l of
Gulpdyigdn. The best-known book of
this great Oriental scholar, philosopher
and disciple of Baha'u'llah translated into
English. It presents the truth of the Ba-
578
BAHA'f BIBLIOGRAPHY
579
ha'i Revelation from manifold points of
view, and also contains a biographical out-
line of the lives of the Bab, Baha'u'llah
and 'Abdu'1-Baha. 288 pp. Crown 8vo.,
4 }/2 x 6 1/2. Bound in blue cloth.
Bahd'i Revelation, The, by Thornton Chase.
This book contains a most excellent com-
pilation of the teachings of Baha'u'llah,
gathered from various translations and ar-
ranged so as to be consecutive as to sub-
jects. A clear account of the evolution of
spiritual consciousness showing the one-
ness of purpose of all the great religions of
the world, and culminating today in the
fulfillment of all the religions of the past.
182 pp. Crown 8vo., 5*4 x 8. Bound in
green cloth.
Babd'i: Spirit of the Age, The, by Horace
Holley. Presenting the Baha'i Movement
and teachings as the synthesis of all mod-
ern movements. 212 pp. Crown 8vo.,
6x8. Bound in blue cloth.
Baha'i World, The (April 1926- April
1928). A biennial record giving a com-
prehensive account of the activities of the
Baha'i Cause throughout the world. Con-
tains many interesting illustrations show-
ing the universal growth of this move-
ment. 304 pp. 7 x 10. Bound in blue
cloth.
Baba'i World, The (April 192 8 -April
1930). The third volume in the biennial
series of Baha'i records continuing recent
historical developments of the Cause
throughout the world. Besides the many
excellent illustrations, this volume con-
tains a reproduction of a hand-illuminated
Tablet of Baha'u'llah in 'Abdu'1-Baha's
handwriting. 378 pp., 7x10. Bound in
red cloth.
Baba'i World, The (April 1930-April
1932). In addition to a comprehensive
report of Baha'i activities during this two-
year period, the fourth volume in this
series of publications devotes generous
space to the presentation of the World
Order of Baha'u'llah through the present-
day Administration of the Baha'i Faith.
The frontispiece is a facsimile of apprecia-
tion of the teachings written by the
Dowager Queen Marie of Rumania. 548
pp., 7x10. Bound in blue cloth.
Babd'i World, The (April 1932-April
1934). This volume presents the further
spread of the Baha'i Faith and establish-
ment of the World Order of Baha'u'llah.
The frontispiece, a photograph of Bahiyyih
Khanum, and the loving tributes to her
memory form a special feature of this vol-
ume. 712 pp., 7 x 10. Bound in brown
cloth.
Bahd'i World, The (April 1934-April
1936) . Volume VI records Baha'i activi-
ties for the two years ending April 1,
1936. In addition to many beautiful il-
lustrations, there are two frontispieces;
one a photograph of 'Abdu'1-Bahd, sent
from Haifa, especially for this volume,
and the other a facsimile of a further ap-
preciation of the teachings, written by the
Dowager Queen Marie of Rumania. Two
maps showing Baha'i Centers in fran and
in the United States. 772 pp., 7 x 10.
Bound in green cloth.
Bahd'i Year Book (April 1925-April 1926).
Volume I, a record of current activities
with articles on various Bahd'i institu-
tions, newly translated teachings, photo-
graphs, etc. Bound in green cloth. 174
pp., 7x10. For Volume II, see The Bahd'i
World.
*Bahd'ism — the Modern Social Religion, by
Horace Holley. Mitchell Kennerley, New
York, 1913.
Bahd'u'llab and the New Era, by J. E. Essle-
mont. An authoritative and comprehen-
sive survey of Baha'i history and the
teachings as related to present religious,
scientific and social conditions in Europe
and America, with many quotations from
the writings. New edition. 308 pp.
Post 8vo., 5x7. Bound in green cloth.
In paper,
Coming of the Glory, by Florence E.
Pinchon. An interesting narrative giving
the spirit and the principles of the Baha'i
Movement. 144 pp., Post 8vo., 4J/2 x
6l/2. Bound in blue cloth.
Dawn-Breakers, The. Nabil's Narrative of
the Early Days of the Baha'i Revelation
translated and edited by Shoghi EfFendi.
736 pp., 6l/2 x 9%. 200 pp. of illustra-
tions. Reproductions of twenty tablets
written by the Bab. Standard edition
bound in green leather. Limited edition
bound in morocco.
580
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Do'a: The Call to Prayer, by Ruth Ellis
Moffett. A study of the mystical science
of prayer and meditation, with a compila-
tion of prayers chosen from a number of
religions. 126 pp. Bound in paper.
* Lessons on the Bahd'i Revelation, by W.
Hooper Harris.
*Life and Teachings of 'Abbas Effendi, The,
by Myron H. Phelps. Published by Put-
nam & Sons.
Life Eternal, compiled by Mary Rumsey
Movius. Selections from the writings of
Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'1-Baha on immor-
tality and the life of the soul. 178 pp.
Bound in cloth.
My Pilgrimage to the Land of Desire, by
Marie A. Watson. The story of Mrs.
Watson's visit to Haifa in 1921, with an
interesting account of her healing by
'Abdu'1-Baha. 24 pp., 6 x 9l/2. Paper
cover.
Mysticism and the Bahd'i Revelation, by
Ruhi Afnan. An essay which analyzes in
the light of the teachings of BahaVllah
the mystical tradition of the soul's union
with God: demonstrating that the Prophet
or Manifestation is the intermediary be-
tween God and man. 80 pp.
*New Day, The, by Charles Mason Remey.
Baha'i Publishing Society. Chicago, 1919.
*New Revelation: Its Marvelous Message,
The, by Nathan Ward Fitzgerald. Ta-
coma, 1905.
* Oriental Rose, The, by Mary Hanford Ford.
A vivid presentation of historical aspects
of the Baha'i Movement. 214 pp. Post
8vo., 5l/2 x 7%. Bound in blue cloth.
* Peace of the World, The, by Charles Mason
Remey. Baha'i Publishing Society, Chi-
cago, 1919.
Portals to Freedom, by Howard Colby Ives.
The author recounts personal experiences
in meeting 'Abdu'1-Baha during 1912 and
describes the spiritual power released
through the Baha'i Faith for the develop-
ment of human personality in this age.
Illustrated with photographs. 256 pp.
Bound in cloth.
Promise of All Ages, The, by Christophil.
An important contribution to the litera-
ture expounding the significance of the
Baha'i Faith. The author traces the true
spiritual content of religion through the
Dispensations of the past, to culminate in
the World Order revealed by Baha'u'llah.
Originally published in London, England.
American edition, 254 pp. Bound in cloth.
Religions of the Empire. Edited by W. Lof-
tus Hare. (Published by Duckworth,
London.) The addresses delivered by rep-
resentatives of the several religions invited
to participate in the conference on Some
Living Religions within the British Em-
pire held at the Imperial Institute, London,
England, from September 22 to October
3, 1924. Includes the two papers read on
the Baha'i Cause. Bound in red cloth.
519 pp. Royal 8vo., 6l/2 x 9%.
Security for a Failing World, by Stanwood
Cobb. A careful and scholarly diagnosis of
the social problems of modern civilization,
with an exposition of the spiritual educa-
tion afforded by the Baha'i Faith and its
culmination in a World Order by which
alone universal peace can be secured.
202 pp. Bound in cloth.
''Social Principles, The, by Horace Holley.
Laurence J. Gomme, New York, 1915.
Traveller's Narrative, A, translated into
English by Edward *G. Browne, M.A.,
M.B. Written to illustrate the Episode of
the Bab. 448 pp. New edition from orig-
inal plates in the possession of Cambridge
University Press. Bound in blue cloth.
* Truth of It, The, by Arthur Pillsbury
Dodge. Mutual Publishing Company,
New York, 1901.
'''Unity Tr'mmphant, by Elizabeth Herrick.
The Revelation of Baha'u'llah as the ful-
fillment of Christianity, with extensive
quotations and bibliography. 226 pp.
Royal 8vo., 6J/2 x 9. Bound in red cloth.
Universal Religion, The, by Hippolyte Drey-
fus. An introductory work on the Baha'i
Cause by a French Orientalist, who has
translated many of the writings of Baha'-
u'llah. 176 pp. Crown 8vo., 5/2 x 8.
Bound in black cloth.
'''Whence Comes the Light? by Loulie A.
Mathews. The author gives a clear under-
standing in this brief outline of the ap-
proach to the Baha'i Cause and the noble
grandeur of its founders. The quotations
from Baha'i writings throw light upon
every phase of life. 84 pp., 5x6. Bound
in paper.
BAHA'f BIBLIOGRAPHY
581
A World Faith. Studies in the Teachings of
Baha'u'llah developed by ten different
contributors to a symposium published in
World Order Magazine. 68 pp. Paper
covers.
(b) WRITINGS OF THE BAB
The Bab's Address to the Letters of the Liv-
ing. These sublime words are reproduced
in pamphlet form from a hand-lettered
copy of pp. 92-94 of The Dawn-Breakers.
12 pp. (See Baha'i Literature in French.)
(c) WRITINGS OF BAHA'U'LLAH
Baha'i Script tires. Compiled by Horace Hol-
ley, Brentano's, New York, 1923. Baha'i
Publishing Committee, New York, 1929.
Book, of Certitude, The (Kitab-i-fqan), re-
vealed by Baha'u'llah. Translated by
Shoghi Effendi. Baha'i Publishing Com-
mittee, 1931. This work reveals the one-
ness of all the Prophets and their signifi-
cance as the expression of the Will of God.
5% x 8%. Bound in blue cloth.
Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, translated by
Julie Chanler. A work written by Baha'-
u'llah in His last years, addressed to the
son of a prominent Persian who had been a
savage enemy of the Cause. This Tablet
recapitulates many teachings Baha'u'llah
had revealed in earlier works. 140 pp.
Royal 8vo., 6 Y4 x 9l/4. Bound in blue
cloth and white parchment.
Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah,
translated by Shoghi Effendi. This work
consists of selections from Tablets. 354
pp. Bound in dark blue fabrikoid; also in
dark blue cloth.
Hidden Words, translated by Shoghi Effendi.
The essence of the teachings of all the
Prophets. 54 pp., 16mo., 14% x 16%.
Three editions: black leather, blue cloth,
and paper cover.
Works of Baha'u'llah, ed. A. H. Tumansky,
St. Petersburg, 1892.
Kitdb-i-Aqdas, ed. A. H. Tumansky, Me-
moires de 1' Academic Imperiale de St.
Petersburg 1899 VIII serie vol. Ill, No. 6.
Prayers and Meditations by Baha'u'llah.
Translated by Shoghi Effendi. This su-
preme book of devotions is issued in the
same style as the Gleanings. 348 pp.
Bound in fabrikoid.
* Seven Valleys. Translated by 'Ali-Kuli-
Khan. Baha'i Publishing Society, Chicago.
The Seven Valleys and The Four Valleys.
Two treatises revealed by Baha'u'llah on
the nature of spiritual evolution. Trans-
lated by Ali-Kuli Khan, N.D. 60 pp.
Bound in fabrikoid. Also in paper.
* Source of Spiritual Qualities, The. Four
page leaflet. Baha'i Publishing Commit-
tee, 1924.
*Suratu'l-Haykal. Translated from the
Arabic by Antun-Haddad. Baha'i Pub-
lishing Society, Chicago, 1900.
Tablets of Baha'u'llah (Tarazat, The Tablet
of the World, Kalimat, Tajalliyat, Bisha-
rat, Ishraqat), social and spiritual princi-
ples of the new age. 138 pp., 6% x 10«
Bound in blue cloth.
Tablets of Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Bahd to
the Greatest Holy Leaf.
Three Obligatory Daily Prayers. Translated
by Shoghi Effendi. 14 pp. Paper cover.
Three Tablets of Baha'u'llah (Tablet of the
Branch, Kitab-i-'Ahd, Lawh-i-Aqdas) ,
the appointment of 'Abdu'1-Baha as the
interpreter of the teachings of Baha'u'llah,
the Testament of Baha'u'llah, and His
message to the Christians. 168 pp. Post
8vo., 5% x 7 J/2. Bound in paper.
(d) WRITINGS OF 'ABDU'L-BAHA
*' Abdu'l-Bahd on Divine Philosophy (com-
piled by Isabel F. Chamberlain). Tudor
Press, Boston, 1916.
4 Abdu'l-Bahd in London, edited by Eric
Hammond. A record of public and pri-
vate addresses delivered in 1911. 134 pp.
Post 8vo., 5x7%. Paper binding.
''Abdu'l-Bahd in New York. Baha'i Assem-
bly, New York, 1922. A new edition
containing selected addresses delivered at
Columbia University and various churches
and at public meetings by 'Abdu'1-Baha
while in New York. Also Tablets written
to the New York Spiritual Assembly by
'Abdu'1-Baha. Bound in sapphire blue
paper 4% x 6%.
America's Spiritual Mission. Teaching Tab-
lets revealed to American Baha'is by 'Abd-
u'l-Baha during 1916-1917. 54 pp. Self
cover.
Bahd'i Peace Program, The. A compilation
containing a letter from 'Abdu'l-Bahd per-
582
THE BAHA'f WORLD
taining to a plan of peace and a letter to
Dr. Forel entitled "God and His Uni-
verse," a scientific statement of the laws
governing the world and showing the
necessity of absolute harmony in the re-
lations of all mankind united under one
spiritual law. Bound in blue leather with
gold stamping. Also bound in green paper
with dark green stamping.
Bahd'i Scriptures, Compiled by Horace Hol-
ley, Brentano's, New York, 1923. Baha'i
Publishing Committee, New York, 1929.
^Definition of Love, by 'Abdu'1-Baha. Re-
ceived at New York, December 7, 1902.
Divine Secret for Human Civilization, by
Josephine D. Storey. A charmingly bound
book, compiled from the words of 'Abd-
u'l-Baha, showing the relation of the
Twelve Basic Principles of the Baha'i
Cause to the foundation of the new world
order of the future. 96 pp., 16 mo,, 4%
x 6. Bound in white parchment stamped
in gold. Also bound in paper.
Foundations of World Unity y The. Selected
addresses delivered by 'Abdu'1-Baha at
Universities, Churches, Synagogues, Peace
Societies and similar public meetings dur-
ing His journey through America in 1912.
112 pp. Royal 8vo., 6 x 9. Paper covers.
^Letter from St. Jean D'Acre, A, The Unity
Press, 1906.
^Letter of Love" from 'Abdu'l-Bahd 'Ab-
bas to the Beloved in America. Baha'i
Publishing Society, 1902.
* Letter and Tablet to the Central Organiza-
tion for a Durable Peace: The Hague.
Baha'i Publishing Society, Chicago, 1920.
* Let ten to the friends in Persia. Baha'i
Publishing Society, Chicago, January 21,
1906.
Mysterious Forces of Civilization. A work
addressed to the people of fran nearly
forty years ago to show the way to true
progress. 1 3 2 pp. Royal 8 vo., 6 % * 9 1/2 .
Bound in black cloth.
^Prayers and Tablets. 1906.
promulgation of Universal Peace, edited by
Howard MacNutt. Public addresses de-
livered throughout the United States and
Canada in 1912. This work contains
' Abdu'1-Baha 's spiritual message to the
American people, whom he summoned to
establish the "Most Great Peace" which
is the consummation of the ideals of all
religionists, scientists and humanitarians.
232 pp. Imperial 8vo., 6l/2 x 9%. Bound
in black cloth in two volumes.
Reality of Man, The. A compilation from
the words of 'Abdu'1-Bahd explaining the
relations of mind, soul and spirit. Com-
piled by Horace Hoi ley. Bound in dark
red paper. Size 4l/2 x 6%.
*Reality of Religion — Tablet of 'Abdu'l-
Bahd, The. Four-page leaflet. Baha'i
Publishing Committee, 1924.
Some Answered Questions, edited by Laura
Clifford Barney. An expression of funda-
mental spiritual and philosophic problems.
350 pp. Royal 8vo., 6l/2 x 9l/4. Bound
in black cloth.
*T 'ablet on Universal Peace, a letter written
by 'Abdu'1-Baha in 1919 to the Central
Organization for a Durable Peace.
*T ablet to the Beloved of God in America.
Translated by 'Ali-Kuli-Khan. Cam-
bridge, Mass., January 3, 1906.
* Tablet to the Beloved of God of the Occi-
dent. Translated by Ahmad Isfahani
(Ahmad Sohrab), Washington, D. C.,
September 8, 1906.
Tablets by 'Abdu'l-Bahd 'Abbas to the
House of Justice of Chicago, to the Ladies9
Assembly of Teaching, and others.
Tablets of 'Abdu'l-Bahd, compiled by Albert
R. Windust. Intimate letters written in
reply to questions addressed by individuals
and groups. Three volumes. Volume one
and three (new edition) bound in blue
cloth. Volume two bound in black cloth.
*T ablets to the East and West. Translated
by Ahmad Isfah4ni (Ahmad Sohrab).
The Baha'i Assembly of Washington,
D. C, 1908.
}{ 'Tablets Containing Instructions. Trans-
lated by M. A. E. Washington, D. C.,
August 29, 1906.
*T ablets Containing General Instructions.
Translated by Ahmad Isfahini (Ahmad
Sohrab). The Baha'i Association of
Washington, D. C, 1907.
*T ablets to Japan. Compiled by Agnes
Alexander. New York, 1928.
*T ablets to Some American Believers in the
Year 1900. The Board of Council, New
York, 1901.
* Tablets from 'Abdu'l-Babd ' Abba's to E. E.
BAHA'f BIBLIOGRAPHY
583
Wrestling Brewster. Baha'i Publishing
Society, 1902.
The Garden of the Heart. A compilation of
passages on nature from Baha'i Sacred
Writings and from the Bible, selected by
Frances Esty. Bound in colored linen.
*-Unveiling of the Divine Plan. Translated
by Ahmad Sohrab. Tudor Press, Boston,
1919.
* Utterances of Two Young Men. Board of
Council, New York, 1901.
* Visit ing Tablets for Martyrs Who Suffered
in Persia. Translated by 'Ali-Kuli Khan.
Baha'i Board of Council, New York,
1901.
*Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahd, The.
National Spiritual Assembly, 1925.
Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahd. Se-
lected passages which constitute the Ad-
ministrative Order of the Baha'i Faith, the
establishment of the Guardianship, the in-
terpretation of the institutions of local,
national and international Houses of Jus-
tice. These excerpts are accompanied by
passages from the Writings of the Bab and
Baha'u'llah which reveal the continuity of
the Faith, and by passages from the com-
munications of Shoghi Effendi explaining
the significance of the Will and Testament
itself. A pamphlet, uniform in size and
appearance with the series of World Order
letters of Shoghi Effendi,
Wisdom of 'Abdu'l-Bahd. Edited by Lady
Blomfield. Previously published under the
title of Paris Talks, a brief but compre-
hensive presentation of His Message. 172
pp. Post 8vo., 5 x 7 J/2, paper covers.
Bound in green cloth.
* Wisdom Talks of 'Abdu'l-Babd. Chicago.
Baha'i News Service.
''''Woman's Great Station. An address given
in New York in 1912.
(e) WRITINGS OF SHOGHI EFFENDI
*Babd't Administration. A work compiled
by the National Spiritual Assembly to
present the original sources of instruction
on the duties and responsibilities of be-
lievers, in their relations to the local,
national and international bodies of the
Cause. Part One, Excerpts from the Will
and Testament of 'Abdu'1-Bahd; Part
Two, Letters from Shoghi Effendi to the
American National Spiritual Assembly
and the body of American believers from
January 21, 1922 to October 18, 1927;
Part Three, Declaration of Trust by the
National Spiritual Assembly; Index. 155
pp. Royal 8vo., 6 x 9%. Bound in blue
cloth. Baha'i Publishing Committee, New
York, 1928.
*Bahd'i Administration. The letters written
by Shoghi Effendi to the American Baha'i
community, from January, 1922, to July,
1932, in his capacity of Guardian of the
Baha'i Cause, to encourage, guide and in-
struct the believers in carrying out the
provisions of the Will and Testament of
'Abdu'1-Baha concerning the organic de-
velopment of the Baha'i community. This
volume constitutes the authoritative in-
terpretation of that Will and of Baha'u-
'llah's teachings on the subject of the prin-
ciples determining the character of the
Faith as an evolving religious society.
These letters, which define the institutions
of local, national and international Baha'i
administrative bodies forming the nucleus
of the new world order of Baha'u'llah, in-
clude communications explaining the new
world order and clarifying the problems of
the post-war years. The volume also con-
tains excerpts from 'Abdu'l-Baha's Will,
and an Appendix consisting of the Decla-
ration of Trust and By-Laws of the Na-
tional Spiritual Assembly, and By-Laws
for local Spiritual Assemblies. 286 pp.
Bound in cloth.
'''Letters from Shoghi Effendi, selections
from letters written by the grandson of
'Abdu'1-Baha, appointed Guardian of the
Cause by Him, regarding details of ad-
ministering the affairs of the Movement.
(The complete letters are included in
Bahd'i Administration.) Baha'i Publish-
ing Committee. New York, March, 1929.
World Order of Babd'u'lldb, The. A supple-
ment to the volume Bahd't Administra-
tion. Baha'i Publishing Committee. New
York, March, 1929.
World Order of Bahd'u'lldb, The: Further
Considerations. A supplement to the vol-
ume Babd'j Administration. Baha'i Pub-
lishing Committee. New York, 1930.
The Goal of a New World Order. In this
communication (dated November 28,
The first group of pilgrims traveling by air to* Iran via Baghdad in the spring of i938.
Taken at the Haifa Aerodrome with members of the Baha'i Community. The trip from
Tihran to 'Akka which took four months in the days of BahaVllah is now accomplished
in seven hours' flying time.
584
BAHA'f BIBLIOGRAPHY
585
1931) the Guardian analyzes the existing
international political, economic and so-
cial problems, points to the signs of im-
pending chaos, and emphasizes the guiding
principles gi world order established by
Baha'u'llah. The goal of world federation
is upheld, and 'Abdu'l-Baha's prophecy of
the failure of the present civilization is
called to the attention of Baha'is. (Re-
printed from Bahd'i Administration.) 32
pp. Paper covers.
The Golden Age of the Cause of Babd'u'lldh.
The Guardian's letter (dated March 21,
1932) referring to the spiritual impor-
tance of America in the new world order,
the progressive character of divine Revela-
tion, the station of the Bab, the release
of spiritual forces for human regenera-
tion, and the non-political character of
the Baha'i Faith. (Reprinted from Ba-
hd'i Administration.) 24 pp. Paper
covers.
America and the Most Great Peace. A letter
addressed to American Baha'is, dated April
21, 1933 (not included in the present edi-
tion of Bahd'i Administration). This
communication summarizes the forty
years of American Baha'i History (1893-
1933), and develops in greater detail than
in the preceding letter, the responsibility
laid upon America in the divine plan for
the establishment of universal peace. 28
pp. Paper covers.
The Dispensation of Bahd'u'lldh. A letter
addressed to the Baha'is of the West, dated
February 7, 1934 (not included in the
present edition of Bahd'i Administration) .
In this letter the Guardian of the Baha'i
Faith clarifies, with numerous quotations
from Baha'i sacred writings, the spiritual
station and mission of Baha'u'llah, the
Bab, 'Abdu'1-Baha, and the nature of the
World Order which Baha'u'llah established.
In this statement, prepared by the one au-
thorized in 'Abdu'l-Baha's Will and Testa-
ment to be the sole interpreter of Baha'i
writings, students of the Cause possess the
first complete and authentic outline and
summary of the Baha'i Faith in its devel-
opment from the Announcement of the
Bab in 1844 to the Administrative Order
defined by 'Abdu'1-Baha for the era fol-
lowing His departure from this world in
1921. 66 pp. Bound in cloth and also
bound in blue paper.
The Unfoldment of World Civilization. By
the Guardian of the Faith. A letter dated
March 11, 1936 giving an analysis of the
death of the old order and the birth of the
new. 46 pp. Paper covers.
The World Religion. A brief outline of the
aims, teachings and history of the Baha'i
Faith.
(f) PRAYERS
*Bahd'i Prayers. The Bab, Baha'u'llah and
'Abdu'1-Baha. A large collection of
prayers, newly compiled, to meet the needs
of the spiritual life of today. 210 pp.
16 mo., 3% x 6. Bound in blue cloth
and also bound in blue paper.
*Bahd'i Prayers by Bahd'u'lldh and 'Abdu'l-
Bahd. 16 pp., 3 /2 x 5. Gray paper cover.
* Prayers, Tablets, Instructions, etc., gath-
ered by American visitors in 'Akka, 1900.
* Prayers Revealed by Babd'u'lldb. Con-
taining also prayers revealed by 'Abd-
u'l-Baha. 108 pp., 3 x 5/2- Black paper
cover.
Bahd'i Prayers. Prayers revealed by Baha'-
u'llah and 'Abdu'1-Baha. 34 pp. Paper
covers.
(g) BAHA'i LITERATURE IN
PAMPHLET FORM
'Abdu'l-Babd's First Days in America, inti-
mate and beautiful glimpses of the Master,
from the diary of Juliet Thompson. 40
pp. Printed by The Roycrofters. Paper
cover.
''''Addresses, by ]indb-i-Fddil. Booklets. 5
Nos. Translated by Ahmad Sohrab.
Seattle, 1921.
* Addresses delivered before the New York
and Chicago Assemblies, by 'Abdu'l-
Karim Effendi. Translated by Ahmad
Sohrab. Persian-American Publishing Co.,
Los Angeles, 1924.
*'Akkd Lights, by Mr. and Mrs. Joseph H.
Hannen.
Bahd'i Benediction, The. Music and words
by Louise R. Waite.
*Bahd'j Calendar for 1932. Consisting of
twelve sheets of colored cardboard stock,
one for each month, with Baha'i dates,
feasts, anniversaries and quotations in ad-
586
THE BAHA'f WORLD
dition to the monthly calendar. Compiled
and arranged by Doris Holley. 9x12.
* Bahd'i Census. United States Govern-
ment pamphlet showing the registration
of the Baha'is as an organized religious
body.
* Bahd'i Faith, The, by a Methodist Layman,
questions and answers suggested by per-
sonal experience.
Baha'i faith, The, by Horace Holley. An
explanation of the nature of the world-
wide Baha'i community.
The Bahd'i House of Worship. A brief
description of the Baha'i Temple at
Wilmette, Illinois, quoting words of
'Abdu'1-Baha on the spiritual significance
of Baha'i Houses of Worship, with an
outline of Baha'i history and 'Abdu'l-
Baha's summary of Baha'i teachings.
Illustrated. 8 pp.
* Bahd'i Hymnal, words and music by Louise
R. Waite. Paper.
* Bahd'i Indexes, by Charles Mason Remey.
Newport, R. I., 1923.
* Bahd'i Manuscripts, by Charles Mason Re-
mey. Newport, R. I., 1923.
* Bahd'i Martyrdoms in Persia in the Year
1903 A. D., by Haji Mirza Haydar-'Ali.
Translated by Yu'nis Khan. Baha'i Pub-
lishing Society, Chicago, 1907.
* Bahd'i Movement, The. Articles originally
published in Vedic Magazine of Lahore.
J. L. Zuahlen, Vesey, 1916.
* Bahd'i Movement, The: Its Spiritual Dy-
namic, by Albert Vail, reprint of a maga-
zine article.
Bahd'i Movement, The. A pamphlet outlin-
ing the history and aims of the Cause,
with a statement on Baha'i Administra-
tion and many quotations from the Writ-
ings.
* Bahd'i Movement in Its Social Economic
Aspect, The, by Helen Campbell. Baha'i
Publishing Society, Chicago, 1915.
* Bahd'i Movement, The, by Charles Mason
Remey. Washington, D. C., 1912.
* Bahd'i Persecutions in Persia, reprint of let-
ter written to the Shah of Persia, Rida
Shah Pahlavi, July, 1926, by the National
Spiritual Assembly of the Bahd'is of the
United States and Canada.
Bahd'i Procedure. Compiled by the National
Spiritual Assembly. A compilation and
codification of secondary administrative
material. 80 loose leaf sheets.
* Bahd'i Religion, The, a reprint of the two
Baha'i papers presented at the Conference
on Some Living Religions within the Brit-
ish Empire. Paper, 24 pp.
* Bahd'i Revelation, The, by Thornton Chase.
Baha'i Publishing Society, Chicago, 1909.
*Babd'i Revelation and Reconstruction, The,
by Charles Mason Remey. Baha'i Pub-
lishing Society, Chicago, 1919.
* Bahd'i Teachings, by Charles Mason Remey.
(Seven bound pamphlets.) Washington,
D. C, 1917.
*Bahd'u'lldh and His Message, by J. E. Essle-
mont, briefly outlining t^ie spiritual mes-
sage of the New Day.
* Be fore Abraham Was 1 Am, by Thornton
Chase, an explanation of the Station of the
Prophet.
* Bird's Eye View of the World in the Year
2000, a reprint of article by Orrol Harper
in The Bahd'i Magazine.
* Brief Account of My Visit to 'Akkd, A,
by Mary L. Lucas. Baha'i Publishing So-
ciety, Chicago, 1905.*
* Brilliant Proof, The, by Mirza Abu'1-Fadl
of Gulpayigan, a refutation of an attack
on the Cause by a Protestant missionary.
Contains both English and Iranian text.
*Call of God, The, by George La timer, the
significance of the return of the Messen-
ger.
* Chapter on Strikes, a supplement to "Some
Answered Questions."
* Compilation, No. 9, available in: English,
Esperanto, French, German, Italian, Span-
ish, Chinese, Hungarian, Yiddish.
•{ Constructive Principles of the Bahd'i
Movement, by Charles Mason Remey.
Baha'i Publishing Society, Chicago, 1917.
* Daily Lessons Received at 'Akkd — 1908, by
Helen S. Goodall and Ella G. Cooper.
Baha'i Publishing Society, Chicago, 1908.
*Dawn of Knowledge and the Most Great
Peace, by Paul Kingston Dealy. The Ba-
ha'i Cause and ancient prophecy.
Declaration of Trust, and By-Laws of the
National Spiritual Assembly of the Ba-
hd'is of the United States and Canada,
with amendments adopted to April 1,
1933. The legal instrument defining the
nature and functions of the institutions
BAHA'f BIBLIOGRAPHY
587
existing in the American Baha'i commu-
nity, with the By-Laws approved for use
by Local Spiritual Assemblies. (Reprinted
from Babd'i Administration.) 24 pp.,
6x9. Paper covers.
* Divine Revelation, the Basis of Civilization,
by Antun Haddad. Board of Council,
New York, 1902.
* Early Pilgrimage, An, 1898, by May Max-
well. Baha'i Publishing Society, Chicago,
1917.
Economics as Social Creation, by Horace
Holley. 32 pp.
* Episodes in My Life, by Munirih Khanum.
Translated by Ahmad Sohrab. Persian-
American Publishing Co., Los Angeles,
1924.
First Obligation, The, by Lady Blomfield.
* Flowers Culled from the Rose Garden of
6Akkd by Three Pilgrims in 1908.
*From the World's Greatest Prisoner to His
Prison Friends, by Israel Fraser-Chamber-
lain. Tudor Press, Boston, 1916.
'fGod and His Manifestations (compiled by
Mrs. J. W. Gift), an outline for the study
of such Baha'i topics as the need of a
Manifestation, the signs of His appearance,
His influence upon civilization, the proofs
of His cause, etc. Paper covers.
* Green Acre, a reprint of articles published
in The Babd't Magazine.
* Heavenly Feast, A, by Charles and Mariam
Haney.
* Heavenly Vista, A, by Louis G. Gregory.
Homoculture, by Stanwood Cobb.
Index to Babd't News. A key to the con-
tents of Bahd'i News from December,
1924, to November, 1933: No. 1 to
No. 79. Paper cover, mimeographed,
58 pp.
Index to Babd't News. A key to the con-
tents of Bahd'i News from i934 to 1936:
No. 80 to No. 104. Paper cover, mimeo-
graphed, 25 pp.
*In Spirit and in Truth, by A. S. Agnew.
*Knock and It Shall Be Opened Unto You,
by Roy and M. J. M.
*In Memoriam (Miss Lillian F. Kappers and
Dr. Sarah Clock) , by Dr. Susan I. Moody,
Union Press, Camp Karachi.
*In Galilee, by Thornton Chase. An inter-
esting account of a visit to Haifa in 1907.
* Knowing God Through Love, by Abu'l-
l. Farewell address. Baha'i Assembly,
Washington.
* Lectures by Jindb-i-Fddil, a series of lec-
tures by a scholar appointed by 'Abdu'l-
Bah£ to teach the principles of the Baha'i
Cause in America. Vols. 2, 3, 4, and 5
only.
Lessons in Religion, by Shaykh Muhammad-
'Ali Qa'ini, prepared especially for chil-
dren. Translated by Edith Ruhiyyih
Sanderson.
'''Letter from Honolulu, by Charles Mason
Remey. Privately printed. Feb. 17, 1917.
* Letter written on behalf of the "friends"
of Isfahan, Persia, to the American Be-
lievers, by Mirza 'Abdu'l-Husayn.
>>f Light of the World, by a group of Pilgrims.
The Tudor Press, Boston, 1920.
* Mart mists' Report, by M. Gabriel Sasi. An
address concerning the Baha'i Religion de-
livered at the Paris Exposition of 1900.
* Martyrdoms in Persia in 1905, by Haji
Mirza Haydar-'Ali, relating the circum-
stances in which seventy Persian Baha'is
were martyred.
*Map Showing Travels of the Bab and
Babd'u'lldh. Drawn by J. F. Clevenger,
1927, ll/zxH^.
* Maxims of Babd'ism, by Antun Haddad.
Board of Council, New York.
''''Message of the Kingdom of God, The, by
James F. Brittingham. 1907.
* Message from 'Akkd, Antun Haddad.
Most Great Peace, The, by Marion Holley.
* Notes Taken at 'Akkd, by Corrine True.
Baha'i Publishing Society, Chicago, 1907.
* Observations of a Bahd'i Traveler, by
Charles Mason Remey. Washington,
D. Q, 1914.
Oneness of Mankind, The. Selections from
words of BahaVllah and 'Abdu'1-Baha on
interracial amity, compiled by Louis G.
Gregory and Mariam Haney. 64 pp.,
paper cover.
The Oneness of Mankind, by Hussein Rab-
bani. An exposition of the Baha'i teach-
ings on the unity of races. 24 pp. Self
cover.
^Passing of 'Abdu'l-Babd, The, by Lady
Blomfield and Shoghi Effendi.
Principles of the Babd't Faith. The new edi-
tion of the little blue "No. 9" Compila-
tion.
588
THE BAHA'f WORLD
The Path to God, by Dorothy Baker. An
explanation of the Baha'i teachings on the
spiritual development caused by turning
to the Manifestation of God. 24 pp. Self
cover.
* Races of Men — Many or One, The, com-
piled by Louis G. Gregory. 40 pp., paper
covers.
*Rays from the Sun of Truth, Ida Finch.
'''Revelation of Bahd'u'lldh, The, Isabella D.
Brittingham. Baha'i Publishing Society,
Chicago, 1902.
* Spirit of World Unity, The, selections from
words of 'Abdu'1-Baha in America on re-
ligious, racial and scientific subjects. 24
pp. Paper covers.
* Spiritual Opportunities of the Bahd'is of
the United States and Canada, selections
from words of 'Abdu'1-Baha. The Na-
tional Spiritual Assembly.
*Star of the West, November, 1925, Peace
Number.
:J Station of Manifestation, by Antun Had-
dad.
'fTab\e Talks. Regarding Reincarnation and
other subjects.
*TaUe Talks at 'Akkd, by 'Abdu'1-Baha
'Abbas, by Arthur S. Agnew. Baha'i Pub-
lishing Society, Chicago, 1907.
* Table Talks with 'Abdul-Bahd, by Mr. and
Mrs. George Winterburn. Baha'i Publish-
ing Society, Chicago, 1908.
* Tablet on Universal Peace, a letter written
by 'Abdu'1-Baha in 1919 to the Central
Organization for a Durable Peace.
* Tablets to Japan, a collection of letters
written by 'Abdu'1-Baha to Japanese and
to Americans serving the Cause in Japan.
Foreword by Agnes Alexander.
* Through Warring Countries to the Moun-
tain of God, by Charles Mason Remey.
Private printing.
*True Gardener, The (from notes by
L.H.C.B.). Rangoon Standard Press,
1930.
*Ten Days in the Light of 'Akkd, by Julia
M. Grundy. Baha'i Publishing Society,
Chicago, 1907.
* Twelve articles introductory to the study
of the Bahd'i teachings, by Charles Mason
Remey.
* Unity Through Love, by Howard Mac-
Nutt.
* Universal Consciousness of the Bahd'i Re-
ligion, by Charles Mason Remey.
* Universal Principles of the Bahd'i Move-
ment. Persian- American Bulletin, Wash-
ington, D. C., 1912.
* Visit to "Abbas Effendi in 1899, by Mar-
garet B. Peake. Grief Press, Chicago, 1911.
*What Is a Bahd'i? by Dr. J. E. Esslemont.
American edition published by Louis
Bourgeois, Chicago, 1921.
What Is the Bahd'i Faith? A brief explana-
tion by the late Dr. J. E. Esslemont, au-
thor of "Baha'u'llah and the New Era."
Available in many languages.
*What Went Ye Out For to See? by Thorn-
ton Chase, a letter written in reply to an
inquiry from a Christian.
* Whence? Why? Whither? Man! Things!
Other Things! by Arthur Pillsbury Dodge.
Ariel Press, Westwood, Mass., 1907.
* World Economy of Bahd'u'lldh, The, by
Horace Holley. Baha'i Publishing Com-
mittee, 1931. The Baha'i explanation of
current world depression and unrest, with
a summary of the principles revealed by
Baha'u'llah to make possible international
order, peace and social justice. 32 pp.
Paper covers.
(h) COMPILATIONS
''Bahd'i Cause. Eight-page pamphlet pre-
pared by the National Teaching Commit-
tee. Baha'i Publishing Society, 1924.
'fBahd'i Calendar. Daily excerpts from the
writings of Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'1-Baha.
Privately printed in Honolulu, New York
and other cities.
* Bahd'i House of Worship. Description of
the Bahd'i Temple with Illustrations. By
Charles Mason Remey. Baha'i Publishing
Society, Chicago, 1917.
'f Bahd'i Hymns and Poems, by Louise R.
Waite. Baha'i Publishing Society, Chi-
cago, 1904, New York, 1927.
'f Bahd'i Message. Compiled by Horace Hol-
ley, Chicago, 1920.
Bahd'i Scriptures. Compiled by Horace
Holley, Brent ano's, New York, 1923.
Baha'i Publishing Committee, New York,
1929.
* Bahd'i Temple. Reprint of press comments
and Temple symbolism. Published by
Louis Bourgeois, Chicago, 1921.
BAHA'f BIBLIOGRAPHY
589
'''Compilation. Concerning the Most Great
Peace. Tudor Press, Boston, 1918.
''''Compilation No. 9. Available in different
languages.
* Compilation of Utterances from the Pen of
6Abdu'l-Babd Regarding His Station. 19
pp. November 26; 1906.
'-'Divine Pearls. Compiled by Victoria Bedi-
kian.
*Dream of God, The. By Albert Durrant
Watson. A poem. Baha'i Publishing So-
ciety. Chicago, 1922.
Foundations of World Unity. Compiled by
Horace Holley, New York, 1927.
Garden of the Hearty The. Compiled by
Frances Esty.
*God and His Manifestations. Compiled by
Mrs. M. H. Gift.
''''God's Heroes. By Laura Clifford Barney.
A drama. Lippincott, London and Phila-
delphia, 1910.
'''Hymns of Peace and Praise. By Louise R.
Waitc. Chicago, 1910.
>l'Mashriqu'l-Adhkdr. By Charles Mason Re-
mey. Five preliminary sketches. Pri-
vately printed.
':'Mashriqn'l-Adhkdr. By Charles Mason
Remey. (Baha'i House of Worship.)
Privately printed.
*Mas])rtqti'l-Adhkdr and the Bahd'i Move-
ment. By Jean Masson. Baha'i Publish-
ing Society, Chicago, 1921.
*Most Great Peace, The. From the utter-
ances of BahaVllah and *Abdu'l-Baha.
Tudor Press, Boston, 1916.
Oneness of Mankind, The. A compilation
of the utterances of BahaVllah and 'Abd-
u'l-Baha by Mariam Haney and Louis
Gregory, to assist the progress of inter-
racial amity, 1927.
* Prayers Revealed by Bahd'u'lldb and 6Abd-
11 l-Bahd. Translated by Shoghi Effendi.
Boston, 1923.
''''Prospectus of a Series of Five Lectures upon
the Bahd'i Movement, by Charles Mason
Remey.
* Racial Amity. Compiled by M. H. and
M. M.
* Thoughts That Build. By Rev. J. Storer.
Macmillan Co., New York, 1924.
* Universal Principles of the Bahd'i Move-
ment— Social, Economic, Governmental.
Persian- American Bulletin, 1912.
* Views of Haifa, 'Akkd, M/. Carmel and
Other Places. Baha'i Publishing Society,
Chicago.
(i) OUTLINES AND GUIDES FOR
BAHA'f STUDY CLASSES
Bahd'i Lesson Outline for Children. A
series of thirty-six lessons in four sections,
for teachers holding Baha'i study and dis-
cussion classes for children. The course
has been planned for weekly classes over a
period of nine months. Complete series
(four sections) .
Bahd'i Study Course. An invaluable aid for
individual students of the Teachings, and
for Baha'i Communities and Groups who
desire to follow a definite course of study.
The Course may be obtained with or with-
out the three books needed for reference.
Study Course with Babd'u'lldh and the
New Era, Wisdom of 6Abdu'l-Bahd and
Foundations of World Unity.
*Bahd't Teachings Concerning Christ. Com-
piled by the Outline Bureau of the Na-
tional Teaching Committee, 1928-1929.
'"Bahd'i Teachings on Economics. A com-
pilation prepared by the National Teach-
ing Committee. 16 pp.
The Dispensation of Bahd'u'lldh. Compiled
by Study Outline Committee. A study
outline. 14 pp.
''Material and Divine Civilization. Compiled
by the Outline Bureau of the National
Teaching Committee, 1930.
'''Outlines for Study of Scriptures, compiled
by the Outline Bureau of the National
Baha'i classes and meetings, compiled by
Louis G. Gregory. Mimeographed.
* Questions and Topics for Discussion in Ba-
ha'i classes and meetings, compiled by
Louis G. Gregory. Mimeographed.
Study Guide for The Dawn-Breakers. An
aid for classes and individuals in making
a careful study of this historical Work.
Study Outline for Kitdb-i-fqdn. (Book of
Certitude.)
Study Outline on Public Speaking. Mimeo-
graphed.
* Study of Outlines of Science, compiled by
the Outline Bureau of the National Baha'i
Teaching Committee. Mimeographed.
Study Outline on the Essential Principles of
Creative Writing. Mimeographed.
590,
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Twenty Lessons in Bahd't Administration.
28 pp.
Twenty Lessons in the Bahd'i Revelation. A
valuable supplement to the Baha'i Study
Course and for the individual research of
advanced Qdha'i students.
2.
BAHA'I PUBLICATIONS OF ENGLAND
*' Abdu'l-Bahd in London. Addresses deliv-
ered by 'Abdu'1-Baha during His visit in
London, with description of His life and
activities.
Bah ft Faith, The, by G. Palgrave Simpson.
Bahd'i: Spirit of the Age, The9 by Horace
Holley. (See list one.) Published by
Kegan, Paul.
Bahd'u'lldh and the New Era, by J. E. Essle-
mont. (See list one.) Published by
George Allen & Unwin, Ltd.
Brief Account of the Bahd'i Movement, by
Ethel J. Rosenberg. Published by Burn-
side, Ltd.
Coming of "The Glory," The, by Florence E.
Pinchon. Published by Simpkin, Marshall,
Hamilton, Kent & Co., Ltd., London.
Drama of the Kingdom, The, by Mrs. Basil
Hall, London, 1933.
God's Heroes, by Laura Clifford Barney.
(See list one.)
Hidden Words of Bahd'u'llah. (See list
one.)
Life and Teachings of 'Abbas Effendi, The,
by Myron H. Phelps. Published by Put-
nam & Sons.
Meditations of a Bahd't Christian, by E. T.
Hall. C. E. Bennett & Co., Manchester,
1912.
Modern Social Religion, The, by Horace
Holley. Published by Sidgwick & Jack-
son. 1912.
Mysterious Forces of Civilization, The. (See
list one.)
Paris Talks. (See list one, "The Wisdom of
'Abdu'1-Baha.") Published by G. Bell &
Son.
Passing of 'Abdu'l-Bahd, The. (See list one.)
Promise of All Ages, The, by "Christophil."
Published by Simpkin, Marshall, Ltd.,
1934.
Universal Religion, The, by Hippolyte Drey-
fus, an introductory work on the Baha'i
Cause by a French orientalist who has
translated many of the writings of Baha'-
u'llah.
JJniversal Religion, The, by E. T. Hall. Na-
tional Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of
the British Isles, 1927.
* Unity Triumphant, by Elizabeth Herrick.
The Revelation of BahaVllah as the ful-
fillment of Christianity, with extensive
quotations and bibliography. Published
by Kegan, Paul.
^Reconciliation of Races and Religions, The,
by Thomas Kelly Cheyne, Dr. Lit., D.D.
Religions of the Empire, edited by W. Lof-
tus Hare. Published by Duckworth (Lon-
don). Addresses delivered by representa-
tives of the several religions invited to
participate in the Conference on Some
Living Religions Within the British Em-
pire, held at the Imperial Institute, Lon-
don, England, from September 22 to Oc-
tober 3, 1924. Includes two papers read
on the Baha'i Cause. 519 pp. Cloth
cover.
Some Answered Questions. (See list one.)
Published by Kegan, Paul.
Traveller's Narrative, A. The Episode of
the Bab translated by Prof. E. G. Browne,
M.A., F.B.A., M.R.A.S. Cambridge Uni-
versity Press.
*Wk*t Is a Bahd't? by J. E. Esslemont, a re-
print of chapter three of his larger work.
Published by Burnside, Ltd.
*Wise Man from The East, A, by Felicia R.
Scatchard. The Unity Press. London,
1912.
*Year with the Bahd'is in India and Burma,
A, by Sidney Sprague. The Priory Press,
London, 1908.
BAHA'f BIBLIOGRAPHY
591
3 .
BAHA'f PUBLICATIONS IN FRENCH
Babd'u'lldb et l'$,re nouvelle. Geneve, 1932.
Du Kegne de Dieu et de I'Agneau, par Ga-
briel Sacy. 12 Juin, 1902 (brochure).
Essai sur le Babd'isme, son Histoire, sa Par-
fee sociale, par Hippolyte Dreyfus. 2eme
edition. Librairie Ernest Leroux, Paris,
1934.
Le Bayan Arabe, traduit par A. L. M. Nico-
las. Librairie Ernest Leroux, Paris.
Le Bayan Penan, traduit par A. L. M. Nico-
las. Librairie Geuthner, Paris. 4 vol-
umes: 1911 a 1914.
Le But d'un Nouvel OrJre Mondial, lettre
de Shoghi EfFendi. Traduction de Le*on
Karakeya. Librairie Ernest Leroux, Paris,
1936 (brochure).
L'fcconomie Mondiale de Babd'u'lldh, par
Horace Holley. Traduction de Gabriel
des Hons. 2eme edition. Paris, 1936
(brochure).
Le Machreqou'l-Azkar, d'lchqabad, par
A. L. M. Nicolas, Paris, 1902.
Le Machreqou'l-Azkar, d'Achqabad, par
Hippolyte Dreyfus. Librairie Ernest Le-
roux, Paris, 1909 (brochure).
L'fipitre an Fils du Loup, par Baha'u-
'llah. Traduction franchise par Hippo-
lyte Dreyfus. Librairie Ernest Leroux,
Paris.
Les Lemons de Saint-Jean d'Acre (Some An-
swered Questions) . Recueillies par Laura
Clifford Barney. Traduction f ran^aise
par Hippolyte Dreyfus.
*Les Precedes du Babd'isme, traduit par H.
Dreyfus et H. Chirazi. 1906.
Le vrai Babd'i. Le cinquieme Chapitre de
Babd'u'lldb and The New Era. Traduc-
tion par Edward Roscoe Mathews (bro-
chure) .
UOeuvre* de Babd'u'lldb, traduction fran-
gaise par Hippolyte Dreyfus: Tome I:
La tres sainte Tablette. — Les Paroles
cachees. — Les Sept Vallees du Voyage vers
Dieu. — La Lettre sur le Bayan. Tome II:
Le Temple de Dieu. — Les Lettres aux
Souverains. Tome III: Le Livre de la
Certitude (Kitabou'l Iqan). Librairie
Ernest Leroux, Paris.
* Paroles Caches, 1905.
Tablette de Bahd'u'lldh, ecrite a Adrianople
pour un des Croyants de Qazvin (bro-
chure) .
Trots Lettres a des Persans, par 'Abdu'l-
Baha, Juin-Juillet, 1907 (brochure).
Vers ly Apogee de la Race Humaine, lettre
de Shoghi Effendi traduite de 1'anglais.
Librairie Ernest Leroux, Paris, 1936
(brochure).
4.
BAHA'f PUBLICATIONS IN ITALIAN
Babd'u'lldb e la Nuova Era. Translation of Baha'i Principles as given by 'Abdu'l-
J. E. Esslemont's book. Baha at various times, taken from Paris
ffCbe Cosa e il Movimento Babd'i?" (Leaf- , Talks and other sources. 1925. Florence.
let.) Parole Velate (Hidden Words). Florence,
Discorsi di 'Abdu'l-Babd (Paris Talks). 1926.
/ Principii Baha'i. Booklet translation of the Some Answered Questions (in preparation).
5 .
BAHA'f PUBLICATIONS IN DUTCH
Alegmeene Beginselen der Baha'i Beweging. ffBabd'u'lldb and the New Era." Rotter-
Amsterdam, 1914. dam, 1933.
A of the has
for the
Baha'i Press Book for the year 1936-1937, United States'and Canada, compiled by the
Publicity Committee
592
BAHA'f BIBLIOGRAPHY 593
De Verborgen Woorden (Hidden Words), Pamphlets and Leaflets in Dutch Taal pub-
Rotterdam, 1932. lished in Pretoria, S. A.
Kitab-i-fqan. Rotterdam, 1937.
6.
BAHA'I PUBLICATIONS IN DANISH
Babd'it'lldb ag harts Bndskab (Baha'u'llah livad er Babd't Bevagehen (What is the
and His Message), by J. E. Esslemont. Baha'i Movement?), by J. E. Esslemont.
Translated into Danish by Johanne Sor- Translated into Danish by Johanne Soren-
ensen. Copenhagen. December, 1926. sen. Copenhagen. April, 1926.
"Bahd'u'lldh and the New Era.'9 Nyt Nor- Kitdb-i-iqdn (manuscript),
disk Forlag. Copenhagen, 1932. Hidden Words (in manuscript) .
7.
BAHA'I PUBLICATIONS IN SWEDISH
Babd'n'llah and the New Era, 1932. K/fdb-i-fcjdn. Helsingfors, 1936.
8 .
BAHA'I PUBLICATIONS IN PORTUGUESE
Bahd'n'lldh E La Nova Era, por Dr. J. E. A Maior Paz. Santos, 1922.
Esslemont. Officinas Graphicas de Fonseca Paris Talks. Para, Brazil, 1923.
Filho & Co., Rua Cruzeiro de S. Fran- Que e o Movimento Babd'i (pamphlet).
cisco No. 16, Bahia, Brazil. Principles of Bahd'i faith (pamphlet 9).
Kifdb-/-1t]dn (manuscript). Some Answered Questions (manuscript).
Hidden Words (manuscript).
9.
BAHA'I PUBLICATIONS IN ALBANIAN
Fjale Te Fsbebiira (Hidden Words), New Kitdb-i-lqdny Tirane, 1932.
York. Detyrat e Dornosdoshe Besnikvet Bahd't,
Baba'u'llab and the New Era, Tirane, 1933. 1932. Libri i Beses, Tirane, 1932.
1 0.
BAHA'i PUBLICATIONS IN ESPERANTO
Baha'u'llah: Kasitaj vorto], el la perso lingvo Kasitaj vorto], el la angla lingvo tradukis
tradukis Lutfu'llah S. Hakim, John E. Vasily J. Erosenko, Japanujo, loko kaj
Esslemont, London, Brita Esperantista jaro ne indikataj, 8°, 23 pp.
Asocio, jaro ne indik^ta, 8°, 39 pp. 'Abdu'1-Baha: Bahaj (Bahaaj!) irjstruoj,
594
THE BAHA'f WORLD
loko kaj jaro ne indikataj, 8°, 16 pp.
Kompilajo, vortoj de BahaVllah kaj 'Ab-
du'1-Baha, Wandsbek, Germany, Bahaa
Esperanto-Eldonejo, jaro ne indikata, 8°,
16 pp.
Esslemont, Dr. J. E.: Bahd'u'lldh kaj la nova
epoko, el la angla originalo tradukita de
Lidja Zamenhof, Weinheim (Germany),
Baha'i Esperanto-Eldonejo, 1930, 8°, 191
pp.
Keligio kaj Scienco lau la lumo de la Ba-
haja (bahaa!) rivelajo, London, Brita Es-
perantista Asocio, 1919, 8°, 28 pp.
Babd'u'lldh kaj Lia Misio, Hamburg, Es-
peranto Komitato de la Bahaa Movado.
1926, 8°, 22 pp.
Grossmann, Dr. Hermann: La esenco de
la Bahaismo, Wandsbek, Bahaa Esperanto-
Eldonejo, 1929, 8°, 8 pp.
Historic, instruoj kaj valoro de la Bahd'i-
movado. Hamburg, Esperanto Komitato
de la Bahaa-movado, 1925, 8°, 8 pp.
Kliemke, Dr. Ernst: Babaismo kaj politiko,
la stata idealo lau la instruoj de Baha'u-
'llah, Wandsbek, Germany, Bahaa Esper-
anto-Eldonejo, 1929, 8°, 8 pp.
Muhlschlegel, Adelbert: Parolado en la dua
Bahaa kunveno Jum la XV III a Univer-
sala Kongreso de Esperanto en Genevo,
Stuttgart, 1925, 8°, 4 pp.
Root, Martha: Bahaaj sciencaj pruvoj de
vivo post morto. Praha, 1927, 8°, 7 pp.
Bahaaj pruvoj de vivo post morto, Wands-
bek, Germany, Bahaa Esperanto-Eldonejo,
1928, 8°, 8 pp.
S.S.: La Hist or to de I'Babafa (Bahaa!) Mo-
vado, Universala Fido, esperantigita de
William W. Mann, London, the Priory
Press, 1907, 8°, 24 pp.
Lidja Zamenhof: Homo, Dio, Profeto, Wein-
heim, Bahaa Esperanto-Eldonejo, 1931,
8°, 8 pp.
Kio estas la Bahaa movado? Genf, 1925, 8°,
8 pp.
Kio estas la Bahaa movado? Wandsbek, jaro
ne indikata, 8°, 4 pp.
La Nova Tago. La internacia bahaa esper-
anto-gazeto. Weinheim (Germany), Ba-
haa Esperanto-Eldonejo. Quarterly since
1925.
Paris Talks of 'AbdtSl-Bahd. Weinheim,
Baden, 1932.
Kitdb-i-lqdn (manuscript).
Some Answered Questions (in manuscript).
For information on German and Esperanto
Baha'i literature and magazines please ad-
dress Dr. Hermann Grossmann, Weinheim
(Bergstrasse), Friedrich-Voglerstrasse, 4,
Germany.
1 1 .
BAH A 'I PUBLICATIONS IN RUSSIAN
Babd'u'llab and the New Era. Printed in Kitdb-i-tqdn. Riga, Pils iela 14, 1933.
Latvia, 1930. Tablet from 'Abdu'l-Bahd. Baku, 1909.
Lessons in Religion, by Shaykh Muhammad- Talk about Babd'j faith. Baku.
'Ali Qa'ini. 'Isjiqabad, 1912. ' Talk of 'Abdu'l-Bahd in New York. 'Ishqa-
Bahd'u'lldh, by Isabel Grinevskaya. Lenin- bad, 1922.
grad, 1912. Tablet to the Hague, by 'Abdul-Baha.
Batiiyyat, by M. Blanovsky. Moscow, 1914. London, 1922.
Hidden Words of Babd'u'llah. Riga, 1934. No. 9. (Compilation.) New York, N. Y.
Some Answered Questions (manuscript).
1 2.
BAHA'f PUBLICATIONS IN GERMAN
Baha'u'llah: Tablett von hhrdqdt, Tablett left von Tajalliyat, Probe Botscbaften.
von Tardzdt, Worfe des Paradieses, Tab- Aus dem Englischen von A. Braun und E.
BAHA'f BIBLIOGRAPHY
595
Ruoff. Stuttgart, Selbstverlag der Baha'i-
Vereinigung. 1912, 8°, 73 p.
BahaVllah: Frohe Botschaften, Worte des
Paradieses, Tablett Tardzat, Tablett Ta-
j alii y at, Tablett Ishrdqdt. Nach der Eng-
lischen Uebersetzung von 'Ali-Kuli
Khan, Deutsch von W. Herrigel. Stutt-
gart, Verlag des Deutschen Baha'i-
Bundes, 1921, 8°, 123 p.
BahaVllah: Verborgene Worte, Worte der
Weisbcit und Gebete. Aus dem Engli-
schen von A. Braun und E. Ruoff. Stutt-
gart, Verlag der Baha'i-Vereinigung,
1916, 8°, 104 p.
BahaVllah: Verborgcne Worte, Worte der
Weisheit und Gebete. Nach der Engli-
schen Uebersetzung von Shoghi Effendi,
Deutsch von Alice Schwarz und W.
Herrigel. Stuttgart, Verlag des Deutschen
Baha'i-Bundes, 1924, 8°, 109 p.
Baha'u'llah: Das belli ge Tablett, geoffenbart
in Baghdad. Aus dem Englischen von
W. Herrigel. Stuttgart, Selbstverlag der
Baha'i-Vereinigung, 1911, 8°, 8 p.
Baha'u'llah: Das Tablett vom TLweig. Aus
dem Englischen von Fr. Schweizer. Her-
ausgegeben von den Baha'is in Zuffen-
hausen. Ohne Jahr, 8°, 8 p.
'Abdu'1-Baha: Evangelium der Liebe und des
Friedens fiir unsere 'Lett (Ansprachen in
Paris) . Aus dem Englischen von W. Her-
rigel. Stuttgart, Selbstverlag der Baha'i-
Vereinigung. 1914, 8°, 172 p.
'Abdu'1-Baha: Ansprachen, gehalten im
Herbst 1911 in Paris. Aus dem Engli-
schen von W. Herrigel. Stuttgart, Verlag
des Deutschen Baha'i-Bundes, 1921, 8°,
196 p.
'Abdu'1-Baha: Beantwortete Fragen. Nach
der Englischen Ausgabe von L. Clifford
Barney, Deutsch von W. Herrigel. Stutt-
gart. Verlag des Deutschen Baha'i-
Bundes G.m.b.H. 1929, 8°, VIII und
392 p.
'Abdu'1-Baha: Eine Botscbaft an die Juden.
Aus dem Englischen von W. Herrigel.
Stuttgart, im Selbstverlag der Baha'i-
Vereinigung. 1913, 8°, 15 p.
'Abdu'1-Baha: Tabelle (Tablets) allgemeiner
Belebrung. Deutsch von Fanny Knobloch.
1906, ohne Angabe des Ortes, «°, 12 p.
*Abdu'l-Baha: Tabelle (Tablets) an die Ge-
liebten Gottes des Abendlandes. Deutsch
von Fanny A. Knobloch. 1906, ohne
Angabe des Ortes, 8°, 8 p.
Baha'fperlen (Worte von Baha'u'llah und
'Abdu'1-Baha). Stuttgart, Verlag des
Deutschen Baha'i-Bundes, 1921, 8°, 16 p.
'Abdu'1-Baha: Religion und Philosopbie,
1911, Paris.
Shoghi Effendi: Die Weltordnung von
Babd'u'lldb. Aus dem Englischen. Her-
ausgegeben vom Deutschen Baha'i-Na-
tionalrat, Stuttgart, Marz 1930, 8°, 15 p.
Shoghi Eflfendi: An die Geliebten des Herrn
und an die Dienerinnen des Barmberzigen
in der ganzen Welt. Aus dem Englischen.
Herausgegeben vom Deutschen Baha'i-
Nationalrat, Stuttgart, April 1930 (ver-
vielfaltigt), Folio, 17 p.
Bahiyyih Khanum: Brief an die Freunde
Gottes und an die Dienerinnen des Barm-
herzigen im Abendland. Aus dem En-
glischen von A. Schwarz. Ohne Angabe
des Ortes und des Jahres. 8°, 4 p.
Blomfield, Sitarih, und Shoghi Effendi: Das
Hinscheiden 'Abdu'l-Bahd's. Ohne An-
gabe des Ortes und des Jahres, 8°, 32 p.
Brittingham, Isabella D.: Die Offenbarung
von Bahd'u'lldh. Aus dem Englischen von
W. Herrigel. Stuttgart, Selbstverlag der
Baha'i-Vereinigung, 1910, 8°, 47 p.
Carpenter, Marion: Majnun und Layld.
Nach Baha'u'llah's Erzahlung in den
"Sieben Talern." Deutsch von E. M. Gr.
und Dr. H. Gr. Wandsbek, Weltgemein-
schaft 1926, 8°, 8 p.
Chase, Thornton: Die Babd'ioffenbarung.
Aus dem Englischen von W. Herrigel.
Stuttgart, Verlag des Deutschen Baha'i-
Bundes, 1925, 8°, XVI + 168 p.
Chase, Thornton: Ehe Abraham war, war
Icb. Aus dem Englischen von W. Her-
rigel. Stuttgart, Verlag der Baha'i-
Vereinigung. Ohne Jahr, 8°, 8 p.
Dreyfus, Dr. Hippolyte: Einheits-Religion.
Ihre Wirkung auf Staat, Erziehung, So-
zialpolitik, Frauenrechte und auf die ein-
zelne Personlichkeit. Deutsch von W,
Herrigel. Stuttgart, Verlag des Deutschen
Baha'i-Bundes, 1920, 8°, 40 p.
Dreyfus, Dr. Hippolyte: Bdbismus und
Babd'fsmus. Deutsch von Margarete
Platte. Frankfurt a.M. Neuer Frank-
furter Verlag G.m.b.H., 1909, 8°, 61 p.
Esslemont, Dr. John E.: Baba'u'llab und Jas
596
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Neue 'Lett alter. Deutsch von H. K. und
W. H. Stuttgart, Verlag des Deutschen
Baha'i-Bundes, 1927, 8°, VIII -f 431 p.
Esslemont, Dr. John E.: Was hi ein Babd'f?
Aus dem Englischen iibersetzt und her-
ausgegeben von der Baha'i-Arbeitsge-
meinschaft Esslingen. Ohne Jahr. (ver-
vielfaltigt), 4°, 20 p.
Esslemont, Dr. John E.: Der Weg zum
Frieden. Sonderdruck des Kapitels X aus
"Baha'u'llah und das Neue Zeitalter."
Herausgegeben von der Baha'i-Arbeitsge-
meinschaft Esslingen. Ohne Jahr, 8°, 8 p.
Fadl, Mirza Abu'l: Geschichte und Wahr-
heitsbeweise der Bahdyi -Religion. Nach
der Englischen Ucbersetzung von 'Ali-
Quli-Khan, Deutsch von W. H. Stutt-
gart, Verlag des Deutschen Baha'i-Bundes
G.M.b.H. 1919, 8°, XXIV + 295 p.
Fadl, Mirza Abu'l: Gldnzender Beweis
(Burhane Lame). Aus dem Englischen
von Fr. Schweizer. Herausgegeben von
der Baha'i-Vereinigung Zuffenhausen,
ohne Jahr, 8°, 45 p.
Grossmann, Dr. Hermann: Die soziale Frage
und ihre Losung im Sinne der Bahd'i-
Lehre. Stuttgart, Verlag des Deutschen
Baha'i-Bundes, 1923, 8°, 12 p.
Grossmann, Dr. Hermann: Die Bahd'i-Be-
-wegungy ihre Geschichte, Lehren und Be-
deutung. Herausgegeben von der Baha'i-
Bewegung. Hamburg, 1926, 8°, 8 p.
Grossmann, Dr. Hermann: Das Wesen der
Bahd'i-Lehre. Ohne Angabe des Ortes
und des Jahres. 8°, 8 p.
Grossmann, Dr. Hermann: Bahd'i-Erzie-
bung. Wandsbek, Weltgemeinschaft,
Deutscher Zweig, 1924, 8°, 8 p.
Grossmann, Dr. Hermann: Rosengartlein-
Lehrstunden. Lehrproben zur Baha'i-Er-
ziehung. Herausgegeben von der Weltge-
meinschaft, Wandsbek, ohne Jahr, 8°,
12 p.
Grossmann, Dr. Hermann: Chanan. Eine
Erzahlung aus unserer Zeit. Wandsbek,
1927, 8°, 8 p.
Grossmann, Dr. Hermann: Am Morgen
einer neuen Zeit, Verlag Strecker und
Schroder. Stuttgart, 1932.
W. H.: Universaler Friede, Universale Re-
ligion. Die Baha'i-Bewegung, ihr Zweck
und Ziel. Stuttgart, Selbstverlag der
Baha'i-Vereinigung. 1915, 8°, 30 p.
Hartmann, Pauline: Bahd'i -Weltanschauung.
Verlag des Geistigen Nationalrats der
Deutschen Baha'i. E. V., 8°, 24 p.
W. H.: Die Bahd'i-Bewegung im Allge-
meinen und ihre grossen Wirkungen in
Indien. Stuttgart, Verlag des Deutschen
Baha'i-Bundes, 1922, 8°, 56 p.
W. H.: Die Zeicben unserer Zeit im Lichte
der Bibel und der Babd't-Lebre. Stuttgart,
Verlag der Baha'i-Vereinigung. 1916, 8°,
16 p.
Hoi ley, Horace: Die Wellwirtschaft von
Bahd'u'lldh. Aus dem Englischen. 30 p.
Geneva, 1934.
Kliemke, Dr. Ernst (Hcinrich Nicnkamp) :
Bahdyi-Lehre und Politik. Das Staatsideal
nach den Lehren Baha'u'llah's. Ohne
Angabe des Ortes und des Jahres. 8°, 8 p.
Maxwell, May: Jos, der Schaferknabc,
'Abdu'l-Babd nacherzdhlt. Aus dem En-
glischen von Dr. H. Gr. Wandsbek, Welt-
gcmeinschaft, Deutscher Zweig, 1924, 8°,
8 p.
Muhlschlegel, Adelbert: Melodram zum drit-
ten Deutschen Bahd'i-Kongress 80. Ohne
Angabe des Ortes, September 1924, 8°,
8 p.
Muhlschlegel, Adelbert: Rid van 81, Fcst-
sptel. Stuttgart, Baha'i-Bund, Deutscher
Zweig, 1925, 8°, 8 p.
Najmajer, Marie von: Qurratu'l-'Ayn. Ein
Bild aus Persiens Neuzeit. Wien, 1894.
Phelps, Myron H.: 'Abdu'l-Bahd 'Abbas,
Leben und Lehren. Aus dem Englischen
von W. H. Stuttgart, Verlag des Deut-
schen Baha'i-Bundes, 1922, 8°, 248 p.
Remey, Charles Mason: Das neue Zeitalter.
Die Baha'i -Off enbarung. Deutsch von
W. H., Verlag des Deutschen Baha'i-
Bundes, Stuttgart, 19V23, 8°, 32 p.
Remey, Charles Mason: Einheit. Die Of-
fenbarung des Baha'u'llah. Deutsch von
Fanny A. Knobloch. Ohne Angabe des
Ortes und des Jahres. 8°, 8 p.
Rosenberg, Ethel J.: Die Bahd'i-Lehre, der en
ethische und soziale Be griff e. Aus dem
Englischen von Fr. Schweizer. Stuttgart,
Selbstverlag der Baha'i-Vereinigung, 1908,
8°, 8 p.
S. S.: Ein Jahr unter den Bahd't in Indien
und Birma. Aus dem Englischen von
W. H. Stuttgart, Selbstverlag der Baha'i-
Vereinigung, ohne Jahr, 8°, 46 p.
BAHA'f BIBLIOGRAPHY
597
S. S.: Die Geschichte der Bahd'i-Bewegung.
Aus dcm Englischen von W. H. Stutt-
gart, Selbstverlag der Baha'i-Vereinigung,
1913, Zweite auflage, 1913, 8°, 22 p.
A. Dritte auflage, 1919, 8°, 22 p.
Schwarz, Alice: Die universale W 'elt religion.
Stuttgart, Verlag des Deutschen Baha'i-
Bundes, 1919, 8°, 35 p.
Wright, A. H.: Bab und seine Secte in Per-
sien, Leipzig.
Religiose Llchtbllcke. Einige Erlauterungen
zur Baha'i-Bewegung. Aus dem Franzo-
sischen von Albert Renftle. Stuttgart,
Verlag der Baha'i-Vereinigung, 1916, 8°,
16 p.
Erweiterte Auflage, Stuttgart, 1928, Ver-
lag des Deutschen Baha'i-Bundes, 8°,
24 p.
Die Geschichte vom kleinen Vogel und an-
dere Erzdhlungen aits dcm Leben 'Abdu'l-
Bahd's. Wandsbek, Weltgemeinschaft,
Deutscher Zweig, 1925, 8°, 8 p.
Aus Leben und Lehre des Bahd'ismus. Ham-
burg, Baha'i-Verlag, 1918, 8°, 42 p.
Die Bahd'i-Bewegung. Flugblatt. Stutt-
gart, Verlag des Deutschen Baha'i-Bundes,
ohne Jahr, 8°, 4 p.
Was 1st die Bahd'i-Bewegung. Flugblatt.
Ohne Angabe des Ortes und des Jahres.
(2 Ausgaben: Hamburg und Wien), 8°,
8 bezw. 10 p.
Die Bahd'i Lehre, 1933, Schmal 8°, 4 p.
An der Schwelle elnes neues *Leltalters.
Flugblatt. Stuttgart, W. H. Ohne Jahr.
8°, 10 p.
Berlcht vom erst en Deutschen Babd'j-Kon-
gress 1921. Herausgegeben von der
Baha'i - Arbeitsgemeinschaft Esslingen
(vervielfaltigt) 4°, -54 p.
Welhnachtsbeilage fur Kinder. Dezember
1921. Beilage zur Sonne der Wahrheit,
8°, 8 p.
Treuhandschaftserklarung und Satzung des
Nationalen Geistigen Rates der Baha'i in
Deutschland und Oestcrreich nebst Satz-
ung des Geistigen Rates der Baha'i in
Stuttgart. Herausgegeben vom Nationalen
Geistigen Rat der Baha'i in Deutschland
und Oesterreich e. V., Stuttgart, 1935,
8°, 32 p.
Nabil's Narrative: The Dawn-Breakers (in
manuscript) .
Dispensation of Bahd'u'lldh (in manu-
script).
1 3 .
BAHA'I PUBLICATIONS IN BULGARIAN
Baha'u'lldb and the New Era, Sofia, 1932. Words of Wisdom (in manuscript).
Hidden Words, Sofia, 1937. Seven Valleys (in manuscript).
Kitdb-i-lqdn (in manuscript).
14.
BAHA'I PUBLICATIONS IN RUMANIAN
Bahd'u'lldh and the New Era, Bucharest, Ce Estc Miscarea Baha'i, Bucharest, 1934.
1934.
1 5 .
BAHA'I PUBLICATIONS IN CZECH
Kltdb-l-tqdn (in manuscript). World Religion, Prague, 1937.
Babd'u'lldk and the New Era, Prague, 1932. E. G. Hoflin and Milos Wurm: Zjer Hnutl
Some Answered Questions (in manuscript). Mtroveho.
Pamphlets, 1934.
598 THE BAHA'l WORLD
1 6.
BAHA'f PUBLICATIONS IN SERBIAN
Babd'u'lldb and the New Era, Belgrade, Kitdb-i-lqdn (in manuscript).
19,33. World Religion, Belgrade, 1937.
Hidden Words, Belgrade, 1936. World Economy of Bahd'u'lldh (in manu-
Book of Prayers, Belgrade, 1936. script).
1 7.
BAHA'l PUBLICATIONS IN HUNGARIAN
Bahd'u'llah and the New Era, Budapest, Hidden Words (in manuscript).
1933.
1 8 .
BAHA'f PUBLICATIONS IN GREEK
Bahd'u'llah and the New Era, Athens, 1934.
1 9.
BAHA'f PUBLICATIONS IN MAORI
Te Whakatikenga Pahal, Pamphlet by G. G.
Paul, Auckland, New Zealand, 1933.
2 0.
BAHA'I PUBLICATIONS IN SPANISH
Babd'u'lldh and the New Era, Bahia, 1934. jQui Salisteis A Ver? Dr. Carlos A. Stoppers
The Kitdb-i-lqdn (in preparation). translation of What Went Ye Out for to
Bahd'u'lldb y la Nueva Era. Traduccion See? by Thornton Chase. Published by
espanola por Leonora Stirling Holsapple. La Socicdad Teosofica de Mendoza, Argen-
Bahia, Brazil, 1933. tina, 1920.
Que es el Movimiento Babd'i. Booklet.
2 1 .
BAHA'f PUBLICATIONS IN NORWEGIAN
Babd'u'lldb and the New Era, Oslo, 193*. World Religion, Oslo, 1937.
Kitdb-i-lqdn (manuscript) .
BAHA'f BIBLIOGRAPHY
599
22.
BAHA'f PUBLICATIONS IN CROATIAN
Pamphlet. Some Answered Questions (in manuscript).
2 3 .
BAHA'f PUBLICATIONS IN ICELANDIC
Bahd'u'lldh and the New Era (manuscript).
24.
BAHA'f PUBLICATIONS IN ORIENTAL
LANGUAGES
IRANIAN
Book of Mub'm, Tablets of Babd'u'lldb, The.
Bombay.
Book of Iqtiddr, Tablets of Bahd'u'lldh, The.
Bombay.
Kalimdt-i-Maknunih (Hidden Words).
Ishrdqdt, Tardzdt, Tajalltydt, The. Bombay.
Lawh-i-Ahmady Tashkand.
Tablets from Babd'u'lldb. Cairo.
Kitdb-i-tqdn, The. Cairo and Bombay.
Tablet of Babd'u'llab to the Shah of Persia.
Cairo.
Tablets and Prayers from Babd'u'lldb. Cairo.
The Seven Valleys. Cairo and Bombay.
Will and Testament of Babd'u'lldb, The.
'fshqabad and Cairo.
Ad'iyiy-i-Hadrat-i-Mahbub (Book of Pray-
ers). Cairo.
Some Answered Questions. London.
Lawh-i-Maqsud.
Traveller's Narrative, The. London and
Tashkand, 1916. Bombay.
Prayers from 'Abdu'l-Bahd. Tihran, 1930.
Muduniyyih, The, by 'Abdu'1-Bah*. Cairo
and Bombay.
Nattjatu'l-Baydn, compiled by Mirza Na'im.
Tablet to the Shah of Persia. Cairo.
Siydsiyyih, The, by 'Abdu'1-Baha. Bombay.
Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahd, The.
Bombay and Cairo.
Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, The. Baha'-
u'llah. Cairo.
Addresses of 'Abdu'l-Bahd in Europe. Cairo.
Tablets of 'Abdu'l-Bahd, The. Vol.1. Cairo.
Tablet to the Hague by 'Abdu'1-Baha. Cairo.
Tablets of 'Abdu'l-Babd, The. Vol. 2. Cairo.
Addresses of 'Abdu'l-Bahd. Cairo.
Tablets of 'Abdu'l-Babd, The. Vol. 3. Cairo.
Tablet of 'Abdu'l-Bahd to Dr. Forel. Cairo.
Al-Fard'id, by Mirza Abu'1-Fadl. Cairo.
Kashfu'l-Ghitd', compiled by Siyyid Mihdi
Gulpayigani. 'Ishqabad.
Letters of Mirza Abu'l-Fadl. Cairo.
Babd'u'lldh and the New Era. Haifa, 1932.
History of the Martyrs of Yazd, The. Cairo.
Dald'ilu'l-'lrfdn, Mirza Haydar-'Ali. Bom-
bay.
Bihjatu's-Sudur, Mirza Haydar-'Ali. Bom-
bay.
Aydt-i-Mu'arrakhi, by Mirza Abu'1-Fadl,
China.
Risdliy-i-lstidldliyyih, by Mirza Abu'1-Fadl,
Egypt.
Istidldliyyiy-i-Afshdr. Bombay.
The Brilliant Proof, by Mirza Abu'1-Fadl.
Tdrikh-i-Jadid. Bombay.
Babru'l-'Irfdn, by Muhammad Af shar. Bom-
bay.
History of Tahirih, The. Cairo.
Travels of 'Abdu'l-Bahd, The. Vol. 1 and 2,
Mirza Mahmud Zarpani. Bombay.
Early Tablets of Bahd'u'lldb, The, compiled
by Baron Rosen, St. Petersburg.
Memorials of the Faithful, 'Abdu'l-Babd.
Haifa.
An-Nuru'l-Abhd-Fi-Mufawaddt - i - 'Abdu'l-
Bahd. Table talks collected by Laura C.
Barney. Kegan, Paul, London, 1908.
Mashriqu'l-Adhkdr. Twenty-two page book-
600
THE BAHA'I WORLD
The Shaykhu'l-Islam of Tiflis, Caucasus, in reply to
whose attacks on the Cause Mirza Abu'1-Fadl ad-
dressed his well-known book entitled "Fara'id."
let written in franian on the Baha'i Tem-
ple. Published by the Baha'i Assembly of
Washington, D. C.
Hadiqatu'l-Bahd'iyyih. Bombay, 1927.
Kavdkibu'd-Durriyyih. Cairo.
Irfibdt-i-Sbarq va Gharb. Tihran, 1931.
Questions and Answers (Appendix to Kitdb-
i-Aqdds). Tihran.
Bah dy ism and Socialism. 'Isjiqabad.
Munaziratu'd-Diniyyih. Cairo.
Durusu'J-D/ydnib (Lessons in Religion).
Cairo and Tihran.
Mathnavi (Nabil's chronological poem).
Cairo.
Poems by Nayyir. Tihran, 1930.
Istidldliyyih, I and II, by Na'im, Tabriz,
1911 and 1912.
Magtiliy-i-Bahd'i. Delhi, 1915.
Poems, by Na'im. Tabriz, Tihran, Cairo
and Bombay.
The i<) Talks. Cairo.
Usul-i-TaJr/s. Tihran.
Babd'tsm and Socialism, 'ishqabad.
Far a 'idu'd-Dint'yyib. Mashhad.
Tuhfiy-i-Tdhirih. Delhi, 1933.
The Passing of 'AbJu'l-Bahd. Delhi, 1933.
The Babd'i Calendar. Tihran.
URDU
Translation of the Tablets to the World.
Bombay.
Translation of hhrdqdt, Bishdrdt, Kalimdt,
Tardzdt, Tajall/ydt, of Babd'n'llab. Agra,
1918.
Paygbam-i-Sulb.
Seven Valleys, The. Bombay, 1929.
BAHA'f BIBLIOGRAPHY
601
Bahd'i Tdlim (The Hague Tablet) . Hyder-
abad, 1923.
Hidden Words, The. Bombay.
Why People of the World Could Not Know
Their Promised One.
Tablets of 'Abdu'l-Bahd, The.
Words of 'Abdu'l-Bahd, The.
Payghdm-i-Sulh. Agra.
Kitdb-i-tqdn.
Al-Mi'ydm's-Sabih. 1910.
Tablet to the Hague. Hyderabad, 1923.
Traveller's Narrative, A. 1908.
'Uruj-u-Nnztil. Rangoon, 1904.
Kitdbu'z-Zuhur.
Al-Baldgu'l-Mubin. Agra.
Revelation of Bahd'u'lldh, by Mrs. I. D.
Brittingham. Rangoon, 1902.
Javdb-i-Qddiydnihd. Rangoon, 1908.
Burhdn-i-Sarih. Agra.
lhqdqu'1-Haqq, by Mirza Mahmud Zarqani.
1908-9.
Usul-i-Bahd'i. Delhi.
Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, The. Delhi.
Dawr-i-Bahd'i.
Sharh-i-Aydt.
Bahd'u'lldh and the New Era. Lahore, 193 5.
Some Answered Questions (in press).
ARABIC
Kitdb-i-Aqdas. Bombay, Cairo, Persia.
Ishrdqdt, Tajalliydt, Tardzdt, and Kalimdt,
The. Cairo.
The Dawn-Breakers. NabiPs Narrative (in
manuscript).
Talks of 6Abdu'l-Bahd in Europe, The.
Translation anonymous. Cairo.
Bahd'u'lldh and the New Era, by Dr. J. E.
Esslemont. Cairo, 1930.
Some Answered Questions. Cairo, 1930.
Bahd'i Principles; Summary of Bahd'i Teach-
ings. Cairo, 1928.
Prayers from Bahd'u'lldh. Tabriz, 1911.
Traveller's Narrative, A.
Bahd'i Pearls, by Mirza Abu'1-Fadl. Cairo,
1900.
Bahd'i Proofs, by Mirza Abu'1-Fadl. Cairo,
1925. *
Tablet to the Hague.
Risdliy-i-Amriyyih, by Mustafa. Cairo.
Kitdb-i-lqdn. Cairo, 1934.
TURKISH
Talk About the Bahd'i Faith. Baku.
Talk in New York. Baku, 1922, 'fshqabad,
1916.
Bahd'i Hareketi. Istanbul, 1930.
Bahd 'u'lldh and the New Era. Istanbul, 1932.
BURMESE
So me Answered Questions. Mandalay, 1915.
Revelation of Bahd' u'lldh. Mandalay, 1907.
Hujjatu'lldhu'l-Bdlighih. Rangoon, 1927.
What Is the Bahd'i Movement. Rangoon.
Durus-i-Akhldqiyyih. Mandalay, 1930.
Huquqii'l-tnsdniyyih. Mandalay, 1928.
Mizdnu'l-Furgdn. Mandalay, 1908.
Durusu'd-Diydnih. Mandalay, 1922.
Tablet of Love. Mandalay, 1922.
Bahd'i Principles. Mandalay, 1919.
To Live the Life. Mandalay.
Shajaratu'l-Adydn. Rangoon, 1909.
Su'al va Javdb.
' Aqd'id-i-Bahd'iydn.
The Bahd'i Short Thesis. Mandalay, 1913.
Nizdm-Ndmih. 1 907.
Short History of the Cause, A. 1913.
Divine Laws.
Bahd'u'lldh and the New Era. Mandalay,
1933.
Kitdb-i-iqdn (manuscript).
CHINESE
Bahd'u'lldh and the New Era. Shanghai,
1931.
The Most Great Peace. Shanghai, 1931.
Light of the Age. Shanghai, 1926.
The Valuable Contribution of the Bahd'i
Cause (/,//). Shanghai, 1932.
The Bahd'i Cause in China. Shanghai, Book-
let No. 9.
Paris Talks. Shanghai, 1931.
Kitdb-i-lqdn. Shanghai.
The Goal of a New World Order. Shanghai,
1931.
Tablets of Bahd'u'lldh (in manuscript).
Hidden Words. Canton, 1937.
Index to Some Answered Questions. Shang-
hai, 1933.
Some Answered Questions (in preparation) .
HEBREW
Bahd'u'lldh and the New Era. Haifa, 1931.
TATAR
Bahd'u'lldh and ' Abdu'l-Bahd. Baku, 1915. Vahdat, by 'Abdu'1-Baha. Tashkand, 1918.
602
THE BAHA'f WORLD
GUJRATI
Fardmin-Bahi, by Mirza Abu'1-Fadl. Bom-
bay, 1921.
Bahd'u'lldh and the New Era. Bombay, 1932.
JAPANESE
What Is Bahd'tsm, by Dr. G. J. Augur. 1916.
A Letter to the Women of Japan, by Agnes
B. Alexander. 1916.
Religion of Love. 1917.
The Most Great Peace, translated by Dr.
Inouye. 1917.
Mashriqu'l-Adhkdr, translated by Dr. Inouye.
1918.
The Bahd't Revelation, translated by Dr.
Inouye. 1920.
The Call, translated by T. Torii. 1920.
What Is the Bahd'i Movement, translated by
T. Inouye. 1929.
New Civilization, by K. Torikai. 1917.
Bahd'u'lldh and the New Era. Tokyo, 1932.
Hidden Words. Tokyo, 1937.
ARMENIAN
Hidden Words (in manuscript) .
What Is the Bahd't Movement? 1933, Prag.
Pamphlet. 1920, Cajro.
Pamphlet. 1928, Istanbul.
Bahd'u'lldh and the New Era. 1933, Aleppo.
Some Answered Questions (in manuscript).
Kitdb-i-tqdn (in manuscript).
TAMIL
The Revelation of Bahd'u'lldh, by I. Brit-
tingham, translated by V. M. Swami.
Rangoon, 1906.
KURDISH
Bahd'u'lldh and the New Era. Baghdad, 1934.
SINDHI
Bahd'u'lldh and the New Era (in press).
BENGALI
Bahd'u'lldh and the New Era. 1937.
HINDI
Bahd'u'lldh and the New Era (in press).
ABYSSINIAN (AMHARIC)
Bahd'u'lldh and the New Era. Addis Ababa,
1935.
Pamphlet.
2 5 .
BAHA'I LITERATURE IN BRAILLE
(FOR THE BLIND)
Words of Wisdom.
A Letter to the Blind Women in Japan, by
Agnes B. Alexander. Tokyo, 1917.
Seek and it shall be given you, by Tokijiro
Torii. Tokyo, 1917.
What Is the Bahd'i Movement? by T. Inouye.
1929.
La Bahaa Revelacio. 1929.
Goal of a New World Order.
Bahd't Economics.
Divine Philosophy.
The Hidden Words, by Baha'u'llah.
Book of Prayers.
Seven Valleys, by Baha'u'llah.
The Kitdh'i-tqdn, by Baha'u'llah.
Ishrdqdt, by Baha'u'llah.
Suratu'l-Haykal, by Baha'u'llah.
Some Answered Questions, by 'Abdu'1-Baha
(in part).
Bahd'u'lldh and the New Era. California.
Golden Age of the Cause of Bahd'u'lldh.
BRAILLE-BAHA'I TRANSCRIPTIONS, 1935-1937
AMERICA Hidden Words and Words of Wisdom, by
Baha'u'llah.
Bahd 'u'lld h, a i$th Century Prophet and His La Bahaa Revelacio, No. 9 (Esperanto).
Message, by Dr. Esslemont. Bahd'i Teachings on Economics.
Bahd'i Peace Program. Hidden Words, by Baha'u'llah.
BAHA'f BIBLIOGRAPHY
603
Divine Philosophy of 'Abdu'l-Bahd. Bahd'i Teachings on Economics.
Revelation of Bahd'u'lldh, by Mrs. Britting- Babd'u'lldb Kaj la Nova Epoko, by Dr. Essie-
ham, mont (in Esperanto, not yet completed).
Golden Age of the Cause of Babd'u'lldb, by The fqdn — The Book of Certitude, by Baha'-
Shoghi Effendi. u'llah.
Bahd'u'lldh and His Message. The Reality of Man — A Compilation, by
Observations of a Bahd'i Traveller, by C. M. Horace Holley (not yet completed).
Remey.
Oneness of Mankind.
Compilation from the Utterances (not com-
pleted).
Hidden Words of Babd'u'lldb and Words of
Wisdom, by BahaVllah.
Wisdom of 'Abdu'l-Bahd, by 'Abdu'1-Baha. Bahd>u>ndh Kaj \a Nova Epok0y by Dr. Essie.
Bahd'i Prayers and Meditations of Bahd'u'l- mont ,in Esoeranto^
lab and 'Abdu'l-Bahd.
Hidden Words of Babd'u'lldb and Words of
Wisdom, by BahaVllah.
The Goal of a New World Order, by Shoghi Bahd'u'lldh and the New Era, by Dr. Essle-
Effendi. mont (in Japanese Braille) .
FRANCE
Essai sur le Bahd'isme, by Hippolyte Dreyfus.
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
> Kaj la Nova E
mont (in Esperanto).
JAPAN
26.
BAHA'I PERIODICALS
Assembly of the
The
Bulletin of the
of the
Assembly of
the
the
Bahd'i News. The bulletin of the National
Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the
United States and Canada.
Bahd'i News Letter. The Bulletin of the
National Spiritual
Baha'is of Egypt.
Bahd'i News Letter.
National Spiritual Assembly
Baha'is of India and Burma.
Bahd'i News Letter. The Bulletin of
National Spiritual
Baha'is of 'Iraq.
Bahd'i News Letter.
National Spiritual
Baha'is of Australia and New Zealand.
Bulletin, International Bahd'i. 19- A Ave-
nue de Champel, Geneva, Switzerland.
Herald of the South, The. The Baha'i
magazine for New Zealand and Australia.
Address: P.O. Box 447D, Adelaide, Aus-
tralia.
Kawkab-i-Hind: a monthly Indian Urdu
The Bulletin of the
Assembly ' of the
Magazine. Edited and published in Delhi,
India, by Jinab-i-"Mawlavi-Fadil" Siyyid
Mahfuzu'1-Haqq 'Ilmi under the auspices
of the National Spiritual Assembly of the
Baha'is of India and Burma. Address:
Karol Bagh, Delhi, India.
News Letter from Baha'is of the British Isles.
Sonne der Wahrheit, Organ des Deutschen
Baha'is. Stuttgart, Verlag des Deutschen
Baha'i-Bundes, monthly since March,
1921. 3. Alexanderstr., Stuttgart, Ger-
many.
Unity of the East and the West Committee.
c/o Dr. Y. Afrukhtih, Avenue Bargru
Tihran, Iran.
World Order. Official magazine of the
Baha'is of the United States and Canada.
Published monthly in New York. Edi-
tors, Marjory Morten, Stanwood Cobb and
Horace Holley. Editorial office, 119 Wa-
verly Place, New York, N. Y.
Bahd'i Youth (Quarterly) .
604
THE BAHA'f WORLD
27.
REFERENCES TO THE BAHA'I FAITH IN BOOKS
PUBLISHED UNDER NON-BAHA'I AUSPICES
AMERICAN
Adams, Rev. Isaac: Persia by a Persian, 1900.
Annual Report, by Near East College Asso-
ciation, 1930-1931.
Atherton, Gertrude: Julia Prance and Her
Times. Stokes & Co., New York, 1912.
Atkins, Gaius Glenn: Modern Religious Cults
and Movements. Fleming Revell, New
York, 1923.
Barrows, Rev. John Henry: The World's
Parliament of Religions. 2 Vols. The
Parliament Publishing Co., Chicago, 1893.
Baudouin, Charles: Contemporary Studies.
Fr. trans., E. and C. Paul. E. P. Button,
New York, 1925.
Bell, Archie: The Spell of the Holy Land.
The Page Co., Boston, 1915.
Benjamin, S. G. W.: Persia and the Persians.
Ticknor & Co., Boston, 1886.
Bentwich, Norman: The Religious Founda-
tions of Internationalism. George Allen
& Unwin, London, 1933.
Bibesco, Princess G. V. : The Eight Paradises.
English translation. E. P. Button, New
York, 1923.
Chapman, John Jay, and His Letters, by M.
A. Be Wolfe Howe. Houghton Mifflin,
Boston, 1937.
Columbia Encyclopedia. Columbia Univer-
sity Press, New York, 1935.
Cowles, Alton House: The Conquering
Horseman. Christopher Publishing Co.,
1923.
Be Lorey, Eustache and Sladen, Bouglas:
Queer Things About Persia. Lippincott,
Philadelphia, 1907.
Bodd, Edward M. and Rose Wilson Bodd:
Mecca and Beyond. Committee on United
Study of Foreign Missions.
Bonaldson, Bwight M., B.B., Ph.B.: The
Shi' it e Religion. Luzac Co., London,
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Edwards, Arthur Cecil: A Persian Caravan.
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Bell Telephone News, February, 1937.
Bibliotheca Sacra, January, 1915.
Book Buyer, June, 1901.
Chambers9 Journal.
Crisis, The, May, 1912.
Crisis, The, June, 1912.
Chicagoan, September, 1931.
Construction Methods, August, 1931.
Construction Methods, July, 1933.
Contemporary Review, August, 1869.
Contemporary Review, October, 1869.
Contemporary Review, March, 1912.
Contemporary Review Advertiser, Decem-
ber, 1885.
Current History, December, 1925.
C^irrent Literature, July, 1901,
Current Literature, September, 1911.
Current Literature, June, 1912.
Eclectic Magazine, February, 1886.
Eclectic Magazine, September, 1896.
Engineering News-Record, January 8, 1931.
Esoteric Christianity, February, 1915.
Everybody's, December, 1911.
Everywoman, December, 1915.
Everywoman, December, 1916.
Fortnightly Review, June, 1911.
Fortnightly Review, April, 1912.
Fortnightly Review, June, 1913.
Forum, July, 1925.
Friends' Intelligencer, September, 1925.
Harper's Weekly, July, 1912.
Harper's Magazine, October, 1937.
Hearst's Magazine, July, 1912.
Highway Traveler, The, October-November,
1937.
Independent, April, 1912.
Independent, July, 1912.
Independent, September, 1912.
Independent, December, 1921.
Journal of the American Concrete Institute,
March-April, 1934, and July, 1933. De-
troit, Mich.
Journal of Air Law, January, 1934. Chicago.
Littel's Living Age, August, 1869.
Literary Digest, May, 1912.
Literary Digest, August, 1920.
Literary Digest, December, 1921.
Magazine Digest, June, 1934.
Mentor, The, November, 1920.
Missionary Review, October, 1902.
Missionary Review, February, 1904.
Missionary Review, March, 1904.
Missionary Review, May, 1906.
Missionary Review, October, 1911.
Missionary Review, October, 1914.
Missionary Review, August, 1919.
Missionary Reviews, October, 192 1.
Moslem World, October, 1931.
Nation (N. Y.), June 21, 1866.
National, December, 1908.
National,Uzy, 1922.
Nineteenth Century, February, 1915.
New York Times, February, 1913.
New York Times Book Review, August 1,
1920.
North American, April, 1901.
North American, June, 1912.
Open Court, June, 1904.
Open Court, August, 1915.
Open Court, October, 1915.
Open Court, November, 1915.
Open Court, August, 1916.
Open Court, October, 1916.
Open Court, November, 1916.
Open Court, March, 1931.
Outlook, June, 1901.
Outlook, June, 1912.
Outlook, December, 1920.
Outlook, December, 1921.
Psychology Magazine, May, 1930.
Review of Reviews, February, 1901.
Review of Reviews, January, 1909.
Review of Reviews, June, 1912.
Review of Reviews, February, 1922.
Scientific American, August, 1920.
Sentinel, The, November 18, 1937.
Signs of the Times, April, 1938.
612
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Spokesman, The (Negro), September, 1925.
Story Magazine, November, 1937.
Survey, April, 1912.
Time, July 20, 1931.
Unity, February, 1918.
Unity, December, 1921.
Unify .April, 1929.
U. S. Steel News, March, 1937.
Wilme tte Life, July, 1936.
WilmetteLife, May, 1937.
Wilmette Life, September 14, 1933, Wii-
mette, 111.
Winnetka Talks, October, 1937.
World Observer, The, September, 1937.
World's Work, July, 1912.
World's Work, July, 1922.
World Unity, December, 1930.
World Unity, February, 1933.
ENGLISH MAGAZINES
Academy, The, March, 1895.
All the Year Around, July, 1869.
Arena, The, November, 1904.
Asiatic Quarterly Review, April, 1913.
Christian Commonwealth, January 1 , 1913.
Christian Commonwealth, January 22, 1913.
Christian Commonwealth, January 29, 1913.
Christian Commonwealth, February 12,
1913.
Clifton Chronicle and Directory, January,
1913.
Edinburgh Evening News, January, 1913.
Illustrated Weekly of India, March 24, 1931.
Indian Review (Madras), August, 1914.
The Inquirer, May 16, 1931, London.
Inquirer and Christian Life, May 10, 1930.
International Psychic Gazette, Nos. 6 and 7.
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol.
XXI, 1889-1892.
London Budget, January, 1913.
Saturday Review, January, 1894.
Scots Pictorial, January, 1913.
Scottish Review, April, 1892.
Speaking of Women, July, 1936.
Spectator, The, April, 1892.
Sunday Herald, Woking, London, January
24, 1913.
Town and Country News, November 24,
1933, London.
Vedic Magazine (Lahore), Vol. 8, No. 9.
FRENCH MAGAZINES
UAnnee Philosophique, Vol. Ill, 1869.
Revue de I'Histoire des Religions, Vol.
XVIII.
Revue Critique d'Histoire et de Litterature,
April 18, 1887.
Ulllustration, September 30, 1933.
]o^^rnal Asiatique, Vol. II.
Journal Asiatique, Vols.VII, VIII, 1866.
Journal Asiatique, Vol. X.
Revue Moderne, 1865-1866.
Ret la, March, 1937.
Bulletin Melanges Asiatique, Vol. IV.
Bulletin de I'Academie Imperiale de S/.
Petersburg, Vols. VIII, IX.
Revue du Monde Musulman, IX, 339-341.
Le Reveil Normand, January, 1936, Le
Havre.
Le Libre ^change, January, 1936, Paris.
Uen dehors, December, 1936, Orleans.
SWISS MAGAZINES
Sufi Quarterly, March, 1928 (published in
English) .
NETHERLAND MAGAZINES
Wereld Kronick, April 7, 1934, Rotterdam.
RUSSIAN
Zapiski, by Baron Rosen, 1889.
GERMAN
Deutsche Rundschau, Vol. XVIII, 1879.
Journal of tlye German Oriental Society,
Vol. V, 1851.
Oriental Literatiirzeitung, 1909.
Zeit thrift fiir Assyriologie, Vol. XXII, 337.
BELGIAN
Lumiere et Liber te, November, 1935, Brus-
sels.
Le Rouge et le Noir, November 27, 1935,
Brussels.
PORTUGUESE
Correio do Brasit, November 11, 1935, Rio
de Janeiro, Brazil, S. A.
RUMANIAN
Santier, 1934, Bucharest.
Cuvantul Liber, October 26, 1935, Bucha-
rest.
SPANISH
La Prensa, December 15, 193 5, Buenos Aires,
Argentina, S. A.
BAHA'f BIBLIOGRAPHY
613
1 'tempos Nnevos, January, 1936, Barcelona, Nordisk Tidsskrift, Fifth issue, 1911.
Spain.
Pan, January 15, 1936, Buenos Aires,
Argentina, S. A. Naturlagen, April, 1936.
NORWAY
DANISH
Dansk Fidsskrift, August, 1903.
MEXICAN
Pan-American Review, 1937.
29.
REFERENCES TO THE BAH A 'I FAITH BY
BAHA'IS IN NON-BAHA'I PUBLICATIONS
Time and Tide, April 14, 1934, London.
Kaisar-i-Hind, December 31, 1933. Bombay.
Religious Education, September, 1932. Chi-
cago.
The New Humanist, January-February,
1933. Chicago.
Fomm, May, 1916. New York.
Forum, August, 1917. New York.
Literary Digest, November 20, 1931. New
York.
New Orient, January, 1926. New York.
Open Court, July, 1931. Chicago.
The Religions Highway, April, 1933. Tokyo.
Oregon Mineralogist, January, 1934. Port-
land, Oregon.
Unity, February 19, 1934. Chicago.
Sanj Vartaman, September, 1933. Bombay.
The Quarterly Journal of Speech, March-
April, 1934. Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The China Critic, May 25, 1933. Shanghai.
World Unity, April, 1932. New York.
World Unity, November, 1933 (and succes-
sive issues). New York.
The Gift and Art Shop, August, 1932.
New York.
Women, March, April, 1936. Chicago.
614
THE BAHA'f WORLD
TRANSLITERATION OF
ORIENTAL WORDS
FREQUENTLY USED IN BAHA'f
LITERATURE
'Aba
Abadih
'Abbas
'Abdu'1-Baha
'Abdu'l-Hamid
'Abdu'l-Husayn
'Abdu'llah
Abha
Abu'1-Fadl
'Adasiyyih
Adhan
Adhjrbayjan
Afnan
Aghsan
'Ahd
Ahmad
Ahsa'i
Ahvaz
Akbar
'Akka
'Ala'
'Ali
'Ali-Muhammad
Allah-u-Abha
Alvah
Alvah-i-Salatin
Amin
Amir
Amir-Nizam
Amru'llah
Amul
Anzali
Aqa
Aqdas
*Arabistan
Asma*
'Avasjhiq
Ayadi
Azal
'Azamat
'Aziz
Bab
Babi
Babu'1-Bab
Baghdad
Bahl
Baha'i
BahaVllah
Bahiyyih
Bahji
Baluchistan
Bandar-'Abbas
Baqir
Baqiyyatu'llah
Barfurush
Basrih
Baalim
Bayan
Bayt
Big
Birjand
Bisharat
Bismi'llah
Bukhara
Burujird
Bushihr
Bushru'i
Bushruyih
Chihriq
Dala'il-i-Sab'ih
Darughih
Dawlat-Abad
Dhabib
Duzdab
Fara'id
Faran
Farman
Farrash-Bashi
Fars
Farsakh
Fath-'Ali
Firdaws
Firdawsi
Ganjih
Gilan
Gul
Gulastan
Gurgin
Habib
Hadrat
Haji Mirza Aqa si
Hajj
Hamadan
Hasan
Haydar-'Ali
Haykal
Haziratu'1-Quds
yijaz
Himmat-Abad
Hujjat
Husayn
Huvaydar
Ibrahim
ii
'Ilm
Imam
Imam-Jum'ih
Imam-Zadih
fqan
Iran
'Iraq
'Iraqi
*Iraq-i-'Ajam
Isfahan
'Ishqabad
Ishraqat
Ishtihard
Islam
Islamic
Isma'iliyyih
Istarabad
'Izzat
Jalal
Jamadiyu'l-Avval
Jamal
Jamal-i-Mubarak
Jamal-i-Qidam
Jasb
Jubbih
Kaaba
Ka'bih
Kad-Khuda
Kalantar
Kalim
Kalimat
Kamal
Karand
Karbila
Kashan
Kashkul
Kawmu's-Sa'ayidih
Kawthar
Kazim
Kazimayn
Khalklial
TRANSLITERATION OF ORIENTAL WORDS
615
Khan
Mufti
Qudrat
Sufi
Khaniqayn
Muhammad
Qum
Sulayman
Khayli khub
Muliammad-'Ali
Qur'an
Sultan
Khurasan
Muhammarih
Qurban
Sultan-Abad
Khuy
Muharram
Qurratu'l-'Ayn
Sultanate
Kirman
Mujtahid
Sultanu'sh-Shuhada*
Kirmanshah
Mulk
Rafsinjan
Sunni
Kitab-i-'Ahd
Mulla
Rahim
Sunnites
Kitab-i-Aqdas
Munirih
Rahman
Suratu'l-Haykal
Kitab-i-Asma'
Mustafa
Rahmat
Surih
Kitab-i-Badi'
Mustaghath
Ra'is
Suriy-i-Damm
Kitab-i-tqan
Muzaffari'd-Din
Ramadan
Suriy-i-Ghusn
Kulah
Rasht
Suriy-i-Ra'is
Kurdistan
Nabii
Rawhani
Suriy-i-Sabr
Nabil-i-A'zam
Ridvan
Lahijan
Najaf
Ruhu'Hah
Tabriz
T" 1 ' "1
Lar
Najaf-Abad
lahirih
Lawh
Naqidin
Sabzivar
Tajalliyat
Luristan
Nasir
Sadratu'l-Muntaha
Takur
NasiriM-Din
Sahibu'z-Zaman
Taqi
Madrisih
Navvab
Sahifatu'l-Haramayn
Tarazat
Mahbubu'sh-Shuhada'
Naw-Ruz
Said
Tarbiyat
Mahd-i-'Ulya
Nayriz
Salsibil
Tashkand
Mah-Ku
Nishabur
Samarqand
Tawhid
Mahmud
Nuqtih
Sangsar
Thurayya
Malayir
Nur'
Sari
Tihran
Man-Yuzhiruhu'llah
Sha*ban
Tuman
Maqam
Pahlavi
Shah
Turkistan
Maraghih
Pr r
aran
Shahid
*TT1ima
Marbaba
Marv
Qadi ^
Shahmirzad
Shahrud
U ia.lTla.
Urumiyyih
*Uthman
Masa'il
Qadiyan
Sharaf
Mash had
Qahqahih
Shari'ah
Vahid
Mashiyyat
Qa'im
Shaykh
Vali
Mashriqu'l-Adhkar
Qajar
Shaykh-Tabarsi
Vali-'Ahd
Masjid
Qalyan
Shaykhu'l-Islam
Varqa
Maydan
Qamsar
Shi'ih
Vazir
Mazindaran
Qasr-i-Shirin
Shiites
Mihdi
Qawl
Shiraz
Ya-Baha'u'1-Abha
Mibrab
Qayyum
Shushtar
Yahya
Milan
Qayyumu'1-Asma*
Simnan
Yazd
Mi'raj
Qazvin
Sisan
Mirza
Qiblih
Sistan
Zanjan
Mishkin-Qalam
Quchan
Siyah-Chal
Zarand
Mu'adhdhin
Quddus
Siyyid
Zaynu'l-Muqarrabin
616 THE BAHA'f WORLD
GUIDE TO TRANSLITERATION AND
PRONUNCIATION OF THE
IRANIAN ALPHABET
1
th
Jl
J>
JS
t
*^X
o
&
J
J
k
g
i
m
a as in
account
i as (e) in
best
u as (o) in
short
aw . as in
mown
a . as in
i as (ce) in
u as (oo) in
arm
meet
moon
The "i" added to the name of a town signifies "belonging to." Thus, Shirazi
means native of Shiraz.
NOTES ON PRONUNCIATION OF fRANIAN 617
NOTES ON THE PRONUNCIATION
OF IRANIAN
The emphasis in Iranian words is more or
less evenly distributed, each syllable being
equally stressed as in French. For example,
do not say Tabriz or Ta^rsi; stay as long
on one syllable as on the next: Tabriz; Ta-
bar-si. (While there are many exceptions to
this rule, it is the most generally correct
method of treating the question of stress.)
A frequent mistake is the failure to dis-
tinguish between broad and flat 'Vs." This
differentiation makes the language especially
musical and should be observed: in the word
Af nan, for example, pronounce the first "a"
as in mat, and the second syllable to rhyme
with on. Americans are apt to pronounce
short "a" plus "r" like the verb form are;
this is a mistake; "ar" should be pronounced
as in the name of Harry — cf . Tarbiyat.
The same differentiation should be ob-
served in the case of long and short "i" and
long and short "u". As the guide to the
transliteration indicates, short "i" is like "e"
in best, and long "i" like "ce" in meet;
for example, Ibrahim is pronounced Eb-ra-
heem; Islam is Ess-lahm. Short "u" being
like "o" in short, and long "u" being like
"oo" in moon, the following would be pro-
nounced: Quddus — Qod-dooss; Barfurush —
Bar-fo-roosh.
Pronounce "aw" to rhyme with oh, or
mown; Naw-Ruz is No-Rooz.
The following consonants may be pro-
nounced like z: dh, z, z, d.
The following consonants may be pro-
nounced like ss: th, s, s.
Zh is pronounced like the "s" in pleasure.
Kh is pronounced like "ch" in Scotch loch
or German nacht. Do not pronounce it as
"k." Westerners are as a rule incapable of
pronouncing gh and "q"; a guttural French
"r" will serve here; otherwise use hard "g"
as in good.
H and h, approximately like the English
aspirate "h," should never be dropped.
Tihran is Teh-ron; madrisih is mad-res-seh;
Mihrab is Meh-rob.
In the case of double letters pronounce
each separately: 'Ab-bas.
The character transliterated (') represents
a pause; it is not unlike the initial sound
made in pronouncing such a word as every.
The word Baha'i is phonetically as follows:
"a" as in account; "a" as in father; ('),
pause; "i" as ee in meet.
The character transliterated (') may also
be treated as a pause.
N.B. As f ranian often indicates no vowel
sounds and as its pronunciation differs in dif-
ferent localities throughout Iran and the
Near East as well as among individuals
in any given locality, a uniform sys-
tem of transliteration such as the above,
which is in use by Baha'i communities
all over the world, is indispensable to the
student.
DEFINITIONS OF
ORIENTAL TERMS USED IN
BAHA'I LITERATURE
t Aba: Cloak or mantle.
'Abdu'1-Baha: Servant of Baha.
Adhan: Muslim call to prayer.
Adib: literally "the learned."
Aghsan: literally "branches." Denotes sons
and descendants of BahaVllah.
Afnan: literally "twigs." Denotes the rela-
tions of the Bab.
A.H.: "After Hijirah." Date of Mu-
hammad's migration from Mecca to
Medina, and basis of Muhammadan chron-
ology.
Akbar: "Greater."
*Ama: literally "light cloud," symbolizes the
"First Invisible Substance."
Amin: literally "the trusted."
Amir: ",Lord," "prince," "commander,"
"governor."
Aqa: "Master." Title given by BahaVllah
to 'Abdu'1-Baha.
A'zam: "The greatest."
Bab: "Gate." Title assumed by Mirza 'Ali-
Muhammad, after the declaration of His
Mission in Shiraz in May, 1844 A.D.
Babi: Follower of the Bab.
Badi': literally "the wonderful."
Baha: "Glory," "splendor," "light." Title
by which BahaVllah (Mirza Husayn-
'Ali) is designated.
Baha'i: Follower of BahaVllah.
Bahji: literally "delight." Denotes that part
of the Plain of 'Akka where the Shrine
and the Mansion of BahaVllah are situ-
ated.
Bani-Hashim: The family from which Mu-
hammad descended.
Baqiyyatu'llah: "Remnant of God"; title
applied both to the Bab and to Bahd5-
u'ilah.
Bayan: "Utterance," "explanation." Title
given by the Bab to His Revelation, par-
ticularly to His Books.
Big: Honorary title, lower title than Khan.
Bisharat: literally "Glad-tidings." Title of
one of the Tablets of BahaVllah.
Caravansarai: An inn for caravans.
Darughih: "High constable."
Dawlih: "State," "government."
^'Endowed with constancy": a title given to
Prophets who revealed a book and insti-
tuted religious laws.
Farman: "Order," "command," "royal de-
cree."
Farrash: "Footman," "lictor," "attendant."
Farrash-Bashi : The head-farrash.
Farsakh: Unit of measurement. Its length
differs in different parts of the country
according to the nature of the ground, the
local interpretation of the term being the
distance which a laden mule will walk in
the hour, which varies from three to four
miles. Arabicised from the Iranian "par-
sang," and is supposed to be derived from
pieces of stone (sang) placed on the road-
side.
"Fourth Heaven": One of the stages of the
invisible Realm.
"Guarded Tablet": Denotes the Knowledge
of God and of His Manifestation.
Haji: A Muhammadan who has performed
the pilgrimage to Mecca.
Haziratu'1-Quds: Baha'i Headquarters.
Hijirah: literally "migration." The basis of
Muhammadan chronology. The date of
Muhammad's migration from Mecca to
Medina.
Howdah: A litter carried by a camel,
mule, horse or elephant for traveling pur-
poses.
618
DEFINITIONS OF ORIENTAL TERMS
619
11: "Clan."
Imam: Title of the twelve Shi*ih successors
of Muhammad. Also applied to Muslim
religious leaders.
Imam-Jum'ih: The leading imam in a town
or city; chief of the mullas.
Imam-Zadih: Descendants of an imam or his
shrine.
Iqan: literally "Certitude." The title of
BahaVllah's epistle to the uncle of the
Bab.
Ishraqat: literally "effulgences." Title of
one of the Tablets of Baha'u'llah.
Israfil: The Angel whose function is to
sound the trumpet on the Day of Judg-
ment.
Jahiliyyih: The dark age of ignorance
among the Arabs before the appearance of
Muhammad.
Jamal-i-Mubarak: literally "the Blessed
Beauty,'* applied by certain Baha'is to
Baha'u'llah.
Jamal-i-Qidam: literally "the ancient
Beauty." Applied by certain Baha'is to
Baha'u'llah.
Jubbih: An outer coat.
Ka'bih: Ancient shrine at Mecca. Now
recognized at 'the most holy shrine of
Islam.
Kabir: literally "great."
Kad-Khuda: Chief of a ward or parish in a
town; head-man of a village.
Kalantar: "Mayor."
Kalim: "One who discourses."
Kalimat: literally "words." Title of one of
the Tablets of Baha'u'llah.
Karbila'i: A Muhammadan who has per-
formed the pilgrimage to Karbila.
Kawthar: A river in Paradise, whence all the
other rivers derive their source.
Khan: "Prince," "lord," "nobleman," "chief-
tain."
Kitab-i-Aqdas: literally "The Most Holy
Book." Title of BahaVllah's Book of
Laws.
Kulah: The Iranian lambskin hat worn by
government employees and civilians.
Madrisih: Religious college.
Man-Yuzhiruhu'llah: "He Whom God will
make manifest." The title given by the
Bab to the promised One.
Mashhadi: A Muhammadan who has per-
formed the pilgrimage to Mashhad.
Mashriqu'l-Adhkar: literally "the dawning
place of the praise of God." Title desig-
nating Baha'i House of Worship.
Masjid: Mosque, temple, place of worship.
Maydan: A subdivision of a farsakh. A
square or open place.
Mihdi: Title of the Manifestation expected
by Islam.
Mihrab: The principal place in a mosque
where the imam prays with his face turned
towards Mecca.
Mi'raj: "Ascent," used with reference to
Muhammad's ascension to heaven.
Mirza: A contraction of Amir-Zadih, mean-
ing son of Amir. When affixed to a name
it signifies prince; when prefixed simply
Mr.
Mishkin-Qalam: literally "the musk-scented
pen."
Mu'adhdhin: The one who sounds the
Adhan, the Muhammadan call to prayer.
Mujtahid: Muhammadan doctor-of-law.
Most of the mujtahids of fran have re-
ceived their diplomas from the most emi-
nent jurists of Karbila and Najaf.
Mulla: Muhammadan priest.
Mustaghath: "He Who is invoked." The
numerical value of which has been assigned
by the Bab as the limit of the time fixed
for the advent of the promised Manifesta-
tion.
Nabil: "Learned," "noble."
Naw-Ruz: "New Day." Name applied to
the Baha'i New Year's Day; according to
the Iranian Calendar the day on which the
sun enters Aries.
Nuqtih: "Point."
Pahlavan: "Athlete," "champion"; term ap-
plied to brave and muscular men.
Qadi: Judge; civil, criminal, and ecclesias-
tical.
Qa'im: "He Who shall arise." Title desig-
nating the promised One of Islam.
Qalyan: A pipe for smoking through water.
Qiblih: The direction to which people turn
in prayer; especially Mecca, the Qiblih of
all Muhammadans.
Qurban: "Sacrifice."
620
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Ri^van: The name of the custodian of Para- Siyyid: Descendant of the Prophet Muham-
dise. BahaVllah uses it to denote Paradise mad.
itself. Surih: Name of the chapters of the Qur'an.
Sadratu'l-Muntaha: the name of a tree
planted by the Arabs in ancient times at
the end of a road, to serve as a guide. As
a symbol it denotes the Manifestation of
God in His Day.
Sahibu'z-Zaman: "Lord of the Age*'; one of
the titles of the promised Qa'im.
Salsabil: A fountain in Paradise.
Samandar: literally "the phoenix."
Sarkar-i-Aqa: literally the "Honorable Mas-
ter," applied by certain Baha'is to 'Abd-
u'l-Baha.
"Seal of the Prophets": One of the titles of
Muhammad.
"Seventh Sphere": The highest stage of the
invisible Realm. Denotes also the Mani-
festation of BahaVllah.
Shahid: "Martyr." Plural of martyr is Shu-
hada.
Shaykhu'l-Islam: Head of religious court,
appointed to every large city by the Shah.
Sirat: literally "bridge" or "path," denotes
the religion of God.
Tajalliyat: literally "splendors." Title of
one of the Tablets of BahaVllah.
Tarazat: literally "ornaments." Title of one
of the Tablets of BahaVllah.
Tuman: A sum of money equivalent to a
dollar.
'Urvatu'l-Vuthqa: literally "the strongest
handle," symbolic of the Faith of God.
Vali-'Ahd: "Heir to the throne."
Varaqiy-i-4Ulya: literally "the most exalted
Leaf," applied to Bahiyyih Khanum, sister
of 'Abdu'1-Baha,
Varqa: literally "the dove."
Vilayat: guardianship.
"White Path": Symbolizes the Religion of
God.
Zadih: "Son."
Zaynu'l-Muqarrabin: literally "the Orna-
ment of the favored."
PART FOUR
THE SEVEN VALLEYS
BY BAHA'U'LLAH
BY G. TOWNSHEND
A Meditation
o
MY Lord, how many and how diverse
are those holy melodies which Thou hast
chanted to the wayward heart of man, sum-
moning him to Thy dear presence, singing
of the joys of eternal reunion, drawing him
to the shrine of perfect Beauty.
Sometimes in tones more sweet, more
thrilling than any mortal utterance Thou
speakest as a father or a lover, wooing the
heart of man which Thou hast created for
Thyself to leave its forlorn plight of isola-
tion.
Now Thou comest to man, openest to him
the Hidden Way, tracest out its progress,
stage by stage and step by step, and makest
Thyself his companion, animating him, urg-
ing him onward, cheering his heart with
words of love and courage.
This is for every man the one and only
way that leads onward and ever onward to
the fulfillment of destiny and of every desire.
All other soul-paths soon or late close in and
end, and leave the traveler in utter loss, un-
able to proceed or to return.
There is no goal anywhere but Thee, O
my Lord; and no rest save in journeying to
Thee!
In comparison with this spiritual journey
to Thee, that path of life on which ail men
set forth at birth is but a mockery and a
cheat. Disappointment and decay and loss
reign over it. They who have trusted to it
fill the air with mourning and woe. '-Vanity
of vanities," they cry, "all is vanity": "a
short blossoming, a long withering"; and at
the last they are left to "mere oblivion, sans
teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything."
Every step means the shortening of a meas-
ured life. For every man the journey ends
not in meeting but in parting. And the
deepening shadow of an assured and com-
plete futility falls along the entire length of
the path to its beginning.
Thou, my Lord, openest another way, a
way hidden from unspiritual eyes, a way
which travels far from the land of shadows
and of age and leads through ever-growing
light to realms of eternal peace and wisdom
and undying love.
On this journey to Thee every movement
is an everlasting gain, every effort is an im-
mortal victory and that dear Paradise which
is to be the traveler's goal is never wholly
hidden but pours its fragrance far down all
Thy Seven Valleys to sweeten the toils of the
seeker's way.
Thou warnest us it is no easy enterprise.
We all travel towards Thee through the same
country towards the same Heaven and have
the same Guide. But each of us must trace
out his particular path little by little with
his own eyes and tread it to the end mile
after mile, inch by inch, upon his own feet.
He cannot accomplish the journey nor travel
forth upon it without pain; nor can he so
much as find the beginning of the path with-
out patience.
Thou art veiled from Thy servant, O my
companion, and the entrance to the true path
is hidden likewise. Though he knows it not,
Thy servant's own self-love has woven this
veil; and much is to be done, much to be suf-
fered, ere he can see the door Thou hast
opened before him.
Urged by an inborn need, Thy servant
seeks blindly self-satisfaction in this activity
and that. He follows in the train of the
world, grasping at what he sees others grasp
at. He becomes lost among wayward in-
clinations, among diverse examples and a
623
624
THE BAHA'f WORLD
multitude of counselors. There is no real-
ization of desire in this; only disappointment
and disillusion. The vision — the truth — of
Something out of the plane of this activity
abides with him — holds him. Its Influence
grows more distinct. This is of Thy Mercy,
O Lord, which reaches through every veil!
Thy servant knows of a surety there exists a
Hidden Reality, and that with which he
busies himself is a shadow-life. The stars,
the seas, the lonely mountains, the quiet of
the countryside, with one voice of ecstasy
tell him of that Beauty which eludes him in
human life. For lack of knowledge of Thee,
my Lord, in ignorant love he makes the wil-
derness his home. But lo! he is rebuked by
the sense of a greater beauty — the beauty of
holiness. In the Sacred Writ of ancient days
he reads of Beings who walked this earth of
ours, full of love for all mankind, and spread
about them a glory that outlasts the cen-
turies and even at this distance of time makes
all the splendor of dawn and day and night
seem temporal and poor. These are the
Prophets of Beauty, the Guardians of Perfect
Truth, the Messengers to man of deathless
Reality.
What, O Mighty Ones, is this earth where-
on you walked, this mortality you shared?
What is the wisdom of sorrow and wrong
and mutability? Where is our deliverance —
and why is there a Prison-house from which
to be delivered? What is this "Knowledge
of God" of which you speak as the great
attainment of spiritual man, as the opening
of mysteries, the end of illusion and igno-
rance?
Thy servant seeks for one who has this
knowledge and would, if heaven permit, im-
part it to him.
Years pass; and he finds none.
Thy servant seeks for one who desires this
knowledge and who will not rest till he find
it. How precious would be a mortal com-
panion in this search!
He tries many openings. Disappointment
follows disappointment. He is baffled; and
again baffled. He seems to be more com-
pletely at a loss, more near to desolation than
ever; when lo! in a moment, almost una-
wares he finds Thee.
A moment of all moments!
At first it was but an echo that came from
far away. There is no voice like the voice of
the True One; nor is there any intonation of
any voice like that of His!
In rapture, transported with delight, Thy
servant answered that remote call.
"Child of the darkness that wandered in
gloom but dreamed of the light
Lo, I have seen thy splendor ablaze in the
heavens afar
Showering gladness and glory and shattering
the shadows of night.
And seen no other star.
"Thy words are to me as fragrances borne
from the gardens of heaven,
Beams of a lamp that is hid in the height
of a holier world,
Arrows of fire that pierce and destroy with
the might of the levin
Into our midnight hurled.
"Weak and unworthy my praise. Yet as
from its throbbing throat
Some lone bird pours its song to the flaming
infinite sky „
So unto Thee in the zenith I lift from a
depth remote
This broken human cry."
Happiness wrapped Thy servant about,
and his mind passed through opening doors
of truth from wonder to wonder.
It is as though the few stray filaments of
light which had pierced the gloom and saved
it from utter darkness now strengthened one
by one and slowly spread seeking perchance
to join the edges of their rays and to combine
at last to make one ocean of all-encompassing
light.
By slow degrees there were revealed the
outline and the perspective of the land
wherein Thy servant dwelled and wandered.
He watched and thought and measured and
marveled. Change after change came upon
him. -The old loveliness and sanctitude that
had seemed the utmost and the highest lost
its supremacy; lost its sufficiency. A great
Beauty dawned. A sovereign Glory outshone
lesser Thrones. Thy servant's restless heart
no longer wandered in uncertainty; it turned
from reflected lights to the one source of
light.
THE SEVEN VALLEYS
625
How little had he within that hall of
blackness known of the realities that lay
about him all his life! How unimaginably
rich and vast this earth and heaven which
the Dawn brings out of the Unseen! And
this Thy servant, what is he in the midst of
it, O Lord!
How little (as he bathed his thoughts in
that increasing glory) how little did he grasp
the meanings that were unfolded before him!
How blind was he to opportunities Thou
offeredst him! How deaf to Thy answer to
his prayers!
Is he wiser now? What ancient darkness
reigns yet in Thy servant's heart steeping his
thoughts in error? What illusions still dim
and distort his vision? What false affections
numb his soul?
Far off tJie scene grows clear, but not the
path at hand. He presses forward and misses
the way and stumbles; and recovering presses
on. Well has it been said, O Lord, that the
path to Thee is narrow as a hair and sharp as
a sword . . . Has light, too, its rhythms
and its waves?
Now again it seems to brighten. Ah, it is
one thing to greet a dawn that rises on the
distant horizon; it is another to welcome it
when it stands in fire on your own threshold.
It is one thing to dream and to admire; it is
one thing to applaud those who challenged
terror and with unblenched cheek walked
through the horrors of the Pit; it is an-
other to recognize that Truth's sanctu-
ary is guarded eternally by walls of flame
through which no doubt or fear can ever
pass alive.
Thy servant must go on. He cannot do
otherwise. Sooner or later everyone who
worships Truth and Thee must face the sear-
ing fire. But from him whose heart loves
only Thee, the flames will bend back.
And when the Seven Valleys are traversed
to the end; and the Goal is won and Thy
Paradise attained, what will remain for any
servant of Thine, but to begin his journey
again and travel on and on for ever through
infinitudes of wisdom and love, passing from
light to fuller light, from Truth to further
Truth, from Beauty to a more perfect
Beauty?
THE WORLD OF HEART
AND SPIRIT
BY HORACE HOLLEY
JLHE dire hardship, mental and moral
strain, and the perils of war and revolution
involved in the world's economic problems
have come to constitute the severest chal-
lenge which religion has ever faced in the en-
tire course of history. There is no retreating
from the fact that this problem represents
the acute aspect of the whole general social
condition of the age, the major symptom of
the disease of civilization affecting not
merely the security of the individual but also
the structure of every social institution. Our
status as human beings, our most profound
interests and responsibilities as conscious in-
dividuals, and our capacity as citizens, alike
depend upon a final solution of the economic
problem. During the brief span of a few
generations it has steadily enlarged in scope
from the controlled relations of individuals
within the organized nation to the uncon-
trolled relations of nations themselves. An
apparently small break in the dike has be-
come an overwhelming flood.
But while the traditional religious view has
endeavored to envisage the economic prob-
lem within limits corresponding to condi-
tions existing in the past, or sought to reduce
it to the field of personal ethics, or to assume
experimental relations with some existing
secular social philosophy, the Faith of Baha'-
u'llah anticipated the whole problem of
modern civilization and for four generations
has upheld the true world outlook upon the
trend that is now everywhere recognized to
be as wide as the world and as deep as the
motives and purposes of human life on earth.
The vital importance of a sound and ade-
quate approach to the economic problem
arises from the very fact that the popular
understanding of the term "economics"
magnifies it far beyond its original and in-
trinsic scope, and involves the economic
problem with every other aspect of social in-
stability and unrest. This means that the
power, effectiveness and continued existence
of both religious and civil institutions de-
pend upon their ability to bring relief and
establish progressive order in the collective
life of mankind. From the Baha'i point of
view, what is loosely called the "economic
problem" is simply a descriptive phrase em-
ployed to cover the fundamental issues of re-
ligion and civilization. The disease has be-
come identified with its most painful and
widespread symptom.
WHAT IS ECONOMICS?
The simplest conceivable economic system
would be the life of a family in the wilder-
ness, sustained by hunting, fishing, agricul-
ture and handcraft. Practically every op-
eration and function of the most intricate
and evolved social system would exist in the
activities of that family in rudimentary
form, with, however, one vital distinction:
that the family bond supplies the strongest
possible motive for mutual cooperation, and
makes possible the exchange of goods and
services with the least possible interference.
If for that symbolic family we substitute the
same number of hostile, suspicious or indif-
ferent individuals, the problem of sustenance
would be transformed from the fulfillment
of mutual love to the application of the prin-
ciple of personal advantage. Unless supreme
necessity controlled that selfish instinct, such
a group of individuals would soon be over-
whelmed. But the family bond, minimizing
selfishness, making one individual willing to
sacrifice himself for the others, uplifting the
daily task from drudgery or danger to the
realm of voluntary self-expression and group
harmony, can and has survived difficulties
and dangers throughout history which would
soon destroy the group were its mutuality to
be lost. At the outset, therefore, one must
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628
THE BAHA'f WORLD
recognize that, irrespective of the technical
distinctions between different economic sys-
tems, the problem of physical existence and
social fulfillment involves two diametrically
opposed motives and spiritual qualities — the
motive of unity and the motive of selfish
advantage.
History is but the record of the spread of
that symbolic family around the earth, the
fatal loss of its sense of kinship, and the sub-
stitution of social systems of varying degree
of unity or selfishness for the instinctive mu-
tuality characterizing the original family
unit. The pressure of necessity has at times
produced, as within the nation at war, a
quality of cooperation resembling the family
bond, even though but temporarily and even
though this cooperation within the nation
has been spiritually offset by the concentra-
tion of struggle against the foreign foe. Such
effect of historical necessity like war testifies
over and other again, despite the opposed
facts, to the great truth that human beings
are capable of social fusion and that when-
ever fusion takes place, reserves of energy,
efficiency, and inner joy are released from
long-hidden and long-forgotten spiritual re-
sources within the human soul. The "glory
of war" persisting in warriors down the ages
reflects this inner release of unsuspected
power and sense of fulfillment during su-
preme emergency, though tragically its
source is ascribed to the fact of struggle
rather than to the condition of social fusion
the struggle produced.
In normal times, the substitute for neces-
sity, or social pressure, is the function of
government. As peoples grow civilized they
feel less and less pressure from the wilderness
and encounter fewer supreme emergencies of
the type confronting the original settlers or
pioneers. To the degree that they become
unable to attain social fusion through reli-
gious faith or psychological experience, they
make up for its lack by developing the power
of the king or state. The economy their
civilization evolves rests upon authority at
all points where it can not rest upon instinct,
and henceforth the economic system remains
so inseparably a part of their civil and reli-
gious code that it can only be altered indi-
rectly, by altering the civil code or the reli-
gious values first.
The question, what is economics? simply
can not be answered in terms of any unvary-
ing scientific definition. Economics is and
has always been an evolving reality, at first
so implicit in human relations and external
tasks that those concerned are completely
unconscious of it; gradually extended to in-
clude relationships which take on the charac-
ter of the external problem and, in doing so,
lose the quality of mutuality; and finally, an
aspect of imposed social authority either civil
or religious in form. What the modern man
means by economics is that order of human
relations and daily tasks so far removed from
the concept of family loyalty that the phys-
ical token of exchange, money, has become
the one and only symbol of wealth. The
real wealth represented by vigorous effort,
successful attainment, cooperative work
and social fulfillment in a community in-
spired by one sustaining spirit, is forgot-
ten or lamented as no longer attainable on
earth.
Economics, in brief, when as a system or a
science or philosophy it can be apprehended
and manipulated as an entirely separate and
distinct aspect of civilization, represents
nothing else than the decay of an ancient re-
ligion or the vain hope that the ills of society
can be healed without the inspiration of true
faith. The civilization in which economic
reality can be intellectually or ethically
severed from all other realities and relation-
ships is itself in the condition of decay. One
who isolates economics from the whole
scheme of life is no longer dealing with life,
but is musing upon a blueprint abstraction
which represents but a skeleton whence life
has fled.
The spiritual tragedy of the age is our loss
of true historical perspective. We begin our
social inquiry with the invention of the
steam engine or with the breakdown of the
feudal order shortly before. Such a limited
view fails to perceive the organic nature of
society and its rise and fall in terms of spir-
itual or material motive.
The feudal order disappeared for two rea-
sons: first, because the component territorial
units broke away from the social body of
Christendom; and second, because its sub-
merged individuals struggled for their rights
and insisted upon a new and higher status.
THE WORLD OF HEART AND SPIRIT
629
The nations arose, and with the nations, the
ideal of liberty among the people. Those
who had been serfs wanted political, legal
and social rights, and the personal status de-
veloped under feudalism was transformed
into status by contract. Written constitu-
tions established a contractual basis for cit-
izenship, and the wage system had a similar
effect for industry. The movement, out-
wardly, was from unity and conformity to
separatism and differentiation. Inwardly, it
was from instinct and social habit to rea-
son and conscious will. To accomplish such
a movement, powerful religious sanctions
had to be repudiated by at least a consid-
erable portion of the public. The trend can
only be explained and appreciated in terms
of a far greater social cycle, involving the
rise, development and eventual disintegra-
tion of a civilization.
THE PROBLEM OF CIVILIZATION
Beneath the modern industrial period, con-
sequently, one must recognize the working
of forces in the direction of the seculariza-
tion of life, and the reduction of a moral
culture to its component parts, which
would have operated quite independently of
the eruptive influence of science and in-
vention. The swift progress of the machine
in the West intensified but did not create
the general trend.
By that swift progress, the territorial
isolation of the nation, which was the his-
torical justification for nationalism, was
eventually destroyed. An "industrial proc-
ess" developed under which it became nec-
essary to seek both raw materials and mark-
ets in areas beyond the political frontier.
The national sovereignty which had been
essential and sufficient to deal with the re-
lations of individuals and groups within the
nation became a fictitious authority when
applied to the industrial process as a whole.
Hence came into being the complex prob-
lem of our civilization: the factor of com-
petition transferred from domestic groups
to sovereign states, each multiplied in power
by scientific industry and all more and more
dependent upon the world as a whole, less
and less capable of maintaining themselves
in independent isolation; with, furthermore,
the secular outlook established in terms of
struggling class philosophies within many
of the nations.
The element of social tension within the
nation is no less vital than the competition
of the national states themselves.
The factory system, created from feudal-
ized classes and peoples, made sharp divi-
sions between wages and profits, and be-
tween labor and management. The consum-
ing markets were so under-capitalized that
profit and low wages seemed synonymous
terms. As factories -increased in size, the
owners and managers became more and more
separated in feeling and outlook from the
workers. The organic principle, that society
is and must be only an extension of the fam-
ily, weakened and died; a considerable pro-
portion of the people found that in winning
the political struggle for equality they had
lost the basis of economic security and sus-
tenance. Too late and too unorganized to
prevent this outcome of individualism arose
the realization that industry, to maintain
itself, must maintain its own market, its
market being the people as a whole and not
merely a small wealthy class.
The conviction that industry constituted
too great a power to depend upon individual
wills inevitably gathered force. From that
force has been released the ideas, programs
and organizations whose influence opposes
industrial individualism with the principle
of socialization.
THE PROBLEM OF INDUSTRY
The general principle of socialization un-
derlies a number of mutually exclusive pro-
grams and parties, from those motivated by
conceptions of a classless society eventually
reducing the functions of the state to a min-
imum, to those which promote the concep-
tion of the totalitarian state possessing a
maximum of centralized authority, owner-
ship and control.
The strife between the theories and pro-
grams has served to obscure the fundamen-
tal issue and to introduce the factor of vio-
lence into a problem which in essence is
highly spiritual in nature.
The fundamental issue may be defined as
the question of determining the proper re-
lations of individuals to society, and of
society to individuals. This question, in
630
THE BAHA'f WORLD
turn, resolves itself into the problem of how
the psychology of the united, mutually co-
operative family applies to mankind as a
whole. Are factory owners and workers
entrenched enemies, or are they partners in
a common task? Does the political liberty
of the individual extend to the corporation
which combines the property of ten thou-
sand individuals and carries responsibility
for the income and welfare of a million
workers? Are some economic enterprises
so inherently social in aim, method or re-
sult that they come into a different area of
truth than individual conscience or class
outlook?
But these vital questions, raised in one
form or another in all industrial countries,
can not be treated on their intrinsic merits
nor solved in relation to their ultimate hu-
man significance in a world so darkened and
troubled by international conflict as is the
world today. No national state at this time
is able to solve simultaneously both its in-
ternal and external problems, for the reason
that both problems are worldwide in scope
and both are spiritual in character. We
reach the end of our available human re-
sources, and our future destiny lies with the
Creator of mankind.
For it has become evident that the appli-
cation of authority alone, in the form of
unrestricted physical force and psychic in-
fluence, does not solve social problems. If
sufficient power is concentrated to suppress
class dissension, that power but serves to
augment the larger dissensions of peoples
and states. The world has come to a dire
extremity for lack of a unifying spirit ca-
pable of producing instruments of agree-
ment and mutual decision, and for lack
of an international order capable of remov-
ing the sources of strife and inculcating
the consciousness of the oneness of man-
kind.
THE ONENESS OF MANKIND
Our lack of an organic sense of history is
no mere matter of deprivation of intellectual
knowledge. It is but one symptom of the
decay of religious faith. If the heart still
turned in adoration to the ancient Founder
of religion, that attitude would bridge the
chasm between the centuries and provide a
living sense of the unity of peoples and of
events. In losing that source of universal
love, we have departed from any realization
of a family bond in society, and in losing
the vision of the unity of peoples we have
repudiated the connections between suc-
cessive historical events. We regard events
merely as manifestations of personal or group
will; those connections by which alone the
workings of cause and effect are made ap-
parent have become completely veiled. A
secular society ignores the manifestations of
Providence but does not thereby remove it-
self from their full and complete applica-
tion to human affairs. The modern world
has public policy but no social morality; it
has desperate hope in the power of the state
but no faith in God; it has the technology
of material fulfillment, but its spiritual iso-
lation makes inevitable the increase of pov-
erty, of class disturbance and of interna-
tional war.
A more vivid spiritual faith, or a truer
spiritual culture, would bring appreciation
of the fact that the workings of Providence
throughout the course* of known history
have had a visible and not merely a hidden
or mysterious manifestation. As the Baha'i
teachings assert, each civilization has had its
origin in the power of faith released by
the Prophet or Manifestation of God; each
civilization has developed to the height of its
capacity, and at that apex of attainment has
worshiped human works and human pow-
ers, lost its faith, and thence undergone a
process of division and strife until com-
pletely overthrown. The rise and fall of
successive civilizations mark the footprints
of a Divine will interposed upon human
affairs.
Baha'u'llah, whose mission was to renew
the spirit of religion in this age, upheld the
conception of mankind as an organic unit.
He taught the progressiveness of religion as
the vitalizing spirit which from age to age
restores, by conscious faith in the one God,
the sense of kinship among human beings.
He has bridged the yawning chasm between
the Prophets of past ages, whose followers
limited their faith and loyalty to one race or
one territorial area and failed to recognize
the sublime truth that all religions have
been phases of one Religion. To the Baha'i,
WORLD OF HEART AND SPIRIT
631
the bond of faith removes and obliterates
the false divisions and distinctions between
the peoples, races, classes and creeds of hu-
manity. "Ye are the leaves of one tree,"
BahaVllah declared to the people of this
age. The fire of devotion to this principle
consumes that prejudice which underlies
each and every source of organized and in-
veterate strife. The spirit of conscious faith,
returning to mankind in the hour of direst
need, has created a spiritual community in-
cluding believers in many parts of the
world. The rich and the poor have true
inner contact; the whites and the blacks
recognize one another as members of the
same human family, all alike dependent
upon unity for their very security and con-
tinued physical existence.
The spread of this faith quickens the
realization that the spiritual imperative is
the true dynamic of social progress, the fun-
damental reality whose mere shadow has
given rise to such concepts as "economic
determinism." It produces capacity for
peaceful discussion and agreement upon
truths which concern the welfare of all. It
frees human beings from the influence of
local environment and tradition, making
them ready for world citizenship. It raises
to the level of moral and ethical principles
those social problems which have been re-
garded as merely economic or political in
significance. The Baha'i answer to what is
termed the "economic problem" is that this
problem, in reality, constitutes but one facet
of the true problem confronting mankind
today, the unification of peoples in the light
of their attitude to God, and the attain-
ment by the nations of a world order pos-
sessing the elements of deliberation, de-
cision and action in the realm of interna-
tional affairs.
The Baha'is have full conviction that any
course of action and any attitude falling
short of this goal will fail to remove the
dangers of modern life and bring no relief.
The motives of mankind, and hence their
institutions, so long as they seek isolation
or partisan victory, can only intensify the
chaos into which destiny has brought a
time responsible for a collective failure to
know and obey the laws revealed by the
Prophets of the past.
The follower of BahaVllah holds fast, in
an hour when all else fails, to the principle
of evolution in the life of the race. This
age, he is informed, represents the maturity
of man. The Divine teachings, therefore,
have been revealed in greater measure than
could be understood or applied in prior ages.
With the coming of maturity, man collec-
tively becomes responsible for the achieve-
ment of higher tasks, as he is given the priv-
ilege of greater truth. The establishment of
a world civilization (jails for the use of the
utmost spiritual, ethical and mental capac-
ity. In accepting this gigantic task, the
race consciously works out its destiny,
thereby drawing nearer to the will of God.
What men now fail to recognize as their true
human function, or ignore as the measure of
their collective possibility, will reappear to
their consciousness as additional social bur-
den and torment until ignorance or indiffer-
ence is consumed as by fire.
The greater measure of spiritual truth
BahaVllah revealed contains the elements of
a world order, for religion today is a social
and not merely a personal truth.
"Soon will the present-day order be rolled
up, and a new one spread out in its
stead."
"Arise, O people, and, by the power of
God's might, resolve to gain the victory
over your own selves, that haply the whole
earth may be freed and sanctified from its
servitude to the gods of its idle fancies
— gods that have inflicted such loss upon,
and are responsible for the misery of,
their wretched worshipers. These idols
form the obstacle that impeded man in
his efforts to advance in the path of perfec-
tion.
"Having created the world and all that
liveth and moveth therein, He, through the
direct operation of His unconstrained and
sovereign Will, chose to confer upon man
the unique distinction and capacity to know
Him and to love Him — a capacity that must
needs be regarded as the generating impulse
and the primary purpose underlying the
whole of creation."
"God's purpose in sending His Prophets
unto men is twofold. The first is to lib-
erate the children of men from the darkness
of ignorance, and guide them to the light
632
THE BAHA'f WORLD
of true understanding. The second is to in-
sure the peace and tranquillity of mankind,
and provide all the means by which they can
be established." x
"THE WORLD OF THE HEART
AND SPIRIT"
The Baha'i teachings assert definitely
that "the fundamentals of the whole eco-
nomic condition are Divine in nature and
are associated with the world of the heart
and spirit." 2 They therefore offer no de-
tailed and final plan for the operation of
industry and finance. Their aim is to pro-
duce in man himself that quality of personal
motive and social vision out of which an
organic and functional world society can
alone proceed. If we can but view the
world of mankind as a vital organism, sus-
tained by one spirit, its institutions serving
as organs and limbs, all interdependent and
mutually serving the interests of the whole,
we emerge from the consciousness of an
era that is dying and can serve an age that
is coming to birth. In this conception, the
office of religion differs profoundly from the
maintenance of rites, ceremonies and spe-
cialized institutions which religion has
seemed to be throughout ages in the past.
Its mission today is to release the spirit of
world unity, and to convey truths about
man and society possessing the validity of
spiritual law. Nothing can re-inspire vital
life within the mechanisms of the old order.
A new order is required, a new order or-
dained. Only that possesses survival value
which can adapt to the needs and purposes
of a unified world.
"For Baha'u'llah . . . has not only im-
bued mankind with a new and regenerating
Spirit. He has not merely enunciated cer-
tain universal principles, or propounded a
particular philosophy, however potent, sound
and universal these may be. In addition to
these He, as well as 'Abdu'1-Baha after Him,
have, unlike the Dispensations of the past,
clearly and specifically laid down a set of
Laws, established definite institutions, and
provided for the essentials of a Divine Econ-
omy. These are destined to be a pattern for
future society, a supreme instrument for
the establishment of the Most Great Peace,
and the one agency for the unification of
the world, and the proclamation of the reign
of righteousness and justice upon the
earth." 3
To summarize: No secular economic phi-
losophy can be interposed into the present
national societies as a solution of their ills
for the reason that secular systems are based
upon material considerations which exclude
the spiritual element in man. A sound econ-
omy must be a world economy and at the
same time represent fulfillment of individ-
ual possibilities and the potential resources
of social cooperation. The way to true
progress, moreover, can not be attained
merely by shifting ownership or control back
and forth between secularized individuals
and secularized states. Man's relationships
to man must reflect spiritual laws, and
statutes deprived of spiritual content seem
but temporary expedients in the light of the
grave international emergency.
As the human organism is the unity of
diverse elements, substances and organic
powers, so in the world community of the
future there will be institutions, regulations
and methods for dealing with economic af-
fairs. Economic affairs, however, will be
integrated with all other fundamental hu-
man activities and aims, in the same manner
as the human skeleton, nervous system,
tissues and blood are correlated into the
whole scheme of personality. But only the
outlines of the future order can now be dis-
cerned. The elimination of war must pre-
cede the adoption of international law in
the economic field. We are in the midst of
a dynamic world movement, which static
definitions either of human nature or of so-
cial principle utterly fail to interpret. The
Baha'i teachings are in themselves dynamic,
unfolding continuously their significance as
they penetrate into the human soul. These
teachings establish the stupendous truth that
a World Economics can be nothing else
than the social application of a World Faith.
"A world community in which all eco-
nomic barriers will have been permanently
1 Excerpts from "Gleanings from the Writings of
BahiVlUh."
2 The Promulgation of Universal Peace, 'Abdu'l-
Baha.
3 The World Order of BahaVlIih, Shoghi Effendi.
THE WORLD OF HEART AND SPIRIT
633
Previous method of treatment of prisoners in fran. The figure fourth from the left
marked X was a well-known Baha'i teacher.
demolished and the interdependence of Cap-
ital and Labor definitely recognized; in
which the clamor of religious fanaticism
and strife will have been forever stilled; in
which the flame of racial animosity will
have been finally extinguished; in which a
single code of international law — the prod-
uct of the considered judgment of the
world's federated representatives — shall have
as its sanction the instant and coercive in-
tervention of the combined forces of the
federated units; and finally a world com-
munity in which the fury of a capricious and
militant nationalism will have been trans-
muted into an abiding consciousness of
world citizenship — such indeed, appears, in
its broadest outline, the Order anticipated
by BahaVllah, an Order that shall come to
be regarded as the fairest fruit of a slowly
maturing age." 4
4 The Goal of a New World Order, Shoghi Effendi,
A SESSION AT THE WORLD
CONGRESS OF FAITHS
BY HELEN BISHOP
JLHIS Congress held daily sessions from
July 3 through July 17, 1936, in the great
hall of the University, in London, besides
four public meetings at Queen's Hall. It
was a representative gathering of religion-
ists, liberal or free thinkers, scientists, and
philosophers — and thus a temptation to doc-
trinal debate or interplay of minds — but its
intention was thoroughly practical. "To
promote the spirit of fellowship was the one
aim of the Congress," said its able Chairman,
Sir Francis Younghusband.
Hence, all papers read were prefaces to the
theme of "World Fellowship through Re-
ligion": Buddhists, Brahmans, Jews, Chris-
tians, Muslims, followers of Confucius and
seekers of a better social order gave their
points of view on the problem of unity and
world peace. The free discussion by mem-
bers of the Congress, which followed the
formal reading, adduced further argument
and was germane to that one central theme.
In the social hours came opportunity to cul-
tivate personal contacts with those who had
come together to investigate the truth be-
hind the barriers of the religions.
The official opening was also the first pub-
lic meeting, held at Queen's Hall on the
evening of July 3. Dame Elizabeth Cad-
bury was in the chair. His Highness the
Maharajah Gaekwar of Baroda, the Honour-
able President of the Congress, gave an ad-
dress of welcome. A gracious message came
from His Majesty King Edward VIII to the
Congress. Then Lord Allen of Hurtwood
spoke for the millions who could not iden-
tify themselves with any creed or church.
As President of the International Council of
Women, Lady Aberdeen conveyed the hearty
good wishes of some forty millions of women
belonging to all races, to all nations, to all
classes and all faiths. From Japan, the Zen
sage, Dr. Teitaro Suzuki, expressed the Bud-
dhistic hope for world fellowship. A Chi-
nese, Mr. S. I. Hsiung, talented author of
Lady Precious Streamy made worthy com-
ments. Afterwards, the Right Honour-
able Sir Herbert Samuel (now Viscount
Samuel of Carmel) gave an eloquent ad-
dress.
The following papers were read in the
daily sessions either by their respective au-
thors or their appointees:
1. The Essential Basis of Religion, by A.
Yusuf 'All.
2. Ignorance and World Fellowship, by Dr.
Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki.
3. An Inspiring Vision, by Prof. G. P.
Malalasekera.
4. The Brotherhood of Man and the Re-
ligions, by Prof. Nicolas Berdiaeff.
5. Love — The Basis of Fellowship, by Prof.
Louis Massignon and M. Saurat.
6. Religion and Religions, by Dr. Sir Sarve-
palli Radhakrishnan.
7. Science and Religion, by the late Prof.
J. S. Haldane — read by his daughter,
Mrs. Naomi Mitchison.
8. A Hindu View of Religion, by Prof. S.
N. Das Gupta.
9. Islam and World Fellowship, by Sir
'Abdu'l-Qadir.
10. The City of God, by the Rev. J. S.
Whale. .
11. Prayer and Spiritual Experience, by
Prof. Mahendra Nath Sircar.
12. A New Pilgrim's Progress, by Dr. Ran-
jee G. Shahani.
13. Is World Fellowship Possible in View of
the Antagonisms of the World? by Dr.
W. J. Stein.
14. The Teachings of Confucius and His
Followers, by Mr. S. I. Hsiung.
15. The Spirit of Peace and the Spirit of
War, by Dr. Judah L. Magnes.
634
THE WORLD CONGRESS OF FAITHS
635
16. Independent Religious Thought, by M.
Jean Schlumberger.
17. Baha'u'llah's Ground Plan of World
Fellowship. A paper approved by Sho-
ghi Effendi.
18. The Economic Barriers to Peace, by the
Rev. P. T. R. Kirk.
19. A Constructive Proposal, by His Emi-
nence Shaykh Al-Maraghi.
20. The Right of the Spirit, by Prof. J.
Emile Marcault.
"The Supreme Spiritual Ideal" was de-
veloped in the two public meetings of July
6 and 9. The Right Honorable Lord Sneil
of Plumstead was in the chair on the sixth;
and the speakers were the Rev. Canon F. R.
Barry, Rabbi Dr. Israel Mattuck, and Dr.
Radhakrishnan. On the ninth, Sir Frederick
Whyte was in the chair; and Dr. Suzuki,
Madame Halide Edib, and Mr. Rom Landau
were the speakers. At the farewell meeting
on the evening of July 17, Prof. Marcault
was in the chair; and the speakers were Prof.
Mahendra Nath Sircar, M. Denis Saurat, Vis-
count Samuel, Sir Francis Younghusband,
and Mr. Yusuf 'All.
These addresses, together with the papers
and the resume of discussions are available
in the volume of proceedings published for
The World Congress of Faiths.1 The event
recorded in this Babd't World is the presen-
tation of the Baha'i Faith before the mem-
bers of the Congress on the morning of
July 16.
As the Chairman, Viscount Samuel spoke
these telling words:
If one were compelled to choose which
of the many religious communities of the
world was closest to the aim and purpose
of this Congress, I think one would be
obliged to say that it was the comparatively
little known Baha'i community. Other
faiths and creeds have to consider, at
a Congress like this, in what way they
can contribute to the idea of world fel-
lowship. But the Baha'i faith exists
almost for the sole purpose of contribut-
ing to the fellowship and the unity of
mankind.
Other communities may consider how
far a particular element of their respec-
tive faith may be regarded as similar to
those of other communities, but the
Baha'i Faith exists for the purpose of
combining in one synthesis all those ele-
ments in the various faiths which are held
in common. And that is why I suggest
that this Baha'i community is really more
in agreement with the main idea which
has led to the summoning of the Congress
than any particular one of the great re-
ligious communities of the world.
Its origin was in Persia where a mystic
prophet, who took the name of the Bab,
the. "Gate," began a mission among the
Persians in the earlier part of the nine-
teenth century. He collected a consid-
erable number of adherents. His activities
were regarded with apprehension by the
Government of Persia of that day. Fi-
nally, he and his leading disciples were
seized by the forces of the Persian Gov-
ernment and were shot in the year 1850.
In spite of the persecution, the move-
ment spread in Persia and in many coun-
tries of Islam. He was followed as the
head of the Community by the one who
has been its principal prophet and expo-
nent, BahaVllah. He was most active
and despite persecution and imprisonment
made it his life's mission to spread the
creed which he claimed to have received
by direct divine revelation. He died in
1892 and was succeeded as the head of the
community by his son, 'Abdu'1-Baha, who
was born in 1844. He was living in
Haifa, in a simple house, when I went
there as High Commissioner in 1920, and
I had the privilege of one or two most
interesting conversations with him on the
principles and methods of the Baha'i faith.
He died in 1921 and his obsequies were
attended by a great concourse of people.
I had the honor of representing His Maj-
esty the King on that occasion.
Since that time, the Baha'i faith has
secured the support of a very large num-
ber of communities throughout the world.
At the present time it is estimated that
there are about eight hundred Baha'i com-
munities in various countries. In the
United States, near Chicago, a great tem-
1 Faiths and Fellowship, pub. by J. M. Watkins, 2 1
Cecil Court, London, W. C. 2.
636
THE BAHA'f WORLD
pie, now approaching completion, has
been erected by American adherents to the
faith, with assistance from elsewhere.
Shoghi Effendi, the grandson of 'Abdu'l-
Baha, is now the head of the community.
He came to England and was educated at
Balliol College, Oxford, but now lives at
Haifa, and is the centre of a community
which has spread throughout the world.2
The Reverend Canon George Townshend,
on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, read the fol-
lowing paper as approved by the Guardian: 3
The Ground Plan of World Fellowship
which is now submitted to your considera-
tion was composed out of the writings of
BahaVllah and presented by 'Abdu'1-Baha
in London, and later in Paris, about a quar-
ter of a century ago. It proposes in the
simplest possible form a practical scheme for
mastering the urgent problem of world-fel-
lowship; and its originating idea, though of
outstanding magnitude, is such as to place
the whole plan throughout, from its begin-
ning, in complete accord with the purpose
we have before us to-day — that of promot-
ing the spirit of fellowship through the in-
spiration of religion.
This Plan, in every feature, plainly im-
plies that nothing less than a concerted effort
on a world scale, with the spiritual energies
of mankind informing its practical energies,
will now suffice to awaken the spirit of fel-
lowship and secure deliverance from danger.
No local or regional effort; no partial effort
of either religion alone or statecraft alone,
will completely solve our problems. The
sense of fellowship, to be adequate to this
unique emergency, must, on the one hand, be
broad — based on the whole of our human na-
ture, spiritual, moral and intellectual, and
on the other hand must not be limited by
any terrestrial boundaries whatever.
Such a thesis may still be ahead of the
public opinion of mankind. But it is not so
far ahead of that opinion as it was when it
was first proposed in this city in 1911. To-
day our emergency is rather more serious
than then; but it is of the same general char-
acter. What, then, and up to the present,
has been lacking in men's experiments is the
clearness of spiritual vision, the guidance of
intuition. Only Faith can point or see the
way in such an hour as this. Men question
the love of a God who could let loose on
them so dire a cataclysm and could choose
out this generation for suffering wholly un-
precedented. Their doubt cuts them off
from the source of light and help. There
is no vision; and the people perish. Only
Faith sees clearly, in open view, that this
darkness is cast by a great light, that this
passing defeat of the spirit of Fellowship is
the prelude of its final victory. A loving
God would not have set this generation prob-
lems without bestowing the ability to solve
them, would not inflict dire penalties on
those whom he regarded as guiltless.
We are daunted by the strange new
troubles that close us in on every side; we
do not look within and observe that a new
power of mastering these is being developed
in conscience and in spirit. Intellectual
vision never was so keen as in this genera-
tion; but spiritual vision, was it ever more
weak? We talk, we boast, of the New Age,
but we miss its greatest gift. We say the
human race is at last reaching maturity, but
we do not realise the fullness, the complete-
ness of this growth. We perceive it is in-
tellectual; we do not perceive that it is, in
like measure, moral and spiritual. Man's
conscience has become more sensitive, his
spirit more responsive to heavenly prompt-
ings. As he is to-day endowed with a new
degree of intellectual power, so also is he
endowed to-day with a new degree of re-
ligious power. The evolutionary process,
with even hand, bears onward the whole
being and nature of man; his heart as well
as his brain. New ideals, new hopes, new
dreams of further progress, a more general,
more insistent desire to build a better world
than the one which we inherit, these bear
witness to man's consciousness of growth.
In all its faculties the human race is passing
from childhood and ignorance towards ma-
turity; towards the tasks that befit full
manhood. To-day mankind is like a youth
leaving school for the sterner world of busi-
ness and affairs. It is called on to put into
practice the lessons of moral principle and
human fellowship in which it has been in-
structed for so- long. For how many cen-
2 Ibid., pp. 311-12.
3 Ibid., pp. 299-311.
THE WORLD CONGRESS OF FAITHS
637
turies have we, all of us, been under tutelage
to those whom we revere as the Founders
of our Faiths? Is it strange that a time
should come when we should be required to
put into concrete deeds the precepts of
brotherhood we all acknowledge, and should
at last be threatened with condign punish-
ment if we disobey?
Much, indeed, has been done of late to
remedy old wrongs, to suppress tyranny, to
uplift the oppressed, to relieve the poor, to
teach the ignorant. But how much re-
mains undone! We have accomplished
enough to convict ourselves of being fitted
for a better social order, of being ready to
inaugurate a system of widespread justice
and fraternity, and of lacking the resolution
to put our ideals into effect. There is
enough of good in our recent record to in-
criminate us, but not enough to deliver us.
We stand now before the judgment seat of
heaven condemned by the evidence of our
own acts.
We had no vision. Men turned from the
saints, mystics, and seers, and listened to
secular philosophers. Blind leaders of the
blind, into what perdition have they led us!
Our intellectual eminence by some fatality
heightened our troubles. Divorced from
faith, it aggravated human pride, taught
men to forget their moral responsibility and
to deny their servitude before the moral
law. The inevitable hour of retribution
draws near.
Surely this is a love-tragedy vaster in its
scale, more terrible in its poignancy than
any in the history of our race!
The urge of evolution pressed us forward;
we would not go. The spirit of fellowship
grew warm in our hearts; we would not feed
its flame. The gates of world-brotherhood
opened wide; we turned away. God poured
His spiritual bounties on spirit and con-
science in greater abundance than ever; we
in our blindness rejected His gifts and Him.
But this failure is not final nor for long.
It is not the failure of Faith, nor yet of
Love. It is the open, the confessed failure
of human wisdom. Through its purgation
men who have doubted will learn to turn
for fellowship and peace to the way they
have not trodden; the way of religion. But
all must tread this way together. Since the
whole world as a unit is involved, the ideals
which are to guide this movement must be
given a definite shape. If there is to be con-
certed action towards a single goal, some
map of the common journey must be made.
Vague sentiments of goodwill, however gen-
uine, will not suffice. Some explicit agree-
ment on principles will be required for any
coordinated progress.
It was to this task that BahaVllah long
ago addressed himself, and worked out a
Ground Plan on which the temple of human
fellowship might be reared. It consisted of
a set .of fundamental principles and repre-
sented the minimum of what the occasion
required. No foundation less deeply dug
than this will hold the structure that is to
be built upon it.
The burden of the whole scheme was laid
ultimately upon the shoulders of each indi-
vidual man and woman. Everybody by
virtue of his status as a human being had his
share in the vast world enterprise. The prin-
ciple of individual responsibility was thus to
be the basis of all progress.
But underneath this basic fact of human
duty lay something deeper yet. The living
rock on which this foundation was to be
laid was something the strength of which
humanity hitherto has too little recognized.
That rock is the Truth. This spirit of fel-
lowship which we seek to encourage is not
by BahaVllah conceived as some addition to
being, which the genius of man should un-
dertake to create. As a flower within the
bud, it lies waiting the hour of its appear-
ance. It is a reality which our fragmen-
tariness denies. And what this Assembly
desires to do is not to create something new,
but to give expression to something which
is already in existence though unused. Man's
advancing power is due to his increasing
knowledge of truth; and the magnificence of
this present age bears witness in the last re-
sort not to the personal greatness of this
generation, but rather to the greatness of a
continuously unfolding Truth. If this Age
is to become the Age of Universal Brother-
hood, it must be the Age of Knowledge,
knowledge of Truth. The Truth will set us
free. The Truth will make us one.
As the first item of his programme, there-
fore, BahiVllah claimed that every indi-
638
THE BAH'A'f WORLD
vidual should have the right of seeking for
himself the truth. Love of truth, which at
the present time is growing apace among
mankind, is the sole real corrective of all
forms of error and illusion. The great en-
mities which in the past have divided man-
kind, and which were due to misunderstand-
ing and ignorance, have, in recent times,
los.t their vitality, and our estrangements
are now due chiefly to the instinct of imi-
tation and to prejudice. These prejudices
have come down to us from the past, racial,
religious, national. For them all Baha'u-
'llah offers one radical cure, the search for
truth. The battle which mankind yet has
to fight between prejudice and truth he
seems to regard as the Armageddon of the
human soul.
Through this search for truth mankind
at last would become really and clearly con-
scious of the essential unity of the human
race. For this unity is, and has ever been, a
fact. "Ye are the branches of one tree, and
the leaves of one branch. Deal ye with one
another with the utmost love and harmony,
with friendliness and fellowship," wrote
BahaVllah. From the full knowledge of
this unity, and from nothing less, there
would be born in this age a spirit of world
fellowship adequate to the present emer-
gency. On this consciousness of unity,
therefore, 'Abdu'1-Baha laid the greatest
stress. He gave to it a central place in his
programme, other features supporting or
amplifying it or giving it application in the
practical affairs of mankind.
One of the facts which has obscured
from men's view their essential unity is the
difference between the world religions, which
has been made the cause of estrangement,
of prejudice, and even of ill-will and strife.
But, insisted 'Abdu'1-Baha, there is nothing
in these differences which should produce so
sad a result. Indeed, there is an important
aspect in which all religions are at heart one,
and he included the existence of this unity
as a principle in his scheme. He meant, so
it seems, that a religion does not consist
solely of a doctrine, and an institution, but
is also, in a real and vital sense a spiritual
atmosphere. It is, as he once described it,
"an attitude of soul towards God, reflected
in life." This is the essence of true re-
ligion; and to this extent, the whole world
over, members of all the religions have an
outlook, an experience, an obligation which
they share in common with one another in
spite of their special and distinctive loyal-
ties, and which group them all together apart
from the sceptic.
The more intensely spiritual men are, the
more vividly conscious are they of the real-
ity and sweetness of this communion, and
one of their privileges is the experience of
a deep sympathy, a common lowliness, a
common aspiration which they share with
those of a different tradition from their
own.
Not only in their atmosphere and their
influence but even in their profounder teach-
ings the world-religions may show forth
this unity. Do not all our faiths affirm and
magnify the love of God for His creatures?
What truth could be more ancient, more
precious than this? What would bind those
who espouse it with a closer tie of fellow-
ship?
This age of widening consciousness and
deepening love of truth has begun to bring
us, on a scale quite unprecedented, some
accurate knowledge of the sacred treasures
and the sacred history of the human race.
Scholars, divines, men of letters, poets have
all contributed to this enlightenment. They
show us each of the great religions as being
like a majestic temple reared in some chosen
spot by the hand of a master architect, and
surrounded now by a multitude of lesser
buildings of various later dates. Each tem-
ple blends with its own environment but is
in marked contrast with all the other tem-
ples. No two are alike, and the annexes
connected with each are still more unlike.
But if the enquiring traveler pursues his
investigations and makes his way within the
sacred structures, he discovers in their sev-
eral interiors and even in the shrines them-
selves an unmistakable kinship in beauty.
Experts in comparative religion have
spoken with emphasis of the points of agree-
ment to be found between the world re-
ligions. Professor Cheyne quotes Max Mul-
ler as "advising Brahmists to call themselves
Christians," and himself argues that the
reconciliation of religions must precede that
of races "which at present is so lamentably
THE WORLD CONGRESS OF FAITHS
639
incomplete." The evidence of men of learn-
ing is supported by that of another cloud of
witnesses, whose testimony none can gain-
say, and who speak with the voice not of
intellectual criticism but of spiritual knowl-
edge. The highest exponents of a religion,
those who understand most thoroughly its
meaning and interpret its spirit with the
most compelling authority, are those men
and women of mystical genius whose im-
passioned devotion and obedience to their
divine Master is the outstanding feature of
their lives. If each of these religions were
strictly exclusive, the negation of all the
others, bringing to men its own irreconcil-
able message, those who followed these re-
ligions to the extreme, the mystics and the
saints, would assuredly move farther and
farther apart, and would come to rest at the
last point of divergence. The greater the
saint the wider the gulf between him and
the saints of alien allegiances. At the
same time the less aspiring and spiritu-
ally gifted multitudes, immersed in the
daily human concerns which all men
share alike, would be found to be the least
estranged from one another by their differ-
ing creeds.
But in fact this is not so. Strangely, very
strangely, religious history shows us some-
thing quite different, exactly the opposite.
The contrast between each world-religion
and all its sister-religions is, as a rule, felt
most acutely and insisted on most vigorously
by the less mystically minded of 'its votaries.
While the mystics of all the religions, in-
stead of moving farther and ever farther
apart, seem rather to travel by converging
paths and to draw nearer and nearer to-
gether.
If one is to accept the account of their
experience given by contemporaries or by
themselves, these mystics seem all the world
over to have gone upon the same spiritual
adventure, to be drawn onward by the same
experience of an outpoured heavenly love;
and they testify one and all that to reach
this knowledge of the love of God is to un-
derstand at last the mystery and the hidden
blessedness of life, and to possess an ever-
lasting treasure for which the sacrifice of all
earthly things is but a little price.
This fellowship among all mystics is com-
mon knowledge, of which evidence is within
the reach of all. In a well-known English
work, Miss Underbill writes of the mystics
that, "We meet these persons in the east and
the west, in the ancient, medieval, and mod-
ern worlds. Their one passion appears to
be the prosecution of a certain spiritual and
intangible quest. . . . This, for them, has
constituted the whole meaning of life . . .
and it is an indirect testimony to its objec-
tive actuality that whatever the place or
period in which they have arisen, their aims,
doctrines and methods have been substan-
tially the same. Their experience, therefore,
forms a body of evidence, curiously self-
consistent and often mutually explana-
tory. . . ." Introduction to Mysticism,
Ch. 1.
Every public library in this country will
contain books supplying illustrations of this
statement. The mystical outlook and per-
spective both on the things of heaven and
the things of earth is in its essence eternally
the same. But perhaps no instance of the
fundamental unity that underlies all mysti-
cal experience is more striking than that
parallelism between Plotinus and St. Augus-
tine to which in his Evolution of Theology
Professor Edward Caird draws attention.
"Some of the finest expressions of this (the
mystical) attitude of soul," he writes, "may
be found in the Confessions of St. Augus-
tine. But when St. Augustine expresses his
deepest religious feelings we find that he re-
peats the thoughts and almost the very
words of Plotinus." Professor Caird then
shows how closely akin to the thought of
Plotinus is "that great passage in which
Augustine gives an account of his last con-
versation with his mother Monica about the
life of the redeemed in heaven." And he
concludes, "how deeply neo-Platonism must
have sunk into the spirit of St. Augustine,
when, in describing the highest moment of
his religious experience, he adopts almost
verbally the language in which Plotinus tries
to depict the mystic ecstasy of the indi-
vidual soul as it enters into communion with
the soul of the world."
By what diverse paths have mystics, who
had nothing in common save wholehearted
servitude before the one loving God, by
what diverse paths have they all alike at-
640
THE BAHA'f WORLD
tained the blessed Presence? And what man
in his pride of opinion will shut out from
Paradise those whom God's own hand has
admitted? Thus do scholars and saints join
to testify that the great religions have their
aspect of unity as well as their aspect of
variety, and that without qualifying their
special allegiance, worshippers in all re-
ligions may find something^ in the funda-
mental nature of religion itself which pro-
motes a sweet, precious and abiding sense of
true companionship.
The promotion of a boundless spirit of
concord and goodwill, Baha'u'llah main-
tained to be agreeable to the genius of every
world-religion. Whatever misunderstanding
may have arisen in bygone centuries, no re-
ligion as originally taught was meant to
encourage animosity. Quite the contrary.
Religion is meant to heal discord. So im-
portant, in an age of disintegration, did this
feature of religion seem that 'Abdu'1-Baha
proposed to include in his Plan the precept
that, "the purpose of religion is to promote
harmony and affection."
One will not doubt this loving purpose
may be discovered, or rediscovered, in every
one of our world-faiths, and assuredly in
Christianity. If we look away from Chris-
tendom to Christ and to the pure teaching of
Christ, we find it evident throughout the
Gospels. Christ said that one's whole duty
was to love God and one's neighbor, and He
described neighbor as meaning anyone you
could help regardless of creed or kin. He
made fellowship in love the evidence of
Christian membership: "By this shall all
men know that ye are My disciples if ye have
love one to another."
In this Age we congratulate ourselves that
for centuries past religious enmity has been
continually growing more weak. Yet our
ideal remains negative. To manifest no ill-
will towards those who differ in opinion
from us is not enough. Christ enjoined a
more positive attitude of soul, one of active
goodwill despite all differences. When God
thus commands a spirit of affection towards
all, He gives the power to obey His com-
mand. Religion, in other words, is creative.
Through its force the will of an earnest man
is enabled to achieve an inward change that
otherwise would be beyond his strength. If
this were not so, what useful place would
religion fill in this Cosmos of ours?
If now, the , creative power of religion to
effect this purpose were called upon and put
to vigorous use, how many vital problems
which have proved insoluble on the intellec-
tual plane, such as the reunion of Christen-
dom or the combating of secularism, might
prove much more tractable when carried to
the spiritual plane?
Another effort at harmonization was
called for when Baha'u'llah included in this
scheme an active partnership between re-
ligion and science.
Tolerance between the two is too little.
In their nature they are complementary, as
two wings with which the soul soars towards
knowledge of the truth. Science divorced
from religion gives a wholly distorted view
of reality. Religion divorced from science
may become a mere superstition. Man is to
use both as his servants and thus to bring
the material aspect of life and the spiritual
aspect at last into evident and complete
accord.
To these principles Baha'u'llah added, as
necessary for practical results, certain pro-
visions of a more material nature. 'Abdu'l-
Baha mentioned laws to prevent extremes of
indigence and opulence, universal education,
a common language, a central World-Tri-
bunal.
To the use by all nations of a secondary
or world language in addition to their
mother tongue, great importance was at-
tached. Without this device fellowship
would never be assured. The religious his-
tory of mankind from the days of Babel to
the present bears out this emphasis. When
we remember, for example, the influence of
the general use of the Greek language
throughout the Roman Empire at the be-
ginning of our Era; when we consider how
in Islam the adoption of Arabic as a com-
mon language united peoples hitherto es-
tranged, facilitated the interchange of
thought and aided the rapid extension of a
single culture over vast regions, or when
again we observe how the cause of ecclesi-
astic unity was promoted by the use, and
weakened by the disuse, of the Latin lan-
guage as a medium among the peoples of
western Europe centuries ago; we are driven
THE WORLD CONGRESS OF FAITHS
to conclude that in this age of radio and
aviation a world-language would unify the
peoples of mankind to a degree unprece-
dented in the past and difficult for us to
calculate in anticipation.
The federal tribunal or Board of Arbitra-
tion which in a few words 'Abdu'1-Baha
proposed, differed in three notable points
from the. League which afterwards was set
up. The provision of an adequate police
force was an essential prerequisite: the draft
of any proposed constitution was to be re-
ferred not only to the governments but also
to the peoples of the world; and, when
finally ratified and adopted, it was to enjoy
the full support of religion, of church as
well as of state, and its strict maintenance
against any violation by any nation was to
be held by all mankind as a sacred obliga-
tion.
In these and all other reforms man's great-
est stay would be the Holy Spirit, without
whose aid no peace or fellowship or unifica-
tion would ever be secured.
This scheme of world fellowship, first
promulgated some forty years before, was
presented twenty-five years ago in London
by 'Abdu'1-Baha. "This," he said, "is a
short summary of the teachings of Baha'-
u'llah. To establish this, BahaVllah un-
derwent great difficulties and hardships. He
was in constant confinement and he suf-
fered great persecution. But . . . from the
darkness of his prison he sent out a great
light into the world." 'Abdu'l-Bahd In
London, p. 18.
'Abdu'1-Baha claimed that these princi-
ples were consistent with the spirit of all the
world-religions, and were measured with ex-
act and unique fitness to mankind's height-
ened capacity and its tremendous responsi-
bility at this time. He felt no doubt of this
being at no very distant date adopted: fel-
lowship along these lines was the birthright
of our New Age. But though they have
percolated far through the world and have
cheered the hearts of many, yet the larger
collaboration between races and religions
here so definitely outlined has in fact been
postponed in favor of narrower views and
more materialistic reforms. Our civiliza-
tion is in desperate plight and has sunk into
a moral and spiritual abyss.
Men realise the urgent need of a reforma-
tion greater in range and intensity than
mankind has ever yet achieved; but ^know
not how to meet that need.
In such an emergency does not this bold
original scheme of fellowship merit serious
consideration and even the test of experi-
ment? Does it deserve to be merely ignored
by the rulers and teachers of the world?
In advocating peace to a western audience
'Abdu'1-Baha once said: "You have had war
for thousands of years; why not try peace
for a change? If you do not like it you can
always go back to war." One might hazard
a similar suggestion about this fellowship
plan. We have tried every other device,
why not now try this?
For all its brevity, this summary may
suffice to suggest the character of the
Ground Plan of World Fellowship con-
structed by Baha'u'llah and presented here
in London by 'Abdu'1-Baha, and may indi-
cate how close it is in spirit and in purpose
to the ideal which is now before this As-
sembly.
If it be true that reforms as great and as
numerous as these are demanded by the
Genius of our Age, one will perceive why the
alternatives tried by mundane wisdom dur-
ing this generation have resulted in con-
sistent disappointment. What has been lack-
ing in all is religious insight, an appreciation
of the fact that evolution has brought to
men an advance in their moral and spiritual
powers and a proportionate heightening of
their opportunities and responsibilities.
"That one is a man indeed who to-day dedi-
cateth himself to the service of the entire
human race. ... It is not for him to pride
himself who loveth his own country, but
rather for him who loveth the whole world.
The earth is but one country and mankind
its citizens." Gleanings from the Writings
of Babd'u'lldh, p. 250.
Baha'u'llah clearly affirms that without a
keener spirituality, a loftier and firmer faith
in the Universal Father, mankind will not
discover the way out of its troubles. Only
through the initiative of religion will hu-
manity be rescued from dissension and united
in hearts' fellowship. And if religiously
minded men and women are to leaven with
the spirit; qf fellowship this love-lorn and
642
THE BAHA'f WORLD
lonely world until the whole be leavened,
that which they will need beyond all else
is that they have in their hearts no place
where doubt or fear may enter but be pos-
sessed with the invincible assurance that un-
der God the whole movement of evolution
is with us in this endeavor, that no difficulty,
no delay, no defeat which may take shape as
we advance can ever stem the onward march
of Heaven's purpose, that within man's soul
to-day are ample powers to win all that we
desire, and that the banner under which
mankind will stand at last united is that
spiritual faith in the love of Almighty God,
which is the universal heritage of us all.
Upon the conclusion of this paper, an
evangelist who was to lead out the discus-
sion, confessed that he found no argument
therewith, so he took the allotted time in
putting forth personal convictions that the
churches were acting as obstacles to world
fellowship.
The Chairman called upon Mrs. Charles
Reed Bishop, a representative from the In-
ternational Baha'i Bureau at Geneva. She
said:
It is our work to break down barriers both
within and outside the churches. Baha'u-
'llah said: "Associate with all the people of
religions with joy and fellowship. For as-
sociation is the cause of unity, and unity is
the source of order in the world." I would
emphasize that point in the paper, namely,
that in all ages, amidst all religions, the
saints and the mystics, and those who have
practised their faith, have found themselves
in accord. I think this bears out the words
of Jesus: "He who doeth the will of My
Father shall know My doctrine." As under-
standing is promised to those who practise,
so it has been among all the religions that
those who have practised their teachings
have found themselves to be members of one
great spiritual community; whereas, those
who have been content with the material law
of their faith have found themselves an-
tagonistic to other religions.
In these daily meetings we have learned
many particulars, and some universal propo-
sitions on religion. I see there are two main
branches of the tree of religion. Yes, I
know there are many branches, twigs, leaves
— but it is one tree. The main branches are
the Aryan and the Semitic. The former
lays an accent upon the spiritual awakening
of man — the divine Immanence, and inclines
towards polytheism: whereas the latter has
accent upon the Revelation of God, the
Logos — the divine Transcendence, and leads
to monotheism.
I stand by the advices of our Chairman,
Sir Herbert Samuel (at the opening ses-
sion's address) : ". . . let not the religions
be too historic in their claims. It has been
wittily said that no one may walk back-
wards into the future . . . The religions
must show they are alive to the present day."
However, Persia has given to the world three
Manifestations or Prophets of God, Zoro-
aster, the Bab, and Baha'u'llah. (I am sorry
we do not have a Zoroastrian as representa-
tive here.) The Baha'i Faith is a thousand
years younger than its sister-faiths, but it
exhibits the principle of selection and con-
tinuity of family traits. The illustrious An-
cestor of the Bab was the Prophet Muham-
mad, and Baha'u'llah is descended from the
ancient Zoroastrian kings. And so we have
in the Baha'i Faith the appearance of two
Prophets out of the two great branches of
religion. By this alliance an old family feud
is abolished; and we have an historic basis
for reconciliation and fellowship.
In these meetings we have stressed the
first aspect of each religion, which is the
essential and spiritual. But if the secondary
aspect or material law had been stressed, our
experience would have been quite different.
Only the spiritual aspect of each religion can
make for fellowship. Therefore, we should
leave this Congress resolved to lay full stress
upon the primary or spiritual aspect of the
religions, — and so discover our unity.
I will read a paragraph from Shoghi Ef-
fendi's Goal of a New World Order: "Some
form of a world Super-State must needs be
evolved, in whose favor all the nations of
the world will have willingly ceded every
claim to make war, certain rights to impose
taxation and all rights to maintain arma-
ments, except for purpose of maintaining
internal order within their respective do-
minions. Such a state will have to include
THE WORLD CONGRESS OF FAITHS
643
within its orbit an International Executive
adequate to enforce supreme and unchal-
lengeable authority on every recalcitrant
member of the commonwealth; a World Par-
liament whose members shall be elected by
the people in their respective countries and
whose election shall be confirmed by their
respective governments; and a Supreme Tri-
bunal whose judgment will have a binding
effect even in such cases where the parties
concerned did not voluntarily agree to sub-
mit their case to its consideration. A world
community in which all economic barriers
will have been permanently demolished and
the interdependence of Capital and Labor
definitely recognized; in which the clamor of
religious fanaticism and strife will have been
forever stilled; in which the flame of racial
animosity will have been finally extin-
guished; in which a single code of interna-
tional law — the product of the considered
judgment of the world's federated repre-
sentatives— shall have as its sanction the in-
stant and coercive intervention of the com-
bined forces of the federated units; and
finally a world community in which the
fury of a capricious and militant national-
ism will have been transmuted into an abid-
ing consciousness of world citizenship-
such indeed, appears, in its broadest outline,
the Order anticipated by Baha'u'llah, an Or-
der that shall come to be regarded as the
fairest fruit of a slowly maturing age."
The Reverend A. Porter was the next
speaker:
I am thinking of the great number of so-
cieties among people numbering tens of
thousands, who are studying what they call
"foreign missions" from the standpoint of
their own denomination. I have been won-
dering how we might reach those tens of
thousands through this World Congress. I
feel that there is a great need for a new text-
book on missions that could be developed out
of this Congress, to be placed in the hands
of our groups in the various Churches;
that text -book to be written from the stand-
point of an appreciation rather than propa-
ganda.
Our young people do not appreciate that
God has many names. When you use the
word "Alldh" they think it means some pa-
gan god, and not God our Father or Jesus
Christ. There is a great need for a text-
book on the basis of all these various papers
emphasizing the points in common between
the various faiths that have been represented
to this Congress. That, I feel, is a growing
need in the Churches to-day.
In the second place, I feel there is a need
for a devotional manual to be used as respon-
sive reading in our Churches compiled from
the devotional literature of all the great re-
ligions of the world. • I myself, as a Con-
gregational minister, would feel quite free in
using such a manual, and I am sure my own
congregation would welcome it.
In the third place, I think there is need
for another manual to be used in our Sunday
Schools; little stories from the great re-
ligious teachings, with their creeds in the
form of drama. That is a growing need of
the Churches to-day.
Without expanding these ideas I wish to
express, I am convinced from my travels up
and down this land among the Churches,
and from my experience as Secretary for re-
ligious education for eight States in the
United States, that this is really a felt need.
And I trust that some committee will be
appointed from this Congress to meet these
needs in the near future.4
Dr. D. N. Maitra, a member of the Con-
gress, from India, said:
It was on the 24th of April this year
(1936) that I, with my daughter, paid a
visit to the mausoleum on Mount Carmel,
built over the remains of the Bab and
'Abdu'1-Baha. And it was twenty-five years
ago in this very city of London that I first
attended a Baha'i meeting and spoke there.
Such is my very personal interest in and
regard for the great cause which is repre-
sented by Baha'i.
The Brahmo Somaj has not yet been prop-
erly represented at this Conference, so I
will say a few words on this subject. In
1774, a Hindu was born in Bengal in a very
orthodox family; Ram Mohum Roy. This
man, at the age of 16, wrote a treatise
against idolatry right in the face of his
angry father who turned him out of the
house.
* Faiths and Fellowship, p. 313.
644
THE BAHA'f WORLD
God is said to have said in our scripture
that: 'Tor the preservation of , righteousness
I take the human form from time to time
and 'descend on this earth,'* which is the
best interpretation of incarnation. *There-
fore I believe we should feel that in every
country from time to time a man has been
born as a creation of the age and the crea-
ture of an age, whom we call "saints" and
"prophets" and that no scripture is invalid,
nor any book a final revelation of a divine
message. I have in my bedroom, just over
my head, the picture of Jesus Christ, whom
I hold as a great teacher of morality and
ideal life to men. Ram Mohum Roy
studied in the Hebrew language the Bible so
thoroughly that he wrote, when he was
thirty-six or thirty-seven, a book called
Precepts of Jesus, The Way to Happiness and
Peace in Life. That an orthodox Hindu
should write a precept of Jesus and stress
that faith caused a great sensation. He
studied the Qur'an in Arabic and brought
out the Unitarian element in the Muslim
faith. And of course he studied his own
scripture and said that pure Hinduism was
the monotheism of the Upanishads. In 1828,
he founded the first theistic Church in India.
I will quote a few lines from the Trust
Deed: "The Trust shall at all times permit
the said building as and for the place of pub-
lic meetings of all sorts and descriptions of
people without distinction as shall behave
and conduct themselves in orderly, sober, re-
ligious and devout manner; for the worship
and adoration of the eternal, unsearchable
and immutable Being who is Author and
Preserver of the universe; . . . that no ser-
mon, discourse, or hymn be delivered, made
or used in such worship but to the promotion
of the contemplation of the Author and Pre-
server of the universe, to promotion of char-
ity, morality, piety, benevolence, virtue and
the extending of the bond of union between
men of all religions, persuasions and
creeds." 5
Madame Barry-Orlova, lecturer from the
International Baha'i Community, was an-
nounced. And she said:
Baha'u'llah has said: "Speed ye out of your
sepulchers." What is the sepulcher? The
sepulcher is the denial of humanity, the lim-
itation and the ignorance of the Manifesta-
tion of God, He who manifests the splendor,
the glory and bounty and the gift of God;
the Messenger that comes from God with a
message that changes the whole world; that
stirs it from its sleep; that awakens it from
its death, illuminating our soul; that en-
visions its mind with new splendor and new
glory and new beauty; which opens its eyes
that are closed in blindness; that makes the
ear hear; that makes the heart the living
kingdom of God. And only through this
awakening, only through this rebirth can we
know God.
To deny one Prophet is to deny all the
Prophets. If you are from Islam, and you
say, "I do not believe in Jesus," then you
do not believe in Muhammad. He himself
said so. If you say: "I believe in Moses and
I do not believe in Zoroaster, in Buddha or
in Muhammad, or in Jesus," then you do not
believe in Moses, because they were and are
One and ever shall be One Spirit. As Baha'-
u'llah says, ' "The lamps are many. The
Light is one. . . . Speed ye from your sep-
ulchers." That is the message of fellowship.
M. Gabriel Gobron, representing Caodaism
or Renovated Buddhism, said:
Please excuse my broken English, but I am
a poor Frenchman who finds English a very
difficult language. I would like to put in a
word for a new religion which is renovated
Buddhism. This new faith numbers one
million adherents and is not yet officially
recognized. It welcomes Buddhism, Taoism,
Confucianism, whose wonders are venerated
equally with those of Jesus Christ. The
renovated Buddhism is essentially the recon-
ciliation of races and peoples through the
achievement of religious unity. It is surely
the real spirit of Baha'u'llah.0
Mr. St. Barbe Baker spoke as follows:
When I was in Palestine a little w&ile ago
I had the great privilege of meeting Shoghi
Effendi, who is Guardian of the Bahd'i
Cause. I also met many other local inhabi-
*lbid., pp. 313-14.
p. 31 J.
THE WORLD CONGRESS OF FAITHS
645
tants who told me stories about 'Abdu'l-
Baha. It is not generally realized how won-
derful was the contribution He made to
peace. Three years before the Great War
He realized what was coming, and insisted
that His Persian settlers should plant wheat,
which they did, and it was stored. And
when the Turks evacuated Palestine this
wheat was brought forward to feed the
starving population. This shows the prac-
tical aspect of their Movement. Do you not
see in it a solution? Both the spiritual and
the scientific working together, one the com-
plement of the other.
I wish to give you the words of a prayer
recited by the Bab: "Is there any Remover
of difficulties save God? Say praise be to
God. He is God. All are His servants and
all are standing by His command. Is there
any Remover of difficulties save God? Say
praise be to God. He is God. All are his
servants and all are standing by his com-
mand." What? These dictators God's serv-
ants? Yes, all are His servants. All are
standing by His command. These protago-
nists, these leaders of sectional movements
which we think add conflict to our ideals?
Yes, all are God's servants, all are standing
by His command. Even the people we think
are our enemies are God's servants.
The next speaker was Mr. R. P. Pandya:
We have all been talking about the unity
of the spiritual and the material and about
the Fellowship of Faiths, but how to attain
it — that is the question. One contribution
is very important; the preparation of text-
books which will play a part in uniting the
thoughts of all, and giving knowledge to
the people. At present there is much igno-
rance of the various religions in the world.
Unless we know something about these re-
ligions, is it possible for us to have a fel-
lowship of faiths? T
Then Mr. K. M. Parikh of Baroda, India,
spoke:
I strongly differ from the discordant notes
struck by some regarding the importance of
such conferences. It is this conference
which has made it possible for people of dif-
ferent religions' and countries to gather to-
gether and to think on and decide the prob-
lems of world-fellowship. And not pnly ain
I hopeful about the future possibilities of
this Congress, but I would say that it has
^established a feeling of world-fellowship —
unity of God and brotherhood of man — in
the hearts of those good souls who are as-
sembled here. For how could I have dared
to stand on this platform in this simple
hand-spun attire, but for the spirit of tol-
eration, freedom, arid appreciation which
pervades this Congress. And I hope that the
time is not far off when what we see and
feel inside this Congress will spread far and
wide outside it.
Now what is science? Science is a body of
systematic thought. But religion is a body
of systematic thought and, therefore, it is a
science. And those who are really anxious
to verify the truths of this science must have
nerves and readiness to perform spiritual ex-
perimentation which presupposes annihila-
tion of ego with its many evil trappings.
Complete union with God — the supreme
goal of all religions, and the birthright of
every being is attained by only a few. But
for those vast numbers of people who have
neither the qualifications nor the willingness
to go to this highest heaven we must bring
heaven on earth. To us Hindus, religion is
not something that is superimposed; it per-
meates all good aspects of life. Hence, to
me, as it is to Mr. Burke, Mr. Ghandi and
many others, economics and politics are
nothing but expressions of religion in prac-
tical life. Therefore I feel strongly that so
long as we cannot bring not only bread and
butter, but also love, light, and freedom to
the vast masses of toiling humanity, our
ideas of fellowship will remain mere figments
of imagination.8
7 Ibid n p. 315.
8 Ibid., pp. 316-17.
Note: The resume' is wanting mention of Mr.
Frank Hirst from Leeds, an active worker in the
Labor Movement there. This speaker told of his
search for truth and eventual discovery of the
Baha'i principles as the solution of the world's prob-
lem, with emphasis upon the unity of religions, the
new economic and social Order, with equality be-
tween the sexes universally established, — and urged
consideration of Baha'u'ltth's Ground Plan for World
Fellowship.
IMPORTANCE DE L'IDEE SPIRITUELLE
DANS LA VIE ACTUELLE
BY LUCIENNE MlGETTE
D,
DEFINITION: au sens le plus general, la
vie spirituelle comprend tout ce qui ne se
rattache pas directement a la vie materielle;
sur le plan terrestre ou nous vivons, ces deux
vies sont intimement melees d'ailleurs et ne
peuvent pas pratiquement etre separe'es. La
vie spirituelle a sa plus haute expression et
son epanouissement maximum dans la vie
pour Dieu. Elle consiste dans le developpe-
ment harmonieux de la personnalite reelle et
immortelle que Dieu a cachee en nous.
La vie spirituelle de Phomme est faite de
principes moraux a appliquer; elle est faite
de Peffort d'ascension de Pesprit vers les con-
naissances divines, elle est faite encore de
toute la splendeur de Pexquise sensibilite que
Dieu a enfouie en certains coeurs. La mani-
festation sur le plan terrestre de cette per-
sonnalite spirituelle de 1'homme se trouve
dans Pe'closion des sciences, des arts pour les
choses, dans la charite universelle active pour
nos freres humains. II serait temeraire de
vouloir, par nos f aibles paroles, revenir sur
la valeur de la spiritualite en general, alors
qu'un Maitre comme 'Abdu'1-Baha a verse
sur le monde le torrent lumineux de Ses ex-
plications. Cependant, afin d'arriver a Pim-
portance du developpement spirituel dans la
vie actuelle et de se penetrer de la necessite
de sa floraison rapide, il n'est pas inutile
d'examiner en quelques mots, pourquoi la
spiritualite doit etre le flambeau supreme de
notre vie. Chaque etre a etc* cre*e dans un
but; nos pensees, nos sentiments et finale-
ment les actes qui nous manifestent ont tou-
jours un but quel qu'il soit; nous concevons
que chaque It re humain a lui-meme &£ cre*e
dans un but et pe*tri avec les faculty's neces-
saires a son atteinte. Un tel etre, constant
dans un but final, bien determine', ne peut
trouver le bonheur que dans le deVeloppe-
ment harmonieux de ses faculty's, tendant
ainsi vers la plenitude des capacites inherentes
a sa nature. Un developpement partiel ne
donne qu'une joie limitee, laissant a Pame
la soif de possibility insatisfaites qu'elle pos-
sede mais qu'elle ignore encore.
Nous n'entrerons pas dans les intermin-
ables discussions qui ont mis aux prises tant
d'humains sur la realite de Pexistence de
Pame humaine spirituelle, au-dessus de tous
les regnes de la creation. L'ouvrier fagonne
la matiere; le jardinier modifie les plantes;
Pagriculteur commande aux animaux. En un
mot, Phomme, seul, asservit tout ce qu'il
connait dans la creation. Il demeure done
certain que Phomme posseHe dans son essence,
un principe different et superieur a ceux des
autres etres cre^s. Apres cette conclusion de
simple bon sens, tournons les yeux de notre
esprit vers le Createur de toutes choses et, a
travers Ses Saintes Manifestations au cours
des ages, ecoutons; II nous dit: "Oui, tu es
une creature douee d'une ame, Jc t'ai donne
tout ce que J'ai donne aux autres etres,
mais le plus beau don n'est pas ce que tes
yeux physiques peuvent voir. Ce don est en
toi, invisible, mais immense et immortel. Ap-
prends a t'approcher, a te connait re et tu
pourras alors te diriger vers le but que Je
t'ai assigne*, vers ton bonheur qui est Moi."
Dans toutes les Ecritures Sacrees nouvelles
ou anciennes, les Soleils divins de Dieu nous
appellent a cette vie spirituelle. Dans la
Bible, on lit: "Adorez-Moi, Je suis le seul
Dieu." Apres PAncien Testament, Jesus
nous dit: "Travaillez non pour la nourriture
qui perit, mais pour celle qui demeure."
Cette nourriture, c'est celle de Pame, la
spiritualite; car de meme que les aliments
font profiter et de*veloppent le corps, de
meme, la spiritualite deVeloppe Pame, car la
Loi de Dieu est une dans les deux mondes.
Depuis pris de 2,000 ans, ces paroles re*son-
646
o
o
o
. c
o
a,
s
o
647
648
THE BAHA'l WORLD
nent dans le monde et le monde ne les a pas
encore comprises. Peu a peu, cette verite
fait son chemin, lentement dans les esprits
humains. Aujourd'hui, Dieu a de nouveau
parle, parle identiquement dans Son Immu-
able Sagesse. Et Sa Grace illumine aujour-
d'hui la terre d'une eblouissante lumiere
eclairant la route vers la Spiritualite la plus
haute. Baha'u'llah lance a tous les peuples
du monde cet appel grandiose vers Pepanouis-
sement de la veritable nature de Phomme. II
annonce la phase devolution unique que tra-
verse actuellement Phumanite, phase critique
entre toutes comme Phumanite n'en a jamais
connue. Aujourd'hui, les hommes doivent
faire un choix et un choix definitif. Que
vont-ils decider? Continuer la vie unique-
ment materielle, insouciante, capricieuse? Se
detourner une fois de plus de la coupe divine?
Ce serait reediter uns fois encore la f aute des
anciens peuples. Ce serait continuer a se
donner la matiere pour maitre. Une courte
observation peut convaincre de cette stupe-
fiante verite: les anciens se taillaient des
statues et les adoraient; les hommes d'au-
jourd'hui adorent des palais, des voyages ou
de Pargent; Perreur pour etre moins gros-
siere, n'en est pas moins exactement la meme.
L'heure extreme est arrivee ou il nous f aut
exterminer en nous cette erreur. Car Baha'-
u'llah nous affirme que pour nous vient Page
de lumiere et de connaissance depuis si long-
temps promis.
Courageusement, avec confiance et au
risque de nous aveugler, jetons-nous dans les
rayons de Sa divine Lumiere, tentons par un
effort supreme de voir le monde actuel avec
Ses propres yeux. Nous constaterons imme'-
diatement avec stupeur que, parall^lement a
P^tat de bouleversement et de chaos du
monde, a son penchant tres net a la mate-
rialite, s'est dessine un tres fort courant spi-
rituel qui a touche a peu pres toutes les ames,
avec des manifestations differentes suivant
leurs developpements individuels ant^rieurs.
Les cerveaux humains comme sous ('impul-
sion d'une puissance inconnue, parfois peu
consciente de Pindividu, sont irresistible-
ment entraine's a chercher des connaissances
dans le domaine spirituel. Parfois ce sont des
insouciants qui prennent conscience de ce do-
maine, parfois des etres materialistes qui,
parallelement a leur genre de vie et incom-
pletement satisfaits des plaisirs materiels,
cherchent d'autres satisfactions.
Le tableau du monde est brosse en quel-
ques mots par Baha'u'llah: "L'appel de Dieu
a souffle dans le corps de Phumanite une vie
nouvelle et infuse un esprit neuf a toute la
creation. Telle est la raison de la profonde
commotion ressentie par le monde et de cette
soudaine animation des consciences et des
coeurs. Bientot ceux qui sommeillent le plus
profondement seront reveilles."
Les manifestations de cet eveil des esprits
sont Peclosion de ces innombrables mouve-
ments spiritualistes qui pullulent a travers le
monde et qui, tous, enferment une parcelle
de verite. Bases, soit sur un principe moral,
soit sur un principe d'hygiene, soit encore
sur la simple bonne volonte, ils ont pro-
fondement revolutionne le fonctionnement
de la pensee et le but de la vie humaine. Tous
doivent sans doute avoir eu leur neccssite et
tous doivent porter des fruits. Ils sont des
rayons lumineux amenant chacun des hum-
ains au Grand Soleil par des milliers de sen-
tiers. Chacun est f rappe par celui qui trouve
une resonnance dans son^etre interieur, soit
dans son intelligence, soit dans son coeur.
Tous ces rayons, qu'on le sachc ou non, ne
peuvent provenir que d'une source unique:
le Soleil Spirituel. Tous ceux qui les suivent
arriveront immanquablement a ce Centre
Universel.
Considerons maintenant les fruits actuels
de notre civilisation. L'un des facteurs de
progres humain est le developpement de la
science. La decouverte des lois qui regissent
la nature a permis a Phomme de realiser des
chefs-d'oeuvre de confort et de beaute. Par-
tout, dans presque tous les domaines, Phomme
a asservi la matiere selon ses desirs par la con-
naissance. II ne peut etre mis en doute que
la science est le meilleur bienfait de la civi-
lisation; c'est le moyen le plus eleve de mani-
fester les pouvoirs de Phomme. II est seule-
ment regrettable que la science ne soit pas
encore repandue dans le monde entier. Car
Phomme a toujours eu en lui une aspiration
a d^voiler Pinconnu, et si la science ne lui
apporte pas la verification experiment ale, s'il
n'acquiert pas la certitude de la conformit£
de ses conceptions nouvelles avec les lois an-
terieures connues, il tombe alors dans le pre-
juge et la superstition.
IMPORTANCE DE L'IDfiE SPIRITUELLE
649
Sciences et superstitions pourraient en
somme etre considerees comme deux fruits
de Pesprit. Mais la science est le bon fruit,
la superstition est le mauvais fruit. La
science est le produit de Peffort intelligent,
dirige, patient, acharne, de Pimagination,
puis de Pobservation et enfin, de la verifica-
tion experimental^ de Pidee. Celle-ci est
prouvee sans contestation possible par un
phenomene exterieur a Pesprit humain et
dont celui-ci, apres sa periode active de con-
ception, n'est plus que le temoin passif qui
provoque et verifie. La superstition est Pac-
ceptation d'une imagination sans la recherche
de preuve positive. La science est la revela-
tion sur le plan physique des lois etablies par
le Createur Supreme, avec un respect pro-
fond devant POeuvre, travail non createur,
contemplation humble et emerveillee. La
superstition est un assemblage de divers ele-
ments: quelques vagues connaissances, quei-
ques coincidences avec interpretations in-
verifiees et beaucoup de desirs varies. Toutes
deus, fruits de Pesprit, ont une valeur bien
differente. De ces deux fruits, Pun grossit
et murit toujours tandis que Pautre se des-
seche jusqu'a Petat de pure illusion. Lorsque
la science aura repandu sa raison et sa preuve
sur tous, la superstition, fruit de Pignorance,
sera detruite a jamais.
N'est-ce pas le programme que nous trace
notre cher Gardien dans sa lettre de mars
1936? (Vers Papogee de la race humaine,
page 43.) II nous dit: "Les immenses energies
seront consacrees a etendre la portee des in-
ventions humaines, exterminer la maladie, a
pousser plus avant les recherches scientifiques,
a rendre le cerveau humain plus aigu et plus
subtil, a prolonger la vie humaine, etc . . ."
tous travaux strictement scientifiques.
Arrive a ce haut degre de developpement
de la civilisation, Phomme a-t'il atteint le
but de sa creation? Maitre de la matiere dont
il a compris beaucoup de lois, n'a-t-il plus
rien a decouvrir? Beaucoup de savants Pont
cru helas et se sont prives de la plus belle
couronne et de la joie pure et supreme apres
leur travail. Il faut savoir discerner que
Phomme decouvre et ne cree pas. L'homme
travaille pour apprendre, pour etre temoin
des beaut^s de la creation, pour s'en servir,
mais il n'est pas lui-meme le createur. Apres
ses efforts et leurs resultats, ses yeux doivent
s'elever vers Plnfinie Connaissance, vers le
Souverain Ordonnateur de cet univers har-
monieux. La, et la seulement, Phomme at-
teindra sa destinee reelle. La git la cle de
Pascension illimitee, la est le secret que Phu-
manite doit enfin comprendre, a cette heure
critique de son evolution. Un effort im-
mense, une tension de toutes nos facultes de
coeur et d'esprit, et nous etablirons enfin
cette grandiose echelle des valeurs qui, pour
nous, commence a la matiere, pour s'elever
a la spiritualite pure dont le sommet est la
Manifestation de Dieu sur cette terre.
Cette Manifestation vient d'avoir lieu; elle
nous avertit de la valeur inestimable de
Pheure. Non seulement Elle nous montre
une fois de plus notre veritable but, mais
parce que Involution nous jette en avant,
Elle nous avertit du danger qui nous menace.
Car si Phomme, dans son ascension scien-
tifique, perd de vue un seul instant son Crea-
teur, son Vrai But, la consequence de son
egarement sera son aneantissement. Pour
poursuivre sans danger pour lui et ses sem-
blables cette ascension dans la connaissance,
il apparait a Pevidence, que sa moralite doit
se purifier de plus en plus, sa noblesse s'elever
toujours. Ces paroles de Shoghi Effendi rep-
resentent magistralement Petat d'aujourd'hui
(lettre de mars 1936) : "La recrudescence de
Pintolerance religieuse, de Panimosite raciale,
de Parrogance nationaliste. Les signes qui
s'accumulent de Pegoi'sme, de la suspicion,
de la peur et de la fraude; Pextension du
terrorisme, de Pillegalite, de Pivrognerie et du
crime; la soif insatiable, la poursuite fievreuse
des vanites terrestres, de la richesse et des
plaisirs; le relachement des liens familiaux
et de la surveillance des enfants, Pabandon
aux penchants vers le luxe et la luxure, la
totale negligence des responsabilites que com-
porte le manage et la vague montante des
divorces qui s'ensuit. La decadence de la
musique et des arts; Pinfection de la littera-
ture et la corruption de la presse; Pinfluence
croissante de ces prophetes de decadence qui
denoncent la religion comme etant un opium
pour le peuple et qui, si on les laissaient f aire,
rameneraient Phumanite a la barbaric, au
chaos et a Pextinction finale, tels apparaissent
les traits principaux qui caracterisent une so-
ciete en decadence et qui doit renaitre ou
perir."
650
,fHE BAHA'f WORLD
Rien ne resume mieux la situation du
monde actuel que ces deux derniers mots de
notre Gardien: "renaitre ou perir." Cette
effroyable description de la decadence du
monde et de ses maux, dans un siecle ou,
cependant, les conditions du bonheur humain
n'ont jamais ete plus favorables, est faite
pour stupefier Pintellect, mais helas, ce tab-
leau est Pevidence meme. Qu'ont fait les
hommes de leurs decouvertes? . . . Ils ont
f abrique des alcools de plus en plus forts et
subtils, par eux, ils se detruisent le corps et
voilent leurs esprits, anihilant leurs deve-
loppements. Ils ont f abrique des objets de
luxe et ils se volent les uns les autres pour
en profiter. Ils ont mis a jour le precede ex-
traordinairement rapide d'information de la
presse et ils repandent dans leurs ecrits n'im-
porte quelle inutilite ou calomnie pour de
Pargent. Et cette enumeration incomplete est
suffisante pour comprendre combien Pheure
est grave pour Phumanite. L'obeissance aux
ordonnances de BahaVllah devient chaque
jour d'une urgence plus poignante lorsqu'on
pressent que toute cette folie, generate
d'egoismes et d'envies est a la veille de de-
chainer sur Phumanite la catastrophe la plus
epou van table: "Sachez, peuples du monde,"
prophetise BahaVllah, "qu'une calamite im-
prevue vous poursuit et qu'un chatiment
terrible vous attend. Nous avons fixe votre
heure. Et si, a cette heure marquee, vous
negligez de vous tourner vers Dieu, combien
dur sera alors le chatiment du Seigneur."
Nos faibles esprits ne peuvent encore
imaginer les consequences terribles engen-
drees par ces nombreuses annees de mate-
rialisme et d'immoralite. Mais il est une
image qui se forme facilement devant nos
yeux epouvantes: c'est Pimage lamentable
de Pemploi reserve* par les hommes a certaines
de leurs decouvertes: Pexplosif et le poison.
En ce jour, Paberration est si grande que
Phomme est pres de se detruire lui-meme
avec ses inventions. Destruction ou mort
est le mot final de cette effrayante tragedie.
Les plus grands travaux, les plus grandes d£-
penses sont consacrees aujourd'hui a parfaire
tous les instruments connus en prevision de
cette gigantesque tuerie. Tout ce que nous
avons constant pour la joie et la beaute: le
navire, Pautomobile, Pavion, la fuse'e, tout
cela, en un Eclair, peut etre transform^ en
engins qui iront porter la mine sur tout le
globe. Au lieu de chercher les proprietes des
corps nouveaux pour s'en servir pour le bien,
on cherche anxieusement si tel nouveau gaz
n'est pas un poison ide'al; au lieu d'identifier
les microbes des maladies afin de les aneantir,
on songe peut-etre a s'en servir pour les
repandre.
Telle est Peffroyable consequence de Pas-
cension de la science sans Pascension parallele
de la moralite, ou, suivant une expression
plus profonde et plus complete, sans haute
spirituality. Car la science, oeuvre de
Phomme, ni bonne ni mauvaise en elle-meme,
devient par son usage une source de perfec-
tionnement ou de degradation. L'homme,
jamais, ne doit perdre de vue sa raison
d'exister, cette raison qui est au-dessus de
tout: au-dessus de la vie materielle, au-
dessus de la science, au-dessus de Part: la
volonte de Dieu. Cette volonte est apparente
dans les lois de la creation. Si Phomme a fait
d'immenses progres dans la connaissance des
lois de Punivers, Petat actuel du monde
prouve qu'il ignore presque tout des lois
spirituelles, et c'est la son travail d'aujour-
d'hui et de demain. Personne n'echappe a
ces lois. Seuls dans la grande masse humaine,
quelques etres ont compris une partie de ces
lois, grace aux lumieres des Envoyes Divins.
Quelques autres, se sont joints a eux sans
comprendre pleinement, mais avec une foi
entiere dans le Divin Programme apporte
par BahaVllah, pour Punique raison de Sa
Parole: "C'est Dieu Qui M'envoit." Point de
meilleure raison d'ailleurs ne se trouve. Dieu
est le Medecin Supreme qui guerit nos maux
causes par nos fautes.
Mais le nombre de bonnes volonte's est
sans doute encore trop f aible pour que leurs
efforts donnent d^ja des resultats visibles.
Cependant le temps presse de plus en plus;
nous sentons autour de nous le reseau se res-
serrer, les difficultes se multiplier, Pobscurite
s'^tendre, P^garement s'accentuer. Plus poig-
nante est cette heure plus doit s'approfondir
la spiritualite de ceux dont la vie vient d'e-
clater en fleurs, brusquement, sous la grace
de BahdVllah. Car la tache est plus rude
pour s'^lever et agir purement en cette
periode trouble qu'en une epoque ou les
bases du Royaume Spirituel seraient d^ja £ta-
blies. Il faut, tout en construisant, vaincre
IMPORTANCE DE L'IDfiE SPIRITUELLE
651
ces forces mauvaises de destruction et de
mechancete qui rodent autour de nous, et
aussi cette inertie, ou encore cette ignorance
qui ne sont pas des forces, mais-des poids
morts a entrainer. N'oublions jamais que
1'humanite est une et que tous doivent entrer
dans le meme troupeau. Nous sommes tous
solidaires; le bonheur complet du monde com-
porte la purete de tous et pas seulement
celle de quelques-uns. Tant qu'il demeurera
des etres injustement malheureux, des etres
mediants ou ignorants, les autres n'attein-
dront jamais au bonheur sans melange.
"Vous etes les feuilles d'un meme arbre," dit
Baha'u'llah. Un arbre est-il sain et beau si
les trois quarts de ses feuilles sont malades ou
rongees?
Si ardu le devoir, si rude 1'eflfort a f aire, le
succes complet n'est-il pas absolument cer-
tain puisque Baha'u'llah 1'affirme, puisqu'Il a
transforme toutes choses et tous ceux qui
L'acceptent?
"La brise qui souffle de la robe de ton Seig-
neur a parfume et renouvele toutes choses,"
dit-Il. "Chaque creature est desormais
pourvuc de toutes les virtualites dont elle est
susceptible." Quelles promesses infinies dans
ces paroles! Ne donnent-elles pas une hate
de mettre a jour ces virtualites nouvelles,
don de Baha'u'llah? Et encore: "Une vie
nouvelle travaille les peuples de la terre.
Hatez-vous de recueillir votre part de la
grace et de la misericorde divine en ce Jour
qui eclipse tous les autres jours crees."
Puis, le Maitre va jusqu'a nous donner des
precisions pour nous preservoir du desespoir
d'une attente trop longue. "Avant la fin du
present siecle, Porigine celeste du don mer-
veilleux que Dieu nous fait deviendra claire
et manifeste aux yeux de tous."
Aucun doute ne peut etre permis. II nous
faut puiser avec ardeur et amour a cette
source de grace apportee par Baha'u'llah,
source que nous sommes incapables encore
d'apprecier mais dont nous pouvons con-
cevoir Pimmensite par ces seuls mots: "Au-
jourd'hui, c'est le Jour de Dieu."
Poursuivant inlassablement notre instruc-
tion, notre cher Gardien decouvre encore
pour nous ce que sera la civilisation future
par notre travail. II ecrit: "Qui peut imagi-
ner l'e*levation qu'en se developpant une telle
civilisation peut atteindre? Qui saurait
mesurer les hauteurs auxquelles ^intelligence
humaine liberee de ses chaines est capable de
se hausser? Qui concevra les domaines que
1'esprit humain, vitalise par la ruisselante
lumiere de Baha'u'llah, ne peut manquer de
decouvrir?" (Lettre de Shoghi Effendi, mars
1936.)
Certes, si 1'humanite avait suivi plus tot
1'avertissement de ses Guides Divins, toute
cette souffrance d'aujourd'hui eut sans doute
ete evitee. La confiance eut pallie 1'igno-
rance. L'obe*issance aux ordonnances mo-
rales, avant de les comprendre, eut evite cette
doulourcuse experience des consequences
lointaines de nos pensees et de nos actes.
De notre terrible experience, se degagera
pour 1'avenir, cette sublime lee. on: les me-
naces de Dieu, a travers la Bible, les exhorta-
tions de Jesus-Christ dans les Evangiles, les
ordres de Muhammad dans le Qur'an, comme
aujourd'hui les ordonnances de Baha'u'llah,
sont le don de 1'amour de Dieu pour nous.
11 sait toutes choses. Mais II a donne a
rhomme la liberte de choisir, afin qu'il sache
aussi. II 1'appelle et 1'instruit par divers
moyens qui peuvent nous apparaitre comme
des menaces ou des punitions. Ce ne sont
que des avertissements pour empecher des
actes contraires aux lois dont les consequences
sont funestes a notre bonheur. Le jour ou
nous aurons compris profondement que Dieu
agit ainsi toujours uniquement par amour
pour nous, nous ne detournerons plus jamais
les yeux et le coeur de Sa Sainte Manifesta-
tion. Car nous saurons que Lui obeir avant
de comprendre est recevoir Son amour. Nous
saurons que cette confiance et cette obeis-
sance feront de notre vie bonheur et securite*,
avant de decouvrir par le travail et la science
le comment de Ses ordonnances. Nous re'ali-
serons enfin en nous cette e*ternelle et sublime
affirmation de Dieu: "Si ce n'etait pour toi,
Je n'aurais pas cree les cieux et la terre."
Aujourd'hui comme hier Dieu parle.
Hier, II dit: "II ne se fera ni tort ni dom-
mage sur toute ma montagne sainte, car la
terre sera remplie de la connaissance de
1'Eternel." (Esaie) Et aujourd'hui: "Voici
le jour ou rien ne sera plus visible que les
Splendeurs de la lumiere rayonnant de la
Face de ton Seigneur. En verite* toutes les
vieilles ames ont disparues, Nous avons appele
a 1'etre une creation nouvelle." (BahaVllah)
RACIAL AMITY IN AMERICA
AN HISTORICAL REVIEW
BY Louis G. GREGORY *
J.HE Sun of Truth, the Orb of Revelation
that is BahaVllah, appears in the realm of
being. Nothing is hid from the penetration
and light of His rays; no soil of human hearts
is neglected in cultivation; no veils of error
need dim the sight of the sincere; no problem
that has hitherto foiled even the wise now
needs remain to vex and perplex. Simplicity,
purity, potency, wisdom, concentration,
guidance, harmony, unity, universality — all
attributes and signs — are in the Creative
Word which brought the world into being
and it is that selfsame Word that now speaks
with a new culture and laws. It also gives
forth directions for its own application to
human needs. BahaVllah by the might of
both His teachings and life removed the
causes of difference in the Orient. He also
revealed His Great Tablet to the Americas,
illustrating His Providence of freedom for
all nations. It was during the days of His
Covenant, however, that His Faith began to
attract adherents in America, and 'Abdu'l-
Baha, its Center, began to apply the healing
and gladsome light of a new revelation to the
great continent of the West.
Among the early American pilgrims to the
Holy Land was Robert Turner, a Negro, who
accompanied the party of Mrs. Phoebe
Hearst. It was thus that the Master, had his
first personal touch with the American race
problem and his keen and kindly interest
begun, continued to the end. He gave many
instructions both public and private. He
showed most impressively to pilgrims of all
races His universal love. During His
American tour He addressed a number of
gatherings of the colored people and seemed
happiest when He saw the two races in co-
operation. He wisely interpreted one group
to the other and with the utmost love and
kindness pointed to the time when all discord
would cease and all superficial differences
vanish. This divine outpouring of knowl-
edge, although expressing but one reality, as
mortals classify knowledge, may fall into
three categories, the scientific, the social, and
the mystic.
This wisdom inspires deeper knowledge of
physics and a clearer grasp of all the phe-
nomena of nature. Does it not become evi-
dent that skin color is a slow but constant
variant even in an individual as it is among
the masses of people? It may be duly ad-
mired, but not over-prized. Color is not
inherent in surfaces but in light. Pure; light
contains all colors. Dafk surfaces receive
the light, a fact well known to the photog-
j^pher and to that Great One Who made the
pupil of the eye. Light surfaces refuse the
light, reflecting it back to us and we at-
tribute to the surface what is the innate
quality of the light. Make the lens blue and
all the surfaces appear blue. Withdraw the
light and all the surfaces lose their color.
People as a rule grow darker as they become
older, thus being able to receive more light.
The pallor of death followed soon by the
decoloration of the tomb comes at length for
each and all. As no one chooses his own
color at birth, whence either pride or shame
over a semblance that is fleeting? Among
the various peoples scattered over the earth
the amount of pigment lessens in higher
altitudes and grows in lower. Where is the
merit or demerit of all this? Certainly not
in the creatures who did not cause such a
spectacle. Color collapses as a test of both
ability and character. If ever a test of racial
differences it must be extremely and con-
veniently elastic to serve the world! A
blonde and a brunette are often found in
children of the same parentage. They are
none the less sisters. Have not groups large
652
RACIAL AMITY IN AMERICA
6*3
The grave of Thornton Chase, the first American Believer.
or small the same right to be varied? Shall
we make an optical illusion the cause of wide-
spread disturbance and ruin? Welcome the*-
vision of basic oneness to free our souls from
all such trammels. Sameness is dull. Variety
lends charm. The Pure One stresses the
color of service!
'Abdu'1-Baha envisioned a new sociology
for the world in general and America in par-
ticular. He invites the attention of social
workers to the oases rather than the deserts
of their environments and helps them to
extend the boundaries; He is able to make
all places fruitful. His is a wonderful cul-
ture of hearts and minds. As a preliminary
to the study of His teachings it may be
fitting to observe that the close contact of
two groups divided from each other by either
racial, religious or national traditions has
rarely if ever been happy. It has resulted
often in conquest, slavery, even extermina-
tion of one by the other. The Tasmanians
have completely disappeared. So have the
American Indians once in Haiti. The Ainu
of Japan are near extinction, showing what
may happen in ordinary human processes to
a white group who may contact a more
powerful yellow group. The Maori of New
Zealand although regarded ethnically as of
the same stock as their Aryan neighbors from
Europe, have been reduced, according to a
statement reported by K. R. Kehler, from a
million to sixty-five thousand. Glimpses of
the known continents during the last thou-
sands of years show continuous fermentation
and upheavals with no end in sight which
does not involve a change of human nature.
The American Negro, in striking contrast
to all this, has increased his numbers three-
fold during the seventy years of his freedom,
and his wealth, culture and influence in far
greater proportions. This amazing progress
indicates not only capacity and striving on
his own part but the aid and cooperation of
friendly whites. Yet despite all the good that
has been done as proving merit on the part
of both races, in the nation's internal devel-
opment there is no more lurid and tragic
chapter than that of race relations. It is to
this therefore that 'Abdu'1-Baha directs His
great thought, turning his searchlight upon
the national disease and prescribing with
marvellous wisdom the remedy. It is thus
that He summarizes the problem:
"The blacks bate the whites and the whites
distrust the blacks. You must overcome
654
THE BAHA'f WORLD
this by showing that you make no distinc-
tion. The end will be very unfortunate for
both if the differences are not removed." x
This diseased state of the body politic
brings from Him repeated warnings and He
lays the responsibility for its removal upon
both races. As the colored people were force-
fully expatriated and brought to America,
the situation arising imposes upon their ab-
ductors the obligation to be fair and just.
Responsibility rightly goes with power. Kind-
ness and generosity are its ornaments. While
the colored people as a minority have less
strength, they are not thereby freed from the
duty of striving to heal the breaches of hu-
manity. The plumb line suspended near a
mountain is attracted out of its plumb; but
the plumb also attracts, however impercep-
tibly, the mountain. Smaller social groups
can influence larger ones, especially if they
use their talents in ways prompted by
Guidance.
The gravity of all the worlds is love and
whoever learns to love and praise people for
whatever tokens of the Creator they show
has discovered an impregnable fortress of
strength. The Master's gentle injunction to
the colored race is to remember the heroic
sacrifices of the whites in the Civil War
which led to the freedom of the colored
people and to accord due praise for a service
which was so great an incentive to freedom
throughout the world. He has also mentioned
the fact that the colored race in America
enjoy educational advantages denied those in
Africa, resulting in the progress of the former
and the backwardness of the latter. Subtle
and powerful is the effect of praise. It is
acceptable to God and it gladdens the heart
of man. The praise mentioned here is of
course not flattery, which has a bad motive
and selfish foundation. But praise of the
good in man is in reality praise of God, since
all good comes from the one Source. Sin-
cerely and wisely used it favorably influences
all human relations inspiring movement to
a higher plane.
'Abdu'1-Baha teaches that "Colors are
phenomenal; while the realities of men are
essence. When there exists unity of the es-
sence what power has the phenomenal?
When the Light of Reality is shining what
power has the darkness of the unreal?"
He is the first to enlighten us as to the
many points of agreement between the races
and which outweigh so greatly the one point
of difference, color, relatively unimportant
and which assuredly cannot always be a
cause of estrangement.
Among His more mystical teachings is the
explanation of the creation of man in the
divine image and likeness as a station which
refers to the virtues of his inner and true
being. His annulment of superficial barriers
and promise that the confirmations of the
Holy Spirit will aid all those who labor for
conciliation of the races give a bedrock of
assurance.
'Abdu'l-Baha outpoured His great love
and wisdom, with race amity in view, upon
various gatherings. He told the story of the
wonderful fidelity, heroism and courage of
Isfandiar, the colored friend who served
Baha'u'llah under the most perilous condi-
tions. This meeting was in the home of
white friends and was largely attended by the
colored. At another meeting in a colored
home largely attended by whites He com-
pared the colored to rubies and sapphires and
the whites to diamonds and pearls, showing
how their harmony would adorn humanity
and elevate the nation. He explained, at a
meeting of the Bethel Literary and Historical
Society, the divine nature of science and
how it might be used for the unity of the
world. Other occasions favored by Him
were at Hull House in Chicago, founded by
Jane Addams, and the National Association
for the Advancement of the Colored People
at their fourth annual gathering held in the
same city. In these meetings He received
most enthusiastic responses and made his au-
diences divinely happy. But perhaps the most
powerful and impressive of all His utter-
ances on race relations was that at Howard
University, Washington, D. C., the premier
institution for the higher education of the
colored, although by its charter open to all
races. On this extraordinary occasion its
chapel was filled with faculty, students and a
large number of visitors, both races mingling.
The Master on this occasion went to the
heart of the race problem. It was a talk
which combined simplicity, beautiful image-
ry, noble idealism and practical application
1 'Akk* Lights, p. 11,
RACIAL AMITY IN AMERICA
655
with a spiritual atmosphere which raised His
hearers to a pitch of joyous enthusiasm. The
applause which followed was so long con-
tinued that this marvellous speaker felt
moved to speak briefly a second time, assur-
ing that a time would eventually come when
all differences would fade. It appeared to be
His wish that the problem of races in
America should be worked out along lines
stated in this address and in view of its ex-
treme importance it should not only be read
but studied.1
FIRST CONVENTION
It was following His return to the Holy
Land, however, and after the world war that
'Abdu'1-Baha set in motion a plan that was
to bring the races together, attract the at-
tention of the country, enlist the aid of
famous and influential people and have a far-
reaching effect upon the destiny of the nation
itself. This was the first convention for
amity between the races and He placed its
responsibility entirely in the hands of one of
his most devoted American followers, Mrs.
Agnes S. Parsons, whom He lovingly called
His daughter. Her instructions were quite
brief. The details she was free to work out
with people of her selection to aid. Nothing
daunted through her faith by the magnitude
of this task, this heroine of God who had high
rank in the social life of Washington re-
turned from her pilgrimage and went prayer-
fully to work. She took as consultants the
local Spiritual Assembly and a few personal
friends, gradually widening the circle.
Howard University responded in a way that
showed the fruitage of seed sown by the
Master nine years before. There were flow-
ers and beautiful songs, the best musicians
of the city lending their skill. The pub-
licity was of the best with Martha Root at
the helm.
The North and the South, Orient and
Occident, colored and white mingled in a
picturesque setting of five sessions over a
period of three days. The First Congrega-
tional Church which in past years had wel-
comed so many liberal and progressive groups
opened its doors for all sessions. Among the
distinguished people who aided this endeavor
were Rev. Dr. Jason Noble Pierce; Hon.
Moses E. Clapp, former Senator from Ne-
braska; Senator Samuel Shortridge of Cali-
fornia; C. Lee Cooke, famous southern busi-
ness man; Dr. Alain Locke; Hon. Martin B*
Madden, Congressman from Illinois; Alfred
W. Martin, president of the Ethical Culture
Society; William H. Randall; Albert Vail;
Prof. George W. Cook; Mrs. Coralie Frank-
lin Cook; Howard MacNutt; Mountfort
Mills; Roy C. Wilhelm; Jinab-i-Faolil-
i-Mazindarani of fran and Lieut. Gen-
eral Nelson A. Miles, commanding the
American army. Certainly not less impor-
tant was that little band of silent workers
whose deeds were so apparent and whose
names are doubtless better known in Higher
Worlds.
The specific purpose of this initial con-
vention was race understanding; but it also
served to convey the Baha'i teachings to the
nation's capital and many interests centered
there and radiating therefrom. Eloquent
addresses, large audiences, responding not
only to the wide press notices but the cir-
culation of nineteen thousand programs,
ideal weather and an atmosphere that was
spiritual and heavenly could have but an ex-
traordinary effect. The workers had unusual
experiences and the spirit of reconciliation
seemed to sweep the city. This convention
had the fervent approval of the President of
the United States although officially he took
no part in it. The gratitude of the chief
executive may be well understood when it is
recalled that but a short time before, that
historic city had been violently disturbed by
a race riot fatal to many. Now the cleans-
ing and purifying power of the Holy Spirit
was at work bringing harmony and peace to
those who had passed through the shadows
of death. This esoteric power of the Baha'i
Faith was thus illustrated. It enabled a few
devoted believers to perform a herculean
task.
This convention for sustained and inter-
esting features seemed to make a unique
record. But what was by far its most im-
pressive event was the delivery of the mes-
sage of 'Abdu'1-Baha, which He had in-
trusted to Mountfort Mills, a recent pilgrim
to Haifa and by whom it was conveyed
with admirable wisdom and tact. It was as
follows:
1 See Compilation, The Oneness of Humanity*
656
THE BAHA'f WORLD
"Say to this convention that never since
the beginning of time has one more important
been held. This convention stands for the
oneness of humanity; it will become the
cause of the enlightenment of America. It
will9 if wisely managed and continued, check
the deadly struggle between these races which
otherwise will inevitably break out"
The importance thus attached to this great
movement by such an authority shows the
vast potentialities of the race amity work
and the vital need of its continuance. The
Words of Baha'u'llah and of 'Abdu'1-Bahd
appearing upon the program, the Baha'i
prayers used at each session, the universal
principles of the Faith proclaimed by Baha'i
speakers, the humanitarian ideals expressed
by eminent speakers who came to aid, the
singing of the Baha'i hymn, "Great Day of
God," the assembling and cooperating of two
groups traditionally separated and the sub-
lime faith and courage shown by the sponsor
and her cohort of workers lifted the matter
of race relations to a plane never before con-
templated by those who had hitherto felt its
burdens.
Under the leadership and through the sacri-
fices of the Baha'is of Washington three
other amity conventions in after years were
held. The Mount Pleasant Congregational
Church opened its doors for two of these con-
ferences and the Play-house in whole or part
for the other. Christians, Jews, Baha'is,
people of various races mingled in joyous and
serviceable array and the reality of religion
shone forth. In this way, as Baha'u'llah
reveals:
"Religion is a manifest light and a strong
fortress for the protection and tranquillity
of the people of the world"
Also as 'Abdu'1-Baha says:
"There is only one love which is unlimited
and divine, and that is the love which comes
with the breath of the Holy Spirit — the love
of God — which breaks all barriers and sweeps
all before it."
Eventually the Washington friends con-
tinued their race amity work in another form
by organizing an interracial discussion group
which continued for many years and did a
very distinctive service, both by its activities
and its fame as the incarnation of a bright
ray of hope amid scenes where racial an-
tagonism was traditionally rife. Stanwood
Cobb, Mariam Haney, Coralie F. Cook and
Agnes S. Parsons were active leaders in this
work. An interesting after effect of the
first amity convention was the stimulus it
gave to orthodox people, who started the
organization of interracial committees very
soon thereafter.
SPRINGFIELD
The second city to respond to the urgent
call of the Master was Springfield, Mass.,
where at the time there were but three
Baha'is, one of whom was an itinerant
teacher. They consulted and first of all
communicated by cable with 'Abdu'1-Baha,
telling their wish to hold a convention for
amity. They were assured that God would
confirm their labor of love. These friends
were Roy Williams, Olive Kretz and Grace
Decker. Going to the aid of them were
three more experienced Baha'is, William H.
Randall and Alfred E. Lunt of Boston and
Dr. Zia M. Bagdadi of Chicago. The local
workers who cooperated included three
clergymen, a rabbi, the mayor of Spring-
field and another public man of prominence.
The "Springfield Republican," one of the
most powerful newspapers of New England,
gave the best publicity. The date of the two
sessions was December 5 and 6, 1921, and the
city high school auditorium was well filled
with those who received both instruction and
entertainment. The work left a sweet spirit
in Springfield. Perhaps this was best ex-
pressed by Rev. Neil McPherson, a venerable
clergyman who with Dr. W. N. DeBerry
and Rev. A. L. Boulden took part, and a
year or more afterward said, "The Baha'i
teachings are all love!"
NEW YORK
The next city to undertake this important
service was the metropolis of the country,
New York. The date of this public con-
ference devoted to interracial harmony was
the period March 28 to 30, 1924. The Spirit-
ual Assembly unobtrusively led with the
following participating groups: The Com-
munity Church; the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People; the
National Urban League; the Committee on
International Cooperation of the League of
RACIAL AMITY IN AMERICA
657
Women Voters and the organization known
as America in the Making. The speakers
were Mountfort Mills, Rabbi Stephen S.
Wise, Dr. Alain Locke, James Weldon John-
son, Ruth Morgan, John Finley, Dr. John
Herman Randall, Lucius Porter, Jane
Addams and Stephen P. Duggan. The plan
was to attract people of other races as well
as the colored and white. One of the best
features of the program was the address of
Dr. Franz Boas of Columbia University, who
by scientific deductions appeared to lay waste
the foundations of race prejudice. Quota-
tions from the Words of Baha'u'llah and
'Abdu'1-Baha were creative and impressive.
This praiseworthy effort showed the possibil-
ities of the work and led to a brilliant suc-
cession of similar conferences, interracial din-
ners and fellowship meetings through the
years, under" the Banner of the Greatest
Name and connecting Harlem, Manhattan
and Brooklyn, sections of New York. The
names of Mary Hanford Ford, Ludmila
Bechtold, Saffa Kinney, Mr. and Mrs. E. R.
Mathews, Annie K. Lewis, Wandeyne La-
Farge, W. E. B. DuBois, A. Philip Randolph,
Samuel Allan, James H. Hubert, Juliet
Thompson, Harlan F. Ober, Dr. Genevieve
Coy, Horace Holley, Hopper Harris, Elsa
Russell, Hubert Dulany and others appear in
these various plans with the added inspiration
of beautiful music. Especially outstanding
for teaching and nationalizing the fame and
light of the Faith was the dinner given by
the National Race Amity Committee through
the generosity of Mr. and Mrs. E. R.
Mathews, to the leaders of the New York
Urban League and the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored People.
This gala event assembled about one hundred
and fifty prominent people in the banquet
hall of one of the large hotels. The Baha'i
service, fine repast, unique musical program,
joint chairmanship of a white with a colored
teacher, number of addresses limited to a few
minutes, wide publicity, genial wit and
humor and what seemed the special favor of
the Almighty made this occasion one of great
significance. All who attended seemed grate-
ful and happy. It harmonized some who
had long been discordant, even though in
organizations working for a common end.
Truly those who serve reality obtain results.
PHILADELPHIA
Philadelphia was the fourth city to respond
to the idea. The Society of Friends, popu-
larly better known by the derisive title of
Quakers, applied to them centuries ago be-
cause of their opposition to warfare, gave
hearty cooperation to the Baha'i community,
which made great sacrifices to present its
ideals. The Baha'is on their part did a greater
service for the Friends. This convention
was the first to indicate by announcement
that it was wholly under Baha'i auspices.
An appeal to the public read in part as
follows :
"All humanity should reflect the love of
God for all His children. Hatred between
races must be removed if we are to follow
God's Word. A movement to fulfill the
greatest law of Christ as well as to follow
the Light of Knowledge revealed in our day
is the convention for amity between the
white and colored races, Witherspoon Hall,
October 22 to 23, 1924. The aim is to re-
move the gloom of conflict by the Light of
spirituality. For only Divine Teachings can
create harmony where human traditions have
long established discord."
It had so happened that the Baha'is and
the Society of Friends at the same time, as
moved by one Spirit, had planned interracial
conferences. As the dates selected were con-
tiguous but not conflicting, each agreed to
boost the spiritual enterprise of the other as
well as its own. The result was phenomenal
success for both. The Baha'i conference
illustrated happily, as announced on the pro-
gram, that thrilling statement of 'Abdu'l-
Baha:
"This is a new cycle of human power. All
the horizons of the world are luminous. It is
the hour of the unity of the sons of men and
the drawing together of all races and all
classes.99
Two large and exceptionally fine audi-
ences Attended and among those listed as
speakers and workers, besides the local com-
munity, were Louise D. Boyle, Horace Hol-
ley, Dr. Herbert E. Benton of the Universal-
ist Church, Agnes L. Tierney of the Society
of Friends, Leslie Pinckney Hill, Albert Vail,
Dr. Zia M. Bagdadi, Dr. John M. Henderson
of the African M. E. Church, Dr. Alain
658
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Locke, Judge John M. Patterson and Hooper"
Harris. The goal of amity was nobly won. *
Philadelphia Baha'is improved Friendship
Week to hold their second amity conference
February 14, 1930, with the subjects, "How
to Improve Race Relations," "New Proofs of
the Oneness of Mankind," "A Brotherhood
Which Is Eternal," "A New Universal
Brotherhood" and "God's Wonderful Plan
for Humanity," and speakers among those
who had served previous conferences.
DAYTON
Dayton, Ohio, the "Gem City," was the
fifth to express the need of an amity confer-
ence and to set itself a task which seemed far
out of proportion to the strength of its two
resident Baha'is. This was during that mem-
orable year for amity congresses, 1927.
Joined by two traveling teachers, the little
group improved the momentum of a sched-
uled world unity conference to append an
amity conference as its first session. Several
liberal organizations were rallied to their sup-
port and Wilberforce University, a few miles
distant at Xenia, gave the services of its
highly trained Glee Club. This meeting was
successful in promoting good will, spreading
the fame of the Faith and seed sowing in
very promising soil, as students are aspiring
and have a future. The home in Xenia of
Mrs. Ada M. Young, widow of the late Col.
Charles Young, U. S. A., from this time be-
came a center for Baha'i activities in that
section, with many interracial meetings and
addresses at Wilberforce University to fol-
low. The Dayton Baha'is, recruited in num-
bers, held a second amity conference April
12, 1929, using the services of Prof. M. N.
Chatterjee of Antioch College and a Baha'i
speaker, with Josef McCoy, versatile and ac-
complished, as both entertainer and chair-
man. The names of Frances Fales, Helen
McVey, Josef and Helen McCoy, Ada M.
Young and Sylvia Margolis will be insepara-
bly linked with the early evolution of the
Baha'i Faith in Dayton, which now has the
blessing of a spiritual assembly.
GREEN ACRE
Race amity conferences at Green Acre, the
summer colony of the Baha'is in Maine, cover
the decade beginning 1927. More than by
any other great event since the passing of the
Master, they were called into being by the
moving eloquence of Shoghi ErTendi, Guard-
ian of the Baha'i Faith, in his letter of April
12, 1927, to the National Spiritual Assem-
bly. This letter came not long after the pil-
grimage of a colored Baha'i, Mrs. S. E. J.
Oglesby of Boston, to the Holy Shrines at
'Akka and Haifa, she being the third of that
race to make the pilgrimage. Like those pre-
ceding her she received a warm welcome,
meeting Shoghi Effendi and other members
of the Holy Household. The letter of the
Guardian mentions with approval the activi-
ties of the newly appointed National Racial
Amity Committee and is a powerful por-
trayal of the needs of the work. The con-
ferences began at this historic spot under
most favorable conditions, having in addi-
tion to the seasoned workers of other con-
ferences, the aid of Ruhi EfFendi Afnan, a
grandson of 'Abdu'1-Baha visiting America.
Among others were Devere Allen, editor of
"The World Tomorrow," Dr. Samuel Mc-
Comb, founder of the Emanuel Movement,
Rev. William Safford Jones, Unitarian cler-
gyman and Mesdames Edwina Powell and
S. E. J. Oglesby, recent pilgrims to 'Akka.
Some themes in conferences during the dec-
ade follow: "The New White Man"; "The
New Negro"; "A New Vision of Human
Oneness"; "Superior Men: The Lovers of
Mankind"; "The Message of the Orient";
"Welcome!"; "The Message of the Negro
Spiritual"; "The Practice of the Heavenly
Virtues"; "The Temple of God: Its Light of
Unity"; "The Oneness of Humanity";
"How the Supreme World Illumines This
World"; "Making the World Better";
"Progress toward Racial Understanding";
"The Negro's Gift to Civilization";
"Youth's Amity Forum"; "Race Prejudice
and Modern Civilization"; "Better Race Re-
lations"; "Scientific and Spiritual Proofs of
Human Oneness"; "Negro Civilization in
Ancient Africa"; "How to Improve Race
Relations"; "The Spirit's Fire of Attrac-
tion"; "The Great American Liberator";
"Economics and Race Relations"; "Negro
Scientists Overcome Prejudice"; "Racial
Amity and World Peace"; "A World Com-
munity"; "The Psychology of Prejudice."
Among the workers and speakers of this
RACIAL AMITY IN AMERICA
659
fruitful period may be mentioned: William
H. Randall; Alfred E. Lunt; Dr. Leslie
Pinckney Hill; Horace Holley; Juliet
Thompson; Dr. Glenn A. Shook; F. St.
George Spendlovc; Hon. F. W. Hartford;
Dr. Albert D. Heist; Doris McKay; James
H. Hubert; May Maxwell; Paul Haney;
Samuel A. Allen; Reginald G. Barrow; Al-
bert Vail; Robert W. Bagnall; Agnes S. Par-
sons; Loulie A. Mathews; Ludmila Bechtold;
Rev. H. B. Harris; Prof. William Leo Hans-
berry; Dr. Walter B. Guy; Rev. Harry B.
Taylor; Zlypha O. Mapp; Annie K. Lewis;
Louise N. Thompson; Philip A. Marangella;
Keith Ransom-Kehler; Harlan F. Ober; Grace
Ober; Saffa Kinney; Orcella Rexford; Mary
Hanford Ford; Elizabeth Greenleaf; Max
Yergan; Stanwood Cobb; Judge Edward H.
Adams; Siegfried Schopflocher; Carl Cart-
wright; Prof. J. S. Carter Troop; Mynta B.
Trotman; Dr. T. E. A. McCurdy; Dorothy
Richardson; Maxwell Miller; Mary Coristine;
Sherley Graham; Dr. Genevieve Coy; George
W. Goodman; Howard and Mabel Ives and
Ruhiyyih Khanum. It is with admiration
and gratitude that this mention is made of
but a few of those who have shared their
treasures of mind and heart to bring about
racial harmony and peace. A special tribute
seems due to the last mentioned, Ruhiyyih
Khanum, nee Mary Maxwell, now the con-
sort of our noble Guardian. She was an am-
ity worker from her earliest years, being
without race consciousness in the selection of
her friends and showing a maturity rarely
found in one so young. She seemed always
to grasp so subtle and profound a principle
as the oneness of humanity with all its impli-
cations. While her frank, courageous and
winsome influence will be missed in the West
by young and old, let us hope that her
prayers at the Holy Shrines in our behalf will
be even more effective in shaping the destiny
of the work she loves.
Praise belongs also to the spiritual com-
munities of Eliot and Portsmouth, to Boston
friends and to Mrs. Lorol Schopflocher for
their continued and delightful hospitality
during the years, a pleasing and impressive
feature of the amity work at Green Acre.
These conferences have been cherished by the
friends and have always ranked high among
the season's attractions, pouring out their
Scientific and spiritual knowledge, beaming
hope, cultivating talents, broadening ho-
rizons, overcoming prejudices, diffusing
through the descent of bounty the divine
fragrances and heralding the great message
of the Manifestation of God.
CHICAGO
Chicago gave setting to a brilliant amity
conference under date of January 22, 1928.
Its purpose was stated as improvement of
race relations and strengthening friendships.
This great city compared its own location to
the center of the continent and its heart.
The invitation was thus extended to cooper-
ating friends to purify the heart that love
and kindness might happily flow through it
to all the arteries of the American continent.
The response to this invitation filled with an
exceptionally fine audience the large audi-
torium of Masonic Temple. Music and Ba-
ha'i prayers brought a spiritual atmosphere
to the gathering over which Albert Vail pre-
sided in his usually eloquent way. Follow-
ing a prayer by Rev. Harold Kingsley of the
Liberty Congregational Church were three
addresses.
Prof. A. Eustace Haydon, teacher of Com-
parative Religions at the University of Chi-
cago, said that men must be real friends, not
on the basis of words but deeds. He advo-
cated a reorganization of the social structure
and a unity based upon loyalty to common
ideals. He held that loyalty on a spiritual
plane enriches and beautifies.
The second speaker, a representative of the
colored race, presented some of the Baha'i
teachings on the overcoming of prejudices.
As ignorance caused men to be narrow, those
influences which had a tendency to broaden
the horizons should be carefully noted.
Travel, trade and commerce and education
are playing their part in the expansion of
men's minds through a better acquaintance.
But the only power that will completely
make a conquest of prejudice is the reality of
religion. This led us to the great flood of
Light through the Revelation of Baha'u'llah.
Rabbi Louis Mann of Sinai Temple and
also a professor at the University of Chicago,
made a brilliant address frequently inter-
rupted by applause, on the Oneness of Man-
kind. He declared that God in His Holy
660
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Book speaks of man, not of races, colors or
nationalities, not of Jews or Christians. He
deplored the fact that religious people so
often allow business people to be far cleverer,
in that the latter ignore racial and class limi-
tations when looking for trade. Shall we do
less when trying to serve God? Love and
virtues have at times brought Jew and Chris-
tian together and will establish the unity of
mankind. He expressed admiration for the
Baha'is and his willingness to serve them at
any time. The chairman told an interesting
story of how a colored boy to whom white
boys were hostile during the race riot had
won them to friendliness by telling them the
teaching wherein the Master had compared
the different races to the varied flowers grow-
ing side by side in the same garden. The
spirit won!
Chicago's amity activities continued over
a number of years with monthly meetings
resulting in a series of brilliant reports. The
guidance of the Spiritual Assembly and the
loving service put into the work by Rachel
O. North, Fanny Lesch, Shelley N. Parker,
Philip R. Savilles, Vivien Wesson and others
is truly worthy of great admiration and
praise.
MONTREAL
The Baha'is of Montreal, Canada, ampli-
fied their record of service to humanity by
their amity convention of February 11 and
12, 1928. They expressed the hope that their
stand in this regard would be emulated by all
the cities of America. The artistic program
bore quotations from the Words of Moses,
Jesus, Bahi'u'llih and 'Abdu'1-Baha. The
Young Men's Christian Association, Chan-
ning Hall and the Union Congregational
Church, colored, gave their cooperation.
Hon. Agnes MacPhail, the first and only
woman member of the Canadian Parliament
and a strong advocate of peace, was the first
speaker. She seemed much pleased with the
Baha'i writings, demonstrating a most
friendly spirit. Other contributors were Mr.
and Mrs. W. S. Maxwell, Rev. Laurence
Clare, Rev. Charles Este, Dr. E. M. Best and
F. St. George Spendlove. The three meet-
ings had appreciative audiences, a sign of the
growing consciousness of unity. It is inter-
esting to note that the only colored church
of that great city and which had a part in
this conference is made up of people of vari-
ous denominations drawn together and that
two of its successive pastors have been taught
the Baha'i Faith by that center. The con-
tacts of the Baha'is with the students of
McGill University are also a bright sign of
promise. One of them, Miss Mathews of
Louisville, Ky., after her return home was
instrumental in arranging for a Baha'i lec-
ture which was the means of giving the mes-
sage to many hundreds of students. The
ardent Baha'i love and understanding which
these friends put into service has far-reach-
ing results.
URBANA, ILL.
Urbana, seat of the great University of
Illinois, is a fine strategic center for Baha'i
activity. Over a period of many years it has
been active and successful in amity work,
touching the lives of many groups within
range. While such work is continuous, a
special amity conference was arranged for
May 6, 1928. The music was planned by
Mrs. F. M. Leslie and drew upon Negro spir-
ituals largely. Edwin W. Mattoon served as
chairman. Dr. W. Russell Tylor of the uni-
versity's department of sociology was the
principal speaker and went elaborately into a
scientific study of humanity in races, giving
proofs of its essential unity but recommend-
ing a wise approach to so complicated a prob-
lem. This was followed by another speaker
with the Baha'i teachings. The place of
meeting, Lincoln Hall of the university,
gave a classic setting to this conference and
its spirit was most refreshing. This Baha'i
community, which is quite influential, has
arranged both within and without the uni-
versity many meetings for visiting Baha'i
teachers.
WlLMETTE
The Baha'i center of Wilmette has the
bounty of close proximity to the Mashriqu'l-
Adhkar which some of its members serve.
They perform a valued aid for racial amity
by their charming courtesy and kindness to
visitors of all races. Outstanding and dis-
tinguished were the services of their fellow
member, Dr. Zia M. Bagdldi, an associate for
many years. The son of Mustaf* Bagd£di,
RACIAL AMITY IN AMERICA
661
one of the most renowned and useful of the
Oriental friends, he was the sole Baha'i of
the Occident whose life touched successively
three great leaders of the Faith. As a child
of three in the Holy Presence of Baha'u'llah
he was given by Him his name, Zia, meaning
Light. As a student at Beirut he went
through perilous days of devotion and was
sent to America by 'Abdu'l-Baha, Whom he
knew so well and loved so devotedly. His
loyalty to the administrative order created
by the Will, his great personal love for
Shoghi Etfendi arc jewels of memory to those
who knew him. His courage was leonine in
demonstrating the oneness of humanity. He
met his fellow beings on the basis of merit
and attraction to the Faith and this ideal he
lived in his business, social and professional
life, whether East or West, whether he la-
bored in Chicago or the far South. Ever re-
membered will be his cool courage in going
to the rescue of the colored Baha'is during
the race riot when such an undertaking,
through the tying up of traffic, meant great
expense to one of modest means and journey-
ing to another section of the city incurred
the peril of almost sure death. His passing
in the fullness of his powers fills his friends
with grief; but his many virtues are an orna-
ment to the world which leave a fadeless
mark. Under this intrepid leadership the
Baha'is of Wilmette arranged a succession of
gatherings in the home of Dr. and Mrs. Bag-
dadi, the Bourgeois studio and in the founda-
tion of the Temple. They also aided and in-
spired similar efforts in the neighboring city
of Evanston, carrying the campaign of di-
vine education into the Northwestern Uni-
versity through the class in Comparative
Religions and elsewhere stimulating such
interest as resulted in a race amity meeting
addressed by the mayor of the city, the
former Vice-President of the United States,
Gen. Charles Dawes, and other notables.
The meeting of those of different races,
colors and social ranks was the means of con-
firmation and power to the workers.
VARIOUS CITIES
The year 1927 saw the genial fires of racial
amity cheering and heartening various cities.
Geneva, N. Y., in the dead of winter and de-
spite the accident of meeting in a hall that
was not heated, where heavy wraps were nec-
essary to comfort, carried through a meeting
for this noble purpose which all present
enjoyed, divine enthusiasm entering hearts
warmed by the Fires of God and minds illu-
mined by the signs of reality. At Ports-
mouth, N. H., the friends gave glad welcome
to Mabel Ives who traveled a long distance to
sound the note of interracial accord in the
friendly atmosphere of the Women's Club
and with the association of beautiful music.
Rochester, N. Y., a city famous for its tradi-
tions of freedom, held a conference that was
highly successful under the banner of the
Greatest Name. Doris McKay, thoroughly
alive to the idea, made an impressive chair-
man. A remarkable address was made by
Rev. Raymond Prior Sanford, executive pas-
tor of the Brick Church. It was a stirring
account of the melting pot of racial an-
tipathies during the period following the
world war and a most powerful plea for
the brotherhood that is real. This was fol-
lowed by a Baha'i address in which both
scientific and spiritual proofs were given.
This conference inspired a column's re-
port in the leading journal of that city,
the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. It
was most friendly and favorable to the
Cause.
BOSTON
Boston, among the early cities to become
active, inaugurated meetings which were to
be extended over a period of years with a
brilliant gathering during November, 1927.
Dorothy Richardson, contralto, and George
A. Fernandez, tenor, gave a festival of song.
Dr. John Herman Randall spoke most elo-
quently upon "The Growing Appreciation
between Races." A second address was de-
livered by William Stanley Braithwaite, fa-
mous colored poet, literary critic and anthol-
ogist, who said that he felt moved by a high
sense of duty to be present on such an occa-
sion. The educational and spiritual value of
this and the series of meetings that followed
was to make the Boston friends wish entirely
to forget color as a sign separating mortals.
A. Philip Randolph, industrial leader, was
one of the most polished and brilliant speak-
ers at other meetings, all of which had un-
usual value.
662
THE BAHA'f WORLD
DETROIT
The friends in Detroit under the rallying
cry, "New Views on an Old, but Unsolved
Human Problem," raised the standard of
unity in a conference March 14, 1929, using
the auditorium of the Federation of Women's
Clubs. Mrs. Philomene Altman, represent-
ing the Bahd'is, presided and the speakers
were Rabbi Leon Fram, Rev. Frank Adams
and Rev. Augustus P. Record. Their sub-
jects were respectively, "The Search for
Brotherhood," "The Chief Obstacle to World
Unity" and "The New Internationalism."
These religious leaders represented progres-
sive schools and their brief and eloquent ad-
dresses indicated a search for reality. Under
the caption, "Vision of the New Age," their
attention and that of the audience was fo-
cussed upon the ideals and message of the
Baha'i teachings. It proved a profitable and
enjoyable evening for each and all. Other
efforts of a like nature were made during the
years following, to have the races know each
other; this in cooperation with the National
Racial Amity Committee. The services of
these friends are unforgettable.
ATLANTIC CITY
One of the most remarkable of the racial
amity conferences was that of Atlantic City,
N. J., in that it had but one active Baha'i
worker on the field and was opposed by the
orthodox among the clergy, an attitude
which unfavorably affected the press. The
date of this conference was April 19, 1931,
and not less than twelve organizations of the
island city were brought into cooperation in
furtherance of its object. These were: The
Society of Friends, the Young Men's and
Young Women's Christian Associations, four
churches, two schools, the Colored Board of
Trade, the Unity Truth Center and the Jew-
ish Community Center. The thought of the
conference was directed into Baha'i channels
and the Baha'i s of Philadelphia cooperated by
coming and giving the message. A high note
was struck in fellowship in a way to impress
many of the noblest people of the city, about
four hundred of whom attended. It was said
to be by far the best meeting of its kind ever
there attempted and it came at a time when
race relations were much disturbed with
blows struck at economic values. Other in-
terracial committees had mustered but a
feeble response. There was an outpouring
of love and good will in the utterances of
noble speakers from both groups, one of the
most eloquent of whom was a former south-
ern judge. Those who had heard the teach-
ings of old and those to whom the good news
came for the first time were alike charmed
by the spell of the hour. The printed pro-
gram carried lines composed by two friends:
O Temple of the living Word
Through Whom the universe is stirred!
Eternal Presence hid from sight
By countless veils of dazzling Light,
Yet viewed by those in every clime
Who penetrate the clouds of time,
Prepared with inner eye and ear
The PROMISED ONE to see and hear:
Let Thy sweet concord fill man's heart
And all the din of strife depart!
Deign Thou our peaceful aims to bless;
Make real our vision; grant success!
Creative Source of ancient Power
Let brotherhood adorn this hour!
The place of meeting was the great audi-
torium and convention hall on the board-
walk and the program carried Words of
Baha'u'llah: "Peace be to those who follow
Guidance"; also those of 'Abdu'1-Baha: "The
lovers of mankind, these are the superior men
of whatever race, class or color they may be."
PITTSBURGH
Pittsburgh, Pa., one of the great cities
visited by 'Abdu'1-Baha, arranged a confer-
ence October 25 to 27, 1931, with three ses-
sions. The Central Young Men's Christian
Association and the Oakland Methodist
Church cooperated with the plan by giving
the use of their auditoriums and helping the
attendance. The other place of meeting was
the Frick Training School. A Baha'i chair-
man and speaker served each session. Other
workers were a rabbi, five clergymen and
two social workers. An impressive link with
the past was Mrs. Walter S. Buchanan, whose
distinguished father, the late Dr. W. H.
Councill of Alabama, as president of its Nor-
mal School for colored students had a vision
of interracial friendliness and cooperation
RACIAL AMITY IN AMERICA
663
and had been its eloquent advocate at a time
when few believed it possible. He did not
live to hear the Baha'i message, but it seemed
a blessing to his memory that his daughter
and son-in-law should, hearing it, have be-
come confirmed believers and have a part in
this conference.
The program was attractive in its artistic
beauty and statement of the Golden Rule
from many religions and Baha'i quotations.
As Pittsburgh is known to be one of the most
conservative of American cities in religious
matters, the small community of Baha'is
showed great courage in taking this stand for
the essential unity. Those who met them
shared light and hope. Their work was like
a breeze from the Eternal Garden of Roses.
THE FAR WEST
News has reached us from time to time of
the interracial dinners arranged by the
friends in Denver, Colorado, high up among
the Rocky Mountains; of the great esteem in
which the Baha'is are held by Fritz Cansler
of the Young Men's Christian Association
Branch and of the faithful cooperation he
gives whenever called to serve. Happy in-
deed have been those who partook of such
heavenly treasures enriching both mind and
spirit. Those who have been fortunate
enough to see in action the Baha'is in the Bay
Cities, Portland and Seattle, know that racial
amity is one of their spontaneous habits,
whether or not formally expressed. They
are mindful of the needs of the Day of God.
Most inspiring, however, have been the re-
ports that have come from Los Angeles,
where special success was attained under the
brilliant leadership of Sara E. Witt, who de-
veloped a genius for this work. She suc-
ceeded with the cooperation of the Spiritual
Assembly in widening the circle of racial
amity activities so as to include not only the
white and colored, but the red Indians, abo-
rigines of America, also the Chinese and
Japanese, who are found in such numbers in
that region. A number of meetings taking
the form of banquets appeared to give to
those who shared them a foretaste of Heaven.
As a sample of this work, the dinner of Feb-
ruary 27, 1932, may be mentioned. Nellie S.
French, a member of the National Spiritual
Assembly, presided with grace, kept the
meeting in motion and made all feel cordially
welcome. A number of Indians under the
leadership of Chief Standing Bear and deco-
rated with their feathers and paint were in
attendance. It was of this race that 'Abdu'l-
Baha indicated a bright future when they
would become imbued with the Spirit of the
Baha'i Faith. Robert Theiss voiced the One-
ness of Humanity in behalf of the spiritual
assembly. The Indian Chief then prayed and
with eloquent voice praised peace as the cove-
nant among all races. ' Among other speakers
Joseph R. Scherer dwelt upon the unity
which would come with the adoption of a
universal tongue. Emmett R. Smith, col-
ored, made a plea for the world court and
peace. J. Kam Machida, president of the
Chinese Club, who lives internationally by
being the wife of a Japanese, made her spirit
of conciliation felt. W. J. Clarendon, presi-
dent of the Japan-American Club, and his
wife extended cordial greetings. On this oc-
casion their presence expressed a heroic re-
solve, as on that very afternoon of this con-
ference dinner Mr. Clarendon had met with a
painful and dangerous accident, which he re-
fused to let enforce his absence from so not-
able a gathering. Nipo Strongheart, who let
it be known that he was himself partly of
Indian blood, spoke impressively for justice
between the races. The program was fur-
ther varied by an Indian Tribal dance. Near
the end of this fascinating program and after
many distinguished guests had been made
known, Willard P. Hatch was called upon to
speak for the Baha'is. He was first of all
overcome by the Spirit, a Presence which all
seemed to feel. Then recovering his com-
posure, he found his voice and all were
melted into unity by the great Message and
its wonderful ideals. The Baha'i Benedic-
tion played by Shahnaz Waite, who com-
posed it, closed a meeting memorable and of
great joy.
CINCINNATI
Among the last amity conferences of
which there is a record is that of Cincinnati,
one of the most interesting and influential of
all. The Baha'is of the Crescent City hav-
ing with one mind and heart decided upon
such an undertaking, under the guidance of
their Spiritual Assembly proceeded to work
664
THE BAHA'f WORLD
the matter out in the most methodical and
scientific way. Besides their own organiza-
tion they succeeded in laying under the trib-
ute of service some sixteen others noted for
welfare and progress. Among these were
centers of culture, such as Wilberforce Uni-
versity, the University of Cincinnati, the
Cincinnati School of Music, Hebrew Union
College and the Sherman School, Churches
both liberal and orthodox,*the Baha'i Center
of Lima and the National Race Amity Com-
mittee. They touched the heart of the city,
evoking high praise, through twenty-two
press articles, only two of which were paid
advertisements. Due to ceaseless rains over
the period of three days the attendance was
small; but results should in nowise be meas-
ured by this. As according to the law of
creation "All life begins in water," rain is
one of the signs of bounty. The rain of
bounty within the auditorium of the Y. W.
C. A., graciously given for all sessions,
seemed even more generous than the falling
weather without. Such was the marshalling
of gifted speakers that no imaginable phase
of the constructive side of the American race
problem appeared to be left untouched. The
printed programs also reached wide areas of
progressive thinkers through the courtesy of
the local peace society which lent its mailing
list of about nine hundred names.
Dorothy Baker as chairman opened the
conference, voicing its purposes with golden
phrases and spiritual attraction. Among
other distinguished speakers was Rabbi Sam-
uel Wohl, who but the summer before had
visited the Holy Shrines on Mount Carmel
and felt oneness with the Baha'is. John W.
Scott, the scholarly principal of a colored
school, nobly gave utterance to the spirit of
interracial cooperation, using figures of
speech drawn from the curious workmanship
of nature. Prof. Gustave G. Carlson, visit-
ing Professor at the University of Cincin-
nati, gave a curiously interesting study of
race prejudices, exposing their fallacies.
Other inspiring speakers were Rev. E. H.
Oxley and Rev. C. Baker Pearl, pastors of
colored churches. The Baha'i ideals were set
forth by chairmen and visiting Baha'is. The
music was of an exceptionally fine quality.
On Sunday afternoon following the confer-
ence a reception was held at the home of Mr.
and Mrs. Joseph Stauss; it was especially
helpful to those newly interested and dif-
fused much happiness.
INTERRACIAL JOURNEYS
One of the most unusual and interesting
forms of amity activities was that of inter-
racial cooperative journeys by white and col-
ored Baha'is into the heart of the South.
There were three such trips, all inspired by a
line from the Holy Land expressing the wish
on the part of the Guardian, that two teach-
ers whom he mentioned should campaign in
the South together. Consultation with Dr.
Will W. Alexander ^bf the Southern Inter-
racial Commission also brought assurances
that the parties to such a plan, white and
colored, would meet with many agreeable
surprises. Thus the Holy Land and good old
Georgia were animated by one spirit in an
age of marvels.
During the autumn of 1931, Philip A.
Marangella, an Italo- American Baha'i, and
Chauncey Northern, a famous musician of
the colored race, journeyed South to give the
Baha'i message. Settmg out from New York
by motor, they visited Washington, Rich-
mond, Hampton, Enfield, N. C., Orange-
burg and Columbia, S. C., and found won-
derful opportunities in schools and colleges
for their entertainment of poesy, song and
spiritual illumination. They met many who
had previously heard of the Baha'i teachings
gladly and were now pleased to renew their
interest in so artistic a setting. Others were
hearing the call of the Kingdom for the first
time, but almost without exception they
found attracted souls in those they sought to
reach. The journal of their work is beautiful
and thrills with the joy of life. One of the
most interesting discoveries of their trip was
to find the same interest at the University of
South Carolina, for whites, as at Allan Uni-
versity and Benedict College, located in the
same City of Columbia, for colored.
During the spring of 1932, Willard Mc-
Kay of Pittsburgh, a former instructor in
the University of Texas, and Louis G. Greg-
ory, racial amity worker, met by agreement
at Atlanta, Ga., where they started a Baha'i
study class and conveyed the teachings to
various educational and religious organiza-
tions. They later went to Tuskegee Insti-
RACIAL AMITY IN AMERICA
665
tute and the two State Normal Schools of
Alabama for colored at Montgomery and
Normal, in all of which they were honored
and welcomed and given wonderful oppor-
tunities for service. As they made use of
the ordinary method of travel by omnibus
and sometimes found it necessary to room
together, their work caused a sensation and
evoked inquiries wherever they went as to an
interest which could make representatives of
two races so happily united in service. Later
they went to Fisk University* Nashville,
Tenn., and had many opportunities to speak,
also addressing the city High School. At
Cincinnati they served meetings arranged by
Baha'is and were luncheon guests of Prof.
W. O. Brown of the University of Cincin-
nati, a southerner whom they met through
an Atlanta connection and the professor's
keen interest in better race relations. Their
trip ended with work at Columbus, Ohio, in
meetings with the friends. The detailed re-
port of this itinerary written by Mr. McKay
consists of about two thousand words and is
unusually interesting.
During the winter of 1933, Charles A.
Wragg, a Baha'i and native of Australia, and
the writer took a business trip together into
the South and improved it for teaching.
Starting from Portsmouth, N. H., they vis-
ited nine cities, six of which were in Virginia,
their most notable work being in Petersburg,
Norfolk, Charlottesville and Roanoke. They
used a motor car and no friction arose as a
result of their travels together, although so
much at variance with custom.
Racial amity suffers a grievous loss by the
departure from this mortal plane of our dis-
tinguished brother, Alfred E. Lunt, August
12, 1937. His sacrifices and devotion in
many lines of service were extraordinary. He
took a deep and special interest in the im-
provement of race relations, exemplifying
the oneness of humanity as a principle of
life. He served as chairman and speaker at
various amity conferences and it was upon
his motion as a member of the National
Spiritual Assembly, that the series of amity
conferences that gave such light and happi-
ness to Green Acre was set in motion. In the
pursuit of this ideal he had the united co-
operation of his talented family. Highly
trained and very able, he was strong, pro-
ficient and faithful to the end, with spiritual
attraction and personal charm.
"The bravest are the tenderest, the loving
are the daring!" Like an aroma of heavenly
incense is the fragrance of so glorious a life.
In ending what is but a crude and frag-
mentary sketch of this one phase of Baha'i
work during the years, mention must be
made of the letters and reports by the na-
tional and local committees, beautiful in ex-
pression, absorbing in interest, stimulating
effort and raising high, our hopes. Apprecia-
tion also goes to those devoted friends who
have compiled the teachings which have a
special bearing upon this subject and to one
who, in addition, has marshalled the thoughts
of contemporary men ofgenius whose discov-
eries in sociology reflect the great Light of
Unity appearing in this marvellous age.
Grateful acknowledgments must also be
made to the Administrative Order which in
letter and spirit has promulgated this vital
use of the new civilization and to each and
all who to any extent and in any way have
aided these endeavors.
Since the passing of 'Abdu'1-Baha, the
guiding wisdom of Shoghi Eflfendi has been
the greatest blessing. At all times he clearly
discerns the needs; discloses the state of the
world; encourages the workers; opens new
vistas of duty; clarifies methods; reconciles
conflicting viewpoints and applies the teach-
ings with consummate skill to the capacities
of the day. He also keeps before his spiritual
army the vision of a united world, that goal
toward which all progress wends. His is a
continuous motion which inspires others to
move.
Considering the present state of mankind,
finite strength seems directed in this spiritual
enterprise toward a superhuman task; but
divine promises assure victory. Observe the
little ball thrown into the fountain. Buf-
feted by the water it dances without ceasing
upon its uneven, moving floor, air currents
forming invisible walls for its tenuous home.
It is light, elastic and rotund, traits which
augment its adaptability and power to please.
But that moment the flow ceases its house
collapses; gravity resumes its sway and the
dull earth reclaims its own. Racial amity,
peace, brotherhood, with all they imply of
new alignments in the human world, are now
666 THE BAHA'f WORLD
ordained of God. Those who prize them will forth; the Orb of Truth is gloriously ascend-
try to keep in motion, relying upon the ant. The transformation of the world of
Source of all good. Zephyrs of Heaven are being, on the plane of reality, is already an
wafted; streams of knowledge are gushing accomplished fact.
AUS DEM LEBEN DES BAB
ENTNOMMEN UND ZUSAMMENGESTELLT AUS
"NABIL'S NARRATIVE" FUR DIE 5. BAHA'I
SOMMERWOCHE 1936, IN ESSLINGEN
VON ERNA SCHMIDT
"Baba'u'llab eng verbunden und> u>enn auch untergeordnet im Rang, dock beliehen mit
der Vollmacht, mit Ihm zusammen iiber den Geschicken dieser hochsten Sendung zu
thronen, leuchtet in diesem geistigen Bilde die jugendliche Herrlichkeit des Bah in Seiner
unendlichen Zartheit, unwiderstehlich in Seiner Anmut, uniibertroffen in Seinem Helden-
tum, einzigartig durch die dramatischen Begetmisse Seines kurzen, dock ereignisreichen
Lebens" — SHOGHI EFFENDi.1
G.
"EGEN die Mitte letzten Jahrhunderts
war in Persien ein bestimmter schiitischer
Kreis erfiillt von sehnlichem Erwarten auf
den Verheissenen, der nach Weissagung zu
dieser Zeit erscheinen werde. Besonders stark
wogte die Erwartung und die Sehnsucht in
dem Herzen Mulla Husayn's. Er machte
sich deshalb sofort nach dem Tode des Siyyid
Kazim, der vor allem von dem baldigen Er-
scheinen des Verheissenen gesprochen hatte
und der sein Lehrer gewesen war, auf, um
Ihn zu suchen. Die andern Anhanger des
Siyyid, die er aufforderte, gleich ihm hinaus-
zuziehen und den Verheissenen zu suchen,
lehnten es mit ausweichenden Antworten ab.
So ging denn Mulla Husayn, nur von seinem
Bruder und Neflfen begleitet, nach Shiraz.
Wahrend der Reise verbrachte er 40 Tage in
Beten und Fasten und bereitete sich so auf
das heilige Erlebnis vor, das ihm bald wider-
f ahren sollte. Vor den Toren der Stadt Shiraz
verabschiedete er sich von seinen bieden
Begleitern und gab der Hotfnung Ausdruck,
dass sie sich zum Abendgebet wieder
zusammenfmden wiirden. "Gerade an diesem
Tage, wenige Stunden vor Sonnenuntergang,
wahrend er ausserhalb des Tores der Stadt
einherging, fielen seine Augen plotzlich auf
einen jungen Menschen mit strahlendem An-
gesicht, der ihn, als er auf ihn zuging, mit
einem Lacheln liebevollen Willkommensiens
griisste. Er umarmte Mulla Husayn mit
gutiger Zuneigung, als ob er sein nachster
und lebenslanglicher Freund gewesen ware.
Mulla Husyan hielt ihn zuerst fur einen An-
hanger von Siyyid Kazim, der, von seinem
Kommen nach Shiraz unter richtet, aus der
Stadt. kam, um ihn willkommen zu heissen."
Hochst erstaunt war er aber, als er gewahr
wurde, dass er diesen jungen Menschen in
keiner Weise kenne und trotzdem von ihm in
Sein Haus geladen wurde, um sich von der
Reise zu erfrischen. Als Mulla Husayn
zogerte, Seiner Einladung Folge zu leisten,
da er sich doch mit Seinen Begleitern wieder
treffen wollte, ermutigte ihn der junge
Fremde: "Vertraue sie der Obhut Gottes an,
Er wird sie sicherlich beschiitzen und iiber
ihnen wachen." Mulla Husayn wurde in
dem einfachen Hause des jungen Mannes mit
so viel Liebe und Aufmerksamkeit umgeben.
Er war tief beeindruckt von der vornehmen
und doch zwingenden Art und Weise, in
welcher Er zu ihm sprach. Sein Gang, der
Wohlklang Seiner Stimme und die Wurde
Seiner Haltung beeindruckten ihn tief. Im
Laufe des Gesprachs machte Mulla Husayn
seinen Gastgeber mit dem Ziel seiner Reise
bekannt und als Mulla Husayn auf die be-
sonderen Kennzeichen und Merkmale des
Verheissenen zu sprechen kam, sagte Er nach
einer Pause: "Siehe, alle diese Zeichen sind in
Mir offenbar!** Er wies auf jedes der er-
wahnten Kennzeichen besonders hin und
1 Aus: "The Dispensation of Baha'u'llih" von
Shoghi Effendi.
667
668
THE BAHA'f WORLD
legte iiberzeugend dar, dass jedes und alle auf
Seine Person anwendbar waren. Mulla
Husayn machte daraufhin die in ihm auf-
kommenden Zweifel geltend, doch kaum
hatte er sie geaussert, als eine tiefe Reue ihn
darob ergriff, und er in scinem Innern be-
schloss, mehr Demut, Zuriickhaltung und
Glauben diesem edlen Menschen gegeniiber
walten zu lassen. Immer mehr wurde er von
der unsagbar grossen Giite und Erhabenheit
seines Gastgebers ergriffen, und als dieser
die zwingenden Beweise Seiner grossen Send-
ung von Gott kundgab, war Mulla Husayn
so sehr davon uberwaltigt und uberzeugt,
dass er in einen Zustand verfiel, in dem er
nicht mehr ganz auf dieser Erde zu sein
glaubte.
Seine eigenen Worte iiber dieses grosse Er-
lebnis waren: "Diese Oflfenbarung, die so
plotzlich und ungestiim auf mich herein-
stiirzte, kam wie ein Blitzstrahl, der eine
Zeitlang meine Sinne betaubt zu haben
schien. Ich war geblendet durch die strah-
lende Herrlichkeit und uberwaltigt durch
ihre bezwingende Kraft. Erregung, Freude,
Ehrfurcht und Staunen, riittelte das Ihnerste
meiner Seek auf.
Ich fiihlte mich im Besitze von solchem
Mut und solcher Kraft, dass ich der ganzen
Menschheit zurufen mochte: Erwache, denn
siehe! Das Morgenlicht ist angebrochen.
Erhebet euch, denn Seine Gnade ist geoffen-
bart. Das Portal Seiner Gnade ist weit ge-
offnet, tretet herein, o Volker der Welt!
Denn Er, der euch Verheissene, ist gekom-
men!"
Die Offenbarung des Bab geschah in der
Nacht des 23. Mai 1844, und Er selbst sagte
daruber zu Mulla Husayn: "Diese Nacht, ja
diese Stunde wird in kommenden Tagen als
eines der grossten und bedeutendsten aller
Feste gefeiert werden. Danke Gott, dass Er
dir gnadig beigestanden hat, urn deines Herz-
ens Sehnsucht zu erfiillen, und dass Er dir
von dem versiegelten Wein Seiner Sprache zu
trinken gegeben hat. Wohl denen, die dazu
gelangen."
Nun war der Verheissene gef unden und Er
hatte skh geoffenbart. In kurzer Zeit er-
kannten besonders suchende und glaubige
Seelen oft auf ganz wundersame Weise die
Sendung des Bab. Sie wurden die Buchstaben
des Lebenden genannt. Achtzehn waren es
an der Zahl, die zu den auserwahlten Glau-
bensboten des Bab, zu Werkzeugen Seines
Glaubens und zu Verbreitern Seines Lichtes
bestimmt waren.
Der Bab, dessen biirgerlicher Name 'Ali-
Muhammad ist, zeigte schon in f riiher Kind-
heit ausserordentliche Fahigkeiten, die Seine
Lehrer in Erstaunen setzten. Es ging sogar
soweit, dass die Lehrer sich unf ahig f iihlten,
Ihn zu lehren, da Er eine grosser Kenntnis
besass, als sie selbst. Sie brachten Ihn deshalb
wieder zuriick zu Seinem Onkel, der Ihn in
seinem Geschaft aufnahm.
Mit etwas 22 Jahren trat der Bab in die
Ehe. Das einzige Kind, das daraus geboren
wurde, starb nach kurzer Lebenszeit. Bei
dem Heimgang des Knaben kam kein Klagen
iiber die Lippen des Vaters. Er pries vielmehr
Gott und wunschte sich noch tausend
Ismaele, um einen und jeden als ein Liebesop-
fer Gott darbringen zu konnen.
Die grosse Botschaft des Bab verbreitete
sich immer mehr durch die unermudliche
Tatigkeit Seiner Anhanger und durch Sein
eindruckvolles Auftreten. Aber je grosser
der Kreis der Anharfger wurde, je mehr
Feinde umgaben ihn. Unbeschreiblich gross
waren die Leiden, die der Bab und die
Glaubigen erdulden mussten. Immer neue
Schliche wurden ersonnen, um das Volk ge-
gen den neuen Glauben auf zuhetzen und um
die Wahrheit zu verschleiern. Doch grosse
Duldsamkeit und heroisches Entgegenneh-
men der oft unmenschlichen Leiden und
Foltern zeichnete den Bab und Seine An-
hanger aus. Es gab fur sie kein feiges aus
dem Wege gehen. So war eine Eskorte von
der Regierung beauftragt, den Bab einzu-
fangen und Ihn vor die Augen des Statthalt-
ers Husayn Khan zu bringen, der schon
einige der Glaubigen auf f urchtbarste Weise
zu Tode hatte martern lassen. Der Fiihrer
dieser Eskorte erzahlte folgendes: "Nachdem
wir die dritte Etappe unseres Weges nach
Biishihr hinter uns hatten, begegenten wir
mitten in der Einode einem jungen Mann.
Er war zu Pferd, gefolgt von einem Diener,
der Seine Habe bei sich trug. Als wir uns
Ihm naherten, griisste Er uns und frug uns
nach dem Zweck unserer Reise. Ich hielt es
fur das Beste, Ihm die Wahrheit zu ver-
schweigen und erwiderte, dass wir in diese
Gegend auf Befehl des Statthalters von Fdrs
s
<
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"T3
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J3
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669
670
THE BAHA'l WORLD
geschickt seien, um gewisse Nachforschung-
en anzustellen. Er bemerkte lachelnd: Der
Statthalter hat euch gesandt, um Mich ge-
fangen zu nehmen. Hier bin Ich, tut mit
Mir, was ihr wollt. Durch Meinen Entgegen-
ritt habe Ich euren Weg gekiirzt und habe es
euch leichter gemacht, Mich zu finden." Ich
war starr iiber Seine Worte und wunderte
mich iiber Seine Aufrichtigkeit und Gerad-
heit. Ich konnte mir Seine Bereitwilligkeit
nicht erklaren, sich aus freien Stucken der
strengen Disziplin der Regierungsbeamten zu
unterwerfen und dabei Leben und Sicherheit
auf s Spiel zu setzen. Ich suchte ihn zu iiber-
sehen und schickte mich an wegzureiten, als
Er an mich herankam und sagte: "Ich
schwore bei der Gerechtigkeit Dessen, der
den Menschen erschuf , ihn von alien iibrigen
Seiner Geschopf e auszeichnete und sein Herz
zum Sitz Seiner Herrschaf t und Erkenntnis
machte, dass Ich in Meinem ganzen Leben
nur die Wahrheit gesprochen habe und
keinen anderen Wunsch besitze ausser dem
Wohlergehen und dem Fortschritt Meiner
Mitmenschen. Ich habe Mein eigenes Wohl-
ergehen verachtet und habe vermieden, der
Anlas des Rummers und des Leids f iir irgend
jemand zu sein. Ich weiss, das ihr Mich
sucht. Ich ziehe es vor, Mich selbst in deine
Hand zu geben, anstatt dich und deine Ge-
nossen unnotigen Ermiidungen um Meinet-
willen auszusetzen." Der Fiihrer der Eskorte
war tief erschiittert von diesen Wbrten und
bat den Bab, doch zu fliehen um den bosen
Absichten des Statthalters nicht ausgesetzt
zu sein. Doch auf sein ernstliches Bitten gab
der Bab ihm zur Antwort: "Moge der Herr,
dein Gott, dich f iir deine Grossmut und fur
deine edle Absicht belohnen. Rein Mensch
kennt das Geheimnis Meiner Sache; niemand
kann ihre Geheimnisse ergriinden. Niemals
werde Ich Mein Angesicht von der Bestim-
mung Gottes abwenden. Er allein 1st Meine
feste Burg, Mein Halt and Meine Zuflucht.
Bis Meine letzte Stunde gekommen ist, kahn
Mich niemand iiberf alien, kann niemand den
Plan des Allmachtigen vereiteln." Frei und
ungefesselt ritt der Bab der Eskorte nach
Shiraz voran. Hus£yn Rhan empfing den
B£b mit der grossten Unverschamtheit. Er
beschimpfte Ihn und bezichtigte Ihn, ein
grosses Ungliick und Verwirrung angerich-
tet zu haben. Auf die Entgegnung des Bib,
Seine Botschaft zu priifen und dann sein
Urteil abzugeben, geriet er so in Wut, dass
er einem Diener befahl, den Bab ins Gesicht
zu schlagen. Der Schlag war so heftig, dass
Seine Ropfbedeckung zu Boden fiel. Doch
diese niedertrachtige Handlung fand keine
allgemeine Zustimmung unter den Anwesen-
den und es wurde beschlossen, den Bab nicht
gef angenzuhalten, sondern Seinem Onkel die
Burgschaft f iir Ihn zu iibertragen, der Ihn
auch bis auf Widerruf in seinem Haus auf-
nehmen sollte. Einige Tage spater wurde
der Bab aufgefordert, sich wahrend eines
Gottesdienstes in der Moschee zu rechtfer-
tigen. Er tat dies in bescheidener Haltung,
doch Seine Worte trafen die Herzen einiger
Zuhorer so sehr, dass sie sich spater zu Seinem
Glauben bekannten.
Husayn Rhan gab aber nicht Ruhe, den
Bab in neue Schwierigkeiten zu stiirzen. Er
befahl dem Polizeiprasidenten der Stadt den
Bab zu verhaf ten und alle greif baren Doku-
mente zu beschlagnahmen. Unerschrocken
und selbstbeherrscht liess sich der Bab mit
Seinen anwesenden Glaubigen gefangenneh-
men. Auf dem Wege%zu Husayn Rhan
kam ihnen ein Zug mit Sargen entgegen.
Als der Polizeiprasident horte, dass in der
Nacht eine furchtbare Seuche ausgebrochen
sei und schon viele Menschen ihr erlegen
wa'ren, befiel ihn grosse Angst und er ent-
schied sich, den Bab in seinem eigenen Hause
in Gewahrsam zu halten, zumal er horte,
dass Husayn Rhan sein Haus verlassen hatte,
da auch darin die Pest wiitete. Wie entsetzt
war aber der Polizeiprasident, als er vernahm,
dass sein Sohn von der Seuche ergriflfen und
schon dem Tode nahe war. Verzweifelt
warf er sich zu Fiissen des Bab, beschwor
Ihn, ein Gebet f iir die Rettung seines Sohnes
zu sprechen. Er bereute sein Handeln Bab
gegeniiber und gelobte, nichts mehr gegen
Ihn zu unternehmen, selbst wenn er hungers
sterben miisste. Der Bab der eben Sein Gesicht
wusch, gab ihm von diesem Wasser und ge-
bot Ihm, da von seinem Sohn zu trinken zu
geben, dies wiirde das Leben des Rindes ret-
ten. Und dies geschah. Daraufhin wurde
der B£b freigelassen.
Der Ruhm des Bab verbreitete sich trotz
standiger Unterdriickung immer mehr und
mehr. Die Besucher kamen unauf horlich zu
Ihm. Die einen, um ihre Neugier zu befrie-
AUS DEM LEBEN DES BAB
671
digen, andere um einen tieferen Einblick in
die grundlegende Wahrheit des Glaubens zu
gewinnen und wieder andere um bei Ihm
Heilung von ihren Leiden und Noten zu
suchen. So wurde Er von einer hohen Per-
sonlichkeit zu einem grossen Festmahl ge-
laden. Wahrend des Mahls brachte der
Gastgeber die Bitte an Ihn vor, doch dafiir
boten zu wollen, dass die Ehe seines Bruders
mit einem Kinde gesegnet werde. Darauf-
hin nahm der Bab ein Stiickchen Speise,
driickte sie mit den Handen zu einem Ku-
chen, reichte dies Seinem Gastgeber und
sagte: "Es sollen beide da von essen und ihr
Wunsch wird ihnen erfullt werden," Durch
diesen Bissen, den der Bab geschickt hatte,
wurde die Frau guter Hoffnung und gebar
zur gegebenen Zeit eine Tochter, mit der
spater 'Abdu'1-Baha die Ehe schloss. (Sic
wird heute noch der Bissen des Bab ge-
nannt.)
Des ofteren wurden dem Bab Priifungen,
oft auch heimlicher Art, gestellt, die Er
immer, meist zur Beschamung des Priifen-
den, iiber jede Erwartung hinaus bestand.
So war es einmal, dass ein Mann beabsichtigt
hatte, dem Bab schwierige Fragen zu stellen,
doch bei Seiner Anwesenheit waren sie alle
seinem Gedachtnis entfallen und er konnte
nur nebensachliches fragen. Zu seinem
grossten Erstaunen erhielt er die Ant wort
auf seine schwierigen Fragen, die er gar
nicht ausgesprochen hatte. Und doch war
dieser Mann noch nicht iiberzeugt von der
Grosse des Bab und bei einem weiteren
Zusammensein mit Ihm, hatte er in seinem
Herzen die Bitte, dass der Bab iiber eine
bestimmte Sure im Qur'an sprechen und
sie auslegen solle. Der Bab ergriflf seine
Hand und sagte, dass er von Ihm verlangen
konne, was immer sein Herz begehre. Er
werde es ihm gerne oflfenbaren. Sprachlos
vor Staunen war Sein Besucher und der Bab
f uhr fort. "Soil Ich dir die Sure vom Kaw-
thar oflfenbaren? wiirdest du dann erkennen,
dass Meine Worte aus dem Geist Gottes ent-
stammen?" Tiefe Reue iiber seinen seitheri-
gen Unglauben zog in sein Herz und stark
war seine t)berzeugung von der Wahrheit
der Offenbarung des Bab.
Stark und tief war die geistige Verbun-
denheit der Glaubigen untereinander, vor
allem aber mit dem Bib selbst. So traumte
ein hochgelehrter Einwohner der Stadt
K ash an in der Nacht, ehe der Bab in dieser
Stadt eintraf, dass erzuspater Stunde am
Nachmittag am Stadttor stunde, als er
plotzlich den Bab zu Pferd erblickte. Vor
und hinter Ihm waren viele Berittene, deren
Obhut Er anvertraut zu sein schien. Als der
Bab sich dem Stadttor naherte, griisste Er
ihn und sprach: "Wir werden drei Na'chte
lang dein Gast sein, bereite dich vor, Uns
zu empfangen!" Als er erwachte, war der
Traum noch so lebendig vor ihm, dass er
iiberzeugt war, dass diese unerwartete Er-
scheinung eine Mahnung der Vorsehung sei,
die zu befolgen er sich verpflichtet fiihlte.
Er begann, sein Haus fur dem Empf ang des
Besuchers vorzubereiten. Dann ging er nach
dem Stadttor und wartete dort auf die
Ankunft des Bab. Als er zu genannter
Stunde den Horizont absuchte, erspahte er in
weiter Entf ernung einen Trupp Reiter. Wie
er nun ihnen entgegeneilte, erkannte er den
Bab, umgeben von Seiner berittenen Gefolg-
schaft. Alles war genau so, wie er es die
Nacht zuvor in seinem Traum gesehen hatte.
Und so war der Bab drei Tage lang sein
Gast, obwohl vorher noch einige Schwierig-
keiten iiberwunden werden mussten, denn
die beiden Fiihrer der Reitertruppe hatten
den Befehl, auf ihrem Ritt nach Tihran nur
ausserhalb der Toren der Stadte ihre Zelte
aufzuschlagen. Einer der beiden willigte
sofort ein, doch der andere konnte sich nicht
dazu entschliessen. Schliesslich gab auch er
seine Zustimmung, da er iiberzeugt wurde,
dass der Bab nach drei Tagen mit ihnen
weiterziehen werde nach Tihran. In dieser
kurzen Zeit hatten einige Seiner Jiinger
Gelegenheit, mit Ihm zusammenzusein und
auch andere konnten mit der grossen Gottes-
botschaf t bekannt gemacht werden.
Erstaunlich war es immer, mit welcher
Ehrf urcht und Liebe Ihn die, die beauftragt
waren Ihn zu iiberwachen, umgaben. Grosse
Freiheit wurde Ihm stets gewahrt, sodass Er
sich selten als Gefangener fiihlte. So gross
und stark war das Vertrauen einiger in Ihn,
dass sie, als eines Nachts das Zeit des Bab
leer vorgef unden wurde, zu den darob erreg-
ten Wachen folgendes sagten: "Warum seid
ihr in Verwirrung? Stehen Seine Grosse
und Sein Seelenadel noch nicht geniigend
euch vor Augen, um euch davon zu iiber-
672
THE BAHA'f WORLD
zeugen, dass Er niemals es zulassen wiirde,
dass um Seiner eigenen Sicherheit willen
andere in Verlegenheit kamen? Er hat sich
ohne Zweifel in der Stille der Mondnacht an
einen Ort zuriickgezogen, wo Er ungestort
mit Gott verkehren kann. Ohne Frage wird
Er in Sein Zelt zuriickkehren. Er wird uns
niemals verlassen." Kurz darauf gewahr-
ten sie im Zwielicht des Morgengrauens in
der Feme die einsame Gestalt des Bab, die
auf das Lager Richtung hielt. Vor der ern-
sten Grosse und dem strahlenden Angesicht,
das er an diesem Morgen zeigte, wagte nie-
mand nach dem Ziel dieses nachtlichen
Ganges und nach dem Grunde der so auf-
fallenden Veranderung in Seinen Worten
und in Seiner Haltung zu fragen.
Durch die zunehmende Beliebtheit des
Bab unter der Bevolkerung schwoll der Hass
vieler Geistlicher immer mehr an. Sie ent-
hielten sich allerdings offener Feindselig-
keit, streuten dafiir aber umsomehr wilde
Geriichte aus. Ihr Hass ging so weit, dass
sie ein Schriftstuck verfertigten, in dem die
Verurteilung des Bab zum Tode enthalten
war. Dieses Schriftstuck wurde von fast
alien Geistlichen der Stadt Isfahan unter-
zeichnet. Der Bab war in dieser Zeit der
Gast des dortigen Statthalters, und als dieser
von dem grausamen Plan horte, entschloss
er sich, die Ausfiihrung dieser schrecklichen
Tat durch sein Eingreifen zu verhindern. Er
gab deshalb sofortige Anweisung, den Bab
gegen Sonnenuntergang in Begleitung von
500 Reitern aus den Toren der Stadt hinaus-
zugeleiten und in Richtung Tihran zu reiten.
Er gab den Befehl, dass jedesmal nach einer
bestimmten Strecke ein Teil der Reiter nach
Isfahan zuruckkehren solle, bis noch 20
Reiter mit dem Bab waren. Davon sollen
10 in Staatsgesch'aften weiter, wahrend die
letzten 10, alles zuverlassige und erprobte
Manner, mit dem Bab wieder nach Isfahan
zuruckkehren sollten. Vor Tagesanbruch
mussten sie wieder dort eintreffen und den
Bab dis zu dem Wohnsitz des Statthalters
geleiten. Dort wurde er durch einen Seiten-
eingang in die Privatraume gefiihrt. Der
Statthalter war von grosser Liebe gegen den
Bab erfullt und anerkannte Seine gross Of-
fenbarung. Sein Wunsch war es, seine
grossen Reichtiimer in den Dienst der Sache
Gottes zu stellen. Alle seine Beziehungen
wolle er beniitzen, um den Konigen und
Regenten der Erde von der neuen Gottes-
botschaft Kunde zu tun und ihr Interesse
dafiir zu wecken. Auf dieses edle Vor-
haben erwiderte der Bab: "Eine solch ehren-
hafte Absicht bedeutet mehr fur Mich, als
deren Ausfiihrung selbst. . . . Jedoch nicht
durch diese Mittel, die du dir so schon vor
Augen stellst, wird die allmachtige Vorse-
hung den Sieg ihres Glaubens vollziehen.
Durch die Armen und Niederen in diesem
Land, durch das Blut, das sie auf Seinem
Pfade vergossen haben werden, wird der
allmachtige Herr die Erhaltung Seiner Sache
sicherstellen und ihre Grundlage befestigen!"
Als der Statthalter das Herannahen seines
Todes fiihlte, machte er sein Testament, in
welchem er seinen ganzen Besitztum als dem
Bab eigen erklarte. Nach seinem Tod ent-
deckte sein Neffe das Testament, das er in
seiner Habgier vernichtete. Bald darnach
entdeckte er auch den Aufenthalt des Bab
im Hause seines Onkels und machte davon
umgehend dem Shah Mitteilung. Der Shah,
von der Treue des verstorbenen Statthalters
iiberzeugt, vermutete richtig, dass dieser nur
eine giinstige Gelegenheit hatte abwarten
wollen, um ihn mit dem Bab Zusammen
zufiihren. Er befahl daher, den Bab heim-
lich nach Tihran zu geleiten. Als aber der
Grossvezier Haji Mirza Aqasi, zu dessen
Ohren auch die iiblen Geriichte der Geist-
lichen gedrungen waren, von der bevorste-
henden Zusammenkunft des Shah mit dem
Bab horte, machte er alle Anstrengungen,
diese zu verhindern. Denn dieser selbst-
siichtige Staatsmann fiirchtete um seine
Stellung, falls der Shah der Offenbarung des
Bab grossere Beachtung schenken wiirde. Es
gelang ihm, den Shah zu beeinflussen, denn
wahrend der Bab auf den Bescheid des Shah
wartete, der den Ruf, in seine Gegenwart
zu kommen, enthalten sollte, erhielt er
einen eigenhandig geschriebenen Brief des-
selben, der ausserst hoflich abgefasst war,
aber doch eine Absage fur ein Zusammen-
treffen enthielt. Er driickt darin aus, dass
es ihm nicht vergonnt sei, Ihm zu begegnen,
da er vor der unmittelbaren Abreise aus
Tihran stehe. Sein Wunsch gehe dahin, dass
er zu der Burg M4h-Ku geleitet werde. Dem
Burgwart seien schon die notigen Anweis-
ungen gegeben worden, Ihn mit Hochach-
AUS DEM LEBEN DES BAB
673
tung und Riicksicht zu behandeln. Der
Grossvezier hatte damit das erreicht, was
er gewiinscht hatte, namlich den Bab in
einen entfernten, abgelegenen Wmkel des
Reiches versetzen zu lassen, und somit
Seinen Einfluss auf die Bevolkerung und
vor allem auf den Shah zu verringern, wenn
nicht ganz unmoglich zu machen. Wie sehr
hatte sich dieser Staatsmann getauscht, und
welchen Segen hatte er seinem Herrscher
und damit auch dem Volke vorenthalten.
Wenig ruhmvoll waren seine weiteren Leb-
ensjahrc und kiimmerlich sein Ende. Er
verier kurze Zeit darauf das ganze Ver-
trauen des Shah und fiel in seine Ungnade.
Sein ganzer Besitz wurde vom Staat einge-
zogen. Er wurde aus der Residenz verbannt
und fiel seinem Ungluck und seiner Armut
zum Opfer. Aller HofTnung beraubt und
im Elend versunken, siechte er der Stunde
seines Todes entgegen.
Die weitere Gefangenschaft des Bab war
nun in Mah-Ku und in der Feste Chihriq.
Die Warter, die Ihn bewachten, mussten im-
mer wieder gewechselt werden, da sie sich
schon nach kurzer Zeit zu Seinen Freunden
gewandelt hatten und Seinen Glauben annah-
mcn. In Chihriq erwartete Er mit ruhiger
Ergebung den Befehl, der Ihn nach Tabriz
rufen sollte, denn Er wusste, die Zeit Seiner
schwersten Leiden, die in dieser Stadt iiber
Ihn kommen wiirden, stand Ihm unmittel-
bar bevor. Auf der Reise nach Tabriz
wurde Er in einer Stadt von einem dort
wohnhaften Prinzen empfangen, der Ihm
auch herzlichste Gastfreundschaf t gewahrte,
und befahl alien, Ihm mit gebiihrender
Ehrerbietung zu begegnen. "An einem
Freitag, als der Bab zu dem ofTentlichen
Badehaus ging, befahl der Prinz seinem
Reitknecht, Ihm sein wildestes Pferd zum
Reiten anzubieten, da cr neugierig den Mut
und die Kraft seines Gastes zu priifen
gedachte. In der Besorgnis, dass dem Bab
cin Ungluck zustossen konnte, machte sich
der Reitknecht verstohlen an Ihn heran und
suchte Ihn dazu zu bewegen, es abzulehnen,
das Pferd zu besteigen, das die tapferst-
en und geschicktesten Reiter abgeworfen
hatte. "Fiirchte dich nicht/' war die Ant-
wort des Bab, "tue, wie dir befohlen
und empfiehl uns dem Schutz des Allmach-
tigen."
Die Einwohner der Stadt hatten von des
Prinzen Vorhaben Kenntnis erhalten und
f iillten voll Neugier die Strassen und Platze,
durch die der Bab reiten musste. Wie gross
war aber ihr Staunen, als sie Ihn auf dem als
so wild bekannten Pferde ruhig daherreiten
sahen. In ihrer einfachen Art nahmen sie
dieses Geschehen als ein Wunder und als der
Bab vom Bade wieder zum Haus des Prinzen
ritt, furde er von der begeisterten Volks-
menge besturmt. Andere holten bis auf den
letzten Tropfen von dem Wasser, das Ihm
zur Abwaschung gedient hatte und dem sie
Wunderwirkung zuschrieben.
Die Bewohner von Tabriz erwarteten voll
Ungeduld und Freude die Ankunf t des Bab,
denn viele waren in dieser Stadt von Seiner
Botschaft iiberzeugt.
Die Regierung hatte ob der grossen Be-
geisterung schwere Bedenken fur die Ruhe
der Stadt und sie beschloss, den Bab ausser-
halb der Stadt in Gewahrsam zu halten.
Doch dieser Befehl verfehlte ganz seine
Wirkung, die Erregung wurde noch grosser
und die Situation, die bereits xlrohend ge-
worden war, verscharfte sich noch mehr.
Der neue Beschluss lautete deshalb, den Bab
vor die versammelten hohen Geistlichen zu
f iihren, denen Er sich zu verantworten habe.
Als Er in die Versammlung gefiihrt wurde,
hatte schon die Volksmenge den Eingang der
Halle bcsetzt, und wartete ungeduldig auf
den Augenblick, in dem sie Sein Angesicht
sehen wiirden. In dieser Versammlung er-
klarte der Bab offentlich, dass Er der Eine
Verheissene sei. Er musste darnach Be-
schimpfungen hasslicher Art iiber sich er-
gehen lassen, denn vor allem Mulla Muham-
mad war gegen Ihn und stachelte die andern
zum Widerspruch auf. So verlief diese
Versammlung fruchtlos. Doch das Feuer
auf beiden Seiten, fur und gegen Ihn, loderte
weiter. Nach kurzer Zeit zog die Unruhe
unter der Bevolkerung die Aufmerksamkeit
der Staatsbeamten auf sich, die aber zugun-
sten der Geistlichen, also der Feinde des Bab,
handelten. Doch je grosser die Zahl der
Feinde wurde und je mehr Demiitigungen
und Leiden sie fur den Bab und Seine
Anhanger ersannen und ausiibten, umsomehr
verbreitete sich die Gottesbotschaft. So
hatte man gehofft, durch die Verhorung des
Bab in Tabriz Seine Lehre zu ersticken, da-
674
THE BAHA'f WORLD
fiir aber wurde sie um so tiefer in den Her-
zen der Glaubigen gegriindet.
Immer enger spann sich das Netz der
Feinde, die dem Bab sogar nach dem Leben
trachteten. Mitte des Jahres 1850% waren
ihre grausamen und niedertrachtigen Bestre-
bungen mit ausserem Erfolg gekront: das
Leben des Bab wurde mit irdischer roher
Gewalt ausgeloscht. Niemand der fiihren-
den Haupter von Tabriz fiihlte sich veran-
lasst, diesem von keinem Gericht bestatigten
Todesurteil entgegenzutreten. Den Geist-
lichen, denen der Bab vorgefiihrt werden
sollte, liessen Ihn nur von einem Diener ab-
fertigen, der auch dem begleitenden Wachter
die Bestatigung des Todesurteils aushandigte.
So hatte der Bab nirgends mehr Gelegenheit,
sich zu rechtfertigen. Er wurde in Gewahr-
sam von Sam Khan gegeben, der sich aber
in wachsendem Masse durch das edle Be-
tragen seines Gefangenen ergriffen fuhlte.
Grosse Furcht kam iiber ihn, es konnte sein
Handeln den Zorn Gottes auf ihn herab
beschworen. Er erklarte dem Bab, dass er
keine bose Absicht gegen Ihn hege, tmd
dass, wenn Seine Sache die Sache der Wahr-
heit ist, Er es ihm ermoglichen solle von der
Verpflichtung, Sein Blut zu vergiessen, be-
freit zu werden. Der Bab erwiderte ihm,
seinen Auftrag zu befolgen und dass, wenn
seine Absicht aufrichtig ware, ihn der All-
machtige sicherlich aus seiner Verwirrtheit
erlosen konne.
In der letzten Nacht Seines Lebens hatte
der Bab eine wichtige Unterredung mit
Siyyid Husayn, die auf strengen Befehl un-
terbrochen werden musste. "Nicht ehe Ich
ihm all das gesagt habe, was Ich zu sagen
wiinsche," warnte der Bab den wachthaben-
den Beamten, "vermag irdische Macht Mir
Schweigen zu gebieten. Steht auch die ganze
Welt in Wafren gegen Mich, so wird sie
doch machtlos sein, Mich davon abzuhalten,
bis auf das letzte Wort Meine Absicht zu
vollbringen."
An dem Nagel, der in einen Pfosten
geschlagen wurde, wurden 2 Seile befestigt,
an denen der Bab und Sein Gefahrte ange-
hangt werden sollten. Der Gefahrte des
B£b, Mirza Muhammad-'Ali, der auserse-
hen war, mit Ihm den Martyrertod zu ster-
ben, bat Sam Khan, das Seii so zu befestigen,
dass sein eigener Korper den des Bab schiit-
zen wurde. Er wurde so angebunden, dass
sein Haupt auf der Brust seines Meisters
ruhte. Als dies geschehen war, marschierte
ein Regiment Soldaten in drei Gliedern auf,
ein jedes 250 Mann. Ein jedes erhielt den
Befehl der Reihe nach zu feuern, bis die
ganze Abteilung ihre Salven abgegeben
hatte. Der Rauch des Abfeuerns von 750
Gewehren war so stark, dass er das Licht des
Nachmittags in Finsternis verwandelte. . . .
Als nun die Rauchwolke sich verzogen hatte,
starrte eine erstaunte Volksmenge auf ein
Bild, das ihre Augen kaum glauben wollten:
da stand vor ihnen, lebend und unversehrt
der Gefahrte des Bab, wahrend Er selbst
unverletzt ihren Blicken entschwunden war.
Obgleich die Seile, mit welchen die beiden
befestigt waren, von den Kugeln in Stiicke
zerrissen waren, so waren doch ihre Korper
auf wundersame Weise den Salven entron-
nen. Selbst das Gewand, das der Junger
trug, war trotz der Dichte des Rauches un-
befleckt geblieben. "Der Siyyid-i-Bab ist
unsern Blicken entschwunden!" ertonten die
Rufe aus der besturzten Menge. Wie wahn-
sinnig eilten sie nach Ihm zu suchen und
fandan Ihn schliesslich in demselben Raume
sitzend, den Er in der Nacht zuvor bewohnt
hatte, im Begriff, Seine unterbrochene Aus-
sprache mit Siyyid Husayn abzuschliessen.
Der Ausdruck ungetriibter Ruhe lag auf
Seinem Gesicht, Sein Korper war unversehrt
aus dem Kugelschauer, den das Regiment
gegen Ihn entsandt hatte, entkommen. "Ich
habe Meine Unterredung mit Siyyid Husayn
beendet," sagte der Bab zu dem Beamten,
"jetzt kannst du daran gehen, deine Absicht
auszufiihren." Der Mann war zu erschut-
tert, um noch einmal anzufangen, was er
schon unternommen hatte. Er weigerte sich,
seine Pflicht zu tun, verliess im gleichen
Augenblick den Platz und quittierte seinen
Dienst.
Sam Khan war ebenf alls crschiittert durch
die Macht dieser furchtbarcn Enthiillung.
Er befahl seiner Mannschaft, die Baracken
sofort zu verlassen, und weigerte sich, mit
seinem Regiment sich noch auf irgend einen
Akt letzter Gewalttat einzulassen. Beim
Verlassen des Hofes schwor er, niemals mehr
mit diesem Auftrag etwas zu tun haben zu
wollen und sollte er sogar seine Weigerung
mit dem Leben bussen mtissen.
AUS DEM LEBEN DES BAB
675
Kaum war Sam Khan abgezogen, als der
Oberst der Leibwache, unter dem Namen
Khamsih und Nasiri bekannt, sich freiwillig
zur Verfugung stellte, den Hinrichtungs-
befehl auszufiihren. An derselben Wand
und in derselben Weise wurde der Bab und
sein Gefahrte wieder festgebunden, wahrend
das Regiment aufmarschierte um Feuer zu
geben. Entgegengesetzt dem ersten Male,
wo nur das Seil, mit dem sic festgebunden
waren, in Stiicke geschossen ward, wurden
diesesmal ihre Ko'rper zerschmettert. Als
das Regiment zur letzten Salve aufzog,
waren die letzten Worte des Bab an die
gaffende Menge gewesen: "Hattest du an
Mich geglaubt, o eigensinniges Geschlecht,
ein jeder ware dem Beispiel dieses Jiinglings
gefolgt, der dem Range nach iiber den meis-
ten von euch stand und freiwillig sich auf
Meinem Pf ade opferte. Der Tag wird kom-
men, da Ihr Mich erkannt haben werdet; an
jenem Tage werde Ich nicht mehr unter euch
sein."
Genau in dem Augenblick, da die Schiisse
abgefeuert wurden, erhob sich ein Sturm
von ungewohnlicher Gewalt und fegte iiber
die ganze Stadt. Ein Staubwirbel von un-
glaublicher Dichte verfinsterte das Sonnen-
licht und blendete die Augen des Volkes.
Die ganze Stadt blieb in diese Finsternis
gehullt vom Nachmittag bis zur Nacht.
So seltsam dieses Phanomen war, das dem
noch erstaunlicheren, dass das Regiment
Sam Khans den Bab unversehrt gelassen
hatte, auf dem Fusse gefolgt war, — es ver-
mochte die Herzen des Volkes in Tabriz
nicht zu bewegen noch sie innehalten und
iiber die Bedeutung solch wichtiger Gescheh-
nisse nachdenken lassen.
All diese Geschehnisse sind nur ein Aus-
schnitt aus dem bedeutenden Leben des Bab,
und als Er am 9. Juli 18 JO im Alter von
31 Jahren mit roher Gewalt diese Erde ver-
lassen musste, war nur wenigen Menschen
die Grosse und Erhabenheit dieses von Gott
Erwahlten bekannt. Diese Wenigen aber
glaubten an Ihn mit einer Kraft und Starke,
die Berge versetzen konnten. Sie waren mit
Ihm aufs innigste verbunden durch sein
kurzes Leben geschritten und hatten f iir Ihn
und Seinen geoffenbarten Glauben in Wor-
ten und heroischen Taten gekampft. Fest
entschlossen, alle Leiden, und derer waren es
viele, iiber sich ergehen zu lassen um Seinet-
willen, trugen sie -die "Frohe Botschaft"
hinaus von einem Ort zum andern. So klein
und unbedeutend der Anfang dieses Glau-
bens auch schien, so war ihm trotz alien
Schwierigkeiten eine grosse Zukunft vorbe-
halten. Denn als jencr, den Gott offenbaren
werde, und dem der Bab nur Wegbereiter
zu sein prophezeite, Seine grosse Sendung
von Gott kund tat, verbreitete sich der
Baha'i-Glauben trotz fast immerwahrender
Gefangenschaft BahaVllah's in kurzer Zeit
auf dem ganzen Erdenrund. Grosse Gnade
ist der Menschheit widerfahren durch die
Verkiindigung des Wortes Gottes durch den
Bab und BahaVllah und dessen Auslegung
durch 'Abdu'1-Baha. Und diese grosse Gnade
Gottes, wie wurde sie von den Menschen
entgegengenommen? Trauer bieht in unser
Herz, wenn wir daran denken, dass das
junge, edle Leben des Bab wie das eines Ver-
brechers ausgeloscht wurde und dass Baha'-
u'llah und 'Abdu'1-Baha 40 Jahre gefangen
und davon den grossten Teil in schwerstem
Kerker gelegen haben. Doch dieser heroische
Tod des Bab, Sein eindruckvolles Leben und
Seine Offenbarung bahnten den Weg zu der
unfassbar grossen Verkiindigung des Wbrtes
Gottes durch BahaVllah.
So ist der tiefe Schatten, der mit dem
9. Juli 1850 auf das Menschengeschlecht fiel,
zugleich auch ein verheissungsvoller Bote
des Lichts, das Gott in BahaVllah den
Menschen sandte.
DAWN OVER MOUNT HIRA
BY MARDIYYIH NABI'L CARPENTER
the noon-day brightness, and by the
night when it darkeneth! Thy Lord hath
not forsaken Thee, neither hath He been
displeased. And surely the future shall be
better for Thee than the past. Did He not
find Thee an orphan and gave Thee a home?
And found Thee erring and guided Thee,
and found Thee needy and enriched Thee?"
. . . For some days before this, the voice
had been silent; now again the comforting
spirit enfolded Muhammad, under the stars
on Mount Hira. He remembered how the
voice had broken through His thoughts,
before, and terrified Him. He had heard
on the mountain the word: "Read!" — and
had answered: "I do not know how to read."
"Read!" "What shall I read?" "Read: In
the name of Thy Lord who created, Created
man from clots of blood: — Read! by Thy
most beneficent Lord, who hath taught the
use of the pen; Hath taught man that which
He knoweth not . . ." He remembered
His struggle against the voice; how He had
gone from the mountain, thinking Himself
possessed. And Khadijih had believed in
Him, and Varaqa, a man old and blind, and
versed in the Scripture, had cried, "Holy,
holy, verily this is the Voice that came to
Moses. Tell Him — bid Him be of brave
heart." Then for some time the voice had
been silent, and now it had come to Him
again. And Muhammad looked down over
Mecca, and He thought of His city, and
He began to preach against the things men
loved.
"Not a blade of grass to rest the eye . . .
no hunting . . . instead, only merchants,
that most contemptible of all profes-
sions . . ." wrote a Negro poet, of Mecca.
No trees, gardens, orchards. Only a few
spiny bushes. And the black flagstones
around the Ka'bih had to be sprinkled to
cool them for the barefoot processions, and
the wells were irregular and brackish. Cara-
vans came, with jewels and spices, with skins
and metals, and the whole town turned out
to meet them; caravans of two or three
thousand camels, of several hundred men.
And men speculated, winning a fortune in
a day, and lending it out for usury, and
hoarding, and counting it over; and Mu-
hammad said to them: "The emulous desire
of multiplying riches employeth you, until
ye visit the graves . . . Hereafter shall ye
know your folly . . . Again, hereafter shall
ye know your folly." Then He bade them
give alms, telling them: "What good ye have
sent before for your souls, ye shall find it
with God." The wealthy merchants lived
in the central part of Mecca; they swelled
with pride, but Muhammad urged them to
walk not proudly in the earth, because all
men are brothers. % The common people
lived farther off from the Ka'bih, in the
slanting streets, and the rabble beyond
them; and away from the town were the
desert Arabs, in their goat-skin tents. There
was wine and gambling, and Muhammad
forbade them; there were singing girls, and
He was chaste. There were brawls and blood
feuds and f eastings; women playing upon
lutes, to welcome such things as the birth of
a boy, the coming to light of a poet, or the
foaling of a mare. Over this reigned a vague
Being, a supreme Allah, and his three daugh-
ters; yet Muhammad said: "He begetteth
not, neither is He begotten." And closer
to earth, a crowd of idols, who lived in and
about the Ka*bih, with their leader, a bearded
old man of cornelian, with one hand made
of gold; and his name was Hubal. And
Muhammad laughed at the Ka'bih gods:
"Is this wondrous world, the sun and moon,
the drops of rain, the ships that move across
the waters — are these the work of your stone
and wooden gods?" Then He spoke of the
true God, saying: "The seven heavens praise
Him, and the earth, and all who are therein;
neither is there anything which doth not
celebrate His praise; but ye understand
676
DAWN OVER MOUNT HIRA
677
not." Here too, set in the Ka'bih, was the
Black Stone; men said it was the only thing
from Paradise to be found on earth, and that
it had once been white, till it was black-
ened by human sins. There were other gods
to worship in Arabia, and stars and planets,
but the Ka'bih drew all men from near and
far on pilgrimage.
Muhammad's kinsmen were chieftains in
Mecca, and they lived by the things which
He now arose to destroy. He summoned
them together, told them of His mission;
and they laughed Him to scorn. "May you
be cursed for the rest of your life," cried
Abu Lahab; "why gather us together for
trifles like this?" And when He walked
abroad, the wife of Abu Lahab strewed
thorns before Him to wound His feet.
And Muhammad preached to the tribes,
when they flocked to Mecca and the neigh-
boring fairs, during the pilgrimage seasons;
then His uncle, Abu Lahab, would follow,
and shout: "He is an impostor who seeketh
to draw you from the faith of your
fathers . . ."; and the tribesmen would
laugh at Him, saying: "Thine own people
and kindred know Thee best: then where-
fore do they not believe?" One day as He
prayed at the Ka'bih, men turned upon Him,
and mocked Him, saying: "It is you who
pretend that our fathers were in the wrong!
It is you who call our gods impotent!"
"Yes, it is I who say that." And they
struck Him, and would have put Him to
death. And once He went back to His
dwelling without having met that day "a
single man, a single woman, a single child, a
single slave, who did not insult Him on
His way, calling Him madman and liar . . ."
And as men do in every age, the Meccans
called for signs and wonders, bidding Him
turn their hills to gold, or bring them a well
of pure water, or prophesy the coming price
of goods. "Cannot your God disclose which
merchandise will rise in price?" He an-
swered, saying, "The miracle that I bring
you is the Qur'an, a Book revealed to an
illiterate man, a Book no other man can
equal." Then He taught them of the life
after death; and one, who owed money to
a Muslim, said that he would repay him in
the next world. Then He warned them of
the terrors of the "Last Day," and said
strange things about the coming of "The
Hour": "Whosoever can find a refuge, let
him hide . . . On that day humble herders
of camels will sprawl about in palaces; peo-
ple will be set to work building houses of
extraordinary height . . . The Hour will
come upon us so quickly that two men hav-
ing unfolded some goods, shall not have time
to conclude their bargain or fold up the
goods again . . ." And they reviled Him,
saying, "Know this, O Muhammad, we
shall never cease to stop Thee from preach-
ing till either Thou or we shall perish."
To kill Him, member of a ruling clan,
would have meant a civil war; so they put
to death His followers, the weak and poor,
or tortured them. Among them was Balal,
the African slave, who lay many days in
the Meccan sun, stretched out with a rock
on his breast; they told him to forsake Mu-
hammad or die, and leaned down to hear him
whisper: "There is only one God — one." He
lived, and was the first muezzin. Of him
BahaVllah has written: "Consider how
Balal, the Ethiopian, unlettered though he
was, ascended into the heaven of faith and
certitude." And Muhammad sorrowed over
the wrong that was done His disciples, and
He cried out: "I fly for refuge unto the
Lord of the Daybreak, that He may deliver
Me from the mischief of those things which
He hath created ... I fly for refuge unto
the Lord of men, the King of men, the God
of men . . ."
And He sent His followers into Ethiopia,
to the pious Christian king. The Negus
questioned them, and bade them speak, and
they answered: "O King, we adored idols, we
lived in unchastity, we ate dead bodies, we
spoke abominations . . . when God raised
up among us a Man . . . and He called us
to the unity of God, to fly vices and to' shun
evil." And the Negus traced a line on the
ground with his stick, and he said: "Truly,
between your faith and ours there is not
more than this little stroke."
Then the Meccans gathered to plot against
Muhammad: "Would you say He is a sor-
cerer?" "No, He hath not the emphatic
tone, the jerky language." "A madman
then?" "He hath not the bearing/' "A
poet inspired by a jinn?" "He doth not
speak in classic verse." "A magician?" "He
Naw-Ruz Feast held jointly by the communities of Oakland and Berkeley, California,
U. S. A., March 21, 1937.
678
DAWN OVER MOUNT HIRA
679
doth not perform wonders." And since
great converts had now been made, they
bargained with the Prophet, offering gold
and honors in exchange for silence, saying,
"We shall make Thee our chieftain and our
king." He answered them, "I am only a
man like you. It is revealed to Me that
your God is one God: go straight then to
Him, and implore His pardon. . . . Do ye
indeed disbelieve in Him? . . . Do ye assign
Him peers? The Lord of the worlds is He!"
So they shut Muhammad and His people
out of Mecca into the mountains, and for-
bade that any buy or sell with him. And
after three years were passed and Muham-
mad and His disciples had hungered and
suffered, the ban was lifted. Then the black
days came, when the Prophet lost the two
whom He loved dearest, His chief defender
and His wife. "When I was poor she en-
riched Me. When all the world abandoned
Me, she comforted Me." They had lived to-
gether over a score of years, and contrary
to the way of His times He had married no
other. And yet He taught and none
listened, and He put His agony into the
words of the Prophet Noah: "My cry only
maketh them flee me the more."
He spoke with the tribes, who came into
Mecca for trade and to circle around the
Ka'bih. And once He went to the beauti-
ful mountain town of Ta'if, where the fruit
trees grow, and the people stoned Him,
shouting, "If God had wanted to send a
Prophet, could He not have chosen a better
one than Thee?" But later in vision He
journeyed by night to where the Lote-Tree
flowers beside God's invisible throne; and
He found thousands of choirs of angels,
bowed down and motionless, in utter quiet,
and then He felt Himself in the light of His
Lord. He beheld God with His soul's eyes,
and He saw what the tongue cannot ex-
press.
Now at last the men of Yathrib asked of
Him to come and rule among them, so that
He sent His disciples ahead, out of Mecca.
And the Meccans gathered around His house
in the dark to kill Him, but when the dawn
showed white, they saw that He had gone.
And Yathrib became Medina, which means
"The City of the Prophet."
Muhammad never first withdrew His
hand out of another man's palm, nor turned
away before the other had turned. He vis-
ited the sick, He followed any bier He met,
He accepted the invitation of a slave to
dinner. His food was dates and water, or
barley bread; the people of His house "did
not eat their fill of barley bread, two days
successively, as long as He lived." He
mended His own clothing and sandals, and
milked the goats, and wiped sweat from His
horse with His sleeve. He gave alms when
He had anything to give. Once a woman
brought Him a cloak, which He needed
sorely, but they came and asked for it to
make a shroud, and He gave it up, "for He
could refuse nothing." He loved perfumes,
and dyed His fingernails with henna, and
was immaculate. Men said He was more
modest than a virgin behind her curtain.
Those who came near to Him loved Him.
His countenance shone "with a majestic ra-
diance at the same time impressive and gen-
tle." A follower said of Him: "I never saw
anything more beautiful than Lord Muham-
mad; you might say the sun was moving in
His face."
Medina was an oasis, rich in palm groves,
an agricultural center, not a place of trade
like Mecca, Its malarial fever was notori-
ous, its water tainted so that even the cam-
els sickened of it. And now the Prophet
became a temporal as well as a spiritual
Lord. And Arabia rose against Him, to
kill belief in the one true God, so that
Muhammad prayed: "O Lord, forget not
Thy promise of help. O Lord, if this little
band were to perish, there will be none to
offer Thee pure worship." He who had
never wielded a weapon, who wept at the
sight of pain, whose heart was so tender that
His enemies called Him womanish, had now
to drive back Arabia by force of arms.
Mecca and her idols marched against Islam,
and her women too came singing to battle,
their skirts tucked up, the bangles flashing
on their legs, and they tore and mangled the
Muslim dead. But at last Hubal, the old
man of red agate, lost to the Prophet of God,
and "Arabia that had never before obeyed
one prince, submitted to Him . . . His
word created one nation out of hundreds of
warring tribes."
At Medina, Muhammad built a mosque of
680
THE BAHA'f WORLD
brick and earth, and He preached in it,
leaning against a tree. One day they asked,
"What is the greatest vice of man?" He
answered, "You must not ask Me about vice,
but about virtue;" and He repeated this
three times, after which He said, "Know
ye! The worst of men is a bad learned
man, and a good learned man is the best."
Again He said, "If the unbeliever knew of
the extent of the Lord's mercy, even He
would not despair of Paradise." And at
other times: "Death is a bridge that uniteth
friend with friend . . . Misfortune is al-
ways with the Muslim and his wife, either
in their persons or their property or chil-
dren; either death or sickness; until they die,
when there is no fault in them . . . Act, as
regards this world, as if you were going to
live forever; and as regards the other world,
as if you were going to die tomorrow . . .
You will not enter Paradise until you have
faith; and you will not complete your faith
till you love one another . . . Trust in God,
but tie your camel . . ." One day as He
walked with His disciples He said, "The
Garden (Paradise) is nearer to you than the
thongs of your sandals; and the Fire like-
wise." They came to a woman suckling her
child, and He said, "Do you think this
woman will cast her own child into the fire?
Verily God is more compassionate to His
creatures than this woman to her child."
Once on a journey, when His companions
were praying with loud voices, Muhammad
told them: "Be easy on yourselves . . . Ver-
ily you do not call to One deaf or absent,
but verily to One who heareth and seeth
. . . and He to whom you pray is nearer to
you than the neck of your camel." He said
these things and many others, and He talked
to His disciples of kindness to the Jews and
Christians and other "People of the Book";
of the rights of women; of gentleness to
animals; of the Last Day; and of the life
beyond this.
Now the Prophet, clothed as a pilgrim and
wearing a black turban, rode into Mecca.
He circled the Ka'bih, and entered, and He
wiped away the frescoes from the walls —
the pictures of Abraham and Ishmael, and
the female angels; and He struck Hubal
from his place, and tore down a wooden dove
that hung from the roof. Then He prayed
in the Ka'bih to His Lord; and leaving He
touched with His stick each of the three
hundred and sixty stones surrounding the
holy place, and said: "Truth is come and
error is gone." He drank from the well of
Zemzem out of a goblet that men have
kept, and He prayed at Khadijih's tomb.
Then He sent His disciples abroad to break
every idol and to teach Islam.
One day while Abu Bakr sat in the mosque
at Medina, Muhammad suddenly appeared
before him; and Abu Bakr said, "Ah, Thou
for whom I would sacrifice father and
mother, white hairs are hastening upon
Thee!" And the Prophet raised up His
beard with His hand and gazed at it; and
Abu Bakr's eyes filled with tears . . . Long
years now Muhammad had suffered and
struggled, been hunted and stoned, been
wounded in battle, and He carried as well
the mark of the poisoned feast they had
spread Him at Khaybar. And Muhammad
wrote to the rulers of the earth, proclaiming
His mission. Many replied with gifts: silk
and honey; a white mule; from the Negus
a pair of black boots, which He wore several
times while praying. But Khusraw, the
franian emperor, seeing Muhammad's name
ahead of his own on the missive, tore it to
shreds; "God will tear up Khusraw's king-
dom in the same way," said Muhammad.
And He had men pitch a tent of red leather,
and here He received the deputations who
flocked from all over the land to pledge Him
allegiance.
Then for the last time Muhammad stood
on the hills over Mecca, and His voice rang
out and the multitude listened: "I do not
know whether I shall ever see you again as
today . . . but I have made it possible for
you to continue on the straight Path . . .
This day and month shall be held sacred
... ye shall have to give account for your
actions before your Lord ... Ye have
rights over your wives and your wives have
rights over you . . . Feed your slaves with
such food as ye eat yourselves, and clothe
them with the stuff ye wear ... All Mus-
lims are brothers — nothing which belongeth
to another is lawful unto his brother." Then
He cried, "O Lord, have I fulfilled My mis-
sion?" And the multitude answered, "Yea,
verily Thou hast!" And the Prophet con-
DAWN OVER MOUNT HIRA
681
eluded, "O Lord, I beseech Thee, bear Thou
witness to it!"
On the long way home, He stopped the
caravan, and taking the hand of 'All,
husband of his dearest child, He said:
"Whoever hath Me as his Master hath 'All as
his master . . . God be a friend to his
friends and a foe to his foes." Then He told
them of two treasures He was leaving them:
"The greatest is the Book of God . . . The
other is the line of My descendants."
And He went one midnight to the graves
of His old companions who lay at Medina,
and He prayed for them. The last time He
entered the mosque, He was supported by
two of His kinsmen; and after the service,
He said: "If I have wronged any one of
you, here I am to answer for it; if I owe
aught to anyone, all I possess belongs to
you." A man in the crowd claimed three
dirhems which Muhammad had once bidden
him give to a beggar. The Prophet paid
him, saying, "Better to blush in this world
than the next."
As Muhammad lay dying, He called for
writing materials to appoint His successor
again; but 'Umar said, "Pain is deluding
God's Messenger; we have God's book, which
is enough." And they wrangled at His
bedside, whether to bring the materials or
no. And the Prophet sent them from Him.
He was praying in a whisper, when He
ascended.
BahaVllah says of Him: "How abundant
the thorns and briars which they have strewn
over His path! The . . . divines of that
age . . . pronounced Him a lunatic and an
impostor. Such sore accusations they
brought against Him that in recounting
them God forbiddeth the ink to flow, our
pen to move, or the page to bear them . . .
For this reason did Muhammad cry out: 'No
Prophet of God hath suffered such harm as
I have suffered/ "
BIBLIOGRAPHY
I.
Baha'u'llah: The Kitab-i-fqan.
Qur'an: Sale and Rodwell translations.
'Abdu'1-Baha: Some Answered Questions.
II.
'Abdu'llah Al-Ma'mun As-Suhravardi :
The Sayings of Muhammad — London, 1905.
Siyyid Amir-'Ali: The Spirit of Islam —
London, 1891.
Arnold, T. W.: The Preaching of Islam-
New York, 1913.
Dermenghem, fimile: Life of Mahomet —
London, 1930.
Encyclopedia of Islam.
Lane-Poole, S.: Speeches and Table-Talks
of the Prophet Muhammad — London, 1882.
Nicholson, R. A.: Literary History of the
Arabs — Cambridge University, 1930.
THE BAHA'I FAITH AND
EASTERN SCHOLARS
BY MARTHA L. ROOT
'NTIL East and West embrace one an-
other as brothers there can be no millennium
on this globe, but I bring you the glad tid-
ings that in the progress of the Baha'i Faith
throughout the five continents there is a
leaven that is slowly but surely raising "the
thousand years of peace" into reality! In
my latest journey to the Far East, since I
left San Francisco, on May twentieth, 1937,
to now, February twentieth, 1938, I have
met a number of scholars, editors and a
few rulers who have expressed appreciation
and ardent interest in the Baha'i Teachings
for brotherhood. Ex oriente lux! From out
the East are coming true and unprejudiced
great thinkers who are studying and be-
ginning to give a deep and scholarly pre-
sentation of the Baha'i Faith in its
relation to other Faiths and to the life of
the Orient.
First in Honolulu, where I went ashore
for a few hours on May twenty-fifth, I had
an interview with Professor Shao Chang Lee,
Professor of Chinese History and Philosophy
in the University of Hawaii. He stated that
he had first heard of the Baha'i Teachings
in San Francisco, in 1919, where he had
been asked to give a lecture on "Chinese
Philosophy" in the Baha'i Center there.
Later he had met Mrs. Samuel Baldwin, Miss
Muther, Miss Julia Goldman and the other
Baha'is of Hawaii. "The idea of Confucius
that under heaven all men are brothers
seems to be a good preparation for the Chi-
nese to understand the Teachings of Baha'-
u'llah," he said, and he added that the
late Dr. Y. S. Tsao, former President of
Tsing Hua University in Peiping, his teacher
and his friend, had been a great exponent of
the Baha'i Teachings in China and had trans-
lated several Baha'i books into the Chinese
language. "I visited him in 1928, 1933, and
1935," said Professor Lee, "and learned from
him; and Dr. Tsao was a powerful influence
in promoting the Baha'i Faith in China."
I found Professor Lee very friendly to the
Teachings and he told me: "I am going to
study the book 'Gleanings from the Writings
of Baha'u'llah' and write about it — rever-
ently, not just as a review.
"You ask me how I think the Baha'i
Teachings can be promoted in Hawaii and
in China: they will be readily received if
people understand they are not to replace
what they have, but revitalize, fulfill their
old Faiths. If we believe the Baha'i Faith
is a unifying spiritual force — and certainly
Baha'u'llah has proclaimed the unity of man-
kind and reverence tfor one Supreme God —
then Hawaii is a great field. Here the East
and West meet, the Baha'i teachings would
surely have a place." I understood from him
that day that the University of Hawaii is
a Western institution most closely associ-
ated with the universities of the Orient. Set
midway between the Occident and the
Orient in the midst of a population represen-
tative of both the East and the West, it is
committed to a programme of education in
the field of human service.
Japan, as I have written in other volumes
of "Baha'i World," has scholars and writers
who have given illuminating interviews
about the Baha'i Faith. All notes for my
articles about Japan and China were lost in
the war in Shanghai in August, 1937, but I
wish to speak about Dr. Toyohiko Kagawa,
one of the bright spiritual lights in Eastern
Asia. He is a Christian who "lives the life,"
and he is a brilliant understanding writer.
He is a flaming evangelist, a social reformer
and a crystaUclear writer of religious books
and of best-selling novels. I had the bounty
to meet him. He told me that he had first
heard of the Baha'i Faith when he was in
Tokyo studying in the university, but that
682
BAHA'f FAITH AND EASTERN SCHOLARS
683
he had no Baha'i books. He said, "What I
know of the Baha'i Teachings I like them,
and I wish to give you a message for the
Baha'is: let us take hands and work for
the universal peace of the world."
In his humble home there was a sweet
spirit of peace and the Glory of God shone
upon him and his wife and children and
all his household. I said to him, "Who are
all these young men? Are they your secre-
taries?" He smiled at them and said no,
they were his friends* My inner eye saw — he
shared his house with youth who had no
money to rent rooms while they were study-
ing in the schools. One had just brought
him such a carefully chosen little nosegay of
wild flowers from a field, a fragrant gift of
love.
Dr. Kagawa, though he has much trouble
with his eyes and sometimes cannot see at
all, still in his big dark glasses he was pains-
takingly going over a whole book correcting
it for a poor man who did not know how
to write very well! Dr. Kagawa thanked
me for the books "Gleanings," "Baha'u'llah
and the New Era" and "Divine Economics,"
specially the last as he had just published a
book on economics himself, entitled "The
Economic Foundation of World Peace." He
said he would read them with interest. As
he stood at the gate bowing when I left,
tears of respect and love and loyalty were
in my eyes. He is a perfect Christian, there-
fore he is a Baha'i, a "Light-bearer," for
that is what the word means. His life helps
all of humanity who know him to rise up
above its faintness in these cataclysmic days.
Owing to the bombings in Shanghai from
which I barely escaped alive, my notes are
lost, but Mr. Walter H. Chen, the noted
Chinese journalist, for twenty years editor
of "The North China Daily News" in
Shanghai and writer of "The New Life
Movement" of China, a friend of Generalis-
simo and Mrs. Chiang Kai-shek, said to me
that Chinese people are very interested in the
Bahi'i Teachings. He quoted from "Hid-
den Words" of Baha'u'llah and said that he
loves these noble aims. "Our people will
like the Baha'i principles, for like our own
New Life Movement they are based on so-
cial regeneration through character building.
He told me that their movement instills in
the hearts of their people the importance of
courtesy, service, respect for the rights of
others and honor. The power to live this
life comes through religion.
Dr. Y. S. Tsao, the great Chinese scholar
who has written much about the Baha'i
Faith and had translated four important
Baha'i books, had passed on a few months
before I reached Shanghai.
Mr. Chan S. Liu, a devoted Baha'i of
Canton and a young scholar of great prom-
ise, had translated and published "Hidden
Words" by Baha'u'llah, and he had a large
book of "Tablets of Baha'u'llah" translated
just ready for the press when the air raids
on Canton began. He had intended to visit
me in Shanghai on his way to Nanking and
give me an interview and I had planned to
spend two months in Canton to meet several
Chinese scholars who are interested in the
Teachings, but the war stopped everything.
I wish to speak one word about Manila.
I had escaped from Shanghai and reached
Manila the evening of August twentieth,
1937. A journalist interviewed me as I
stepped from the ship and five minutes later
came the worst earthquake Manila has
known in a century. However, next morn-
ing a newspaper carried the big headline
"Baha'i lecturer says war is hell." A young
Professor of the University of the Philip-
pines and a young teacher in the schools
seeing this headline came to call. They had
studied the Baha'i Teachings from books
in the Philippine National Library and had
written articles and lectured on the Faith,
but had never met a believer. The young
teacher said, "There is something in these
Baha'i Teachings which appeals to me. I
hope I am a Baha'i and I wish to promote
this universal religion. I assure you the
Bahd'i books are never idle in this Philip-
pine National Library."
Stopping a few hours in Penang, the
editor of the largest and best newspaper, an
Oxford man, said, "I'll study these Baha'i
Teachings and speak about them before the
Rotary Club of Penang."
Colombo, Ceylon, where I stopped for one
month has a Mayor, Dr. R. Saravanamuttu,
who is most liberal in his spiritual thinking.
He said to me in an interview, "Any one in
whom religious consciousness has been awak-
684
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Members of the Unity of the liast and West Committee of Tihran, fran, 1937.
ened will see truth in all religions and cease
to quarrel about the superiority or inferiority
of any of them." He gave as an example,
the Mahatma Gandhi, saying, "Gandhi has
drawn the attention of the people of India
to Jesus Christ more than any Christian
missionary or of all of them put together."
Dr. Saravanamuttu is himself a Christian
and Mr. Gandhi is a Hindu. Dr. Saravana-
muttu said he would read the Baha'i Teach-
ings for peace with great interest.
Dr. Mary Rutman, member of the Co-
lombo City Council and one of the greatest
workers for humanity in Ceylon, said, "I
like the Baha'i Teachings." Some editors
and journalists in Colombo wrote excellent
articles and expressed deep interest. Some
university students there said, "Remember
your class is waiting for you when you can
return to Colombo to teach us."
Coming to Burma, Mr. D. A. Ankle-
saria, a lawyer of Rangoon, a well known
Theosophist and writer, author of "Talks
on Zoroastrianism," presided at two of my
lectures. He spoke with such clearness that
I asked him to write his statement about
the Baha'i Faith and here it is:
"A little over twenty five years ago
when I joined the Olcott Lodge, Rangoon
Theosophical Society, my attention was
drawn to a very interesting book in the
library, 'The Religious Systems of the
World.' In that book there was an article
on the Baha'i Faith. Since then I came in
touch personally with some members of the
Baha'i Faith in Rangoon including my
friend, the late Sayed Janab 'Ali, a brother-
advocate of the Rangoon High Court. Dur-
ing the last quarter of a century several
missioners of the Baha'i Faith have passed
through Rangoon and I have had the pleas-
ure and privilege to meet them and hear their
discourses. Two years ago, after I had fin-
ished my scries of 'Talks on Zoroastrianism'
at the Town Branch of the Y.M.C.A., among
the questions from the floor was the fol-
lowing:—
"Q. Would Zoroastrians be willing to join
a systematic religion; or is Baha'ism a mod-
ern expression of Zoroastrianism?
"My answer was in these words: —
"A. As regards the Baha'i Faith, in my
opinion it can be compared to Sikhism in
India. The great Guru Nanak tried to
reconcile Islam to Hinduism and failed.
BahaVllah tried to reconcile Islam to Zoro-
BAHA't FAITH AND EASTERN SCHOLARS
685
astrianism and he succeeded. When the
future historian traces the causes of the rise
of fran from the depth of degradation to
which she had reached, he may say that the
credit was due to two sons of fran (1)
Baha'u'llah, the Founder of the Baha'i Faith
and (2) His Imperial Majesty Rida Shah
Pahlavi, the man of the age. 'Zinde bad
fran.' Long live Iran, the land of Zara-
thustra's birth and life!
"This clearly shows my personal view of
the beauty and usefulness of the Baha'i faith
in serving as a bridge between religions, ap-
parently considered hostile, but essentially
one.
''Recently when Miss Martha L. Root, the
missioncr of the Baha'i Faith, spoke in Ran-
goon under the auspices of the local Arya
Somaj and the Thcosophical Society, I made
certain observations from the chair which
amount to this: —
'That the Baha'i teaching and the
teaching of the Thcosophical Society are
almost identical. Both lay stress on the
unity of life and its inevitable corollary,
the Brotherhood of Man. Both are re-
spectively the nucleus of people who be-
lieve in the Unity of life and the Brother-
hood of man. In consequence of this
conviction, every Theosophist and every
Baha'i has respect for the various religions
prevailing in the world, and their great
Founders. Both believe, in a way, in the
inner government of the world which
guides the evolution of humanity with
the object of bringing every human being
to the realization of the implications of
the Unity of life. Quarrels and strife we
have had in the past, and are having in
the present to a dreadful extent. But
Theosophists and Baha'is are certain, that
in the end love must triumph over ha-
tred and strife. To quote just one passage
from the "Book of fqan" (i.e. Assurance
—Certainty), the Revered Bahd'u'llah
says at page 153: —
* "It is clear and evident to thee that all
the Prophets are the Temples of the Cause
of God, who have appeared clothed in
diverse attire. If thou wilt observe with
discriminating eyes, thou wilt behold them
all abiding in the same tabernacle, soaring
in the same heaven, seated upon the same
throne, uttering the same speech, and pro-
claiming the same Faith. Such is the unity
of those essences of being, those lumi-
naries of infinite and immeasurable splen-
dor." '
"In fact as I have said more than once
every member of a Theosophical Society is
one more Baha'i added to the members of
the Baha'i Faith and vice versa, every Baha'i
'is one more member added to the Theosoph-
ical Society inasmuch as they have a com-
mon object, viz., that of spreading the mes-
sage of the brotherhood of man and all that
it implies, and trying to live the message in
order to make it a thing of living faith and
not merely an object of intellectual ac-
ceptance. I wish the Baha'i Faith all prog-
ress and prosperity."
Mr. W. J. Grant, Editor of "The Rangoon
Daily Times," Rangoon, has been most
friendly to the Baha'i Teachings. Articles
explaining the Teachings, news of the prog-
ress of the Cause in the whole five conti-
nents appear regularly in that widely circu-
lated newspaper, the largest in Burma.
In an editorial he has made the following
statement about the Baha'i Faith: "The
higher critics seem never to have realized
that what they are attacking is not religion
as it is practised in the world to-day. Per-
haps certain religions have been more for-
tunate than others in the manner of their
exhibition to the world. A system which
has been heard much of in Rangoon in
recent times is the Baha'i Faith. We do
not pretend to know much about it, but
so far as we can judge, its Teachings are
beautifully ethical and those who carry
its gracious intentions are sincere to the
core."
Sir S. Radhakrishnan, one of India's most
forward-looking erudite scholars, said to me
at the Second Indian Cultural Conference
held under the fine auspices of the Indian
Research Institute, Calcutta, December
fourth to seventh, 1937, "I have sympathy
with the spirit of the Baha'i Teachings, we
are all Baha'is universally." He was Presi-
dent at the opening of this great Conference
and said among other things, "Religion has
been the bearer of human culture and su-
preme achievement of man's profound ex-
pression. In spite of a continuous struggle
686
THE BAHA'f WORLD
with superstition, India has held fast for cen-
turies to the ideal of the spirit. Not only
have we made out of the Aryans, the Dravid-
ians, and aboriginal tribes, Hindus, but we
have given religious education to the large
part of the world."
He spoke of the increasing influence of the
Eastern thought on the Western civilization:
"The civilization of the East, India and
China, which is built upon passivism, toler-
ance, non-aggressiveness, cultivation of the
inner life are long-lived while those based on
ambition and adventure, aggression and
courage are short-lived. The Eastern civil-
ization has endured centuries of wars, pesti-
lence and human misrule and yet has sur-
vived. No Western civilization has lived
over a thousand years. The West by its
great scientific achievements has made the
world outwardly into one, has provided us
with all the material appliances essential for
the development of the world culture but it
has not touched the basis of culture, the con-
figuration of life and mind. The molds are
cracking, further growth in the old molds is
not possible; so, as on previous occasions, the
eyes of the West are turned towards the
East."
Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Baha'i
Cause, who lives in Haifa, Palestine, and the
National Spiritual Assemblies of the United
States and Canada, India and Burma cabled
greetings to this Conference. They also ca-
bled to the First Convention of Religions'
Congress likewise held under the direction of
the Indian Research Institute in Calcutta,
December eighth to eleventh. These were
read and broadcast all over India. Shoghi
Eflfendi wired, "Kindly convey to the Second
Indian Cultural Conference my best wishes
and assurance of prayers for the success of
their deliberations." These greetings were
presented with a short speech about the Ba-
ha'i Faith for religion and culture.
Mrs. Sarojini Naidu, India's best known
woman, a poet whose works are translated
into many languages, and the most brilliant
and enchanting woman speaker I have ever
heard, a member of the Indian Congress
strong in public life, spoke at the opening of
this Cultural Conference. She had met
'Abdu'1-Baha in London, and when she knew
a Baha'i was to give the greetings to the
Conference she sent for her and invited that
Baha'i to sit next to her on the platform.
Mrs. Naidu said in her speech that religion
and culture are twin-born. "The coordi-
nated cultures of the many races that have
become Indian in the process of time shall be
the consolidated gift of India to the world,"
were her words. The thought is akin to her
poem to India:
"The nations that in fettered darkness weep
Crave thee to lead them where great morn-
ings break."
During a visit with her alone, later, she
said that the Bab's and Baha'u'llah's suffer-
ing for the triumph of their Faith had ap-
pealed to her. "I like any one who brings
sincere thought and will believe in it, suffer
for it, die for it." As we spoke of the Ba-
ha'i Faith she related that her interest in the
Movement, strangely enough, had not begun
with the Bab, but with the woman disciple,
Qurratu'l-'Ayn known as Tahirih the Pure
One, the first martyr for the cause of woman
suffrage. She loves ^Tahirih's poetry, for she
herself is a great poet whose penetratingly
sweet lyrics sing with a rapture all their own.
She had with her that day in Calcutta a
rosary which had been 'Abdu'l-Baha's. She
said, "I prize it just as much as any Baha'i
who would be happy to possess it." Music
was in her heart and soul that morning and
with "words steeped in feeling," to use her
own expression, she told me that the Baha'i
Teachings are wonderful. They have a much
more modern appeal, she thinks, and they
are a measure of social emancipation as well
as a religion. She reads them for culture too.
It interested me to know that India's three
greatest souls, Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Rabin-
dra Nath Tagore and Mrs. Sarojini Naidu
had all three contacted the Baha'i Teachings.
Mr. Gandhi was in Calcutta when I was
there, but I did not ask to have an audience
as he was very ill — I say audience because to
be in his presence is not an ordinary event in
anybody's life; but I do hope to meet him
later. Friends of mine who have visited him
say that he knows the Baha'i Teachings very
well, has read a number of the books and
thinks very highly of the Baha'i Faith. He
has invited Baha'is to be his guests.
BAHA'f FAITH AND EASTERN SCHOLARS
687
Baha'i s throughout the world, through
their very Teachings that "it is better to be
killed than to kill," know that Mahatma
Gandhi's great contribution to spiritual cul-
ture has been his message of non-violence —
he has sown the seeds of this non-violence
thought and action upon the world's virgin
soil, not alone as a policy but also as a living
philosophy. He, by practical example, pre-
vented what otherwise might have resulted
in a bloody war in India. Who knows! Other
nations may some day remember this shining
experiment! Mahatma Gandhi's religion, by
whatever name he calls it, is universal, is
"Light-bearing"!
Through participation in the First Con-
vention of Religions' Congress in Calcutta, I
met Professor M. Hidayat Hosain, Fellow of
the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, now
Philological Secretary of the Royal Asiatic
Society Library, Number One, Park Street,
Calcutta. He is one of the greatest scholars
in all India, in Iranian and Arabic languages,
and is named in the list of compilers of
"Concordance de la Tradition Musulmane"
printed in Holland in 1936, which is proof
that he is one of the leading Orientalists of
the World. He is probably the greatest In-
dian scholar who has arisen to write about
the Baha'i Faith. Professor Hosain has a
most interesting article entitled "A Female
Martyr of the Babi Faith" published
in a book called "Proceedings of the
Idara-i-mararif-i-Islamia," a Convention
held in Lahore in 1933, and the volume
is dedicated to the Nizam of Hyderabad,
Deccan.
This Calcutta Professor said that he had
come to know of the Baha'i Teachings at
first hand (and not alone from books) , when
Ibn Asdaq, a cultured, learned Baha'i
teacher, came from f ran to Calcutta in about
1902-03. "He was very charming, very cul-
tured, a fine liberalist and I studied with him
Baha'u'llah's great work fqan." It was Ibn
Asdaq who wrote to Iran to ask that infor-
mation about Tahirih the martyr be sent to
me. He also wrote to 'Abdu'1-Baha, and
'Abdu'1-Baha sent me a Tablet in 1906."
Introducing his heroine Tahirih, also
known as Qurratu'l-'Ayn, in his book he
says: "Many noblemen have sacrificed their
precious lives for the sake of the religion that
they held to be true. The annals of the civ-
ilized world abound with such instances. In
'Tarikh-ul-Islam' there is the record of many
such heroes of imperishable fame but few
among them belong to the fair sex. What-
ever may be the reason for this dearth of the
names of female martyrs in our history it is
not a fact that Moslem ladies have been be-
hind in championing the cause of religion. I
am giving you a short sketch of a most cul-
tured lady of wide reputation who gave up
her life for the sake of the Babi Faith which
she believed in with her whole heart and
preached with great fervor." And then fol-
lows the long article.
'Abdu'1-Baha in some Tablets to India
quoted lines from Hafiz, the Iranian poet,
"All parrots of India will become sweet-
tongued when this Persian candy reaches
Bengal," inferring that when the sugar of
the Baha'i Teachings becomes dissolved in
Bengal, great sweetness will be enjoyed.
Dr. T. Bahadur Sapru of Allahabad, while
he did not speak on the Baha'i Faith — I did
not meet him at the Religions' Convention
but met his friend — said he often wished
that India could establish direct cultural
contact with Iran. This is coming, for
young professors going to Tihran to make
deeper studies in Iranian language are meet-
ing Baha'is just as Oriental scholars from
England, Denmark and Czechoslovakia have
done.
The next journey was to Shantiniketan (it
means the "Home of Quiet," "The Home of
Peace") to visit Dr. Rabindra Nath Tagore
on December 14, 1937. Mr. Isfandiar Bakh-
tiari of Karachi, an Iranian by birth, was
with me. The poet said, "I met 'Abdu'l-
Baha in Chicago, in 1912. He was staying
in an hotel; He was talking to His followers
who gathered around Him and I, too, spoke
with Him. He very kindly asked me if pos-
sible, to come and see Him in His own place
in Haifa. I always thought I would try to
go, but it wasn't to be like that. The years
went by and one day I read in the newspapers
that 'Abdu'1-Baha had passed."
Dr. Tagore spoke of 'Abdu'1-Baha with
deep appreciation; he also said that the Baha'i
Faith is a great ideal to establish and that
they in Shantiniketan welcome all the great
spiritual aims, that he hopes a Chair of the
688
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Baha'i Religion can be arranged in their in-
ternational university. Dr. Tagore's center
is not only one of the very important cul-
tural institutions of the Hindus in India, but
it is also an all-Asia center of great potency.
He spoke with Mr. Bakhtiari of his pleasur-
able trip to f ran and asked particularly about
the progress of the Baha'i Cause in the land
of its birth; he praised the tolerance and fine-
ness of the Iranian Baha'is. The poet said,
too, that they have some very good books
about the Baha'i Teachings in the university
library. The visit with Dr. Tagore was a
most happy one.
The audience with Their Highnesses the
Maharaja of Travancore and his mother the
Maharani of Travancore in the Royal Palace,
December 22, 1937, was very happy and il-
luminating. The Maharaja, H. H. Sir Balai
Rama Varma, twenty-six years old, is so
smiling, cheerful, natural, buoyant, he puts
one at ease, for his manners arc from the
heart. He had just done such an epoch-
making deed in his tempo of reform, it was
being much discussed all over India. After
six thousand years of caste system under the
Hindu religion, this young Maharaja had, on
his birthday, November 12, 1936, with one
stroke of the pen at a great religious festival
announced that all State Hindu Temples
shall be opened to all people. Thus the "un-
touchables" can now go into the temples "to
the feet of GodJ> as they say, to worship.
Now there are no longer untouchables in
Travancore. Before that these oppressed
classes of India not only could not go into
the temples to pray, but they could not even
go near the temples, nor bathe in the public
tanks or go near a public well.
Since this proclamation I saw with my
own eyes how non-caste Hindu officers go in
processions with H. H. the Maharaja along
with the other higher caste Hindu officers.
This proclamation truly is as outstanding as
some of the big edicts of King Asoka of
India in the remote past. It ranks in line
with our own President Abraham Lincoln's
proclamation of freedom for the slaves, and
another parallel is what the women of Great
Britain did to promote the woman suffrage
idea, not alone for their own countrywomen
but for greater opportunities of women all
over the world.*
Perhaps only in India can one really realize
what this great gesture of the Maharaja of
Travancore means. He has perceived the
signs of this universal age of brotherhood
and by his courageous act has removed a hard
barrier enforced for sixty centuries. It does
not mean that he is not a Hindu, he is a lib-
eral, most spiritual Hindu. His own Dewan
(Prime Minister), Sir C. P. Ramaswamy
Aiyar, said, "It is entirely due to His High-
ness* broad vision and impartial attitude to-
wards all his subjects that this proclamation
has been made."
Certainly it is a challenge to other Hindu
States and patrons of Hindu Temples to
realize the necessity for bringing about dy-
namic reforms. India is agog with excite-
ment over this unprecedented deed of the
young Maharaja of Travancore who is rais-
ing Hinduism to its deserved glory.
His charming mother, the Maharani of
Travancore, Her Highness Setu Parvati Bai,
is one of the most delightfully well-educated
women in India today. She possesses the
cultures of both the East and the West, is a
famous conversationalist, a fine lecturer and
writer, and just as her son she has a keen
sense of humor, and yet is very spiritual, an
ideal Hindu. An audience with them is
something that always remains a joy.
We spoke of the unity of religions and of
some Baha'i books. She said that from time
immemorial people of all religions had come
to settle in Travancore, and that there are
no prejudices. "There is only one God-
Head," she said, "but the manifold paths to
Him are different. The fundamental truth
can never vary, so why should we fight
about it?"
She is a great believer in higher education
for women and told me that in their men's
colleges there are lady professors and tutors
and some of the teachers are younger than
the pupils. There is a lady judge in Travan-
core; lady clerks work side by side with men
and co-education has been advanced remark-
ably in Travancore. Girls take part in all
the mixed games, the whole atmosphere is
healthful and inspiring. The fact that ma-
triarchy has prevailed in Travancore for
more than a thousand years may have some-
thing to do with the importance given to the
education of the girl. But all education,
BAHA'f FAITH AND EASTERN SCHOLARS
689
both that of the girl and the boy, is very
high in Travancore; this state has the highest
literacy in all India. Many women who
came to the Ninth All India Oriental Con-
ference when I was in Trivandrum, came in
their own names, under their own titles and
not just as wives.
The Baha'i solution of the economic prob-
lem was spoken of during our audience that
afternoon. They both thought it was very
interesting but H. H. the Maharani said that
it would be difficult to start an experiment in
economics with a 350,000,000 population
such as India has today. Suddenly she sug-
gested, "Could it not be carried out first in
some small country, such as Palestine, where
the Baha'i Cause has its headquarters and see
it work there? Let it start with a clean slate
and see how love and brotherhood can solve
the economic problems." She meant the
specific set of Laws and the definite insti-
tutions and all the essentials of a Divine
Economy provided by Baha'u'llah — could
not these be tried out thoroughly in Pales-
tine as a model for the other countries to
follow?
Palestine is very good, but the whole world
needs these economic transformations. Pales-
tine might be a model so far as the central
storehouses are concerned, but this would be
a minor point. All the governments must
join hands for these major problems such as
a Universal League of Nations, universal
education, a universal auxiliary language,
an International Court of Arbitration, the
universal doing away of customs barriers,
and the change of heart through religion —
these must be carried through by all nations
simultaneously.
I found their Highnesses the Maharaja and
the Maharani and their friends so noble, lib-
eral, and they were so pleasant and most
gracious to the highest and to the humblest.
It is rulers like these with great capacity,
vision and a wide tolerance who can render
great service for the uplif tment of their own
subjects and of all humanity.
The Maharaja of Travancore said to me,
"It is a matter of special pride to us that the
Syriac, the Catholic, the Protestant and the
Muslim Faiths and philosophies are cultivated
in this state with zeal in mutual peace; we
welcome truth. We shall read with interest
the principles of Baha'u'llah for world
peace."
Living in Trivandrum is the British Resi-
dent of the Madras States, Mr. Clarmont P.
Skrine, and Mr. Isfandiar Bakhtiari of Ka-
rachi and I had the pleasure of meeting him;
he is a friend of the Maharaja. He told us
that his father, the late F. H. Skrine, had
written a book about the Baha'i Faith nearly
thirty years ago. His father had Jteen in the
Administrative Department of Civil Service
in Bengal for many years, but after return-
ing to London in 1897, he had heard of the
Baha'i Teachings and had made a deep studv
of them.
Dr. James H. Cousins of the University of
Travancore sometimes travels with H. H.
the Maharaja. His wife, Mrs. Cousins, Presi-
dent of the All India Women's Conference,
stopped over in Haifa, Palestine, on her way
back to India to visit Shoghi Effendi, Guard-
ian of the Baha'i work. Both Dr. and Mrs.
Cousins know the Baha'i Teachings. They
told me, that same day in Trivandrum, that
when they were living in Ireland in 1906, Sir
William Barrett, Dean of the Royal College
of Science, Ireland, a famous physicist, ini-
tiator of the Society of Psychical Research,
had given them a copy of the first edition of
"The Splendour of God," a Baha'i book. It
was their first contact with the Baha'i Faith.
They are both spreaders of Light and they
loaned this book to many groups of young
students.
The Travancore Journalists' Association
gave a tea the next afternoon to hear about
the rise of the Baha'i Movement and what
Baha'u'llah has said about the power of the
press to make a better world.
Dewan Bahadur K. S. Ramaswami Sastri, a
brilliant scholar and a District and Sessions
Judge of Madras, has been studying the Ba-
ha'i Teachings, learning of the Faith first
from Baha'i books in the University of Ma-
dras Library where he is a member of the
University Senate. Twice he presided when I
lectured in Madras, and I give here a few
salient facts he expressed as Chairman of
the meeting:
"When we evaluate the teachings of the
Bab and Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'1-Bahi and
Shoghi Effendi in relation to the travail of
humanity today, we can realize how they
690
TH£ BAHA'f WORLD
stand for universal peace and world-coopera-
tion. It is quite natural that such teachings
should be the gift of Iran to the world, be-
cause Iranian thought is a blend of Aryan
philosophy and Islamic religion. Such a
country, however, fell from its high state.
In 'The Dawn-Breakers* it is stated: 'Ineffi-
ciency and wretchedness, the fruit of moral
decay, filled the land. From the highest to
the lowest there appeared neither the capac-
ity to carry out methods of reform nor even
the will seriously to institute them. National
conceit preached a grandiose self content. A
pall of immobility lay over all things, and a
general paralysis of mind made any develop-
ment impossible.' It was reserved for the
Baha'i Prophets to give a shaking to such
stagnation of mind and body, and to fuse
Aryan philosophy and Islamic religion.
'Abdu'1-Baha said: 'In former times fran
was verily the heart of the world and shone
among the nations like a lighted taper.' He,
in His turn, made Iran shine like a lighted
taper.
"The Baha'i Prophets have propounded
the idea of a League of Religions and recog-
nize all the prophets of all the religions. The
Baha'i Movement works for the harmony of
science and religion, because they deal with
the truths of the seen and unseen and have no
reason to be in conflict with each other. It
preaches the equality of the sexes and of the
classes. It educates men and women for love
and service and is a powerful force making
for universal peace.
"Thus the Baha'i religion may well be de-
scribe^ as a Faith which unites what Swami
Vivekananda described as the Vedantic mind
and the Isldmic heart. It aims at inspiring
men to be ready to carry out the will of God
and to love their fellowmen.
"Baha'u'lUh said, 'I stand life in hand
ready.' He said further, 'It is better to be
killed than to kill.' 'Abdu'1-Baha said,
'Dost thou desire to love God? Love thy
fellowmen, for in them ye see the image and
likeness of God.'
"We in India hear in these words a fa-
miliar strain that has come down to us along
the long and resounding corridor of time
echoing the words 'Om Santih Santih Santih'
('Peace, Peace, Peace'), the sound whereof
seems to touch the roof of the sky. We hear
the strain that thrilled us in the soft accents
of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and in the
leonine words of Swami Vivekananda, and in
the social and political gospel of Mahatma
Gandhi.
"Islam in its highest mood means the rec-
ognition of the Divine Will and the surren-
der of every will to it in utter peace and
resignation. It dissociated the thought of
God from any image or symbol and dissem-
inated the ideal of universal brotherhood.
Buddhism stresses righteousness and Chris-
tianity stresses love. Hinduism emphasizes
the divine unity of all things and shows the
central unity in all diversity, the prismatic
colors heightening the charm of their united
glory in the white light of Brahman.
"Miss Martha Root has seen many coun-
tries and cultures and civilizations and aims
at the spread of the essential Baha teachings
in the interests of world peace and world co-
operation. She is bearing aloft 'that banner
with the strange device — Excelsior* and is
working strenuously for the brotherhood of
man and the unity of the world."
When Dewan Bahadur Sastri was Chair-
man at the second lecture, he said: "It is sig-
nificant that the years 1936 and 1938 have
been connected not only with the wars
against Abyssinia and China but also with
the celebration of the centenary of the birth
of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and the
extension of the Baha'i Faith. The latter
events signify that there is an upward trend
in the life of humanity. Tolstoi rightly
pointed out that he felt drawn to the Baha'i
Faith because of its stress on equality and
brotherhood and of its sacrifice of material
life to the service of God.
"The League of Nations has been a failure,
first because some of the nations went into
it in a half-hearted way and all the nations
did not go into it and some of the big na-
tions stood out of it, and secondly because
the League was unarmed while the nations
were fully armed to the teeth and are today
arming themselves more and more. The
basic cause for this sad state of things is that
the mind of man has been allured by science
and its religion of power, and has turned
away from Faith and its religion of service.
'Abdu'1-Baha* says that 'war is the most pre-
ventable human accident' and yet it seems
BAHA'f FAITH AND EASTERN SCHOLARS
today to be the most unpreventable and re-
curring human incident. The Baha'i Faith
aims at removing the discord between science
and faith and suppressing and sublimating
the overgrown egoism of man.
"For achieving this object, it proposes to
establish the equality of the sexes and to give
a new orientation of education. Women will
redress the balance of life in the future. The
new education aims at homoculture and the
enrichment of the entire personality by sub-
stituting the true heroisms and victories of
peace for the false heroisms and victories of
war.
"In these two directions great work awaits
the Baha'i Faith. Hinduism, the mother of
religions, has a wide tolerance of outlook. It
is said that the Baha'i Movement leaves all
the doors open; that is the attitude of Hin-
duism also. Other religions close the sky-
lights and windows and the doors and keep
only the street door open and even that
partially open. The Hindu doctrines of In-
carnation and of Grace and Devotion have
even today a great contribution to make to
the life of humanity.
"It looks as if the Baha'i Faith will stimu-
late the best elements in each religion and
bring about a real League of Religions and a
Real League of Nations."
A short visit was made to Adyar, Madras,
December twenty-seventh, 1937, where the
International Theosophical Conference was
in session in their world headquarters. In
their great lecture hall, on the wall panels
devoted to great spiritual leaders, the front
panel at the left, as one enters, contains the
insignia of the Greatest Name and over it is
written "Baha'u'llah"; it is very beautiful.
Mr. Hirendra Nath Datta, Vice-President of
this international organization, said that the
Baha'i Teachings are the highest essence of
Hinduism. The Baha'i collection of books
in their library is very good and is constantly
used by university students of Madras.
The Librarian of the University of Madras
Library, Dr. S. R. Ranganathan, said he is
keenly interested to build up the department
of Baha'i books. He already has a fine selec-
tion, he keeps in touch with the N. S. A. of
the United States and Canada and wishes to
get every new Baha'i book that is published.
Sir Dewan M. Ismail, Dewan of Mysore
State, an Iranian by birth, a most liberal un-
derstanding Muslim, received Mrs. Shirin
Fozdar and me, two Baha'is, in his beautiful
home in Bangalore City on January twenty-
fifth and again in early February. His spirit
is very "Baha'i," for he is most kind to peo-
ple of every religion. I said this to him and
he smiled replying, "I'm sure that if I really
lived my Muhammadan religion you would
say, 'He is a Baha'i!'"
Deeds are the test of one's Faith; and when
I saw that he embraced a Jew, made a cordial
speech at the laying of the foundation stone
of a Christian church, was most considerate
to an Ahmadiyyih priest, and did everything
to help Mrs. Fozdar and me so that our visit
to Bangalore was most successful and happy,
I ask: if this is not "Light-bearing," "Ba-
ha'i," then what is it? He invited us to a
great garden party where he himself was the
guest of honor and introduced us to some of
his friends as Baha'is. He spoke of a Pro-
fessor in their state who he said has made a
deep study of the Baha'i Teachings.
This charming Dewan said to some Hin-
dus: "I am serving a Hindu State and a
Maharaja who is the embodiment of all that
is best in Hindu culture and Hindu civiliza-
tion. It is difficult to imagine a more pious,
devoted Hindu. It is not a matter of sur-
prise if I am so wholeheartedly with you in
the service of your religion and your culture.
I feel — a feeling which I venture to express
in all humility and sincerity — that one
pleases Providence more by serving other
Faiths than one's own. Paradoxical as that
may sound, I believe it is nevertheless quite
true, for to serve other Faiths calls for some-
thing nobler than passive tolerance. I think
and feel that I have no more inspiring exam-
ple to follow in this matter than that of His
Highness the Maharaja of Mysore himself
who reigns over all of us with so much love
and wisdom, treating all communities and
all religions alike."
Dr. Anwar Iqbal Qureshi, Head of the
Economics Department of the University of
Hyderabad, after my lecture to the students
of the university said in his concluding re-
marks: "I wish the politicians of Russia, Ja-
pan, Germany and Italy could have been
present and heard this talk. I hope with her
that there will be one religion in the world.
692
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Youth has revolted against religion, but you
young men who have education, on you the
responsibility falls, for you can grasp the
fundamentals of unity. Apply yourselves to
the problems of the world. If we can find
an approach, as our lecturer suggests, to the
universal auxiliary language problem it will
go a long way to help us and to help make a
better world. If we can evolve a system of
language the world will come much nearer."
This university which teaches in the ver-
nacular in addition to teaching the foreign
languages is one of the finest. It is in large
measure the students, the alumni from these
outstanding Indian universities who are ush-
ering in what is popularly called the great
Indian Renaissance; and I observed that some
of the very capable Baha'is in India — as well
as in other lands — first heard of the Teach-
ings through lectures in their schools.
The Mithic Society of Bangalore City, one
of the highest cultural organizations there,
arranged for three Baha'i lectures in their
Daly Memorial Hall, and the Honorary Sec-
retary, Mr. S. Srikantaya, ably presided at all
three events, speaking of the Cause with un-
derstanding. He said the last evening, that
whether we agree or disagree with the Baha'i
High Prophet, Baha'u'llah, these Teachings
are well worthy of study and of a deep con-
sideration and thought. Professors in Mysore
University, Mysore City, said that what they
and the students need is a great quickening
in religion and if the Baha'i Teachings bring
that, they are well worth studying. Another
professor said that the fact that this Baha'i
Faith, the youngest and most flexible reli-
gion, has come up out of the most conserva-
tive Faith shows its universalism.
Sir Akbar Hydari, Prime Minister of Hy-
derabad, Deccan, is very interested in Tahi-
rih, loves her poems and he was most kind to
Mrs. Fozdar and to me when we were in Hy-
derabad, in early February. Lady Hydari is
President of the Hyderabad Ladies' Associ-
ation Club and when we lectured there in
their clubhouse, Princess Niloufer Farhat
Begam Sahiba graciously presided. She is the
wife of the second son of the Nizam of
Hyderabad, Deccan, and was a grand niece
of Sultan 'Abdu'l-Hamid of Turkey. Many
cultured people in Hyderabad know Tahi-
rih's poems, and when Mrs. Fozdar spoke
over the radio in Hyderabad about Tahirih, a
gramophone record was made of the speech
and also her singing of Tahirih's poems.
The Honorable Jamnadas M. Mehta,
Mayor of Bombay, 1936-37, and one of the
great thinkers and eloquent speakers of India
today, said to me in a conversation last Oc-
tober: "I am deeply impressed by the broad
and catholic principles of the Baha'i Faith
and I am trying to study its Teachings more
and more. As I said the other evening at the
meeting over which I presided in the Baha'i
Hall when you spoke and several members of
the National Spiritual Assembly of India and
Burma also took part, the Faith which is con-
secrated by the willing sacrifice of over
twenty thousand human beings cannot but
inspire respect and confidence even among
those who belong *to other Faiths. As a
Hindu, I can honestly subscribe to almost all
the tenets of the Baha'i Movement because
they are so nearly identical with our own
teachings.
"There has always been a great thirst for
knowledge here in India. Toleration is even
more conspicuous and you can be sure of an
adequate hearing for the Baha'i principles
wherever you will go. For myself, I shall
keep in increasing touch with the Baha'is."
India is wide awake today — conferences in
religions, sciences, Oriental Studies, educa-
tion and peace are participated in by many
hundreds of men and women. Many of
these conventions, many universities, re-
ligious societies, clubs, are opening their
doors to the Baha'i Message. 'Abdu'1-Baha
said that when these Baha'i Teachings arc
widely known in India they will spread very
rapidly.
THE UNITY OF NATIONS
BY STANWOOD COBB
H,
. UMAN history sometimes drifts aim-
lessly along without seeming to go anywhere,
then at other times it rides fast on a flowing
tide that cannot be stopped or turned aside,"
says David Coyle in his book "Uncommon
Sense."
We are in such a swift moving period to-
day. It is indeed a crucial moment in the
world's history. Vast changes have already
taken place. Still greater changes are immi-
nent. Where is all this leading to?
Minds are made confused by all this
change. Hearts are made anxious. For this
process of human evolution, if we can call it
such, has its immediate implications for
every individual. The sense of certainty, of
security, is destroyed by this ominous and be-
wildering destruction of old forms and insti-
tutions going on before our eyes. Every such
destruction suggests the danger of drastic
changes in personal fortunes. What lies
ahead for us as individuals we know not.
What lies ahead of us in the way of group
forms and fortunes we can only guess.
If we could be but certain that this break-
ing up of old forms were leading to some-
thing vastly superior; if we could rest in the
assurance of a stable and universal order de-
veloping for future humanity out of all this
welter and chaos of the workshop period
of today, we could afford to accept not
only with equanimity but even with satis-
faction the present conditions out of which
such a world order would seem to be de-
veloping.
In the Revelation of BahaVllah given to
the world over seventy years ago may be
found the clue to these vast changes that are
taking place. Old forms had to be broken
up, in order that the glorious structure of
the new World Order might arise out of the
ruins of the godless and semi-pagan civiliza-
tion of today.
This new World Order of Bahi'u'lUh im-
plies universal peace; the brotherhood of
man; the unity of religion; the establishment
of an equitable, stable and prosperous eco-
nomic system of worldwide proportions; the
setting up of an auxiliary universal language
as an instrument for world travel, world
commerce, and culture; the formation every-
where of just governments assuring eco-
nomic security to the individual, restraining
the great oppressors, and guaranteeing in ac-
tuality and not in words a square deal to even
the humblest person in his pursuit of life,
liberty and happiness.
It may seem paradoxical to state that this
glorious vision for humanity cannot be
achieved save through the creation of chaos
in human affairs.
But how would war ever cease, save that
the instruments of war became so terrible
and devastating, so wholesale in destruction
as to purge the heart and purify the soul of
men to that point at which actual plans for
universal peace could be effected? How
could the brotherhood of man come about
until humanity wearied of the cruelties and
confusions due to racial and national hatreds?
How could one supreme and vitally active
world religion be achieved, until peoples the
world over despaired of the efficacy of their
old traditional cults? How could the per-
fect economic pattern be forged out, until
capital and labor, through battling one
against the other, through the attrition and
loss and chaos of economic warfare and class
struggle, reach a point where each side is
willing to relinquish somewhat of power in
order to find in harmonization and mutual-
ization of their desires and needs the fair and
shining way to equitable, stable and universal
prosperity? And how could governments
become just, until the oppressed should rise
up with such might as to pull down the
proud oppressor from his power?
We shall not grieve over the chaotic con-
ditions today, we shall not even be bewil-
dered at these swift changes everywhere oc-
693
694
THE BAHA'f WORLD
curring, if we hold steadily before our eyes
the glorious vision of the new World Order
as revealed by Baha'u'llah. Here is a definite
pattern for human society. An all-inclusive
pattern for the expression of man's power
and abilities in the social, economic and po-
litical domains. Holding this pattern before
our eyes we can work toward it gradually as
the architect turns into noble reality the blue
prints which lie upon his desk.
Instead of confusion we shall then have
certitude. Instead of despair we shall have
courage and glorious hopes. The more we
see the old forms tumble to ruin before our
eyes, the more we shall rejoice in the oppor-
tunity thus given to us for building new and
better forms in their place.
Institutions are not immortal. They rise
and fall in periodic rhythm — expressive of
the growing power of man's ever inventive
spirit, and obedient to the dictates of destiny.
Why mourn the failure of old institutions in
which crystallization has become an omen
and a cause of death? Let us rather hail with
joy the rise of glorious new institutions
which promise immense benefits to human-
ity.
I
Let us now view in detail the structure of
the new World Order of Bahi'u'llah, an-
nounced by Him to the world as the Will of
the Eternal Mover of cosmic events. Let us
view it, as the architect helps us to conceive
his plans, in the form of the perfected struc-
ture pictured concretely.
We are in the year 2001. We look back
upon the twentieth century as a period of
enormous vitality, of stupendous structural
changes. Out of the apparent chaos and con-
fusion we have seen emerge great and uni-
versal institutions founded upon the predica-
tion of the Oneness of Mankind, secured and
stabilized by a new human conscience of uni-
versal brotherhood.
War has disappeared now and forever. In
its place we see the promised and long-
dreamed-of Federation of the World; the
League of Nations, so feebly struggling in its
early days, having now become a universal
and effective institution for super-national
government. The rules and peoples of the
world, wearying of the devastations caused
by war, have at last actually agreed, in
world conference, to simultaneously cut
down national armaments to that minimum
essential for internal order. In the place of
these fatally competitive armies and navies
an international police corps has been cre-
ated, naval and aeronautic, obedient to the
will of the League of Nations Assembly and
upholding the decisions of the World Court.
Swiftly effective is this great international
armed force in keeping all the peoples of the
world subservient to the demands of interna-
tional law and order.
A world metropolis acts as a nerve center
of a world civilization, the focus toward
which the unifying forces of life will con-
verge and from which its energizing influ-
ences will radiate. The economic resources
of the world are organized and an equitable
distribution assured by the world parliament
and international executive. The techno-
logical power of humanity is fully applied to
the exploitations of the earth's physical re-
sources. World markets are coordinated and
developed and the distribution of world
products are equitably regulated. Thus the
major causes of modern war have been re-
moved, since the new international govern-
ment of this Federation of the World so
regulates world economy as to produce
greater prosperity for each individual nation,
as parts now of a harmonious whole, than
have ever been achieved in the past by means
of the selfish and brutal self-seeking of na-
tions through the instrumentality of war and
conquest.
The ancient ancestral quarrel between
labor and capital has been healed and all their
joint problems solved by the far-reaching
economic laws of Baha'u'llah. What are
these laws? The first is that of profit-shar-
ing, that the net profits of industry and
business are divided between capital and
labor. That is to say, labor in addition to a
basic minimum wage, has a definite predeter-
mined share in the profits. Thus there has
has been achieved a perfect mutualization of
capital and labor. New potentialities in labor
have been awakened and tapped, potentiali-
ties of energy and of inventiveness. The
productive power of industry under this new
arrangement has been greatly multiplied, and
.the consuming power of the general public
THE UNITY OF NATIONS
695
Ninth Annual Meeting of the Baha'is of the Northeastern States, at Forest Park,
Springfield, Mass., June 21, 1936.
has been enabled to keep up with this height-
ened power of production.
II
Yes, through the application of a very
simple economic principle, the age of abun-
dance dreamed of by the young economists
of the 1930's has actually been achieved.
Whereas before, in the confused economic
period of the twentieth century, too much
of the proceeds of industry flowed to capital
to become investment money and too little
to labor in the way of becoming consuming
power; now the law of profit-sharing, elas-
tically applied, has helped to maintain con-
sumption on a parity with production. A
second great law, that of graduated income
and inheritance taxes, so steep in the upper
registers as to prevent excessive fortunes,
further serves to divert income from invest-
ment to consumption channels. This new
economic regime, adapted by the respective
nations to their internal needs and aided by
the international government, maintains an
equitable and permanent parity between pro-
duction and consumption.
This same parity is maintained in the agri-
cultural domain. For the first time in world
history it has been found possible to obtain
markets for all food products grown. The
immense agricultural potentiality of the
earth's surface is now exploited with all the
skill and technological planning of a human
society that has at last reached maturity.
The world's agriculture is now practiced
on a universal basis. The great staple crops
of the world are kept flowing from high
levels of productiveness to areas low in pro-
ductiveness but high in consuming power.
Agricultural engineering and planning of
world-wide scope supersedes waste and chaos.
Backward people are assisted by technologi-
cal leaders lent to them from other countries
to train them in scientific methods of agri-
culture.
Now all the world is fed, clothed and
housed with a fair degree of comfort. No
one on the surface of the planet goes to
bed hungry — not even the humblest indi-
vidual of the most backward country of the
world. Such is the far-flung efficiency of
the great super-government of the World-
State.
The vast industrial potentiality of hu-
manity, now stimulated by a stable and uni-
versal consuming power, turns out necessity
and comfort goods in such quantities and at
such cheapness as to enrich the humblest
home with ample means of comfortable liv-
ing. Yet our industrial and technical engi-
neers tell us this is only the beginning. For
they aim to improve industrial methods by
their technology and at the same time work
out efficacious ways and means for increasing
the consuming power of the public, so as to
bring not only the necessary comfort goods
to every home, but also a constantly increas-*
ing range of pleasure and luxury goods. For
humanity, having begun to satisfy its neces-
sary wants, is rapidly developing new wants
of an esthetic nature. The home of the hum-
blest workman has a beauty of architecture
and interior decoration possible only to the
wealthy in that period of confusion which
696
THE BAHA'f WORLD
prevailed in the early part of the twentieth
century.
A vast energy is being directed into civic
betterment and into the beautification of
village, town and city. Parks, schools, civic
centers, recreational centers, public libraries,
museums, institutions for adult education —
all of these are stimulating the masses and
raising them to ever new cultural levels.
The love of beauty has grown universal.
The simplest articles of daily use have beauty
of design and color. The radio, the moving
pictures, the symphony orchestras spread
everywhere within reach of every com-
munity, are developing esthetic tastes and
opening up opportunities for new artistic
talent and achievement.
For the world order of BahaVllah is not a
mere proposition of counting-house and
mart. It is dedicated not only to order and
prosperity, but to beauty and to joy of liv-
ing.
The World Federation of BahaVllah is
united by a universal auxiliary language
which was selected by the rulers of all the
nations meeting in Congress and thereafter
prescribed in all the schools of the world.
This does not displace the native language
but is auxiliary to it. The international lan-
guage has become a most essential implement
for international commerce, travel and cul-
ture. Important books appear simultane-
ously in the native and in the universal
language. International conventions and con-
ferences are held in this new language. Its
use also helps in developing the psychology
of brotherhood. The importance of linguis-
tic unity in the development of a cohesive
nationalism had long been recognized by the
leading nations of the world; the same psy-
chological implement is now applied to the
forging out of a cohesive internationalism.
Universal education spreads its blessings
throughout the world. The school curricu-
lums in the various nations of the world are
fast approximating a common educational
aim and ideology. This educational homo-
geneity is in itself a powerful aid toward
world unity of thought and feeling.
Through the aid of the universal language
scholars can now travel from country to
country and attend universities anywhere in
the world.
A new world culture is fast developing as
the final majestic flowering of *that culture
called Renaissance which saw the first faint
beginning of a harmonization of Oriental
and Occidental culture-modes. We had seen
this cultural unification of Orient and Occi-
dent developing with considerable accelera-
tion during the last half of the nineteenth,
and throughout the twentieth century. The
coalescence has now become practically com-
pleted. The treasuries of Oriental culture
have been joined with the best and richest
values the Occident has to offer, producing a
universal culture of remarkable virility,
charm and progress-mindedness — a culture
in which the esthetic quality of the East is
mated to the technological prowess of the
West.
This final and complete coalescence of cul-
ture has come about through the emotional
unity caused by the spread of the Baha'i
Faith throughout the world, and the devel-
opment of a unified conscience of brother-
hood, now firmly uniting every nation and
people on the planet.
The important factor in the world unity
now being achieved is the establishment of a
universal religion in accordance with the
teachings of BahaVllah. The various races
of the world have come to see that life spir-
itually is one; that as there is but one uni-
verse, so there is but one God and one Truth.
The religious ideology and practice of the
planet have for the first time in its history
been brought into an effective unity through
acceptance of the Revelation of the new
World Order of BahaVllah.
This new and miraculous spiritual unity
of the human race is the most important sin-
gle factor in the creation of an effective
working unity of thought and action among
the two billion people that inhabit the globe.
The apex and keystone of this world struc-
ture is the institution of Guardianship estab-
lished by BahaVllah as the focal point
around which, the world's thought and ac-
tion revolve, creating a functional unity un-
assailable by the dispersive quality.
This same spiritual force of divine guid-
ance and protection permeates to greater or
lesser degree the functioning of the various
legislative and administrative bodies — local,
national and international. In fact, a new
THE UNITY OF NATIONS
697
type of government has sprung into being,
combining the important elements of de-
mocracy, aristocracy, autocracy, and theoc-
racy. It would not be possible here to de-
scribe fully the plans and working out of this
Baha'i type of civilization which avoids the
weaknesses and inefficiencies of democracy,
and brings to bear upon its various functions
the abilities of the most gifted and devoted
citizens. Permeating universally the order-
ing and functioning of this new government
is the practice of collective turning to the
Divine Ruler of the universe for guidance in
the solution of all difficult legislative and ad-
ministrative problems.
This titanic enterprise — the creation in
actuality of the world vision of BahaVllah
— is now, in this beginning of the third mil-
lennium of the Christian era, well on its
foundational way toward success. But it
will take centuries to complete the structure
in all its perfection. What had appeared an
impossible dream in the age of confusion
of the first half of the twentieth century,
has proceeded to its marvelous consumma-
tion with constantly accelerated and miracu-
lous speed during the second half of that
century.
The Kingdom of God, pre-existing archi-
tecturally in the Realm of Causation — that
Architypal World of which Plato knew — has
at last descended to earth and evolved its per-
fect pattern in this fair and noble structure,
the new World Order of BahaVllah.
Thus the blueprints of God have become
the New Jerusalem visioned by the apocalyp-
tical seer of Patmos. The world brotherhood
of Christ has been achieved.
CHANGING RACE RELATIONS
BY MAXWELL MILLER
IT
is easier to discuss the brotherhood of
man than to practice it. We are told that it
exists in reality, that racial and other group
prejudices have been eliminated. The reality,
however, has not been translated into the
fact of ordinary social intercourse. Only by
the herculean efforts of minorities is man-
kind pulled, pushed, cajoled or castigated on-
ward toward its goals.
If each new generation were born into a
world freshly reconstructed according to the
highest standards and noblest plans of its
parents, progress would be a relatively sim-
ple and rapid matter. The aspirations of one
generation would thus be realized in the
next, and all the old errors disappear. Un-
fortunately, we hand on to posterity not
only our achievements but also our mistakes.
Mencius once remarked that a man with a
crooked finger knows his finger is crooked,
but a man with a distorted mind does not
know his mind is distorted. Here is the
fundamental obstacle to the realization of
humanity's oneness. The accumulated mass
of traditional and established folkways
presses upon and channelizes us from in-
fancy, so that by far the greater part of all
our activities and thinking is ritualistic and
automatic. It is difficult to trace the influ-
ences bearing upon even such opinions and
judgments as we form deliberately. At the
same time, however, we are quick to defend
our beliefs from critical anaylsis.
Perhaps such of our thinking as we are
most eager and careful to justify when at-
tacked, is the thinking which other people
have done for us. The more insecure a basis
of fact we have to support our convictions,
the more readily do we rise to righteous
wrath in their behalf. The stupendous lit-
erature of so-called racial sociology since de
Gobineau, by and large consists of elaborate
justifications of the white man's history of
world imperialism. The "white man's bur-
den," his "civilizing mission," the doctrine
of Nordic supremacy, and manifold varia-
tions on the theme have served to sanctify
the bloody subjugation of other peoples to
the advantage of the European. Paradox-
ically, but inevitably, as the nations on the
other side of the color line gain power, they
voice similar protestations of divine guidance
in their international piracies. At this point
the devotees of pale-faced divinity — notably
Oswald Spengler — gloomily prophesy the
downfall of Western civilization. Nowhere,
however, do they recognize the humor in-
volved in the successful competition of a so-
called inferior race against the divinely or-
dained Nordic.
Much of the literature on racial groups
was in mystical phraseology, we suspect be-
cause of the authorV own mystification on
the subject. Certainly none of the much-
vaunted assertions has been well substanti-
ated by evidence even to this day, while the
greater part has been discarded among care-
ful social scientists. Outside the field of
students of social science, however, the old,
false notions hold sway. Regretfully on the
part of some, aggressively on the part of
many, the myths of racial inferiority are held
up as demonstrations of the workings of the
Divine will among men.
Similarly, racial prejudice has been com-
monly ascribed to some innate or instinctive
trait, which inclines us toward members of
one group, but away from members of an-
other. The theory of instinctive social atti-
tudes was strongly held until within the last
decade, when researches indicated that prob-
ably all of our social attitudes originate in
the conditioning influences of our environ-
ment. Thereupon the structure of instinct
social psychology collapsed. In contrast to
writers who hazarded guesses as to the num-
ber of instincts, which ranged from two or
three in some cases to four or five hundred in
others, there came the refreshing admission
on the part of such earnest men as Garth to
698
CHANGING RACE RELATIONS
699
Presentation of the "Seven Valleys" of BahaVllah. Dramatized by Mme. Barry Orlova
and Mrs. Basil Hall, in the garden of Mrs. Editha Simonds, Sowberry Court on Thames,
England, where the Baha'i Theatre Group has its Summer Theatre.
the effect that their measurement tests and
hypotheses regarding racial inferiorities or
superiorities were questionable. Most social
scientists today are inclined to doubt the
value of applying the same standards to
groups of different cultural background, and
they emphasize the question of individual
differences rather than the elusive one of in-
nate group differences.
This is not to say, however, that all groups
of people could cope equally well with the
living conditions of, say, New York City, if
suddenly placed there. The education and
general culture of an isolated Siberian tribe
is not fitted for metropolitan life, nor is it
meant to be. Each culture develops to meet
the needs of the group environment. In this
way to exchange the places of such a Siberian
tribesman and a New Yorker would place
them at a more or less equal disadvantage. In
any one environment, however, that group
has the advantage whose cultural back-
ground has developed to meet the needs in-
volved. For this reason it has appeared even
to sincere thinkers that aliens and others
were inferior to Americans, since the native
resident was so much better equipped to live
in the United States. They fail to see what
is indicated in the second generation of im-
migrants, that if these first had been brought
up to deal with the conditions of our indus-
trial society, they would be fully able to
compete on the same terms with the native
born. It is not necessary to point out in de-
tail how many surmount even this difficulty
to surpass the success of the average native
American.
We are probably born with something like
a skeletal psychological mechanism, capable
of reacting to stimuli, but having no dis-
cernible predetermined complex social atti-
tudes. It would be absurd to expect an in-
fant to distinguish successfully between
members of the various racial groups, as the
supposition of instinctive racial prejudice
would presuppose. To do this, that child
would have to know the multitude of cul-
tural and physiological indices by which
adults attempt to classify mankind. Start-
ing with the clean slate of the infant
mind, however, we can observe how par-
ents, friends, relatives, the church, school,
newspapers, motion pictures, etc., write
on it the deeply entrenched prejudices
and traditional habits of previous genera-
tions.
Two instances in point can be taken from
the Inquiry study "Racial Attitudes among
Children," edited by Bruno Lasker. One
tells of a little girl of about five years of age
700
THE BAHA'f WORLD
who was traveling by train with her mother.
The colored porter took a fancy to her and
amused her with gifts and pleasantries.
Finally he took her with him on a trip
through the train, which she enjoyed im-
mensely. Returning to her mother she said
happily, "He's a nice, nasty, dirty nigger,
isn't he, Mummy?" Here was no awareness
of the significance of the words nor the racial
antagonism involved; simply the repetition
of the description familiar to the child mind,
with her own grateful appreciation of his
kindness.
A second example illustrates the influence
of the motion picture in forming racial atti-
tudes. A group of children were tested for
their reactions to Chinese, and were found to
have almost no adverse reaction. They were
then shown the film "Son of the Gods," a
Chinese story, and subsequently re-tested.
The results this time showed an overwhelm-
ing prejudice toward Chinese people. Eight-
een months later, testing revealed that this
prejudice was still strong.
Generally speaking, we spend most of our
time thinking the thoughts of dead men.
We come into a world which is ready-made,
which demands conformity to its ways from
us, and which penalizes originality. Even
rebelling we must rebel along familiar lines.
If unsuccessful we are rejected and passed
over; if successful we simply change the
brand of orthodoxy.
The desired change in race relations can-
not be brought about simply by repeating
one's belief in the brotherhood of man. This
phrase has been mouthed for several thou-
sand years to no great avail. To continue
in this way is sheer hypocrisy. The growing
accuracy of social studies has displaced the
shibboleths of racial inequalities, as the great
religious teachings in the minds of those who
truly understood cut through racial barriers
as a sword. We must work singly and col-
lectively to identify all our activities as indi-
viduals and to the disregard of group lines.
Baha'is should be distinguished not by color,
nationality, or race, but by the extent to
which they fulfill in practice the teachings.
We must learn to think straight, and to
think as much as possible for ourselves. Hav-
ing perceived the reality, we must immedi-
ately and without ^compromise translate the
reality into social fact.
BAHA'I
Chapter III from Dr. Edmund Privates book, "La Sagesse de I'Orient"
-LjA superstition, Pintolerance et Palliance
des pretres avec la tyrannic sevit en Islam
comme ailleurs. La grande lumiere s'assom-
brit dans la fumee tenebreuse des formes
vides et des passions fanatiques. II y eut
plusieurs fois des reveils et des retours a la
purete du message.
"Chez nous, en Perse, le Bab vecut en
saint et mourut en martyr a Tabriz, il y a
pres d'un siecle. BahaVllah lui succeda,
exile* de Perse, emprisonne par le sultan turc.
II proclamait que Punite divine exclut les
rivalites. La soumission a Dieu doit rap-
procher les hommes. Si la religion les separe,
c'est qu'elle a perdu son principal sens.
"En plein milieu du dix-neuvieme siecle,
au temps des Lamartine et des Victor Hugo,
le grand saint musulman fixait aux Baha'i,
ses disciples, un programme et des principes
plus actuels que jamais.
"Le premier, c'etait la recherche honnete
de la verite sans prejuges, ni superstitions.
Un clerge qui a peur de la connaissance fait
injure a la plante qu'il atrophie dans Pom-
bre. Pendant les premiers siecles, on vit
Plslam encourager partout Petude de la
pensee. Ensuit, il se replia dans une jalousie
etroite.
"BahaVllah proposa d'ouvrir les fenetres
et de secouer toute crainte.
"Son deuxieme principe etait Punite de la
famille humaine, sans distinction de race, ni
de couleur: feuilles d'un arbre unique, fleurs
d'un meme jardin.
"Tout prejuge de race lui semblait une
barbaric et une insulte a 1'Eternel, present
dans tous et createur de chacun. Il evoquait
la chaine interminable et sanglante des cru-
autes, des violences, des represailles et des
malheurs qui pese d'un siecle a Pautre sur
Phistoire des hommes par simple ignorance
de cette unite.
"Et son troisieme principe e*tait la religion
comme source d'amour et de paix. Sans quoi,
elle se renie elle-meme et devient mensonge.
Toute sa valeur est dans la revelation de
cette unite* profonde qui fait de nous des
freres.
"Si elle doit servir a dresser de nouvelles
barrieres, enflammer de nouvelles haines, al-
lumer de nouveux buchers, elle perd ses droits
a la conquete des ames. Elle devient un
poison plus dangereux que les autres.
"La religion n'est verite que dans la mes-
ure ou elle fond les distances et tend a Phar-
monie.
"Son quatrieme principe, c'e*tait la parent^
fondamentale des messages prophetiques.
L'un apres Pautre, ils ont amene les hommes
a regarder du meme cote. La purete de la
vie, Pesprit de sacrifice, la compassion pour
autrui, la soif de justice et la predominance
de Peternelle unite sous les formes passageres
tous ont eu le meme but et la meme inspira-
tion.
"Si leurs adeptes intolerants se querellent
sur des mots, c'est qu'ils n'en ont jamais
compris le sens veritable. Les Etiquettes
separent quand le contenu pourrait unir.
"Au XVIe siecle, un souverain musulman,
le Grand Mogol Akbar, fut profonde*ment
convaincu de cette verite-la. Empereur des
Indes, il fit venir a sa cour d'Agra les peres
jesuites de Goa pour lui expliquer PEvangile
et les Destours du Gujarat pour lui commen-
ter Zoroastre. Il ecouta patiemment les
brahmanes hindous et les Jams vegetariens,
qui lui firent honte de ses chasses.
"Assis entre les missionnaires, en son pa-
lais de Fatehpur, il apaisait leurs querelles
et les obligeait a s'ecouter mutuellement
pour apprendre quelque chose de la foi d'au-
trui. Lui-meme apprit beaucoup des soufis
musuhnans, qui comprenaient Punite pro-
fonde sous les couleurs differentes. Akbar
fit construire au Shaykh Salim un tombeau
magnifique, ou brille sous la nacre etincelante
ce dernier conseil: fNe regarde pas des deux
cotes, en meme temps vers le soi transitoire
et vers Pimmortelle essence/
"Le cinquieme principe de BahaVllah,
701
702
THE BAHA'f WORLD
c'etait le devoir sacre de respecter la science
et d'eviter tout divorce entre la foi et la
raison. Quelle revolution!
"Apres avoir travaille lui-meme a develop-
per les connaissances, le clerge s'etait peu a
peu renf rogne dans sa crainte des recherches.
La verite lui faisait peur. On le vit mettre
a la torture les observateurs honnetes de la
nature et de ses phenomenes.
"Religion devint synonyme d'ignorance et
d'aveuglement. BahaVllah dechirait ce
rideau crasseux. Si la religion est verite,
comment serait-elle ennemie de la science qui
la recherche aussi?
"L'honnetete scrupuleuse est 1'apostolat
du savant, et la compassion fait de lui un
saint quand il emploie ses decouvertes a
soulager les souffrances.
— Et s'il cherche au contraire des moyens
de f aire souffrir et met son grand savoir au
service de la guerre?
— C'est aussi le divorce. Il n'est pas moins
deshonorant pour la science que pour la
religion.
"Le sixieme principe de BahaVllah pre-
voyait justement Pabolition de la force
comme instrument de politique nationale et
Petablissement d'une cour de justice avec une
assemblee des nations.
"Le septieme, s'etait 1'enseignement d'une
languc auxiliaire commune dans toutes les
ecoles du monde, pour faire tomber Tun des
plus grands obstacles a la comprehension
mutuelle.
"Le huitieme, c'etait 1'instruction pub-
lique obligatoire, en particulier pour les filles.
Elles seront demain les meres de famille.
C'est elles qui eleveront les enfants a leur
tour.
"BahaVllah demandait 1'egalite* des droits
pour 1'homme et la femme. C'etait son neu-
vieme point. L'humanite qui peine a deux
ailes pour voler. Avec une seule, clle reste a
terre.
"Son dixieme principe etait le travail pour
tous. Ni riches oisif s, ni pauvres a 1'aumone.
Une place a chacun pour le service de tous.
C'est le premier culte a maintenir.
"L'onzieme etait ('abolition des extremes:
La fortune aux uns, la misere aux autres. La
communaute doit prendre a sa charge les
vieillards et les infirmes. Il ne doit pas y
avoir de classe opprimant les autres et vivant
a leurs depens.
"Le douzieme enfin mettait au-dessus
de tout 1'unite divine et Pobeissance a la
volonte de Dieu, reveiee par ses manifesta-
tions.
"L'Islam a toujours proclame ce dogme
avec majeste, mais les religions luttent en
brandissant le nom d'un prophete ou d'un
autre, au lieu d'insister sur leur enseigne-
ment, qui pourrait les rapprocher. Baha'u-
'llah tachait de faire tomber les parois, non
pas Mahometisme avant tout, mais vraiment
Islam, c'est-a-dirc soumission commune a la
volonte supreme.
"On ne parlait alors ni d'un Wilson, ni
d'un Zamenhof, mais Pexile de Bahji mon-
trait aux generations futures le chemin
qu'elles devaient prendre. Son fils 'Abdu'l-
Baha repandit plus tard son message en Eu-
rope et en Amerique. Meme un libre pen-
seur commc Auguste Forel s'y rallia de grand
coeur. Le cercle amical des Baha'i s'etend
autour du monde.
"En Perse, un million d'entre eux sou-
tiennent des ecoles, fameuses dans le pays."
SOURCES OF COMMUNITY LIFE
BY MARION HOLLEY
IT
is one of the curious paradoxes of our
times that, while social action has increased
in militancy and social groupings move with
deadlier accuracy toward their predeter-
mined goals, the activity we idealize as truly
democratic has steadily diminished in vigor.
Men and nations act with more unity and
intent, but with less judgment and respon-
sibility. Individual lives are more closely
intertwined, but mutual confidence vanishes.
The sheer weight of mass insistence deter-
mines many issues: mass rule is oppressive,
demanding, arbitrary, and seldom vitalized
by freedom of vision and spontaneity of the
collective will.
This paradox may easily be demon-
strated by reference to contemporary na-
tional life. Scarcely does there exist among
the powerful nations of Europe, in the Ori-
ent, or here in the United States, a real
democracy. The seizure of power by self-
elected individuals and parties has punctu-
ated the riot of post-war years. These par-
ties have entrenched themselves at the center
of national activity, claiming for their lead-
ers near deification, for themselves a right
to omnipotence born from the belief that in
them the State is personified. "UEtat, c'cst
moiy" is the cry of each official partisan.
Now this self-righteous seizure of every
power and privilege has won for the State
infallibility. But it has not caused it to
represent the people.
The problem in the United States is of
different complexion. In this large country
no superficial unity has yet been imposed
upon the citizenry, either by force or by the
excitability of mob reaction. The sentiment
surrounding the New Deal is already being
dissipated, and it is now apparent that an
appeal more powerful or an intention more
ruthless will be needed to center the ambi-
tions and energies of diverse America.
Either these, or a more desperate necessity.
Meanwhile, the techniques of democracy
have fallen into disuse, their functions
usurped by demagoguery, the pressure of
interest groups, the unseen propaganda of
money, an irrational espousal of "cure-alls"
by certain types of persons who hotly pursue
one nostrum only until another appears, and
a general listlessness on the part of the real
body politic.
Despite this sterility of the contemporary
pattern of government, it is an obvious and
hopeful fact that the democratic ideal does
exist. It is because we have reference to it,
because in critical moments we are measur-
ing the actual against it and finding an in-
compatibility; it is because in our own minds
we are truly pledged to this vision of gov-
ernment by democratic process, that we view
with fretfulness and perplexity the opera-
tions of our own social machine.
Our dissatisfaction, however, will be spent
and lost in ineffective modes of speech un-
less we convert it to the uses of vigorous
study of the problem and a subsequent fron-
tal attack. We are under an immediate con-
straint to understand, not so much what we
dislike about society, as what we desire it to
be. In this approach the seed of action is
concealed; only through such a positive di-
rection of attention will the life of action
be discovered. Constantly should we ask
ourselves: What do we intend by "democ-
racy?" What is a technique of democratic
action? Quite apart from dictionaries,
what is the American governmental ideal?
At this point it becomes very difficult to
proceed with any soberness, for straight
questions elicit swift replies, which whirl
through the mind in enthusiastic disarray.
There are a hundred considerations, a hun-
dred phrases which spring up from sub-
conscious slumber. Here i§ the idea of equal-
ity; everyone must vote. But election means
selection, and immediately we have the idea
of representative government. Who, th«n,
is qualified to govern, or is everyone? How
703
704
THE BAHA'l WORLD
shall the general interest be maintained?
Can any goal be said to shape the process?
"... That government of the people, for
the people, and by the people shall not perish
from the earth. . . ." Of, for, and by are
the three prepositions which embody our po-
litical faith. Yet the theory behind that
faith is not clearly defined by them, nor
does it rest upon an assumption which, be-
cause of its confidence in the rightness of
natural human opinion, is wholly defen-
sible. The people, in themselves, are no
guarantee of democratic process.
However, it is with the people that we
must start, with that whole undifferentiated
mass which lies at the base of society. In
one respect society is nothing but the ac-
cumulation of its innumerable individual
members. In another, society does not even
begin to exist until these units are welded
into the body we call a community.
Woodrow Wilson defined a community as
"a body of men^ who have things in com-
mon, who are conscious that they have
things in common. A community is un-
thinkable, unless you have a vital inter-
relationship of parts. There must be such
a contact as will constitute union itself be-
fore you will have the true course of the
wholesome blood through the body."
This conception of a community is al-
most necessarily an a priori assumption to
the consideration of forms of government.
But while we can assume ideas, we cannot
assume their practical demonstration. The
problem of actualizing upon the societal
level "a body of men who have things in
common, who are conscious that they have
things in common," is the critical task with
which we today are struggling. The boun-
daries of community life, of that normal
interplay of function and benefit which
unites men by natural ties, have so far ex-
tended their reach as to coincide almost with
the world's boundaries. Common interest
has levelized us all, merged us all, under-
mined us all, if you will, since individual
security and safety no longer exist apart
from a universal sanity.
Yet despite this real extension of the body
politic to its furthest limits, beyond which
lies nothing human, within which is encom-
passed the whole innumerable breed of men,
it is a fact that no legitimate group life has
yet been born because no consciousness stirs
the human parts to a sense of mutual des-
tiny. This is not only true for the great
unit, the international body; it is equally
true of all lesser units, of nations, cities,
families, true even of the individual life
itself. A vast unconsciousness hangs over
man, shrouding his least and best activities
with a pall of inertia and uncreativeness.
Our first challenge, then, is to awake; to
quicken our lives; to capture a sound com-
prehension of individual purpose and func-
tion (Webster defines "individual" as a
"complexity in unity characteristic of or-
ganized things . . .") and through appreci-
ation of "things in common," to nourish
that core of consciousness upon which
community life may depend, from which
the process of democratic action, like "the
true course of the wholesome blood," may
issue to penetrate and activate the social
organism.
This is the ideal. It does not exist, ex-
cept in the imaginations of a few. It has
no scope nor influence upon the institutions
of large human groupings. The political
activities of American citizens are little per-
meated by a virile confidence in the demo-
cratic process. The masses of men at the
root of our government no longer possess
that solidarity which once enabled them to
say, with magnificent assurance, "We, the
people of the United States . . ."
I do not suppose there is any document
more stirring than this Constitution, as it
marches, in the first phrases of the pre-
amble, to its daring statement of intention.
Curiously enough, the unity which it as-
sumed did not exist either, except germi-
nally in the minds of a few. In 1789 the
American nation had yet to be welded, out
of the substance of a great ideal, through
the pressure of vicissitude and tenacious
leadership. As we examine the sources of
our national life, we know this to be so; and
it lends hopefulness to our present dilemma.
For if, once before (or many times, as
could easily be proven), an ideal having no
existence settled upon the minds of men,
intrigued them, possessed them gradually,
moved and united them, and finally created
through them a nation, a living tangible
SOURCES OF COMMUNITY LIFE
705
community of action and hope, then surely
the miracle could again be performed.
It could and it can. Through the ideal
newly released by Baha'u'llah, it is being per-
formed. His goal of a New World Order,
inconspicuous and feeble as it may seem to
the majority, is yet the germ of a new hope
and of a new society. Examined closely,
it will be seen to possess a potentiality as
vital, a destiny as fine as any of the ideas
ever yet generated among us.
Baha'u'llah, who was born in Iran in 1817,
lived in the East and died in Syria in 1892
without meeting any westerner except one,
seems to us removed by time and place from
the tradition and substance of our culture.
We cannot imagine an idea of His affecting
our political systems, nor does it seem likely
that His philosophy, shaped on alien soil
more than fifty years ago, could assist, ex-
cept in a loose way, in the development of
contemporary thought and habit. Yet the
reverse is true. In His conceptions of the
nature of society, in the techniques of gov-
ernment which He indicated, in the vision of
world order which He painted, the essence
of the modern spirit is confined and de-
lineated. If one is avid for a sense of new
horizons, let him study Baha'u'llah. There
is to be found in the writings of this unique
Person not only the modern community
ideal, but the very mechanics of that kind of
social action which is possible and most wor-
thy of our times.
The core of the Baha'i ideal is the con-
cept of world order, which must be bred
into the secret reactions of men's minds
and hearts before it can be built tangibly
and formally. It is time we recognized that
no community can flourish, either locally,
nationally or internationally, until this basic
step is achieved. The oneness of mankind
is a social fact; not even a city government
can neglect it, inasmuch as every city, and
especially the American city, is comprised
of diverse racial and national elements
which, unless merged in common activity,
are perforce in a perpetual struggle for con-
trol. Now the victory of one element over
another — of one racial grouping, one eco-
nomic class, one social set, or a political party
— is a symptom of sickness in community
life. Struggle is essential, but it is the equal
struggle of all of these natural parts towards
an achievement in government which shall
represent, not victory upon one hand and
loss on another, but a superior integration of
the needs and actions of the parts into a
single whole solution.
It is clear, therefore, that Baha'u'lldh's
denunciation of prejudices of all descriptions
was a preliminary to the ideal of world order,
since the sense of human solidarity is the
basis for social action upon any of its levels.
By extirpating prejudice, intolerance, ha-
tred, and all such violent reactions of nar-
row and confused minds, Baha'u'llah cre-
ated the possibility of a world community.
He then injected the fertile germ of the ideal
itself.
Ortega y Gasset has written that "the
State ... is pure dynamism — the will to
do something in common." It begins "when
groups naturally divided find themselves
obliged to live in common." New vitality
is always generated by the vision of a new
task; communities live again when they im-
pose upon themselves the extension of their
bounds and influence. The goal of world
order is the modern dynamism, a new hori-
zon, assuring life to the state in the very
presence of its decay and chaos.
It is no mistake to say that Baha'u'llah
injected this dynamic into His followers.
With them it is not mere theory, not idle
aspiration, nor a political creed which can
be forfeited to personal benefit. A Baha'i
is one converted; with him world order is
a religion; he stakes his talents and pos-
sessions upon his faith. It is only by such
fundamental persistence and dedication of
purpose that the new community can be
realized, and thus Baha'u'lldh has under-
written its success.
Horizons are never reached, however, by
mere excess of enthusiasm. Ideals, to be
great, must be rooted in cooler soil, and the
feet of idealists must hold to firm ground,
following along paths which are well de-
fined, logical and accessible. The goal of
world order, as described by Baha'u'llih, is
attainable because already the road to be
traveled is plain and there are those who are
journeying upon it. In a nationalistic and
sectarian age there are already persons who,
as acting citizens of a world community,
706
THE BAHA'f WORLD
are practising the methods and perfecting
the instruments of universal society.
These are the Baha'is who, having ac-
cepted the message of Baha'u'llih ("The
world is but one country and mankind its
citizens ... let not a man glory in this,
that he loves his country; let him rather
glory in this, that he loves his kind . . .")
not as felicitous prophecy, but as a demon-
strable fact, are at this moment sharing the
satisfactions and responsibilities of a creative
task; working as members of the Baha'i Ad-
ministrative Order, they are fast harnessing
His proclamation of human unity to insti-
tutional forms. Of this Administrative
Order its Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, has writ-
ten: "It will, as its component parts, its or-
ganic institutions, begin to function with
efficiency and vigor, assert its claim and
demonstrate its capacity to be regarded not
only as the nucleus but the very pattern of
the New World Order destined to embrace
in the fullness of time the whole of man-
kind." *
Needless to say, such a system cannot be
measured and evaluated in a single essay, nor
is it my purpose so to do. Rather, starting
from the obvious thesis that democratic ac-
tion, understood in its most liberal sense,
has in our day declined, we observed this
decline to be but a symptom of loss in the
energy of our community life. Now a com-
munity, being "a body of men . . . who
are conscious that they have things in com-
mon," loses its life either when its members
do not have things in common or are un-
conscious of them if they do. Men today
have things in common; they are united
externally by economic and political interde-
pendence, and by world-wide bonds of com-
munication; they are united more pro-
foundly by their common humanity. Yet
these factors in themselves are no guarantee
of vitality. They form the framework
merely of a potential society — a society
which extends around the world, only to
be throttled at its source by provincial-
isms. As one student has phrased it, "A
new world has just been created, but most
of the people in it are not yet aware of the
fact." 2
At the point of general awakening, then,
will we find the spark to set our social body
into motion. Not methods so much as a
new ideal, to challenge and arouse us, will
bring into play once more all of the powers
and resources of the masses of men.
The sign of life is motion, wrote 'Abdu'l-
Baha. It was his Father, BahaVllah, who
imparted to the body politic the modern
secret of motion. Surely it is not in any
way curious that the world community He
touched to life "should encompass, happily
and uniquely, the virtues of an elevated
idealism, spontaneous social action, a uni-
versal participation, and liberal, yet authori-
tative forms of government.
"Soon will the present-day order be rolled
up, and a new one spread out in its stead.
Verily, thy Lord speaketh the truth, and is
the Knower of things unseen." 3
1 The Dispensation of BahaVllah, p. 52.
2 Lyman Bryson.
3 Gleanings from the Writings of BahaVllah, p. 7.
A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF
THOMAS BREAKWELL
BY MAY MAXWELL
H<
>OW poignant are the records of the
early days of the Baha'i Faith in the West,
when the freshness and beauty of the spir-
itual Springtime awakened the souls and
led them, quickened and aflame to the
knowledge of Baha'u'llah, often to the very
Presence of 'Abdu'1-Baha in the Prison of
'Akka. Such is the record, the divine sig-
nificance of the conversion of Thomas
Breakwell, a young Englishman living in the
Southern States of America, holding an im-
portant position in a cotton mill, spending
his long summer vacations in Europe. Dur-
ing his vacation of 1891 he crossed on the
steamer with Mrs. M., and as she found him
interested in Theosophy she mentioned a
group of friends in Paris whom she said
were interested in kindred subjects. Al-
though she knew nothing of the Baha'i
teaching and had closed her ears to its mes-
sage, yet she was impelled to bring this youth
to see me on their arrival. I was at that
time in a small apartment connected with
the beautiful home of Mrs. Jackson — which
she had placed at my disposal, when my fam-
ily had left for the summer.
My dear Mother — although broad and fine
in all matters, had resented my constant
work in the service of the Baha'i Cause,
especially since my pilgrimage to the Prison
of 'Akka, and when 'Abdu'1-Baha had re-
fused, at her urgent appeal, to permit me
to accompany her during the summer to
Brittany, saying that I must on no account
absent myself from Paris, my unhappy and
indignant Mother had closed our home and
left me alone.
Thus it was on a lovely summer day that,
in response to a knock I found Mrs. M. and
Thomas Breakwell standing at my door, and
my attention was riveted on this youth; of
medium height, slender, erect and graceful,
with intense eyes and an indescribable charm.
As they entered, Mrs. M. said smiling, "He
was a stranger and she took him in." We
spoke together for about half an hour of
Theosophy — his work, his projected trip
through Europe, and I discerned a very rare
person of high standing and culture, simple,
natural, intensely real in his attitude toward
life and his fellowmen. Although no word
of the divine Revelation was spoken, and
he assumed I was interested in Theosophy,
yet he studied me with a searching gaze, and
as they left, he asked me if he might see
me the following day. He arrived the next
morning in a strangely exalted mood, no veil
of materiality covered this radiant soul —
his eyes burned with a hidden fire, and look-
ing at me earnestly he asked if I noticed
anything strange about him. Seeing his con-
dition I bade him be seated, and reassured
him, saying he looked very happy.
"When I was here yesterday he said I felt
a power, an influence that I had felt once
before in my life, when for a period of three
months I was continually in communion
with God. I felt during that time like one
moving in a rarefied atmosphere of light and
beauty. My heart was afire with love for
the supreme Beloved, I felt at peace, at one
with all my fellow-men. Yesterday when
I left you I went alone down the Champs
felysees, the air was warm and heavy, not a
leaf was stirring, when suddenly a wind
struck me and whirled around me, and in
that wind a voice said, with an indescribable
sweetness and penetration, 'Christ has come
again ! Christ has come again!' "
With wide startled eyes he looked at me
and asked if I thought he had gone crazy.
"No," I said smiling, "you are just becoming
sane."
What hours we spent together; how read-
ily he grasped the full import of the Mes-
sage; how his thirsty soul drank in every
707
A Captain of the Salvation Army who has recently embraced the
Baha'i Faith. Taken with one of her former Lieutenants in the
Shetland Islands.
An early group of the Baha'is of America. Reading from left to right: Katherine K.
True, Mrs. Gorman, Mr. True, Mrs. Corinne True, Mr. Harlan F. Ober, Mrs. Cecelia
Harrison, Miss Davies, Mrs. Eardley, Mr. Charles Sprague, Mr. Carl Scheiflcr, Mr. Wood-
worth, Mr. Percy Woodcock, Mme. Aurelia Bethlen, Mr. Brush, Mrs. Brush, Mr.
Thornton Chase.
708
BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THOMAS BREAKWELL
709
word; I told him of the youthful Bab, His
exalted Mission, His early martyrdom, of
the thousands of martyrs in whose sacred
blood the Faith was established; I told him
of BahaVllah, the Blessed Beauty Who shone
upon the world as the Sun of eternity, Who
had given to mankind the law of God for
this age — the consummation of all past ages
and cycles. %
I gave him all the little we had to read,
and told him of my visit to the Prison of
'Akka, the days spent in the presence of the
Master, until his heart was filled with such
longing that all his former life was swept
away, he gave up his journey, canceled his
plans, and had but one hope in life, to be
permitted to go, himself and behold the face
of 'Abdu'l-Bahaf
At that time a young Baha'i, Herbert
Hopper, had received permission to go to
'Akka, thus they planned to travel together,
and Thomas Breakwell wrote the following
supplication to the Master.
"My Lord, I believe, forgive me,
Thy servant Thomas Breakwell."
In its depth and simplicity this petition
was characteristic of his whole short and
vivid life, although not until later did I
learn the full significance of his appeal for
forgiveness.
I wrote the Master enclosing the words
of Breakwell, begging Him to send his reply
to Port Sai'd, to which Port these two young
pilgrims eagerly embarked.
That evening I went to the Concierge of
our apartment to get my mail, and there lay
a little blue cablegram from 'Abdu'1-Baha!
With what wonder and awe I read His
Words. "You may leave Paris at any time!"
Thus by implicit and unquestioning obedi-
ence in the face of all opposition the Mas-
ter's Will had been fulfilled, and I had been
the link in the chain of His mighty purpose.
My feet were winged as I returned to tell
the good news to Mrs. Jackson, and to pre-
pare to leave the following morning.
How gratefully my heart dwells on the
divine compassion of the Master, on the
joy and wonder of my mother as I told her
everything, and when she read the Master's
cablegram she burst into tears and exclaimed,
"You have, indeed, a wonderful Master."
When in the autumn we gathered once
more in Paris, the influence of Breakwell
made itself*felt in an ever widening circle
of friends.
Those days in the Prison of 'Akka, when
the Master's all consuming love and perfect
wisdom had produced that mystic change of
heart and soul which enabled him to rap-
idly free himself from all earthly entangle-
ment, and to passionately attach himself to
the world of reality, brought great fruits to
the Faith.
He had become the guiding star of our
group, his calmness and strength, his intense
fervor, his immediate and all penetrating
grasp of the vast import to mankind in this
age of the Revelation of BahaVllah, re-
leased among us forces which constituted a
new Epoch in the Cause in France. In the
meetings he spoke with a simplicity and elo-
quence which won the hearts and quickened
the souls, and the secret of his potent in-
fluence lay in his supreme recognition of
the Manifestation of God in the Bab and in
BahaVllah, and of the sublime Center of
the Covenant, 'Abdu'1-Baha. Not by rea-
son but by faith did he triumph.
When he and Herbert Hopper arrived in
the Prison of 'Akka, they were ushered into
a spacious room, at one end of which stood
a group of men in oriental garb. Herbert
Hopper's face became irradiated with the joy
of instant recognition, but Breakwell dis-
cerned no one in particular among these
men. Feeling suddenly ill and weak, he
seated himself near a table, with a sense of
crushing defeat. Wild and desperate
thoughts rushed through his mind, his first
great test, for without such tests the soul
will never be unveiled.
Sitting thus he bitterly lamented: Why
had he come here? Why had he abandoned
his projected journey and come to this re-
mote prison, seeking — he knew not what?
Sorrow and despair filled his heart, when sud-
denly a door opened, and in that opening he
beheld what seemed to him the rising Sun.
So brilliant was this orb, so intense the light
that he sprang to his feet and saw approach-
ing him out of this dazzling splendor the
form of 'Abdu'1-Baha.
He seldom mentioned this experience
which transformed and transfigured his life.
710
THE BAHA'i WORLD
In the course of his interview with the Mas-
ter, he told Him briefly of his position in
the cotton mills of the South, his large sal-
ary, his responsibility, and his sudden con-
viction of sin, for he said, "These mills are
run on child labor." The Master looked at
him gravely and sadly for a while, and then
said, "Cable your resignation." Relieved of
a crushing burden, Breakwell eagerly obeyed,
and with one blow cut all his bridges behind
him.
He seemed to have no care for his future,
burning like a white light in the darkness of
Paris, he served his fellow-men with a power
and passion to the last breath of his life.
So abandoned was he to the mighty crea-
tive forces latent in the revelation of Baha'-
u'llah, that he was moved spontaneously
in the smallest actions of his daily life
to pour out that spirit of love and oneness
to all.
Well I remember the day we were cross-
ing a bridge over the Seine on the top of a
bus, when he spied an old woman laboriously
pushing an apple-cart up an incline; excus-
ing himself with a smile, he climbed down
off the bus, joined the old woman, and in the
most natural way put his hands on the bar
and helped her over the bridge. The rock
foundation on which the Baha'i Revelation
rests, "the oneness of mankind," had pene-
trated his soul like an essence, taking on
every form of human relationship, imbuing
him with an insight and penetration into
human needs, an intense sympathy and gen-
uine love which made him a hope and refuge
to all. Those afflicted with sorrow and dif-
ficulties, beset with human problems, were
drawn to him as to a magnet, and left him
with shining eyes and uplifted head.
He was the first in the West to pay the
Huquq, the tithes of the Baha'i Religion,
and living in a cheap and distant part of
Paris he walked miles to the meetings and
to the homes of friends to save his fare and
make his contribution to the diffusion of the
teachings.
Although we were fellow Baha'i s and de-
voted friends, with everything in common,
yet when he came to our home he gave his
whole loving attention to my beautiful
Mother, with but a scant word for me, yet
as he took my hand* in farewell, he slipped
a little folded note into my palm with words
of cheer and comfort, usually Words of
Baha'u'llah. He knew well the secret of im-
parting happiness, and was the very embodi-
ment of the Master's Words, "The star of
happiness is in every heart. We must re-
move the veils, so that it may shine forth
radiantly." He burned with such a fire of
love that his frail body seemed to be grad-
ually consumed; he in the deepest sense
shed his life for the Cause by which he was
enthralled, and in a few brief months shat-
tered the cage of existence and abandoned
this mortal world. His traces are imperish-
able, his spirit, alive forevermore with the
Attributes of God, lives, not alone in the
hearts and memories of Baha'is, but is welded
into the very structure of the World Order,
which has arisen on the foundation of such
lives.
In the following Eulogy to Thomas Break-
well 'Abdu'1-Baha has immortalized this
youth.
O thou who art rejoiced at the Divine
Glad-Tidings!
Verily I have received thy last letter and
thanked God that thou didst reach Paris
protected and guarded (by Him). Thank
thou God that He assisted thee to behold the
brilliant faces of the believers of God and
favored thee to meet them in American
countries. For, verily, beholding those shin-
ing countenances is a divine gift; by it the
hearts are dilated, the souls are rejoiced and
the spirits are attracted toward the Supreme
Concourse!
Do not lament over the departure of my
dearly beloved Breakwell, for verily, he hath
ascended to the luminous rose-garden in the
Abh£ Kingdom, near the mercy of his Lord,
the Almighty, and is crying out with the
loudest voice: *O that my people knew how
my Lord hath forgiven me and made me one
of those who have attained (to the meeting
of God) !'
O Breakwell, my beloved! Where is thy
beautiful countenance and where is thy elo-
quent tongue? Where is thy radiant brow
and where is thy brilliant face?
O Breakwell, my beloved! Where is thy
enkindlement with the fire of the love of
God and where is thy attraction to the fra-
BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THOMAS BREAKWELL 711
grances of God? Where is thy utterance for
the glorification of God and where is thy
rising in the service of God?
O my dear, O Breakwell! Where are thy
bright eyes and where are thy smiling lips?
Where are thy gentle cheeks and where is
thy graceful stature?
O my dear, O Breakwell! Verily thou
hast abandoned this transitory world and
soared upward to the Kingdom, hast at-
tained to the grace of the Invisible Realm
and sacrificed thyself to the Threshold of the
Lord of Might!
O my adored one, O Breakwell! Verily
thou hast left behind this physical lamp, this
human glass, these earthly elements and this
worldly enjoyment!
O my adored one, O Breakwell! Then
thou hast ignited a light in the glass of the
Supreme Concourse, hast entered the Para-
dise of Abha, art protected under the shade
of the Blessed Tree and hast attained to the
meeting (of the True One) in the Abode of
Paradise!
O my dearly beloved, O Breakwell! Thou
hast been a divine bird and forsaking thy
earthly nest, thou hast soared towards the
holy rose-garden of the Divine Kingdom
and obtained a luminous station there!
O my dearly beloved, O Breakwell! Ver-
ily thou art like unto the birds, chanting the
verses of thy Lord, the Forgiving, for thou
wert a thankful servant; therefore thou hast
entered (into the realm beyond) with joy
and happiness!
O my beloved, O Breakwell! Verily, thy
Lord hath chosen thee for His love, guided
thee to the court of His Holiness, caused
thee to enter into the Ri^vdn of His Asso-
ciation and granted thee to behold His
Beauty!
O my beloved, O Breakwell! Verily thou
hast attained to the eternal life, never-end-
ing bounty, beatific bliss and immeasurable
providence!
O my beloved, O Breakwell! Thou hast
become a star in the most exalted horizon,
a lamp among the angels of heaven, a liv-
ing spirit in the Supreme World and art
established upon the throne of immor-
tality!
O my adored one, O Breakwell! I sup-
plicate God to increase thy nearness and
communication, to make thee enjoy thy
prosperity and union (with Him), to add to
thy light and beauty and to bestow upon
thee glory and majesty!
O my adored one, O Breakwell! I men-
tion thy name continually, I never forget
thee, I pray for thee day and night and I
see thee clearly and manifestly, O my adored
one, O Breakwell!
Tablets of 'Abdu'l-Baba, Vol. II, page
450.
UNITY OF RACES
BY GENEVIEVE L. COY
"The sixth candle is unity of races, making of all that dwell on earth
peoples and kindreds of one race."
i
N a world in which racial differences are
capitalized in such phrases as "The Yellow
Peril," "The Black Menace," "The White
Man's Burden," how could even so far-seeing
a soul as 'Abdu'1-Baha, the author of the
above quotation, look forward to an age
when all the people of the earth shall be "of
one race"?
'Abdu'1-Baha gave an answer to this ques-
tion when He said in Chicago in 1912, "Be it
known that color or race is of no impor-
tance. He who is the image and likeness of
God, who is the manifestation of the be-
stowals of God, is acceptable at the threshold
of God whether his color be white, black or
brown; it matters not. Man is not man
simply because of bodily attributes. The
standard of divine measure and judgment is
his intelligence and spirit." 1
"Color is of no importance," — and yet the
lives of millions of human beings are today
shadowed by the conviction on the part of
other millions that color is an adequate basis
for judging intelligence, economic value and
social acceptability. The unity of mankind
cannot be achieved until the majority of
men and women the world over think, feel
and act in wholehearted acceptance of the
truth that "color is of no importance." This
implies a tremendous change in the habits
of a large part of the world.
In order to change any habit of thought
or action, it is important to learn how it be-
gan, and what roots it has in the instinctive
nature of man. Therefore, when we face
the problem of changing men's attitudes
toward race and color, we ask such questions
as the following: — How did racial prejudice
begin? Are there really innate differences
between races in intelligence and special abil-
ity? Why do we now find marked cultural
differences between large racial groups?
719
In the following discussion we shall use
the word "race" as do those who think that
color is of importance, — to indicate large
divisions of mankind who differ markedly in
color of skin and in certain other physical
traits, such as shape of the features and tex-
ture of the hair.
Have racial prejudices always existed? For
an answer to this question we must turn first
to the writings of anthropologists. Research
in the life of prehistoric man has told us
a great deal about his height and weight,
the shape of his body, his manner of living,
— but we do not know at all what was the
color of his skill. It seems probable that
these early men were all of one color, and
that differentiation occurred later as they
moved into a variety of climates. Some
anthropologists suggest that primitive men
were all black; others think that they were
all of an olive brown, and that later some
grew darker under the tropic sun, while
those who traveled into colder regions be-
came bleached. It seems reasonably certain
that these early peoples did not differentiate
among themselves on the basis of color.
But we cannot assume that the small
groups of primitive men who banded to-
gether into clans and tribes lived in an idyllic
harmony with one another. The basic prob-
lem of existence in that early time was to
find and hold hunting grounds or fishing
waters which would provide food, and
groups must have been in constant warfare
as one tribe strove to take from another these
sources of life. The more powerful groups
eventually came to hold certain regions of
the earth's surface for long periods of time,
and were able to develop a stable tribal or-
ganization. Weaker groups were either
starved to death, or existed in a restless mis-
1 Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 67.
UNITY OF RACES
713
ery on the far fringes of the areas held by
dominant tribes. Thus, at the dawn of re-
corded history, we find comparatively well
organized states such as the Greeks, the
Egyptians, the Babylonians, who had de-
veloped a culture and a government. But
these settled units were constantly in dan-
ger from nomadic tribes who might at any
moment gain power enough to rush in from
the mountains, the steppes or the desert and
destroy these "civilized" centers. Thus war-
fare was the habit of life for early mankind.
But history gives us no reason to suppose
that the conflicts of primitive men or of
early civilized men were ever related to the
differences in color of skin which had come
to exist.
These conflicts were fundamentally eco-
nomic. But as more groups held as their
own for long periods of time larger areas of
land, and differentiated "national" cultures
developed, group ideals of behavior, of re-
ligious observance, of beauty and strength
were developed. It was probably only after
civilization was thus far advanced that some
nations began to look down on other groups
which differed in color of skin or hair, in
shape of eyes and type of dress. The more
powerful the group, the more it held in con-
tempt those who were weaker, — and con-
comitant with this, came scorn for the outer
aspect of the inferior group. Thus a domi-
nant tribe whose skin was red or yellow
despised the color of less powerful tribes
whose skin was white or black. So color
came to be associated with adequate food
supply, and a stable group life, — with power,
with success. And since the group in power
were always in danger of having the good
things of life taken from them, there was
always a lurking fear and hatred of those
who might come in and seize these hardly
won advantages. Thus, slowly through the
ages, as nations became more and more pow-
erful, fear of other nations increased, — and
some of this mingled fear and hate became
attached to the idea of color.
The idea that color of skin is important
is based, therefore, on the desire to maintain
power exercised by a portion of mankind,
and on fear lest this dominant position may
be undermined. In order to strengthen this
sense of superiority, all races, whatever their
color, have at various times made scurrilous
criticisms of other races. The less powerful
groups have been stigmatized as stupid, su-
perstitious, dishonest, dirty, mean, lazy, —
they have been called by whatever names
seemed most derogatory to the "superior"
race.
In our present scientific age, to describe
an individual as lacking in intelligence is
one of the most scathing criticisms that can
be made. Therefore much racial prejudice
expresses itself by decrying the stupidity of
other races.
For ten or fifteen years after the introduc-
tion of psychological tests as a means of
measuring intelligence, those who believed in
the intellectual supremacy of the white race
wrongly felt that they could use the results
of such tests as a means of proving the
lower ability of the darker races. But the
scientists who were using the tests were
also interested in measuring the varying ef-
fects of different environments on men's
accomplishment. They soon suggested that
only individuals who had had a similar en-
vironment could fairly be compared in in-
telligence, and that races living under con-
ditions differing as markedly as those, for
instance, of the European white man and of
the South American Indian, cannot possibly
be measured by the same type of tests. Fur-
ther, they said, even though two races live
in the same country, under similar condi-
tions of civilization, there may be such great
differences in education and social environ-
ment, that a comparison of test results will
give little indication of innate intelligence.
In a recent book by Thomas Garth, "Race
Psychology," the results of much testing of
race groups are reviewed. Dr. Garth sums
up his conclusions as follows, "Much of the
difference found in the results of studies of
racial differences in mental traits is due to
nurtural factors, and the rest is due to racial
mobility, so that one race has a temporary
advantage over another." 2
Those who maintain that there are marked
differences in ability between races can no
longer turn to scientific evidence to prove
their point. But the unprejudiced student
of history may fairly raise the question: if
we have no certain evidence that races differ
2 Race Psychology, p. 221.
714
THE BAHA'f WORLD
in innate ability, why is it that some races
are at the present time culturally so far
ahead of others?
One answer to this problem is found at
the end of the quotation from Garth, — the
mobility of races*. In earlier centuries cul-
tural groups varied greatly in the degree to
which they moved about and mingled with
other groups. A tribe or nation surrounded
by mountains or jungles or deserts had little
opportunity to come in contact with people
and ideas from other lands. They devel-
oped a conservative culture of their own
which tended to become static. Nations
living on navigable waterways became trav-
elers, and consciously or unconsciously
learned from other groups. Today, with
means of communication greatly multiplied,
most nations exchange ideas, inventions and
discoveries with many other groups. But
there are still thousands and thousands of
human beings who are completely isolated
from such contacts, and do not have this
type of stimulation. This is particularly
true of large areas of Africa, South Amer-
ica and parts of central Asia.
Another factor which has had a marked
influence on the speed of cultural growth is
that of climate. Weather which is either
very hot or very cold most of the year
reduces man's initiative and his desire to
change the cultural patterns which he has
inherited. The main business of peoples liv-
ing within the Arctic Circle is that of keep-
ing warm and finding enough food. If a
successful method of doing these two things
has been developed by the tribe, there is little
incentive to change to something which
might be better. If one lives within the
torrid zone, getting food is apt to be a com-
paratively easy matter. Change requires en-
ergy which the climate does not provide,
and therefore the accepted customs of life
do not put any value on change, initiative
and "progress."
A third element in causing cultural dif-
ferences in races may be described in the
words of Herbert A. Miller, in his book,
"Races, Nations and Classes," in which he
emphasizes the importance of chance as a
factor in determining racial history.
"A modern culture group results from the
fortuitous possession of organization, accu-
mulated wealth, momentum, machinery and
prestige; each of these as a factor multiplies
the significance of both the individual and
the group incalculably more than any pos-
sible variation in natural endowment could
do. Nor must any of these be taken alone.
The possession of a machine alone has a very
different effectiveness from the possession of
a machine along with organization or pres-
tige. Certain ideas and the organization of
government gave the white race a start some
four hundred years ago that enabled it to
expand to the uttermost parts of the earth,
but there is not an iota of proof in this
expansion that therefore the white race is
better endowed than those whom they sub-
jected. . . . Since there is slight relation be-
tween the originators and possessors of cul-
ture, it may often happen that the culture
of the dominant race has been secured from
the 'inferior* race or culture. ... In the
region of the Mediterranean most of Euro-
pean culture was developed. The Nordics
after appropriating the contribution repu-
diate the creators of it."
We see, then, that it is very dubious logic
to infer that a race is innately inferior be-
cause its present cultural status is not as
high as that of some other race. We find
that the results of scientific research tend
more and more toward the acceptance of
the idea that "color is of no importance."
. . . And yet race prejudice is firmly
entrenched in the feelings of millions of
men and women, to whom the scientific
and historical evidence is of no interest
when it opposes "what they have always
believed."
How can this state of affairs be changed,
so that mankind will come to feel that
there is only one race that matters — the
whole human race?
We see that race prejudice is based pri-
marily on the desire for power and on fear,
two very fundamental motives to conduct.
It is only when a man becomes activated by
some stronger motive that he realizes that
the will to exercise power over other human
beings need not be the basis of group life.
Only when man ceases to desire power over
others, and so ceases to fear his fellowmen,
— only then can we hupe to attain to a real
unity of the world.
UNITY OF RACES
715
Such a change of motives can come to
mankind only through a renewed spiritual
vision, such as BahaVllah brought to the
world. The individual who really loves
God must perforce love his fellowmen. And
those whom we love unselfishly we do not
try to rule or control. Fear, hatred, dislike
of another race is a certain indication that
our faith in the Divine Plan for the world
is weak. We are saying, in effect, that the
Creator did a pretty bad job on some of His
creatures, and that we will have none of
the results.
Racial prejudice is a barrier across the road
to World Peace and a united humanity. In
1912 'Abdu'1-Baha said, "The accomplish-
ment of unity between the colored and the
whites will be an assurance of the world's
peace. . . . When the racial elements of the
American nation unite in actual fellowship
and accord, the lights of the oneness of hu-
manity will shine. . . . This is the sign of
the 'Most Great Peace'."
BahaVllah has given mankind a Divine
Plan for world order. But this plan cannot
function until men realize that the only
power which should control the lives of hu-
manity is spiritual law. When they turn to
the great spiritual Educators to learn this
law, they will cease to desire personal or na-
tional or racial power. Then racial preju-
dice will gradually disappear, and we shall
be ready to enter into the age of the oneness
of mankind.
"O ye children of men! The fundamen-
tal purpose animating the Faith of God and
His Religion is to safeguard the interests
and promote the unity of the human race,
and to foster the spirit of love and fellowship
amongst men. . . . Whatsoever is raised on
this foundation, the changes and chances of
the world can never impair its strength, nor
will the revolution of countless centuries
undermine its structure/' 8
8 Gleanings from the Writings of BahaVllah, p.
2H.
MANKIND THE PRODIGAL
BY ALFRED E. LUNT
JL HE haunting memories of the story of
the prodigal son, so beautifully related by
the Christ, have imprinted an indelible por-
trait in countless hearts, of a divine master-
piece. Its lights and shadows project and
mirror forth the imperishable colors of the
supreme artist. Its shadow is that wander-
ing son, in his reckless plunge into the miry
depths of the world of unsatisfying experi-
ence, his desertion of his father's loving pro-
tection and provision, his utter surrender to
the fiery impelling urge of the natural world.
And, then, satiated but still hungry, mis-
erable and forlorn, despoiled and reduced to
the husks into which cruel Nature ever
finally flings her devotees, this shadow,
which was this Everyman, is blasted and now
irradiated with the light of repentance, with
longing for the loving presence of his father,
the fruit of his suffering. He has found his
soul.
Swiftly, though with infinite pain, he re-
turns from his exile to that real home. Now
the shadow is wholly swept away. In the
bosom of his father, his entire being is ex-
hilarated by the elixir of a pure love he has
never known; to his newly awakened soul
it is light upon light. Yet, the supreme
light of this immortal portrait shines in the
rejoicing of the father, himself. Great is
the celebration of the return of the soul to
reality. The most precious possessions of
the father are poured out upon him. "This,
my son, was lost and is found."
This sweet story is, of course, a living
symbol of the return of man to the True
One from remoteness and ignorance;
through the illumination of his soul by the
Light of Reality, to the communion and
presence of the Supreme Friend, in the king-
dom of the heart.
Witness, however, the astonishing proto-
type, one might say, the flowering of this
process in this, our age, uncovered in the
supreme Revelation of BahaVllah. Here is
716
revealed to our still dim vision, the as-
tounding fact of the return of God to His
creation, in manifest form. The very Rev-
elation, Itself, is the arising of the "Self of
God," the first and mightiest Resurrection.
While the prodigal son returned to his father,
which is a necessary and inescapable journey
for all who would attain their divine des-
tiny, today the Father Himself has sought
out the prodigal, entered the world of man,
dwelt in the very midst of the confusidn
and corruption of the husks of human
wreckage, and even suffered His Holy Mani-
festation to submit to the chains and cruel-
ties of a prison worthy only of the dregs of
the most abandoned among men. "Whereas,"
He says, — "in days past every lover besought
and searched after his Beloved, it is the Be-
loved Himself Who now is calling His lover
and is inviting them to attain His presence.
Take heed lest ye forfeit so precious a favor;
beware lest ye belittle so remarkable a token
of His grace." *
Human consciousness, even that of the
true believer, is all too unchastencd, too un-
refined as yet to comprehend but a trace of
the unmeasured, ineffable Love of God. This
Love, fulfilling His desire to be known by
human hearts, those divine receptacles which
among all the riches of His Creation He has
reserved for Himself, — did not rest, nor will
ever rest, till in the mystery of Its Mani-
festation It shone forth in the murky gloom
of human habitations, wherein lay buried
the latent gems of the supreme talisman,
man. This Love accepted every humiliation,
shackles and incarceration, and above all, the
bitter malice and injury of furious opponents
over the long years, that the truth of the
saying, — "He is the Most Victorious" might
be fulfilled. No words can fittingly de-
scribe the Divine patience, submission (to
the cruel behests of the misguided), and
lowliness, that emanated from Him, as from
1 Gleanings, p. 320.
MANKIND THE PRODIGAL
717
a lotus flower blossoming in the dark, opaque
waters of a noisome pool. To this degree,
which only Divinity can manifest, has the
Father, the heavenly Shepherd of the wan-
dering human flock, attested the greatness of
His love for the prodigal.
Small wonder it is that BahaVllah, the
visible embodiment of that Love, following
implicitly the Command of the Hidden Tab-
let regardless of human consequences to
Himself, should have uttered the words, —
"I have patiently endured until the fame of
the Cause of God was spread abroad on the
earth." 2 And, — "Our wish is to seize and
possess the hearts of men. Upon them the
eyes of Baha are fastened." 3 And, finally,
— "If it be your wish, O people, to know
God and to discover the greatness of His
Might, look, then, upon Me with Mine own
eyes, and not with the eyes of anyone beside
Me. Ye will otherwise be never capable of
recognizing Me, though ye ponder My Cause
as long as My Kingdom endureth." 4
In these words He identifies Himself with
the unchanging Divine purpose, and, as the
Most Pure Mirror of the Divine Essence,
demonstrates completely that ineffable Love
that has marked this age as a day of mutual
return, — the resurrection of Divinity Itself
in Its search for the hearts of men, and, this
time, the universal quest of the prodigal (all
men) for the Father. Thus, the story of
the Christ is illumined today with the holy,
mutual seeking of both the Divine and the
human. God has drawn near unto man,
while man's tortuous journey, through re-
pentance, to his Father, has been mercifully
shortened by the Divine outreaching. Di-
vinity has chosen to suffer with man, in that
mutual pathway, and this is the Divine Bal-
ance, or equilibrium, which has overflowed
from the fountain of His exceeding Love.
This demonstration of the Divine Will,
however, is as yet unknown to the vast
masses of humanity. Quite unaware of the
cyclic processes and periods of Manifesta-
tion which the Divine Wisdom has decreed,
the people have, in general, despaired of
heavenly assistance for the solution of their
perplexing problems. More and more, with
the disquieting effects of the modern age,
coincident with the gradual shattering of the
old, dogmatic faith of the centuries preced-
ing 1844, have the masses of the people and
many of their religious leaders as well, lost
faith in the power, even the existence, of
divine intervention in human affairs.
They could not, or did not know that
the multiplication of hard problems in the
individual life and in the collective, eco-
nomic and social fields of huftian activity,
was attributable, almost solely, to their own
long failure to obey the laws of God which
the Manifestation of Christ had made obliga-
tory. Because of differing forms of inter-
pretation of the hundreds of denominations
and sects, because of the weakening of the
dogmatic foundation, the doubts cast by sci-
ence, and that coldness and blindness that
manifest themselves in the winter-time of a
spiritual cycle, the ebbing tide of faith and
guidance found the people unable to provide
a suitable substitute for what they had re-
linquished.
The successive, unified Revelations of the
Bab and of BahaVllah and the pure Reality
revealed by Them, were strong medicine,
indeed, for a people who knew not reality.
Millions have, as yet, to hear that divine
message. Its powerful call to humanity to
detach itself from the things in which it has
delighted, is, as is recorded in the Holy
Books, a "woe" to mankind. Men shrink
from new and higher standards of life. The
cars that are still "stopped" and the eyes that
remain "unseeing" continue to encase in the
sepulchers of spiritual impotence the vast
majority of the human race. Notwith-
standing the truth of this sweeping state-
ment, we must, nevertheless, recognize the
existence throughout the nations, of unnum-
bered men and women whose lives bear wit-
ness to the inner spiritual fire, whose hearts
are tender, and whose deeds are often in ac-
cord with the true foundation of the Prophet
in whose service they are enlisted. Such are
lovers of humanity. That these souls are
still unaware of the Great Event is far less
significant than is the case with the countless
host of those who doubt the very existence
of God.
To the degree that men are enslaved in the
toils of the natural law, the vision of God
flees away. 'Abdu'1-Baha has declared that
this enslavement is comparable to the life of
2 p. 203.
8 p. 212.
4 p. 272.
718
THE BAHA'f WORLD
The Baha'is of Poona, India, at the Naw-Ruz Feast, March 21, 1938.
the embryo in the pre-natal stage, and that
such souls cannot even imagine God, much
less believe in Him; any more than the em-
bryonic, potential infant can imagine or be-
lieve in the world without. While even
belief is only the first step in the knowledge
of God.
Therefore, it is with these unnumbered
millions who, in making common cause with
the world of nature have set up false idols
in the place of the True One, that the theme
of the great parable of prodigality is mainly
concerned.
With what deep penetration BahaVllah
signifies His complete awareness of the mag-
nitude of this redemptive work among this
great multitude is strikingly illustrated by
these words, — "Is it within human power, O
Hakim, to effect in the constituent ele-
ments of any of the minute and indivisible
particles of matter so complete a transforma-
tion as to transmute it into purest gold?
Perplexing and difficult as this may appear,
the still greater task of converting satanic
strength into heavenly power is one that We
have been empowered to accomplish." 4A
This deeply mysterious passage of the
Word of God has to do with the innermost
depths of the human soul. Not only does
it definitely locate the present status of this
unnumbered throng of humanity within the
recesses and dark caverns of nature, that
place of unawareness of God where the soul
is both deaf and blind, but it, also, defines
this state of remoteness as identical with the
satanic quality. This passage, one feels, is
one of the most vitally significant to be
found in the whole, vast sweep of the Baha'i
Scriptures. In these few compelling words,
He unfolds the solemn, really appalling cir-
cumstances of the unregenerate elements of
human society and, notwithstanding this
seemingly insuperable fact, confidently de-
clares His possession of a power amply suf-
ficient to transform these embodiments of
unregeneracy into vessels of faith and divine
enlightenment. For this task, inconceivable
from the merely human standpoint, His in-
strumentality, He avers, is the irresistible
Word of God. No greater efficacy could be
attributed to the peerless Word than the
achievement of so supreme a triumph in the
arena of the human mind and soul. Modern
science has advanced far toward conferring
immunity upon our physical bodies from the
ravages of unsanitary conditions. Sadly con-
trasted is the feeble progress thus far made
4A Gleanings, p. 200. Italics the author's.
MANKIND THE PRQCHGAL
719
in that spiritual hygiene which concerns the
vital domain of human consciousness itself.
The graphic delineations of Dante and Swe-
denborg, bringing into acute correspondence
the reality of the states of the spiritually
and physically corrupt, were assuredly more
than mere idle dreams. The " Satanic
strength" defined by Baha'u'llah is clearly
analogous to the infestations and infections,
the contagions and plagues, of mental con-
fusions, superstitions, prejudices, cruelties
and egotistic madnesses that characterize the,
as yet, uncleansed citadel of human con-
sciousness.
The condition of the world, today, attests
only too strongly the truth of this divine
analysis. Its helpless drifting toward a new
war of unexampled destruction, its contempt
for the loving appeal of reality, its sub-
mergence in economic loss and despair, its
increasing strangulation of human liberty,
its pronounced trend toward the self-con-
tained or totalitarian national government,
the complete opposite of the Baha'i teach-
ings of interdependence and unity among
nations, — are unerring signs of its spiritual
impotence. We have to accept the fact that
those who thus lead and those who follow,
are of the embryonic human consciousness,
as yet unborn from the narrow confines -of
the natural matrix.
Only quite recently, a distinguished figure
in the field of religion ventured the positive
statement that we may as well abandon any
thought that God would intervene in hu-
man affairs, that it was evident He had
chosen for Himself the role of an "absentee
Divinity," and that humanity may as well
realize, once for all, that it is left to itself to
find solutions for its crushing problems.
This statement, if correctly reported, repre-
sents, we fear, an ever-growing consciousness
of futility and despair, by no means confined
to the layman.
Thus, the problem of regeneration, of sal-
vation, is put squarely in the keeping of the
Manifestation of God, Who has, with daunt-
less courage and certainty, declared His
Power to achieve it. Upon His followers,
likewise, this holy service to the race rests as
a sublime gift. No mere fancy is intended
by His assurance to those who arise to attack
the battlements of human hearts with the
weapons of Reality. This very Power which
He has claimed for Himself is poured out
upon and through every sincere, detached
Teacher of His Faith. Certainly not for
aeons to come will so glorious a destiny be
opened to the early followers of a Manifes-
tation of God as is today presented to those
pioneer believers who have recognized and
obeyed. Not only this, but the Divine Arm
is not weakened by this sharing of power
with His loved ones; rather does It contain
unrevealed and unsuspected reinforcements
which, from time to time, will be unloosed
upon the nations. That "mysterious power,"
we are assured, has in store a perfect galaxy
of Divine deeds which will permeate the
fabric of humanity as the rain into the
parched soil, or the lightning into the dark
abyss, — until the souls come forth from their
sepulchers.
The appearance of BahaVllah acquaints
mankind, in this age of doubt, with irrefuta-
ble proof that the King of Kings has inter-
vened, according to His Ancient Promise, in
the life of this planet. Never before has
His all encompassing Power been revealed to
men to this supreme degree. His upright,
waving Standard rests securely on the high-
est battlement. His trumpet blast calls all
mankind to turn their faces to His Face, to
overthrow the idols of natural attachment
that have stolen the altar of true worship
from the hearts, and to love Him who alone
is worthy of the heart's deepest devotion.
To love Him "above all that is," — without
which these idols that are imaginary "part-
ners" with God are thick veils before His
Face, — is an assertion of divine sovereignty.
To ascribe "partners" to God is only another
way of saying that His Sovereignty is a di-
vided one. If a man permits himself to love
gold, fame, the superiority of his rank, house,
or physical enjoyment as a ruling passion, he
has exalted a mere earthly prize to a superior
position over the Lord of Lords, and, in that
sense, ignorantly attempted to divide the
Heavenly Sovereignty. In this way, his
heart's desire has wrongfully fashioned a god
or gods whom he enthrones as peers with
God, consequently "partners" in the Divine
Court. This is a type of pantheism that is
infinitely worse than the mere abstract con-
ceptions of pantheistic philosophy commonly
720
THE BAHA'f WORLD
met with. Only absolute ignorance of the
Reality underlying the creation can account
for this self -oppression of man by himself.
Yet because of it, and it alone, the human
race has, as a whole, languished in the em-
bryonic condition. Thirsty, and an exile,
our race has continued to drink of this bitter
water, flouting the cup of truth and reality
that has always been within its grasp.
The establishment of a world order that
has its origin and its end in the Divine Sov-
ereignty marks the fading of that day of
infantile humanity. No adequate estimate
can be made of the real significance of this
fact to human destiny. Without this divine
intervention, this assertion of compelling
sovereignty over the doings of men, the
world has careened madly, like a skidding
automobile, on the very brink of destruc-
tion. As mankind has failed to believe in
God or to recognize His signs, and is, to this
extent, idolatrous, it has tended to rely
wholly upon its leaders, religious and secu-
lar, for guidance. It has leaned upon the
fallible, doubting the existence of the in-
fallible. Its handiwork stands out, today, as
a glittering, brittle structure which we call
civilization; in reality a crumbling mass of
vain inconsistency, dominated, in the main,
by fear-ridden, unstable guides, schooled in
opportunism. Of one of such countries,
BahaVllah made mention in these words, —
"Allow not the abject to rule over and dom-
inate them who are noble and worthy of
honor, and suffer not the high-minded to be
at the mercy of the contemptible and worth-
less, for this is what We observed upon Our
arrival in the city, and to it We bear wit-
ness." 5
To those comparatively few in the world
today who are concentrating on the Word
of God with utter earnestness, the import
of this revolutionary change effected
through the appearance of Baha'u'llah, by
which true civilization is to be substituted
for one that is essentially false and unbal-
anced on the material side, — is a living
reality. Great suffering and astonishment
evidently await the world as the sole means
of this regeneration. Its birth-pangs are to be
severe, perhaps beyond the realms of imagina-
tion. But the crashing of the idols was
ever attended with great noise and dust, —
while stupefaction marked their worshippers.
The superstition of an "absentee Divin-
ity" describes in the briefest terms the spir-
itual disease of the world. Because men have
fancied Him to be unmindful of His crea-
tion, even regressing to a point where they
had grave doubts of His existence, or to open
denial of it, we have dwelt in an unbelieving
world. Certain scientists attribute the cause
of the submergence and cataclysms that ac-
companied the destruction of the mythical
Atlantis to a sudden, cosmic slipping or re-
adjustment of the earth's axis. With this
came about an abrupt change in the physical
structure of the earth. Today, the spiritual*
axis of humanity is being violently rocked.
And the profound changes in our civiliza-
tion that impend can be summarized in a
few brief sentences: The reassertion and es-
tablishment of the Divine Sovereignty over
the children of men; the fixing of the eyes
upon Him Who, alone, is worthy of adora-
tion; the assimilation of that Reality of uni-
versal knowledge He has revealed. This is
the divine, forcing process that is powerfully
accelerating the evolutionary process of spir-
itual maturity, compelled by the existing hu-
man inertia.
Is not this consummate result, the emer-
gence of the King and the Kingdom into
the consciousness of humanity, clearly set
forth in the Holy Books of all nations? We
quote from the Jewish and Christian Scrip-
tures: "And the government shall be upon
his shoulder; and his name shall be called
Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the
everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." 6
"And I saw heaven opened, and beheld
a white horse; and he that sat upon him was
called Faithful and True, and in righteous-
ness he doth judge and make war. His eyes
were as a flame of fire, and on his head were
many crowns; and he had a name written
that no man knew, but he himself. And
he was clothed with a vesture dipped in
blood; and his name is called the Word of
God. . . . And out of his mouth goeth a
sharp sword, that with it he should smite the
nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of
iron. . . . And he hath on his vesture and on
his thigh a name written, — King of Kings
and Lord of Lords." 7
6 p. 23*. 6 Isaiah, 9:6. 7 Revelation, 19:11-16.
THE FULFILLMENT OF RELIGION
T»
BY BERTHA HYDE KIRKPATRICK
.HE vitality of men's belief in God is dy-
ing^ out in every land ; nothing short of His
wholesome medicine can ever restore it. The
corrosion of ungodliness is eating into the
vitals of human society; what else but the
Elixir of His potent Revelation can cleanse
*and revive it?" *
These arresting words of Baha Vllah, writ-
ten over fifty years ago, are today more true
than ever. No thoughtful person will deny
the lack of vitality in religion today. In a
recent issue of the Christian Century?
Secretary Henry Wallace makes this state-
ment: "The science, economics, and wealth
of the past 150 years have destroyed among
our educated, well-to-do, -so-called leading
families vital faith in a transcendent God,
who is interested in the affairs of men." He
even includes the clergy in this declining
faith, for he further says, ". . . apparently
a minority of both ministers and church
members have any vital belief in a future
life or a transcendent God."
But the very lack of vitality in religion,
the very indifference of the majority of peo-
ple toward religion, makes it seem impossible
to these same people, even the more thought-
ful among them, that religion can be the
remedy the world needs today. Even in all
the chaos and confusion of the times it seems
fair to say that comparatively few look to
religion for any aid in solving our urgent
social, economic, political, and international
problems. Remedy after remedy is proposed
and if tried, fails. National leaders appear,
class and race leaders arise, labor and capital
both have their leadership, — with the result
of more antagonism and more warfare and
bloodshed. But there is "still a hope," to quote
E. G. Homrighausen, "that salvation can
come through man's ideas and efforts. . . .
There is lacking the sort of desperation and
spirit of helplessness which seeks for a definite
revelation, unique and sovereign in its own
right, which is the only hope of the world." 3
A few there are, however, who under-
stand that religion, renewed, vital, dynamic,
is the real need and only hope of the world
today; and that in the past, at times of great
stress and peril, God has spoken to mankind
and shown the path through His chosen Mes-
senger. There are those, too, humble be-
lievers in the Bible and other Holy Books, who
look for the coming of the Promised One and
for the fulfillment of the many promises
found in Holy Scriptures; for the day of
peace in the world, when "nations shall not
learn war any more," when swords shall be
beaten into plowshares, when "the knowledge
of the Glory of God shall cover the earth,"
when the Kingdom shall be established upon
earth, when justice and abundance shall pre-
vail, when Christ shall return, or when ac-
cording to Muhammadan scriptures the
Mahdi shall come, or the seventh Buddha in
fulfillment of Buddhist expectation.
But it is to a world largely divorced from
God, through ignorance, superstition, creedal
formalism or materialism, and a world
wholly in confusion, that Baha'u'llah speaks
today His "great and clear Message." He
declares openly that He speaks as a Messenger
of God, not of His own will, that He is the
One promised by all the Divine Prophets of
the past, that Their work cannot be carried
on to completion except through following
His instructions. He speaks of this new age
which we are entering as the Day of God,
the time for which Christ told men to look
when He taught us to pray "Thy Kingdom
come upon earth." "The time foreordained
unto peoples and kindreds of the earth is now
come," He says. And while men for the
most part are so engrossed in their own selfish
desires that they are deaf to His call and
blind to His beauty, yet all over the world
are those who are responding to this call, who
721
J Gleanings from the Writings of BahaVllah, p. 200.
2 January 29, 1936.
3 World Tomorrow, March 29, 1934.
722
THE BAHA'f WORLD
are assured that "The King hath come" and
that BahaVllah is the Bearer of the Mes-
sage for which the world is yearning today.
They testify that He has pointed out the
perfect remedy for ailing society and that He
fills men's hearts with such love that they
are eager to apply this remedy. When they
study His message they find that no vision of
poet or seer of the past is so lofty, no con-
ception of the fulfillment of religion so sub-
lime, as the pattern BahaVllah has laid
down for the world-wide civilization of to-
morrow; that no plan tried or dreamed of by
man has been so all-inclusive, so stupendous,
so just, and yet so workable, so reasonable,
and so impelling.
As we have seen in the previous articles
in this series, BahaVllah establishes the one-
ness of mankind, the oneness of all the Divine
Prophets and the oneness of Their message.
This message which God's Prophets all bring
has two aspects. "God's purpose in sending
His Prophets unto men is two-fold. The
first is to liberate the children of men from
the darkness of ignorance, and guide them to
the light of true understanding. The second
is to insure the peace and tranquillity of
mankind, and provide all the means by which
they can be established/* 4 First, He wins
and illumines the hearts of men and second,
sets standards and laws for community life,
for peaceful and tranquil relations with our
neighbors. Recall that Christ, too, said
that all the law and the prophets hung on
two things. The first, briefly, was the com-
mand to love God with all the heart, mind,
and soul and the second was to love one's
neighbor as oneself. The first concerns the
individual, the second society.
So BahaVllah makes His great appeal to
the hearts of men. God yearns for men's
hearts, those only does He demand. "O son of
dust! All that is in heaven and earth I have
ordained for thee, except the human heart,
which I have made the habitation of My
beauty and glory." 5 "O son of man! I
loved thy creation, hence I created thee.
Wherefore do thou love Me, that I may name
thy name and fill thy soul with the spirit of
life."6 This appeal for a rebirth of vital,
energizing love of God in the heart of man
BahaVllah made dynamic by His own life.
Those who read the story of His life know
that it was one of complete sacrifice. Thus
we can know both by His precept and by
His example what love for God means and
what love for man is. Those who came
under His influence forgot their differences,
small and great, even racial and religious
differences, and gathered around BahaVllah
in a new brotherhood. Inspired with this
new love they, too, were ready to sacrifice all,
even life.
But while the fundamental appeal of
BahaVllah, like that of Christ and Buddha
and all the Divine Prophets, was to the hearts
of men, His message was very definitely a
social one and a universal one. Always has
religion had its social aspect, its regard for
fellowmen; always in its freshness, has it
been a great unifier; but now for the first
time has it been possible for the Prophet of
God to show how the law of love can be
expanded to include the whole of mankind.
BahaVllah has laid down His great principle
of the Oneness of Mankind and has shown us
how to use it to bring justice to all men and
include all mankind in one world-wide so-
ciety. Modern Communication has united
the world physically; modern commerce and
industry have made all countries interde-
pendent. Even war, one of the last signs
of a dying age, cannot be waged without
showing the interdependence of nations. All
these are outward signs of world unity.
Spiritual unity is still lacking and this can
only be obtained through the reestablish-
ment of belief in God and obedience to His
commands. This is the potent remedy which
BahaVllah administers to the world today.
"The well-being of mankind, its peace and
security, are unattainable unless and until its
unity is firmly established. This unity can
never be achieved so long as the counsels
which the pen of the Most High hath re-
vealed are suffered to pass unheeded." 1
The first outward sign of this world unity
will be a world organized for peace. Peace is
the acknowledged need of the world at pres-
ent. No lasting peace can be established
without world organization, a unified world
with a central government and court of jus-
4 Gleanings from the Writings of BahaVllah, p. 79.
6 Hidden Words of Bahi Vllah, f rinian, 27.
6 Hidden Words of BahaVllah, Arabic, 4.
7 Gleanings from the Writings of BahaVllah, p.
28*.
THE FULFILLMENT OF RELIGION
723
tice accepted by all nations, great and small.
BahaVllah foresaw this need and planned for
it in His Universal House of Justice. This
will have real power to settle disputes re-
ferred to it by all the nations, none with-
holding itself. At the same time all nations
will agree to disarm, except that sufficient
police force will be retained to insure order
in the nations and in the world.
But necessarily before such an organization
can be accomplished we must abandon ex-
cessive national pride, any claims of inherent
racial superiority, or class supremacy. In
other words we must come into such a con-
sciousness of the oneness of mankind that we
desire nothing for our own nation which we
do not desire for all nations. If the yellow
or black or white race has the good things of
this world it must not be at the expense of
some other race. If the capitalistic class
accumulates money it must not be by the ex-
ploitation of the laboring class. All are
children of God and God's bounties are meant
for all and are sufficient for all.
Put into actual practice the principle of
the oneness of mankind means, besides world
government, employment for all, "no idle
rich and no idle poor," justice to both
capital and labor, education for all. As an
important aid to understanding between
different nationalities and a means of sim-
plifying education and travel, an interna-
tional auxiliary language is advocated by
Baha Vllah. He also declares the equality of
the sexes, that they must have equal oppor-
tunities, rights and privileges. There is no
conflict, says BahaVllah, between science
and religion, both are expressions of truth
and truth is ultimately one. Modern prog-
ress, learning, scientific investigation and in-
vention are praised by BahaVllah; for the
mind, the intelligence of man, is God's great-
est gift to man and should be developed to
its utmost. Thus man advances toward the
fulfillment of his destiny, for "all men have
been created to carry forward an ever-ad-
vancing civilization." 8 The intellect, how-
ever, should always be used with the object
of producing that which benefits mankind.
That man should use his intellect or inven-
tive power for making destructive or even
useless things is contrary to man's true
nobility.
Education is most important in BahaVl-
lah's scheme of things, but children should
be instructed in that which is conducive to
the progress of man and not in those subjects
which "begin and end in mere words." Edu-
cation will be used as a great means of uni-
fication. History and literature will not be
distorted to make one race or nation appear
inferior or superior to another. The needs
of every degree of intelligence, skill, and
interest will be met so that each individual
can develop to the utmost of his capacity.
BahaVllah has provided certain economic
and tax regulations which will provide justice
to all, a means of livelihood for all, and will
make it impossible for some to amass great
fortunes while others are deprived of the
necessities of life. Capital, however, is not
forbidden. The economic system, the legal
system, the monetary system will become
world-wide. There is no attempt in Baha'-
u'llah's plan to reduce all classes and nations
to a monotonous level and sameness. Di-
versity of taste, occupation, customs is desira-
ble and necessary for a well-ordered world,
for beauty, happiness, and contentment.
There will be one universal religion and
this with moral and spiritual precepts will
be taught in schools. No dissension over
varying creeds will prevent this. Religion,
indeed, will be the great unifier and so
blended with life that it will be the basis for
government and industry. Those high in
spiritual attainments and in wisdom will be
chosen for public positions. There will be no
professional clergy, worship will be without
ostentation and elaborate ceremony. The
house of worship will be the center of every
community and around it will be grouped
schools and institutions for the care of or-
phans, the aged and all unfortunates.
"The Baha'i community is to be a hive of
activity and cooperation. Social intercourse
and festal gatherings are encouraged. There
are no recluses. All share the simple or-
dinary life of humanity. Marriage is com-
mended and shown as consistent with,
indeed conducive to, the highest spiritual
attainment — all the three great examples,
BahaVllah, the Bab, 'Abdu'1-Baha, were
married. There are no idlers nor parasites.
Every man must have a business or profession
p. 2H.
724
THE BAHA'f WORLD
of some kind, and work done in the spirit of
service to society is accepted by God as an
act of worship to Himself." 9
How can it be possible, some ask, that
such an age of peace and justice is near at
hand? All about us we see signs of increas-
ing injustice, of conflict and strife. Con-
fusion surrounds us; governments quickly
rise and fall; there is depression in business
with its resultant unemployment; suffering
and oppression abound. Wars continue and
rumors of greater wars are heard. Cata-
clysms of nature — floods, earthquakes,
storms, droughts — are causing untold human
misery.
Destructive forces are indeed in evidence.
No doubt the old order and outworn institu-
tions must destroy themselves before the new
ones can take their places. This is in ac-
cord, too, with the Holy Books which de-
pict in powerful language the calamitous
times which directly precede the age of peace.
BahaVllah does not overlook the destructive
period. From the beginning of His teaching
He gave repeated warnings of the disasters
that were sure to come if nations and rulers
persisted in spending such unlimited money
for armies and munitions.
It was especially in His letters to various
rulers in Europe and Asia that He gave these
warnings. He sent letters to the Shah of
fran, the Sultan of Turkey, the Czar of
Russia, the Pope, the King of Prussia, Napo-
leon III, Queen Victoria, and the Presidents
of the American Republics. In them He
urged rulers to realize their high responsibili-
ties for the welfare and happiness of their
subjects and predicted calamities if they let
selfish ambitions dominate their motives.
Some of these predictions have already been
fulfilled, as, for example, those connected
with Napoleon III, the Sultan, the Shah.
Other calamitous predictions are still to come
to pass, apparently at a not far distant time.
But the emphasis of Baha Vllah's teaching
was always upon the "Glad Tidings" of the
new civilization which is already gradually
growing up on the foundation which He
laid. The Book of Aqdas contains specific
laws and regulations which are to be the
basis of the new world order. Many of
these are contained also in some of His shorter
writings. He leaves us in no doubt that this
higher type of civilization will prevail. It is
for this that man has been created and what
God has ordained must come to pass. Man
has now reached the point in his spiritual
evolution when he is capable under the guid-
ance of God of developing a worthy civiliza-
tion. BahaVllah constantly reminds man of
his latent possibilities and urges him to rise
to the heights for which he was created.
This is the time for which the whole human
race hath longed "that perchance it may ful-
fill that which well beseemeth its station,
and is worthy of its destiny." In the words
of Shoghi Effendi, mankind has now arrived
at the dawn of "the consummation of the
whole process of human evolution."
We should expect that such a consumma-
tion of human evolution would be of long
duration and BahaVllah so assures us. Our
part is to accept His remedy for present
conditions, to return to the "Faith of God
and His Religion" and, in obedience to His
command, establish the world state on the
foundation of the unity of the human race.
"This is the straight Path," He says, "the
fixed and immovable foundation. Whatso-
ever is raised on this foundation, the changes
and chances of the world can never impair its
strength, nor will the revolution of countless
centuries undermine its structure." 10
While the glorious possibilities of this new
civilization are at present beyond even our
imagination, BahaVllah affirms that nothing
can prevent their attainment. He says: "The
heights which, through the most gracious
favor of God, mortal man can attain, in
this Day, are as yet unrevealed to His sight.
The world of being hath never had, nor doth
it yet possess the capacity for such a revela-
tion. The day, however, is approaching when
the potentialities of so great a favor will, by
virtue of His behest, be manifested unto men.
Though the forces of the nations be arrayed
against Him, though the kings of the earth
be leagued to undermine His Cause, the
power of His might shall stand unshaken.
He, verily, speaketh the truth, and sum-
moneth all mankind to the way of Him who
is the Incomparable, the All-Knowing." X1
9 The Promise of All Ages, by Christophil, p. 196.
10 Gleanings from the Writings of Bah&VlUh, p.
215.
11 / bid., p. 214.
A WORLD COMMUNITY
BY GEORGE O. LATIMER
A
COMMUNITY is a group of individ-
uals bound together by common interests,
privileges and subject to the same laws. It is
a series of voluntary relationships of peoples
and races having different customs, tastes,
temperaments, varied thoughts and opinions,
who, having been forced to face the same
problems of human experience, have come to
a "like-mindedness" in working out these
difficulties. The fundamental urge or im-
pulse to bring about this unity of divergent
personalities is spiritual in character and
results in a common faith. From this group-
ing of interests the ideals of government, of
philosophy, of economic and social systems
and primarily morals and religion are devel-
oped.
In past ages, owing to their isolation and
lack of communication facilities, different
environments and diversity of language, these
groups have developed slowly and independ-
ently their systems of social order and spirit-
ual outlook. Gradually the community has
expanded, uniting with other groups to form
a nation. When a nation has become suffi-
ciently powerful it then seeks to widen its
sphere of influence through aggression, col-
onization and eventually warfare upon
weaker groups and communities. Then the
world's equilibrium becomes upset, the cul-
ture of the people wanes and the social order
is destroyed. The body politic may be lik-
ened to the human body as an organism
which needs harmonious cooperation of all
its members for perfect health. 'Abdu'1-Baha
points out, "As long as the members and
parts of the human organism are at peace, co-
ordinate, and cooperate together peacefully
and harmoniously, we have as a result the
expression of life in its fullest form; where
they differ we have the reverse, which in the
human organism is warfare; and when dis-
sension continues and discord waxes grave
in the human organism, the result is dissen-
sion and dissolution and untimely death."
725
Amity, peace and unity are therefore es-
sentially the saving factors of society; amity
among races, peace between nations and
unity of conscience in the individual mem-
bers of the body politic.
In our present era conditions have altered
greatly. The ever-increasing facilities of
modern transportation, the wireless and ra-
dio, the interchange of literature, art and
music, the complex international structure
of finance, world-wide trade and commerce
have broken down the former barriers of iso-
lation. This change has been enhanced by
the rapid development of our industrial
civilization. The chrysalis has broken. As
John Herman Randall points out in his timely
book, "A World Community*': "From a
position of practical independence and self-
sufficiency, all nations have been forced into
a relation of the closest mutual interdepend-
ence where each needs the other, must have
the help of the other, or else must perish.
There is not a man or woman in America,
or any other civilized land, whose daily life,
both in the necessities we must have and in
the luxuries we all crave, is not in constant
touch with the life of people across the seas
whose customs are strange to us, whose lan-
guages are unknown, of whom we may never
have heard, but without whose daily toil our
existence would be impossible. No one of us
lives through a day without in some way get-
ting help from all lands and all peoples."
These interchanges demand a new outlook
by our business leaders. This leadership re-
quires an "international mind" to focus on
the strides that science, invention and trade
have made in promoting the intercourse
which affects the lives of people in every
clime. "We cannot think clearly and sanely
about these reactions, except as we learn to
value civilizations, habits of thought and
action, and spiritual outlooks on life which
diverge widely from our own."1 The
1 Business and the New Era, by W. E. Hotchkiss.
726
THE BAHA'f WORLD
mechanical technique for the future progress
of society is fully developed but the present
state of man's social intelligence for the
creating of a new world order has not shown
the same advancement.
Our present impotence in world affairs has
been vividly portrayed by Shoghi Effendi in
his word picture of the social, economic,
political and religious spheres of human ac-
tivity. In "The Goal of a New World
Order," he writes: "The disquieting influence
of over thirty million souls living under
minority conditions throughout the con-
tinent of Europe; the vast and ever-swelling
army of the unemployed with its crushing
burden and demoralizing influence on gov-
ernments and peoples; the wicked, unbridled
race of armaments swallowing an ever-in-
creasing share of the substance of already
impoverished nations; the utter demoraliza-
tion from which the international financial
markets are now increasingly suffering; the
onslaught of secularism invading what has
hitherto been regarded as the impregnable
strongholds of Christian and Muslim ortho-
doxy— these stand out as the gravest symp-
toms that bode ill for the future stability of
the structure of modern civilization." "Hu-
manity," he continues, "whether viewed in
the light of man's individual conduct or in
the existing relationships between organized
communities and nations, has, alas, strayed
too far and suffered too great a decline to be
redeemed through the unaided efforts of the
best among its recognized rulers and states-
men— however disinterested their motives,
however concerted their action, however un-
sparing in their zeal and devotion to its
cause. No scheme which the calculations
of the highest statesmanship may yet devise;
no doctrine which the most distinguished
exponents of economic theory may hope to
advance; no principle which the most ardent
of moralists may strive to inculcate, can pro-
vide, in the last resort, adequate foundations
upon which the future of a distracted world
can be built."
The picture of our present plight is
further magnified by the growing spirit of
fear and suspicion, race hatreds and vindic-
tiveness — remnants of the last war — the
faithlessness to sacred obligations and the vio-
lation of covenants between nations. To
this may be added the new trends in govern-
ment such as communism, fascism and nazi-
ism — that are vying with democracy for the
socio-political control of peoples. These
modern doctrines of government have arisen
from a condition of desperation in the social
order and seek to impose the will of a dic-
tator upon the binding voluntary relation-
ships between individuals of the social group.
By the very nature of their origin and the
current working of their doctrines they are
anti-social and do not create a structure that
builds, molds and perpetuates a human com-
munity that satisfies both the practical and
spiritual needs of man.
Therefore the primary task before us at
this period of our evolution is to create and
establish a social system that will embody in
its scope, institutions that will encompass,
not only the physical, economic and social
needs of man, but also provide for a re-
kindling of his religious faith. It is becom-
ing increasingly evident, concludes Shoghi
Effendi, "that nothing short of the fire of a
severe ordeal, unparalleled in its intensity,
can fuse and weld the discordant entities
that constitute the elements of present-day
civilization, into the integral components of
the world commonwealth of the future."
In the formation of the future common-
wealth, a form of Super-State must be
evolved. The process will consist in the
establishing of certain institutions that can
and must maintain internal order within
each local state and also have the power to
enforce its authority in matters of dispute
or conflict between member nations.
The first of these institutions is a World
Parliament, composed of members elected by
the people in their respective countries. An-
other institution will be a Supreme Tribunal
whose judgment will be final. It will enact
a single code of international law to control
the relationships of the member nations. This
body, which is titled the Universal House
of Justice by BahdVllah, will define the
rights to impose taxes, levy tariffs, limit
armaments, settle disputes between capital
and labor, and stabilize the financial struc-
ture of the world. It will have an Interna-
tional Executive powerful enough to arbi-
trate and to carry out its decisions, even
though some member states may not volun-
o
c
c
o
u
H
0>
H
727
728
THE BAHA'f WORLD
tarily submit their problems and disputes
for consideration. The sanction and au-
thority of these institutions will rest upon
the foundation of a world community, a
combination of the federated units, — a com-
munity, freed from the narrow national out-
look, that will develop a final and lasting
consciousness of world citizenship. The life
of humanity will be on a broader basis to
meet the changing conditions of evolving
society. A fresh impetus to the cultural
pursuits of life, renewed inspiration in the
realm of art and science, security in the eco-
nomic relationships, a return of confidence
and peace of mind and soul will be the
ultimate result.
The Baha'i plan does not seek to destroy
existing institutions, but to remold the social
order. "It can conflict with no legitimate
allegiances, nor can it undermine essential
loyalties," Shoghi Effendi declares, for "its
purpose is neither to stifle the flame of a sane
and intelligent patriotism in men's hearts,
nor to abolish the system of national au-
tonomy so essential if the evils of excessive
centralization are to be avoided. It does not
ignore, nor does it attempt to suppress, the
diversity of ethnical origins, of climate, of
history, of language, and tradition, of
thought and habit, that differentiate the
peoples and nations of the world. It calls
for a wider loyalty, for a larger aspiration
than any that has animated the human race.
It insists upon the subordination of national
impulses and interests to the imperative
claims of a unified world. It repudiates ex-
cessive centralization on one hand, and dis-
claims* all attempts at uniformity on the
other. ... It calls for no less than the re-
construction and the demilitarization of the
whole civilized world."
So far we have considered the need for the
creation of a new social organism from the
practical point of view. Many statesmen
and scholars have outlined their plans for
international stability along some of these
lines. However if all the leaders of thought
should unite upon one ideal program with
the necessary agencies to make it effective,
without including the spiritual factor as the
motivating influence in the life of humanity,
this highly desirable goal would not be at-
tained, for "in the final analysis," according
to Horace Holley,2 "the existing world strug-
gle is between faith and unfaith, between
man as rational animal and man as spiritual
intelligence. The historic movement as a
whole includes the Prophet, and every phi-
losophy dealing with less than the whole
movement of history cannot deal adequately
with man." Man owes his capacity for
change, adaptation, invention and creation
to the spiritual impulse. A confident heart
overcomes all obstacles. "As your faith is,"
says 'Abdu'1-Baha, "so shall your powers and
blessings be."
The late Italian patriot, Joseph Mazzini,
clearly saw the need for a common faith
when he wrote that "the first real, earnest
religious faith that shall arise upon the ruins
of the old wornout creeds, will transform the
whole of our actual social organization, be-
cause every strong and earnest faith tends to
apply itself to every branch of human ac-
tivity; because in every epoch of its existence
the earth has ever tended to conform itself
to the heaven in which it then believed; and
because the whole history of humanity is but
the repetition — in form and degree varying
according to the diversity of the times — of
the words of the Dominical Christian prayer:
Thy Kingdom come on Earth as it is in
Heaven." Today the heaven of humanity is
a universal canopy covering all peoples, all
sovereign nations and all religions. The final
evolution of the spirit of faith under its
sheltering dominion leads man to a recogni-
tion of the Unity of all the Divine Prophets
and the acceptance of the basic principle
upon which a world community must rest —
namely the Oneness of Mankind.
This principle of the Oneness of Human-
ity is the cornerstone teaching of BahaVl-
lah for the reformation of society. It is
divine in origin, ideal in its majestic sweep
and practical in attainment. It can accom-
plish the federation of mankind because it is
initiated by the Word of God. Religion is
established through the potency of the Logos
(Word) and it is therefore the one power
capable of directing the feelings and senti-
ments of mankind toward unity, peace and
reconciliation. Stanwood Cobb in his recent
book, "Security for a Failing World," makes
the convincing argument that the world-
. 2 The~Clue to World Strife.
A WORLD COMMUNITY
729
wide catastrophes are not due so much to the
fault of man's intellect, but rather to the
fault of his emotions. The only force that
can rule the emotions is a master emotion,
and "the greatest of all master emotions is
religion. This is the force which normally
governs and directs the emotions of human
beings, harnessing them into spiritual and
cultural unities." Hence religion in the new
day must become increasingly ethical and
social, rather than remain theological and
individualistic. It must furnish a new eth-
ical vision that will create a morality for
group action that can destroy the idol of
self-interest; abolish sectarianism and dog-
matic theological disputes, for as Professor
Haydcn of the University of Chicago states,
"truly religious men and women are no longer
interested in the theoretical differences of
theology; they seek rather to make all knowl-
edge and power serve in the building of a
social order, including races, nations and re-
ligions, and offering justice and opportu-
nity to every human being."
The rapid growth of the Baha'i Faith is
due to the irrefutable fact that it has the
power to rule man's emotions, change his
outlook, overcome his antagonisms, incul-
cate the spirit of self-sacrifice for the com-
mon weal, remove the tensions caused by the
diversity of temperaments and create a real
desire for union and fellowship in a social
and spiritual brotherhood. In short it unites
individuals of various walks of life, different
religious beliefs, opposing political theories
into voluntary association. These groups of
like-minded friends, called Baha'i communi-
ties, are to be found throughout the world.
Though their start has been small and in-
conspicuous, they have the advantage of
mutual protection and unity of aim by iden-
tifying all their group activity with the life
and teachings of their prophet. In referring
to the Baha'i Faith in her book, "The Life
of the Spirit and the Life of To-day," Evelyn
Underbill says that our hope for the future
depends upon the formation of such groups
which she aptly terms "hives of the spirit."
She writes: "Such a group would never per-
mit the intrusion of the controversial ele-
ment, but would be based on mutual trust;
and the fact that all the members shared
substantially the same view of human life,
strove though in differing ways for the same
ideals, were filled by the same enthusiasms,
would allow the problems and experiences of
the Spirit to be accepted as real, and discussed
with frankness and simplicity. Thus oases
of prayer and clear thinking might be created
in our social wilderness, gradually developing
such power and group-consciousness as we
see in really living religious bodies."
A study of the operation and administra-
tion of a Baha'i community discloses a
striking contrast with the outworn institu-
tions of today. It is not wholly democratic
in character for the Will of the people is
tempered by the Sovereign Authority of the
divine Prophet. The entire local community
elects its own administrative body of nine
members, called a Spiritual Assembly. This
body acts as a trusteeship, a consultative
group for the solution of problems and diffi-
culties, both secular and spiritual. It cannot
be confused with any system of autocracy
or of dictatorship for its elected representa-
tives have the right of legislating on matters
not revealed in the Writings of Bah£Vllah,
the Founder of their Faith, nor can it be
classed as an aristocratic order or an ecclesi-
astical theocracy. It has no professional
clergy, each member serves to the best of his
ability. The elected representatives are
chosen for their combined qualities of un-
questioned loyalty, of selfless devotion, of a
well-trained mind, of recognized ability and
mature experience. These Assemblies com-
bine an executive, judicial and legislative
function limited only by the scope of their
respective jurisdictions, and their guiding
principles are prayerful consultation and
practical cooperation.
The communities of each nation annually
elect delegates, who in turn meet in conven-
tion and elect a national Spiritual Assembly,
likewise composed of nine members, and this
body administers the collective affairs of all
the local communities. The next step is the
formation of an international Assembly, the
Universal House of Justice. This institution
is created by the electoral body of national
Assemblies through universal suffrage and
thus becomes an international tribunal which
represents the fusion of numerous groups into
a worldwide community. The prime requi-
sites of these counselors, according to 'Abd-
730
THE BAHA'f WORLD
u'l-Baha are "purity of motive, radiance of
spirit, detachment from all else save God,
attraction to His divine fragrance, humility
and lowliness amongst His loved ones, pa-
tience and long-suffering in difficulties and
servitude to His exalted Threshold." Their
prestige and power are enhanced by their
self-sacrifice and devotion to the common
good, not by any display of arbitrary au-
thority. They stand for an ideal of morality
that is worldwide in scope — an inclusive fel-
lowship, and they maintain their contact
with the source of spiritual inspiration and
guidance by having as their permanent head,
the present and future Guardians of the
Faith.
"The Baha'i World," Volume V, gives a
graphic survey of the manifold activities of
approximately eight hundred Baha'i com-
munities established throughout the five con-
tinents and in many islands of the seas. It is
a vivid portrayal of the progress of a work-
ing, well-ordered society that cannot be
ignored by a disillusioned, shaken humanity.
The varied evidences of an unfolding com-
munity, recorded therein, comprise, accord-
ing to Shoghi Effendi, "The vitality which
the organic institutions of this great, this
ever-expanding Order so strongly exhibit;
the obstacles which the high courage, the
undaunted resolution of its administrators
have already surmounted; the fire of an un-
quenchable enthusiasm that glows with un-
diminished fervor in the hearts of its itiner-
ant teachers; the heights of self-sacrifice
which its champion-builders are now attain-
ing; the breadth of vision, the confident
hope, the creative joy, the inward peace,
the uncompromising integrity, the exemplary
discipline, the unyielding unity and solidarity
which its stalwart defenders manifest; the
degree to which its moving Spirit has shown
itself capable of assimilating the diversified
elements within its pale, of cleansing them
of all forms of prejudice and of fusing them
with its own structure."
The Bahd'i group is a community freed
from the complexities of federal manage-
ment, neutral in political controversies, but
obedient therewithal, to the recognized au-
thority of a just government; it has lost the
sense of " locality" in the broader feeling of
world citizenship. In America, in Europe or
in the Orient the association of its members,
— whether of the red, black, brown or white
race; whether of Jewish, Muhammadan,
Christian or other religious faith, caste or
creed; whether artist, merchant, scientist,
statesman or artisan, — is based upon accept-
ance of the spiritual equality of all man-
kind and the oneness of God. The natural
inequality and difference in capacity and
intelligence of men is recognized, but the
right of equal opportunity is vouchsafed to
all. There is a difference in the social and
economic status of men and the degrees of
society are preserved, but in their spiritual
relationship there is a parity of station.
The chosen members of an Assembly
must acquaint themselves with the condi-
tions and problems of their community,
weigh dispassionately the merits of any case
brought to them and in a prayerful attitude
render an unfettered and just decision. They
act under divine inspiration and are there-
fore primarily responsible to God for their
actions and not governed by their feeling of
loyalty to those who elect them. The pro-
vision for annual * elections guarantees a
method whereby the quality of membership
can be continually elevated and improved,
but the personal qualifications of the in-
dividual members do not establish the perfec-
tion or imperfection of the body, nor do
they make the elected representatives inher-
ently superior to their fellow citizens. It is
the institution that is perfect because of its
divine endowment.
The present national upheavals, the po-
litical turmoils, the ever-increasing disparity
in the social-economic life of man and the
embittered racial clashes and religious con-
flicts indicate the urgent necessity for the
immediate establishment of a sovereign
world state for the preservation of our civi-
lization. The social program given by Baha'-
u'llah offers, in its entirety, a workable solu-
tion for the reconstruction of the economic,
political and religious life of humanity, and
provides for the institutions of a World
Commonwealth. Scientific invention and
modern industrialism have laid the material
foundations for international cooperation.
BahaVllah has evolved the plans for the
moral and spiritual superstructure. It is now
man's privilege to erect upon the founda-
A WORLD COMMUNITY
731
tions, an edifice that will shelter all man-
kind,— a temple for a world community.
The underlying aim of the Baha'i plan, ac-
cording to Shoghi Effendi, is "the establish-
ment of the New World Order as adum-
brated by BahaVllah. The method it
employs, the standard it inculcates, incline it
to neither East nor West, neither Jew nor
Gentile, neither rich nor poor, neither white
nor colored. Its watchword is the unifi-
cation of the human race; its standard
the 'Most Great Peace'; its consumma-
tion the advent of that golden millennium
— the Day when the kingdoms of this world
shall have become the Kingdom of God
Himself."
THE CALL TO GERMANY
BY ALMA S. KNOBLOCH
N every Dispensation," writes 'Abdu'l-
Baha", "the Light of Divine Guidance has
been focused on one central theme. In this
wondrous Revelation in this glorious cen-
tury, the foundation of the faith of God, and
the distinguishing feature of His law is the
consciousness of the Oneness of humanity."
It is no wonder that when the words of
Baha Vllah and 'Abdu'1-Baha were embraced
by my precious sister, Mrs. Pauline Hannen,
when presented by the great philosopher and
sage, Mirza Abu'1-Fadl, in Washington,
D. C., in 1902, that her heart's desire was to
convey the glad-tidings to her family and
friends. This longing soon became the ear-
nest prayer of us all, and when the call came
to go to Germany, it was a marvelous realiza-
tion of an answer to our prayers.
There are some experiences in life that one
never forgets. Running upstairs one day to
speak to our saintly Mother, I stopped at the
threshold of her door with awe — Mother
was praying. This heavenly sight was in-
delibly impressed upon my heart, and there
was no need for questioning. Quietly with-
drawing, I, from that time on, never became
deficient in the one great hope that Germany
might become illumined with the Light of
Truth, and be permitted to take her place in
establishing it in the world.
The opportunity came while I was teach-
ing in Buffalo, N. Y., in 1907. My dear
sister Fanny made it possible for me to take
this wonderful trip. The following are some
of the words of 'Abdu'l-Baha concerning the
undertaking.
Thou hast written about Dr. Fisher, that
praise be to God, thou hast found a helper
for him and ere long she will start for Ger-
many. Truly I say, the beloved maid- servant
of God, Miss Alma Knobloch, is very much
acceptable for this service — thou hast done
well to choose her. She is accepted by all
means, but regarding her stay in Germany,
she must stay as long as possible. Forward
to this land a copy of every tablet translated
into the German language. I hope that the
endeavors and exertions of these two sisters,
may display all-encircling effects.
Signed: 'Abdu'l-Baha-' Abbas.
Through His Honor Mirza Ahmad, to the
beloved maid-servants of God, Mrs. Amalie
Knobloch, Miss Alma and Miss Fanny Knob-
loch. Upon them be Baha'u'llah-u'1-Abha.
He is God!
O ye beloved Maid-servants of God, the
bounty of the True One hath elected you
from among the maid-servants in order that
ye may engage yourselves in the service of
the kingdom, spread the Verses of the Lord
of the Realm of Might, become the cause of
guidance of the souls.
Truly, I say, Miss Alma Knobloch will
show forth and demonstrate on this trip
that she is a beloved maid-servant in the
Threshold of Oneness, is wise and intelligent
and spiritual in the Kingdom of the True
One.
A great service is this, for it is conducive
to the descent of the eternal outpouring and
the cause of everlasting life. All the affairs
of the world, though of the utmost impor-
tance, bring forth results and benefits for a
few days, then later on they disappear and
vanish entirely, except service in the Divine
Kingdom, attraction to the fragrances of
Holiness, quickening of the souls, vivifica-
tion of the hearts, imparting joy to the spirit,
adjusting characters and the edification of
the people. I hope that yc may become
assisted and confirmed to this.
Upon ye be Baha'u'1-Abha.
Signed: 'Abdu'l-Baha-'Abbas.
On July 17, 1907, my precious mother and
sisters, with a number of believers, saw me
on board the steamer H. H. Meyer, Ger-
732
THE CALL TO GERMANY
733
many-bound. The stateroom was filled with
flowers and love gifts. When the last fare-
wells were being given, my mother quietly
told me that the matter had been discussed
by the family and they had decided not
to cry at "this" departure as they had on
previous occasions, because 'Abdu'1-Baha
had said that He would be my Guide and
Helper.
As the steamer glided out of Baltimore
port, the band playing farewell music, I
often changed my place at the rail until the
last point had been reached. Always the
eager eyes of the shore party caught and held
my attention. This was indeed a different
parting. The future — what of it? The trip
over was unusually pleasant. My place was
at the head of one of the long tables, and
most enjoyable discussions accompanied
meals.
On the third day out, a friend of long
standing asked me to tell a group about the
Baha'i Movement. They drew their deck-
chairs near me and listened intently on a
number of days. Finally I was asked to
speak in the Ladies' Salon, which I gladly
consented to do. Several became deeply in-
terested and asked permission to call at some
time during their European tour. Later this
happily came about. Miss Olga Krunke, be-
fore leaving the steamer, asked that I mention
her name to the Master when next I wrote.
Arriving at Bremen, Miss Bredemeier cor-
dially greeted me and expressed a wish to
hear the glad-tidings of which I had written
to her. At dinner that evening at her home,
my joy was great to hear her state that the
teachings were just what she had been look-
ing for. I was asked to remain in Bremen
and teach. The following day these dear
friends again extended their hearty invitation
to visit them. The time in this delightful
home was only too short and I promised to
return when opportunity permitted. Joy
went with me on my way to Leipzig, over
the warm reception that the teachings had
received in Bremen. Especially dear to me is
the recollection of Mrs. Bredemeier and the
radiance and sweetness of her face in wishing
me God-speed.
My uncle, Wilhelm Knobloch, a retired
Professor of very high standing, carefully
read the manuscript of the Iranian tablets
which had been translated by my sister
Fanny, by the wish of 'Abdu'1-Baha. (These
were later printed by her,) My uncle lis-
tened to the explanations that I gave con-
cerning the teachings of BahaVllah and
'Abdu'1-Baha, and about the fulfillment of
prophecy in the Latter Day. He was pro-
foundly touched, and a few days later, made
known his desire to serve the Cause. My
heart leaped with joy, although outwardly I
remained calm. I knew that his mother
had been a very saintly woman and also a
Templar. This sect was founded on the
Bible verse, Malachi 3:1, "And the Lord
whom ye shall seek shall suddenly come into
His Temple." This faith spread throughout
Germany and the founders thereof settled in
Haifa, at the foot of Mt. Carmel, expecting
the Coming of the Lord, in 1863. Both my
uncle and my aunt were most kind and help-
ful in introducing me to their circle of
friends. These I found to be sincere and
progressive in their attitude toward the Prin-
ciples of Baha'u'llah and they all developed
a greater consciousness of the Oneness of
Mankind.
Several very pleasant weeks were spent at
Leipzig. My new friends assured me of their
good wishes and saw me off to Stuttgart,
my real destination. There I was expected to
assist Dr. E. Fisher in teaching the Cause.
In Stuttgart, on August 9, 1907, a very
beautiful young lady greeted me with the
Greatest Name, and from that moment we
became friends. Miss Doering and I were
inseparable throughout my fourteen years'
stay in Germany. Dr. Fisher and Mr. M.
Greenschweig appeared and greetings were
exchanged.
Stuttgart is a beautiful city surrounded by
hills which are dotted with fine houses. Here
in Southern Germany is situated the Capital
of Wurttemberg. The people are thinkers,
and have an extremely religious turn of mind.
Many poets have sprung from this section of
the country. At night it is especially beau-
tiful with all the lights flickering over the
lovely mountainsides. With the prayers of
* Abdu'1-Baha*, I felt that I could soon learn
to love the people as greatly as I had those
of Leipzig and Dresden, however unlike and
different the southern section of the country
might be.
734
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Dr. Fisher had done some very fine pre-
paratory work and had interested a number
of very fine souls in the Baha'i Teachings.
Miss Doering arranged for a group of young
girls at her home, where also lived Frau Palm.
This group was happy to receive the message
from 'Akkd and Frau Palm became attracted
and a believer. From all sides, doors opened
and invitations were received to go and teach
those who were interested in the Faith. It
was a pleasure to visit the old Castle each
week. Frau v. Betzolt and her daughter be-
came greatly interested and many glorious
talks were given there. From this grand
old Castle thoughts of good-will were sent
out to all humanity.
It is pleasant to recall the hours spent at
the Air Health Bath. This was situated on a
high point at Degeloch in a lovely garden.
Here the ladies lounged on the well-kept
grass or on comfortable chairs. This was an
ideal place to talk of Spiritual Truths. To
me it seemed surprising how many became
'interested. Many looked forward to these
talks and later made visits in our home. A
number of these young ladies became beauti-
ful believers. Among these were Misses Julia
and Elise Steabler, Miss Deigle, Mrs. R.
Schwartz and others. Through these ladies
invitations were received to visit homes in
Stuttgart and the surrounding territory. It
would be difficult to say how many of these
bright and wide-awake young ladies became
active and happy in spreading the glad-
tidings.
By this time, invitations to the five o'clock
teas and dinners were forthcoming, and
friends and acquaintances invited their
friends to hear the Spiritual News. Some of
these had relatives who went to Haifa. Op-
portunities were made by Dr. Fisher's friends
to spread the teachings and lasting gratitude
will be felt for the kindness shown by these
early believers. The first ladies to call upon
me were Mrs. Eckstein and her sister Mrs.
Pfanchau, and later many others came, and
they all helped to make my stay happy and
successful.
The last week in August, 1907, Miss Doer-
ing and I spent at the Freudenstadt in the
Black Forest. Here, too, we had a chance to
speak of the Baha'i Cause. We visited some
of the Sanatoria and returned with the pleas-
ant knowledge of having cheered the hearts
of those whom we had met.
The weekly group held at the home of Frau
Palm grew in strength and numbers. By
September, 1907, Miss Doering and I had
occasion to visit Heilbronn and meet some
people who were friendly toward the Cause.
There the parents of Miss Schaffer gave us a
hearty welcome. From there a delightful
trip was taken into the beautiful Schwabisch
Alps. We visited Miss Scheuerle and family
at Pfadelbach. They were deeply touched
by the story of the Messenger of God at
'Akka. Miss Scheuerle is an outstanding
young woman of high esteem in her noble
work. We returned from the trip with
grateful hearts for all the kindness shown us
and for the divine assistance received.
Dr. Fisher took us to see some of his friends
in Cannstatt near Stuttgart, and we were
glad that he could give the teachings to a
number of souls. We were able to make new
contacts there. Dr. Fisher had done some
excellent work as a pioneer in Stuttgart and
we were pleased with the progress that had
been made.
In October, Frau Med. Rad v. Burkardt
returned to Stuttgart and invited Dr. Fisher
and me to dinner at her palatial home. This
unusually highly developed lady of great cul-
ture was deeply interested in promoting the
Cause of God. She translated the "Hidden
Words" into German. Her door which was
opened afforded far-reaching results. 'Abd-
u'l-Baha, when speaking of the noble serv-
ices rendered by Frau Med. Rad. v. Burkardt
said at Paris, "Her noble and sincere services
will be remembered throughout all eternity
and they will sing and chant her praises. She
will never be forgotten." A week later she
arranged for a Baha'i meeting at the Frauen
Club. Cards announcing this talk were
placed in all the rooms of the Club — "The
Sun of Truth is the Word of God."
This was a very successful meeting, our
first public meeting. A large number of
the guests became attracted to the Spirit and
the Words given forth. The President of
the Club responded cheerfully, after the talk,
and concluded by saying that if they were
asked to speak in another country, they, too,
could speak as joyfully as the speaker of the
evening.
THE CALL TO GERMANY
735
Some of the Art Students of Stuttgart be-
came attracted, and especially enthusiastic
were Miss A. Schaffer from Heilbronn and
Miss Doetrich from Konstanz on the Boden
See. They became earnest students of the
Baha'i Cause. From this time on the Club
became our headquarters. Our Nineteen Day
Feasts were held there for several years. They
made a special concession in opening their
doors to us and I recall having said at the
time that they would surely be blessed for so
doing. Two years later, the Club moved into
a grand old home, more centrally located.
The furnishings were designed by a noted
artist and each room was planned separately.
The tea room was most attractive in rose-
wood and ebony with black embroidered
cushions.
A committee of nine men, with Herr A.
Eckstein as Chairman, formed the first work-
ing committee of the Baha'i Cause. A hall
was secured at the Burger Museum and I was
asked to take charge of the teaching. A
program was drawn up and laid before me
for approval as follows: Prayer, Bible Read-
ing, Baha'i Teaching, Bible Reading, Prayer.
The program was accepted and, depending
upon Guidance, the first meeting was held
March 9, 1908. There were thirty-eight
present and all felt happy and radiantly joy-
ful that the program had been attained. A
compilation of Bible verses was soon given
and then they became greatly interested in
Muhammad as a Prophet of God and the fact
that He was a descendant of Father Abra-
ham. On October 21 the first Naw-Ruz
Feast was held at the Club with Fraulein
Doering as hostess. This was a beautiful
Feast. A number of people took part in
reading the Words of 'Abdu'1-Baha and
BahaVllah. It is a beautiful custom of the
Germans to bring flowers to the Feasts. This
made all our Feasts fragrant and lovely.
When the German people make their calls
they also take flowers and I was greatly
favored. My rooms were always sweetly
decorated. The gentlemen would usually
offer a nosegay while the ladies would bring
flowers of a larger type. The friends offered
me so much kindness that I naturally loved
them very much.
The Friday evening meetings at the Burger
Museum increased in numbers and interest in
the teachings became widespread. Several
groups were formed by which the Words of
BahaVllah and 'Abdu'1-Baha were trans-
lated. I spent four evenings a week with
them at the various homes. These transla-
tions were read by the believers at the meet-
ings, and in this way the believers soon be-
came active. It was always a joy to note
their development, for their faces became
ever more radiant. Herr Herrigel's group
became active in the work. Herr Oberleher
Braun and Herr Emil Rouff translated the
"Hidden Words" at the meetings held with
their group.
Influential men were met at delightful
dinners where many questions concerning
the Faith were asked. Pleasant trips to
nearby places were taken where ofttimes
friends met us and made opportunities to
explain some new points. Schloss Solitude
near Stuttgart was frequently visited via a
fine walk through a beautiful forest. Here
the poet Schiller played as a child.
On June 7, 1908, Miss Doering and I
took our second trip to Heilbronn where
Miss Schaffer arranged a meeting at her home.
Her friends and parents expressed their
pleasure at hearing more about the Baha'i
Cause. Miss Schaffer accompanied us on a
trip to Weinsberg, an historical place, which
had been besieged by the French. Word had
been sent up the Burg that the women would
be allowed to pass through safely carrying
their most treasured possessions on their
backs. The women consulted together and
decided to carry their men out on their
backs. They passed through the French
lines unmolested. From that time, 1140,
this mountain and Castle have been known
by the name Weibertren (Women's Loy-
alty).
On August 5, 1908, the first Zeppelin
flew over Stuttgart from Friedrichshafen.
The city was full of flags and looked quite
festive. The inhabitants were out early in
the morning on all the surrounding heights.
It was a very beautiful sight to see the silvery
air-craft glide fairy- like through the clouds.
It dipped low over the palace, dropped roses,
then crossed over the city where it was
caught in a huge whirlwind and destroyed!
The city was as hushed and quiet as it had
been jubilant and gay in the morning. This
736
THE BAHA'i WORLD
was a sight never to be forgotten. A sign
of the fulfillment of the prophecies of the
New Day had been ushered in. The prophecy
of air-travel had been realized. Count Zep-
pelin was a pleasant person and had spent all
he had for the building and perfecting of
the air-ship. The entire nation arose and
contributed funds for the building of an-
other ship. When this last was finished it
passed close to our window on its way to
Northern Germany.
The first week in September, 1908, was
spent in Switzerland and a Baha'i address
was made in Luzerne. A pleasant place was
found in Kersetenen on the Furwalteseter
Sea directly across from Luzerne. Here we
met delightful tourists to whom we gave the
Baha'i message. Frau Weidt and her daugh-
ter from Saarbriicken became interested and
also our hostess Frau Hcnsteckel. We were
glad to visit her at a later date and give
more of the teachings. At that time my
sister Fanny went with me. The tourists
were delighted and told us that the teach-
ings were the very thing that they had been
looking for. I kept in touch with these
German tourists and later was invited to their
homes.
That fall a unique public meeting was
held in Stuttgart. Herr Eckstein, a member
of the Swedenborgian Club, a German; Mr.
Dreyfuss of France, and Mr. S. Sprague of
England, each made a talk in his own lan-
guage. The meeting was well attended by
well-educated people. The principle of Baha'-
u'llah concerning the need for a universal
language in order to establish world contact
was well brought out. All three speakers
gave eloquent talks on the Baha'i Faith. At
the close of the addresses, an open forum was
held for freedom of discussion.
Later in the fall, I went to Leipzig and
while there, news came from my sister Fanny
to meet her in Naples, en route to 'Akka.
It was joyous expectation to think of receiv-
ing Spiritual Strength to carry on the work.
When we landed at Haifa it was interesting
to see the quaint Biblical inscriptions over
the doors of the neat-looking houses. The
Templars lived along the main avenue of the
German colony.
It was awe-inspiring to note that the
head of the avenue extended up Mt. Carmel
and pointed to the shrine of the Bab. This
was a monument erected and dedicated by
'Abdu'1-Baha, the Center of the Covenant of
the Baha'i Faith. We are grateful to
Mirza Ibn Abha for the following explana-
tion during our stay at 'Akka: "He whom
God willed is the fruit of the tree. Hence
Baha'u'llah is the trunk, the branches and
the root, all except the fruit, which is 'Abd-
u'l-Baha. The coloring, the shape, the taste,
and all the attributes of the tree are in the
fruit. Hence the teachings of Baha'u'llah,
the bounties of Baha'u'llah, the Manifestation
of His Power, His Words, have been spread
throughout the World by this great Soul.
The effect of His Words have realized them-
selves in this Great Life."
We were most eager to receive new life and
spiritual understanding and our gratitude
w$s boundless. One morning 'Abdu'1-Baha
turning to me said, "I have revealed a Tablet
for you and I will have it translated." At
this time I take the opportunity of sharing
it with you:
Through the Maid-servant of God, Miss
Alma Knobloch, to the Beloved Ones of
God: Upon them be Baha'u'llah!
He is God!
O yc Sons and Daughters of the Kingdom!
When the proclamation of God was exalted
and spread in the East and the West and the
souls became attracted to the Words of God
and heard the Call with perfect devotion,
joy, happiness, and gladness, all the veils of
doubt were torn and they were saved from
imitating their fathers and ancestors; they
beheld with their own eyes, and not through
those of others; they heard with their own
ears, and not with the ears of others; they
comprehended with their own minds, and not
through the minds of others. Such souls arc
the lovers of Light, and when they beheld
the Morn of Reality and the Light of the
Divine Sun, they became attracted, en-
kindled, and believed in the Kingdom of God.
They became receivers of Benevolence and
the Manifesters of Light, because of the
Rising point of the Mysteries.
They chanted the Verses of Righteousness,
and turned unto the Kingdom of Bah£.
Blessed are such souls who have recognized
THE CALL TO GERMANY
737
the Promised Beauty and have entered under
the shadow of the Lord of Hosts.
Such souls are today the Army of Salva-
tion, they are the Hosts of Light, they are
occupied with heavenly victories in the East
and the West, and are engaged in dominating
the hearts in Asia and America. At every
moment they receive assistance from the
Kingdom of Abha; and every day, an army
will descend to them from the Supreme Con-
course; this is why you see that when a
single person will reach a country or a city
and begin to teach, he will at once see his
words having great effect in the Holy Souls
and the Light of Assurance and Belief will
shine in splendor.
The call of the Kingdom is like a spirit;
it produces a sudden effect in the nerves,
arteries, hearts and souls and regenerates the
people; baptizes them with water, Spirit, syid
fire; the second birth will be produced and
new people will be raised; but other souls
are like those whom Christ mentioned in the
Gospels, saying, "They have hearts but do
not comprehend, and I cured them."
In short, I say, that these souls were awak-
ened and quickened by the proclamation of
God, but the others arc still in ignorance,
doubtful, and deprived from the Sea of Life,
and are deprived of the Benevolence of the
Lord of Signs, and have become shareless in
the Heavenly Beauties. Portionless and re-
mote from Heavenly Blessings they have
soiled themselves with the things of this
perishable world and neglected this Everlast-
ing World of Eternal Life.
They satisfied themselves with a drop and
became shareless in the waves of the sea,
they attracted their hearts to a ray of the
sun and became remote and indifferent to the
Sun of Reality.
It is a source of great regret that a man
in this enlightened age and divine century
will become deprived of the heavenly bless-
ings.
If a tree will not become fertile and green
through these life-giving breezes of the
spring-time, and will not bring forth blos-
soms, fruit, and leaves, then in what season
will it bear fruit? Be assured, it will for-
ever be deprived and for all eternity, hope-
less. Now you ought to give thanks to God
that you have attained to a share of the
effulgence of the Sun of Reality and have a
portion from the heavenly grace. Having
heard the Call of God, you have attained to
Life through the Breezes of the Holy Spirit,
and have entered into the eternal world and
received Everlasting Mercy.
You have attained to such favors that you
are able to shine forever, like unto the
Morning Star, through centuries and ages.
Like the Life-giving Breezes of the Paradise
of Abha, you will become the Cause of Eter-
nal Life for many people.
Upon ye be Baha-u'1-Abha.
Signed: 'Abdu'l-Baha-'Abbas.
Translated by Monever Khanum, 'Akka,
Syria, November 12, 1908.
'Akka is eight miles from Haifa and is
located on the Mediterranean Sea. While
there we experienced the realization that the
Christ's teachings were not only taught but
were turned into action and deeds. By so
doing they transform and spiritualize the hu-
man beings and make them clear mirrors to
reflect the attributes of God. We were over-
whelmed by the simplicity and real nobility
of living shining forth in the Holy House-
hold. We felt extremely happy in the sweet,
fragrant atmosphere. It was a continual
regret that we could not speak Iranian.
'Abdu'1-Baha told us that the Iranian, Ger-
man, and English were all from one root
language.
The children there seemed very far ad-
vanced and had a keener perception than
children elsewhere. It was on this visit that
we met Shoghi Effendi. He is today the
Guardian of the Cause. At that early day
it was clear that he was receiving a careful
training for the stupendous work that was
to fall on His youthful shoulders after the
Ascension of 'Abdu'1-Baha.
Returning to Stuttgart, work was re-
sumed with fresh zeal. By this time there
were a number of groups in surrounding
towns. At Degeloch, Mrs. Rosa Schwartz
interested a number of intellectual friends
and neighbors who attended her Tuesday
afternoon coffee. The Baha'i Teachings
were discussed for many years and progress
was made.
Zuffenhausen and Esslingen developed
splendid youth centers. Mrs. M. Schweizer
738
THE BAHA'f WORLD
and her close friend Miss Kostlin were very
joyful over the increase in numbers of the
youth and the interest they were showing
in the Baha'i Faith. Weekly visits were
made as well as week-end trips. Great
joy was experienced by the believers who
had become active in spreading the Great
Message.
Delightful trips were made to Leipzig and
some of the nearby cities. The groups were
deeply impressed by our experience in the
Holy Land and our detailed description of
Alexandria, Cairo, Port Sa'id, and the Baha'is
we met in those cities.
The following year, in accordance with
the wish of 'Abdu'1-Baha, my nephew Carl
N. Hannen came to Stuttgart to attend
school. In his case, too, the guidance and
assistance of 'Abdu'1-Baha were marked.
Changes were made in our activities and
distinct inner development was felt. Carl
found the first Christmas spent in Stuttgart
very different from those he had spent in
Washington, D. C. At five o'clock the day
before, all the stores and places of business
were closed and all that could attend services
at church did so. Here a tall white pine
with many lights made up the only decora-
tion. Carols were sung and other splendid
music was given. Trumpets in the church
towers were heard giving forth the Christ-
mas carols both that evening and the follow-
ing morning. A glorious male quartet sta-
tioned in the cathedral steeple was heard
Christmas morning singing Christmas
hymns. The sincerity of the Christmas
Spirit was most impressive. We were also
generously remembered with gifts from
many friends.
The various Baha'i Teachers from Amer-
ica and fran that visited us gave us cour-
age and strengthened the believers greatly.
Each one that came brought spiritual
fragrance from the Rose Garden of Abhd.
The Nineteen Day Feasts which were held at
the Women's Club were joyous events and
we looked forward to them with much pleas-
ure.
In the fall of 1909, the Baha'i Message
reached Bohm, Austria. There Professor
Kruttner became active and I was very
happy to be able to forward the following
message which *Abdu'l-Bah£ sent to him:
"Give to Herr Karl Kruttner the won-
derful Abhd Greetings and tell him:
"Happy are you to have come to the
Light of Truth and found the way of the
Kingdom, you have advanced into the
straight path and heard the call of the Lord
of Hosts. I hope that you will take such
strides in the Cause, that you will attain the
ultimate hope and desire, and act according
to the teachings and exhortations of Baha'-
u'llah. Miss Knobloch has sent me the
stamp you had given her. I have seen it —
it is the sign of fear and horror."
also:
"April 12, 1910.
"You have written regarding Bohm, Aus-
tria— that Professor Kruttner has become
confirmed, has arisen to serve and give the
glad-tidings of the Coming of the Kingdom
of God. Know of a certainty that he will
soon find a wonderful help and the Cause
will spread in those regions. Give my warm-
est greetings to Herr Kruttner. I have asked
for him from the Lord of the Kingdom as-
sistance in all conditions. Therefore with
celestial strength, a divine effort and an
illumined heart, and a Godly Spirit, he must
herald the proclamation of the Kingdom so
that the Celestial Angels of the Divine Word
may give him help and assistance."
It was a great help to have some of the
Baha'i literature which had been translated
into German and published. We longed for
more, and were delighted when Professor
Christale translated "One Year in India" into
Esperanto. This was in great demand at the
following Esperanto Convention. Other
translations finally followed. The Peace
Movement in Stuttgart became interested
in the Baha'i Movement and asked for
literature.
The third Naw-Ruz was held at the
Frauen Club after they had moved into their
new home. This Feast brought together
many friends and believers from the differ-
ent cities and towns in the neighboring
vicinities. It was indeed a heavenly meet-
ing. All were exhilarated by the spiritual
fragrances of the Abha Kingdom. The floral
decorations were very beautiful, and all felt
uplifted and radiantly happy. A beautiful
THE CALL TO GERMANY
739
tablet from 'Abdu'1-Baha was read on this
occasion in answer to our petition.
One of our first German contacts, Mrs.
Palm, moved to Tubingen and we were
glad to have a new opening to give the
message. She arranged several meetings for
us. Miss Doering and also Carl Nategh
could join in these week-end trips. We also
enjoyed visits at Miss Spidel's, at Ludwigs-
burg. About this time I commenced to re-
ceive letters, cards and communications
from influential men, writers of note, and
those interested in civic uplift. They en-
couraged me with books, pamphlets, etc.,
expressing their appreciation of the efforts
and help of the noble Baha'is.
The circle of activity increased through
the efforts of the friends and we did much
follow-up work and made good use of all
openings which presented themselves. In
November, 1910, Miss Doering and I visited
Julia Steabler at Lorch. Many of the pa-
tients at this Health Resort had become in-
terested in the teachings and we were able
to spread the Glad-Tidings.
In Esslingen Miss Kostlin was very active
and also Mrs. M. Schweizer. The youth
groups at the two places, Esslingen and Zuf-
fenhausen, were especially attracted and it
was always a great joy to attend their weekly
meetings. Many invitations were given to
visit in the homes at coffee-time and often
friends were invited in to hear the message
of God. Frequently the father would be
at home to greet me and this gave excellent
opportunities to become acquainted with
many parents and explain the Principles of
Baha'u'llah. One evening the Secretary of
the Y.M.C.A. attended the weekly Wednes-
day night meeting and appeared quite dis-
turbed., However, after many questions
were satisfactorily cleared up he left, feeling
that the Cause was very different from what
he had thought, and he told us that no one
could take exception to the teachings.
Several homes were dedicated to 'Abdu'l-
Baha with all sincerity and interest in the
Faith of God increased. 'Abdu'1-Baha sent
us the following words to give us strength
and consolation: "The nightingales fly to the
rose-gardens. That was not a gathering but
a garden filled with roses and basil."
The Naw-Ruz celebration that year was
held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Schweizer
at Zuffenhausen. This spiritual Feast be-
came significant in the fact that so many
young people were with us to happily cele-
brate the New Year. Their faces shone with
radiance and joy. They became beautiful
believers, and active in spreading the Blessed
Message of the Lord and a help to the
Esslingen group.
Mr. Otto Steabler and also Miss Wanke
went to Berlin to make their home and soon
two others followed. Although we missed
them we knew that those sincere ones would
do their share in spreading the Light.
At Degeloch, the bright, intellectual
friends of Mrs. Rosa Schwartz enjoyed their
afternoon group. One of the interested
friends was Mrs. Sanders, the charming wife
of one of the early pioneers of the Tem-
plars who settled at the foot of Mt. Carmel
at Haifa. Mr. Sanders' father became Gov-
ernor of the German Colony at Jerusalem
and Mr. Sanders had been born in Jerusalem.
He was much surprised to find that his wife
had embraced the Baha'i Faith. After he
heard more about it he accepted the Princi-
ples and told us that he had often seen
'Abbas Effendi, who was well known
throughout Palestine and the surrounding
country as the "Sage" and the "Father of
the Poor."
It was a great delight to us to learn that
the teachings had found an ear in Switzer-
land. Mr. Albert Lutz, of St. Gallen, came
to Stuttgart to learn more of the Cause.
When we went to Switzerland, Mr. Lutz
arranged a gathering and Baha'i talks were
given in which he himself took part. At
this time his sister and a few friends became
interested. Baha'i literature was distributed.
All of these meetings were held as unassum-
ingly as possible since there was no need for
embellishment. The Power of the Word and
the clarity of the Principles were convincing
in themselves.
Miss A. Kostlin arranged a trip to Aalen,
where at the home of Mayor Krieg, the
Baha'i Teachings were given. Later a num-
ber of Miss Krieg's friends became interested.
A hall was secured and meetings were held.
It was through this believer that I found an
opening in Munich and was able to give
forth the Glad News. Meetings were held
740
THE BAHA'f WORLD
in a large hall on several occasions. Some
influential people were contacted who were
favorably impressed and on my second trip I
was introduced to Princess Gazilla, and
Prince Leopold of Bavaria. Many delight-
ful trips were taken in this section of Ger-
many and the people were most sincere and
friendly. Munich is an art center and a
favored city for tourists. Although it is lo-
cated in the southern part of Germany it is
cool on account of its high mountains.
On returning to Stuttgart, word was re-
ceived that 'Abdu'1-Baha was in Paris. Im-
mediately petitions were drawn up suppli-
cating 'Abdu'1-Baha to come to Germany
and give His blessing to the work that had
been accomplished there. In reply 'Abdu'l-
Baha graciously gave permission for those in
Stuttgart who desired to do so to go to Paris
and be with Him during His stay there. We
went, and returned to Stuttgart radiantly
happy with the assurance that 'Abdu'1-Baha
would visit Stuttgart later. He wished no
special preparations made although our long-
ing was great to do Him the utmost homage.
'Abdu'1-Baha and four of His Iranian Secre-
taries arrived unheralded, April 1, 1913.
Our joy was beyond measure! We had
been working and serving at the break of
the New Day and now the Light of the Sun
of Truth flooded the land and we were grate-
ful. 'Abdu'l-Baha's words gave new im-
petus to the Cause in this country and a
number of meetings were held.
The humility, love, and devotion, of the
German believers rejoiced the heart of
'Abdu'1-Baha and they received His bless-
ings and His words of encouraging counsel
in complete submissiveness. They were filled
with the desire to devote their lives to the
Cause, thereby increasing their love for hu-
manity. Friends came from far and near to
see the Master. There was a constant flow
of visitors at the Hotel Marquart. There
'Abdu'1-Baha .received them with such love
and graciousness that they became radiant
with joy and happiness.
On 'Abdu'l-Baha's arrival I asked Him for
two meetings: one for the Youth Group at
Esslingen and one for the ladies.
Miss Kostlin, who had been doing a mar-
velous work at Esslingen, arranged a beauti-
ful meeting there to welcome 'Abdu'1-Bahd.
It was held April 4, 1913, in the afternoon.
This date is commemorated each year in
memory of 'Abdu'l-Baha's visit. 'Abdu'l-
Baha was specially pleased with the children
who formed two rows in front of the en-
trance to the hall. All were dressed in
white and held huge bouquets of flowers and
were anxiously awaiting His Coming. This
eventful occasion will never be forgotten.
'Abdu'1-Baha passed through these rows of
smiling faces and they all received His bless-
ing. 'Abdu'1-Baha stopped to say a few
Words to this one and that one on either side.
Those who were touched by the Blessed
Hands were exhilarated beyond words. Beau-
tiful were the words they received. All felt
the great love of 'Abdu'1-Baha although they
could not realize the great favor and bounty
that had been bestowed upon them.
The following evening 'Abdu'1-Baha gra-
ciously addressed a large and distinguished
gathering of friends who had come from far
and near. The meeting was held at the Mu-
seum, a most exclusive and magnificent Hall.
The Master asked me to select a subject for
the evening and t asked Him to speak on
"Woman." Smilingly He questioned, "On
the German Woman?" I answered, "No, on
Woman in general." His face beamed with
that radiance that brought divine fragrances
and He said, "Very well, very well." Mr.
A. Eckstein translated the lecture while
Consul A. Schwarz presided as Chairman.
Beautiful music was rendered by Miss Julia
Steabler. 'Abdu'1-Baha enlarged upon the
women in Iran. His address was highly ap-
preciated, especially by those noble, esteemed
ladies who had so marvelously assisted us in
our early work. After the talk He went
through the hall shaking hands and giving
words of cheer. This indeed was an eventful
evening. Only 'Abdu'1-Baha knew of its
far-reaching results. Our gratitude was
boundless for the blessings received during
'Abdu'l-Baha's visit and also during His
week's stay after His return from Budapest
and Vienna.
To me, one of the most outstanding
events occurred when I called on 'Abdu'l-
Baha one morning and asked Him to attend
our Baha'i Meeting that evening. He said
that He would if it might; be scheduled for
four that afternoon. Overjoyed, I rushed
THE CALL TO GERMANY
741
to inform the believers and to make the nec-
essary arrangements. It was then noon and
so the time was very short. The ladies at
the Frauen Club were most obliging in let-
ting us have all the rooms and in preparing
for the Unity Feast. We expected about
150 and over 160 attended. The ladies of
the Club beautifully decorated the tables
and the rooms with gorgeous flowers.
'Abdu'1-Baha arrived at four o'clock and
walked through the rooms giving greetings
to the friends before taking His place at
table. His face shone with pleasure and a
happiness that was divine. All the believers
beamed with love and joy. The lecture was
translated by Mr. Herrigel and all felt the
inspiring Spirit which permeated the at-
mosphere and penetrated the very soul of all
present. Each felt baptized with the power
of the Spirit and the Fire of the Love of
God. The rooms were filled with the Fra-
grances of the Abha Kingdom.
The following morning when I called
upon 'Abdu'1-Baha He said that the meeting
was blessed. "It will never be forgotten in
the future generations. The Supreme Con-
course of Angels were pleased and rejoiced.
It was an illumined meeting, giving eternal
life to mankind. The Apostles of Christ did
not know that the Last Supper would be
commemorated throughout the next two
thousand years."
Professor Christale, President of the Es-
perantists of Europe, invited 'Abdu'1-Baha
to speak at one of their meetings. This
'Abdu'1-Baha kindly consented to do and a
large meeting was arranged at their Club.
'Abdu'l-Baha's address was very significant
in that He especially stressed the Principle
of Baha'u'llah, the need for an international
language. The Professor, in expressing his
deep appreciation and thanks for 'Abd-
u'1-Baha's presence, brought out the need
for an international language since 'Abd-
u'l-Baha spoke in Iranian which was first
translated into English and finally into Ger-
man.
It was remarked by 'Abdu*l-Baha on sev-
eral occasions that it was well that He came
to Germany in the spring. When looking
over Stuttgart, the hills were covered with
blossoming fruit trees. In the evening the
lights threw a beautiful illumination over the
mountainsides. 'Abdu'1-Baha said, "Truly
it is worthy to become a paradise." 'Abdu'l-
Baha was kind and thoughtful to all and
His Great Love penetrated all the hearts.
His spirituality and nobility never failed to
express themselves in authoritative Words
and countenance. We all felt that a new
life had begun and that now the Cause in
Germany was established. Before leaving
'Abdu'1-Baha said, "The Cause has thrown
so universal a reverberation through the
pillars of the earth that the Divine Power
of BahaVllah shall encircle the globe. Be
assured."
After a few weeks of intense activity in
the nearby towns I again had the great pleas-
ure of visiting Switzerland with my sister
Fanny. We visited St. Gallen where Mr.
Lutz had been active in spreading the Glad-
Tidings. His sister radiated the Baha'i Light
and we spent a few happy days with them.
After short stays in various cities, we were
delighted to return to Luzerne where many
tourists became interested. A number of
them wrote to us for literature. We will
always remember with kindness Frau Blattle
at Kersitten.
Within the week after my return to Stutt-
gart, I took an extensive northern trip, stop-
ping over in many places that had been vis-
ited on previous occasions. A number of
these friends had met 'Abdu'1-Baha in Stutt-
gart and expressed their love and esteem for
Him. Making Leipzig my permanent home,
I went from there to a number of places.
At Leipzig, regular weekly Baha'i Meetings
were held at an attractive hall near the Uni-
versity.
Many beautiful trips were taken and the
Light of Truth was carried to much of this
section of Germany. They were a people of
song and good cheer. The teachings pene-
trated old castles as well as hamlets and to
my surprise the friends were not at all hesi-
tant in giving ear to the Message.
In Gera, Mr. and Mrs. Doering who had
accepted the teachings in Leipzig opened
their new home to the Cause and they soon
had a group of friends interested. A study
class was formed and it was always a joy to
visit them and to take trips to the vicinity
around Gera. Warnsdorf was another old
historical place where the message of Baha'-
742
THE BAHA'f WORLD
u'llah was gladly received and contacts were
made with nobility.
At Gotha, in the old stately homestead of
Miss Plessmer, delightful days were spent.
She invited friends to dinner parties and
coffees to hear of the Teachings of Baha'-
u'llah and 'Abdu'1-Baha. Many became
beautiful active believers. At every visit to
Gotha the friends increased. A number of
influential people were reached. Invitations
were received to visit them in their homes.
A splendid public meeting was arranged at
which the Burgermeister gave a warm speech
of thanks for the Message having been
brought to Gotha. He and his wife wished
me to visit them and later to spend some
time with them at their summer home on
the North Sea. They were grateful for the
following Tablet from 'Abdu'1-Baha:
To the Friends in Gotha:
He is God!
O ye Sons and Daughters of the King-
dom! The heavenly daughter, Miss Knob-
loch, has given the utmost praise about your
faith and love; that glory be to God, when
you heard the call of the Kingdom your
spirits gained capacity of flight, your hearts
were illumined with the Light of Guidance,
you drank from the cup of Divine Knowl-
edge, the Elixir of Bestowal, you became in-
toxicated with the wine of the Kingdom.
Thank God that He has chosen you from
amongst all the peoples of the world and ye
attained such an eminent Gift so that each
one of you were ushered into the Kingdom
of God. This Bestowal of the Most Great
Guidance is not so apparent now, but in the
future ages it will illumine the East and the
West.
Consider that during the days of His
Holiness Christ, Upon Him be Glory, no one
gave any importance to the Guidance of the
Apostles. The populace pretended that a
number of insignificant souls had gathered
themselves around a poor man, and were
talking foolishly, nay, rather, they were ridi-
culing them. They laughed even at the
Blessed Personage of Christ and spat upon
that radiant, luminous, and wonderful coun-
tenance. But reflect that afterward, the
Guidance of these Catchers of Fish became
famous throughout all regions and up to this
time mankind is glorifying and praising
them.
Upon ye be Baha-u'1-Abha.
4Abdu'l-Baha-Abbas.
Sept. 22, 1913.
Many pleasant trips were taken through
this section of Germany and we were always
able to make some contacts. Warnsdorf was
again visited and several of high stand-
ing accepted Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'1-Baha.
All were glad to hear about 'Abdu'l-Baha's
visit to Germany and there was much to
relate.
New channels through which the Glad-
Tidings were continually given, opened at
Leipzig. These were always heartily em-
braced. Through the assistance of Mr. and
Mrs. Schultz and the opening of their home
the teachings were widely spread. Their
children Helmut and Erngott came daily to
hear about 6Abdu'l-Baha. They clearly
showed their devotion and great love for
Him. These believers and their friends aided
greatly in sustaining our weekly meetings at
the hall. They* also secured favorable an-
nouncements in the daily newspapers and
Baha'i articles were continually being pub-
lished. Sometimes I was asked to write an
article for the papers and various subjects
of universal interest were selected such as,
"The Baha'i Teachings Regarding the Ad-
vancement of Woman and Her Equality
with Man." The articles were always pub-
lished in full with favorable editorial re-
marks. Magnificent openings presented
themselves on so many occasions that it was
truly remarkable. The message sent to Mr.
F. Schweizer from 'Abdu'1-Baha bears this
out to an astounding degree. It is as fol-
lows:
"When the maid-servant of God, Miss
Knobloch, was sent to that country I sup-
plicated from the Threshold of His Highness
Baha'u'llah that confirmations might de-
scend upon her and I am yet with all my
heart and soul praying for her that she may
become more assisted. This is the Cause of
her confirmation for she was thus enabled to
carry the Glad-Tidings of the appearance of
the Blessed Perfection to that region. The
manner in which she was confirmed is a suf-
ficient demonstration and evident proof that
THE CALL TO GERMANY
743
the support of the Kingdom of Abha is the
Protector and the Guardian."
A number of influential people became in-
terested in the teachings in the central and
northern parts of Germany and we were
happy to respond to their call in order that
they might hear more about Baha'u'llah and
'Abdu'1-Baha. One of these cities was Baut-
zen, our saintly mother's home. This palatial
homestead became illumined with the Light
of Truth and several friends became believ-
ers. Some of the Roessler family received
glorious words from 'Abdu'1-Baha and the
tablets were highly appreciated.
Leipzig, at this time, became a Baha'i
Center that attracted friends from other
cities. Among those who came was Mr. R.
Glitz from Chemnitz. Trips were made to
Chemnitz and Baha'i instruction was given.
Berlin was also visited. Several of our be-
lievers had moved there and to Berlin's sub-
urbs. These trips were always delightful
since it showed how the Baha'i Faith was
being carried by the believers to various cities
and towns. They were always most appre-
ciative and I only regretted that I could not
remain longer at each new place. Although
the world war darkened the horizon, the
activity of the believers was not interrupted.
We increased our services in many ways.
Baha'i Literature cheered the hearts of many.
My trips became more extensive but were
confined to Germany. No government re-
strictions were made and our hearts were
grateful.
At Wareshoffen, a Health Resort in the
mountains of Bavaria, a number of distin-
guished guests became deeply interested in
the Baha'i Faith. An Italian captain not
only accepted Baha'u'llah but regretted that
he had not had the Teachings when he was
a lad. The weeks of teaching at that place
will never be forgotten. Baha'u'llah's words
brought joy to the hearts of many learned
men who were searching for the Light of
Truth.
A very eventful occasion was the dedica-
tion of a handsome monument in memory
of 'Abdu'1-Baha and His visit to Bad Mer-
kenheim. It consisted of a life-sized head
of 'Abdu'I-Baha in bronze on a granite stone
about six feet in height. It was placed next
to a rose arbor and thus had a mass of ex-
quisite roses for a background. The cere-
mony was very impressively conducted by
the donors, Consul and Mrs. A. Schwarz.
While I was at Bad Merkenhcim I had splen-
did opportunities to interest a number of
guests in the Baha'i Cause. Early morning
talks were arranged and after the second day
I was requested to speak in the afternoons
also. Many invitations were extended by
these friends to visit them in their homes.
It was of great value that a board or
Spiritual Assembly had been formed. Con-
sul Schwarz acted as Chairman, and during
his term of office a United Publishing Co. for
Baha'i literature was formed. A number of
books and tablets had, by this time, been
translated into German and people were
eagerly awaiting reading material. Mrs.
A. Schwarz edited the first Baha'i Magazine
entitled "The Sun of Truth." All the friends
were exceedingly happy over this marked
progress.
During these years intensive teaching
trips were made from the North Sea to the
Boden See. New places were opened and
follow-up trips made to places where there
were already believers. The stay at Dahmc
on the Baltic Sea was productive of much
good. At this Bathing Resort a number of
guests were met and Miss Doering and I both
gave Baha'i talks. Our supply of literature
came to an end but we were well pleased
with the many who listened and with the
marvelous results attained.
We visited Hamburg on this occasion,
having been invited by Rev. Mr. H to
visit him and his wife. We found them
doing unique Baha'i work. Esperanto was
being given each Sunday afternoon and this
was followed by talks on the Baha'i Faith.
Singularly we were the first Baha'is that
they had met. We spent very happy hours
with them and regretted that we could not
stay over to attend their meeting and meet
the friends.
The following summer was spent at the
Boden See. We were fortunate to be the
guests of the late descendant of F. Schiller,
who had married a Russian Countess. Our
hostess was very charming and intellectual.
Although the old Castle was most interest-
ing our only thought was to give forth the
Message. We had some touching experiences
744
THE BAHA'f WORLD
while there. On going out for walks we
would stop and talk to the people whenever
there was an opportunity. Some of these
strong hearty men would listen very atten-
tively, then turn aside to brush away a tear.
They would beg us to return later and talk
more. Sometimes we were able to place
advantageously Baha'i literature.
Being in Southern Germany, Munich was
visited and Baha'i talks were given at vari-
ous times. Through Major Krieg we met
many fine people. Several months were
spent here. Although we had four believers,
it was difficult to make the progress that we
wished. Two of the believers returned to
Denmark after the war and we were glad
that the Baha'i Message could be taken into
that country.
On returning to Stuttgart, the friends
were found to be extremely busy. All were
serving. Our greatest joy was to receive
Tablets from 'Abdu'1-Baha who was pleased
with the services rendered during these try-
ing days. Our believers worked with the
Red Cross and aided in as many ways as
possible.
Nuremberg was visited several times and
some men of note became interested in the
Cause. Miss Rap and Miss Ubelhack, who
had accepted the message in Stuttgart, as-
sisted in the meetings and introduced us to
friends who wished to know about Baha'-
u'llah's Teachings. Ludwigshafen was vis-
ited during these memorable days and the
friends were happy to hear more of the
teachings. It was very difficult to travel
at this time but with deep gratitude we
were conscious of the love and assist-
ance of 'Abdu'1-Baha. At all the Baha'i
meetings there was an outpouring of Spirit
which all who attended felt, and earnest
prayers uplifted and strengthened the be-
lievers.
In Leipzig, notable progress was made.
We will always cherish and feel deeply grate-
ful to Dr. Hugo Volrat for his service and
noble kindness. The believers of that city
rendered exceptional service. The visits to
Gera and Gotha were continued and later
the Nineteen Day Feasts were held at the
home of Mr. and Mrs. K. Doering, who con-
tinued their weekly meetings without pause.
It was always a joy to be with these dear
friends. Although traveling was extremely
trying and difficult I never failed to reach
my destination. There were many heart-
rending experiences but the courtesy and
esteem shown me at this time will never be
forgotten. The friends made loving sacri-
fices to lighten the burden of hardships
which they themselves had also to endure.
Petitions were sent 'Abdu'1-Baha for per-
mission to return home. The answer bade
me make the friends at Leipzig bubble over
with the Fire of the Love of God and then I
might return to America for a time. Al-
though the task was great, I served day and
night and many influential people were in-
terested. They invited their friends to hear
the Message. A number of doctors and pro-
fessors assisted and openings continued for
telling the Glad-Tidings. Fully realizing the
need for strenuous labor in the work so
richly blessed — nevertheless feeling a long-
ing to return home — I worked nearly half a
year longer before permission was granted by
'Abdu'1-Baha.
It was not expedient to leave at once and
the summer of f920 was spent in Stuttgart
and in visiting the surrounding towns.
These were really my farewell visits. The
Friends expressed their love and devotion in
many ways and I felt deeply grateful for
all the kindness and attention shown me.
The sincere Iranian and American believ-
ers who visited Germany had been a great
spiritual help and this assistance was highly
appreciated. It is with pleasure that I recall
the interesting entertainment given by the
Youth Group at Esslingen. A tableau writ-
ten by Mr. H. Schwab was well rendered. A
large hall was filled to capacity. A de-
lightful evening was also spent with the be-
lievers at the Frauen Club in Stuttgart. The
marked growth was plainly seen and my
heart was filled with love and gratitude.
Before leaving there was some intense
work to be done in Leipzig where the num-
ber of people to be seen and talked to had
so increased that I invited Miss Doering to
come and assist me in answering questions
and giving Baha'i talks. She was greatly
surprised and much rejoiced over the neces-
sity, and she was given a bright and hearty
welcome by the friends.
Our hearts were filled with love and pro-
THE CALL TO GERMANY
745
found thanks for the Tablet received from
'Abdu'1-Baha, at this time. It is as follows:
April 9, 1920.
. . . Therefore it is certain that the
Teachings of the Most High, BahaVllah,
will in that region and country spread to the
utmost, and souls from Germany will be
like unto candles, enkindled and radiantly
streaming beams into all directions. There-
fore I am giving thee the Glad-Tidings that
the favor is directed upon thee and the Rays
of the Sun of Reality are the adornments of
your hearts. There is no greater confirma-
tion than this.
'Abdu'1-Baha-Abbas.
THE MANIFESTATION
BY ALBERT P. ENTZMINGER
JL ROM the beginning of time man has
ever been conscious of the existence of God.
The most primitive of men worshipped the
Deity, in a primitive manner, perhaps, but
nevertheless in conformity with their in-
telligence and such understanding as they
believed they had of their Creator. It is not
at all surprising that primitive man should
have entertained such strange, and to us,
such ridiculous ideas of Divinity because to
them God was a mystery, even as today in
this enlightened 20th Century, God to us is
still a mystery. But science with her many
instruments has greatly enlarged modern
man's vision. With astronomy and the tele-
scope, physics and the microscope, chemistry
and its analyses, science has brought to man
a better understanding of the vastness of the
universe, but in regard to our Creator, it
has caused Him to become only more incom-
prehensible to us than ever (if such a thing
is possible).
Primitive man in attempting to describe
his Creator naturally limited God to his own
comprehension, and man today, in attempt-
ing to understand God, in like manner, can
limit God only to that which his finite mind
can conceive. The created thing can never
hope to comprehend its Creator, any more
than a table can hope to understand the
carpenter who built it. For as we attempt
to conceive this universe with infinite space
extending out from us in every direction be-
yond limit; infinite time without beginning
or end; infinite worlds and infinite suns, the
mysteries of which man can never hope to
fathom; and then right on this earth, in the
very air we breathe and the water we drink,
the mystery of infinite living creatures, in-
visible to our eye, and of unbelievable mi-
nuteness; these serve to indicate to us that
a Creator which surrounds all of creation
certainly is incomprehensible to man who
represents such a small part of His Creation.
In "Baha'i Scriptures,*' page 158, Baha'-
u'llah tells us that "God, singly and alone,
abideth in His own Place, which is holy
above space and time, mention and utter-
ance, sign, description, and definition, height
and depth," and in the Gospel of St. John,
1:18, we are told, "No man hath seen God
at any time; the only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, he hath de-
clared Him."
Now as for man — in Genesis we read that
man is the creation of God. In "The Glean-
ings," page 70, BahaVllah writes that "The
purpose of God in creating man hath been,
and will ever be, to enable him to know his
Creator and to attain His Presence. To this
most excellent aim, this supreme objective,
all the heavenly Books and the divinely re-
vealed and weighty Scriptures unequivocally
bear witness." And again on page 77 He
says, "From among all created things He
hath singled out for His special favor the
pure, the gem-like reality of man, and in-
vested it with a unique capacity of knowing
Him and reflecting the greatness of His
glory."
To know God, and to reflect His glory,
should therefore be the aim of Man, and
that this task is not beyond our possibilities
is evident because God has created us for
this very purpose. But because there is a
way of knowing Him, we are not to consider
that man can directly contact the Incom-
prehensible, or that the created thing can
know its Creator. The finite can never
comprehend the infinite, nor can a lower
plane comprehend a higher one — for instance
a stone representing the mineral kingdom, or
a tree representing the vegetable kingdom,
can never understand man representing the
human kingdom.
The manner in which man acquires knowl-
edge of God, the Unknowable Essence, is
through an Intermediary, or Mediator, for
God from the beginning of time has pro-
vided mankind with His Manifestations to
746
THE MANIFESTATION
747
serve as "vehicles for the transmission of the
Grace of Divinity itself" — in other words
to serve as a channel through which man
may be enabled to know Him. The theory
of an intermediary between man and his
Creator exists in all great religions today.
Each points to a mediator as receiving from
God the "light of divine splendor" and
thence distributing it over the human world.
The Jews look to Moses and the Christians
to Christ. For others it is Buddha, or
Muhammad, or Zoroaster. And in this day
the Baha'is recognize in BahaVllah this
same station as Intermediary between God
and man.
Now the very nature of an intermediary
immediately suggests to us a dual relation-
ship, because it brings to us two extremes
in relation to each other. Anything that
might have but a single relationship could
not be an intermediary, and so a Manifesta-
tion of God, serving as mediator between
God, the Unknowable Essence, and Man,
His Creation, must needs have a relation-
ship with both the finite and the infinite.
In other words he must have a divine rela-
tionship, and also a human relationship.
Considering first the divine relationship,
or the relation of the Manifestation to God
Himself, we have the following words of
BahaVllah in "The Kitab-i-lqan," page 99,
"The door of the knowledge of the Ancient
of Days being thus closed in the face of all
beings, the Source of infinite grace hath
caused those luminous Gems of Holiness to
appear out of the realm of the spirit, in the
noble form of the human temple, and be
made manifest unto all men, that they may
impart unto the world the mysteries of the
unchangeable Being, and tell of the subtle-
ties of His imperishable Essence. These sanc-
tified Mirrors, these Day-Springs of ancient
glory are one and all the Exponents on earth
of him Who is the central Orb of the Uni-
verse, its Essence and ultimate purpose."
And again on page 103, BahaVlldh further
tells us "These Tabernacles of holiness, these
primal Mirrors which reflect the light of un-
fading glory, are but expressions of Him
Who is the Invisible of the Invisibles. By
the revelation of these gems of divine virtue
all the names and attributes of God, such as
knowledge and power, sovereignty and do-
minion, mercy and wisdom, glory, bounty
and grace, are made manifest."
Thus the Intermediary, or the Manifesta-
tion, as we shall call Him, in the words of
BahaVlldh, "appears out of the realm of the
spirit in the noble form of the human tem-
ple" and is thus "made manifest unto all
men." They impart unto the world the
mysteries of God, by expressing to man the
attributes of God. That God should reveal
His attributes through His Manifestation
rather than His Essence can be understood
because it is not possible for God to reveal
to man that which man cannot understand.
Man cannot understand the nature of fire,
but he does understand its attributes, such
as heat and light, and in this manner he ob-
tains a knowledge of fire. Likewise God's
attributes, expressed by His Manifestations,
become our only means of knowing God, the
Unknowable. The attributes of God, which
BahaVllah has enumerated as knowledge,
power, sovereignty and dominion, mercy,
wisdom, glory, bounty and grace, are not
realities in themselves and we can in no
way consider them as independent exist-
ences. Detached from substance these at-
tributes do not exist, because they are not
substance, merely adjectives. So knowledge,
power, sovereignty, dominion, mercy, etc.,
are not God, but only His attributes. They
are not the Supreme Essence, and in recog-
nizing them we have no cognizance of the
Essence itself, only of them Its attributes.
And so God in His mercy has created for
man an Intermediary or Manifestation, re-
flecting His attributes to man, and so per-
fectly do they fulfill this mission that Baha"'-
u'llah states in "The Kitab-i-fqan," page
100, "From Him proceed their knowledge
and power; from Him is derived their sov-
ereignty. The beauty of their countenance
is but a reflection of His image, and their
revelation a sign of His deathless glory.
They are the Treasuries of divine knowledge,
and the Repositories of celestial wisdom.
Through them is transmitted a grace that is
infinite, and by them is revealed the light
that can never fade."
So as we assume the Manifestation so per-
fectly reflects God's attributes we naturally
consider that He is God. We speak of Him
as God, in similar manner as we speak of
748
THE BAHA'f WORLD
light in reference to either the light or the
lamp. The lamp, which is really the vehicle
which transmits the light, is often called a
light, and the Manifestation which is the
"vehicle which transmits the grace of di-
vinity" likewise is considered God. This
conclusion is therefore legitimate, and while
the followers of Moses, of Jesus, and Mu-
hammad, do not all consider their prophet
in this light, it is interesting to note that
here in the western world, the largest single
division of Christianity does regard Christ
as God.
When 'Abdu'1-Baha was in London in
1911 He was asked, "Is the Divine Mani-
festation God?" and his answer as given us
in the book, " 'Abdu'1-Baha in London,"
page 61, was "Yes, but not in Essence."
In the passages quoted from "The Kitab-
i-lqan," Baha'u'llah speaks of the Manifes-
tations as "Mirrors of Sanctity, expressing
the central Orb of the Universe." 'Abdu'l-
Baha again and again when speaking of the
Manifestations of God described them in
similar fashion, as Mirrors reflecting the light
of the Divine Sun, and this picture so thor-
oughly covers the subject that every one
should attempt to visualize His illustration.
Let us imagine a mirror placed in a room
in such a position as to reflect the light of
the sun. The mirror is to represent the
Manifestation of God and the sun is to repre-
sent God, or the Divine Essence. A person
might then say that he saw two suns; one
in the sky and one in the mirror, a state-
ment that could not be disproved. And
yet we know that the sun in the sky and the
sun in the mirror are one, and the appearance
of the two suns can in no way refute the
singleness of the heavenly sun. The sun
of the heavens is considered the Divine Es-
sence, but we cannot say this of the sun of
the mirror. So then, we can say, the Divine
Manifestation is God, but not in His Es-
sence. The light is the same, but the Mirror
is not the Sun.
The Sun we see in the mirror is a perfect
reflection of the attributes of the Heavenly
Sun. If we had a giant mirror so placed as
to reflect the sunlight directly into a room,
we could flood it with sunshine so perfectly
that those inside would experience every sen-
sation or attribute of 'the Sun, as perfectly
as though they might be outside. The light
would be just as blinding, and the radiation
just as definite. However those in the room
would be receiving those sensations through
an intermediary, the mirror, and not di-
rectly from the Sun.
This illustration might be carried even
farther, by giving the mirror a name. Sup-
pose it were named Moses, to demonstrate
the relationship between God and the Jews.
And then suppose other mirrors were
brought forth which might be named Christ,
Muhammad, and Baha'u'llah. Now each of
these four mirrors would reflect the same
light, yet none of them would be the sun.
In this manner all of the Manifestations of
God have the same relationship to God, and
in this sense they are one, yet each has His
own individual identity.
It would be interesting at this point to
study each of the Manifestations of God in
order to demonstrate how marvelously each
is endowed with God's attributes. How-
ever, this is a large subject which could not
be covered properly in a few moments.
Nevertheless, regardless of how well we
know the life and teachings of Moses, of
Jesus, of Muhammad, of the Bab or of Baha'-
u'llah, we are at least familiar enough with
them to realize that when we think of God's
attributes, such as knowledge, power, do-
minion, we can visualize them practically all
reflected in Their lives. Should some certain
quality not visibly appear in any one of these
Divine Beings, it would not necessarily mean
that He did not possess that quality; for in
"The Kitab-i-Iqan," page 104, Baha'u'llah
states that all of these brilliant Beings are
endowed with all the attributes of God
though all may not appear outwardly. We
can readily realize how reasonable this state-
ment is, for in our daily lives we continually
discover in even our most intimate friends
qualities that they possess which outwardly
are not apparent. For instance, a man may
have amazing strength, but due to his occu-
pation or mode of living, he is never called
upon to display it, and the world may not
recognize that such a quality existed in him.
And so we could not truthfully say that a
Prophet of God did not possess a certain at-
tribute of God just because that attribute
was not outwardly visible to the world.
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749
750
THE BAHA'f WORLD
The thought might come to us at this
point, as to whether or not the teachings of
Christ, or of Muhammad, show evidences of
the relationship which JBaha Vllah states ex-
ists between God and His Manifestations,
such as we have already discussed.
First turning to the Bible, we find in the
Gospel of St. John countless references to
the relationship of Jesus to God, some of
which we will quote. In chapter 1, 18, we
have the following words of John, "No man
hath seen God at any time; the only begot-
ten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father,
he hath declared him." This verse was
quoted before to show the relation of God to
His creatures, but it also indicates that the
knowledge of God is possible only through
His Manifestations.
Then in chapter 5, where we find the
Jews desiring to kill Jesus because He not
only had broken the Sabbath, but had said
that God was His Father, apparently mak-
ing Himself equal with God, we have the
reply of Jesus, as follows, "Verily, verily, I
say unto you, The Son can do nothing of
himself, but what he seeth the Father do;
for what things soever he doeth, these also
doeth the Son likewise." 'Tor as the Father
hath life in himself; so hath he given to the
Son to have life in himself." "That all men
should honor the Son, even as they honor
the Father. He that honoreth not the Son
honoreth not the Father which hath sent
him." In the light of the explanations
which BahaVllah and 'Abdu'1-Baha have
given us, these words of Jesus become easier
for us to understand. If the Jews had un-
derstood His explanation they would have
known that Jesus only claimed equality with
God in the sense that He reflected His at-
tributes. He made no mention of His Es-
sence, but did state that He could do nothing
of Himself; only that which He saw His
Father do.
And then in chapter 14, after Jesus
foretold that Judas would betray Him and
it became necessary for Him to comfort His
disciples, we remember Philip coming to
Him, saying, "Lord, shew us the Father and
it sufficeth us," and then beginning with the
eighth verse we have Jesus' reply, "Have I
been so long with you, and yet hast thou not
known me, Philip? He that hath seen me
hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou
then, Shew us the Father? Believest thou
not that I am in the Father, and the Father
in me? the words that I speak unto you I
speak not of myself; but the Father that
dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Be-
lieve me that I am in the Father and the
Father in me; or else believe me for the very
works' sake." The relationship of "the
Father in Me" is one which Jesus mentioned
many times, and is one that many have at-
tempted to explain. In fact Jesus used it so
often that a person could not honestly feel
that he understood the true relationship of
Christ to God, unless he also understood the
relationship signified in "the Father in Me."
We could hardly be expected to understand
this from a literal standpoint, because such
an interpretation would be contrary to sci-
ence and reason. We are therefore war-
ranted in understanding this from a symbolic
and allegorical standpoint. Christ often
spoke in parables and it is an interesting fact
that when He told His disciples a parable He
never advised them that what He was tell-
ing them was a parsfble, but He always spoke
as if it were an actual occurrence. Since
we do interpret His parables as allegories it
stands that we can also consider "the Father
in Me" as allegorical and symbolical, par-
ticularly so because a literal interpretation of
this statement is beyond reason. And so
'Abdu'1-Baha in explaining this statement of
"the Father in Me" in Paris in 1913, spoke
as follows, page 152, "Divine Philosophy":
"The fatherhood and sonship are allegorical
and symbolical. The Messianic reality is like
unto a mirror through which the sun of
divinity has become resplendent. If this
mirror expresses, "The light is in me" — it
is sincere in its claim; therefore Jesus was
truthful when He said, 'The Father is in
Me.' The sun in the sky and the sun in the
mirror are one, are they not, — and yet we see
there are apparently two suns."
And then as we leave the Bible and take up
Muhammad and the Qur'dn, we have first
from Sura 42, verse 50 — "It is not for man
that God should speak with him but by
vision or behind a veil or he sendeth a Mes-
senger to reveal by His permission what He
will." This confirms the truth, that the
knowledge of God is possible only through
THE MANIFESTATION
751
His Manifestations, or Messengers, as was
stated in this verse. In "The Kitab-i-lqan,"
page 100, Baha'u'llah quotes the following
verse from the Qur'an: "There is no distinc-
tion whatsoever between Thee and Them;
except that they are Thy servants, and are
created of Thee." Again in "The Glean-
ings," page 66, Baha'u'llah quotes from the
Qur'an, as follows: "Manifold and mysteri-
ous is My relationship with God. I am He,
Himself, and He is I Myself, except that I
am that I am, and He is that He is." These
holy words of Muhammad require no ex-
planation. They merely indicate to us, that
the teachings of Muhammad are identical
with those of Christ and Baha'u'llah, with
regard to the relationship of the Manifesta-
tion to God.
And now let us consider the second rela-
tionship of the Manifestation: that of His
relationship to man.
It was pointed out that since man cannot
comprehend the Infinite, it must necessarily
follow that the Manifestation of God must
have human aspects. Were this not so, man
could no more comprehend Him than he
could the Supreme Essence, and those that
have considered the Manifestation exclu-
sively as God, and denied His human aspects,
have perhaps unconsciously, but neverthe-
less in fact, denied the Infinity of God Him-
self. We have quoted Baha'u'llah from "The
Kitab-i-fqan" where He states that God
"caused luminous Gems of Holiness to ap-
pear from the worlds of spirit in noble hu-
man temples, among His creatures." From
this we understand that God created His
Manifestations in human form; that they
each took on a physical body and a rational
soul, and to each of which was assigned a
different Name.
It should not be necessary to attempt to
prove this point for history tells us how the
people of the time of a Manifestation have
invariably recognized Him merely as one of
their own fellow-men, and dealt with Him
as such. They certainly could not have
mistaken His knowledge, His mercy, His
wisdom, His generosity, or His beneficence;
as a matter of fact His enemies have even
acknowledged that these qualities existed in
Him whom they were so mercilessly perse-
cuting. The persecutions the Manifestations
endured were due entirely to the materialism
of the people among whom They lived, who
were thus permitted to see only the Mani-
festations' physical condition, and were
blinded from recognffcing the significance of
Their more important Spiritual aspects,
which elevated Them to the true station of
a Manifestation of God.
Entering this world as an infant, the Man-
ifestation is administered to as any other
child. His body develops gradually and is
built up of elements just as man's body has
been developed. Composed of elements it is
therefore also subject to decomposition. The
Manifestation has human limitations similar
to man in that He is subject to illness, en-
dures pain, is dependent on food and drink,
needs sleep and rest, and has either material
means or is without them. And yet while
the Manifestations have the same physical
conditions as mankind, it is evident that
these physical powers are often higher de-
veloped. For instance, man has ever been
amazed at the suffering these Holy Beings
were obliged to endure. Men have marveled
at their remarkable endurance, their phe-
nomenal recuperative powers. In the spe-
cific case of Baha'u'llah an account pub-
lished in the "Star of the West," Vol. VIII,
page 178, tells of the extraordinary condi-
tion of Baha'u'llah during the last three
years of His life, a period during which He
ate practically nothing. Once when He was
not feeling well a Greek physician exam-
ined His pulse and expressed his astonish-
ment, stating that he had never seen a con-
stitution so sensitive as that of Baha'u'llah.
The Manifestation also has a rational soul,
or individual reality such as man; however,
they are not exactly alike; the difference ex-
plained by 'Abdu'1-Baha in "Some Answered
Questions," page 177, being as follows: —
"But the individual reality of the Manifesta-
tions of God is a holy reality, and for that
reason it is sanctified, and in that which
concerns its nature and quality, is distin-
guished from all other things. It is like the
sun, which by its essential nature produces
light, and cannot be compared to the moon,
just as the particles that compose the globe
of the sun cannot be compared with those
which compose the moon. The particles and
organization of the former produce rays, but
752
THE BAHA'f WORLD
the particles of which the moon is composed
do not produce rays, but need to borrow
light. So other human realities are those
souls who, like the moon, take light from
the sun; but that holy reality is luminous
in himself."
So then the Manifestation is similar to
man in that He has a similar physical body,
but more highly developed, and then like
man, He has a rational soul, with the ex-
ception that His reality being holy is lumi-
nous, whereas man is dependent on his light
from the Manifestation.
Where the Manifestation differs essentially
from Man is in His Divine Identity, which is
known as the Divine Bounty. Obviously this
is a station which cannot be shared by man,
because it is of an environment beyond the
realm of man. This station is described in
"Some Answered Questions," page 174, as
the Word of God, the Holy Spirit, or the
Reality of Prophethood. Being of the Di-
vine World, it has neither beginning nor
end. This station represents the radiance of
the light of the Supreme Essence or the radi-
ance of the light of the Sun from a perfect
mirror, and is the station which Christ re-
ferred to when He spoke of "The Father in
Me." It is through this station that the
Manifestation displays His Divine attributes;
whereby He becomes a Creator of Spiritual
Life. By His innate knowledge, He becomes
both a Divine Educator and a Divine Physi-
cian; an Establisher of a New Social Order.
This Reality of Prophethood wherein the
Manifestation differs so essentially from man,
as was stated, is of the Divine World, and
has neither beginning nor end, hence it does
not come into being with the declaration of
prophethood by the Manifestation, nor does
it cease with the death of His physical body.
We have the words of St. John: "In the be-
ginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God. The same was in the beginning
with God," from which we deduce that
the station of Messiahship was always with
Christ and existed prior to His baptism, or
even to His physical birth. Likewise the
Divine Identity of BahaVllah did not sud-
denly appear in His physical body while He
was sleeping upon His couch, as a literal in-
terpretation of His Tablet to the §h£h of
Iran would have us believe. This is ex-
plained on page 98 of "Some Answered Ques-
tions" in the following words: "Briefly, the
Holy Manifestations have ever been, and
ever will be, Luminous Realities; no change
or variation takes place in their essence. Be-
fore declaring their manifestation, they are
silent and quiet like a sleeper, and after their
manifestation, they speak and are illumi-
nated, like one who is awake."
And as we study the utterance of the
Manifestations, we learn that just as They
have a dual relationship, They likewise have
a dual form of utterance. There are times
when They speak as a man, usually in a spirit
of humility, such as the words of Jesus:
"Nevertheless not my will, but Thine be
done" or the words of Muhammad: "Say
praise be to my Lord! Am I more than a
man an apostle," or "I am but a man like
you." In this connection there is also Baha'-
u'llah's epistle to the Shah of Iran, previ-
ously referred to. This Tablet is too lengthy
to quote, however it clearly indicates Baha'-
u'llah speaking as a man, and in addition
indicates that the station of Manifestation
He had assumed w$s not of His own will.
In His Tablet of Ishraqat He expressed a
similar thought by saying, "Had another ex-
ponent or speaker been found we would not
have made ourself an object of censure, de-
rision and calumnies on the part of the peo-
ple." Jesus spoke in like manner when He
said, "Father, if it be possible, let this Cup
pass from Me."
There are other times when the Manifes-
tation speaks directly from the standpoint
of the Deity. In this class of utterance His
human personality is completely subservient,
and we then have the Voice of God speaking
direct to man, through Him. Dr. J. E.
Esslemont, in "BahaVllah and the New
Era," page 53, states that through the Mani-
festation "God addresses His creatures, pro-
claiming His love for them, teaching them
His attributes, making known His will, an-
nouncing His laws for their guidance and
pleading for their love, their allegiance and
service." And continuing, Dr. Esslemont
writes as follows: "In the writings of Baha'-
u'llah, the utterance frequently changes
from one of these forms to another. Some-
times it is evidently the Man who is dis-
coursing, then without a break the writing
THE MANIFESTATION
753
continues as if God were speaking in the
first person. Even when speaking as a man,
however, BahaVllah speaks as God's mes-
senger, as a living example of entire devotion
to God's will. His whole life is actuated by
the Holy Spirit. Hence no hard and fast line
can be drawn between the human and di-
vine elements in His life or teachings."
"Say: 'Naught is seen in my temple but the
Temple of God, and in my beauty, but His
Beauty, and in'my being, but His Being, and
in myself but Himself, and in my movement
but His Movement, and in my acquiescence
but His Acquiescence, and in my Pen but
His Pen, the Precious, the Extolled* !" "Say:
* There hath not been in my soul but the
Truth, and in myself naught could be seen
but God'."
HEAR, O ISRAEL
BY DOROTHY K. BAKER
J. HE theme song of the Jews, the single-
ness of God, has lived through four thousand
years. Where can history match this?
The term Israel, Ferdinand Isserman as-
serts, means Champion of God. In Ur of
Chaldea, the Semitic people first championed
this Cause, led by Abraham, son of Terah,
maker of idols. Abraham is reputed to have
been born in a cave and kept in hiding
through his early years, because of the
wicked designs of the idolatrous king, Nim-
rod, who was warned by the stars of the
coming of a Great One, whose power would
encompass heaven and earth. To Abraham,
as to the Prophets long before him, it was
given to know the indivisible nature of God.
A story that is something of an allegory
comes down to us concerning his childhood.
Coming forth from his cave one day and
seeing the sun, he said: "This is surely the
Lord of the universe. Him will I worship."
But the sun set and night came, and seeing
the moon with her silver radiance, he said:
"This then is the Lord of the world, and
all the stars are His servants; to him will I
kneel." The following morning, when moon
and stars had disappeared, and the sun had
risen anew, Abraham said: "Now I know
that neither the one nor the other is the
Lord of the world, but He who controls both
as His servants is the creator and ruler of
the whole world."
One day Terah found his gods burned,
and going to Abraham, he asked: "Who has
burned these?" Abraham replied: "The
large one quarreled with the little ones and
burned them in his anger." "Fool," cried
Terah, "how canst thou say that he who can
not see nor hear nor walk should have done
this?" Then Abraham made answer: "How
canst thou forsake the living God to serve
gods that neither see nor hear?" l
Nevertheless, Abraham was given charge
of his father's idols to sell them. One day,
tells the Talmud, a customer came, and
Abraham asked: "How oid art thou?" "Lo!
So many years," replied the man. "What!"
exclaimed Abraham, "is it possible that a
man of so many years should desire to wor-
ship a thing only a day old?" 2
Then Abraham again destroyed the idols
and was arraigned before Nimrod, who said:
"Knowest thou not that I am god and ruler
of the world?" Abraham said: "If thou art
god and ruler of the world, why dost thou
not cause the sun to rise in the west and set
in the east? . . . Thou art the son of Cush,
and a mortal like him. Thou couldst not
save thy father from death, nor wilt thou
thyself escape it." l
After this, Abraham was cast into a fiery
furnace and suffered many things, that he
might become "a stream of blessing to purify
and regenerate the pagan world."
At the hour of Abraham's appearance, the
Semitic people were reborn. Around the
early camp fires the first academies of learn-
ing came into being, schools whose central
teaching was the singleness and majesty of
God. As late as the day of Alexander of
Macedon, these academies remained the most
effective centers of truth in the world. Al-
exander himself, coming incognito to con-
quer Jerusalem, was himself conquered by
the wisdom of the Rabbis. The Revelation
of Abraham was so potent that its effect
lasted many centuries, and so universal that
a later writer testifies: "It is particularly
Abraham — the friend of God, upon whom
are founded alike the Synagogue, the Church
and the Mosque. Abraham was not a Jew
nor a Christian, but a believer in one God. —
When God said: 'Let there be light/ He had
Abraham in view."
Centuries after the passing of Abraham,
Moses the Interlocutor arose to champion
the Cause of God. He found his people
3 Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. 1.
2 Shalsheleth Hakkabal ah—Talmud. Translated by
M. H. Harry.
754
HEAR, O ISRAEL
755
fallen into bondage and unfaith. Because
they knew nothing of seff -government,
Moses laid down mundane laws as well as
spiritual, and Israel became a theocracy, a
nation rightly proud of a government
founded on divine justice. So to the heritage
of faith was added an extraordinary ideal of
obedience, righteousness, and respect for law.
The story of Rabbi Yossi Ben Kisma relates:
"I once met a man in my travels — he of-
fered me a thousand golden denari and pre-
cious stones and pearls if I would agree to
go and dwell in his native place. But I re-
plied, saying: 'If thou wcrt to give me all
of the gold and silver, all the precious stones
and pearls in the world, I would not reside
anywhere else than in a place where the law
is studied/ " 3 This amazing respect for law
gave rise to high ethical morality, and when
the foot of the people slipped, inspired men
arose again and again to renew the moral
suasion of Abraham and Moses. Rabbi Isser-
man, in his graphic little volume, "Rebels
and Saints," recalls them to us, every one
of them a champion. A Nathan who could
rebuke a king's injustice; Amos, the shep-
herd of the desert who cried out that the
famine was "not a famine of bread or a
thirst for water, but of hearing the words
of our Lord**; Hosea, who warned: "My God
will cast them away because they did not
hearken unto Him, and they shall be wan-
derers among the nations"; Isaiah, who
prophesied peace and an Iranian Redeemer to
end suffering; Daniel, whose visions spanned
twenty-three hundred years to the "time of
the end." These were champions indeed.
Long after the Jews ceased to be a political
nation, the amazing loyalty to God, the Sin-
gle, the One, remained. At one time the
law of the Jews and the idea of the God of
Israel was displeasing to the Romans, and
the famous Rabbi Akiva was forthwith put
to death. On his lips were the words that
had become the theme song of Israel: Sh*ma
Yis-ro-ayl A-do-noy E-lo-hay-nu A-do-noy
E-chod. (Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God,
the Lord is One.) From the Talmud,
" — and as they tore him with currycombs,
and as he was with long drawn breath sound-
ing forth the word One, his soul departed
from him. Then came forth a voice from
heaven which said: 'Blessed art thou, Rabbi
Akiva, for thy soul and the word One, left
thy body together.' " *
Now to every discerning one, it must be
evident that the importance of Divine Ultity
was very great among the Jews, since their
Odyssey is marked by an ever recurring aria
of such strength and beauty. BahaVllah
has revealed the true meaning of Divine
Unity. Its explanation has two parts. First,
God is single and unattainable in His Es-
sence. "Regard thou the one true God as
One Who is apart from and immeasurably
exalted above all created things.'* ° Second,
that the true matter hidden in the song of
the Jews is the continued manifestation of
this singleness, as revealed through the great
Prophets. "It is clear and evident that all
the Prophets are the Temples of the Cause of
God.". . . The early Jews evidently recog-
nized that Revelation was progressive and
recurrent, for we find in Jewish lore:
"Adam's book, which contained celestial
mysteries and holy wisdom, came down as
an heirloom into the hands of Abraham,
and he, by means of it, was able to see the
glory of his Lord." In brief, Abraham re-
ceived Divine Knowledge identical to that
of the Prophets before him. Why, then,
can we not go farther and say that one God
revealed the Torah, the Gospel, and the
Qur'an? BahaVllah proclaims that loyalty
to one must include loyalty to all, for God
and His law are indivisible. Bah£'u'llah has
brought to a close the Adamic cycle, a period
of evolution covering five hundred thousand
years. He writes: "I have been preceded in
this matter by Muhammad, the Messenger of
God, and before him by the Spirit (Christ)
and before him by the Interlocutor, Moses. —
This is the Father of whom Isaiah gave you
tidings, and from whom the Spirit received
his covenant." Isaiah wrote: "The govern-
ment shall be upon his shoulder, and he shall
be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty
God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of
peace there shall be no end."
Spiritual unity can come only out of Rev-
elation. It was Revelation that created the
ancient unity, Judaism; created Christianity,
8 Avoth — Translated by M. H. Harry.
4 Berachotch — Translated by M. H. Harry.
5 Gleanings from the Writings of Bahi'u'lUh.
756
THE BAHA'l WORLD
a later unity; created Islam. Each has had
a potency beyond the ken of men and of
angels, has purified life, made progress, and
taught truth. Each, in its primitive period
of growth, has exercised the greatest influ-
ence and held its world together. In its later
days, each has fallen into disunity and been
all but lost to its adherents. The desire of
BahaVllah is that these courts of majesty
become one court, and that God be wor-
shipped as One Lord. Today He is as torn
by idle fancies as in the days of Nimrod.
His Cause is again in need of champions.
The ancient Cause of God has reached the
most dramatic point in its history, for evo-
lution, side by side with Revelation, has
brought man to the age of maturity. A
Revelation containing the seed of the Most
Great Peace has appeared, and once more a
divine government will be born, a govern-
ment with powers to subdue the warring
forces of the planet and organize its re-
sources. BahaVllah calls the world from
clan to superstate, from sect to spiritual
solidarity.
This is a challenge to Israel, the cham-
pion of Gfod. Can the clan spirit today pre-
vent a great people from stepping into the
court of a world religion? Never will they
be willing to stand clinging to the shadowy
past, failing in the greatest adventure of
history. The voice cries in the sacred vale:
"Here am I! Here am I!" Hear, O Israel,
the Lord thy God, the Lord is One!
THE ROSARY
BY NELLIE S. FRENCH
. HE origin of the use of the Rosary as an
aid to meditation and prayer is lost in ob-
scurity but a glimpse into its history is in-
triguing and presents many phases which
prove the universal use of some form of
prayer beads in all of the great religions from
a very early period. The Old English word
"bead," derived from "biddan" to pray, is
said originally to have meant merely prayer,
and to have been used in this sense as early
as the ninth century. In this connection
also the use of the term "beadhouse" for
almshouse and its inmates being called beads-
men, because as members of the institution
of the almshouse they were required to say
prayers for the repose of the soul of the
founder of the institution, links the word
with religious observance. But just when
the name "bead" was transferred to the
small perforated ball by which the beadsmen
symbolized the prayer in keeping count of
his devotions is not clear.
In the year 1377 version of Piers the Plow-
man a "peyre bedes," meaning a rosary or
series of such balls, is mentioned, and
Chaucer in his Canterbury Tales describes
the Prioresse thus: —
"Of smal coral aboute hir arme she bar,
A peire of bedes, gauded al with grene,
And ther-on heng a broche of gold ful
shene
On which ther was first write a crowned A
And after 'Amor vincit omnia.' "
Mr. Cornelius H. Patton writing some-
what exhaustively on the subject of "Rosa-
ries of the Great Religions" says that — "To
begin with, the rosary used by our ancestors
was a very simple affair called a 'paternos-
ter': for the ave was originally not used
and the prayer beads took their name from
the only petition offered. By a natural
process priests who were devoted to prayer
and fasting came to be known as 'pater-
nosters' and in the reign of Edward I so
many of these were attached to St. Paul's
that the manufacture and sale of prayer-
books and rosaries became a trade by itself."
As to the name "rosary" authorities differ,
but the most logical derivation of the word
seems to be "rosarium," the Latin for
chaplet or garland of roses and Mr. Im-
manuel M. Casanowicz in his description of
a collection of rosaries in the National Mu-
seum in Washington mentions the fact that
the corresponding words corona, chaplet,
Rosenkranz, capellina — all convey the idea
of a garland — possibly of an anthology, or
flower-collection of prayers. He^ says that
the custom of decorating the statues of the
Virgin with garlands might have led to a
liturgical use of the term and eventually to
a substitution of beads for flowers.
One of the best authorities on the Mu-
hammadan use of the rosary seems to be
P. Edgar Schafer, a German missionary in
upper Egypt, who says that before the rosary
came into use among the Muhammadans
one's prayers were counted on the knuckles
of the hand, a special name being given to
each knuckle for the purpose. The ones and
tens were recorded on the right hand, the
hundreds and thousands on the left. A very
old tradition attributes to Muhammad the
custom of counting his prayers on his finger
tips. The Prophet is quoted as having said
to one of His disciples: — "Be quiet and pro-
nounce the praises and mentioning of Allah
and His holiness, and do not forget them or
you will forget mercy. Count them on the
tips of your fingers, because they are re-
sponsible, just as if they really could under-
stand. For the tips of your fingers will be
witnesses against you on the Day of Judg-
ment."
Following this custom there came into use
the custom of carrying the little scrip or bag
containing 99 pebbles which enabled the
worshipper to concentrate more completely
on the Names and attributes of God accord-
757
758
THE BAHA'f WORLD
ing to Muhammadan usage. Then the peb-
bles were strung and thus came the rosary
of the Muhammad a ns.
In the fashioning of rosaries many ma-
terials have been employed and the number
of beads varies according to the usages of
the various religions. Several very rare and
precious collections of rosaries present speci-
mens of choicest beauty and richness. Carv-
ings of ivory, jade, pearl and other precious
stones as well as gold, crystal, olivewood,
amber, jet, etc. From Muhammadan India
come exquisite chaplets of matched and un-
matched agate, the number of beads often
differing widely from the traditional idea.
There is much that is lovely too, in the ejacu-
lations of praise following the recital of the
divine Names such as the Takbir (God is
greater) ; the Tasbih (God be praised) ; the
Tahlil (there is no God but God). "Sir
Edwin Arnold has made exquisite use of the
99 names in his 'Pearls of the Faith* in which,
on a single string, he has threaded ninety-
nine poems on the greatness and glory of
the Being sought after by men of all races
and creeds," says Mr. Patton. The Muham-
madan rosary or chaplet, usually consists of
99 beads divided into sections of 3 3 each and
the sections separated by a larger, or differ-
ent kind of bead, and there is usually a hun-
dredth bead of elongated shape to mark the
center of the string. This long bead is
sometimes called the "imam" and is not used
in the ritual. Again it is known as the
"minaret" and is considered to stand for the
name of Allah, apart from all attributes.
Tradition also associates the camel with the
hundredth bead, for the story is that only
the camel knows the hundredth name of
God. This knowledge being possessed by
him alone accounts for his look of scornful
superiority!
"In Tibet," says Mr. Patton, "of all lands,
prayer has become most mechanized. Prac-
tically everybody carries the rosary and the
prayer-wheel, and the monks have most ex-
pensive and elaborate specimens made of all
sorts of materials, but that most valued
above all other substances are the bones, and
especially the skull bones of famous lamas.
Next to achieving arbatship, that is, com-
plete sainthood, after the manner of Bud-
dha, there can be no greater honor for a
monk than after death to have his skull cut
up > in to small discs or balls, for the edifica-
tion of those who are still bound to the
wheel of this evil world." The orthodox
Buddhist rosary in Tibet and elsewhere con-
sists of 108 beads; thus by repetition this
rosary onay register ten times 108 prayers, or
1,080 in all, and an additional pendant in-
creases that number to something like 5,000
which probably is the achievement of a "real
saint" for the ordinary lama repeats five
times his 108 prayers per day, bringing the
number to 540.
Whether the reiteration of prayers and
the resultant use of the rosary had its earliest
beginnings in India, as many claim, and from
there spread throughout the whole world in-
fluencing the followers of each successive
revelation, or whether these usages origi-
nated in the inner consciousness of devout
souls who longed for close and continued
association with God and of their own in-
itiative discovered the true path through
prayer and meditation matters not. But cer-
tain it is that various forms of the rosary
are in constant use* among Christians, Bud-
dhists, Hindus, the lamas of Tibet, the
priests of Shintoism in Japan, the Zoroastri-
ans, the Mullas in Iran, the Abyssinian
church, — indeed we learn on good author-
ity that three-quarters of the human race
are given to some measure of its use.
Among the followers of Baha'u'llah there
are those who have always cherished the use
of the rosary and there are those to whom its
use is new, for the followers of BahaVllah,
having thrown off all bonds, eschewed all
limitations, abolished all prejudices, have
been brought together from all quarters of
the globe, from all religious systems, from
all national boundaries. To them there is
no value in the rosary per se, nor does prayer
mean the vain repetition of meaningless
words and phrases. To them the rosary is as
a chain and in the passing of the beads over
the fingers there is a sense of the gradual
closing of the door on the world of matter
and the dawning of a consciousness of the
nearness of God. By its use the repetition of
the revealed Word brings the suppliant
nearer and nearer to the feet of his Lord,
flooding his soul with the joy and conscious-
ness of eternal reunion. The spiritual vibra-
•K
S^:'*-*":ljH|L-' : : ! !•/
759
760 THE BAHA'f WORLD
tions set astir by the mentioning of the of God! The most precious of all rosaries
Name of God awaken one to a new life, a are those which have felt the touch of the
renewal of faith; the heart is purified, the hand of the Messenger of God and by Him
spirit quickened, the soul rejoiced and the have been bestowed upon the early pioneers
whole being set aflame by the fire of the love of the Faith!
MARRIAGE IN THE BAHA'I
FAITH
BY ROSEMARY SALA
IMMEDIATELY following Naw-Ruz, cel-
ebrated in the quickened spirit which ob-
servance of the Nineteen Day Fast brings
and in anticipation of the 25th anniversary
of 'Abdu'l-Baha's visit to America, this ca-
blegram from Haifa was received by The
National Assemblies of the Baha'i World:
"Announce assemblies celebration mar-
riage beloved Guardian. Inestimable honor
conferred upon handmaid of Baha'u'llah,
Ruhiyyih Khanum, Miss Mary Maxwell.
Union of East and West proclaimed by
Baha'i Faith cemented." (Signed) Ziaiyyih,
Mother of the Guardian."
During that first electric moment of com-
prehension, the longing heart of every be-
liever was fused in spirit to the heart of the
Baha'i World in Haifa, to become recharged
with the currents of spiritual energy se-
creted there. For it is not alone the union
of two well-beloved individuals that is
bringing about such far-reaching results.
The roots of this marriage lie embedded in
the soil from which the faith itself springs,
and its fruits will nourish and sustain future
generations.
It contributes to the permanence of the
institution of the Guardianship, head corner-
stone of the Administrative Order and focal
point of the power of Interpretation, the
only center wherein the seeds of unity can
germinate, the purest channel from which
the unfoldment of Truth springs; it is the
fulfillment of 'Abdu'l-Baha's words, "The
East and the West shall embrace as two
lovers" and a visible symbol of the future
when the spiritual dynamic contributed by
the East and the World Order ushered in by
the West shall be centered in one spot, in
Haifa; it makes the followers of Baha'u'llah
— already divorced from crumbling religious
institutions — dissociated from the corrup-
tion of modern politics — more acutely aware
of the sharp cleavage between a society
which mocks at chastity, condones the prac-
tice of celibacy, free-love, sterile and com-
panionate marriage, unbridled divorce and
between those distinctive attributes of a
moral life commanded by Baha'u'llah as the
immovable foundation of His universal so-
ciety.
Though we label the various crises through
which the world is passing as economic or
national in character, fundamentally the
problem is one of human relationships. And
in the vast complex network of personal in-
fluences in which the pattern of society is
interwoven, its first nucleus, its most fun-
damental institution throughout ail the ebb
and flow of human history has been that of
marriage. Upon the stability of its laws,
made in accordance with the exigencies of
time, civilizations have been born, and upon
its decay, they decline. It is a laboratory
into which all the elements of social re-
adjustment are tried and evaluated, the hid-
den core where man's deepest emotions are
focused.
A true understanding of the meaning and
purpose of marriage depends upon a knowl-
edge of man as the form to which this in-
stitution, as all others, must be shaped; of a
knowledge of the true axis around which
man's responses to life must revolve; and a
knowledge of the one power that can turn
man on that axis.
BahaVllah has said, "The essence of all
knowledge is the knowledge of God which
can be known only through His Manifesta-
tions." Let us learn how He speaks of God
and of them, and of man.
(1) "From time immemorial He hath
been veiled in the ineffable sanctity of His
exalted Self and will everlastingly continue
to be wrapt in the impenetrable mystery of
His unknowable Essence. . . . No one ex-
761
762
THE BAHA'f WORLD
cept Thyself xan unravel the secret of Thy
Nature, and naught else but Thy transcen-
dental Essence can grasp the reality of Thy
unsearchable being. . . . How can I claim
to have known Thee, when the entire crea-
tion is bewildered by Thy mystery and how
can I confess not to have known Thee, when,
lo, the whole universe proclaimeth Thy Pres-
ence and testifieth to Thy Truth?"
(2) "These sanctified Mirrors, these Day
Springs of ancient glory, are, one and all, the
Exponents on earth of Him Who is the cen-
tral Orb of the Universe, its Essence and
Ultimate Power. . . .
"The Source of Infinite grace hath caused
those luminous Gems of Holiness to appear
out of the realm of the Spirit, in the noble
form of the human temple, and be manifest
unto all men, that They may impart unto
the world the mysteries of the Unchangeable
Being and tell of the subtleties of His im-
perishable Essence . . . through Them is
transmitted a grace that is infinite and by
Them is revealed a light that can never
fade."
( 3 ) "The purpose of God in creating man
hath been and will ever be to enable him to
know His Creation and to attain His Pres-
ence. . . . Upon the reality of man, He
hath focused the radiance of all His names
and attributes, and made it a mirror of His
Own Self."
"Thou art My dominion and My dominion
perisheth not, wherefore fearest thou Thy
perishing? Thou art My light and My light
shall never be extinguished, why dost thou
dread extinction? Thou art My glory and
My glory f adeth not, thou art My Robe and
My Robe shall never be outworn. Abide
then in thy love for Me that thou mayest
find Me in the realm of glory."
Against such a background made lumi-
nous by such concepts, man must learn to
move in obedience to Divine laws as the
only ones fitted to mold him and society.
Religion as revealed by the Prophets must
be recognized to have the right to regulate
human conduct. For it alone surrounds and
embraces in its comprehension all realities,
the tangible proofs of science as well as the
invisible power of the abstractions of the
spirit. It is this power — or its lack — which
brings about the birth or death of great his-
toric epochs, and a new awareness to man of
himself as an eternal, spiritual being. To-
day man, enmeshed like a Jonah in the
whale-like body of materialism, is enslaved to
an animal condition. Static and fixed about
a confused and torn axis, a center of conflict-
ing emotions and ideas on the very essentials
of life, he is either consumed by hatreds or
frozen sterile to any thought of mitigating
the misery and injustice that sweep the
world. We need to reverse this process. To
seek a calm and fixed and stable axis around
which the responses of mind and heart — of
both the greatest and smallest social unit —
must revolve, tempering the cold of one and
heat of the other; an instrument by which
all capacity may be measured, a constant
point wherein the vari-colored racial and
cultural individual temperaments may each
retain their special characteristics yet em-
brace one another as in the unity of light.
All these requirements are met in the Love
of God. 'Abdu'1-Baha says, "There are four
kinds of love:
(a) "The love of God for His Creation,
the reflection of Himself in the mirror of
creation. Through one ray of this Love all
other love exists.
(b) "Love of God for His children, His
servants. Through this love man is en-
dowed with physical existence until, through
the breath of the Holy Spirit — this same
Love — he receives eternal life and becomes
the image of the Living God. This Love is
the origin of all love in the world of creation.
(c) "The love of man for God. This is
faith . . . this is attraction to the Divine
World, entrance into the Kingdom of God,
receiving the bounties of God. . . . This
love is the origin of all philanthropy; this
love causes the heart of man to reflect the
rays of the Sun of Reality.
"BahaVliah says, 'Love Me that I may
love thee. If thou lovest Me not, My love
can never reach thee/
(d) "The love of man for man. The love
which exists between the believers is
prompted by the ideal of the unity of spirits.
This love is attained through the knowledge
of God, so that men see the Divine Love re-
flected in the heart. Each sees in the other
the Beauty of God reflected in the soul, and,
.finding this point of similarity, they are at-
MARRIAGE IN THE BAHA'f FAITH
763
tracted to one another in love. This love
will make all men the waves of one sea, the
stars of one heaven, the fruits of one tree."
"But the love which sometimes exists be-
tween friends is not true love, but is subject
to transmutation. As the breeze blows, the
slender trees yield. . . . This kind of love is
originated by the accidental conditions of
life. This is not love, it is merely acquaint-
anceship; it is subject to change. . . ."
Life might be expressed in the form of a
triangle. The base is laid upon the connec-
tion between the expression of life's duality
— negative and positive, active and passive,
male and female, giver and receiver. Real-
ity is at the apex and cannot be realized in
the submission of one basic force to another
or loss of identity of either, but that the
essential quality of each is equally contrib-
uted to meet in a common center higher
than and outside each other. This analogy
illustrates the contribution of man and
woman, potentially equal in the faculties in
which they share and of those particular
gifts in which they differ. Together they
are "the two wings of a bird" sharing equally
in the power of mind and spirit while differ-
ing in aspect and the fields in which their
specialized gifts qualify them to operate.
Muhammad stated that everything was cre-
ated in pairs: man and woman each have
vacuums in their nature which seek com-
pletion. Cognizant of this void and realiz-
ing the necessity for its fulfillment, 'Abdu'l-
Baha wrote:
"Regarding the question of matrimony:
know that the command of marriage is eter-
nal. It will never be changed or altered.
This is a Divine creation and there is not the
slightest possibility that change or alteration
shall affect this Divine Creation."
"Among the majority of the people of the
world marriage consists of physical relation-
ship, and the union and relationship is but
temporary, for at the end physical separa-
tion is destined and ordained. But the mar-
riage of the people of Baha must consist of
both physical and spiritual relationship. . . .
When relationship, union and concord exist
between the two from a physical and spir-
itual standpoint, that is real union and is
therefore everlasting. . . ."
"Consequently when the people of Bah 4
desire to enter the sacred union of matri-
mony, eternal connection, ideal relationship,
spiritual and physical association of thoughts
and conceptions of life must exist between
them, so that in all the grades of existence
and in all the worlds of God this union may
continue forever and ever. For this union
is a splendor of the Light of the Love of
God."
Referring to those who become spiritually
awakened after marriage, He writes: "Like-
wise if the souls become real believers in God
they will find themselves ushered into this
exalted state of relationship, become mani-
festers of the Love of the Merciful, and ex-
hilarated by the cup of the love of God.
Undoubtedly that union and relationship is
eternal."
4Abdu'l-Baha in writing to a Baha'i stated
that everyone had an affinity, but that af-
finities did not always meet in this world,
and if they did, they might not be happy
together, as this was not a place for perfect
happiness. He added that there was no
power that could keep them apart and that
in one of the worlds of God they would
recognize their oneness, and go through eter-
nity inseparable. He refers further to this:
"The souls who sacrifice self, become de-
tached from the imperfections of the realm
of man and free from the bondage of this
ephemeral world, assuredly the splendors of
the rays of Divine Union shall shine in their
hearts, and they shall find ideal relationship
and happiness in the Eternal Paradise."
Out of the fusion of two souls a third
subtle entity is born. Though invisible and
intangible on earth it is the composite soul
of true lovers. The progress of one mys-
teriously influences the other, they become
the tutors of each other's soul. Distance or
death, being physical forces, cannot cause its
disintegration. To a Baha'i whose husband
had died, the Master wrote:
"Be confirmed with such deeds as to be-
come the cause of his joy and happiness in
the other world."
When marriage has such permanent value,
we can understand the importance of the
preliminary steps which lead up to it.
"In this Merciful Age the ignorant preju-
dices are entirely removed. The Baha'i en-
gagement is the perfect communication and
764
THE BAHA'f WORLD
the entire consent of both parties. How-
ever, they must show forth the utmost at-
tention and become informed of one an-
other's character, and the firm covenant
between them must become an eternal bond
and their intention must be everlasting af-
finity, friendship, unity and life."
No parental interference is permitted un-
til after careful study of each other's char-
acter and the sincerity of one another's in-
tentions are assured. Then the matter is
brought before the four parents for consent.
If consent is given a three months' engage-
ment is suggested. Should the consent be
withheld for any just cause, the two may
strive to eradicate the cause, while if the
reason for dissent seems founded on preju-
dice, the matter may be brought before the
Local Assembly.
These laws might seem to restrict rather
than extend the means of human happiness.
The Faith of Baha'u'llah is to establish unity
and all these laws are to widen the area of
that unity. Marriage is not primarily for
the gratification of personal desires. Dr.
Alfred Adler says, "Love and marriage are
never the private affair of anyone: they are
the concern of the whole of mankind, and
they constitute a social problem." In the
World Order of Baha'u'llah, society is dedi-
cated to the service of God: marriage is one
aspect. Though adherence to the laws of
the country of origin is compulsory, the
Baha'i marriage ceremony — performed by
any chosen Baha'i of voting age and in the
presence of nine witnesses — circles around
this theme. 'Abdu'1-Baha when performing
the wedding ceremony of two Iranian
Baha'is in London first asked each one sepa-
rately, "Do you love — with all your heart
and soul?" Then joining their hands to-
gether, He asked them to repeat after Him
the words, "We do all to please God." Fur-
ther instructions are:
"The bridegroom must, before the brides-
men and a few others, say, 'Verily, we are
content with the will of God.' And the
bride must rejoin: 'Verily, we are satisfied
with the desire of God.' This is Baha'i
matrimony."
The love which each partner bears for the
other is made subservient to the love of God
and is merged solely to increase their capac-
ity to serve Him. Not through centering
all their forces upon each other is the reality
of the beloved found. That love fluctuates
and is conditioned by outward circum-
stances. One moment it is aroused by ephem-
eral incidents and accidents, the next to
hate by the irritations which close proximity
sometimes brings. But in seeking unity in
the love of God (the apex higher than their
separate selves), the inmost reality of each
is found, for it is a magnet which can only
draw forth truth. Though the currents of
life's experiences eddy around the outer rim
of existence, yet the very heart of one's being
rises upward to lie undisturbed in the unity
of this Divine love. The deep happiness of
such a union makes more clear the meaning
of procreation as the primary purpose of
marriage. Baha'u'llah forbids celibacy and
commands, "Enter ye into wedlock that one
may rise up in your stead." When one has
touched even the outer fringe of the joy
which faith in Baha'u'llah brings, a life-time
spent in grateful service seems too short. It
is then the greatest privilege and most sacred
obligation to bring into being those who may
continue in joy to serve and praise God, who
showers those bounties on His conscious
servants.
The most fundamental attributes of love,
faithfulness and loyalty which attract and
eternally connect the souls with God, are the
qualities which bind lovers together in mar-
riage. Chastity then is a prerequisite and
adultery an abomination. The deferment of
marriage, due to economic causes and indus-
trial life which now has lowered the morale,
will disappear in the new World Order. A
new sense of values is arising in this age, and
"one moment of chastity is equal to ten
thousand years of adoration." The severe
punishment imposed upon adultery by Baha'-
u'llah we can understand. When marriage
is entered into in the Baha'i spirit and the
promises are made not to one another but to
God — "Promise not that which you cannot
fulfill" commands Baha'u'llah — adultery is
a complete violation of that pledge and a
negation of the forces of unity; it is spiritual
anarchy affecting both the innocent and the
guilty; it is blasphemy towards that Source
to which both turn. Should one of the part-
ners in a marriage entered into sincerely,
MARRIAGE IN THE BAHA'f FAITH
765
afterwards meet another who was his or her
true affinity, the violation of the former
vows can only more deeply separate the af-
finities. For it is a spiritual attraction which
cannot be truly consummated except in the
love of God. There are all the worlds of
God where such lovers may unite.
In the matter of divorce 'Abdu'1-Baha
states:
"The friends must strictly refrain from
divorce unless something arises which com-
pels them to separate because of their aver-
sion for each other; in that case, with the
knowledge of the Spiritual Assembly, they
may decide to separate. They must then be
patient and wait one complete year. If,
during this year, harmony is not re-estab-
lished between them, then their divorce may
be realized. . . . The foundation of the
Kingdom of God is based upon harmony and
love, oneness, relationship and union, not
upon differences, especially between hus-
band and wife. If one of these two become
the cause of divorce, that one will, unques-
tionably, fall into great difficulties, will be-
come the victim of formidable calamities
and experience deep remorse."
Should the husband absent himself from
home and neglect to notify his wife of his
movements, BahaVllah has given her the
right to divorce him and to remarry, but
He added, "If she is patient it is better, for
God loves those who are patient." Divorce
is made slightly easier than marriage. In the
future, when through evolution we have
more appreciation and greater understand-
ing of Baha'u'llah's ordinances, divorce will
be rare and the forces of disunion would
have to be so great as to endanger one an-
other's spiritual growth and physical health.
The year's separation before divorce is
granted will abolish all the abuses of the
present day when incompatibility of tem-
perament is based upon the childish dis-
likes of undisciplined adults rather than on
any legitimate cause. The problems of
marriage are, for the most part, funda-
mentally problems of living, so its failure is
to acknowledge defeat in one's adjustment
to life and lack of faith in the love of
God.
This love of God is the indwelling spirit
of every human creature, which motivates
him as an individual in the personal contacts
of his every day. But that spirit, to become
the living force of civilization, must be
transformed into its social counterpart of
Justice. Within BahaVllah's Plan for World
Order, the Houses of Justice (local, national
and internationally) become the lamp which
diffuses the flame of this love into Justice.
Upon the members of the local Houses of
Justice — now called Spiritual Assemblies —
lies the responsibility for the spiritual and
material unity of the group as a whole; upon
each individual member lies the sacred obli-
gation to maintain that unity by turning to
that body for advice or the solution to any
problem affecting the relationship of two or
more individuals. And the decision of that
freely elected body (chosen in the spirit of
prayer), is unanimously obeyed. The high-
est point of fulfillment to be reached
through the Administrative bodies and the
first point of contact with the invisible,
spiritual resources of the Faith of Baha'u-
'llah both meet in the institution of the
Guardianship. The Baha'i World celebrates
in the marriage of the first Guardian the
further strengthening and safeguarding of
its glorious destiny. Each Baha'i man and
woman, within an infinitely smaller orbit,
strives to make his or her own marriage be-
come a vital and integral part of that fu-
ture, the Golden Age of Baha'u'llah.
To that end and in the words of 'Abdu'l-
Baha, they pray:
"Glory be unto Thee, O My God! Verily
this Thy servant and this Thy maid-servant
have gathered under the shadow of Thy
Mercy and they are united through Thy
favor and generosity. O Lord, confirm them
in Thy Servitude and assist them in Thy
Service. Suffer them to become the Signs
of Thy Name in Thy world and protect
them through Thy Bestowals which are in-
exhaustible in this world and in the worlds
to come. O Lord, they are supplicating
towards the Kingdom of Thy Mercifulness
and invoking towards the Realm of Thy Sin-
gleness. Verily they are married in obedi-
ence to Thy Command. Cause them to be-
come the Signs of harmony and unity till
the end of time.
"Verily Thou art the Omniscient, the
Omnipresent and the Almighty."
Nucleus of a new center of the Faith in
Egypt, the Baha'is of Tanta.
Baha'is of the village of Hisar, Iran.
766
LEARNING TO LIVE TOGETHER
BY MARTHA L. ROOT
o,
*NE of America's well-known liberalists,
Professor Herbert A. Miller, Professor of So-
ciology in Bryn Mawr College, gave the
writer in December, 1936, an interview on
the subject of the Baha'i Faith. I wish to
preface the interview by telling readers a
little about this strong, sane thinker who
stands courageously for the oneness of the
world of humanity. He attracted nation-
wide attention when his contract at Ohio
State University was not renewed for the
year 1931-1932, since his reputation was
such that a spontaneous and almost uni-
versal protest arose in the universities
throughout America. The three reasons for
his dismissal were: support of Gandhi, his
attitude on the race question and his ob-
jection to compulsory military training in
the university. In the investigation that
followed he was completely vindicated by
the report of the committee of the Associa-
tion of University Professors. In 1918, he
was associated with the Carnegie Corpora-
tion's study of the methods of Americani-
zation, his investigations resulting in the
book "Old World Traits Transplanted."
Two other books of his which can with great
profit be studied are "Races, Nations and
Classes" and "The Beginnings of Tomor-
row." Few men have a better understand-
ing of the situation of the world and what
confronts us than has Professor Miller, and
his views about the Baha'i Faith and what
it is actually accomplishing are of deep in-
terest.
He said to me during our conversation at
his home in Bryn Mawr that as a sociologist,
his special field had been racial and national
relations: "Pve been interested for thirty
years in trying to solve conflicts between
races and nations, and that falls into the area
of Baha'i interests, as you know. The thing
that interested me when I first heard of the
Teachings of BahaVllah was how, coming
at this particular set of questions in a to-
tally different way — namely, from a re-
ligious background — He had arrived at the
same kind of conclusions as I had when I
tried to make a scientific approach. There-
fore, I was inclined to be interested."
Professor Miller is very frank, open, sin-
cere, lovable; he said that though his aca-
demic snobbishness hesitates to ally itself
with any movement and is anxious to stand
off from all movements, yet he is glad that
everybody is not an academic person! "For
many years I have insisted there is only one
problem in the world," he said, "and thati
problem is learning to live together; and it
seems to me that at this time almost every
scientific and moral force is driving in that
direction. Anthropology and psychology
have broken down the previous claims of
natural differences between peoples so that
now nothing is left except to break down
the artificial, cultural, political and economic
absurdities that frame themselves into na-
tionalism and various types of group con-
sciousness." *
Dr. Miller added that while an approach
to the solution of these problems needs to
be made through the scientific and moral
methods, one of the most remarkable teach-
ings of BahaVllah — considering that the
time when it was made was at least forty
years before the issue could have been clari-
fied in the West — is that there is no conflict
between religion and science. He considers
this one of the most remarkable in the whole
of the "Utterances" of BahaVllah and he
adds: "Perhaps my snobbishness does not per-
mit me to say 'Revelation'! This makes it
possible for a religion which is just as uni-
versal as thought itself, really to exist and be
vital. Now, of course, people of other
Faiths accept this principle but at that time,
when BahaVllah first gave it, no people ac-
cepted it, unless there may have been a very
few Muhammadans. 5Cs far as I can dis-
cover, there is nothing in the whole social,
767
768
THE BAHA'i WORLD
moral program of the Baha'i Faith that is in
conflict with the most enlightened findings
of social scientists."
When I asked Professor Miller where he
had heard of the Baha'i Teachings, he said
he had first heard of them in our country
from Dr. Albert Vail and Mr. Louis Greg-
ory. He said that when he was in Bei-
rut, Syria, in 1930, he was in the Beirut
University Hospital where there were two
nurses who were Baha'is, also he, had met
Mr. Zaine, son of the Secretary of Shoghi
Effendi, Guardian of the Baha'i Cause,
and had been introduced to a cousin of
the Guardian, a senior at that time, in the
University.
Dr. Miller explained, too, how he had met
Baha'is in various places and he said: "What**'
appealed to me is their attitude on the race
question; none of the feeling of superiority
or inferiority of races that still goes on
among many Christians, have I ever seen
among Baha'is. These are personal mat-
ters, some of these things can be practised
by individuals; but there are other great
questions like universal peace that must wait
on slow development. The Baha'is haven't
yet established an international language in
all the schools of the world, they haven't
achieved international understanding; many
of the Principles of Baha'u'llah are not yet
fulfilled — perhaps not yet f ulfillable, but the
important thing is that there is a religious
group very much aware of them, which by
purity of purposes and practices can nag on
other religionists to live up to their own
ideals. Both the Baha'is and Gandhi insist
that all religions are basically aiming to solve
these same problems. So somewhere, in their
ideals, if they haven't been cluttered up with
theology, there is a pure aim." ,^
When I asked this interesting professor
about his meeting with Shoghi Effendi, he
told me: "I had known about Shoghi Effendi
when I visited at the American University
at Beirut where he had been a student. I had
met some Baha'is in Jerusalem, and so one
of the first things I did when I reached Haifa
in the winter of 1926, 1 went to the house of
Shoghi Effendi, and sending in my card men-
tioned that I had known Dr. Vail and Mr.
Louis Gregory. He invited me to tea, and
I remember we had tangerines from 'Abdu'l-
Baha's Garden that afternoon. [Such a
beautiful smile of pleasure passed over his
countenance as he spoke of those delicious
tangerines from the Master's Garden!]
"We had a most delightful time. As
usual I became professional and asked all
the baiting questions I could think of; we
had such a delightful time that when I came
back to Palestine in 1930, I repeated my
visit to Shoghi Effendi."
I remember so well Dr. Miller's last state-
ment in the illumined conversation that
afternoon in his Bryn Mawr home: "I have
frequently said that it will be quite a while
before the liberal world in practice catches
up with the liberal plan of Baha'is, and from
my academic mountain top, frequently I feel
compelled to say, 'More strength to the
Bahi'is!'"
BAHA'I RADIO PROGRAM
DELIVERED OVER STATION "WHN," NEW YORK
FEBRUARY 22-27, 1937
THIS CHANGING WORLD
IrfVERY man and woman who has reached
maturity realizes that human life has under-
gone more fundamental changes during the
past century than it had during the pre-
ceding two thousand years. Ever since the
rise of science endowed the modern mind
with power to manipulate the forces of na-
ture and to a large extent to control them
through mechanical invention, mankind has
increasingly become subject to the law of
change. At first this new power was felt
to be identical with progress. The great
war, however, and the political and eco-
nomic revolutions which developed out of
that world disaster, have compelled us to re-
examine the very basis of our social activity
and try to find ways to control the larger
human movements that they may not over-
whelm us with even greater destruction than
has already brought misery and released fear
in so many parts of the earth.
What is vitally needed is some social phi-
losophy that will fit the facts of human life
today with something of the same precision
as that with which science fits the facts ob-
served in the lower order of nature — some
conception of the true principles underlying
civilization that will enable the nations and
peoples to find the way out from mutual
antagonism and discord to mutual coopera-
tion and peace, from mutual fear and sus-
picion to general assurance and amity, from
the burden of poverty to the freedom and
dignity of a well-ordered human existence.
What has been gained if we have acquired
mastery over the titanic forces of chemistry
and physics, if at the same time we have
become slaves to our ignorance of the laws
and principles governing man's own indi-
vidual and collective life?
This need of a new and constructive hu-
man outlook was emphasized in the Baha'i
teachings many years ago, even before the
war of 1914 shook the world. In the mid-
dle of the last century they taught, "That
which was applicable to human needs during
the early history of the race could neither
meet nor satisfy the demands of this period
of renewal and consummation . . . From
every standpoint the world of humanity is
undergoing a reformation. The laws of for-
mer governments and civilizations are in
process of revision, scientific ideas and theo-
ries arc developing and advancing to meet a
new range of phenomena . . . This is the
cycle of maturity and reformation in religion
as well . . . And this reformation and re-
newal of the fundamental reality of religion
constitute the true and outworking spirit of
modernism, the unmistakable light of the
world . . . the divine remedy for all human
ailments."
The same note is sounded even more as-
suringly in the following passage: "In this
present cycle there will be an evolution in
civilization unparalleled in the history of the
world. The world of humanity in this cycle
of its completeness and consummation will
realize an immeasurable upward progress."
Such an affirmation might appear to be no
more than an expression of hope and op-
timism repudiated by the facts of this chang-
ing world, unless we reflect carefully upon
the true character of these recent earth-
shaking events that outwardly seem so in-
comprehensible and even appalling to the
average man.
As we go more deeply into the Baha'i
teachings, we find that they give a clear and
rational explanation of the apparently
chaotic condition of this extraordinary age.
In the light of this interpretation we see
how all of these many social changes and
perturbations form part of one definite his-
toric trend. It is as though explorers in an
unknown country, surrounded by possible
769
770
THE BAHA'f WORLD
unexpected dangers on all sides, were to be
given a map which would show clearly just
where they were and the true character of
the country about them. With this accu-
rate knowledge, they would no longer fear
the danger of becoming forever lost.
Such a map the Baha'i teaching gives to
our confused world. This map, showing
the strange "country" which modern civili-
zation has become, makes clear that a long
historic trend, covering countless ages, — the
trend toward the separation of peoples into
divided and antagonistic races and nations, —
has in our time come to an end. Through-
out all history, the movement of peoples has
been one not merely of physical separation,
but also of emotional, mental and moral di-
versity. The isolation of social groups, large
or small, has been the basis of man's col-
lective experience since the dawn of time.
The result of this movement of separation
and diversity has been to establish firm and
enduring differences of language, custom,
belief and outlook upon every branch of the
human race. Humanity has never really ex-
isted— what have existed were no more than
separate and distinct tribes, nations and
races, each denying to the other as far as
possible the rights and privileges necessary
to an ordered human life, even, in fact, the
recognition of one common and universal
God.
But now that vast and tremendous scat-
tering of the peoples has come to an end.
The fundamental movement underlying this
modern time is toward unity. For the to-
tally unforeseen result of the new power of
science has been to destroy the very source
and cause of social isolation throughout the
earth. The nations, races and peoples are to-
day, whether they relish it or not, living to-
gether in one unitary physical environment,
one supernational economic civilization from
which no race nor nation nor people can pos-
sibly escape. As the Baha'i teachings de-
clare, "This handful of dust, the earth, is one
home. Let it be in unity. . . . Fellowship
is the cause of unity, and unity is the source
of order in the world."
To this unified physical environment,
however, each organized society has brought
its habit of separation and its long estab-
lished differences and antagonisms, the
inevitable result of the tribal outlook devel-
oped during past ages. Can this new house-
hold of mankind, this firmly-knit, world-
wide society which science has produced,
possibly survive disaster if the old tribal out-
look, now in possession of armaments a mil-
lion times more destructive than bow and
arrow, sword and spear, continues to domi-
nate the minds and hearts of men?
This menace of the calamity that would
follow another explosion of the sinister
power of modern armaments is something
entirely new to human experience. It stands
as a universal problem before every people
and before every individual in the world.
We live today under a threat of social disas-
ter quite as real and far more portentous
than the menace of physical disaster that has
loomed over those unfortunate people who
live beside flood-swollen rivers and who have
not known from day to day, from hour to
hour, whether the embankment would hold.
Thousands of anxious statesmen, econo-
mists, students and men of responsible af-
fairs in all parts of the world, realize this
social menace and are bending every energy
to find a solution. Yet the conflict of poli-
cies and interests rises higher and higher
year by year, armaments increase, and no
adequate basis for a universal understanding
of the essence of the problem has yet been
found.
Now let us turn again to the Baha'i map.
There we discover that it does not deal pri-
marily with these external matters of po-
litical and economic policy, but deals rather
with human attitudes and relations. It sets
forth that, "The most important principle
of divine philosophy is the oneness of the
world of humanity, the unity of mankind,
the bond conjoining East and West, the tie
of love which blends human hearts. . . .
For thousands of years we have had blood-
shed and strife. It is enough: it is sufficient.
Now is the time to associate together in love
and harmony. . . . The divine purpose is
that men should live in unity, concord and
agreement. . . . Consider the virtues of the
human world and realize that the oneness of
mankind is the primary foundation of them
all."
Here, in this striking and altogether new
aspect of truth, the "oneness of mankind,"
PQ
o,
3
s
to
771
772
THE BAHA'f WORLD
we have the essential link between the social
problem on the one hand, and man's latent
and innate God-given powers on the other.
It is to the degree, and only to the degree,
that the race learns how to respond to this
conception of underlying oneness that we
shall be able to take the steps that lead from
strife to cooperation and peace. The Baha'i
teachings come to us as nothing less than a
necessary re-education of the spirit of man
in the divine art of unity. The conditions
of the age are unprecedented; too obviously
our traditions and established customs fail
utterly to meet them; we require a new
presentation of spiritual, ethical and social
truth in terms of our altered environment in
order to transform the nations and races into
a true mankind.
No one would think of allowing his child
to grow up without education or would send
him out into this highly specialized indus-
trial age with the unequipped and untrained
personality of our primitive ancestors. Why,
then, since we are all merely children in
relation to the problem of world unity,
should we so complacently trust that we can
solve that problem and meet that emergency
without preliminary training, without requi-
site knowledge of the underlying forces now
controlling our destiny? We cannot go back
to the simpler ways of our ancestors. We
cannot halt the vast movement of modern
science. The world has become one home.
Somehow we must fit ourselves to live to-
gether in that home. And the first step is
for us to become humble, with a humility
that is willing and eager to learn new truth
when new and unprecedented problems are
to be solved.
The Babd'f teachings tell us that what has
happened to us all is that a new age and
cycle have dawned: "This is a new cycle of
human power. All the horizons of the world
are luminous, and the world will become in-
deed a garden and paradise. It is the hour
of the unity of the sons of men and of the
drawing together of all races and all classes.
You are loosed from ancient superstitions
which have kept men ignorant, destroying
the foundations of true humanity. The gift
of God to this enlightened age is the knowl-
edge of the oneness of mankind and of the
fundamental oneness of religion. War shall
cease between nations, and by the will of
God the Most Great Peace shall come."
Thus the Baha'i teachings summon us to
the attitude of seeking and recognizing
truth. Imbued with that attitude, we can
take the first step of realizing that the
changes of this age are a clarion call to the
soul and conscience of human beings every-
where on earth. Rightly understood, these
changes and perturbations mean that destiny
has chosen this age for the race to learn
greater lessons than any previous age was
prepared to understand. When we come to
see our fellow men as bewildered searchers
after truth, even as you and I, then we can
make contact with them on levels raised
high above these confusions that in reality
are but destroying a dead past that we may
enter this dawning age of true advancement.
"Of one tree are ye all the fruit and of one
bough the leaves. . . . The world is but one
country and mankind its citizens."
THE DIVINE PHYSICIAN
We have seen how the teachings of the
Baha'i Faith hejp us directly in these per-
plexing times by explaining the true nature
of the startling events throughout the world
that cause us all such uneasy dismay as we
read of them in the daily press. We found
that, instead of indicating that our planet
is rapidly drifting into a state of uncon-
trolled anarchy, chaos and destruction, as an
uninstructed observer might well suppose,
these far-reaching changes and perturbations
are in reality the outworkings of beneficent
forces, preparing for the advent of a new
cycle of unimagined progress in human
achievement and happiness, — a new age
which lies just before us and awaits only
the opening of our hearts and minds and the
adjusting of our lives to its fundamental
principle of world unity, the oneness of man-
kind. And these very events, though pain-
ful, even shattering at times, are themselves
helping us to cast off the shackles of out-
worn beliefs and practices that hold us back
from this true understanding.
How simple and nai've today seems the
hopeful attitude that prevailed during the
last century, that in science and invention
modern man has found a miraculous power
to make the ancient dream of peace come
BAHA'f RADIO PROGRAM
773
true and to bring plenty and happiness to
the earth! Granting the miraculous virtue
of that power to multiply material things,
greatly extending even the fertility of the
soil, nevertheless it has become only too ob-
vious that these beneficent results have not
transformed human nature; that, on the
contrary, they have intensified the tribal in-
stinct and enabled it to express itself in the
most destructive conflicts in all history. But
through these catastrophes we are slowly
learning.
Contrasted with the desolate waste which
human greed and ambition threaten to make
of the earth, the new age of which the
Baha'i teachings tell seems a veritable para-
dise in its freedom from those vicious quali-
ties that make for separation, rivalry and
war. Here we stand together in this waste
land of struggle and violence, without se-
curity, lacking assurance, while before us lies
that garden of fruitful labor and opportu-
nity— that promised age of world unity and
peace, the hope of which has never left us,
even in our most desperate hours. The
power of science to produce abundance for
every human being is not to be doubted.
That new force, properly directed and con-
trolled, can fulfill the ancient vision of a
better existence on earth. But, uncontrolled,
or improperly controlled, it offers before our
horrified eyes today only too convincing
proof of the truth of the Baha'i teaching:
"Science cannot cure the illness of the social
body. Science cannot create amity and fel-
lowship in human hearts. Neither," it goes
on, "can patriotism nor racial allegiance ef-
fect a remedy. ..." A single glance over
the world makes this clear, as well.
Only a spiritual power can meet our need,
these teachings say; the supreme power of
a common faith, with the resulting com-
mon understanding of the fundamental na-
ture and aim of life. This power is likened
to the life in the human body, which
harmonizes the differences of parts and mem-
bers into mutuality and agreement, estab-
lishing so great a unity in the bodily organ-
ism that if any of its parts is injured or
becomes diseased all the other parts and
functions sympathetically respond and suf-
fer, so perfect is the oneness which exists.
And as this human spirit of life is the cause
of coordination among the various parts of
the human organism, so the higher spiritual
forces are the controlling cause of the unity
and coordination of mankind. "Today the
greatest need of the world is the animating,
unifying presence of the Holy Spirit," Baha'-
u'llah writes. "Until it becomes effective,
penetrating and interpenetrating hearts and
spirits, and until perfect, reasoning faith
shall be implanted in the minds of men, it
will be impossible for the social body to be
inspired with security and confidence. Nay,
on the contrary, enmity and strife will in-
crease day by day and the differences and
divergencies of nations will be woefully aug-
mented."
This supreme remedy for the world's sick-
ness is given to us only through those out-
standing figures in history, the seers, the
prophets — the divine physicians. What in-
fluence ever exerted upon earth is so potent,
so renewing both to the individual and to
the social group, as the creative Word ut-
tered by the chosen Messenger of the Su-
preme Will? Under its dynamic force the
most abject and impotent peoples have been
raised from servitude to become the leaders
of civilization. For hundreds of years after
it is uttered the mysterious Truth is treas-
ured and revered, an enduring source of
vision, of courage, of wisdom, of integrity,
of humane character, of devotion to the
highest interests of the community. Where
before men were in the darkness of strife,
the revealed Truth brings light like the
rising of the sun. Where before the social
body had been weak and diseased, the Truth
came through the divine physician to heal
what human capacity could not heal. This
healing force "is the light from the Sun of
Truth bringing by its infinite power life and
illumination to all mankind; flooding all
souls with divine radiance, conveying the
blessings of God's mercy to the whole
world." So does the Baha'i Faith explain
the power by which humanity, from age to
age, is given capacity to rise above itself.
"The divine Reality (God) may be likened
to the sun and the Holy Spirit to the rays
of the sun. As the rays of the sun bring
the light and warmth of the sun to the earth,
giving life to all created beings, so do the
Manifestations (the prophets) bring the
774
THE BAHA'f WORLD
power of the Holy Spirit from the divine
Sun of Reality to give light and life to the
souls of men."
Had there existed through the ages real
agreement upon the basic principles of spir-
itual truth, we should never have developed
these armed and competitive national socie-
ties. One who holds to the truth that his
own being is subject to spiritual law and that
all other men were similarly created cannot
plot violence and destruction for his fellow-
man. International violence has gradually
arisen because the realization of the divine
will and purpose has been everywhere in-
complete, inconstant and obscured by im-
mediate human interests. We must not for-
get that primitive human society was
founded upon religion and that all civil
codes, cultures and philosophies depended
upon a religious sanction. But each tribal
god was jealously limited to the advantage
and welfare of the tribe. And a heaven so
filled with competitive, jealous gods meant
that the origins of civilization were rooted
in the fundamental assumption that man-
kind is not one kingdom of reality, but di-
verse races and peoples. We see this ancient
tribal worship still practiced in our own day
all too vigorously, in the attitude that man
can have no higher loyalty than to his own
class or race or state.
So, underlying any true and enduring
basis of world unity, is the necessity of find-
ing harmony and agreement in our recogni-
tion of the oneness of God and of the uni-
versality of spiritual truth. The Baha'i
teachings throw an illuminating light upon
this vital need.
They show that the prophets, the divine
physicians, who founded the great religions
gave their teachings in two forms. One
held the universal truths which are constant
and eternal: in the other form they estab-
lished ordinances of a secondary nature
which were adapted in each case to the
widely differing social and cultural condi-
tions of the various peoples to whom they
spoke. By holding to the universal truths,
upon which all the prophets are agreed, —
that there is but one God; that He com-
mands love and unity — and by realizing the
local and temporary character of the sec-
ondary matters, the peoples of this day can
enter into a unity of the spirit so potent
that it will bend our collective energies and
social instrumentalities to the supreme task
of establishing unity in the political, eco-
nomic and other social fields throughout the
world.
Another Baha'i commentary upon the
true nature of religion is that revelation is
progressive, for each age and cycle disclos-
ing an ever-enlarging measure of that truth
which in itself is immeasurable. Man's ca-
pacity alone limits the outpouring. As he
develops, he may take a larger vessel to the
inexhaustible well.
This progressiveness of truth constitutes
a principle of the utmost importance. It
serves to test the sincerity of every faith
and belief. Religion as a progressive factor
in man's life gives us a door opened to the
future. Without spiritual progress we are
limited to a past which can never be re-
stored. Can anyone say that human devel-
opment has come to an end? Or can anyone
deny that it has been through the revelation
of new and larger truth age after age
that mankind has successively attained the
unity of tribe, or race, and then of nation?
And surely it is unthinkable that these
modern powers and resources, so new,
so miraculous, have been given us sole-
ly to make warfare and strife the pre-
dominant human enterprise, as they are
today.
Once more, as so often in the past, the
world is in dire need of renewal and en-
largement of the spiritual truth and power
that alone can produce order and justice in
society, for it alone can lift us from the
state of the rational, selfish animal, where
we seem for the most part to be, to the
state of man. To strengthen and encour-
age us in our need, we are told in the Baha'i
writings: "A new life is in this age stirring
within all the peoples of the earth; and yet
none hath discovered its cause or perceived
its motive. O ye children of men! The
fundamental purpose animating the Faith of
God is to safeguard the interests and pro-
mote the unity of the human race . . . This
is the straight path, the fixed and immovable
foundation. Whatsoever is raised on this
foundation the changes and chances of the
world can never impair its strength, nor will
BAHA'f RADIO PROGRAM
775
the revolution of countless centuries under-
mine its structure.*'
THE NATURE OF MAN
The highest form of human society is that
based upon the principle of voluntary co-
operation and sustained by a mutual loyalty
for the attainment of the general welfare.
The lowest type of society is based upon
coercion and force, motivated by fear, and
made incapable of true progress because di-
vided by suspicion inherently incapable of
releasing the spiritual power of enthusiasm
and inner fulfillment.
When we apply this truth to present-day
civilization throughout the world, we find
all too many areas reduced to the level of
coercion, too few that permit self-respect
and the voluntary cooperation characterizing
human beings in a condition of equality.
Since, therefore, the quality of the social
structure depends ultimately upon the in-
tegrity of human character rather than upon
formal laws and statutes, it is clear and evi-
dent that cooperation cannot be established
among the nations, races and classes of earth
until men themselves have acquired the nec-
essary spiritual powers.
Long before the atheistic Roman states-
man asked the question, What is truth? a
greater and more heroic soul in Israel had
raised the same question in this significant
form: What is man, that Thou art mindful
of him?
What is man? Consider the appalling
confusion that exists today in all matters of
general social policy. Scarcely can two per-
sons be found anywhere to agree fully on a
solution of any phase of the world's major
problems. That confusion, which binds
with heavy chains the struggling body of a
suffering mankind, is nothing else than a re-
fl^ction of the real confusion darkening this
age, the ignorance concerning the nature and
the possibilities of man. Until we have
learned what man is, and what man can be,
it is futile to build any social structure upon
the shifting sands of ignorance and unbelief.
There could be no more poignant state-
ment on this spiritual condition than these
words of the Founder of the Baha'i Faith:
"The vitality of men's belief in God is dying
out in every land; nothing short of His
wholesome medicine can ever restore it. The
corruption of ungodliness is eating into the
vitals of human society; what else but the
Elixir of His potent revelation can cleanse
and revive it?"
What wonder, then, that so many con-
scientious persons today long for a return to
the simpler age of living faith, when men
sincerely believed in such mysteries as the
soul, the love of God, the spiritual destiny
of the race, and access to a guiding Provi-
dence and a sustaining Will?
But between us and that simpler age
stands all the vast body of knowledge cre-
ated by physical science. The telescope
plumbed the skies and found no naive,
primitive "heaven"; and the microscope
probed all matter, including the stuff we are
made of, and found no organ or visible in-
strument of the soul. Therefore a genera-
tion arose which felt it had to choose be-
tween faith and reason, between hope and
truth — and it turned away from the con-
victions of the simpler age.
The Baha'i teachings meet this supreme
issue squarely. They re-establish the foun-
dation of hope and faith, not by denying or
neglecting the particular truths of science,
but by carrying the scientific attitude
forward and onward to deal with a higher
order of truth. Their purpose is to identify
faith not with credulity but with conscious
knowledge.
The true scientist does not form his opin-
ion until he has considered all the relevant
facts. If a certain law is formulated, and
then new facts appear which obviously con-
tradict the law, he knows that it is not a
scientific law but only an opinion, and he
takes up the problem afresh. In dealing
with the facts concerning the nature of
man, the true scientist would not, for ex-
ample, base his conclusion merely upon a
study of infants and children, excluding all
adults. Neither would he confine his study
to the people of any one social class, or na-
tionality, or race. No— if we are to accept
as laws any formulas advanced concerning
the nature of man, we must certainly, and
above all, include in our range of vision
those who are the true and chosen leaders of
humanity, the seers and prophets, who in
their moral and ethical qualities are the most
776
THE BAHA'f WORLD
perfect of human beings. We must also in-
clude in our vision that vast realm of historic
truth which makes it so evident that these
seers and prophets have been the educators
of mankind and their influence the dynamic
principle of an evolving civilization. The
first principle of any valid psychology is
that man has capacity to transcend what we
call human nature when he responds to the
call of a higher type of being. In this call
he realizes a new measure of possibility
within himself, just as the possibility of the
seed is fulfilled through the mysterious chem-
istry of the sun shining upon the earth in
spring.
"Education," the Baha'i writings testify,
"is of three kinds: material, human, and
spiritual. Material education is concerned
with the progress and development of the
body, through gaining its sustenance, its ma-
terial comfort and ease. This education is
common to animals and man. Human edu-
cation signifies civilization and progress: that
is to say, government, administration, char-
itable works, trades, arts and handicrafts,
sciences, great inventions and discoveries of
physical laws, which are the activities es-
sential to man as distinguished from the
animal. Divine education is that of the
Kingdom of God: it consists in acquiring
divine perfections, and this is true educa-
tion. . . .
"Then it is clear and evident that man
needs an educator, and this educator must
be unquestionably and indubitably perfect
in all respects, and distinguished above all
men.
"Though man has powers and outer senses
in common with the animal, yet an ex-
traordinary power exists in him of which
the animal is bereft. The sciences, arts, in-
ventions, trades, and discoveries or realities,
are the results of this spiritual power. This
is a power which encompasses all things,
comprehends their realities, discovers all the
hidden mysteries of beings."
This positive assertion is explained most
clearly by the interpretation of the law of
evolution found in the Baha'i writings.
The world of nature, according to the
Bahd'i teaching, has three different kingdoms
or classes of existence. The first kingdom
includes the mineral, and the principle of
this kingdom is cohesion. The second king-
dom or class is that of the vegetable organ-
isms, which show forth not only the prin-
ciple of cohesion but also that of growth.
The third kingdom of existence in nature is
the animal world, and here we see operating
a third principle, that of sense perception
and sensibility. The world of mankind,
while it is immersed in nature, and subject
to the laws and principles which control the
three lower kingdoms, is raised above nature
by its possession of two powers or qualities
not existing in mineral, vegetable or animal
organisms. The first of these exclusively hu-
man attributes is that of rational intelli-
gence. The mind of man, with its ca-
pacity to perceive and understand abstract
and universal truths, is nothing else than
supernatural.
This startling fact is proved when we
bring to the evolution and process of mat-
ter the new and higher interpretation which
the Bahd'i writings contain. While the
older, materialistic theory insisted that mat-
ter of itself rises from kingdom to king-
dom, until through finer structure or more
intricate arrangement it produces the hu-
man intellect, the spiritual view replaces
this theory by an explanation which corre-
sponds to the actual facts. According to
the Baha'i philosophy, the elements never by
their own force rise from one kingdom to a
higher type of organism, but are taken up
and assimilated into the higher organism by
the higher organism itself. For example, the
mineral elements are drawn up by the vege-
table kingdom, and assimilated into that
kingdom. The vegetable kingdom, in turn,
is taken up and assimilated into the animal
kingdom; and the elements of the animal
kingdom are likewise raised by man and
transmuted into the conditions of his physi-
cal organism. The process, therefore, is not
controlled or motivated by any presumable
mysterious power vested in the atom to build
the higher forms of life, but by the inter-
action of the higher organism upon the
lower. The materialistic view of matter de-
clares to all intents and purposes that the
scattered bricks of themselves come together
and build the house, whose architecture the
bricks are somehow or other supposed to
know in advance!
BAHA'f RADIO PROGRAM
777
This incredible assumption is destroyed by
the true, spiritual teaching that the divine
Architect fashioned the pattern of each
kingdom of matter, and endowed each king-
dom with special qualities and attributes.
Just as the power of growth in the tree or
plant transcends the qualities of the mineral,
and just as the attribute of sense-perception
in the animal transcends the qualities of the
tree or plant, so is mind in man transcendent
to all other existence in the natural world. It
is a creation, a divine endowment and gift.
Rational intelligence, however, while com-
pletely supernatural in comparison to the
animal world, does not, in itself alone, con-
stitute the unique mystery of the human
kingdom. The second higher power of man
is his capacity of faith — his capacity to rec-
ognize the Creator as utterly transcendent
to himself, and to center his being upon de-
votion to the supreme Will. The sign of this
power of faith is free will; for man alone, of
all visible nature, is free to decide whether
he shall live in the animal world of selfish
sensibility, in the unregenerate human world
of rational intelligence employed for personal
or partisan ends, or in the spiritual world of
unity, cooperation and impersonal love. The
pull of nature within us is so constant and
so strong or insidious that the human will
cannot, unaided, raise up the mind and heart
to the spiritual level. Unless there were a
higher kingdom of reality above man, reach-
ing down and inspiring the heart and mind
with new energy and direction, man would
be like a king in exile, an orphan in poverty
and abandonment, able to glimpse a realm of
peace and fulfillment but never able to at-
tain.
This brief summary of man's place in na-
ture, and his potential ability to live by spir-
itual rather than by natural law, culminates
in the truth that the Creator has established
a world of reality higher than man, just as
He lias created the kingdoms or orders lower
than man. In the human being, the zenith
of material perfection exists — the sum total
of all the qualities and attributes developed
in the lower realms. But man is likewise the
beginning of spiritual perfection, the seed
that must attain its fruitful growth and ful-
fillment in the qualities and attributes that
yet lie enfolded in the narrow, dark husk of
the physical self. Until we become conscious
that a higher order truly exists, and is ac-
cessible to the aspiring soul within, we shall
continue to regard man as nothing else than
an animal who happens to possess the great
instrument of intelligence for satisfying a
mere animal desire.
Concerning the creative plan of God for
human evolution BahaVllah has written:
"Having created the world and all that liveth
and moveth therein, He, through the direct
operation of His unconstrained and sovereign
Will, chose to confer upon man the unique
distinction and capacity to know Him and
to love Him — a capacity that must needs be
regarded as the generating impulse and the
primary purpose underlying the whole of
creation. . . . These energies with which the
Day Star of divine bounty and Source of
heavenly guidance hath endowed the reality
of man lie, however, latent within him, even
as the flame is hidden within the candle and
the rays of light are potentially present in
the lamp. The radiance of these energies
may be obscured by worldly desires even as
the light of the sun can be concealed within
the dust and dross which cover the mirror."
Thus it is made clear that human beings
remain subject to nature until they find a
truth that will link them to the higher,
spiritual world. "Through the Teachings of
this Day Star of Truth, every man will de-
velop until he ... can manifest all the po-
tential forces with which his inmost, true
self hath been endowed."
THE NEW HUMANITY
When modern civilization shifted its cen-
ter from agriculture to industry, from man-
ual labor to the power-driven machine, our
social life was shaken to its very foundations.
In large measure, the international upheavals
and the internal troubles which afflict all
peoples today are the results of this profound
change, and as we come to understand better
its true significance, how far-reaching, how
revolutionary its influence has been, the con-
clusion seems inescapable that these difficul-
ties not only will continue, but in all prob-
ability will increase, until a new foundation
has been discovered and been laid that will
support the structure of this new and larger
civilization.
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THE BAHA'f WORLD
One of its most conspicuous effects has
been to introduce into human affairs two
new and vital elements. On the one hand it
has broken down the walls of isolation and
self-sufficiency which characterized society
throughout the long era of agricultural econ-
omy: on the other hand it has brought a
truly titanic extension and reinforcement to
the human personality. It will help us to
look at these two elements separately, and
then try to see what their combined effect
upon our social life has been.
Throughout the agricultural era, human
affairs were restricted to relatively small
areas and to relatively small numbers of peo-
ple. The sustenance of the community and
the raw materials needed for shelter and
other necessities came for the most part from
the particular locality. Such international
trade as existed dealt chiefly in articles of
luxury; the interruption of this trade for any
reason affected only a few; it could not
threaten the life of the community as a
whole. But our present-day industrial econ-
omy requires an immensely greater area in
which to operate. It cannot, in the first
place, function on raw materials obtained
only from the locality. Nor can it function
with a merely local market. The existence,
to say nothing of the progress, of this ma-
chine industry demands an economic area
that must inevitably transcend established
political divisions. Whether considered de-
sirable or not, this condition has become an
integral part of our social structure now
quite beyond our control. Modern industrial
economy cannot be artificially restricted to
any one country or land. And since its suc-
cessful operation has become the source of
sustenance and life to so large a part of man-
kind today, it automatically compels the
abandonment of isolation and restriction and
the emergence into a world economy pro-
tected from artificial interference. It has
given us the power to produce whatever and
as much as we require for the material well-
being of mankind. The tragedy is that man-
kind, however, has not yet learned how to
employ such a new and unprecedented
power.
The other contribution, the extension of
man's personality, is equally important and
far-reaching. As long as his intelligence had
no instrument to work through more effec-
tive than the skill and physical capacity of
human beings, the range of thought and will
was sharply confined. The era of manual
labor was one during which human intelli-
gence walked: it could not fly. Every un-
dertaking was necessarily limited in its scope,
and during that period mankind was well
nigh exhausted by the sheer struggle to ob-
tain sufficient food. Under this burden the
chief expression of his intelligence was to
overcome the difficulties and hazards of his
physical environment. He lived deeply im-
mersed in the conditions of nature. Nature,
in fact, has been man's chief environment up
to the dawn of this new day.
Now, through the aid of science, we have
achieved such a degree of mastery over na-
ture and of conquest of the natural environ-
ment that our intelligence has been able to
throw off its ancient burden. And in this
freedom of the intelligence to employ the
forces of nature for human aims and needs
a revolution has taken place infinitely more
significant than we yet realize. The will of
man has been transformed from a state of
servitude to nature into one of relative domi-
nance over its forces and laws. The hum-
blest modern family in using the radio, in
turning for healing to the public hospital,
in reading the daily press, and in a thousand
other ways, has ready access to advantages
which the mightiest of kings and conquerors
could not have commanded a few hundred
years ago. The extension of man's person-
ality is immeasurable.
What, then, is the significance of the en-
try of these two elements into our social
life? It means that man's most challenging,
his most dangerous environment today is no
longer nature; it is his fellow man.
Today our lives are immersed in the move-
ments of society as the lives of our forefathers
were immersed in the conditions of nature.
With every betterment in civilization we
advance. With every breakdown in civiliza-
tion, whether by war, revolution or indus-
trial conflict, we are thrown back to poverty
and helplessness. Our utmost hope and our
deepest dread both depend upon the direction
and movement of a society which has come
to include all mankind. This means that the
highest intelligence which we can muster
BAHA'f RADIO PROGRAM
779
should be set to work to discover and formu-
late the laws of right human relationships
with the same intensity that, in previous
ages, that intelligence was employed in the
investigation of the laws of nature. Just as
ignorance of those laws produced the calami-
ties of famine and pestilence in former days
which destroyed entire tribes and communi-
ties, so continued ignorance of social laws
and principles can and will today inevitably
produce the larger famine of revolution, the
more universal pestilence of international
war. And events seem to be drawing to a
climax. The time in which to find and to
act upon the true principles of human asso-
ciation may well be less than we know.
It is at this very point of world crisis, in
the confusion and uncertainty of this possi-
ble turning point in our destiny, that the
Baha'i teachings have come to shed their
clear and penetrating light. What is essen-
tial today, they explain, is an inner vision
and outlook freed from the limitations of
the past. To be alive in this new age, and to
take full advantage of its opportunities, we
must learn to think with an unprejudiced
mind, and to feel in terms of brotherhood.
We must realize that as airplane, radio and
other instruments have crossed the frontiers
drawn upon the map, so our sympathy and
spirit of oneness should rise above the influ-
ences that have separated race from race,
class from class, nation from nation, and
creed from creed. One destiny now controls
all human affairs. The fact of world unity
stands out above all other interests and con-
siderations.
As we enter into this oneness, we can look
back and see how struggle and violence be-
came so much a part of human relations that
it perverted all our conceptions. In the early
ages education was aimed chiefly to bring
about cooperation among the members of the
separate tribe or race. The conception of
loyalty, honesty, fellowship, mutual effort
and kindliness was limited to the single
group. As between tribes or races, how-
ever, the conception of an obligation to be
just or humane to one's fellows was replaced
by the exact opposite conception of strug-
gle, violence and war. Two ethical codes,
two moralities, even two religions, have been
practiced by all races from man's beginning.
One code was followed in relation to one's
own race; the other, just as conscientiously,
was applied to all other races and peoples.
One code was accepted as a spiritual teach-
ing, usually identified with a great seer or
prophet; the other code developed from the
conditions of race experience. It was as
though two totally different and mutually
exclusive sources of social principle existed
in the world — the principle of unity and fel-
lowship, and the principle of struggle and
hate.
The Bah£'i teaching abolishes this source
of struggle and conflict in man's conscious-
ness today. It removes the cause of this de-
structive division in human nature. It de-
clares that the essence and aim of all revealed
truth has been to promote the universal spread
of fellowship among men. Beneath the dif-
ferences of form, name and organization, it
points to the singleness of spirit that ani-
mates the word of truth in all ages and in all
parts of the world. It also shows that the
principle of organized struggle, however jus-
tified it may have been in the past, has now
become a menace to every society. The same
heroism that built up tribes, races and na-
tions in the past is now desperately needed to
build a world civilization. These two levels
of truth — devotion to God and devotion to
the welfare of the community — have at last
been brought together and reconciled. Un-
der the influence of these teachings the man
of intelligence and good will is no longer di-
vided in his loyalty. With the whole power
of his spirit and with the whole power of his
mind he can work to establish cooperation
among all the peoples of the earth. Every
people, this teaching tells us, has received its
blessing of spiritual truth. All nations and
races have found a path to the one God. All
paths have led to the same goal. Only one
light has shown, though the lamps have been
many.
This same light shines in the following
words of Bahd'u'llah: "The measure of the
revelation of the prophets of God in this
world . . . must differ. Each and every
one of them hath been the bearer of a dis-
tinct Message, and hath been commissioned
to reveal Himself through specific acts. It
is for this reason that they appear to vary in
their greatness. Their revelation may be
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THE BAHA'f WORLD
likened to the light of the moon that shed-
deth its radiance upon the earth.. Though
every time it appeareth it revealeth a fresh
measure of its brightness, yet its inherent
splendor can never diminish, nor can its light
suffer extinction.
"It is clear and evident, therefore, that
any apparent variation in the intensity of
their light is not inherent in the light itself
but should rather be attributed to the vary-
ing receptivity of an ever changing world.
Every prophet . . . hath been entrusted with
a Message, and charged to act in a manner
that would best meet the requirements of the
age in which He appeared. God's purpose in
sending His prophets unto men is twofold.
The first is to liberate the children of men
from darkness and ignorance and guide them
to the light of true understanding. The sec-
ond is to insure the peace and tranquillity of
mankind, and provide all the means by which
they can be established.
"The prophets of God should be regarded
as physicians whose task is to foster the well-
being of the world and its peoples, that,
through the spirit of oneness, they may heal
the sickness of a divided humanity. ... It
is towards the inmost essence of these proph-
ets, therefore, that the eye of every man of
discernment must be directed, inasmuch as
their one and only purpose hath always been
to guide the erring and give peace to the
afflicted. These are not days of prosperity
and triumph. The whole of mankind is in
the grip of manifold ills. Strive, therefore,
to save its life through the wholesome medi-
cine which the . . . unerring physician
hath prepared."
It is well to note that this summons to
unity has not been sounded in words alone,
no matter how true and inspiring these may
be. It has been written unmistakably in the
movements of the world for more than sev-
enty years. A new age has come into being
— a new age that requires a renewal of man's
spirit. Can there be a nobler task than to
respond to the appeal of the Baha'i teachings
to do away with the causes of prejudice and
hostility and to make an end to the fear and
hatred that prevent us from recognizing the
true human-ness of our fellows across fron-
tiers and beyond the seas? To become mem-
bers of the new humanity?
A WORLD MESSAGE
As we look back along the highway of his-
tory, we find that the outstanding milestones
mark the great discoveries of truth. The
date when we learned that the Ifearth moves
around the sun, instead of the reverse, or
when the principle of the steam engine was
first stumbled upon before the kitchen stove,
is far more important than the memorials
which tell of the coming and going of con-
querors and kings. But infinitely more far-
reaching in its effect than even these revolu-
tionary events is the discovery in this age of
the fact that spiritual law controls the move-
ments of society just as irresistibly as the
laws of physics control the processes of mat-
ter. And we are painfully learning that a
universe governed by the forces of this
higher law simply will not contain a human-
ity either compelled or permitted to exist in
anarchy and- chaos. Recognition of this
truth, the Baha'i teaching makes clear, is the
first step for us to take toward an ordered
society. There is, however, a distinction to
be made between our relation to scientific
laws and our relation to this higher law
which it is important for us to understand
if we hope to have a permanent basis for our
civilization.
Obviously, the earth was serenely moving
in its orbit around the sun all through those
former ages when people believed that it was
fixed and that the sun moved around it. The
discovery of the true facts did not create
them; it merely enabled intelligent people to
conform to them. In the same way, the law
of gravity was there and operating before it
happened to be noticed and formulated.
Whether anyone knew the law or not, the
force of gravity was acting, and its action
was favorable or unfavorable as men acted
with it or against it. Knowledge of law, it
is hardly necessary to say, simply means that
we need not act against it, and that we can
save ourselves from the penalties and disas-
ters caused by disobedience to it.
But knowledge of natural law does not in-
volve any personal or social problem. That
kind of knowledge is mere passive informa-
tion. It applies to elements and forces which
lie outside our human personalities. Nothing
about mathematics, physics, chemistry or
BAHA'f RADIO PROGRAM
781
astronomy, for example, touches our deeper
motives. That kind of knowledge is wholly
impersonal and does not within itself hold
causes of agitation and disturbance for the
nations, races, classes and creeds of mankind.
To a certain* degree, there is resemblance be-
tween natural and spiritual law. In both
cases, knowledge of the law brings added
power, and protection against the results of
disobedience to a higher force. In both cases,
the law existed before we became aware of it,
and the laws of spiritual truth treat our ig-
norance of them just as do the laws of
nature. A 'sanction is applied.
But here the resemblance ends. The char-
acter of the higher law is such that it can
never consist of mere mental knowledge or
passive information. For example, honesty
is prescribed for us all: it is a law^applying
directly to the deepest part of our being. We
cannot merely "know" honesty — we must
be honest. Life itself tests ev$ry man as to
whether he is honest and truthful or not, and
the test comes to each of us, as a rule, in the
most difficult and subtle manner. Life is
not a school where we obtain high marks for
knowing that truth and honesty are spiritual
laws — it is a school which settles whether we
are truthful and honest. The test is not
what we know but what we are.
For long ages, however, we have believed
that, while these higher laws existed for the
individual, they did not exist for the group,
the nation. While we have admitted that
each man should be honest, truthful, sincere,
and perhaps even forbearing, we have failed
to extend these laws to states and civiliza-
tions. This failure has not been a deliberate,
conscious refusal to obey the law; it has been
due to our ignorance of the fact that law is
universal and that these higher laws rule the
larger movements and issues of society as
natural laws control the suns and planets of
the physical cosmos. Great empires and
mighty civilizations have fallen because their
rulers and their peoples substituted an arbi-
trary human will for the power of social law.
Ignorance of this law did not protect them
from the consequences of its denial.
Knowledge of cosmic law came about only
when men began to study nature as a whole.
The wider the vision, the clearer it became
that law and not chance or caprice controls
the affairs of the earth and of the heavens.
In this same way, knowledge of social law
calls for a view or perspective over long pe-
riods of time. To discover the working of
this higher law in human affairs, we must
trace the working of cause and effect in the
lifetimes of nations. The effects of honesty
or dishonesty in individuals can be seen in a
few years, no matter how carefully the inner
motive has been concealed. But we require
its record ovc$ centuries to find out whether
spiritual law has been the controlling influ-
ence in the development of a civilization.
And one .of the most distinctive qualities of
the Baha'i teachings is that they give us a
point of view which enables us to understand
the working of this higher law as applied to
the movements of society. They give us a
clear interpretation of the meaning of his-
tory.
In this interpretation they tell us that
there are four stages in the development of
every civilization, and that these four stages
together constitute a cycle or "social year" in
human development. And we find that this
view coincides with the facts of history.
The first stage marks the birth of a civiliza-
tion. We know how modern Europe arose
from the ruin of the force of ancient Rome.
But we have not realized, as the Baha"'i
teachings point out, that its energy came
from a renewed understanding of this higher
law as revealed in the teachings of Jesus.
From that knowledge came an inspiration
under which an increasing community of
men tried to live a new and better life. They
felt that this law required the fullest possi-
ble conscious obedience. So they rose above
the dead social conventions of the time and
practiced a living unity together. And to
realize the unfolding possibilities of this new
unity, they developed the principles of a
higher order of social life. Out of these
principles the civilization of Europe gradu-
ally emerged. As the Baha'i teaching ex-
plains: "When the Holy Manifestation of
God, who is the sun of the world of his cre-
ation, shines upon the worlds of spirits, of
thoughts and of hearts, then a spiritual
spring and new life appear, the power of the
wonderful springtime becomes visible and
marvelous benefits are apparent.0
The second stage marks the time when the
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THE BAHA'l WORLD
new release of faith expresses itself in apply-
ing the vision of unity and cooperation to
daily affairs. Those who first understand
the law realize that they can hold what they
have gained only by sharing it freely with
others, and by establishing a society which
reflects their new understanding of truth,
justice and love.
The third stage is when the civilization
has acquired a culture and the social institu-
tions necessary to the life of a great body of
people. This third stage represents the full
fruition of the working of the higher law.
Little by little, however, the original faith
and understanding become changed into
worship of the new instruments of power
which men themselves have created. Indi-
viduals begin to grasp at personal power, the
supporting bond of unity becomes weakened
and the civilization moves into the fourth
stage which the Baha'i calls the "winter" of
the social cycle. The instruments of justice
become the means of injustice. Protesting
classes, driven by oppression and poverty,
organize for rebellion. The instinct of self-
preservation grows stronger than the virtue
of mutual loyalty. The civilization divides
into struggling parties and interests, and the
original spirit that created its unity cannot
be restored. It is this process of life and
death as applied to society that is the crucial
challenge which confronts the world today.
And the Baha'i teaching makes clear that,
if we fail to recognize this law of cycles,
this recurrent heart-beat and pulsation of the
creative force of this higher law, we shall be
as blind as, and in all probability shall share
the lot of, those ancient peoples whose only
trace today is to be found in a few eloquent
ruins.
It should be especially noted that these
social cycles are not simple repetitions of
group experience: they are the developing
and evolving measures of human advance-
ment, as the annual cycle in the world of na-
ture measures its growth and ultimate frui-
tion. And we find in all the world's sacred
Scriptures alike the firm assurance that faith
and obedience to spiritual law will ultimately
be fulfilled in a civilization that shall unite
all peoples and races in one order, one faith
and one universal law.
The Baha'i message is a world message be-
cause it rests upon the certainty of that ful-
fillment: it is a world message because it
enlarges the area of truth from the indi-
vidual to the nation, and from the nation to
the entire world. It tells us that this present
day is one of final struggle between knowl-
edge and ignorance, between faith and unbe-
lief, between the partisan and the universal
spirit. It renews our vision of eternal love
behind eternal law. And it assures us of our
capacity in this day to make world unity a
living reality, when that capacity asks help
from the only Source of help.
"And now in this divine age, see what de-
velopment has been attained in the world of
minds and thoughts, and it is now only the
beginning of its dawn. Before long you
will see that new bounties and divine teach-
ings will illuminate this dark world and will
transform these sad regions into the Paradise
of Eden."
"We desire but the good of the world and
the happiness of the nations . . . That all
nations should become one in faith and all
men as brothers; that the bonds of affection
and unity between the sons of men should be
strengthened; that diversity of religion
should cease, and differences of race be an-
nulled . . . Yet so it shall be: these fruit-
less strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass
away, and the Most Great Peace shall come."
"O people of Justice! Be as brilliant as
the light and as splendid as the fire that
blazed in the Burning Bush. The brightness
of the fire of your love will surely fuse and
unify the contending peoples and kindreds of
the earth, whilst the fierceness of the flame
of enmity and hatred cannot but result in
strife and ruin . . . All men have been cre-
ated to carry forward an ever advancing civ-
ilization. The Almighty beareth me witness:
To act like the beasts of the field is un-
worthy of man. Those virtues that befit his
dignity are forbearance, mercy, compassion
and loving-kindness towards all peoples and
kindreds of the earth."
A NEW WORLD ORDER
During this past week we have considered
in brief outline the Baha'i teachings of the
new order which is gradually taking form in
the social life of the world, and we have seen
that this is being brought about by the nor-
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783
mal working of evolutionary forces, as their
nature and method are explained by these
teachings. The explanation is so new to us,
however, and strikes so directly at the heart
of the difficulties and dangers that threaten
every people today, and even civilization it-
self, it is perhaps well to go over again one or
two of the points that have been brought
out before we end our series of talks.
One of the most important teachings is
that the development of our higher areas of
consciousness, that part of us where lie the
answers to our social problems, goes for-
ward under the influence of laws that follow
closely the method of the laws which control
the evolution of the world of nature. As
nature advances in a pattern of annual cy-
cles, with their four seasons, so our higher
understanding unfolds in vast cyclic move-
ments expressed in terms of civilizations. As
life in the tree is quickened by the rays of
the mounting sun in springtime, to press on
to full fruition and then recede to the un-
productivity of winter, so groups of people
in different parts of the earth from time to
time have felt the quickening force of a
mounting spiritual power and, responding to
it, have risen from relative inferiority and
impotence to a civilization of immensely
higher culture and power. Then, as the
force which had built them up and sus-
tained them passed the zenith of its influ-
ence, gradually their culture and power
waned and they sank back into a period of
spiritual unproductivity, a life largely mate-
rialistic, the winter of their civilization. The
working of this law can readily be traced in
history, which, for example, tells us of the
rise and fall of Rome and its civilization, of
ancient Persia, of the Jews and the civiliza-
tion that flowered in the court of Solomon,
and, nearer to us, of the Moslem forward
thrust that fought its way to Spain and there
gave to the world the glories of the Alham-
bra, the brilliant civilization of the Moors.
Each of these historic movements in civiliza-
tion fits into its place in the rhythmic pulsa-
tion of this law of cycles as expressed in the
field of man's social consciousness. Here we
see this higher law at work in the past. And
it still works on, the Baha'i teachings say;
it does not rest.
Which leads to, perhaps for us, the most
important of all the teachings, that in the
cyclic course of this higher law a spiritual
winter time is now ending; the world is to-
day just beginning to feel the quickening
force of a new forward movement in a cycle
which is to bring us to a world civilization
of unimagined perfection. The disturbing
changes which are happening all about us,
the more heartening events which sometimes
do occur, are both alike the results of the
increasing power of this higher law, prepar-
ing the way for a new world order that will
rest upon the unshakable base of spiritual
values. Now it shatters and sweeps away
forms that stand in its path; now it com-
bines into higher and more useful forms ele-
ments that are in harmony with its purpose,
working out the chemistry of the new civil-
ization, demonstrating the inspiring fact
that today efforts directed toward the build-
ing up of a nobler form of social order have
behind them the support of all the power of
this higher law, the forces of evolution it-
self.
For the greatest chemistry of all is that
which deals with the union and order of
human beings in the state of society. In
human beings the Creator has deposited pow-
ers and forces which, on the physical plane,
represent the highest expression of elemental
life; but which, on the mental and spiritual
planes, contain attributes raised high above
nature. History is our record of this power-
ful chemistry — the laboratory note book in
which is set down the results of many social
experiments, some describing notable suc-
cesses, others grimly depicting those wars,
revolutions and other human explosions by
which societies have been utterly destroyed.
The ingredient which the Baha'i teachings,
as well as all experience, show to be essential
to the preservation of civilization is a mutual
loyalty based upon the foundation of spirit-
ual law. The ingredient invariably leading
to social explosion is hate.
So sinister have become the influences
making for hatred today that the time has
come to learn the laws of that spiritual
chemistry which settles the outcome of all
human relations. The world has become a
laboratory in which the very powers of life
and death are being manipulated by the
ignorant, the evil, and even the insane.
784
THE BAHA'f WORLD
The first principle of civilization is that
no human being, however weak and lowly,
can be regarded as merely a brute, an outcast
whose fate is a matter of indifference to his
fellow men. Even though latent and unde-
veloped, the attributes of man are divinely
created. Great emphasis has been given to
this spiritual endowment of man in the writ-
ing of Baha'u'llah: "Whatever is in the
heavens and whatever is on the earth is a
direct evidence of the revelation within it of
the attributes and narq.es of God. . . . To a
supreme degree is this true of man, who,
among all created beings, hath been invested
with the robe of such gifts, and hath been
singled out for the glory of such distinction.
For in him are potentially revealed all the
attributes and names of God to a degree that
no other created being hath excelled or sur-
passed. . . . Man, the noblest and most per-
fect of all created things, excelleth them
all in the intensity of this revelation, and
is a fuller expression of its glory."
In the light of this truth, it seems evident
that altogether too much power is attributed
to those human organizations which employ
material force and ruthless coercion to attain
their ends. The following quotation indi-
cates how fruitless are the efforts to estab-
lish the association of men on any other than
a basis of spiritual truth: "Economic dis-
tress . . . together with political confusion,
financial upheavals, religious restlessness and
racial animosities, seem to have conspired to
add immeasurably to the burdens under
which an impoverished, a war-weary world
is groaning. Such has been the cumulative
effect of these crises, following one another
with such bewildering rapidity, that the very
foundations of society are trembling. The
world, to whichever continent we turn our
gaze, ... is everywhere assailed by forces
it can neither explain nor control. . . . Hu-
manity, whether viewed in the light of
man's individual conduct or of the existing
relationships between organized communi-
ties and nations, has alas, strayed too far and
suffered too great a decline to be redeemed
through the unaided efforts of the best
among its recognized rulers and statesmen —
however disinterested their motives, however
concerted their action, however unsparing in
their zeal and devotion to its cause. No
scheme which the calculations of the highest
statesmanship may yet devise; no doctrine
which the most distinguished exponents of
economic theory may hope to advance; no
principle which the most ardent of moralists
may strive to inculcate, can provide, in the
last resort, adequate foundations upon which
the future of a distracted world can be
built."
The Baha'i writings contain a further
passage which at this hour has far-reaching
significance. It describes how the light of
this higher law is arising in this age to banish
hatred and fear from the earth.
"In cycles gone by, though harmony was
established, yet, owing to the absence of
means, the unity of all mankind could not
have been achieved. Continents remained
widely divided, nay, even among the peoples
of one and the same continent, association
and interchange of thought were well nigh
impossible. Consequently, intercourse, under-
standing and unity amongst all the peoples
and kindreds of the earth were unattainable.
In this day, however, means of communica-
tion have multiplied, and the five continents
of the earth have virtually merged into one
... In like manner, all the members of the
human family, whether peoples or govern-
ments, cities or villages, have become increas-
ingly interdependent. For none is self-suffi-
ciency any longer possible, inasmuch as
political ties unite all peoples and nations, and
the bonds of trade and industry, of agricul-
ture and education, are being strengthened
every day. Hence the unity of all mankind
can in this day be achieved. Verily this is
none other but one of the wonders of this
wondrous age, this glorious century. Of
this, past ages have been deprived, for this
century, — the century of light, — has been
endowed with unique and unprecedented
glory, power and illumination. . . .
"Behold how its light is now dawning
upon the world's darkened horizon. The
first candle is unity in the political realm,
the early glimmerings of which can now be
discerned. The second candle is unity of
thought in world undertakings, the con-
summation of which will ere long be wit-
nessed. The third candle is unity in freedom
which will surely come to pass. The fourth
candle is unity in religion which is the
BAHA'i RADIO PROGRAM
785
cornerstone of the foundation itself, and
which, by the power of God, will be revealed
in all its splendor. The fifth candle is the
unity of nations — a unity which in this cen-
tury will be securely established, causing all
the peoples of the world to regard themselves
as citizens of one common fatherland. The
sixth candle is unity of races, making of all
that dwell on earth peoples and kindreds of
one race. The seventh candle is unity of
language, that is, the choice of a universal
tongue in which all peoples will be instructed
and converse. Each and every one of these
will inevitably come to pass, inasmuch as the
power of the Kingdom of God will aid and
assist in their realization."
The first principle of civilization has al-
ready been described as recognition of the
spiritual nature of man. The second is to
become aware that a human society capable
of solving its problems is no mere casual
or artificial grouping of a large number of
human beings, but the reflection and out-
working of a creative spirit. These teach-
ings tell us that such a spirit is moving the
minds and hearts today throughout the
world. Its necessary creation is a world
society, and the path leading to that world
society is a living belief in the oneness of
mankind.
We of today live in a transitional age, the
"forty years of wilderness" that lie between
the old world and the new. The part each
man plays is determined by whether he looks
backward or forward, whether he responds
to materialism or to the higher law, whether
he is slave to the darkness or the servant of
the light. As has been so poignantly ex-
pressed: "The whole of mankind is groaning,
is dying to be led to unity, and to terminate
its age-long martyrdom. And yet it stub-
bornly refuses to embrace the light and
acknowledge the sovereign authority of the
one Power that can extricate it from its en-
tanglements, and avert the woeful calamity
that threatens to engulf it.
"Unification of the whole of mankind is
the hall-mark of the stage which human so-
ciety is now approaching. Unity of family,
of tribe, or city-state, and nation have been
successfully attempted and fully established.
World unity is the goal towards which a
harassed humanity is now striving. Nation-
building has come to an end. The anarchy
inherent in state sovereignty is moving to-
wards a climax. A world, growing to ma-
turity, must abandon this fetish, recognize
the oneness and wholeness of human relation-
ships, and establish once for all the ma-
chinery that can best incarnate this funda-
mental principle in its life."
There are three periods in this movement
toward world unity: first, when the need of
the larger unity is denied and resisted; sec-
ond, when the need of unity is admitted, but
substitutes for the true unity are attempted;
and third, the hour when all resistance and
subterfuge are abandoned, and the spirit of
unity is at last awakened among men. We
have already passed through the first of these
periods. At present we are still experiment-
ing with incomplete measures and half-
hearted efforts. But the law is silently at
work. Signs are not lacking that many have
begun to respond to the new world spirit,
and are ready to serve its universal aim. For
such, these words of BahaVllah will bring
comfort and strength: "Soon will the pres-
ent-day order be rolled up, and a new one
spread out in its stead. Verily, thy Lord
speaketh the truth, and is the Knower of
things unseen."
THE BUST OF 'ABDU/L-BAHA
BY MRS. STANNARD
JLHE Sculptor, Nicolas Sokolnitsky, is a
Russian of the Ukraine — his natal town
Kiev. He has lived in Paris many years and
possesses French naturalization papers. He
creates original works of Art and has ac-
complished many successful portrait busts
and small statues.
It was during the summer of 1936 when
some of us, belonging to the Baha'i group
of Paris, came in touch with a few people
forming a Catholic international religious
group. One or two of these came to Baha'i
meetings at Mrs. Scott's and among them
was the sister of Nicolas Sokolnitsky, the
sculptor.
From this link came invitations to visit
their private gatherings and to discuss re-
ligious questions as between Christianity and
Islam.
I and some of the Iranian students fol-
lowed this up and a few profitable meetings
took place through which we became ac-
quainted with the sculptor himself.
He seemed to take an immediate interest
in the principles of the Cause and begged us
to come and discuss these matters at his
studio. He received us with great hospitality
and after hearing our convictions stood up
and holding a French translation of one of
Baha'u'llah's works which I had lent him,
declared himself frankly as one who had in-
stinctively held to such teachings for many
years. He believed that the world was
rapidly approaching the time when such
a spiritual outlook would be generally
felt.
It was on one of these occasions when
inspecting some of Sokolnitsky's works as he
stood by, that I happened to make the re-
mark, "It is a thousand pities that the great
French sculptor Rodin never met the Mas-
ter when he was in Paris." He of all men
one felt would have appreciated the great
beauty of his majestic head and its pure
prophet type of outline, etc. "Tete de
Prophete" was a phrase heard more than once
by the French who were privileged to meet
him.
Sokolnitsky looked at me suddenly and in
tones of great eagerness said, "I will do this!
I can do it!" His eyes lighted up as he
demanded of me what pictures or photo-
graphs I had that he could study.
The next day he came to see me and I
laid out ready for his inspection all my col-
lection of photos and prints or reproductions
that I possessed. He examined these care-
fully and selected two or three that he
thought he could use.
THE DREAM
In the early morning of that night Nicolas
Sokolnitsky had ar vision. It was about noon
the next day that I was called to the tele-
phone and his voice in agitated excited tones
came through begging me to come to his
studio as soon as I could and see what he
had done and to tell me something very
particular.
Thinking he needed some essential infor-
mation for his work, immediately I put aside
some work I was engaged in and left for his
studio as soon as I could.
To my amazement he uncovered the wet
cloth wrapped round a large sized clay bust
and I looked on the completed head of 'Abd-
u'l-Baha. It was in the rough stage but the
likeness to me was unmistakable.
As I stared in astonishment, he laughed
and said, "Yes, some sculptors would say it
was almost miraculous."
Then he drew me aside and told me with
many touches of descriptive details the fol-
lowing: "The same night that I had the
portraits you lent me — it must have been
between four and five in the morning — I
had a dream so vivid and real of a figure in
white standing before me and I saw, I am
sure, the Iranian Master. He had the turban
and white beard and he stretched out a hand
786
THE BUST OF 'ABDU'L-BAHA
787
The sculptor, Nicolas Sokolnitsky, at work on a bust of 'Abdu'1-Baha in his Paris studio.
to me and then in Russian said, 'Rise and directly after, he rose and getting materials
speak of me.' " together he worked then and there for four
The effect was so great that on waking or five hours without stopping.
AFRICAN EXPERIENCE
BY LOULIE A. MAT HEWS
A,
.FRIG A! The golden vistas of un-
counted treasure which that word has con-
jured up in the minds of men! The early
navigators, driven by an ever increasing
hope of finding a short passage to India, a
passage that would open to them the fabled
wealth of the Orient, made many voyages
that resulted in failure before Vasco da
Gama's final discovery. What pride must
the astute mariner have felt as, from the
prow of his ship, he gazed upon that for-
midable rock, the Cape of Good Hope, jut-
ting out into the sea and realized that the
navigators' dream had become reality, and
that to him had fallen the victory.
Since that fateful day of discovery many
men have landed on these shores. The
Dutch, driven from the Fatherland by reli-
gious persecution, brought their boats up on
the sands leading to Cape Town and, in the
early part of the seventeenth century, faced
the hardships of an unexplored country
rather than give up religious freedom. A
century later the English landed soldiers
here, drawn by news of the finding of gold
beneath the rocky ledges of Rhodesia and
diamonds richly studding the Kimberley
mines. The clash of arms resulting in the
Boer War and the ultimate victory of the
English is history from the pages of our own
times.
In the present century, following in the
wake of trade, came the Baha'i pioneers,
offering the people wealth conferred by the
spirit; the flaming riches of a mine of knowl-
edge; the news of the coming of a Prophet,
bringing a new command for the children
of men. Martha Root, the champion of the
ideals of the New Day, came hither and
spread the Message of BahiVlldh, using her
spiritual technique of making every action
bring forth results for the Cause of God.
Fanny Knobloch in the year 1920 embarked
upon this long journey, living and teaching
here. Her letters were filled with love for
South Africa, its people, its beauty and the
unique flavor of this distant land. It is due
to her thoughtfulness that we received a
copy of the Tablet written in i920 by 'Abd-
u'l-Baha, a portion of which is quoted:
It may be that the government of these
regions will check thee. Thou shouldst say
— I am a Baha'i, and am a friend with all
religions and nations. I consider all to be of
one race and count them as my relatives.
I have divine love, not racial or sectarian
love. According to the palpably written
command of Baha'u'llah, I do not pronounce
a word pertaining to politics, because we are
forbidden to interfere in political affairs. We
are concerned with affairs which are heav-
enly. We are Servants unto the world of
morality. We consider that religious, racial,
political and national prejudices are destruc-
tive to the world of humanity. We believe
that the whole surface of the earth consti-
tutes one home, and that all of mankind
form one family. With all we are in the
utmost sincerity and kindliness.
Upon thee be Glory of the Abha!
Signed: 'Abdu'l-Baha-'Abbas.
Translated August 10, 1920
The significant words with which this
portion of the Tablet opens — "It may be
that the government of these regions will
check thee" — proved all too true. It was
not long before the strained situation exist-
ing between the South African churches was
brought to our attention. Two established
churches: one, the Dutch Reformed, and the
other the established Church of England,
each keeping aloof from the other with a
certain hostile distrust. Thus a delicate situ-
ation had come into being which all the
leaders decried. They sought a remedy anx-
iously and greeted with delight any point of
unity that could be brought about. At the
same time they dreaded the importing of new
788
AFRICAN EXPERIENCE
789
ideas lest it increase the strife and create
further confusion. It was therefore sug-
gested that it would be the part of wisdom
not to give direct Baha'i teachings from the
platform, but that it would be wiser to stress
unity and reason, and to make some other
opportunity for giving the tenets of our
Faith. As the Divine Plan holds the remedy
for every situation, the first suggestion was
simple, but not the second.
How then to combine the presentation of
the Principles and at the same time give the
true Message for which we had come so
many hundred miles to deliver! Only the
Holy Spirit can solve such difficulties and
bring triumph out of disaster. In such a crisis
it is necessary to banish all fear, to know no
disturbance, and to pass by all limitation.
The answer rests with the Holy Spirit. And
in meditation and prayer the answer WILL
BE GIVEN. Complications arise from
minds of limitation, BahaVllah states, but
the pure spirit knows nought except free-
dom. It is single in purpose, being the very
point of the mystery of unity.
Clearly then came the answer and the
right course to pursue became evident and
certain. Meetings were arranged, a chair-
man of distinction provided. My husband
outlined his efforts in uniting the school chil-
dren of England and America. In my part of
the talk the Principles were given and the
outline of the New World order. Stress was
laid on the dangers to which mankind is
exposed today and emphasis was given to the
investigation of truth and the necessity for a
revision of judgment on many points. Ideas
that had become superannuated and out-
worn must be laid aside, for this was a dif-
ferent world and required readjustment of
thought. Then, promising a revelation of
importance to every soul, the audience was
formed into six or eight small groups. No
one felt shy, questions were eagerly asked,
and each group had a direct Message. Mean-
while, refreshments were served to those who
waited, and great impatience was evinced to
be next in turn to hear the Message. In
closing, a few words from the platform were
given, with thanks for their attention and
open -mindedness.
Instant success followed this simple ex-
periment. The reporters grasped its novelty
and significance, and wrote clearly their ac-
counts. I quote one from the Sunday News
of Bulawayo of February 14, 1937:
"Last Sunday afternoon Mrs. Roscoe Ma-
thews of New York City gave a talk before
sixty-five people, at the home of Mr. and
Mrs. Forbes, the subject being 'The Impor-
tance of the New Day.' The speaker pleaded
for the banding together of all races and
creeds for the preservation of the world,
pointing out that in no other way can world
peace be obtained. She spoke with great
conviction of the power of spirit in bringing
about the ideals of the age; showing that the
stage in the evolution of man has reached a
critical period, and that humanity is in grave
danger unless we take hold of the situation
with reality, awake and do not remain asleep.
Many remarkable instances of the power and
force of constructive thinking were given.
She charmed her audience by the sincerity
of her words and the depth of the design to
which she called us who listened. During a
planned intermission Mrs. Mathews talked
informally with each group that had sepa-
rated themselves for this purpose. To each
she gave the basis of the Baha'i religion, its
motivating principle, its spiritual concepts,
its fundamental ideal, the oneness of the
world of humanity. All religions, the
speaker said, must give way before the neces-
sity of a fundamental unity, even while
many would retain certain distinguishing
characteristics. The word Baha'i was ex-
plained; it means light or glory, and will be
used the world over to designate the new
message. Already a universal church or tem-
ple is being erected near Chicago.
"Mr. and Mrs. Mathews are Baha"'i teach-
ers who travel for the purpose of spreading
the message of the new Prophet, Bahi'u'llih.
Among the students of this religion will be
found Buddhists, Christians, Muhammadans
and Confucians, as well as members of the
other religions of the world. A universal
church is compatible with the belief in
world peace based on mutual understanding.
Former religions have created and main-
tained barriers between race and race, be-
tween religion and religion. While these
barriers remain the world will not be in com-
posure and rest. At the conclusion Mrs.
'
Mr. and Mrs. Roscoc Mathews (Photograph of welcome card presented at the Gateway
to South Africa).
790
AFRICAN EXPERIENCE
791
A. W. Gordon proposed a vote of thanks
to the speaker."
This lucid and remarkable article was
copied in several other journals.
An incident at the meeting in Bulawayo
was of special importance. After the talk a
man advanced and introduced himself as
Rabbi Cohen. He seemed much affected by
the stories related in the address and, holding
my hand warmly in his, exclaimed, "What
can I do for a religion that may be able to
free my people from their bondage, may be
able to remove the stigma of ancient times?"
In replying it was suggested that he might
take our literature, which had been brought
from America both in Dutch and English,
and with them form a Baha'i lending library.
His face fairly shone; and so it came about
that from that single talk in Bulawayo, the
spirit touched this man and led him to un-
dertake an altogether new enterprise, the
establishment of a library of which he had
never heard until that day. In a recent
letter he writes:
P. O. Box 470
Bulawayo, April 18, 1937
Dear Mrs. Mathews:
Many thanks for so kindly sending me
your pamphlets which I have read with great
interest. I am more and more impressed
by the fact that men and women of good
will are thinking along similar lines. The
great problem is indeed to organize in some
way these countless believers in the unity of
mankind. In our own South Africa we have
savage, racial and color differences, and yet
too, we have fine examples of the spiritual
growth of humanity. I am sending your
pamphlets to an important organization in
the union, with the suggestion that they
should circulate them in large numbers. You
will undoubtedly hear from them direct.
I am urging you to send us one of your lead-
ing teachers in the near future. You have
dropped seeds that may fructify in unex-
pected ways. It is terrible to think that an-
other world war may come before we realize
our essential unity. The world is indeed
fighting for its soul against the forces of
dark reaction. I feel strongly that only the
power of a mighty religious conviction can
bring about radical changes. And today the
vast raucous voices of world propaganda
drown the still small voice of conscience,
which can hardly be heard by the suffering
and despairing millions. It is good, oh, how
good, to know and feel that the enlightened
have an ally in every part of the world
through the Baha'i Message.
Kind regards,
Signed: M. I. Cohen.
It was a great disappointment not to meet
personally General Smuts. He knows of the
Baha'i religion and is most sympathetic to-
wards it, but we arrived at the opening of
Parliament and had to be content with
vicarious messages. This remarkable man is
a Boer who fought against the British in the
South African war. His ability and outlook
have so appealed to the fair-mindedness of
the English that he stands at the head of the
nation today.
From the train window one sees many of
the native compounds, for the natives live
in villages directed and controlled by a coun-
cil, which receives all the product and
moneys that accrue to the individuals of a
given community, and distributes the com-
bined resources according to the need of
each. The women do not leave the com-
pounds and never work among white people.
The men are seen in all the large cities and
are much loved and respected. In many
situations they have responsibility and the
confidence of their employers. The villages
are most picturesque, made either of mud
walls with a decorative design, which in
turn enclose the wattled tents; or of bamboo
artfully combined with clay. From the
train, too, one glimpses the great fruit or-
chards as they flash by. These orchards,
among the most famous in the world, re-
semble huge bouquets of red and yellow,
laden to the ground and falling over white-
washed walls in splashes of color.
During a visit to Kruger National Park,
we had an opportunity of experiencing the
kindly spirit of the natives. It had rained —
rained as only it can in South Africa — the
water falling in solid sheets that turned tiny
rivulets into rushing torrents. We had to
move so slowly that we were late in arriving
at the gates of the park. Already was evi-
792
THE BAHA'f WORLD
dent that peculiar chill that rises from the
ground in the tropics with the setting of the
sun. Suddenly our Ford car sank down into
the mud which reached the hubs of the
wheels. There seemed nothing to do but to
resign ourselves to a night of terror, since
lions and tigers roam at will; — when sud-
denly out of the gloom from the bank six
stalwart natives appeared. They moved so
softly that we were scarcely aware of their
presence until they reached the motor.
Directed by one taller and more command-
ing than the rest, without a word they put
their bare shoulders under the wheels, gave a
mighty pull, and the next moment the motor
was lifted on high and brought down to
safety. It might have been a toy machine
on the floor of a nursery. In return they
accepted chocolate and sandwiches but re-
fused our money, indicating by their expres-
sive faces and gestures that they did not
want it and were glad to render assistance.
Silently they disappeared again into the bush.
Alas, that our visit was so soon ended.
How much we longed to remain among these
people who had given such a generous re-
sponse to the Message that had been brought.
But the time of departure drew near. No
sooner had the train drawn up alongside the
wharf at Durban than the Franconia
weighed anchor and, steaming through the
beautiful harbor, lighted with the glory of
the setting sun, turned into the Indian
Ocean. A wave of sadness penetrated our
whole being as South Africa faded from
view. How little had been accomplished!
How much was there left to do! Often will
our prayers and hearts turn to this land,
asking that we return in person or through
other workers that BahaVllah will raise up
to carry forward his Divinely Appointed
Work.
A postscript from Bombay, India: Reach-
ing Bombay an unexpected gift awaited our
coming. It was a picture letter from the
friends we had made in Cape Town. Pic-
tures of the famous landmarks were accom-
panied by the signatures of every one who
had attended the first talk given in Cape
Town. And with it came the following let-
ter of gratitude for the Message brought. It
was indeed a loving and memorable souvenir
of a Baha'i journey.
150 St. George's Street
Cape Town, February 11, 1937
Dear Mrs. Mathews,
Everyone who heard you speak was so de-
lighted with your talks that they all want
you to come back soon.
We thought it would be appropriate to
send you both a memento of your visit to
South Africa. Talking it over, Mr. Scott
conceived the idea of making a picture
letter. Harold Morris caught the vision and
made the picture for you. You brought to
us a solution of our religious difficulties
through the Baha'i Cause and taught us a
new and illumined pathway to social and
spiritual life. Every signature conveys a
special appreciation of your work and your
visit and goes to you with gratitude. May
you return to us and tell us more of the
bright future depicted in the "New World
Order."
Signed: Lottie A. Askeland.
This talk took place at "Kelvin Groove*' and
was the first you gave in South Africa.
THE NON-POLITICAL NATURE
OF THE BAHA't CAUSE
BY EMILY M. AXFORD
Read at the second Babd'i Convention of the Babd'is of Australia and
_ New Zealand held in Sydney, April, 1937
il
-HE non-political nature of the Baha'i
Cause and the duties and responsibilities in-
volved is one which requires understanding
and delicacy in presentation. It comes as
somewhat of a shock to even the older Ba-
ha'is to realize that participation in party
politics, which to many has been in the na-
ture of a religious duty, is altogether unde-
sirable in the present stage of the evolution
of the Cause. In the past we have, perhaps,
disregarded the subject, and since 1929 when
Shoghi EfTendi made it a matter for special
consideration, many of us were still not
ready and willing to study the nature of his
instructions and the principles underlying
them, but preferred to walk along the accus-
tomed path and use our own judgment in the
matter of supporting and working for the
political party which seemed to coincide
with our own ideas. The time is overdue for
us all to carefully examine the position and
see how far we are willing to render complete
obedience in cooperating with Shoghi Eflfcndi
for the promotion of the Cause. This obedi-
ence need not be blind, but rather a con-
scious grateful cooperation when the matter
has been * clarified by consultation as to its
underlying principles. The Cause is non-
political in the same sense as it is non-sec-
tarian. It is a religious movement but it
pays no allegiance to any existing religion
or sect of religion. The word politics has
come to be associated with party factions
and is seldom used in its true meaning of
concern with those measures which are na-
tional in character as distinguished from
civil or municipal.
The Baha'i Cause stands aloof from all
party factions, but its teachings make for
changes in laws and institutions which are
the inevitable result of the practical applica-
tion of Baha'i Administrative principles.
These will come into existence as the new
civilization gradually unfolds, and it is only
in this broad sense that the Cause has any
interest in politics, i.e., what concerns the
welfare of the State. We believe, do we
not, that ultimately the government shall be
"upon His shoulders"? This surely means
that the new world order, envisaged by
Baha'u'llah, will be built upon the principles
of oneness and justice which are the founda-
tion teachings of His Cause. This will natu-
rally entail changes in the constitution of
governments.
Let us ask ourselves the question, is there
any political party or system of government
in any country today which we can unhesi-
tatingly support as being in conformity with
these root principles? Many take the atti-
tude that half a loaf is better than none, and
feel justified in supporting any political
party or organization which advocates any
Baha'i principle. Why continue to support
a system which the Baha'i state will super-
sede, and why concern ourselves with half
measures when we have that which holds the
key to the whole problem of righteous gov-
ernment? In "Baha'i News," December,
1932, is Shoghi Effendi's postscript to a letter
to the American N.S.A. in which he says:
"The Baha'i Faith as it forges ahead through-
out the western world and particularly in
lands where the political machinery is cor-
rupt and political passions and prejudices are
dominant among the masses should increas-
ingly assert and demonstrate the fact that it
is non-political in character, that it stands
above party, that it is neither apathetic to
national interests nor opposed to any party
793
794
THE BAHA'f WORLD
or faction and that it seeks through adminis-
trative channels rather than through diplo-
matic and political posts to establish beyond
the shadow of a doubt, the capacity, the same
patriotism, the integrity and high minded-
ness of its avowed adherents." This is the
general and vital principle. Our obvious
duty, it seems to me, is to use our energies in
promoting a more widespread knowledge of
the Baha'i movements for sectional reforms
to those who do not know of or cannot adopt
the whole Baha'i program.
In "The Golden Age of the Cause of
Baha'u'llah," Shoghi Effendi stresses the
point that the time is now ripe to emphasize
increasingly the instruction regarding non-
participation by adherents of the Faith either
individually or collectively in any form of
activity which might be interpreted as an
interference in the political affairs of any
particular government.
This instruction raised the important
question whether the act of voting in the
normal pursuance of the function of citizen-
ship should be considered as participation in
political matters. The matter was referred
to the Guardian. Reference and instruc-
tions have appeared in various numbers of
"Bahi'i News" from time to time and espe-
cially in 1933, but the very latest appeared
again in February this year (1937). It ap-
peared also in the January, 1934, "Baha'i
News" together with other excerpts from
the Guardian's letters, and is as follows:
"The friends may vote, if they can do it
without identifying themselves with one
party or another. To enter the arena of
party politics is surely detrimental to the best
interests of the Faith and will harm the
Cause. It remains for the individuals to so
use their right to vote as to keep aloof from
party politics and always bear in mind that
they are voting on the merits of the indi-
vidual rather than because he belongs to one
party or another. The matter must be made
perfectly clear to the individuals, who will
be left free to exercise their discretion and
judgment." You will notice this instruction
bears date February this year, so until a fur-
ther instruction is given we may exercise our
votes in government elections if we so desire,
but the consideration we give to the matter
must be on the merits and capacities of the
individual candidate. This you will notice
is according to the principle underlying all
Bahd'i elections.
Now, does this mean that we are free to
support publicly by electioneering addresses,
canvassing, or any other method any par-
ticular candidate, no matter what party he
or she belongs to? The answer to this, I
think, is emphatic "No," because it contra-
venes every principle of Baha'i election
methods. No one should try to persuade
another to vote for any one, our own judg-
ment and belief in guidance when we truly
seek it are at the root of a correct vote
being cast. The next difficulty is, may we
support in the same way an independent can-
didate who is attached to no party? Again
I think the answer is "No," because, al-
though such candidates personally are not in
entire sympathy with any party, yet they
seek membership in a system of party govern-
ment with which the Baha'i teaching is en-
tirely at variance. Another point which the
N.S.A. of America has elucidated is that
"The instruction not to take part in political
elections leaves *is free to vote in any elec-
tion where the various political parties have
combined upon one candidate or one ticket."
This I take it refers to a national government
such as England and New Zealand had dur-
ing the war.
Just here I may perhaps be forgiven for
bringing to your notice the instruction that
messages from the Guardian conveyed by
individuals are not to be regarded as authori-
ties. His instructions are issued to us
through the N.S.A. which is the only au-
thorized medium.
When the government is formed Shoghi
Effendi makes it abundantly clear that it is
the duty of Baha'is to demonstrate their
unqualified loyalty and obedience to what-
ever is the considered judgment of their re-
spective governments ("Golden Age," p.
16). This, I take it, means that Baha'is do
not commit themselves to any policy that
could be interpreted as "agin the govern-
ment," that they should not assist by word
or deed any political candidate of any party,
that they should not affiliate with societies
or organizations which have for their object
the breakdown of the existing government.
He goes further than this and says ("Golden
NON-POLITICAL NATURE OF BAHA'f CAUSE 795
Baha'is of New York in observation of the Day of the Covenant, November 26, 1937.
Age," p. 16), "Let them refrain from asso-
ciating themselves . . . with the political
pursuits of their respective nations . . . the
policies of their governments and the schemes
and programs of parties and factions. In
such controversies they should assign no
blame, further no design and identify them-
selves with no system prejudicial to that
world wide fellowship which it is their aim
to guard and foster. . . . Let them rise
above all particularism and partisanship, etc.,
which engage the attention of a changing
world,"
A word of warning is necessary here for
we must not infer that we make ourselves a
close corporation, cutting ourselves off from
other progressive movements. In February,
1933, in a Teaching Committee report we
read: "Baha'is should keep in touch with
those progressive groups whose principles are
in accord with the Baha'i principles. In each
city if one Baha'i could keep in contact with
the people of capacity in each progressive and
universal group, numerous doors would be
opened for Baha'i service. Social service
agencies and workers are almost always pre-
pared soil for the seeds of the New Life."
In the December, 1932, number is an ar-
ticle giving 7 summarized points. Some of
these I have already dealt with. I will
briefly refer to the others.
1. Recognized believers shall not run for
any public office as Candidate of any politi-
cal party, nor take part, directly or indi-
rectly, in the promotion of any party or
party platform.
2. Political issues of a partisan character
shall not be discussed at Baha'i meetings.
3. Recognized believers shall abstain from
affiliation with movements of a radical and
disruptive character, whether avowedly po-
litical in nature, or, while non-political in
name, advocating social changes that pre-
sume partisan political action.
4. Baha'is are loyal to the government of
their country and will obey the laws of that
government. An example of this was af-
forded by the Baha'is of Russia, who sub-
mitted unreservedly to grievous interference
with their administrative work by the Soviet
government.
5. Believers who speak on Baha'i plat-
forms shall refrain from making negative
and critical statements about any particular
government or national policy. The great
importance of this instruction can scarcely
796
THE BAHA'I WORLD
be appreciated by us j^rho live in free demo-
cratic countries/ but contravention of this
can and has led to serious results in some of
the eastern countries. Then the matter of
misrepresentation from outside sources. A
concrete example of the importance of this
issue was afforded by the persecutions of
Baha'is in Constantinople, in 1932.
Shoghi Effendi cabled the following appeal
to the N.S.A. of America: "Baha'is (of)
Constantinople and Adana, numbering about
forty, imprisoned, charged with subversive
motives. (I) urge (you to) induce Turkish
Minister (in) Washington (to) make im-
mediate representations to his government
(to) release (the) law-abiding followers (of
this) non-political Faith. Advise also Na-
tional Spiritual Assembly (to) cable authori-
ties (at) Angora, and approach State De-
partment."
The Baha'i citizens referred to were im-
prisoned by the Turkish government on the
charge that they were members of a move-
ment intended to carry on political intrigue
— charges no doubt instituted by Muham-
madan sources. "In less than two months
after the N.S.A. published its statement on
the non-political character of the Baha'i
Faith, its members were called upon to ap-
peal and intercede on behalf of their suf-
fering brothers in a far-distant land. This
instance surely reminds us in a most em-
phatic manner how essential it is to cast
aside all provincial limitations, all tradi-
tional values, and assert our devotion to a
Cause whose vision includes mankind."
("Baha'i News," February, 1933.)
The last instruction reads: "Every local
Spiritual Assembly shall be responsible for
the carrying out of these instructions by
the believers in their respective communi-
ties. Local membership lists shall include
only the names of those believers who faith-
fully preserve the non-political character of
the Faith."
But if a certain person does enter into
party politics and labors for the ascension
of one party over another, and continues to
do it against the appeals and warnings of
the Assembly, then the Assembly has the
right to refuse him the right to vote in
Baha'i elections. It must be remembered
that the quality of sympathetic understand-
ing with which a local spiritual assembly
approaches its task of explaining a new in-
struction makes a vast difference in the
response the community will make. The
Cause of Baha'u'llah has no arbitrary com-
mands— every positive teaching and instruc-
tion coming from its spiritual centre carries
a divine blessing which makes obedience not
blind and meaningless but an act of devoted
faith fulfilling our individuality.
In conclusion let me read to you the
Guardian's cablegram which appeared in
"Baha'i News," May, 1933:
Dear and prized co-workers:
The handling of this delicate and vital
problem regarding non-participation by
Baha'is of East and West in political af-
fairs, calls for the utmost circumspection,
tact, patience and vigilance, on the part
of those whose function and privilege it
is to guard, promote and administer the
activities of a worldwide ever-advancing
Cause. The misgivings and apprehensions
of individual Baha'is should be allayed
and eventually completely dispelled. Any
misconception of the sane and genuine
patriotism that animates every Baha'i
heart, if it ever obscures or perplexes the
minds of responsible government officials,
should be instantly and courageously dis-
sipated. Any deliberate misrepresentation
by the enemies of the Cause of God of
the aims, the tenets and methods of the
administrators of the Faith of Baha'u'llah
should be vigorously faced and its fallacy
pitilessly exposed. The Cause to which
we belong stands on the threshold of an
era of unprecedented expansion. Its prob-
lems are many, divers and challenging.
Our methods and ways of approach must
likewise be characterized by unusual sa-
gacity, consummate skill and wisdom. He
will surely never fail us in meeting the
needs of a critical hour.
Shoghi.
Haifa, Palestine.
March 16, 1933.
To the National Spiritual Assembly.
TEACHING THE CAUSE OF
BAHA'U'LLAH IN DISTANT LANDS
BY NELLIE S. FRENCH
rf. . . Consequently a number of souls may arise and act in accordance with aforesaid
conditions and hasten to all parts of the world, especially from America to Europe,
Africa, Asia and Australia and travel through China and Japan. Likewise from Germany
teachers and believers may travel through all the continents and islands of the globe.
Thus in a short space of time most wonderful results will be produced, the banner of
Universal Peace will be waving on the apex of the world and the lights of the oneness
of the world of humanity may illumine the universe."
'Abdu'l-Baha's Instructions to Traveling Teachers
from ^America's Spiritual Mission."
IT
was on the second of May, 1921, that
our blessed visit to 'Abdu'1-Baha at Bahji
came to an end and we left Him with hearts
too full of joy and gratitude to be articu-
late. 'Abdu'1-Baha had instructed us to go
to Italy and to work with Mrs. Emogene
Hoagg whom He had sent there some years
before. We were to see all those whom she
had attracted to the Faith. Our objective
was Rome and there we remained some time
working as He had directed and also visiting
the ancient ruins of the days of the early
Christians with which the early days of the
Faith of Baha'u'llah have so much in com-
mon. 'Abdu'1-Baha had so often spoken of
the Disciples of Jesus and of their journey-
ings to foreign lands to spread the glad-
tidings of His mission, that we eagerly
sought to trace their steps and to learn of
their services and sacrifices in the path of
God.
The great Teaching Tablets revealed by
'Abdu'1-Baha during ^the World War and
sent to this country when communication
was re-established, strongly admonish the be-
lievers to arise as did the Disciples of Jesus
and spread the universal Message of Baha'-
u'llah to a world in crushing need and the
responsibility lay heavily on our hearts. As
we threaded our way among the ancient
ruins associated with the lives and martyr-
dom of the early Christians, and saw the
catacombs where nameless crypts bore only
the symbol of the fish by which to identify
them, we longed to know more of these
blessed souls and of the places where they
had been. One morning we engaged the
services of a famous archeologist, a man of
culture and deeply versed in the history of
the ancient monuments, one upon whom we
could absolutely rely. With him we visited
among other places, the church of St. Peter.
Every detail of this church was explained to
us and finally we were shown the crypt,
which, as guides inform one, contains the
skull of Peter, and which has become the
sacred shrine visited by thousands of the
faithful each year. "But," said the arche-
ologist, "although the church is built and
dedicated to St. Peter, and these bones are
shown as his, we archeologists really have
never found any reliable evidence of Peter's
visit to Rome, nor have we unearthed his re-
mains."
This information shocked us! So much
of sacred tradition clings to Peter's ministry
in Rome that we found it difficult to believe
this statement, still our informant was him-
self a devout Catholic and would willingly
have upheld the traditions of the church,
but he was forced to face the facts.
On our return to America the thought of
this misconception lingering persistently in
our minds we decided to ask 'Abdu'1-Baha
about the matter. We wrote, and in the
course of time received a reply from Rouha
797
798
THE BAHA'l WORLD
Khanum, the daughter of 'Abdu'l-Bah4, un-
der the date of August 15, 1921, and this
is what it said: — ". . . Concerning your
question whether St. Peter and St. Paul have
ever been in Rome, I asked the Master
'Abdu'1-Baha about it. He said that there
are two sets of people, one say that Paul and
Peter have been to Antioch and the other
that they have been to Rome. There is no
real record of their movements."
These inconsistencies at first were difficult
to reconcile but as the consciousness grows
of the importance of exalting only the
WORD and not the individual who is the
conveyor of It, the Divine purpose is clearly
defined and the great wisdom of it evident.
Later years have shown the tendency of peo-
ple to worship the personality of those whose
services are more or less conspicuous in the
spread of the Faith in the dawn of every
spiritual revelation, forgetting the quality of
true humility which is ever the characteristic
of sincere servants, forgetting too, the hor-
rors of persecution which they suffered in
the path of service. Records of the past
are gone, or were never kept, personal his-
tory is obliterated, for then they "saw only
in part and prophesied in part"; now that
which was in part has been done away since
"that which is perfect is come!"
There may be a justifiable reason now
therefore, that the travels of the teachers
of the Faith of BahaVllah should be made
known and the record of the spread of the
Message of the New Day and of the estab-
lishment of a New World Order be preserved
for posterity, for never has there been such
a day, exalted as it is above all peer or like-
ness. Baha'u'ilah says of it in the "Glean-
ings": "Verily, I say, this is the Day in
which mankind can behold the Face, and
hear the voice of the Promised One. The
Call of God hath been raised and the light of
His countenance hath been lifted up upon
men. It behooveth every man to blot out
the trace of every idle word from the Tablet
of his heart, and to gaze ^th open and un-
biased mind, on the signs of His Revelation,
the proofs of His Mission, and the tokens of
His glory."
It is for this reason then that the Baha'i
archives are now being provided with accu-
rate records of the history and spread of the
Cause and it is for this reason that we cite
certain voyages which have carried us to
virgin fields far, far away geographically,
but drawing ever nearer and nearer as the
consciousness of the Unity of God and of
His creation becomes clearer to the mind of
man. Since 'Abdu'1-Baha called upon the.
believers of the United States and Canada
in His immortal Tablets to arise and carry
the Glad-Tidings to all parts of the world
many loving and consecrated souls have
arisen to do His bidding. The records of
Martha Root will ever shine forth in imper-
ishable splendor. We venerate the name of
Keith Ransom-Kehler who gave her life in
service to Iran. We recall the voyage of
Jojm and Louise Bosch who were the first
to go to Tahiti and of Miss Agnes Alex-
ander's work in Japan. Then there was Dr.
Susan I. Moody, Miss Lillian Kappes, Miss
Elizabeth Stewart, Dr. and Mrs. Howard
Carpenter, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Clark, Mrs.
Sharp and Miss Adelaide Sharp,-1 — all these
have served the Cause among their Iranian
brethren in Iran. Among other pioneers
are Miss Alma K^nobloch and Mrs. Pauline
Hannen who went to Germany and Miss
Fannie Knobloch who visited South Africa,
Miss Leonora Holsapple who is working in
Brazil; Mrs. Emogene Hoagg who traveled
to Alaska and afterward was sent to Italy;
Miss Marion Jack who has been for years in
Bulgaria, and Mrs. Louise Gregory in the
Balkans; Mr. and Mrs. Hyde Dunn whose
labors in New Zealand and Australia have
produced such wonderful results; Louis
Gregory who carried the Message to Haiti;
Mrs. Amelia Collins who was the first to
carry the Message to Iceland. Then there
are those intrepid world travelers, Mr. and
Mrs. E. R. Mathews, whose names will al-
ways be linked with South America espe-
cially; and Mr. and Mrs. Schopflocher to
whom all the world "is one home." These
and many others have left imperishable rec-
ords in the annals of the Cause.
Our own share in the international spread
of the Word includes a voyage to Spitzber-
gen, the most northern settlement in the
world, to Hammerfest in Norway the most
northern city, to ports in Norway, Sweden,
Russia and Denmark where in some places
the Press rendered invaluable services. In
TEACHING fHE CAUSE OF BAHA'U'LLAH 799
the year 1937 we circumnavigated the con-
tinent of South America, touching at all the
large ports and reaching Magallanes, the
most southern city of the world in the ex-
tremity of Chile. In every port contacts
were established and books left. A more
recent voyage enabled us to visit Pago-
Pago and Fiji, two islands of the South Pa-
cific, en route to New Zealand and Aus-
tralia to visit the Baha'i friends in those
countries. But there is so much to be done
and the time is so short!
"Soon," says Baha'u'llSh in the "Glean-
ings," "will the present-day order be rolled
up, and a new one spread out in its stead.
Verily, thy Lord knoweth the Truth, and
is the Knower of things unseen."
And again He says: "He Who is your
Lord the All-Merciful, cherisheth in His
heart the desire of beholding the entire
human race as one soul and one body. Haste
ye to win your share of God's good grace
and mercy in this Day that eclipseth all
other Days. How great the felicity that
awaiteth him that forsaketh all he hath in
a desire to obtain the things of God! Such
a man, We testify, is among God's blessed
ones."
Mrs. Phoebe A. Hearst.
Photo by International film Service
800
TWO LETTERS OF MRS. PHOEBE
A. HEARST
Taken from the chapter on rf Religions of Persia" from the hook "Persia by a Persian"
being the personal experiences of the Rev. Isaac Adams, M.D. The book is issued in four
languages, English, Dutch, German and Swedish, published in 1900.
Washington, D. C.
Nov. 19th, 1899.
Mr. Isaiah H. Bradford,
Hubbard, Minn.
My dear sir: —
Your letter of October 24th was duly re-
ceived and I regret my inability to reply to it
sooner, but I had left my California home
when it arrived there so it was forwarded
to me here; however I take pleasure in an-
swering your questions, as it gives me great
happiness to enlighten any Truthseeker, re-
garding the "Holy City" and the "Blessed
Master" who dwells therein.
Altho my stay in JAcca was very short,
as I was there only three days, yet I assure
you those three days were the most mem-
orable days of my life, still I feel incap-
able of describing them in the slightest
degree.
From a material standpoint everything
was very simple and plain, but the spiritual
atmosphere which pervaded the place
and was manifested in the lives and
actions among the Believers, was truly
wonderful and something I had never
before experienced. One needs but to
see them to know that they arc a Holy
people.
The Master I will not attempt to describe:
I will only state that I believe with all my
heart that He is the Master and my greatest
blessing in this world is that I have been
privileged to be in His presence and look
upon His sanctified face. His life is truly
the Christlife and His whole being radiates
purity and holiness!
Without a doubt 'Abbas Effendi is the
Messiah of this day and generation and we
need not look for another.
Hoping you will find the joy that has
corn.e into my life from accepting the Truth
as revealed in these great days,
I am very sincerely yours
Signed: Phoebe A. Hearst.
Washington, Dec. 5th, 1899
O. M. Babcock, Chicago, 111.
Dear sir, —
Your letter at hand and in reply will say
if a statement from me regarding my visit
to ' Acca, also my privilege of being in the
Master's presence, and my impressions of
the Holy Household, will in the slightest
degree confirm anyone in the faith, then I
am most happy to render it.
I was not a pupil of Dr. Kheiralla's. Mr.
and Mrs. Getsinger taught me and I ac-
cepted the Truth before I left my California
home to go to Europe. I never saw Dr.
Kheiralla until we were on board the steamer.
My stay in Acca was very short; if I re-
member correctly I was there but three days,
tho Mr. and Mrs. Getsinger were there three
months. Acca is now a ruined fortification,
its streets are narrow and dark and the houses
are very primitive and rudely constructed,
but when we were admitted to the Master's
presence we lost sight of our surroundings
entirely.
It seems to me a real Truthseeker would
know at a glance that He is the Master!
Withal, I must say He is the Most Wonder-
ful Being I have ever met or ever expect
to meet in this world. Tho He does not seek
to impress one at all, strength, power, purity,
love and holiness are radiated from His ma-
jestic, yet humble, personality, and the spir-
itual atmosphere which surrounds Him and
most powerfully affects all those who are
i 'AkH.
801
802
THE BAHA'f WORLD
blest by being near Him, is indescribable.
His ideas and sentiments are of the loftiest
and most chaste character, while His great
love and devotion for humanity surpasses
anything I have ever before encountered. I
believe in Him with all my heart and soul,
and I hope all who call themselves Believers
will concede to Him all the greatness, all
the glory, and all the praise, for surely He.is
the Son of God — and "the spirit of the
Father abideth in Him."
Regarding the Household, I found them
all quiet, Holy people living only for the
purpose of serving in the Cause of God.
They dress very plainly, but with a grace
that gives a sort of grandeur to their most
humble abode. The purity of their morals
is evident from their calm, benign and guile-
less faces which characterize them as a peo-
ple. To become spiritually more and more
like them, and like the blessed Master is my
daily supplication unto God.
I am not going to be in the east this
winter.
Yours very sincerely
Signed: P. A. Hearst.
A TRIBUTE FROM ICELAND
Miss Holmfridur Arnadottir, educator and
author of Reykjavik, Iceland.
HAT strikes me most forcefully in the rules the world today and He foretold the
Teachings of the Baha'i Faith is the idea of
the unity of all religions and the develop-
ment of one universal religion within which
every human being can develop his or her
own individual character and capacities in
complete harmony and accord with the en-
vironment.
The glad-tidings of the "awakening of
spiritual susceptibilities in the hearts of man-
kind" are glorious predictions and will
lighten the burden of a gloomy, materialistic
world today which so much needs a new
standard to fight for, not with swords, but
with the divine power of the Holy Spirit.
The tidings of BahaVllah and His suc-
cessors are not only spiritual but practical,
as well for the world in which we live as
for the life to come. He foretold the devas-
tation of the material civilization which
coming of the Most Great Peace on earth
even as Jesus, the Christ, had prophesied be-
fore Him.
How may we help God to establish the
"Most Great Peace" on earth? we ask our-
selves today. To this question each indi-
vidual seems to get an answer in the Teach-
ings of Baha'u'llah and His successors. May
the Holy Spirit of God unite us in the work
for the uplifting of humanity and the pro-
motion of His Kingdom on Earth!
Holmfridur Arnadottir
1937 Reykjavik, Iceland
'Note: Miss Arnadottir is a well known
authoress of Iceland. She is now undertak-
ing the translation of "BahaVllah and the
New Era" into the Icelandic language.
803
SONG OFFERINGS
i
THE DAY OF GOD
Be of good cheer!
What but the glory of the Light of "Light
Could cast such shadows on a world forlorn?
If our hearts whispered not the hope of morn
Would we so hate the horror of the night?
What is it else than desperate bitter fear
That drives the troops of evil, who know well
Their hour is come, to vent their dying rage
Upon the people of this heaven-lit age
And seek by every means they may to sell
Their lost dominion dear?
Be of good cheer!
The very depth of our perplexity
Amid this whirling world of strife and care
Where disillusion beckons to despair
Is of itself a call for help, a cry
That angels' hearts will not be slow to hear.
For it is ever in such a time as ours,
When man has ransacked sea and land for rest
And never sought the heaven in his own breast,
That God reveals once more His hidden powers
And in His might draws near.
Be of good cheer!
Though all things change, Truth's kingdom is secure.
The forms of faith come, go, and are forgot,
But that which they enshrine can perish not.
Altars may crumble, worship will endure.
Those holy things that God bids man revere
Reign on unchecked by man's satanic will;
Wisdom and love are of a higher birth
Than these frail phantom forces of the earth
And take their deathless power from Him Whose will
Above all things stands clear.
Be of good cheer!
What kings desired in vain God gives to you
And in this wondrous day before our eyes
Unseals His ancient book of mysteries
Making all things in earth and heaven new.
Truth hath come down from some far-flaming sphere;
Lo, in our midst her sacred fires burn!
And see — trace back these countless rays of light
To the One Point wherein they all unite,
And bow your forehead in the dust to know
That God Himself is here!
G. TOWNSHEND.
II
THE GARDEN OF RID VAN
(outside Baghdad)
THE DECLARATION OF
BAHA'U'LLAH
Man Speaks:
Such fragrance hath my being ne'er perfumed!
How fair this Garden: roses bower each path
804
And songs of birds are like celestial choirs!
My soul as well as body is illumed,
'Twould seem, by Sun which such great power hath
Its rays touch into flame my heart's dim fires.
The almond blossoms scent the gentle breeze,
And luscious fruits encumber many a vine.
My heart is filled with peace beyond all words:
The very air breathes joy, and even the trees
Are murmuring a melody divine
As though their boughs were tuned to heaven's chords.
What is this lovely Garden of the heart?
Not here man's cruelty can ever come!
From all earth's sordid things we've drawn apart:
This is God's Place, my spirit feels at home.
'Abdu'l-Bahd:
This is the Garden where Baha'u'llah
Sojourns a fortnight ere He journeys far,
An exile, further still from native land.
The city whose fair walls and domes you see,
As South you gaze, is Baghdad — Home of Peace.
There dwelt the Lord of Glory full ten years,
An exile since the tortured months in vile
Imprisonment in Siyah Chal — The Pit.
%
'Tis nineteen years since first The Bab proclaimed
Himself the Herald of the Dawn.
Anhphony:
His call
Awakened ready hearts, and souls arose
In myriads to lay their lives at His
Blest feet. Yet but the Herald He. The King
Unknown hath walked the earth a prisoner,
An exile most despised by those who, blind,
Saw not the Glory veiled beneath the cloud
Of flesh and circumstance.
Now strikes the hour
When bursts the Sun of Truth. The veil is rent
Which hid the Glory of the Lord of Hosts.
Now dawns the Day by Prophets long foretold;
Now comes the Kingdom of His Majesty
The One True God.
Listen and bow thy head.
(The Guide Celestial raised His hand, and lo,
Before the Seeker's gaze, embowered in green,
A fair pavilion lay, while to and fro
A group of men walked calmly, while the sheen
Of sinking sun shed lustre on the scene.
Some five-score men there were whose faces shone
With radiance, as though a lamp were lit
Within their breasts. The tent enshrined a Throne,
And humble homage on their brows doth sit,
For in their breasts hath Revelation writ.)
'Abdu'l-Babd: Chants.
From high Horizons of the Lights hath shone
Such brilliancy and brightness none hath known:
Blest are the souls attaining to His Throne!
SONG OFFERINGS
805
From this white Spot such fragrance now outflows
That all the worlds are perfumed like the rose:
Blest are the nostrils which this perfume knows!
The Cup of Life, o'erflowing with the wine — *
Fulfilling Words: "I drink not of the vine — "
Is passing 'round. O take the Cup divine!
From that blest Tree on Sinai's Mount a Call
Is heard — a Trumpet peal that sounds to all
The world. Blest are the souls who heed His Call!
The Light of Unity for sons of men
In this secluded Spot shines once again:
Blest are the eyes which open to that ken!
The Face of God the Glorious unveiled
Now shines resplendent. Blest the souls assailed
By Glory in Whose Light all Suns have paled!
Anftpbony:
The Kingdom of our God amongst the race
Of men is glorified before His Face:
Blest are the souls who therein find a place!
The Tongue of Grandeur speaks! Ah, listen well!
For 'tis the Word of God Himself — the knell
Of wrong, injustice, prejudice and strife.
Harken to Words of Beauty — Words of Life!
The Voice of Bahd' it'll dh from within the tent:
0 people of the world! I was asleep
Upon My couch, when, lo, the Bree/e of God
Upon My being breathed and I awoke!
His Spirit bade Me to proclaim His Will
To earth and heaven.
I summon all mankind
To God, the Lord of all the worlds. For, lo,
The hour hath struck of which 'twas said,
Of old by blessed lips, that no man knoweth,
Not even the Son, but only He Who comes
When that Hour strikes. The Father knows alone!
The Word which Christ concealed hath in the form
Of Man appeared. Blest is this Day for now
The Father hath with Power come amongst
The nations: turn ye unto Him and live!
My body longeth for the Cross, in truth,
And for the spear My head, that in His Path
1 thus may purify the world from sin.
Say not amongst yourselves: "The Hour's not yet,
We wish to slumber still." O heedless ones!
Shake off this deadly sleep, for that Great Day
Proclaimed by all God's holy Ones hath dawned.
Why will ye longer slumber? Wake! O Wake!
I speak not of Myself: I speak of what
God whispers to My soul. How else, O men,
Could I proclaim that which all men disdain,
And for whose utterance their hatred casts
New tortures on My head each passing day!
Yet am I not impatient of men's hate,
Nor do I shrink from dread afflictions in
His Path. For God hath made calamities
As freshening showers to His pastures green,
And as a wick for Lamp divine by which
His earth and heaven shall illumined be.
Antiphony:
O people of the earth! The Day of Grace
Hath dawned: come ye that I may crown ye kings
In this My earthy Kingdom: for if ye
Obey Me I will make you friends of Mine,
My very soul, in realms of greatness, and
Companions of Perfection ye shall shine
Forever in the heavens of My Might!
And if ye disobey Me, O loved ones,
The garment of My Mercy covereth you,
And My forbearance doth precede your sin.
O people of the earth! The Giver of
All Gifts hath*come indeed, riding upon
The cloud! Advance with shining faces and
Illumined hearts!
Blest are the souls who to
His Meeting win; to whom the fragrance of
His Verses is disclosed; who at His Hands
The wine of Union drink; who in the air
Of love and praise spread wing, and whom He hath
Led to His Paradise Supreme — the Place
Of Revelation and of vision clear
Before the grandeur of His heavenly Throne!
O people of the earth! Come unto Me
And I will show you paths of Life, and make
You vivifiers of a world now dead!
— HOWARD COLBY IVES.
MARCH 31, 1936.
Ill
BAHJf
Das Land ist heilig, darauf wir gehn
Und Blumen uns duftend umbreiten,
An Bahji's Tore leis verwehn,
Verdaemmern der Erde Zeiten.
Die Schwelle beugt sich noch lichterfuellt
Der Herrlichkeit, die sie geborgen,
Da drinnen aber, da Schlaf Ihn huellt,
Umfaengt uns der strahlende Morgen.
Das Hcrz schlaegt leiser und Wundcr erbluehn
Wohl hier an der Welten Mitte,
Da Erd und Himmel in Einheit gluehn
Und schreiten in goettlichem Schritte.
Verrinnen fuehlst du des Daseins Flut,
Verhalten die Flammen noch ragen,
Und beugst dich still vor der staerksten Glut,
Die jemals die Erde getragen.
Dein Selbst vergeht und es waechst im Raum
Die Kraft, die dem Ursprung vcrbunden,
Da, Welt, du hier an des Lebens Baum
Den Atem der Gottheit gefunden.
— E. M. GROSSMANN.
IV
THE KINGDOM IS AT HAND
The Kingdom is at hand! Its mountains glow
In summer light and all its rivers flow
With silvery sheen through gardened-way and plains
And I have seen its rainbow after rains
In dazzling hues against the darkened clouds
806
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Which God hath placed at times like gloomy shrouds
Beyond the hills to show His Mercy spans
All that He loves in plans and counter-plans
To make life true and good and full of beauty
Even in things which hold us to our duty.
The roseate dawn is full of purest blessing,
But storm and rain come too for our refreshing,
And every tree and all the garden-flowers
Through tears of love give thanks for vernal showers.
The Sun of Truth mounts in the sky revealing
In sunshine bright the path of thought and feeling,
And new Jerusalem is seen resplendent
When faith in God is in the heart transcendant.
Hark! For above the Most Great Bell is sounding
The tenderness and majesty abounding
In mid-most Heaven whose glorious connection
Hath given the heart this wonderful reflection.
He that hath seen the grandeur of Bah a
Hath passed the beauty of the Morning Star
And lifteth up a smiling face to bless
The glorious Day of bliss and righteousness!
There is a city by the tideless sea
Whose crumbling walls were marked by Destiny
To be a lamp wherein should grandly shine
The Truth of truths in Holy Palestine:
And in that spot the echoes rose and fell
Attuned and sweet to that great Heavenly Bell
Which in the height beyond the gates impearled
Called angel hosts to aid the awakening world;
For 'Akka's walls embraced and held Baha —
The dawning Light behind the Morning Star —
And on the horizon's edge the cloud-drifts stood
Aflame with rose, the tinge of martyr-blood.
Within the heart reflected gleams of the scene,
Nor e'er again shall Ages intervene
To make of Christ a myth of fancied faith —
A human dream — an empty fleeting wraith —
For herein God hath gloriously fulfilled
That which the Christ had said the Father willed.
Thus testifies all Heaven, the grateful heart,
The awakening world, and witnesses apart:
The hills of Galilee, Jezreel aglow,
And Hermon crowned with pure resilient snow.
When He, the Golden Dawn, had blessed the world,
The Servant of Baha, inspired, unfurled
The Standard of His glory on the height
Of Carmel's brow o'er-looking Acca white
Beside the sea which bore the Tyrian ships
And Grecian fleets and kissed with sunlit lips
The Roman prows in days of old renowned,
And saw the Saracenic galleys bound
From Egypt's ports and famed Italian sails
Ablow where now the British flag prevails.
Yes, Carmel is the throne from whence the Call
Went forth at last to summon one and all
To brotherhood — the Call which cannot cease
Until the world is tranquillised in Peace;
And who shall still the beating heart that waits
The mighty Law which issues from the gates
Of Zion's wall bejewelled with the Teaching
Of all the Saints, persuasive and far-reaching?
Give ear ye lands, ye continents and isles,
To that sweet Call of love which reconciles
The human heart to God and breaks the sword
To win for all the Kingdom of the Lord!
This is the Dawn of all the dawns the best
The encrimsoned East is offering the West;
Then put aside all pride and all pretending
For Truth worth while — worth knowing and de-
fending.
— E. T. HALL,
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND
APRIL 4, 1936.
THE TEMPLE OF LIGHT
Then we will build us a temple of light,
A symbol of God among men,
Whose rays of truth will illumine the night
Of man's prejudice, fear, and sin!
Through the nine great doors of religious faith,
Will the races of men come in;
And under one dome of love universal,
Will worship as brothers and kin!
Then hasten the time, O lovers of truth,
When the temple of light will shine;
And in the dawn of God's Great New Day,
We will enter His holy shrine!
— ELIZABETH HACKLEY.
VI
THE MYSTERY OF SACRIFICE
A lily bloomed because a bulb was torn,
A caterpillar wove a golden mesh,
Discarding it with joy when wings were born;
A martyr rose triumphant from the flesh.
These things I saw with wonderment and pain,
As, led by love, I climbed a mountain slope; —
On levels far below gleamed ripened grain,
Small seeds to hold the resurrection hope!
And then I saw on shining laurel blades
The emerald tracery of crossing bars,
And knew that cells must break to build facades
Of giant shrubs that yearn to meet the stars.
Oh, Love, Who spreads white arms above my earth,
Thy mantle robes the mystic cross of birth!
— ALICE SIMMONS Cox.
VII
FROM HIGH HORIZONS
A CHANT
ADAPTED FROM WORDS OF 'ABDU'L-BAHA
From High Horizons of the Lights hath shone
Such brilliancy and brightness none hath known.
Blest are the souls attaining to His Throne!
From this white spot such fragrance now outflows
That all the worlds are perfumed like the rose.
Blest are the nostrils which this Fragrance knows!
The Cup of Life o'erflowing with the wine —
Fulfilling Words: "I drink not of the vin
Is passing 'round. O take the Cup divine!
SONG OFFERINGS
807
From that blest Tree on Sinai's Mount a call
Is heard — a trumpet peal that sounds to all
The world. Blest are the souls who heed His Call!
The Light of Unity for all the sons of men
In this secluded Spot shines once again.
Blest are the eyes that open to that ken!
The Face of God the Glorious unveiled
Now shines resplendent. Blest the souls assailed
By Glory in Whose Light all suns have paled!
The Kingdom of our God amongst the race
Of men is glorified before His Face.
Blest are the souls who therein find a place!
The clouds of Generosity with rain
Of Bounties are o'erflowing. Souls are fain
To take abundance and their Goal attain.
The hearts of men in darkness long, at last
Are now enlightened: all their gloom is past.
The Face of God Its Lights upon them cast!
The Servant of Baha in servitude
Hath clad His Glorious Form. The Holy Rood
Of sacrifice He hath attained. Ah! Blest is he
Who shareth in this heavenly Victory!
— HOWARD COLBY IVES.
VIII
ANNIVERSARY OF THE BAB
A Star of splendor past our Mortal Ken
The glory of your life through all the Spheres
Will shed its light through the undying years.
The radiance of the Love you brought to men
Has birthed our planet's darkened heart anew.
Your life-blood, poured out on its dearth like dew!
Oh ichor of God's grace, let each drop shed
Redeem the Nations and the living-dead,
Renew their vision and their Spirits' Youth,
Auroral is the fountain of Thy Truth.
— BEATRICE IRWIN.
IX
"ANTHEM OF ALL NATIONS"
O God of every nation
We turn our hearts to Thee.
Within Thy love is safety
In peace and liberty.
For love alone can conquer
The strife within each breast,
And bind with ties eternal
Thy sons of East and West.
O Truce of God enduring,
Come Thou to all the world,
And may Thy flag of beauty
In each land be unfurled.
A covenant proclaiming
That cruel war has ceased,
Beloved by all Thy children,
Thy spotless flag of Peace.
O God of every nation,
Thou Father of us all,
Let now Thy Benediction
Upon each country fall.
With wide divisions ending
May every voice now ring,
And in love tones exultant
One nation's anthem sing.
— LOUISE R. WAITE,
CHICAGO, ILL.
Dedicated to the International Peace Society, and
composed especially for the Peace Congress held in
Rome, October, 1911.
This was distributed there — not us a Song but a
Poem. 'Abdu'l-Bahd's words under title.
GOD'S CHANNEL
To be a channel through which flows
God substance into everything
The words I speak, the song I sing,
The trees I tend, the rambler rose:
The poem forming in my mind,
The simple meals that I prepare:
Whatever task my hands shall find,
This, Father, is my earnest prayer.
To be responsive to Thy will,
An instrument, alive, awake:
To know the choice is mine to make
Of truth or error, good or ill:
In all I choose to be and do,
To be the voice of Spirit power,
An open channel for the true
And beautiful, from hour to hour.
— BY IRENE STANLEY.
XI
BELL OF THE TEMPLE
Bell of the Temple — of Love and Unity,
From realms above thy clarion tones now ring;
Calling aloud to all humanity,
Awake! Arise! and with the angels sing;
Glory to God — and His Eternal Plan,
Come to the Temple of the Brotherhood of man.
Bell of the Temple — of Peace enduring,
Softly thy tender notes fall on the air;
Calling the hearts of men to Love's true union,
Calling to worship in God's Temple fair.
Glory to God — and His Eternal Plan,
Come to the Temple of the Brotherhood of man.
Bell of the Temple — unseen Reality,
Yet thy clear tones by inner ear is heard;
Bell of the Temple — of wondrous Beauty,
Founded upon God's Manifested WORD;
Glory to God — and His Eternal Plan,
Come to the Temple of the Brotherhood of man.
— SHAHNAZ WAITE.
XII
Zerreisst ein Streit unser Wesen
zwischen Wunschen und Meincn,
konnen wir so nur genesen,
dass wir die Antithesen
sieghaft im Herzen vereinen.
808
THE BAHA'f WORLD
Will auch den Weg nach inncn
DickiQht wild iiberwachsen, —
glaube, so wirst du gewinnen;
und es schwingt sich dein Sinnen
um immer kiihncre Achsen.
— ADELBERT MUHLSCHLEGEL.
XIII
TO IRAN
Awake, O fran, to the Voice of God
Which in thy borders shook both Heaven and earth
And bade thy sons arise and bravely guard
The Flame of Truth which gleamed with priceless
worth!
The splendors of thy past are not forgot:
When thine unnumbered hosts with ordered strength
And great renown for discipline well wrought
Subdued great banners which had stood at length.
The dynasty Sassanian held its reign
And kings and satraps widened thy domain;
While bards and seers extolled thy noble worth
And chief in thee was ruler of the earth,
As free, the benison of genius led
And sciences and arts their treasures spread;
When minds expanded by an unseen power
Discovered in the hearts a mystic bower.
Here Zarathustra raised the torch of truth;
Created laws of justice and full ruth;
Enkindled in the realm a wondrous fire
Which made of ignorance a funeral pyre.
Came Islam here by Allah's Imam led;
Revived a body numbered with the dead;
Rent ancient customs which abased their sway;
Bestowed the joy of life, the Higher Way.
Arise anew to hear the Call of God
For which thy heroes sought the gory sod —
Deaf to what place or pride or fame might call,
Intent upon those notes which hearts enthrall!
Regardless of the past, how dear its fame,
The glory of today enshrines thy name.
The Light most Manifest hath now shone forth,
Eclipsing by its brilliance every troth.
The tidings of the coming of the Lord
Which ancient seers proclaimed by deed and word,
Hath holy made thy soil for endless tread
As gospels of that Blessed Beauty spread.
The freedom which thou now shalt grant to right
Will echo through the world and win for thee
The homage of the noble and the free
And state of exaltation in God's sight.
Thine ensign blazed from old the Lion-Sun.
Thy nightingale and rose three plaudits won.
Each bears to thee a message of the heart
That thou can'st know what mystic joys impart.
— Louis G. GREGORY.
XIV
Mensch von heute, freue dich,
dass du heute lebst auf Erden!
Mensch von heut', erneue dich,
denn du sollst das Grosse werden,
wie es war des Schopfers Plan:
Geistesmensch und Edelmann.
Mensch von heute, ziehe doch
aus dem Staub dein wahres Wesen!
Mensch von heute, siehe doch,
wie so leicht du kannst genesen!
Sonnenfroh und stark und klar
wird ein ncuer Friihling wahr.
— ADELBERT MUHLSCHLEGEL.
XV
THE BAB
Into the intricate dark I strode,
No dagger-hilt lighted my way,
The vast Cacsarean palaces could not hold
My gift of Day.
Iran dream on, as those who rest
Bemused beneath a Bo-tree's shade —
Mine is the free and naked breast,
That bears a rose, disdains a blade!
And I shall climb the whitest cloud,
And penetrate the darkest veil,
Jostling the elbows of the crowd,
Myself the Flail.
Of Him Who holds the world at poise
And follows wild birds on their flight —
Put out the lamps — I have dawn-joys
For treaders of the night.
— ANNA McCLURE SHOLL.
XVI
THE CREATIONAL BOOK
Thine insight is so dimmed thou canst not see
That My Creation's Book revealeth Me.
That every atom is an open door
Inviting thee to enter and explore.
What dost thou hope to see
When thou goest seeking Me?
A Face? A Voice? A Word writ on the sky?
If I should speak who art thou to reply?
If I should write some guiding Word to men
Could they interpret My Supremest Pen?
Is then thine eye so keen, thy mind so sure
That when My Spirit moves thee and I lure
Thy longing soul afar
To probe the mote and star
That thou canst hope thus to encompass Me
Who doth surround what mind and eye can see?
Wert thou through all eternity to seek,
And through immensity of space to roam,
Thy spirit shall no foot-hold find,
No answer to thy questing mind,
Except to My Command thou shalt bow down,
Unless My Love thou wearest like a crown,
And find in meeting Me thy spirit's home.
I am not far from thee but ever near:
Listen to thy heart's whisper: "I am here."
SONG OFFERINGS
809
The whale by seeking cannot find the sea;
The eagle soaring high
Against My blue-domed sky
Finds not the air, nor can thy mind find Me
Who in thy heart of hearts is truly thee.
About thee and above; beneath, within,
Thy Mystery am I and thou art Mine.
No flight avails: nor height nor depth, nor sin
Nor death, nor hell can part thee from My Love.
My Lamp thou art and I the Light within.
Know this, O servant, as the eagle knows
The air: the fish the boundless seas they rove,
The leaf the wind which by My Order blows.
In mineral and plant, in beast and man
Thou mayest discern the working of My Plan
Which hath one aim — that I may fully be
Revealed to every heart that seeketh Me.
Cohesion, growth, the senses and the mind
Are the four steps which through the cycles wind
That from the void of non-existence may
Existence come, and that My Love may find
Some far-off Day, Its full expression. Nay
That I Myself may tell man's ordained story
In Man, the very Temple of My Glory.
For, in this gloomy and disastrous age
Man may perceive, if he will scan My Page,
The secret of creation. There is he
Told of My Wisdom: for Humanity
Hath borne Its noblest fruit; My Love
Disclosed in Man his Lord, that he may prove
All things, and thereby with my aid may reach
The summit of the Truth I fain would teach,
That all his probing eye and mind can see
Hath but one purpose — to uncover Me.
By every grain of dust shall man be told
Of Me. The rushing wind shall cry: "Behold!"
The still, small voice within his heart
Shall whisper low: "I am of God a part."
Lo, all things from their silence, shout aloud!
My Voice falls from each bright or lowering cloud!
My Trumpet peals from every star and clod:
"There is no God but Me — but Me no God."
Why else should I create, O son of man?
In My eternal Being hid I knew
My Love in thee and framed a gracious Plan
Age-long, in which I might Myself review
And see My Love expressed in form and power.
Thus through the ages, countless hour by hour,
Have I in it expressed My Love, to thee
Revealed My Beauty. "Be!" My Will but spake
And My beloved Creation came awake
To mention Me.
Wherefore love only Me
That My Command may summon thee to be.
— HOWARD COLBY IVES.
XVII
DAS JAHR DER SEELE
SOMMER:
Hei, wie ist das Leben prachtig!
tatengliihend, fruchtetrachtig!
Schwer aus meinen reichen Feldern
rollen Wagen, goldbeschienen. —
Vieles dank ich meinen Eltern,
manches musst ich selbst verdienen.
Tor, was rechnest du mit Gold?
Horst du, wie der Sturm schon grollt?
HERBST:
Weh, des Schicksals Sturm zerfetzte
mir auch dies — es war das Letzte.
Arm und nackt steh ich im Winde.
Bin ich so von alien, alien
Siichten frei? — Wie cinem Kinde
wird mir leicht. Die Blatter fallen. . . .
Bist du arm, so wirst du weit
fur die Stille. Sei bereit!
ADVENT:
Zages Bangen wird rum Hoffen,
was verschlossen war, wird offen.
Was noch wunschte, was noch strebte,
schwindet demutsvoll nach innen.
Sieh, die liebe Erde webte
sich in brautlich weisse Linnen!
Bist du rein, so naht der Geist,
der dich in das Neue weist.
WEIHNACHTEN:
Naht mir, was mich langst umwittert?
Frcudvoll wird mein Her/ und zittert
bis in die gcheimsten Falten,
wie das Machtige, das Grosse
sich ihm neigt und alle alten
Krafte hebt ins Namenlose.
Werde fahig zu begreifen,
lass es durch das Blut dir reifen!
FASTENZEIT:
Grosses waltet immer leise,
duldet keine Last der Speise,
wachst geheim in warmer Scholle.
Stort es nicht durch menschlich Treiben!
Brausen druber noch so tolle
Geister — es wird Sieger bleiben.
Alles musst du freudig geben,
soil das Hochste in dir leben.
KARFREITAG:
Konnt ich wirklich alles geben? —
Ja! Hier gibt es kein Daneben.
Wenn ich glaube, dass des Geistes
Hauch erlosend uns durchdringe,
ganz durchdringe, o, dann heisst es,
dass ich mich zum Kreuse bringe.
Opfer lost aus tiefstcr Haft
Krafte durch die hochste Kraft.
OSTERN:
Auferstehen! Auferstehen!
Saume nicht, es soil geschehen.
Durch dein Leben sei bewiesen,
dass des Winters schwere Nachte
dich nicht unverwandelt liessen.
Froh entspriesse alles Echte!
Wenn ihr reine Taten schufet,
naht der Allgeist, den ihr rufet.
810
THE BAHA'f WORLD
PFINGSTEN:
Reine Krafte, froh entbundcn,
werdet Form und Leib hier unten!
Erde, wie du dich verschwendest!
Alles Spiegel t sich nach oben.
Heiliger Geist, der du dich spendest,
komm zu alien die dich loben!
1st das Licht in jeder Zelle,
strahlc die Welt in Gottes Helle.
RIDVAN:
In des neuen Bundes Segen
bleibt die Ordnung fesc gelegen.
Fiihlen wir sie urnotwendig,
dienend ihr in hundert Arten,
bleibt der Geist uns inlebendig,
wird die Welt ein Gottesgarten.
Weiter wachst darin die Seele,
atmet rein sich aller Fehle.
— ADELBERT M(JHLSCHLEGEL.
XVIII
THE CHALLENGE
That Day when man should yield his will
To God, dawned!
Though not a single breath of Unity
Was wafting to the Court of Holiness,
The "Mystic Bird" gazed earthward
"Seeking one heart severed
That He might alight therein to nest."
Saw souls stifling
"In the garment of a thousand years ago."
Man, whose destiny is Godward,
Enthralled in selfhood,
Alien to the Mystic Song; —
His plight known to but One,
The Knower!
Faithful to Command,
That "Bird of Heaven" circled
The abyss of godlessness, crying:
"Oh people! I am He and He is Me!"
As the spirit liberated by His Words
Mirrored the cosmos,
Aloft two mighty Pillars flamed:
"Reward and Retribution!"
"O mortals! Will ye be content
With that which is like vapor in a plain,
Unmindful of the precepts of your Lord?
By one word He called ye into being!
Will ye not be thankful?
I am come to you, O people,
From the Throne of Glory!
Would that your hearts might comprehend!"
Falling on rocks His words had yielded
Springs of crystal water,
But impenetrable the heart of man,
Deprived of Faith!
Holding aloft "a Chalice of Pure Light"
He saw no arm outstretched to seize it,
Nor heart that would reflect it.
Remote from Truth is man
That He could view that Flaming Cup
Immune to rapture!
Faithless to His Trust, when he,
"Created from a clot,'* was covenanted
To reflect to all the kingdoms
Eternity and God.
In them the Law is honored —
Their fruits garnered,
While man roves, phantom-like,
The vale of heedlessness.
How can this shadow make reply to God?
Never plead ye were not warned
That fear and overwhelming grief
Would shake ye!
For through unreckoned aeons
True Ones came,
To reconcile your will to God's,
That Truth might be renowned.
Forsaken and decried,
They sang "A Day of God" and "Covenant" —
A people living lordly exhortations
And commands;
His people they, and He their God.
Have ye imagined all their counsels
But idle musings of a "moving form of dust?"
"Lo! The Promised One hath come!"
This is the Day of Knowledge and of Love;
The Day wherein the True shall be distinguished
From the false;
And "none secure from this Decree":
Thy evil deeds and secrets,
Nurtured in satanic gloom,
Shall sear thy soul with torment; —
And ye shall know what God hath known!
Calamity! Thy cradle is fran!
Thy 'ulamas "knew not" Jesus nor Muhammad,
Or Him ye would have Jtnown, The Promised One,
Of Whom They prophesied!
Behold He hath all life — all rhythm changed!
Now is the soul's oblivion pierced,
As from the grave of negligence
Your hosts unleash
Their calumnies and cri/elties,
Their doubts and base denials —
Inner life and outward form that sprang
From human thought — all
To perish in the tumult of a dying day!
Almighty Day! When only that shall stand
Which serves the Lord, thy God!
And this thy theme, thine inmost urge —
One Faith, one Race, one common Cause!
Now from the Day-spring of a vital Faith
The Covenant takes form,
And shielded in the Tabernacle
Of a Mighty Soul,'
Rises from out the chaos
Of receding dispensations!
"O ye people of discernment"
Sing praises unto God —
He comes — and in His hand the Cup!
His triumphant song of Oneness
Arresting the movement of the world!
Transcending warring cycles, He,
The Ensign of the Most Great Peace,
Salutes the Promised Day:
"Lord! Here am I!"
The Ancient Law,
Revealed in symbols in the Day of Abraham;
In Moses' Day inscribed in flaming Tablets;
Is, in this matchless Day, incarnate in a Man,
Who "embodies every virtue, every ideal
Of this Holy Cycle's Goal!"
"Magnified be God for this exalted Handiwork!
SONG OFFERINGS
811
Unto God, O people, render thanks for His appear-
ance!
He is the Most Great Favor unto you,
The Trust of God amongst you,
His charge within you!"
"Taking the cloak of resignation
In the name of God,"
He taught and labored
In this womb-life of the spirit,
Hailing with unerring pen
The Renaissance of Nations,
When The Law exalted in the hearts
Shall guide the people.
Shaken from her slumbers, Russia
Glimpsed the vision leading on to destiny!
Then her Czar sought a parliament of nations,
While 'Ishqabad's strong-hearted
Seized and clothed that Spirit
In a "Dawning-Point-of-Light!"
Assurance to a soul-tried people
Of a sacred commonwealth —
The pivot of Divine Economy!
Gaze toward 'Akka!
Soil of bondage! Soil of Spirit!
Where in savage conflict
Moslem and Crusader met!
Where the Ancient Suns of God
Saw the vision of This Day:
Melchizedek, Elijah, Abraham and Jesus!
There, in towering grandeur,
Came The Exile —
Master Builder of "The Day of God,"
And His Mighty "Ark of Covenant,"
A tender Youth adorned
In "Robe of Servitude!"
O misleaders of the people!
Prophet slayers and Their Chosen!
Grievous is your plight: —
He for Whom ye prayed a thousand years
Hath come,
And ye knew Him not!
*Akka, hearthstone of The Servant!
To His Open Court hasten —
Over mountains, deserts, seas —
The yearning!
Race and Faith converging
In a Crucible of Spirit
Knowing neither East nor West!
This is Heaven!
There is Carmel, Fragrant Mountain,
And Bahji, o'er the Bay,
Glorified by Him in Shrines.
Holy the soil that He bore there
And flowers He tenderly caressed; —
Earth, in exquisite remembrance,
Blooms a New Eden!
Fitting couch for El Bab,
Whose crimson light
Cleft the Morn of Promised Day;
And "Him-Whom-God-Hath-Manifest,"
The Promised One!
Hallowed is thy Mystic Fane
That conceals Their rest,
Most lowly, most transcendent Earth!
Ages and their traces vanished,
Thy Perfumed Spot shall breathe
"Tidings from God"
To the souls of men!
'Akk&, soil of service!
Soil of freedom!
Where His childhood, youth and age
Were ceded to this New Creation,
"Which shall ever stand unrivalled,
Uneclipsed in splendor."
His enemies are scattered now
And martyrdom has won.
Across the threshold of His prison home
He sweeps,
The Object of devotion such as kings
Might envy,
To engage the final epic
Of His threefold Mission!
Egypt! Europe! Westward — to America!
Bent with age and cares He comes!
On His brow dominion!
In His melting glance forgiveness!
His utterance the future!
His life dynamic acclamation
Of the Oneness of Mankind!
From that visitation
Ages shall inherit manna.
Here at Gotham's portals,
Where first the West embraced Him,
"Clothed in majesty"
He laid the "Mantle of the Covenant"
Exhorting its inhabitants
To spiritual distinction!
Then in the nation's midmost heart
He blest the Earth
Whereon would arise a Sacred Edifice to God,
A symbol that "this earth shall be indeed
A Paradise,
And all men live as brothers
In the Most Great Peace."
His prayer: —
"O God! My God! I call Thee
And all Thy Holy Ones to witness
That I have declared conclusively
Thy Proofs unto Thy loved ones,
And set forth clearly all things unto them,
That they may watch . . . guard . . . and protect
Thy Law Resplendent . . ."
Ah, "could you but know
His burning love for you
'T would kindle in your hearts a fire
To set aflame the world!"
"Being 'round Whom all names revolve!"
The pride and glory of mankind!
Honored the land you visited!
Blest the eye, the ear, the heart, the breast
Through Thy remembrance dilated!
The tongue that mentions Thee!
The pen that celebrates Thy praise!
Blest, doubly blest
The ground trod by Thy feet.
And when the Breeze of Mercy rends the veils,
Still shalt Thou be "The Mystery of God."
America! Ye must arise
To "forge the Mystic Chain"
And "if His wishes are to be fulfilled,
Unfurl the standard of the Most Great Peace!
Your mission is unutterably great!"
Dare to fulfill a spiritual destiny!
O lift your gaze above the "sea of names"
And blot remoteness from your consciousness
"That you may render life * greater thing."
812
THE BAHA'f WORLD
"Seize, O seize your chance!"
For "if you fail to be enkindled
Regrettable your plight!"
— OLIVIA KELSEY.
XIX
BAHA'f YOUTH
Fling wide the Banner
Of the inestimable favor bestowed upon you.
Make the world resound with the glorious
Chimes of Baha.
Take with you your new found radiance
And light the world with untouched Glory,
The Glory of the Beloved,
Teaching the world with your unwearied spirit,
Fusing Mankind from the One Torch
Held aloft in your youthful arms.
Fill your hearts without ceasing
From the Fountain of the Beloved,
Leaving no room
For the world's insidious potion,
Thus, to every human question
You shall find answer . . .
Armed with the strength of the Greatest Name,
On your foreheads a Star shall glow
Lit by the love for mankind in your hearts.
Thus shall you safely return,
"Young Shepherds of Men,"
Each with his radiant Following,
To the glorious Ridvan of the Beloved.
— DIANTHA CRISP,
ECHOES FROM THE SPHERES
Mashrak-El -Azcar
A Hymn of Praise
MARIAN C. HOTCHKISS.
1. Rise, O my peo - pie, thus Ba - ha com-mand - ed,
9. O heav - en re - joice, and earth the notes re - peat,
8. Lord who shall dwell with - in Thy Tab - er - na - cle,
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Bless - ed are ye who heed the call to come
U - nique a - ris - es at th* Crea-tive Word
Who shall a - bide up • on Thy Sa-cred Hill?
And rear on high, with
This house of prayV of
'He dwells be-neath the
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joy and faith un - daunt -ed, My Temple fair, My child- rens earth • ly home,
u - ni •> ty and prais - es Mashrak-El - Azcar Tern - pie of our God.
Shadow of Al-migh - ty Who to his broth-er work - eth naught of ill/'
815
816
THE BAHA'i WORLD
Rise then my ser-vants, a - rise)
Joy to the world through the Lord,
Come let us dwell with the Lord,
My prais - es ring out to the skies!
The migh- ty, Ben-efic-ent God.
His ban - ner of peace is un - f urledJ
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REFRAIN
Mash-rak-El Az-car, Temple of U-ni-ty, Symbol of broth-er-hood, built to the Lord;
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Home of the home-less, Place of the place-less; Gift to hu-man - i - ty Temple of God.
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In His abode no evil shall befall thee,
Neither shall plague come nigh thy dwelling-place,
But thou shalt flourish even as the palm tree,
His light reflected on thy up turned face.
Rise let us turn to the light,
The Glorious, Life-giving Light!
With songs of rapture through the Portals enter,
Then silence reigns, impressive and profound !
Peace! for the Lord is in His Holy Temple;
Bow all the earth, lo, this is Holy Ground!
Then sing the song of the Lord,
ALLAH VABHA! Glorious God.
Chorus: Mashrak-El-Azcar, Temple of Unity etc.
Mashrak-El-A?car. 2
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818 , THE BAHA'l WORLD
HAIL! TO OUR KING, BAHA'U'LLAH
(continued)
Hail the Springtime in every land,
Hail the Brotherhood of man,
Oh, ye nations, united now,
Hail to our King, Baha'u'lldh.
Hail, Almighty, we turn to Thee,
All our doubt and sorrows flee,
Pain and strife and war must cease,
Hail to Thee, O Prince of Peace.
Hail, O Glorious, All-Knowing, Wise,
Thou hast opened up our eyes,
We have seen the Radiant Sun,
Hail to Thee, O Promised One.
Hail the Springtime in every land,
Hail the Brotherhood of man,
Oh, ye nations, united now,
Hail to our King, Baha'u'llah,
ECHOES FROM THE SPHERES
819
IF YE SEEK ME.
Andante, sostenuto.
Wojds and Music by
LOUISE R.SPENCBR.
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You shall find you hearts de - sire For in Me is all in all,
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Ifje seek Me,
ECHOES FROM THE SPHERES
821
m tempo.
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CONTENTS
OF
VOLUME I — BAHA'I YEAR BOOK
AND
VOLUMES II, III, IV, V AND VI
THE BAHA'I WORLD
CONTENTS OF BAHA'I YEAR BOOK
VOLUME I
PART ONE
"O Army of Life!"
A Statement of the Purpose and Principles of the Baha'i Faith.
Outline of Baha'i History.
The Passing of 'Abdu'1-Baha.
PART TWO
Extracts from Baha'i Sacred Writings.
A Statement on Present-day Administration of the Baha'i Cause.
Baha'i Calendar and Festivals.
The Mashriqu'l-Adhkar.
Brief History of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in America.
Extracts from MasJhriqu'l-Adhkar Report.
The Mashriqu'l-Adhkar of <Is_hqabad.
Impressions of Haifa.
Kunjangoon.
Old and New Paths at Green Acre.
World Unity Conference.
PART THREE
National Spiritual Assemblies.
Leading Local Baha'i Centers.
Baha'i Periodicals.
Bibliography.
References to the Baha'i Movement.
European and American Cities Visited by 'Abdu'1-Baha.
Transliteration of Oriental Terms Frequently Used in Baha'i Literature.
Dr. J. E. Esslemont.
PART FOUR
The Relation of the Baha'i Cause to Modern Progressive Movements.
The Unity of Civilization.
Equality of Men and Women.
Esperanto and the Baha'i Teachings.
Unity of Religions.
Science and Religion.
Universal Education.
Racial Amity.
The Economic Teaching of 'Abdu'1-Baha.
World Peace.
875
876 THE BAHA'f WORLD
VOLUME II
PART ONE
"O Army of Life!"— Words of 'Abdu'1-Baha.
A Statement of the Purpose and Principles of the Baha'i Faith and Outline of Baha'i
History.
The Passing of 'Abdu'1-Baha.
Survey of Current Baha'i Activities in the East and West.
PART TWO
Excerpts from Baha'i Sacred Writings.
Soul, Mind, Spirit and the Essence of Divinity.
A Statement on Present-Day Administration of the Baha'i Cause.
Excerpts from the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahd.
The Spirit and Form of Baha'i Administration.
Declaration of Trust.
By-Laws of the National Spiritual Assembly.
Excerpts from Letters of Shoghi EfTendi.
Baha'i Calendar and Festivals.
Baha'i Feasts, Anniversaries and Days of Fasting.
The Mashriqu'l-Adhkar.
Address of 'Abdu'l-Baha delivered at Baha'i Convention,^ Chicago, 1912.
The Structure of the Baha'i Temple.
Address delivered by 'Abdu'l-Baha at the Dedication of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar
Grounds, May, 1912.
The Mashriqu'l-Adhkar of 'Ishqabad.
Impressions of Haifa.
Haifa, 'Akka and Bahji.
Kunjangoon — The Village of 'Abdu'1-Baha.
Through India and Burma.
Green Acre and the Ideal of World Unity.
References to the Baha'i Faith.
Queen Marie of Rumania pays tribute to the beauty and nobility of the Baha'i Teachings.
PART THREE
Baha'i Directory, 1928.
Baha'i National Spiritual Assemblies.
Baha'i Spiritual Assemblies.
Baha'i Groups with names and addresses of correspondents.
Baha'i Groups.
Baha'i Administrative Divisions in Persia.
Baha'i Periodicals.
Baha'i Bibliography.
Section One — List One: Baha'i Publications of America.
Section Two — List Two: Baha'i Publications of England.
— List Three: Baha'i Literature in French.
— List Four: Baha'i Literature in German.
— List Five: Partial List of Baha'i Literature in Oriental Languages.
Section Three — Alphabetical list of Baha'i books and pamphlets.
V O L U M E 1 1 1 877
Section Four — References to the Baha'i Movement in non-Baha'i works.
Section Five — References to the Baha'i Movement in magazines.
Transliteration of Oriental Terms frequently used in Baha'i literature.
Guide to the transliteration and pronunciation of the Iranian alphabet.
PART FOUR
Introduction to The Promulgation of Universal Peace.
Poem — "A Prayer."
The Baha'i Religion — Papers read at the Conference of Some Living Religions Within
the British Empire, 1924.
Paper I — By Horace Holley.
Paper II — By Ruhi Etfendi Afnan.
Living Religions and the Baha'i Movement.
The Baha'i Attitude Towards Muhammad.
A Modern Interpretation of Muhammadanism.
The World-Wide Influence of Qurratu'l-'Ayn.
Souvenir Feast of 'Abdu'1-Baha.
The Baha'i Cause at the Universal Esperanto Congresses at Edinburgh and Danzig.
On the Borders of Lake Leman.
Translation of a Letter from the Israelitish Assembly of Baha'is of Tihran, Iran.
Inter-Racial Amity.
Appendix — Tablet to America revealed by Baha'u'llah.
Baha'i Persecutions in Iran — An Appeal to His Imperial Majesty Rida Shah Pahlavi.
Appendix One — Summary of Baha'i Teachings.
Appendix Two — Excerpts from Letters of Baha'u'llah to the Sultan of Turkey and
the Shah of f ran.
Appendix Three — Words of 'Abdu'1-Baha concerning fran.
VOLUME III
PART ONE
"The City of Certitude"— Words of Baha'u'llah.
Aims and Purposes of the Baha'i Faith.
Baha'u'llah: The Voice of Religious Reconciliation.
The Dawn of the Baha'i Revelation. (From Nabil's Narrative.)
Survey of Current Baha'i Activities in the East and West.
PART TWO
Excerpts from Baha'i Sacred Writings.
The World Order of Baha'u'llah.
Present-day Administration of the Baha'i Faith.
Excerpts from the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahd.
The Spirit and Form of Baha'i Administration.
Declaration of Trust by the National Spiritual Assembly.
Excerpts from the Letters of Shoghi Effendi.
Text of Baha'i application for civil recognition by the Palestine Administration.
878 THE BAHA'f WORLD
Facsimile of Baha'i marriage certificates adopted and enforced by the National
Spiritual Assemblies of the Baha'is of fran and Egypt.
Bahd'i Calendar and Festivals.
The Mashriqu'l-Adhkar.
Green Acre and the Baha'i Ideal of Inter-racial Amity.
References to the Baha'i Faith.
The Case of Baha'u'llah's House in Baghdad before the League of Nations.
Hippolyte Dreyfus-Barney.
PART THREE
Baha'i Directory, 1930.
Baha'i National Spiritual Assemblies.
Baha'i Spiritual Assemblies.
Baha'i Groups.
Baha'i Administrative Division in Persia.
Baha'i Periodicals.
Baha'i Bibliography.
Baha'i Publications,
of America,
of England,
in French.
in German and other Western Languages,
in Oriental Languages (partial list).
Alphabetical List of Baha'i Books and Pamphlets.
References to the Baha'i Faith in Non-Baha'i works.
References to the Baha'i Faith in Magazines.
Transliteration of Oriental Words frequently used in Baha'i Literature with guide to
the transliteration and pronunciation of the franian Alphabet.
Definitions of Oriental Terms used in Baha'i Literature.
PART FOUR
Baha'u'llah's Divine Economy: a Letter of Shoghi Effendi.
The Hidden Words of Baha'u'llah: A Reflection, by G. Townshend.
'Abdu'l-Baha's Visit to Woking, England.
Impressions of Haifa, by Alaine Locke, A.B., Ph.D.
The World Vision of a Savant, by Dr. Auguste Henri Forel.
The Cultural Principles of the Baha'i Movement, by Dr. Ernst Kliemke.
The Relation of the Bab to the Traditions of Islam, by Wanden Mathews LaFarge.
The Baha'i Movement in German Universities, by Martha L. Root.
The City Foursquare, by Allen B. McDaniel.
Religion for the New Age, by John Herman Randall.
"Before Abraham Was, I Am!" by Thornton Chase.
The Races of Men — Many or One, by Louis G. Gregory.
Haifa — and the Baha'is, by Dr. John Haynes Holmes.
A Visit to Rustum Vambery, by Martha L. Root.
The Baha'i Cause at the XXth Universal Congress of Esperanto at Antwerp, Belgium,
August, 1928, by Martha L. Root.
Shrines and Gardens, by Beatrice Irwin.
An Audience with King Feisal, by Martha L. Root.
VOLUME IV 879
Bah£Vllah and His Teachings, Reprinted from the Japan Times and Mail.
'Abdu'1-Baha and the Rabbi, by Willard P. Hatch.
Some Experiences Among the Poor in Brazil, by Leonora Holsapple.
A Trip to Tahiti, by Louise Bosch.
VOLUME IV
PART ONE
Baha'u'llah: The Voice of Religious Reconciliation.
Aims and Purposes of the Baha'i Faith.
Martyrdom of the Bab (From Nabil's Narrative).
Survey of Current Baha'i Activities in the East and West.
Excerpts from Baha'i Sacred Writings.
PART TWO
The World Order of Baha'u'llah.
Present-day Administration of the Baha'i Faith.
Excerpts from the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahd.
The Spirit and Form of Baha'i Administration.
Declaration of Trust by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the
United States and Canada.
Certificate of Incorporation by the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the City
of New York.
Documents related to the incorporation of the National Spiritual Assembly of the
Baha'is of the United States and Canada as a recognized Religious Society in
Palestine.
Petition addressed by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United
States and Canada to the Prime Minister of the Egyptian Government.
Excerpts from the Letters of Shoghi Effendi.
Facsimile of Baha'i Marriage Certificates adopted and enforced by the National
Spiritual Assemblies of the Baha'is of Iran and of Egypt.
Facsimile of the Certificate of the United States Federal Government to the Declara-
tion of Trust entered into by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is
of the United States and Canada.
Facsimile of the Certificate of the Palestine Government incorporating the National
Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada as a Religious
Society in Palestine.
Facsimile of the Certificate of Incorporation, The Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is
of the City of New York.
The MasJiriqu'l-Adhkar.
Foreword.
Architecture Expressing the Renewal of Religion.
God-intoxicated Architecture.
The Baha'i Temple.
A Temple of Light.
A Statement by the Architect.
Dedication of the Temple.
A Glorious Gift — from a Shrine to a Shrine.
The Spiritual Significance of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar.
880 THE BAHA'f WORLD
References to the Baha'i Faith.
Further Developments in the Case of Baha'u'llah's House: Extracts from the Minutes of
the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of Nations.
Minutes of the Sixteenth Session: November 1929.
Minutes of the Nineteenth Session: November 1930.
Minutes of the Twentieth Session: June 1931.
Letter from the British Government.
Minutes of the Twenty-first Session: November 1931.
Extracts from the Report to the Council of the League of Nations.
Baha'i Calendar and Festivals.
Foreword.
Baha'i Feasts, Anniversaries and Days of Fasting.
Additional Material gleaned from NabiPs Narrative (Vol. II) regarding the Baha'i
Calendar.
Historical Data gleaned from Nabil's Narrative (Vol. II) regarding Baha'u'llah.
Short History of the International Baha'i Bureau at Geneva, Switzerland.
In Memoriam.
Miss Ethel Rosenberg.
Mrs. C. S. Coles.
Consul Albert Schwarz.
PART THREE
Baha'i Directory, 1931-1932.
Baha'i National Spiritual Assemblies.
Baha'i Local Spiritual Assemblies and Groups.
Officers and Committees of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the
United States and Canada.
Local Baha'i Spiritual Assemblies and Groups in the United States and Canada.
Baha'i Administrative Divisions in Iran.
Address of Centers of Baha'i Administrative Divisions in fran.
List of the Bab's best-known works.
Baha'i Bibliography.
Baha'i Publications of America.
Books about the Baha'i Faith.
Writings of the Bab.
Writings of Baha'u'llah.
Writings of 'Abdu'1-Baha.
Writings of Shoghi EfFendi.
Prayers.
Baha'i Literature in Pamphlet Form.
Compilations.
Bahi'i Publications of England.
Baha'i Literature in French.
Baha'i Literature in Italian.
Baha'i Literature in Dutch.
Baha'i Literature in Danish.
Baha'i Literature in Swedish.
Baha'i Literature in Portuguese.
Baha'i Literature in Albanian.
Baha'i Literature in Esperanto.
Baha'i Literature in Russian.
Baha'i Literature in German.
VOLUME IV 881
Baha'i Literature in Oriental Languages.
Iranian.
Urdu.
Arabic.
Turkish.
Burmese.
Chinese.
Hebrew.
Tatar.
Gujrati.
Japanese.
Armenian.
Tamil.
Baha'i Literature in Braille (for the Blind).
Baha'i Periodicals.
References to the Baha'i Faith in Books by non-Baha'i Authors.
References to the Baha'i Faith in Magazines by non-Baha'i Writers.
Transliteration of Oriental Words frequently used in Baha'i Literature with Guide to
Transliteration and Pronunciation of the franian Alphabet.
Definitions of Oriental Terms used in Baha'i Literature. Glossary.
PART FOUR
The Goal of a New World Order: A Letter of Shoghi Etfendi.
The Way of the Master, by G. Townshend.
Italy and the Baha'i Cause, by General Renato Piola Caselli.
The World Economy of Baha'u'llah, by Horace Holley.
Education as a Source of Good Will, by President Bayard Dodge.
Unity through Diversity: A Baha'i Principle, by Alain Locke, A.B., Ph.D.
A Short Chronicle of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Visit to London, 1911-1912, by Lady Blomfield.
Professor Auguste Forel and the Baha'i Teaching, by Stanwood Cobb.
A Tribute from Dr. Edmund Privat.
A Visit to 'Akka, by Mrs. Alexander Whyte.
The First Fruits of Victory, by Keith Ransom-Kehler.
Where Is the Key to World Unity, by Louise Drake Wright.
A Visit to Bahji, by Nancy Bowditch.
Religion in Asia, by Herbert A. Miller.
China's Tribute to the Cause of Baha'u'llah.
Appreciations of the Baha'i Movement, by Martha L. Root.
The Supreme Affliction, by Alfred E. Lunt.
The Baha'i Movement and North American University Circles, by Martha L. Root.
Baha'i Ideals of Education, by Stanwood Cobb.
Man and Mankind on the Way of Progress, by Lidja Zamenhof .
The Epidemic of the Persian Jews, by A. J. Wienberg.
The Younger Generation, by Mardiyyih Nabil Carpenter.
Light on Basic Unity, by Louis G. Gregory.
The Baha'i Movement in Japan, by Tokujiro Torii.
Science and Religion, compiled by Loulie A. Mathews.
A Baha'i Traveler in Palestine, by Walter B. Guy, M.D.
Dr. David Starr Jordan, by Willard P. Hatch.
Song-offerings.
Echoes from the Spheres.
882 THE BAHA'i WORLD
VOLUME V
PART ONE
Aims and Purposes of the Baha'i Faith.
Survey of Current Baha'i Activities in the East and West.
Excerpts from Baha'i Sacred Writings.
The Passing of Bahiyyih Khanum, the Most Exalted Leaf.
PART TWO
The World Order of Baha'u'llah.
Present-day Administration of the Baha'i Faith.
Excerpts from the Will and Testament of ' Abdu'l-Babd.
Genealogy of the Bab.
Genealogy of Baha'u'llah.
Facsimile of Baha'i Marriage Certificate adopted and enforced by the National
Spiritual Assemblies of the Baha'i s of fran and of Egypt.
The Spirit and Form of the Baha'i Administrative Order.
Declaration of Trust and By-Laws of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is
of the United States and Canada.
Facsimile of the Certificate of the United States Federal Government to the Declara-
tion of Trust entered into by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is
of the United States and Canada.
Facsimile of the Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is
of Chicago, Illinois, U. S. A.
Facsimile of the Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is
of Washington, D. C., U. S. A.
By-Laws of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the City of New York.
Facsimile of the Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is
of Teaneck, New Jersey, U. S. A.
Certificate of Incorporation, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of
India and Burma.
Certificate of Incorporation, the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Esslingen,
Germany.
Excerpts from the Letters of Shoghi Effendi.
Map of Baha'i holdings surrounding and dedicated to the shrine of the Bab on Mt.
Carmel and tentative design of terraces.
The Mashriqu'l-Adhkar.
Foreword.
The Baha'i House of Worship.
The Spiritual Significance of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar.
The Spell of the Temple.
A Statement by the Architect.
The Project of Ornamenting the Baha'i Temple Dome.
Architectural Concrete of the Exposed Aggregate Type.
God-Intoxicated Architecture.
Model of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar at the Century of Progress Exposition, Chicago,
1933.
References to the Baha'i Faith, by:
Archduchess Anton of Austria, Charles Baudouin, Prof. Norman Bentwich, Prof.
E. G. Browne, Dr. J. Estlin Carpenter, General Renato Piola Caselli, Rev. T. K.
VOLUME V 883
Cheyne, Valentine Chirol, Rev. K. T. Chung, Right Hon. The Earl Curzon of
Kedleston, Prof. James Darmesteter, Rev. J. Tyssul Davis, Dr. Auguste Forel,
Dr. Herbert Adams Gibbons, Dr. Henry H. Jessup, Prof. Jowett, Prof. Dimitry
Kazarov, Helen Keller, Harry Charles Lukach, Dowager Queen Marie of Rumania,
Alfred W. Martin, President Masaryk, Dr. Rokuichiro Masujima, Mr. Renwick
J. G. Millar, Prof. Herbert A. Miller, The Hon. Lilian Helen Montague, Rev.
Frederick W. Oakes, Sir Flinders Petrie, Charles H. Prisk, Dr. Edmund Privat,
Herbert Putnam, Ernest Renan, Right Hon. Sir Herbert Samuel, Emiltf Schreiber,
Prof. Hari Prasad Shastri, Rev. Griffith J. Sparham, Shri Purohit Swami, Leo Tolstoy,
Prof. Arminius Vambery, Sir Francis Younghusband.
Further Developments in the case of Baha'u'llah's House in Baghdad.
Excerpts from the Minutes of the XXII session of the Permanent Mandates Com-
mission of the League of Nations: Nov. 3 to Dec. 6, 1932.
Excerpts from the Minutes of the XXIV session of the Permanent Mandates Com-
mission of the League of Nations: Oct. 23 to Nov. 4, 1933.
Note.
Mandates under the League of Nations.
Baha'i Calendar and Festivals.
Foreword.
Baha'i Feasts, Anniversaries and Days of Fasting.
Additional Material gleaned from Nabil's Narrative (Vol. II) regarding the Baha'i
Calendar.
Historical Data gleaned from Nabil's Narrative (Vol. II) regarding Baha'u'llah.
Youth Activities Throughout the Baha'i World.
In Memoriam.
Mrs. Keith Ransom-Kehler.
Mrs. Agnes Parsons.
Yusuf Khan-i-Vujdani.
Dr. Arastu Khan Hakim.
George Adam Benke.
Edwin Scott.
Mrs. Alice Barney
Mrs. Lisbeth Klitzing.
Extracts from "Baha'i News."
PART THREE
Baha'i Directory 1933-34.
Baha'i National Spiritual Assemblies.
Baha'i Local Spiritual Assemblies and Groups.
Officers and Committees of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the
United States and Canada.
Local Baha'i Spiritual Assemblies and Groups in the United States and Canada.
Baha'i Administrative Divisions in Iran.
Address of Centers of Baha'i Administrative Divisions in fran.
Alphabetical List of Baha'u'llah's Best-Known Writings.
List of the Bab's best-known works.
Baha'i Bibliography.
Baha'i Publications of America.
Books about the Baha'i Faith.
Writings of the Bab.
Writings of Baha'u'llah.
884 THE BAHA'f WORLD
Writings of 'Abdu'1-Baha.
Writings of Shoghi Effendi.
Prayers.
Baha'i Literature in Pamphlet Form.
Compilations.
Baha'i Publications of England.
Baha'i Literature in French.
Baha'i Literature in Italian.
Baha'i Literature in Dutch.
Baha'i Literature in Danish.
Baha'i Literature in Swedish.
Baha'i Literature in Portuguese.
Baha'i Literature in Albanian.
Baha'i Literature in Esperanto.
Baha'i Literature in Russian.
Baha'i Literature in German.
Baha'i Literature in Bulgarian.
Baha'i Literature in Rumanian.
Baha'i Literature in Czech.
Baha'i Literature in Serbian.
Baha'i Literature in Hungarian.
Baha'i Literature in Greek.
Baha'i Literature in Maori.
Baha'i Literature in Spanish.
Baha'i Literature in Oriental Languages.
Iranian.
Urdu.
Arabic.
Turkish.
Burmese.
Chinese.
Hebrew.
Tatar.
Gujrati.
Japanese.
Armenian.
Tamil.
Kurdish.
Baha'i Literature in Braille (for the Blind).
Baha'i Periodicals.
References to the Baha'i Faith in Books by non-Baha'i Authors.
References to the Baha'i Faith in Magazines by non-Baha'i Writers.
References by Baha'is in non-Baha'i Publications.
Transliteration of Oriental Words frequently used in Baha'i Literature with Guide to
Transliteration and Pronunciation of the Iranian Alphabet.
Definitions of Oriental Terms used in Baha'i Literature.
PART FOUR
he Dispensation of Bahs
The Descent of the New Jerusalem, by G. Townshend.
The Administrative Order in the Dispensation of Baha'u'llah, from a letter of Shoghi
Effendi.
VOLUME VI 885
The Spiritual Basis of World Peace, by Horace Holley.
In the Footsteps of the Pioneers, by Keith Ransom-Kehler.
The Orientation of Hope, by Alain Locke.
La Foie et la Science Unies par 1'Art, by Marie Antoinette Aussenac, Princesse dc Broglie.
Religion and Social Progress, by Keith Ransom-Kehler,
Prince Paul and Princess Olga of Yugoslavia, by Martha L. Root.
A Religion of Reconciliation, by Rev. Griffith J. Sparham.
The Men of the Trees, by Richard St. Barbe Baker.
Les Problemes du Monde et la Foie Baha'i, by 'Ali Afdalipur.
The Baha'i Movement, the Greatness of Its Power, by Martha L. Root.
Der Sinn Unserer Zeit, by Dr. Hermann Grossmann.
Le Baha'ism, by Eugen Relgis.
A Visit to Adrianople, by Martha L. Root.
The Re-florescence of Historical Romance in Nabil, by Mary Maxwell.
William Miller, Student of Prophecy, by Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick.
A New Cycle of Human Power, by Marion Holley.
An Appreciation, by Dr. Rustum V^mbery.
The True Sovereign, by Alfred E. Lunt.
The Nature of the Divine Manifestations, by Glenn A. Shook.
Religious Education for the Young, by Mrs. M. H. Inouye.
Why Do I Espouse the Baha'i Cause? by Chi Kao Fujisawa.
Count Leo Tolstoy and the Baha'i Movement, by Martha L. Root.
A Chinese View of the Baha'i Cause, by Chan S. Liu.
Vernunft und Glaube, by Dr. Adelbert Miihlschlegel.
Influence of Astronomy on Religious Thought, by Giorgio Abetti.
Haifa Calling, by Florence E. Pinchon.
Taking the Message to the Maori People, by Keith Ransom-Kehler.
Only a Word, by Laura Dreyfus-Barney.
Song-Offerings.
Echoes from the Spheres.
Map of the Baha'i World.
VOLUME VI
PART ONE
Aims and Purposes of the Baha'i Faith.
Survey of Current Baha'i Activities in the East and West.
Excerpts from Baha'i Sacred Writings.
PART TWO
The World Order of BahaVllah.
Present-day Administration of the Baha'i Faith.
Introductory Statement.
Excerpts from the Will and Testament of l Abdu'l-Bahd.
Excerpts from the Letters of Shoghi Effendi.
Certificate of Incorporation of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is
of the United States and Canada.
886 THE BAHA'f WORLD
Declaration of Trust and By-Laws of the National Spiritual Assembly of the
Baha'is of the United States and Canada.
Declaration of Trust and By-Laws of the National Spiritual Assembly of the
Baha'is of fran.
Declaration and By-Laws of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of
Germany and Austria.
Declaration of Trust and By-Laws of the National Spiritual Assembly of the
Baha'is of India and Burma.
Certificate of Incorporation of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is
of India and Burma.
Declaration of Trust and By-Laws of the National Spiritual Assembly of the
Baha'is of 'Iraq.
Text of Authorization Issued for Registration by the Mixed Court in Egypt
of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Egypt.
Declaration of Trust of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of
Egypt.
By-Laws of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of New York.
Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of New
York.
Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of
Teaneck, New Jersey, U. S. A.
Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Chicago,
Illinois, U. S. A.
Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of
Washington, D. C., U. S. A.
Petition of the Baha'is of Montreal, Canada.
Certificate of Incorporation of the Baha'is of Montreal, Canada.
By-Laws of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Montreal, Canada.
By-Laws of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Esslingen, Germany.
Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Ess-
lingen, Germany.
Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Karachi,
India.
Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Cal-
cutta, India.
Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Delhi,
India.
Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Ran-
goon, Burma.
Certificate of Registration of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Daida-
naw, Burma.
Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Man-
dalay, Burma.
Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Auck-
land, New Zealand.
Documents Related to the Incorporation of the National Spiritual Assembly
of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada, as a Recognized Religious
Society in Palestine.
Certificate of the Palestine Government Incorporating the National Spiritual
Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada, Palestine Branch,
as a Recognized Religious Society in Palestine.
Text of Application to the Palestine Government for Incorporation of the
VOLUME VI 887
Palestine Branch of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of India
and Burma.
Certificate of the Palestine Government Incorporating the National Spiritual
Assembly of the Baha'is of India and Burma, Palestine Branch.
Trade Mark Certificate obtained from the United States Government covering
the word "Baha'i."
Trade Mark Certificate obtained from the United States Government covering
the symbol of the Greatest Name.
Trade Mark Certificate obtained from the Canadian Government covering the
name "Baha'i."
Trade Mark Certificate obtained from the Canadian Government covering the
symbol of the Greatest Name.
Baha'i Marriage Certificate adopted and enforced by the National Spiritual
Assembly of the Baha'is of Iran.
Baha'i Marriage Certificate adopted and enforced by the National Spiritual
Assembly of the Baha'is of Egypt.
Baha'i Marriage Certificate adopted and enforced by the National Spiritual
Assembly of the Baha'is of 'Iraq.
Baha'i Divorce Certificate adopted and enforced by the National Spiritual
Assembly of the Baha'is of fran.
Outline of Baha'i Laws regarding matters of Personal Status submitted for
recognition to the Egyptian Government by the National Spiritual Assembly
of the Baha'is of Egypt.
Text of the Farman issued by sultan 'Abdu'l-'Aziz banishing Baha'u'llah to
'Akka, Palestine.
Text of the Resolution presented to President Franklin D. Roosevelt by the
National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and
Canada.
Map showing Travels of the Bab and Baha'u'llah.
Map showing Section of Route followed by Baha'u'llah on His Journey from
Baghdad to Constantinople.
Map showing Path of Travel of 'Abdu'1-Baha in the United States of America
and Canada, 1912.
Facsimile of Tablet addressed by 'Abdu'1-Baha to the Chicago "House of
Justice."
The Institution of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar.
Foreword.
The Spiritual Significance of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar.
The Baha'i Temple — Why built near Chicago?
The Five Billion Carat Gem Baha'i Temple at Wilmette, 111.
Temple Echoes from the World's Fair.
The Baha'i Temple — An Appreciation.
A Temple of Universal Religion.
Concrete Fulfills a Promise.
Baha'i Calendar and Festivals.
Foreword.
Baha'i Feasts, Anniversaries and Days of Fasting.
Baha'i Holy Days on which Work should be Suspended.
Additional Material Gleaned from NabiPs Narrative (Volume II) regarding
the Baha'i Calendar.
Historical Data Gleaned from NabiPs Narrative (Volume II) regarding
Baha'u'llah.
888 THE BAHA'f WORLD
Youth Activities Throughout the Baha'i World.;
Baha'i Youth — An Estimate and Survey of International Events.
Baha'i Youth in Iran.
Plays and Pageants.
Story of the Pageant "The Gate of Dawn."
The Drama of the Kingdom.
Pageantry as a Factor in Education.
References to the Baha'i Faith.
Dowager Queen Marie of Rumania.
Prof. E. G. Browne, M.A., M.B., Cambridge University.
Dr. J. Estlin Carpenter, D.Litt., Manchester College, Oxford.
Rev. T. K. Cheyne, D.Litt., D.D., Oxford University, Fellow of British Academy.
Prof. Arminius Vambery, Hungarian Academy of Pesth.
Harry Charles Lukach.
Sir Valentine Chirol.
Prof. Jowett, Oxford University.
Alfred W. Martin, Society for Ethical Culture, New York.
Prof. James Darmesteter, £cole des Hautes £tudes, Paris.
Charles Baudouin.
Dr. Henry H. Jessup, D.D.
Right Hon. The Earl Curzon of Kedleston.
Sir Francis Younghusband, K.C.S.I.; K.C.I.E.
The Christ ran Commonwealth, Anonymous.
Rev. J. Tyssul Davis, B.A.
Herbert Putnam, Congressional Library, Washington, D. C.
Leo Tolstoy.
Dr. Edmund Privat, University of Geneva.
Dr. Auguste Forel, University of Zurich.
General Renato Piola Caselli.
Rev. Frederick W. Oakes.
Renwick J. G. Millar, Editor of John O'Groat Journal, Wick, Scotland.
Charles H. Prisk.
Prof. Hari Prasad Sfyastri, D.Litt.
Shri Purohit Swami.
Prof. Herbert A. Miller, Bryn Mawr College.
Right Hon. Sir Herbert Samuel, G.C.B., M.P.
Rev. K. T. Chung.
Prof. Dimitry Kazarov, University of Sofia.
Rev. Griffith J. Sparham.
Ernest Renan.
The Hon. Lilian Helen Montague, J.P., D.H.L.
Prof. Norman Bentwich, Hebrew University, Jerusalem.
6mile Schreiber, Publicist.
Dr. Rokuichiro Masujima, Doyen of Jurisprudence of Japan.
Miss Helen Keller.
Sir Flinders Petrie, Archaeologist.
President Masaryk of Czechoslovakia.
Archduchess Anton of Austria.
Dr. Herbert Adams Gibbons.
H.R.H. Princess Olga of Jugoslavia.
Eugen Relgis.
Arthur Henderson.
Prof. Dr. V. Lesny.
VOLUME VI 889
Princess Marie Antoinette de Broglie Aussenac.
President David Starr Jordan, Leland Stanford University.
Prof. Bogdan Popovitch, University of Belgrade, Jugoslavia.
Ex-Governor William Sulzer.
Luther Burbank.
Prof. Yone Noguchi.
Prof. Raymond Frank Piper.
Angela Morgan.
Arthur Moore.
Prof. Dr. Jan Rypka, Charles University, Praha, Czechoslovakia.
A. L. M. Nicolas.
President Eduard Benes.
In Memoriam.
Susan I. Moody.
Hooper Harris.
Harry H. Romer.
Howard Luxmoore Carpenter.
Edward C. Getsinger.
Sarah Blundell.
Khalil Qamar.
Haji Muhammad Yazdi.
Extracts from "Baha'i News."
PART THREE
Baha'i Directory, 1935-1936.
Baha'i National Spiritual Assemblies.
Baha'i Local Spiritual Assemblies and Groups.
Officers and Committees of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the
United States and Canada.
Local Baha'i Spiritual Assemblies, Groups and Isolated Believers in the United States
and Canada. *
Baha'i Administrative Divisions in fran.
Address of Centers of Baha'i Administrative Divisions in fran.
Alphabetical List of Baha'u'llah's Best-Known Writings.
List of the Bab's Best-Known Works.
Baha'i Bibliography.
Baha'i Publications of America.
Books About the Baha'i Faith.
Writings of the Bab.
Writings of Baha'u'llah.
Writings of 'Abdu'1-Baha.
Writings of Shoghi Effendi.
Prayers.
Baha'i Literature in Pamphlet Form.
Compilations.
Outlines and Guides for Baha'i Study Classes.
Baha'i Publications of England.
Baha'i Literature in French.
Baha'i Literature in Italian.
Baha'i Literature in Dutch.
T i*-*»f*f-nr/» tr» T^)i«icV»
890 THE BAHA'f WORLD
Baha'i Literature in Swedish.
Baha'i Literature in Portuguese.
Baha'i Literature in Albanian.
Baha'i Literature in Esperanto.
Baha'i Literature in Russian.
Baha'i Literature in German.
Baha'i Literature in Bulgarian.
Baha'i Literature in Rumanian.
Baha'i Literature in Czech.
Baha'i Literature in Serbian.
Baha'i Literature in Hungarian.
Baha'i Literature in Greek.
Baha'i Literature in Maori.
Baha'i Literature in Spanish.
Baha'i Literature in Norwegian.
Baha'i Literature in Croatian.
Baha'i Literature in Oriental Languages.
Iranian.
Urdu.
Arabic.
Turkish.
Burmese.
Chinese.
Hebrew.
Tatar.
Gujrati.
Japanese.
Armenian.
Tamil.
Kurdish.
Sindhi.
Bengali.
Hindi.
Abyssinian.
Baha'i Literature in Braille (for the Blind).
Baha'i Periodicals.
References to the Baha'i Faith in Books and Pamphlets by non-Baha'i Authors.
References to the Baha'i Faith in Magazines by non-Baha'i Writers.
References to the Baha'i Faith by Baha'is in non-Baha'i Publications.
Transliteration of Oriental Words frequently used in Baha'i Literature with Guide to
Transliteration and Pronunciation of the Iranian Alphabet, and Notes on the
Pronunciation of franian Words.
Definitions of Oriental Terms used in Baha'i Literature.
PART FOUR
Articles and Reviews.
Religion and World Order, by Horace Holley.
Queen Marie of Rumania, by Martha L. Root.
The Epic of Humanity, by Christophil.
President Eduard Benes, by Martha L. Root.
Spiritual Perspectives, by Prof. Raymond Frank Piper.
VOLUME VI 891
Splendor at the Core, by Angela Morgan.
Baha'i-Glaube und Christentum, by Dr. Eugen Schmidt.
Baha'ismo kaj la Socia Problemo, by Prof. Paul Chfistaller.
BahaVllah's Ground Plan of World Fellowship, by Archdeacon George Town-
shend.
Die Baha'is und meine Erfahrungen, by Prof. Dr. J. Rypka.
Impressions of 'Abdu'1-Baha, by Louise R. Waite.
Zwei Heilige Grabstatten, by Dr. Adelbert Muhlschlegel.
In Praise of Words, by Helen Bishop.
The Continuity of Religion, by Stanwood Cobb.
The Most Great Peace, by Marion Holley.
King Haakon of Norway, by Martha L. Root.
Some Memories of the Sojourn of 'Abdu'1-Baha in Paris, by Lady Blomfield.
Racial Likenesses and Differences: the Scientific Evidence and the Baha'i Teachings,
by Louis G. Gregory.
Denmark's Oriental Scholar, by Martha L. Root.
La Bahaa Filozofio, by Lidja Zamenhof.
The Baha'i Movement, by Renwick J. G. Millar.
*Abdu'l-Baha's Historic Meeting with Jane Addams, by Ruth J. Moffett.
The Soul of Iceland, by Martha L. Root.
Ein Junger Glaube wird Bekannt, by Dr. Hermann Grossmann.
South America: Journey Taken in the Interest of the Baha'i Cause, by Loulie A.
Mathews.
Glimpses of Sweden, by Olivia Kelsey.
Russia's Cultural Contribution to the Baha'i Faith, by Martha L. Root.
A Baha'i Incident from the Netherlands, by Louise Drake Wright.
Mr. Harald Thilander and his Publications for the Blind in Sweden, by Nellie S.
French. «.»
The Modern Miracles of Palestine, by Beatrice Irwin.
A New Future for Radio, by Shirley Warde.
Song Offerings.
Echoes from the Spheres.
Map of Iran Showing Baha'i Centers.
Map of the United States of America Showing Baha'i Centers.
Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Books to Borrow
Open Library
TV News
Understanding 9/11