I.
"The hosts of the world...are from every side launching
their assault..."
(`Abdu'l-Bahá, cited in "The Advent of
Divine Justice", p. 6)
Extracts From The Writings Of Bahá'u'lláh:
-
In the beginning of every Revelation adversities have prevailed, which
later on have been turned into great prosperity.
(Bahá'u'lláh, cited in Shoghi Effendi,
"The Advent of Divine Justice" (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing
Trust, 1984), p. 82)
-
Consider the former generations. Witness how every time the Day Star of
Divine bounty hath shed the light of His Revelation upon the world, the
people of His Day have arisen against Him, and repudiated His truth. They
who were regarded as the leaders of men have invariably striven to hinder
their followers from turning unto Him Who is the Ocean of God's limitless
bounty.
Thou hast known how grievously the Prophets of God, His Messengers and
Chosen Ones, have been afflicted. Meditate a while on the motive and reason
which have been responsible for such a persecution. At no time, in no Dispensation,
have the Prophets of God escaped the blasphemy of their enemies, the cruelty
of their oppressors, the denunciation of the learned of their age, who
appeared in the guise of uprightness and piety. Day and night they passed
through such agonies as none can ever measure, except the knowledge of
the one true God, exalted be His glory.
("Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh",
rev. ed. (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1983), sec.
23, pp. 56-58)
-
Know ye that trials and tribulations have, from time immemorial, been the
lot of the chosen Ones of God and His beloved, and such of His servants
as are detached from all else but Him, they whom neither merchandise nor
traffic beguile from the remembrance of the Almighty, they that speak not
till He hath spoken, and act according to His commandment. Such is God's
method carried into effect of old, and such will it remain in the future....
("Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh",
sec. 64, p. 129)
-
By My life! Mine heart groaneth and mine eyes weep sore for the Cause of
God and for them that understand not what they say and imagine what they
cannot comprehend.
("Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh",
sec. 100, p. 203)
-
And if a nightingale soar upward from the clay of self and dwell in the
rose bower of the heart, and in Arabian melodies and sweet Iranian songs
recount the mysteries of God — a single word of which quickeneth to fresh,
new life the bodies of the dead, and bestoweth the Holy Spirit upon the
moldering bones of this existence — thou wilt behold a thousand claws of
envy, a myriad beaks of rancor hunting after Him and with all their power
intent upon His death.
O My friend! Many a hound pursueth this gazelle of the desert of oneness;
many a talon claweth at this thrush of the eternal garden. Pitiless ravens
do lie in wait for this bird of the heavens of God, and the huntsman of
envy stalketh this deer of the meadow of love.
(Bahá'u'lláh, "The Seven Valleys and
the Four Valleys" (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1986),
p. 20; p. 41)
-
It is clear and evident that whenever the Manifestations of Holiness were
revealed, the divines of their day have hindered the people from attaining
unto the way of truth. To this testify the records of all the scriptures
and heavenly books. Not one Prophet of God was made manifest Who did not
fall a victim to the relentless hate, to the denunciation, denial, and
execration of the clerics of His day!...
We foresee that in every city people will arise to suppress the Blessed
Beauty, that the companions of that Lord of being and ultimate Desire of
all men will flee from the face of the oppressor and seek refuge from him
in the wilderness, whilst others will resign themselves and, with absolute
detachment, will sacrifice their lives in His path....
(Bahá'u'lláh, "Kitáb-i-Íqán",
2nd. ed. (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1983) pp. 165-166;
p. 248)
Extracts From The Writings And Utterances Of `Abdu'l-Bahá:
-
The prestige of the Faith of God has immensely increased. Its greatness
is now manifest. The day is approaching when it will have cast a tremendous
tumult in men's hearts. Rejoice, therefore, O denizens of America, rejoice
with exceeding gladness!
(`Abdu'l-Bahá, cited in Shoghi Effendi,
"The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh: Selected Letters", rev.
ed. (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1982), p. 79)
-
In these days the Cause of God, the world over, is fast growing in power
and, day by day, is spreading further and further to the utmost bounds
of the earth. Its enemies, therefore, from all the kindreds and peoples
of the world, are growing aggressive, malevolent, envious and bitterly
hostile. It is incumbent upon the loved ones of God to exercise the greatest
care and prudence in all things, whether great or small, to take counsel
together and unitedly resist the onslaught of the stirrers up of strife
and the movers of mischief...
("Selections from the Writings of `Abdu'l-Bahá"
[rev. ed.] (Haifa: Bahá'í World Centre, 1982), sec. 194,
p. 233)
-
O thou exalted bough of the divine Lote-Tree!
When thou art disdained and rejected by the wicked doers be not cast
down; and at the power and stiff-neckedness of the presumptuous be neither
vexed nor sick at heart; for such is the way of heedless souls, from time
out of mind. "O the misery of men! No Messenger cometh unto them but they
laugh Him to scorn!"
Indeed, the attacks and the obstructiveness of the ignorant but cause
the Word of God to be exalted, and spread His signs and tokens far and
wide. Were it not for this opposition by the disdainful, this obduracy
of the slanderers, this shouting from the pulpits, this crying and wailing
of great and small alike, these accusations of unbelief levelled by the
ignorant, this uproar from the foolish — how could news of the advent of
the Primal Point and the bright dawning of the Day-star of Bahá
ever have reached to east and west? How else could the planet have been
rocked from pole to pole? How else could Persia have become the focal point
of scattering splendours, and Asia Minor the radiating heart of the beauty
of the Lord? However else could the flame of the Manifestation have spread
into the south? By what means could the cries of God have been heard in
the far north? How else could His summons have been heard in the continents
of America and of Africa the dark? How else could the cockcrow of Heaven
have penetrated those ears? How else could the sweet parrots of India have
come upon this sugar, or nightingales have lifted up their warblings out
of the land of `Iraq? What else could set the east and west to dancing,
how else could this Consecrated Spot become the throne of the Beauty of
God? How else could Sinai behold this burning brightness, how could the
Advent's flame adorn that mount? How else could the Holy Land be made the
footstool of God's beauty, and the holy vale of Towa become the site of
excellence and grace, the sacred spot where Moses put off His shoes? How
could the breaths of heaven be carried across the Vale of Holiness, how
could the sweet-scented, airy streams that blow out of the Abhá
gardens ever be perceived by those that dwell on the Verdant Isle? How
else could the pledges of the Prophets, the joyous tidings of the holy
Seers of old, the stirring promises given unto this Sacred Place by the
Manifestations of God, ever have been fulfilled? All these blessings and
bestowals, the very means of proclaiming the Faith, have come about through
the scorn of the ignorant, the opposition of the foolish, the stubbornness
of the dull-witted, the violence of the aggressor. Had it not been for
these things, the news of the Báb's advent would not, to this day,
have reached even into lands hard by. Wherefore we should never grieve
over the blindness of the unwitting, the attacks of the foolish, the hostility
of the low and base, the heedlessness of the divines, the charges of infidelity
brought against us by the empty of mind. Such too was their way in ages
past, nor would it be thus if they were of those who know; but they are
benighted, and they come not close to understanding what is told them.
("Selections from the Writings of `Abdu'l-Bahá"
sec. 195, pp. 234-36)
-
...the friends in the West will unquestionably have their share of the calamities
befalling the friends in the East. It is inevitable that, walking the pathway
of Bahá'u'lláh, they too will become targets for persecution
by the oppressors.
Now ye, as well, must certainly become my partners to some slight degree,
and accept your share of tests and sorrows. But these episodes shall pass
away, while that abiding glory and eternal life shall remain unchanged
forever. Moreover, these afflictions shall be the cause of great advancement.
("Selections from the Writings of `Abdu'l-Bahá"
sec. 196, pp. 238-39)
-
This day the powers of all the leaders of religion are directed towards
the dispersion of the congregation of the All-Merciful, and the shattering
of the Divine Edifice. The hosts of the world, whether material, cultural
or political are from every side launching their assault, for the Cause
is great, very great. Its greatness is, in this day, clear and manifest
to men's eyes. It is therefore incumbent upon all who have come within
the shade of the protecting wing of God's gracious providence to evince,
by His divine and merciful assistance, such conspicuous steadfastness and
firmness as will arrest the gaze and astound the minds of all.
At the time of the ascension of the Spirit (Jesus Christ), the company
of those who accepted the new Revelation numbered no more than a few souls.
So intense was the alarm and perturbation to which that event gave rise
that, for a time, these souls were quite overcome by their agitation and
confusion. Then, a few days later, a woman by the name of Mary Magdalene
arose, and, by her own example, instilled into them a constancy and firmness
which enabled them to arise for the propagation of the Word of God. Although
to outward seeming they were no more than fishermen and dyers, yet, through
the holy confirmations of the Cause of God, they carried the divine fragrances
far and wide, sweetening the breaths of all who inhaled their fragrance
and bringing new life to every understanding heart.
Take courage, then, O ye trusted friends of God, from the appearance
of this mighty and all-swaying power, which was like unto a spirit that
permeated the body of the world, making it vibrant with its pulse, and
causing the pillars of idolatry to shake and tremble.
(`Abdu'l-Bahá, the first three sentences are
from Shoghi Effendi's translation cited in "The Advent of Divine Justice",
p. 6. The remainder of the extract is newly translated.)
-
...a large multitude of people will arise against you, showing oppression,
expressing contumely and derision, shunning your society, and heaping upon
you ridicule. However, the Heavenly Father will illumine you to such an
extent that, like unto the rays of the sun, you shall scatter the dark
clouds of superstition, shine gloriously in the midst of Heaven and illumine
the face of the earth. You must make firm the feet at the time when these
trials transpire, and demonstrate forbearance and patience. You must withstand
them with the utmost love and kindness; consider their oppression and persecution
as the caprice of children, and do not give any importance to whatever
they do. For at the end the illumination of the Kingdom will overwhelm
the darkness of the world and the exaltation and grandeur of your station
will become apparent and manifest... Rest ye assured.
(`Abdu'l-Bahá, cited in "Bahá'í
News" ["Star of the West"], vol. 1, no. 10 (8 September 1910), pp. 1-2)
-
Erelong the wicked-doers in that land will arise to heap denunciations
upon the true believers, and vent their spite upon the company of the faithful.
Each day they will inflict a galling wound, each hour a stunning blow.
Rebuking the friends for the love they bear Bahá'u'lláh and
`Abdu'l-Bahá, they will consider justified their denunciations,
their scorn and malice, and spare no effort to do the friends whatever
injury it lieth within their power to inflict. Such conduct is at one with
the modes and practices of the people aforetime: in bygone centuries, in
the days of the appearance of the holy Manifestations, the people acted
in just this manner; and now, in these days, it is inevitable that they
will repeat such actions, nay, act with greater perversity than before...
Hence it is certain that thou wilt be afflicted with adversities, tests
and injuries for the sake of the Blessed Beauty; yet these afflictions
shall be the purest bounties and bestowals, and a token of thy acceptance
at the Divine Threshold.
(`Abdu'l-Bahá, from a Tablet — translated
from the Persian)
-
But after I leave, some people may arise in opposition, heaping persecutions
upon you in their bitterness, and in the newspapers there may be articles
published against the Cause. Rest ye in the assurance of firmness. Be well
poised and serene, remembering that this is only as the harmless twittering
of sparrows and that it will soon pass away....
Therefore, my purpose is to warn and strengthen you against accusations,
criticisms, revilings and derision in newspaper articles or other publications.
Be not disturbed by them. They are the very confirmation of the Cause,
the very source of upbuilding to the Movement. May God confirm the day
when a score of ministers of the churches may arise and with bared heads
cry at the top of their voices that the Bahá'ís are misguided.
I would like to see that day, for that is the time when the Cause of God
will spread. Bahá'u'lláh has pronounced such as these the
couriers of the Cause. They will proclaim from pulpits that the Bahá'ís
are fools, that they are a wicked and unrighteous people, but be ye steadfast
and unwavering in the Cause of God. They will spread the message of Bahá'u'lláh.
("The Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered
by `Abdu'l-Bahá during His Visit to the United States and Canada
in 1912", 2nd ed. (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1982),
pp. 428-430)
Extracts From The Writings Of Shoghi Effendi:
-
I am however assured and sustained by the conviction, never dimmed in my
mind, that whatsoever comes to pass in the Cause of God, however disquieting,
in its immediate effects, is fraught with infinite Wisdom and tends ultimately
to promote its interests in the world. Indeed, our experiences of the distant
past, as well as of recent events, are too numerous and varied to permit
of any misgiving or doubt as to the truth of this basic principle — a principle
which throughout the vicissitudes of our sacred mission in this world we
must never disregard or forget.
True, the Cause as every other movement has its own obstacles, complications
and unforeseen difficulties, but unlike any other human organization it
inspires a spirit of Faith and Devotion which can never fail to induce
us to make sincere and renewed efforts to face these difficulties and smooth
any differences that may and must arise.
(In a letter written by Shoghi Effendi, 23 December
1922 to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada,
published in "Bahá'í Administration: Selected Messages 1922-1932"
[rev. ed.], (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1980), pp.
27-28)
-
On one hand the remarkable revelations of the Beloved's Will and Testament,
so amazing in all its aspects, so emphatic in its injunctions, have challenged
and perplexed the keenest minds, whilst the ever-increasing confusion of
the world, threatened as never before with disruptive forces, fierce rivalries,
fresh commotions and grave disorder, have wellnigh overwhelmed the heart
and damped the zeal of even the most enthusiastic believer in the destiny
of mankind.
And yet, how often we seem to forget the clear and repeated warnings
of Our beloved Master, Who, in particular during the concluding years of
His mission on earth, laid stress on the "severe mental tests" that would
inevitably sweep over His loved ones of the West — tests that would purge,
purify and prepare them for their noble mission in life.
(In a letter written by Shoghi Effendi, 14 November
1923 to the Bahá'ís of the United States and Canada, published
in "Bahá'í Administration: Selected Messages 1922-1932" p.
50)
-
That the Cause of God should in the days to come witness many a challenging
hour and pass through critical stages in preparation for the glories of
its promised ascendancy in the New World has been time and again undeniably
affirmed by our departed Master, and is abundantly proved to us all by
its heroic past and turbulent history....
(In a letter written by Shoghi Effendi, 23 February
1924 to the Bahá'ís of America, published in "Bahá'í
Administration: Selected Messages 1922-1932", pp. 60-61)
-
We cannot believe that as the Movement grows in strength, in authority
and in influence, the perplexities and the sufferings it has had to contend
with in the past will correspondingly decrease and vanish. Nay, as it grows
from strength to strength, the fanatical defendants of the strongholds
of Orthodoxy, whatever be their denomination, realizing the penetrating
influence of this growing Faith, will arise and strain every nerve to extinguish
its light and discredit its name....
(In a letter written by Shoghi Effendi, 12 February
1927 to the Bahá'ís of the West, published in "Bahá'í
Administration: Selected Messages 1922-1932", p. 123)
-
For let every earnest upholder of the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh
realize that the storms which this struggling Faith of God must needs encounter,
as the process of the disintegration of society advances, shall be fiercer
than any which it has already experienced. Let him be aware that so soon
as the full measure of the stupendous claim of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh
comes to be recognized by those time-honoured and powerful strongholds
of orthodoxy, whose deliberate aim is to maintain their stranglehold over
the thoughts and consciences of men, that this infant Faith will have to
contend with enemies more powerful and more insidious than the cruellest
torture-mongers and the most fanatical clerics who have afflicted it in
the past. What foes may not in the course of the convulsions that shall
seize a dying civilization be brought into existence, who will reinforce
the indignities which have already been heaped upon it!
We have only to refer to the warnings uttered by `Abdu'l-Bahá
in order to realize the extent and character of the forces that are destined
to contest with God's holy Faith. In the darkest moments of His life, under
`Abdu'l Hamíd's regime, when He stood ready to be deported to the
most inhospitable regions of Northern Africa, and at a time when the auspicious
light of the Bahá'í Revelation had only begun to break upon
the West, He in His parting message to the cousin of the Báb, uttered
these prophetic and ominous words: "HOW GREAT, HOW VERY GREAT IS THE CAUSE!
HOW VERY FIERCE THE ONSLAUGHT OF ALL THE PEOPLES AND KINDREDS OF THE EARTH!
ERE LONG SHALL THE CLAMOUR OF THE MULTITUDE THROUGHOUT AFRICA, THROUGHOUT
AMERICA, THE CRY OF THE EUROPEAN AND OF THE TURK, THE GROANING OF INDIA
AND CHINA, BE HEARD FROM FAR AND NEAR. ONE AND ALL THEY SHALL ARISE WITH
ALL THEIR POWER TO RESIST HIS CAUSE. THEN SHALL THE KNIGHTS OF THE LORD,
ASSISTED BY HIS GRACE FROM ON HIGH, STRENGTHENED BY FAITH, AIDED BY THE
POWER OF UNDERSTANDING, AND REINFORCED BY THE LEGIONS OF THE COVENANT,
ARISE AND MAKE MANIFEST THE TRUTH OF THE VERSE: `BEHOLD THE CONFUSION THAT
HATH BEFALLEN THE TRIBES OF THE DEFEATED!'"
Stupendous as is the struggle which His words foreshadow, they also
testify to the complete victory which the upholders of the Greatest Name
are destined eventually to achieve. Peoples, nations, adherents of divers
faiths, will jointly and successively arise to shatter its unity, to sap
its force, and to degrade its holy name. They will assail not only the
spirit which it inculcates, but the administration which is the channel,
the instrument, the embodiment of that spirit. For as the authority with
which Bahá'u'lláh has invested the future Bahá'í
Commonwealth becomes more and more apparent, the fiercer shall be the challenge
which from every quarter will be thrown at the verities it enshrines.
(In a letter written by Shoghi Effendi, 21 March 1930
to the Bahá'ís of the West, published in "The World Order
of Bahá'u'lláh: Selected Letters", pp. 17-18)
-
The separation that has set in between the institutions of the Bahá'í
Faith and the Islamic ecclesiastical organizations that oppose it — a movement
that has originated in Egypt and is now spreading steadily throughout the
Middle East, and will in time communicate its influence to the West — 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, in recent years and of their own accord, proclaimed and established.
This historic development, the beginnings of which could neither be recognized
nor even anticipated in the years immediately preceding `Abdu'l-Bahá'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 Administrative Order.
As this movement gains momentum, as it receives added impetus from the
attitude and future action of the civil authorities in Persia, it will
inevitably manifest its repercussions in the West and will rouse the leaders
of the Church and finally the civil authorities to challenge the claims
and eventually to recognize the independent status of the Religion of Bahá'u'lláh....
Our adversaries in the East have initiated the struggle. Our future opponents
in the West will, in their turn, arise and carry it a stage further. Ours
is the duty, in anticipation of this inevitable contest, to uphold unequivocally
and with undivided loyalty the integrity of our Faith and demonstrate the
distinguishing features of its divinely appointed institutions.
(In a letter written by Shoghi Effendi, 15 June
1935 to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada,
published in "Messages to America: Selected Letters and Cablegrams Addressed
to the Bahá'ís of North America, 1932-1946" (Wilmette: Bahá'í
Publishing Committee, 1947), pp. 4-5)
-
That the forces of irreligion, of a purely materialistic philosophy, of
unconcealed paganism have been unloosed, are now spreading, and, by consolidating
themselves, are beginning to invade some of the most powerful Christian
institutions of the western world, no unbiased observer can fail to admit.
That these institutions are becoming increasingly restive, that a few among
them are already dimly aware of the pervasive influence of the Cause of
Bahá'u'lláh, that they will, as their inherent strength deteriorates
and their discipline relaxes, regard with deepening dismay the rise of
His New World Order, and will gradually determine to assail it, that such
an opposition will in turn accelerate their decline, few, if any, among
those who are attentively watching the progress of His Faith would be inclined
to question.
This menace of secularism that has attacked Islam and is undermining
its remaining institutions, that has invaded Persia, has penetrated into
India, and raised its triumphant head in Turkey, has already manifested
itself in both Europe and America, and is, in varying degrees, and under
various forms and designations, challenging the basis of every established
religion...
(In a letter written by Shoghi Effendi, 11 March 1936
to the Bahá'ís of the West, published in "The World Order
of Bahá'u'lláh: Selected Letters", pp. 180-81)
-
Pregnant indeed are the years looming ahead of us all. The twin processes
of internal disintegration and external chaos are being accelerated every
day and are inexorably moving towards a climax.... The Community of the Most
Great Name, the leaven that must leaven the lump, the chosen remnant that
must survive the rolling up of the old, discredited, tottering Order and
assist in the unfoldment of a new one in its stead, is standing ready,
alert, clear-visioned, and resolute.... Fierce and manifold will be the assaults
with which governments, races, classes and religions, jealous of its rising
prestige and fearful of its consolidating strength, will seek to silence
its voice and sap its foundations. Unmoved by the relative obscurity that
surrounds it at the present time, and undaunted by the forces that will
be arrayed against it in the future, this community, I cannot but feel
confident, will, no matter how afflictive the agonies of a travailing age,
pursue its destiny, undeflected in its course, undimmed in its serenity,
unyielding in its resolve, unshaken in its convictions.
(In a letter written by Shoghi Effendi, 5 July
1938 to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada,
published in "Messages to America: Selected Letters and Cablegrams Addressed
to the Bahá'ís of North America, 1932-1946"), pp. 13-14)
-
How can the beginnings of a world upheaval, unleashing forces that are
so gravely deranging the social, the religious, the political, and the
economic equilibrium of organized society, throwing into chaos and confusion
political systems, racial doctrines, social conceptions, cultural standards,
religious associations, and trade relationships — how can such agitations,
on a scale so vast, so unprecedented, fail to produce any repercussions
on the institutions of a Faith of such tender age whose teachings have
a direct and vital bearing on each of these spheres of human life and conduct?
Little wonder, therefore, if they who are holding aloft the banner
of so pervasive a Faith, so challenging a Cause, find themselves affected
by the impact of these world-shaking forces. Little wonder if they find
that in the midst of this whirlpool of contending passions their freedom
has been curtailed, their tenets contemned, their institutions assaulted,
their motives maligned, their authority jeopardized, their claim rejected.
...
Nor should any of the manifold opportunities, of a totally different
order, be allowed to pass unnoticed which the evolution of the Faith itself,
whether at its world center, or in the North American continent, or even
in the most outlying regions of the earth, must create, calling once again
upon the American believers to play a part, no less conspicuous than the
share they have previously had in their collective contributions to the
propagation of the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh. I can only for the
moment cite at random certain of these opportunities which stand out preeminently,
in any attempt to survey the possibilities of the future: ...the deliverance
of Bahá'í communities from the fetters of religious orthodoxy
in such Islamic countries as Persia, `Iraq, and Egypt, and the consequent
recognition, by the civil authorities in those states, of the independent
status and religious character of Bahá'í National and Local
Assemblies; the precautionary and defensive measures to be devised, coordinated,
and carried out to counteract the full force of the inescapable attacks
which organized efforts of ecclesiastical organizations of various denominations
will progressively launch and relentlessly pursue; and, last but not least,
the multitudinous issues that must be faced, the obstacles that must be
overcome, and the responsibilities that must be assumed, to enable a sore-tried
Faith to pass through the successive stages of unmitigated obscurity, of
active repression, and of complete emancipation, leading in turn to its
being acknowledged as an independent Faith, enjoying the status of full
equality with its sister religions, to be followed by its establishment
and recognition as a State religion, which in turn must give way to its
assumption of the rights and prerogatives associated with the Bahá'í
state, functioning in the plenitude of its powers, a stage which must ultimately
culminate in the emergence of the worldwide Bahá'í Commonwealth,
animated wholly by the spirit, and operating solely in direct conformity
with the laws and principles of Bahá'u'lláh.
...
In the conduct of this twofold crusade the valiant warriors struggling
in the name and for the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh must, of necessity,
encounter stiff resistance, and suffer many a setback. Their own instincts,
no less than the fury of conservative forces, the opposition of vested
interests, and the objections of a corrupt and pleasure-seeking generation,
must be reckoned with, resolutely resisted, and completely overcome. As
their defensive measures for the impending struggle are organized and extended,
storms of abuse and ridicule, and campaigns of condemnation and misrepresentation,
may be unloosed against them. Their Faith, they may soon find, has been
assaulted, their motives misconstrued, their aims defamed, their aspirations
derided, their institutions scorned, their influence belittled, their authority
undermined, and their Cause, at times, deserted by a few who will either
be incapable of appreciating the nature of their ideals, or unwilling to
bear the brunt of the mounting criticisms which such a contest is sure
to involve. "Because of `Abdu'l-Bahá," the beloved Master has prophesied,
"many a test will be visited upon you. Troubles will befall you, and suffering
afflict you."
Let not, however, the invincible army of Bahá'u'lláh,
who in the West, and at one of its potential storm-centers is to fight,
in His name and for His sake, one of its fiercest and most glorious battles,
be afraid of any criticism that might be directed against it. Let it not
be deterred by any condemnation with which the tongue of the slanderer
may seek to debase its motives. Let it not recoil before the threatening
advance of the forces of fanaticism, of orthodoxy, of corruption, and of
prejudice that may be leagued against it. The voice of criticism is a voice
that indirectly reinforces the proclamation of its Cause. Unpopularity
but serves to throw into greater relief the contrast between it and its
adversaries, while ostracism is itself the magnetic power that must eventually
win over to its camp the most vociferous and inveterate amongst its foes....
(In a letter written by Shoghi Effendi, 25 December
1938 to the Bahá'ís of the United States and Canada, published
in "The Advent of Divine Justice", pp. 2-3; pp. 14-15; pp. 41-42)
-
Nor should a survey of the outstanding features of so blessed and fruitful
a ministry omit mention of the prophecies which the unerring pen of the
appointed Center of Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant has recorded!
These foreshadow the fierceness of the onslaught that the resistless march
of the Faith must provoke in the West, in India and in the Far East when
it meets the time-honored sacerdotal orders of the Christian, the Buddhist
and Hindu religions. They foreshadow the turmoil which its emancipation
from the fetters of religious orthodoxy will cast in the American, the
European, the Asiatic and African continents....
(Shoghi Effendi, "God Passes By", rev. ed. (Wilmette:
Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1987) p. 315)
-
No matter how long the period that separates them from ultimate victory;
however arduous the task; however formidable the exertions demanded of
them; however dark the days which mankind, perplexed and sorely-tried,
must, in its hour of travail, traverse; however severe the tests with which
they who are to redeem its fortunes will be confronted; however afflictive
the darts which their present enemies, as well as those whom Providence,
will, through His mysterious dispensations raise up from within or from
without, may rain upon them, however grievous the ordeal of temporary separation
from the heart and nerve-center of their Faith which future unforeseeable
disturbances may impose upon them, I adjure them, by the precious blood
that flowed in such great profusion, by the lives of the unnumbered saints
and heroes who were immolated, by the supreme, the glorious sacrifice of
the Prophet-Herald of our Faith, by the tribulations which its Founder,
Himself, willingly underwent, so that His Cause might live, His Order might
redeem a shattered world and its glory might suffuse the entire planet — I
adjure them, as this solemn hour draws nigh, to resolve never to flinch,
never to hesitate, never to relax, until each and every objective in the
Plans to be proclaimed, at a later date, has been fully consummated.
(In a letter written by Shoghi Effendi, 30 June
1952 to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States, published
in "Messages to the Bahá'í World, 1950-1957" (Wilmette: Bahá'í
Publishing Trust, 1971), pp. 38-39)
-
...undeterred by the clamor which the exponents of religious orthodoxy are
sure to raise, or by the restrictive measures which political leaders may
impose; undismayed by the smallness of their numbers and the multitude
of their potential adversaries; armed with the efficacious weapons their
own hands have slowly and laboriously forged in anticipation of this glorious
and inevitable encounter with the organized forces of superstition, of
corruption and of unbelief; placing their whole trust in the matchless
potency of Bahá'u'lláh's teachings, in the all-conquering
power of His might and the infallibility of His glorious and oft-repeated
promises, let them press forward...
(In a letter written by Shoghi Effendi, 25 June
1953 to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States, published
in "Citadel of Faith: Messages to America 1947-1957" (Wilmette: Bahá'í
Publishing Trust, 1980), p. 120)
-
The administrative problems which face you are divers and complex. The
opposition which a nascent Faith must needs meet, particularly from the
leaders of religious orthodoxy in the Islamic countries of the North, will,
as the institutions of that Faith multiply, become more apparent and grow
in severity....
(In the handwriting of Shoghi Effendi, appended
to a letter dated 2 July 1956 written on his behalf to the National Spiritual
Assembly of North West Africa)
Extracts From Letters Written On Behalf Of Shoghi Effendi:
-
For the history of the Cause, particularly in Persia, is a clear illustration
of the truth that such persecutions invariably serve to strengthen the
believers in their faith, by stimulating the spiritual powers latent in
their hearts, and by awakening in them a new and deeper consciousness of
their duties and responsibilities towards the Faith. Indeed, the mere progress
of the Cause, by provoking the hatreds and jealousies of peoples and nations,
creates for itself such difficulties and obstacles as only its divine spirit
can overcome. `Abdu'l-Bahá has emphatically stated that the enmity
and opposition of the world will increase in direct proportion to the extension
and progress of the Faith. The greater the zeal of the believers and the
more striking the effect of their achievements, the fiercer will be the
opposition of the enemy.
(In a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi,
20 January 1935 to the National Spiritual Assembly of India and Burma)
-
He is, indeed, fully alive to the difficulties which the friends, not only
in your centre but all around the world, are daily encountering in their
attempt to establish and perfect the administrative machinery of the Faith.
These difficulties and obstacles, however, he considers to be inevitable,
inherent as they are in the very process through which the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh
is destined to develop and to eventually establish its ascendancy in the
world. Not only are such difficulties inevitable, but they should be viewed,
indeed, as constituting a God-given test whereby the friends can, and will
assuredly, enrich and perfect the spiritual and moral energies latent in
them, and in this way help in establishing that Divine civilization promised
to them by God.
Trials and sufferings, Bahá'u'lláh has repeatedly
warned us in His Tablets, are even as the oil that feeds the lamp. The
Cause cannot reveal its full splendour unless and until it encounters and
successfully overcomes the very obstacles that every now and then stand
in its way, and for some time appear to threaten its very foundations.
Such obstacles, tests and trials are indeed blessings in disguise, and
as such are bound to help in promoting the Faith.
(In a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, 31
July 1935 to an individual believer)
-
...though he has been made truly grieved to learn of the continued and malignant
opposition which the enemies of the Cause in ..., and particularly the clerical
element, are directing against the believers in that centre. He wishes
you, however, to urge the friends not to feel in the least disheartened
or discouraged, but to pursue with renewed determination, unity and vigour
their sacred task of spreading and establishing the Faith, confident in
the glorious future awaiting them. The greater the number of persecutions,
and the more intense they become in character, the deeper their faith should
be in the unique mission entrusted to them by Bahá'u'lláh,
and the greater their zeal to help in hastening is complete fulfilment.
This Cause, as every Divine Cause, cannot be effectively established
unless it encounters and valiantly triumphs over the forces of opposition
with which it is assailed. The history of the Faith is in itself a sufficient
proof of that. Trials and persecutions have always been, and will continue
to be, the lot of the chosen ones of God. But these they should consider
as blessings in disguise, as through them their faith will be quickened,
purified and strengthened. Bahá'u'lláh compares such afflictive
trials to the oil which feeds the lamp of the Cause of God.
The friends should, therefore, not assume an attitude of mere resignation
in the face of persecutions. They should rather welcome them, and utilize
them as [a] means for their own spiritual uplift and also for the promotion
of the Cause. As the Faith grows stronger and attracts the serious attention
and consideration of the world outside, the friends must expect a similar,
if not a greater, increase in the forces of opposition which from every
direction, both secular and religious, will be massed to undermine the
very basis of its existence. The final outcome of such a struggle, which
will be surely gigantic, is clear to us believers. A Faith born of God
and guided by His Divine and all-pervasive spirit cannot but finally triumph
and firmly establish itself, no matter how persistent and insidious the
forces with which it has to contend. The friends should be confident, and
act with the utmost wisdom and moderation, and should particularly abstain
from any provocative act. The future is surely theirs.
(In a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, 24
June 1936 to an individual believer)
-
His fears are rather for those friends who, due to their insufficient realization
of the divine power that mysteriously operates in the Faith, are prone
to look at such developments as constituting the death-knell of the Cause.
In his communications to the ... friends during the last few weeks he has
always stressed the fact, and he wishes you to do the same in all your
conversations and correspondence with them, that the Cause is bound sooner
or later to suffer from all kinds of attacks and persecutions, that these
in fact constitute the life-blood of its institutions, and as such constitute
an inseparable and intrinsic part of its development and growth. Trials
and tribulations, as Bahá'u'lláh says, are the oil that feed
the lamp of the Cause, and are indeed blessings in disguise. The friends
should therefore be confident that all these attacks to which the Cause
is now subjected in ... are a necessary part of the development of the Cause,
and that their outcome would be beneficial to its best interests.
(In a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi,
31 August 1937 to an individual believer)
-
Later on, when the very progress of the Cause on the one hand, and the
corresponding decline in ecclesiastical organizations on the other will
inevitably incite Christian ecclesiastical leaders to vehemently oppose
and undermine the Faith, the believers will then have a real chance to
defend and vindicate the Cause....
(In a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi,
25 May 1938 to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and
Canada)
-
It seems both strange and pitiful that the Church and clergy should always,
in every age, be the most bitter opponents of the very Truth they are continually
admonishing their followers to be prepared to receive! They have become
so violently attached to the form that the substance itself eludes them!
However, such denunciations as those your minister made publicly
against you and the Bahá'í Faith can do no harm to the Cause
at all; on the contrary they only serve to spread its name abroad and mark
it as an independent religion.
(In a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, 7
February 1945 to an individual believer)
-
It is too bad that some of the Friends have left the Faith due to the pressure
of the Church leaders. Of course, it was inevitable that Church leaders
would oppose us. The Master has predicted that this would occur; and likewise
the very nature of events whereby the Faith grows and develops taking members
away from the Church will cause a reaction of the Church against us. We
must bear in mind that every attack from the religious leaders in the past
has been a means for the development of the Faith itself because those
who listen to the attacks can't help but be affected by the purity and
sincerity of the Faith.
(In a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi,
19 June 1957 to an individual believer)
Extracts From Letters Written By The Universal House
Of Justice:
-
The marvellous victories won in the name of Bahá'u'lláh,
...and the triumphs increasingly being achieved by His dedicated and ardent
lovers in every land, will no doubt serve to rouse the internal and external
enemies of the Faith to fresh attempts to attack the Faith and dampen the
enthusiasm of is supporters...
the progressive unfoldment and onward march of the Faith of God
are bound to raise up adversaries, indubitably foreshadowing the world-wide
opposition which is to come, and unequivocally giving the assurance of
ultimate victory.
We feel strongly that ... the time has come for them [the friends] to
clearly grasp the inevitability of the critical contests which lie ahead,
give you their full support in repelling with confidence and determination
"the darts" which will be levelled against them by "their present enemies,
as well as those whom Providence will, through His mysterious dispensations
raise up from within or from without," and aid and enable the Faith of
God to scale loftier heights, win more signal triumphs, and traverse more
vital stages in is predestined course to complete victory and world-wide
ascendancy.
(In a letter written by the Universal House of Justice,
26 November 1974 to all National Spiritual Assemblies)
Extracts From Letters Written On Behalf Of The Universal
House Of Justice:
-
...the Universal House of Justice instructs us to say that it is to be expected
that books will be written against the Faith attempting to distort is teachings,
to denigrate is accomplishments, to vilify is Founders and leaders and
to destroy is very foundations. The friends should not be unduly exercised
when these books appear and certainly no issue should be made of them.
(In a letter written on behalf of the Universal
House of Justice, 30 March 1976 to the National Spiritual Assembly of Hong
Kong)
-
As your teaching and proclamation work progresses there is bound to be
more and more confrontation with the older religious institutions in ...,
and it is the kind of staunchness evinced by ... which will bring respect
to the Cause and attract the confirmations of Bahá'u'lláh.
(In a letter written on behalf of the Universal
House of Justice, 7 June 1981 to the National Spiritual Assembly of Ireland)
-
...In these days Bahá'ís can expect the flame of fanaticism
to be kindled among the enemies of the Faith in Muslim countries. In meeting
attacks the friends should learn to combine the spirit of steadfastness
and courage with love and wisdom. They should avoid argument and conflict
and conduct themselves in such manner that they do not provoke retaliation.
This includes the use of discretion in their teaching activities.
(In a letter written on behalf of the Universal
House of Justice, 22 August 1983 to the National Spiritual Assembly of
Bangladesh)
-
Given the rise in most parts of the world of religious bigotry and fundamentalism,
it may be timely for your National Assembly to try to arm the Bahá'ís
against such attacks as appear in this book, which is so typical of the
approach of Christian churches. Sooner or later, as you know, these churches
will rise against the Cause.
You are therefore requested to consider asking a qualified person
or group of persons to prepare suitable materials, perhaps for a booklet,
which the friends may use in dealing with misrepresentations of the Bahá'í
Teachings by Christians.
(In a letter written on behalf of the Universal House
of Justice, 18 October 1984 to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United
States)
II.
"The resistless march of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh" (Shoghi Effendi, "Messages to America: Selected Letters
and Cablegrams Addressed to the Bahá'ís of North America",
p. 51)
Extracts From The Writings Of Bahá'u'lláh
-
Say: Tribulation is a horizon unto My Revelation. The day star of grace
shineth above it, and sheddeth a light which neither the clouds of men's
idle fancy nor the vain imaginations of the aggressor can obscure.
Follow thou the footsteps of thy Lord, and remember His servants
even as He doth remember thee, undeterred by either the clamor of the heedless
ones or the sword of the enemy.... Spread abroad the sweet savors of thy
Lord, and hesitate not, though it be for less than a moment, in the service
of His Cause. The day is approaching when the victory of thy Lord, the
Ever-Forgiving, the Most Bountiful, will be proclaimed.
("Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh",
sec. 17, pp. 42-43)
-
Behold how in this Dispensation the worthless and foolish have fondly imagined
that by such instruments as massacre, plunder and banishment they can extinguish
the Lamp which the Hand of Divine power hath lit, or eclipse the Day Star
of everlasting splendor. How utterly unaware they seem to be of the truth
that such adversity is the oil that feedeth the flame of this Lamp! Such
is God's transforming power. He changeth whatsoever He willeth; He verily
hath power over all things....
("Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh",
sec. 29, p. 72)
-
Say: The fierce gales and whirlwinds of the world and its peoples can never
shake the foundation upon which the rocklike stability of My chosen ones
is based. Gracious God! What could have prompted these people to enslave
and imprison the loved ones of Him Who is the Eternal Truth? ... The day,
however, is approaching when the faithful will behold the Day Star of justice
shining in its full splendor from the Day Spring of glory. Thus instructeth
thee the Lord of all being in this, His grievous Prison.
("Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh",
sec. 162, pp. 341-342)
-
With every fresh tribulation He manifested a fuller measure of Thy Cause,
and exalted more highly Thy word.
("Prayers and Meditations by Bahá'u'lláh"
(Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1987), sec. 31, p. 37)
-
Should they attempt to conceal His light on the continent, He will assuredly
rear His head in the midmost heart of the ocean and, raising His voice,
proclaim: "I am the lifegiver of the world!" ... And if they cast Him into
a darksome pit, they will find Him seated on earth's loftiest heights calling
aloud to all mankind: "Lo, the Desire of the world is come in His majesty,
His sovereignty, His transcendent dominion!" And if He be buried beneath
the depths of the earth, His Spirit soaring to the apex of heaven shall
peal the summons: "Behold ye the coming of the Glory; witness ye the Kingdom
of God, the most Holy, the Gracious, the All-Powerful!..."
(Bahá'u'lláh, cited in Shoghi Effendi,
"The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh: Selected Letters", p. 108)
-
At this moment We call to remembrance Our loved ones and bring them the
joyous tidings of God's unfailing grace and of the things that have been
provided for them in My lucid Book. Ye have tolerated the censure of the
enemies for the sake of My love and have steadfastly endured in My Path
the grievous cruelties which the ungodly have inflicted upon you. Unto
this I Myself bear witness, and I am the All-Knowing. How vast the number
of places that have been ennobled with your blood for the sake of God.
How numerous the cities wherein the voice of your lamentation hath been
raised and the wailing of your anguish uplifted. How many the prisons into
which ye have been cast by the hosts of tyranny. Know ye of a certainty
that He will render you victorious, will exalt you among the peoples of
the world and will demonstrate your high rank before the gaze of all nations.
Surely He will not suffer the reward of His favoured ones to be lost.
("Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh Revealed
after the Kitab-i-Aqdas", (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust,
1988), pp. 246-47)
-
Verily God rendereth His Cause victorious at one time through the aid of
His enemies and at another by virtue of the assistance of His chosen ones.
Concerning those pure and blessed souls, Our Pen of Glory hath revealed
that which excelleth the whole world, its treasures and whatsoever existeth
therein. Erelong shall the heedless and the doers of wickedness be repaid
for that which their hands have wrought.
(Bahá'u'lláh, from a Tablet — translated
from the Persian)
-
Whatsoever occurreth in the world of being is light for His loved ones
and fire for the people of sedition and strife. Even if all the losses
of the world were to be sustained by one of the friends of God, he would
still profit thereby, whereas true loss would be borne by such as are wayward,
ignorant and contemptuous. Although the author of the following saying
had intended it otherwise, yet We find it pertinent to the operation of
God's immutable Will:
"Even or odd, thou shalt win the wager." The friends of God shall
win and profit under all conditions, and shall attain true wealth. In fire
they remain cold, and from water they emerge dry. Their affairs are at
variance with the affairs of men. Gain is their lot, whatever the deal.
To this testifieth every wise one with a discerning eye, and every fair-minded
one with a hearing ear.
(Bahá'u'lláh, from a Table translated
from the Persian)
Extracts From The Writings And Utterances Of `Abdu'l-Bahá
-
The friends of God are supported by the Kingdom on high and they win their
victories through the massed armies of the most great guidance. Thus for
them every difficulty will be made smooth, every problem will most easily
be solved.
("Selections from the Writings of `Abdu'l-Bahá",
p. 279)
-
Soon will the Western regions become as radiant as the horizons of the
East, and the Sun of Truth shine forth with a refulgence that will cause
the darkness of error to fade away and vanish. Great is the multitude who
will rise up to oppose you, who will oppress you, heap blame upon you,
rejoice at your misfortunes, account you people to be shunned, and visit
injury upon you; yet shall your heavenly Father confer upon you such spiritual
illumination that ye shall become even as the rays of the sun which, as
they chase away the sombre clouds, break forth to flood the surface of
the earth with light. It is incumbent upon you, whensoever these tests
may overtake you, to stand firm, and to be patient and enduring. Instead
of repaying like with like, ye should requite opposition with the utmost
benevolence and loving-kindness, and on no account attach importance to
cruelties and injuries, but rather regard them as the wanton acts of children.
For ultimately the radiance of the Kingdom will overwhelm the darkness
of the world of being, and the holy, exalted character of your aims will
become unmistakably apparent. Nothing shall remain concealed: the olive
oil, though stored within the deepest vault, shall one day burn in brightness
from the lamp atop the beacon. The small shall be made great, and the powerless
shall be given strength; they that are of tender age shall become the children
of the Kingdom, and those that have gone astray shall be guided to their
heavenly home.
(`Abdu'l-Bahá, from a Tablet- translated
from the Persian)
-
Thou hadst written concerning the growth in stature of the Cause of God
in thy country. There is no doubt that the Faith of God will progress from
day to day in that land, for it will be aided by the strengthening power
of the Holy Spirit and the confirmation of the Word of God. Nor is there
any doubt that members of the Christian clergy will rise up against it
in implacable hostility, wishing to injure and oppress you, and seeking
to assail you with doubts; for the spread of the Cause of God will lead
to the waning of their fortunes — as the fortunes of the Pharisees had waned
before them — and entail the loss of the dignity and standing that they now
enjoy amongst men.
Reflect upon the time of Jesus and the deeds wrought by the Jewish
divines and Pharisees. Such deeds will, in this day, be repeated at the
hands of these Christian clergymen. Be not perturbed, however; be firm
and constant, for it is certain that a company of souls shall, with infinite
love, arise to enter into the Kingdom of God. These souls shall recompense
you for the vexations, the humiliations, and disdain to which you are subjected
by the clergy: to the injuries inflicted by these latter they shall respond
with acts of kindness, until eventually, as the experience of former times
hath shown, the children of the Kingdom shall gain the ascendancy, and
victory shall be theirs. Rest ye confident of this.
(`Abdu'l-Bahá, from a Tablet- translated from
the Persian)
-
All who stand up in the cause of God will be persecuted and misunderstood.
It hath ever been so, and will ever be. Let neither enemy nor friend disturb
your composure, destroy your happiness, deter your accomplishment. Rely
wholly upon God. Then will persecution and slander make you the more radiant.
The designs of your enemies will rebound upon them. They, not you, will
suffer.
Oppression is the wind that doth fan the fire of the Love of God.
Welcome persecution and bitterness. A soldier may bear arms, but until
he hath faced the enemy in battle he hath not earned his place in the king's
army. Let nothing defeat you. God is your helper. God is invincible. Be
firm in the Heavenly Covenant. Pray for strength. It will be given to you,
no matter how difficult the conditions.
(`Abdu'l-Bahá, in "Star of the West", vol. 4,
no. 5 (5 June 1913), p. 88 — revised translation)
-
And now, if you act in accordance with the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh,
you may rest assured that you will be aided and confirmed. You will be
rendered victorious in all that you undertake, and all the inhabitants
of the earth will be unable to withstand you. You are conquerors, because
the power of the Holy Spirit assisteth you. Above and beyond all physical
and phenomenal forces, the Holy Spirit itself shall aid you.
(`Abdu'l-Bahá, in "Star of the West", vol.
8. no. 8 (1 August 1917), p. 103 — revised translation)
Extracts From The Writings Of Shoghi Effendi:
-
If, in days to come, that land should be overtaken by diverse afflictions
and calamities; if, to the rigours of the present times there should be
added the outbreak of widespread civil upheavals; if the country's already
dark horizons should become still gloomier and more foreboding, you should
neither be filled with trepidation and despondency, nor allow yourselves
to be deflected, though it be to the extent of a hair's breadth, from that
sound and well-considered course that you have been following up till now — from
continuing, in other words, your persistent, tireless, and unremitting
labours to increase the number of the Bahá'í administrative
institutions, to strengthen their foundations, to enhance the fair name
that they enjoy, and to consolidate the respect and standing in which they
are held. The release of this innocent and wronged community from the bonds
of captivity, and its deliverance from the clutches of the enemy and oppressor,
cannot but be accompanied by general commotions and disturbances; likewise
the attainment by the people of Bahá to a position in which they
will enjoy true honour, comfort and tranquillity must inevitably encounter
the hostility and resistance, the clamorous opposition and tumultuous protests
of all those who harbour enmity and rancour towards them. If, therefore,
the troubled waters of the sea of adversity should grow yet more turbulent,
if the storm of tribulation should increase in vehemence and assail that
sore-tried community from all six sides with fresh disasters, then know
unhesitatingly and with unwavering conviction, that the hour of deliverance,
the appointed time when the promises of old are to reach their glorious
fulfilment, has drawn nigh, and that the means for the accomplishment of
supreme and overwhelming victory by the hard-pressed followers of the Greatest
Name in that land have all been readied and prepared. Fixity of purpose
and unfaltering resolution are the qualities that must needs be manifested
by the people of Bahá if they are successfully to traverse these
last remaining stages, and witness, at the highest levels, and in a manner
that will fill them with astonishment, the realization of their profoundest
hopes and of their most deeply cherished desires. Such is the way of God — "and
no change canst thou find in the way of God".
(In a letter written by Shoghi Effendi, 11 January
1928 to the National Spiritual Assembly of Persia — translated from the
Persian)
-
...it behooves us, while expectantly watching from a distance the moving
spectacle of the struggling Faith of Bahá'u'lláh, to seek
abiding solace and strength from the reflection that whatever befalls this
Cause, however grievous and humiliating the visitations that from time
to time may seem to afflict the organic life or interfere with the functions
of the administrative machinery of the Bahá'í Faith, such
calamities cannot but each eventually prove to be a blessing in disguise
designed, by a Wisdom inscrutable to us all, to establish and consolidate
the sovereignty of Bahá'u'lláh on this earth.
(In a letter written by Shoghi Effendi, 1 January
1929 to the Bahá'ís of the West, published in "Bahá'í
Administration: Selected Messages 1922-1932", p. 164)
-
Numerous and powerful have been the forces that have schemed, both from
within and from without, in lands both far and near, to quench its light
and abolish its holy name. Some have apostatized from its principles, and
betrayed ignominiously its cause. Others have hurled against it the fiercest
anathemas which the embittered leaders of any ecclesiastical institution
are able to pronounce. Still others have heaped upon it the afflictions
and humiliations which sovereign authority can alone, in the plentitude
of its power, inflict.
The utmost its avowed and secret enemies could hope to achieve was
to retard its growth and obscure momentarily its purpose. What they actually
accomplished was to purge and purify its life, to stir it to still greater
depths, to galvanize its soul, to prune its institutions, and cement its
unity. A schism, a permanent cleavage in the vast body of its adherents,
they could never create.
They who betrayed its cause, its lukewarm and faint-hearted supporters,
withered away and dropped as dead leaves, powerless to cloud its radiance
or to imperil its structure. Its most implacable adversaries, they who
assailed it from without, were hurled from power, and, in the most astonishing
fashion, met their doom. Persia had been the first to repress and oppose
it. Its monarchs had miserably fallen, their dynasty had collapsed, their
name was execrated, the hierarchy that had been their ally and had propped
their declining state, had been utterly discredited. Turkey, which had
thrice banished its Founder and inflicted on Him cruel and lifelong imprisonment,
had passed through one of the severest ordeals and far-reaching revolutions
that its history has recorded, had shrunk from one of the most powerful
empires to a tiny Asiatic republic, its Sultanate obliterated, its dynasty
overthrown, its Caliphate, the mightiest institution of Islam, abolished.
Meanwhile the Faith that had been the object of such monstrous betrayals,
and the target for such woeful assaults, was going from strength to strength,
was forging ahead, undaunted and undivided by the injuries it had received.
In the midst of trials it had inspired its loyal followers with a resolution
that no obstacle, however formidable, could undermine. It had lighted in
their hearts a faith that no misfortune, however black, could quench. It
had infused into their hearts a hope that no force, however determined,
could shatter.
(In a letter written by Shoghi Effendi, 11 March 1936
to the Bahá'ís of the West, published in "The World Order
of Bahá'u'lláh: Selected Letters" pp. 195-96)
-
...every apparent trial with which the unfathomable wisdom of the Almighty
deems it necessary to afflict His chosen community serves only to demonstrate
afresh its essential solidarity and to consolidate its inward strength...
For such demonstrations of the interpositions of an ever-watchful
Providence they who stand identified with the Community of the Most Great
Name must feel eternally grateful. From every fresh token of His unfailing
blessing on the one hand, and of His visitation on the other, they cannot
but derive immense hope and courage....
...
Though small in numbers, and circumscribed as yet in your experiences,
powers, and resources, yet the Force which energizes your mission is limitless
in its range and incalculable in its potency. Though the enemies which
every acceleration in the progress of your mission must raise up be fierce,
numerous, and unrelenting, yet the invisible Hosts which, if you persevere,
must, as promised, rush forth to your aid, will, in the end, enable you
to vanquish their hopes and annihilate their forces. Though the ultimate
blessings that must crown the consummation of your mission be undoubted,
and the Divine promises given you firm and irrevocable, yet the measure
of the goodly reward which every one of you is to reap must depend on the
extent to which your daily exertions will have contributed to the expansion
of that mission and the hastening of its triumph.
(In a letter written by Shoghi Effendi, 25 December
1938 to the Bahá'ís of the United States and Canada, published
in "The Advent of Divine Justice" p. 2; p. 16)
-
Dear friends! Manifold, various, and at times extremely perilous, have
been the tragic crises which the blind hatred, the unbounded presumption,
the incredible folly, the abject perfidy, the vaulting ambition of the
enemy have intermittently engendered within the pale of the Faith. From
some of its most powerful and renowned votaries, at the hands of its once
trusted and ablest propagators, champions, and administrators, from the
ranks of its most revered and highly-placed trustees whether as companions,
amanuenses, or appointed lieutenants of the Herald of the Faith, of its
Author, and of the Centre of His Covenant, from even those who were numbered
among the kindred of the Manifestation, not excluding the brother, the
sons and daughters of Bahá'u'lláh, and the nominee of the
Báb Himself, a Faith, of such tender age, and enshrining so priceless
a promise, has sustained blows as dire and treacherous as any recorded
in the world's religious history.
From the record of its tumultuous history, almost every page of
which portrays a fresh crisis, is laden with the description of a new calamity,
recounts the tale of a base betrayal, and is stained with the account of
unspeakable atrocities, there emerges, clear and incontrovertible, the
supreme truth that with every fresh outbreak of hostility to the Faith,
whether from within or from without, a corresponding measure of outpouring
grace, sustaining its defenders and confounding its adversaries, has been
providentially released, communicating a fresh impulse to the onward march
of the Faith, while this impetus, in its turn, would, through its manifestations,
provoke fresh hostility in quarters heretofore unaware of its challenging
implications — this increased hostility being accompanied by a still more
arresting revelation of Divine Power and a more abundant effusion of celestial
grace, which, by enabling the upholders of that Faith to register still
more brilliant victories, would thereby generate issues of still more vital
import and raise up still more formidable enemies against a Cause that
cannot but in the end resolve those issues and crush the resistance of
those enemies, through a still more glorious unfoldment of its inherent
power.
The resistless march of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh, viewed
in this light, and propelled by the stimulating influences which the unwisdom
of its enemies and the force latent within itself both engender, resolves
itself into a series of rhythmic pulsations, precipitated, on the one hand,
through the explosive outbursts of its foes, and the vibrations of Divine
Power, on the other, which speed it, with ever-increasing momentum, along
that predestined course traced for it by the Hand of the Almighty.
As opposition to the Faith, from whatever source it may spring, whatever
form it may assume, however violent its outbursts, is admittedly the motive-power
that galvanizes, on the one hand, the souls of its valiant defenders, and
taps for them, on the other, fresh springs of that Divine and inexhaustible
Energy, we who are called upon to represent, defend, and promote its interests,
should, far from regarding any manifestation of hostility as an evidence
of the weakening of the pillars of the Faith, acclaim it as both a God-sent
gift and a God-sent opportunity which, if we remain undaunted, we can utilize
for the furtherance of His Faith and the routing and complete elimination
of its adversaries.
The Heroic Age of the Faith, born in anguish, nursed in adversity, and
terminating in trials as woeful as those that greeted its birth, has been
succeeded by that Formative Period which is to witness the gradual crystallization
of those creative energies which the Faith has released, and the consequent
emergence of that World Order for which those forces were made to operate.
Fierce and relentless will be the opposition which this crystallization
and emergence must provoke. The alarm it must and will awaken, the envy
it will certainly arouse, the misrepresentations to which it will remorselessly
be subjected, the set-backs it must, sooner or later, sustain, the commotions
to which it must eventually give rise, the fruits it must in the end garner,
the blessings it must inevitably bestow and the glorious, the Golden Age
it must irresistibly usher in, are just beginning to be faintly perceived,
and will, as the old Order crumbles beneath the weight of so stupendous
a Revelation, become increasingly apparent and arresting.
(In a letter written by Shoghi Effendi, 12 August 1941
to the Bahá'ís of America, published in "Messages to America:
Selected Letters and Cablegrams Addressed to the Bahá'ís
of North America, 1932-1946, pp. 50-52)
-
We can discover a no less distinct gradation in the character of the opposition
it has had to encounter ... an opposition which, now, through the rise of
a divinely appointed Order in the Christian West, and its initial impact
on civil and ecclesiastical institutions, bids fair to include among its
supporters established governments and systems associated with the most
ancient, the most deeply entrenched sacerdotal hierarchies in Christendom.
We can, at the same time, recognize, through the haze of an ever-widening
hostility, the progress, painful yet persistent, of certain communities
within its pale through the stages of obscurity, of proscription, of emancipation,
and of recognition — stages that must needs culminate in the course of succeeding
centuries, in the establishment of the Faith, and the founding, in the
plenitude of its power and authority, of the world-embracing Bahá'í
Commonwealth....
Despite the blows leveled at its nascent strength, whether by the wielders
of temporal and spiritual authority from without, or by black-hearted foes
from within, the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh had, far from breaking
or bending, gone from strength to strength, from victory to victory. Indeed
its history, if read aright, may be said to resolve itself into a series
of pulsations, of alternating crises and triumphs, leading it ever nearer
to its divinely appointed destiny....
The tribulations attending the progressive unfoldment of the Faith of
Bahá'u'lláh have indeed been such as to exceed in gravity
those from which the religions of the past have suffered. Unlike those
religions, however, these tribulations have failed utterly to impair its
unity, or to create, even temporarily, a breach in the ranks of its adherents.
It has not only survived these ordeals, but has emerged, purified and inviolate,
endowed with greater capacity to face and surmount any crisis which its
resistless march may engender in the future.
...
Whatever may befall this infant Faith of God in future decades or in
succeeding centuries, whatever the sorrows, dangers and tribulations which
the next stage in its world-wide development may engender, from whatever
quarter the assaults to be launched by its present or future adversaries
may be unleashed against it, however great the reverses and setbacks it
may suffer, we, who have been privileged to apprehend, to the degree our
finite minds can fathom, the significance of these marvelous phenomena
associated with its rise and establishment, can harbor no doubt that what
it has already achieved in the first hundred years of its life provides
sufficient guarantee that it will continue to forge ahead, capturing loftier
heights, tearing down every obstacle, opening up new horizons and winning
still mightier victories until its glorious mission, stretching into the
dim ranges of time that lie ahead, is totally fulfilled.
(Shoghi Effendi, "God Passes By", Foreword p. xvii;
p. 409; p. 410; p. 412)
-
Such reflections, far from engendering in our minds and hearts the slightest
trace of perplexity, of discouragement or doubt, should reinforce the basis
of our convictions, demonstrate to us the incorruptibility, the strange
workings and the invincibility of a Faith which, despite the assaults which
malignant and redoubtable enemies from the ranks of kings, princes and
ecclesiastics have repeatedly launched against it, and the violent internal
tests that have shaken it for more than a century, and the relative obscurity
of its champions, and the unpropitiousness of the times and the perversity
of the generations contemporaneous with its rise and growth, has gone from
strength to strength, has preserved its unity and integrity, has diffused
its light over five continents, reared the institutions of its Administrative
Order and spread its ramifications to the four corners of the earth, and
launched its systematic campaigns in both the Western and Eastern Hemispheres.
For such benefits, for such an arresting and majestic vindication
of the undefeatable powers inherent in our precious Faith, we can but bow
our heads in humility, awe and thanksgiving, renew our pledge of fealty
to it, and, each covenanting in his own heart, resolve to prove faithful
to that pledge, and persevere to the very end, until our earthly share
of servitude to so transcendent and priceless a Cause has been totally
and completely fulfilled.
(In a letter written by Shoghi Effendi, 15 June 1946
to the Bahá'ís of America, published "Messages to America:
Selected Letters and Cablegrams Addressed to the Bahá'ís
of North America, 1932-1946", p. 104)
-
Indeed this fresh ordeal that has, in pursuance of the mysterious dispensations
of Providence, afflicted the Faith, at this unexpected hour, far from dealing
a fatal blow to its institutions or existence, should be regarded as a
blessing in disguise, not a "calamity" but a "providence" of God, not a
devastating flood but a "gentle rain" on a "green pasture," a "wick" and
"oil" unto the "lamp" of His Faith, a "nurture" for His Cause, "water for
that which has been planted in the hearts of men," a "crown set on the
head" of His Messenger for this Day.
Whatever its outcome, this sudden commotion that has seized the
Bahá'í world, that has revived the hopes and emboldened the
host of the adversaries of the Faith intent on quenching its light and
obliterating it from the face of the earth, has served as a trumpet call
in the sounding of which the press of the world, the cries of its vociferous
enemies, the public remonstrances of both men of good will and those in
authority have joined, proclaiming far and wide its existence, publicizing
its history, defending its verities, unveiling its truths, demonstrating
the character of its institutions and advertising its aims and purposes.
...
For though the newly launched World Spiritual Crusade — constituting at
best only the Minor Plan in the execution of the Almighty's design for
the redemption of mankind — has, as a result of this turmoil paralyzing temporarily
the vast majority of the organized followers of Bahá'u'lláh
within His birthplace, suffered a severe setback, yet the over-all Plan
of God, moving mysteriously and in contrast to the orderly and well-known
processes of a clearly devised Plan, has received an impetus the force
of which only posterity can adequately assess.
(In a letter written by Shoghi Effendi, 20 August 1954
to the Bahá'ís of the United States, published in "Citadel
of Faith: Messages to America 1947-1957", pp. 139-40)
-
However severe their trials, and disheartening the present situation may
appear, they must remember that the Faith to which they owe allegiance
has weathered, not so very long ago, storms of a far greater severity that
seemed, at times, capable of engulfing and of obliterating its nascent
institutions. The newly planted sapling of a divinely conceived administrative
order, having driven deep its roots in German soil, bent momentarily under
the hurricane which so violently swept over it, and no sooner had the tempest
spent its force than it righted itself, and, growing with a fresh vigour,
put forth branches and offshoots that now overshadow the entire land, and
even stretch out as far as the heart of Austria.
The experience of so miraculous a recovery from so devastating an
ordeal should, alone, prove sufficient to infuse an invigorating spirit
into those who have been subjected to it, as well as into the new generation
who are still close enough to those events to appreciate its extreme violence,
such as will not only enable them to withstand onslaughts of still greater
severity, but impel them, both young and old, men and women alike, to struggle,
with redoubled vigour and deeper consecration, to meet the pressing and
the manifold requirements of the present hour.
(In the handwriting of Shoghi Effendi, appended to
a letter dated 14 August 1957 written on his behalf to a National Spiritual
Assembly, in "The Light of Divine Guidance", vol. 1 (Hofheim-Langenhain:
Bahá'í-Verlag GmbH, 1982), pp. 303-304)
Extracts From Letters Written On Behalf Of Shoghi Effendi:
-
There is always an important difference between friends and tested friends.
No matter how precious the first type may be, the future of the Cause rests
upon the latter. Up to the present the German friends were considered as
loving Bahá'ís, from now on they can be ranked as tested
ones.
In every country where such difficulties arise, they generally end
with added energy and more intensive service of the Cause....
(In a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, 4
April 1930 to an individual believer, published in "The Light of Divine
Guidance", vol. 1, pp. 34-35)
-
The friends...should not feel bewildered, for they have the assurance of
Bahá'u'lláh that whatever the nature and character of the
forces of opposition facing His Cause, its eventual triumph is indubitably
certain.
(In a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi,
30 August 1937 to an individual believer)
-
Let them know, however, for a certainty that the onslaught of both the
disbeliever and the oppressor will become a means of promulgating this
Divine Cause, of proclaiming the Word of God and of consolidating the foundations
of His holy Faith; and that its enemies will ultimately be completely overwhelmed,
that the Cause of God will emerge victorious, and that His Word will reign
supreme.
(In a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi,
21 October 1946 to an individual believer, translated from the Persian)
-
He very deeply appreciates your Assembly's assurance of its abiding loyalty
to him and to the Master's Will and Testament. As you can well imagine
this disaffection of the Master's Family has been a very sad and heavy
blow to him; but, although for many years he shielded them with his silence,
in the end he was forced to speak out in order to protect the Faith. For
a hundred years our beloved Cause has suffered from these internal afflictions,
and the way the believers, generation after generation, have met this test
with steadfast faith, loyalty and devotion, is one of the signs that this
is the Cause of God, divinely protected through the Covenants of Bahá'u'lláh
and the Master.
(In a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi,
30 June 1949 to the National Spiritual Assembly of Germany and Austria,
published in "The Light of Divine Guidance", vol. 1, p. 149)
-
He urges you not to be discouraged or depressed, but rest assured that
Bahá'u'lláh will assist you. Every set-back this Cause receives
is invariably a means of ensuring a future victory, for God will never
permit His Faith to be put out or uprooted.
(In a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi,
26 January 1950 to the Local Spiritual Assembly of Panama)
-
Although this may temporarily prove an embarrassment to your work, and
a set-back, there is no doubt that it signalizes a step forward in the
advance of the Faith; for we know that our beloved Faith must eventually
clash with the entrenched orthodoxies of the past; and that this conflict
cannot but lead to greater victories, and to ultimate emancipation, recognition
and ascendancy.
(In a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi,
8 April 1951 to two believers)
-
The Faith is moving at a tremendous rate, and with tremendous force at
the present time. Certainly if it is suppressed in one place, the power
of the Cause is such that it must rise with greater strength in another
place; and thus the persecutions of the Persian Bahá'ís have
caused the Faith to surge ahead in Africa. This certainly must be a solace
to the suffering of the Bahá'ís of Persia.
(In a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi,
26 September 1955 to an individual believer)
Extracts From Letters Written By The Universal House
Of Justice:
-
It should not be surmised that the events which have taken place in all
corners of the globe, including the sacred land of Iran, have occurred
as isolated incidents without any aim and purpose. According to the words
of our beloved Guardian, "The invisible hand is at work and the convulsions
taking place on earth are a prelude to the proclamation of the Cause of
God". This is but one of the mysterious forces of this supreme Revelation
which is causing the limbs of mankind to quake and those who are drunk
with pride and negligence to be thunderstruck and shaken....
In such an afflicted time, when mankind is bewildered and the wisest
of men are perplexed as to the remedy, the people of Bahá, who have
confidence in His unfailing grace and divine guidance, are assured that
each of these tormenting trials has a cause, a purpose, and a definite
result, and all are essential instruments for the establishment of the
immutable Will of God on earth. In other words, on the one hand humanity
is struck by the scourge of His chastisement which will inevitably bring
together the scattered and vanquished tribes of the earth; and on the other,
the weak few whom He has nurtured under the protection of His loving guidance
are, in this Formative Age and period of transition, continuing to build
amidst these tumultuous waves an impregnable stronghold which will be the
sole remaining refuge for those lost multitudes. Therefore, the dear friends
of God who have such a broad and clear vision before them are not perturbed
by such events, nor are they panic-stricken by such thundering sounds,
nor will they face such convulsions with fear and trepidation, nor will
they be deterred, even for a moment, from fulfilling their sacred responsibilities.
(In a letter written by the Universal House of Justice,
10 February 1980 to the Iranian believers resident in other countries throughout
the world)
-
The inveterate enemies of the Faith imagine that their persecutions will
disrupt the foundations of the Faith and tarnish its glory. Alas! Alas
for their ignorance and folly! These acts of oppression, far from weakening
the resolve of the friends, have always served to inflame their zeal and
galvanize their beings. In the words of `Abdu'l-Bahá, "...they thought
that violence and interference would cause extinction and silence and lead
to suppression and oblivion; whereas interference in matters of conscience
causes stability and firmness and attracts the attention of men's sight
and souls, which fact has received experimental proof many times and often."
Every drop of blood shed by the valiant martyrs, every sigh heaved
by the silent victims of oppression, every supplication for divine assistance
offered by the faithful, has released, and will continue mysteriously to
release, forces over which no antagonist of the Faith has any control,
and which, as marshalled by an All-Watchful Providence, have served to
noise abroad the name and fame of the Faith to the masses of humanity in
all continents, millions of whom had previously been totally ignorant of
the existence of the Faith or had but a superficial, and oft-times erroneous,
understanding of its teachings and history.
The current persecution has resulted in bringing the name and character
of our beloved Faith to the attention of the world as never before in its
history. As a direct result of the protests sent by the world-wide community
of the Most Great Name to the rulers in Iran, of the representations made
to the media when those protests were ignored, of direct approach by Bahá'í
institutions at national and international level to governments, communities
of nations, international agencies and the United Nations itself, the Faith
of Bahá'u'lláh has not only been given sympathetic attention
in the world's councils, but also its merits and violated rights have been
discussed and resolutions of protest sent to the Iranian authorities by
sovereign governments, singly and in unison. The world's leading newspapers,
followed by the local press, have presented sympathetic accounts of the
Faith to millions of readers, while television and radio stations are increasingly
making the persecutions in Iran the subject of their programmes. Commercial
publishing houses are beginning to commission books about the Faith.
...
Indeed, this new wave of persecution sweeping the Cradle of the Faith
may well be seen as a blessing in disguise, a "providence" whose "calamity"
is, as always, borne heroically by the beloved Persian community. It may
be regarded as the latest move in God's Major Plan, another trumpet blast
to awaken the heedless from their slumber and a golden opportunity offered
to the Bahá'ís to demonstrate once again their unity and
fellowship before the eyes of a declining and skeptical world, to proclaim
with full force the Message of Bahá'u'lláh to high and low
alike, to establish the reverence of our Faith for Islam and its Prophet,
to assert the principles of non-interference in political activities and
obedience to government which stand at the very core of our Faith, and
to provide comfort and solace to the breasts of the serene sufferers and
steadfast heroes in the forefront of a persecuted community....
(In a letter written by the Universal House of Justice,
26 January 1982 to the Bahá'ís of the World)
-
Shoghi Effendi perceived in the organic life of the Cause a dialectic of
victory and crisis. The unprecedented triumphs, generated by the adamantine
steadfastness of the Iranian friends, will inevitably provoke opposition
to test and increase our strength. Let every Bahá'í in the
world be assured that whatever may befall this growing Faith of God is
but incontrovertible evidence of the loving care with which the King of
Glory and His martyred Herald, through the incomparable Centre of His Covenant
and our beloved Guardian, are preparing His humble followers for ultimate
and magnificent triumph....
(In a letter written by the Universal House of
Justice, 2 January 1986 to the Bahá'ís of the World)
-
The opening of that Plan coincided with the recrudescence of savage persecution
of the Bahá'í community in Iran, a deliberate effort to eliminate
the Cause of God from the land of its birth. The heroic steadfastness of
the Persian friends has been the mainspring of tremendous international
attention focussed on the Cause, eventually bringing it to the agenda of
the General Assembly of the United Nations, and, together with world-wide
publicity in all the media, accomplishing its emergence from the obscurity
which characterized and sheltered the first period of its life. This dramatic
process impelled the Universal House of Justice to address a Statement
on Peace to the Peoples of the World and arrange for its delivery to Heads
of State and the generality of the rulers.
(In a letter written by the Universal House of
Justice, Ridvan 1986 to the Bahá'ís of the World)
III.
"The security of our precious Faith" ... (Shoghi Effendi, "Messages to the Bahá'í
World 1950-1957", p. 123)
Extracts From The Writings Of Bahá'u'lláh:
-
..."Say: O people of God! Beware lest the powers of the earth alarm you,
or the might of the nations weaken you, or the tumult of the people of
discord deter you, or the exponents of earthly glory sadden you. Be ye
as a mountain in the Cause of your Lord, the Almighty, the All-Glorious,
the Unconstrained." "Say: Beware, O people of Bahá, lest the strong
ones of the earth rob you of your strength, or they who rule the world
fill you with fear. Put your trust in God, and commit your affairs to His
keeping. He, verily, will, through the power of truth, render you victorious,
and He, verily, is powerful to do what He willeth, and in His grasp are
the reins of omnipotent might."
(Bahá'u'lláh, cited in Shoghi Effendi
"The Advent of Divine Justice", p. 82)
-
It is incumbent upon all men, each according to his ability, to refute
the arguments of those that have attacked the Faith of God. Thus hath it
been decreed by Him Who is the All-Powerful, the Almighty. He that wisheth
to promote the Cause of the one true God, let him promote it through his
pen and tongue, rather than have recourse to sword or violence.... If any
man were to arise to defend, in his writings, the Cause of God against
its assailants, such a man, however inconsiderable his share, shall be
so honored in the world to come that the Concourse on high would envy his
glory. No pen can depict the loftiness of his station, neither can any
tongue describe its splendor. For whosoever standeth firm and steadfast
in this holy, this glorious, and exalted Revelation, such power shall be
given him as to enable him to face and withstand all that is in heaven
and on earth. Of this God is Himself a witness.
("Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh"
sec. 154, pp. 329-30)
-
We exhort the men of the House of Justice and command them to ensure the
protection and safeguarding of men, women and children. It is incumbent
upon them to have the utmost regard for the interests of the people at
all times and under all conditions. Blessed is the ruler who succoureth
the captive, and the rich one who careth for the poor, and the just one
who secureth from the wrong doer the rights of the downtrodden, and happy
the trustee who observeth that which the Ordainer, the Ancient of Days
hath prescribed unto him.
("Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh Revealed
after the Kitab-i-Aqdas" pp. 69-70)
-
And likewise, He saith: "Say to them that are of a fearful heart: be strong,
fear not, behold your God." This blessed verse is a proof of the greatness
of the Revelation, and of the greatness of the Cause, inasmuch as the blast
of the trumpet must needs spread confusion throughout the world, and fear
and trembling amongst all men. Well is it with him who hath been illumined
with the light of trust and detachment. The tribulations of that Day will
not hinder or alarm him. Thus hath the Tongue of Utterance spoken, as bidden
by Him Who is the All-Merciful. He, verily, is the Strong, the All-Powerful,
the All-Subduing, the Almighty....
(Bahá'u'lláh, "Epistle to the Son
of the Wolf", p. 147)
-
You should exhort all the friends to patience, to acquiescence, and to
tranquillity, saying: O ye loved ones of God in that land! Ye are glorified
in all the worlds of God because of your relationship to Him Who is the
Eternal Truth, but in your lives on this earthly plane, which pass away
as a fleeting moment, ye are afflicted with abasement. For the sake of
the one true God, ye have been reviled and persecuted, ye have been imprisoned,
and surrendered your lives in His path. Ye should not, however, by reason
of the tyrannical acts of some heedless souls, transgress the limits of
God's commandments by contending with anyone.
Whatever hath befallen you, hath been for the sake of God. This
is the truth, and in this there is no doubt. You should, therefore, leave
all your affairs in His Hands, place your trust in Him, and rely upon Him.
He will assuredly not forsake you. In this, likewise, there is no doubt.
No father will surrender his sons to devouring beasts; no shepherd will
leave his flock to ravening wolves. He will most certainly do his utmost
to protect his own.
If, however, for a few days, in compliance with God's all-encompassing
wisdom, outward affairs should run their course contrary to one's cherished
desire, this is of no consequence and should not matter. Our intent is
that all the friends should fix their gaze on the Supreme Horizon, and
cling to that which hath been revealed in the Tablets. They should strictly
avoid sedition, and refrain from treading the path of dissension and strife.
They should champion their one true God, exalted be He, through the hosts
of forbearance, of submission, of an upright character, of goodly deeds,
and of the choicest and most refined words.
(Bahá'u'lláh, "The Bahá'í
World" vol. XVIII (Haifa: Bahá'í World Centre, 1986) pp.
10-11)
Extracts From The Writings Of `Abdu'l-Bahá:
-
O army of God! When calamity striketh, be ye patient and composed. However
afflictive your sufferings may be, stay ye undisturbed, and with perfect
confidence in the abounding grace of God, brave ye the tempest of tribulations
and fiery ordeals.
("Selections from the Writings of `Abdu'l-Bahá",
p. 74)
-
Wherefore must the loved ones of God, laboriously, with the waters of their
striving, tend and nourish and foster this tree of hope. In whatsoever
land they dwell, let them with a whole heart befriend and be companions
to those who are either close to them, or far removed. Let them, with qualities
like unto those of heaven, promote the institutions and the religion of
God. Let them never lose heart, never be despondent, never feel afflicted.
The more antagonism they meet, the more let them show their own good faith;
the more torments and calamities they have to face, the more generously
let them pass round the bounteous cup. Such is the spirit which will become
the life of the world, such is the spreading light at its heart: and he
who may be and do other than this is not worthy to serve at the Holy Threshold
of the Lord.
("Selections from the Writings of `Abdu'l-Bahá",
p. 258)
-
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....
My supreme obligation, however, of necessity, prompteth me to guard
and preserve the Cause of God. Thus, with the greatest regret, I counsel
you saying: Guard ye the Cause of God, protect His law and have the utmost
fear of discord. This is the foundation of the belief of the people of
Bahá (may my life be offered up for them)...
("Will and Testament of `Abdu'l-Bahá", (Wilmette:
Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1971), p. 4; p. 19)
Extracts From The Writings Of Shoghi Effendi:
-
It is incumbent upon them to be vigilant and cautious, discreet and watchful,
and protect at all times the Temple of the Cause from the dart of the mischief-maker
and the onslaught of the enemy.
(In a letter written by Shoghi Effendi, 12 March
1923 to the Bahá'ís of America, Great Britain, Germany, France,
Switzerland, Italy, Japan and Australasia, published in "Bahá'í
Administration: Selected Messages 1922-1932", p. 38)
-
As the Movement grows in prestige, fame and influence, as the ambitions,
malice and ill-will of strangers and enemies correspondingly wax greater,
it becomes increasingly important for every individual and Spiritual Assembly
to be on their guard lest they fall innocent victims of the evil designs
of the malevolent, the self-seeking and greedy.
Touching the publication of articles and pamphlets bearing on the
controversial and political issues of the day, I desire to remind my dearly-beloved
fellow-workers that at the present stage when the Cause is still in its
infancy, any minute and detailed analysis by the friends of subjects that
are in the forefront of general discussion would often be misconstrued
in certain quarters and give rise to suspicions and misunderstandings that
would react unfavorably on the Cause. They would tend to create a misconception
of the real object, the true mission, and the fundamental character of
the Bahá'í Faith. We should, while endeavoring to uphold
loyally and expound conscientiously our social and moral principles in
all their essence and purity, in all their bearings upon the divers phases
of human society, insure that no direct reference or particular criticism
in our exposition of the fundamentals of the Faith would tend to antagonize
any existing institution, or help to identify a purely spiritual movement
with the base clamorings and contentions of warring sects, factions and
nations. We should strive in all our utterances to combine the discretion
and noble reticence of the wise with the frankness and passionate loyalty
of the ardent advocate of an inspiring Faith. While refusing to utter the
word that would needlessly alienate or estrange any individual, government
or people, we should fearlessly and unhesitatingly uphold and assert in
their entirety such truths the knowledge of which we believe is vitally
and urgently needed for the good and betterment of mankind.
(In a letter written by Shoghi Effendi, 10 January
1926 to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada,
published in "Bahá'í Administration: Selected Messages 1922-1932",
p. 102)
-
We can prove ourselves worthy of our Cause only if in our individual conduct
and corporate life we sedulously imitate the example of our beloved Master,
Whom the terrors of tyranny, the storms of incessant abuse, the oppressiveness
of humiliation, never caused to deviate a hair's breadth from the revealed
Law of Bahá'u'lláh.
(In a letter written by Shoghi Effendi, 12 April
1927 to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada,
published in "Bahá'í Administration: Selected Messages 1922-1932",
p. 132)
-
Be moreover assured beyond all shadow of doubt that no matter how strenuously
the enemies of God's Faith may exert themselves to extinguish its fire,
they will but cause its flame to burn the more fiercely, its light to shine
the more brightly, and its heat to grow the more intense. People of wisdom
and discernment, who are closely but unobtrusively surveying the progress
of the Faith, and are resolved to subject it to the most careful examination
and research, will be neither shaken nor swayed by these absurd and baseless
claims, these scurrilous publications and self-contradictory pronouncements.
So far from being blinded by such propaganda to the verities of the Cause,
they will rather be moved by it to pursue their investigations and inquiries
with greater meticulousness and enthusiasm than before; to make themselves
thoroughly familiar with the teachings, principles and aspirations of the
followers of Bahá'u'lláh; and even, through the grace and
guidance of an Almighty and Omniscient Lord, to arise in time of need for
the defence and protection of the Cause; to put to rout the hosts of suspicion,
doubt and misconception; to raze to its foundations the edifice of calumny
and falsehood; and to demonstrate and establish, before the eyes of all
the world, the sacred, exalted and indomitable reality of the resistless
Faith of God. These various distressful occurrences, contrived and instigated
by the enemies and ill-wishers of the Cause — their insidious rumours, their
defamatory reports, their flagrant and unprincipled attacks — should be viewed
as dispositions and instrumentalities of Providence, designed to hasten
the advent of that promised day, that mighty and compelling victory, and
that perspicuous triumph, which have been so clearly foretold in the scriptures,
and so explicitly and emphatically set forth by the Pen of the Most High.
(In a letter written by Shoghi Effendi, August
1927 to the National Spiritual Assembly of Persia — translated from the Persian)
-
The permanence and stability achieved by any association, group or nation
is a result of — and dependent upon — the soundness and worth of the principles
upon which it bases the running of its affairs and the direction of its
activities. The guiding principles of the Bahá'ís are: honesty,
love, charity and trustworthiness; the setting of the common good above
private interest; and the practice of godliness, virtue and moderation.
Ultimately, then, their preservation and happiness are assured. Whatever
misfortunes they may encounter, wrought by the wiles of the schemer and
ill-wisher, shall all pass away like waves, and hardship shall be succeeded
by joy. The friends are under the protection of the resistless power and
inscrutable providence of God. There is no doubt that every blessed soul
who brings his life into harmony with this all-swaying power shall give
lustre to his works and win an ample recompense. The actions of those who
choose to set themselves against it should provoke not antipathy on our
part, but prayers for their guidance. Such was the way of the Bahá'ís
in days gone by, and so must it be, now and for always.
(In a letter written by Shoghi Effendi, 18 December
1928 to the National Spiritual Assembly of Iran — translated from the Persian)
-
Let them refrain from associating themselves, 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 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 unscrupulous 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. Let them rise above all particularism and partisanship, above
the vain disputes, the petty calculations, the transient passions that
agitate the face, and engage 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 diplomatic or political from those that are purely
administrative in character, and which under 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 Bahá'u'lláh,
to avoid the entanglements and bickerings 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.
As the number of the Bahá'í communities in various parts
of the world multiplies and their power, as a social force, becomes increasingly
apparent, they will no doubt find themselves increasingly subjected to
the pressure which men of authority and influence, in the political domain,
will exercise in the hope of obtaining the support they require for the
advancement of their aims. These communities will, moreover, feel a growing
need of the good-will and the assistance of their respective governments
in their efforts to widen the scope, and to consolidate the foundations,
of the institutions committed to their charge. Let them beware lest, in
their eagerness to further the aims of their beloved Cause, they should
be led unwittingly to bargain with their Faith, to compromise with their
essential principles, or to sacrifice, in return for any material advantage
which their institutions may derive, the integrity of their spiritual ideals.
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 Bahá'u'lláh, they will, unhesitatingly,
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 circumstances,
the provisions of their country's constitution, much less to allow the
machinery of their administration to supersede the government of their
respective countries.
It should also be borne in mind that the very extension of the activities
in which we are engaged, and the variety of the communities which labor
under divers forms of government, so essentially different in their standards,
policies, and methods, make it absolutely essential for all those who are
the declared members of any one of these communities to avoid any action
that might, by arousing the suspicion or exciting the antagonism of any
one government, involve their brethren in fresh persecutions or complicate
the nature of their task. How else, might I ask, could such a far-flung
Faith, which transcends political and social boundaries, which includes
within its pale so great a variety of races and nations, which will have
to rely increasingly, as it forges ahead, on the good-will and support
of the diversified and contending governments of the earth — how else could
such a Faith succeed in preserving its unity, in safeguarding its interests,
and in ensuring the steady and peaceful development of its institutions?
Such an attitude, however, is not dictated by considerations of selfish
expediency, but is actuated, first and foremost, by the broad principle
that the followers of Bahá'u'lláh will, under no circumstances,
suffer themselves to be involved, whether as individuals or in their collective
capacities, in matters that would entail the slightest departure from the
fundamental verities and ideals of their Faith. Neither the charges which
the uninformed and the malicious may be led to bring against them, nor
the allurements of honors and rewards, will ever induce them to surrender
their trust or to deviate from their path. Let their words proclaim, and
their conduct testify, that they who follow Bahá'u'lláh,
in whatever land they reside, are actuated by no selfish ambition, that
they neither thirst for power, nor mind any wave of unpopularity, of distrust
or criticism, which a strict adherence to their standards might provoke.
(In a letter written by Shoghi Effendi, 21 March 1932
to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada, published
in "The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh: Selected Letters", pp.
64-67)
-
Such a rectitude of conduct must manifest itself, with ever-increasing
potency, in every verdict which the elected representatives of the Bahá'í
community, in whatever capacity they may find themselves, may be called
upon to pronounce. It must be constantly reflected in the business dealings
of all its members, in their domestic lives, in all manner of employment,
and in any service they may, in the future, render their government or
people. It must be exemplified in the conduct of all Bahá'í
electors, when exercising their sacred rights and functions. It must characterize
the attitude of every loyal believer towards nonacceptance of political
posts, nonidentification with political parties, nonparticipation in political
controversies, and nonmembership in political organizations and ecclesiastical
institutions.... It must be demonstrated in the impartiality of every defender
of the Faith against its enemies, in his fair-mindedness in recognizing
any merits that enemy may possess, and in his honesty in discharging any
obligations he may have towards him....
No greater demonstration can be given to the peoples of both continents
of the youthful vitality and the vibrant power animating the life, and
the institutions of the nascent Faith of Bahá'u'lláh than
an intelligent, persistent, and effective participation of the Bahá'í
youth, of every race, nationality, and class, in both the teaching and
administrative spheres of Bahá'í activity. Through such a
participation the critics and enemies of the Faith, watching with varying
degrees of skepticism and resentment, the evolutionary processes of the
Cause of God and its institutions, can best be convinced of the indubitable
truth that such a Cause is intensely alive, is sound to its very core,
and its destinies in safe keeping....
(In a letter written by Shoghi Effendi, 25 December
1938 to the Bahá'ís of the United States and Canada, published
in "The Advent of Divine Justice", pp. 26-27;pp. 69-70)
-
Obstacles, varied and numerous, will no doubt arise to impede the onward
march of this community [Australia]. Reverses may temporarily dim the radiance
of its mission. The forces of religious orthodoxy may well, at a future
date, be leagued against it. The exponents of theories and doctrines fundamentally
opposed to its religious tenets and social principles may challenge its
infant strength with persistence and severity. The Administrative Order — the
Ark destined to preserve its integrity and carry it to safety — must without
delay, without exception, claim the attention of the members of this community,
its ideals must be continually cherished in their hearts, its purposes
studied and kept constantly before their eyes, its requirements wholeheartedly
met, its laws scrupulously upheld, its institutions unstintingly supported,
its glorious mission noised abroad, and its spirit made the sole motivating
purpose of their lives.
(In the handwriting of Shoghi Effendi, appended
to a letter dated 22 August 1949 to the National Spiritual Assembly of
Australia and New Zealand, published in "Letters from the Guardian to Australia
and New Zealand, 1923-1957" (Sydney: National Spiritual Assembly of the
Bahá'ís of Australia, 1970), p. 80-81)
-
The strife and bloodshed, with their attendant misery, sorrow and confusion,
that have afflicted the entire subcontinent of India, in recent months,
have caused me the gravest concern. The disorders, following in the wake
of this great crisis in the life of its people, constitute a challenge,
which the community of the steadfast followers of Bahá'u'lláh
in that land must resolutely face, and demonstrate in meeting it the quality
of their faith, the depth of their devotion, the strength of their unity,
the solidity of their institutions and the heroic character of their resolve.
They must neither feel alarmed, nor falter or hesitate in the execution
of their Plan. Shielded by the institutions which their hands have reared,
abiding securely in the strong-hold of their love for Bahá'u'lláh
and their devotion to His Faith, pursuing with unrelaxing vigilance and
singleness of purpose the course set by the Plan they themselves have inaugurated,
heartened by the initial success already achieved since that Plan was set
in motion, they, however much buffeted by present circumstances, and no
matter how perilous the path they now tread, must press forward, unafraid
of persecution, scorn or calumny, towards the shining goals they have set
themselves to attain.
(In the handwriting of Shoghi Effendi, appended
to a letter dated 24 October 1947 written on his behalf to the National
Spiritual Assembly of India, Pakistan and Burma, published in "Dawn of
a New Day" (New Delhi: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1970), p. 127)
-
RECENT EVENTS TRIUMPHANT CONSUMMATION SERIES HISTORIC ENTERPRISES SUCH
AS CONSTRUCTION SUPERSTRUCTURE BÁB'S SEPULCHRE DEDICATION MOTHER
TEMPLE WEST WORLD-WIDE CELEBRATIONS HOLY YEAR CONVOCATION FOUR INTERCONTINENTAL
TEACHING CONFERENCES LAUNCHING TEN YEAR CRUSADE UNPRECEDENTED DISPERSAL
ITS VALIANT PROSECUTORS FACE GLOBE EXTRAORDINARY PROGRESS AFRICAN PACIFIC
CAMPAIGNS RISE ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER ARABIAN PENINSULA HEART ISLAMIC WORLD
DISCOMFITURE POWERFUL ANTAGONISTS CRADLE FAITH ERECTION INTERNATIONAL ARCHIVES
HERALDING ESTABLISHMENT SEAT WORLD ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER HOLY LAND SERVED
INFLAME UNQUENCHABLE ANIMOSITY MUSLIM OPPONENTS RAISED UP NEW SET ADVERSARIES
CHRISTIAN FOLD ROUSED INTERNAL ENEMIES OLD NEW COVENANT-BREAKERS FRESH
ATTEMPTS ARREST MARCH CAUSE GOD MISREPRESENT ITS PURPOSE DISRUPT ITS ADMINISTRATIVE
INSTITUTIONS DAMPEN ZEAL SAP LOYALTY ITS SUPPORTERS. EVIDENCES INCREASING
HOSTILITY WITHOUT PERSISTENT MACHINATIONS WITHIN FORESHADOWING DIRE CONTEST
DESTINED RANGE ARMY LIGHT FORCES DARKNESS BOTH SECULAR RELIGIOUS PREDICTED
UNEQUIVOCAL LANGUAGE `ABDU'L-BAHÁ NECESSITATE THIS CRUCIAL HOUR
CLOSER ASSOCIATION HANDS FIVE CONTINENTS BODIES ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES
NATIONAL BAHÁ'Í COMMUNITIES WORLD OVER JOINT INVESTIGATION
NEFARIOUS ACTIVITIES INTERNAL ENEMIES ADOPTION WISE EFFECTIVE MEASURES
COUNTERACT THEIR TREACHEROUS SCHEMES PROTECT MASS BELIEVERS ARREST SPREAD
EVIL INFLUENCE. CALL UPON HANDS
NATIONAL ASSEMBLIES EACH CONTINENT SEPARATELY ESTABLISH HENCEFORTH
DIRECT CONTACT DELIBERATE WHENEVER FEASIBLE AS FREQUENTLY POSSIBLE EXCHANGE
REPORTS TO BE SUBMITTED TO THEIR RESPECTIVE AUXILIARY BOARDS NATIONAL COMMITTEES
EXERCISE UNRELAXING VIGILANCE CARRY OUT UNFLINCHINGLY SACRED INESCAPABLE
DUTIES. SECURITY PRECIOUS FAITH PRESERVATION SPIRITUAL HEALTH BAHÁ'Í
COMMUNITIES VITALITY FAITH ITS INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS PROPER FUNCTIONING ITS
LABORIOUSLY ERECTED INSTITUTIONS FRUITION ITS WORLD-WIDE ENTERPRISES FULFILMENT
ITS ULTIMATE DESTINY ALL DIRECTLY DEPENDENT BEFITTING DISCHARGE WEIGHTY
RESPONSIBILITIES NOW RESTING MEMBERS THESE TWO INSTITUTIONS OCCUPYING WITH
UNIVERSAL HOUSE JUSTICE NEXT INSTITUTION GUARDIANSHIP FOREMOST RANK DIVINELY
ORDAINED ADMINISTRATIVE HIERARCHY WORLD ORDER BAHÁ'U'LLÁH.
(Cablegram written by Shoghi Effendi, 4 June 1957 to
the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States, published in "Messages
to the Bahá'í World 1950-1957" (Wilmette: Bahá'í
Publishing Trust, 1971), pp. 122-23)
Extract's From Letters Written On Behalf Of Shoghi
Effendi:
-
Undoubtedly, as the influence of God's Faith becomes more pervasive, the
number of those who wish to obstruct its progress will also grow; new and
increasingly formidable adversaries will come to the fore; and mischief-makers,
appearing under various extraordinary guises, will seek surreptitiously
to goad to action all those who harbour resentment or bear ill will towards
this Cause, and will raise aloft the standards of sedition. Under these
circumstances it is essential for the friends on the one hand to be alert
and watchful, and on the other to arouse the vigilance and strengthen the
allegiance of their fellow-believers, to guard the integrity of the Word
of God, and to maintain harmony and unity amongst His loved ones. Herein
lies the supreme duty of the friends of God, and the highest means by which
they can render service to His Cause.
(In a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi,
24 May 1927 to an individual believer, translated from the Persian)
-
In the face of such distressing conditions you should realize, more keenly
than ever, your supreme obligation of protecting the body of the Cause
from any further injuries and attacks, and of adhering scrupulously and
intelligently to the spirit and the principles of the Administration....
(In a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi,
12 July 1937 to an individual believer)
-
The matter of refuting attacks and criticisms directed against the Cause
through the press is, he feels, one which devolves on the National Spiritual
Assembly to consider. This body, whether directly or through the agency
of its committees, should decide as to the advisability of answering any
such attacks, and also should carefully examine and pass upon any statements
which the friends wish to send to the press to this effect. Only through
such supervision and control of all Bahá'í press activities
can the friends hope to avoid confusion and misunderstanding in their own
minds and in the mind of the general public whom they can reach through
the press.
(In a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi,
28 September 1928 to an individual believer)
-
It is incumbent upon the friends to confront these difficulties with constancy
and firmness, thankfulness and patience, unity and solidarity; to endure
with fortitude these consecutive disasters; to traverse successfully these
last remaining stages in their destined course; and to become neither restive
nor disheartened on account of the hardships and exertions, the injustice
and oppression that they are constrained to undergo. Let them at all times
keep in mind the following clear and solemn warning recorded by the pen
of the Centre of the Covenant and, with a tranquil heart, a radiant spirit,
a steadfast purpose and a high resolve, watchfully anticipate the unfoldment
and fulfilment of the Master's utterance:
Beware the weeping of the wronged and orphaned children and the
sighing of the victims of oppression, lest their tears should turn to floods
and their breaths should turn to fire.
The violent disturbances, the afflictive trials and overwhelming dangers
which now beset the froward band of ill-wishers, mischief-makers and oppressors
from every stratum of society, whether in your own or neighbouring countries,
and which have assailed their peoples, kings and subjects, governments
and citizens alike on every hand, are the results of those grievous trespasses
and violations wrought in that land by the hand of the tyrant and the aggressor.
Now, after the passage of a century, the baleful outcome of those deeds
has become apparent and their evil consequences revealed for all to see.
The day is fast approaching when the hosts of hatred and iniquity will
be called to answer for their deeds: erelong shall they be seized by the
agents of the retributive anger of an All-Powerful and All-Compelling God.
In counselling the friends, and conveying condolences to the victims
of this latest outrage, your Assembly should urge them to cleave now as
never before to the firm cord of God's holy ordinances and teachings, never
to deviate by so much as a hair's breadth from the Straight Path; and to
bide the advent of that day when it shall please Him to accomplish His
foreordained decree. He, verily, is the Protector of the wronged ones,
and He, verily, is the Succourer of all those who stand fast and firm.
(In a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, 2
July 1942 to the National Spiritual Assembly of Persian — translated from
the Persian)
-
The Cause of God must be protected from the enemies of the Faith, and from
those who sow seeds of doubt in the hearts of the believers, and the greatest
of all protections is knowledge...
(In a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi,
11 May 1948 to the National Spiritual Assembly of Germany and Austria,
published in "The Light of Divine Guidance", vol. 1, p. 134)
-
...the believers need to be deepened in their knowledge and appreciation
of the Covenants of both Bahá'u'lláh and `Abdu'l-Bahá.
This is the stronghold of the Faith of every Bahá'í, and
that which enables him to withstand every test and the attacks of the enemies
outside the Faith, and the far more dangerous, insidious, lukewarm people
inside the Faith who have no real attachment to the Covenant, and consequently
uphold the intellectual aspect of the teachings while at the same time
undermining the spiritual foundation upon which the whole Cause of God
rests.
(In a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi,
15 April 1949 to an individual believer, published in "The Light of Divine
Guidance", vol. 2, p. 84)
-
Attacks by missionaries, and others, such as that by Elder, should most
certainly be vigorously defended publicly by your Assembly and Local Assemblies
as well.
(In a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi,
18 August 1949 to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States)
Extract From A Letter Written By The Universal House
Of Justice:
-
The need to protect the Faith from the attacks of its enemies is not generally
appreciated by the friends because such attacks, particularly in the West,
have so far been intermittent. However, we know that these attacks will
increase and will become concerted and universal. The writings of our Faith
clearly foreshadow not only an intensification of the machinations of internal
enemies, but a rise in the hostility and opposition of its external enemies,
whether religious or secular, as our beloved Faith pursues its onward march
towards ultimate victory. Therefore, in the light of the warnings of Shoghi
Effendi, the Auxiliary Boards for Protection should keep "constantly" a
"watchful eye" on those "who are known to be enemies or to have been put
out of the Faith", discreetly "investigate" their activities, warn intelligently
the friends of the opposition inevitably to come, explain how each crisis
in God's Faith has always proved to be a blessing in disguise, prepare
them for the "dire contests" which are "destined to range the Army of Light
against the forces of darkness", and, when the influence of the enemies
spreads and reaches their fold, the members of these Auxiliary Boards should
be alert to their schemes to "dampen the zeal and sap the loyalty" of the
believers and, by adopting "wise and effective measures", counteract these
schemes and arrest the spread of their influence. Above all, the members
of the Protection Boards should concentrate on deepening the friends' knowledge
of the Covenant and increasing their love and loyalty to it, on clearly
and frankly answering, in conformity with the teachings, whatever questions
may trouble any of the believers, on fostering the spiritual profundity
and strength of their faith and certitude, and on promoting whatever will
increase the spirit of loving unity in Bahá'í communities.
The primary tasks of the Propagation Boards, however, are to direct
the believers' attention to the goals of whatever plans have been placed
before them, to stimulate and assist them to promote the teaching work
in the fields of proclamation, expansion, consolidation and pioneering,
to encourage contributions to the funds, and to act as standard-bearers
of the teachers of the Faith, leading them to new achievements in the diffusion
of God's Message to their fellow human beings....
It should, furthermore, be remembered that these self-same functions
are being carried out by the Assemblies, national and local, and their
committees, which have at this time the great responsibility for actually
executing the teaching plans and for administering, consolidating and protecting
the Bahá'í communities. The Auxiliary Board members should
thus watch carefully that their work reinforces and complements that of
the administrative institutions.
(In a letter written by the Universal House of Justice,
10 October 1976 to the International Teaching Centre)
Extracts From Letters Written On Behalf Of The Universal
House Of Justice:
-
One of the vital functions of the Protection Boards is the deepening of
the friends' knowledge of the Covenant and increasing their love and loyalty
to it, and fostering the spirit of love and unity within the Bahá'í
community.
It is the duty of Local and National Spiritual Assemblies to refer
to the Auxiliary Board members for protection matters which may involve
not only possible Covenant-breaking, but also problems of disunity within
the community, the removal of voting rights or any other matters in which
you feel the guidance and advice of the Protection Boards may be helpful
to the institutions of the Faith. The Auxiliary Board members of course
keep the Continental Board of Counsellors informed and the Counsellors
then take whatever steps they feel are called for.
You are free at any time to refer to the Continental Board of Counsellors
and the Auxiliary Board members for protection any matters about which
you are not clear involving the security of the Faith in your area and
you will always find them willing to assist you in dealing with such problems.
(In a letter written on behalf of the Universal House
of Justice, 1 October 1979 to the National Spiritual Assembly of Venezuela)
-
Hostility to the Faith is something all Bahá'ís can expect;
how we react to it is of great importance. You are urged to avoid confrontation
and dissension; these would tend to increase the antagonism. Maintain a
dignified and friendly attitude and, in order to put forward well-founded
reasoning where indicated, make a point of becoming better informed about
issues affecting Christianity and the Bahá'í Faith.
(In a letter written on behalf of the Universal
House of Justice, 12 September 1985 to the National Spiritual Assembly
of St. Vincent)
-
...as the Faith becomes known, we can expect opposition and persecution.
Nevertheless, in our presentations and relationships we should always try
to build bridges so that our beautiful Teachings can be understood and
accepted, and the power which they have to establish unity amongst men
will be exemplified.
(In a letter written on behalf of the Universal House
of Justice, 18 December 1985 to the National Spiritual Assembly of Tuvalu)
Endnotes
i This refers to Bahá'u'lláh's own
Manifestation.
ii Qur'an 36:29
iii Qur'an 20:12. Also referred to as
the "Sacred Vale".
iv cf. Qur'an 4:80
v "A Guide to Cults and New Religions",
John Boykin
vi Sa'di, Muslihu'd-Din of Shiraz (d.
691 A.H./1292 A.D.), famed author of the "Gulistan" and other poetical works.
vii Iran
viii Qur'an, 33:62, and 48:23
ix "The Hidden Words of Bahá'u'lláh",
Arabic no. 51, rev. ed. (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1985), p. 15 "Epistle to the Son of the Wolf,
rev. ed. (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1988), p. 1
x The Seven Year Plan, (1979-86).
xi Isaiah 35:4
xii The Continental Boards of Counselors ...
are charged with specific functions relating to the protection and propagation of the Faith in the areas under their jurisdiction. They will operate in a manner similar
to that set forth by the beloved Guardian for the Hands of the Cause in his communications outlining the responsibilities they are called upon to discharge in collaboration with National Spiritual Assemblies. We particularly
draw your attention to his message of June 4, 1957. (In a letter written
by the Universal House of Justice, 24 June 1968 to a Continental Board of Counsellors)
xiii "Messages to the Bahá'í World, 1950-1957", p.
123
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