Bahai Administration Part 25

I must not fail in conclusion to refer once again to the decisive role played by that distinguished and international champion of the Faith of Baha'u'llah, our dearly-beloved Mountfort Mills, in the negotiations that have paved the way for the signal success already achieved. The text of the Baha'i pet.i.tion, which he conceived and drafted, has been recognized by the members of the Mandates Commission as "a doc.u.ment well-drafted, clear in its argument and moderate in tone." He has truly acquitted himself in this most sacred task with exemplary distinction and proved himself worthy of so n.o.ble a mission. I request you to join with me in my prayers for him, that the Spirit of Baha'u'llah may continue to guide and sustain him in the final settlement of this most mighty issue.

Your true brother, SHOGHI.

Haifa, Palestine, March 20, 1929.

Letter of October 25, 1929.

The beloved of the Lord and the handmaids of the Merciful throughout the United States and Canada.

My well-beloved friends:

Ever since that remarkable manifestation of Baha'i solidarity and self-sacrifice which has signalized the proceedings of last year's memorable Convention, I have been expectantly awaiting the news of a steady and continuous support of the Plan which can alone insure, ere the present year draws to its close, the resumption of building operations on our beloved Temple.

Gift from Tomb of Baha'u'llah

Moved by an impulse that I could not resist, I have felt impelled to forego what may be regarded as the most valuable and sacred possession in the Holy Land for the furthering of that n.o.ble enterprise which you have set your hearts to achieve. With the hearty concurrence of our dear Baha'i brother, Ziaoullah Asgarzadeh, who years ago donated it to the Most Holy Shrine, this precious ornament of the Tomb of Baha'u'llah has been already s.h.i.+pped to your sh.o.r.es, with our fondest hope that the proceeds from its sale may at once enn.o.ble and reinforce the unnumbered offerings of the American believers already acc.u.mulated on the altar of Baha'i sacrifice. I have longed ever since to witness such evidences of spontaneous and generous response on your part as would tend to fortify within me a confidence that has never wavered in the inexhaustible vitality of the Faith of Baha'u'llah in that land.

I need not stress at this moment the high hopes which so startling a display of unsparing devotion to our sacred Temple has already aroused in the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of the mult.i.tude of our brethren throughout the East. Nor is it I feel necessary to impress upon those who are primarily concerned with its erection the gradual change of outlook which the early prospect of the construction of the far-famed Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar in America has unmistakably occasioned in high places among the hitherto sceptical and indifferent towards the merits and the practicability of the Faith proclaimed by Baha'u'llah. Neither do I need to expatiate upon the hopes and fears of the Greatest Holy Leaf, now in the evening of her life, with deepening shadows caused by failing eye-sight and declining strength swiftly gathering about her, yearning to hear as the one remaining solace in her swiftly ebbing life the news of the resumption of work on an Edifice, the glories of which she has, from the lips of 'Abdu'l-Baha, Himself, learned to admire. I cannot surely overrate at the present juncture in the progress of our task the challenging character of these remaining months of the year as a swiftly pa.s.sing opportunity which it is in our power to seize and utilize, ere it is too late, for the edification of our expectant brethren throughout the East, for the vindication in the eyes of the world at large of the realities of our Faith, and last but not least for the realization of what is the Greatest Holy Leaf's fondest desire.

As I have already intimated in the course of my conversations with visiting pilgrims, so vast and significant an enterprise as the construction of the first Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of the West should be supported, not by the munificence of a few but by the joint contributions of the entire ma.s.s of the convinced followers of the Faith. It cannot be denied that the emanations of spiritual power and inspiration destined to radiate from the central Edifice of the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar will to a very large extent depend upon the range and variety of the contributing believers, as well as upon the nature and degree of self-abnegation which their unsolicited offerings will entail. Moreover, we should, I feel, regard it as an axiom and guiding principle of Baha'i administration that in the conduct of every specific Baha'i activity, as different from undertakings of a humanitarian, philanthropic or charitable character, which may in future be conducted under Baha'i auspices, only those who have already identified themselves with the Faith and are regarded as its avowed and unreserved supporters should be invited to join and collaborate. For apart from the consideration of embarra.s.sing complications which the a.s.sociation of non-believers in the financing of inst.i.tutions of a strictly Baha'i character may conceivably engender in the administration of the Baha'i community of the future, it should be remembered that these specific Baha'i inst.i.tutions, which should be viewed in the light of Baha'u'llah's gifts bestowed upon the world, can best function and most powerfully exert their influence in the world only if reared and maintained solely by the support of those who are fully conscious of, and are unreservedly submissive to, the claims inherent in the Revelation of Baha'u'llah. In cases, however, when a friend or sympathizer of the Faith eagerly insists on a monetary contribution for the promotion of the Faith, such gifts should be accepted and duly acknowledged by the elected representatives of the believers with the express understanding that they would be utilized by them only to reinforce that section of the Baha'i Fund exclusively devoted to philanthropic or charitable purposes. For, as the Faith of Baha'u'llah extends in scope and in influence, and the resources of Baha'i communities correspondingly multiply, it will become increasingly desirable to differentiate between such departments of the Baha'i treasury as minister to the needs of the world at large, and those that are specifically designed to promote the direct interests of the Faith itself. From this apparent divorce between Baha'i and humanitarian activities it must not, however, be inferred that the animating purpose of the Faith of Baha'u'llah stands at variance with the aims and objects of the humanitarian and philanthropic inst.i.tutions of the day. Nay, it should be realized by every judicious promoter of the Faith that at such an early stage in the evolution and crystallization of the Cause such discriminating and precautionary measures are inevitable and even necessary if the nascent inst.i.tutions of the Faith are to emerge triumphant and unimpaired from the present welter of confused and often conflicting interests with which they are surrounded. This note of warning may not be thought inappropriate at a time when, inflamed by a consuming pa.s.sion to witness the early completion of the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar, we may not only be apt to acquiesce in the desire of those who, as yet uninitiated into the Cause, are willing to lend financial a.s.sistance to its inst.i.tutions, but may even feel inclined to solicit from them such aid as it is in their power to render. Ours surely is the paramount duty so to acquit ourselves in the discharge of our most sacred task that in the days to come neither the tongue of the slanderer nor the pen of the malevolent may dare to insinuate that so beauteous, so significant an Edifice has been reared by anything short of the unanimous, the exclusive, and the self-sacrificing strivings of the small yet determined body of the convinced supporters of the Faith of Baha'u'llah. How delicate our task, how pressing the responsibility that weighs upon us, who are called upon on one hand to preserve inviolate the integrity and the ident.i.ty of the regenerating Faith of Baha'u'llah, and to vindicate on the other its broad, its humanitarian, its all-embracing principles!

True, we cannot fail to realize at the present stage of our work the extremely limited number of contributors qualified to lend financial support to such a vast, such an elaborate and costly enterprise. We are fully aware of the many issues and varied Baha'i activities that are unavoidably held in abeyance pending the successful conclusion of the Plan of Unified Action. We are only too conscious of the pressing need of some sort of befitting and concrete embodiment of the spirit animating the Cause that would stand in the heart of the American Continent both as a witness and as a rallying center to the manifold activities of a fast growing Faith. But spurred by those reflections may we not bestir ourselves and resolve as we have never resolved before to hasten by every means in our power the consummation of this all-absorbing yet so meritorious a task? I beseech you, dear friends, not to allow considerations of numbers, or the consciousness of the limitations of our resources, or even the experience of inevitable setbacks which every mighty undertaking is bound to encounter, to blur your vision, to dim your hopes, or to paralyze your efforts in the prosecution of your divinely appointed task. Neither, do I entreat you, to suffer the least deviation into the paths of expediency and compromise to obstruct those channels of vivifying grace that can alone provide the inspiration and strength vital not only to the successful conduct of its material construction, but to the fulfilment of its high destiny.

And while we bend our efforts and strain our nerves in a feverish pursuit to provide the necessary means for the speedy construction of the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar, may we not pause for a moment to examine those statements which set forth the purpose as well as the functions of this symbolical yet so spiritually potent Edifice? It will be readily admitted that at a time when the tenets of a Faith, not yet fully emerged from the fires of repression, are as yet improperly defined and imperfectly understood, the utmost caution should be exercised in revealing the true nature of those inst.i.tutions which are indissolubly a.s.sociated with its name.

Purpose of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar

Without attempting an exhaustive survey of the distinguis.h.i.+ng features and purpose of the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar, I should feel content at the present time to draw your attention to what I regard certain misleading statements that have found currency in various quarters, and which may lead gradually to a grave misapprehension of the true purpose and essential character of the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar.

It should be borne in mind that the central Edifice of the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar, round which in the fulness of time shall cl.u.s.ter such inst.i.tutions of social service as shall afford relief to the suffering, sustenance to the poor, shelter to the wayfarer, solace to the bereaved, and education to the ignorant, should be regarded apart from these Dependencies, as a House solely designed and entirely dedicated to the wors.h.i.+p of G.o.d in accordance with the few yet definitely prescribed principles established by Baha'u'llah in the Kitab-i-Aqdas. It should not be inferred, however, from this general statement that the interior of the central Edifice itself will be converted into a conglomeration of religious services conducted along lines a.s.sociated with the traditional procedure obtaining in churches, mosques, synagogues, and other temples of wors.h.i.+p. Its various avenues of approach, all converging towards the central Hall beneath its dome, will not serve as admittance to those sectarian adherents of rigid formulae and man-made creeds, each bent, according to his way, to observe his rites, recite his prayers, perform his ablutions, and display the particular symbols of his faith, within separately defined sections of Baha'u'llah's Universal House of Wors.h.i.+p.

Far from the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar offering such a spectacle of incoherent and confused sectarian observances and rites, a condition wholly incompatible with the provisions of the Aqdas and irreconcilable with the spirit it inculcates, the central House of Baha'i wors.h.i.+p, enshrined within the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar, will gather within its chastened walls, in a serenely spiritual atmosphere, only those who, discarding forever the trappings of elaborate and ostentatious ceremony, are willing wors.h.i.+pers of the one true G.o.d, as manifested in this age in the Person of Baha'u'llah. To them will the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar symbolize the fundamental verity underlying the Baha'i Faith, that religious truth is not absolute but relative, that Divine Revelation is not final but progressive. Theirs will be the conviction that an all-loving and ever-watchful Father Who, in the past, and at various stages in the evolution of mankind, has sent forth His Prophets as the Bearers of His Message and the Manifestations of His Light to mankind, cannot at this critical period of their civilization withhold from His children the Guidance which they sorely need amid the darkness which has beset them, and which neither the light of science nor that of human intellect and wisdom can succeed in dissipating. And thus having recognized in Baha'u'llah the source whence this celestial light proceeds, they will irresistibly feel attracted to seek the shelter of His House, and congregate therein, unhampered by ceremonials and unfettered by creed, to render homage to the one true G.o.d, the Essence and Orb of eternal Truth, and to exalt and magnify the name of His Messengers and Prophets Who, from time immemorial even unto our day, have, under divers circ.u.mstances and in varying measure, mirrored forth to a dark and wayward world the light of heavenly Guidance.

But however inspiring the conception of Baha'i wors.h.i.+p, as witnessed in the central Edifice of this exalted Temple, it cannot be regarded as the sole, nor even the essential, factor in the part which the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar, as designed by Baha'u'llah, is destined to play in the organic life of the Baha'i community. Divorced from the social, humanitarian, educational and scientific pursuits centering around the Dependencies of the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar, Baha'i wors.h.i.+p, however exalted in its conception, however pa.s.sionate in fervor, can never hope to achieve beyond the meagre and often transitory results produced by the contemplations of the ascetic or the communion of the pa.s.sive wors.h.i.+per.

It cannot afford lasting satisfaction and benefit to the wors.h.i.+per himself, much less to humanity in general, unless and until translated and transfused into that dynamic and disinterested service to the cause of humanity which it is the supreme privilege of the Dependencies of the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar to facilitate and promote. Nor will the exertions, no matter how disinterested and strenuous, of those who within the precincts of the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar will be engaged in administering the affairs of the future Baha'i Commonwealth, fructify and prosper unless they are brought into close and daily communion with those spiritual agencies centering in and radiating from the central Shrine of the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar. Nothing short of direct and constant interaction between the spiritual forces emanating from this House of Wors.h.i.+p centering in the heart of the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar, and the energies consciously displayed by those who administer its affairs in their service to humanity can possibly provide the necessary agency capable of removing the ills that have so long and so grievously afflicted humanity. For it is a.s.suredly upon the consciousness of the efficacy of the Revelation of Baha'u'llah, reinforced on one hand by spiritual communion with His Spirit, and on the other by the intelligent application and the faithful execution of the principles and laws He revealed, that the salvation of a world in travail must ultimately depend. And of all the inst.i.tutions that stand a.s.sociated with His Holy Name, surely none save the inst.i.tution of the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar can most adequately provide the essentials of Baha'i wors.h.i.+p and service, both so vital to the regeneration of the world. Therein lies the secret of the loftiness, of the potency, of the unique position of the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar as one of the outstanding inst.i.tutions conceived by Baha'u'llah.

Dearly-beloved friends! May we not as the trustees of so priceless a heritage, arise to fulfill our high destiny?

Your true brother, SHOGHI.

Haifa, Palestine, October 25, 1929.

Letter of July 17, 1932.

The beloved of G.o.d and the handmaids of the Merciful throughout the United States and Canada.

Brethren and fellow-mourners in the Faith of Baha'u'llah:

A sorrow, reminiscent in its poignancy, of the devastating grief caused by 'Abdu'l-Baha's sudden removal from our midst, has stirred the Baha'i world to its foundations. The Greatest Holy Leaf, the well-beloved and treasured Remnant of Baha'u'llah entrusted to our frail and unworthy hands by our departed Master, has pa.s.sed to the Great Beyond, leaving a legacy that time can never dim.

The community of the Most Great Name, in its entirety and to its very core, feels the sting of this cruel loss. Inevitable though this calamitous event appeared to us all, however acute our apprehensions of its steady approach, the consciousness of its final consummation at this terrible hour leaves us, we whose souls have been impregnated by the energizing influence of her love, prostrated and disconsolate.

How can my lonely pen, so utterly inadequate to glorify so exalted a station, so impotent to portray the experiences of so sublime a life, so disqualified to recount the blessings she showered upon me since my earliest childhood-how can such a pen repay the great debt of grat.i.tude and love that I owe her whom I regarded as my chief sustainer, my most affectionate comforter, the joy and inspiration of my life? My grief is too immense, my remorse too profound, to be able to give full vent at this moment to the feelings that surge within me.

Only future generations and pens abler than mine can, and will, pay a worthy tribute to the towering grandeur of her spiritual life, to the unique part she played throughout the tumultuous stages of Baha'i history, to the expressions of unqualified praise that have streamed from the pen of both Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha, the Center of His covenant, though unrecorded, and in the main unsuspected by the ma.s.s of her pa.s.sionate admirers in East and West, the share she has had in influencing the course of some of the chief events in the annals of the Faith, the sufferings she bore, the sacrifices she made, the rare gifts of unfailing sympathy she so strikingly displayed-these, and many others stand so inextricably interwoven with the fabric of the Cause itself that no future historian of the Faith of Baha'u'llah can afford to ignore or minimize.

As far back as the concluding stages of the heroic age of the Cause, which witnessed the imprisonment of Baha'u'llah in the Siyah-_Ch_al of ?ihran, the Greatest Holy Leaf, then still in her infancy, was privileged to taste of the cup of woe which the first believers of that apostolic age had quaffed.

How well I remember her recall, at a time when her faculties were still unimpaired, the gnawing suspense that ate into the hearts of those who watched by her side, at the threshold of her pillaged house, expectant to hear at any moment the news of Baha'u'llah's imminent execution! In those sinister hours, she often recounted, her parents had so suddenly lost their earthly possessions that within the s.p.a.ce of a single day from being the privileged member of one of the wealthiest families of ?ihran she had sunk to the state of a sufferer from unconcealed poverty. Deprived of the means of subsistence, her ill.u.s.trious mother, the famed Navvab, was constrained to place in the palm of her daughter's hand a handful of flour and to induce her to accept it as a subst.i.tute for her daily bread.

And when at a later time this revered and precious member of the Holy Family, then in her teens, came to be entrusted by the guiding hand of her Father with missions that no girl of her age could, or would be willing to, perform, with what spontaneous joy she seized her opportunity and acquitted herself of the task with which she had been entrusted! The delicacy and extreme gravity of such functions as she, from time to time, was called upon to fulfill, when the city of Ba_gh_dad was swept by the hurricane which the heedlessness and perversity of Mirza Ya?ya had unchained, as well as the tender solicitude which, at so early an age, she evinced during the period of Baha'u'llah's enforced retirement to the mountains of Sulaymaniyyih, marked her as one who was both capable of sharing the burden, and willing to make the sacrifice, which her high birth demanded.

How staunch was her faith, how calm her demeanor, how forgiving her att.i.tude, how severe her trials, at a time when the forces of schism had rent asunder the ties that united the little band of exiles which had settled in Adrianople and whose fortunes seemed then to have sunk to their lowest ebb! It was in this period of extreme anxiety, when the rigors of a winter of exceptional severity, coupled with the privations entailed by unhealthy housing accommodations and dire financial distress, undermined once for all her health and sapped the vitality which she had hitherto so thoroughly enjoyed. The stress and storm of that period made an abiding impression upon her mind, and she retained till the time of her death on her beauteous and angelic face evidences of its intense hards.h.i.+ps.

Not until, however, she had been confined in the company of Baha'u'llah within the walls of the prison-city of Akka did she display, in the plenitude of her power and in the full abundance of her love for Him, more gifts that single her out, next to 'Abdu'l-Baha, among the members of the Holy Family, as the brightest embodiment of that love which is born of G.o.d and of that human sympathy which few mortals are capable of evincing.

Banis.h.i.+ng from her mind and heart every earthly attachment, renouncing the very idea of matrimony, she, standing resolutely by the side of a Brother whom she was to aid and serve so well, arose to dedicate her life to the service of her Father's glorious Cause. Whether in the management of the affairs of His Household in which she excelled, or in the social relations.h.i.+ps which she so a.s.siduously cultivated in order to s.h.i.+eld both Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha, whether in the unfailing attention she paid to the every day needs of her Father, or in the traits of generosity, of affability and kindness, which she manifested, the Greatest Holy Leaf had by that time abundantly demonstrated her worthiness to rank as one of the n.o.blest figures intimately a.s.sociated with the life-long work of Baha'u'llah.

How grievous was the ingrat.i.tude, how blind the fanaticism, how persistent the malignity of the officials, their wives, and their subordinates, in return for the manifold bounties which she, in close a.s.sociation with her Brother, so profusely conferred upon them! Her patience, her magnanimity, her indiscriminating benevolence, far from disarming the hostility of that perverse generation, served only to inflame their rancour, to excite their jealousy, to intensify their fears. The gloom that had settled upon that little band of imprisoned believers, who languished in the Fortress of Akka, contrasted with the spirit of confident hope, of deep-rooted optimism that beamed upon her serene countenance. No calamity, however intense, could obscure the brightness of her saintly face, and no agitation, no matter how severe, could disturb the composure of her gracious and dignified behaviour.

That her sensitive heart instantaneously reacted to the slightest injury that befell the least significant of creatures, whether friend or foe, no one who knew her well could doubt. And yet such was the restraining power of her will-a will which her spirit of self-renunciation so often prompted her to suppress-that a superficial observer might well be led to question the intensity of her emotions or to belittle the range of her sympathies.

In the school of adversity she, already endowed by Providence with the virtues of meekness and fort.i.tude, learned through the example and exhortations of the Great Sufferer, who was her Father, the lesson she was destined to teach the great ma.s.s of His followers for so long after Him.

Armed with the powers with which an intimate and long-standing companions.h.i.+p with Baha'u'llah had already equipped her, and benefiting by the magnificent example which the steadily widening range of 'Abdu'l-Baha's activities afforded her, she was prepared to face the storm which the treacherous conduct of the Covenant-breakers had aroused and to withstand its most damaging onslaughts.

Great as had been her sufferings ever since her infancy, the anguish of mind and heart which the Ascension of Baha'u'llah occasioned, nerved her, as never before, to a resolve which no upheaval could bend and which her frail const.i.tution belied. Amidst the dust and heat of the commotion which that faithless and rebellious company engendered she found herself constrained to dissolve ties of family relations.h.i.+p, to sever long-standing and intimate friends.h.i.+ps, to discard lesser loyalties for the sake of her supreme allegiance to a Cause she had loved so dearly and had served so well.

The disruption that ensued found her ranged by the side of Him Whom her departed Father had appointed as the Center of His Covenant and the authorized Expounder of His Word. Her venerated mother, as well as her distinguished paternal uncle, aqay-i-Kalim-the twin pillars who, all throughout the various stages of Baha'u'llah's exile from the Land of His Birth to the final place of His confinement, had demonstrated, unlike most of the members of His Family, the tenacity of their loyalty-had already pa.s.sed behind the Veil. Death, in the most tragic circ.u.mstances, had also robbed her of the Purest Branch, her only brother besides 'Abdu'l-Baha, while still in the prime of youth. She alone of the family of Baha'u'llah remained to cheer the heart and reinforce the efforts of the Most Great Branch, against whom were solidly arrayed the almost entire company of His faithless relatives. In her arduous task she was seconded by the diligent efforts of Munirih _Kh_anum, the Holy Mother, and those of her daughters whose age allowed them to a.s.sist in the accomplishment of that stupendous achievement with which the name of 'Abdu'l-Baha will forever remain a.s.sociated.

With the pa.s.sing of Baha'u'llah and the fierce onslaught of the forces of disruption that followed in its wake, the Greatest Holy Leaf, now in the hey-day of her life, rose to the height of her great opportunity and acquitted herself worthily of her task. It would take me beyond the compa.s.s of the tribute I am moved to pay to her memory were I to dwell upon the incessant machinations to which Mu?ammad-'Ali, the arch-breaker of the Covenant of Baha'u'llah, and his despicable supporters basely resorted, upon the agitation which their cleverly-directed campaign of misrepresentation and calumny produced in quarters directly connected with Sul?an 'Abdu'l-?amid and his advisers, upon the trials and investigations to which it gave rise, upon the rigidity of the incarceration it reimposed, and upon the perils it revived. Suffice it to say that but for her sleepless vigilance, her tact, her courtesy, her extreme patience and heroic fort.i.tude, grave complications might have ensued and the load of 'Abdu'l-Baha's anxious care would have been considerably increased.

And when the storm-cloud that had darkened the horizon of the Holy Land had been finally dissipated and the call raised by our beloved 'Abdu'l-Baha had stirred to a new life certain cities of the American and European continents, the Most Exalted Leaf became the recipient of the unbounded affection and blessings of One Who could best estimate her virtues and appreciate her merits.

The decline of her precious life had by that time set in, and the burden of advancing age was beginning to becloud the radiance of her countenance.