Bahai Administration Part 3

Will you also extend to the members of the Publis.h.i.+ng and Reviewing Committees, Mr. William H. Randall, Mr. Mountfort Mills, Mr. Roy C.

Wilhelm, Mr. Albert R. Vail, Miss Edna True, Mrs. Marjory Morten and Mr.

Alfred E. Lunt, my high appreciation for the very efficient management of their departments and their devotion to a work which if consistently maintained cannot fail to impress and attract a vast number of the enlightened public. Regarding the Star of the West, I wish to congratulate in particular the members of the Publis.h.i.+ng Committee on the quality of their work. I have perused with particular interest the last numbers of the Magazine and am glad to note an encouraging improvement in its management, its style, its general presentation and the nature and number of its articles.

To the members of the Teaching Committee, Mr. William Randall, Mrs. Agnes S. Parsons, Mr. Albert Vail, Mr. Louis G. Gregory and Mrs. Mariam Haney I offer my very best wishes and a.s.sure them of my constant prayers on their behalf, that their services to such a vital department in the affairs of the Cause, so primary and immediate in its importance, may be crowned with brilliant success.

For the members of the Children's Educational Work Committee, Mrs. Grace Ober, Mrs. Louise Boyle, Mrs. Victoria Bedikian, Mrs. Hebe Struven, Mrs.

Grace Foster, Mr. Stanwood Cobb and Mr. Allen McDaniel, I supplicate Divine a.s.sistance, that He may graciously aid them in a work which was so near and dear to the Master's heart and enable them to a.s.sist in the rise of future devoted and efficient servants to the Cause of G.o.d.

On behalf of all the members of these Committees, I shall pray at the Three Hallowed Shrines, that they may become purified channels of His Grace and instruments of His Divine Plan for this world. For my part, I shall not fail to offer my humble share of help and a.s.sistance to every one of them in their respective work and would welcome from each a special report on their present activities and of their plans for the future.

Awaiting from you all the joyous news of the deepening as well as the spreading of the Cause for which our beloved Master has given His time, His life, His all, and remembering your labors of love and service every time I lay my head upon the Sacred Thresholds,

I am, as ever, your brother in His Service, SHOGHI.

Haifa, Palestine, December 23rd, 1922.

P.S. I would be pleased and gratified if you could inform all the various local spiritual a.s.semblies of my wish and desire to receive as soon as possible from every local a.s.sembly a detailed and official report on their spiritual activities, the character and organization of their respective a.s.semblies, accounts of their public and private gatherings, of the actual position of the Cause in their province, and of their plans and arrangements for the future. Pray convey to all of them my best wishes and the a.s.surance of my hearty a.s.sistance in their n.o.ble work of service to mankind.

SHOGHI.

Letter of January 12, 1923

To the members of the National Spiritual a.s.sembly.

Beloved co-workers in the Cause of G.o.d!

In the midst of your unceasing labors for the progress of the Movement in that country, I am sure you would welcome every now and then such news as shall breathe a fresh spirit into your activities and stimulate you to further effort for the promotion of His Cause.

Only the other day, in the course of my study of various Baha'i doc.u.ments, I came, as if by mere chance, across a very important message from our beloved 'Abdu'l-Baha, bearing no date, and revealing no sign as to exactly where, how and to whom it was given, written in the Master's own handwriting upon a leaflet that seemed ordinary and ill-preserved in appearance but which on close study proved of the profoundest interest to all believers in the East as well as in the West. As to the authenticity of these remarkable words, so clearly and forcibly written, there is no doubt whatsoever, and the measure of a.s.surance it shall inspire in the loved ones of Persia and the spirit of hopeful encouragement it shall breathe in the friends of the West, have urged me to communicate it to you, that subject to your consideration and consent, it may be published(3) amongst the friends and redouble their confidence in the very remarkable share the West is destined to contribute to the immediate spread of the Movement throughout the world.

Recently, I have rendered it myself into English and enclosed is a copy of the full translation.

Star of the West

May I also mention in pa.s.sing the fact that since my return to the Holy Land I have directed and emphatically urged in my letters, the friends in Persia, Turkestan, Caucasus, Great Britain, India, Egypt and Syria to subscribe, through their respective a.s.semblies, to the Star of the West, report regularly to that paper and through their a.s.semblies the news of their activity and contribute every now and then carefully written articles approved and sanctioned by the same a.s.semblies.

I trust that this measure will react favorably on the Star of the West and will serve to stimulate the members of the Publis.h.i.+ng Committee to further activity in their sphere of service to the Cause.

Awaiting eagerly your letters and wis.h.i.+ng you the fullest success in your very arduous duties,

I am your devoted brother, SHOGHI.

Haifa, Palestine, January 12, 1923.

Letter of January 16, 1923.

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

Beloved brothers and sisters in 'Abdu'l-Baha:

Our dear friend, Jinab-i-Fadil-i-Mazindarani, accompanied by his family, has gladly and gratefully responded to the kind invitation of the American friends to visit them once more and extend his helping hand to the many friends who are so faithfully laboring throughout that continent for the Cause of Baha'u'llah.

Deeply appreciative of the sentiments of warm and abiding affection which his co-workers of that land have abundantly shown him in the past, fired with the zeal of service which the pa.s.sing of our Beloved has kindled in every heart and hopeful of the immediate future of the Cause in those regions, he is proceeding to America with the sole purpose of promoting far and wide and with greater efficiency and vigor the all-important work of teaching.

As to the extent of his sojourn, the details of his travel, his plan for visiting the various spiritual centers and all other matters related to his visit, I have left them all to his own discretion, that he may, after consultation with the various Spiritual a.s.semblies, do as he deems best and most serviceable to the interests of the Cause in that land.

That all the friends may realize more fully the urgent and supreme necessity of teaching the Cause in these days; that they may arise to inaugurate a more strenuous, systematized and extensive campaign of service-these are the high aims he has set before himself and which he intends, with the unfailing help and wholehearted support of every believer in America, to achieve in the immediate future.

May his second visit to your sh.o.r.es mark, in its character and results, a new and memorable era in the history of the Cause in that great country!

Your brother and co-worker,

SHOGHI.

Haifa, Palestine.

January 16, 1923.

Letter of January 17th, 1923

To the members of the National Spiritual a.s.sembly.

Dear friends:

It is a great pleasure for me to share with you the translation(4) of some of the prayers and Tablets of our beloved Master, the reading of which I trust will inspire you and strengthen you in your work of service to His Cause.

I trust that in the course of time I will be enabled to send you regularly correct and reliable translations of the various prayers and Tablets of Baha'u'llah, and 'Abdu'l-Baha, which will unfold to your eyes a new vision of His Glorious Mission on earth and give you an insight into the character and meanings of His Divine Teachings.

I shall await very eagerly any suggestions you would like to give me on this point and on all other matters that pertain to the interests of the Cause in America, and I a.s.sure you again of my readiness and wish to be of help and service to those faithful and devoted servants of Baha'u'llah in that land.

Your brother and co-worker, SHOGHI.

Haifa, Palestine, January 17th, 1923.