1961: First National Convention of the Baha'is of Costa Rica, San Jose

Attended by Hand of the Cause Dhikru'llah Khadem

(The Baha'i World 1954-1963)

1961: Publicity in Australian press relating to the first Baha'i Temple of the Pacific area

(The Baha'i World 1954-1963)

1962: National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Germany

(The Baha'i World 1954-1963)

1977: Appointment of architects for Mashriqu’l-Adhkar in India and restoration of House of ‘Abdu’llah Pasha in Akka

14 October 1977

To all National Spiritual Assemblies

HAVE MUCH JOY IN ANNOUNCING APPOINTMENT TWO DISTINGUISHED BAHA'I ARCHITECTS FROM CRADLE FAITH:  FARIBURZ SAHBA AS ARCHITECT MASHRIQU'L- ADHKAR INDIA, AND RIDVANU'LLAH ASHRAF AS ARCHITECT FOR RESTORATION SACRED RESIDENCE BELOVED MASTER KNOWN AS HOUSE OF 'ABDU'LLAH PASHA. SUPPLICATING DIVINE CONFIRMATIONS THESE TWO HISTORIC ENTERPRISES.

UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE

(Messages from the Universal House of Justice, ‘1963-1986’)

June 1977: Commemoration of the Centenary of the Termination of Bahá’u’lláh’s Confinement in ‘Akká

Mansion of Mazra'ih c.1930
(Baha'i Media Bank)

IN EARLY DAYS OF JUNE 1877 BAHÁ’U’LLÁH LEFT CITY ‘AKKÁ AND TOOK UP RESIDENCE IN MAZRA‘IH.  TO MARK CENTENARY THIS TERMINATION CONFINEMENT ANCIENT BEAUTY WITHIN WALLS PRISON CITY WE CALL UPON HIS FOLLOWERS ALL LANDS DEVOTE NINETEEN DAY FEAST OF NÚR COMMEMORATION HISTORIC EVENT, REDEDICATING THEMSELVES URGENT TASKS BEFORE THEM, SO THAT PENT-UP ENERGIES HIS PRECIOUS FAITH MAY BE RELEASED TO REACH EVER GREATER NUMBER SEEKING SOULS IN EVER WIDER CIRCLE THEIR FELLOWMEN. (The Universal House of Justice, Ridván 1977) 

In the early afternoon of Saturday, 11 June 1977, the pilgrims and the friends serving at the World Center made their way to Mazra‘ih to visit the Mansion which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had rented a century ago for the use of Bahá’u’lláh, His first residence after leaving the prison city of ‘Akká.  While there, each was privileged to visit and offer prayers in the very room occupied by the Blessed Beauty; later they repaired to the gardens at Bahjí. 

Meanwhile the Hands of the Cause present in the Holy Land, the members of the Universal House of Justice and the Counselor members of the International Teaching Center were paying their respects to the memory of Bahá’u’lláh at the House of ‘Abbúd in ‘Akká and at the Garden of Ridván. The rooms Bahá’u’lláh had occupied were visited and prayers of thanksgiving for His release from confinement were offered in these Holy Places. They then journeyed north to Mazra‘ih for prayers at that Holy Spot, and afterwards joined the other friends in the Haram-i-Aqdas at Bahjí for the formal program of the Commemoration of this great event in the history of the Heroic Age of the Cause. 

Prayers were recited; ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s account of the end of Bahá’u’lláh’s confinement and Shoghi Effendi’s narrative from God Passes By were read; and finally, just as the sun was casting its last light over the Mediterranean, the friends made their way in the utmost reverence to the Most Holy Shrine for the chanting of the Tablet of Visitation.  

The remembrance of God and His praise, and the glory of God and His splendor, rest upon Thee, O Thou Who art His Beauty!  I bear witness that the eye of creation hath never gazed upon one wronged like Thee. Thou wast immersed all the days of Thy life beneath an ocean of tribulations. At one time Thou wast in chains and fetters; at another Thou wast threatened by the sword of Thine enemies. Yet, despite all this, Thou didst enjoin upon all men to observe what had been prescribed unto Thee by Him Who is the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. (Bahá’u’lláh)

(Included in ‘Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1963-1986’)

1976: First visit by a Baha’i reigning monarch to the resting place of the Shoghi Effendi

5 October 1976

To all National Spiritual Assemblies

WITH FEELINGS IMMENSE ELATION ANNOUNCE BAHA'I COMMUNITIES ALL CONTINENTS JOYFUL NEWS FIRST VISIT BY BAHA'I REIGNING MONARCH TO RESTING PLACE BELOVED SHOGHI EFFENDI WELL NIGH NINETEEN YEARS FOLLOWING HIS PASSING. HIS HIGHNESS MALIETOA TANUMAFILI II OF WESTERN SAMOA COURSE HIS RECENT VISIT LONDON ATTAINED THIS INESTIMABLE BOUNTY. HIS HIGHNESS ACCOMPANIED BY SMALL DELEGATION FRIENDS HEADED BY HAND CAUSE GIACHERY INCLUDING HANDS CAUSE KHADEM VARQA AND FIVE MEMBERS NATIONAL ASSEMBLY UNITED KINGDOM PROCEEDED CEMETERY PARTICIPATED DEEPLY MOVING HIGHLY DIGNIFIED VISITATION RESTING PLACE SIGN GOD ON EARTH WHOSE LIFELONG HEROIC LABOURS ACHIEVED WORLD-WIDE SPREAD GLORIOUS CAUSE BAHA'U'LLAH.  FOLLOWING PRAYERS DEVOTIONS AND EXPRESSIONS APPRECIATION GRATITUDE BY HIS HIGHNESS HE MET WITH RADIANT SPIRIT LARGE GATHERING BELIEVERS ASSEMBLED PRECINCTS GRAVE TO WELCOME HIM AND TO WHOM HE CONVEYED GREETINGS HIS FELLOW SAMOAN BAHA'IS AND HIS HOPE GROWTH FAITH FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH ALL OVER WORLD. IN HOLY LAND SYNCHRONIZING WITH THESE EVENTS HANDS CAUSE OTHER MEMBERS, INTERNATIONAL TEACHING CENTRE JOINED MEMBERS HOUSE JUSTICE SPECIAL VISIT BAHJI WHERE FERVENT PRAYERS WERE OFFERED SACRED THRESHOLD MOST HOLY SHRINE IN THANKSGIVING HIGHLY SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENT WHICH REPRESENTS PRELUDE TO FULFILMENT LONG CHERISHED DESIRE 'ABDU'L-BAHA AND SHOGHI EFFENDI WITNESS PILGRIM KINGS PAY THEIR HUMBLE TRIBUTE AT HOLY SHRINES FOUNDERS OUR FAITH IN SPIRITUAL HEART PLANET. FERVENTLY PRAYING THIS JOYOUS NEWS WILL STRENGTHEN RESOLVE SUPPORTERS MOST GREAT NAME EVERY LAND REDOUBLE THEIR EFFORTS TO FORGE AHEAD HOWEVER ARDUOUS THE TASKS HOWEVER SEEMINGLY INSURMOUNTABLE THE OBSTACLES UNTIL EVERY GOAL WORLD- WIDE PLAN IS SPEEDILY AND FULLY CONSUMMATED.

UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE

(Messages from the Universal House of Justice, ‘1963-1986’)

Baha’u’llah identifies the Qayyúmu’l-Asmá as “the first, the greatest and mightiest” of the books revealed by the Báb

...the Qayyúmu’l-Asmá—the Báb’s commentary on the Súrih of Joseph—characterized by the Author of the Íqán as “the first, the greatest and mightiest” of the books revealed by the Báb…

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘The Dispensation of Baha’u’llah’ included in ‘The World Order of Baha’u’llah’)

1934: “ample proof of the growing momentum with which the invincible community of the Most Great Name is marching forward to ultimate victory”

• The international status which the Religion of God has thus far achieved…
• The unprecedented impetus which the illustrious deeds of the American believers have lent to the onward march of the Faith;
• the intense interest which the first Mashriqu’l-Adhkár of the West is fast awakening among divers races and nations;
• the rise and steady consolidation of Bahá’í institutions in no less than forty of the most advanced countries of the world;
• the dissemination of Bahá’í literature in no fewer than twenty-five of the most widely-spoken languages;
• the success that has recently attended the nation-wide efforts of the Persian believers in the preliminary steps they have taken for the establishment, in the outskirts of the capital-city of their native land, of the third Mashriqu’l-Adhkár of the Bahá’í world;
• the measures that are being taken for the immediate formation of their first National Spiritual Assembly representing the interests of the overwhelming majority of Bahá’í adherents;
• the projected erection of yet another pillar of the Universal House of Justice, the first of its kind, in the Southern Hemisphere;
• the testimonies, both verbal and written, that a struggling Faith has obtained from Royalty, from governmental institutions, international tribunals, and ecclesiastical dignitaries;
• the publicity it has received from the charges which unrelenting enemies, both new and old, have hurled against it;
• the formal enfranchisement of a section of its followers from the fetters of Muslim orthodoxy in a country that may be regarded as the most enlightened among Islamic nations—

these afford ample proof of the growing momentum with which the invincible community of the Most Great Name is marching forward to ultimate victory. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From the weighty treatise known as ‘The Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh’, February 8, 1934; included in ‘The World Order of Baha’u’llah’)

A British document concerning the miraculous circumstance pertaining to the execution of the Báb in Tabriz, Persia, 1850

An official letter dated July 22,1850, from Sir Justin Sheil, Queen Victoria's Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in Tihran, to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Lord Palmerston. It reads:

“The founder of the sect has been executed at Tabreez. He was killed by a volley of musketry, and his death was on the point of giving his religion a lustre which would have largely increased his proselytes. When the smoke and dust cleared away after the volley, Bab was not to be seen, and the populace proclaimed that he had ascended to the skies. The balls had broken the ropes by which he was bound but he was dragged [1] from the recess where after some search he was discovered and shot. His death, according to the belief of his disciples, will make no difference as Bab must always exist.” 

(Document F.O. 60/152/88 in the archives of the Foreign Office at the Public Records Office in London, England, quoted by Hand of the Cause John Ferraby in ‘All Things Made New’)

[1] Not literally, of course

The King of Persia sent special envoy to investigate the claims of the Báb

Muhammad Shah

…men’s interest increased, and in all parts of Persia some [of God’s] servants inclined toward Him [the Báb], until the matter acquired such importance that the late king Muhammad Sháh delegated a certain person named Siyyid Yahyá of Daráb, who was one of the best known of doctors and Siyyids as well as an object of veneration and confidence, giving him a horse and money for the journey so that he might proceed to Shíráz and personally investigate this matter.

When the above-mentioned Siyyid arrived at Shíráz he interviewed the Báb three times. In the first and second conferences questioning and answering took place; in the third conference he requested a commentary on the Súrih called Kawthar [Qur’án 108], and when the Báb, without thought or reflection, wrote an elaborate commentary on the Kawthar in his presence, the above-mentioned Siyyid was charmed and enraptured with Him, and straightway, without consideration for the future or anxiety about the results of this affection, hastened to Burújird to his father Siyyid Ja’far, known as Kashfí, and acquainted him with the matter. And, although he was wise and prudent and was wont to have regard to the requirements of the time, he wrote without fear or care a detailed account of his observations to Mírzá Lutf-‘Alí the chamberlain in order that the latter might submit it to the notice of the late king, while he himself journeyed to all parts of Persia, and in every town and station summoned the people from the pulpit-tops in such wise that other learned doctors decided that he must be mad, accounting it a sure case of bewitchment.  

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (‘A Traveler’s Narrative’)

Nabil-i A'zam (Mulla Muhammad Zarandi), the author of ‘The Dawn-Prayers’, explains how he found the Faith

In the early days of the year 1265 A.H., I set out, at the age of eighteen, from my native village of Zarand for Qum, where I chanced to meet Siyyid Ismá’íl-i-Zavari’í, surnamed Dhabíh, who later on, while in Baghdád, offered up his life as a sacrifice in the path of Bahá’u’lláh. Through him I was led to recognise the new Revelation. He was then preparing to leave for Mázindarán and had determined to join the heroic defenders of the fort of Shaykh Tabarsí. He had intended to take me with him, together with Mírzá Fatḥu’llah-i-Hakkak, a lad of my age, who was a resident of Qum. As circumstances interfered with his plan, he promised before his departure that he would communicate with us from Tihrán and would ask us to join him. 

- Nabil ('The Dawn-Breakers; translated and edited by Shoghi Effendi)

National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the British Isles 1962-1963

(The Baha'i World 1954-1963)

May 1963: Delegates to the first International Bahá’í Convention in Haifa, in front of the International Archives Building

(Baha'i Media Bank)

1960: Laying the Foundation Stone for the Mother Temple of Europe

Hand of the Cause Amelia Collins, representing the World Center of the Faith, addressing the Hands of the Cause and believers gathered at the site of the Mother Temple of Europe on the occasion of her placing the Sacred Dust from the Shrine of Baha'u'llah in the foundations, November 20, 1960. This event was publicized in the two German newspapers, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Hochster Kreisblatt. (The Baha’i World 1954-1963) 

1909: Delegates to the first nationwide Baha'i Convention

These delegates established the Baha'i Temple Unity for the construction of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in Chicago.

The tragic fate of Quddús

Quddús, their beloved leader, was by yet another shameful act of the intimidated Prince surrendered into the hands of the diabolical Sa‘idu’l-‘Ulamá who, in his unquenchable hostility and aided by the mob whose passions he had sedulously inflamed, stripped his victim of his garments, loaded him with chains, paraded him through the streets of Bárfurúsh, and incited the scum of its female inhabitants to execrate and spit upon him, assail him with knives and axes, mutilate his body, and throw the tattered fragments into a fire. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘God Passes By’)

Some awe-inspiring “salient features” of the dawn-breakers at Fort Tabarsi – summarized by Shoghi Effendi

It will be unnecessary to attempt even an abbreviated narrative of this tragic episode, however grave its import, however much misconstrued by adverse chroniclers and historians. A glance over its salient features will suffice for the purpose of these pages.

• We note, as we conjure up the events of this great tragedy, the fortitude, the intrepidity, the discipline and the resourcefulness of its heroes, contrasting sharply with the turpitude, the cowardice, the disorderliness and the inconstancy of their opponents.
• We observe the sublime patience, the noble restraint exercised by one of its principal actors, the lion-hearted Mullá Husayn, who persistently refused to unsheathe his sword until an armed and angry multitude, uttering the foulest invectives, had gathered at a farsang’s distance from Bárfurúsh to block his way, and had mortally struck down seven of his innocent and staunch companions.
• We are filled with admiration for the tenacity of faith of that same Mullá Husayn, demonstrated by his resolve to persevere in sounding the adhán, while besieged in the caravanserai of Sabsih-Maydán, though three of his companions, who had successively ascended to the roof of the inn, with the express purpose of performing that sacred rite, had been instantly killed by the bullets of the enemy.
• We marvel at the spirit of renunciation that prompted those sore pressed sufferers to contemptuously ignore the possessions left behind by their fleeing enemy; that led them to discard their own belongings, and content themselves with their steeds and swords; that induced the father of Badí‘, one of that gallant company, to fling unhesitatingly by the roadside the satchel, full of turquoises which he had brought from his father’s mine in Níshápúr; that led Mírzá Muhammad-Taqíy-i-Juvayní to cast away a sum equivalent in value in silver and gold; and impelled those same companions to disdain, and refuse even to touch, the costly furnishings and the coffers of gold and silver which the demoralized and shame-laden Prince Mihdí-Qulí Mírzá, the commander of the army of Mázindarán and a brother of Muhammad Sháh, had left behind in his headlong flight from his camp.
• We cannot but esteem the passionate sincerity with which Mullá Husayn pleaded with the Prince, and the formal assurance he gave him, disclaiming, in no uncertain terms, any intention on his part or that of his fellow-disciples of usurping the authority of the Sháh or of subverting the foundations of his state.

The eleven-month contest at Fort Tabarsi

The audacity of Mullá Husayn who, at the command of the Báb, had attired his head with the green turban worn and sent to him by his Master, who had hoisted the Black Standard, the unfurling of which would, according to the Prophet Muhammad, herald the advent of the vicegerent of God on earth, and who, mounted on his steed, was marching at the head of two hundred and two of his fellow-disciples to meet and lend his assistance to Quddús in the Jazíriy-i-Khadrá (Verdant Isle)—his audacity was the signal for a clash the reverberations of which were to resound throughout the entire country. The contest lasted no less than eleven months. Its theatre was for the most part the forest of Mázindarán. Its heroes were the flower of the Báb’s disciples. Its martyrs comprised no less than half of the Letters of the Living, not excluding Quddús and Mullá Husayn, respectively the last and the first of these Letters. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘God Passes By’)

Growth of the Faith between 1953 and the launching of the Nine Year Plan in 1964: 12 NSAs and slightly more than 600 LSAs to 70 NSAs and 4600 LSAs

Once more, dear friends, we enter the battle but with an incomparably greater array than that which embarked upon the World Crusade in 1953. To that small force of twelve national communities, now veteran campaigners, have been added fifty-seven new legions, each under the generalship of a National Spiritual Assembly, each destined to become a veteran of this and future campaigns. That Crusade began with slightly more than six hundred Local Spiritual Assemblies, the greater part of which were situated in Persia, North America and Europe; the home-fronts now comprise nearly four thousand six hundred Local Spiritual Assemblies scattered throughout the continents and islands of the world. We begin this Plan with a tremendous momentum, exemplified by the addition, since last Ridvan, of over four thousand new centres and thirteen National Spiritual Assemblies, and by the beginning, in several countries, of that entry by troops into the Cause of God prophesied by 'Abdu'l-Baha and so eagerly anticipated by Him. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (Message to the Baha'is of the world, April 1964; ‘Messages from the Universal House of justice 1963-1986’)