1975: Fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States

24 April 1975

To the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States

PORTENTOUS OCCASION FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY FORMAL ESTABLISHMENT NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY BAHA'IS UNITED STATES RECALL WITH PRIDE ADMIRATION PRE-EMINENT STATION CONFERRED AMERICAN BAHA'I COMMUNITY CENTRE COVENANT PREPONDERATING ROLE ALREADY ASSUMED WORLD-WIDE PROMOTION FAITH GLORIOUS ACHIEVEMENTS UNMATCHED RANGE MAGNITUDE ENTIRE BAHA'I WORLD PAST HALF CENTURY. CALL UPON THIS HIGHLY BLESSED DISTINGUISHED COMMUNITY CONTEMPLATE ITS UNDOUBTED DUTIES PRIVILEGES PURGE ITS SOUL ALL WORLDLY ENTANGLEMENTS REDEDICATE ITS ENERGIES RESOURCES IMMEDIATE TASKS ARISE SINGLE-MINDEDLY PERFORM HISTORIC MISSION RENDER SUCH SERVICES ATTAIN SUCH SACRIFICIAL HEIGHTS WORTHY BRILLIANT FOREBEARS HEROIC AGE FAITH.

UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE

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

The condition of the government of Persia at the time of the Báb’s “formal assumption… of the authority of the promised Qá’im”

Muhammad Sháh, at so perilous an hour, was meanwhile rapidly sinking under the weight of his physical infirmities. The shallow-minded Hájí Mírzá Áqásí, now the pivot of state affairs, exhibited a vacillation and incompetence that seemed to increase with every extension in the range of his grave responsibilities. At one time he would feel inclined to support the verdict of the ‘ulamás; at another he would censure their aggressiveness and distrust their assertions; at yet another, he would relapse into mysticism, and, wrapt in his reveries, lose sight of the gravity of the emergency that confronted him. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘God Passes By’)