2005: Centenary Anniversary of the Baha’i Faith in Germany

10 September 2005

To the friends gathered on the occasion of the Centenary of the Faith in Germany

Dear Bahá’í Friends,

It is with jubilant hearts and feelings of deep gratitude that we greet all of you who have gathered to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in Germany. No other community in the Western world can claim to have demonstrated a greater resilience in the face of formidable obstacles that threatened to rob you of the shining triumph, the potent prospects, signalized by your very meeting on so auspicious an occasion.

The spark lit in Stuttgart with the arrival in 1905 of Dr. Edwin Fischer, which was fanned into a flame with the momentous visit of the beloved Master to that city eight years later, has burgeoned into a conflagration that bids fair to enkindle the hearts of troop after troop of your spiritually hungry, fellow citizens. Especially is this evident in the dynamic efforts currently afoot to intensify the expansion and consolidation process at the crux of the Five Year Plan.

This is a moment for reflection, profound reflection—one that recounts the highlights in contrast to the dark aspects punctuating the history of crisis and victory that depicts the evolution of the German community. It should enable you to appreciate more fully than before the outstanding results of the early believers’ trust in Bahá’u’lláh and His unfailing guidance, which emboldened them to persevere despite the persecution they suffered and the prohibitions inflicted on their efforts. Their exemplary conduct assured the community of the capacity to rise like a phoenix from the devastation of the Second World War and thenceforward to become vibrant collaborators with their sister communities in prosecuting the great tasks set by the Divine Plan. How brilliantly do the signs of their success shine! Suffice it to mention a few: the erection on German soil of the first European House of Worship; the legal recognition accorded by the highest court in the land to the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh, underscoring the equality of its status to that enjoyed by other major religions; the wealth of Bahá’í literature translated and published in German; and the dispatch of pioneers to goal countries. Among these distinctions was the emergence of distinguished believers, including two Hands of the Cause of God whose tireless endeavours galvanized the will of the community to accomplish such wonderful feats.

2001: The “centenary of the arrival of the Baha’i Faith in the Pacific region”

16 December 2001 

To the Friends assembled at the “Fire in the Pacific" Conference in Honolulu

Dear Bahá’í Friends,

With joyous hearts we send our loving greetings to all the dear friends gathered in Honolulu to commemorate the centenary of the arrival of the Baha’i Faith in the Pacific region.

You assemble at a time when the turmoil and confusion in the world created through the operation of the Major Plan of God is giving rise to apprehension and unease among the mass of humanity. Now, as never before, should the followers of Bahá'u'lláh demonstrate, through both word and deed, their confidence in the future and their awareness that enduring harmony and tranquillity can be found only by aligning oneself with the constructive forces of change at work throughout the planet today.

In the course of your centenary celebration, you are urged to give full consideration to the needs of the Cause of God in the Pacific region at this critical point in the Five Year Plan. The opportunities for the advancement of the Faith through energetic and creative pursuit of the teaching work in all parts of the Pacific are immense. The prospect before you is that of bringing into being vibrant Baha’i communities which demonstrate the transforming power of the Faith and offer a haven to those in search of unity.

June 1977: Centenary of the termination of Bahá’u’lláh’s confinement in ‘Akka

Hands of the Cause, the members of the Universal House of Justice and Counsellor members of the International Teaching Centre, photographed at the House of ’Abbúd in ‘Akká where they gathered on 11 June 1977 to commemorate the centenary of the termination of Bahá'u'lláh's confinement in the prison city. Amatul-Bahá Rúhíyyih Khánum is seen seated in the centre of the first row. (The Baha’i World 1976-1979)

In the early afternoon of Saturday, 11 June 1977 the pilgrims and the friends serving at the World Centre 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 Counsellor members of the International Teaching Centre 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 programme 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 Baha’i World 1976-1979)

The “first” events that took place in Baghdad while Bahá’u’lláh was there

And finally, before the gaze of the diversified communities that dwelt within its gates,

• the first phase in the gradual unfoldment of a newborn Revelation was ushered in,
• the first effusions from the inspired pen of its Author were recorded,
• the first principles of His slowly crystallizing doctrine were formulated,
• the first implications of His august station were apprehended,
• the first attacks aiming at the disruption of His Faith from within were launched,
• the first victories over its internal enemies were registered, and
• the first pilgrimages to the Door of His Presence were undertaken.

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘God Passes By’)

1955: First Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Juan Fernandez Island, Chile, formed April, 1955

One member is missing, who was ill at the time the photograph was taken. 
(Baha'i News, December 1955)

1954: First Baha’i group of Macao and friends

(Baha’i News, December 1954)

1952 Belgium: First Baha’i “Benelux” Conference

Some of the forty-seven Baha’is from Holland,Luxembourg and Belgium who gathered at the Brussels Bahá’í Center, April 12-14, 1952. 

(Baha’i News, August 1952)

1976: Visit of His Highness Susuga Malietoa Tanumafili II to the resting place of Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Bahai Faith, in London

(The Baha'i World 2006-2021)

1995: The two historical occasions worldwide for the distribution of Baha’i statements on “The Prosperity of Humankind” and “Turning Point for All Nations”

During 1995, two major United Nations events exemplified the gathering momentum of an emerging unity of thought in world undertakings, and these engaged the active attention and participation of the Bahá’í community. First, the World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen during March involved 250 friends from more than 40 countries who mounted an impressive effort to acquaint the summit participants and the related NGO Forum with the Teachings. It was on this occasion that the statement “The Prosperity of Humankind,” produced by the Bahá’í International Community’s Office of Public Information, was first distributed and discussed. Follow-up activities all over the world included the holding of conferences and seminars, as well as the distribution of the statement. Second, the Fourth World Conference on Women and the concomitant NGO Forum held in Beijing during September drew the attendance of more than 500 Bahá’ís from around the world, in addition to the official delegation of the Bahá’í International Community. In that same year, a third event, the observance of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the United Nations, prompted the Bahá’í International Community’s United Nations Office to produce and distribute a statement, entitled “Turning Point for All Nations,” containing proposals for the development of that world organization.

- The Universal House of Justice  (Ridvan 1996 message; online Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)

Factors that effected Bahá’u’lláh’s “ultimate deliverance” from Síyáh-Chál

Now that He [Bahá’u’lláh] had been invested, in consequence of that potent dream, with the power and sovereign authority associated with His Divine mission, His deliverance from a confinement that had achieved its purpose, and which if prolonged would have completely fettered Him in the exercise of His newly-bestowed functions, became not only inevitable, but imperative and urgent. Nor were the means and instruments lacking whereby his emancipation from the shackles that restrained Him could be effected. 

• The persistent and decisive intervention of the Russian Minister, Prince Dolgorouki, who left no stone unturned to establish the innocence of Bahá’u’lláh;
• the public confession of Mullá Shaykh ‘Alíy-i-Turshízí, surnamed ‘Azím, who, in the Síyáh-Chál, in the presence of the Hájibu’d-Dawlih and the Russian Minister’s interpreter and of the government’s representative, emphatically exonerated Him, and acknowledged his own complicity; 
• the indisputable testimony established by competent tribunals; 
• the unrelaxing efforts exerted by His own brothers, sisters and kindred,—all these combined to effect His ultimate deliverance from the hands of His rapacious enemies. 
• Another potent if less evident influence which must be acknowledged as having had a share in His liberation was the fate suffered by so large a number of His self-sacrificing fellow-disciples who languished with Him in that same prison. For, as Nabíl truly remarks, “the blood, shed in the course of that fateful year in Tihrán by that heroic band with whom Bahá’u’lláh had been imprisoned, was the ransom paid for His deliverance from the hand of a foe that sought to prevent Him from achieving the purpose for which God had destined Him.” 

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘God Passes By’)