1993: Formation of Seven New National and Regional Spiritual Assemblies - Ridván 1994

The gathering momentum now evident in the continual teaching successes, notably in lands recently opened to the Faith, impels us to announce that conditions make it ripe for the formation next Ridván of seven new National and Regional Spiritual Assemblies.

There will be established in Asia:

• the National Spiritual Assemblies of Cambodia, with its seat in Phnom Penh;
• Kazakhstan, with its seat in Alma-Ata;
• Kyrgyzstan, with its seat in Bishkek;
• Mongolia, with its seat in Ulaan Baatar;
• Tajikistan, with its seat in Dushanbe;
• Uzbekistan, with its seat in Tashkent;
• the Regional Spiritual Assembly of Central Asia will become the National Spiritual Assembly of Turkmenistan, with its seat in ‘Ishqábád.

and in Europe:

• the Regional Spiritual Assembly of Slovenia and Croatia, with its seat in Ljubljana.

(Adapted from a message of the Universal House of Justice dated 26 November 1993 to all National Spiritual Assemblies; ‘Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1986-2001’)

1856-1863: “the Bahá’í community, under the name and in the shape of a re-arisen Bábí community was born and was slowly taking shape”

 During the seven years that elapsed between the resumption of His labors and the declaration of His prophetic mission—years to which we now direct our attention—it would be no exaggeration to say that the Bahá’í community, under the name and in the shape of a re-arisen Bábí community was born and was slowly taking shape, though its Creator still appeared in the guise of, and continued to labor as, one of the foremost disciples of the Báb.

• It was a period during which the prestige of the community’s nominal head steadily faded from the scene, paling before the rising splendor of Him Who was its actual Leader and Deliverer.
• It was a period in the course of which the first fruits of an exile, endowed with incalculable potentialities, ripened and were garnered.
• It was a period that will go down in history as one during which
• the prestige of a recreated community was immensely enhanced,
• its morals entirely reformed,
• its recognition of Him who rehabilitated its fortunes enthusiastically affirmed,
• its literature enormously enriched, and
• its victories over its new adversaries universally acknowledged.

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’, chapter 8)