The Guardian is striving to build up uniformity in essentials all over the
Bahá’í World, and this frequently involves a small measure of delay in
achieving our various goals set locally. But he considers it sufficiently
important to warrant the sacrifices it sometimes involves:
In this connection he would like to mention your Local By-Laws: He feels
that they should conform much more closely to the original one of the New
York Assembly. What is absolutely essential was incorporated in those, and
all other local assemblies being incorporated should follow this pattern
as closely as local legal technicalities permit. This again is in order to
maintain international uniformity in essentials. It is not a question here
of whether the By-Laws drawn up by your Legal Committee are not more up to
date and do not represent the last word, undoubtedly they are and do, but
if every country, when drawing up its Local By-Laws, continue this process
of elaboration, in the end uniformity will be lost. The Eastern Assemblies
have adhered to the original By-Laws so carefully that they have
practically translated them word for word and adopted them. He feels sure
Mr. Dive will understand this, and he would like you to please express to
him his deep appreciation of the excellent work he has done in this
connection, truly a labour of love to the Faith.
There is also another, perhaps even more pertinent reason, why he does not
want anything more added to these New York By-Laws, and that is that he is
everywhere urging the believers—the Americans included—to not add
procedures and rulings to the Cause. He considers that what he has laid
down in Bahá’í Administration is essential, but that practically
everything else is secondary and he wishes the Assemblies, your own
included, to deal with things with elasticity, as they come up, case by
case, and not by continually passing new rulings to cover all similar
cases.
The efforts being made by your Assembly to carry out the Teaching Plan for
Australia and New Zealand, and the ever-increasing response of the
believers in both places to this all-important work, greatly encourage and
cheer him. He feels sure a very great future lies in store for our beloved
Faith in those distant regions, but much more still remains to be done by
the friends in order to complete this first, historic and vital, organized
Plan of theirs. He feels sure they will see it through to victory; just as
their brothers and sisters in other lands, working also on Plans of their
own, are determined to achieve all their goals at the appointed time, so
must they persevere and ensure a resounding victory for the Faith there in
the Antipodes.
His loving prayers are offered in the Holy Shrines very often for the
success of your work, and that God may bless you and all the members of
the National Assembly in the discharge of your important duties.
With Bahá’í love,
Yours in His Service,
R. Rabbani.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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