Bahai Faith -- North America; Shoghi, Effendi, 1897-1957 -- Correspondence
Nor should any of the manifold opportunities, of a totally different
order, be allowed to pass unnoticed which the evolution of the Faith
itself, whether at its world center, or in the North American continent,
or even in the most outlying regions of the earth, must create, calling
once again upon the American believers to play a part, no less conspicuous
than the share they have previously had in their collective contributions
to the propagation of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh. I can only for the moment
cite at random certain of these opportunities which stand out
preeminently, in any attempt to survey the possibilities of the future:
The election of the International House of Justice and its establishment
in the Holy Land, the spiritual and administrative center of the Bahá’í
world, together with the formation of its auxiliary branches and
subsidiary institutions; the gradual erection of the various dependencies
of the first Ma_sh_riqu’l-A_dh_kár of the West, and the intricate issues
involving the establishment and the extension of the structural basis of
Bahá’í community life; the codification and promulgation of the ordinances
of the Most Holy Book, necessitating the formation, in certain countries
of the East, of properly constituted and officially recognized courts of
Bahá’í law; the building of the third Ma_sh_riqu’l-A_dh_kár of the Bahá’í
world in the outskirts of the city of Ṭihrán, to be followed by the rise
of a similar House of Worship in the Holy Land itself; the deliverance of
Bahá’í communities from the fetters of religious orthodoxy in such Islamic
countries as Persia, ‘Iráq, and Egypt, and the consequent recognition, by
the civil authorities in those states, of the independent status and
religious character of Bahá’í National and Local Assemblies; the
precautionary and defensive measures to be devised, coordinated, and
carried out to counteract the full force of the inescapable attacks which
the organized efforts of ecclesiastical organizations of various
denominations will progressively launch and relentlessly pursue; and, last
but not least, the multitudinous issues that must be faced, the obstacles
that must be overcome, and the responsibilities that must be assumed, to
enable a sore-tried Faith to pass through the successive stages of
unmitigated obscurity, of active repression, and of complete emancipation,
leading in turn to its being acknowledged as an independent Faith,
enjoying the status of full equality with its sister religions, to be
followed by its establishment and recognition as a State religion, which
in turn must give way to its assumption of the rights and prerogatives
associated with the Bahá’í state, functioning in the plenitude of its
powers, a stage which must ultimately culminate in the emergence of the
worldwide Bahá’í Commonwealth, animated wholly by the spirit, and
operating solely in direct conformity with the laws and principles of
Bahá’u’lláh.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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