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Bahá'í Administration
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Pages 139-147
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Letter of October 18, 1927.
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To the Members of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of
the United States and Canada.
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Dearly-beloved co-workers:
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I have already expressed indirectly my views with regard to
various secondary issues raised in your latest communications to
me dated May 23, June 10, 21, July 11, 14, 15 and 25, August 7
and September 28; and I wish in this letter to deal more particularly
with such matters of primary importance as affect the conduct and
the growth of Bahá'í administration. The perusal of these communications
replete with the news of steadily multiplying activities
and newly conceived plans, all of which I as heretofore appreciate
and welcome, has made me feel however that the time seems now
opportune to utter a word of caution and warning to those who
with unceasing zest labor to give befitting embodiment to those latent
energies released by the Message of Bahá'u'lláh.
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Much as I rejoice in witnessing the abundant signs of unfaltering
energy that characterize in various fields and distant lands the
mission of the valiant warriors of the Cause, I cannot help observing
that, driven by their impetuous eagerness to establish the undisputed
reign of Bahá'u'lláh on this earth, they may by an undue multiplication
of their activities, and the consequent dissipation of their
forces, defeat the very purpose which animates them in the pursuit
of their glorious task. Particularly do I feel that this necessity for
a careful estimation of the present resources at our disposal and of
cautious restraint in handling them applies in a peculiar manner to
the swiftly expanding activities of the American believers, whose
mission increasingly appears to be to give the lead and set the
example to their brethren across the seas in laying a secure foundation
for the permanent institutions of the Bahá'í Faith. That I
feel is chiefly the reason why such stress has been laid in the past
upon the necessity for consultation on the part of individual believers
with their elected national representatives in the matter of
initiating plans of action above and beyond the plans which the
deliberations of the National Spiritual Assembly have already
evolved. In the matter of affiliation with bodies and organizations
that advocate ideals and principles that are in sympathy with the
Bahá'í Revelation; in establishing magazines beyond those that
already are designed to advance openly and indirectly the interests of
the Bahá'í Teachings; in the financial support we may sooner or later
be called upon to extend to philanthropic institutions and the like;
in advancing the cause of any particular activity to which we may
feel sentimentally inclined;--these, as well as all similar undertakings,
we should only approach after having definitely ascertained,
through careful deliberation with those who are in a responsible position,
that the institutions representing the paramount interests of
the Cause are already assured of adequate and continuous assistance.
Nothing short of the spirit of earnest and sustained consultation
with those whom we have prayerfully and of our own accord placed
in the forefront of those who are the custodians of the priceless
heritage bequeathed by Bahá'u'lláh; nothing less than persistent
and strenuous warfare against our own instincts and natural inclinations,
and heroic self-sacrifice in subordinating our own likings to
the imperative requirements of the Cause of God, can insure our
undivided loyalty to so sacred a principle--a principle that will for
all time safeguard our beloved Cause from the allurements and the
trivialities of the world without, and of the pitfalls of the self within.
I entreat you, well-beloved brethren, to resolve as you never have
resolved before to pledge undying loyalty and sleepless vigilance
in upholding so essential a principle in the course of your manifold
activities, that yours may be the abiding satisfaction of having done
nothing that may tend in the least to impede the flow or obscure
the radiance of the rejuvenating spirit of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh.
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Touching the recent decision of the National Spiritual Assembly
to place as much as possible of the current details of the work in
the hands of its national committees, I feel I should point out that
this raises a fundamental issue of paramount importance, as it involves
a unique principle in the administration of the Cause, governing
the relations that should be maintained between the central
administrative body and its assisting organs of executive and legislative
action. As it has been observed already, the role of these
committees set up by the National Spiritual Assembly, the renewal,
the membership and functions of which should be reconsidered separately
each year by the incoming National Assembly, is chiefly to
make thorough and expert study of the issue entrusted to their
charge, advise by their reports, and assist in the execution of the
decisions which in vital matters are to be exclusively and directly
rendered by the National Assembly. The utmost vigilance, the
most strenuous exertion is required by them if they wish to fulfill
as befits their high and responsible calling, the functions which it
is theirs to discharge. They should, within the limits imposed upon
them by present-day circumstances, endeavor to maintain the balance
in such a manner that the evils of over-centralization which clog,
confuse and in the long run depreciate the value of the Bahá'í
services rendered shall on one hand be entirely avoided, and on the
other the perils of utter decentralization with the consequent lapse
of governing authority from the hands of the national representatives
of the believers definitely averted. The absorption of the petty
details of Bahá'í administration by the personnel of the National
Spiritual Assembly is manifestly injurious to efficiency and an
expert discharge of Bahá'í duties, whilst the granting of undue
discretion to bodies that should be regarded in no other light than
that of expert advisers and executive assistants would jeopardize the
very vital and pervading powers that are the sacred prerogatives
of bodies that in time will evolve into Bahá'í National Houses of
Justice. I am fully aware of the strain and sacrifice which a loyal
adherence to such an essential principle of Bahá'í administration--
a principle that will at once ennoble and distinguish the Bahá'í
method of administration from the prevailing systems of the world
--demands from the national representatives of the believers at this
early stage of our evolution. Yet I feel I cannot refrain from
stressing the broad lines along which the affairs of the Cause should
be increasingly conducted, the knowledge of which is so essential
at this formative period of Bahá'í administrative institutions.
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As already intimated, I have read and re-read most carefully
the final draft of the By-Laws drawn up by that highly-talented,
much-loved servant of Bahá'u'lláh, Mountfort Mills, and feel I
have nothing substantial to add to this first and very creditable
attempt at codifying the principles of general Bahá'í administration.
I heartily and unhesitatingly commend it to the earnest perusal of,
and its loyal adoption by, every National Bahá'í Spiritual Assembly,
whether constituted in the East or in the West. I would ask you
particularly to send copies of the text of this document of fundamental
importance accompanied by copies of the Declaration of
Trust and the text of the Indenture of Trust, to every existing
National Spiritual Assembly, with my insistent request to study
the provisions, comprehend its implications, and endeavor to incorporate
it, to the extent that their own circumstances permit, within
the framework of their own national activities. You can but faintly
imagine how comforting a stimulant and how helpful a guide its
publication and circulation will be to those patient and toiling workers
in Eastern lands, and particularly Persia, who in the midst of
uncertainties and almost insuperable obstacles are straining every
nerve in order to establish the world order ushered in by Bahá'u'lláh.
You can hardly realize how substantially it will contribute to pave
the way for the elaboration of the beginnings of the constitution
of the worldwide Bahá'í Community that will form the permanent
basis upon which the blest and sanctified edifice of the first International
House of Justice will securely rest and flourish.
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I would specifically remind you that in the text of the said By-Laws
which to the outside world represents the expression of the
aspirations, the motives and objects that animate the collective
responsibilities of Bahá'í Fellowship, due emphasis should not be
placed only on the concentrated authority, the rights, the privileges
and prerogatives enjoyed by the elected national representatives of
the believers, but that special stress be laid also on their responsibilities
as willing ministers, faithful stewards and loyal trustees to
those who have chosen them. Let it be made clear to every inquiring
reader that among the most outstanding and sacred duties incumbent
upon those who have been called upon to initiate, direct and coordinate
the affairs of the Cause, are those that require them to
win by every means in their power the confidence and affection of
those whom it is their privilege to serve. Theirs is the duty to
investigate and acquaint themselves with the considered views, the
prevailing sentiments, the personal convictions of those whose welfare
it is their solemn obligation to promote. Theirs is the duty
to purge once for all their deliberations and the general conduct
of their affairs from that air of self-contained aloofness, from
the suspicion of secrecy, the stifling atmosphere of dictatorial assertiveness,
in short, from every word and deed that might savor
of partiality, self-centeredness and prejudice. Theirs is the duty,
while retaining the sacred and exclusive right of final decision in
their hands, to invite discussion, provide information, ventilate
grievances, welcome advice from even the most humble and insignificant
members of the Bahá'í family, expose their motives,
set forth their plans, justify their actions, revise if necessary their
verdict, foster the sense of interdependence and co-partnership, of
understanding and mutual confidence between them on one hand
and all local Assemblies and individual believers on the other.
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As to the state of affairs in Persia, where the circumstances
related in a previous circular letter have had their share in intensifying
the chronic state of instability and insecurity that prevail,
grave concern has been felt lest the support, both moral and financial,
anticipated from the bigoted elements of foreign Missions in
the Capital should lead to an extension of its circulation in the
West, and thus inflict, however slight, a damage on the prestige
and fair name of our beloved Cause. These internal agitations,
however, coinciding as they have done with outbursts of sectarian
fanaticism from without, accompanied by isolated cases of fresh
persecution in Kirmán and elsewhere, have failed to exasperate and
exhaust the heroic patience of the steadfast lovers of the Cause.
They have even failed to becloud the serenity of their faith in the
inevitable approach of the breaking of a brighter dawn for their
afflicted country. Undeterred and undismayed, they have replied
to the defiance of the traitor within, and the assaults of the enemy
without by a striking re-affirmation of their unbroken solidarity and
inflexible resolve to build with infinite patience and toil on the sure
foundations laid for them by Bahá'u'lláh. With their traditional
fidelity and characteristic vigor, notwithstanding the unimaginable
hindrances they have to face, they have convened their first historic
representative conference of various delegates from the nine leading
provinces of Persia, have evolved plans for holding every year as
fully representative a convention of Bahá'í delegates in Persia as
circumstances permit, and modelled after the method pursued by
their brethren in the United States and Canada. They have reconstituted
and defined the limits of the hitherto confused Bahá'í administrative
divisions throughout the length and breadth of their
land. They have adopted various resolutions of vital importance,
the chief ones among them aiming at the reorganization of the
institution of the National Fund, the consolidation and extension
of their national campaign of Teaching, the strengthening of the
bonds that unite them with the local and national Assemblies at
home and abroad, the establishment of Bahá'í primary educational
institutions in towns and villages, the raising of the social and educational
standards of women, irrespective of sect and caste, and the
reinforcement of those forces that tend to raise the moral, cultural
and material standard of their fellow-countrymen. Surely, to an
unbiased observer of the present state of affairs in Persia, these
resolutions, backed by the creative energy inherent in the power
of the Word of God, mark not only a milestone on the road of the
progress of the Persian believers, but constitute as well a notable
landmark in the checkered history of their own country.
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The warm hospitality accorded by the National Spiritual Assembly
and the American believers to my dear cousin and collaborator,
Ruhi Effendi, has deeply touched me, particularly as I realize from
the appreciative reports I have recently received that by his radiant
and earnest spirit of service he has deserved well of his dear fellow-workers
in that continent, and contributed substantially to their better
appreciation of the Teachings of the Cause. Much as I desire
him to work by my side here in the Holy Land, I very gladly concur
with your wish to further extend his sojourn with you, trusting
that he will prove of great assistance to you all in the discharge of
your noble task.
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And now in conclusion, may I be permitted to direct your attention
to the lesson which the trend of world events brings home to
us, the little band of His chosen workers who, according to the
intelligent efforts we exert, can prove ourselves the determining
factor in the immediate fortunes of the society we live in? As we
witness on all sides the growing restlessness of a restless age, we
are filled with mixed feelings of fear and hope--fear, at the prospect
of yet another deadly encounter, the inevitability of which is
alas! becoming increasingly manifest; hope, in the serene assurance
that whatever cataclysm may yet visit humanity, it cannot but hasten
the approaching era of universal and lasting peace so emphatically
proclaimed by the Pen of Bahá'u'lláh. In the political domain,
where we have lately witnessed, in the council of the leading nations
of the world, the surrender of humanity's noblest conception to what
may be regarded only as a transient phase in the life of peoples and
nations; in the industrial world, where the representatives of the
wage-earning classes, either through violence or persuasion, are
capturing the seats of authority and wielding the scepter of power:
in the field of religion, where we have lately witnessed widespread
and organized attempts to broaden and simplify the basis of man's
faith, to achieve unity in Christendom and restore the regenerating
vigor of Islám; in the heart of society itself, where the ominous signs
of increasing extravagance and profligacy are but lending fresh
impetus to the forces of revolt and reaction that are growing more
distinct every day--in these as in many others we have much cause
for alarm, but much to be hopeful and thankful for also. To take
but one instance more fully: Observe the fierce and as yet unsilenced
dispute which the proposal for the introduction of a binding
and universal pact of non-aggression among the nations of Europe
has aroused among the avowed supporters of the League of Nations
--a League so auspiciously welcomed for the ideal that prompted
its birth, yet now so utterly inadequate in the actual principles that
underlie its present-day structure and working. And yet, in the
great outcry raised by post-war nationalism in blindly defending
and upholding the unfettered supremacy of its own sovereignty, and
in repudiating unreservedly the conception of a world super-state,
can we not discern the re-enactment only on a larger scale of the
dramatic struggles that heralded the birth of the reconstructed and
unified nations of the West? Has not authentic history clearly
revealed in the case of these nations the painful yet inevitable merging
of rival, particularistic and independent cities and principalities
into one unified national entity, the evolving of a crude and narrow
creed into a nobler and wider conception? Is not a parallel struggle
being now manifested on the world stage of ever-advancing humanity?
Can it lead to any other result than that which shall reaffirm
the truth of humanity's onward march towards an ever-widening
conception, and the ever-brightening glory of its destiny?
Reverses and setbacks, such as we have already witnessed, no doubt
will retard the ripening of the choicest fruit on the tree of human
development. Yet the fierceness of controversy, the weight of argument
advanced in its disfavor, cannot but contribute to the broadening
of the basis and the consolidation of the foundations upon
which the stately edifice of unified mankind must ultimately rest.
Let us take heart therefore, and labor with renewed vigor and
deepened understanding to contribute our share to those forces
which, whether or not cognizant of the regenerating Faith of
Bahá'u'lláh in this age, are operating, each in its respective sphere
and under His all-encompassing guidance, for the uplift and the
salvation of humanity.
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Your true brother,
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SHOGHI.
Haifa, Palestine,
October 18, 1927.
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