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Citadel of Faith
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Pages 133-134
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PERSECUTION OF THE BAHÁ'ÍS OF ÍRÁN
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A crisis in the fortunes of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh, of exceptional
severity, extensive in its ramifications, unpredictable in its immediate
consequences, directly involving the overwhelming majority of His
followers in the land of His birth, and confronting with a major
challenge Bahá'í communities in both hemispheres, has plunged the
Bahá'í world, whilst engaged in the prosecution of a world-wide
spiritual crusade, into intense sorrow and profound anxiety.
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More grievous than any of the intermittent crises which have more
or less acutely afflicted the Faith since the inception, over thirty years
ago, of the Formative Age of the Bahá'í Dispensation, such as a seizure
of the keys of the foremost Shrine of the Bahá'í world by the
covenant-breakers residing in the Holy Land; the occupation of the House of
Bahá'u'lláh by His traditional enemies in Baghdád; the expropriation
of the first Mashriqu'l-Adhkár of the Bahá'í world in Turkistán and the
virtual extinction of the Ishqábád Bahá'í Community; the disabilities
suffered by the Egyptian Bahá'í Community as a result of the verdict of
the Egyptian ecclesiastical court and the historic pronouncements of
the highest dignitaries of Sunní Islám in Egypt; the defection of the
members of `Abdu'l-Bahá's family and the machinations and eventual
deviation of various recognized yet highly ambitious leaders, teachers, as
well as administrators, in Persia, Egypt, Germany and the United
States--more grievous than any of these, this latest manifestation of the
implacable hatred, and relentless opposition, of the as yet firmly
entrenched, politically influential avowed adversaries of God's infant
Faith, threatens to become more uncontrollable with every passing day.
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Indeed in many of its aspects this crisis bears a striking resemblance
to the wave of persecutions which periodically swept the cradle of the
Faith in the course of `Abdu'l-Bahá's ministry, and is tragically reminiscent
of the tribulations experienced by the dawn-breakers of the
Heroic Age of the Faith at the hour of its birth in that sorely tried,
long-agitated land.
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With dramatic suddenness, a situation, which had been slowly and
secretly developing, came to a head, as the result of the ceaseless
intrigue of the fanatical and determined ecclesiastical opponents of the
Faith, ever ready to seize their chance, in times of confusion, and to
strike mercilessly, at an opportune hour, at the very root of that Faith
and of its swiftly developing, steadily consolidating administrative
institutions.
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The launching of the Crusade itself, with the celebrations and
ceremonials which accompanied it; the repercussions of the widely
reported proceedings of four successive Intercontinental Teaching
Conferences, which heralded its inauguration; the public dedication of
the Mother Temple of the West in Wilmette; the systematic intensification
of teaching activities in the Arabian Peninsula, enshrining
the Qiblih of the entire Islamic world; and, in particular, the opening to
the Faith of the twin holy cities of Mecca and Medina--all these may
be said to have precipitated this crisis, and alarmed the jealous exponents
and guardians of an antiquated religious orthodoxy in the
strongholds of both Shí'ah and Sunní Islám.
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