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Letter of 30 May 1952
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Dear Bahá'í Brother:  
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     The beloved Guardian has received your letters of 
January 29, February 13, April 7 and April 14 (2), and May 
1, 1952, and he has instructed me to answer you on his 
behalf.  
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     He was very pleased to hear of the progress the German 
Bahá'ís are making, not only in their teaching work, as 
witnessed by the formation of new assemblies and the 
establishment of new groups, but also in the administrative 
field.  
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     The reports he received about the success of your 
Convention this year, the free consultation and the unity 
which prevailed amongst the friends, encouraged him 
greatly.  He feels that this indicates a new maturity on the 
part of the German believers.  They must come to realize 
that the Administration is a system both living and dynamic, 
and that, through obedience to its principles and 
regulations, they will gain greater strength in teaching the 
Faith, and be able to direct their energies as a united force 
into the different channels of service that lie open to them.  
 
One of the main reasons why the Faith does not advance 
more rapidly is because the friends have not learned to live 
with, and work within the framework of the Administrative 
Order.  Either they crystallize it into too set a form, or they 
rebel against what they feel to be a System, and do not give 
it sufficient support.  Both of these extremes impede the 
progress of the Faith, and the efficiency of the believers.  
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     In this connection I should like to mention that the 
Guardian states that the Hands of the Cause are eligible to 
administrative offices except those permanently residing in 
Haifa and helping the Guardian in the administrative work.  
Whenever the time comes when the Hands should give up 
their administrative offices in order to be more free to serve 
under his direction, he will inform the friends.  
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     The convention--all Bahá'í Conventions--must be held 
within the Ridván period; and he was very pleased to see 
that you had been able to advance the date of your 
Convention without affecting its success.  
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     As regards the question you asked, the Bahá'í marriage 
certificate has been accepted by the Israel Authorities.  All 
the Bahá'í properties and imports are exempt from taxation 
and customs, and the status of the Faith as a religion, 
recognized.  At present, we are planning to clarify our legal 
position with the Government, and get it on a more concrete 
footing.  We are not incorporated here, but there are the 
Palestine Branches of the National Spiritual Assemblies of 
both the United States and India incorporated here, and 
holding title to property.  
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     He was very pleased to see that the Secretary is now 
residing at the Hazírá, as he considers this both the proper 
procedure, and important for the national work.  
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     He was very sorry to learn that you are still having so 
many financial difficulties in connection with the 
 
Headquarters, and hopes that, through the self-sacrifice of 
the believers, the debts can be gradually wiped out, and 
funds be made available for other important forms of Bahá'í 
activity.  
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     He thanks you all for the expression of your loving 
sympathy on the occasion of the passing of dear Mr. 
Maxwell.  His services will long be remembered, and he has 
had a very great bounty in being permitted to design the 
Holy Tomb of the Báb.  
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     He assures you all that, in his visits to the Holy Shrines, 
he remembers you lovingly in his prayers, and supplicates 
for your guidance and the advancement of your work....  
 
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          [From the Guardian:] 
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Dear and valued co-workers:  
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     From the reports and communications received, in the 
course of recent months, from your assembly I have derived 
considerable satisfaction, as I have noted the spirit of wholehearted 
dedication which has animated its members in the 
discharge of the manifold duties and sacred responsibilities 
which have faced them in the execution of their Plan.  It is 
indeed highly gratifying, and a source of great pride, to 
contemplate the progress that has been made, the 
consolidation that has been achieved, the great sacrifices 
that have been willingly undertaken, the enthusiasm, the 
fidelity, and the perseverance that have been so abundantly 
demonstrated, the publicity that has been accorded the 
Faith, the plans that have been devised, the marked stimulus 
that has been given to the activities of the Youth, the 
harmony that has characterized the collaboration of the 
oriental and occidental believers, the progress made in 
connexion with the National Hazíratu'l-Quds, the steady 
expansion of Publishing activities, and above all, the 
notable improvement in the spiritual life of the community, 
 
as witnessed by the greater unity, cooperation and 
understanding prevailing among its members.  
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     As the last year of the Plan, formulated by the German 
Bahá'í community inexorably draws to its close, a 
concerted, a redoubled effort should be made to ensure that 
all its provisions, without any exception, will be fully 
carried out, that the members of this community may thus 
acquire the spiritual potentiality regarded as indispensable 
for the launching of a still greater enterprise, on the morrow 
of the celebrations of the approaching Bahá'í Holy year--
an enterprise that will bring the much-admired, greatly 
loved, highly promising community of the followers of the 
Faith of Bahá'u'lláh, in both Germany and Austria, into 
direct association with its sister communities throughout the 
Bahá'í world for the conduct of the world Crusade destined 
to immortalize the decade separating the two greatest 
Jubilees of the second Bahá'í century.  
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     Whilst every ounce of energy will be exerted for the 
consummation of their present task, special attention 
should be directed towards the consolidation of the ties, 
both spiritual and administrative, that must continue to bind 
the believers in the Western Zone of Germany to their 
brethren in the Eastern Zone, as well as to those living in the 
Republic of Austria.  A special effort must, moreover, be 
exerted to improve and consolidate the relationship existing 
between the German Bahá'í community and the civil 
authorities, both local and central, in order to give greater 
publicity to the Faith, and facilitate the expansion of its 
administrative institutions in the crucial years ahead.  No 
less energetic efforts must be made to stimulate the process 
of the incorporation of the local assemblies, and to obtain a 
better legal status for the German Bahá'í National 
Assembly, raising thereby the status of the Faith and 
 
consolidating the foundations of its highest administrative 
agency in the heart of the European continent.  
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     The total success of the Plan, now demanding the 
concentrated attention of the entire German Bahá'í 
community, is indeed indispensable for the adequate 
discharge of the still greater tasks that lie ahead of its 
members, and which, in themselves, will constitute the 
prelude to the unfoldment of the glorious Mission awaiting 
them, as soon as the present obstacles are removed, in both 
Eastern Europe and the heart of the Asiatic continent.  The 
extent of their future undertakings in both continents; their 
contribution to the Global Crusade to be launched 
throughout the whole planet; their particular and, in many 
ways, unique, reinforcement of the work, connected with 
future Bahá'í research and scholarship, in view of the 
characteristic qualities of painstaking thoroughness, 
scientific exactitude and dispassionate criticism distinguishing 
the race to which they belong,--these are too vast and 
complex to be assessed at the present time.  
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     They, no doubt, stand, emerging as they have done, from 
two successive world ordeals that have served to purify, 
vitalize, and weld them together, on the threshold of an era 
of glorious achievements, both at home and abroad.  Their 
present Plan is but the initial chapter in the history of their 
collective achievements in the service of the Faith of 
Bahá'u'lláh--a service, anticipated in such glowing terms, 
by the One, through Whose creative power, this community 
was brought into being, Who nursed it in its infancy, and 
Who, through His personal visit communicated to it, in a 
direct and effective manner, the impulse destined to sustain 
its growth, guide its steps and lead it to ultimate victory.  
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     The participation of the Bahá'í community, in both 
Germany and Austria, individually as well as officially, in the 
 
forthcoming Stockholm inter-continental Conference, to 
which I trust its members will contribute a notable share, in 
view of the part they are destined to play in the future 
awakening of the European Continent--will no doubt, 
launch them upon the initial stage of their glorious Mission 
beyond the confines of their respective countries.  Theirs will 
be the two-fold and highly challenging task of 
consolidating, steadily and rapidly, the administrative 
foundations of the Structure which is being painstakingly 
established by them in the heart of the European continent, 
and of implanting the banner of the rising order of their 
Faith in the neighbouring sovereign states and dependencies 
of that continent and even beyond its borders, as far as the 
heart of Asia.  
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     Time is running out.  The work they have to accomplish is 
immense, exacting, thrilling and inescapable.  The hosts of 
the Concourse on high will surely lead them onward and 
assure them a resounding victory, if they but keep their 
vision undimmed, if they refuse to faint or falter, if they 
persevere and remain faithful to both the spiritual and the 
administrative principles inculcated by their Faith.  
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     That they may discharge nobly their trust, that they may 
emerge triumphant from the first stage of their collective 
and historic undertaking, that they may set an undying 
example to their brethren in East and West, of Bahá'í 
solidarity, of tenacity of purpose, of single-minded 
devotion, of unrelaxing vigilance, of assiduous labour, of 
harmonious cooperation, of audacity, and of absolute 
dedication to the aims and purposes of their Faith, is the 
object of my special, my loving and constant prayers at the 
threshold of the Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh.  
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                                    Your true brother, 
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                                               Shoghi 
 
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