A new version of the Bahá’í Reference Library is now available. This ‘old version’ of the Bahá’í Reference Library will be replaced at a later date.
The new version of the Bahá’i Reference Library can be accessed here »
A new version of the Bahá’í Reference Library is now available. This ‘old version’ of the Bahá’í Reference Library will be replaced at a later date.
The new version of the Bahá’i Reference Library can be accessed here »
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The Faith Publicized in Turkey |
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He was glad to hear from you and he has read with deep
satisfaction the account of the good work of Syed Ilmi in Burma.
Shoghi Effendi has always wondered as to the reasons why
despite so many years of effort and activity, the Cause has
not spread more rapidly either in India or Burma, perhaps the
latter can be more proud of its results. He would in fact
appreciate your own personal opinion, although God’s ways are
often hard to understand. We have lately had a remarkable
illustration in Turkey where the Baha’is were an insignificant
little group. Suddenly accused of constituting a secret political
society the members of the N.S.A. in Constantinople and the
S.A. in Smyrna were dragged to the police and kept for one
night pending the formation of the Board of Inquiry. The next
day the court sat and the president of the N.S.A. was cross-examined
for eight consecutive hours. The result was that they
were all dismissed, with the members of the Court deeply influenced
and impressed by the teachings and principles which
the President boldly and eloquently described. They asked
for literature and many of them carried from that session much
food for thought. Furthermore every paper in Turkey filled its
front pages with the incident and a repetition of the teachings
and good many a Turk heard of the Cause in a way that Baha’is
could never bring about.
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I trust and pray that circumstances will be favourable and
the means provided for the holding of a Baha’i convention
this year representative of India and Burma. A closer touch
and more frequent interchange of thought among the Baha’i
Centres in those lands are absolutely essential. I am sending
you a copy of the recently issued “Baha’i World”, and
wish you to urge the National and Local Assemblies in India
& Burma to order as many copies as they possibly can from
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America for distribution among the enlightened public as
well as a means for the assistance and encouragement of the
Baha’i Publishing Committee in New York which is doing
excellent service at the present time.
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The expression of our views in written form sometimes helps
us to think better and deeper and often brings various matters
into proper perspective, enabling us thereby to disregard what
is extraneous and unimportant. The answers to the question
put forth, would, I feel, be extremely valuable to the N.S.A. in
India, and with the proper backing, respect and support of the
entire friends, they should not lose a minute in an endeavour to
remedy and inspire what ought not and what should be done,
in an effort to spread the Cause.
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I trust that the forthcoming Convention will remedy most
if not all the present deficiencies in the Cause and lend an
unprecedented impetus to the progress of the Faith. The
Teaching work should be stressed as it is the Fountain-head
from which all future blessings will flow. We must first and
foremost add to our small numbers, and introduce fresh
blood into the organic life of the community. I will specially
supplicate this bounty for the representative delegates to be
assembled at Convention this year.
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