The Light of Divine Guidance (Volume 1)

The Guardian has received your letter of the first instant and he wishes me to thank you for it.

In regard to your visit to the Holy Shrines, he is sorry indeed that your coming has been delayed but hopes nevertheless that it will materialize very soon, and that the obstacles standing at present in your way will be completely removed, enabling you thereby to carry out your plan in its entirety. He is fervently praying for your assistance and success in this connection.

With reference to the decision passed by your N.S.A. to publish in booklet form certain of the important writings revealed by Bahá’u’lláh and the Master, Shoghi Effendi wishes you to express to the National Assembly his full approval of their plan. He feels, indeed, that the time has come for the German believers to acquire a thorough knowledge as well as a full understanding of such important Tablets as Bahá’u’lláh’s “Book of Covenant” and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Will and Testament, both of which constitute the very bedrock upon which the entire administrative system of the Faith has been raised and established. As to the “Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh” it also constitutes an invaluable supplement to these afore-mentioned Tablets. In connection with the “Kitáb-i-‘Ahd”, the Guardian thinks it preferable that it should be published in a separate booklet, 66 and that the “Tablet of the Branch” and the “Lawḥ-i-Aqdas”, both of which have been rather poorly translated from the original, should not be included in it.

As to the Declaration of Trust and By-Laws of the N.S.A., he wishes to re-emphasize the importance of your Assembly’s adhering to the exact wording of the text of the constitution adopted by the American N.S.A. which, as he has repeatedly stated, constitutes a model for all national Bahá’í constitutions. Anything not specifically mentioned in this national charter is left to the full discretion of every N.S.A. inasmuch as it constitutes a matter of secondary importance. In fundamentals, however, strict conformity should be maintained throughout the Bahá’í world, and to this category belong all the principles, laws and regulations set down in the text of the national constitution. As an example of the loyalty with which the friends are following this principle the Guardian is enclosing a copy of the national constitution of the Bahá’ís of India and Burma which, with the exception of the Article VIII which is now being amended, conforms in every detail to the text of the constitution of the American N.S.A.

With his loving greetings to you and all the friends,…

[From the Guardian:]

With the renewed assurance of my loving prayers for you and of my deepfelt appreciation of your magnificent labours in the Divine vineyard.