Messages to the Bahá’í World: 1950–1957

On the eve of the conclusion of the festivities commemorating the centenary of the birth of Bahá’u’lláh’s ministry, I am moved to direct the following specific message to the Hands assembled at the conference. In grateful recognition of the multiple bounties showered 172 in rapid succession upon the army of the Lord of Hosts during the course of the Holy Year, auspiciously ushered in through the proclamation of the objectives of the World Crusade, whose opening months witnessed the convocation in the heart of the African continent of the first Intercontinental Teaching Conference; whose climax was signalized by the simultaneous holding in the heart of North America of the Intercontinental Conference of the Western Hemisphere, the dedication of the Mother Temple of the West and the launching of the Ten-Year Plan; whose record has been ennobled by two additional intercontinental gatherings, successively convened in the European and Asiatic continents, all eleven Hands are called upon to arise to enhance the abiding value of their strenuous, exemplary labors during the last twelve months, constituting the initial chapter in their steadily unfolding world mission.

The hour is propitious on the morrow of the last intercontinental conference to gird your loins for yet another, still wider dispersal, extending over one or two months and embracing Asia, Africa and Australasia, for the purpose of establishing close contact with the national assemblies, advising and assisting local assemblies and individuals to attain the goals of the globe-girdling Plan.

The adoption of the following itinerary is recommended: Mason Remey, Dorothy Baker and Horace Holley to India, Pákistán, Burma and Ceylon; Ugo Giachery to Persia; Valíyu’lláh Varqá, Shu‘á’u’lláh ‘Alá’í to ‘Iráq, Turkey and Egypt; Clara Dunn and ‘Alí-Akbar Furútan to Australia and New Zealand; Zikru’lláh Khádem to Malaya and Japan; Tarazu’lláh Samandarí and Músá Banání to the Arabian Peninsula. I am contributing three thousand pounds for assistance in the execution of this meritorious enterprise.

I urge the Persian, Indian, Australian, Egyptian and Iráqí National Assemblies to extend the utmost assistance, to arrange schedules, publicize the Faith wherever advisable and direct local assemblies to utilize every means in their power to add momentum to the most ambitious undertaking yet embarked upon by the followers of Bahá’u’lláh during the one hundred ten years of Bahá’í history.

[October 1953]