Towards the end of last year the international governing body of the Bahá’í world community wrote a long and inspiring message to all Bahá’í around the world. Given my ongoing attempt to provide a limited sense of what the Bahá’í community is seeking to achieve it seemed essential to flag up the importance of this message to all my readers as the perspective of the House far more accurately conveys the totality of the current situation than I have been able to achieve. Below is a short extract from the opening paragraphs of the message: for the entire text text see link.
Dearly loved Friends,
THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE
28 November 2023
On 27 November 2021, in the middle of the still, dark night, nearly six hundred representatives of National Spiritual Assemblies and Regional Bahá’í Councils gathered, together with members of the Universal House of Justice and the International Teaching Centre, as well as the staff at the Bahá’í World Centre, to commemorate with due solemnity, in the precincts of His Holy Shrine, the centenary of the passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Throughout that night, with the turn of the globe, Bahá’í communities worldwide also gathered in reverent devotion, in neighbourhoods and villages, towns and cities, to pay homage to a Figure without parallel in religious history, and in contemplation of the century of achievement that He Himself had set in motion.
This community—the people of Bahá, ardent lovers of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá—now millions strong, has today spread to some one hundred thousand localities in 235 countries and territories. It has emerged from obscurity to occupy its place on the world stage. It has raised a network of thousands of institutions, from the grassroots to the international level, uniting divers peoples in the common purpose of giving expression to Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings for spiritual transformation and social progress. In many a region, its pattern of building vibrant local communities has embraced thousands—and in some, tens of thousands—of souls. In such settings, a new way of life is taking shape, distinguished by its devotional character; the commitment of youth to education and service; purposeful conversation among families, friends, and acquaintances on themes of spiritual and social import; and collective endeavours for material and social progress. The Sacred Writings of the Faith have been translated into more than eight hundred languages. The raising of national and local Mashriqu’l-Adhkárs heralds the appearance of thousands of future centres dedicated to worship and service. The world spiritual and administrative centre of the Faith has been established across the twin holy cities of ‘Akká and Haifa. And despite the community’s current, all too obvious limitations when viewed in relation to its ideals and highest aspirations—as well as the distance separating it from the attainment of its ultimate objective, the realization of the oneness of humankind—its resources, its institutional capacity, its ability to sustain systematic growth and development, its engagement with like-minded institutions, and its involvement in and constructive influence on society stand at an unprecedented height of historical achievement.
How far has the Faith come from that moment, a century ago, when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá departed from this world! At dawn on that woeful day, the news of His passing spread across the city of Haifa, consuming the hearts with grief. Thousands gathered for His funeral: young and old, high and low, distinguished officials and the masses—Jews and Muslims, Druze and Christians, as well as Bahá’ís—a gathering the like of which the city had never witnessed. In the eyes of the world, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had been a champion of universal peace and the oneness of humanity, a defender of the oppressed and promoter of justice. To the people of both ‘Akká and Haifa, He was a loving father and friend, a wise counsellor and a refuge for all in need. At His funeral they poured out fervent expressions of love and lamentation.
Naturally, however, it was the Bahá’ís who most keenly felt His loss. He was the precious gift bestowed by the Manifestation of God to guide and protect them, the Centre and Pivot of Bahá’u’lláh’s peerless and all-enfolding Covenant, the perfect Exemplar of His teachings, the unerring Interpreter of His Word, the embodiment of every Bahá’í ideal. Over the span of His life, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá laboured tirelessly in service to Bahá’u’lláh, fulfilling, in its entirety, His Father’s sacred trust. He faithfully nurtured and protected the precious seed that had been planted. He sheltered the Cause in the cradle of its birth and, guiding its spread in the West, established there the cradle of its administration. He set firm the footsteps of the believers and raised up a cohort of champions and saints. With His own hands, He interred the holy remains of the Báb in the mausoleum He raised on Mount Carmel, devotedly tended the twin Holy Shrines, and laid the foundations of the Faith’s world administrative centre. He safeguarded the Faith from its avowed enemies, internal and external. He revealed the precious Charter for sharing Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings with all peoples across the globe, as well as the Charter that called into being and set in motion the processes of the Administrative Order. His life spanned the entire period of the Heroic Age inaugurated by the declaration of the Báb; His ascension ushered in a new Age whose features were as yet unknown to the believers. What was to befall His loved ones? Without Him, without His continual guidance, the future seemed uncertain and bleak.
Devastated by the news of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s passing, His grandson Shoghi Effendi hastened from his studies in England to the Holy Land, where he received a second stunning blow. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had appointed him as the Guardian and Head of the Faith, entrusting the Bahá’í world to his care. In grief and agony, but sustained by the unfailing solicitude of Bahá’u’lláh’s beloved daughter Bahíyyih Khánum, Shoghi Effendi donned the heavy mantle of his office and began to assess the conditions and prospects of the fledgling community.
The announcement of Shoghi Effendi’s appointment as the Guardian was received with relief, gratitude, and declarations of fealty by the body of the believers. The anguish of their separation from the Master was assuaged by the assurances in His Will and Testament that He had not left them alone. A disloyal few, however, challenged ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s chosen heir and, motivated by their own ambitions and ego, rose against him. Their betrayal at that critical moment of transition was compounded by the fresh machinations of the avowed opponents of the Master. Yet, although hard-pressed by such heartache and trials, and in the face of other formidable obstacles, Shoghi Effendi began to mobilize the members of the widely scattered Bahá’í communities to begin the monumental task of laying the foundations of the Administrative Order. Individuals previously galvanized by the unique personality of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá gradually began to coordinate their efforts in a common enterprise under the patient yet resolute guidance of the Guardian.
As the Bahá’ís began to take on their new responsibilities, Shoghi Effendi impressed upon them how rudimentary was their grasp, as yet, of the sacred Revelation in their possession and how daunting the challenges before them. “How vast is the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh! How great the magnitude of His blessings showered upon humanity in this day!” he wrote. “And yet, how poor, how inadequate our conception of their significance and glory! This generation stands too close to so colossal a Revelation to appreciate, in their full measure, the infinite possibilities of His Faith, the unprecedented character of His Cause, and the mysterious dispensations of His Providence.” “The contents of the Will of the Master are far too much for the present generation to comprehend”, his secretary wrote on his behalf. “It needs at least a century of actual working before the treasures of wisdom hidden in it can be revealed.” To comprehend the nature and dimensions of Bahá’u’lláh’s vision of a new World Order, he explained, “We must trust to time, and the guidance of God’s Universal House of Justice, to obtain a clearer and fuller understanding of its provisions and implications.”
The present moment, following, as it does, the completion of a full century of “actual working”, offers a propitious vantage point from which to garner new insights. And so we have chosen the occasion of this anniversary to pause to reflect with you on the wisdom enshrined in the provisions of the Will and Testament, to trace the course of the Faith’s unfoldment and observe the coherence of the stages of its organic development, to discern the possibilities inherent in the processes driving its progress, and to appreciate its promise for the decades ahead as its power to reshape society is increasingly made manifest in the world through the growing impact of Bahá’u’lláh’s stupendous Revelation.
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