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Contents
1 Report from Conference in the Holy
Land--Fourth Epoch of the
Formative Age Begins
3 The Epochs of the Formative Age
11 The Six Year Plan
18 Naw-Ruz Message 1986 to the
Baha'is of the United States
20 Ridvan Message 1986
22 Education of Baha'is in the Law of
Huququ'llah
23 A Codification of the Law
of Huququ'llah
27 The Development of the
Institution for the Huququ'llah
31 Ridvan Message 1987
34 Completing the Arc on Mount
Carmel
37 Ridvan Message 1988
40 Education of Baha'is in the
Law of Huququ'llah
41 Talk by the Hand of the
Cause of God Dr. 'Ali
Muhammad Varqa
50 Ridvan Message 1989
53 Commencement of Work on
Projects on Mount Carmel
54 The Importance of Literacy
56 The Nineteen Day Feast
59 Compilation on Conservation of
the Earth's Resources
60 Compilation on Sanctity and Nature
of Baha'i Elections
61 Progress on Projects on
Mount Carmel
62 Subsidiary Two Year Teaching Plan
for Eastern Europe and Asia
63 Ridvan Message 1990
69 Commencement of Work on
Extension of Terraces on
Mount Carmel
70 The Holy Year, 1992-1993
73 Compilation on Reaching People
of Capacity and Prominence
74 Progress of Teaching Work in
Eastern Europe and Projects
on Mount Carmel
75 Compilation on Marriage
76 Call for Election of National Spiritual
Assemblies of the U.S.S.R
and Romania
77 Call for Election of National Spiritual
Assembly of Czechoslovakia
and Report on Projects on
Mount Carmel
78 Ridvan Message 1991
Page_1
Report from Conference in the Holy Land--
Fourth Epoch of the Formative Age Begins
2 January 1986
The Baha'is of the World
Dearly-loved Friends,
The eager expectation with which we welcomed to the World Centre, on
27 December, sixty-four Counsellors from the five continents to discuss,
with the International Teaching Centre, the challenges and opportunities
facing the Baha'i world community, has, at the conclusion of their historic
conference, been transmuted into feelings of deepest joy, gratitude and love.
Graced by the presence of the Hands of the Cause Amatu'l-Baha Ruhiyyih
Khanum, Ugo Giachery, 'Ali-Akbar Furutan, 'Ali-Muhammad Varqa and Collis
Featherstone, the Conference was organized and managed with admirable
foresight and efficiency by the International Teaching Centre, whose
individual members watched over and served untiringly the needs of the
participants and the progress of the Conference itself.
Convened in the concourse of the Seat of the Universal House of Justice as
the Counsellors of the Baha'i world entered upon their new five-year term of
office, within months of the termination of the Seven Year Plan and the
opening of the new Six Year Plan, its aura heightened by the spiritual
potencies of the Holy Shrines and the euphoric sense of victory and blessing
now pervading the entire Baha'i world, the Conference attained such heights
of consultative exaltation, spirituality and power as only those serving the
Blessed Beauty can enjoy.
The organic growth of the Cause of God, indicated by recent significant
developments in its life, becomes markedly apparent in the light of the main
objectives and expectations of the Six Year Plan: a vast expansion of the
numerical and financial resources of the Cause; enlargement of its status in
the world; a world-wide increase in the production, distribution and use of
Baha'i literature; a firmer and world-wide demonstration of the Baha'i way of
life requiring special consideration of the Baha'i education of children and
youth, the strengthening of Baha'i family life and attention to universal
participation and the spiritual enrichment of individual life; further
acceleration in the process of the maturation of local and national Baha'i
communities and a dynamic consolidation of the unity of the two arms of the
Administrative Order; an extension of the involvement of the Baha'i world
community in the needs of the world around it; and the pursuit of social
and economic development in well-established Baha'i communities. These are
some of the features of the Six Year Plan which will open on 21 April 1986
and terminate on 20 April 1992.
Page_2
Ridvan 1992 will mark the inception of a Holy Year, during which the
Centenary of the Ascension of Baha'u'llah will be observed by commemorations
around the world and the inauguration of His Covenant will be celebrated, in
the City of the Covenant, by the holding of the second Baha'i World Congress.
The beloved Counsellors, strengthened and enriched by their experience in
the Holy Land, will, as early as possible, consult with all National Spiritual
Assemblies on measures to conclude triumphantly the current Plan, and on
preparations to launch the Six Year Plan. In anticipation of those
consultations, National Spiritual Assemblies will receive the full
announcement of the aims and characteristics of that Plan, so that together
with the Counsellors they may formulate the national plans which will, for
each community, establish its pursuit of the overall objectives.
This new process, whereby the national goals of the next Plan are to be
largely formulated by National Spiritual Assemblies and Boards of Counsellors,
signalizes the inauguration of a new stage in the unfoldment of the
Administrative Order. Our beloved Guardian anticipated a succession of epochs
during the Formative Age of the Faith; we have no hesitation in recognizing
that this new development in the maturation of Baha'i institutions marks the
inception of the fourth epoch of that Age.
Shoghi Effendi perceived in the organic life of the Cause a dialectic of
victory and crisis. The unprecedented triumphs, generated by the adamantine
steadfastness of the Iranian friends, will inevitably provoke opposition to
test and increase our strength. Let every Baha'i in the world be assured that
whatever may befall this growing Faith of God is but incontrovertible evidence
of the loving care with which the King of Glory and His martyred Herald,
through the incomparable Centre of His Covenant and our beloved Guardian, are
preparing His humble followers for ultimate and magnificent triumph. Our
loving prayers are with you all.
Page_3
5 February 1986
To all National Spiritual Assemblies
Dear Baha'i Friends,
In the letter dated 2 January 1986 written by the Universal House
of Justice to the Baha'is of the world, reference was made to the
inception of the fourth epoch of the Formative Age. In response to questions
subsequently put to the House of Justice about the periods related to
the earlier epochs of that Age, the Research Department was requested to
prepare a statement on the subject. This has now been presented, and a
copy is enclosed.
Kindly share this material of topical interest with the friends,
as you deem fit, so that it may be studied in their deepening classes,
summer schools, conferences and similar gatherings.
With loving Baha'i greetings,
Department of the Secretariat
Enclosure
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THE EPOCHS OF THE FORMATIVE AGE
Prepared by the Research Department
of the Universal House of Justice
Introduction:
In disclosing the panoramic vision of the unfoldment of the Dispensation
of Baha'u'llah, Shoghi Effendi refers to three major evolutionary stages
through which the Faith must pass - the Apostolic or Heroic Age (1844-1921)
associated with the Central Figures of the Faith; the Formative or
Transitional Age (1921- ), the "hall-mark" of which is the rise and
establishment of the Administrative Order, based on the execution of the
provisions of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Will and Testament; and, the Golden Age which
will represent the "consummation of this glorious Dispensation". Close
examination of the details of Baha'i history reveals that the individual
Ages are comprised of a number of periods - inseparable parts of one
integrated whole.
In relation to the Heroic Age of our Faith, the Guardian, in a letter
dated 5 June 1947 to the American Baha'is, specified that this Age consisted
of three epochs and described the distinguishing features of each:
"...the Apostolic and Heroic Age of our Faith, fell into three
distinct epochs, of nine, of thirty-nine and of twenty-nine years'
duration, associated respectively with the Babi Dispensation and
the ministries of Baha'u'llah and of 'Abdu'l-Baha. This Primitive
Age of the Baha'i Era, unapproached in spiritual fecundity by any
period associated with the mission of the Founder of any previous
Dispensation, was impregnated, from its inception to its termination,
with the creative energies generated through the advent of
two independent Manifestations and the establishment of a Covenant
unique in the spiritual annals of mankind."
The Formative Age, in which we now live and serve, was ushered in with
the passing of 'Abdu'l-Baha. Its major thrust is the shaping, development and
consolidation of the local, national and international institutions of the
Faith. It is clear from the enumeration of the tasks associated with the
Formative Age that their achievement will require increasingly mature levels
of functioning of the Baha'i community:
"During this Formative Age of the Faith, and in the course of
present and succeeding epochs, the last and crowning stage in the
erection of the framework of the Administrative Order of the Faith
of Baha'u'llah - the election of the Universal House of Justice -
will have been completed, the Kitab-i-Aqdas, the Mother-Book of His
Revelation, will have been codified and its laws promulgated, the
Lesser Peace will have been established, the unity of mankind will
have been achieved and its maturity attained, the Plan conceived by
'Abdu'l-Baha Will have been executed, the emancipation of the Faith
from the fetters of religious orthodoxy will have been effected, and
its independent religious status will have been universally
recognized,...'
Page_5
The epochs of the Formative Age mark progressive stages in the evolution
of the organic Baha'i community and signal the maturation of its Institutions,
thus enabling the Faith to operate at new levels and to initiate new functions.
The timing of each epoch is designated by the Head of the Faith, and given the
organic nature of evolutionary development, the transition from one epoch to
another may not be abrupt, but may well occur over a period of time. This is
the case, for example, in relation to both the inception of the Formative Age
and the end of its first epoch. In relation to the former, the passing of
'Abdu'l-Baha is the transitional event most often identified with the close of
the Heroic Age and the beginning of the Formative Age. However, the Guardian
also asserts that the Apostolic Age of the Faith concluded "more particularly
with the passing [in 1932] of His well-beloved and illustrious sister the Most
Exalted Leaf - the last survivor of a glorious and heroic age". With regard
to the termination of the first epoch of the Formative Age, Shoghi Effendi has
placed this between the years, 1944 and 1946.
Before describing the individual epochs of the Formative Age, it is
important to comment on the use of the term "epoch" in the writings of the
Guardian. In a letter dated 18 January 1953, written on his behalf to a
National Spiritual Assembly, it is explained that the term is used to apply
both to the stages in the Formative Age of the Faith, and to the phases in the
unfoldment of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Divine Plan. We are currently in the fourth
epoch of the Formative Age and the second epoch of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Divine
Plan. (The first epoch of the Divine Plan began in 1937 with the inception
of the First Seven Year Plan of the North American Baha'i community, and
concluded with the successful completion of the Ten Year Crusade in 1963. The
second epoch of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Divine Plan commenced in 1964 with the
inauguration of the Nine Year Plan of the Universal House of Justice.)
The primary focus of this statement is on the epochs of the Formative Age
of the Dispensation of Baha'u'llah.
The First Epoch of the Formative Age: 1921-1944/46
The first epoch of this Age witnessed the "birth and the primary stages in
the erection of the framework of the Administrative Order of the Faith". The
epoch was characterized by concentration on the formation of local and national
institutions in all five continents, thereby initiating the erection of the
machinery necessary for future systematic teaching activities. This epoch was
further marked by the launching, at the instigation of the Guardian, of the
First Seven Year Plan (1937-1944) by the American Baha'i community. This Plan,
drawing its inspiration from the Tablets of the Divine Plan, represented the
first systematic teaching campaign of the Baha'i community and inaugurated the
initial stage of the execution of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Divine Plan in the Western
Hemisphere.
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The Second Epoch of the Formative Age: 1946--1963
This epoch extended the developments of the first epoch by calling for the
"consummation of a laboriously constructed Administrative Order", and was to
witness the formulation of a succession of teaching plans designed to
facilitate the development of the Faith beyond the confines of the Western
Hemisphere and the continent of Europe. This epoch was distinguished, in
the first instance, by the simultaneous and often spontaneous prosecution of
Baha'i national plans in both the East and the West. For example, in a letter
written at Naw-Ruz 105 B.E. to the Baha'is in the Fast, the beloved Guardian
listed the specific plans undertaken by the United States, British, Indian,
Persian, Australian and New Zealand, and 'Iraqi National Spiritual Assemblies,
and indicated that this concerted action signalized the transition into
the second epoch of the Formative Age. The internal consolidation and
the administrative experience gained by the National Assemblies was utilized
and mobilized by the Guardian with the launching of the Ten Year World Crusade
a crusade involving the simultaneous prosecution of twelve national plans.
The plans derived their direction from 'Abdu'l-Baha's Divine Plan, and the
goals were assigned by Shoghi Effendi from the World Centre of the Faith.
A second distinguishing feature of this epoch was the "rise" and "steady
consolidation" of the World Centre of the Faith.
The second epoch thus clearly demonstrated the further maturation of the
institutions of the Administrative Order. It witnessed the appointment
of the Hands of the Cause, the introduction of Auxiliary Boards, and
the establishment of the International Baha'i Council. The culminating
event of the epoch was the election of the Universal House of Justice in
1963. It further demonstrated the more effective and co-ordinated use of
the administrative machinery to prosecute the goals of the first global
spiritual crusade, and the emergence in ever sharper relief of the World
Centre of the Faith.
The Third Epoch of the Formative Age: 1963-1986
In addressing the British National Spiritual Assembly in 1951, the
Guardian foreshadowed "world-wide enterprises destined to be embarked upon,
in future epochs of that same [Formative] Age, by the Universal House of
Justice". In announcing the Nine Year Plan, "the second of those world-
encircling enterprises destined in the course of time to carry the Word of
God to every human soul", the Universal House of Justice embarked upon the
process anticipated by the Guardian and proclaimed the commencement of the
third epoch of the Formative Age, an epoch which called the Baha'is to a yet
more mature level of administrative functioning, consistent with the expected
vast increase in the size and diversity of the community, its emergence as a
model to mankind, and the extension of the influence of the Faith in the world
at large. The House of Justice, in a letter dated October 1963, stated:
"Beloved friends, the Cause of God, guarded and nurtured since
its inception by God's Messengers, by the Centre of His Covenant,
and by His Sign on earth, now enters a new epoch, the third of
the Formative Age. It must now grow rapidly in size, increase its
spiritual cohesion and executive ability, develop its institutions,
Page_7
and extend its influence into all strata of society. We, its
members, must, by constant study of the life-giving Word, and by
dedicated service, deepen in spiritual understanding and show to
the world a mature, responsible, fundamentally assured, and happy
way of life, far removed from the passions, prejudices, and
distractions of present-day society.'
The period of the third epoch encompassed three world plans, involving all
National Spiritual Assemblies, under the direction of the Universal House of
Justice, namely, the Nine Year Plan (1964-1973), the Five Year Plan (1974-
1979), and the Seven Year Plan (1979-1986). This third epoch witnessed the
emergence of the Faith from obscurity and the initiation of activities
designed to foster the social and economic development of communities. The
institution of the Continental Boards of Counsellors was brought into existence
leading to the establishment of the International Teaching Centre. Assistants
to the Auxiliary Boards were also introduced. At the World Centre of the
Faith, the historic construction and occupation of the Seat of the Universal
House of Justice was a crowning event.
The Fourth Epoch of the Formative Age: 1986 -
In a letter dated 2 January 1986 written by the Universal House of Justice
to the Baha'is of the World, the Supreme Body announced the inception of the
fourth epoch of the Formative Age. It highlighted the significant developments
that have taken place in the "organic growth of the Cause of God" during the
course of the recently completed third epoch, by assessing the readiness of the
Baha'i community to begin to address the objectives of the new Six Year Plan
scheduled to begin on 21 April 1986, and, outlined the general aims and
characteristics of this new Plan. Whereas national plans hat previously
derived largely from the World Centre, in this new epoch the specific goals
for each national community will be formulated, within the framework of the
overall objectives of the Plan, by means of consultation between the
particular National Spiritual Assembly and the Continental Board of
Counsellors. As the Universal House of Justice states:
"This new process...signalizes the inauguration of a new stage in the
unfoldment of the Administrative Order. Our beloved Guardian anticipated
a succession of epochs during the Formative Age of the Faith; we have no
hesitation in recognizing that this new development in the maturation of
Baha'i institutions marks the inception of the fourth epoch of that
Age."[44]
Future Epochs
The tasks that remain to be accomplished during the course of the
Formative Age are many and challenging. Additional epochs can be anticipated,
each marking significant stages in the evolution of the Administrative Order
and culminating in the Golden Age of the Faith. The Golden Age, itself, will
involve "successive epochs' leading ultimately to the establishment of the
Most Great Peace, to the World Baha'i Commonwealth and to the "birth and
efflorescence of a world civilization".
Page_8
SOURCE MATERIALS
1. "Citadel of Faith" (Wilmette: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1980), pp. 4-5.
Letter dated 5 June 1947 to the American Baha'is.
2. "The World Order of Baha'u'llah" (Wilmette: Baha'i Publishing Trust,
1974), p. 98. Letter dated 8 February 1934.
3. "The World Order of Baha'u'llah", p. 156. Letter dated 8 February 1934.
4. "Citadel of Faith", p. 5. Letter dated 5 June 1947 to the American
Baha'is.
5. "The World Order of Baha'u'llah", p. 156. Letter dated 8 February 1934.
6. "God Passes By" (Wilmette: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1970), p. xv.
7. "Citadel of Faith", pp. 4-5. Letter dated 5 June 1947 to the American
Baha'is.
8. "The World Order of Baha'u'llah", p. 98. Letter dated 8 February 1934.
9. "God Passes By", p. xiv.
10. "God Passes By", p. 324.
11. "Citadel of Faith", p. 6. Letter dated 5 June 1947 to the American
Baha'is.
12. "God Passes By", p. xiv.
13. "The World Order of Baha'u'llah", p. 98. Letter dated 8 February 1934.
14. "Citadel of Faith", p. 5. Letter dated 5 June 1947 to the American
Baha'is.
15. "Messages to the Baha'i World, 1950-1957" (Wilmette: Baha'i
Publishing Trust, 1971), p. 89. Cablegram dated 23 August 1955. See also
letter dated 18 January 1953 written on behalf of the Guardian to the
National Spiritual Assembly of the United States (reference cited in 16.
below).
16. "Baha'i News", no. 265, March 1953, p. 4. Letter dated 18 January 1953
written on behalf of the Guardian to the National Spiritual Assembly of
the United States.
17. Letter dated 2 January 1986 written by the Universal House of Justice to
the Baha'is of the World.
18. "Wellspring of Guidance" (Wilmette: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1969),
p. 25. Letter dated Ridvan 1964 from the Universal House of Justice to
the Baha'is of the World.
Enclosure: Source Materials
Page_9
19. "Baha'i News", no. 265, p. 4. Letter dated 18 January 1953 written on
behalf of the Guardian to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United
States.
20. "Citadel of Faith", p. 5. Letter dated 5 June 1947 to the American
Baha'is.
21. "Messages to the Baha'i World, 1950-1957", p. 19. Cablegram dated
24 December 1951.
22. "Citadel of Faith", p. 5. Letter dated 5 June 1947 to the American
Baha'is.
23. "Citadel of Faith", p. 6. Letter dated 5 June 1947 to the American
Baha'is.
24. "Citadel of Faith", p. 6. Letter dated 5 June 1947 to the American
Baha'is.
25. "Messages to the Baha'i World, 1950-1957", p. 13. Cablegram dated
25 April 1951.
26. "Tawqi 'at-i-Mubarakih, 102-109 B.E." (Tihran: Baha'i Publishing
Trust, 125 B.E . ), pp. 99-188. Letter dated Naw-Ruz 105 B.E. to the
Baha'is in the East.
27. "Citadel of Faith", p. 140. Letter dated 20 August 1955 to the American
Baha'is.
28. "Messages to the Baha'i World, 1950-1957", pp. 151-153. Letter dated
4 May 1953.
29. "Messages to the Baha'i World, 1950-1957", p. 13. Cablegram dated
25 April 1951.
30. "Messages to the Baha'i World, 1950-1957", p. 13. Cablegram dated
25 April 1951.
31. "Messages to the Baha'i World, 1950-1957", pp. 18-20. Cablegram dated
24 December 1951.
32. "Messages to the Baha'i World, 1950-1957", p. 44. Cablegram dated
8 October 1952. And, pp. 127-128. Letter dated October 1957.
33. "Messages to the Baha'i World, 1950-1957", pp. 7-8. Cablegram dated
9 January 1951.
34. "Unfolding Destiny" (London: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1981), p. 261.
Guardian's postscript to a letter dated 25 February 1951, written on his
behalf to the National Spiritual Assembly of the British Isles.
35. "Wellspring of Guidance", p. 14. Letter dated October 1963 written by the
Universal House of Justice to the Baha'is of the World.
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36. "Wellspring of Guidance", pp. 17-18. Letter dated October 1963 written
by the Universal House of Justice to the Baha'is of the World.
37. Letter dated 19 May 1983 written by the Universal House of Justice to the
Baha'is of the World.
38. Letter dated 20 October 1983 written by the Universal House of Justice to
the Baha'is of the World.
39. "Wellspring of Guidance", p. 139. Cablegram dated 21 June 1968 from the
Universal House of Justice to the Baha'is of the World.
40. Letter dated 8 June 1973 written by the Universal House of Justice to the
Baha'is of the World.
41. Letters dated 8 June 1973 written by the Universal House of Justice to the
Continental Board of Counsellors, and, 7 October 1973 to the Baha'is of
the World.
42. Telex dated 1 February 1983 written by the Universal House of Justice to
the Baha'is of the World.
43. Letter dated 2 January 1986 written by the Universal House of Justice to
the Baha'is of the World.
44. Letter dated 2 January 1986 written by the Universal House of Justice to
the Baha'is of the World.
45. "Citadel of Faith", p. 6. Letter dated 5 June 1947 to the American
Baha'is.
46. "Messages to the Baha'i World, 1950-1957", p. 155. Letter dated 4 May
1953.
47. "Citadel of Faith", p. 6. Letter dated 5 June 1947 to the American
Baha'is.
Page_11
25 February 1986
To all National Spiritual Assemblies
Dear Baha'i Friends,
The Six Year Plan
On 2 January 1986, on the closing day of the Counsellors' Conference, the
Universal House of Justice announced certain features of the Six Year Plan
and the methods by which the national goals were to be worked out in
consultation between the Counsellors and National Spiritual Assemblies.
Before Ridvan you will receive a message from the Universal House of Justice
to the entire Baha'i world and also one addressed specifically to the Baha'is
within the jurisdiction of each National Spiritual Assembly.
In the meantime the House of Justice wishes you to begin your consultations
on the goals of the Six Year Plan for your country. The preliminary
steps in goal-setting have already been taken, namely the assessment of each
country's strengths and weaknesses which the National Spiritual Assemblies
recently made at the request of the Universal House of Justice, and which will
undoubtedly be of great assistance to each one of you as you enter the next
stage of the process.
The House of Justice has instructed us to send you the following additional
guidelines together with the enclosed statement of the Major Objectives
of the Plan at the national level, which includes some suggestions for
specific goals to provide a basis for your consultations. You should not,
however, confine yourselves to these suggestions.
A special characteristic of the Six Year Plan is that the conceiving of
the detailed national goals is itself to be one of the tasks of the Plan, but
this fact should not hold up in any way the activities of your communities.
With this letter you are being acquainted with the Major Objectives of the
Plan and every believer, every Local Spiritual Assembly, and all the national
committees can pursue immediately, with increasing vigour, many projects
towards their attainment, both projects already in process and others which
will be newly conceived, so that when the specific national goals for each
community are announced they will be received by a united company of devoted
followers of Baha'u'llah already in the full flood of activity.
It is the hope of the Universal House of Justice that each National
Assembly will be able to meed before Ridvan with a representative of the
Continental Board of Counsellors so that from this initial consultation a
basis will be laid for consultation on the goals at the National Conventions.
Page_12
Other consultations will no doubt continue following the Ridvan Festival.
Their duration will depend on the condition of each national community, its
size and the complexity of its circumstances. As soon as specific goals have
been formulated and agreed they should be immediately sent to the World Centre.
They will then be considered by the Universal House of Justice and the
International Teaching Centre and, as soon as possible, the National Assembly
will be informed of the approval or modification of its proposal. Each
submission will be considered on its arrival; the earlier they arrive the
better, and in no case should 8 submission reach the World Centre later
than 1 November 1986.
Among the elements of the Plan which are not covered by the list of Major
Objectives are the goals for international assistance including pioneering,
resident teaching projects, travelling teaching, assistance for development
projects, and for the acquisition of properties and vehicles. Notes relating
to these elements have been provided to the Continental Boards of Counsellors
who will share them with National Assemblies during the process of
consultation. Since they are international in nature, these goals will have
to be consolidated and approved at the World Centre before being generally
announced.
Though the institutions of the Faith are responsible for planning the
goals and activities of the Cause, for stimulating and encouraging the
believers to arise, and for supporting and unifying them in their services,
it is, in the final analysis, through the spiritual decisions and actions
of the individual believers that the Faith moves forward on its course to
ultimate victory. It is the ardent hope of the Universal House of Justice
that every faithful follower of Baha'u'llah will search his or her heart and
turn with full attention and loving self-sacrifice to the consideration of
the goals of the Six Year Plan, and determine how to play a part in their
achievement.
The prayers of the Universal House of Justice and the International
Teaching Centre at the Sacred Threshold will surround the institutions of the
Faith in every continent and nation as you assume your weighty task of
conceiving the goals which will guide the national communities of the Faith
through the next six years.
With loving Baha'i greetings,
Department of the Secretariat
Enclosure
Page_13
THE SIX YEAR PLAN
143-149
1986-1992
The Major Objectives
The major objectives of the Six Year Plan include: carrying the healing
Message of Baha'u'llah to the generality of mankind; greater involvement of
the Faith in the life of human society; a worldwide increase in the
translation, production, distribution and we of Baha'i literature; further
acceleration in the process of the maturation of national and local Baha'i
communities; greater attention to universal participation and the spiritual
enrichment of individual believers; a wider extension of Baha'i education to
children and youth and the strengthening of Baha'i family life; and the
pursuit of projects of social and economic development in well-established
Baha'i communities.
* * *
Set out below are suggestions for possible ways of achieving the above
objectives to act as a basis for consultation and a stimulus for thinking.
National Assemblies should not confine themselves to these points if they
feel that there are other matters which deserve attention.
1. Carrying the healing Message of Baha'u'llah to the generality of mankind
* Increase the number of believers from all strata of society,
identifying as goals of the plan those specific sectors, minority
groups, tribal peoples, etc. which are at present under-represented
in the Baha'i community and which will, therefore, be given special
attention during the Plan.
* Increase the number of localities where Baha'is reside, opening, in
the process, virgin states, provinces, islands or other major civil
sub-divisions of the country.
* Seize teaching opportunities by planning projects in areas where
receptivity is found, aiming at large-scale enrolment and entry by
troops where possibLe.
* Be alert to opportunities for international collaboration with other
Baha'i communities in the promotion of the Faith through: border
teaching projects; the sending of travelling teachers; and the
teaching of special groups such as those temporarily abroad for study or
work, particularly those from countries which are difficult of
access, such as China or countries in Eastern Europe.
Page_14
* Raise up homefront pioneers and travelling or resident teachers to
assist in the fulfilment of teaching goals and plans.
* Utilize mass media systems for greater proclamation.
* Make use of drama and singing in the teaching and deepening work and
in Baha'i gatherings, where advisable.
2. Greater involvement of the Faith in the life of human society
* Develop the proper understanding and practice of consultation among
members of the Baha'i community and in the work of Baha'i institutions,
and foster the spirit of consultation in the conduct of human
affairs and the resolution of conflicts at all levels of society.
* Foster association with organizations, prominent persons and those in
authority concerning the promotion of peace, world order and allied
objectives, with a view to offering the Baha'i teachings and insights
regarding current problems and thought.
* Train suitable Baha'is to undertake public relations activities.
* Foster appreciation of the Faith in scholarly and academic circles by
developing Baha'i scholarship, by endeavouring to have the Faith
included in the curricula and textbooks of schools and universities,
and by other means.
* Encourage Baha'i youth to move towards the front ranks of those
professions, trades, arts and crafts necessary to human progress.
* Promote the establishment of Baha'i clubs in universities and other
similar educational institutions.
* Foster the practice of the equality of the sexes both in the life of
the Baha'i community and in society as a whole and, for this purpose,
hold special conferences and training programs for women and for men.
3. A worldwide Increase in the translation, production, distribution and use
of Baha'i literature
* Foster the use of Baha'i literature, especially in local languages,
supplemented as need be by tape recordings and visual aids.
* Improve the distribution of Baha'i literature by taking specific
steps, such as the establishment of regional depots where necessary,
and the education of Local Spiritual Assemblies in their
responsibilities to acquaint the friends with Baha'i literature and ensure
its easy availability.
* Produce greater supplies of Baha'i literature in accordance with
well-thought-out plans of translation, production and distribution.
Page_15
* Produce, where required for translations into vernacular languages,
simplified versions of the Sacred Scriptures, the writings of the
Guardian and the statements of the Universal House of Justice.
* Establish Baha'i lending libraries.
4. Further Acceleration in the process of the maturation of local and
national Baha'i communities
* Adopt specific programmes to assist and encourage the development of
isolated centres into groups, and groups into communities with Local
Spiritual Assemblies, resulting in a steady increase of such
Assemblies.
* Adopt specific goals and programmes to consolidate and strengthen
Local Spiritual Assemblies, so that they will:
* Hold regular meetings with harmonious and productive
consultation,
* Properly organize and conduct the work of their Secretariat and
Treasury,
* Appoint and coordinate the work of local committees for special
aspects of their work, such as teaching, child education, youth
activities, literature distribution, etc.,
* Win the respect and confidence of their local communities so
that the believers will turn to them for the resolution of
problems and advice in their services to the Cause,
* Where appropriate, acquire and develop the use of Local Centres,
* Obtain incorporation or equivalent recognition as a legal
entity,
* Exercise their responsibilities in relation to marriages and
funerals,
* Maintain registers of declarations, births, transfers of
membership, marriages and deaths.
* Adopt specific goals and programmes to consolidate communities with
Local Spiritual Assemblies so that the believers will be encouraged
to:
* Attend regularly Nineteen Day Feasts and the observances of
Baha'i Holy Days, and enhance the spiritual quality of such
gatherings,
* Pursue local teaching and deepening activities,
* Foster the realization of the equality of men and women,
Page_16
* Develop local activities for children and youth,
* Support the fund,
* Carry out extension teaching projects.
* Develop the functioning of National Spiritual Assemblies, adopting
specific plans and programmes to:
* Improve their standard of united, productive, loving
consultation,
* Develop efficiently functioning national secretariats,
* Enhance the standard of the functioning of national treasuries
and promote the goal of financial independence of the national
Baha'i community,
* Appoint strong national committees to carry out, under the
general supervision of the National Spiritual Assembly, the
many specialized aspects of the work of the Cause, including
the detailed planning and prompt execution of the work necessary
to achieve all the goals of the Six Year Plan.
* Acquire, where needed and feasible, national and local properties,
such as Haziratu'l-Quds, teaching institutes, summer schools,
Baha'i cemeteries, etc. and ensure their proper care and
maintenance.
* Obtain where legally possible, official recognition for Baha'i
marriage and Holy Days and exemption from the payment of taxes on
Baha'i institutions and their activities.
* Ensure the rapid and regular dissemination of news to all believers.
* Hold regular, well-planned and well-run summer and winter schools and
conferences at costs and in localities which will permit the largest
attendance.
* Encourage collaboration between or amongst Local Spiritual Assemblies
in mutually agreed projects.
* Develop and administer correspondence courses for teaching and
deepening.
5. Greater attention to universal participation and the spiritual enrichment
of individual believers
* Promote universal participation in the life of the Faith and an
increased sense of their Baha'i identity among children, youth
and adults.
* Encourage, where feasible, the practice of dawn prayer.
Page_17
* Encourage individual believers to adopt teaching goals for
themselves.
* Carry out activities designed to deepen the believers in both a
spiritual and intellectual understanding of the Cause.
* Encourage the believers to make greater use of Baha'i literature.
* Encourage the believers to enhance their command of language to
assist them to understand the Baha'i writings ever more clearly.
* Develop and foster Baha'i scholarship and lend support to the
Associations for Baha'i Studies.
* Foster obedience to the Baha'i laws of personal behaviour such as
abstention from the drinking of alcoholic beverages and from the
taking of habit-forming drugs, and inspire the believers to follow
the Baha'i way of life.
6. strengthening of Baha'i family life
* Encourage the holding of regular classes for the Baha'i education
of children.
* Develop systematic lesson plans and other materials for the Baha'i
education of children.
* Train believers to teach Baha'i children's classes.
* Establish a programme for the guidance of parents, especially mothers,
in the care and training of Baha'i children.
* Sponsor institutes on Baha'i marriage and family life.
* Encourage community activities involving Baha'i families.
7. The pursuit of projects of Social and Economic Development in well-
established Baha'i communities
* Encourage Local Spiritual Assemblies and the rank and file of the
believers to consider ways in which they can advance the social and
economic development of their communities.
* Establish tutorial schools and pre-schools where needed and feasible.
* Encourage and sponsor adult literacy programmes where needed,
especially for women.
* Foster collaboration with other agencies involved in social and
economic development in areas where the Baha'i communities can
contribute to the work.
Page_18
Naw-Ruz Message 1986 to the
Baha'is of the United States
Naw-Ruz 1986
To the Baha'is of the United States
Dear Baha'i Friends,
This new year marks the seventieth anniversary of the Tablets of the
Divine Plan, that sublime series of letters addressed by 'Abdu'l-Baha to the
North American Baha'is and which, constituting one of the mighty Charters of
His Father's Faith, have inspired your highly prized community to achieve
during the first three epochs of the Formative Age what no mind can fully
assess, nor tongue adequately praise. Now, at the inception of the fourth
epoch of that Age, your National Spiritual Assembly, working in close
collaboration with the Continental Board of Counsellors and drawing upon
the advice of the delegates to your National Convention and of your Local
Spiritual Assemblies, has the inestimable privilege of devising the plans
that will chart your course during the next six years to the eve of the
Holy Year when you will join your sister communities in commemorating the
centenary of the Ascension of Baha'u'llah and host, in the City of the
Covenant, the second Baha'i World Congress.
The performance of the American Baha'i Community during the Plan now
coming to a close has indeed enhanced by its monumental success in various
fields the splendour of its past accomplishments. Although it is yet too soon
to sum up the results of your seven-year-long efforts, the highlights of the
outstanding array of achievements finally to be reported will undoubtedly
include: the astonishing progress of your relations with your national
government, particularly in defense of our oppressed brethren in Iran; the
remarkable campaign you have mounted to diffuse the Peace Statement to all
ranks of American society, beginning with the presentation to your Head of
State; the resounding conference and accompanying activities which marked your
observance of International Youth Year; the early attainment of your Local
Assembly and locality goals; the enormous output of your human and material
resources for international pioneering and traveling teaching; and the
inauguration of your radio station, WLGI. Indeed, the primacy invested
in your community by the beloved Master remains intact.
In a sense, the imminent launching of the Six Year Plan, with all the
special features it will entail, is a salute to your immortal triumphs as
"spiritual descendants of the Dawn-breakers" and a fresh reminder that you
possess the vast, largely unrealized potential of a community blessed by
Baha'u'llah with a unique destiny in the unfoldment of His mighty World Order.
We appeal, therefore, to each and every one of you, whether or not you occupy
Page_19
any position in the Baha'i Administration, to respond wholeheartedly to the
call of your National Spiritual Assembly to assist in meeting the goals to be
set. As the beloved Guardian repeatedly stated in his letters to the American
believers, it is the individual who has the power to act, and on whom, "in the
last resort, depends the fate of the entire community." Onward, then, with
your inescapable but glorious tasks!
Our prayers will be offered at the Holy Threshold for your guidance and
the further success of your mighty endeavours.
With loving Baha'i greetings,
[signed -- The Universal House of Justice]
Page_20
Ridvan Message 1986
To the Baha'is of the World
Dearly-loved Friends,
The Divine Springtime is fast advancing and all the atoms of the earth are
responding to the vibrating influence of Baha'u'llah's Revelation. The
evidences of this new life are clearly apparent in the progress of the Cause
of God. As we contemplate, however momentarily, the unfolding pattern of its
growth, we can but recognize, with wonder and gratitude, the irresistible power
of that Almighty Hand which guides its destinies.
This progress has accelerated notably during the Seven Year Plan,
witnessed by the achievement of many important enterprises throughout the
Baha'i world and vital developments at the heart of the Cause itself. The
restoration and opening to pilgrimage of the southern wing of the House of
'Abdu'llah Pasha; the completion and occupation of the Seat of the Universal
House of Justice; the approval of detailed plans for the remaining edifices
around the Arc; the expansion of the membership and responsibilities of the
International Teaching Centre and the Continental Boards of Counsellors; the
establishment of the offices of Social and Economic Development, and of Public
Information; the dedication of the Mother Temple of the Pacific, and dramatic
progress with the building of the Temple in India; the expansion of the
teaching work throughout the world, resulting in the formation of twenty-three
new National Spiritual Assemblies, nearly 8,000 new Local Spiritual Assemblies,
the opening of more than 16,000 new localities and representation within the
Baha'i community of 300 new tribes; the issuing of 2,196 new publications,
898 of which are editions of the Holy Text and the enrichment of Baha'i
literature by productions in 114 new languages; the initiation of 737 new
social and economic development projects; the addition of three radio
stations, with three more soon to be inaugurated - these stand out as
conspicuous achievements in a Plan which will be remembered as having set
the seal on the third epoch of the Formative
Age.
The opening of that Plan coincided with the recrudescence of savage
persecution of the Baha'i community in Iran, a deliberate effort to eliminate
the Cause of God from the land of its birth. The heroic steadfastness of the
Persian friends has been the mainspring of tremendous international attention
focussed on the Cause, eventually bringing it to the agenda of the General
Assembly of the United Nations, and, together with world-wide publicity in all
Page_21
the media, accomplishing its emergence from the obscurity which characterized
and sheltered the first period of its life. This dramatic process impelled the
Universal House of Justice to address a Statement on Peace to the Peoples of
the World and arrange for its delivery to Heads of State and the generality
of the rulers.
Paralleling these outstanding events has been a remarkable unfoldment of
organic growth in the maturity of the institutions of the Cause. The
development of capacity and responsibility on their part and the devolution
upon them of continually greater autonomy have been fostered by the
encouragement of ever closer co-operation between the twin arms of the
Administrative Order. This process now takes a large stride forward as
the National Spiritual Assemblies and Counsellors consult together to
formulate, for the first time, the national goals of an international
teaching plan. Together they must carry them out; together they must
implement the world objectives of the Six Year Plan as they apply in
each country. This significant development is a befitting opening
to the fourth epoch of the Formative Age and initiates a process which will
undoubtedly characterize that epoch as national communities grow in strength
and influence and are able to diffuse within their own countries the spirit of
love and social unity which is the hallmark of the Cause of God.
The goals to be achieved at the World Centre include publication of a
copiously annotated English translation of the Kitab-i-Aqdas and related
texts, education of the Baha'i world in the law of the Huququ'llah, pursuit of
plans for the erection of the remaining buildings on the Arc, and the
broadening of the basis of the international relations of the Faith.
The major world objectives of the Plan have already been sent to National
Spiritual Assemblies and Continental Boards of Counsellors for their mutual
consultation and implementation.
Dear friends, as the world passes through its darkest hour before the
dawn, the Cause of God, shining ever more brightly, presses forward to that
glorious break of day when the Divine Standard will be unfurled and the
Nightingale of Paradise warble its melody.
With loving Baha'i greetings,
[signed -- The Universal House of Justice]
Page_22
25 March 1987
To all National Spiritual Assemblies
Dear Baha'i Friends,
In furtherance of the goal of the Six Year Plan to educate the friends
throughout the world in the Law of Huququ'llah the Research Department has
prepared a simple codification of the law. A copy of this codification is
enclosed for you to share, as you judge appropriate, with the friends under
your jurisdiction. It is based largely on a codification produced
spontaneously by some friends in Australia and on another written under the
auspices of the United States National Spiritual Assembly. References
throughout the document are to the sections of the compilation on Huququ'llah
which has already been sent to you.
To help the friends increase their understanding of the significance of
this Law of God, the Research Department was also requested by the Universal
House of Justice to prepare a brief history of the development of the
Institution which has been associated with the Law since the early years
of its operation. This is also enclosed and is based on an article in Persian written
by the Hand of the Cause of God Dr. 'Ali Muhammad Varqa, apart from the final
section about Dr. Varqa himself, which has been added by the Research
Department.
It ls hoped that National Spiritual Assemblies will use this material as
extensively as possible to educate the friends and deepen their understanding
of this vital law of the Faith of Baha'u'llah.
With loving Baha'i greetings,
Department of the Secretariat
Enclosures
Page_23
CODIFICATION OF THE LAW OF HUQUQU'LLAH
March 1987
Prepared by the Research Department
at the request of the Universal House of Justice
I. PREAMBLE
Huququ'llah (The Right of God) is a great law (7) and a sacred institution
(72). Laid down in the Most Holy Book (Kitab-i-Aqdas), it is one of the key
instruments for constructing the foundation and supporting the structure of
the World Order of Baha'u'llah. It has far-reaching ramifications that
extend from promoting the welfare of the individual, to buttressing the
authority and extending the activity of the Head of the Faith. In providing
a regular and systematic source of revenue for the Central Institution of
the Cause, Baha'u'llah has assured the means for the independence and
decisive functioning of the World Centre of His Faith.
By identifying this law as "The Right of God" Baha'u'llah has re-emphasized
the nature of the relationship between human beings and their Creator as a
Covenant based on mutual assurances and obligations; and, by designating the
Central Authority in the Cause, to which all must turn, as the recipient of
this Right, He has created a direct and vital link between every individual
believer and the Head of his Faith that is unique in the structure of His World
Order. This law enables the friends to recognize the elevation of their
economic activity to the level of divine acceptability, it is a means for the
purification of their wealth and a magnet attracting divine blessings. The
computation and the payment of Huququ'llah, within the general guidelines set
forth, are exclusively a matter of conscience between the individual and God
(8, 104); demanding or soliciting the Huququ'llah is prohibited (8, 9, 38, 71,
96, 104), only appeals, reminders and exhortations of a general nature, under
the auspices of the institutions of the Faith, are permissible (38, 70, 99,
104, 107). That the observance and enforcement of this law, so crucial to the
material well-being of the emerging Baha'i commonwealth, should thuR have been
left entirely to the faith and conscience of the individual, gives substance to
and sheds light on what the beloved Master calls the spiritual solution to
economic problems. Indeed, the implications of the law of Huququ'llah for the
realization of a number of the principles of the Faith, such as the elimination
of extremes of wealth and poverty, and a more equitable distribution of
resources, will increasingly become manifest as the friends assume in ever
greater measure the responsibility for observing it.
The fundamentals of the law of Huququ'llah are promulgated in the
Kitab-i-Aqdas. Further elaborations of its features are to be found in
other Writings of Baha'u'llah, in Tablets from 'Abdu'l-Baha and in
letters from Shoghi Effendi and the Universal House of Justice, mostly
in response to questions raised by the friends. All these major references
have been compiled by the Research Department of the Universal House of
Justice and separately published. A study of that compilation makes it
clear that the application of the law has been progressive, and will
continue to be so, as its ramifications and subsidiary rulings are elucidated.
____
1. The numbers in brackets refer to the paragraphs of the compilation on
Huququ'llah issued by the House of Justice.
Page_24
I. (cont'd)
The following is a preliminary attempt at codifying the information in the
Writings on the subject of Huququ'llah. It should be emphasized, however,
that the friends should not attempt to read into it an element of rigidity or
total comprehensiveness. The questions put to Baha'u'llah, the Master and
Shoghi Effendi were from friends residing in places and times with infinitely
simpler economic systems and relationships than those which obtain today.
What can be learned from them are clear guiding principles whose application
to changing and more complex conditions must be considered. The subject will
undoubtedly occupy the Universal House of Justice in evolving legislation, as
necessary, for a long time to come. As the Fourth Epoch of the Formative Age
of our Faith unfolds before the eyes of an increasingly watchful humanity, the
universal assumption of the obligation of Huququ'llah by the friends will be
a clear sign of attaining to a new level of spiritual maturity by the
community of the Greatest Name throughout the world.
II. A BOUNTY GRANTED BY GOD
God, while being wholly independent of all created things, has in His bounty
given us this law (7, 10, 63), for the progress and promotion of the Cause
depend on material means (1). Obedience to this law enables the believer to
be firm and steadfast in the Covenant (63), provides a reward in every world
of the worlds of God (7), and is a unique test of true faith (62).
The Huququ'llah is to be offered joyfully and without hesitation (2, 9, 32).
When the Huququ'llah is offered in this spirit it will impart prosperity and
protection to the friends, purify their worldly possessions (20, 31, 42, 46,
48, 100), and enable them and their offspring to benefit from the fruits of
their endeavours (48).
III . DETERMINING THE HUQUQU'LLAH
Everything that a believer possesses, with the exception of certain specific
items, is subJect once and only once to the payment of Huququ'llah.
A. Exempt from assessment to Huququ'llah are:
1. The residence and its needful furnishings (11).
2. The needful business and agricultural equipment which produce income
for one's subsistence (12, 67, 68).
B. Payment falls due:
1. Huququ'llah is payable as soon as a person's assessable possessions
reach or exceed the value of 19 mithqals of gold (18, 19, 30). [19
mithqals equals approximately 2.2 troy ounces, or approximately 69.2
grammes (87, 105, 110). At the present time - March 1987 - this is
equivalent to some US$914.]
____
2. See III.C.l.
Page_25
III.B.l (cont'd)
a. The amount to be paid is 19% of the value of the assessable
property (10, 14).
b. The payment is due on whole units of 19 mithqals of gold (15).
2. Huququ'llah is payable on further units of 19 mithqals of gold
when subsequently acquired possessions, after the deduction of the
annual expenses, raise the value of the assessable property
sufficiently. Among the expenses to be deducted are:
a. The general expenses of living (65, 66, 69, 78).
b. Losses and expenses incurred on the sale of possessions (103).
c. Sums which are paid to the State, such as taxes and duties (78).
3. When a person receives a gift or bequest it is to be added to his
possessions and augments the total value in the same way as does an
excess of annual income over expenditure (111).
4. If a property increases in value, Huququ'llah is not payable on
that increase until it is realized, e.g. on the sale of the property.
5. If possessions decrease, such as through the expenses of a year
exceeding the income received, Huququ'llah falls due again only
after the loss has been made good and the total value of one's
assessable possessions is augmented (15-19, 30, 65-68, 78, 108, 111).
6. The payment of debts takes precedence over the payment of Huququ'llah
(22).
7. The payment of Huququ'llah is dependent on the person's financial
ability to meed his obligations (24).
8. On the death of a believer, the completion of his payment of
Huququ'llah is accomplished in the following manner:
a. The first charge on the estate is the expense of burial (22).
b. Secondly, the debts of the deceased must be paid (13).
c. The Huququ'llah still due on the property should then be paid.
In establishing the value of the property on which Huquq has not
already been paid, the following are among the deductions to be
made:
- expenses of burial (22),
- debts of the deceased (13),
- loss of value of the assets when realized (103) and
- expenses incurred in realizing the assets (103).
Page_26
III. (cont'd)
C. Further notes on determining Huququ'llah:
1. It is left to the discretion of the individual believer to decide what
is "needful" for himself and his family (104-106, 112).
2. Although references are made to annual payments of Huququ'llah the
time and method of payment are left to the discretion of the individual
believer. There is therefore, no obligation to liquidate one's assets
in haste in order to fulfil one's current obligations to Huququ'llah
(103).
3. Husband and wife are free to decide whether they want to honour their
Huququ'llah obligations jointly or individually (109, 110).
4. The account of Huququ'llah should be kept separate from other
contributions, inasmuch as the disposition of the funds of the Huququ'llah
is subject to decision by the Central Authority in the Cause to which
all must turn, whereas the purposes of the contributions to other Funds
may be determined by the donors themselves.
5. Payment of the Huququ'llah has priority over making contributions to
other Funds of the Faith (78, 79, 97, 100), as well as over the cost of
pilgrimage (31). It is, however, left to the discretion of the
believer whether or not he treats his contributions to the Fund as an
expense when arriving at the value of the annual accretion to his
property for the purpose of calculating the Huququ'llah that he is due
to pay (105).
IV. APPLICABILITY OF THE LAW OF HUQUQU'LLAH
The teachings of Baha'u'llah can be enforced only gradually because the time
must be ripe if the desired results are to be attained (84-86). Thus hitherto
the Law of Huququ'llah has been applied only to the believers from Iran and
other countries of the Middle East. The other believers have been encouraged
to support their local and national funds in its place but, although the law
is not yet binding on them, they are and have been free to offer the
Huququ'llah if they wish to do 80 (82, 93, 102, 103, 109, 110).
V. PAYMENT OF HUQUQU'LLAH
The Huququ'llah is normally paid to the Trustee of Huququ'llah his Deputies,
or their appointed Representatives (35, 58). These persons issue receipts
and forward the funds to the World Centre (56).
VI. MANAGEMENT OF THE HUQUQU'LLAH
Decisions on the necessary ordinances concerning Huququ'llah (81, 100), as
well as on it disposition, lie within the sole jurisdiction of the Central
Authority in the Cause. The Huququ'llah can be employed for charitable
purposes (62, 65, 75), or for other purposes useful to the Cause of God (77,
78).
Page_27
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE INSTITUTION FOR THE HUQUQU'LLAH
March 1987
Prepared by the Research Department
at the request of the Universal House of Justice
In one of His Tablets Baha'u'llah refers to this Law as ranking in
importance immediately after the two great obligations of recognition of God
and steadfastness in His Cause, and yet the introduction and implementation of
this Law are characterised by kindness, forgiveness, tolerance and magnanimity.
Although it deals with the material things of this world, it is placed among
those spiritual obligations resting on the individual soul, such as prayer and
fasting, the fulfilment of which is a direct responsibility of each believer
towards God, not subject to the sanctions or impositions of His institutions
in this world. It is, indeed, a clear expression of the priorities with
which Baha'u'llah views the duties of mankind. First comes the spiritual,
and then the material - however important in practice the latter may be.
After the Kitab-i-Aqdas had been revealed in response to the pleas of the
friends, Baha'u'llah withheld it from publication for some time and even then,
when a number of devoted Baha'is, having learned of the law, endeavoured to
offer the Huququ'llah the payment was not accepted. The Tablets of
Baha'u'llah show His acute consciousness of the way in which material wealth
has been permitted to degrade religion in the past, and He preferred the
Faith to sacrifice all material benefits rather than to soil to the slightest
degree its dignity and purity. Herein is a lesson for all Baha'i institutions
for all time.
However, as the beloved Guardian explained, funds are the life-blood of
the Cause. God Himself, as Baha'u'llah stated, has made achievement
dependent on material means. Therefore, as the awareness of the friends grew,
He permitted the Huququ'llah to be accepted, provided the donor made the
offering willingly with joy and awareness.
To receive the Huququ'llah Baha'u'llah brought into being one of the
great Institutions of the Faith, the Trusteeship of Huququ'llah.
The first to be honoured with appointment as Trustee of Huququ'llah was
Jinab-i-Shah Muhammad from Manshad, Yazd, who eventually received from the
Blessed Beauty the title of Aminu'l-Bayan (Trustee of the Bayan). Haji
Shah Muhammad had embraced the Faith in its early years and had the bounty of
entering the presence of Baha'u'llah in Baghdad. The fire of love kindled
in his heart made him impatient to offer his services to the Threshold of his
Beloved, and this undertaking he followed until the last moment of his life,
surrendering all material belongings in the path of service. Encompassed by
hardship, danger and lack of means, this trusted servant of Baha'u'llah, in
journey after journey, would carry the friends' donations of Huququ'llah and
their petitions to the Sacred Threshold and, in return, bring them news and
Tablets from the Blessed Perfection.
One of the most sacred tasks entrusted to Aminu'l-Bayan was to go to
Iran to receive the Remains of the Bab from their custodian, the devoted and
valiant Hand of the Cause of God Jinab-i-Haji Akhund, and to transfer them
Page_28
through innumerable dangers to a safe hiding place in the Mosque of the
Imamzadih Zayd in Tihran, where they lay concealed until the time when, at
the behest of 'Abdu'l-Baha, they were transferred to the Holy Land to be
laid in their permanent resting place on the slopes of Mount Carmel.
The attention of Jinab-i-Shah Muhammad was drawn to the rare qualities
of nobility and detachment of one of the believers, Haji Abu'l-Hasan Ardakani,
who was also from Yazd. The bond of fellowship between them became so strong
that they became the closest of companions. Jinab-i-Shah Muhammad chose Haji
Abu'l-Hasan to be his assistant and confidant in his services as the Trustee
of Huququ'llah. They were among the first group of pilgrims who, after
encountering grave hardships and difficulties, were able to visit Baha'u'llah
in 'Akka. On their return to Iran they decided to make numerous journeys
together, and on one of these journeys, in 1881, they were attacked and caught
during a Kurdish revolt, and Jinab-i-Haji Shah Muhammad was seriously
wounded. Baha'u'llah instructed that, following the passing of Jinab-i-Shah
Muhammad, the office of Trustee of Huququ'llah should be conferred upon his
loyal assistant and companion, Jinab-i-Haji Abu'l-Hasan, who was subsequently
entitled Amin (the Trusted One) or Jinab-i-Haji Amin.
Jinab Haji Amin was a shining star who served the Cause for forty-seven
years with eagerness and zeal, showing magnanimity, courage and incredible
steadfastness. During the Ministry of Baha'u'llah he was imprisoned twice, by
order of Nasiri'd-Din Shah and his son, Kamran Mirza. In the course of his
second imprisonment, in the prison of Qazvin, referred to as Sijn-i-Matin
(the Mighty Prison) by Baha'u'llah in the opening verses of the Tablet of the
World, he was together with the Hand of the Cause Haji Akhund. Here, Jinab-
i-Amin suffered gravely, his legs in fetters and a chain around his neck. His
jailers, in order to torment him, would add castor oil to his food. With
manifest resignation and submission, he would neither complain nor refuse the
food, eating as though nothing were amiss. He was a symbol of magnanimity and
detachment. He had no worldly possessions, no home or shelter of his own. His
habitation was in the hearts and souls of the Baha'i friends who would receive
and entertain him with warmth and love. Each one would impatiently await his
arrival, to enjoy the sweet melody of his prayers and chanting of the Tablets,
the glad-tidings and encouragement he would bring. Every day he would bid
good-bye to one family to spend the night in another household, illumining
another gathering with his presence. He was continually on the move,
travelling to most Iranian cities and being the trusted adviser of many
Baha'i friends in their personal affairs.
Among the countless journeys that Haji Amin made was one to Paris where
he attained the presence of 'Abdu'l-Baha. During his long life he witnessed
the last eleven years of the Ministry of Baha'u'llah, the twenty-nine years of
the Ministry of the Centre of the Covenant, and seven years of the Guardianship
of Shoghi Effendi. Towards the end of his life he became ill and frail and was
confined to bed, living in the home of his friend and assistant, Haji Ghulam
Rida, who, at the express desire of 'Abdu'l-Baha, had been appointed his
successor as Trustee of Huququ'llah. Upon his passing in 1928, Haji Amin was
named by the beloved Guardian a Hand of the Cause of God.
The third Trustee of Huququ'llah h, Jinab-i-Ghulam Rida, was entitled
Amin-i-Amin (Trustee of the Trustee). This distinguished soul was born into
the wealthy merchant class of Tihran and was brought up to enjoy the
comfortable life associated with it. During his youth, the urge to discover
spiritual realities led him to the study of comparative religion and, while
Page_29
engaged in his business, he ventured to search out and associate with followers
and leaders of religion. Disappointed in what he found, he sought more
information about the Baha'i Faith which had been introduced to him by his
secretary. This enquiry soon developed into a serious study of the sacred
Tablets and Writings and his heart was illumined with the light of faith.
After embracing the Cause, Jinab-l-Haji Ghulam Rida engaged in Baha'i
activities and, at the age of 32, he gave up trade to devote himself fully
and freely to the service of the Faith. He developed a special attachment
to Jinab-i-Amin and became his constant assistant. In due course he received
a Tablet from 'Abdu'l-Baha urging him to emulate Jinab-i-Amin and appointing
him as Trustee of Huququ'llah. While ever mindful of the responsibilities
of his new position, he took the utmost care of Jinab-i-Amin for the
remainder of his life.
Jinab-i-Ghulam Rida held the rank of Trustee of Huququ'llah for eleven
years. His home became a centre for the gatherings of the friends and for
the administration of the affairs of the Faith. It was during his
Trusteeship that initial steps were taken for the registration of Baha'i
properties and endowments in Iran, and he was assiduous in doing his utmost
for their protection and preservation. In 1938 he fell ill and passed away.
The fourth Trustee of Huququ'llah appointed to this position by the
beloved Guardian, was Jinab-l-Valfyu'llah Varqa, the third son of Varqa the
martyr. He was born in Tabriz and, after the martyrdom of his father and
brother, he was brought up from early childhood by his grandmother, a staunch,
powerful and fanatical Muslim. She did her utmost, until his early youth, to
sow the seeds of enmity to the Faith in his heart. When he was sixteen, his
uncle, surnamed Akhu'sh-Shahid (the Brother of the Martyr), managed to
remove him from this agonizing atmosphere of prejudice and took him to his home
in Miyandu'ab. There he introduced him to the Baha'i Faith and its teachings,
opening a new world to Jinab-i-Varqa. So afire did he become with love for the
Faith that, without any preparations, he decided to go on pilgrimage in the
company of a close friend. However, his Local Spiritual Assembly tit not
approve of this, and guided him, instead, to go to Tihran to join his elder
brother Jinab-i-'Azizu'llah Varqa.
After his schooling in Tihran, Jinab-i-Varqa's longing to make his
pilgrimage was fulfilled, and he then attended the American University in
Beirut, deepening his knowledge of the Baha'i teachings under the guidance
of 'Abdu'l-Baha during his summer vacations. During this time he made a
journey to Iran at the behest of the Master, and later accompanied Him on His
historic journey to Europe and America, as an interpreter. Upon the completion
of this journey, he returned to Iran and rendered invaluable services on the
Local Spiritual Assembly of Tihran, in many Baha'i administrative agencies,
and ultimately on the National Spiritual Assembly. His loyal and dedicated
service as Trustee of Huququ'llah was to follow, occupying him for seventeen
years, during which time the observance of the Law of Huququ'llah was spread
throughout Iran, so that ever more of the friends fulfilled their obligations,
offering large sums and many properties. In order to devote his full time to
this sacred enterprise, Jinab-i-Varqa resigned from the work in which he was
employed.
In 1951 Jinab-i-Valiyu'llah Varqa was among the first contingent of
eminent believers elevated by Shoghi Effendi to the rank of Hand of the Cause
of God. This opened new opportunities for him to meed with the friends and
cheer their hearts with news of the victories being achieved in the teaching
work, especially during the Ten Year Crusade, which opened at Ridvan 1953.
These
Page_30
memorable services culminated in the fulfilment of his long-cherished desire
to visit the beloved Guardian.
On his return to Iran from pilgrimage, a previous ailment grew worse, and
Jinab-i-Varqa was forced to go to Tubingen in Germany for hospital treatment
and an operation. The treatment, alas, was unsuccessful, and, in November 1955
his noble life drew to a close.
In the cable announcing the passing of Valfyu'llah Varqa, Shoghi Effendi
included the words: "His mantle as Trustee Huquq now falls on 'Ali Muhammad,
his son.... Newly appointed Trustee Huquq now elevated rank Hand Cause."
Just two years following the appointment of Jinab-i-'Ali-Muhammad Varqa
to this onerous task, he and his fellow Hands of the Cause of God were
confronted with the heart-breaking and soul-stirring events associated with
the passing of the beloved Guardian, and carried the entire Baha'i world to
the victorious conclusion of the Ten Year Crusade, bringing into being, at
Ridvan 1963, the Universal House of Justice.
The following twenty-three years have seen storms of tribulation and
persecution afflicting the Baha'i community in Iran, causing immense problems
to be wrestled with in relation to the safeguarding and sale of properties
donated for the Huququ'llah as well as a multitude of other historic tasks
that have fallen to the lot of Jinab-i-Varqa in his capacity as a Hand of the
Cause of God.
The successive teaching plans caused an outflow of pioneers from Iran to
all corners of the world, requiring the Trustee of Huququ'llah to appoint
Deputies and Representatives in many countries beyond the borders of Iran
until, at this time, the Institution is represented in every continent of the
earth. Not only do the friends from Middle Eastern countries continue to obey
the law of Huququ'llah in their adopted countries, but, increasingly, other
friends have been moved to offer the Huquq.
A new stage, therefore, has now been opened in the development of this
Institution, a stage that will for ever be associated with the opening of the
Fourth Epoch of the Formative Age of the Faith and the emergence of the Baha'i
community from obscurity into the arena of world affairs.
Page_31
Ridvan Message 1987
Ridvan 1987
Dearly-loved Friends,
The launching of the Six Year Plan at Ridvan 1986 coincided with the
opening of a new epoch--the fourth--in the organic unfoldment of the
Formative Age of our Faith. The administrative institutions of this growing
Cause of God had already begun to show signs of an increasing maturity, while
at the same tim emerging from the protective obscurity of their early days
into the larger arena of public notice. These twin processes were signalized
by a development of far-reaching consequence to the internal life of the
Baha'i community and by an outward activity of a magnitude unprecedented
in its entire history.
The former was a devolution of responsibility whereby all national
communities, through their National Spiritual Assemblies, in consultation with
Counsellors, Local Spiritual Assemblies and the generality of believers, were
requested to formulate, for the first time, their own objectives for
achievement during the new Plan. This expectation of maturity challenging
the national communities was matched by their formulation of national plans
submitted to the World Centre for coordination into the world-embracing Six
Year Plan.
The latter was a united uprising of the entire Baha'i world community to
distribute the statement, "The Promise of World Peace", issued in October 1985,
to the peoples of the world. Heads of State, large numbers of the members of
national governments, diplomats, teachers, trade unionists, leaders of
religion, eminent members of the judiciary, the police, legal, medical and
other professions, members of local authorities, clubs and associations, and
thousands of individuals have been presented with the statement. It is
estimated that more than a million copies, in some seventy languAges, have so
far been distributed. These two activities alone have heavily reinforced the
growing strength and maturity of the Baha'i world community and given it a
more clearly defined and readily recognizable public image.
Other factors have contributed greatly to the rapid entrance of the Faith
onto the world stage. Indeed it appears that every activity of the widespread
Army of Life is now observed or commented upon by some section of the public,
from the General Assembly of the United Nations to small and even remote local
communities.
The steadfastness of the sorely-tried Persian believers continues to be
the mainspring of this world-wide attention increasingly being focussed upon
the Faith. While the brutal executions of heroic martyrs are now less
frequent, the harassment and deprivations, vilification and plundering of the
long-persecuted community continue--more than 200 are still in prison--
giving the representatives of the Baha'i International Community at the United
Nations firm grounds for strong and persistent appeals, which have aroused the
concern of the General Assembly itself, and resulted in representations to the
Iranian Government on behalf of the defenceless Baha'is by the Commission on
Human Rights, and by many powerful nations including the various governments
constituting the European Community.
Page_32
All this has kept our beloved Faith under international observation, an
interest increased not only by the circulation of the Peace Statement but also
by the rapidly expanding activities in the field of economic and social
development, ranging from the inauguration and operation of radio
stations--of which there are seven now broadcasting -- to schools, literacy
programmes, agricultural assistance and a host of small but valuable
undertakings at village level in many parts of the world.
National Baha'i communities have organized and successfully conducted
inter-religious conferences, peace seminars, symposiums on racism and other
subjects on which we have a specific contribution to make, often achieving
widespread publicity and the interest of highly-placed leaders of society.
Baha'i youth, inspired and uplifted by the vision and idealism of "the new
race of men" have, through their many gatherings, attracted large numbers of
their compeers and galvanized their own members to direct their lives
towards service in the many fields in which a rich harvest awaits the
dedicated Baha'i worker.
Added to this rapidly burgeoning association of our fellowmen with Baha'i
activities, has been one outstanding magnificent achievement, the completion
and dedication of the wondrous Baha'i Temple in New Delhi, which received,
within the first thirty days of its dedication to the worship of God, more than
120,000 visitors. This symbol of purity, proclaiming the Oneness of God and
His Messengers in that land of myriad diverse religious beliefs, befittingly
marks the power and grandeur with which these portentous days in the life of
God's Holy Cause have been endowed.
The stage is set for universal, rapid and massive growth of the Cause of
God. The immediate and basic challenge is pursuit of the goals of the Six Year
Plan, the preliminary stages of which have already been initiated. The all-
important teaching work must be imaginatively, persistently and sacrificially
continued, ensuring the enrolment of ever larger numbers who will provide the
energy, the resources and spiritual force to enable the beloved Cause to
worthily play its part in the redemption of mankind. To reinforce this process
the international goals of the Plan have been adopted, calling for the
undertaking of many hundreds of inter-assembly assistance projects, the
re-formation of the National Spiritual Assembly of Zaire at Ridvan 1987 and
the establishment, in the course of the Plan, of new National Spiritual
Assemblies, of which those of Angola, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Macau have
already been approved. During the first year of the Six Year Plan 338
pioneers, guided by the needs set forth in previous plans, have already arisen
and settled in 119 countries. A new appeal is now being prepared, details of
which will be announced shortly. The promotion and facilitation of service
projects for Baha'i youth in the emergent countries of the world are now
called for. National Spiritual Assemblies are asked to arrange, in
consultation with each other and with the assistance of the Continental Boards
of Counsellors, the best means of ensuring the effective service of those
who respond.
Preparations for the Holy Year 1992, when the 100th Anniversary of the
Ascension of the Blessed Beauty and the inception of the Covenant will be
commemorated, have already begun. It is fitting, then, that the Covenant of
Baha'u'llah, which links the past and the future with the progressive stages
towards the fulfillment of God's ancient Promise, should be the major theme of
the Six Year Plan. Concentration on this theme will enable us all to obtain a
deeper appreciation of the meaning and purpose of His Revelation
-- "A Revelation," in the words of the Guardian, "hailed as the promise
and crowning glory
Page_33
of past ages and centuries, as the consummation of all the Dispensations within
the Adamic Cycle, inaugurating an era of at least a thousand years' duration,
and a cycle destined to last no less than five thousand centuries, signalizing
the end of the Prophetic Era and the beginning of the Era of Fulfilment,
unsurpassed alike in the duration of its Author's ministry and the fecundity
and splendour of His mission...". The questions that such concentrated study
should answer will undoubtedly include the meaning of the Baha'i Covenant, its
origin and what should be our attitude towards it.
Ever present in our contemplation of these profound questions is the
magnetic figure of 'Abdu'l-Baha, the Centre of the Covenant, the Mystery of
God, the perfect Exemplar, Whose unerring interpretation of the Holy Texts and
luminous examples of their application to personal conduct shed light on a way
of life we must strive diligently to follow. During the course of the Six Year
Plan the 75th anniversary of His visit to the West will be observed with
befitting celebrations and proclamation activities. Simultaneously, there
will be observed the 50th anniversary of the first Seven Year Plan in the
Americas, launched in 1937 at the instigation of Shoghi Effendi, and which, in
setting in motion the systematic execution of 'Abdu'l-Baha's grand design
for the spiritual conquest of the planet, marked the opening of the first
epoch of the Divine Plan.
Great and wonderful tasks challenge us as never before. They demand
equally great and wonderful sacrifice, dedication and single-minded devotion
from every one of us. At present, the Baha'i International Fund is utterly
inadequate to support the tremendous expansion now required in all the
multitudinous activities of the Baha'i world community. The record of the
Seven Year Plan, just completed, stands witness to our ability to meed the
growing demands of the Cause. The heroism of the beloved friends in Iran,
the eager response of 3,694 dedicated pioneers to the call raised for this
essential service, the unceasing activity of teachers, administrators, local
communities and individual believers throughout the entire organism of the
embryonic world order, have endowed this growing Army of Life with new
strengths and capacities. As we stride forward into the future we may be
fully assured of His ever present bounty and the final victory of our efforts
to establish His Kingdom in this troubled world.
With loving Baha'i greetings,
[signed -- The Universal House of Justice]
Page_34
Completing the Arc on Mount Carmel
31 August 1987
To the Followers of Baha'u'llah throughout the world
Beloved Friends,
Nigh on one hundred years ago, Baha'u'llah walked on God's Holy Mountain
and revealed the Tablet of Carmel, the Charter of the World Centre of His
Faith, calling into being the metropolis of the Kingdom of God on Earth.
Through decades of oppression and expansion, persecution and emancipation,
His followers have successfully laboured to carry His message to the remotest
regions of the earth, to erect the structure of His Administrative Order, and
to proclaim to mankind the divinely-prescribed cure for all its ills. In the
past eight years the agonies suffered by His lovers in Iran have awakened the
interest of a slumbering world and have brought His Faith to the centre of
human attention.
On this same Mount Carmel 'Abdu'l-Baha, with infinite pains, raised the
Mausoleum of the Bab on the spot chosen by His Father, and laid to rest within
its heart the sacred remains of the Prophet Herald of the Faith, establishing a
Spiritual Centre of immeasurable significance. In accordance with the same
divine command, Shoghi Effendi embellished the Shrine with an exquisite shell
and then, under its protecting wing, began the construction of the
Administrative Centre of the Faith, to comprise five buildings in a harmonious
style of architecture, standing on a far-flung Arc centering on the Monuments
of the Greatest Holy Leaf, her Mother and Brother. The first of these five
buildings, the International Archives, was completed in the beloved
Guardian's lifetime. The second, the Seat of the Universal House of Justice,
now stands at the apex of the Arc. Plans for the remaining three were prepared
in fulfilment of a goal of the Seven Year Plan, and are now being detailed.
As indicated in our letter of 30 April 1987, the way is now open for the
Baha'i world to erect the remaining buildings of its Administrative Centre,
and we must without delay stride forward resolutely on this path.
Five closely related projects demand our attention: the erection of the
three remaining buildings on the Arc and, added now to these, the construction
of the terraces of the Shrine of the Bab and the extension of the
International Archives Building. A brief description of each of these will
convey an impression of their significance for the Faith.
Page_35
- The Terraces of the Shrine of the Bab. In His plans for the
development of Mount Carmel, 'Abdu'l-Baha envisaged nineteen monumental
terraces from the foot of the mountain to its crest, nine leading to the
terrace on which the Shrine of the Bab itself stands, and nine above it.
These plans were often referred to by Shoghi Effendi, and he completed in
preliminary form the nine terraces constituting the approach to the Shrine
from the central avenue of the former German Templar Colony.
- The International Teaching Centre will be the seat of that institution
which is specifically invested with the twin functions of the protection
and propagation of the Cause of God. The institution itself, referred to
by the beloved Guardian in his writings, was established in June 1973,
bringing to fruition the work of the Hands of the Cause of God residing in
the Holy Land and providing for the extension into the future of functions
with which that body had been endowed.
- The Centre for the Study of the Texts. This building will be the seat
of an institution of Baha'i scholars, the efflorescence of the present
Research Department of the World Centre, which will assist the Universal
House of Justice in consulting the Sacred Writings, and will prepare
translations of and commentaries on the authoritative texts of the Faith.
- The International Archives Building. We have decided to construct,
westwards, an extension to the basement of the present Archives Building
to provide accommodation for the central office of the ever-growing
Archives at the World Centre. This institution is charged with
responsibility for the preservation of the Sacred Texts and Relics and the
historic documents of the Cause of God.
- The International Baha'i Library. This Library is the central
depository of all literature published on the Faith, and is an essential
source of information for the institutions of the World Centre on all
subjects relating to the Cause of God and the conditions of mankind. In
future decades its functions must grow, it will serve as an active centre
for knowledge in all fields, and it will become the kernel of great
institutions of scientific investigation and discovery.
It is impossible at this stage to give an accurate estimate of the cost of
these projects. All that we can now say is that in the immediate future two
objectives have to be met: to accumulate rapidly a reserve of fifty million
dollars on which plans for the construction can realistically begin to be
implemented, and to provide an income of between twenty and twenty-five million
dollars for the Baha'i International Fund for each of the next ten years. As
the work proceeds, contracts are signed and costs can be accurately determined,
further information will be announced.
The great work of constructing the terraces, landscaping their
surroundings, and erecting the remaining buildings of the Arc will bring
into being a vastly augmented World Centre structure which will be capable
of meeting the challenges of coming centuries and of the tremendous growth
of the Baha'i community which the beloved Guardian has told us to expect.
Already we see the
Page_36
effect of the spiritual energies which the completion of the Seat of the
Universal House of Justice has released, and the new impulse this has given to
the advancement of the Faith. Who can gauge what transformations will be
effected as a result of the completion of each successive stage of this great
enterprise? The Faith advances, not at a uniform rate of growth, but in vast
surges, precipitated by the alternation of crisis and victory. In a passage
written on 18 July 1953, in the early months of the Ten Year Crusade, Shoghi
Effendi, referring to the vital need to ensure through the teaching work a
"steady flow" of "fresh recruits to the slowly yet steadily advancing army of
the Lord of Hosts", stated that this flow would "presage and hasten the advent
of the day which, as prophesied by 'Abdu'l-Baha, will witness the entry by
troops of peoples of divers nations and races into the Baha'i world". This
day the Baha'i world has already seen in Africa, the Pacific, in Asia and in
Latin America, and this process of entry by troops must, in the present plan,
be augmented and spread to other countries for, as the Guardian stated in this
same letter, it "will be the prelude to that long-awaited hour when a mass
conversion on the part of these same nations and races, and as a direct result
of a chain of events, momentous and possibly catastrophic in nature, and which
cannot as yet be even dimly visualized, will suddenly revolutionize the
fortunes of the Faith, derange the equilibrium of the world, and reinforce a
thousandfold the numerical strength as well as the material power and the
spiritual authority of the Faith of Baha'u'llah". This is the time for which
we must now prepare ourselves; this is the hour whose coming it is our task to
hasten.
At this climacteric of human history, we are called upon to rise up in
sacrificial endeavour, our eyes on the awe-inspiring responsibilities which
such developments will place upon Baha'i institutions and individual believers
in every land, and our hearts filled with unshakable confidence in the
guiding Hand of the Founder of our Faith. That our Beloved Lord will arouse
His followers in every land to a mighty united effort is our ardent prayer at
the Sacred Threshold.
With loving Baha'i greetings,
[signed -- The Universal House of Justice]
Page_37
Ridvan Message 1988
Ridvan 1988
To the Baha'is of the World
Dearly-loved Friends,
At this resplendent, festive season, we greet you all in a spirit of
renewed hope.
A silver lining to the dark picture which has overshadowed most of this
century now brightens the horizon. It is discernible in the new tendencies
impelling the social processes at work throughout the world, in the evidences
of an accelerated trend towards peace. In the Faith of God, it is the growing
strength of the Order of Baha'u'llah as its banner rises to more stately
heights. It is strength that attracts. The media are giving increasing
attention to the Baha'i world community; authors are acknowledging its
existence in a growing number of articles, books and reference works, one
of the most highly respected of which recently listed the Faith as the most
widely spread religion after Christianity. A remarkable display of interest
in this community by governments, civil authorities, prominent personalities
and humanitarian organizations is increasingly apparent. Not only are the
community's laws and principles, organization and way of life being
investigated, but its advice and active help are also being sought for the
alleviation of social problems and the carrying out of humanitarian
activities.
A thrilling consequence of these favourably conjoined developments is the
emergence of a new paradigm of opportunity for further growth and consolidation
of our world-vide community. New prospects for teaching the Cause at all
levels of society have unfolded. These are confirmed in the early results
flowing from the new teaching initiatives being fostered in a number of
places as more and more national communities witness the beginnings of that
entry by troops promised by the beloved Master and which Shoghi Effendi said
would lead on to mass conversion. The immediate possibilities presented
by this providential situation compel us to expect that an expansion of the
Community of the Most Great Name, such as has not yet been experienced, is,
indeed, at hand.
The spark which ignited the mounting interest in the Cause of Baha'u'llah
was the heroic fortitude and patience of the beloved friends in Iran, which
moved the Baha'i world community to conduct a persistent, carefully
orchestrated programme of appeal to the conscience of the world.
This vast undertaking, involving the entire community acting unitedly
through its Administrative Order, was accompanied by equally vigorous
and visible activities of that community in other spheres which
have been detailed separately. Nonetheless, we are impelled to
mention that an important outcome of this extensive exertion is
our recognition of a nev stage in the external affairs of the Cause,
characterized by a marked maturation of National Spiritual Assemblies
in their growing relations with governmental and non-governmental
organizations and with the public in general.
Page_38
This recognition prompted a meeting in Germany last November of national
Baha'i external affairs representatives from Europe and North America, together
with senior representatives of the Offices of the Baha'i International
Community, intent on effecting greater coordination of their work. This was a
preliminary step towards the gathering of more and more National Spiritual
Assemblies into a harmoniously functioning, international network capable of
executing global undertakings in this rapidly expanding field. Related to
these developments vas the significant achievement of international recognition
accorded the Faith through its formal acceptance last October into membership
of the Network on Conservation and Religion of the renowned World Wide Fund for
Nature.
At one of the darkest periods in the prolonged oppression of the dearly-
loved, resolutely steadfast friends in Iran, Shoghi Effendi vas
moved to comfort them in a letter of astounding insight. 'It is
the shedding of the sacred blood of the martyrs in Persia he wrote,
which, in this shining era, this resplendent, this gem-studded
Baha'i age, shall change the face of the earth into high heaven
and, as revealed in the Tablets, raise up the tabernacle of the
oneness of mankind in the very heart of the world, reveal to men's
eyes the reality of the unity of the human race, establish the Most
Great Peace, make of this lower realm a mirror for the Abha Paradise,
and establish beyond any doubt before all the peoples of the world
the truth of the verse: '...the day when the Earth shall be changed
into another Earth.'" Reflections like these, in adducing such
wondrous future consequences from the horrific suffering to which
our Iranian friends are subjected, illuminate the opportunity and
the challenge facing us all at this crucial moment in the fortunes
of the Cause.
The great projects already launched must be pursued to their completion.
The terraces below and above the Shrine of the Bab and the Arc on Mount Carmel
must be completed, fulfilling the glorious vision of the efflorescence of God's
holy mountain; the second World Congress must be held in the City of the
Covenant to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the inauguration of that
Covenant; the steadily advancing work on the translation and annotation of the
Kitab-i-Aqdas, the Most Holy Book, must be brought to publication; the interest
shown by the friends in the Law of Huququ'llah must be cultivated; the pioneers
and travelling teachers must go forth; the expenses of the Cause must be met;
all objectives of the Six Year Plan must be achieved.
But the paramount purpose of all Baha'i activity is teaching. All that
has been done or will be done revolve around this central activity, the "head
corner-stone of the foundation itself", to which all progress in the Cause is
due. The present challenge calls for teaching on a scale and of a quality, a
variety, and intensity outstripping all current efforts. The time is now, lest
opportunity be lost in the swiftly changing moods of a frenetic world. Led it
not be imagined that expedience is the essential motive arousing this sense of
urgency. There is an overarching reason: it is the pitiful plight of masses
of humanity, suffering and in turmoil, hungering after righteousness, but
bereft of discernment to see God with their own eyes, or hear His Melody with
their own ears". They must be fed. Vision must be restored where hope is
lost, confidence built where doubt and confusion are rife. In these and other
respects, "The Promise of World Peace" is designed to open the way. Its
delivery to national governmental leaders having been virtually completed, its
contents must now be conveyed, by all possible means, to peoples
everywhere from all walks of life. This is a necessary part of
the teaching work in our time and must be pursued with unabated vigour.
Page_39
Teaching is the food of the spirit; it brings life to unawakened souls and
raises the new heaven and the new earth; it uplifts the banner of a unified
world; it ensures the victory of the Covenant and brings those who give their
lives to it the supernal happiness of attainment to the good pleasure of their
Lord.
Every individual believer--man, woman, youth and child--is summoned to
this field of action; for it is on the initiative, the resolute will of the
individual to teach and to serve, that the success of the entire community
depends. Well-grounded in the mighty Covenant of Baha'u'llah, sustained by
daily prays and reading of the Holy Word, strengthened by a continual striving
to obtain a deeper understanding of the divine Teachings, illumined by a
constant endeavour to relate these Teachings to current issues, nourished by
observance of the laws and principles of His wondrous World Order, every
individual can attain increasing measures of success in teaching In sum, the
ultimate triumph of the Cause is assured by that "one thing and only one thing"
so poignantly emphasized by Shoghi Effendi, namely, "the extent to which our
own inner life and private character mirror forth in their manifold aspects
the splendour of those eternal principles proclaimed by Baha'u'llah".
Beloved Friends -- you who are addressed by the Best Beloved, the Blessed
Beauty, as "the solace of the eye of creation , as "the soft-flowing
waters upon which must depend the very life of all men" -- we urge
you, with all earnestness from the utter depths of our conviction
as to the ripeness of the time, to lay aside your every minor concern
and direct your energies to teaching His Cause -- to proclaiming,
expanding and consolidating it. You can approach your task in full
confidence that this clear field of progress outstretched before
you derives from the operation of that God-born Force" which "vibrates
within the innermost being of all created things" and which, "acting
even as a two-edged sword, is, under our very eyes, sundering, on
the one hand, the age-old ties which for centuries have held together
the fabric of civilized society, and is unloosing, on the other,
the bonds that still fetter the infant and as yet unemancipated Faith
of Baha'u'llah"
Have no fear or doubts The power of the Covenant will assist you and
invigorate you and remove every obstacle from your path "He, verily,
will aid everyone that aideth Him, and will remember everyone that
remembereth Him".
You have our abiding assurance of ardent and constant prayers for you all.
[signed -- The Universal House of Justice]
Page_40
Education of Baha'is in the Law of Huququ'llah
7 July 1988
To all National Spiritual Assemblies
Dear Baha'i Friends,
One of the important topics addressed during the Sixth International
Convention was that of the education of the believers in the Law of
Huququ'llah. Thus far the progress towards this goal of the Six Year Plan
has been encouraging and heartwarming, both in the East and in the West.
The letters received at the World Centre from many of the friends have shown
a profound understanding of the spiritual significance of this law and a joy
in being able to obey its precepts.
The Universal House of Justice has asked us to send to you the enclosed
copy of the address that was given by the Hand of the Cause of God Dr. 'Ali
Muhammad Varqa in one of the plenary sessions of the Convention, and to
suggest that you share this with the friends in your community in such manner
as you deem most effective. It points out that the worldwide education of the
believers in the Law of Huququ'llah will require sustained efforts by the
institutions of the Faith and, to assist you in this, we enclose a list of
available publications on Huququ'llah which you can order directly from the
Publishing Trusts or through the appropriate National Spiritual Assemblies.
With loving Baha'i greetings,
Department of the Secretariat
Enclosures
Page_41
TALK GIVEN BY THE HAND OF THE CAUSE OF GOD DR. 'ALI MUHAMMAD VARQA
at the Sixth International Convention on 1 May 1988
Dearly loved friends,
At the inception of the Six Year Plan of the Universal House of Justice, which
coincided with dramatic changes in many aspects of society, a new arena for
rapid development of the Faith of God has been attained and the purpose and aim
of Baha'u'llah's Revelation have been unveiled before the very eyes of
Government Authorities, Heads of States and Scholars who were not even aware
of its existence.
At this rightful time the Universal House of Justice has emphasized the
importance of acquiring knowledge of the laws and ordinances revealed by
Baha'u'llah, and adopted the translation of the most Holy Book, the Kitab-
i-Aqdas, into English as one of the sublime goals of this new plan.
Among the commandments and decrees revealed in this sacred Book is the law of
Huququ'llah, previously applicable only to the friends in the East. The
Western friends became aware of this law with the dissemination of the
compilation of the Holy text and the Sacred writings prepared by the Research
Department of the Universal House of Justice.
Huququ'llah is an Arabic word composed of two words, "Huquq" meaning "Rights"
and "Allah" meaning "God". Therefore, Huququ'llah means "The Rights of God",
a part of the individual's possessions and income offered at the Threshold of
the Lord.
In a Tablet addressed to Jinab-i-Zayn referring to Huququ'llah, Baha'u'llah
states that the progress and the promulgation of the Faith of God, depend on
material means, therefore, the expansion and the advancement of God's
Revelation and the establishment of a new order and a new world civilization
cannot be achieved without material means.
The embryo of this sacred law was established, by the Beloved Bab in the Bayan
where, for the first time, the word Huququ'llah was mentioned by Him.
Baha'u'llah brought some modifications in its contents and accepted it as one
of the executive ordinances of His Revelation.
Although Huququ'llah is one of the most significant laws of the Kitab-i-Aqdas,
we should not take the word "Law" in its rigid and literal meaning, defined in
the encyclopedia as "the obligatory rule promoted by a sovereign authority".
It is not a law which is enforced with pressure, but rather a spiritual
obligation based on the love of the believer who is eager to obey the will
of his Beloved. In this ordinance there is no room for pressure or
intimidation. Obedience is a reflection of the highest degree of love and
ardent desire.
Huququ'llah, by its special and unique characteristic, combines might and
humility, power and humbleness. It is one of the fundamental ordinances of the
Baha'i Faith, like prayer and fasting. Its importance has been manifested by
these words of Baha'u'llah:
"Say: O people, the first duty is to recognize the one true God --
magnified be His glory -- the second is to show forth constancy in
His Cause and, after these, one's duty is to purify one's riches
and earthly possessions according to that which is prescribed by
God...." (31)*
Page_42
By studying the writings revealed by Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha regarding ,
Huququ'llah four essential points emerge:
First, in the Kitab-i-Aqdas, Baha'u'llah states:
"Should a person acquire one hundred mithqals of gold, nineteen
mithqals thereof belong unto God, the Creator of earth and heaven.
Take heed, O people, lest ye deprive yourselves of this great
bounty....n (10)*
'Abdu'l-Baha emphasizes that Huququ'llah is payable on whatever is left over
after deducting the yearly expenses.
The payment of Huququ'llah is based on the calculation of the value of one's
income in respect of the gold unit. Whenever the annual income of the
individual, after the deduction of his complete year's expenses, reaches
nineteen mithqals of gold value, (equivalent to 2.22456 ounces or 69.19112
grams), 19% of this amount is the Right of God and should be submitted to the
Focal Point of the Faith. The calculation of sustaining means of livelihood
which are exempted from Huququ'llah depends on the spiritual maturity of every
believer and his innermost conscience. No criterion can be established for
this purpose, for it varies according to the living conditions and social
status of each believer, and the degree of his spiritual attachment and
material detachment.
The second point is that the payment of the Right of God is like a magnet,
which attracts divine blessings and, confirmation. It is the mainspring of
God's mercy and compassion. Baha'u'llah, in His writings, showers His
limitless benediction upon those who observe this law.
Again, in the Kitab-i-Aqdas, the Pen of Glory decrees:
"...and whoso fulfilleth the things he hath been commanded, divine
blessings will descend upon him from the heaven of the bounty of his
Lord, the Bestower, the Bountiful, the Most Generous, the Ancient of
Days...." (10)*
In another Tablet we read:
"They that have kept their promises, fulfilled their obligations,
redeemed their pledges and vows, rendered the Trust of God and His
Right unto Him -- these are numbered among the inmates of the all-
highest Paradise...." (26)*
In a Tablet revealed by 'Abdu'l-Baha, we find:
"Those who have observed this weighty ordinance have received
heavenly blessings and in both worlds their faces have shone
radiantly and their nostrils perfumed by the sweet savours of
God's tender mercy...." (62)*
The third factor is that just as the payment of Huququ'llah would attract
divine bounty and blessings, its negligence or failure causes deprivation and
is interpreted as tantamount to treachery to a Fund rightfully belonging to
God.
Page_43
This Fund is to be spent on whatever is of benefit for the promulgation of the
Faith under the complete and absolute decision of the authority "to which all
must turn." (96)* Only this authority and none other, not even the donor, has
the right to interfere in its management.
In the Kitab-i-Aqdas, the Pen of Glory warns those who neglect the payment of
Huququ'llah:
"O people! Act not treacherously in the matter of Huququ'llah
and dispose not of it, except by His leave...." (10)*
And He continues:
"Whoso dealeth dishonestly with God will in justice be exposed,
and whoso fulfilleth the things he hath been commanded, divine
blessings will descend upon him from the heaven of the bounty of
his Lord, the Bestower, the Bountiful, the Most Generous, the
Ancient of Days...." (ibid)
Therefore, withholding the payment of Huququ'llah or spending it on other
concerns, no matter how charitable their nature, would be interpreted as
misappropriation of the fund belonging to God, and an act of dishonesty. Any
donation for charity and beneficent purposes such as contributions to the
various funds should be made after the contributor is free of his debt to God.
And finally, God Almighty has decreed that the payment of the Right of God
is conducive to prosperity, and asSiStS the progress of the human soul in the
spiritual realms of the Everlasting world.
Baha'u'llah says:
"...the treasures laid up by kings and queens are not worthy of
mention, nor will they be acceptable in the presence of God.
However, a grain of mustard offered by His loved ones will be
extolled in the exalted court of His holiness and invested with
the ornament of His acceptance...." (39)*
The high station of Huququ'llah and its exceptional rank among the
commandments of Baha'u'llah is endowed with great veneration and respect.
'Abdu'l- Baha, referring to the words of Baha'u'llah says:
"...the utmost honesty hath to be observed in matters related to
the Huquq. The Institution of Huquq is sacred." (72)*
In order to respect its sanctity, Baha'u'llah strongly forbids soliciting
Huququ'llah. No individual or institution is authorized to demand it.
Whenever it is necessary to bring the importance of this obligation to the
attention of the believers, it should be mentioned as a general reminder.
Spiritual maturity must stir the conscience of the believers and, nothing else. In a
Tablet addressed to Haji Amin the second Trustee of Huququ'llah, Baha'u'llah
says:
"No one should demand the Huququ'llah. Its payment should
depend on the volition of the individuals themselves...n (51)*
Page_44
And again:
"...Ye may relinquish the whole world but must not allow the
detraction of even one jot or tittle from the dignity of the
Cause of God. Jinab-i-Amin -- upon him be My glory -- must
also refrain from mentioning this matter, for it is entirely
dependent upon the willingness of the individuals themselves.
They are well acquainted with the commandment of God and are
familiar with that which was revealed in the Book. Led him who
wisheth observe it, and led him who wisheth ignore it...." (8)*
The concept of Huququ'llah is an evolutionary process subject to great
changes, dependent on our spiritual growth, and our deepening of the Holy
writings.
Most of the friends believe Huququ'llah is a way for fund raising, and its
aim is to strengthen the material potential of the Faith.
Indeed the payment of Huququ'llah contributes to a large extent to the needs
of the Cause. It is an important instrument for building and strengthening the
structure of the edifice of the World Order of Baha'u'llah, and when it is
fully established there will be an ever-flowing source of revenue at the
disposal of the Focal Point of the Cause of God to promote the Faith and to
meed the growing needs of establishing a new world order. But, in fact, the
purpose and aim of Huququ'llah is far beyond that and much greater and more
spiritual than we imagine.
In 1978/79, following the Iranian upheaval, when the most important source of
revenue of the Faith stopped functioning, I asked the Universal House of
Justice if it was time for the implementation of Huququ'llah in some of the
Western countries. The Universal House of Justice replied that Huququ'llah is
a very important law, and its implementation needs time and consultation in the
future. At the time, I could not comprehend the wisdom of what had been
stated. It was after studying the Holy writings with more depth, that I have
realized that Huququ'llah which could be interpreted as the material aspect
of the Covenant of God, in reality is a spiritual and learning process, a way
of strengthening the link of love and dedication between man and God, and its
implementation needs studying and deepening.
Baha'u'llah in the Kitab-i-Aqdas says:
"Indeed there lie concealed in this command, mysteries and benefits
which are beyond the comprehension of anyone save God, the All-
Knowing, the All-Informed...." (10)*
Therefore, we cannot expect to comprehend the essence and the wisdom hidden in
this sacred law. They are kept in the treasury of God's knowledge and are
related to the evolution and progress of the human soul in the world of God.
What we can conceive by our human understanding is that the payment of
Huququ'llah is the sign of our love and obedience, a proof of our firmness and
steadfastness and a symbol of our trustworthiness in the Covenant of
Baha'u'llah. It creates and develops our spiritual quality which leads us
towards perfection; it harmonizes and balances our material endeavour,
protects us from excessive desire which is born in our human nature, and when
unleashed turns into a preventive element for our spiritual growth. When man
realizes that a
Page_45
his life in a Just and legitimate manner in order that his offering may deserve
to be spent in the path of God.
It is important to note that although there is some similarity between
Huququ'llah and the other donations, and that all are the marvelous fruits of
love, enthusiasm and devotion of the believers to the Faith, there are four
major differences between them:
1. The payment of Huququ'llah has priority over all other contributions
because it belongs to God. The contribution of the believers to the funds
should be made from their possessions and not from what belongs to the Lord.
2. The payment of Huququ'llah according to the explicit text of the Kitab-i-
Aqdas is an obligation subject to specific laws and ordinances, whereas other
donations are not considered as a law. They are rather an indication of the
sacrifice, generosity, detachment and magnanimity of the contributor to meet
the needs of the administration of the Cause.
3. Huququ'llah is determined precisely on accurate calculation, whereas
there are no rules related to the frequency or the amount of the contribution
to the funds.
4. The disposal of the Huququ'llah is left solely to the Focal Point of the
Faith, and none other, whereas the disposal of the other contributions can
depend on the purpose for which the contribution has been earmarked.
Undoubtedly, the awareness of the friends about Huququ'llah will raise many
questions, including those related to its calculation and the appraisal of that
part of one's belongings which is subject to exemption. One should consider
that what is revealed in the Kitab-i-Aqdas about Huququ'llah is only the
fundamental basis of this injunction, and the approach of the Blessed Beauty is
confined to these guiding lines and general principles. He has not set any
special rules or legislation. In all His writings related to this matter,
God's self-sufficiency and independence of all things has been manifested, and
the fragrance of His compassion, generosity and mercy is inhaled. According to
the letter written in 1878 by His secretary to an early believer, for the first
time the acceptance of Huququ'llah was granted to those Persian friends who
had the desire to contribute, therefore, during five years after the revelation
of the law, Baha'u'llah did not accept Huququ'llah and on many occasions
the offering of the friends was returned to them. It could be assumed that
since He, Himself, as the Central Figure of His Revelation, is the only
recipient of Huququ'llah, He did not want to go into details, but left them,
in conformity to the Will of God, to the Universal House of Justice, the Body
which has the power to enact laws that are not precisely given in the Book.
When the Kitab-i-Aqdas reached Iran and as the friends became aware of its
contents, a consultative body, which could be the nucleus of our actual Local
Spiritual Assemblies, was formed in Tihran. In their minutes we notice that
the dissemination of the knowledge of Huququ'llah was one of the goals set by
that body 101 years ago.
Page_46
The growing eagerness of the believers for the execution of God's injunction
led them to ask Baha'u'llah for elucidation regarding Huququ'llah and this was
given to them in various Tablets. The most important guidance was revealed --
in response to Jinab-i-Zayn's request -- as an annex to the Kitab-i-Aqdas in
the form of questions and answers. More guidance from the Beloved Master, the
Guardian, and in recent decades from the Universal House of Justice has shed
light on Huququ'llah which we can find in the compilation issued by the World
Centre.
With the increasing awareness of the Baha'is and the fast growing complexity
of the social and economic system of society, the Baha'i community will witness
the establishment of rules and guidance on Huququ'llah by the Supreme
Authority of the Faith. Meanwhile, according to the Universal House of
Justice s letter of March 1, 1984, in the absence of explicit text and Holy
writings on Huququ'llah, the friends are free to honour the obligation of
Huququ'llah based on their own judgement and conscience.
Indeed, while the establishment of rules and directions can explain the
different aspects of Huququ'llah, the ideal functioning and efficiency of
these legislations depend on the spiritual advancement of the friends and
their deepening in the Holy Writings.
That is why the Universal House of Justice has, as one of its major goals of
the Six Year Plan, adopted the education of Huququ'llah as a priority,
preparing the way for the implementation of the law of God in the Baha'i
world, and has asked the fervent collaboration of the major institutions of the
Faith, such as the National Spiritual Assemblies and the Continental Boards of
Counsellors to share this important task with the Institution of Huququ'llah in
promoting the education of God's injunction to the Baha'i community at large.
During the last two years, some of the National Spiritual Assemblies -- in
particular the National Spiritual Assemblies of the United States and Canada
and a few others in other parts of the world -- offered remarkable assistance
for this sublime goal and it is hoped many more will join in the future to
assist with this task.
As a result of the effort of such National Spiritual Assemblies, a number of
Western friends are contributing to Huququ'llah even before its formal
implementation. This leads us to hope that education on this subject will
become more widespread and that, by the end of the Six Year Plan, the Baha'i
world will have attained a higher level of flourishing spiritual advancement.
*Refers to number of excerpt in compilation on Huququ'llah compiled
June 1985 by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice.
Page_47
The Huququ'llah Compilation prepared by the Research Department of the
Universal House of Justice in June 1985 is available in the following languages
from Baha'i agencies indicated:
English
Baha'i Canada Publications, Thornhill, Ontario, Canada
Huququ'llah
Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Huququ'llah
National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of New Zealand, Auckland, New
Zealand
Huququ'llah
Baha'i Publishing Trust, Oakham, England
Huququ'llah the right of God
Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Sierra Leone, Freetown, Sierra Leone
The Law of Huququ'llah
[abridged version]
Arabic
Baha'i Publishing Trust of Lebanon, Beirut, Lebanon
Huququ'llah
Chinese
Baha'i Publishing Trust Committee, Klang, Selangor, Malaysia
Hu ku qu la qu qui
French
Maison d'Editions Baha'ies, Brussels, Belgium
Huququ'llah ou le droit de Dieu
German
National Assembly of the Baha'is of Germany, Hofheim-Langenhain, Germany
Huququ'llah: die Kronende Zier aller Ernten der Welt
Italian
Casa Editrice Baha'i, Rome, Italy
Huququ'llah
Persian, Arabic
The Hand of the Cause of God 'Ali-Muhammad Varqa, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Maju'i'i az nusus-i-mubarakih va dastkhatthay-i-Baytu'l-Adl-i
Azam-i-Ilahi dar bariy-i-huququ'llah
Baha'i Publishing Trust, Karachi, Pakistan
Huququ'llah
Spanish
Editorial Baha'i de Espana, Terrassa, Barcelona, Spain
El Huququ'llah y 108 fondos Baha'is
Page_48
Baha'i Publishing Trust Committee, Klang, Selangor, Malaysia
Hukukulla
Urdu
Baha'i Publishing Trust, Karachi, Pakistan
Huququ'llah
The compilation A Codification of the law of Huququ'llah prepared by the
Research Department of the Universal House of Justice 1987 is available in
the following languages from Baha'i agencies indicated:
English
Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Sierra Leone, Freetown, Sierra Leone
A Codification of the law of Huququ'llah
National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States, Wilmette,
Illinois, U.S.A.
A Codification of the law of Huququ'llah
Gen an
National Assembly of the Baha'is of Germany, Hofheim-Langenhain, Germany
Systematische Darstellung tes Huququ'llah-Gesetzes: tie Entwicklung ter
Institution fur das Huququ'llah
Spanish
E.B.I.L.A., Buenos Aires, Argentina
Una Codificacion de la ley del huququ'llah
The compilation The Development of the institution for the Huququ'llah
prepared by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice in 1987
is available in the following languages from Baha'i agencies indicated:
English
Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Sierra Leone, Freetown, Sierra Leone
The Development of the institution for the Huququ'llah
National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States, Wilmette,
Illinois, U.S.A.
The Development of the institution for the Huququ'llah
French
Maison t'Editions Baha'ies, Brussels, Belgium
Huququ'llah, historique ed codification
Spanish
E.B.I.L.A., Buenos Aires, Argentina
El Desarrollo te la institucion tel Huququ'llah
National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico
El Desarrollo de la institucion del Huququ'llah
Page_49
The compilations The Development of the-institution for the Huququ'llah and A
Codification of the law of Huququ'llah prepared by the Research Department of
the Universal House of Justice in 1987 are available in one publication in the
following languages from Baha'i agencies indicated:
English
Baha'i Publishing Trust Committee, Klang, Selangor, Malaysia
Huququ'llah
Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Transkei, Umtata, Transkei
The law of the Huququ'llah: codification and other documents
Other works on the Huququ'llah are available in the following languages from
Baha'i agencies indicated:
French
National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Gabon, Libreville, Gabon
Huququ'llah, le droit de Dieu
Persian
Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Pakistan, Karachi, Pakistan
Huququ'llah
National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United Kingdom, London,
United Kingdom
Huququ'llah
'Andalib, Thornhill, Ontario, Canada
Matalib va nikatf chand dar bariy-i-Huququ'llah, v.S no.19 (summer
(summer 1988)
Page_50
Ridvan Message 1989
Ridvan 1989
To the Baha'is of the World
Dearly loved Friends,
The spiritual current which exerted such galvanic effects at the
International Baha'i Convention last Ridvan has swept through the entire world
community, arousing its members in both the East and the West to feats of
activity and achievement in teaching never before experienced in any one year.
The high level of enrollments alone bears this out, as nearly half a million
new believers have already been reported. The names of such far-flung places
as India and Liberia, Bolivia and Bangladesh, Taiwan and Peru, the Philippines
and Haiti leap to the fore as we contemplate the accumulating evidences of the
entry by troops called for in our message of a year ago. These evidences are
hopeful signs of the greater acceleration yet to come and in which all nations
communities, whatever the current status of their teaching effort, will
ultimately be involved.
We look back with feelings of humble gratitude and heightened expectations
at the stupendous developments which have taken place in so brief a period.
One such development has been the adoption of the architectural design
conceived by Mr. Fariburz Sahba for the Terraces of the Shrine of the Bab,
which launches a new stage towards the realization of the Master's and the
Guardian's vision for the path along which the kings and rulers will ascend the
slopes of Mount Carmel to pay homage at the resting place of Baha'u'llah's
Martyr-Herald. Other developments include: the approval by the central
authorities in Moscow of the application submitted by a number of Baha'is in
'Ishqabad to restore the Local Spiritual Assembly of that city; the initiation
of steps to open a Baha'i Information Centre in Budapest, the first such agency
of the Faith in the Eastern Bloc; the establishment of a branch of the Baha'i
International Community's Office of Public Information in Hong Kong in
anticipation of the time when the Faith can be proclaimed on the mainland of
China.
Also outstanding among these developments have been the successful
co-sponsorship by the Baha'i International Community of the "Arts for Nature"
programme in London held to benefit the work of the World Wide Fund for Nature;
the signing of an agreement in Geneva establishing formal working relations
between the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Baha'i International
Community; the official