| 1951 25 Jan or 4 Feb |
Claire Gung arrived in Tanganyika aboard the Warwick Castle and obtained employment as a matron in a boys' boarding school in Lushoto. She was the second Bahá'í pioneer to the country. [CG160; CBN No 18 Mar 1951 p10]
She later pioneered to Uganda and Southern Rhodesia during the Ten Year Crusade.
An additional group of early arrivals in East Africa settled in Tanganyika in 1951. They
included Hassan and Isobel Sabri who came from Egypt, and Jalal Nakhjavání and his family
from Iran. By 1954, a Local Spiritual Assembly had been elected in Dar es Salaam including
three native believers. Among them was Denis Dudley-Smith Kutendele, the first to accept the
Faith in Tanzania. [A Brief Account of the Bahá'í Faith in Africa Since 1953 by Nance Ororo-Robarts and Selam Ahderrom p2]
History of the Bahá'í Faith in Tanzania said that the first local spiritual assembly was elected in Dar es Salaam in 1952 and that it received civic registration later under Tanganyika's Trustee's Incorporation Ordinance. |
- Knights of Bahá'u'lláh; Claire Gung; Hassan Sabri; Isobel Sabri; Jalal Nakhjavani; Denis Dudley-Smith; Kutendele, LSA, formation; Tanzania; Dar-es-salaam, Tanzania |
Denis Dudley-Smith Kutendele, the first to accept the
Faith in Tanzania |
| 1951 9 Jan |
Shoghi Effendi announced the formation of the International Bahá'í Council. [BBD118; BBRSM127; GBF109; MBW7–8; PP252; UD261]
Proclaim National Assemblies of East and West weighty epoch-making decision of formation of first International Bahá'í Council, forerunner of supreme administrative institution destined to emerge in fullness of time within precincts beneath shadow of World Spiritual Center of Faith already established in twin cities of 'Akká and Haifa....
The members were: Rúhíyyih Khanum (1951–61) Liaison with Shoghi Effendi; Hand of the Cause of God Charles Mason Remey (1951–61) President; Hand of the Cause Amelia Collins (1951–61) Vice President; Hand of the Cause Leroy Ioas (1952–61) Secretary General; Hand of the Cause Jessie Revell (1951–61) Treasurer Luṭfu'lláh Ḥakím (1951–61) Eastern Assistant Secretary Ethel Revell (1951–61) Western Assistant Secretary
Ugo Giachery (1952–61) Member-at-large; Hand of the Cause Ben Weeden (1951–52); Gladys Weeden (1951–52); Sylvia Ioas (1955–61).
See UD261 for the significance of the establishment of the International Bahá'í Council.
Between 1951 and 1957 Shoghi Effendi directed the members and used the Council to create an image of an international body handling the Bahá'í affairs in Haifa. According to Shoghi Effendi, the Council's responsibilities were to:
establish links with the Israeli authorities, and
negotiate with them concerning and establishing of a Bahá'í court to deal with personal matters,
Shoghi Effendi to complete the superstructure of the Shrine of the Báb
as an international Bahá'í secretariat.
This body functioned until the election of the Universal House of Justice in 1963.
It was a forerunner to the Universal House of Justice. [BBD118]
For its functions see MBW7–8.
Its seat is the Western Pilgrim House. [BBD178]
For the stages of its evolution see CB324. |
International Bahá'í Council; Universal House of Justice; Shoghi Effendi, Life of; Shoghi Effendi, Basic timeline; Shoghi Effendi, Works of; Pilgrim Houses; Pilgrim House, Western; - Bahá'í World Centre; Haifa, Israel |
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Canada