Dear Bahá'í friends,
As the friends are already aware, one of the goals of the
Nine Year Plan is continued collation and classification of the Bahá'í Sacred
Scriptures, as well as the writings of Shoghi Effendi.
We have already pointed out to the friends on several
occasions that the application of Bahá'í laws, the elucidation and extension of
basic administrative principles, and the all-important function of legislating
on matters not explicitly recorded in our teachings are dependent upon a
careful study by the Universal House of Justice of the revealed and pertinent
words of Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá, as well as the illuminating
interpretations and directions of Shoghi Effendi.
Through the labours of the beloved Guardian himself, and the
collaboration of the National Spiritual Assembly of Persia, great strides have
already been taken to collate the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá.
Even up to the present time, a special National Committee in Persia is
assiduously and regularly engaged in classifying the Holy Texts of the Founder
of our Faith, and the Centre of the Covenant in fulfilment of the goal of the
Nine Year Plan referred to above. The writings of the Guardian, however, apart
from his general communications already published, which consist to a large
extent of letters written by him or on his behalf to various National Spiritual
Assemblies, Local Spiritual Assemblies, groups of believers and individual
Bahá'ís, have only been partly collated. Although many National Spiritual
Assemblies and individual believers have already sent the originals or copies
of their letters from the Guardian to the Holy Land, and quite a number of
these have been published at different times in Bahá'í News and other news
bulletins, it is our confirmed opinion that there are many such letters that
have still not been shared with us which may contain a new application of a
principle, an already enunciated guideline rephrased to apply in a new
situation, a further elucidation of a Bahá'í law, a fresh light thrown on a
many-sided issue or some wise counsel in a personal problem.
