28 June 1979: To all National Spiritual Assemblies

Dear Baha'i friends,

One of the objectives of the Seven Year Plan is the continued settlement of pioneers in needed areas and the movement of travelling teachers. We have been asked by the Universal House of Justice to share with you its advice on these vital tasks.

The House of Justice feels that, while ultimate decisions regarding the selection of pioneers and travelling teachers and the manner in which their services are to be utilized remain, of course, in the hands of National Spiritual Assemblies, a closer degree of communication with Boards of Counsellors in these matters should be maintained. For example, the number of pioneers and travelling teachers to foreign lands which a National Spiritual Assembly can supply during the current year and every subsequent year of the Plan; the degree of dependence of a national community on outside workers and, if needed, how many and from which countries; and when necessary the evaluation of the services of certain pioneers, are among issues that every National Spiritual Assembly can usefully discuss with the Counsellors in its zone. The House of Justice is sure that such consultations would most certainly be conducive to excellent results.

On a different level, a National Spiritual Assembly may need assistance from Continental Pioneer Committees in the movement of pioneers to their posts or in the coordination of visits by travelling teachers. In order to obtain the best results from the collaboration of these Committees, it is important that information and views be exchanged with them speedily and efficiently. The House of Justice feels that it is highly desirable for each National Spiritual Assembly to make arrangements for Continental Pioneer Committees to deal directly with agencies of National Spiritual Assemblies responsible for pioneers and travelling teachers.  When a decision is taken in this regard, the name and address of the correspondent or correspondents should be immediately conveyed to the Continental Pioneer Committees concerned.

The Universal House of Justice assures you of its loving prayers as you exert yourselves to fulfil the goals and tasks ahead.

With loving Baha'i greetings,

Department of the Secretariat

(‘Messages from the Universal House of Justice, 1963-1986’

15 June 1979: To all National Spiritual Assemblies

Dear Baha'i friends,

Further to the letter of the House of Justice to you of 23 May, the situation in Persia continues to be a cause for deep concern and the friends and Holy Places in the country are in serious danger. We have been directed by the House of Justice to inform you of the following developments in the Cradle of our Faith.

An order has been issued by the authorities requiring the Umana Company to cease functioning under its Baha'i manager and to operate henceforth under a new non-Baha'i management. This company holds on behalf of the Baha'i community all the properties of the Faith, including the Holy Places.This step is ominous in its implications as it forebodes total confiscation of all our properties, including Baha'i cemeteries. A similar step has been taken in respect to the Baha'i hospital in Tihran, known as the Mithaqiyyih Hospital.

As a result of the recent disturbances, local revolutionary committees in Iran have instigated, in rural areas, the looting of the homes of several hundred Baha'i families and the deprivation of their means of livelihood. Although a partial restitution of these properties has taken place, adequate compensation for the losses sustained by the Baha'is has yet to be made.

Efforts are made to silence the religious conscience of the Baha'is, as they are threatened with dismissal from their jobs and loss of their retirement allowances if they refuse to recant their Faith.

Shirkat-i-Nawnahalan, a commercial company of sixty years' standing, in which over 15,000 Baha'is have shares and investments, is occupied, its assets frozen, and its staff prevented from work, and denied their salaries. This action contradicts public proclamations of the new regime as well as accepted international standards.

The proposed drafts of the new constitution as published in the press recognize three religious minorities, but omit mention of the Baha'is, in spite of the fact that they are the largest religious minority in the country.