Message to the Seminar on the Spiritual Axis, Sydney, Australia

12 February 1997

The National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Australia

We convey our warmest greetings to the friends from Australia, Japan and other countries of the Pacific who have come together at the Seminar on the Spiritual Axis being held in Sydney under the auspices of the National Spiritual Assemblies of Australia and Japan.

This meeting is being convened at a time when the creative energies released by Bahá'u'lláh are giving rise to fundamental changes in the condition of humanity in your region, breaking down age-old barriers to the spread of the Faith and propelling the believers forward to gather the harvest from seeds sown as long ago as the concluding years of the Apostolic Age of the Cause.

The spiritual axis with which your deliberations will be concerned lies in an area of great strategic value to the future progress of the Faith. It is positioned at the interface between the largest and most populous land mass in the world and an ocean extending over no less than one third of diverse cultures. Sustained pursuit of the teaching work will not only immensely reinforce the human resources available to the Cause, but will also, in due course, attract worldwide attention to the Faith through the influence of the Teachings on the peoples of the small island nations of the Pacific.

It is our hope that, at this meeting, you will consolidate the basis for collaboration in the years and decades ahead through consultation on the challenges and opportunities which now lie before you, and through further reinforcement of the bonds of love and fellowship which unite you in your services to the Faith. By the formulation of plans for cooperative endeavors aimed at strengthening the national communities of this region and fulfilling the needs of the Four Year Plan, you can lay the foundation for dazzling victories in the future.

Our prayers will be offered in the Holy Shrines for the success of your consultations.

The Universal House of Justice

(Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1986-2001)

Passing of Hushang Ahdieh, Former Continental Counselor

6 February 1997

The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Canada

PROFOUNDLY GRIEVED PASSING DEARLY LOVED SERVANT FAITH, HUSHANG AHDIEH. HIS INDEFATIGABLE PIONEER SERVICES AFRICA, INCLUDING OVER TWO DECADES MEMBERSHIP CONTINENTAL BOARD COUNSELORS THAT CONTINENT, AND TRUSTEE ITS FUND UNFORGETTABLE HIS SELF-EFFACEMENT. HIS CAPACITY PROMOTE CONCORD, AND HIS WISDOM COMBINED WITH LOVE EXEMPLIFIED IN DISCHARGE HIS SACRED RESPONSIBILITIES WILL REMAIN SOURCE INSPIRATIONS HIS COLLEAGUES AND FELLOW WORKERS GOD’S HOLY CAUSE.

CONVEY HIS BELOVED WIFE AND DEAR CHILDREN DEEPEST SYMPATHY AND ASSURANCE OUR FERVENT PRAYERS IN HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HIS RADIANT SOUL ABHA KINGDOM.

ADVISING NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY UGANDA HOLD MEMORIAL GATHERING HIS HONOR IN HOUSE WORSHIP KAMPALA. AND NATIONAL ASSEMBLIES THROUGHOUT AFRICA HOLD BEFITTING GATHERINGS THEIR COMMUNITIES.

THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE

(Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1986-2001)

Call for Contributions to the Bahai International Fund

4 February 1997

To National Spiritual Assemblies

Dear Bahá’í Friends,

With the Four Year Plan successfully launched and the believers in all parts of the world engaged in the energetic pursuit of its objectives, the Universal House of Justice has decided that it is timely to inform you of the state of the international funds of the Faith. We have been asked to convey the following to you.

As you are well aware, the major focus of attention for the past several years has been the Arc Projects Fund, with the friends summoned to provide financial support for the largest project ever undertaken by the worldwide Bahá’í community. The response of the followers of Bahá’u’lláh in every part of the planet has been magnificent, resulting in a sacrificial outpouring of contributions of a magnitude far beyond that ever previously achieved. The House of Justice was pleased to be able to announce in its Ridván 1996 message the accomplishment of the Three Year Plan goal of 74 million U.S. dollars for that Fund.

It appears that the contribution of ten million dollars each year until the end of the century for the Arc Projects Fund, now being made by the believers in response to the call of the House of Justice set out in its letter of 20 June 1995, will be sufficient to meet the needs for completion of this enterprise, although there always remains the possibility of unforeseen disturbances in the years ahead modifying this projection. The planning and execution of the vast undertaking on Mount Carmel is being carried out with careful attention to economy, without compromising the high standards of construction befitting the edifices and terraces on the Mountain of God.

Mason Remey and those who followed him

31 January 1997

To National Spiritual Assemblies

Dear Bahá'í Friends,

In recent years advertisements have occasionally appeared in newspapers in various countries, placed by the Covenant-breaker Joel Bray Marangella, seeking to revive his claim to be the "third Guardian of the Faith." This activity could provoke questions among the friends, especially those unfamiliar with the developments associated with the actions of Mason Remey, who broke the Covenant by proclaiming himself the successor to Shoghi Effendi as Guardian. The Universal House of Justice has therefore directed us to send you a copy of a document containing background information on these developments, entitled "Mason Remey and Those Who Followed Him", which was prepared for its files some years ago. You are free to use it now or in the future, in any manner circumstances may require, to provide the friends with the facts it contains.

With loving Bahá'í greetings,

For Department of the Secretariat

Enclosure

cc:  The Hands of the Cause of God

     International Teaching Centre

     Continental Counsellors

(Baha’i Library Online)

Mason Remey and those who followed him

Four Bahá’í Prisoners in Iran Sentenced to Death

28 January 1997

To selected National Spiritual Assemblies

The Universal House of Justice has received the disturbing news from Iran that Mr. Dhabíhu’lláh Mahramí and Mr. Músá Tálibí, both of whom had been condemned to death for apostasy and had appealed against their unjust sentences, have been notified that the Supreme Court of Iran has confirmed the death sentences imposed by the Revolutionary Courts.

This news was received by relatives of Mr. Mahramí and Mr. Tálibí during prison visits. It has been the practice of the Iranian authorities to convey verdicts orally to prisoners, and not to give them a copy of the actual text of the court decision.

A worrying development is that Mr. Tálibí, until now in prison in Isfahán, has been transferred to the notorious Evin Prison in Tihrán. Similarly, Mr. Mahramí has been moved within Yazd, from the prison of the Revolutionary Court to that of the Security and Information Department. . . .

Our letters of 2 April 1996 and 27 September 1996 give details of the cases of Mr. Mahramí and Mr. Tálibí respectively, and the update on the situation in Iran sent by the United Nations Office of the Bahá’í International Community earlier this month provides further information. We have recently received the following personal details from the Friends in Iran. Mr. Mahramí is married and has four children, three daughters, two married and one unmarried, and one unmarried son; Mr. Tálibí is in his mid sixties, is married and has a family of adult children, two of whom live in Canada, one in Australia and the others in the family’s home town of Víláshahr, Ifahán.

There are two more Bahá’ís presently under the death sentence in Iran because of their beliefs, Mr. Kayván Khalajábádí and Mr. Bihnám Mítháqí, who were first arrested in 1989, and have been kept in prison in suspense since that time.

Department of the Secretariat

(Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1986-2001)

Acquisition of apartment in Paris, France where ‘Abdu’l-Bahá stayed

28 October 1996

To the National and Regional Spiritual Assemblies in Europe

Dear Baha’i Friends,

The Universal House of Justice has asked us to inform you all of the outstanding achievement recently accomplished by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of France: the acquisition for the Cause of God of the apartment at 4, Avenue de Camoens in Paris in which ‘Abdu'l-Bahá stayed during His historic visit to the city.

This marks the first step in the acquisition of sites sanctified by the residence of the Master in the cities of Europe during the three visits He made to that continent, between 1911 and 1913, for the purpose of spreading the Message of Bahá'u'lláh, sites which are second only in holiness to those places in Istanbul and Edirne where the Manifestation of God Himself blessed the soil of the European continent.

With loving Baha’i greetings,

For Department of the Secretariat

(Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1986-2001)

Process of Entry by Troops

16 September 1996

The National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Austria

Dear Bahá’í Friends,

The Universal House of Justice was very pleased to receive your letter of 30 July 1996 enclosing the announcement to all the friends in Austria of the goals you have adopted for the Four Year Plan. The clarity with which you have set them forth and your emphasis on the respective responsibilities of the institutions, the communities and the individual believers should greatly assist the friends in acquiring a vision of what is to be achieved, and their own part in the work.

You may still find that some believers have difficulty in accurately comprehending the concept of entry by troops. It may help you, when you encounter such problems, to stress the point made by the Universal House of Justice in its various messages, namely that arriving at the point of entry by troops, and then fostering it, is a process. It is the advancement of this process that is the goal of the Four Year Plan, and the exact steps to be taken in each area will depend upon how far the process has already developed by now. An essential element of the process is the preparation of the Baha’i communities and individual believers and their training in the knowledge, not only of how to prayerfully attract receptive souls and to bring entry by troops about but, equally important, how to consolidate the gains so that it becomes an enduring development. No doubt you have this aspect of the Plan clearly in mind in the goal of establishing training institutes, which you have assigned to your own Assembly, and in which the Counselor and Auxiliary Board members will closely collaborate with you.

Seventy-fifth Anniversary of the Baha’i Faith in Brazil

22 August 1996              

To all National Spiritual Assemblies

Dear Baha’i Friends,

It is with feelings of deep gratitude to Bahá’u’lláh that we share with the Baha’i world the news of a historic event which has just transpired in Brazil. As representative of the Baha’i World Center, the Hand of the Cause of God Amatu'l-Bahá Rúhíyyih Khanum attended, as honored guest, a special session of the Brazilian Federal Chamber of Deputies called for the purpose of marking the 75th anniversary of the introduction of the Baha’i Faith into that country. Glowing tribute was paid to the life and work of Amatu’l-Bahá herself, as a defender of the cause of world peace and unity, an advocate of the interests of indigenous peoples, and a promoter of the social development of the earth’s inhabitants and the safeguarding of the environment.

The session was attended by 90 Federal Deputies and was reported by both the press and the broadcast media. The addresses of the 14 Deputies who spoke included many appreciations of both the principles of the Faith and the benefits that their application has already brought to many localities in the country. Highly gratifying, too, was the recognition expressed of the role of Leonora Holsapple Armstrong, the Baha’i pioneer through whose sacrificial efforts the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh was established in Brazil.

Maturation of Baha’i institutions and of the members of those institutions

17 July 1996

To a National Spiritual Assembly

Dear Bahá’í Friends,

Your email message of 24 June 1996… regarding the distinction between maturation of Baha’i institutions and of the members of those institutions, was forwarded to the Universal House of Justice, which has asked us to reply as follows.

Maturation should be regarded as a process of evolution which is destined to lead to the stage when the institutions become developed and capable of accomplishing the great tasks assigned them for achieving the ultimate unfoldment of the Baha’i World Order.

There is, of course, a close link between the maturation of the individual members and that of the institutions. While the process of evolution which maturation entails is equally applicable to individuals, it should be remembered that even when all members may be highly developed in terms of Baha’i virtues and spiritual qualities, the collective entity itself needs time to evolve and achieve maturity as an institution. This evolutionary process requires the unwavering support of individuals through considerable courage and vigilance in demonstrating their love, respect and trust for the institutions, as well as loyal obedience to the decisions made by them.

Shoghi Effendi stated, in a letter written on his behalf to an individual believer, that difficulties and evidences of immaturity seem to be an inevitable phase in the growth of the Bahá’í Administration, which is so much more perfect than the believers called upon to establish it.

We hope that the above thoughts will be helpful to you in obtaining the enlightenment sought by your Assembly on this important subject.

With loving Baha’i greetings,

Department of the Secretariat

(Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1986-2001)

Formation of Two New National Spiritual Assemblies

15 February 1996

To all National Spiritual Assemblies

Dear Baha’i Friends,

We take great joy in announcing the formation next Ridván of two new National Spiritual Assemblies, one in Africa and one in Europe:

The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Sao Tomé and Príncipe with its seat in São Tomé, whose inaugural National Convention is being organized by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Nigeria.

The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Moldova with its seat in Chisinau, whose inaugural National Convention is being organized by the Regional Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the Ukraine and Moldova.

The Regional Spiritual Assembly of the Ukraine and Moldova with its seat in Kiev will become the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the Ukraine.

We are delighted by these further evidences of the extension of the institutions of Bahá’u’lláh’s Administrative Order as the conclusion of the Three Year Plan approaches. May the friends throughout the world derive fresh impetus from these developments and, with confidence in the assurance of Bahá’u’lláhs confirmations and assistance, concentrate their energies on spreading His redemptive Message.

With loving Baha’i greetings.

The Universal House of Justice

(Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1986-2001)