January 24. On this date in 1922, Herbert Samuel, the British High Commissioner for Palestine, addressed a letter to Shoghi Effendi proclaiming "I am much interested to learn of the measures that have been taken to provide for the stable organization of the Bahá'í Movement."

 

January 24. On this date in 1922, Herbert Samuel, the British High Commissioner for Palestine, addressed a letter to Shoghi Effendi proclaiming "I am much interested to learn of the measures that have been taken to provide for the stable organization of the Bahá'í Movement."

 
The receipt of the letter is mentioned in Amatu'l-Bahá Rúhíyyih Khánum's The Priceless Pearl.

While Shoghi Effendi was thus occupied and was gathering his powers and beginning to write letters such as these to the Bahá'ís in different countries, he received the following letter from the High Commissioner for Palestine, Sir Herbert Samuel, dated 24 January 1922:

Dear Mr. Rabbani,
I have to acknowledge receipt of your letter of Jan. 16., and to thank you for the kind expression it contains. It would be unfortunate if the ever to be lamented death of Sir 'Abdu'l-Bahá were to interfere with the completion of your Oxford career, and I hope that may not be the case. I am much interested to learn of the measures that have been taken to provide for the stable organization of the Bahá'í Movement. Should you be at any time in Jerusalem in would be a pleasure to me to see you here.
Yours sincerely,
Herbert Samuel

Herbert Louis Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel GCB OM GBE PC, was a British Liberal politician who was the party leader from 1931 to 1935. From July 1, 1920 to June 30, 1925 he served as High Commissioners for Palestine and Transjordan. As High Commissioner, he was the first Jew to govern the historic land of Israel in 2,000 years. His appointment was regarded by the Muslim-Christian Associations as the "first step in formation of Zionist national home in the midst of Arab people." Herbert Samuel welcomed the arrival of Jewish settlers under the auspices of the Palestine Jewish Colonization Association and recognized Hebrew as one of the three official languages of the Mandate territory.


During his time as High Commissioner, Herbert Samuel had a warm and extended relationship with Shoghi Effendi.

On December 19, 1922, four days after his return to Palestine after "his eight months' withdrawal," Shoghi Effendi cabled the High Commissioner for Palestine in Jerusalem: "Pray accept my best wishes and kind regards on my return to Holy Land and resumption of my official duties."
This communication is referred to on page 70 of Amatu'l-Bahá Rúhíyyih Khánum's The Priceless Pearl, in Chapter 2, titled The Passing of 'Abdu'l-Baha and its Immediate Consequences...

On 19 December 1922 Shoghi Effendi had wired to the High Commissioner for Palestine in Jerusalem: "Pray accept my best wishes and kind regards on my return to Holy Land and resumption of my official duties." As there must have been a considerable buzz of gossip, ardently fed no doubt by the Covenant-breakers, about his eight months' withdrawal, this was a carefully calculated move on Shoghi Effendi's part as well as an act of courtesy.

On June 15, 1925, two weeks before the end of his term as High Commissioner, Shoghi Effendi addressed a message to Sir Herbert Samuel, High Commissioner for Palestine, as described by Amatu'l-Bahá Rúhíyyih Khánum in The Heart and Nerve Centre in her book The Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith.

When Sir Herbert Samuel's term of office was drawing to a close the Guardian sent to him, on June 15, 1925, one of those messages that so effectively forged links of good will with the government, expressing his own and the Bahá'ís abiding sense of gratitude and deep appreciation of the "kind and noble attitude which Your Excellency has taken towards the various problems that have beset them since the passing of 'Abdu'l-Bahá ... The Bahá'ís ... remembering the acts of sympathy and good will which the Palestine Administration under your guidance has shown them in the past, will confidently endeavour to contribute their full share to the material prosperity as well as the spiritual advancement of a land so sacred and precious to them all."