May 23. On this date in 1979, the Universal House of Justice sent a message to all National Spiritual Assemblies asking for "special prayers for the protection of the Faith and the believers in Iran."

May 23. On this date in 1979, the Universal House of Justice sent a message to all National Spiritual Assemblies asking for "special prayers for the protection of the Faith and the believers in Iran."

The Universal House of Justice

23 May 1979

To all National Spiritual Assemblies

Dear Bahá’í Friends,

Since you were last informed of the recent events in the Cradle of the Faith, news has been received of further persecutions directed against the beloved and steadfast friends.

Historic sites of the Faith, Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds of local communities, and other Bahá’í properties in several provinces of Iran have been seized and occupied by forces of the new revolutionary government. Among the more sacred of these properties are the Most Holy House of the Báb in Shiraz, ordained by Bahá’u’lláh to be a place of pilgrimage for His followers and regarded by them as the most hallowed Spot in that land, the Síyáh-Chál and two ancestral Houses of Bahá’u’lláh in Tehran and Tákur. Ominous signs of the intensification of active repression of the Faith are becoming evident, and the defenseless and vulnerable Persian Bahá’í community faces mounting perils to its Holy Places, institutions, properties and even the lives of its members.

We call on all believers in every land to offer special prayers for the protection of the Faith and the believers in Iran on the forthcoming anniversary of the Martyrdom of the Báb, on 9 July 1979, supplicating that through God’s loving grace this fresh wave of persecution may not seriously harm the interests of His Cause, and that He may remove the obstacles from the path of the friends, and provide the means for the protection of the Holy Places and institutions of His Faith.

As soon as the Secretariat of your Assembly receives this letter, immediate steps should be taken to inform all the friends under your jurisdiction of the contents of the letter so that as many believers as possible in every land may participate in this day of prayer on behalf of their beleaguered brethren in Iran.

With loving Bahá’í greetings,

[signed: The Universal House of Justice]