October 25. On this date in 1949, Shoghi Effendi wrote Henk Buys, stating "It would be a wonderful service to the Faith if you can find some way of having the book Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era translated into Malay."

October 25. On this date in 1949, Shoghi Effendi wrote Henk Buys, stating "It would be a wonderful service to the Faith if you can find some way of having the book Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era translated into Malay" and "As Mr. Remey is a very charming and cultivated man he could be introduced to your circle of friends and give them lectures on the Cause in a way that would not savour of any propaganda, but rather seem a privilege to those who met him."

40: Henk Buys, 25 October 1949

Dear Bahá’í Brother:[81]

Our beloved Guardian was very happy to receive your letter of October 2, and also to hear you are going out to Indonesia.

You can do an immense lot of good for the Faith there by teaching people whom you find open-minded and receptive to the wonderful message of Bahá’u’lláh.

He urges you to get in touch with:

Mr, Rustam Sabet, P.O. Box 19, New Delhi, India, who is the secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of India, Pakistan and Burma. There is already one pioneer from India in Indonesia, and if you can see him, or write to him, after obtaining from Mr. Sabet his address, your cooperation would be very useful, as of course this believer is of oriental background,[82]

It would be a wonderful service to the Faith if you can find some way of having the book Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era translated into Malay.

It is wonderful to think that whereas a few months ago there were no Bahá’ís in Indonesia, there will now be three, two from Holland and one from India.[83] God truly moves in mysterious ways to carry His Faith to suffering humanity!

It is just possible that Mr. Charles Mason Remey may be able to visit, on his world tour, Indonesia. Mr. Sabet can inform you of this. As Mr. Remey is a very charming and cultivated man he could be introduced to your circle of friends and give them lectures on the Cause in a way that would not savour of any propaganda, but rather seem a privilege to those who met him.

The Guardian assures you of his prayers for the success of your work out there, and also for dear Mrs. Buys.[84]

With warmest greetings, R. Rabbání

P.S. In view of the great importance of having some literature in Malay the Guardian urges you, and the other two pioneers out there, to make every effort to have at least a small pamphlet translated and printed as soon as possible. He would like to receive some copies of this for the Bahá’í libraries in Haifa and Bahjí as soon as they are available.

May the Almighty bless richly your efforts in the new field opening before you, remove all obstacles from your path, and aid you to lay a strong and unassailable foundation for the institutions of His Faith, your true brother, Shoghi

[81] Henk and Marie Buys became Bahá’ís in Amsterdam in 1949. See also letter 23 November 1947. That same year, Buys informed the Guardian that he intended to return to the East Indies. Times had changed however. Right after the end of World War II, nationalists had declared the East Indies to be the Republic of Indonesia, but since the Dutch colonial power had not recognized this, a period of unrest, chaos and military confrontation had started. The colony was granted full independence in December 1949. Buys arrived there that same month.

[82] Apart from this Indian pioneer of Iranian background, Grosfeld also still lived in Java. See letter 29 June 1936.

[83] Buys travelled together with Jan Piet de Borst. The latter was the youngest of three children of an Indonesian mother and a Dutch father. On 3 August 1947, during a meeting at the house of Straub in Rotterdam and in the presence of Edna and Corinne True, De Borst had become ‘the first new Bahá’í in Holland’. Buys and De Borst stayed in Indonesia until early 1953. In July 1951 Buys was one of the four Bahá’í representatives to the UN Non-Governmental Organizations Regional Conferences held in Den Pasar on the island of Bali. At that occasion the Guardian cabled: PRAYERS SURROUNDING YOU - SHOGHI.

[84] Because of the unstable political situation Marie Buys and De Borst’s fiancee remained in Holland.

John Esslemont's book Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era remains an important text that has been used in Bahá'í missionary activity. However, from its initial publication to later editions, Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era has been significantly edited, with references to Avarih removed in subsequent editions published after Avarih's apostasy from the Bahá'í Faith.

 

Other significant edits include...

Perhaps the most important change in Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era was made on page 212 of the 1923 edition. Recorded as a Bahá'í prophecy (59) concerning the "Coming of the Kingdom of God," Esslemont cited Abdu'l-Bahá's interpretation of the last two verses of the Book of Daniel from the Bible. He stated that the 1335 days spoken of by Daniel represented 1335 solar years from Muhammad's flight to Medina in 622 A.D., which would equal 1957 A.D.. When asked "'What shall we see at the end of the 1335 days?'," Abdu'l-Bahá's reply was: "'Universal Peace will be firmly established, a Universal language promoted. Misunderstandings will pass away. The Bahá'í Cause will be promulgated in all parts and the oneness of mankind established. It will be most glorious!'" (60) In editions published after his death, Esslemont's words have been changed to say that Abdu'l-Bahá "reckoned the fulfillment of Daniel's prophecy from the date of the beginning of the Muhammadan era " (61) and one of Abdu'l-Bahá's Tablets is quoted on the same subject in which he writes, "'For according to this calculation a century will have elapsed from the dawn of the Sun of Truth....'" Esslemont appears to conclude that Abdu'l-Bahá was referring to the year 1963 and the one hundredth anniversary of Bahá'u'lláh's public claim to be a Manifestation of God. (62) These words, however, were never written by the author, but were added posthumously. And, it should be noted that the phrase "'the dawn of the Sun of Truth'" is not a reference to a particular year, in this case 1863, but to a period of years when the Bab and his followers were preparing the way for the Manifestation of Bahá'u'lláh. Hence, they are commonly referred to as the "Dawn-Breakers." (63) Further, in another quotation which originally appeared on the same page, but was also removed from later editions, Abdu'l-Bahá plainly stated, "' This is the Century of the Sun of Truth. This is the Century of the establishment of the Kingdom of God upon the earth.'" (64) Esslemont recorded Abdu'l-Bahá as declaring explicitly that the prophecy was to be computed from the Hijra or 622 A.D. and that specific conditions would exist in the world upon it's fulfillment in 1957. When it became apparent that this Bahá'í prophecy would not be fulfilled, it was replaced with the ambiguous material which has remained in the text to the present. This is evident from the fact that, although Esslemont's other eyewitness accounts were removed in the 1937 revision, the record of Abdu'l-Bahá's prophecy was left intact by the American National Spiritual Assembly and Shoghi Effendi. It was not changed until after 1957. (65) Also, Abdu'l-Bahá's conviction that all of these events would take place in this century have been expressed in other writings and it is evident that Shoghi Effendi shared his optimism as well. (66)