September 26. On this date in 1957, Shoghi Effendi wrote "we cannot accept as believers those who are openly" engaged in "companionate marriage."

 

September 26. On this date in 1957, Shoghi Effendi wrote "we cannot accept as believers those who are openly" engaged in "companionate marriage."

1275. Companionate Marriage and Flagrantly Immoral Relationships
"Regarding companionate marriage and flagrant immorality, we quote below two passages from letters written on behalf of the Guardian:
'The Guardian has instructed me to say that companionate marriage, where there is no legal or religious marriage, is an immoral relationship and we cannot accept as believers those who are openly behaving in this way.' (To the NSA of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay, dated September 26, 1957)
'As regards flagrantly immoral relationships, such as a man living with a mistress, this should be brought to his attention in a loving manner, and he should be urged to either marry the woman if he is free to do so, or to give up this conduct, so detrimental to the Faith and to his own spiritual progress.'" (To the NSA of Central America, dated February 9, 1957)
(From a letter of the Universal House of Justice to the National Spiritual Assembly of Paraguay, November 21, 1967)

September 26. On this date in 1962, the Custodians wrote all Hands of the Cause of God about updated demographics and listed further individuals expelled for supporting Mason Remey's claim of being the Second Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith.

September 26. On this date in 1962, the Custodians wrote all Hands of the Cause of God about updated demographics and listed further individuals expelled for supporting Mason Remey's claim of being the Second Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith.

To All Hands of the Cause of God
September 26, 1962
As our beloved Guardian's Plan speeds to an end, news of additional victories continues to brighten the closing months.
Plans for the World Convention and World Congress are progressing at an increased pace. The Hands of the Faith and the members of the [International Bahá'í Council are working more closely than ever during these golden days still remaining of our beloved Guardian's World-Conquering Crusade.
India reports 34,000 believers, over 20,000 since Ridvan; Central and East Africa over 42,000. Borneo Island now has over 6,000 new believers since Ridvan, 3,000 in the past two months. There were 115 new believers among the San Blas Indians in Panama during the past month. One entire island of the San Blas group, named Islapino, has been conquered for the Faith, and four new Indian areas have been opened up there. The first Indian community in Argentina has been enrolled in the Faith across the border from Bolivia. The first all-Indian Local Assembly of Brazil was established in Logoa Grande. In England they have enrolled over 120 new believers since June, nearly as many as during the entire last year, which was a record year. This greatly increased effort is supported by no less than 100 fireside meetings each week.
Such victories have brought in their wake, as expected, increased attacks and opposition from the enemies. Two members of the National Spiritual Assembly of Chile, residing in Loncoche, Fabienne. Guillon and Sr. Pallés,1 have become Covenant-breakers, supporting the false claims of Mason Remey. Both have been expelled. Mr. and Mrs. James Barrett of Panama, daughter and son-in-law of Fabienne Guillon, have also been expelled from the Faith for similar reasons. It has been reported that the Local Spiritual Assembly of Loncoche is following Guillon and Pallés. Faizi and Board member Mas'ud Khamsi are in Loncoche, Chile now to make an investigation. We are awaiting their report, and shall keep you informed.
The Remey supporters are sending out a flood of correspondence, re-peating the same things over and over; this material includes a printed 52-page booklet by Remey which is a duplicate of all the things he said in 1960 and has been parroting since.
This brings you up to date on the activities of these Covenant-breakers. If you have any additional items to report, or have evidence of any increased activity, or the presence or movement of any of these enemies, we would appreciate immediate and regular reports.
Both the National Spiritual Assembly of Colombia and of Belgium have received official status from their respective governments during the past months.
The reports from the summer schools around the world all speak of the new spirit of enthusiasm and dedication, and many speak of the astonishing number of enrolments which took place during the sessions.
We shall remember you in our prayers at the sacred Shrines.
With warmest Bahá'í love,
In the service of the beloved Guardian,
HANDS OF THE CAUSE IN THE HOLY LAND
1 The expulsion of Sr. Jorgé Pallés was based on information at hand. It was later clarified that he had not accepted Mason Remey and was therefore reinstated (see p. 376). That a letter had been written by seven members of the Loncoche community in support of Remey was proved to be incorrect.

September 26. On this date in 1969, the Universal House of Justice wrote, "The reports we have received on summer school sessions held in Europe this year indicate that some of them spend undue time on philosophic and esoteric subjects and insufficient emphasis on the Bahá'í Faith and its Teachings."

September 26. On this date in 1969, the Universal House of Justice wrote, "The reports we have received on summer school sessions held in Europe this year indicate that some of them spend undue time on philosophic and esoteric subjects and insufficient emphasis on the Bahá'í Faith and its Teachings."

1892. Undue Time Should Not Be Spent on Philosophic and Esoteric Subjects
"The reports we have received on summer school sessions held in Europe this year indicate that some of them spend undue time on philosophic and esoteric subjects and insufficient emphasis on the Bahá'í Faith and its Teachings."
"The beloved Guardian stressed that one of the important purposes of Bahá'í summer schools is to deepen the knowledge of the believers in the history and Teachings of the Faith so that they can become better teachers. To this end he emphasized the study of Islam and the Qur'an so that the friends would have a background against which to study the Bahá'í Writings, and he urged study of the principles of Bahá'í Administration.
"In addition he stated that summer schools should become high occasions for teaching the Message. To an individual believer he wrote: 'Through daily association with the believers, non-Bahá'ís will come to see the Cause functioning as an active and living community entirely dedicated to the service of what is best and highest in the world. The lectures will familiarize them with the principles underlying the New World Order, while their participation in the social life of the believers will enable them to see the way in which these very same principles are put into operation.'
"It is requested that National Assemblies review summer school and winter school curricula in light of these important principles. At this time, when the prosecution of the Nine Year Plan to final victory is of supreme importance, it is also urged that during summer school sessions opportunities be provided to impress upon the believers the urgent need for pioneering and teaching.
"We pray that summer schools may become increasingly effective in educating the friends so that they in turn may become useful channels for the diffusion of the Divine fragrances."
(From a letter of the Universal House of Justice to all National Spiritual Assemblies of Europe, September 26, 1969)

September 26. On this date in 1877, Siegfried Schopflocher, a Hand of the Cause of God, was born. The youngest of 18 children, he was raised an Orthodox Jew in Germany, and later became a Bahá’í at Green Acre after having emigrated to Canada. A 1936 letter by Shoghi Effendi states that "it was mainly due to his unfailing and most generous assistance that the Temple in Wilmette was built."

September 26. On this date in 1877, Siegfried Schopflocher, a Hand of the Cause of God, was born. The youngest of 18 children, he was raised an Orthodox Jew in Germany, and later became a Bahá’í at Green Acre after having emigrated to Canada. A 1936 letter by Shoghi Effendi states that "it was mainly due to his unfailing and most generous assistance that the Temple in Wilmette was built."

Here is an article about Siegfried Schopflocher from the Bahá’í Encyclopedia Project.

On September 25, 1936, Shoghi Effendi wrote the following introduction to the National Spiritual Assembly of India...

Visit of Mr. Schopflocher to India
I am addressing you these few lines on behalf of our beloved Guardian to ask you to kindly inform your fellow-members in the Indian N.S.A. of the happy news of the projected visit of dear Mr. Siegfried Schopflocher to India, and to request you to take any step that your Assembly deems advisable in order to make his journey as fruitful and abundant in its results as possible.
Mr. Siegfried Schopflocher is not in need of any introduction, as his long and manifold services to the Cause in America and particularly his generous and unfailing support of the local, national as well as international Baha'i funds, have endeared him to all the friends, whether in the East or in the West.
For many years he has been a member of the American N.S.A. and he contributed no small part in the steady development and consolidation of the Administration ever since the early days of its establishment in the States. He is indeed an outstanding champion of the Administration not only in America but also in the West, and has proved in deeds his profound attachment and loyalty to all its principles, laws and institutions.
His name will be ever associated with the beloved Temple in Wilmette. Had it not been for the continued and whole-hearted support, both financial and moral, which he so generously extended to it, that edifice could have never been reared so steadily and efficiently. The friends will always remember with deep gratitude the eminent services he has rendered the Faith in this connection.
In view of these labours so devotedly accomplished, the Guardian wishes your Assembly to urge the friends to draw full benefit from Mr. Schopflocher's visit to India. He is confident that you will extend to him a most hearty welcome, and will, through association with him, draw fresh strength and inspiration in your arduous labours for the Cause.
September 25, 1936

September 26. On this date in 1976, the Universal House of Justice addressed a letter to the International Teaching Conference participants in Nairobi noting "that in addition to Quddús the only other companion of the Báb on His pilgrimage to Mecca was an Ethiopian, and that he and his wife were intimately associated with Him and His household in Shiraz."

September 26. On this date in 1976, the Universal House of Justice addressed a letter to the International Teaching Conference participants in Nairobi noting "that in addition to Quddús the only other companion of the Báb on His pilgrimage to Mecca was an Ethiopian, and that he and his wife were intimately associated with Him and His household in Shiraz."

The Universal House of Justice
26 September 1976
To the Friends gathered at the International Conference in Nairobi
Beloved Friends,
The flames of enthusiasm which ignited the hearts of the followers and lovers of the Most Great Name in Helsinki, in Anchorage and in Paris are now being kindled in a city which occupies a central and envied position at the very crossroads of the vast African mainland and are destined to illumine its horizons. This Conference marking the imminent approach of the midway point of the Five Year Plan which coincides with the anniversary of the birth of the Blessed Báb, will no doubt go down in Bahá’í history as a further landmark in the irresistible march of events which have characterized the impact of the Faith of God upon that continent.
We recall that in addition to Quddús the only other companion of the Báb on His pilgrimage to Mecca was an Ethiopian, and that he and his wife were intimately associated with Him and His household in Shiraz. During the Ministry of Bahá’u’lláh a few of His stalwart disciples reached the northeastern shores of Africa, and under His direct guidance, announced the glad tidings of the New Day to the people of the Nile, thus opening to the Faith two countries of the African mainland. Soon afterwards, His blessed person approached those shores in the course of His exile to the Holy Land. Still later He voiced His significant utterance in which He compared the colored people to “the black pupil of the eye,” through which “the light of the spirit shineth forth.” Just over six years after His ascension, the first member of the black race to embrace His Cause in the West, who was destined to become a disciple of ‘Abdu’lBahá, a herald of the Kingdom, and the door through which numberless members of his race were to enter that Kingdom, came on pilgrimage to the Holy Land with the first group of Western friends who arrived in ‘Akká to visit the Center of the Covenant. This was followed by a steady extension of the teaching work among the black people of North America, and the opening to the Faith, by the end of the Heroic Age, of two more countries in Africa, under the watchful care of the Master, Whose three visits to Egypt have blessed the soil of that Continent. Prior to the conclusion of the first Bahá’í century the number of countries opened to the Faith had been raised to seven, and the teaching work among the black race in North America had entered a new phase of development through the continuous guidance flowing from the pen of Shoghi Effendi, who himself traversed the African continent twice from south to north, and who, in the course of his ministry, elevated two members of the black race to the rank of Hand of the Cause, appointed three more believers residing in Africa to that high office, and there raised up four National Spiritual Assemblies.
At the beginning of the Ten Year Crusade the number of countries opened to the Faith had reached twenty-four, including those opened under the aegis of the Two Year African Campaign coordinated by the British National Spiritual Assembly. The Ten Year Plan opened the rest of Africa to the light of God’s Faith, and today we see with joy and pride in that vast continent and its neighboring islands the establishment of four Boards of Counselors, thirty-four National Spiritual Assemblies—firm pillars of God’s Administrative Order—and over 2800 Local Spiritual Assemblies, nuclei of a growing Bahá’í society.
Africa, a privileged continent with a past rich in cherished associations, has reached its present stage of growth through countless feats of heroism and dedication. Before us unfolds the vision of the future. “Africa,” the beloved Guardian assures us in one of the letters written on his behalf, “is truly awakening and finding herself, and she undoubtedly has a great message to give, and a great contribution to make to the advancement of world civilization. To the degree to which her peoples accept Bahá’u’lláh will they be blessed, strengthened and protected.”
The realization of this glorious destiny requires that the immediate tasks be worthily discharged, and the pressing challenges and urgent requirements of the Five Year Plan be wholeheartedly and effectively met and satisfied. As the forces of darkness in that part of the world wax fiercer, and the problems facing its peoples and tribes become more critical, the believers in that continent must evince greater cohesion, scale loftier heights of heroism and self-sacrifice and demonstrate higher standards of concerted effort and harmonious development.
During the brief thirty months separating us from the end of the Plan, Africa must once again distinguish itself among its sister continents through a vast increase in the number of its believers, its Local Spiritual Assemblies and its localities opened to the Faith, and by accelerating the process of entry by troops throughout its length and breadth. The deepening of the faith, of the understanding and of the spiritual life of its individual believers must gather greater momentum; the foundations of its existing Local Spiritual Assemblies must be more speedily consolidated; the number of local Hazíratu’l-Quds and of local endowments called for in the Plan must be soon acquired; the Bahá’í activities of women and of youth must be systematically stimulated; the Bahá’í education of the children of the believers must continuously be encouraged; the basis of the recognition that the institutions of the Faith have succeeded in obtaining from the authorities must steadily be broadened; mass communication facilities must be used far more frequently to teach and proclaim the Faith; and the publication and dissemination of the essential literature of the Faith must be given much greater importance. Above all it is imperative that in ever greater measure each individual believer should realize the vital need to subordinate his personal advantages to the overall welfare of the Cause, to awaken and reinforce his sense of responsibility before God to promote and protect its vital interests at all costs, and to renew his total consecration and dedication to His glorious Faith, so that, himself enkindled with the flames of its holy fire, he may, in concert with his fellow-believers, ignite the light of faith and certitude in the hearts of his family, his tribe, his countrymen and all the peoples of that mighty continent, in preparation for the day when Africa’s major contribution to world civilization will become fully consummated.
We fervently pray at the Holy Shrines that these hopes and aspirations may soon come true, and that the “pure-hearted” and “spiritually receptive” people of Africa may draw ever nearer to the spirit of Bahá’u’lláh, and may become shining examples of self-abnegation, of courage and of love to the supporters of the Most Great Name in every land.
[signed: The Universal House of Justice]

September 25. On this date 1989, the Universal House of Justice wrote about the function and importance of "Bahá’í review."

September 25. On this date 1989, the Universal House of Justice wrote about the function and importance of "Bahá’í review."

The Universal House of Justice


Department of the Secretariat
25 September 1989

[To an individual]

Dear Bahá’í Friend,

The Universal House of Justice has received your letter of 7 June 1989, concerning a writing project which you had been contemplating in collaboration with a professional filmmaker and writer who is not a Bahá’í, and we have been asked to send you the following reply with an expression of regret for the delay due to pressure of work.

Given the long history and overwhelming current examples of repression in the world, it is not surprising that in a country like the United States, which upholds freedom of speech as a cardinal principle, the non-Bahá’í collaborator in a filmmaking project, such as you have described, would be concerned about any perceived, or misperceived, notion of censorship. As you know, review of manuscripts before publication is a discipline which the Bahá’í community applies to its own members as a temporary necessity, for it is anticipated that in due time this practice will cease. The reason is simple: At this early stage in the development of the Bahá’í Faith, which is striving against great odds to establish itself in a world that is highly critical, often antagonistic towards new ideas, and whose communications media tend to emphasize negative information, it is important that Bahá’í authors, scriptwriters and filmmakers endeavor to present the Faith with accuracy and dignity. It is one thing for a non-Bahá’í to make erroneous statements about the Faith; this can be excused on the basis of ignorance. But for a Bahá’í to make such errors is quite a different thing, because he is considered to be knowledgeable about that which he espouses.

Therefore, a Bahá’í author is expected to ensure to the extent possible a correct representation of the Faith in his work; as an aid he draws upon the reviewing facilities provided by Bahá’í institutions. A great many authors spontaneously and informally submit their manuscripts to a type of review, although they would not necessarily call it that, when they request the comments and criticisms of persons whose expertise and judgment they respect. Submission to Bahá’í review is no greater a requirement, and may well be less demanding in most cases, than the rigorous review of scientific papers before their publication. In the same way that scientists have acceded to the discipline of review in the interest of ensuring the precision and integrity of their dissertations, Bahá’í authors respect the function of review in the Bahá’í community.

The Bahá’í Faith makes very serious claims and has a rich and complex history, but it is as yet a young religion whose precepts are not widely understood. It has been undergoing severe persecution in the land of its birth and is experiencing serious opposition in other places where its detractors have no compunction in misrepresenting its purposes. Until its history, teachings and practices are well known throughout the world, it will be necessary for the Bahá’í community to make efforts within itself to present correct information about the Faith in books, films or other media. This can and must be done without violating the principle of freedom of expression, which, according to the teachings of the Faith, is a vital right of all persons.

It is not necessary for Bahá’í authors to make an issue of the function of review with others with whom they wish to collaborate, because it is not required of non-Bahá’ís, though they can, if they wish,

call upon Bahá’í reviewing facilities when dealing with Bahá’í topics. Although the function of review in the Bahá’í community is concerned with checking an author’s exposition of the Faith and its teachings, this function is not to be confused with evaluation of the literary merit of a work or of its value as a publication, which are normally the prerogative of the publisher. With or without review, the work presented by a Bahá’í to a non-Bahá’í collaborator will, it is presumed, be judged by that collaborator on its merits.

The House of Justice hopes that these points will clarify your thoughts on the function of review in the Bahá’í community.

With loving Bahá’í greetings,

Department of the Secretariat

September 25. On this date in 1933, Shoghi Effendi wrote, "Without the assistance of God, as given through the message of Bahá'u'lláh, peace can never be safely and adequately established. To disregard the Bahá'í solution for world peace is to build on foundations of sand."

September 25. On this date in 1933, Shoghi Effendi wrote, "Without the assistance of God, as given through the message of Bahá'u'lláh, peace can never be safely and adequately established. To disregard the Bahá'í solution for world peace is to build on foundations of sand."

1422. To Disregard the Bahá'í Solution for Peace is to Build on Foundations of Sand
"...He is firmly convinced that through perseverance and concerted action the cause of Peace will eventually triumph over all the dark forces which threaten the welfare and progress of the world to-day. But such purely human attempts are undoubtedly ineffective unless inspired and guided by the power of faith. Without the assistance of God, as given through the message of Bahá'u'lláh, peace can never be safely and adequately established. To disregard the Bahá'í solution for world peace is to build on foundations of sand. To accept and apply it is to make peace not a mere dream, or an ideal, but a living reality. This is the point which the Guardian wishes you to develop, to emphasize again and again, and to support by convincing arguments. The Bahá'í peace program is, indeed, not only one way of attaining that goal. It is not even relatively the best. It is, in the last resort, the sole effective instrument for the establishment of the reign of peace in this world. This attitude does not involve any total repudiation of other solutions offered by various philanthropists. It merely shows their inadequacy compared to the Divine Plan for the unification of the world. We cannot escape the truth that nothing mundane can in the last resort be enduring, unless supported and sustained through the power of God."
(From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, September 25, 1933: Ibid.)