Message from the Hands of the Cause in the Holy Land
Kampala, Uganda
January 14, 1961
To the Hands of the Cause, Auxiliary Board Members, Members of National Assemblies, and believers attending the Dedication of the Mother Temple of Africa and the Africa Teaching Conference.
Beloved Friends:
On the historic occasion of the opening for public worship of the Mother Temple of Africa and the gathering together for the third time in a period of seven years, of so many African believers and Bahá'í guests from other countries, our hearts turn in thanksgiving to our beloved Guardian who made this great victory possible.
At the inception of the Ten Year Plan, coincident with the Centenary celebration of the birth of Bahá'u'lláh's Revelation, it was Africa which was chosen by Shoghi Effendi as the scene of the first of the four mighty Intercontinental Conferences which constituted part of the inauguration of that long-anticipated intercontinental stage in the administrative evolution of the Faith. On the occasion of that Conference he gave to Africa no less than 77 specific goals, almost all of which have already been achieved, and some far exceeded.
It was Africa which was once again given the honour of holding the first of the second series of Intercontinental Conferences called by Shoghi Effendi in celebration of the midway point of the World Crusade. It was Africa whose Temple was first ready to have its comer-stone laid, and receive the Sacred Dust from the holy Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh as his last loving gift.
As the Bahá'í Dispensation unfolds, the deep spiritual significance of this African Temple, the first Temple to be completed during the World Crusade, will be increasingly revealed. We should ponder the fact that the people of Africa have attracted the grace of Bahá'u'lláh to such a marked degree that after the construction in Asia -- the continent which has been the Cradle of the Manifestations of God -- of the first Bahá'í Temple to be erected, and the completion in America, the Cradle of the Administrative Order, of the second Bahá'í House of Worship, it was Africa which was singled out for the unique honour of completing the third Mother Temple to be raised in the name and to the glory of the Supreme Manifestation of God for this Day.
All the friends, particularly those who have come from Persia to attend the dedication of this blessed Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, should recall that in addition to its significance as the Mother Temple of Africa and the third of the Bahá'í world, it has a special, precious and most tender association with the long-suffering followers of Bahá'u'lláh in His native land. Our beloved Guardian, at a time when what he characterized as the worst crisis since the inception of the Formative Age of the Bahá'í Dispensation, was sweeping Persia, particularly stated that this Temple was to constitute a "supreme consolation" to our oppressed and valiant brethren in the Cradle of the Faith. How befitting that the majority of Bahá'ís present on this occasion should be of African and Persian extraction. How mysterious the link binding these two important branches of the Bahá'í family to each other -- on the one hand, the Community that gave over 20,000 martyrs to this glorious Cause, on the other the representatives of those spiritually fertile peoples, over 15,000 of whom have, in the brief space of nine years, flocked to the Standard of Bahá'u'lláh, arisen to teach His Faith in their own countries, and gone forth as pioneers in His Name throughout their vast continent.
In conjunction with the opening of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar to public worship, a teaching conference affording unique opportunities for consultation between (Amatu'l-Baha Ruhiyyih Khanum, representing the Hands at the World Centre, the African Hands of the Cause, Board members, Regional Assembly members, pioneers, teachers and believers, is being held. We feel particular attention should be given to the supreme task of mass conversion, and ways and means of extending this work, so dear to our Guardian's heart, as well as better methods of consolidating the communities being so rapidly formed, and deepening the new believers in knowledge and understanding of the teachings.
Shoghi Effendi's vision, his determination, his overwhelming confidence in the wonderful qualities of the African people have brought us to the present hour of consummation. Who can doubt that this fulfilment of his fondest hope, this fruition of his cherished plan for Africa -- the completion of this Mother Temple -- will now cast over the entire continent a mighty blessing, and release a new and powerful wave of spiritual vitality. To the great "silent teacher" in the heart of the American continent, as 'Abdu'l-Bahá called the first Temple of the Western World, standing on the shores of Lake Michigan and attracting more notice to the Faith each year, has now been added a sister edifice in the heart of Africa. Her message of Oneness will increasingly flow out over that continent and affect its people, consciously and unconsciously.
The African believers, as well as those pioneers from abroad who have settled among them and been so largely instrumental in propagating the Faith there, must seize upon this opportunity, when they are together in the shadow of this newly-completed House of Worship, and discuss their problems and plans exhaustively. They must ponder the spirit as well as the letter of the many precious instructions and words of encouragement they received from Shoghi Effendi and devise ways of carrying out the great tasks that lie ahead of them. They must remember this is only the beginning of the work in Africa; surveying what has been accomplished in seven years. With what joy and enthusiasm must they look forward to the future, with its new victories, its fresh conquests of men's hearts, which will widen the bases on which many independent African national bodies must rest -- national bodies to be established in the course of plans which must be undertaken during the years following the termination of the Ten Year Crusade. These future, glorious campaigns, will form a part, in the words of our beloved Guardian, of that "laborious and tremendously long process of establishing in the course of subsequent crusades in all the newly opened sovereign states, dependencies and islands of the planet, as well as in all the remaining territories of the globe, the framework of the Administrative Order of the Faith, with all its attendant agencies, and of eventually erecting in these territories still more pillars to share in sustaining the weight and in broadening the foundation of the Universal House of Justice."
How vast the scope for service which lies before the African believers, labouring in a continent comprising over fifty nations and territories, how great the part they must play in ushering in that blissful consummation described by him as "the long-awaited advent of the Christ-promised Kingdom of God on earth -- the Kingdom of Bahá'u'lláh -- mirroring however faintly upon this humble handful of dust the glories of the Abha Kingdom."
HANDS OF THE CAUSE IN THE HOLY LAND
(Ministry of the Custodians, pp. 250-252)