Dearly loved friends,
With hearts overflowing with love for the people of Africa,
so richly endowed with the gifts of the spirit, so abundantly and repeatedly
blessed since the dawn of this Revelation, and so gloriously promising in the
unfoldment of their hidden potentialities, we welcome the friends gathered at
this Conference held in one of the most important capitals of their emergent
continent.
As we review the annals of our Faith we see that since the
days of the Blessed Beauty and up to the early 1950s, the activities of the
friends in Africa had produced the formation of one National Spiritual Assembly
with its seat in Cairo, Egypt, the opening of 12 countries to the light of the
Faith, and some 50 localities established throughout its vast lands. It was at such a time that the beloved
Guardian ushered in the first African Teaching Plan, to be followed during the
remaining years of his ministry and in subsequent years after his passing, by a
series of challenging and bravely executed plans designed to implant the banner
of the Faith throughout the length and breadth of that continent and its
neighbouring islands. Today, after the
lapse of a little over three decades, we stand in awe as we view with
admiration one of the most valiant contingents of the Army of Light, guided by
its own Board of Counsellors, led and administered by 37 National Spiritual
Assemblies and 4990 Local Spiritual Assemblies, privileged to serve an eager
and radiant community of believers drawn from 1152 African tribes residing in
29,000 localities.
How wonderful that it has been possible to convene this
Conference on African soil with such a large number of African friends in
attendance, in loving memory of the most distinguished heroine of the Baha'i
Dispensation, the eldest daughter of the King of Glory, who lived a long life
of sacrificial service to the Cause of her Beloved Father. Her meekness, her
unassuming nature, the purity of her soul, the sensitivity of her heart, the
calmness of her demeanour, her patience and long-suffering in trials, and above
all, her unshakeable faith, her tenderness and love, and the spirit of
self-renunciation which she evinced throughout her blessed life, are
outstanding characteristics that we can well emulate, particularly in Africa,
where these heavenly qualities play such an important part in attracting the
souls and winning the hearts to the Cause of Baha'u'llah.
We rejoice in the knowledge that some communities have
already initiated in her name teaching and consolidation campaigns of
far-reaching magnitude; that many Baha'i women, inspired by her example, are
accepting an ever-greater share of responsibility in running the affairs of the
community; and that numerous newsletters are reflecting eulogies of the station
she occupied, the sufferings she endured, and the heroism she demonstrated in
her love for the glorious Cause of her Lord.
The fortunes of the Seven Year Plan in Africa are in the
balance. As we draw near to the midway point in the unfoldment of the processes
it has set in motion, we call upon its valiant promoters on the African
mainland and its surrounding islands, to take stock of their position, to
reappraise their progress, and to concentrate their resources on whatever
portions of the goals are as yet unachieved. Chief among its objectives are a
widespread recruitment of many more supporters of the Most Great Name, the
deepening of the individual believers, for the fulfilment of all goals
ultimately depends upon them, and a notable increase in the number of newly
formed as well as firmly rooted Local Spiritual Assemblies, to serve as bases
for the manifold activities of the community, including the Baha'i education of
children, a greater participation of women and youth in Baha'i activities, and
the formulation of ways and means to enrich the spiritual lives of the
"noble" and "pure-hearted" believers of a "FAST-AWAKENING
CONTINENT."
May the participants in this Conference carry to the mass of
their devoted fellow believers, whose personal circumstances have made it
impossible for them to attend, the spirit of joy and optimism which we hope
will be generated at this gathering and the flames of enthusiasm which we pray
will be enkindled in their hearts.
May the memory of the Greatest Holy Leaf, who through her
life of heroic self- sacrifice has left to us "a legacy that time can
never dim," inspire the friends in every country of the continent to
rededicate themselves to the Cause of God, not to allow any opportunity for
mentioning the Faith to slip by un-utilized, and not to permit one day of their
lives to pass without a noble effort to draw nearer to the good pleasure of the
Blessed Beauty.
Our fervent prayers surround you as you proceed with your
deliberations.
The Universal House of Justice
(‘Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1963-1986’)
