Mirrored from www.bahai-library.org
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BAHÁ'U'LLÁH'S MISSION IS NOT LIMITED to the building of theBahá'í community.
The Revelation of God has come for the wholeof humanity, and it will win the
support of the institutions of society tothe extent that they find in its
example encouragement and inspiration fortheir efforts to lay the foundations
of a just society. To appreciate theimportance of this parallel concern, one
has only to recall the time andcare that Bahá'u'lláh Himself devoted to
cultivatingrelationships with government officials, leaders of thought,
prominentfigures in various minority groups, and the diplomatic representatives
offoreign governments assigned to service in the Ottoman empire. The
spiritualeffect of this effort is apparent in the tributes paid to His
character andprinciples by even such bitter enemies as 'ÁlíPáshá and the
Persian ambassador to Constantinople,Mírzá Husayn Khán. The former, who
condemned hisPrisoner to banishment in the penal colony at 'Akká, was
neverthelessmoved to describe Him as "a man of great distinction,
exemplary conduct,great moderation, and a most dignified figure", whose
teachings were, in theminister's opinion "worthy of high esteem".[131] The latter, whose
machinationshad been principally responsible for poisoning the minds of'Álí
Páshá and his colleagues, frankly
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admitted, in later years, thegreat contrast between the moral and intellectual
stature of his Enemy andthe harm done to Persian-Turkish relations by the
reputation for greed anddishonesty that characterized most of his other
countrymen resident inConstantinople.
From the beginning, 'Abdu'l-Bahá took keen interest in efforts tobring into
existence a new international order. It is significant, forexample, that His
early public references in North America to the purpose ofHis visit there
placed particular emphasis on the invitation of theorganizing committee of the
Lake Mohonk Peace Conference for Him to addressthis international gathering. He
had also been generous in His encouragementof the Central Organization for a
Durable Peace at The Hague. He was,however, entirely candid in the counsel He
provided. Letters which theExecutive Committee of The Hague organization had
written to Him during thecourse of the war provided the opportunity for a
response that drew theorganizers' attention to Bahá'u'lláh's enunciation ofspiritual
truths which alone can provide a foundation for the realization oftheir aims:
O ye esteemed ones who are pioneers among the well-wishers ofthe world of humanity!... At present Universal Peace is a matter of greatimportance, but unity of conscience is essential, so that the foundation ofthis matter may become secure, its establishment firm and its edificestrong.... Today nothing but the power of the Word of God which encompassesthe realities of things can bring the thoughts, the minds, the hearts andthe spirits under the shade of one Tree. He is the potent in all things, thevivifier of souls, the preserver and the controller of the world ofmankind.[132]
Beyond this, the list of influential persons with whom the Master spentpatient
hours in both North America and Europe — particularlyindividuals struggling to
promote the goal of world peace andhumanitarianism — reflects His awareness of
the responsibility theCause has to humanity at large. As the extraordinary
response evoked by Hispassing testifies, He pursued this course to the end of
His life.
Shoghi Effendi took up this legacy almost immediately upon beginning
hisministry. As early as 1925, he encouraged the interest of an American
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believer, Jean Stannard, toestablish an "International Bahá'í
Bureau", directing her toGeneva, seat of the League of Nations. While the
Bureau exercised noadministrative authority, it acted, in the Guardian's words,
"asintermediary between Haifa and other Bahá'í centers" andserved as
an information "distributing center" in the heart of Europe, itsrole
being formally recognized when the League's publishing house solicitedand
published an account of the Bureau's activities.[133]
As has so often been the case in the history of the Cause, an unexpectedcrisis
served to greatly advance Bahá'í involvement with thelarger society at the
international level. In 1928, Shoghi Effendiencouraged the Spiritual Assembly
of Baghdad to appeal to the League'sPermanent Mandates Commission against the
seizure, by Shí'ihopponents, of Bahá'u'lláh's House in that city.
Recognizingthe wrong that had been done, the Council of the League unanimously
calledon the British mandate authority, in March 1929, to press the Iraqigovernment
"with a view to the immediate redress of the injustice sufferedby the
Petitioners". Repeated evasions by the Iraqi government, includingthe
violation of a solemn pledge on the part of the monarch himself,resulted in the
case dragging on for years through successive sessions ofthe Mandates
Commission, leaving the House in the hands of those who hadseized it, a
situation that remains to this day uncorrected.[134]
Undeterred by this failure,Shoghi Effendi focused the attention of the Bahá'í
communityon the historic benefit that the campaign had won for the Cause. As
hadearlier been the case with the Sunni Muslim court's rejection of the
appealof an Egyptian Bahá'í community regarding marriage, theGuardian pointed
out:
Suffice it to say that, despite these interminable delays,protests and evasions ... the publicity achieved for the Faith by thismemorable litigation, and the defence of its cause — the cause of truthand justice — by the world's highest tribunal, have been such as toexcite the wonder of its friends and to fill with consternation itsenemies.[135]
The birth of the United Nations opened to the Faith a far broader and
moreeffective forum for its efforts toward exerting a spiritual influence on thelife
of society. As early as 1947, a special "Palestine Committee" of
theUnited Nations solicited the views of the Guardian
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on the future of that mandated territory. His responseto the inquiry provided
an opportunity for him to forward an authoritativeexposition of the history and
teachings of the Cause itself. That same year,with Shoghi Effendi's
encouragement, the National Spiritual Assembly of theUnited States and Canada
submitted to the international organization adocument entitled "A Bahá'í
Declaration on Human Obligationsand Rights", which was to inspire the work
of Bahá'í writersand spokespersons over the decades that followed.[136] A
year later the eight NationalSpiritual Assemblies then in existence secured
from the responsible UnitedNations body accreditation for "The Bahá'í
InternationalCommunity" as an international non-governmental organization.
It was not only the Faith's slowly emerging relationship with the
newinternational order that elicited support of this kind from the Guardian.The
pages of God Passes By and Amatu'l-Bahá's memoirs of theGuardian are
filled with references to responses that influentialindividuals and
organizations made to initiatives taken by Shoghi Effendiand to the events
around the world in which Bahá'írepresentatives were invited to participate. In
the perspective of history,one is struck by the vast disparity between many of
these relativelyinconsequential occasions and the attention given them by a
figure whosework was not only of enormous importance to humanity's future, but
whounderstood fully the relative significance of events unfolding around
him.What the Bahá'í community has been given in this carefulrecord is a guide
to the way that it must take up the growing opportunitiesborn out of modest
beginnings.
From the moment of its accreditation, the Bahá'í InternationalCommunity began
to play an energetic role in United Nations' affairs. Anactivity that won it
much appreciation was a programme carried out, throughthe expanding network of
Bahá'í Assemblies, to provide thepublic with information about the United
Nations itself, and which gavegenerous support to struggling United Nations
associations throughout theworld. By 1970, the Community had secured
consultative status with theUnited Nations Economic and Social Council
(ECOSOC). This was followed in1974 by the granting of formal association with
the United NationsEnvironmental Programme (UNEP) and in 1976 by the acquisition
ofconsultative status with the United Nations Children's Fund
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117]
(UNICEF). The influence andexpertise developed during these years showed their
capacity, in 1955 and1962, when the Community was successful in securing United
Nations'intervention on behalf of the believers suffering persecution in Iran
andMorocco, respectively.
In 1980, the patient external affairs activities of the National
SpiritualAssemblies and the Community's United Nations Office were suddenly
propelledinto a new stage of their development. The catalyst was the attempt by
theShí'ih clergy of Iran to exterminate the Cause in the land of itsbirth. The
consequences were as little anticipated by the Faith'spersecutors as they were
by its defenders.
Throughout the long decades in which the believers in the cradle of theFaith
suffered intermittent persecution for their beliefs, themullás, who instigated
and led these attacks, acted in concert withthe country's succession of
monarchs. The latter, ostensibly absolute intheir authority, were in fact
constrained by political calculations thatrendered them vulnerable to outside
pressures, particularly from Westerngovernments. So it was that the outrage
voiced by Russian, British and otherdiplomatic missions had compelled
Násiri'd-Dín Sháh,against his will, to bring to an end the orgy of violence
that took so manybelievers' lives in the early 1850s and threatened that
ofBahá'u'lláh Himself. During the twentieth century, hisQájár successors had
been similarly concerned to placate theopinion of foreign governments. The
pattern was repeated in 1955 when the second of the Pahlavi shahs, who had been
induced by the mullas to approve a wave of anti-Baha'i violence, was forced by
United Nations' protest and by objections on the part of the American
government to abruptly halt the campaign-both interventions harbingers of
things to come.
Such checks on the clergy's behaviour seemed to have been swept away by
theIslamic revolution of 1979. Suddenly, the mullás were themselves inpower,
appointing their own nominees to the highest positions in the newrepublic, and
eventually taking over these posts directly. "Revolutionary
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courts" were set up, answeringonly to the senior clergy. An army of
"revolutionary guards", far moreeffective than the shah's secret
police, and quite as brutal, took overcontrol of every aspect of public life.
While the attention of the new ruling caste was focused chiefly on what
itbelieved were threats from foreign governments, influential elements withinit
saw an opportunity at last to destroy the Iranian Bahá'ícommunity.[137]
Theharrowing details of the campaign that followed need no review here.
Theirsignificance lies, rather, in the response made to these attacks
bythousands of individual Bahá'ís — men, women and children— throughout the
country. Their refusal to compromise their faith, evenat the cost of their
lives, inspired in their fellow believers throughoutthe world a heightened
dedication to the Cause for which these sacrificeswere being made. It was not,
however, only the members of the Faith who wereaffected by these events.
Decades earlier, in 1889, a distinguished Westerncommentator on the heroism of
the dawn-breakers of the Faith hadprophetically written of the sufferings of
the early believers:
It is the lives and deaths of these, their hope which knows nodespair, their love which knows no cooling, their steadfastness which knowsno wavering, which stamp this wonderful movement with a character entirelyits own.... It is not a small or easy thing to endure what these haveendured, and surely what they deemed worth life itself is worth trying tounderstand. I say nothing of the mighty influence which, as I believe, theBábí [sic] faith will exert in the future, nor of the new lifeit may perchance breathe into a dead people; for, whether it succeed orfail, the splendid heroism of the Bábí martyrs is a thingeternal and indestructible.... But what I cannot hope to have conveyed toyou is the terrible earnestness of these men, and the indescribableinfluence which this earnestness, combined with other qualities, exerts onany one who has actually been brought in contact with them.[138]
These words prefigured the rise of a similar sentiment amongnon-Bahá'í
observers during the Islamic revolutionary years;and this was to become one of
the most powerful forces propelling theemergence of the Cause
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119]
fromobscurity. Captured in those early words, too, was the
fundamentallyspiritual nature of what has always been at stake in the cradle of
theFaith. Beyond a revulsion at the senseless brutality of the persecution,
agrowing body of foreign opinion has been profoundly moved by the response
ofthe Iranian Bahá'ís.
The twentieth century has, alas, been overwhelmed by the suffering ofcountless
victims of oppression. What made the Bahá'ísituation unique was the attitude
adopted by those who endured thesuffering. The Iranian believers refused to
accept the all too familiar roleof victims. Like the Founders of the Faith
before them, they took moralcharge of the great issue between them and their
adversaries. It was they,not revolutionary courts or revolutionary guards, who
quickly set the termsof the encounter, and this extraordinary achievement
affected not only thehearts but the minds of those who observed the situation
from outside theBahá'í Faith. The persecuted community neither attacked
itsoppressors, nor sought political advantage from the crisis. Nor did
itsBahá'í defenders in other lands call for the dismantling ofthe Iranian
constitution, much less for revenge. All demanded only justice— the recognition
of the rights guaranteed by the Universal Declarationof Human Rights, endorsed
by the community of nations, ratified by theIranian government, and many of
them embodied even in clauses of the Islamicconstitution.
The crisis roused the Bahá'í world to extraordinary feats ofachievement.
National Spiritual Assemblies who had little or no experiencein developing a
working relationship with officials of their countries'governments were called
on to solicit government support for resolutions atvarious levels of the
international human rights system, and did so withoutstanding success. Year
after year, for twenty uninterrupted years, thecase of the Iranian Bahá'ís
proceeded through theinternational human rights system, gathering support in
successiveresolutions, ensuring attention to Bahá'í grievances in themissions
of rapporteurs appointed by the United Nations Human RightsCommission and
consolidating these gains through decisions of the ThirdCommittee of the United
Nations General Assembly. Every attempt by theIranian regime to escape
international condemnation of its treatment of itsBahá'í citizens failed to
shake
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the support the Bahá'í issue attractedfrom a persistent majority of sympathetic
nations represented on theCommission. The achievement was all the more
remarkable in the context ofthe Commission's constantly changing membership and
a demanding agenda thatincluded human rights abuses in other countries that
affected millions ofvictims.
At the same time as direct pressure was being exerted on the Iraniangovernment,
the case was attracting unprecedented publicity around the worldin newspapers,
magazines and the broadcast media. Newspapers such as The NewYork Times, Le
Monde and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, enjoyinginternational
readership, gave wide coverage to the persecution, andtelevision networks in
Australia, Canada, the United States and a number ofEuropean countries produced
in-depth, magazine — format presentations.The abuses were denounced in often
strong editorial comment. Apart from thesupport thus lent to the efforts to
secure effective intervention at theHuman Rights Commission, such publicity had
the effect of introducing,usually for the first time and to an audience of tens
of millions of people,accurate and appreciative information about Bahá'í
teachingsand belief. Both the publicity and the campaign being carried on
through theUnited Nations' system provided influential officials around the
world witha sustained opportunity to judge for themselves both the teachings of
theCause and the character of the Bahá'í community.
A problem arising out of the persecution was that faced by several
thousandIranian Bahá'ís who found themselves either stranded withoutvalid
passports in countries where they were serving as pioneers, or forcedto flee
from Iran because they or their families had been singled out astargets of the
pogrom. In 1983, an International Bahá'íRefugee Office was established in
Canada,[139] where the government had
beenparticularly responsive to the representations made by the
NationalSpiritual Assembly of that country. Over the next few years, with
theassistance of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, a series
ofother countries likewise opened their doors to more than ten thousandIranian
Bahá'ís, many of whom filled pioneer goals in theirnew places of residence.
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Not only the Bahá'í community but the United Nations' humanrights system itself
benefited from this long struggle. Initially, after theIslamic revolution, the
community of believers in Iran had faced a threat toits very survival. In time,
the United Nations Human Rights Commission,however slow and relatively
cumbersome its operations may appear to someoutside observers, succeeded in
compelling the Iranian regime to bring theworst of the persecution to a halt.
In this way, the "case of Iran'sBahá'ís" marked a significant victory
for the Commission andthe Bahá'í Faith alike. It served as a startling demonstrationof
the power of the community of nations, acting through the machinerycreated for
the purpose, to bring under control patterns of oppression thathad darkened the
pages of recorded history throughout the ages.
This circumstance highlights the relevance of the Faith's activities to thelife
of the larger society in which these efforts are taking place. Togetherwith
world peace, the need for the international community to take effectivesteps to
realize the ideals in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights andits related
covenants is an urgent challenge facing humanity at the presentmoment in its
history. There are relatively few places in the world whereminority
populations, because of religious, ethnic or national prejudices,are not still
denied basic human needs of some kind. No body of people onthe planet
understands better this issue than does the Bahá'ícommunity. It has endured —
continues to endure in some lands —mistreatment for which there is no
conceivable justification, whether legalor moral; it has given its martyrs and
shed its tears, while remainingfaithful to its conviction that hatred and
retaliation are corrosive to thesoul; and it has learned, as few communities
have done, how to use theUnited Nations' human rights system in the manner
intended by that system'screators, without having recourse to involvement in
political partisanshipof any kind, much less violence. Drawing on this
experience, it is todayembarked on a programme to encourage governments in a
score of countries toinstitute public education programmes on the subject of
human rights,providing whatever practical assistance of
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its own is possible.[140]
Throughout the world, it isparticularly active in promoting the rights of women
and children. Mostimportant of all, it provides a living example of
brotherhood, from whichcountless people outside its embrace derive courage and
hope.
As the Iranian crisis was unfolding, an initiative taken by the UniversalHouse
of Justice suddenly moved the external affairs work of theBahá'í community to
an entirely new level. In 1985, thestatement The Promise of World Peace,
addressed to the generality ofhumankind, was released through National
Spiritual Assemblies. In it, theHouse of Justice asserted, in unprovocative but
uncompromising terms,Bahá'í confidence in the advent of international peace as
thenext stage in the evolution of society. Set out, as well, were elements
ofthe form that this long-awaited development must take, many of which wentfar beyond
the political terms in which the subject is commonly discussed.It concluded:
The experience of the Bahá'í community may be seenas an example of this enlarging unity [of humankind].... If theBahá'í experience can contribute in whatever measure toreinforcing hope in the unity of the human race, we are happy to offer it asa model for study.
While the immediate purpose of the release was to provideBahá'í institutions
and individual believers with a coherentline of discussion for their
interactions with government authorities,organizations of civil society, the
media and influential personalities, acollateral effect was to set in motion an
intensive and ongoing education ofthe Bahá'í community itself in several
importantBahá'í teachings. The influence of the ideas and perspectivesin the
document was soon making itself widely felt in conventions,publications, summer
and winter schools, and the general discourse ofbelievers everywhere.
In many respects, The Promise of World Peace may be said to have setthe
agenda for Bahá'í interaction with the United Nations andits attendant
organizations in the years since 1985. Building on thereputation it had
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123]
already won,the Bahá'í International Community became, in only a few
shortyears, one of the most influential of the non-governmental
organizations.Because it is, and is seen to be, entirely non-partisan, it has
increasinglybeen trusted as a mediating voice in complex, and often
stressful,discussions in international circles on major issues of social progress.This
reputation has been strengthened by appreciation of the fact that theCommunity
refrains, on principle, from taking advantage of such trust topress partisan
agendas of its own. By 1968, a Bahá'írepresentative had been elected to
membership on the Executive Committee ofNon-Governmental Organizations
affiliated with the Office of Public Information, subsequently holding the
positions ofchairman and vice-chairman. From this point on, representatives of
theCommunity found themselves increasingly asked to function as convenors
orchairpersons of a wide range of bodies: committees, task forces,
workinggroups and advisory boards. During the past four years, the Community
has served as executive secretary of the Conferenceof Non-Governmental
Organizations, the central coordinating body ofnon-governmental groups
affiliated with the United Nations.
The structure of the Bahá'í International Community reflectsthe principles
guiding its work. It has escaped labelling as merely anotherspecial interest
lobby group. While making full use of the expertise andexecutive resources of
its United Nations Office and Office of PublicInformation, the Community has
come to be recognized by its fellownon-governmental organizations as
essentially an "association" ofdemocratically elected national
"councils", representative of across-section of humankind. Bahá'í
delegations tointernational events commonly include members appointed by
various NationalSpiritual Assemblies who are experienced in the subject matters
underdiscussion and who can provide regional perspectives.
This feature of the Faith's involvement in the life of society — inwhich
motivating principle and operating method represent two dimensions ofa unified
approach to issues — demonstrated its power at the series ofworld summits and
related conferences organized by the United Nations heldbetween 1990 and 1996.
In that period of nearly six years, the politicalleaders of the world came
together repeatedly under the aegis of theSecretary-General of the United
Nations to discuss the
[page
124]
major challenges facinghumankind as the twentieth century drew to a close. No
Bahá'ícan review the themes of these historic gatherings without being struck
byhow closely the agenda mirrored major teachings ofBahá'u'lláh. It seemed
befitting that the centenary of Hisascension should occur at the midway point
in the process, endowing themeetings, for Bahá'ís, with spiritual meaning
beyond merelytheir stated goals.
Among those gatherings, the World Conference on Education for All inThailand
(1990), the World Summit for Children in New York (1990), theUnited Nations
Conference on the Environment in Rio de Janeiro (1992), ananguished and chaotic
World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna (1993), theInternational Conference
on Population in Cairo (1994), the World Summit forSocial Development in
Copenhagen (1995), and the particularly vibrant FourthWorld Conference on Women
in Beijing (1995),[141]
stand out as highlights of thisprocess of global discourse on the problems
afflicting the world's peoples.At the concurrent non-governmental conferences,
Bahá'ídelegations, made up of members from a wide range of countries, had
theopportunity to place issues in a spiritual as well as social
perspective.Evidence of the trust the Community enjoys among hundreds of its
fellownon-governmental organizations was the fact that Bahá'ídelegations were
repeatedly selected by their peers for inclusion among thehandful of member
groups to be accorded the much prized opportunity toaddress the conferences
from the podium, rather than merely distributingprinted copies of
presentations.
During the century's concluding years, many National Spiritual Assemblieswon
impressive victories of their own in the field of external affairs.
Twooutstanding examples suggest the character and importance of these
advances.The first was achieved by the National Spiritual Assembly of Germany,
wherethe nature of Bahá'í elected bodies had been challenged bylocal
authorities as being technically incompatible with the requirements ofGerman
civil law. In upholding the appeal of the Local
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Spiritual Assembly of theBahá'ís of Tübingen against this ruling,
Germany'sconstitutional High Court concluded that the Bahá'íAdministrative
Order is an integral feature of the Faith and as such isinseparable from Bahá'í
belief. The High Court justified itstaking jurisdiction in the case by adducing
evidence that theBahá'í Faith itself is a religion, a judgement withfar-reaching
implications in a society where church opponents have longsought to
misrepresent the Cause as a "cult" or "sect". The
definitivelanguage of the judgement merits repetition:
...the character of the Bahá'í Faith as a religionand of the Bahá'í Community as a religious community isevident, in actual every day life, in cultural tradition, and in theunderstanding of the general public as well as of the science of comparativereligion.[142]
It was left to the Brazilian Bahá'í community to win a victoryin the field of
external affairs that is so far unique inBahá'í history. On 28 May 1992, its
country's highestlegislative body, the Chamber of Deputies, held a special
session to paytribute to Bahá'u'lláh on the centenary of His ascension. TheSpeaker
read a message from the Universal House of Justice andrepresentatives of all of
the parties rose, one by one, to acknowledge thecontribution to human
betterment of the Faith and its Founder. A movingaddress by one prominent
deputy described the Bahá'í teachingsas "the most colossal religious work
ever written by the pen of a singleMan".[143]
Such appreciations of the nature of the Cause and of the work it is tryingto
accomplish — coming as they did from the highest judicial andlegislative
levels, respectively, of two of the world's major nations —were victories of
the spirit as important in their way as those won in theteaching field. They
help to open those doors through whichBahá'u'lláh's healing influence begins to
touch the life ofsociety itself.
NOTES
[131]
Moojan Momen, The Bábí andBahá'í Religions, 1844-1944: Some Contemporary
WesternAccounts, op. cit., pp. 186-187.
[132] The
Bahá'í World, vol. XV,op. cit., pp. 29, 36.
[133] The
Bahá'í World, vol.IV (New York City: Bahá'í Publishing Committee, 1933),
pp.257-261. Provides a short history of the bureau's founding andoperations.
[134] The
Bahá'í World, vol.III (New York City: Bahá'í Publishing Committee, 1930),
pp.198-206. Contains the text of a formal Petition to the Permanent
MandatesCommission of the League from the Bahá'ís of Iraq, thatsummarizes the
history of the case.
[135] Shoghi
Effendi, God Passes By, op.cit., p. 360.
[136]
The full text of the Declaration may befound in World Order Magazine,
April 1947, vol. XIII, No. 1.
[137] The
Bahá'í Question,Iran's Secret Blueprint for the Destruction of a Religious
Community, AnExamination of the Persecution of the Bahá'ís of Iran
(NewYork: Bahá'í International Community, 1999), prepared by theBahá'í
International Community United Nations' Office fordistribution to members of
the United Nations Human RightsCommission.
[138]
Excerpt from an address by Edward GranvilleBrowne, published in Religious
Systems of the World: A Contribution to theStudy of Comparative Religion,
3rd ed. (New York: Macmillan, 1892), pp.352-353.
[139]
During the nine years of its existence, theoffice was responsible for settling
an estimated 10,000 IranianBahá'í refugees in twenty-seven countries.
[140] To
date, ninety-nine National SpiritualAssemblies have received intensive training
in the programme.
[141]
The Beijing Conference on Women would havepermitted fifty out of the two
thousand non-governmental organizationsinvolved to present their statements orally.
Because theBahá'í International Community had received this privilege
atprevious conferences, most notably that in Rio de Janeiro on the
environmentand that in Copenhagen on social and economic development, the
Community'srepresentatives yielded the slot that had been accorded them, in
favour ofthe Moscow Centre for Gender Studies.
[142] A
full account, including the text of thedecision of the German Federal
Constitutional Court, can be found in TheBahá'í World, vol. XX (Haifa:
Bahá'í WorldCentre, 1998), pp. 571-606.
[143]
Sessão Solene da CâmaraFederal, Brasília, 28 de Maio, 1992, (reprinted, with
Englishtranslation by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ísof Brazil,
1992).