Excerpts from letters to Japanese believers, 1947–1957
[Letter of October 15, 1947]
To Mr. Saichiro Fujita
After so many years of silence our beloved Guardian was very happy to receive your postcard.
He is very glad to see you are not only safe after all these terrible years of war and privation, but that you are seeking to establish a center of the Faith where you live. He assures you he will pray that your efforts may be successful, and that you may become the father of the first spiritual assembly there.
Your long services in Haifa are not forgotten, and the Guardian sends you his greetings.
(signed by R. Rabbani)
(October 15, 1947)
[Letter of October 6, 1950]
The excellent progress the Cause is making is a delight to his (the Guardian’s) heart, and he feels very close to the Japanese believers.
Now that our dear Agnes Alexander is with you again out there (in Japan), he feels still greater progress will be made. You and she, both old and tried believers, must devote particular attention to strengthening the faith of the new souls, and giving them a firm foundation in the Covenant. You are often affectionately remembered here.
(signed by “Ruhiyyih”)
(October 6, 1950)
[Letter of March 21, 1952]
To Mrs. Kyoko Hongo
He (the Guardian) is very happy to hear that you and your husband have become declared Bahá’ís; and he will ardently pray in the Holy Shrines that each of you may become an active and devoted servant of Bahá’u’lláh, and may be assisted in bringing many souls in that land to the light of this great Faith, and carry on the work nobly started by the dear Davenports.
(signed by R. Rabbani)
(March 21, 1952)
[Letter of April 22, 1952]
To Mr. Tameo Hongo
It brings him (the Guardian) great joy to realize that we see before our eyes the promises of Bahá’u’lláh being fulfilled, and the peoples of East and West embracing as lovers, and united in the service of God and of man.
He feels that the Japanese people, so sensitive to every form of beauty both spiritual and material, will have a deep appreciation of the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, not only because of their truth and justice, but because of the great beauty which permeates them, a beauty which will gradually, through the fulfillment of His prophecies and the practice of His Laws and Principles, permeate the life of mankind, and create a society such as has never been dreamed of before.
(signed by R. Rabbani)
(April 22, 1952)
[Letter of October 5, 1953]
To Mr. Michitoshi Zenimoto
Your letter has been received by the beloved Guardian and he has instructed me to answer you on his behalf.
Bahá’u’lláh wrote, many, many years ago: “The vitality of men’s belief in God is dying out in every land; nothing short of His wholesome medicine can ever restore it. The corrosion of ungodliness is eating into the vitals of human society; what else but the Elixir of His potent Revelation can cleanse and revive it?”
This is the ebb of the tide. The Bahá’ís know that the tide will turn and come in, after mankind has suffered, with mighty waves of faith and devotion. The people will enter the Cause of God in troops, and the whole condition will change. The Bahá’ís see this new condition which will take place, as one on the mountain-top sees the first glimpse of the dawn, before others are aware of it; and it is toward that that the Bahá’ís must work.
The Guardian will pray that you may be instrumental in bringing many of your fellow-youth into the Faith. He sends you his loving greetings.
(signed by R. Rabbani)
(October 5, 1953)
[Letter of December 30, 1955]
To Miss Yoshiko Morita
The photograph of the Japanese Bahá’ís, who attended the conference recently held in Nikko, brought great joy to his (the Guardian’s) heart.
Although the American and Persian friends are helping greatly the spread of the Faith in Japan, the main object of their presence in that country is to attract Japanese people to the Cause of God. Only when the Faith is firmly rooted in the hearts of the people of that country can we feel that true progress has been made; and therefore to see there are so many Japanese believers, active and devoted in different places in Japan, has been a great comfort and joy to our Guardian.
(signed by R. Rabbani)
(December 30, 1955)
[Letter of September 19, 1957]
To Mrs. Masao Konishi
The time is too short to spend years preparing yourself to teach by the indirect approach. The world is ready for the direct Message, and it would be much better to equip yourself to do direct Bahá’í teaching.
(signed by R. Rabbani)
(September 19, 1957)