I feel moved, on this auspicious occasion, to pay a warm tribute to the elected representatives, as well as the members, of the British, the Persian, the American, the Egyptian and the Indian Bahá’í Communities which have participated, in pursuance of their respective plans, in the opening stage of a colossal teaching campaign, constituting a vital phase of the impending decade-long World Crusade, and aiming at the spiritual conquest of the entire African continent. I desire in particular to express to all those gathered at this conference my feelings of abiding appreciation of the magnificent role played and of the remarkable prizes won, by the small band of Persian, British and American pioneers, in the course of the initial stage of this divinely propelled and mysteriously unfolding collective enterprise, which has overshadowed both the Latin American and European teaching campaigns launched in recent years, which is destined to exert an incalculable influence on the fortunes of the Faith throughout the world, and which may well have far-reaching repercussions among the two chief races dwelling in the North American continent.
FIRST AFRICAN PILLAR OF UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE
To the American Bahá’í Community, the chief executor of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan; to the British Bahá’í Community, destined to play in future decades a predominating role in opening to the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh not only the British territories throughout the African continent, but the divers dependencies of the British Crown scattered on the surface of the globe; to the Persian Bahá’í Community, at once the most venerable and most consistently persecuted among its sister communities in both the East and the West; to the Egyptian Bahá’í Community that may well boast of having erected in that continent the first pillar of the Universal House of Justice; to the Indian Bahá’í Community, fated to contribute, to a marked degree, to the spiritual quickening of the Indians constituting a noble element of the population of Africa—to these communities I feel I must acknowledge my deep sense of thankfulness for the strenuous efforts exerted by their pioneers to raise aloft the standard of the Faith in the territories allocated to them in Liberia, Uganda, Tanganyika, the Gold Coast, Kenya, Somaliland, Nyasaland, Northern Rhodesia, Libya, Algeria, Zanzibar and Madagascar. To others who, though not following the fixed pattern of the plan initiated for the present African campaign, have arisen to introduce the Faith in the territories of Sierra Leone, Angola, Mozambique and Southern Rhodesia I feel, moreover, a debt of gratitude is due for their share in extending the range of Bahá’í pioneer activity in that continent.
AFRICAN PROJECTS TO BE LAUNCHED
The hour is indeed propitious, as the climax of the world-wide rejoicings signalizing the Holy Year approaches, for the national spiritual assemblies of these same communities to gird up their loins, in collaboration with the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of ‘Iráq, in a supreme effort to launch, on the morrow of this fateful conference, that phase of the Ten-Year Crusade which, God willing, will culminate in the introduction of our glorious Faith in all the remaining territories of that vast continent as well as the chief neighboring islands lying in the Indian and the Atlantic Oceans. The decade on whose threshold they now stand must, circumstances permitting, witness:
First, the erection of three additional pillars within the confines of that continent and its neighboring islands, designed to support, together with no less than forty-five other national spiritual assemblies to be established in other parts of the world, the final unit in the erection of the Administrative Order of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, namely: The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Central and East Africa, to be formed under the aegis of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the British Isles, with its seat in Kampala; the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of South and West Africa, to be formed under the aegis of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States of America, with its seat in Johannesburg; the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of North West Africa, to be formed under the aegis of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Egypt and Súdán, with its seat in Tunis.