MEMORANDUM

To: The Universal House of Justice Date: 28 September 2008

From: Research Department

References to the Americas by Bahá’u’lláh

In her email message of 29 July 2008 addressed to the Research Department, Miss Gwili
Posey notes that, in an article in a recent issue of The American Bahá’í, Mr. Glenford Mitchell is
reported to have made reference to “frequent discussions at Bahjí by Bahá’u’lláh on the future
of the American friends and the destiny of America.” She indicates that there is a keen interest
among some of the believers in this information, and she requests references in the literature of
the Faith to this subject.

With regard to statements made by Bahá’u’lláh concerning the destiny of America, we

cite below a passage from a letter of Shoghi Effendi dated 15 June 1946 addressed to the Bahá’ís
of the United States and Canada at the time of the launching of the Second Seven Year Plan. In
introducing his theme, the Guardian refers to the call to the “peoples of the West” contained in the
Writings of the Báb and also to Bahá’u’lláh’s written statements and His “verbal affirmations” on
this subject. The letter states:

The impulse from which this historic world-embracing crusade … derives

its creative power may be said to have in a sense originated with the Mandate issued
by the Báb in His Qayyúmu’l-Asmá’, one of His earliest and greatest works, as far
back as the opening years of the first Bahá’í century, and directed specifically to
the “peoples of the West”, to “issue forth” from their “cities” and aid His Cause.

To this initial impulse given by the Herald of our Faith, whilst confined in the
heart of far-away Asia, a still greater force was communicated, and a more specific
direction given, when the Author of our Faith Himself, having already set foot on the
fringes of the continent of Europe, addressed, in His Kitáb-i-Aqdas, from behind the
walls of the prison-city of ‘Akká, some of the most celebrated passages of that Book
to the Chief Magistrates of the entire American continent, bidding them “bind with
the hands of justice the broken”, and “crush the oppressor” with the “rod of the
commandments” of their Lord. Unlike the kings of the earth whom He had so boldly
condemned in that same Book, unlike the European Sovereigns whom He had either
rebuked, warned or denounced, such as the French Emperor, the most powerful
monarch of his time, the Conqueror of that monarch, the Heir of the Holy Roman
Empire, and the Caliph of Islám, the Rulers of America were not only spared the
ominous and emphatic warnings which He uttered against the crowned heads of the
world, but were called upon to bring their corrective and healing influence to bear
upon the injustices perpetrated by the tyrannical and the ungodly. To this remarkable
pronouncement, conferring such distinction upon the sovereign rulers of the Western
Hemisphere, must be added not only the passages in which the Author of our Faith
References to the Americas by Bahá’u’lláh 28 September 2008
Page 2

clearly foreshadows the revelation of the “signs of His dominion” in the West, but
also the no less significant verbal affirmations which, according to reliable eye-
witnesses, He more than once made in regard to the glorious destiny which America
was to attain in the days to come.1

As to the nature and the content of these “verbal affirmations”, the Research Department
has, to date, been able to locate very little information on this subject in the materials available
at the Bahá’í World Centre. The only reference we have found, so far, appears in God Passes By
(Wilmette: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1974, 2004 printing), page 253, where Shoghi Effendi quotes
a statement reported to have been made by Bahá’u’lláh to Nabíl. While the statement does not
refer to America by name, it is cited by the Guardian within the context of his discussion about
the significance of “the establishment of His Cause in the North American continent”. The
statement is as follows:

“Had this Cause been revealed in the West,” He, shortly before His ascension, is
reported by Nabíl in his narrative to have stated, “had Our verses been sent from the
West to Persia and other countries of the East, it would have become evident how
the people of the Occident would have embraced Our Cause. The people of Persia,
however, have failed to appreciate it.”

The passage cited by Shoghi Effendi is not included in The Dawn-Breakers: Nabíl’s
Narrative of the Early Days of the Bahá’í Revelation (Wilmette: Bahá’í Publishing Trust,
1932, 1999 printing). As Miss Posey is, no doubt, aware, the Guardian edited and translated
from Persian the first portion of this exhaustive account of the origins of the Bábí movement.
The statement attributed to Bahá’u’lláh, quoted above, appears in the untranslated portion of this
work. This portion, covers the ministry of Bahá’u’lláh. However, it is interesting to note that a
letter dated 4 June 1978, written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice in response to a
question from a believer about the remaining contents of the second volume, indicated that:

…the essential information in the untranslated portion of Nabíl’s Narrative has already
been extracted and presented by the beloved Guardian in his book God Passes By.

1
This Decisive Hour: Messages from Shoghi Effendi to the North American Bahá’ís, 1932–1946
(Wilmette: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 2002), paragraphs 158.2 and 158.3