Epistles to the Divine Plan

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The letters on the Divine Plan were written by Abdu'l Baha and, according to Shoghi Effendi, are the Baha'i of the world "mandate" of their "world mission" and the "supreme charter of teaching".

background

The first eight letters were written in Persian between March 26 and April 22, 1916, and the remaining six between February 2 and March 8, 1917 . They are addressed to either the Baha'i of the United States and Canada or the Baha'i of one of the five regions of North America . From the first group, five letters reached America , the English translation of which was published on September 8, 1916 in the Bahai magazine "Star of the West". After that, due to the war, the mail routes collapsed. The remainder of the missives were solemnly read out at a specially scheduled meeting from April 26-30, 1919 in New York City . In these letters the Baha'i are called to spread their faith in the world. At that time there were Baha'i in only 35 countries. Martha Root , who began her world trips in July 1920, and Mr. and Mrs. Dunn, who moved to Australia in April 1920, reacted immediately . All three were later honored as Hands of the Cause by Shoghi Effendi . However, the Divine Plan was not generally implemented until 1937 when Shoghi Effendi gave the Americans the first Seven Year Plan. Since, according to Shoghi Effendi, this mandate applies to all Baha'i, the letters were also translated into German . The letters were published in the Bahai Letters in 1971 and as a separate book in 1989.

content

In the missives, Abdu'l Baha calls on the Baha'i to spread the Baha'i faith effectively and systematically. In total, Abdu'l Baha mentions 120 territories and islands to which the message of Baha'u'llah is to be brought. It also describes the psychological and ethical requirements for successful teaching.

literature

  • Abdu'l Baha: Epistle to the divine plan . Bahai-Verlag, Hofheim-Langenhain 1989, ISBN 3-87037-232-X ( online ).
  • Abdu'l Baha: Star of the West . Bahai News Service, Chicago 1916, p. 87-91 .
  • Abdu'l Baha: Baha'i Letters: Pages for World Religion and World Consciousness, Book 46 . Bahai-Verlag, Hofheim-Langenhain 1971, p. 1363-1396 .
  • Abdu'l Baha: Tablets of the divine plan . Bahai Publishing Trust, Wilmette, Illinois 1993, ISBN 0-87743-233-3 ( online ).
  • Hasan Balyuzi : Abdu'l Baha: The center of the alliance of Baha'u'llah (Volume 2) . Bahai-Verlag, Hofheim-Langenhain 1984, ISBN 3-87037-151-X , p. 579-589,625,723-731 .