What follows is my provisional translation (in other words, not official or authorized; see here for more) of a portion of a letter by Shoghi Effendi to the Bahá’ís of the East, which is dated November 1927 and discusses the services of Martha Root. A facsimile of the original text, apparently incomplete, has been published in the front matter of Bahá’í World, vol. 13. I am most grateful to Tooraj Amini for preparing the Persian typescript that served as the basis for this translation and appears underneath it.
He is.
One of the handmaidens of the Abhá Beauty [i.e., Bahá’u’lláh]—may my spirit be offered up for the lowliest of His servants—possessed of but meager means[1] and frail constitution, bereft of companion or guide, yet armed with peerless determination and matchless detachment, hastened to the lands of Bulgaria and Slavonia, that therein might be resplendently manifested the preliminary signs of that which the Pen of the Covenant [i.e., ‘Abdu’l-Bahá] had foretold three decades earlier[2]—those same signs that the misguided band of Covenant-breakers had dismissed as vain imaginings. Like unto a ball of fire did that herald of God’s Cause lift up her head in that mysterious clime, raising her call to both sovereign and subject. Neither did the grandeur of Solomon deter that feeble ant[3] from appearing and asserting her presence before the royal throne, nor did the splendor of a monarch prevent that wanderer from presenting her proofs. She laid bare the Mother Book before Her Majesty the Queen,[4] expounding the verities of the Bahá’í Faith without fear or dissimulation. That pride of the believers, men and women alike, contented herself with delivering the clear Message, seeking neither acceptance nor response to her petition, and like a falcon in flight,[5] she passed beyond that sublime retreat, hastening to other lands and placing her trust in her Lord, the Most Effulgent, the All-Glorious.
Before long, that Queen’s stirring pronouncements from the Balkan realms reached, in quick succession, the populace and state officials in the cities of America, and swift as the twinkling of an eye, this royal summons was circulated in thousands of domestic and foreign papers and publications. Messages of joy and delight flowed from the tongue and pen of that one who had become enraptured by the love of God, and the trustworthy courier [i.e., Martha Root] brought to the Holy Land these communications that reflected the humility and reverence of that fortunate lady. The sacred ordinances of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas became the subject of discourse and discussion among those endued with insight, in full view of all, and through the hands of the bearers of the Ancient Beauty’s Message, the precious relics and emblems of those two glorious Beings[6] were deposited in the vaults of the distinguished and erudite, and accounted among their most cherished and valuable treasures. The ring bearing the Greatest Name came to adorn the finger of sovereigns . . .[7]
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[1] The original Arabic phrase translated here as “meager means” comes from Qur’án 12:88.
[2] Refer to the opening sentences of Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, no. 218.
[3] Refer to the story of Solomon and the ant in Qur’án 27:18–19.
[5] This translation choice of “falcon in flight” assumes that the original is báz dar havá (باز در هوا), which is an uncertain reading.
[6] Presumably meaning Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
[7] The original text appears to be incomplete, and the rest of it is not available to the present translator.
A typescript of the original Persian text of this partial letter appears below (all punctuation and short vowel marks mine).
Adib Masumian 