of the State,
has plunged a revolting clergy, has afforded our Persian brethren their
long-desired opportunity to pursue untrammelled the course of their
spiritual and humanitarian activities. The deportation of a considerable
number of Muslim ecclesiastical officials, amongst them the heir of that
notorious and bloodthirsty Mujtahid of Isfahan, "the Son of the Wolf," has
served to clear the ground for the extension and consolidation of Baha'i
institutions. Already, as reported from an outlying center in the province
of Yazd, a leading but fair-minded Mullah has, upon the discovery of the
specific prophecy of 'Abdu'l-Baha regarding the forced abandonment of the
traditional headdress of Muslim clericals, acknowledged the Divine origin
of the Baha'i Faith, embraced its truth, and openly enlisted as an active
supporter of its institutions.

Moreover, it is stated that in various quarters, and among responsible
sections of the community the matter of the codification and introduction
of a western civil code, and its universal application to all the
different communities is being freely discussed, and its desirability
increasingly emphasized. As a preliminary measure, however, to the
introduction of such a far-reaching reform, certain changes of policy have
been lately initiated, not in the form of hastily conceived dictatorial
edicts, but as a result of the mature deliberations and with the sanction
of the national representatives of the people. The systematization of the
laws of marriage and contract; the establishment of a Land Registry wholly
independent of ecclesiastical control; the distribution of birth
certificates of a purely undenominational character; the increasing
prominence accorded to the social rights of womanhood; the close attention
paid by State authorities to the education of Persian youth in the
Universities of Europe; the banning of all Muslim Passion Plays throughout
the territory of the _Sh_ah: the bold and various schemes that have been
launched for the embellishment of the Persian Capital--all are welcome
signs of the approaching era which is to witness the spiritual and
material ascendency of Persia among the people and nations of the world.

In this ever-improving environment and witnessing on every side the
downfall of those institutions that have crippled their struggling Faith,
the believers in Persia are joyously seizing every opportunity to
demonstrate the redeeming power of the Cause of Bah