ents of the Faith was
accompanied by a general expansion in its activities. The establishments
of new centers; the consolidation of the chief center established in
Cairo; the conversion, largely through the indefatigable efforts of the
learned Mirza Abu'l-Fadl, of several prominent students and teachers of
the Azhar University--premonitory symptoms foreshadowing the advent of the
promised day on which, according to 'Abdu'l-Baha, the standard and emblem
of the Faith would be implanted in the heart of that time-honored Islamic
seat of learning; the translation into Arabic and the dissemination of
some of the most important writings of Baha'u'llah revealed in Persian,
together with other Baha'i literature; the printing of books, treatises
and pamphlets by Baha'i authors and scholars; the publication of articles
in the Press written in defense of the Faith and for the purpose of
broadcasting its message; the formation of rudimentary administrative
institutions in the capital as well as in nearby centers; the enrichment
of the life of the community through the addition of converts of Kurdish,
Coptic, and Armenian origin--these may be regarded as the first fruits
garnered in a country which, blessed by the footsteps of 'Abdu'l-Baha,
was, in later years, to play a historic part in the emancipation of the
Faith, and which, by virtue of its unique position as the intellectual
center of both the Arab and Islamic worlds, must inevitably assume a
notable and decisive share of responsibility in the final establishment of
that Faith throughout the East.

Even more remarkable was the expansion of Baha'i activity in India and
Burma, where a steadily growing community, now including among its members
representatives of the Zoroastrian, the Islamic, the Hindu and the
Buddhist Faiths, as well as members of the Sikh community, succeeded in
establishing its outposts, as far as Mandalay and the village of Daidanaw
Kalazoo, in the Hanthawaddy district of Burma, at which latter place no
less than eight hundred Baha'is resided, possessing a school, a court, and
a hospital of their own, as well as land for community cultivation, the
proceeds of which they devoted to the furtherance of the interests of
their Faith.

In 'Iraq, where the House occupied by Baha'u'llah was entirely restored
and renovated, and where a small yet intrepid community struggled in the
face of constant opposition to regulate and administer its affairs; in
Constantinople, w