Tahirih was confined.

Baha'i administrative headquarters have been founded in Tihran, Delhi,
Cairo, Ba_gh_dad, Wilmette and Sydney. Baha'i endowments in the Holy Land
and the United States have been exempted from taxes by the civil
authorities. Civil recognition has been extended to Baha'i Assemblies in
five states of the United States to solemnize Baha'i marriages.

May 9, 1944

MESSAGE TO CENTENARY CONVENTION

Hail with glad, grateful heart the historic Assembly of the elected
representatives of the followers of the Faith of Baha'u'llah throughout
the Western Hemisphere participating in the first All-America Convention
gathered in the vicinity of the first Baha'i Center of the Western World
beneath the dome of the first Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of the West to
commemorate alike the Anniversary of the founding of the Faith of
Baha'u'llah and the Birth of 'Abdu'l-Baha, the Anniversary of its
establishment in the Occident and to celebrate the completion of the
exterior ornamentation of the most hallowed House of Worship in the entire
Baha'i world. I recall with profound emotion on this solemn, auspicious
occasion the milestones in the progress of the community whose rise
constitutes one of the noblest episodes in the history of the First Baha'i
Century. Called into being through the operation of the will of the Center
of Baha'u'llah's Covenant, energized at the hour of its birth by dynamic
spirit communicated to it by the band of first returning pilgrims, purged
in its infancy by fiery tests involving the defection of its acknowledged
founder, nursed through the dispatch of unnumbered Tablets by the vigilant
Master, as well as by the successive messengers designed to support its
infant strength, launched upon its rapid career through series of
institutional acts and missionary journeys signalizing the first stirrings
of its community life, infinitely enriched by priceless benefits conferred
upon its members in the course of 'Abdu'l-Baha's sojourn in their midst,
invested with a unique mission through the revelation of the Tablets of
the Divine Plan, firmly knit through processes proclaiming the emergence
of the Divinely appointed Administrative Order, immortalized through the
signal acts of its illustrious member who succeeded in winning the
allegiance of royalty to its cause, consummating its record of
achievements through total victory of the Seven Year Plan thereby sealing
the triumph of the first stage in