property to any person,
irrespective of religion, provided however he leaves a will, specifying
his wishes. As you see therefore it is always possible for a Baha'i to
provide for his non-Baha'i wife, children or relatives by leaving a will.
And it is only fair that he should do so.

Reason of Severe Laws Revealed by the Bab

...The severe laws and injunctions revealed by the Bab can be properly
appreciated and understood only when interpreted in the light of His own
statements regarding the nature, purpose and character of His own
Dispensation. As these statements clearly reveal, the Babi Dispensation
was essentially in the nature of a religious and indeed social revolution,
and its duration had therefore to be short, but full of tragic events, of
sweeping and drastic reforms. These drastic measures enforced by the Bab
and His followers were taken with the view of undermining the very
foundations of Shi'ah orthodoxy, and thus paving the way for the coming of
Baha'u'llah. To assert the independence of the new Dispensation, and to
prepare also the ground for the approaching Revelation of Baha'u'llah the
Bab had therefore to reveal very severe laws, even though most of them,
were never enforced. But the mere fact that He revealed them was in itself
a proof of the independent character of His Dispensation and was
sufficient to create such widespread agitation, and excite such opposition
on the part of the clergy that led them to cause His eventual martyrdom.

The Bab specified that the "Bayan" is not completed and that "He Whom God
would manifest" (Baha'u'llah) would complete it, though not in its actual
form, but only spiritually in the form of another book. The "Iqan" is
believed to be its continuation.

February 17, 1939

Teaching--The Paramount Task

He is truly delighted to know that your Annual Convention this year has
been most united, and highly constructive and fruitful in its result, and
trusts that the important discussions and deliberations held by the
delegates at various Convention sessions will have the result of
stimulating afresh the progressive and systematic penetration of the
teaching work throughout India and Burma. The Six-Year Plan of teaching
inaugurated last year by your N.S.A., the Guardian feels, however, cannot
succeed unless it receives the continued moral and material support of the
entire body of the Indian and Burmese believers, and it is this fact which
the National As