ll as one
in Suva, one in Jakarta, one in Bahrayn and one in Beirut. Tenth, the
establishment of a national Baha'i Court in the capital cities of Persia,
of Iraq, of Pakistan and of Afghanistan--the leading Muslim centres in the
Asiatic continent. Eleventh, the establishment of two National Baha'i
Publishing Trusts, one in Tihran and one in New Delhi. Twelfth, the
formation of Israel Branches of the National Spiritual Assemblies of the
Baha'is of Persia, of Iraq and Australia; authorized to hold on behalf of
their parent institutions property dedicated to the holy Shrines at the
World Centre of the Faith in the State of Israel. Thirteenth, the
appointment, during Ridvan 1954, by the Hands of the Cause in Asia and in
Australia of an auxiliary Board of nine members who will, in conjunction
with the eight National Spiritual Assemblies participating in the Asiatic
and Australian campaigns, assist, through periodic and systematic visits
to Baha'i centres, in the efficient and prompt execution of the Plans
formulated for the prosecution of the teaching campaigns in the continent
of Asia

and in the Antipodes.

The Asiatic continent, the cradle of the principal religions of mankind;
the home of so many of the oldest and mightiest civilizations which have
flourished on this planet; the crossways of so many kindreds and races;
the battleground of so many peoples and nations; above whose horizon, in
modern times, the suns of two independent Revelations--the promise and
consummation of a six thousand-year-old religious Cycle--have successively
arisen; where the Authors of both of these Revelations suffered banishment
and died; within whose confines the Centre of a divinely-appointed
Covenant was born, endured a forty-year incarceration and passed away; on
whose Western extremity the Qiblih of the Baha'i world has been definitely
established; in whose heart the City proclaimed by Baha'u'llah as the
"Mother of the World" is enshrined; within whose borders another City
regarded as the "cynosure of an adoring world" and the scene of the
greatest and most glorious Revelation the world has witnessed is
embosomed; on whose soil so many saints, heroes and martyrs, associated
with both of these Revelations, have lived, struggled and died--such a
continent, so privileged among its sister continents and yet so long and
so sadly tormented, now stands, at the hour of the launching of a
world-encompassing Crusade, on the threshold of an era th