Abdu'l-Baha's family and the machinations and eventual deviation of
various recognized yet highly ambitious leaders, teachers, as well as
administrators, in Persia, Egypt, Germany and the United States--more
grievous than any of these, this latest manifestation of the implacable
hatred, and relentless opposition, of the as yet firmly entrenched,
politically influential avowed adversaries of God's infant Faith,
threatens to become more uncontrollable with every passing day.

Indeed in many of its aspects this crisis bears a striking resemblance to
the wave of persecutions which periodically swept the cradle of the Faith
in the course of 'Abdu'l-Baha's ministry, and is tragically reminiscent of
the tribulations experienced by the dawn-breakers of the Heroic Age of the
Faith at the hour of its birth in that sorely tried, long-agitated land.

With dramatic suddenness, a situation, which had been slowly and secretly
developing, came to a head, as the result of the ceaseless intrigue of the
fanatical and determined ecclesiastical opponents of the Faith, ever ready
to seize their chance, in times of confusion, and to strike mercilessly,
at an opportune hour, at the very root of that Faith and of its swiftly
developing, steadily consolidating administrative institutions.

The launching of the Crusade itself, with the celebrations and ceremonials
which accompanied it; the repercussions of the widely reported proceedings
of four successive Intercontinental Teaching Conferences, which heralded
its inauguration; the public dedication of the Mother Temple of the West
in Wilmette; the systematic intensification of teaching activities in the
Arabian Peninsula, enshrining the Qiblih of the entire Islamic world; and,
in particular, the opening to the Faith of the twin holy cities of Mecca
and Medina--all these may be said to have precipitated this crisis, and
alarmed the jealous exponents and guardians of an antiquated religious
orthodoxy in the strongholds of both _Sh_i'ah and Sunni Islam.

A PREMEDITATED CAMPAIGN OF PERSECUTION

This premeditated campaign was heralded by violent and repeated public
denunciations of the Faith over the air, from the pulpit, and through the
press, defaming its holy Founders, distorting its distinctive features,
ridiculing its aims and purposes, and perverting its history. It was
formally launched by the government's official pronouncement in the Majlis
outlawing the Faith and banning its activi