A tempest, [World War II] unprecedented in its violence,
unpredictable in its course, catastrophic in its immediate effects,
unimaginably glorious in its ultimate consequences, is at present sweeping the
face of the earth. Its driving power is remorselessly gaining in range and
momentum. Its cleansing force, however much undetected, is increasing with
every passing day. Humanity, gripped in the clutches of its devastating power,
is smitten by the evidences of its resistless fury. It can neither perceive its
origin, nor probe its significance, nor discern its outcome. Bewildered,
agonized and helpless, it watches this great and mighty wind of God invading
the remotest and fairest regions of the earth, rocking its foundations,
deranging its equilibrium, sundering its nations, disrupting the homes of its
peoples, wasting its cities, driving into exile its kings, pulling down its
bulwarks, uprooting its institutions, dimming its light, and harrowing up the
souls of its inhabitants....
- Shoghi Effendi (From a letter dated 28 March 1941
to the Bahá'ís of the West, published as ‘The Promised Day is Come’)
