... The powerful operations of this titanic upheaval [World
War II] are comprehensible to none except such as have recognized the claims of
both Bahá'u'lláh and the Bab. Their followers know full well whence it comes,
and what it will ultimately lead to. Though ignorant of how far it will reach,
they clearly recognize its genesis, are aware of its direction, acknowledge its
necessity, observe confidently its mysterious processes, ardently pray for the
mitigation of its severity, intelligently labor to assuage its fury, and
anticipate, with undimmed vision, the consummation of the fears and the hopes
it must necessarily engender.
This judgment of God, as viewed by those who have recognized
Bahá'u'lláh as His Mouthpiece and His greatest Messenger on earth, is both a
retributory calamity and an act of holy and supreme discipline. It is at once a
visitation from God and a cleansing process for all mankind. Its fires punish
the perversity of the human race, and weld its component parts into one
organic, indivisible, world-embracing community.
- Shoghi Effendi (From a letter
dated 28 March 1941 to the Bahá'ís of the West, published as ‘The Promised Day
is Come’)
