During the ministries of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi,
the first community of sufficient size that could begin to systematically apply
Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings to unite material and spiritual progress was that of
the believers in the Cradle of the Faith. The steady flow of guidance from the
Holy Land enabled the Bahá’ís of Iran to make tremendous strides in but one or
two generations and to contribute a distinctive share to the progress of their
nation. A network of schools that provided moral and academic education,
including for girls, flourished. Illiteracy was virtually eliminated in the
Bahá’í community. Philanthropic enterprises were created. Prejudices among
ethnic and religious groups, aflame in the wider society, were extinguished
within the community’s loving embrace. Villages became distinguished for their
cleanliness, order, and progress. And believers from that land were
instrumental in raising in another land the first Mashriqu’l-Adhkár with its
dependencies designed to “afford relief to the suffering, sustenance to the
poor, shelter to the wayfarer, solace to the bereaved, and education to the
ignorant.”
- The Universal House of Justice (From a letter dated 9 November 2018
addressed to the Baha’is of the world)
