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Should the present restrictions increase in number and stringency, should a situation arise that would so endanger the position of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in Ishqabad as to necessitate the intervention of the Baha'i world, I will call upon the National and Local Baha'i Spiritual Assemblies in the East and the West to arise with one accord and lend their moral support to those of their brethren whose particular mission and privilege is to keep watch over that consecrated ground on which already has been erected the central Structure of Baha'u'llah's First Universal House of Worship. I will urge them to take whatever action is deemed advisable in order to demonstrate the solidarity of the followers of Baha'u'llah, to dispel whatever doubts and apprehensions may yet linger in the minds of the State officials in that land, and to restore their suspected brethren to the esteem and confidence of their governors. I will specially request them to proclaim in their written representations to the authorities concerned their absolute repudiation of whatever ulterior motive or political design may be imputed to them by their malignant adversaries, and to reaffirm in unmistakable terms the purely humanitarian and spiritual nature of the work in which Baha'is in every land and of every race are unitedly engaged. I will moreover ask them to assert the international character of the Baha'i Edifice in Ishqabad and to stress the close bonds of material interest and spiritual fellowship that bind Baha'i communities the world over to an Edifice that can rightly claim the distinction of being Baha'u'llah's First Universal House of Worship, of being conceived in its design by Abdu'l-Baha Himself, constructed and completed in His days and under His direction, and supported by the collective contributions of the believers throughout the world. The hour for such a world-wide and concentrated appeal is not yet come, but it behooves us, while expectantly watching from a distance the moving spectacle of the struggling Faith of Baha'u'llah, to seek abiding solace and strength from the reflection that whatever befalls this Cause, however grievous and humiliating the visitations that from time to time may seem to afflict the organic life or interfere with the functions of the administrative machinery of the Baha'i Faith, such calamities cannot but each eventually prove to be a blessing in disguise designed, by a Wisdom inscrutable to us all, to establish and consolidate the sovereignty of Baha'u'llah on this earth
(163:1)
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