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A parallel if less spectacular development could be observed in the Caucasus. After the establishment of the first center and the formation of an Assembly in Baku, a city which Baha'i pilgrims, traveling in increasing numbers from Persia to the Holy Land via Turkey, invariably visited, new groups began to be organized, and, evolving later into well- established communities, cooperated in increasing measure with their brethren both in Turkistan and Persia. (302:1) In Egypt a steady increase in the number of the adherents of the Faith was accompanied by a general expansion in its activities. The establishments of new centers; the consolidation of the chief center established in Cairo; the conversion, largely through the indefatigable efforts of the learned Mirza Abu'l- Fadl, of several prominent students and teachers of the Azhar University-- premonitory symptoms foreshadowing the advent of the promised day on which, according to Abdu'l- Baha, the standard and emblem of the Faith would be implanted in the heart of that time- honored Islamic seat of learning; the translation into Arabic and the dissemination of some of the most important writings of Baha'u'llah revealed in Persian, together with other Baha'i literature; the printing of books, treatises and pamphlets by Baha'i authors and scholars; the publication of articles in the Press written in defense of the Faith and for the purpose of broadcasting its message; the formation of rudimentary administrative institutions in the capital as well as in nearby centers; the enrichment of the life of the community through the addition of converts of Kurdish, Coptic, and Armenian origin-- these may be regarded as the first fruits garnered in a country which, blessed by the footsteps of Abdu'l- Baha, was, in later years, to play a historic part in the emancipation of the Faith, and which, by virtue of its unique position as the intellectual center of both the Arab and Islamic worlds, must inevitably assume a notable and decisive share of responsibility in the final establishment of that Faith throughout the East. (302:2) Even more remarkable was the expansion of Baha'i activity in India and Burma, where a steadily growing community, now including among its members representatives of the Zoroastrian, the Islamic, the Hindu and the Buddhist Faiths, as well as members of the Sikh community, succeeded in establishing its outposts, as far as Mandalay and the village of Daidanaw Kalazoo, in the Hanthawaddy district of Burma, at which latter place no less than eight hundred Baha'is resided, possessing a school, a court, and a hospital of their own, as well as land for community cultivation, the proceeds of which they devoted to the furtherance of the interests of their Faith.
(302:3)
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