This is a love story, first and foremost. It tells of a love between Bill and Marguerite Sears, but also of the love between the Hand of the Cause of God William Sears, and his Lord, Bahá'u'lláh, whose Cause he championed. It demonstrates how Bill fulfilled and emulated to the greatest degree that injunction given by `Abdu'l-Bahá in His Will and Testament that the Hands of the Cause of God are to "diffuse the Divine Fragrances, to edify the souls of all men, to promote learning, to improve the character of all men and to be, at all times and under all conditions, sanctified and detached from earthly things...."

The journey recounted here by Amatu'l Baha's long time companion, Violette Nakhjavani, tells of their first tour of the Indian subcontinent in 1964. On this memorable trip she was profoundly moved by the philosophy, culture, and art of India; adopting the sari as her mode of dress, enjoying even the hottest curries, she immediately blended into the customs of the people. After 7 months of travellling, Amatu'l Baha reluctantly said farewell to India in these moving words: " I was too old to fall in love again; it was not kind of you to steal my heart!". A fascinating travelogue of town and village, with many full page photos.

Shoghi Effendi praised Corinne True as "truly a tower of strength in these days of stress and trial, worthy of the unquestioning confidence reposed in her by Abduíl-Baha". Read the story of this remarkable woman who had a major role in the erection of the Baha'í Temple in Wilmette.

The inspiring life story of Dorothy Baker, Hand of the Cause of God, who served the international Bahá'í community with distinction as an eloquent speaker and writer, a gifted administrator, and travelling teacher. Having had the opportunity to meet 'Abdu'l-Bahá when she was still a child, Dorothy Baker is a powerful witness to the power of the Bahá'í Faith to transform the individual life. This new edition of this popular book includes 18 new photographs, brand new appendices including radio talks and articles prepared by Dorothy Baker, as well as additional stories and recollections of her many years of devoted service to the Cause of God during the early period of its formative years.

The memorial article by Ruhiyyih Rabbani with the reminiscences of Rowshan Mustapha.

A letter wirtten on behalf of the Beloved Guardian in 1954 states that of all the places in the world where the Baha'i Faith exists and is spreading, the Guardian is most pleased with Africa, and most proud of Uganda. He feels that the spirit shown by the white and negro pioneers alike in that continent, presents a challenge to the Bahai's everywhere in the world, and that old and staid communities may well learn from, and emulate the example of the believers of africa, many of them scarcely a year old in the Cause of God".

At the centre of the great teaching success referred to in this remarkable statement is the story told in the pages of this book. It is the story about a great teacher that Shoghi Effendi names, uniquely, in this present cycle of human existence, Abu'l Futuh: "Father of Victories" because of his selfless service and singular achievments in the field of teaching. This was Enoch Olinga, and this book gives a wonderful, if brief, flavor of his life and the exciting period in which he served.

This biography of a great Irishman is the story of a man with a vision. It reveals the response of a sincere Christian, who reached high rank in the ecclesiastical hierarchy, to the modern and rapidly advancing Bahá'í Faith. George Townshend renounced his Orders in the Church 'in order to be loyal to Christ as I know Him' and to proclaim publicly that the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh is the long-awaited 'return' promised in the Gospel. At the age of seventy he willingly accepted all the hardships this entailed. The story itself is adventurous and of wide-ranging interest. George Townshend's years in Utah, where he was ordained in Salt Lake City; his academic career in Sewanee, Tennessee where he became Associate Professor of English at the University of the South; his long years near Ballinasloe, County Galway, where he was incumbent of Ahascragh and Archdeacon of Clonfert; to the last decade in a small bungalow outside Dublin --this forms the outward pattern of a great life. But it is the inner spiritual striving, the modesty, the courage, the relentless persistence in pursuit of his vision which compel our admiration. His literary accomplishment, insufficiently realized as yet, is dealt with in some detail. A leader writer for The Irish Times between 1900 and 1904, he achieved recognition with The Alter on the Hearth (1927) and more widely with The Genius of Ireland (1930). His love for Ireland and his conviction of her great destiny in the reshaping of the world, were powerful motivating forces, which lent vigour and beauty to much of his writing, both prose and poetry. His later and larger works, related to the Bahá'í Faith, have gradually become more widely known and have been translated into a number of languages, and his services to the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith, especially in the literary field, are here recounted for the first time.

The first edition lamented the lack of information available about George's Oxford days and his early manhood prior to his emigration to the United States in 1904. This lacunna has been lavishly repaired by a spate of new documents and information contributed by George's son Brian, which form the basis for the revisions in this new printing. There is further enlightenment about George's resignation of his Orders.

This is the hilarious story of a poor boy from the Middle West who became one of America's topflight TV stars. But he was bothered with a boyhood dream and eventually left the big time. He made his home in three continents and became a much-loved world traveller.

Through all the laughter -as it's uproarious at times -there is an underlying serious note, and the fact that his dream came true and brought him long-sought spiritual assurance is a considerable satisfaction to the reader.

Here at last is an eye-witness account of what has become virtually a legendary episode in recent Bahá'í history: Amatu'l-Bahá Rúhíyyih Khánum's historic three-year journey crossing the African continent from north to south, and from coast to coast. Despite the passage of nearly thirty years, the story of this extraordinary adventure leaps off the page, vividly and faithfully told from the diaries of Violette Nakhjavani, who accompanied Amatu'l-Bahá on these travels. They visited 34 African countries, driving a Land Rover over 36,000 miles to visit Bahá'ís in remote villages as well as capital cities, along the way meeting people in all walks of life, from emperors and kings to humble farmers.

'. . . the whole Bahá'í world may now know what we who have worked with you have long known -all the strength and knowledge, the devotion, the undeviating justice, the broad vision and the gentle, personal understanding. Everyone whose life touches yours will retain some of these qualities which you mirror forth so constantly in your service.' (Dr. Mildred Nichols, letter to Leroy Ioas, 1951.)

Few twentieth-century lives have been so closely associated with the major events of the formative age of the Bahá'í Faith as the life of Leroy Ioas. From meeting 'Abdu'l-Bahá at the age of sixteen -the seminal spiritual experience of his life -through the entire ministry of Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith, to the establishment of the Universal House of Justice, Leroy Ioas dedicated his talent and energy, his drive and pioneering spirit, to the needs of the Faith. He became one of the spiritually eminent American Bahá'ís, a brilliant administrator and gifted teacher. Appointed a Hand of the Cause of God in 1951, he served the Guardian in Haifa until 1957 as Secretary-General of the International Bahá'í Council, and afterwards as one of the Custodians of the Bahá'í Faith.

This book is more than a biography. It illuminates Bahá'í history in the first fifty years of the formative age, when Bahá'í institutions were painstakingly built up, Bahá'í laws and principles given application and the great teaching missions begun. Anita Ioas Chapman's inspiring account will be of value to the many Bahá'ís who did not personally experience those times and who wish to enhance their understanding.

Anita Ioas Chapman is the daughter of Leroy and Sylvia Ioas. A graduate of Stanford, she has worked as a writer/broadcaster on Voice of America and Radio Free Europe. She is active in speaking and teaching about the Bahá'í Faith and has also served the Bahá'í community in its Office of External Affairs in Washington, and on the Boards of a ballet company and a scholarship fund for African women. She is married to a former US diplomat and has three children.

The first Hands of the Cause of God were appointed by Bahá’u’lláh. They were given various responsibilities, particularly the protection and propagation of His Faith. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, in Memorials of the Faithful, referred to other believers as Hands of the Cause and in His Will and Testament included a provision calling upon the Guardian of the Faith to appoint Hands of the Cause. Shoghi Effendi named a number of believers Hands of the Cause after their passing. In the last years of his ministry he raised 32 women and men from all continents to this rank.

Here is a unique collection of pen portraits of each of the 50 Hands of the Cause of God, the ‘Chief Stewards of Bahá’u’lláh’s embryonic World Commonwealth’. Drawn from many sources, including accounts by Hands themselves, these brief essays provide a fascinating insight into the lives of this small band of individuals, whose rank is unparalleled in religious history and who, in the words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, ‘have diffused widely the Divine Fragrances, declared His Proofs, proclaimed His Faith, published abroad His Law, detached themselves from all things but Him, stood for righteousness in this world, and kindled the Fire of the Love of God in the very hearts and souls of His servants’.

The definitive biography of Pittsburgh journalist Martha Root, who became the most widely travelled and influential teacher of the Baha'i Faith, and was designated by Shoghi Effendi, the great-grandson of Baha'u'llah, as the "foremost" Hand of the Cause of God.

The memoirs of the Hand of the Cause, 'Alí-Akbar Furútan, were first published in Iran in 1977 and reprinted in England in 1981. The present volume is far more than a translation into English since many incidents have been added and the structure of several chapters rearranged. A number of photographs of historical interest are also included.The author's reflections span most of the twentieth century, from the arrival of the first motor car in Iran to the establishment of the permanent Seat of the Universal House of Justice in Haifa, and a great part of the world in all its aspects has passed before his eyes. He was known to thousands of Bahá'ís of every race and nation, with whom he shared his knowledge, practical wisdom, humour and affection.The descriptions of his early years make a fascinating story and open a door onto a third of his life wholly unfamiliar to his readers. From 1930 until he was called to work at the Bahá'í World Centre in 1957, he served the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh indefatigably in Iran. The events of his two pilgrimages to Haifa and 'Akká in 1941 and 1954 are related, and there are accounts of his worldwide travels as a Hand of the Cause. Especially to be noted are the summaries of his talks, invaluable for deepening knowledge of the Faith, while the range and extent of his travels cannot but inspire younger Bahá'ís in their own dedicated services to follow in his path.

Louis Gregory & the Advancement of Racial Unity in America.

A biography of "the most outstanding black Baha'i in America in the first half of the 20th century," To Move the World examines social and racial forces at work in the U.S. during Mr. Gregory's lifetime, and the dynamics shaping the American Baha'i Community as it struggled to eliminate racial prejudice.

Violette Nakhjavani

This monograph, in three parts, is a summary of Rúhíyyih Khánum's story within a simple chronological framework of events. They cover her early years, her marriage to Shoghi Effendi, and her final years of service and travels.

Author: Michael Woodward

This book tells what it was like to be with the Hands of the Cause. These cherished memories from over a period of almost four decades are a reservoir of stories, personal moments and historical events, and will help the reader to gain insights into the devotion and exemplary worldwide services of the Hands, seen at conventions, conferences, commemorations and pioneer posts. Included is the transcript of a radio interview with Amat'u'l Baha Ruhiyyih Khanum in Taiwan in 1988 a free CD of which comes with the book. A perfect presentation of the Faith as valid today as it was then.