been for many years a potent factor in the promotion of the Cause. The Bahá’í communities of ‘Ishqábád and other cities in southern Russia number thousands of active workers, and they have brought their administration of the activities to a high degree of perfection through well-organized committees, many of which are concentrating upon the education of women.
The scope of the activities maintained by the ‘Ishqábád believers can be briefly indicated by the fact that in addition to publishing a monthly magazine they have a printing press entirely devoted to the publication of Bahá’í literature; and that within the past two years the Spiritual Assembly of ‘Ishqábád prepared a statement on the objects and purposes of the Bahá’í Cause which was presented to the heads of the Soviet Government in Moscow by a personal representative. Although their collective activities are officially tolerated and a fanatic who assassinated a Bahá’í in the city of Marv was severely punished, nevertheless the large reference library founded by the ‘Ishqábád believers cannot yet contain Baha'i works.
In mentioning current Bahá’í activities in the Balkan States the name of Miss Martha Root again appears as the principal factor. During a visit of several months in 1926, repeated in the early months of 1928, Miss Root has not only aroused a real interest in the Bahá’í teachings among members of the royal family of Rumania but also among leading editors and educators. Mrs. Louise Gregory, to take advantage of these opportunities, traveled from the United States to reside for some months in Bulgaria early in 1928. At the time of writing, no reports had yet been received concerning her activities.
The analysis of the religious situation in the Balkan countries made by all the Bahá’ís who have first-hand knowledge of that region, indicate clearly that the intolerable burden of economic, political and social oppression, which for so many centuries has stunted the collective life of those peoples, is now being lifted by an ever increasing demand among the people themselves for a more dynamic and useful spiritual experience. From some points of view it would appear that no part of the world offers better possibilities for universal religious quickening than the Balkan States.
THE NEAR EAST
The development of Bahá’í activities in Egypt has been overshadowed by a recent occurence, the importance of which is not confined to Egypt alone but is being felt throughout the whole of Islám and will eventually bear results in other countries as well. This event, consisting in a formal pronouncement by the Muslim Ecclesiastical Court of Egypt in an appeal affecting the religious status of Egyptian Bahá’ís, was the outcome of a series of anti-Bahá’í disturbances instigated by Muḥammadan elements especially active in the remoter villages. In certain localities, pressure was brought to bear against the Bahá’ís by invoking the Islámic law which asserts that the marriage relationship cannot be entered into or maintained by heretics. The attempt to carry out this law produced the greatest hardship among many Bahá’í families and appeal was made, jurisdiction of which was eventually taken by the highest ecclesiastical authorities of the land.
Writing to the Bahá’ís of Europe and America on this subject, Shoghi Effendi made the following statement on February 12, 1927:
“Of all the diverse issues which today are gradually tending to consolidate and extend the bounds of the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, the decision of Egypt’s religious tribunal regarding the Bahá’ís under its jurisdiction appears at the present moment to be the most powerful in its challenge, the most startling in its character, and the most perplexing in the consequences it may entail. I have already alluded in my letter of January 10, 1926, addressed to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States
