if they persevere the Beloved will
richly bless their concentrated and highly meritorious efforts.

Shoghi

Letter of 4 June 1939

4 June 1939

Dear Baha'i Brother,

I am charged by our beloved Guardian to inform you of the receipt of your
letter of May 9th written on behalf of the British N.S.A. on the subject
of the Baha'i attitude towards war.

His instructions on this matter, conveyed in a letter addressed to your
Assembly during last November, were not intended for that particular
occasion, but were meant for present conditions, and for any such
emergency as may arise in the immediate future.

It is still his firm conviction that the believers, while expressing their
readiness to unreservedly obey any directions that the authorities may
issue concerning national service in time of war, should also, and while
there is yet no outbreak of hostilities, appeal to the government for
exemption from active military service in a combatant capacity, stressing
the fact that in doing so they are not prompted by any selfish
considerations but by the sole and supreme motive of upholding the
Teachings of their Faith, which make it a moral obligation for them to
desist from any act that would involve them in direct warfare with their
fellow-humans of any other race or nation. The Baha'i Teachings, indeed,
condemn, emphatically and unequivocally, any form of physical violence,
and warfare in the battlefield is obviously a form, and perhaps the worst
form which such violence can assume.

There are many other avenues through which the believers can assist in
times of war by enlisting in services of a non-combatant nature--services
that do not involve the direct shedding of blood--such as ambulance work,
anti-air raid precaution service, office and administrative works, and it
is for such types of national service that they should volunteer.

It is immaterial whether such activities would still expose them to
dangers, either at home or in the front, since their desire is not to
protect their lives, but to desist from any acts of wilful murder.

The friends should consider it their conscientious duty, as loyal members
of the Faith, to apply for such exemption, even though there may be slight
prospect of their obtaining the consent and approval of the authorities to
their petition. It is most essential that in times of such national
excitement and emergency as those through which so many countries in the
world are n