Your email message of 4 September 1999 to the Universal House of Justice
concerning the contents of the Web site ... has been referred to
our Office for response.
In one of His epistles, Abdu'l-Bahá, the son of Bahá'u'lláh, wrote that
two photographs of Bahá'u'lláh were taken, both in Adrianople, Turkey, each in
a different pose. There are copies of both pictures at the Bahá'í World Centre
and one of these is displayed in the International Archives where it is viewed
by Bahá'í pilgrims. The image reproduced on the Web site in question seems
to be a poor reproduction of one of these photographs.
For Bahá'ís, the photograph of Bahá'u'lláh is very precious and it should
not only be viewed but also handled with due reverence and respect, which is
not the case here. Thus, it is indeed disturbing to Bahá'ís to have the image
of Bahá'u'lláh treated in such a disrespectful way. However, as the creator
of the site is not a Bahá'í, there is little, if anything, that can be done to
address this matter. We hope these comments have been of assistance.
Sincerely,
Office of Public Information