[2] Over the following decades the Baháʼí Faith spread across Scotland, with Baháʼi communities now established in most cities across the country and many of the Scottish islands, including Orkney, Shetland, Skye and Isle of Lewis.
Mrs. Whyte was encouraged to take up the offer by Professor E. G. Browne, who was the only Westerner to leave an account of his meeting with Baháʼu’lláh, in 'Akká, in 1890; he later visited 'Abdu’l-Bahá in London and Paris during 1912–13.
This came about through correspondence with Major Tudor Pole who was closely affiliated with the Baháʼis and a key figure in alternative spiritual thinking at the beginning of the century.
The Outlook Tower society invited 'Abdu’l-Bahá to speak at the Rainy Hall, followed by a performance of Handel's Messiah in St Giles Cathedral which had been organised for the poor of the city by a group of philanthropists.
John Esslemont spent only short periods of time in his native city, Aberdeen, the last being a few months in 1923 before moving to Haifa in November 1924, at the invitation of Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá’i Faith.
In March 1925 he met the first person to become a Bahá’i in New Zealand, Margaret Stevenson, who was on Pilgrimage, and on hearing that she was planning to spend time in the United Kingdom, he urged her to visit his family in Scotland.
[10] John Esslemont died of tuberculosis whilst he was in Haifa, in November 1925; he had been a close friend and invaluable assistant to Shoghi Effendi, who wrote following his death, “.
[2] Three years after His return to Palestine in 1913 ʻAbdu’l-Bahá began writingTablets of the Divine Plan, a series of fourteen letters to the Bahá’is of the United States and Canada.
In the seventh letter, which was translated into English and published in the Star of the West magazine on 12 December 1919, ʻAbdu’l-Bahá listed regions in Europe which the Bahá’i Faith still needed to reach, writing: "Therefore, O ye believers of God!
"[12] In May 1944, towards the end of the Second World War, the British Bahá’i community, which at that time was still very much concentrated in England, requested Shoghi Effendi, 'Abdu’l-Bahá's grandson and the Guardian of the Bahá’i Faith, to set goals for a six-year plan which they were establishing; his telegram response stated, "WELCOME SPONTANEOUS DECISION ADVISE FORMATION NINETEEN [local] SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLIES SPREAD OVER ENGLAND WALES SCOTLAND NORTHERN IRELAND AND EIRE PRAYING SIGNAL VICTORY".
Although by 1948 the doctor had returned to Egypt, there were enough believers, including new recruits and pioneers, to form the first Local Spiritual Assembly, or LSA of Edinburgh, on 21 April 1948.
In 1978 a Bahá’i Centre was established at 26 North Fort Street, in the Leith area of Edinburgh, with the first legally-recognised marriage ceremony in the United Kingdom outside the Christian Faith to take place there attracting national publicity in both the press and radio.
In 1981 Rúḥíyyih Khánum, the wife of Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Bahá’i Faith, visited the centre, also travelling to the Shetland Islands, the Hebrides and Orkney.
[14] In the decades following the formation of the first LSA in Edinburgh, LSAs were established in towns and cities across Scotland, from Dumfries in the south to Inverness in the north.
LSAs were also established on the islands of Scotland, including Shetland, Orkney, Skye, The Outer Hebrides and Mull, primarily through the efforts of a few pioneers and a sprinkling of new local believers.
In 2005 the second Edinburgh International Festival of Middle Eastern Spirituality and Peace took place over an extended period from mid February to early March.
[29] Many performances and events were offered by Baháʼís in the proceedings including – a selection of The Hidden Words was set with music for viola, an event on "Tranquility Space" by the University of Edinburgh Baha'i Society, "The Baha'i Faith Exhibition", created originally for the St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art, a two-hour guided tour of some of the places where ʻAbdu'l-Bahá spoke at or visited in Edinburgh in 1913, and a talk by Baháʼí scholar Dr Moojan Momen.
In 2005 an Inter-faith Liaison Officer for the City Council of Glasgow was piloted for three years[34] to address issues of sectarianism and included the Baháʼí Faith as a contact point.
[37][38] In November 2006, a junior youth group was registered with the government in Inverness[39] – Ruhi Institutes have a section regarding adolescents about ages 12 to 15 and in this case it included a dance Baháʼí workshop on diversity.
[42] In 2010 a Dundee SNP MP, Stewart Hosie, called on British PM David Cameron to act on behalf of a group of Iranian prisoners who have been jailed for their religious beliefs.
Also in 2010, Cardinal O' Brien of the Roman Catholic Church issued a public statement in which he condemned Iran's treatment of Baháʼís: Indeed, at least one resident in Scotland had herself escaped after her husband was killed according to her own testimony, adding her voice to those of various international leaders.
As of 2021 the elected Local Spiritual Assemblies of Scotland were: Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stirling, Lerwick, Newton Mearns, Orkney Mainland East, and Skye Central.