# On the Nature of Baha'i Communities

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Check Woo Foo, On the Nature of Baha'i Communities, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> On the Nature of Baha'i Communities
> Check Woo Foo
> 
> Abstract
> 
> Some personal reflections on the development of Baha'i communities in
> urban societies, especially the relationship between the individual believer
> and the local community, and that between the local community and the
> institutions of the Faith, in the context of achieving a significant advance
> in the process of entry by troops, which is the major focus of the
> forthcoming Four Year Plan.
> 
> Introduction
> 
> In a couple of weeks' time, the Universal House of Justice will launch a
> global plan of expansion and consolidation to end four years later at
> Ridvan 2000. In a message, dated 31 December 1996 addressed to the
> Baha'is of the World, announcing its decision, the Universal House of
> Justice summarized the basic requisites in the activity and development of
> the individual believer, the local community, and the institutions for
> achieving "a significant advance in the process of entry by troops".1
> 
> Some three years ago, the House of Justice in its Ridvan message brought
> to the attention of the Baha'is of the world the critical need for a massive
> expansion of the Baha'i community in the years immediately ahead. 2
> Clear signs of "the growing receptivity of the world to Baha'u'llah's
> Message" reinforces the House's conviction that "entry by troops will
> 
> Message of the Universal House of Justice dated 31 December 1995 to the Baha'is of
> the World.
> Message of the Universal House of Justice dated Ridvan 150 to the Baha'is of the
> World.
> 84             THE SINGAPORE BAHA'I STUDIES REVIEW
> soon become an established pattern for the growth of the Faith in country
> after country". 3 To assist the National Spiritual Assemblies and all the
> friends to understand, welcome, initiate and sustain this process, the
> Universal House of Justice enclosed a compilation and a covering
> statement, prepared by the Research Department, entitled "Promoting
> Entry by Troops".4
> 
> I don't think I understood it then. But I am beginning to understand it
> now. I have been reflecting a fair bit on the development of Baha'i
> communities; and, quite naturally, the development of urban Baha'i
> communities is closest to my heart. I have started examining the whole
> panorama of the development of the Baha'i Faith since its inception. It is
> interesting to note that major developments in the Faith during the time of
> Baha'u'llah took place in the great cities of the world then - Tihran,
> Baghdad, Constantinople, Adrianople and Akka.
> 
> I begin to appreciate that we are participants in a "vast, majestic process
> that was set in motion at the dawn of the Adamic cycle", some six
> thousand years ago, "with the planting, in the soil of the divine will, of the
> tree of divine revelation."5
> 
> A Vast, Majestic Process
> 
> Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Baha'i Faith, in his second message,
> dated May 4, 1953, to the All-American Intercontinental Conference,
> described, in vivid, flowing metaphorical language, and in his usual
> concise manner, this vast, majestic process that has already passed
> through "certain stages and must needs pass through others ere it attains
> its final consummation."
> 
> Message of the Universal House of Justice dated 9 November 1993 to all National
> Spiritual Assemblies.
> Statement and Compilation on "Promoting Entry by Troops" prepared by the Research
> Department of the Universal House of Justice dated October 1995.
> Shoghi Effendi. Messages to the BaháT' World, 1950-1957. Wilmette: Baha'i
> Publishing Trust, 1971, pp. 153-155.
> On the Nature ofBahďí Communities                       85
> 
> He wrote, 'The first part of this process was the slow and steady growth
> of this tree of divine revelation, successively putting forth its branches,
> shoots and off-shoots, and revealing its leaves, buds and blossoms, as a
> direct consequence of the light and warmth imparted to it by a sales of
> progressive dispensations associated with Moses, Zoroaster, Buddha,
> Jesus, Muhammad and other Prophets, and of the vernal showers of blood
> shed by countless martyrs in their path."
> 
> "The second part of this process was the fruition of this tree, 'that
> belongeth neither to the East nor to the West,' when the Bab appeared as
> the perfect fruit and declared His mission in the Year Sixty (1844) in the
> city of Shiraz."
> 
> "The third part was the grinding of this sacred seed, of infinite
> preciousness and potency, in the mill of adversity, causing it to yield its
> oil, six years later, in the city of Tabriz (1850)."
> 
> "The fourth part was the ignition of this oil by the hand of Providence in
> the depths and amidst the darkness of the Siyah-Chal of Tihran a hundred
> years ago (1853)."
> 
> "The fifth, was the clothing of that flickering light, which had scarcely
> penetrated the adjoining territory of Iraq, in the lamp of revelation, after
> an eclipse lasting no less than ten years, in the city of Baghdad (1863)."
> 
> "The sixth, was the spread of the radiance of that light, shining with
> added brilliancy in its crystal globe in Adrianople (1867), and later on in
> the fortress town of Akka (1868-1892), to thirteen countries in the Asiatic
> and African continents."
> 
> "The seventh was its projection, from the Most Great Prison, in the
> course of the ministry of 'Abdu'l-Baha, the Center of the Covenant
> (1892-1921), across the seas and the shedding of its illumination upon
> twenty sovereign states and dependencies in the American, the European,
> and the Australian continents."
> 
> "The eighth part of that process was the diffusion of that same light in the
> course of the first, and the opening years of the second, epoch of the
> 86            THE SINGAPORE BAHAT STUDIES REVIEW
> Formative Age of the Faith (1921-1953), over ninety-four sovereign
> states, dependencies and islands of the planet, as a result of the
> prosecution of a series of national plans, initiated by eleven national
> spiritual assemblies throughout the BaháT world, utilizing the agencies of
> a newly emerged, divinely appointed Administrative Order, and which has
> now culminated in the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of
> Baha'uTlah's Mission (1953)/*
> 
> The ninth part of this process was the "further diffusion of that same light
> over one hundred and thirty-one additional territories and islands in both
> the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, through the operation of a decade-
> long world spiritual crusade whose termination" coincided with the Most
> Great Jubilee commemorating the centenary of the declaration of
> Baha'uTlah in Baghdad (1963).
> 
> And since 1963, the BaháT world community, led by the Universal House
> of Justice, has initiated the tenth part of this mighty process which must
> witness "the penetration of that light, in the course of numerous crusades
> and of successive epochs of both the Formative and Golden Ages of the
> Faith, into all the remaining territories of the globe through the erection of
> the entire machinery of Baha'uTlah's Administrative Orda: in all
> territories, both East and West, the stage at which the light of God's
> triumphant Faith shining in all its power and glory will have suffused and
> enveloped the entire planet."
> 
> Beginning the Tenth Part
> 
> As a member of the BaháT world community, entering into the tenth part
> of this majestic process, I appreciate that the steadily evolving Faith of
> Baha'uTlah will have to go through "stages of obscurity, of repression, of
> emancipation and of recognition — stages one or another of which BaháT
> national communities in various parts of the world now find themselves in
> — to the stage of establishment, the stage at which the Faith of
> Baha'uTlah will be recognized by the civil authorities as the state religion,
> similar to that which Christianity entered in the years following the death
> of the Emperor Constantine, a stage which must later be followed by the
> emergence of the BaháT state itself, functioning, in all religious and civil
> On the Nature ofBahďí Communities                        87
> 
> matters, in strict accordance with the laws and ordinances of the Kitáb-i-
> Aqdas, the Most Holy, the Mother-Book of the BaháT Revelation, a stage
> which, in the fullness of time, will culminate in the establishment of the
> World BaháT Commonwealth, functioning in the plenitude of its powers,
> and which will signalize the long-awaited advent of the Christ-promised
> Kingdom of God on earth — the Kingdom of BahaVUah — mirroring
> however faintly upon this humble handful of dust the glories of the Abhá
> Kingdom."
> 
> "This final and crowning stage in the evolution of the plan wrought by
> God Himself for humanity will, in turn, prove to be the signal for the birth
> of a world civilisation, incomparable in its range, its character and
> potency, in the history of mankind — a civilisation which posterity will,
> with one voice, acclaim as the fairest fruit of the Golden Age of the
> Dispensation of BahaVUah, and whose rich harvest will be garnered
> during future dispensations destined to succeed one another in the course
> of thefivethousand century BaháT Cycle."6
> 
> I also appreciate that the speed at which we travel this road is not totally
> in our control, and that the detailed itinerary has yet to be worked out, but
> I think we can already visualise a road map with clear milestones leading
> to the establishment of the BaháT Faith.
> 
> A Road Map to Establishment
> 
> It is evident the road to final consummation, in the Golden Age of the
> Faith, through the raising of the standard of the Most Great Peace, nay,
> even to the stage of establishment — the stage at which the Faith of
> BahaVUah will be recognized by the civil authorities as the state rdigion
> — will be long, tortuous, and narrow. The stages that the Faith wiU have
> to go through — of obscurity, of repression, of emancipation and of
> recognition — prior to reaching the stage of establishment wiU, however,
> probably take place during our life time or during our children's Ufe time.
> As the Universal House of Justice has pointed out in the preamble to the
> 
> Shoghi Effendi. Messages to the BaháT World, 1950-1957. Wilmette: BaháT
> Publishing Trust, 1971, pp. 155-156.
> 88             THE SINGAPORE BAHAT STUDIES REVIEW
> Four Year Plan, "there are divine deadlines to be met"7, and one
> particular deadline, as discussed below, is dead ahead.
> 
> In fact, Shoghi Effendi had stated that Baha'i national communities in
> various parts of the world were alreadyfindingthemselves in one of these
> stages or another. Clearly, the Baha'i national community of Iran is
> undergoing the stage of repression, foreshadowing the trials that will soon
> challenge the Baha'i world community.
> 
> Nevertheless, the Guardian has assured us that emancipation, however
> slow the process, of the "valiant sufferers from the galling fetters of an
> antiquated religious orthodoxy" will take place, that "such an
> emancipation, which cannot be confined to Baha'u'llah's native land, will,
> in varying measure, have its repercussions in Islamic countries, or may be
> even preceded by a similar phenomenon in neighbouring territories,
> hastening and adding fresh impetus to the bursting of the bonds that fetter
> thefreedomof the followers of God's infant Faith."
> 
> "Such an emancipation will, in its turn, pave the way for the recognition
> of that Faith as an independent religion established on a basis of absolute
> equality with its sister religions, enjoying the unqualified protection of the
> civil authorities for its followers and its institutions, and fully empowered,
> in all matters related to personal status, to apply without reservations the
> laws and ordinances ordained in the Most Holy Book."8
> 
> In its message of Ridvan 1984 to the Baha'is of the World, the Universal
> House of Justice declared that the Baha'i world community has emerged
> from obscurity.9 We must now act in unison with the forces unleashed by
> the Almighty to propel the Baha'i world community safely through the
> next stage of its development.
> 
> See note 1 of this paper
> Shoghi Effendi. Citadel of Faith: Messages to America, 1947-1957. Wilmette: Baha'i
> Publishing Trust, 1970, p. 141.
> Message of the Universal House of Justice dated Ridvan 19S4 to the Baha'is of the
> World.
> On the Nature ofBahďí Communities                            89
> 
> Dynamic of Crisis and Victory
> 
> Shoghi Effendi, in his message of Ridvan 1956 to the delegates of the
> Annual BaháT Conventions, while impelled to share with them his
> feelings of joy, of pride and of thankfulness following the triumphant
> termination of the second phase of the World Spiritual Crusade, warned
> the friends that the "repercussions have spread so far as to alarm a not
> inconsiderable element among the traditional and redoubtable adversaries
> of its courageous and consecrated prosecutors. Indeed as it has forged
> ahead, it has raised up new enemies intent on obstructing its forward
> march and on defeating its purpose." The Guardian, however, went on to
> say that "premonitory signs can already be discerned in far-off regions
> heralding the approach of the day when troops will flock to its standard,
> fulfilling the predictions uttered long ago by the Supreme Captain
> ('Abdu'1-Bahá) of its forces."
> 
> In the words of the Universal House of Justice, "this dynamic interplay of
> the processes of crisis and victory characterizes the development of the
> Faith." 10 In its statement on "Promoting Entry by Troops", the House of
> Justice quoted the words of Shoghi Effendi that the record of the
> tumultuous history of the Faith demonstrates "the supreme truth that with
> every fresh outbreak of hostility to the Faith, whether from within or from
> without, a corresponding measure of outpouring grace, sustaining its
> defenders and confounding its adversaries, has been providentially
> released, communicating a fresh impulse to the onward march of the
> Faith, while this impetus, in its turn, would, through its manifestations,
> provoke fresh hostility in quarters heretofore unaware of its challenging
> implications." n
> 
> Organic Growth
> 
> See note 4 of this paper
> Letter dated 31 June 1952*written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to a National Spiritual
> Assembly. Cited in Statement and Compilation on "Promoting Entry by Troops"
> prepared by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice dated October
> 1995.
> 90             THE SINGAPORE BAHA'f STUDIES REVIEW
> That "the growth of the Faith proceeds in an organic, evolutionary
> manner", that "it advances in vast surges, precipitated by the alternation
> of crisis and victory"4, which means its rate of growth is not necessarily
> uniform, is evidentfromShoghi Effendi's delineation of the vast, majestic
> process at work in the world of humanity, as described above, and from
> his elucidation of how the Cause of God spread, in a letter dated 18
> February 1932, written on his behalf to an individual believer, in which he
> likened the "state when only isolated souls are awakened "as the
> "beginning of spring" when "only the few, exceptionally favoured seeds
> will sprout" and "the quickening of whole groups and nations" as when
> "the season gets in its full sway, and the atmosphere gets permeated with
> the warmth of true springtime" and "masses of flowers will begin to
> appear, and a whole hillside suddenly blooms."
> 
> In his book, "On the Shoulders of Giants", Craig Loehle, recognising that
> the growth of the Faith is organic, draws lessons from biology to throw
> light on the processes affecting the spread of the Cause of God.
> 
> Putting Down Deep Roots
> 
> Citing the case of the longleaf pine, a tall majestic pine found in the
> American southeast, which is the longest lived of the southern pines,
> found growing on sandy soils where fire is frequent due to drought
> conditions, Loehle described a growth strategy exhibited by this tree
> which is indicative of the process that the Baha'i Faith is going through
> right now.
> 
> He explained, "To cope with fire, the longleaf has developed a unique
> evolutionary response. When a seed germinates, the seedling produces a
> thick bundle of needles at ground level. Instead of getting taller each year
> as most trees do, the seedling gets thicker around each year but stays right
> at ground level, producing a thicker and thicker cluster of needles. This is
> called the grass stage." 12
> 
> Craig Loehje. On the Shoulders of Giants. Oxford: George Ronald, 1994, pp. 131-
> 132.
> On the Nature of Bahá Y Communities                         91
> "While in the grass stage, it is quite resistant to fire. The growing tip of
> the tree is close to the ground where temperatures are lowest during a fire
> and it is further protected by the thick cluster of green needles. When the
> seedling is sufficiently robust and has deep enough roots, it suddenly
> shoots up at the rate of three to six feet in height per year. In just a few
> years it is tall enough and has thick enough bark to survive most brush
> flres.,,
> 
> "The Baha'i Faith may be said to have been in the grass stage until
> recently: putting down deep roots while protected by the leafy green
> shelter of obscurity.,,
> 
> During the period of quiet growth, the Faith has put down deep roots in
> the hearts of the believers through deepening, supplemented by the
> extensive body of publications and translations of the Holy Writings (at
> last count in 1993, the number of publishing trusts stands at 29 and the
> number of languages into which Baha'u'llah's writings have been
> translated at 802) and in the soils of the earth in the form of Assemblies
> (165 National Assemblies and 20,435 Local Assemblies) and appointed
> institutions (72 Counsellors and 846 Auxiliary Board Members), of
> Houses of Worship (7), of schools (178 academic and 488 tutorial) and
> radio stations (7), and of social and economic projects (1344).13
> 
> Having emerged from obscurity in 1984, we have left the safety of the
> grass stage and are vulnerable to the fires that rage around us. And like
> the longleaf pine, rapid growth is essential at this stage in the life of the
> Baha'i community in orda: that we pass through it safely.
> 
> I can, therefore, understand why the Universal House of Justice in its in
> its Ridvan message of 1993 "drew the attention of the Baha'i world to the
> critical need for a massive expansion of the Baha'i community in the
> years immediately ahead." 14
> 
> The Baha'i World, 1992-93: An International Record. Haifa: Baha'i World Centre
> Publications, 1993.
> See note 2 of this paper
> 92             THE SINGAPORE BAHAT STUDIES REVIEW
> As Loehle so aptly remarked, "To falter leaves us in a very vulnerable
> position. We become vulnerable to attack because we are noticed but have
> small numbers. We become vulnerable when our credibility is questioned
> as the outside world begins to expect us to put Baha'u'llah's teachings
> into practice in the life of society, even though we may not be financially
> or administratively ready to do so." 15
> 
> Spreading Worldwide
> 
> With another analogy drawn from biology — this time an agricultural
> weed studied in the farm fields of South Carolina — Loehle described
> another process at work in the spread of the Faith.
> 
> He explained, "The weed was found to grow in numbers slowly within
> individual fields but to spread to distant fields as seeds riding on
> agricultural equipment. Upon entering a newfieldit would very gradually
> increase in that field, being apparently rare there for a long time but
> providing seeds to be carried to further fields. A computer model of the
> spatial spread of this pest led to interesting conclusions. As the weed
> spread in this island-hopping manna*, the populations in the newly
> colonized fields would be very low and easy to overlook. It would go
> unnoticed until suddenly, after a few years, it would have occupied most
> fields in an entire county and overrun them. This is because each isolated
> population was growing exponentially but starting from vary small
> numbers. Because the population was scattered, the numbers appeared
> smaller than they actually were and the true rate of growth was not
> evident. This type of exponential growth, based on constant dispersal to
> outlying areas, is exactly what we see in the progress of the Baha'i Faith
> as a consequence of the plans of Abdu'1-Baha and Shoghi Effendi." 16
> 
> Craig Loehle. On the Shoulders of Giants. Oxford: George Ronald, 1994, pp. 132-
> 133.
> Craig Loehle. On the Shoulders of Giants. Oxford: George Ronald, 1994, pp. 133-
> 134.
> On the Nature ofBahďí Communities                            93
> 
> I am reminded of the directives from Shoghi Effendi in the last year of his
> earthly life to the friends in both India 17 and North America 18 to establish
> a Spiritual Assembly on afirmand enduring basis with a nucleus of about
> fifteen Baha'fs in the community so that the other believers are free to
> disperse and teach elsewhere, and that they should consider it their duty to
> do so.
> 
> In fact, this same process, as directed by the Universal House of Justice,
> is at work in the microcosm of the virgin territory of mainland China,
> which called for the establishment of four hundred localities throughout
> the mainland and with hundred and fifty of these localities populated by
> fifteen local believers in the space of a few short years and under the
> protection of obscurity. At last count, there are already two hundred and
> ninety localities throughout mainland China, and thirty-five of these
> localities havefifteenor more local believers.
> 
> Shoghi Effendi, in a letter dated 30 June 1952 written on his behalf to a
> National Spiritual Assembly, has affirmed that "as-the Cause spread all
> over the world its rate of acceleration increases, too ..." and reassured us,
> if we were wondering whether it is worth the enormous effort, and the
> expenditure of our limited resources, to establish the Faith in remote parts
> of the world, that "new centres in Africa, in some mysterious way, have
> spiritual repercussions which aid in forming new centres everywhere." 19
> 
> The Baha'i Community Today
> 
> When the Guardian launched the World Spiritual Crusade in 1953 the
> Faith was still in the stage of obscurity. The crusade paved "the way for,
> 
> Shoghi Effendi. Messages of Shoghi Effendi to the Indian Subcontinent, 1923-1957.
> Compiled and Edited by Iran Furutan Muhajir. New Delhi: Baha'i Publishing Trust,
> 1995, p. 414.
> Shoghi Effendi. Citadel of Faith: Messages to America, 1947-1957. Wilmette: BaháT
> Publishing Trust, 1970, p. 128.
> Letter dated 30 June 1952 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to a National
> Spiritual Assembly. Cited in Statement and Compilation on "Promoting Entry by
> Troops" prepared by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice dated
> October 1995.
> 94                 THE SINGAPORE BAHA'i STUDIES REVIEW
> and constitute the prelude to, the initiation of the laborious and
> tremendously long process of establishing in the course of subsequent
> crusades in all the newly opened sovereign states, dependencies and
> islands of the planet, as well as in the remaining territories of the globe,
> the framework of the Administrative Order of the Faith, with its attendant
> agencies, and of eventually erecting in these territories still more pillars to
> share in sustaining the weight and in broadening the foundation of the
> Universal House of Justice." 20
> 
> Twelve National Spiritual Assemblies wore entrusted with the execution
> of the crusade. By the end of the crusade in 1963, fifty-six National
> Spiritual Assemblies were established to elect the first Universal House of
> Justice. And by Ridvan 1996, the pillars of the Universal House of Justice
> will have totaled a hundred and seventy-nine.
> 
> According to The BaháT World, 1992-1993, the number of Local
> Spiritual Assemblies have risen from 3,555 in 1963 to 20,435 in 1993,
> and the number of localities where BaháTs reside stands at 120,046.
> Altogether, it is estimated that at least 2,112 different ethnic and tribal
> backgrounds are represented in the BaháT community. With its diffusion
> to 205 countries, the BaháT Faith, according to Encyclopedia Britannica,
> 1992, is now the second most wide-spread of the world's religions,
> exceeded only by Christianity. The membership of the BaháT world
> community has also increased dramatically from an estimated 408,000 in
> 1963 to over 5 million today.21
> 
> Rapid Growth
> 
> Such deep roots and worldwide spread are the necessary conditions within
> the Faith for rapid growth. The BaháT world community is ready.
> Therefore, I welcome this process.
> 
> Shoghi Effendi. Messages to the Baha'i World, 1950-1957. Wilmette: Baha'i
> Publishing Trust, 1971, p. 152.
> See note 11 of this paper
> On the Nature ofBahďí Communities                            95
> 
> Shoghi Effendi, in his directive dated July 18, 1953, during the opening
> year of the crusade, stressed that the "twofold task of extension and
> consolidation must be supplemented by continuous and strenuous efforts
> to increase speedily not only the number of the avowed followers of the
> Faith .... but also to swell the ranks of its active supporters who will
> consecrate their time, resources and energy to the effectual spread of its
> teachings and the multiplication of its administrative institutions." 2 '
> 
> This equally vital task — which is one that primarily concerns and
> challenges each single individual believer whatever his rank, capacity or
> origin — is that of "winning to the Faith fresh recruits to the slowly yet
> steadily advancing army of the Lord of Hosts".23
> 
> "Such a steady flow of reinforcements is absolutely vital and is of extreme
> urgency, for nothing short of the vitalizing influx of new blood that will
> reanimate the world Baha'i community can safeguard the prizes which, at
> so great a sacrifice involving the expenditure of so much time, effort and
> treasure, are now being won in virgin territories by Baha'u'llah's valiant
> Knights, whose privilege is to constitute the spearhead of the onrushing
> battalions which, in diverse theaters and in circumstances often adverse
> and extremely challenging, are vying with each other for the spiritual
> conquest of the unsurrendered territories and islands on the surface of the
> globe."24
> 
> ENTRY BY TROOPS
> 
> "This flow, moreover, will presage and hasten the advent of the day
> which, as prophesied by Abdu'l-Baha, will witness the entry by troops of
> peoples of divers nations and races into the BaháT world — a day which,
> viewed in its proper perspective, will be the prelude to that long awaited
> hour when a mass conversion on the part of these same nations and races,
> 
> Shoghi Effendi. Citadel of Faith: Messages to America, 1947-1957. Wilmette: BaháT
> Publishing Trust, 1970, pp. 116-117.
> ibid., pi 17
> ibid.
> 96                 THE SINGAPORE BAHAT STUDIES REVIEW
> and as a direct result of a chain of events, momentous and possibly
> catastrophic in nature, and which cannot as yet be even dimly visualized,
> will suddenly revolutionize the fortunes of the Faith, derange the
> equilibrium of the world, and reinforce a thousandfold the numerical
> strength as well as the material power and the spiritual authority of the
> Faith of BaháVlláh." *
> 
> The steady flow of new active believers to the BaháT community will
> hasten the advent of entry by troops. It is also clear what it is that must
> continually concern and challenge me, the individual believer, regardless
> of my rank, capacity or origin.
> 
> Conditions Outside the Faith
> 
> As the House of Justice has so succinctly pointed out, "the Four Year
> Plan's aim at accelerating the process of entry by troops identifies a
> necessity" not only "at this stage in the progress of the Cause" but "in the
> state of human society". 26
> 
> "Our work is intended not only to increase the size and consolidate the
> foundations of our community, but more particularly to exert a positive
> influence on the affairs of the entire human race."
> 
> Viewed in this light, I should not only welcome this process, I should
> embrace it whole-heartedly. Since the beginning of the human race, how
> many can claim to have the opportunity, and certainly not due to any
> merit on my part, to do something that will have a positive influence on
> the whole of mankind.
> 
> So what are the conditions outside the Faith?
> 
> Seeing the trees of materialism growing ever taller in Singapore and the
> trees of spirituality barely discernible above the ground, it is difficult to
> 
> Shoghi Effendi. Citadel of Faith: Messages to America, 1947-1957. Wilmette: Baha'i
> Publishing Trust, 1970, p. 117.
> See note 1 of this paper
> On the Nature of Baha'i Communities                           97
> imagine that the forest of the world is facing imminent devastation. It is at
> times like this that I open the book, "Citadel of Faith", turn to page 124,
> and again read the passage "America Passing Through Crisis". 27
> 
> World Peril
> 
> Addressed to the American Baha'i community on July 28, 1954, some
> nine years after the Second World War, and at a time when the North
> American continent was incomparable in material wealth and power,
> Shoghi Effendi warned that "the crass materialism, which lays excessive
> and ever-increasing emphasis on material well-being, forgetful of those
> things of the spirit on which alone a sure and stable foundation can be laid
> for human society ... is the chief factor in precipitating the dire ordeals
> and world-shaking crises that must necessarily involve the burning of
> cities and the spread of terror and consternation in the hearts of men.
> Indeed a foretaste of the devastation which this consuming fire will wreak
> upon the world, and with which it will lay waste the cities of the nations
> participating in this tragic world-engulfing contest, has been afforded by
> the last World War (Second World War), marking the second stage in the
> global havoc which humanity, forgetful of its God and heedless of the
> clear warnings uttered by His appointed Messenger for this day, must,
> alas, inevitably experience. It was this same all-pervasive, pernicious
> materialism against which the voice of the Center of Baha'u'llah's
> Covenant (Abdu'1-Baha) was raised, with pathetic persistence, from
> platform and pulpit, in His addresses to the heedless multitudes, which, on
> the morrow of His fateful visit to both Europe and America (1912-1913),
> found themselves suddenly swept into the vortex of a tempest which in its
> range and severity was unsurpassed in the world's history (First World
> War)."
> 
> I was born after the Second World War. Butfromwhat I have heard from
> my late mother, and from what I have read in the books and seen in the
> movies, it was a time of extreme difficulties and great devastation. It
> boggles the mind to imagine what it would be like if the Second World
> Shoghi Effendi. Citadel of Faith: Messages to America, 1947-1957. Wilmette: Baha'i
> Publishing Trust, 1970, pp. 124-127.
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> War was only a "foretaste of the devastation which this consuming fire
> will wreak upon the world, and with which it will lay waste the cities of
> the nations participating in this tragic world-engulfing contest."
> 
> The Guardian went on to state that "the American nation ... stands,
> indeed, from whichever angle one observes its immediate fortunes, in
> grave peril. The woes and tribulations which threaten it are partly
> avoidable, but mostly inevitable and God-sent, for by reason of them a
> government and people ... will find itself purged of its anachronistic
> conceptions, and prepared to play a preponderating role, as foretold by
> Abdu'1-Baha, in the hoisting of the standard of the Lesser Peace, in the
> unification of mankind, and in the establishment of a world federal
> government on this planet. These same fiery tribulations will not only
> firmly weld the American nation to its sister nations in both hemispheres,
> but will through their cleansing effect, purge it thoroughly of the
> accumulated dross which ingrained racial prejudice, rampant materialism,
> widespread ungodliness and moral laxity have combined, in the course of
> successive generations, to produce, and which have prevented her thus far
> from assuming the role of world spiritual leadership forecast by ' Abdu'l-
> Baha's unerring pen (in case we wonder whether He might have missed
> something) — a role which she is bound to fulfill through travail and
> sorrow.
> 
> Lesser Peace
> 
> Abdu'1-Baha in one of His Tablets, known as the Tablet of Seven
> Candles, declared that the "fifth candle is the unity of nations — a unity
> which in this century will be securely established, causing all peoples of
> the world to regard themselves as citizens of one common fatherland." 28
> This is that particular divine deadline.
> 
> Of course, we are not privy to the exact timing nor the exact nature of the
> catastrophe that will visit humanity. But the American nation, after
> passing through "fiery tribulations", will find itself "prepared to play a
> preponderating role in hoisting the standard of the Lesser Peace", and the
> 
> Shoghi Effendi. The World Order of Baha'u'Uah: Selected Letters. Wilmette: BaháT
> Publishing Trust, 1991, p. 39.
> On the Nature ofBahá Y Communities                         99
> political unification of the world, in which all nations will be "forced"
> into, will take place in this century.
> In case I vainly imagine somehow the island of Singapore might be spared
> these tribulations, I wisely recall Shoghi Effendi's warning of "the
> devastation which this consuming fire will wreak upon the world, and
> with which it will lay waste the cities of the nations participating in this
> tragic world-engulfing contest."30 In any case, I cannot help but note that
> the end of the century is just outside the duration of the Four Year Plan by
> 8 months. We are living in interesting times.
> 
> It is not difficult, however, to imagine "after mankind has suffered,... that
> the people will enter the Cause of God in troops." In a letter dated 5
> October 1953, written on his behalf to an individual believer, Shoghi
> Effendi told the believer that "the Baha'is see this new condition which
> will take place, as one on a mountain top sees the first glimpses of the
> dawn, before others are aware of it; and it is toward this that the Baha'is
> must work."31
> 
> And the Universal House of Justice, seated high on the Mountain of God,
> sees "the growing receptivity of the peoples of the world to Baha'u'llah's
> Message" and is convinced that "entry by troops will soon become an
> established pattern for the growth of the Faith in country after country."32
> 
> Conclusion
> 
> It is clear to me that my role in the Four Year Plan is to contribute
> towards hastening the process of entry by troops, for I know "the longer
> 
> Kathy Lee. Prelude to the Lesser Peace. New Delhi: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1989,
> p. 86.
> See note 20 of this paper
> Letter dated 5 October 1953 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual
> believer. Cited in Statement and Compilation on "Promoting Entry by Troops" prepared
> by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice dated October 1995.
> See note 1 of this paper
> 100           THE SINGAPORE BAHA'f STUDIES REVIEW
> the Divine Physician is withheld from healing the ills of the world, the
> more severe will be the crises, and the more terrible the sufferings of the
> patient."33
> 
> In the next few months, soon after the launching of the Four Year Plan, I
> will have to do my part to initiate and sustain the process of Entry by
> Troops. I will be analysing the approaches to be adopted and the lines of
> action that I will take, which will form the second part of my report, "On
> The Nature of Baha'i Communities."
> 
> c
> 
> Helen Hornby. Lights of Guidance: A Baha'i Reference. New Delhi: Baha'i
> Publishing Trust, p. 89.
>
> — *On the Nature of Baha'i Communities (Used by permission of the curator)*