# The Ten Year Crusade

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Alí Nakhjavání, The Ten Year Crusade, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> The 22nd Hasan M. Balyuzi Memorial Lecture
> 
> The Ten Year Crusade
> ALI NAKHJAVANI
> 
> Abstract
> This essay will explore how Shoghi Effendi prepared the Bahá’í world for the Ten
> Year Crusade. It will examine the twenty-seven objectives he formulated and will
> explain the impediments which prevented the implementation of some of those
> objectives. Finally, it will consider the place of the Crusade in history as well as
> future developments destined to flow from it, as seen by Shoghi Effendi.
> 
> Résumé
> Cet essai explore comment Shoghi Effendi a préparé le monde bahá’í à la Croisade
> de dix ans. Il examine les vingt-sept objectifs formulés par Shoghi Effendi et
> explique les facteurs qui ont empêché la mise en œuvre de certains d’entre eux.
> Enfin, l’article examine la place de la Croisade de dix ans dans l’histoire et les
> progrès futurs qui en découleront, selon la vision de Shoghi Effendi.
> 
> Resumen
> Este ensayo sondea cómo Shoghi Effendi preparó al mundo bahá’í para la Cruzada
> de Diez Años. Examinará los veintisiete objetivos que formuló, y explicará los
> obstáculos que impidieron la implementación de algunos de aquellos objetivos.
> Finalmente, considerará el lugar de la Cruzada al marco de la historia, como tam-
> bien acontecimientos futuros destinados como tambien resultantes de ese esfuer-
> zo, según previstos por Shoghi Effendi.
> 
> It is not difficult to differentiate the developments achieved under the
> decade-long Plan launched by Shoghi Effendi—the Ten Year Crusade
> 
> 2             The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 14. 3/4. 2004
> 
> (1953–1963)—from the activities in the Bahá’í world that took place prior
> to the inception of that Crusade. A review of Shoghi Effendi’s letters dur-
> ing his thirty-six years of Guardianship clearly reveals that he had been
> preparing the Bahá’í world for this high point in the process of the
> advancement of the Faith. These letters show distinctly that the Ten-Year
> Plan had been destined to be a culmination of the processes at work ever
> since the inauguration of the Formative Age, and was meant to be a spring-
> board for the unimaginably glorious victories to be won throughout the
> epochs and stages ahead.
> I will examine several aspects of the Ten Year Crusade. First, I will
> review the relationship of the Ten Year Crusade to the Guardian’s hopes
> and aspirations during his ministry, taking careful note of the manner in
> which Shoghi Effendi anticipated the launching of the Ten-Year Plan. The
> nature and scope of the guidance given by Shoghi Effendi almost up to the
> midway point of the Crusade must be discussed, as well as the twenty-
> seven objectives of the Ten-Year Plan and the extent to which each was
> executed under the prevailing circumstances; we shall also see that sub-
> sidiary National Plans and subordinate goals were added to the objectives
> of the Crusade. Messages of Shoghi Effendi written to National Spiritual
> Assemblies during the last six months of his life will be reviewed. We will
> assess the importance of the Ten-Year Plan, as it was viewed by Shoghi
> Effendi, in the process of the evolution of the Bahá’í Faith and of human-
> ity. Finally, we will glance at the relationship of the Ten Year Crusade to
> the Guardian’s hopes and aspirations during his ministry.
> 
> THE TEN YEAR CRUSADE AND THE GUARDIAN’S ASPIRATIONS
> 
> After the lapse of some two decades from the beginning of the Formative
> Age, and, more precisely, twenty-three years after the passing of ‘Abdu’l-
> Bahá, Shoghi Effendi announced to the Bahá’í world that the first epoch of
> the Formative Age had been concluded. His writings unmistakably point
> out that these twenty-three years comprised two stages of sixteen years
> and seven years, respectively. The first sixteen years witnessed the forma-
> tion and consolidation of Spiritual Assemblies, both Local and National.
> The Ten Year Crusade                            3
> 
> During this time the Guardian was able to establish ten National Spiritual
> Assemblies in the world, including two within the confines of the former
> Soviet Union: the National Assembly of Turkistan, with its seat in
> ‘Ishqábád; and that of the Caucasus, with its seat in Baku.
> The fourteen Tablets of the Divine Plan had been revealed by ‘Abdu’l-
> Bahá in 1916 and 1917, after which all fourteen Tablets were sent to the
> United States. The vision of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, unveiled in these Tablets, then
> lay in abeyance for twenty years. At Rid.ván 1937 Shoghi Effendi felt that
> the time was ripe for the American Bahá’í community, whom he had
> described as the “envied custodians of a Divine Plan” (Citadel of Faith
> 120), to be charged with the responsibility of executing, under his direct
> guidance, the first American Seven-Year Plan, which was the first collec-
> tive teaching enterprise in the history of our Faith. The year 1937 also
> opened, according to Shoghi Effendi, the first epoch in the evolution of the
> Divine Plan of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. The objectives of the first Seven-Year Plan
> were ambitious: the completion of the exterior of the Temple in Wilmette;
> the formation of a Spiritual Assembly in every state of the United States,
> including Alaska, and in nine provinces of Canada; and the establishment
> of a center in each republic of Latin America and the Caribbean. The
> Plan’s conclusion coincided with the celebrations of the Centenary of the
> Declaration of the Báb in 1944, which marked the end of the first Bahá’í
> century.
> The Bahá’í world entered the second Bahá’í century with the proud
> knowledge that the first epoch of the Formative Age had terminated, that
> the light of Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings had now reached nearly eighty coun-
> tries, that the Bahá’í community had achieved a major step in the con-
> struction of the Mother Temple of the West, and that this community was
> now ready to further extend the range of its institutions and consolidate
> its administrative structure. Shoghi Effendi had been patiently and sys-
> tematically educating and preparing the Bahá’í world for the implementa-
> tion of the two broad objectives he had in mind for his unique ministry.
> The first was to strengthen the foundations of the structure of the
> Administrative Order, both locally and nationally, so that it could sustain
> the weight of the dome of that structure which he repeatedly identified in
> 4              The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 14. 3/4. 2004
> 
> his letters, in English and in Persian, as the Universal House of Justice.
> The second broad objective was to train the nascent institutions of the
> Faith in the concept of collective action aimed at executing step-by-step
> each and every wish expressed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the Tablets of the
> Divine Plan. In 1946, following two years of respite given to the North
> American Bahá’í community, the Guardian called upon it to initiate its sec-
> ond Seven-Year Plan—a Plan designed to end with the Centenary of the
> Birth of the Bahá’í Revelation in 1953. The Plan had four goals:
> 
> 1. The consolidation of the victories won throughout America, involv-
> ing a multiplication of Bahá’í centers and a bold proclamation of
> the Faith
> 2. The completion of the interior ornamentation of the House of
> Worship
> 3. The formation of three National Assemblies in Canada, Central
> America, and South America
> 4. The initiation of a systematic teaching activity in the European
> continent, aiming at the establishment of Local Assemblies on the
> Iberian Peninsula and in the Low Countries, the Scandinavian
> States, and Italy
> 
> During this period the Guardian simultaneously encouraged the other
> National Assemblies to adopt teaching and consolidation goals. In one of
> his letters he described these enterprises as “accessory plans” supple-
> menting the second Seven-Year Plan of the North American continent
> (see Table 1).
> In the course of the seven years under discussion, four new National
> Assemblies were formed, the fourth being the Italo-Swiss National
> Spiritual Assembly. With the exception of this Italo-Swiss National
> Assembly, which was established in the very year the Ten Year Cru-
> sade was launched, each of the other three National Assemblies, as soon
> as they were formed, was given a Teaching Plan by the Guardian.
> Canada (1948) had a Five-Year Plan, 1948–1953; Central America (1951)
> The Ten Year Crusade                                5
> 
> National Plans                            Duration
> Australia and New Zealand                 Six-Year Plan, 1947–1953
> 
> British Isles                             Six-Year Plan, 1944–1950
> Two-Year Plan, 1951–1953
> Egypt and Sudan                           Five-Year Plan, 1948–1953
> Germany and Austria                       Five-Year Plan, 1948–1953
> India, Pakistan, and Burma                Four-and-a-half-Year Plan, January
> 1946–July 1950
> Nineteen-Month Plan, September
> 1951–April 1953
> Iraq                                      Three-Year Plan, 1947–1950
> Persia                                    Forty-five-Month Plan, October
> 1946–July 1950 concurrent with
> Women’s Four-Year Plan, 1946–
> 1950
> 
> Table 1. National Plans outside the North American continent
> 
> formulated its One-Year Plan, 1952–1953; and South America adopted its
> Two-Year Plan, 1951–1953. By Rid.ván 1953, the beloved Guardian had
> twelve National Spiritual Assemblies operating under his guidance.
> When he launched the Ten Year Crusade, he referred to these twelve
> National Assemblies as the twelve “generals” (Messages 153) of the
> Crusade.
> 
> ANTICIPATING THE LAUNCHING OF THE TEN-YEAR PLAN
> 
> As far back as 1948, in his message to the American Bahá’í community
> dated 8 November, the Guardian made reference to future tasks which
> would be assigned before the end of the first epoch in the evolution of
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan; he could see this end would have to fall in
> 1963. Let us recall that the following words were written during the
> 6              The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 14. 3/4. 2004
> 
> second year of America’s second Seven-Year Plan: “[U]pon the outcome of
> the assiduous efforts now being collectively exerted . . . must solely
> depend the timing as well as the nature of the tasks which must be suc-
> cessfully carried out ere the closing of an epoch of such transcendent
> brightness and glory. . . .” (Citadel of Faith 62). Over two years later, on
> the twenty-fifth of February, 1951, referring to the uniqueness of the
> African Campaign, which linked the administrative machinery of five
> National Spiritual Assemblies, he wrote: “On the success of this enterprise,
> unprecedented in its scope, unique in its character and immense in its spiritual
> potentialities, must depend the initiation, at a later period in the Formative
> Age of the Faith, of undertakings embracing within their range all National
> Assemblies functioning throughout the Bahá’í World. . . .” (Unfolding Destin y
> 261).1 From these two quotations we can confidently draw the conclusion
> that the “future tasks” referred to in 1948, and the worldwide “undertak-
> ings” mentioned in the second passage, were hints by him of the forth-
> coming rise of the Orb of the Ten Year Crusade above the horizon of the
> community of the Most Great Name.
> Another act on the part of Shoghi Effendi was his cablegram of 30
> November 1951 in which he announced that the celebrations of the Holy
> Year would be marked by the convocation of four Intercontinental
> Conferences. These conferences would inaugurate the “long anticipated
> intercontinental stage in the administrative evolution of the Faith”
> (Messages 16). These conferences had to be successively held in Kampala
> (Uganda) for Africa; Wilmette (United States) for the Americas;
> Stockholm (Sweden) for Europe; and New Delhi (India) for Asia and
> Australasia. In his Rid.ván message of 1952 addressed to the Bahá’í com-
> munity in North America, Shoghi Effendi first disclosed to the Bahá’í
> world that a Ten-Year Plan was in store. In this message, he gave the glad
> tidings that the goals of the Plan would be announced in the four project-
> ed Intercontinental Conferences.
> In a letter in English addressing the entire Bahá’í world, the Guardian
> not only stressed the highly significant nature of the Plan which he was
> intending to announce to the Bahá’í world, but he lifted the veil on its salient
> features and made a poignant appeal to every Bahá’í residing anywhere
> The Ten Year Crusade                              7
> 
> on the planet to consider it a binding obligation to lend his or her share in
> bringing this forthcoming Plan to a triumphant conclusion. The message
> appeared in print in nine pages. I will quote only the last part where his fer-
> vent appeal was made:
> 
> Under whatever conditions, the dearly loved, the divinely sus-
> tained, the onward marching legions of the army of Bahá’u’lláh may
> be laboring, in whatever theatre they may operate, in whatever climes
> they may struggle . . . I direct my impassioned appeal [to them] to
> obey, as befits His warriors, the summons of the Lord of Hosts, and
> prepare for that Day of Days when His victorious battalions will, to
> the accompaniment of hozannas from the invisible angels in the Abhá
> Kingdom, celebrate the hour of final victory. . . .
> No matter how long the period that separates them from ultimate
> victory; however arduous the task; however formidable the exertions
> demanded of them; however dark the days which mankind, per-
> plexed and sorely-tried, must, in its hour of travail, traverse; how-
> ever severe the tests with which they who are to redeem its fortunes
> will be confronted; however afflictive the darts which their present
> enemies, as well as those whom Providence, will, through His mys-
> terious dispensations raise up from within or from without, may rain
> upon them, however grievous the ordeal of temporary separation
> from the heart and nerve-center of their Faith which future unfore-
> seeable disturbances may impose upon them, I adjure them, by the
> precious blood that flowed in such great profusion, by the lives of
> the unnumbered saints and heroes who were immolated, by the
> supreme, the glorious sacrifice of the Prophet-Herald of our Faith,
> by the tribulations which its Founder, Himself, willingly underwent,
> so that His Cause might live, His Order might redeem a shattered
> world and its glory might suffuse the entire planet—I adjure them,
> as this solemn hour draws nigh, to resolve never to flinch, never
> to hesitate, never to relax, until each and every objective in the
> Plans to be proclaimed, at a later date, has been fully consummated.
> (Messages 37–39)
> 8             The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 14. 3/4. 2004
> 
> A little over two months after this message was sent, on the thirtieth of
> June, 1952, addressing once again, in English, Bahá’ís in all lands, he dis-
> closed the unprecedented global dimensions of the great Plan ahead, and
> he called on them, individually and collectively, to commit themselves to
> its execution.
> I remember the deep emotion of those days in 1952 when these mes-
> sages were received. The messages had an electrifying impact on the
> minds and hearts of the friends. Indeed, a few of us even thought that the
> Plan Shoghi Effendi had in store might be considered as part of his Will
> and Testament, for he refers to the grievous “ordeal of temporary separa-
> tion from the heart and nerve-center” (Messages 39) of the Faith. In
> October 1952, as the Holy Year was inaugurated, Shoghi Effendi sent yet
> another message in English to the entire Bahá’í world. In this message he
> more specifically defined, however briefly, the goals to be achieved over a
> period of ten years. The message ended once again with a heart-rending
> entreaty to the friends to lend their full support to the Plan soon to be
> announced.
> While this preparation was going on, and during the years just pre-
> ceding it, Shoghi Effendi turned his attention to the need simultaneously
> to expand the institutions at the World Centre and to broaden the base
> of their operation. His first decision was to inaugurate the construction
> of the superstructure of the Shrine of the Báb in the heart of Mount
> Carmel. As soon as that project was underway, he created the
> International Bahá’í Council, introducing it as the forerunner of the
> Universal House of Justice. This act was soon followed by the appoint-
> ment of the first contingent of the Hands of the Cause of God, four of
> whom were designated by Him as Hands residing in the Holy Land. A
> short time later, a second contingent raised the number of these distin-
> guished Stewards of the Faith to nineteen. He thereafter created the
> institution of the Auxiliary Boards, one for each continent. Through the
> instrumentality of the International Bahá’í Council and in negotiation
> with the newly established State of Israel, he embarked upon acquiring
> needed Bahá’í historic sites and furnishing buildings associated with the
> The Ten Year Crusade                            9
> 
> exile of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and purchasing vitally required
> properties surrounding the Báb’s Shrine in Haifa, as well as land adjacent
> to the Most Holy Shrine of Bahá’u’lláh in Bahjí. He also arranged for a
> design to be made for the future Temple on Mount Carmel. While these
> developments were in progress, he called on the British National
> Spiritual Assembly to initiate a Two-Year Plan for the opening of virgin
> territories. Almost simultaneously, he charged another four National
> Spiritual Assemblies to collaborate with the British Assembly in their
> African Campaign. This initiative he hailed as a significant step: indeed,
> it was a milestone, being the first inter-National Assembly project involv-
> ing the collaborative effort of five National Spiritual Assemblies of the
> Bahá’í world.
> 
> THE NATURE AND SCOPE OF THE GUARDIAN’S GUIDANCE
> 
> Early in 1953 Shoghi Effendi set himself the task of spelling out—inter-
> nationally, continentally, and nationally—the objectives and goals that the
> friends throughout the world were expecting to hear. On the international
> level, Shoghi Effendi set forth these goals and objectives in his message to
> the Intercontinental Conference for the Western Hemisphere. He simul-
> taneously released an overarching document in twenty-seven pages in
> which he listed, under twenty-four headings, the goals and objectives
> defined by him for the Bahá’í world over a decade-long Crusade unprece-
> dented in the annals of our precious Faith. He arranged for this document
> to be published in the United States and in Britain as a reference booklet
> for the Bahá’ís and accessible to the general public. On the continental
> level, he included in his message to each of the four conferences the major
> objectives that concerned that continent. On the national level, he wrote
> twelve messages addressing each of the newly designated “generals,”
> announcing to them their particular share of the major objectives. In these
> messages he incorporated supplementary objectives appropriate to each
> national or regional area. These supplementary objectives will be dis-
> cussed in more detail below.
> 10            The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 14. 3/4. 2004
> 
> In his messages immediately before the inception of the Crusade and
> until the end of his life—a period coinciding with the first four-and-a-half
> years of the Crusade—he described this collective enterprise of the
> Bahá’í world in such terms as “a world-embracing Crusade,” “a world-
> encompassing Crusade,” “a world-girdling Crusade,” “an epochal, global,
> spiritual, decade-long Crusade,” “this momentous and challenging Cru-
> sade,” “this irresistibly unfolding Crusade,” “this pre-eminent Crusade,
> “this incomparably glorious Crusade,” “this unspeakably potent Crusade,
> “this systematic World Crusade,” “this prodigious Crusade, “this gigan-
> tic, divinely propelled Crusade,” “this soul-stirring Crusade,” “this World
> Crusade which in its magnitude and potentialities transcends any previ-
> ous collective Bahá’í enterprise.” Alongside the soul-uplifting titles that
> he conferred upon this Crusade, Shoghi Effendi continued to send inspi-
> rational messages in both Persian and English, reminding the friends
> everywhere of the uniquely majestic and infinitely glorious characteris-
> tics of this Crusade. It is obviously impractical to review these messages
> in detail. However, the following paragraph from his message dated 4
> May 1953 gives us an illustration of the fervor with which Shoghi
> Effendi inspired the hearts and souls of the friends and raised their
> expectations:
> 
> The avowed, the primary aim of this Spiritual Crusade is none other
> than the conquest of the citadels of men’s hear ts. The theatre of its
> operations is the entire planet. Its duration a whole decade. Its com-
> mencement synchronizes with the centenary of the birth of
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mission. Its culmination will coincide with the cente-
> nary of the Declaration of that same Mission. The agencies assisting
> in its conduct are the nascent administrative institutions of a steadi-
> ly evolving divinely appointed order. Its driving force is the energiz-
> ing influence generated by the Revelation heralded by the Báb and
> proclaimed by Bahá’u’lláh. Its Marshal is none other than the Author
> of the Divine Plan. Its standard-bearers are the Hands of the Cause
> of God appointed in every continent of the globe. Its generals are
> the twelve national spiritual assemblies participating in the execution
> The Ten Year Crusade                           11
> 
> of its design. Its vanguard is the chief executors of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s
> master plan, their allies and associates. Its legions are the rank and
> file of believers standing behind these same twelve national assem-
> blies and sharing in the global task embracing the American, the
> European, the African, the Asiatic and Australian fronts. The char-
> ter directing its course is the immortal Tablets that have flowed from
> the pen of the Center of the Covenant Himself. The armor with
> which its onrushing hosts have been invested is the glad tidings of
> God’s own message in this day, the principles underlying the order
> proclaimed by His Messenger, and the laws and ordinances govern-
> ing His Dispensation. The battle cry animating its heroes and hero-
> ines is the cry of Yá-Bahá’u’l-Abhá, Yá ‘Alíyyu’l-A‘lá. (Messages
> 152–53)
> 
> Shoghi Effendi upheld orderliness when executing undertakings at the
> World Centre or directing projects under the aegis of National Spiritual
> Assemblies. We should not be surprised, therefore, that in implementing
> the Ten Year Crusade he adopted the same approach. He divided the first
> five years of the Crusade into three phases: the first spanned one year,
> while the other two were designed to cover two years each. He focused the
> attention of the friends on the themes and requirements of each of these
> three phases.
> The first phase, from 1953 to 1954, was to be characterized by the open-
> ing of as many of the 131 virgin territories as possible. To encourage the
> friends to arise, he announced on 28 May 1953, on the occasion of the
> Anniversary of the Ascension of Bahá’u’lláh, that he was planning to open
> an illuminated “Roll of Honor,” which would car ry the names of the pio-
> neers who would arise and, as he stated, “capture the unsurrendered ter-
> ritories of the entire planet” (Messages 49). Upon each of these spiritual
> conquerors would be conferred the title of “Knight of Bahá’u’lláh.”
> During this first phase, seven eighths of the territories mentioned in his
> Plan were opened. During the second phase, from 1954 to 1956, forty-
> three National H.az. íratu’l-Quds and ten Temple sites were acquired
> worldwide. During the third phase, from 1956 to 1958, sixteen new
> 12            The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 14. 3/4. 2004
> 
> National Spiritual Assemblies were formed: three in 1956 in Africa and
> thirteen in the following year in the other four continents. Furthermore,
> during this last phase, all but three National H.az. íratu’l-Quds, all but one
> Temple site, and all but two endowments were acquired, and the number
> of localities where Bahá’ís resided reached the impressive number of
> 4,500.
> The second five years of the Plan spanned 1958 to 1963 and focused on
> completing the rest of the vital objectives assigned by him under the
> Plan.
> 
> THE TWENTY-SEVEN OBJECTIVES OF THE PLAN
> 
> Shoghi Effendi, in his message of 8 October 1952, announced to the Bahá’í
> world that the forthcoming Crusade would have four broad objectives
> (Messages 41). The first was the development of the institutions at the
> World Centre. The second was the consolidation, through carefully
> devised measures in the home fronts, of the twelve administrative bases
> for the operation of the Plan. The third focused on the consolidation of all
> territories already open to the Faith. Fourth, and finally, the Plan aimed at
> the opening of chief virgin territories on the planet.
> As to the specific objectives of the Ten Year Crusade, these were twenty-
> seven in number. Ten of these he had set aside as goals to be accomplished
> at the World Centre of the Faith. These goals related to the properties and
> endowments in Bahjí and Haifa, the establishment of Israel branches of
> National Assemblies, the development of the institution of the Hands of
> the Cause and of the International Bahá’í Council, the reinforcement of
> ties with the United Nations, the codification of the laws of the Kitáb-i-
> Aqdas, and the holding of a World Congress at the end of the Crusade.
> The remaining seventeen specific objectives were divided among the
> twelve participating National Spiritual Assemblies.
> I have already indicated that Shoghi Effendi attached particular impor-
> tance to the African Campaign because it involved the participation of five
> National Assemblies in the teaching work of one continent. This develop-
> ment was hailed by him as a prelude to the next stage of international
> The Ten Year Crusade                              13
> 
> Bahá’í interaction through the collaboration of the administrative machin-
> ery of all the National Assemblies of the Bahá’í world. He therefore divided
> the seventeen remaining specific objectives among the twelve existing
> National Assemblies in such a way as to make pioneering and teaching
> activities dependent upon the collaboration of six National Spiritual
> Assemblies in Africa, six in the combined zone of Asia and Australasia,
> and four each in Europe and the Western Hemisphere. This meant that
> seven National Assemblies would each collaborate in two continents, four
> Assemblies in one continent, and the United States National Spiritual
> Assembly and its community in all continents, since they were the
> appointed chief executors of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan.
> I will now review the twenty-seven specific objectives in the wording
> used by the Guardian and will add to his statement, in each case, my com-
> ment explaining to what extent that objective was realized.2
> 
> THE OBJECTIVES
> 
> 1. Adoption of preliminary measures for the construction of Bahá’u’lláh’s
> Sepulchre in the Holy Land. Shoghi Effendi had explained to the Hands of
> the Cause residing in the Holy Land, to the members of the International
> Bahá’í Council, and to visiting pilgrims that what he had in mind was to
> cleanse the precincts of the Most Holy Shrine, known as the H.arám-i-
> Aqdas, from the presence of the remnants of the Covenant-breakers.
> These Covenant-breakers had continued to live on the property ever since
> the passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, more than three decades before. As the
> Guardian had just acquired the land adjacent to the Shrine, his goal was
> to create an exquisite garden in the quadrant facing the entrance of the
> Blessed Tomb, embellish it with beautiful plants, flowers, trees, orna-
> ments, and paths, and bring electricity to the area so that it would be illu-
> mined as a sea of light at night. As we know, these goals were achieved in
> full glory.
> 
> 2. Doubling the number of countries within the pale of the Faith, involving the
> opening of 41 countries in Asia, 33 countries in Africa, 30 countries in Europe,
> 14              The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 14. 3/4. 2004
> 
> 27 countries in the American Continent (Total: 131 countries). In April 1953
> the number of countries opened to the Faith was 128. This number was
> raised to 259 by the end of the Plan. The last virgin territory was
> Sakhalin Islands: when it was opened, the House of Justice was able to
> complete the Roll of Honor of the Knights of Bahá’u’lláh. On the occasion
> of the one-hundredth anniversary of Bahá’u’lláh’s Ascension, the Roll was
> deposited at the entrance to His Shrine by Amatu’l-Bahá Rúh.íyyih
> Khánum in the very spot designated by the Guardian.
> 
> 3. Over twofold increase in the number of languages into which Bahá’í literature
> has been translated and printed, or is in the process of translation: forty in Asia,
> thirty-one in Africa, ten in Europe, and ten in America (Total: ninety-one).
> By the end of the Plan the achievement in this area of activity exceeded
> the goal; thus the number of languages, instead of being doubled, was tre-
> bled.
> 
> 4. Doubling the number of Mashriqu’l-Adhkárs through the initiation of the
> construction of one in Asia and one in Europe. The Temple to be built in Asia
> was to be in the Cradle of the Faith. It was clear already in the days of
> Shoghi Effendi that this goal could not be achieved in the course of the
> Plan. He therefore replaced it with the goal of building two other
> Temples: one in Kampala (Uganda), and the other in Sydney (Australia).
> The erection of these two Temples was completed, and they were opened
> to the public prior to the end of the Crusade. As to the Temple on the
> European continent, it was to be in Frankfurt, Germany. Its construction
> was started during the second half of the Ten Year Crusade, and it was
> dedicated on the fourth of July, 1964.
> 
> 5. Acquisition of a site for the future Mashriqu’l-Adhkár on Mt. Carmel. The
> location of the land had been identified by the Guardian, and in 1955, with
> a special donation by Hand of the Cause of God Amelia Collins, this his-
> toric site was purchased—a property which had been blessed by the foot-
> steps of Bahá’u’lláh and which was the site of the revelation of the Tablet
> of Carmel.
> The Ten Year Crusade                              15
> 
> 6. Erection of the first dependency of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár in Wilmette.
> Shoghi Effendi advised that the first dependency should be the Home for
> the Aged. A property in the close neighborhood of the Temple was
> bought, and a Home for the Aged was erected and became operative before
> the end of the Crusade.
> 
> 7. Purchase of land for eleven future Temples: three in the American Continent,
> three in Africa, two in Asia, two in Europe, and one in the Australian Continent
> (Total: eleven). By the end of the Plan the total number of Temple sites
> was forty-six, amply fulfilling the goal.
> 
> 8. Development of the functions of the institution of the Hands of the Cause. At
> the outset of the Ten Year Crusade the number of these high-ranking offi-
> cials of the Bahá’í community was nineteen. By 1957, when Shoghi
> Effendi passed away, he had raised the number to twenty-seven. In his last
> major message to the Bahá’í world in October 1957, he conferred upon
> them the title of “Chief Stewards of Bahá’u’lláh’s embryonic World
> Commonwealth” (Messages 127). In this same message he instructed the
> Hands to appoint in each continent an additional Auxiliary Board, which
> would be in his words “charged with the specific duty of watching over
> the security of the Faith, thereby complementing the function of the orig-
> inal Board, whose duty will henceforth be exclusively concerned with
> assisting the prosecution of the Ten Year Plan” (Messages 128). As we
> know, this wish of the beloved Guardian was carried out faithfully and
> fully by the Hands of the Cause of God.
> 
> 9. Establishment of a Bahá’í Court in the Holy Land, as a preliminary to the
> emergence of the Universal House of Justice. As Shoghi Effendi explained in
> his Advent of Divine Justice and subsequently in other messages, he envis-
> aged seven stages for the evolution of the Faith in different parts of the
> world. The fourth stage was marked by the acknowledgment, by the
> authorities of a given country, of the independence of the Faith along with
> a “status of full equality with its sister religions” (Advent 15). In his
> “Unfoldment of World Civilization” he had explained also that
> 16            The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 14. 3/4. 2004
> 
> in certain countries of the East, in which religious communities exer-
> cise[d] jurisdiction in matters of personal status, [Bahá’ís] may be
> called upon to assume the duties and responsibilities devolving upon
> officially constituted Bahá’í Courts. They will be empowered, in such
> matters as marriage, divorce, and inheritance, to execute and apply,
> within their respective jurisdictions, and with the sanction of civil
> authorities, such laws and ordinances as have been expressly provid-
> ed in their Most Holy Book. (World Order 200)
> 
> In Israel the tradition of religious courts, as it existed throughout the
> Ottoman rule and the British Mandate, was not abolished by Israel after
> its independence in 1948. It was in this context that Shoghi Effendi for-
> mulated the goal of establishing a Bahá’í Court in the Holy Land. However,
> he explained to the Hands of the Cause in the Holy Land that this court
> was not to be a court of appeal for the Bahá’í world, nor a court which
> would have any kind of jurisdiction over National Assemblies. It was
> meant to be a court which would be empowered by the authorities of the
> country to assume such duties in matters of personal status as are nor-
> mally devolved upon officially constituted religious courts of other reli-
> gions in the country.
> From the conclave in November 1959 the Hands of the Cause
> announced to the Bahá’í world that as the extent of jurisdiction of reli-
> gious courts in the Holy Land was being restricted (due to the strong sec-
> ular tendencies prevalent in the region), the fulfillment of this goal
> appeared to be unlikely. The International Bahá’í Council continued its
> efforts to determine the feasibility of implementing this goal, and it was
> definitely concluded that under the circumstances any Bahá’í religious
> court in the Holy Land, if established, would be far more restricted in
> scope and authority in comparison to the religious courts of other reli-
> gious communities already existing in the country, however limited in
> their action these had already become. As a result, the Faith would have
> been placed in an undignified position with respect to rights and privi-
> leges, in comparison with other Faiths.
> The Ten Year Crusade                             17
> 
> 10. Codification of the Laws and Ordinances of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the Mother
> Book of the Bahá’í Revelation. The execution of this goal had been assigned
> to the World Centre. Shoghi Effendi had himself laid the foundations for
> the structure of this codification and had already achieved the major por-
> tion of the intended Synopsis. After the election of the House of Justice,
> Amatu’l-Bahá handed over, in the course of the transfer of documents
> from Shoghi Effendi’s study, the detailed notes in Persian and in English
> written in his own hand. The Universal House of Justice commissioned a
> task force to complete the unfinished portion of the document, and, as we
> know, at Rid.ván 1973 the material was published in book form.
> 
> 11. Establishment of the six National Bahá’í Courts in the chief cities of the
> Islamic East: Tehran, Cairo, Baghdad, New Delhi, Karachi, and Kabul. The
> explanation given above about religious courts in the East applies to this
> objective as well. An added factor was, and still is, the unwillingness of the
> authorities of the countries concerned to give such concessions to the
> Bahá’ís. Since the entire Bahá’í world is committed to the objectives for-
> mulated by Shoghi Effendi for his Crusade, it is of course hoped that the
> believers in these countries, under the guidance of the Universal House of
> Justice, will take steps to implement these goals, as circumstances may
> permit, in the future.
> 
> 12. Extension of the International Bahá’í Endowments in the Holy Land, in the
> plain of ‘Akká, and on the slopes of Mt. Carmel. The area of land dedicated
> to the Shrines of Bahá’u’lláh and the Báb at the outset of the Ten-Year
> Plan was 354,000 square meters. At the end of the Plan the total area
> reached 487,000 square meters. The purchase of needed properties after
> the Ten Year Crusade continued, and at the present time their area
> exceeds half a million square meters.
> 
> 13. Construction of the International Bahá’í Archives in the neighborhood of the
> Báb’s Sepulchre. The construction of the Bahá’í International Archives was
> begun in March 1955 during the lifetime of Shoghi Effendi. Its construction
> 18            The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 14. 3/4. 2004
> 
> was underway at the time of his passing, and through the efforts of the
> Hands of the Cause in the Holy Land the building was completed during
> the interregnum period. The Tablets, relics, and other artifacts were trans-
> ferred and deposited in the new building; later they were removed once
> more to the newly built extension with its improved technical and conser-
> vation facilities.
> 
> 14. Construction of the tomb of the wife of the Báb in Shiraz. As we are aware,
> the unfavorable conditions in Iran did not make it possible to carry out
> this important goal of the Ten Year Crusade. We can be sure that the
> Universal House of Justice regards this responsibility as its own, and, as
> soon as favorable conditions prevail, appropriate action will be taken to
> ensure the execution of this noble goal.
> 
> 15. Identification of the resting places of the father of Bahá’u’lláh and the
> mother and the cousin of the Báb, and their reburial in the Bahá’í cemetery in
> the vicinity of the Most Great House. Five months before the passing of
> Shoghi Effendi it became possible to transfer the remains of the father of
> Bahá’u’lláh, Mírzá Buzurg, to the Bahá’í cemetery in Baghdad. The news
> of the fulfilment of this goal was shared by Shoghi Effendi with the
> Bahá’í world at that time. The transfer and reburial of the remains of the
> Báb’s mother and cousin could not be done. The friends should be sure,
> however, that in the future the friends in Iraq, under the guidance of the
> Universal House of Justice, will accomplish this goal.
> 
> 16. Acquisition of the Garden of Rid.ván in Baghdad, and of the site of the
> Síyáh-Chál in Tehran, of the Martyrdom of the Báb in Tabriz, and of His
> incarceration in Chihríq. The site of the Síyáh-Chál was purchased in
> Shoghi Effendi’s own lifetime, as was the fortress in Chihríq. However,
> after the recent revolution in Iran, these properties, together with all the
> other holdings of the Bahá’í community in the country, were confiscated
> by the authorities. The acquisition of the Garden of Rid.ván in Baghdad
> and of the site of the Martyrdom of the Báb in Tabriz was not possible in
> the past. Unfortunately, the current situation is not very much different in
> The Ten Year Crusade                              19
> 
> these two countries. We must be confident that these wishes of our
> beloved Guardian will certainly materialize in the future, as soon as cir-
> cumstances permit.
> 
> 17. More than quadruple the number of the National Spiritual Assemblies. This
> objective was particularly close to the Guardian’s heart because he had
> repeatedly stated that National Assemblies were pillars sustaining the
> dome which was the Universal House of Justice. The greater their num-
> ber, the more secure would be the final unit crowning the edifice of the
> Administrative Order. At the close of the Ten-Year Plan, fifty-six
> National Spiritual Assemblies had been established, a result which out-
> stripped the goal.
> 
> 18. Multiply sevenfold the number of the National H.az. íratu’l-Quds and their
> establishment in the capital cities of the chief sovereign states and in the chief
> cities of the principal dependencies of the planet: twenty-one in America, fifteen
> in Europe, nine in Asia, three in Africa, and one in New Zealand. By the end
> of the Plan, forty-nine new buildings had been acquired to serve as
> National H.az. íratu’l-Quds.
> 
> 19. Framing of national Bahá’í constitutions and the establishment of national
> Bahá’í endowments in the same capitals and cities of the same states and
> dependencies and
> 
> 20. More than quintuple the number of incorporated National Spiritual Assemblies.
> Forty-seven National Assemblies acquired national endowments, and in
> thirty-four of these countries national Bahá’í constitutions were officially
> registered.
> 
> 21. Establishment of six national Bahá’í Publishing Trusts. By the end of the
> Plan, seven Publishing Trusts had been established and were operating.
> 
> 22. Participation by the women of Persia in the membership of National and
> Local Assemblies. This goal was welcomed with great jubilation in Iran.
> 20             The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 14. 3/4. 2004
> 
> Nine other countries in the Muslim East had either preceded Iran or
> presently followed suit. These were Iraq, Egypt, Sudan, Tunisia, Libya,
> Arabian Peninsula, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey.
> 
> 23. Establishment of seven Israel branches of National Spiritual Assemblies: two
> in Europe, two in Asia, one in America, one in Africa, one in Australia (Total:
> seven). By the end of the Plan, nine Israel branches had been established.
> 
> 24. Establishment of a national Bahá’í printing press in Tehran. As in the case
> of other goals related to Iran, this National printing press could not be
> established as Shoghi Effendi had envisaged. However, some facilities were
> provided by the National Assembly of Iran to produce Bahá’í literature
> and thereby to meet the needs of the community. Undoubtedly, in the
> future this wish of the beloved Guardian will be fully realized.
> 
> 25. Reinforcement of the ties binding the Bahá’í World Community to the United
> Nations. We should recall that the Bahá’í International Community reg-
> istered with the UN as an international nongovernmental organization
> (NGO) in 1948. In the course of the Ten Year Crusade, the Bahá’í
> International Community succeeded in forging ties with UNICEF,
> UNIFEM, WHO, and WFO. In the spirit of this objective, after the Ten
> Year Crusade the Bahá’í International Community was recognized as an
> NGO with consultative status in the sessions of the Council of the
> Economic and Social Council. In 1970 and in 1976, it was granted a sim-
> ilar status with UNICEF. We should be confident that, in the days and
> years to come, these ties will be further reinforced.
> 
> 26. Inclusion, circumstances permitting, of eleven republics comprised within the
> Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and two European Soviet-controlled states
> within the orbit of the Administrative Order of the Faith. Owing to the pre-
> vailing situation in the Soviet Union throughout the period of the Ten-
> Year Plan, it was not possible to send pioneers to these thirteen countries.
> However, some three years after the inauguration of the Plan, Shoghi
> Effendi received news that in four of these republics—Tajikistan,
> The Ten Year Crusade                                21
> 
> Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan—there were resident Bahá’ís
> who were remnants of earlier communities that had existed during the
> previous Russian rule. The nine remaining territories were opened as soon
> as the Soviet Union fell apart and it was possible for Bahá’í visitors to
> travel to, and particularly pioneers to settle in, these territories. As noted
> above, the last unopened territory of the Soviet Union was the Sakhalin
> Islands; its opening occurred just prior to 1992, at which point the Roll of
> Honor was closed.
> 
> 27. Convocation of a World Bahá’í Congress in the vicinity of the Garden of
> Rid.ván, Baghdad, the third holiest city in the Bahá’í world, on the occasion of the
> worldwide celebrations of the Most Great Jubilee, commemorating the Centenary
> of the Ascension of Bahá’u’lláh to the throne of His sovereignty. It was not dif-
> ficult to see that this last goal of the Ten Year Crusade had to be realized
> not in Baghdad, but elsewhere, because of the restrictive conditions under
> which the Iraqi Bahá’í community was functioning. As Shoghi Effendi had
> passed away in London, the Hands of the Cause of God determined that
> the capital of the British Isles would be the most suitable location for this
> first World Bahá’í Congress. As we know, nearly seven thousand Bahá’ís
> attended the Congress in Albert Hall at Rid.ván 1963. We should have no
> doubt that at a future date, some major gathering of the friends will cer-
> tainly be held in Baghdad, as an echo to the wish of our beloved Guardian.
> 
> In his summing up of the major objectives of the Crusade, as presented
> by him on the international level, Shoghi Effendi did not include specific
> goals which were supplementary and suited to the specific circumstances
> of each of the twelve bases of operation. We see, for example, among the
> subordinate objectives for the United States the following goals: the com-
> pletion of the landscaping of the grounds of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár in
> Wilmette; the raising of the number of Local Spiritual Assemblies to
> three hundred; the conversion to the Faith of members of the leading
> Indian tribes; the establishment of summer schools in each of the
> Scandinavian and Benelux countries as well as those of the Iberian
> Peninsula; the proclamation of the Faith through the press and radio; and
> 22           The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 14. 3/4. 2004
> 
> the formation of an Asian Teaching Committee. In this message he also
> refers to the American Bahá’í community as “the standard bearers of the
> all-conquering army of the Lord of Hosts” who as befits their rank have
> been given the “lion’s share in the prosecution of a global crusade
> designed to diffuse the light of God’s revelation over the surface of the
> entire planet” (Citadel of Faith 109).
> Further examples of such subordinate goals can be seen in Shoghi
> Effendi’s messages to the British Isles; Canada; Germany and Austria,
> India, Pakistan, and Burma; and to the Italy-Swiss National Assembly.
> Those subordinate goals included the following:
> 
> Australia and New Zealand: Doubling the number of Local Spiritual
> Assemblies, incorporating nineteen of them, and establishing an
> Asian Teaching Committee
> 
> Canada: Doubling the number of Local Spiritual Assemblies, raising
> the number of incorporated Spiritual Assemblies to nineteen, and
> establishing American and Asian Teaching Committees
> 
> India, Pakistan, and Burma: Doubling the number of Spiritual
> Assemblies, incorporated Spiritual Assemblies, and localities in India,
> Pakistan, and Burma; the expansion of the Panchgani School; and the
> formation of an Asian teaching committee
> 
> The British Isles: Doubling the number of Spiritual Assemblies and
> localities in the British Isles; the incor poration of nineteen
> Assemblies in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland; and the forma-
> tion of European and Asian Teaching Committees
> 
> Germany and Austria: Doubling the number of Local Spiritual
> Assemblies and localities in Germany and in Austria, the incorpora-
> tion of nineteen Local Spiritual Assemblies in Germany and in
> Austria, and the formation of a European Teaching Committee
> The Ten Year Crusade                           23
> 
> Italo-Swiss: Quadrupling the number of Local Spiritual Assemblies,
> trebling the number of localities in Italy and Switzerland, the incor-
> poration of Spiritual Assemblies in leading cities of each country, the
> establishment of a first joint summer school—and subsequently sep-
> arate ones—and the formation of a European Teaching Committee
> 
> SUBSIDIARY NATIONAL PLANS AND SUBORDINATE GOALS
> 
> At Rid.ván 1956, Shoghi Effendi brought into being three new National
> Spiritual Assemblies in Africa. At Rid.ván of the following year, he insti-
> tuted thirteen more National Assemblies in other continents—some
> Regional-National, others purely National—thus bringing the total num-
> ber of National Assemblies to twenty-six. To each of the new National
> Assemblies he gave a Subsidiary Plan. To those formed in 1956, he gave
> Seven-Year Plans; to the other thirteen he gave each, the following year,
> Six-Year Plans, all under the shadow of the Ten Year Crusade.
> As the Crusade unfolded, new needs and challenges became apparent.
> Without any inhibition Shoghi Effendi called on the National Assemblies
> concerned to adopt additional subordinate objectives. In the case of the
> United States, he appealed to the friends in that country not to congregate
> in large cities on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and to engage in a “veri-
> table exodus” (Citadel of Faith 128) from cities such as New York and Los
> Angeles, fully confident that a bare number of fifteen adult believers left
> in each of these cities would be entirely adequate. In the case of Canada,
> he directed the National Assembly to form Minorities Teaching Com-
> mittees, with subcommittees specializing in the teaching of French-
> Canadians, Eskimos, and Indians.3 And in the case of India, Pakistan, and
> Burma, he instructed the National Assembly to consider the acquisition of
> burial grounds.4
> Shoghi Effendi was deeply interested in all supplementary achieve-
> ments, whether specified by him or accomplished by the institutions on
> their own initiative. In the map of the world which he prepared, marking
> the progress of the Bahá’í World Crusade during the first five years, he
> lists such achievements as additional virgin territories opened to the
> 24            The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 14. 3/4. 2004
> 
> Faith, Holy Sites acquired, educational schools founded, burial grounds
> and summer school lands purchased, new local assemblies incorporated,
> and local endowments and local H.az. íratu’l-Quds established.
> 
> THE TEN YEAR CRUSADE—A GLORIOUS ENDING
> OF THE GUARDIAN’S MINISTRY
> 
> In God Passes By, Shoghi Effendi describes one of his functions in the
> Formative Age of the Faith to be systematizing the teachings of the Faith
> (xvi). He was systematic and orderly in everything he did at the World
> Centre and expected systematization and orderliness to be observed by
> those who served under his guidance, whether as individuals or as insti-
> tutions. We have already seen how in the execution of the Ten-Year Plan
> he introduced phasing as a method of orderly implementation.
> Shoghi Effendi’s World Crusade differed from the first and second
> Seven-Year Plans of the North American community because its scope
> was worldwide. Ten of its objectives had been assigned by him as respon-
> sibilities of the World Centre. Hands of the Cause had been appointed,
> who consulted on his behalf with the twelve National Assemblies and
> acted as his representative at Intercontinental and Continental Confer-
> ences. The nature of the goals was such as to necessitate close collabora-
> tion among National Spiritual Assemblies and provide the means for the
> Bahá’ís from all parts of the world to meet, be acquainted with one
> another, and work in joint collaborative projects.
> A careful observer will note that these measures were designed to pre-
> pare the Bahá’í world to elect the Universal House of Justice at the end of
> the Plan. This, of course, was exactly what happened. In his writings, both
> in Persian and in English, Shoghi Effendi had given a number of indica-
> tions that by the end of the Crusade it would be timely to place on the pil-
> lars of the Administrative Order its last unit, namely its dome: the
> Universal House of Justice. To give but one such sign, Shoghi Effendi had
> clearly and repeatedly stated in his letters that the second epoch of the
> Formative Age would come to an end with the celebrations on the occa-
> sion of the Centenary of the Declaration of Bahá’u’lláh in 1963. As early
> The Ten Year Crusade                             25
> 
> as 5 June 1947—the very year when the second American Seven-Year
> Plan was launched—he had, in a letter addressed to the friends in North
> America, written that this second epoch would witness “the consumma-
> tion of a laboriously constructed Administrative Order” (Citadel of Faith
> 6). Several paragraphs later he identified “the last crowning unit in the
> erection of the fabric of the Administrative Order of the Faith of
> Bahá’u’lláh” as the “Universal House of Justice.” Furthermore, the year
> 1963 was identified by Shoghi Effendi as the prescribed year destined to
> witness the universal spread and world triumph of the Faith of
> Bahá’u’lláh—an outcome envisaged by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and prophesied by
> Daniel, with reference to the year 1335 recorded in the last chapter of his
> book.
> 
> MESSAGES TO NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLIES
> 
> For about a decade, it had been Shoghi Effendi’s practice to send a world
> message addressed to the National Conventions throughout the planet. In
> these messages he would give an overview of the major accomplishments
> at the World Centre and national communities throughout the year; ana-
> lyze the ever-deteriorating world conditions, relating them to the warn-
> ings and prophecies from the pens of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá; and
> draw the attention of the friends to the needs of the Cause and its current
> challenges. The last four convention messages made particular mention of
> the Crusade, its progress, and the immediate tasks that called for urgent
> attention. His last world convention message of April 1957 was eighteen
> pages long. This particular message ended with two paragraphs which
> were extremely moving and filled with poignant emotion. He wrote:
> 
> I appeal . . . for a renewed dedication . . . on the part of the entire
> company of my spiritual brethren in every continent of the globe, . . .
> be they in active service or not, of either sex, young as well as old,
> rich or poor, whether veteran or newly enrolled—a dedication remi-
> niscent of the pledges which the Dawn-breakers of an earlier
> Apostolic Age, assembled in conference at Badasht, . . . willingly and
> 26            The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 14. 3/4. 2004
> 
> solemnly made for the prosecution of the collective task with which
> they were confronted.
> 
> The final paragraph read as follows:
> 
> May this Crusade, on which the privileged heirs and present suc-
> cessors of the heroes of the Primitive Age of our Faith have so aus-
> piciously embarked, yield, as it speeds on to its mid-way point, such a
> harvest as will amaze its prosecutors, astonish the world at large, and
> draw forth from the Source on high a measure of celestial strength
> adequate to insure its triumphant consummation. (Messages 120)
> 
> From the messages Shoghi Effendi sent during the period from June to
> October 1957, it is clear that he was intent upon leaving for posterity
> some precious gifts. In a message dated 4 June 1957, addressed to the
> Hands of the Cause and National Spiritual Assemblies throughout the
> world, he forecast “dire contests destined to range the Army of Light
> against the forces of darkness, both secular and religious. . . .” He went on
> to call upon these two Institutions, in each continent separately, to consult
> “as frequently as possible” to counteract the “nefarious activities of inter-
> nal enemies” of the Faith and “protect the mass of the believers.” He ended
> with the following words:
> 
> The security of our precious Faith, the preservation of the spiritual
> health of the Bahá’í communities, the vitality of the faith of its indi-
> vidual members, the proper functioning of its laboriously erected
> institutions, the fruition of its worldwide enterprises, and the fulfil-
> ment of its ultimate destiny, all are directly dependent upon the befit-
> ting discharge of the weighty responsibilities now resting upon the
> members of these two institutions. . . . (Messages 123)
> 
> In a message dated October 1957, he announced the need to hold five
> Intercontinental Conferences successively: in Kampala (Uganda) for
> Africa; in Sydney (Australia) for the Antipodes; in Chicago (United States)
> The Ten Year Crusade                             27
> 
> for the Western Hemisphere; in Frankfurt (Germany) for Europe; and in
> Jakarta (Indonesia) for Asia. These conferences were to be convened in the
> months of January, March, May, July, and September 1958 respectively, in
> order to mark the midway point of the World Crusade. It was also in that
> message that he appointed the last contingent of Hands of the Cause of
> God, eight believers chosen from four continents of the globe and repre-
> senting Christian, Muslim, Jewish, and pagan backgrounds. This same
> message authorized the Hands to appoint an additional Auxiliary Board,
> complementing the function of the original Board, with the specific duty
> of watching over the security of the Faith. And finally, he bestowed upon
> the Hands of the Cause a further accolade, referring to them as “Chief
> Stewards of Bahá’u’lláh’s embryonic World Commonwealth” (Messages
> 127).
> In addition to these documents, he sent to each of the twenty-six
> National Spiritual Assemblies functioning at that time a specific message
> underlining what he considered to be the vital aspects and unfinished
> tasks of their work, and entreating them not to relax in their efforts until
> the challenges of the Crusade were befittingly met. It will be of profound
> interest to future Bahá’í historians to analyze these last letters in order to
> identify those gems of divine inspiration which bedecked these immortal
> messages, many of which were written in longhand by his own pen as
> postscripts to the texts written on his behalf by his secretary. In these
> messages, Shoghi Effendi praised each national community for the victo-
> ries already won, focusing his comments on whatever he felt was vital,
> urgent, and imperative for the unimpeded progress of the Faith in the
> country or region he was addressing.
> For the sake of this paper, I have gleaned from the messages available at
> this time such important points which could well have general application
> to the community of the Most Great Name laboring at this time to bring
> the Five-Year Plan to a successful conclusion. They are summarized below:
> 
> Duties incumbent on the National Assembly:
> 
> • To regard the work of the National Assembly as the beating of a
> 28             The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 14. 3/4. 2004
> 
> healthy heart in the community, pumping spiritual love, energy, and
> encouragement
> • To regard itself as a loving parent, not a stern judge
> • To replace harsh measures with loving forbearance when dealing
> with the community in general. However, to make no compromises
> when the behavior of any of the friends is fragrantly disgraceful to
> the Faith
> • To avoid adding rules and regulations of procedure, as under-
> administration was better than over-administration
> • To multiply the number of Local Assemblies, groups, and localities
> where Bahá’ís reside, as well as the number of incorporated
> Spiritual Assemblies
> • To increase the number of representatives of minorities converted
> to the Faith
> • To consider summer schools as venues for the acquisition of greater
> knowledge of the Faith and means for closer Bahá’í companionship
> • To attach importance to the national newsletter
> • To maintain the policy of review of Bahá’í literature for the time being
> • To broaden the base of the official recognition of the Faith’s status
> in matters such as respecting the sanctity of Bahá’í Holy Days and
> the issuing of Bahá’í marriage certificates
> 
> Duties incumbent on the community:
> 
> • To appreciate the importance of unity and love among the believers
> • To increase steadily the number of the avowed supporters of the Faith
> • To realize that the path ahead is thorny and tortuous, with tests and
> trials abounding
> • To welcome opposition which the rising fame of the Faith is des-
> tined to provoke
> • To acquire a deeper understanding of the genesis, the significance,
> the workings, and the present status and achievements of the
> Faith’s Administrative Order as well as the Bahá’í Covenant, on
> which it is based
> The Ten Year Crusade                            29
> 
> • To appreciate the necessity of supporting the National Fund
> • To be aware that the maximum spiritual influence of the national
> institutions of the Faith depends on the degree of self-sacrifice of
> the contributors to the Fund
> 
> Duties incumbent on the individual believer:
> 
> • To participate in Bahá’í contributions and in teaching the Cause—
> duties incumbent on all believers
> • To appreciate the importance of the individual believer as the fun-
> damental unit for the revitalization, the expansion, and the enrich-
> ment of the home front
> • To serve as traveling teachers on teaching trips to centers on the
> home front
> • To deepen in the understanding of the Faith as well as in one’s love
> for it
> • To exert diligent, painstaking, and sustained efforts when teaching
> the Faith
> • To avoid apathy, timidity, and complacency in the discharge of spir-
> itual responsibilities
> • To endeavor, daily and methodically, to rise to loftier heights of con-
> secration and self-abnegation
> 
> THE IMPORTANCE OF THE TEN-YEAR PLAN
> 
> When Shoghi Effendi launched the Ten Year Crusade in 1953, in a mes-
> sage on the fourth of May he set forth ten stages in the spiritual awaken-
> ing and evolution of humanity. These different stages, from the dawn of
> the Adamic Cycle to the Prophet Muhammad, constituted the first part of
> the majestic process of the expression of the Divine Will. According to
> this message, during the Dispensation of Adam the Tree of Divine
> Revelation was planted in the soil of the Divine Will; this Tree was
> watered with the “vernal showers of blood shed by countless martyrs”
> during the successive Dispensations of the Adamic Cycle. The Guardian
> 30            The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 14. 3/4. 2004
> 
> pointed out that the second and third stages consisted of the appearance
> of the “perfect fruit” of that Tree, namely the Báb, as well as the grinding
> of that “sacred seed” in the “mill of adversity, causing it to yield its oil”
> (Messages 154) in the city of Tabriz.
> The following three stages cover the period of the ministry of
> Bahá’u’lláh through the “ignition of this oil by the hand of Providence”
> in the Síyáh-Chál of Tehran, followed by the appearance and diffusion of
> the “flickering light” of Divine Revelation and the subsequent “spread of
> the radiance of that light” in Adrianople and ‘Akká, when its rays reached
> parts of the Asiatic and African continents. The seventh stage was the
> “shedding of [the] illumination” (Messages 154) of this Divine Light upon
> twenty additional territories in the American, European, and Australian
> continents. The eighth stage was the diffusion of that same light in the
> course of the first thirty-two years of the Formative Age of the Faith,
> over a further ninety-four territories of the planet. Thus, the eight stages
> constituting the period from the inception of the Adamic Cycle till the
> year 1953, when the Ten Year Crusade was launched, comprise a grand
> total of 6,109 (6,000 + 77 + 23 + 9) years. Having thus come to the year
> 1953, Shoghi Effendi explained that in this inconceivably dramatic diffu-
> sion of the divine light, the ninth stage was now to begin.
> As we have seen, during this Crusade, so potently invested with power
> and might, the light of God’s Revelation was destined to reach 131 virgin
> territories—a feat incomparable in its magnitude as well as its impact on
> the declining fortunes of a harassed humanity. The beginning of the tenth
> part of this mysterious and historical process occurred in the year 1963,
> when the Ten Year Crusade ended and the Universal House of Justice was
> elected. Following Shoghi Effendi’s calculation, humanity had now tra-
> versed a period of no less than 6,119 years. The last stage in this process
> is described as follows:
> 
> And finally the tenth part of this mighty process must be the pene-
> tration of that light, in the course of numerous crusades and of suc-
> cessive epochs of both the Formative and Golden Ages of the Faith,
> into all the remaining territories of the globe, through the erection of
> The Ten Year Crusade                            31
> 
> the entire machinery of Bahá’u’lláh’s Administrative Order in all ter-
> ritories, both East and West, the stage at which the light of God’s tri-
> umphant Faith shining in all its power and glory will have suffused
> and enveloped the entire planet. (Messages 155)
> 
> Four important points emerge when we analyze this sentence. First, it
> is clear that the tenth stage, beginning in 1963, is meant to cover the
> entire range of the centuries leading to the end of the Dispensation of
> Bahá’u’lláh. Second, we should expect successive epochs and numerous
> crusades and plans ahead of us until the end of the Dispensation of
> Bahá’u’lláh, throughout the remaining years of the Formative Age and
> for the full duration of the Golden Age of the Faith. Undoubtedly, these
> plans will be formulated and executed under the guidance of the
> Universal House of Justice. Third, Shoghi Effendi acknowledges that the
> Ten Year Crusade did not address the diffusion, in the full sense of the
> term, of the Cause of God to every spot on earth. This achievement has
> been left for the tenth stage when future plans must address, in Shoghi
> Effendi’s words, “all the remaining territories of the globe” (Messages
> 155). Fourth, and finally, the worldwide diffusion of the light of God’s
> revelation would have been, to all intents and purposes, achieved through
> the execution of the Ten Year Crusade. After this diffusion two other
> steps are anticipated by Shoghi Effendi, namely the “penetration” of the
> light and heat of God’s revelation into the inner depths of the planet, and
> the subsequent spread of that heat throughout its deeper layers, a process
> which he describes as the “suffusion” of that light and heat. Of course, we
> should not forget that this is a mere metaphor that Shoghi Effendi is
> using to illustrate the extent to which the driving force of the Revelation
> of Bahá’u’lláh will first penetrate the very hearts and souls of men, and
> will be followed by a process of dispersion of the life-imparting warmth
> of God’s revelation into the deep strata and the frigid and lifeless tissues
> of human society.
> While the three terms of “diffusion,” “penetration,” and “suffusion” are not
> ambiguous in the vocabulary of the sentence constructed by Shoghi Effendi,
> what is unknown to us at this time is what “penetration” and “suffusion,” in
> 32            The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 14. 3/4. 2004
> 
> their full sense, will mean in terms of future goals, objectives, plans, and
> epochs. There is no doubt that when the time is ripe the Universal House
> of Justice will give the Bahá’í world the needed guidance. Might we not
> venture to assume that, using Shoghi Effendi’s metaphor in this sentence,
> the concept of penetration, as stated by him, is “the erection of the entire
> machinery of Bahá’u’lláh’s Administrative Order in all territories, both
> East and West” (Messages 155) of the globe? This stage would naturally
> have its counterpart in the teaching work. Could we not, then, opine that
> this projected development is nothing more nor less than the very stage
> towards which we are currently advancing as we cross the threshold of
> “entry by troops”?
> The last stage, that of “suffusion,” when both inwardly and outwardly
> the warmth and light of God’s revelation would have demonstrated its
> God-given capacity to create a new heaven as well as a new earth, could
> well be associated with the long awaited stage of “mass conversion,” which
> Shoghi Effendi has described as a development which will synchronize
> with events destined to “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 author-
> ity of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh” (Citadel of Faith 117). This infinitely glori-
> ous consummation will be a merger of God’s Minor Plan with His Major
> Plan. This stage has been described by Shoghi Effendi in the following
> words with which he concludes his message of 4 May 1953:
> 
> 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 civilization, incomparable in its range, its char-
> acter and potency, in the history of mankind—a civilization which
> posterity will, with one voice, acclaim as the fairest fruit of the
> Golden Age of the Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh, and whose rich har-
> vest will be garnered during future dispensations destined to succeed
> one another in the course of the five thousand century Bahá’í Cycle.
> (Messages 155–56)
> The Ten Year Crusade                            33
> 
> NOTES
> 
> Presented at the 28th Annual Conference of the Association for Bahá’í Studies–
> North America, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 5 September 2004.
> 1. Italics in original.
> 2. His wording is occasionally paraphrased here.
> 3. See Messages to Canada 64.
> 4. See Messages of Shoghi Effendi 415.
> 
> WORKS CITED
> 
> Shoghi Effendi. The Advent of Divine Justice. Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í
> Publishing Trust, 1990.
> ———. Citadel of Faith: Messages to America, 1947–1957. Wilmette, Ill.:
> Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1965.
> ———. God Passes By. Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1944.
> ———. Messages of Shoghi Effendi to the Indian Subcontinent 1923–1957.
> Comp. Iran Furutan Muhajir. New Delhi: Bahá’í Publishing Trust,
> 1995.
> ———. Messages to the Bahá’í World 1950–1957. Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í
> Publishing Trust, 1971.
> ———. Messages to Canada. N.p.: National Spiritual Assembly of the
> Bahá’ís of Canada, 1965.
> ———. Unfolding Destiny: The Messages from the Guardian of the Bahá’í
> Faith to the Bahá’ís of the British Isles. London: Bahá’í Publishing Trust,
> 1981.
> ———. The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh: Selected Letters. Wilmette, Ill.:
> Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1991.
>
> — *The Ten Year Crusade (Used by permission of the curator)*