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)