Abstract: The evolution of the Bahá'í community from its obscure and
persecuted origins to world encirclement has been rapid. At the
time of Bahá'u'lláh's passing in 1892 there were followers in
fifteen countries. By late 1921 when Shoghi Effendi's assumption
of the Guardianship was decreed in the Will and Testament of
'Abdu'l-Bahá', Bahá'ís were resident in thirty-five countries.
A period of consolidation followed, in which Shoghi Effendi
sought the administrative and doctrinal maturation of Bahá'í
communities emerging in diverse socio-political and religious
contexts. This paper considers the essential features of the last
significance phase of Shoghi Effendi's ministry, the decade of
the World Crusade, 1953-1963. In doing so, it seeks to raise
questions concerning the contemporary practice of historical
Bahá'í scholarship.
Shoghi Effendi pictured the Crusade as the next phase in the
gradual unfoldment of the destiny of the Bahá'í Community. The
"Heroic" age (1844-92) had witnessed tumult and
persecution during the ministries of the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh;
and the "Apostolic" age (1892-1921) was typified by
acts of loyalty and devotion to 'Abdu'l-Bahá, the centre of
Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant. By 1953, the "Formative" age
of the Bahá'í Faith was entering its fourth decade (having
commenced at the same time Shoghi Effendi assumed the
Guardianship). The moment had arrived for Shoghi Effendi to
inspire and lead the followers of Bahá'u'lláh in a global
missionary enterprise. Whereas his own life came to an untimely
end near the plan's mid-point, the ten momentous years of
endeavour continued. By its end the Bahá'í community and its
institutions had greatly expanded their geographical scope and
ethnic and linguistic composition; had extended and consolidated
their administrative functioning; strengthened their legal
status; developed their physical infrastructure; and consolidated
and beautified the holy places associated with their origins. The
emergence of Bahá'í communities in virtually all parts of the
planet fulfilled aspirations penned by 'Abdu'l-Bahá' in his Tablets
of the Divine Plan, and provided the administrative
foundations that made possible the establishment of the Universal
House of Justice in 1963.
Bahá'í Historiography
Because of its middle eastern origins, historiography of the
Bahá'í Faith has focused on the religion's links with Islam,
and its origins in Persian society. Examination of Bahá'í
communities in regional and global historical contexts is of more
recent origin, and much history remains unwritten. For instance,
although almost three decades have elapsed since the completion
of the Ten Year Plan no comprehensive account of this masterful
missionary enterprise has yet been written. Although some
official documentation of the Ten Year World Crusade (and of
subsequent plans) has appeared, and despite the historical
sensibility of the Bahá'í community in other contexts (eg, the
extensive treatment of history in the writings of the central
figures; the reverent treatment of "sacred relics" of
the "Heroic age" of the Bábí and Bahá'í religions;
and concern at locating and preserving all traces of the most
pivotal events, places, and persons of significance to that
period) - considered treatments of later Bahá'í history remain
scant.
There are many reasons that this is so. The number of scholars
engaged in historical discourse has remained small and their
efforts, no matter how prodigious, have not kept pace with the
rapid expansion of the Bahá'í community world-wide. Perhaps,
also, Bahá'í communities have considered the writing of
Bahá'í history as premature, and as an activity best undertaken
at some undefined future time - a view held notwithstanding the
fact that The Dawnbreakers, the precious record of events
central to the Bábí period, 1844-1850, exists solely on account
of the diligent gathering of oral testimonies by Nabíl, soon
after their occurrence. Furthermore, despite the fact that unique
materials are in the possession of most national Bahá'í
communities, few such materials have been professionally
organised into exploitable archives.
In the absence of thorough written histories, the major part
of historical knowledge of Bahá'í communities in the first half
of the twentieth century is biographical, or else contained in
official records. Biographies, while valuable in themselves, do
not necessarily seek to provide a wide perspective on a
particular period of time, or Bahá'í community, and often focus
quite legitimately on an individual perspective. Official
accounts, on the other hand, usually consist of chronicle and
narrative, and less often place the activities of Bahá'í
individuals or communities in their social and religious context.
A more telling reason for the lag in writing Bahá'í history
than those mentioned above concerns the practical as well as
intellectual complexity of the task. The intrinsically global
character of the Bahá'í religion cannot be retrieved or
sufficiently elaborated through the use of national intellectual
frameworks in which much social-science discourse occurs.
Furthermore, there are heavy implications for the collection and
processing of discrete historical data. Now that Bahá'í
communities are well established on each of the five continents,
the attraction of writing histories of Bahá'í communities on
each continent contains the danger of losing sight of the global
pattern which is at the core of Bahá'í belief and action. And
yet for the foreseeable future no single researcher possesses the
resources to undertake an effective global study, and will be
limited by both the time that would be required to become
thoroughly familiar with so great a range of diverse cultures and
Bahá'í communities, and by limited access to source materials.
Present conditions favour active collaboration and cooperation
among Bahá'í scholars in the writing of Bahá'í history.
Bahá'í History to 1953
The history of the Bahá'í Faith 1921-53, (when it comes to
be written), will no doubt depict the establishment of local and
national Bahá'í communities in accordance with the underlying
laws of Bahá'u'lláh, the legacy of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, and the
direction of Shoghi Effendi. It will narrate the emergence of a
new religious culture, and the foundations of the Bahá'í
administrative order. In essence, Shoghi Effendi fostered the
establishment of National Assemblies and the prosecution of
teaching plans in the period leading up to 1953, in preparation
for the orchestrated global campaign subsequently known as the
"Ten Year World Crusade".
In the oldest Bahá'í communities (which were in the Islamic
countries of the Middle East and North Africa, and which apart
from the Persian community remained numerically small), three
National Spiritual Assemblies were formed by the mid 1930s, which
by the 1950s had already undertaken a series of co-ordinated
teaching plans. In Western countries, National Assemblies had
been formed in North America, Australasia, and Europe. The states
of central, east, and west Africa remained mostly under colonial
rule when the Bahá'ís of the British Isles co-ordinated an
African teaching plan in the years preceding the Crusade,
1950-53, and no National bodies had been established on that
continent before 1953. In the vast nations of the Soviet Union
and China only the smallest remnants of Bahá'í communities
survived the anti-religious purges of Communist authorities. In
the Islamic, Hindu and Buddhist societies of South and South East
Asia, where several Bahá'í communities also traced their
origins to the nineteenth century, only one National Spiritual
Assembly (covering India, Pakistan and Burma) had been
established by 1953.
Table: National Spiritual Assemblies that participated in
the World Crusade
Year Established National Spiritual Assembly
1923 Great Britain
1923 Germany and Austria
1923 India, Pakistan and Burma
1924 Egypt and Sudan
1925 United States
1931 'Iraq
1934 Persia
1934 Australia and New Zealand
1948 Canada
1951 Central America
1951 South America
1953 Italy and Switzerland
As the number of National Assemblies grew, Shoghi Effendi
began referring to a World-embracing missionary enterprise. In
November 1951 he announced that four "intercontinental
conferences" were to be held in 1953; in December 1951 and
February 1952 he appointed the first and second contingents of
Hands of the Cause. In March 1952 the "Global Crusade"
was given its name. The Guardian explained that it constituted
the "third and final stage of the initial epoch in the
evolution of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's Master Plan". It commenced in
the course of the "Holy Year" (October 1952-October
1953) held to mark the centenary celebration of the birth of the
Bahá'í revelation, and concluded with the first Bahá'í World
Congress - the "Most Great Jubilee" - in London in
April 1963. By 1953 there were Bahá'í communities in some 128
countries and territories.
The specific goals of twelve plans were announced at Ridvan
(21 April) 1953. Each of the twelve participating National
Assemblies was challenged to consolidate its domestic position,
and to propagate the Bahá'í teachings in additional territories
on one or more of the four continents - Africa, the Americas,
Europe and Asia (the latter including Oceania, or
"Australasia"). Several national communities were
allotted tasks on the one continent, often in adjacent
territories. Thus six National Assemblies undertook activities in
Africa (India, Pakistan and Burma; British Isles; The United
States; Egypt and Sudan; Iraq; and Persia); six in Asia (India,
Pakistan and Burma; Iraq; and Persia; The United States; Canada;
and Australia and New Zealand); four in Europe (the United
States; British Isles; Germany and Austria; and Italy and
Switzerland) and four in the Americas (the United States; Canada;
Central America; and South America). Seven of the twelve National
Assemblies co-ordinated activities on two continents, four on
just one. Only the Bahá'ís of the United States were given
tasks on all four continents.
Shoghi Effendi's approach to the task of "mission"
differed to modern Christian and Islamic missionary practice: few
missionary endeavours have selected the whole world for a
simultaneous program of outreach. Furthermore, whereas Shoghi
Effendi's plan allowed for the movement of individuals to remote
and extremely isolated locations, traditional wisdom has seen a
concentration of a mission's resources in a few strategic
locations; and whereas conversion of non-western peoples has
often been coupled with efforts to "civilise" tribal
societies, and to alter their mode of production, the Bahá'í
approach remained liberal in most matters pertaining to culture
and economics. In like manner, whereas missionisation relied on
the accumulation of resources in the home-base for use in the
mission field, transfer of funds during the Crusade years seems
to have been mostly for the purchase of property. Furthermore,
whereas mission societies invariably engaged in business
enterprises to ensure their economic viability in the mission
field, there was no official involvement in commerce by Bahá'í
institutions.
The attitude with which Bahá'ís endeavoured to spread their
beliefs in new cultures marks another departure from traditional
processes of "missionisation". The Bahá'í Writings
present clear instructions that the Bahá'í Teachings cannot be
forced on anyone, and that the process of propagation includes
obtaining the consent of the listener. For these reasons, among
others, those who travelled to teach their Faith were described
as "pioneers" rather than as "missionaries":
they were volunteers, and not in the pay of a missionary body,
and they were sharing their beliefs without seeking to
subsequently depend for their sustenance on those whom they
attracted into the Bahá'í Community.
Social and Political Context
The decade 1953-63 coincided with considerable social and
political turmoil in world affairs. Global combat had ceased
following the allied victory in world war two, but militarism
continued during the 'Cold War' (1947-1990) which pitted the
so-called 'superpowers' and their allies in geo-political
struggle and ideological difference: the Berlin blockade
(1948-49); the Korean War (1950-53); construction of the Berlin
wall (1961); the Indo-China war (1945-75); and the Cuban missile
crisis (1962) - were only the more notable episodes in this tense
period of history, which was also marked by the aftermath of the
Communist victory in China (1949); discovery of the excesses of
Stalinist rule in the USSR following that leader's death in 1953;
atmospheric testing and proliferation of thermo-nuclear weapons;
the elaboration of apartheid in South Africa; and the rise of
anti-colonialist and nationalist movements throughout Africa and
Asia. It was in the context of such global convulsions that
Bahá'í pioneers sought to transcend cultural, religious and
political boundaries, to plant the seeds of Bahá'u'lláh's World
Order.
Aims of the World Crusade
The purpose of the World Crusade, as described by Shoghi
Effendi, was to extend the reach of Bahá'u'lláh's call
"over the entire surface of the globe" (Citadel of
Faith 111), to "assemble beneath its sheltering shadow
peoples of every race, tongue, creed, color and nation" (CF
114). It was a "Spiritual Crusade" (CF, 106, 110), the
"most prodigious, the most sublime, the most sacred
collective enterprise launched by the adherents of the Cause of
God in both hemispheres since the early days of the Heroic Age of
the Faith - an enterprise which in its vastness, organisation and
unifying power" which had "...no parallel in the
world's spiritual history" (CF 119).
The Crusade's four broad aims were a) the development of
institutions at the World Centre; b) consolidation of the twelve
communities undertaking the plans; c) consolidation of all other
territories already open; and d) the opening of the remaining
"chief virgin territories" around the globe. The
Guardian assigned responsibility for the plan's 27 specific
objectives to institutions at the World Centre and to the twelve
existing National Spiritual Assemblies. Tasks to be undertaken in
Asia, Africa, Europe and America were officially announced at
"inter-continental" conferences held in 1953 in
Kampala, Chicago, Stockholm, and New Delhi. At each conference a
message was read by his special representative. National
Assemblies planned their activities cooperatively, and volunteers
were called on for immediate entry to the pioneer field. In 1958
a further five conferences were held (in Kampala, Sydney,
Wilmette, Frankfurt and Jakarta) to mark the mid-point in the
Crusade, and to give impetus to the tasks of consolidating recent
growth and achievements.
Given the universal nature of Bahá'u'lláh's Revelation and
mission, it would be mistaken to expect anything less than a
global aspiration. It is for this reason that all preceding
activities by Bahá'í communities in numerous individual
countries are regarded as elements of one unified program. If
Christian civilisation was based characteristically on
pastoralism, and Islamic civilisation on commerce (to
characterise these civilizations in broad terms, following Sopher
Geography of Religions USA, 1967), the emerging Bahá'í
community embraced the entire planet, and all social and cultural
systems within it, rather than favouring sub-strata of them.
Israel is the "Holy Land" for Bahá'ís, but
geographical proximity to the Bahá'í shrines is not an element
of faith - indeed, the sacrifice involved in remaining in remote
outposts in the service of the Faith is considered admirable.
Furthermore, the spacing of such institutions as Mashriqu'l-Adhkars
(Houses of Worship), publishing trusts, and educational
institutions on the various continents, and the choice of
location for significant gathering of Bahá'ís at periodic
international conferences, are indicative of the global
distribution pattern contained within the Bahá'í system.
Four main phases of the Crusade
The goals of the Crusade were carried out in four distinct,
yet interwoven, phases. Emphasis was placed in the first year,
1953-54, to the settlement of pioneers in one-hundred and
thirty-one new territories. The first pioneers to settle in these
areas were given the title "Knights of Bahá'u'lláh"
by Shoghi Effendi. The Guardian first referred to the
"Knights" in a cable of 28 May, 1953, which called for
the "dispersal, immediate, determined, sustained and
universal' of pioneers "throughout the unopened territories
of the planet". He announced his intention to inscribe, in
chronological order, the names of the "spiritual
conquerors" on an illuminated "Roll of Honor, to be
deposited at the entrance door of the inner sanctuary of the Tomb
of Bahá'u'lláh, as a permanent memorial of the contribution by
the champions of His Faith at the victorious conclusion of the
opening campaign of the Global Crusade...".
In the subsequent decade, 127 of 131 virgin territories were
opened (with the remaining four being opened by 1990) by Knights
of Bahá'u'lláh who eventually numbered no less than 256. It
proved impossible to enter some lands under Communist rule -
Albania, Estonia, Finno-Karelia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldavia,
Mongolia, Rumania, Sakhalin Island, Ukraine and White Russia. To
most areas, however, the Knights were followed in subsequent
years by others numbering approximately one-thousand. The North
American community was encouraged to scatter its pioneers
"as widely as possible", to available posts in any of
the national plans. This first phase was conducted by the
Guardian with considerable urgency, and witnessed endeavours of
considerable heroism.
Most Bahá'í communities in the newly opened territories,
however, while significant in their diversity and number,
remained negligible in size for at least the next decade. Twenty
of the National bodies established by 1963 consisted of twenty
Bahá'í localities or less, and a further twenty-one comprised
between 21 and 49. It appears, thus, that the growth in National
bodies was rapid in the final years of the Crusade, and that more
than half were established on a relatively small number of local
Bahá'í communities and institutions.
Apart from the issue of numerical growth, the universal
mandate of Bahá'u'lláh's teachings were tested during the
period 1953-1963. Whereas successful proliferation to all corners
of the globe could not prove absolutely the scriptural claims of
being a World Faith of considerable spiritual potency and
efficacy; failure of the Bahá'ís to complete their ambitious
program would have cast doubt on their abilities (at least for
the present) to complement religious belief with social practice:
a world-Faith without a world following remains somewhat utopian,
or at the least, idealistic.
In the Crusade's second phase, 1954-56, emphasis was placed on
the acquisition of sites for local and national Haziratu'l-Quds
(headquarters), future Mashriqu'l-Adhkárs, and
national endowments. The North American community was given
responsibility for assisting other national assemblies in these
and other tasks (CF 108-9). By 1963 sites for 45 Mashriqu'l-Adhkárs
and for 49 National Haziratu'l-Quds had been purchased, and the
"first dependency" of the Wilmette Mashriqu'l-Adhkár,
a retirement home, had been established.
The third phase of the Crusade, 1956-58, focused on the
continued multiplication of the number of Bahá'í centres and
the establishment of Regional and National Spiritual Assemblies.
Between 1956 and 1963 the number of National Spiritual Assemblies
increased from 12 to 56. In Africa, four Regional Assemblies were
established at Ridvan 1956, which evolved into a larger number of
Assemblies in 1964. In Asia, the NSA of India, Pakistan and Burma
separated into two regional bodies at Ridvan 1957. Regional
Bodies for Southeast and Northeast Asia were also formed in 1957.
In North, Central, and South America, progress toward
administrative autonomy was more rapid. Alaska formed its own
National Assembly at Ridvan 1957, as one of four regional bodies
on the continent: in 1961 these evolved into twenty-one National
Spiritual Assemblies. New Zealand established a National Assembly
separate from Australia in 1957. The South Pacific Regional
Assembly established in 1959 existed until divided into two in
1964. In 1958 a national body had been formed in France. In 1959
National Spiritual Assemblies were established in Austria, South
Pacific, and Burma; 21 were established in Latin America in 1961;
eleven in Europe, plus another in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1962.
In each of these regional bodies, Bahá'í communities gained
experience in Bahá'í administration, and gained familiarity
with Bahá'í approaches to decision-making through consultation,
and representation through election and delegation. In Islamic
countries, including Iran, women were allowed for the first time
to participate in the administration of Local and National
Assemblies.
The years of the World Crusade demonstrated that Bahá'í
communities had the capacity to not only establish localities in
diverse cultures but to evolve patterns of geographical and
social distribution, and distinct organisational machinery and
means for territorial expansion, suggesting differences between
it and other religious systems having aspirations limited to a
single ethnic community, or collection of ethnic communities. The
four most numerically signficant communities as at 1963 were
spread across several continents: Iran (1285 localities), the
United States of America (1714), Central and East Africa (2061),
and India (2098).
Forty-seven new National Spiritual Assemblies were established
between 1953 and 1963, bringing the world-wide total to
fifty-six. Each of the new National Assemblies framed a
constitution, and 34 obtained legal status. The number of Local
Assemblies had risen from 611 to 3,551; and the number of centres
from 2,425 to 11,071. In a single decade the Bahá'í Faith
spread to 131 additional countries and territories around the
globe, from 128 in 1953 to a total of 259. More substantial
communities had emerged a further eleven communities: North East
Africa (88 localities), North East Asia (89), Australia (124),
Germany (170), British Isles (204), Canada (245), North West
Africa (265), South and West Africa (305), South Pacific (308),
Bolivia (537), and South East Asia (763).
This expansion of Bahá'í communities implies a considerable
increase in the numbers of ethnic groups, races and tribes
represented; the numbers of languages spoken within it; and the
numbers of schools and institutes established by it. Persian
Bahá'ís, particularly, had faced the challenge of defining
their belief universally (the universal Bahá'í religion
happened to have its origins in Persia) rather than ethnically
(the Persian Bahá'í religion spread to other places). Given the
emergence of large non-Persian, indeed non-European, Bahá'í
communities, ethnically-based definitions of the Bahá'í
community offered by some commentators must be set aside.
The fourth and final phase of the Crusade, 1958-63, witnessed
in addition to a proportionally large increase in the membership
of Bahá'í communities, the erection of Mashriqu'l-Adhkárs
in Kampala in Uganda, and Sydney, Australia. Another near
Frankfurt, Germany, was completed soon after. Additional Crusade
objectives included the translation of Bahá'í writings into new
languages (220 new language translations were achieved), and the
enhancement of Bahá'í literature generally. Seven new
publishing trusts were established. In addition to numeric
expansion, other unique objectives were accomplished. Holy Sites
in Iran and Iraq were acquired, and beautified. In Shiraz,
preliminary measures were undertaken toward construction of the
tomb of the wife of the Báb. The Siyah-Chal in Tihran and the
fortress of Chihriq were purchased. In Iraq, the remains of the
father of Bahá'u'lláh were identified and re-interred.
Table: Objectives of the World Crusade
|
Asia |
Australia |
Africa |
Europe |
Americas |
|
G* A* |
G. A. |
G. A. |
G. A. |
G. A. |
Countries to
be opened |
41 43 |
|
33 37 |
30 21 |
27 30 |
Languages
requiring literature |
40 90 |
|
31 82 |
10 11 |
10 37 |
Construct Mashriqu'l-Adhkárs |
1 - |
- 1 |
- 1 |
1 1 |
|
Purchase Mashriqu'l-Adhkár
sites |
2 9 |
1 1 |
2 5 |
2 8 |
3 23 |
Establish
National Spiritual Assemblies |
10 8 |
1 1 |
3 3 |
13 13 |
21 22 |
Acquire
National Hazirat'ul-Quds |
9 9 |
1 1 |
3 3 |
15 14 |
21 22 |
Incorporate
National Spiritual Assemblies |
12 5 |
1 1 |
3 1 |
13 7 |
2 3 |
Establish
Publishing Trusts |
2 2 |
|
1 1 |
1 1 |
2 3 |
Establish
Israel Branches of NSAs |
2 2 |
1 1 |
1 - |
2 1 |
1 2 |
G = Goal A = Achieved
Developments at the World Centre
The Development of Bahá'í Institutions.
During the years of the Crusade significant evolution of
Bahá'í institutions occurred. In Israel, Shoghi Effendi
extended land-holdings on the plain of Akka and surrounding the
Holy sites on Mt. Carmel, and further developed gardens and
buildings in the area surrounding the Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh
(the Haram-i-Aqdas). He oversaw the construction by 1957 of the
International Archives building. Furthermore, in the years prior
to the Crusade as well as those immediately before his death,
Shoghi Effendi secured much of the land on which the buildings
constituting the "Arc" could be completed at a later
date.
Apart from such physical developments, Shoghi Effendi
elaborated in the period 1952-57 the functions and powers of the
institution of the Hands of the Cause. Following the appointments
made in 1951 and 1952, the Guardian appointed a third group in
October 1957. The Hands were, he had stated in a cable of 29
February 1952, "invested in conformity with 'Abdu'l-Bahá's
Testament twofold sacred function propagation and preservation of
the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh." They were to propagate and
preserve the unity of the Faith, and were "destined to
assume individually in the course of time the direction of
institutions paralleling those revolving around the Universal
House of Justice" (Messages to the Bahá'í World,
21).
The establishment of "Auxiliary Boards" by the Hands
of the Cause in 1954 further elaborated the administrative
principle that leadership operate through both elected and
appointed institutions. Thirty-six members were appointed to five
boards: 9 each in America, Europe, and Africa, 7 in Asia, and 2
in Australasia. Until 1957 Board Members had the functions of
both protection and propagation of the Faith. In 1957 additional
boards were appointed, specifically for protection of the Faith.
The number of Auxiliary Board Members expanded.
The Guardianship and evolution of the Universal House of
Justice
Momentarily, the untimely death of Shoghi Effendi in the
middle of the Crusade threw the Bahá'í community into grief. He
left neither heir nor Will and Testament, and in a subsequent
period of uncertainty the Hands of the Cause exercised their
"stewardship", culiminating in the election of the
Universal House of Justice. During the same period one of the
Hands of the Cause, Mason Remey, harboured and eventually acted
on an ill-conceived aspiration to claim the Guardianship - an
action judged by the Hands to be a transgression of the
"Covenant" and resulting in his expulsion from their
ranks, and from the community of believers. Despite this crisis
brought by challenges to the legitimacy of Bahá'í institutions,
the Hands of the Cause supervised the successful completion of
virtually all Crusade goals.
The International Bahá'í Council, established by the
Guardian in January 1951, assisted him in the course of the
Crusade, particularly in consolidating the relationship between
the World Centre and the newly established state of Israel, and
in acting on behalf of the Guardian in communications with the
growing number of National Bahá'í communities. Membership of
the International Bahá'í Council as first constituted included
Mr & Mrs Weeden, Amatu'l-Bahá Ruhiyyih Khanum as liaison
between the Guardian and the Council, Charles Mason Remey as
President, Amelia Collins as vice-president, Jessie Revell as
treasurer, Ethel Revell as Western Assistant Secretary, and
Lutfu'llah Hakim as Eastern Assistant Secretary. The Council was
later enlarged by the appointment of Ugo Giachary member at
large, and Leroy Ioas, who became Secretary General (Messages,
22). On 4 May 1955 the Guardian raised the Council to nine, by
the addition of Sylvia Ioas. At Ridvan 1961 the Council became an
elected body. At Ridvan 1963 the members of the 56 established
National Spiritual Assemblies participated in the election on Mt.
Carmel of the first Universal House of Justice.
In the 1950s considerable contact was established with the
newly created state of Israel. President Ben Zvi visited the
Guardian in April 1954, and numerous other public officials were
also received at the Bahá'í Shrines. The establishment of a
Bahá'í Department within the Ministry of Religious Affairs was
followed by acceptance of the status of Bahá'í marriages, and
recognition of Bahá'í Holy days.
To date little has been written about relations and method of
operation between the central institutions of the Faith (Shoghi
Effendi, and later, the International Bahá'í Council, and the
Hands of the Cause residing in the Holy Land) - and National
Spiritual Assemblies, and the various local and regional levels
of Bahá'í administration on the various continents. Similarly,
relations between national administrative bodies and regional and
local administrative bodies are yet to be examined. Knowledge of
how this global system operated in diverse cultural contexts will
aid in understanding the Bahá'í administrative order. It might
be assumed that the appointed arms of the system functioned
differently in different locations, particularly where the
concept of "authority" differed across cultures. In
this context, the exercise of local autonomy, as opposed to
centralised or external decision-making, has yet to be explored.
Legal Recognition
The objective of securing a firm legal basis to emerging
Bahá'í institutions was pursued at numerous levels during the
Crusade. Additionally, steps were made toward the elaboration and
implementation of Bahá'í law. It was easier to obtain legal
recognition in Western states than in Eastern states, primarily
due to the more secular approach to law existing in Western
societies. If fact, attempts by Bahá'ís to secure legal status
in Islamic countries during the years of the Crusade may have
brought their existence to the attention of hostile forces, and
precipitated their persecution. In third world states, many of
which still had colonial status in the 1950s, attempts to obtain
legal recognition were more often thwarted by restricted or
otherwise inadequate legal regimes, than by consciously applied
obstruction.
Within Bahá'í communities, Bahá'í laws and ordinances were
enforced selectively, rather than uniformly. The law of
Huququ'llah applied within in Middle Eastern societies, but not
in the west. Laws of personal status (marriage, divorce, etc)
were applied in western Bahá'í communities, but not in a number
of third world communities where requirements regarding morality,
and prohibitions on alcohol and drugs, were introduced more
gradually.
In eastern societies, where the personal status of Bahá'ís
was recognised due to traditional demarcation between religious
(Islamic) and secular legal systems, the task of obtaining legal
status for Bahá'í laws formed part of the Crusade's objectives.
Yet while the Guardian had anticipated the establishment of a
Bahá'í Court in Israel, a preliminary measure to the creation
of the Universal House of Justice, the Hands of the Cause and
later the International Bahá'í Council found it impossible to
attain this goal "in the manner stipulated by Shoghi
Effendi". Nor was it possible to establish Bahá'í Courts
as planned, in Tihran, Cairo, Bagdad, New Delhi, Karachi and
Kabul.
It was possible, however, to establish legal entities in
Israel representing the National Spiritual Assemblies of the
British Isles, Australia, Iran, Canada, New Zealand, Alaska and
Pakistan, which added to those already existing raised the number
to eleven. The transferral of ownership of Bahá'í properties
and Holy sites to these legal entities during the lifetime of
Shoghi Effendi and again during the crucial period immediately
after his passing, assisted the Hands of the Cause in keeping
these places beyond the grasp of Covenant-Breakers. In fulfilment
of one of the World Centre's objectives for the Crusade, some
progress was made toward codification of the Kitab-i-Aqdas, a
task later completed under the guidance of the Universal House of
Justice.
The Bahá'í International Community
In 1948 the Bahá'í International Community was recognised as
a non-governmental organisation affiliated with the United
Nations Organisation. Within a decade, several factors had
combined to raise its profile within the Organisation, and with
other non-governmental agencies. Firstly, the BIC participated
actively in the UN's social and economic agenda. A "Bahá'í
Declaration on Human Obligations and Rights" was submitted
in 1947, and "Proposals for Revision of the United Nations
Charter" in 1955. Other statements were presented endorsing
the Genocide Convention (1959), and in 1960 a statement was
presented to a meeting of the United Nations Office of Public
Information concerning the UN's program for new nations. In
addition to such involvement in dialogue concerning international
law and development policy, the Bahá'í International Community
sought assistance for the Bahá'ís persecuted in Iran in 1955,
and in Morocco in 1962.
Persecution of the Persian Bahá'ís in 1955 resulted in
consolidation of Bahá'í institutions on other continents.
Persecution of the Egyptian Bahá'ís seriously inhibited their
activities, and prevented them from achieving all of their
allotted Crusade tasks. The uneasy existence of Bahá'ís in
Islamic countries was eventually felt by all Bahá'ís when the
crowning event of the Crusade, a congress intended to be held in
the vicinity of the Garden of Ridvan in Baghdad in April 1963,
was by necessity held instead in London.
Discussion
In the Crusade's opening years Shoghi Effendi had steered an
infant religious community toward rapid administrative cohesion,
global collaboration, and spiritual maturity. The Crusade was
part of the "minor plan of God," set in a context of
the spiritual, moral, social and political crises in world
affairs - as exemplified by the degeneration of morals and
breakdown of families, the extension of corruption, particularly
in business and government, the spread of materialism from the
West to other continents, the ideological conflict between East
and West now known as the "cold war", and the potential
for global armed conflict.
The Crusade occurred during the period of post-war
reconstruction, and many pioneers arrived at their posts at the
same time as a rejuvenated and world-wide outpouring of
missionaries of other Faiths. In later scholarship, the reception
of Bahá'í pioneers and institutions by secular officials and
governments will of necessity be examined: what was the effect,
and the value, for instance, of gaining legal recognition for
Bahá'í institutions around the world? What impact did Bahá'í
communities have on public life and morals, particularly in small
states where the presence of Bahá'í pioneers was not
unnoticeable? Or were the Crusade years too soon for such
relationships to evolve? Such questions can only be answered
through empirical research.
During the Crusade, also, Bahá'í pioneers came into contact
with virtually all the world's living faiths, creeds, and
ideologies. Bahá'í communities were thus engaged in religious
encounter not only with the historical religions - Islam,
Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism and Hinduism - and the
innumerable sects and denominations of which they are composed,
but encounter also with Communism in the Soviet Union and China
and their adjoining territories, and materialism in Western
societies and European societies in particular. Close examination
of the pioneer experience should therefore contribute to our
knowledge and understanding of the relationship between the
Bahá'í Faith and other belief systems in both Western and
non-Western societies.
Despite the numbers of pioneers who dispersed during the
Crusade, the phenomenon of pioneering has attracted little
critical study. Momen has pointed out that as early as 1947
Shoghi Effendi had advised those who were taking the Bahá'í
message to diverse cultural groups that the "fundamental
prerequisite" for their success was "to adapt the
presentation of the fundamental principles of their Faith to the
cultural and religious backgrounds, the ideologies, and the
temperament of the divers races and nations whom they are called
upon to enlighten and attract". Given such guidance, it
would be illuminating to consider the impact of pioneering on the
core Bahá'í community (did it imply a drain of that communities
most talented and vital members? With what attitudes did pioneers
enter foreign cultures? What was the nature of the interaction
between Bahá'í communities, as they undertook prosecution of
joint-goals of the Crusade?). The pioneers included rich and
poor, young and elderly, educated and un-educated. Some were
self-employed while others required jobs. Their length of stay in
the pioneer field ranged from a matter of weeks for some, to the
remainder of their lives for others. If there were different
"styles" of pioneering, these remain to be articulated.
Obviously, the experience of pioneering differed greatly
according to the qualities of the pioneer, and the territory and
culture entered. These and many other questions await further
study.
There were instances of "mass conversion" on most
continents during the World Crusade, detailed examination of
which has barely begun. Smith has identified conversion motifs
such as universalism, legal-rationalism, social
reconstructionism, milleniallism and esotericism in the rise of
the Bábí and Bahá'í Faiths - although his empirical study
mostly concerned Western communities. Research is required on the
conversion motifs present among South Americans, Pacific
Islanders, and Central Africans. How is it possible that
illiterate and isolated villagers could comprehend the religious
and social teachings of a religion that preached global unity?
How could people whose life-experience only brought them into
contact with people of similar ethnicity understand allegiance to
a "universal" Faith? What has been the impact of this
Faith on their concept and practice of ethnicity? The rise of
ethno-nationalism in the late twentieth century requires
development of the notion of "unity in diversity", and
study of the operation of diverse ethnicities within the
world-wide Bahá'í community which first emerged during the
Crusade decade could be an invaluable starting point.
A final question to be asked concerns the hermeneutical value
of Bahá'í history: what meanings can be extracted from the
human and social experiences of the Crusade decade? This question
may be asked of individual experience, as well as of group
experience. The study of the evolution of Bahá'í communities
through the efforts of individuals, explores Bahá'í approaches
to history, biography, and psychology. In exploring motivations
and intentions, such study requires methodological tools with
which to interpret human actions, and psychological models
premised on a dualism of the "higher self" and
"lower self" in creative tension. Such study relies
also on ideas concerning the purpose of existence which will in
turn facilitate interpretation of the movements of actors
operating within this "Bahá'í" world-view.
More broadly, one may well ask how description of the
evolution of the Bahá'í community informs the theological
claims of the Bahá'í Faith. Shoghi Effendi's emphatic assertion
was that the efforts of the Bahá'ís during the World Crusade
fulfilled the promises of Daniel which refer:
"...specifically to the spread of the Faith over the face of
the earth", something that would occur "when the
Bahá'í Faith is firmly established in all the virgin areas
outlined in the Ten Year Crusade, and the other goals of the
Crusade are completed..." (Lights of Guidance, 851).
This paper has sought to point briefly to some issues
pertinent to contemplating a history of the World Crusade. This
Crusade constituted a unique decade of activity which prepared
the foundations for the Bahá'í community's subsequent
world-wide consolidation and emergence from obscurity. It tested
the resources, raised the vision, strengthened the faculties of
an infant religious community, and steered it toward rapid
administrative cohesion, global collaboration, and spiritual
maturity. In addition to fulfilling prophecies in the Book of
Daniel, the World Crusade, more than any previous Bahá'í
enterprise before or since, planted the seeds of Bahá'u'lláh's
World Order in virtually every human community on the planet.
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