Bahá’í World/Volume 22/Introduction to the Bahá’í Community

←Previous

The Bahá’í World Volume 22

Next→

[Page 7]

This statement was originally prepared by

Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá’í' Faith, for presentation to the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine in I 94 7.

THEFAITH 01; BAHA’U’LLAH

he Faith established by Baha’u’llah was born in Persia about the middle of the nineteeth century and has, as a result of the successive banishments of its Founder, culminating in His exile to the Turkish penal colony of Acre, and His subsequent death and burial in its Vicinity, fixed its permanent spiritual center in the Holy Land, and is now in the process of laying the foundations of its world administrative center in the city of Haifa. Alike in the claims unequivocally asserted by its Author and the general character of the growth of the Bahá’í community in every continent of the globe, it can be regarded in no other light than a world religion, destined to evolve in the course of time into a world-embracing commonwealth, whose advent must signalize the Golden Age of mankind, the age in which the unity of the human race will have been unassailably established, its maturity attained, and its glorious destiny unfolded through the birth and efflorescence of a world-encompassing civilization.

[Page 8]T m3 BAHA’l WORLD

Restatement of Eternal Verities

Though sprung from Shi‘ah Islam, and regarded, in the early stages of its development, by the followers of both the Muslim and Christian Faiths, as an obscure sect, an Asiatic cult or an offshoot of the Muhammadan religion, this Faith is now increasingly demonstrating its right to be recognized, not as one more religious system superimposed on the conflicting creeds which for so many generations have divided mankind and darkened its fortunes, but rather as a restatement of the eternal verities underlying all the religions of the past, as a unifying force instilling into the adherents of these religions a new spiritual vigor, infusing them with a new hope and love for mankind, firing them with a new Vision of the fundamental unity of their religious doctrines, and unfolding to their eyes the glorious destiny that awaits the human race.

The fundamental principle enunciated by Baha’u’llah, the followers of His Faith firmly believe, is that religious truth is not absolute but relative, that Divine Revelation is a continuous and progressive process, that all the great religions of the world are divine in origin, that their basic principles are in complete harmony, that their aims and purposes are one and the same, that their teachings are but facets of one truth, that their functions are complementary, that they differ only in the non-essential aspects of their doctrines, and that their missions represent successive stages in the spiritual evolution of human society.

F ulfills Past Revelations

The aim of Baha’u’llah, the Prophet of this new and great age which humanity has entered upon—He whose advent fulfills the prophecies of the Old and New Testaments as well as those of the Qur’án regarding the coming of the Promised One in the end of time, on the Day of Judgment—is not to destroy but to fulfill the Revelations of the past, to reconcile rather than accentuate the divergencies of the conflicting creeds which disrupt presentday society.

His purpose, far from belittling the station of the Prophets gone before Him or of whittling down their teachings, is to restate the basic truths Which these teachings enshrine in a

[Page 9]TH_E FAITH g: BAHA'U'LLAH

manner that would conform to the needs, and be in consonance With the capacity, and be applicable to the problems, the ills and perplexities, of the age in Which we live. His mission is to proclaim that the ages of the infancy and of the childhood of the human race are past, that the convulsions associated with the present stage of its adolescence are slowly and painfully preparing it to attain the stage of manhood, and are heralding the approach of that Age of Ages When swords will be beaten into plowshares, When the Kingdom promised by Jesus Christ will have been established, and the peace of the planet definitely and permanently ensured. Nor does Baha’u’llah claim finality for His own Revelation, but rather stipulates that a fuller measure of the truth He has been commissioned by the Almighty t0 vouchsafe to humanity, at so critical a juncture in its fortunes, must needs be disclosed at future stages in the constant and limitless evolution of mankind.

Oneness Of the Human Race

The Bahá’í Faith upholds the unity of God, recognizes the unity of His Prophets, and inculcates the principle of the oneness and wholeness of the entire human race. It proclaims the necessity and the inevitability of the unification of mankind, asserts that it is gradually approaching, and claims that nothing short of the transmuting spirit of God, working through His chosen Mouthpiece in this day, can ultimately succeed in bringing it about. It, moreover, enjoins upon its followers the primary duty of an unfettered search after truth, condemns all manner of prejudice and superstition, declares the purpose of religion to be the promotion of amity and concord, proclaims its essential harmony with science, and recognizes it as the foremost agency for the pacification and the orderly progress of human society. It unequivocally maintains the principle of equal rights, opportunities and privileges for men and women, insists on compulsory education, eliminates extremes of poverty and wealth, abolishes the institution of priesthood, prohibits slavery, asceticism, mendicancy and monasticism, prescribes monogamy, discourages divorce, emphasizes the necessity of strict obedience to one’s government, exalts any work performed in the spirit of service

[Page 10]T H_E BAHA’l WORLD

to the level of worship, urges either the creation or the selection of an auxiliary international language, and delineates the outlines of those institutions that must establish and perpetuate the general peace of mankind.

The Herald

The Bahá’í Faith revolves around three central Figures, the first of whom was a youth, a native of Shiraz, named Mirza ‘AliMuhammad, known as the Báb (Gate), who in May, 1844, at the age of twenty-five, advanced the claim of being the Herald Who, according to the sacred Scriptures of previous Dispensations, must needs announce and prepare the way for the advent of One greater than Himself, Whose mission would be, according to those same Scriptures, to inaugurate an era of righteousness and peace, an era that would be hailed as the consummation of all previous Dispensations, and initiate a new cycle in the religious history of mankind. Swift and severe persecution, launched by the organized forces of Church and State in His native land, precipitated successfully His arrest, His exile to the mountains of Adhirbayj an, His imprisonment in the fortresses of Mah—Kfi and Chihriq, and His execution, in July, 1850, by a firing squad in the public square of Tabríz. No less than twenty thousand of his followers were put to death with such barbarous cruelty as to evoke the warm sympathy and the unqualified admiration of a number of Western writers, diplomats, travelers and scholars, some of whom were witnesses of these abominable outrages, and were moved to record them in their books and diaries.

Bahá’u’lláh

Mirza Husayn-‘Ali, surnamed Baha’u’llah (the Glory of God), a native of Mazindaran, Whose advent the Báb had foretold, was assailed by those same forces of ignorance and fanaticism, was imprisoned in Teheran, was banished, in 1852, from His native land to Baghdad, and thence to Constantinople and Adrianople, and finally to the prison city of Acre, where He remained incarcerated for no less than twenty—four years, and in whose neighborhood He passed away in 1892. In the course of His banishment, and particularly in Adrianople and Acre, He formulated the laws and ordinances of His Dispensation, expounded,

10

[Page 11]TH_E FAITH g; BAHA’U'LLAH

in over a hundred volumes, the principles of His Faith, proclaimed His Message to the kings and rulers of both the East and the West, both Christian and Muslim, addressed the Pope, the Caliph of Islam, the Chief Magistrates of the Republics of the American continent, the entire Christian sacerdotal order, the leaders of Shi‘ah and Sunni Islam, and the high priests of the Zoroastrian religion. In these writings He proclaimed His Revelation, summoned those whom He addressed to heed His call and espouse His Faith, warned them of the consequences of their refusal, and denounced, in some cases, their arrogance and

tyranny.

‘Abdu ’l-Bahd

His eldest son, ‘Abbas Effendi, known as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (the Servant of Baha), appointed by Him as His lawful successor and the authorized interpreter of His teachings, Who since early Childhood had been closely associated with His Father, and shared His exile and tribulations, remained a prisoner until 1908, when, as a result of the Young Turk Revolution, He was released from His confinement. Establishing His residence in Haifa, He embarked soon after on His three-year j ourney to Egypt, Europe and North America, in the course of which He expounded before vast audiences, the teachings of His Father and predicted the approach of that catastrophe that was soon to befall mankind. He returned to His home on the eve of the first World War, in the course of which He was exposed to constant danger, until the liberation of Palestine by the forces under the command of General Allenby, who extended the utmost consideration to Him and to the small band of His fellow-exiles in Acre and Haifa. In 1921 He passed away, and was buried in a vault in the mausoleum erected on Mount Carmel, at the express instruction of Baha’u’llah, for the remains of the Báb, which had previously been transferred from Tabríz to the Holy Land after having been preserved and concealed for no less than sixty years.

Administrative Order

The passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá marked the termination of the first and Heroic Age of the Bahá’í Faith and signalized the opening of the Formative Age destined to witness the gradual emergence

11

[Page 12]Tm Bahá’í WORLD

of its Administrative Order, whose establishment had been foretold by the Báb, whose laws were revealed by Baha’u’llah, whose outlines were delineated by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in His Will and Testament, and whose foundations are now being laid by the national and local councils which are elected by the professed adherents of the Faith, and which are paving the way for the constitution of the World Council, to be designated as the Universal House of Justice, which, in conjunction with me, as its appointed Head and the authorized interpreter of the Bahá’í teachings, must coordinate and direct the affairs of the Bahá’í community, and whose seat will be permanently established in the Holy Land, in close proximity to its world spiritual center, the resting-places of its Founders.

The Administrative Order of the Faith of Baha’u’llah, which is destined to evolve into the Bahá’í World Commonwealth, and has already survived the assaults launched against its institutions by such formidable foes as the kings of the Qajar dynasty, the Caliphs of Islam, the ecclesiastical leaders of Egypt, and the Nazi regime in Germany, has already extended its ramifications to every continent of the globe, stretching fiom Iceland to the extremity of Chile, has been established in no less than eightyeight countries of the world, has gathered within its pale representatives of no less than thirty-one races, numbers among its supporters Christians of various denominations, Muslims of both Sunni and Shi‘ah sects, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, Zoroastrians and Buddhists. It has published and disseminated, through its appointed agencies, Bahá’í literature in forty—eight languages; has already consolidated its structure through the incorporation of five National Assemblies and seventy-seven local Assemblies, in lands as far apart as South America, India and the Antipodes—incorporations that legally empower its elected representatives to hold property as trustees of the Bahá’í community. It disposes of international, national and local endowments, estimated at several million pounds, and spread over every continent of the globe, enjoys in several countries the privilege of official recognition by the civil authorities, enabling it to secure exemption from taxation for its endowments and to solemnize Bahá’í marriage, and numbers among its stately

12

[Page 13]TH_E FAITH g: BAHA'U'LLAH

edifices, two temples, the one erected in Russian Turkistan and the other on the shore of Lake Michigan at Wilmette, on the outskirts of Chicago.1

This Administrative Order, unlike the systems evolved after the death of the Founders of the various religions, is divine in origin, rests securely on the laws, the precepts, the ordinances and institutions which the Founder of the Faith has Himself specifically laid down and unequivocally established, and functions in strict accordance with the interpretations of the authorized Interpreters of its holy scriptures. Though fiercely assailed, ever since its inception, it has, by Virtue of its character, unique in the annals of the world’s religious history, succeeded in maintaining the unity of the diversified and far—flung body of its supporters, and enabled them to launch, unitedly and systematically, enterprises in both Hemispheres, designed to extend its limits and consolidate its administrative institutions.

The Faith Which this order serves, safeguards and promotes, is, it should be noted in this connection, essentially supernatural, supranational, entirely non—political, non—partisan, and diametrically opposed to any policy or school of thought that seeks to exalt any particular race, class or nation. It is free from any form of ecclesiasticism, has neither priesthood nor rituals, and is supported exclusively by voluntary contributions made by its avowed adherents. Though loyal to their respective governments, though imbued with the love of their own country, and anxious to promote at all times, its best interests, the followers of the Bahá’í Faith, nevertheless, Viewing mankind as one entity, and profoundly attached to its Vital interests, Will not hesitate to subordinate every particular interest, be it personal, regional or national, to the over-riding interests of the generality of mankind, knowing full well that in a world of interdependent

1. By 1993, the Bahá’í Faith was established in 188 independent countries and 45 dependent territories or overseas departments, with a total of 165 National or Regional Assemblies. Literature had been published in more than 800 languages and dialects. There are Bahá’í Houses of Worship in Australia, Germany, India, Panama, Uganda, the United States and Western Samoa, and lands have been purchased for at least an additional 112 Temples.

13

[Page 14]T m3 Bahá’í WORLD

peoples and nations the advantage of the part is best to be reached by the advantage of the Whole, and that no lasting result can be achieved by any of the component parts if the general interests of the entity itself are neglected.

Nor should the fact be overlooked that the Faith has already asserted and demonstrated its independent religious character, has been emancipated from the fetters of orthodoxy in certain Islémic countries, has obtained in one of them an unsolicited testimony to its independent religious status, and succeeded in Winning the allegiance of royalty to its cause. . ..

14

[Page 15]The following is an extract from William S. Hatcher and J. Douglas Martin, The Bahá’í Faith: The Emerging Global Religion (Harper and Row, 1985), 64—72.

111E

MINISTRY OFSHQGHI EFFENDI

1921—1957

he period between 1921 and 1963 in Bahá’í history is

most readily accessible through consideration of the major projects undertaken by Shoghi Effendi in the execution of his role as Guardian. Four areas of activity particularly stand out: the development of the Bahá’í World Centre, the translation and interpretation of Bahá’í teachings, the expansion of the administrative order, and the implementation of the divine plan of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

Immediately after assuming his responsibilities, and continuing throughout his life, Shoghi Effendi devoted a great deal of time to the physical development of the Faith’s international headquarters in the area surrounding the Bay of Haifa. During the lifetimes of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, several parcels of land had been gradually acquired by the community of exiles. Of these, the two most important were the site of the shrine where the body of Bahá’u’lláh was interred (in the Vicinity of the mansion of Bahjí just outside Acre), and the site of the shrine on the side of Mount Carmel above the city of Haifa which

15

[Page 16]TH_E Bahá’í WORLD

contained the remains of the Báb. Through the generosity of individual Bahá’ís, bequests, and responses to special appeals by Shoghi Effendi, these properties were vastly increased during the Guardian’s ministry. Magnificent gardens were laid out, the first of a number of monumental buildings were erected, and a master plan was created for the development of a spiritual center and administrative complex that would meet the needs of a rapidly growing international community and which would be able to expand with it, a complex designed to rank among the most beautiful in the world. A widely dispersed religious community was thus provided with a center of pilgrimage and guidance that would greatly contribute to creating a sense of common identity.

High on the list of priorities of any religious system must be the determination of the canon of its scripture and the application of these sacred writings to the circumstances of individual and community life. Empowered by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Will as the sole authoritative interpreter of the Bahá’í writings, Shoghi Effendi interpreted world events in the light of the Bahá’í scriptures and shared with the Bahá’í community the results of these analyses in the form of lengthy letters to the Bahá’í world.

At the same time, the nascent Bahá’í communities around the world were deluging Haifa with questions on an enormous range of subjects in the Bahá’í writings, and the Guardian’s answers to these inquiries also formed a significant portion of the interpretation of the revelation of Baha’u’llah. In the early 19405 Shoghi Effendi focused his analytical attention on the events of Bahá’í history; and in 1944, in commemoration of the centenary of the declaration of the Báb, he produced a highly detailed study covering the entire century from the Báb’s first announcement of his mission to Mullá Ḥusayn to the completion of the first “Seven Year Plan.”

Shoghi Effendi’s program to interpret the Bahá’í writings was considerably aided by the fact that he was in a position to serve as the principal translator of the writings from Persian and Arabic into English. He had studied English from early childhood and as a young man was able to continue his studies at the American University of Beirut and subsequently at Oxford

16

[Page 17]TH_E MINISTRY g: SEOGHI EFFEEDI

University, where he remained until the time of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s death in 1921. Since the major administrative bodies of the Bahá’í Faith during the first critical decades of the Guardianship were located in English—speaking countries, Shoghi Effendi’s ability to express and interpret Bahá’í concepts in the English language provided an invaluable source of guidance to the new faith in the Western world.

His role as an interpreter was also of long-range importance to the development of the Bahá’í community. It assured unity of doctrine during the early years of the faith’s global expansion and thus greatly reduced the threat of schism.

Parallel with his translation activities and the development of the World Centre of the faith, Shoghi Effendi devoted much of his energies to bringing into existence the system of administrative institutions as they had been conceived by Baha’u’llah and established in embryonic form by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Each locality with nine or more adult believers was encouraged to elect a “Local Spiritual Assembly” to govern the affairs of the faith in that area. As soon as the number of local spiritual assemblies in any given country provided a sufficiently broad base, the Guardian urged the election of a national spiritual assembly, vested with full jurisdiction over the affairs of the faith in that particular country.

A steady stream of correspondence from Haifa provided these nascent institutions with guidance concerning the application of the Bahá’í writings to the conduct of community life. More general communications urged all believers to give their wholehearted support and obedience to the bodies they elected. Bahá’í principles of consultation were identified and assemblies were urged to conscientiously train themselves in group decision—making.

In accordance with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Will, between the years 1951 and 1957, the Guardian appointed a number of distinguished believers as Hands of the Cause of God and charged them with special responsibilities for teaching the faith and protecting its institutions. The crowning unit of this global administrative structure was the institution of the Universal House of Justice, conceived and named by Baha’u’llah. Shoghi

17

[Page 18]TH_E 13% Wow

Effendi indicated that, as soon as the expansion of the Bahá’í community permitted, a Universal House of Justice would be elected by the entire international Bahá’í community, acting through their national spiritual assemblies.

0 6.0 O

9.0 O 0.6

Shoghi Effendi’s reasons for devoting so much time and energy to the development of the Bahá’í administrative order during the first years of his guardianship soon became apparent. The administrative institutions of the faith provided the necessary instruments for the implementation of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s “Divine Plan” to spread the message around the world. Before the widely scattered community could undertake so great a task, it was necessary to establish decision—making administrative bodies capable of mobilizing the necessary manpower and resources. Moreover, it was essential that adequate time be allowed for these institutions to learn the rudiments of Bahá’í administration and consultation.

Accordingly, it was not until 1937, sixteen years after the death of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, that Shoghi Effendi began systematically working on realizing the obj ectives laid out in the series of letters sent by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to the Bahá’ís of North America. In April 1937 the first seven—year plan was launched with three major goals: (1) to establish at least one local spiritual assembly in every state of the United States and every province of Canada; (2) to make certain that at least one Bahá’í teacher was residing in each Latin American republic; and (3) to complete the exterior design of the first Bahá’í house of worship in North America—a building whose cornerstone had been laid by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá during his Visit in 1912, and which, in many ways, symbolized the international Bahá’í community itself. Despite the obstacles created by the outbreak of World War II, this plan was successfully completed on the centenary of the declaration of the Báb, in May 1944.

Following a two-year interval, a second seven—year plan was launched in 1946. The focus of this effort was Europe, which at the time had only two national spiritual assemblies: those of Great Britain and Germany. The plan also called for the creation

18

[Page 19]TEE MINISTRY O_F SEOGHI EFFENDI

of local spiritual assemblies throughout Latin America and a great multiplication of those in North America. The successful conclusion of this plan likewise coincided with a major Bahá’í centenary, the one-hundredth anniversary of the inception of Baha’u’llah’s mission in the Síyáh-Chál in 1953. One of the major goals of this seven—year plan was the establishment of an independent national spiritual assembly in Canada. This was achieved in 1948, and in 1949 was followed by its incorporation by a special Act of Parliament, an achievement which Shoghi Effendi pointed out was “unique in the annals of the Faith, whether of East or West.”

The two most impressive single achievements of this second plan had a special connection with the North American Bahá’í community. April 1953 marked the formal dedication of the house of worship at Wilmette, Illinois, which was to be the first of similar structures to be built on all five continents of the globe. The designer was a French-Canadian architect named Jean—Louis Bourgeois. His magnificent conception was hailed by the Italian architect Luigi Quaglino as “a new creation which will revolutionize architecture in the world. Without doubt,” he added, “it will have a lasting page in history.” One other major triumph of these years was also a building, a magnificent shrine to crown the stone edifice built by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to serve as a mausoleum for the Báb. The architect of this shrine was another Canadian, William Sutherland Maxwell, with whom ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had stayed during his Visit to Montreal. The exquisite design, in which a golden dome crowns a White marble arcade and rose-colored granite pillars, has provided the Bahá’í World Centre on Mount Carmel with one of the most beautiful landmarks on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.

In 1953, Without any lapse of time, Shoghi Effendi launched the Bahá’í community on the most ambitious undertaking in its history—a global plan which he termed a “Ten Year World Crusade.” This plan would conclude in 1963, the centenary of the declaration of Baha’u’llah in the Garden of Riḍván. One hundred and thirty-two new countries and major territories were to be opened to the faith and the existing communities in 120 countries and territories were to be expanded. National

19

[Page 20]THE Bahá’í WORLD

spiritual assemblies were to be established in most countries in Europe and Latin America, and vast increases were called for in the numbers of assemblies, believers, and property endowments. This plan, like those before, was achieved on schedule (indeed was far exceeded); but under circumstances very different from any the Bahá’í community might have anticipated.

In early November 1957, while on a Visit to England to purchase furnishings for the Bahá’í archives building on Mount Carmel, Shoghi Effendi contracted Asian flu. On November 4, he died of a heart attack, leaving the Bahá’í world stunned and temporarily distracted, its ten—year plan only half completed.

The Guardianship was theoretically a continuous one. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Will and Testament authorized the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith to appoint a successor from among the direct descendants of Baha’u’llah but indicated certain qualities such a successor must possess. Shoghi Effendi died without designating a successor, as apparently no other members of the family met the demanding spiritual requirements laid down in the Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh and in The Will and Testament of ‘Abdu ’l—Bahd. There would, therefore, be no second Guardian; the only other institution endowed with the authority to assume the leadership of the Bahá’í community was the Universal House of Justice—a body which had yet to be elected.

Three interrelated factors provided an answer to the dilemma facing the Bahá’í world: (1) from statements Shoghi Effendi had made, it was apparent that he considered that conditions would be ready for the election of the Universal House of Justice when the ten—year plan was successfully completed; (2) in the meantime, the Bahá’í community would receive the basic guidance it required from the detailed plan already laid down by Shoghi Effendi; and (3) finally, in one of his last messages to the Bahá’í world, he had named the Hands of the Cause as the “Chief Stewards” of the faith and called on them to collaborate closely with the national spiritual assemblies in assuring that the ten—year plan was carried out and that the unity of the faith was protected.

Heartened by this last message, the Hands of the Cause organized their work around a series of annual “Conclaves.”

20

[Page 21]Tfllj MINISTRY Q SHOGHI EFFENDI

These consultations produced a number of major statements, including the formal declaration that Shoghi Effendi had left no will and had appointed no heir to the Guardianship (Conclave of 1957), and the announcement that the Universal House of Justice would be elected by the membership of all the national spiritual assemblies of the Bahá’ís of the world in 1963 (Conclave of 1959).

By April 1961 twenty-one new national spiritual assemblies were established in Latin America; and, a year later, an additional eleven were elected in Europe. The remaining goals of the ten-year plan were likewise either accomplished or surpassed. In the spring of 1963, precisely one hundred years after Baha’u’llah first declared his mission to a handful of followers in the Garden of Riḍván, the members of the fiftysix elected national spiritual assemblies around the world carried out an election of the first Universal House of Justice. In a remarkable gesture of renunciation, the Hands of the Cause disqualified themselves from serving as elected members of the supreme administrative institution of the Bahá’í community.

For Bahá’ís, the election of the first Universal House of Justice represented an event of transcendent importance. After more than a century of struggle, persecution, and recurrent internal crises, and through democratic electoral processes, the Bahá’í community had succeeded in bringing into existence a permanent institution for the guidance of all the affairs of the faith. Moreover, its establishment had been conceived by Baha’u’llah himself and was patterned on principles laid down in his writings and in those of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. The cosmopolitan membership of the first Universal House of Justice seemed particularly appropriate to the institution’s nature and functions: the nine members from four continents represented three maj 0r religious backgrounds (Jewish, Christian, and Muslim) as well as several ethnic origins.

Beyond its institutional importance, the establishment of the Universal House of Justice symbolized the element Which Bahá’ís regard as the essence of their faith: unity. The emergence of the Universal House of Justice as the unchallenged authority in all the affairs of the community meant that

21

[Page 22]TE 13% Wm

the Bahá’í Faith had remained united through the most critical period of a religion’s history, the vulnerable first century during which schism almost traditionally takes root.

22

[Page 23]THEBAHA’i COMMUNITY TODAY

n the thiIty-one years since the election of the Universal

House of Justice, the growth of the Bahá’í community has been dramatic. From a membership of an estimated 408,000 in 1963, the number of believers has now risen to some five million. During the same period the number of National and Regional Spiritual Assemblies has grown from 56 to 165 and the number of Local Spiritual Assemblies from 3,555 to approximately 18,000. Altogether, it is estimated that at least 2,112 different ethnic and tribal backgrounds are represented, and the literature of the Faith appears in over 800 different languages. Statistics published by the Encyclopedia Britannica and the World Christian Encyclopedia indicate that, With its diffusion to 205 countries, the Bahá’í Faith is now the second most widespread of the world’s religions, exceeded only by Christianity.1 These figures, the product of a conservative statistical

1. Encyclopedia Britannica, 1992; World Christian Encyclopedia, 1982.

23

[Page 24]TH_E 3% Wm

methodology, indicate that the Bahá’í community likely ranks as the most diverse organized body of people on the planet today.

That a relatively small religious community should have experienced such growth in both numbers and diversity at so early a stage in its history is an extraordinary accomplishment. The same may be said of the community’s success in establishing its credentials in the eyes of civil authority. Far from rej ecting the world and the institutions that govern it, the Bahá’í community has deliberately pursued a close relationship With civil authority, as an integral part of its development. Through continuous efforts in a series of global development plans, Bahá’í Spiritual Assemblies at both local and national levels have become legally incorporated in the great majority of the territories where the Faith has been established. Similarly, the Faith’s marriage ceremony has secured formal recognition in a great many civil jurisdictions and, in various parts of the world, Bahá’í holy days are beginning to gain a status similar to that accorded to other independent faiths in the calendars of businesses, schools, and government offices.

At the United Nations, the Bahá’í International Community has steadily expanded the recognition accorded to it as an international non-governmental organization (N GO) enjoying consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). It has been particularly active in the fields of human rights, the needs of women and children, environmental concerns, and the pursuit of sound sustainable development policies. Its international efforts in these areas are coordinated by various specialized agencies, the United Nations Office, the Office of Public Information, the Office of the Environment, and the Office for the Advancement of Women.

Far from acting merely as another international lobbying group focused principally in New York and Geneva, however, the Bahá’í International Community represents an association of democratically elected national and local councils united in their beliefs and goals, and reflective of the entire diversity of humankind. The community’s efforts in the United Nations system have gained not only a forum for the Bahá’í Faith’s universal ideals, but also an opportunity to contribute directly to laying the foundations of international order. Much attention is

24

[Page 25]TH_E Bahá’í COMMUNITY TODAY

given by Bahá’ís to ensuring that, to the extent circumstances in various regions permit, society in general is made aware of the existence of the Faith and its teachings. Publishing trusts print and distribute a great variety of Bahá’í literature, ranging from compilations of the writings of the Central Figures of the Faith, to scholarly commentaries, popular books, newsletters, and magazines. Other media are also extensively utilized: films, Videos, television programs, spot announcements, radio broadcasts, newspaper articles and advertisements, pamphlets, posters and manuals, correspondence courses, exhibitions, lecture series, and winter and summer schools. The obj ective of all this activity has been to ensure that, in time, every human being on earth will come in contact with the message of Baha’u’llah.

A Bahá’í institution that has figured prominently in this program of public education is the House of Worship. Today there are Bahá’í Houses of Worship on every continent, and a great many additional sites have been purchased around the world for future construction of these edifices, which are intended to play a central role in Bahá’í community life. Around each, in time, will be constructed other institutions, such as schools or colleges, hostels, homes for the aged, and administrative centers. At the present time the Houses of Worship are not used principally for Bahá’í community services. Rather, they are open as places for persons of all religious backgrounds (or those professing no particular faith) to meet in the worship of the one God. Services are non—denominational and consist of readings and prayers from the scriptures of the world’s faiths, with no sermons or other attempts to cast these teachings in a mold of specifically Bahá’í interpretation. The only requisite architectural feature of a House of Worship is that it have nine sides, symbolic of completeness and comprehensiveness, as nine is the highest single number.

The expansion of the Faith proceeds, as was the pattern established under the ministry of Shoghi Effendi, through a series of international teaching plans. Increasingly, however, as the national and local institutions of the Faith have matured and become consolidated, the plans have been set in terms of general objectives decided on by the Universal House of Justice, with the details being established by the National Spiritual Assem 25

[Page 26]TE: 13% Wm

blies themselves, in consultation with the Continental Boards of Counsellors. A Six Year Teaching Plan, the fourth Plan undertaken since the election of the Universal House of Justice in 1963, was successfully concluded at Riḍván 1992. Following the Holy Year (1992-93), the Bahá’í community embarked on a Three Year Plan. An analysis of the achievements of the Six Year Plan indicates that growth has been particularly rapid in India, Russia, and several former Eastern Bloc countries, as well as such far—flung countries as Bangladesh, Brazil, Chad, Guyana, Haiti, Kenya, Macau, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Zaire.

By far the most dramatic feature of the recent expansion has been the extraordinary response to the Faith by the peoples of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, following the collapse of the barriers that had long prevented free intercourse with the populations of these lands. National or Regional Spiritual Assemblies were established in Czechoslovakia, Romania, and the entire former USSR in 1991. In 1992, National or Regional Assemblies were established in Albania; Azerbaijan; the Baltic States; Central Asia; Hungary; Poland; Russia, Georgia, and Armenia; and the Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova. The rapid expansion in the numbers of Local Spiritual Assemblies throughout Central Asia led to the announcement by the Universal House of Justice that at Riḍván 1994 five new National Assemblies would be established in the region formerly under the jurisdiction of the one Regional Assembly. Preparations were made for the Regional Spiritual Assembly of Central Asia to be renamed the National Spiritual Assembly of Turkmenistan and for four new National Spiritual Assemblies to be established in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The Universal House of Justice also indicated that a new Regional Spiritual Assembly would be formed in Slovenia and Croatia and new National Spiritual Assemblies in Cambodia and Mongolia.

A development which has given enormous impetus to the expansion and consolidation of the Faith in the past decade has been the intensification of its persecution in the country of its birth. Throughout the last century the Bahá’ís of Iran were the

26

[Page 27]TE Bahá’í COMMUNITY TODAY

obj ect of bitter attacks by elements among the Muslim majority incited and led by Islamic clerics. Under the Pahlavi Shahs (1925-1979), this long-standing prejudice against the Faith on the part of segments of the Muslim population was harnessed to political ends, with the Bahá’í minority serving to distract public attention from various unpopular policies of the regime. With the triumph of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, efforts at the total suppression of the minority Faith became systematized. By 1993 more than two hundred Bahá’ís had been executed or assassinated, hundreds more had been imprisoned, and tens of thousands had been deprived of jobs, pensions, businesses, and educational opportunities. A11 national Bahá’í administrative structures had been banned by the government, and holy places, shrines, and cemeteries had been confiscated, vandalized, and destroyed. ‘

Aroused by this deliberate attempt to destroy their parent community, Bahá’ís around the world launched an intensive campaign of protest. Many thousands of newspaper articles appeared, and the situation was made the subject of countless television and radio stories. Several national governments and legislatures condemned the actions of the Iranian government or expressed concern about the fate of the Iranian Bahá’ís. Most important, in a series of resolutions that gave specific attention to the Bahá’í situation, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and finally the General Assembly itself began to press the Iranian regime to observe the international human rights covenants to which it was committed. In response to this international outcry, the "most Violent aspects of the persecution gradually abated by the early 19905. However, the Bahá’ís of Iran remain without any fundamental guarantee of their rights to practice their religion freely, and the efforts of their co-religionists around the world to maintain pressure for the emancipation continues. 2 ,

2. See “Update: The Situation of the Bahá’ís in Iran,” pp. 139-145 of this volume, as well as pp. 132-134, concerning the activities of the Bahá’í International Community at the United Nations with regard to the human rights situation in Iran.

27

[Page 28]TE Bahá’í WORLD

As has so often been the case throughout religious history, the persecution had effects almost precisely contrary to those intended. The worldwide attention given to efforts to alleviate the suffering of the Victims entailed a massive education of government officials, academics, the media, and the general public in many lands about the nature of the Bahá’í Faith and its aims and teachings. The very nature of the issues involved has tended to throw into clear relief the peaceful and progressive character of the Bahá’í community. It is hardly surprising that so dramatic an increase in public awareness coincided with a great increase in the membership of the Faith. Moreover, the experience of arising together to defend their fellow believers against an unprovoked assault had a powerful consolidating effect on the Faith’s highly diverse membership around the world, deepening members’ understanding of the implications of their beliefs and providing Bahá’í institutions with an unparalleled experience in coordinating their efforts.

Throughout these same years the education of the community advanced greatly through a series of messages drafted by the Universal House of Justice and published in many languages. Particularly important was The Promise of World Peace, a twenty-one page document issued in the fall of 1985, which analyzed the reasons that world peace has for so long been considered unattainable and declared that these barriers could at last be overcome. The effect of this message, published in over a million copies and distributed to leaders of thought, government bodies, and the media, was to provide the members of the Bahá’í Faith with the conceptual framework for a program of collaborative action with a wide range of like-minded organizations. The keynote, the message declares, is the coming of age of humankind: ‘

A candid acknowledgment that prejudice, war and exploitation have been the expression of immature stages in a vast historical process and that the human race is today experiencing the unavoidable tumult which marks its collective coming of age is not a reason for despair but a prerequisite to undertaking the stupendous enterprise of building a peaceful world. That such an enterprise is

28

[Page 29]TEE Bahá’í COMMUNITY TODAY

possible, that the necessary constructive forces do exist, that unifying social structures can be erected, is the theme we urge you to examine.

As the Faith’s teachings became even more widely known,

the Universal House of Justice decided that the time had come for the public presentation of the Bahá’í message to focus much more directly on its Author. Accordingly, on 3 April 1991, it forwarded to National Assemblies a statement prepared by the Bahá’í International Community’s Office of Public Information, entitled Bahá’u’lláh. Published, like the statement on peace, in many languages and large print runs, the document was also made the centerpiece of an intensive campaign of public information. Its objective was to set Baha’u’llah’s mission in the context of the global crisis that had, by the closing decade of the

century, become a commonplace of public discussion:

As the new millennium approaches, the crucial need of the human race is to find a unifying vision of the nature of man and society...For, without a common conviction about the course and direction of human history, it is inconceivable that foundations can be laid for a global society to which the mass of humankind can commit themselves.

Such a Vision unfolds in the writings of Baha’u’llah, the nineteenth-century prophetic figure whose growing influence is the most remarkable development of contemporary religious history. . .The phenomenon is one that has no reference points in the contemporary world, but is associated rather with climactic changes of direction in the collective past of the human race. For Baha’u’llah claimed to be no less than the Messenger of God to the age of human maturity. . ..

As the Bahá’í community commemorated the centenary of

Baha’u’llah’s passing in 1992, His message was seen to have taken Visible shape in a community that represents a microcosm

3. The Universal House of Justice, The Promise of World Peace (Haifa:

World Centre Publications, 1985), 3-4.

4. Bahá’í International Community, Office of Public Information,

Bahá’u’lláh (London: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1991), 1-2.

29

[Page 30]TH_E Bahá’í Wm

of the human race itself and is established in every corner of the globe. The network of administrative institutions conceived by the Founder is now in place throughout the planet. His teachings, translated into many languages, now provide the central spiritual guidance in the lives of its heterogeneous membership. In the decades immediately ahead, the existence of such a community will offer increasingly encouraging evidence that humanity, in all its diversity, can learn to live and work as a single people in a global homeland.

30