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The Victories of the Covenant
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“The source of unity of mankind.” “The generating force that carries forward the complicated affairs of the Faith.” “The transforming power that moves hearts and dashes into a thousand pieces all the forces of opposition”, is the Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh. Abdu’l-Bahá wrote, “The axis of the oneness of the world of humanity is the power of the Covenant and nothing else.” For 29 years Abdu’l-Bahá was the embodiment of His Father’s Covenant, its appointed Centre, the Branch of command which encompasses all existence. He was the focus of the unifying power of the Cause. To the believers Abdu’l-Bahá was the Cause, and suddenly, unexpectedly, He was gone. No words can describe the grief and despair which fell over the Bahá’í World. Who would comfort them now ? Who would unify and guide them ? Who would lead them on the global mission for which Bahá’u’lláh had called ? In His Will and Testament Abdu’l-Bahá revealed the design for the administrative order and identified its twin successors: The Guardian and the Universal House of Justice. A 24 year old student, still devastated by the passing of his Grandfather, young Shoghi Effendi was appointed by Abdu’l-Bahá’s Will and Testament the Guardian of the Cause of God and Interpreter of the Word of God. Abdu’l-Bahá made it clear that the election of the Universal House of Justice was the final step in building the framework of the administrative order. First the Cause must spread throughout the world. It must attract the foundation of believers to elect the local and finally national Spiritual Assemblies. Using Abdu’l-Bahá’s Tablets of the Divine Plan as a blueprint for disseminating the Cause, and the Will and Testament as his authority to act, the Guardian began the awesome task of raising up the world-wide administrative order. Martha Root and a band of travelling teachers and pioneers, responding to the Master’s call, travelled throughout the world. Queen Marie of Rumania became the first royal personage to declare her faith in Bahá’u’lláh. Bahá’í endowments and properties were purchased throughout the world. Youth activities began in earnest. Bahá’í historic and holy sites and completion of the Mother Temple of the West, symbolised the obstacles facing the Cause. Abdu’l-Bahá had personally laid the cornerstone during His visit to Chicago, and from the beginning Shoghi Effendi was determined to see its completion. By 1937, eight National Spiritual Assemblies, pillars of the future Universal House of Justice had been raised into position. The time had come. The Guardian, armed with the small but devoted body of North American believers, began prosecution of the Master’s Divine Plan. The first Seven Year Plan was launched. “The opening scene” the Guardian wrote, “of the first act of that superb drama whose theme is no less than the spiritual conquest of both the Eastern and Western hemispheres.” Within two years, however, the world was at war. The Faith was under renewed attack and repression. The Guardian appealed to the believers in the West: “Dare greatly, toil unremittingly, sacrifice worthily, endure radiantly, unflinchingly to the very end.” Their response was magnificent. By 1944 the number of Bahá’í Assemblies in North America had doubled. The costly exterior ornamentation of the Mother Temple was completed ahead of schedule, and a strong Bahá’í community was established in each of the twenty Latin American republics. Inspired by their fellow believers in the West, 95 Persian families left their homes to settle in neighbouring lands and join the growing ranks of pioneers. Led by the Beloved Guardian, the world-wide body of believers had become God’s victorious Army of Light. And in 1946, Shoghi Effendi, addressing the American Bahá’í Community, launched the second Seven Year Plan, followed by a call to the other national communities throughout the Bahá’í World to adopt their own teaching plans with specific national goals. These plans were carrying healing influences of the Faith to the war ravaged, disillusioned peoples of Europe. They would consolidate the Faith in the Americas and throughout the world, complete the Temple, and erect three more pillars of the future Universal House of Justice: The National Spiritual Assemblies of Canada, Central America and South America. The European campaign fired the imagination of Bahá’ís all over the world and despite severe economic hardships once again complete victory was won. Exhilarated by these exploits, the Guardian prepared His undefeatable army for the greatest single undertaking in the spiritual history of humanity. Of the Ten Year Crusade launched in 1953, he wrote, “Let there be no mistake; the avowed, the primary aim of this spiritual crusade is non other than the conquest of the citadels of men’s hearts.” To the Bahá’í World, even with its new found sense of confidence, the list of goals must have seemed impossible. Erect two new temples, open 131 new territories, elect 48 new National Assemblies and reach millions of new souls, laying the foundation for the election of the first Universal House of Justice. Reflecting on the importance of the Plan, the Guardian announced four great conferences around the globe. Scores of pioneers volunteered at each conference. 100 virgin territories were opened in the first nine months and three quarters of the goal countries were occupied. Shoghi Effendi encouraged and mobilised his troops with constant streams of letters and cables. His enormous body of written work, his books, his translations strengthened and deepened the believers. With the Guardian at the helm, nothing could stop God’s Army of Light. Then suddenly, without warning, dark clouds of crisis covered the horizon. On the fourth day of November in 1957, from the World Centre came the tragic news: Shoghi Effendi, the beloved Guardian, had passed peacefully into the Abhá Kingdom. The Guardian was gone. The Ten Year Crusade was only half finished, and the Master’s other successor, the Universal House of Justice, had not yet emerged. In this darkest moment it was the limitless resources of the Covenant that sustained, unified and empowered the believers to forge ahead. The Hands of the Cause of God raised up by Shoghi Effendi as the Chief Stewards of the Faith, led the Bahá’í World in carrying out his global Plan, and by the close of the Ten Year Crusade the conquest was complete. In April 1963, at the first Bahá’í International Convention, the supreme governing body of the Faith was brought into being. A few days later at the first World Congress in London, England, the world-wide Bahá’í Community welcomed the newly elected members of the Universal House of Justice. Once again the protecting power and vitalising energies of the Covenant flowed unhampered through Bahá’u’lláh’s chosen successor. The world community of believers had grown. Local Spiritual Assemblies numbered over 3500, and the number of places where Bahá’ís lived reached in excess of 11,000. In its first message to the national conventions, the Universal House of Justice wrote, “The Cause of God is now firmly rooted in the world. Forward then, confident in the power and protection of the Lord of Hosts.” For the next 21 years the Bahá’í Faith moved forward at an ever-increasing pace. The work of the Hands of the Cause was extended into the future with the creation of the Continental Board of Counsellors. The International Teaching Centre was established. The first head of state, His Highness Malietua Tanumafili the Second, from Western Samoa, declared his faith, followed by the erection in his country of the first Temple in the Pacific. In 1983 the Universal House of Justice occupied its Permanent Seat. The soaring pillars symbolised the 135 National Assemblies participating in the election. Some 3 million believers inhabited the globe. The number of LSAs exceeded 27,000, and Bahá’ís lived in over 116,000 places in the world. The Bahá’í Faith was knocking on world-wide attention when the news came : the NSA of Iran was arrested and imprisoned, the House of the Báb was seized and destroyed, the persecution of the Persian believers had resumed in full force, National and Local Assemblies were outlawed, properties confiscated, the House of Bahá’u’lláh in Takur was destroyed and once again the Cradle of the Faith was stained with the innocent blood of men, women and youth. And it was these very sacrifices that propelled the Faith from obscurity. Unprecedented and world-wide media coverage exposed the Faith to millions. Governments around the globe came to the defence of the Iranian believers and the General Assembly of the United Nations for the first time took up the case. In October 1985 the Universal House of Justice published The Promise of World Peace and declared that global peace was the next and inevitable step in the evolution of the planet. As the Fourth Epoch of the Formative Age opened in 1986, 138 heads of state had received this important document. The truth of its vision was dramatically demonstrated as the cold war crumbled before the eyes of a peace-starved world. The astonishing Lotus Temple was dedicated in New Delhi. It stands as one of the most important buildings erected in this century. Expansion of the Faith accelerated. Eastern Europe and the former republics of the Soviet Union were at last opened to the conquering forces of the Covenant. The Brazilian Federal Chamber of Deputies paused for a two hour tribute to the Blessed Beauty, which included the reading of a message from the Universal House of Justice. The Holy Year opened with moving ceremonies at the World Centre commemorating the Ascension of Bahá’u’lláh. 3000 believers circumambulated His Shrine. A month later the Bahá’í International Community was asked in particular to address the historic Earth Summit. The burgeoning influence of Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation can now be felt in all spheres of human existence. As we prepare for the next stage in the unfolding of Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan, immense and fleeting opportunities call for a level of sacrifice and dedication reminiscent of the Guardian’s courageous army of light. Completion of the Arc and Terraces on Mount Carmel represents the unfolding of a vision of God’s Holy mountain which will coincide with the emergence of the Lesser Peace, and the first stirrings of the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh. For seven long decades the community of the Greatest Name has dared greatly, toiled unremittingly, sacrificed worthily, endured radiantly, unflinchingly to the very end. How unimaginably glorious are the victories awaiting God’s warriors, as they set their faces towards those fields that are as yet unexplored, and direct their steps to those goals that are as yet unattained, comforted and guided always by the words of the beloved Guardian: “Whatever may befall us and however dark the prospect of the future may appear, if we but play our part we may rest confident that the Hand of the Unseen is at work, shaping and moulding the events and circumstances of the world and paving the way for the ultimate realisation of our aims and hopes for mankind.” Questions:
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