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Citadel of Faith
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Pages 114-117
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A LASTING INFLUENCE ON AMERICAN COMMUNITY AND NATION
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This decade-long global Crusade must mark a veritable turning
point in American Bahá'í history. It must prove itself to be, as it
develops, a force so pervasive and revolutionary in its character as to
leave a lasting imprint not only on the destinies of the American Bahá'í
Community but on the fortunes of the American nation as well. It
must, even as a baptismal fire, so purge its members from self as to
enable them to scale heights never as yet attained. It must, in its initial
stages, witness a dispersal, combined with a consecration, reminiscent
of the dawn of the Heroic Age in Bahá'u'lláh's native land. It must, as
it gathers momentum, awaken the select and gather the spiritually
hungry amongst the peoples of the world, as well as create an awareness
of the Faith not only among the political leaders of present-day society
but also among the thoughtful, the erudite in other spheres of human
activity. It must, as it approaches its climax, carry the torch of the Faith
to regions so remote, so backward, so inhospitable that neither the light
of Christianity or Islám has, after the revolution of centuries, as yet
penetrated. It must, as it approaches its conclusion, pave the way for the
laying, on an unassailable foundation, of the structural basis of an
Administrative Order whose fabric must, in the course of successive
crusades, be laboriously erected throughout the entire globe and which
must assemble beneath its sheltering shadow peoples of every race,
tongue, creed, color and nation.
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Seconded by the neighboring fully fledged Canadian Bahá'í Community
flourishing beyond the northern frontier of its homeland;
supported by the newly emerged Latin American communities established
in the Antilles and in each of the central and southern republics
of the Western Hemisphere; ably aided by its sister community
vigorously functioning in the heart of a far-flung empire, and destined
to lend its inestimable assistance in the spiritual conquest of the
numerous and widely scattered dependencies of the British Crown;
reinforced by the oldest and youngest national Bahá'í communities on
the European mainland which are to play a prominent part in the
eastern and southern regions, and across the frontiers of Europe, along
the shores and in the islands of the Mediterranean; assisted by its
venerable sister community in the cradle of the Faith and by the second
oldest national community in the Bahá'í world actively engaged in the
propagation of the Faith in the Asiatic continent; confident of the help
of its Egyptian and Indian sister communities, whose destiny is closely
linked with the African continent and southeast Asia respectively, and,
lastly, assured of the unfailing cooperation of yet another national
community in the Antipodes which, owing to its geographical position,
is bound to assume a notable share in the introduction of the Faith in
the islands of the South Pacific Ocean, the American Bahá'í Community
must, as befits its rank as the chief executor of the Divine Plan,
play a dominant and decisive role in the direction and control of the
manifold operations involved in the prosecution of the North American,
the Latin American, the European, the African, the Asian and the
South Pacific campaigns of this World Crusade, and insure, by every
means at its disposal and in conjunction with its junior partners, its
ultimate and total success.
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Within its own sphere, extending to every continent of the globe,
embracing no less than twenty-nine virgin territories and islands, the
members of this stalwart and preeminent community are called upon,
among other things and within the relatively brief span of a single
decade, to create nuclei, around which will crystallize future assemblies,
in no less than eleven territories and islands of Africa, eight of Asia, six
of Europe, four of America; to inaugurate the establishment of the
future dependencies of the Mother Temple of the West, and to
terminate the landscaping of its grounds; to consolidate and broaden
the basis of the Administrative Order already laid in twenty-three
territories and islands distributed in four continents of the globe and
situated in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans; to assist in the erection of
no less than thirty-six pillars, twenty in Latin America, twelve in
Europe, two in Asia, one in the North American continent and one in
Africa, designed to help in sustaining the weight of the crowning unit
of the Bahá'í Administrative Order, and in the establishment of
national Bahá'í headquarters, of national endowments, and of national
incorporations in all of these continents; to lend its aid for the
acquisition of land in anticipation of the erection of four Temples, two
in Europe, one in Africa and one in Central America; to lend an
impetus to the progress of the Faith in its homeland through raising to
three hundred the number of local spiritual assemblies and to one
hundred the number of incorporated assemblies, as well as through the
founding of a Bahá'í Publishing Trust and the proclamation of the
Faith through the press and radio; to enroll in the ranks of the followers
of Bahá'u'lláh members of the Indian, of the Basque and Gypsy races;
to assume responsibility for the translation and publication of Bahá'í
literature in twenty languages, ten in the Americas and ten in Europe;
and to contribute to the consolidation of the Faith in eight of the
European goal countries through the establishment of local incorporations,
as well as through the quadrupling of the number of local
assemblies and the trebling of the number of local Bahá'í centers in
each one of them.
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While this colossal task, which in its magnitude and potentialities
transcends any previous collective enterprise launched in the course of
American Bahá'í history, is being energetically carried out, it should be
constantly borne in mind--and this applies to all communities without
exception participating in this World Crusade--that the twofold task
of extension and consolidation must be supplemented by continuous
and strenuous efforts to increase speedily not only the number of the
avowed followers of the Faith in both the virgin and opened territories
and islands included within the scope of the Ten Year Plan, but also to
swell the ranks of its active supporters who will consecrate their time,
resources and energy to the effectual spread of its teachings and the
multiplication and consolidation of its administrative institutions.
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The movement of pioneers, the opening of virgin territories, the
initiation of Houses of Worship and of administrative headquarters,
the incorporation of local and national elective bodies, the multiplication
of assemblies, groups and isolated centers, the increase in the
number of races represented in the world Bahá'í fellowship, the
translation, publication and dissemination of Bahá'í literature, the
consolidation of administrative agencies and the creation of auxiliary
bodies designed to support them, however valuable, essential and
meritorious, will in the long run amount to little and fail to achieve
their supreme purpose if not supplemented by the equally vital
task--which is one that primarily concerns continually and challenges
each single individual believer whatever his rank, capacity or
origin--of winning to the Faith fresh recruits to the slowly yet steadily
advancing army of the Lord of Hosts, whose reinforcing strength is so
essential to the safeguarding of the victories which the band of heroic
Bahá'í conquerors are winning in the course of their several campaigns
in all the continents of the globe.
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Such a steady flow of reinforcements is absolutely vital and is of
extreme urgency, for nothing short of the vitalizing influx of new blood
that will reanimate the world Bahá'í community can safeguard the
prizes which, at so great a sacrifice involving the expenditure of so much
time, effort and treasure, are now being won in virgin territories by
Bahá'u'lláh's valiant Knights, whose privilege is to constitute the
spearhead of the onrushing battalions which, in diverse theaters and in
circumstances often adverse and extremely challenging, are vying with
each other for the spiritual conquest of the unsurrendered territories
and islands on the surface of the globe.
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This flow, moreover, will presage and hasten the advent of the day
which, as prophesied by `Abdu'l-Bahá, will witness the entry by troops
of peoples of divers nations and races into the Bahá'í world--a day
which, viewed in its proper perspective, will be the prelude to that
long-awaited hour when a mass conversion on the part of these same nations
and races, and as a direct result of a chain of events, momentous and
possibly catastrophic in nature, and which cannot as yet be even dimly
visualized, will suddenly revolutionize the fortunes of the Faith, derange
the equilibrium of the world, and reinforce a thousandfold the
numerical strength as well as the material power and the spiritual
authority of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh.
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