In his Ridvan Message of 1952, Shoghi Effendi announced the launching of a Ten-Year World Crusade:
“The avowed, the primary aim of this Spiritual Crusade is none other than the conquest of the citadels of men's hearts. The theatre of its operations is the entire planet. Its duration a whole decade. Its commencement synchronizes with the centenary of the birth of Bahá’u’lláh's Mission. … The armour with which its onrushing hosts have been invested is the glad tidings of God's own message in this day, the principles underlying the order proclaimed by His Messenger, and the laws and ordinances governing His Dispensation. The battle cry animating its heroes and heroines is the cry of Yá-Bahá'u'l-Abhá, Yá ‘Alíyyu'l-A`lá.”[1]
To inaugurate the inter-continental phase of the growth of the international Baha’i community On November 30, 1951, Shoghi Effendi called for the holding of four intercontinental teaching conferences. These were held in Kampala, Uganda, Wilmette, United States, Stockholm, Sweden, and New Delhi, India.
[1] Shoghi Effendi, Messages to the Bahá'í World (Wilmette, IL:US Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1971) 152–153.
The Ten-Year Crusade had four major objectives: to develop the institutions at the Baha’i World Center, to consolidate local Baha’i communities in countries which were the administrative bases for the operation of the Plan, to consolidate local communities in territories already opened to the faith, and to bring the faith to the main remaining territories on the planet where no Baha’is resided.
Iran’s direct responsibility in the Crusade was to open seven territories in Asia, six in Africa, and to help with the consolidation of Baha’i communities in twelve additional territories in Asia, as well as two in Africa.
Shoghi Effendi explained that international pioneering was the most important form of Baha’i activity during the first phase of the crusade; he stated that it embodied the prophecy in the Book of Daniel of the ‘1335 days’ and of the prophet Habbakuk that the “the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”
Baha’is in Iran faced very difficult challenges when attempting to fulfill the pioneering call. Nevertheless, they contributed substantially to the Crusade. Forty-four of the ‘Knights of Baha’u’llah’ were of Iranian background.
Several families with a connection to Nayriz pioneered—the Rouhanis, Taherzadehs, Erfans, Amjadihs, and the Khadems. Mirza Ahmad Vahidi took part in these efforts by moving to the Arabian Peninsula at the request of Shoghi Effendi. In a groundbreaking development within Iran, women began to serve on local and national assemblies; nine other Muslim countries soon followed—Iraq, Egypt, Sudan, Tunisia, Libya, Arabian Peninsula, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey.