u'llah.]

Epilogue

Under the inspired guidance of Shoghi Effendi the Baha'i Cause grew
steadily in size and in the establishment of its Administrative Order, so
that by 1951 there were eleven functioning National Spiritual Assemblies.
At that point the Guardian turned to the development of the institutions
of the Faith at its international level, appointing the International
Baha'i Council, the forerunner of the Universal House of Justice, and,
shortly thereafter, the first contingent of the Hands of the Cause of God.
Hitherto Shoghi Effendi has raised certain eminent Baha'is to the rank of
Hands of the Cause posthumously, one of them being Dr. John E. Esslemont,
but it was only in 1951 that he adjudged the time ripe to begin the full
development of this important institution. In rapid succession between
1951 and 1957 he appointed thirty-two Hands and extended the range of
their activities, instituting in each continent Auxiliary Boards
consisting of believers and appointed by the Hands to be their deputies,
assistants and advisors. Twenty-seven of these Hands were living at the
time of his passing.

Through a series of letters, some addressed to Baha'is throughout the
world, and others to those in specific countries, the Guardian deepened
their understanding of the teachings, built up the administrative
institutions of the Faith, trained the believers in their correct and
effective use, and in 1937 launched the American Baha'i Community on its
implementation of the Divine Plan for the diffusion of Baha'u'llah's
Message. This Divine Plan had been revealed by 'Abdu'l-Baha in a number of
Tablets written during the years of the First World War and constitutes
the charter for the propagation of the Faith.

Within the framework of this charter a number of teaching plans were
carried out, first in the Western Hemisphere, then also in Europe, Asia,
Australasia and Africa until in 1953 the Guardian called for a
"decade-long, world-embracing, spiritual crusade" to carry the Faith to
all the remaining independent states and principal dependencies of the
world.

In 1957, as the midway point of the crusade approached, the Guardian,
exhausted by thirty-six years of unremitting labor, died while on a visit
to London.

As Shoghi Effendi had no heir, the work of the Faith after November 1957
was coordinated and directed by the twenty-seven Hands of the Cause until
the victorious completion of the crusade in April 1963,