nge facing Shoghi Effendi at the outset of his
ministry. So far as the objective condition of humankind, as he
encountered it, was concerned, there was nothing that would have inspired
confidence that the vision of a new world bequeathed him by the Founders
of the Baha'i Cause could be significantly advanced during whatever span
of years might be allowed him.

Nor did the instrument available to him appear to possess the strength,
the resilience or the sophistication his task required. In 1923, when
Shoghi Effendi was eventually able to assume full direction of the Cause,
the core of Baha'u'llah's followers consisted of the body of believers in
Iran, of whose number not even a reliable estimate could have then been
produced. Denied most of the means necessary to their promotion of the
Cause, and severely limited in the material resources at their disposal,
the Iranian community was hedged about by constant harassment. In North
America, charged with the daunting responsibilities of the Divine Plan,
small communities of believers found themselves struggling with the simple
challenges of making a livelihood for themselves and their families as the
economic crisis steadily deepened. In Europe, Australasia and the Far
East, even smaller Baha'i groups kept the flame of the Faith alive, as did
isolated groups, families and individuals scattered throughout the rest of
the world. Literature, even in English, was inadequate, and the task of
translating the Writings into other major languages and of finding the
funds to publish them represented an almost impossible burden.

Though the vision communicated by the Master burned as brightly as ever,
the means at their disposal must have appeared to Baha'is as pitifully
inadequate in the face of the conditions prevailing everywhere. The
hulking black foundation of the future Mother Temple of the West, rising
over the lake front north of Chicago, seemed to mock the brilliant
conception that had dazzled the architectural world only a few years
before. In Baghdad, the "Most Holy House", designated by Baha'u'llah as
the focal centre of Baha'i pilgrimage, had been seized by opponents of the
Faith. In the Holy Land itself, the Mansion of Baha'u'llah was falling
into ruin as a result of neglect by the Covenant-breakers who occupied it,
and the Shrine housing the precious remains of both the Bab and
'Abdu'l-Baha had progressed no further than the simple stone structure
raised by the Master.