The Hands of the Cause of God, Hands of the Cause, or Hands (informally) were a select group of Bahá'ís, appointed for life, whose main function was to propagate and protect the Bahá'í Faith. Unlike the members of the elected institutions and other appointed institutions in the Bahá'í Faith, who serve in those offices, Hands are considered to have achieved a distinguished rank in service to the religion.
According to The Will and Testament of `Abdu'l-Bahá, they are to be nominated and appointed by the Guardian of the Cause of God and are to be under his direction and obey his command and a quote of Bahá'u'lláh's is also used as a prayer for them.
The title is no longer given out. The last living Hand of the Cause was `Alí-Muhammad Varqá (1911-2007). The work of the Hands of the Cause is now carried out by the Continental Counsellors and the Auxiliary Boards.
There were fifty Hands of the Cause in all, four named by Bahá'u'lláh, four by `Abdu'l-Bahá and forty-two by Shoghi Effendi (including ten posthumously). Twenty-seven Hands were alive when Shoghi Effendi died in 1957.
The most complete list of the Hands available is from "The Bahá'í World: Vol XIV". The Universal House of Justice has confirmed that this list may not be complete, and that a study of the letters and archives may reveal others named to this station.
Read more about Hands Of The Cause: Appointments
Famous quotes containing the words hands of and/or hands:
“Although knaves win in every political struggle, although society seems to be delivered over from the hands of one set of criminals into the hands of another set of criminals, as fast as the government is changed, and the march of civilization is a train of felonies, yet, general ends are somehow answered.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“It is singular to look round upon a country where the dreams of sages, smiled at as utopian, seem distinctly realized, a people voluntarily submitting to laws of their own imposing, with arms in their hands respecting the voice of a government which their breath created and which their breath could in a moment destroy!”
—Frances Wright (1795–1852)