A Last Appeal to the Hands of the Faith by Charles Mason Remey, Second Baha'i Guardian

 

A LAST APPEAL

TO

THE HANDS OF THE FAITH

BY

MASON REMEY

A LAST APPEAL

TO

THE HANDS

OF

THE BAHA'I FAITH

A PRIVATE AND SECRET

DOCUMENT

TO BE READ ONLY

BY

THE HANDS OF THE FAITH

BY

MASON REMEY

HAND OF THE FAITH AND

PRESIDENT OF THE BAHA'I INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL

APPOINTED BY THE BELOVED GUARDIAN OF THE FAITH

A LAST APPEAL

TO THE HANDS OF THE FAITH

EXHORTING THEM

TO ABANDON THEIR PROGRAM FOR 1963

AND THAT THEY SEEK TO FIND

THE SECOND GUARDIAN

OF THE BAHA'I FAITH

AND THAT THEY UPHOLD

THE WILL AND TESTAMENT

OF

THE MASTER ABDU’L-BAHA

AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE FAITH

AS ESTABLISHED BY

THE BELOVED GUARDIAN SHOGHI EFFENDI

THAT AT PRESENT IS

UNDER A CLOUD OF VIOLATION

THAT THREATENS THE FULFILLMENT

OF ITS MISSION TO MANKIND

BY

MASON REMEY

HAND OF THE FAITH AND

PRESIDENT OF THE BAHA'I INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL

APPOINTED BY THE FIRST GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH

APRIL 1960

INTRODUCTION

The assertions that I present in this last appeal to the Hands of the Baha'i Faith are of the same general nature and character as those of the first appeal so this last appeal may be considered as a continuation of the first appeal added to which is emphasized the importance that the Hands of the Faith should give to preparing themselves to recognize and to accept the Second Guardian of the Faith when they realize that The Beloved Guardian actually made this appointment Himself some time before his death in escrow to take effect at his death.  Thus the chair of the Guardianship has never been vacant but only hidden from the world to be recognized by the believers as some may or will do now at almost any time, then He will be known to the Baha’i World!  He the successor of The Beloved Guardian Shoghi Effendi – He the Second Guardian of the Baha'i Faith!

MASON REMEY

President of the Baha'i International Council

   Written in part in Room #60, Hotel Berchielli

                                                   Florence, Italy

                                                   December 1959

               and in part in Apartment 2,

                                                   1310 New Hampshire Avenue N.W.

                                                   Washington 6, D.C.

                                                   U.S. of North America

I GUARD THE FAITH

            During and throughout the entire mission of The Beloved Shoghi Effendi as Guardian of the Faith, He at all times held the unique authority that only the Guardian of the Cause could hold as the sole and only commander of the cause, He never shared this with anyone.  He guarded this most zealously.  This was his sole prerogative.

            When the Beloved Guardian appointed me President of the Baha'i International Council He bestowed upon me a potential responsibility, the responsibility of that position.

            As I have explained elsewhere in this writ, The Beloved Guardian never gave me any orders as to what I should do to put into action the International Council so I did nothing, thus were the affairs of the council up until the time of the death of Shoghi Effendi at which time my responsibilities as President of the council, that until then had been the Guardian’s sole responsibility, then became my responsibilities – these were my responsibilities coming to me when the Beloved Guardian was released by his death from all earthly responsibilities, responsibilities that had weighed so heavily upon him during the long and many years of his Guardianship.

            Now since the departure from this world of Shoghi Effendi, the responsibilities of the International Council and everything connected with it are my responsibility, my unique responsibility – a responsibility such as no other Baha'i carries nor possesses.  Mine is now the sole and the exclusive right to handle the affairs of the International Council.  Such is the responsibility and calling conferred upon me by Our Beloved Guardian that went into effect at his death in November 1957, the year when I inherited this particular responsibility together with other responsibilities devolving upon me by Shoghi Effendi’s death which I will speak of and explain to the believers at some later time.  For the present, it is sufficient for me to explain but this my control of the Baha'i International Council, its functioning and its other affiars.  Therefore I hold that nothing be done by any one or by any ones other than I, myself, toward anything at all that concerns the Baha'i International Council and this means the Hands of the Faith are at all times to be under the direction and command of the Guardian of the Faith, and my authority to direct the affairs of the International Council, to direct them of myself independent of and free from all authority, was conferred upon me by The Beloved Guardian thus these powers because mine automatically at the death of the First Guardian of the Baha'i Faith.

            I now and here ordain upon this Day of Naw-Ruz 117 of the Baha'i Era (the day upon which I am penning this writ) that there shall be nothing done about the Baha'i International Council or about any of its activities.  This is to be until I, President of the Council, order otherwise.

MASON REMEY

Washington D.C., U.S.A.

21 March 1960

REALIZE MY APPOINTMENT

In other words, in addition to what I have already here written in thus appointing me President of the International Council, The Beloved Guardian and as already stated The Beloved Guardian has bestowed upon me, I whom he chose from among all the Baha’is of the World this power and authority that after Him I now have to protect the Baha'i Faith in which capacity and for which end I now stand before the Hands of the Faith and tell them that now, after the death of the first Guardian, I inherit and take over and now exercise the right and the full power that Shoghi Effendi gave to me, and to me alone, after Him to protect the Faith from this impending violation of the Baha'i International Council.

            Do you realize what this implies and means and to what position in the Faith and Beloved Guardian has appointed me, Mason Remey?

TO THE HANDS OF THE FAITH

            Dearly Beloved Hands of the Faith, please try and understand my position of command in the Faith to regulate the affairs of the International Council, when I tell you to desist in your attempts to control and to end the International Council preparatory to your program for 1963.

            My position in Baha'i affairs has been clearly given to me by The Beloved Guardian.  Pray accept it and make your announcement to the world of your acceptance of the position of command thus bequeathed to me by Our Beloved Guardian, bequeathed to me in escrow only to become known to the world of the cause after His death – the departure from amongst us all of Shoghi Effendi – He who was The First Guardian of the Baha'i Faith.

            In your announcement to the Baha'i world after the last conclave of 1959, you definitely stated that you intend taking over the International Council, that you the Custodian Hands will dictate the policies of the council for two years, then put it out of existence to establish your House of Justice in 1963, which program was endorsed by  twenty two of the Hands – so the entire Baha'i world knows of your intentions!

            Now I, President of the International Council, appointed by the Beloved Guardian, tell you to desist in your efforts to end the International Council as you state is your intention to do, for you to give up your project for 1963.  By ordering you to stop such proceedings I am using the authority and the power given me by The Beloved Guardian to protect and to guard the affairs of the International Council.

            Yet!  Beloved Hands of the Faith, why should one wonder at the mess of Baha'i matters that the Hands of the Faith are making with their plans for 1963? 

            Hands of the Cause, you have no divine authority vested in you as Hands of the Faith.  According to the commands in The Will and Testament you are to serve only under the direction of the Guardian of the Faith, the Guardian Himself being the infalable one to guide you.  You should realize this for when you do realize this, your first and only step to be taken should be to find the Guardian who can guide you.

            Instead of following this procedure you have strayed from the true path of the cause by wanting to eliminate forever the Guardianship.  Some of you, the majority in fact, supported the “New Baha'i Era” cult of SANS GUARDIANSHIP.  Nothing could have been nor be in the present or the future more bewildering to the Baha'i world than your attitude and all that it implies.

            Arise Hands of the Faith.  You should arise seeking to find your Guardian.  The first step that you should have taken was to have sought for your Guardian!  From your attitude of not wanting the Guardianship to be is the first indication of trouble for you and a stumbling block in your path!  You have chosen to follow this violation.  Awake and see that it is leading you away from truth and into error.

MY UNIQUE POSITION

I have hinted at and alluded to in an around-about-way in various of my notes and writings to the prophetic vision that I had about a year and a half before The Beloved Guardian called me to Haifa, uprooted me from Washington and planted me there in The Holy Land telling me that from that time on Israel was to be my home.

            Until then I had tried to put that flash-vision out of my mind, thinking that it was but a vagarie of my imagination, or worse than that some evil spirit of temptation to lead me astray possibly to incite me to have personal aspirations of position in the cause of which aspirations I wanted to have no part, for when I first read The Will and Testament of the Master, the copy of which was given to me by Shoghi Effendi Himself at the time He called me to Haifa in February 1921 – my first reaction was that to be one of the Hands of the Faith and have to live in Haifa was not only quite the last thing that I wanted but actually the one thing that I did not want to have happen to me.

            I had not been in Haifa as a Hand of the Faith for very long before I began to realize that that flash-vision of things to come was beginning to work out as it had been revealed to me.  I found myself not only appointed to be one of the Hands of the Faith but the President of the Baha'i International Council.  Furthermore the Guardian told me that upon formal occasions when He presided at the feasts and gatherings of the believers at the Holy Shrines that I should walk next behind him with the other believers following and that when He was seated in his automobile I was to sit at his left hand and that such should always be my position seated next to him when in the gatherings of the believers.  These commands usually were given to me by Ruhiyyih Khanum who was my contact with Shoghi Effendi.  I always addressed him through her save when He himself spoke directly to me which was but rarely.  In speaking to him I would have addressed him in the third person but this I never did because I felt I should carry out this Baha'i protocol exactly as instructed to do without adding anything to it of mine own thought.  In speaking of the Guardian to any non-Baha'i in Israel I always alluded to Him as “His Eminence”, I following His instruction to do so.

            While I never was conscious that the Guardian had any personal affection for me as an individual, I always was conscious that he in a quiet but decided way was placing me thus in a very special way before the Baha'is who surrounded him.  At table I always sat at his left with Ruhiyyih Khanum at his right, except when where were special Pilgrims present when they were accorded this place at his left.

            In all of the Baha'i gatherings held in the absence of the Guardian I took my seat at the head of the table and always walked ahead with the others following me and this order I always maintained in Haifa as one of the Custodian Hands there.  I was as unobtrusive as I could be in my manner and this has never to my knowledge been questioned by anyone nor has anyone ever taken any exception to this my attitude although this is as far as I have ever gone, while living in The Holy Land.  I always have preceded all other of the men believers in entering the Shrines for worship when no women are present.  When Ruhiyyih Khanum and other ladies are in the groups I stand aside until they have entered, then enter myself followed by the men believers.  This as I note has never been questioned to my knowledge or my observation.

            Upon the only formal Israeli National occasion (the funeral of Dr. Wiemann, President of the Republic) at which the Guardian was present, I was his sole attendant, walking behind him, He heading all of the other religious leaders of Israel, I following him with my arms firmly set akimbo to so protect the Guardian from being shoved aside or passed by the Mullahs, Bishops, Arch Bishops, and other religious leaders who were pressing on behind me.

            Upon various other ceremonial occasions where the Beloved Guardian wanted to be represented, these being in Jerusalem, He sent me thither to represent Him and this custom of my leading has continued to be observed – I being in the lead – in these days of interregnum during which we have no Guardian in office commanding the friends to which custom now established no one has made audible nor visible objection.  It is just one of those things that everyone seems to accept without question.

            But this precedent has only been followed upon formal occasions.  When The Beloved Guardian wanted business to be done in Jerusalem, Telaviv, Haifa, or any where else, He usually sent Leroy Ioas to attend to it and on occasion others of the Hands of the Faith, not me, and this procedure has of course been followed in these interregnum days.

            The one great and outstanding appointment of me as President of the Baha'i International Council with the authoritative power in the Faith and over the Faith both of the Hands of the Faith and the believers that this now gives me and is given to me alone and unique above all the believers in the world was in itself the ultimate realization to me of my flash-vision.  I frequently refer to this vision that was given me eleven or twelve years ago during which years the responsibility that was coming to me has weighed much upon my heart and soul and mind during these intervening years, and particularly so during these last two or three of which have been so very difficult for all of the believers the world around, Hands of the Faith and those who are looking toward the Hands of the Faith for guidance. 

            Now at this date the guidance of the cause is off the track, as it were.  For it is not the province of the Hands of the Faith to guide the Faith.  They are to serve the Guardian of the Faith and are to carry on and carry out His commands.

            It is therefore upon these grounds that I, President of the Baha'i International Council, that I command them to desist from their attempt and cease their program of tampering with the International Council and give up their program for 1963 that is a violation of the Will and Testament of the Master Abdu’l-Baha as well as a violation of the Administration that The Beloved Guardian built up in accordance with the command of Abdu’l-Baha.

THE FAITH IS PROTECTED

Whether or not The Beloved Guardian realized or knew of his approaching death, He left his cause fully protected when He appointed me President of the Baha'i International Council for by so doing he vested in me, Mason Remey, the authority to guard the Faith against this violation of the Administration even though this violation be perpetrated by the Hands of the Faith as proposed in the Report of the Conclave at Behje of 1959 that was signed by 22 of the 27 Hands of the Faith.  Thus these friends have gone on record as upholding this violation.  Therefore the only stand for me to take now is to forbid all the plans of the Hands for 1963.

AWAKE FRIENDS OF THE HANDS – AWAKE

Violation conscious or unconscious so poisons and distorts the spiritual vision of the one or ones infected that they are not able to help themselves to see the truth of the matter.  Every concerted action of the Hands of the Faith since their stand was taken in the First Conclave at Behje to put aside the Administration of the Faith by so making changes in its fabric or structure has been to violate and to confuse the believers more and more by leading them farther and farther away from the way as established by The Beloved Guardian.

            They started out by assuming command of the Faith shortly followed by their actual acceptance of the Chicago Manifesto “The New Baha'i Era” but that the decided was too strongly put to give out to the people of the Faith at that time so its publication was suppressed, but as I have shown in other parts of this writ they, the Hands, highly approved of by the letter that the Custodian Hands wrote to Horace Holley approving highly of the Manifesto, declaring, Sans Guardianship.

            Now since that Manifesto has been withdrawn from circulation among the friends, the Custodian Hands have adopted a beating down process, trying to beat down any hopes that they may find bobbing up now and then among the believers here and there by discouraging all hopes that any may have of another Guardian to follow Shoghi Effendi.  But as time goes on these Hands now go so far as to insist that the Baha’is abandon all hopes, going so far as practically to forbid any discussion at all of the possibility of the Guardian who awaits in occultation, and has waited in occultation since the death of Shoghi Effendi until the moment for Him to come forth with the clear proofs to prove His Guardianship to the Baha'i world.

            The Second Guardian of the Baha'i Faith, whose presence upon earth is as yet unknown to any believers save to himself, will ere long be obliged to come forth from his concealment ere the sufferings of the firm believers to be too great for them to sustain these present conditions any longer – for they, these firm ones who cling to the Administration as established by The Beloved Guardian, must not be made to suffer too long and too much ere even their faith be put to too great a test.  Christ prayed that these days be shortened for the sake of the very elect lest even they, the elect, might fall.

            This moment is indeed the eleventh hour in the judgement of the Hands of the Faith.  Let them beware and understand this and turn from the way they have made for themselves in their programme for 1963.

            HANDS OF THE FAITH:  Abandon your program.  Awake.  Desire that the Guardianship continue and diligently seek your Guardian so when He comes forth from his present occultation He will find you desiring Him, looking for Him and ready to follow Him as He leads the Faith on to victory promised to the world by the Divine Manifestations, Christ and the Prophets since the creation of the world.

            The Guardian of the Faith who ere long will appear is calling to you to make you ready for His coming.  Awake, Hands of the Faith and make yourselves ready to meet Him, the Second Guardian of the Baha'i Faith.

VIOLATION

            The present stand of the Hands of the Faith against the continuation of the Guardianship beyond that of Shoghi Effendi is indeed a most clearly stated and defined violation of both The Will and Testament of the Master Abdu’l-Baha and also a violation of the administrative system of Baha'i law and order that the Beloved Guardian constructed and built up upon The Will and Testament of the Master Abdu’l-Baha and also a violation of the administrative system of Baha'i law and order that the Beloved Guardian constructed and built up upon The Will and Testament and was getting into running performance in all parts of the Baha'i world when death interrupted his mission.

            The normal and logical procedure of the Hands of the Faith under such conditions should have been to take up his work of carrying on Administration according to the plan and The Will and Testament, of assuming their own responsibility of protecting the Faith by seeking the Second Guardian to continue on where the service of Shoghi Effendi was so without-any-warning brought to such a sudden end.  Such procedure would have been carrying out the intent of The Will and Testament.

            But No, an influential group of individuals within the body of the twenty seven Hands of the Faith consulted together in private from the others, made a covenant between themselves and then proceeded to put this over the others (and with a certain success too) – that is to say they have up until the present time been able to hold up and hold back the carrying on of the Administration of the Faith as given in The Will and Testament which administrative principle centered about the infalability of the Guardianship perpetrated by falaciously promising the people an infalable Universal House of Justice that they – the Hands – would form in 1963. 

            This is indeed a violation of The Will and Testament, a violation clear and distinct!

            There is but one Baha'i method of meeting violation and that is to cut it out completely and cast it out from the cause without any compromising what so ever!

            Some of the enlightened Baha’is in Germany in letters and by telegram called the attention of the Hands of the Faith to the fact that the Faith according to The Revealed Word that the Hands should not abandon the Guardianship.  Their missives were sent to the conclave of Hands in Behje, but these were not read nor discussed in the conference by the Hands save that it was understood that when two German Hands returned to Frankfurt that they would explain to the friends of their National Spiritual Assembly that all of these matters would be taken up and settled by the infalable Universal House of Justice that they would establish in 1963.

            As I view this situation of our Faith, I see it started to develop because the Hands did not distinguish the difference between violation and disunion or inharmony for violation and inharmony are two very different things and are not to be treated or handled in the same manner.

            A simple case of inharmony between believers is to be treated by love and by one giving into the other any by following the opinion of the majority.  But according to the teaching of Baha’u’llah and Abdu’l-Baha, violation is an entirely different matter from disunity and inharmony; one that has to be treated of in altogether different manner than inharmony for violation must be cut out absolutely and not paliated with at all.

            I don’t know what individual experiences if any that the Hands of the Faith may have had with violation but I doubt if any of the occidental Hands of the Faith have had any experience with violation with but the exception of Mrs. True and myself.  The Khirella violation and that of the Kirchners in Chicago followed by that of Fareed, of the Ispahani Family of Haifa, the Woodcock Family of Montreal and others were all so long ago in the rapidly moving history of our Faith as to be out of the present consciousness of those believers who have come into the Faith in the more recent times than these that I mention.

            However, all of the Hands of the Faith know of the defection of Ahmad Sohrab because this is of so recent date as still to be an enemy movement that in its various branches in different parts of the world is actively working against the Baha'i Faith.

            Now why is it that the Hands of the Faith cannot see that the stand that they are now united upon is one of violation?  The Hands of the Baha'i Faith claim to be following the teachings of Baha’u’llah, Abdu’l-Baha and the interpretation and application of those teachings by The Beloved Guardian but with no continuation of the Guardianship.  Theirs is the same stand as that taken by Ahmad Sohrab!

            Ahmad Sohrab announced in print that he accepted the teachings of Baha’u’llah and Abdu’l-Baha, but without the Guardianship.  Why is it that the Hands of the Faith cannot see this point of my arguement?  When Ahmad Sohrab made his defection we had the Beloved Shoghi Effendi here with us to lead us but now the Guardian has not yet appeared to take the command of the situation before us.  Only the Second Guardian of the Faith can pull the cause out of its present dilemma.

            While the Hands, as well as all other members of the Faith, were in deep sorrow at the death of Shoghi Effendi there was never any expression of desire amongst the Hands of the Faith that they have another Guardian to take his place, infalably to direct the cause.  No, the majority of the Hands definitely in their attitudes do not want a Second Guardian.  When confronted blankly by me with this accusation, some of them hastened to affirm by spoken words that of course they would like to have another Guardian, etc. etc.  But surely their attitudes deny their words.

            When The National Spiritual Assembly of Baha'i of Germany expressed the hope of having a Second Guardian of the Faith to the Second Behje Conclave nothing was done about these messages save to commission the two German Hands of the Faith upon their return to Frankfurt to talk with the members of their assembly and tell them that The Universal House of Justice that they would establish in 1963 with the infalability that they attributed to it would decide about all Baha'i procedures encluding whether or not the Guardianship should be continued.

            I’ve never heard how this falacious teaching was received by the German National Assembly.  Several of the Hands knowing how I felt about the Guardianship came to me and talked to the effect that the Universal House of Justice in 1963, being infalable, might reestablish the Guardianship but as none of these friends in their attitudes and their speech appeared to me to want anything of me save for me to be quiet and cease agitating the subject of Guardianship, I saw plainly that they were trying to get my support of their violation to put over their House of Justice in 1963 and that they were baiting the hook of their violation with this falacious possibility of Guardianship hoping that I would be satisfied with this ruse upon their part to carry their point that from that First Behje Conclave and since then ever has been the abolition of Guardianship.

            Inasmuch as some of the Hands of the Faith are going to such length to kill the cause, I feel it is high time that this matter be brought to a head and cut out from the cause before it becomes worse and more difficult to handle than it now is.  Therefore I am putting into writing this document an account of these things between us as I see them in the hope that the Hands will reconsider their stand.

THE FIRST BEHJE CONCLAVE      

            When the first conclave of the Hands of the Faith assembled at Behje to learn that no will nor testament of Shoghi Effendi could be found amongst his papers, prayers were chanted and read and the conclave closed to convene on the following morning.

            For the most part, if not all the American Hands returned to Haifa for the night while for the most part, if not all, the ten Hands who were Persians were quartered for the night at Behje.  When the conclave went into session the following morning one of the Persian Hands arose making the statement that since Shoghi Effendi left no son to inherit the Guardianship and since no will nor testament of his could be found among his papers, that the Guardianship of the Faith must be considered to be ended with The Beloved Guardian of the Faith Shoghi Effendi, there upon all of the other Persian Hands quickly arose in support of this move, with the result that this move had the immediate support of the majority of the Hands.

            Circumstantial evidence of the situation showed beyond a doubt that the Persian friends had consulted amongst themselves between these two meetings – the first on one day and the second on the following day – and that they had come to an agreement between themselves that the Guardianship be abandoned.  Thus in the confusion and heat of the moment the Guardianship was definitely abandoned by the majority of the conclave thus was violated The Will and Testament of the Master Abdu’l-Baha.

            Since that first conclave all of the proceedings of the Hands of the Faith in Conclave and the objects and support by the Custodian Hands of the Faith in The Holy Land have been based upon the assumption that the Guardianship is now closed forever, although this has not been said definitely to the Baha'i world.

            Thus at this present time, 1959-1960, stands this matter of the violation of the Will and Testament of the Master Abdu’l-Baha upon which as the foundation, The Beloved Guardian during the thirty six years of his ministry built the present Baha'i Administration that now is suffering from this violation.

CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE OF COLLUSION OF VIOLATION  

            As I remember in this first conclave when the motion was made to end the Guardianship it was immediately supported by all of the Persian Hands.  There was practically little or no discussion.  They all stood together and each recited the same formula of why the Guardianship should be ended.  The Guardian left no son to inherit the Guardianship and there was not found any will nor testament from him; therefore the institution was ended.  It was the Will of God that there never be another Guardian – BADAH.

            That this was all a preplanned move upon the part of these Persian Hands was most obvious.  This circumstantial evidence could not be doubted.  In court testimony it is a well recognized fact that when a body of witnesses all give exactly the same testimony word by word, that such is proof of collusion.

THE PROMISE OF THE HANDS TO ELECT A BAHA'I INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL

            In making this promise to the Baha'i world the Hands of the Faith have not taken into consideration that The Beloved Guardian Himself appointed the Baha'i International Council.  Do the Hands of the Faith think that they have the right to do anything further at all about this?

            When the Hands of the Faith will in reality want a Guardian they will then be in line to receive and recognize the Second Guardian of the Faith when He appears. Then they will have an infalability to direct them in all matters.  In the meanwhile, I, the President of the Council, refuse to allow the Hands to do anything about the council, the council must rest inactive as it is until we have an acknowledged Guardian to inaugurate its activities.

            What can I do to change their attitude?  The only thing I can do about this for the moment is to do nothing at all save hope and pray that matters will so shape themselves that the opportunity will come when I assured of support will be able to jump into the arena of Baha'i thought and make clear myself to them.

            But one little glimmer of light have I thus far had.  It came to me after the close of the last session of this third conclave.  We were all leaving the Mansion of Behje, it was dark as we walked out to where the cars were parked to take us back to Haifa and one of the Hands of the Faith slipped his arm through mine as we walked and whispered in my ear “There will be other Guardians”.  This friend was Herrmann Grossmann Hand of the Faith.

THE GUARDIANSHIP 

            Without the institution of the Guardianship there can be no Administration, the two are one and co-existant.  The two divine verities the Covenant and the Guardianship with the Administration form the message that the Baha’is had for the world in the days of the Guardianship.

            In other words the message of the covenant as taught in the days of Baha’u’llah and Abdu’l-Baha isolated from the Administration is now no longer the Baha'i message for the world as it had formerly been before The Will and Testament was given to the Baha'i for with the inauguration of the Administration, this the Administration which is the Guardianship now became together with the covenant the message that the Baha’is had for the world.

            During this present interregnum of the past two years and more, the teachers of the Faith, the pioneers, have had no message for the world for as things are now in the Faith, with no assurance of Guardianship, they are no longer able to teach The Will and Testament.  In other words, the Faith is at a standstill, the dangers of which are so increasing daily that this is indeed a time of peril such as this cause has never before faced in its entire history.

            The “Dawn Breakers” of the cause faced the dangers of physical extermination by Fire and the Sword but the danger that we now face is a far worse and more subtle menace than that which the Dawn Breakers faced.  They could see the enemy and meet him face to face whereas now the people of the Faith in this year A.D. 1959 are at the mercy of a spiritually diseased state of the plague of violation of The Will and Testament, a condition that is not only unseen but not even inspected by twenty six out of the total number of the twenty seven Hands of the Faith.  In other words among the Hands I alone see this disease slowly creeping over and into Conclaves of the Hands of the Faith as well as permeating the activities of the Custodian Hands of the Faith in The Holy Land who between the conclave of all of the Hands form the central body directing Baha'i affairs throughout the world.

            This condition of the affairs I have seen right along from the time that the Custodian Body of Hands in The Holy Land was formed and I have repeatedly warned them of this condition of violation that has attacked them and so blinded them in their deliberations as to cause them seek constantly to give support to those actions and things that should not be because all of their actions are confirmatory to the attitude of violation of The Will and Testament that has so far characterized everything carried on and executed by the Hands of the Faith.  Noted that I write “ALL” of their actions.  I write the word ALL because of their defection, everything proceeding therefrom is perforce wrong and by everything I mean everything, all because the Hands have lost confidence in the Administration that is the Guardianship.

            Now in this time of confusion of thought in the cause I exhort you to cling fast to the Administration as established by The Beloved Guardian and withhold your judgement and condemnation of those such as our German friends of Frankfurt and our friends Tony Fillon Gupta of Lucknow, all of whom with many others myself encluded, still hope that The Second Guardian of the Faith will soon come forth speaking with the authority of The Beloved Guardian. Tony’s faith was the same as mine own that there would, that there musts be a Second Guardian to follow the First Guardian of the Faith.  But you, the Hands of the Faith in The Holy Land, have countenanced his having his voting rights taken from him and he thus disagreed!  I am astonished at the lengths to which this violation of the Master’s Will and Testament has taken the Hands of the Faith, but such is the bewildering effects of violation of the Holy teachings!  You have become so spiritually sick that you are no longer responsible.

            I, as the individual Baha'i Mason Remey, center my hope upon the presence of The Second Guardian of the Faith here amongst us.  For in this world He now is.  But as yet his presence is not yet revealed.  I hold this believe as does Tony Fillon but Tony doesn’t know that I endorse his hopes – does not know it yet.

THIS VIOLATION MUST END  

            For the past year and more I’ve tried to use gentle and pacific reason and arguement in defense of the Guardianship against the united intention of the Body of Hands that there shall never be another Guardian.

            Now seeing that this violation of The Master’s Will and Testament is daily becoming stronger until it threatens to become the accepted way of life of the cause, as a last resort I am obliged single handedly to come out into the open and use my perrogatives as President of the International Baha'i Council as appointed by our late Beloved Guardian, to force the Hands of the Faith to relinquish their united stand against the Guardianship.

            I may force them to do this for this is the only way left for me to do since milder methods are powerless against this violation that so dominates the Hands.

            My way of forcing this issue is simply by announcing to the Hands that in no way shall I countenance their right to do anything at all about nor with the Baha'i International

Council.  The Beloved Guardian appointed me President of the Council and in this capacity I am responsible to no one save to the Guardian of the Faith.  Therefore, I take the stand that there can be no functioning of the council until there be a recognized and accepted Guardian of the Faith to institute it.

            The Hands of the Faith have no right to command the election of an International Council; therefore I refuse to have anything at all to do with this matter that has been and is being promised by the Hands to the Baha'i world.

            In other words, I block their actions in this and since The Beloved Guardian gave me this position as President of the Council and this is known the Baha'i world around, the Hands can do nothing about the matter as I hold the reins and will not allow them to carry out their plan inspired by this violation.  My notion for the present is merely a negative one.  I will do nothing and by doing nothing I control the Hands without trying further to put any positive pressure upon nor against them.

            The positive pressure that will compel them to abandon this movement of violation to control the Baha'i Faith will come from the mass of the people of the Faith the world around.  Those to whom the Hands of the Faith have been for over two years past inoculating with this falacious propaganda of the Council in 1961 followed by the Universal House of Justice in 1963.

            The only refuge and safety that there is for the Faith is the Second Guardian for the Faith under whose guidance and protection this interregnum of confusion, falaciousness and violation in the Hands of the Faith will be of the past and forgotten in the assuredness and the strength of the Faith that will follow the restitution of the Guardianship.

THE SOLUTION OF THE PRESENT DILEMMA  

            Years ago before my birth my Father was a passenger upon a small vessel going up our Atlantic seaboard coast.  When off Cape Hatteras the ship struck a severe hurricane with its officers drinking with the Captain in delirium tremaus, the crew at the point of mutiny, the passengers in panic and the vessel in danger of going down with all on board.  Something had to be done and done quickly.  My father was but a passenger aboard, nevertheless he was obliged by the circumstances to take command of the ship and get her into the next port of call for there was no one else on board who could do this but him, therefore he had to take command of the ship.

            In the last Conclave of the Hands I saw very clearly that if I didn’t arise again and take a stand for the continuance of the Guardianship, that the ark of the Baha'i covenant would surely be wrecked and the Faith lost to the world.  Therefore I was obliged to take my stand as one Hand of the Faith against the united opinion and action of all the other Hands.  As I said many times to the Hands I did not want at all to take the stand but the Cause of God had to be saved so I was obliged to take charge of the situation as I did and as I intend continuing to do until our Faith is again under the infalable guidance of the Second Guardian who then will be acknowledged by all.

ONLY THE GUARDIAN CAN LEAD AND DIRECT THE HANDS OF THE FAITH 

            The Holy Spirit in this dispensation only functions through the channel of the Guardianship.  It does not function through the Body of Hands independently from the Guardianship; therefore the Body of Hands are helpless to serve the cause save under the direction of a Guardian in the flesh here to direct them.

            As I have shown in other parts of this writ, the present promises being made by the Hands of the Faith of the election for the functioning of an International Baha'i Council and the Universal House of Justice to follow are not for the Hands of the Faith to institute but for the Guardian of the Faith Himself to create and inaugurate.  So the quicker that this present program of the past two years and more that the Hands have been working upon and promising to the people is abandoned the better and easier it will be for the cause for these institutions can never be accomplished in this way.

            In His wisdom, The Beloved Guardian appointed me, Mason Remey, President of the Baha'i International Council and for reason explained at length elsewhere in this writ, I will not allow this present program of the Hands to go through.  Without my cooperation with them as President of the International Council, it cannot be formed and I intend to hold to this my thesis that I explain in this writ, namely that all things connected with the International Council are now frozen and at a stand still not to be reopened until the Second Guardian is in visable and acknowledged command of the Cause.  Then this the functioning of the International Council as well as the formation of the Universal House of Justice will be directed by the Guardian of the Faith, if not by The Second Guardian it will be by one of his successors.

            When the Hands of the Faith with time and thought consider these matters they will see that I, Mason Remey, the one of the Hands designated by The Beloved Guardian as the President of the International Baha'i Council have the right and the power to not only call a halt in the present proceedings of the Hands of the Faith in their efforts to establish a functioning International Council, but that this power given me and to me alone among the twenty seven Hands also controls the formation of any Universal House of Justice since the Universal House of Justice commonly comes into existence following the functioning of the Baha'i International Council.

            Therefore, because I forbid the functioning of the Baha'i International Council until the Guardianship be reestablished, automatically this precludes the establishing of any Universal House of Justice as has been planned and promised to the Baha’is by the Body of the Hands of the Faith.

THE BAHA'I INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL  

            The Baha'i world knows that The Beloved Guardian appointed the International Council, therefore the Hands of the Faith should know that no one nor ones save a Guardian of the Faith has the right to alter and add to that which the First Guardian of the Faith instituted.

            I, Mason Remey, President of the council appointed by Shoghi Effendi, refuse to allow the Hands to make any change in this present status of quietude of the International Council which status was left by The Beloved Guardian as it now is inactive awaiting orders from the succeeding Guardian of the Faith.

            Should the Hands of the Faith attempt to do anything with the International Council or to attempt to elect and put into office another International Council, I as President of the Council appointed to this office by our late Guardian, will be obliged to refuse to acknowledge the right of the Hands of the Faith to tamper with the affairs of the International Council.

            Inasmuch as the first Guardian of the Faith appointed the Baha'i International Council now no one but a Guardian of the Faith can command that the next step be taken in defining and in inaugurating the functioning of that council.  Therefore, I as President of the council, can take no orders from the Hands of the Faith.

THE PRESENT DARKNESS   

            This period of interregnum darkness in the Baha'i world so lamented in the communications sent forth to the Baha'i world by the Hands of the Faith is the result of the violation of the Master’s Will and Testament by the Hands of the Faith, for when they repudiated the Guardianship they indeed placed themselves in darkness because the Guardianship is the only channel through which The Abha Guidance comes to the world so by their refusing to consider the continuation of the Guardianship, they are thus for the time being imposing their darkness upon the entire Baha'i world.

            The spiritual activities of the Faith now await the forthcoming of The Second Guardian of the Faith into the arena of the active Baha'i world which activities are now suffering this period of the delay, this interregnum between the first and the second Guardians of the Faith.

            Thus The Second Guardian mercifully delays His advent into the active Baha'i world in order to give these Hands a little more time that they may awake and be prepared to accept Him when He proclaims Himself, but the time is short.  The Hands of the Faith should make hast to awake lest The Second Guardian find them still slumbering.  He may be forced to come out into the open Baha'i world, disregarding the Hands in order to take over His command of the Cause.

ARISTOCRACY AND DEMOCRACY 

            It is to be noted that it is in democratic America where the Administration of the Faith has taken its most firm hold among the Baha’is whose rule is that of the Guardianship invested with infalability.  That many of the Hands of the Faith now don’t like the continuation of the Baha'i Administration under the infalable Guardianship and now would like to see the institution of the Hands of the Faith disappear under the present suicidal-to-the-cause plan of the Body of the Hands to eliminate the Guardianship that would mean also the elimination of the Hands of the Faith because the present twenty seven Hands will within a generation die off and disappear.

            In America however, peopled by the descendants of those early settlers who fled from the old world when they were oppressed by autocratic rule and entrenched aristocracies, these people built up the American democracy that is the very anthesis of all that was in Persia and in other oriental countries, yet it is a Democratic America where the Administration under the Guardianship is strong, so strong that the Beloved Guardian called America the cradle of the Administration!

And now the Persian element in the Body of the Hands were the first to start this condition of the revolt against the Guardianship, this violation of the Administration of the Faith as given to us in The Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha.  This was started in the opening discussions of the First Behje Conclave as I describe in this writ.

AMERICA THE CRADLE OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE FAITH  

            This was spoken of many times by The Beloved Guardian who at the same time mentioned Persia as being the cradle of the Faith.

            How clearly has this been demonstrated in the history of the Baha'i Faith!  The covenant of Baha’u’llah was announced in Bagdad and had its first support in Persia and in the establishing of this faith there, thousands of lives of the Martyrs were offered in Persia in the Way of the Covenant.

            When the time came in the life of the Faith for the first steps to be taken for the organized spread of the Faith the world around, The Blessed Center of the Covenant, Abdu’l-Baha, gave to the Baha'is in his Will and Testament the administrative plan for the propogation of the Faith after which the Baha'i Covenant together with the Administration of the Faith then became the message that the cause had for the world, these two phases of the teaching covenant and Administration merged into one teaching program, became the Baha'i message to mankind and in order to thoroughly drill the Baha'is in this message the Beloved Guardian exhorted all to study carefully The Will and Testament in which the covenant and the Administration and the Guardianship are demonstrated to be one and the same reality.  The Administration is the Guardianship and the Guardianship is the Administration – inseparable one from the other and together with the covenant was the message that Shoghi Effendi taught and led us to give to the world.

            But what has happened in these three conclaves of the Hands of the Faith?  In the first conclave, the Administration was violated when the Hands struck a blow aimed directly at the elimination of all Guardianship to follow that of Shoghi Effendi, and since then naught but the confusion of this violation has characterized the work of the Body of the Hands of the Faith until now – 1960 – the works of this Body of Hands are at a stop point where they can no longer continue the falacious program that they have decided themselves to build a Universal House of Justice to be preceded by an elected Baha'i International Council that they proposed to form.  This stop is because I, The President of the International Baha'i Council appointed to that office by The Beloved Guardian refuse to countenance their interference with that council-that council which He, The Beloved Guardian Himself created naming me as its president.

            In thus opposing the conclave of the Hands of the Faith, I am not taking any other action against their unity save than by simply to refuse to acknowledge their right to thus meddle with matters that only should be handled and inaugurated by the Guardianship of the Cause.  This point will be found further dilated upon by me in other parts of this writ.

            Thus the Hands of the Faith, when they read this statement, will see that my appointment as President of the Council enables me to refuse to allow their interference in this matter.

            Should they go ahead with their present programmes they have announced to the Baha'i world, I’ll have plenty to say to the Hands.  All that I am doing now for this moment is to refuse to recognize the right of the Hands to carry on this their present world Baha'i plans for electing the council though at the present moment in 1961, their plans are being accepted without any audible objections that I know of in the Baha'i world but with the exception of that voice of one believer in Lucknow, India, from that of Tony Fillon in South America, and some murmerings of discontent from some of the members of the National Spiritual Assembly of Baha’is scattered here and there in Germany and but a few others.  There may be other murmerings too and I dare say there are many of such that the Custodian Hands in Haifa may know nothing of.

.           This present condition of crisis in our Faith can but create much discontent that at any time may suddenly burst into an open rebellion of the believers.  Therefore, the necessity that all this mess of matters be once and for all settled if possible in camera (in secret by conclave).  After all, the Hands are but falable, they talk and they can’t conceal in their attitudes that which is going on in their hearts and minds so it is only a matter of a little time before the doings of the Hands in conclave become known to the outside Baha'i world.

            This present intention of the majority of the Hands that there shall never be another Guardian (that I treat of in other parts of this writ as showing conclusively from attitudes of the majority of the Hands but which they do not mention now even between themselves as they did in the beginning shortly after the first Behje conclave) will in all probability make but little stir amongst the believers of the Orient, for these friends of the Faith have never been as keen about the Administration as have been the American Baha’is.  But not so however, among the Baha’is of the western world, particularly those in the Americas and those of Europe because America is the Cradle of the Administration or of the Guardianship and because the cause in Latin America and in the ten European lands of the successful cruisade accomplished there by the American Pioneers who would naturally plant there the spirit of the North American Baha'i Pioneers that was one of the intense devotion to the Administration, to the Beloved Guardian and all that He stood for.  For these reasons do I feel that America will be the place where the strongest support of the Guardianship will be manifest in case that this ever becomes a controversial matter.  Therefore I urge the Hands of the Faith to give particular thought and consideration to this fact that America is the Cradle of the Administration.

            The cities of continental Europe are now the meeting points of the Pioneers of the Faith and I am anticipating that it is in those places that the arguement for and against the Guardianship may probably break out.  Already it is discussed there in the European lands opened up by Pioneers from America in Germany and in France.  In all of these countries the people are by nature astute thinkers.  Already in these countries there are now many Persian Pioneers who it seems openly talk about their approval of the stand against continuing the Guardianship.  Therefore this is being talked about and is under discussion and arguement by the people of Europe who, as I have explained, naturally tend to have the point of view of those Americans who planted the Faith amongst them, and now with this influx of Persian Pioneers in all these countries as opposed to the popular American viewpoint, practically all of whom do not sympathize with and are in reality against the continuation of the Guardianship – there is sure to be forthcoming in the near future clashes between those holding these two diametrically opposed points of view.  So for the reasons that I give here, I caution the Hands of this condition that is surely to be forthcoming shortly in Europe and from there spread to America where the great agitation will then be centered that is bound to come and split the cause unless this be stopped.  The only way to avoid this split in the Baha'i world between the east and the west is for the Hands of the Faith to cling to the hope of the coming forth of the Second Guardian as promptly as possible before any split can occur along this plane of cleavage not yet a split between these differing viewpoints of the generality of the Persian and the American believers.

            The danger of a split is more imminent in America than in Persia.  Were the believers in America to know what is really being done now by the Hands of the Faith and what the real unspoken intention is of the Body of the Hands, namely that of no more Guardianship, I verily believe that there would be an overnight revolution among the believers in condemnation of the violation of The Will and Testament.

            Here lies the danger in which the Hands of the Faith now find themselves.  Between themselves the majority of the Hands are firm in their intention that there shall never be another Guardian, but this they have not told the Baha'i world.  In other words the majority of the Hands of the Faith are deliberately withholding from the Baha'i public their real intentions.

            One might well ask why all this secrecy?  It is because there is something to hide and that which the majority of the Hands of the Faith are trying to hide from the people in that they have every intention of ending the Guardianship. 

            To have this all come out into the open can be avoided by the Hands by the prompt reestablishment of the hope of the believers in the Guardianship that one trusts would be received by the believers of the Orient without trouble despite their present feelings as opposed to it.

            When the Second Guardian comes forth and is in command and the friends the world around with all working under Him the power of the Faith to accomplish the world cruisade instituted by The First Guardian of the Faith, then the cause of Baha’u’llah united under the infallible guidance of the Administration established by Shoghi Effendi will then take the cause onward from victory to victory.

            The longer that the chair of the Guardianship is vacant the more trouble there will be accumulating that will eventually have to be solved.  Let all the Hands prepare to welcome The Second Guardian!

THIS CALL A DANGEROUS DOCUMENT 

            Until this present time (1960) the Hands have shown their disapproval of the action that this statement urges.  This is understandable that they should take it as they do, understandable to one who understands the workings of violation because they, the Hands, have been so completely immersed in the violation that they are following as not to be able to distinguish between firmness in The Master’s Will and Testament and violation thereof.

            I am taking every possible precaution that this document be kept very secret and confidential between the Hands for this matter of the Guardianship should be settled once and for all positively between the Hands before it gets talked of abroad which there is always danger.  For if the American Baha’is as a whole should realize that the very existence of the Faith is now at stake it would indeed create an agitation in the cause because America is the Cradle of the Administration of the Faith and the strength of the Administration is firmly rooted in the consciousness that envelops them very strongly and to which they will cling.

            The Hands should consider the danger of the position in which they might find themselves were the believers in America to discover some of the things that I treat of in this writ.

            The initial thought of the Persian Hands who banded themselves together in the first conclave against the continuance of the Guardianship has so enveloped and influenced the actions of the Body of Hands that they, the Hands themselves, don’t realize the difference in the way in which the Administration is received in America and on the way in which it is not received in Persia.  Here one finds two diametrically forces working in opposite directions and I can see that the only solution that will save a most serious condition of conflict between the Orient and Occident in the cause of the world around will be for the Hands in the next conclave to resume the hope of the people in the Guardianship as promptly and as quickly as possible.

            Such prompt action in this emergency upon the part of the Hands will stop this conflict that is now coming out into the open in Europe, signs of which are now beginning to appear as I have shown in pioneer communities where the Persian and the Occidental pioneers talk and the western Baha’is are learning of and beginning to realize that the attitude of these Persian Baha’is is for no more Guardianship.

            As I have written, the American people are by their nature unsuspicious.  Up until the present time they have trusted in the guidance of the Hands but when they realize that the Guardianship, the administration of their Faith, is in jeopardy they indeed will be very much upset and will loose this trust.

            When the Hands announce to the Baha'i world the resuming of the Guardianship there will be no revolt among the friends in Persia for they are conditioned to obey authority, and this announcement will bring great confirmation in America because that land is the Cradle of the Administration that is the Guardianship.

            The explosive element that is so dangerous in this written statement of mine is that if it should get out and away from the Hands and have circulation among the believers it would then create a revolution of division in the cause and no one wants that, the Hands least of all.

RESPONSIBILITY  

            When the Beloved Guardian appointed me President of the Baha'i International Council, he placed a certain responsibility upon me and this responsibility I am taking and I don’t intend to relinquish it upon any plea pressed upon me by the Hands of the Faith that I should unmindful of this in order to in unity and inharmony with them for were I to choose to be in unity with the Hands in their violation of The Will and Testament I would indeed be violating the trust that the Beloved Guardian placed in me when he appointed me President of the Baha'i International Council.

            In this position as President of the Council appointed by The Beloved Guardian I am responsible to no one save to the Guardian of the Faith wherever he may be.  Therefore, I am the only person in the world who has the Baha'i authority to halt this program of the Hands to elect an International Council and without the Baha'i International Council functioning there can be no House of Justice.

            This condition of a halt in your program for 1963 cannot be hidden from the Baha'i world in the manner that the knowledge of many of the deliberations of the Hands are kept from them; therefore, when the Hands of the Faith realize their dilemma and of how they are to keep face with the mass of the believers, I anticipate that their alternative will be to quickly solve their embarrassment by announcing their hopes for a Second Guardian of the Faith.

            If I can bring this about then I shall feel that for the moment I have successfully handled this trust The Beloved Guardian gave to me.

MY PERSONAL PROBLEM IN THE CONCLAVES OF THE HANDS OF THE FAITH 

            In my Baha'i Reminiscences I have noted that for the past nine, ten or perhaps eleven years it may have been that I had been mentally confirmed in a dream or vision holding the conviction that the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith would endure against all the opposition that the world might bring against it.  In other words every fiber of my being was assured of this, so sure was I that the very thought of a break in the Guardianship of the Faith had never even occurred to me.

            Even on the morning of the convening of the First Conclave of the Hands of the Faith at the Behje after we had not been able to find any Will or Testament amongst the papers in the desk of The Beloved Guardian in Haifa, even after that when we entered into conclave I had faith that something would come up in the conclave that would in some way produce a Guardian for us.  Thus so convinced was I that in the high emotional atmosphere of the conclave (and the attending confusion of thought of the gathering that was produced by the presentation of the opposing thought insisted upon by the Persian Hands of the Faith) that there should never be another Guardian to follow Shoghi Effendi that was so quickly and promptly supported and urged and passed by the conclave at the insistance of the ten Persian Hands, that I then found myself speechless in the face of this calamitous turn taken by the conclave.

            My feelings were torn.  I felt that I should arise and condemn this turn as a violation of the years of the mission of The Beloved Guardian but then I thought of myself and that in mine own estimation of myself thinking and feeling that of all the two billion and more souls living upon the earth that I myself considered myself to be the very last person of all to speak up and demand that the Hands of the Faith reverse their evident decision of no successor for Shoghi Effendi!  Thus my human thoughts of my own self dominated me and I said nothing because I had it in my consciousness that this defense of the Guardianship should and ought to come from someone other than me!  But no one arose to make this point.  Thus without any opposition this move to violate the established Administration of the Faith dominated the conclave.

            During the year following the first conclave in the conference of the Custodian Hands in The Holy Land I spoke many times telling these friends of our great mistake of the First Conclave, telling them that everything that we were doing and planning to do was all upon the wrong basis and foundation but nothing that I said was heeded, nothing.  These friends’ attitude toward me was that of a kind and loving family indulgence and forebearing toward the babblings of an aged family member in his dotage!  They were always kind to me and forebearing.  When I thought of myself all this was highly amusing but when I thought of the Faith, The Baha'i Religion, it was tragic and I was indignant at the stupidity of the friends.  But then I realized that the evil effects of violation were such as I was there witnessing.  This poison of violation when once started knows no moderation.  It throws every firm one into reverse as it were.  The brilliant become stupid, the firm become wabbly and the strong weak!

            Then came the Second Conclave of the Hands in 1958.  I knew that the key to the carrying on of the World Cruisade could only be successful under the leadership and command of a Guardian to follow Shoghi Effendi and continue the work of Him who had been The First Guardian of our Faith.  But then again personal reticence kept me spellbound, the feeling that someone other than I should arise and take the stand for the restitution of the Guardianship that had been negated and thus violated.  Thus the proceedings of this conclave continued on.

            It was the last day of the conclave that after a struggle my good Baha'i sense got the upper hand of my human conventional thought and manners and I arose and spoke as one Hand of the Faith speaking against the violation of majority of our body.

            While my stand shook the conclave there was no articulate response to my entreaty but the stand had been made by me in that conclave.  My mind and conscience was clear and I continued to hold my stand in the meetings of the Custodians between this second and the third conclaves at which third conclave in 1959 I made it very clear to all that I intended to fight them all, fight single handedly this struggle against this violation of the Guardianship of our Faith.  I took this stand in order to save the Baha'i Faith for the world and I am confirmed in my consciousness of ultimate success.  Someone had to make this stand and the only apology that I have to make to the Hands of the Baha'i Faith for my action is that since no other one of the Hands arose to make this stand I was obliged not only to make it myself as I am explaining here, but as I am explaining in other parts of this writ I find it necessary that I now go even further and assume command myself to combat this situation and crisis in the Baha'i Faith by calling a halt in the preparations that the Hands are making for the establishment of a Universal House of Justice in 1963 preceded by the election and brief functioning for a few months of the Baha'i International Council as a necessary prelude to the House of Justice all of which preparations and promises to the Baha'i world are most falacious and a flagrant violation of the Administration of the Faith that was established by The Beloved Guardian.

            By virtue of the fact that Shoghi Effendi appointed me the President of the Baha'i International Council I am in a position to stop the Hands of the Faith in their plan to elect a new International Council and this I am now doing.  When the Hands of the Faith read this writ they will see that I, the President of the Baha'i International Council command this situation and that by standing solidly and refusing to recognize or to countenance the right of the Hands of the Faith to elect and establish a functioning Baha'i International Council, I thus put to naught their entire plan for 1963 for the Hands have no authority to do this, nor to attempt to create a Universal House of Justice.  These and all other Baha'i Institutions are for the Guardian to inaugurate and are not for the Hands to inaugurate.

            The Hands of the Faith are to be directed by the Guardian and are to assist Him and stand by and with Him in His command of the cause.  The Hands of the Faith have but two fields where they are free to initiate and pursue their special services in the Faith under the direction of the Guardian namely to propogate and to protect the Faith.

THE THREAT OF TROUBLE IN THE FAITH 

            It may have to be the threat of trouble for them that will eventually awaken and force the body of Hands to abandon their present policy of no more Guardianship and to make a right about face and look for the Second Guardian of the Faith who when He appears will end this violation that is the root of all trouble and the Faith will again find itself under the protection of the infalable Guardianship.

            Just how this will all be brought about one cannot foretell.  Should the body of Hands see the problem clearly and with alacrity arise to reinstate the hope of the appearance of the Second Guardian, all will be accomplished with dispatch and with ease for in his own good time the Guardian will come.  But if the Hands refuse to give the believers the hope of a Second Guardian of the Faith then there will indeed be much more trouble that in the end will mount up to such proportions that the Hands will eventually be forced by the condition of the mass of believers to revive the Faith in the Guardianship in order to save the Faith.

            As I explained to the Hands in our last conclave the judgement of the Hands, brought about by this violation, is at hand-the judgement will be precipitated by the mass of the believers when they begin to question for then will come the danger of a split in the Faith.

            This violation has gone along now for so long that many are becoming so conditioned to it that the problem is daily becoming more difficult.  Nothing short of the advent of The Second Guardian will meet this emergency for then both the Hands of the Cause and the believers will have the guidance that they need and must have or the Faith die.

            At and following our last conclave a number of the Hands said that my refusing to endorse their united opinion was causing a division among the Hands that would be bad for the Faith.  My reply to this was that this wasn’t a case of inharmony that required to be passed over and forgotten but that this was a case of violation which ought to be cut out and cast out and in no way harmonized with, no capitulation, no compromise whatsoever.

            This answer will be mine to whatever argument may be brought up to combat my present attitude that is but a restatement of the attitude that I have always had and ever shall have with regards to violation.

THE BAHA'I INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL 

            Some time near or about the year 1950 I found myself travelling among the Baha'i Assemblies in Europe with the plan in mind of continuing my travels south into Africa meeting the Baha’is in different lands and from there on eastward over the Pacific back to my home in the City of Washington.

            But while in Europe came a call from Shoghi Effendi for me to go to The Holy Land so thither I went expecting to make a pilgrimage but of a few days.  Pleased as I was to go to The Beloved Guardian I was astonished and made more pleased yet when not long after my arrival, He told me that from then henseforth Haifa was to be my home.  He had already appointed me a Hand of the Cause and this was not long afterward followed by the Guardian’s appointment of the Baha'i International Council of which He made me the President, thus began my duties at the center of the Administration of the Baha'i Faith.

            I and the other members of the council were individually each under the daily direction of the Guardian Himself.  He would tell us what he wanted done and we would do it, each knowing little or nothing of what the others were doing and never cooperating with them nor consulting with one another since we were each on our several jobs with no two on the same detail where consultation might have been necessary.  The Guardian never assembled us in a meeting nor for any gathering.

            Chiefest among my duties was making for the Guardian sketches, studies and drawings for his building activities here in The Holy Land including drawings for the Temple to be built on Mount Carmel, in Persia, in Kampala, Germany and later Australia.

            Shoghi Effendi had very decided ideas of exactly what he wanted in the way of the architecture of these Baha'i temples.  All he wanted of me was that I put his ideas upon paper in the form of drawings from which building could be done.  In his travels in Europe and particularly in England Shoghi Effendi had acquired photographs of buildings, the decoration and the character of which he admired and wished to have incorporated in and to give the character that he wanted to these  various temple structures.  My job was to get his ideas from him and from such documents as he gave me and from these to put down upon paper making plans and elevations as best I could to suit him.

            But as for organizing the Baha'i International Council as a council, the Guardian never mentioned this to me nor did I ever mention it to him for I was not long in finding out that Shoghi Effendi knew very well what he wanted and my job was to find out what he wanted and then to do it for him and in his way and not to interject any thoughts of mine own.

            From time to time I was taken to task by one of the other members of the International Council Mrs. Collins who urged me to get busy and organize meetings of the council.  To do I don’t know what?  The Guardian hadn’t given me instructions to organize anything nor to do anything at all so my decision was to await orders from him, an attitude on my part that I’ve never had reason to regret although I am still under this mentioned criticism for doing nothing.

            Thus yet so stands the affairs of the Baha'i International Council.  Until the Second Guardian of the Faith orders it, the friends should do nothing about the International Council.

            All save I were worried about what will the Baha'i world think and what will they say regarding my attitude?  But this was not my worry.  It was a worry of others of the Hands.  So that is where the matter stands so far as my stand and position are concerned.

            I was surprised some days after the last conclave closed when Marion Hofman, then staying in Haifa, said to me that she was so glad that the Hands were going to keep me on as President of the Council for that Ruhiyyih Khanum had assured her that they had no intention of replacing me in the election of the council that they had decided upon holding.  Marion evidently expected me to make some observation on being told this piece of Baha'i news.  All I could reply to her was that I didn’t know what the Custodian Hands were planning to do since I was no longer a member of that body.  Because of my promise to you of holding in secret with you all proceedings of the conferences of the Hands, I could not explain anything to her.

            However, here now in this writ, I would again remind the Hands of the Faith that for the moment I do not intend to do anything at all myself about the council.  I do not countenance any measures taken by the Hands with regards to the International Council for I consider as I have stated before, the present program of the Hands of the Faith for 1963 to be in violation of the Administration of the Faith as given in The Will and Testament and as explained and as elucidated to by The Beloved Guardian and that so far as my attitude is concerned I await The Second Guardian of the Faith to direct as to what should be done about the council.

THERE SHALL BE NO VIOLATION OF THE BAHA’I INTERNATION COUNCIL

            For I, Mason Remey, am its President appointed by the Guardian of the Faith and I shall not countenance nor allow the Hands of the Faith nor any individual nor any other group of individuals of the Faith to put aside and out of office those whom the Guardian of the Faith has appointed the members of this council.  No one has this power save a Guardian of the Faith and as we are now in the time of interregnum between the First and as the Second Guardian has not yet come forth from his occultation; therefore no change can be made in the personnel of the International Council until the Guardian be in office to order it.

            Therefore, I, President of the Baha'i International Council, demand that the Hands of the Faith cease propagandizing the Baha'i world with their promises of electing an International Council in order to open the way for themselves to direct the election of a Universal House of Justice of Baha'i.

            Thus has the violation of The Master’s Will and Testament led the body of Hands of the Faith on toward other violations such as usurping the unique power vested in the Guardianship to elect their own International Council and next to be followed by their House of Justice in 1963.

            Therefore, let the Hands of the Faith know that the President of the Baha'i International Council, appointed by The Beloved Guardian Shoghi Effendi, orders them to cease their activities to meddle in the affairs of this council.

            Therefore, let the Hands of the Faith quickly turn from their path of violation and make haste to await the advent of the Second Guardian of the Faith before the Baha'i world becomes aware of this condition of their violation.

OPPOSITION TO THE GUARDIANSHIP 

In this writing I have stated how and when in the First Behje Conclave was started the opposition to the continuation of the Guardianship, then in other parts of this writing of how this opposition gained the support of others of the Hands in addition to the Persian Hands who began it, then finally it received the support of all the Hands except myself.  The last few to give their support were apparently misled into accepting the plan that this opposition to the Guardianship offered to form a substitute infalability that they claimed that the House of Justice would have that they proposed establishing in 1963.

            Now I as President of the International Baha'i Council given this post by The Beloved Guardian will not allow the Hands to tamper in any way with the present quiescent existence of the International Council thus have I the authority to block their programme of 1963.

            Now therefore, the Hands of the Faith are at a stalemate out from which there is but one recourse and that is for the Hands to delay and call off all action until the Second Guardian of the Faith gives to the cause the protection possible for its continuance.

            Why is it thus that the resident Hands in Thy Holy Land don’t want a Second Guardian?  Why is this so?

            It looks to me as if they personally don’t want their easy way of life disturbed by the presence amongst them of a Guardian who would command the cause and very probably curtail their luxuries and prerequisits that they are enjoying during this interregnum that they never had in the days of the Beloved Guardian.

            The Hands of the Faith have been greatly blessed and honored by having been elevated to their position by The Beloved Guardian but along with this blessing is demanded sacrafices that are not demanded of those who have so far been less favored than these appointed Hands; therefore much personal and individual sacrafices is definitely required of them.  When the Hands of the Faith make the sacrafice of their will that there shall not be another Guardian and when they really want in their hearts that there should be Guardianship for the Faith, then they will gladly want to put into this vacant chair the Second Guardian of the Faith.

            In the meanwhile, I as the President of the Baha'i International Council, appointed thereto by The Beloved Guardian, have the power to halt the falacious programs of the Hands to elect an International Council and a House of Justice.

            It was the Guardian of the Faith who made me President of the International Council, therefore I am responsible for the protection of the Faith.  I am not responsible to the Hands of the Faith.  I await the command of the Second Guardian of the Faith to tell the Baha'i world what his wishes are regarding the functioning of the International Council.  I do not take orders from the Hands of the Faith.

AUTHORITY   

            Authority in the Administration of the Baha'i Faith is vested in the Guardianship, the Hands of the Faith having been elevated to their position of Handship by the Guardian are responsible to him whom they should stand next to and support in Baha'i procedure and in obeyance to his orders.  The only prerogative bestowed upon the Hands of the Faith in The Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha is that they propogate and that they protect the Faith.

            As I have shown elsewhere in this writ, it is incumbent upon the Hands that they protect the cause under all conditions from all harm.  The violation of the Guardianship and violation of the Administration are one and the same violation.  This is the case now before the cause.

            It is evident and beyond all doubt that it is the especial duty of the Hands now as at all times to protect the cause from this evil.

            The Beloved Guardian appointed me, Mason Remey President of the Baha'i International Council but while under His Guardianship I had no authority to go ahead with this council, organize it and put it into functioning order, for this lay only in the province of the Guardianship to do.  But my appointment as President of the Council does give me the power to halt the body of the Hands and insist that they leave this matter to the judgement and initiation of the Second Guardian of the Faith.

            In other words I have the authority to hold up this matter to be acted upon by the Guardianship which Guardianship now for the moment is hidden from people and in occultation left thus by our late Beloved Guardian his reasons for which will some day be known to the Baha'i world.  Therefore by my policy of doing nothing with the firm intention of continuing to stand pat and continue to do nothing.  I block the entire falacious program of the Hands to take control of the workings of the Baha'i Faith with its International Council and Universal House of Justice which if it all went through as the Hands have announced to the Baha'i world, the violation of The Will and Testament would indeed then be triumphant in the Baha'i world and this would indeed spell the finish of the Baha'i cause.

            But as the power to stop all this violation was given to me by The Beloved Guardian when he appointed me President of the International Council so I am now exercising that power by not countenancing the authority of the Hands to elect an International Council.  Therefore, I am blocking the Hands in their program to give a Universal House of Justice to the cause in 1963.

            When the people of the Baha'i world begin to wake up to the fact that the Hands have thus been misleading them and whom these people realize the stand that I am taking to cast out from the cause this violation that upholds this annihilation of the Guardianship, the Body of the Hands will indeed be up against a condition from which there is no escape for them whatsoever but to quickly announce to the Baha’is that the Second Guardian of the Faith, when He comes forth with the reins of authority in His hand, will put all things right in the Baha'i Faith.

            I know well that the Hands of the Faith have the best of intentions possible in this matter but as they don’t understand this matter of violation, they are confused and are misled and are unable to see nor comprehend the problem before them.

            With Baha'i affairs in their present state I know of no other plan nor means than this that I am thus outlining to you by which this violation can be cleaned out of the Faith and the way made for the reinstatement of the Guardianship.

            I and I alone am the only one in the world who can engineer this clean up in the cause and I intend to stand and accomplish this, my authority being that The Beloved Guardian gave me this mission to accomplish and the power over all the other Hands of the Faith and other people of the cause to carry it through when he bestowed upon me the Presidency of the Baha'i International Council.  Therefore it is my bond and duty to stand up and right this matter even though my method may seem drastic when I have to force this issue as I am doing.

NO COMPROMISE   

            When I made my stand in the last conclave for the continuation of the Guardianship and I refused to sign my name endorsing the falacies of the present program of the Hands of the Faith, the Hands as a body, took the ground that I would cause a split in the cause the world around and again subsequently after the close of the conclave, several of the Hands came to me individually urging and entreating me not to continue with my refusal to sign my name to the edicts issued by the Body of the Hands telling me of the evils of disunion and inharmony among Baha’is and that all should uphold and with all sincerity relinquish their own personal opinions and without question

relinquish their own ideas and support the ideas of the majority.

            In each of these cases I replied to them that this present problem in our Faith which I had precipitated was not a matter of inharmony and disunity but one of violation that had to be treated of not by coming together in union but by separating and casting out the violation and to isolate it so that it could no longer harm the cause, that as an infection in the body the source or center of the infection had to be removed, cut out and cast out from the body, that to neglect to cast it out was to increase the sickness for when the infection goes beyond a certain point it becomes gangreenous and the sick one dies.

            This matter of violation none of these friends could understand.  They had become so conditioned to the thought that the Guardianship be ended that they just couldn’t see that The Will and Testament was being violated and at the same time with this violation of this covenant that the Master left, His Will and Testament, that they were also violating by putting aside the structure of the Administration of the Faith that The Beloved Guardian had built and constructed upon the foundation given by the Master.

            Noone the Hands but I saw this, therefore I had to arise alone and make this stand in order to save the Baha'i Cause!

            In most of the other cases of violation that have had to be met in the history of the Baha'i Faith there has been a distinct center or nuculeus of this gangrenous infection as it were a central point or figure such as Ahmad Sohrab or Ruth White in the days of The Beloved Guardian or as forced on the cause by Khierella in the days of Abdu’l-Baha.  In these cases, by cutting out these centers of violation with their adherants the cause was saved from this spiritual poison.  As a surgeon cuts out a cancerous growth together with all of its tentacles where the growth had formed, in order that none of the infection remain, so in those mentioned cases of violation both the Master Abdu’l-Baha and the The Beloved Guardian made a clean out, root and branch and a definite separation of these erring people from those who were firm in the Faith.  Abdu’l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi did not bring them together in unity with the firm Baha’is – no, he cut them off absolutely and completely.

            Now our present case in question differs somewhat from these examples that I mention for as yet no definite line up has formed in the Baha'i world for and against this violation of the Guardianship.  This spiritual illness that we suffer at present is as an illness suffused and diffused throughout the body of the Hands, not yet at a point for any cutting off to be done, but at a stage where the violation should be cleared out from the consciousness of the Hands for whom this is accomplished and we find ourselves with the advent of The Second Guardian, again under the infalable Guidance of the Guardianship, all will then be well with the Faith collectively as it will be with us each individually.

            The problem before us is a most serious spiritual sickness and needs to be healed without delays ere it reach proportions that will be more difficult to treat than at present.

            If the Hands of the Faith follow my urgance and at our next conclave restore hope in the Guardianship, the Second Guardian of the Faith on emerging from his occultation will take the command held by The Beloved Guardian and then all will be well and our present dilemma will soon be of the past and forgotten.  But if this action of the Hands of the Faith be delayed, then (time passing rapidly) the outside Baha'i world when they find out that the election of the Baha'i International Council and the Universal House of Justice in 1963 cannot be realized then there will trouble and a plenty of it.  For the people will hold the Hands of the Faith responsible for this condition of having promised and planned a program that they cannot fulfill.  Therefore to save the Faith I urge that the Hands of the Faith change their attitude toward the Second Guardian of the Faith and be prepared to welcome Him.

            I regret very much having to be so drastic and having thus to take a hold of the direction of Baha'i affairs, but since the present plan of action of the Hands of the Faith if continued will wreck the cause, I must take this action even though drastic as it be in order to save the Faith that is so dear to all of us.

CONCLUSION  

All that I treat of in the pages of this appeal to the Hands of the Baha'i Faith is addressed to them and to them only and all in absolute confidence so I have had no reason for leaving anything unsaid save those things that would personally wound these friends.  I have attempted to word my statement without mentioning any names in such manner that in the reading of this writ, those whose actions I criticize will know and understand my object in bringing up these matters.  These pages have all been written during which time I have been with great affection conscious of my great Baha'i love for each and every one herein mentioned whether in praise or in criticism.

            This stand for the Guardianship started as a plea on my part to the Hands to free themselves from the bad and evil influence of the violation of The Will and Testament of the Master Abdu’l-Baha and also from this same bad and evil spirit of the violation of all the structure of Administration that The Beloved Guardian Himself built up upon and around The Will and Testament.  But Alas!  You were all so thoroughly imbued with and under the influence of this violation that no one gave heed to my warning therefore I found it necessary to take command of this situation first to refuse to put my name to the Report of the Last Conclave to the Baha'i World and now to forbid the election of the Baha'i International Council that you propose to create.  Thus I make it impossible for you to take the next step that you plan, namely the formation of the Universal House of Justice that you have promised to the Baha'i world to be in 1963.

            When you study carefully the points that I make and present in this writ, you will see that I do command this situation and that the only thing that you can do about it is to accept and follow the advice that I am giving you, namely at our next conclave of the Hands to rescind your program for 1963, make a stand for the Guardianship, look for the appearance of the Second Guardian of the Faith, and work to bring to a happy conclusion and victory the present Baha'i world cruisade so ardently advocated by our late Beloved Guardian.

            At this present time, 1960, this rectification of the matter of the Guardianship can be accomplished by the Hands as I am here showing you without disturbing the Baha'i world.  To be sure it will be a great surprise to the people of the cause but rather then a source of upset, hope of the inevitable appearance of the Second Guardian of the Faith will be the source of power that will be of tremendous confirmation to the cause that we all love and serve.  Furthermore this continued Guardianship will be the only safe refuge for each of the Hands of the Faith to take refuge therein as their protection against any criticism that may be aimed at them by the believers of the cause in either the occident (in America) or in the Orient (in Persia) for by this action of the Hands of the Faith that I urged them to take, they will “Save Face” with the Baha'i world around.  In fact things are now approaching to such a climax in the cause that this procedure I wish the Hands to take is the only thing that they can now do to save face with the people of the cause and with the world for such action as I here wish to be taken will cause the people to forget about all this violation that has inspired the falacious program of an Universal House of Justice for the cause in 1963 that the Hands as their last stand in favor of the violation have been promising to the people for these past two years.

THE SECOND GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH

There was a reason why The Beloved Guardian appointed me the President of the Baha'i International Council that thus now gives me the power to call a halt upon the condition of violation of The Master’s Will and Testament and by blocking and putting to naught the error that is now being unitedly upheld by the body of the Hands of the Faith, all but me, and of all the Hands I being the only one with the vision to see that the Guardianship must be maintained, supported and carried on.

            There may be to be sure other individual believers who see this matter as I do but I am the only one of the Hands (the nobility of the cause) who sees this and I too am the only one of the Hands to whom The Beloved Guardian has given the power to confront all of the Hands and tell them that I will not allow them to carry out their as yet (unannounced formally) intention of abolishing the Guardianship that they are so persistently pushing that if they succeed will be the end and the finish of the Baha'i Faith in this world.

            As you don’t see this it is therefore necessary that I should actually beat you all into line as I am thus forced to do in order to save the cause.

            Try to consider this matter and try to see the reason why The Beloved Guardian Himself placed the reins of power in my hands over the body of Hands and thus over the believers of all the world by my appointment as President of the Baha'i International Council for in this capacity.  It is I who is now in command of the Baha'i Faith so I am now ordering and compelling the Hands of the Faith to relinquish their way of violation and make themselves ready to welcome the Second Guardian of the Baha'i Faith to take over this command.

            It is not necessary for me to suggest to the Hands who they should expect as successor to Shoghi Effendi in Guardianship?  You should know this without being told by me although I know and I have known for the past eleven or twelve years who the Second Guardian was to be.  There is but one of the Hands of the Faith who is prepared to fill this office of the Second Guardian of the Faith and by now you should all know who he is and knowing who he is you should obey him without his having to tell you because his appointment is clearly written in the appointment and the commands of The Beloved Guardian Shoghi Effendi.

THIS DOCUMENT  

Inasmuch as no minutes nor other records are ever taken of the proceedings of the conclaves of the Hands of the Faith and inasmuch as in the best of consultation and arguements, that oft times border upon dispute together with the emotional strain that accompanies the presentation of thoughts and points of view that are often in opposition one to the other, and inasmuch as under such conditions of conflict of thought and minds of those participating in these conclaves are often at a loss to remember just what was said and who said what, I take this means of putting down by written word the stand for the acceptance of the Guardianship that I have taken in the Behje Conclaves as well as the same in the conferences of the first two years of the Custodian Hands in The Holy Land.  My stand is indeed opposed to the united stand of all of the other twenty six Hands of the Faith and of the believers who trust them.  Thus do I, President of the Baha'i International Council appointed by the First Guardian of the Faith, thus do I stand singly and alone amongst all Baha’is of the world – I, Mason Remey.

DOUBT BREEDS DOUBT – CONVICTION CREATES CONVICTION  

            The present condition of uncertainty in the minds of the believers the world around as to the future of the Guardianship and the Administration of the Baha'i Faith and the fact that the message as given in the days of The Beloved Guardian (when it was believed that the continuance of the Guardianship was an assured institution of the Faith, about which no one had any doubt) can now no longer be given has created a basic state of uncertainty in the minds and in the spiritual assurance of the Baha’is throughout the world.  In the minds of the pioneers and teachers in all places there is the question of what is going to happen to the cause without the Guardian to lead the believers to the spiritual victories promised in The Will and Testament of the Master, and as attested to by The Beloved Guardian Himself?  With such spiritually disquieting questions in their minds, how can the Baha’is assure and confirm others and bring them to the point of certainty in believing in our faith?

            Certainty and confirmation creates certainty and confirmation in the hearts of others.  We can not expect the cause to spread so long as the believers are in this present state of uncertainty as to their Faith for doubt in them can only breed doubt in others.  The Baha'i Faith can not establish belief and convert the world until the believers the world around stand united and are themselves convinced of the truth of that which they are teaching.

            The only way in which this cause can ever sweep the world and accomplish its mission to mankind is for the Hands of the Faith to forsake this falacious program on which they are embarked, abandon it avowedly and completely, and by this move reestablish faith in the Guardianship.  This is the only move that the Hands can now make that will give the believers the world around the conviction and the unity of direction necessary to accomplish the goal of the world cruisade upon which we are embarked.

            Let the Custodian Hands of the Faith in The Holy Land loose no time,  if necessary call an emergency conclave of all the Hands, that they can take this step now at once and then organize to study The Holy Writ hoping and praying to be lead to find the Guardian of the Faith who surely is with us but waiting to be wanted.

AT PRESENT THE BAHA’IS HAVE NO MESSAGE FOR THE WORLD  

            When I left Haifa in 1958 for the Intercontinental Conference of the Faith in Sidney, Australia where I represented the Hands of the Faith I was instructed by the Custodians in Haifa not to allow any discussion of the Guardianship to come up before the congregation.  This instruction I carried out by avoiding and by evading the subject and in my addresses to the gathering there taking my thought back to the days of the Master Abdu’l-Baha when we only knew about the covenant and knew nothing about the Administration under a Guardian.  So upon the covenant I spoke in Sidney yet in my mind I knew perfectly well that now in this day of the Administration of the Faith that such a talk as I gave was not at all the message that the Beloved Guardian taught us to give because to that message of the Covenant of the days of Baha’u’llah and Abdu’l-Baha had been added the message of The Will and Testament which together with that of the covenant formed the message that was then on and from now on ought to be the Baha'i message for the world but which now the Hands of the Faith in The Holy Land forbid mention or discussion of the Guardianship, therefore the believers no longer have the message to give to the world that The Beloved Guardian taught us to give.  The elimination of the Guardianship eliminates the message and if the believers hold to this doctrine there is no hope they can give the world.

            Such confusion of thought and of purpose places uncertainties and doubts in the minds of the Baha'i teachers.  They don’t know what to teach?  Formerly they taught The Will and Testament, now that is out because of no Guardianship.  It so effects their Faith that the Holy Spirit cannot flow through these believers to enlighten those whom they wish to teach with the result that they are not able to confirm new believers in The Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha because they themselves are confused by the contradiction in the present program of teaching brought about by the fact that the Hands of the Faith have violated The Will and Testament.  Therefore, this confusion of thought that produces a lethargic spiritual sickness in the cause is like a cancerous growth that must be removed and cut out before the body Baha'i can again be strong and healthy.

            Violation breeds violation.  It can breed nothing else but its own kind.  When will the Hands of the Faith awaken to this condition that is killing the cause, wounding and paralyzing the heart of the cause?  How can any Baha'i fail to see that the body of the cause cannot live unless it have the heart which is the Guardianship to give it life and force and strength to carry on and minister spiritually to the people of the world?

THE SECOND GUARDIAN OF THE FAITH

            Some of the Hands of the Faith present at the last Behje Conclave (in 1959) may remember my urgance for the continuance of the Guardianship that was met at one point in the proceedings by the question asked of me, who did I propose to be the next Guardian?  It was in reality more of a taunt than a serious question but ignoring the taunt I answered seriously by saying I had no suggestions what so ever to make to the Hands as to this question of who should be the Second Guardian but nevertheless I knew the next Guardian was a reality in the world and that in his own good time would reveal himself to the Baha'i world.

            Under the pressure of your wish that all consultation between the Hands be held in camera I gave you my word not to tell the believers about matters discussed in the conclaves and consultations of the Hands.

CONFIDENTIAL BAHA'I MATTERS  

            It is most difficult for the Hands of the Faith to maintain in secrecy and in confidence their deliberations.  In fact for the most part it seems to be quite impossible for them or for any other people to hide feelings and attitudes.  Even when nothing is said by word of mouth emotional attitudes reveal that which one would never tell in so many words.

            I realize that at this stage the successful outcome of my stand alone against all of the other Hands of the Faith against this violation that I am fighting demands upon my silence before the Baha'i world but within our body of Hands of the Faith I reserve the right to say what I think of their actions for it is my sacred Baha'i duty in as kind a way as possible to say what is in my mind and that is why I am so insistent in trying to show you how The Will and Testament of the Master has been violated and how you, under the spell of this violation, are nullifying the Administration, the fabric of which our Beloved Guardian labored so to erect upon the foundation of The Will and Testament.

            So long as the Baha'i world knows nothing of what is going on in the conferences of the Hands you may think yourselves to be safe from their censure but should through one or more of the Hands the arguement that I make in this document get abroad amongst the believers in America – then the body of the Hands would indeed be in trouble with the believers at large – particularly with those in America for Shoghi Effendi told us that America is the Cradle of the Administration of the Baha'i Faith.

            The case and the sympathy with which the friends in Persia are taking the fiat of “no more Guardianship” will I assure you be met in the Americas with an opposing reaction for America is the Cradle of the Administration (that is the Guardianship nothing more nor less) and in my opinion the American Baha’is are just not going to take this violation of The Will and Testament that you are trying to put over on the Baha'i world!  I feel that I should tell you this.

            I know that you don’t see this at all for such is the way and the manner of violation.  It twists and puts everything into reverse.  It causes people to do and to be just the opposite from what they should do and be.  You can’t help your sick condition.  I know this very well indeed; therefore, some force outside of yourselves is needed to get you out and away from this condition that unless stopped will kill the cause.

            I see troubles ahead for the body of the Hands.  Their embarrassment before the world of the Faith when the people find that there can be no active Baha'i International Council nor no Universal House of Justice until the Guardianship be recognized by the believers the world around.  When the Hands of the Faith find themselves up against this condition in the Faith, then as a last resort in order to save face and save the Faith – then as a last resort they will be obliged to seek refuge in the Guardianship.

VIOLATION PAST AND PRESENT  

            When Mirza Ahmad Sorhab set up his organization of Baha’is of “The New History Society” as he called it, his stand was that he accepted Baha’u’llah’s and Abdu’l-Baha’s teachings but he refused to accept the Guardianship of the Faith as provided for in The Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha.  In other words he accepted everything believed and taught by the autodox Baha’is with the exception of the Guardianship and in order to claim divine authority he reverted to teachings of Baha’u’llah and of The Master Abdu’l-Baha but eliminating the Guardianship as I have already explained.

            This defection of Ahmad Sohrab is clearly seen by and understood by all of the Hands of the Faith but they are blind to the fact that they themselves are defecting from The Will and Testament of the Master upon precisely the same point on which Sohrab defected, namely the Guardianship.  The Hands of the Faith in their Proclamation to the Baha'i World exhorted the friends just as Ahmad did to uphold the teachings of Baha’u’llah and Abdu’l-Baha but they are eliminating (as Sohrab had done before them) the Guardianship of the Faith.  The difference between these two heresies being that Ahmad Sorhab came out point blank denying the Guardianship whereas the Hands of the Faith in their Proclamation have said nothing about their intention, didn’t even mention the word Guardian nor Guardianship but concocted this present organization of the Faith with the nine Custodian Hands of the Faith in The Holy Land, for which there is no authority whatsoever in Baha'i Script nor lore, urging the people to surge forward with the propogation of the Baha'i Faith, just as did Sohrab – minus the Guardianship, in fact going so far as to exhort the believers not to discuss the Guardianship, the heart of the Administration.

            In the days of the Sohrab violation we had The Beloved Guardian with us to protect the Faith but now with this present violation working in our midst the protection that the cause has is vested in me, the President of the International Council.  Therefore I arise to take command of this situation that has been precipitated upon the Baha'i world by the last conclave message to all Baha’is announcing the intention of the Hands to take over the control of the International Council and plans for 1963 all of which are in open violation of The Administration of our Faith and that I, as the President of the Council appointed by The Beloved Guardian, cannot allow.  Therefore I must call a halt in these proceedings which I am authorized to do by the appointment of The Beloved Guardian, in whose appointment and orders we all have perfect confidence and because of my appointment to this key position in the Faith I control this situation and I do so in order to give the Faith the only protection possible against the violation that the Hands of the Faith now attempt to put over.  Therefore for the very life of the Baha'i Faith, it is necessary for me to arise and take the stand against this violation and since there was no one nor ones other than I to take this stand I myself alone have had to arise to meet this situation – Alone, with all others against me, I am confirmed in the hope that now that I have made this stand others of the Hands of the Faith will see and realize this condition and seek to rectify it.  Of the eventual happy outcome of all these vital questions there is no doubt whatever.  I must take this stand of command of the Faith for there upon depends the ousting out of this violation and reestablishing the Administration according to The Will and Testament of the center of the covenant, Abdu’l-Baha.

GODS KINGDOM UPON EARTH 

            The Baha'i Faith is the long promised and anticipated Kingdom of Heaven upon earth.  Its rulership is vested in the Guardianship of the Faith –its nobility the Hands of the Faith elevated to that estate by appointment by the Guardian and lastly the followers, the mass of the believers throughout the world.  Thus this Kingdom upon earth has these three basic elements – The Ruler, those appointed Hands who surrounded him and the great number of adherants who form the mass of the Faith.

            The falacy of the program so evidently foisted upon the Baha’is by the Hands of the Faith during these past two years and more is devoid of Guardianship and is now on the way within a generation to be without the institution of the Hands of the Faith for this present body of Hands will die off and be no more.  With no possibility of renewal (because only the Guardian can create a Hand of the Faith), the cause ere long will be but an indiscriminate mass of people trying to rule and regulate themselves!  Thus the present policy of the Hands of the Faith is to destroy the Kingdom of God on earth and put a political democracy in its place?  Although until now I am the only one of the twenty seven Hands who has arisen to reason thus, surely many believers in America and also in other parts of the world, such as the friends in Germany, will see at a glance that the cause as a triumphant Kingdom cannot continue without the acceptance of the Guardianship, all hope of which and desire for which now seems to have been abandoned by the majority of the Hands of the Faith!

            Since America is the Cradle of the Administration of the Faith, the American Baha’is will I am sure be the first to recognize the imperative necessity of the reestablishment of the Guardianship and without doubt also the first to recognize the Second Guardian Himself when He appears.

            In their falacious planning for the cause by the Hands of the Faith one finds them eliminating the Guardianship. These Hands of the Faith propose that the mass of the Baha’is form an International Assembly which they claim will have the infalability necessary to guide the Faith without regard for the divinely inspired element necessary that only the Guardian can provide.

            It just doesn’t make any sense at all for it is the anthesis of the philosophy and teaching of The Will and Testament, namely these Hands plan the destruction of Abdu’l-Baha’s plan of the Administration of the Kingdom to be replaced by a purely republican or democratic form that has none of the elements of the Kingdom of God necessary to make it a Kingdom, a King and his nobility and his people.

            To be sure the body of Hands have not so far come out frankly and told the believers that they as a majority insist the Guardianship be ended, nevertheless such seems to be their unvoiced intention though not yet definitely proclaimed.  The truth of the matter is that the majority of Hands personally do not want the Guardianship to continue, but this they are not mentioning in any of their statements to the Baha'i world.  This very attitude of their silence upon this matter is indicative of their intent.  I will make further mention of this in this writ.

            During this time of interregnum, that is one of confusion of thought and effort under which the Faith now labors, one falacy makes the way not only for another falacy but then demands falacy after falacy to sustain and justify the falacy that those falacies are attempting to sustain and to maintain.

            Inasmuch as the Custodian Hands of the Faith in The Holy Land, with the exception of myself, were united in agreement with the sentiment of the first conclave that the Guardianship be ended in favor of the anticipated infallibility that they expected in the Universal House of Justice to give that they planned to create in 1963.  In the sending out their letters of information and instructions to various assemblies and individuals throughout the Baha'i world as well as to individual believers, it was decided by majority that all nine of us were to sign these letters under the words “In the Service of The Beloved Guardian of the Faith”.

            To me this savored of the violation of the Administration and of the Guardianship for it was one of those falacies invented to support and reinforce the falacy previously made, that of no more Guardianship advocating in its stead the very remote control of the affairs of the cause by Shoghi Effendi in absencia from His eternal station in the Abha Kingdom thus ending and nullifying the need for Guardianship here upon earth.

            In other words, when once violation starts there is no stopping it.  It is a devastating disease in the body Baha'i.  In these conferences of the Custodian Hands, the Hands were violating by thus considering themselves to be still in the Service of Shoghi Effendi by signing “In the name of the First Guardian of the Faith” (Shoghi Effendi dead and himself in the Abha Realms of existence) where as we of the Faith in this world according to the Administration should now be signing ourselves “In the service of the Second Guardian of the Baha'i Faith” did we know our Guardian.  I could only see the Guardianship and our service to the Guardian as being a function of this world and not of the future Abha Kingdom.  The dilemma of the present crisis of the Faith is that for this time being the Faith is not in contact with the living Guardian because he is unknown to the Hands of the Faith and to the people of the cause and is delaying his coming forth from his occultation in the hope that the Hands of the Cause will want to welcome him when he comes to them.

            Therefore I refused to sign my name as still being in the service of Shoghi Effendi.  Here I and the others of the Custodian Hands found ourselves at an impasse.  Neither side would give in to the other.  I explained at length my stand for the continuation of the Guardianship that they were united against with the result that now  I am no longer one of these nine Custodian Hands of the Faith residing in The Holy Land.

            The problem of the Custodian Hands now is to keep all these doings and happenings a secret from all Baha’is outside of this body of the Hands and we all know how difficult it is for the Baha’is to keep secrets.  All that I myself now can do for the time being is to keep my stand, maintain my promise to the Custodian Hands that I would keep all this a secret from the outside Baha'i world and at the same time keep faith with the Hands of the Faith by expressing to them and to them only exactly what I think about the solution of this Baha'i problem – the Guardianship.

ON BOARD THE S.S. SATURNIA, 31 DECEMBER 1959, BOUND FROM NAPLES TO NEW YORK

            Today is my sixtieth anniversary in the Baha'i Faith.  In looking back over these anniversaries I remember them to have been happy times when I have often gathered together Baha'i friends to mark the occasion.  Today I am alone on this ship with my thoughts going out to my Baha'i friends the world around!

            I awakened this morning feeling indignant – thoroughly indignant – at the attitude of the Hands of the Baha'i Faith toward the Guardianship of the Faith, that they don’t want the Guardianship to continue and that they don’t intend that it continue and that they don’t intend that it continue beyond that of the First Guardian of the Faith, Shoghi Effendi.  This indignation was one because of a principle of the Faith violated, no personal antagonism at all toward any of the Hands who are so unfortunate as to have been thus poisoned and confused by this violation – but on the contrary deep sorrow in my heart for each one of them.

            As I have noted in these writings in this statement, this violation of the Administration was started in the First Behje Conclave by the Persian Hands of the Faith and found sufficient support to carry the body of the Hands those very few who thought otherwise that the Guardianship should be supported and continued were overruled by the majority and whatever may have been their objections in order to maintain unity in supporting the action of the majority of the Hands, thus this great violation took control of the body of the Hands of the Faith and is still through this body in control of the Faith throughout the world, although even the control is falacious since in The Holy Teachings of the Faith, of the Hands of the Faith are given no authority to control anything.

            So far all that I myself have done to counteract this violation has been not to oppose the will of the body of the Hands in anything that I say to the world outside of the meetings of the Hands but to explain and to show the Hands of the Faith where they are wrong and that unless they change from their policy of violation and reinstate the Guardianship that they will kill the cause.  Such is my stand in talks with the Hands of the Faith – all secret and private between us – I assuring them that keep face before the Baha'i world united with them, in the hope that they will see their violation, abandon it and themselves accept the Guardianship before this matter of the violation of The Master’s Will and Testament gets out and be understandly the Baha'i world for when the friends in America (the Cradle of the Administration) realize what the Hands are doing to this Administration, they are going to put such pressure upon the Hands of the Faith that their position of dignity and honor before the world will indeed be in jeopardy if not lost

Completely and this will be bad for the Hands and for the cause too.

            I am telling the Custodian Hands, as I told all of the Hands in the Third Behje Conclave, that I would no longer affix my signature to their decrees of violation of the Administration and the Guardianship and I intend to continue refusing to endorse such violation.

            When I reach America, if any of the Baha'is ask me why my name does not appear in print endorsing these fiats of the Hands I shall say it was because I did not sign my name to this message and this is as far as I shall go for the present – ever hoping that the Hands will change their present policy that I assured the Hands on leaving Haifa that I would not openly oppose before the believers – this for the reason that I have given of not wanting to embarrass the Hands.

            I am hoping that my refusal to endorse the plan of the Hands to put the Baha'i International Council into operation will awaken the Hands to the fact that I as the President of the Council into operation will awaken the Hands to the fact that I as the President of the Council, appointed by The Beloved Guardian, am in command of that situation which command they, the Hands, have no right to question.

            Now for the present I am trusting that this, my forbidding them to tamper with the International Council, will awaken them to the point that they will see their mistaken and falacious propaganda of promising the Baha'i world an elected and an active International Council and a Universal House of Justice in 1963.

            I have the power to stop these works of the Hands of the Faith and thus do I intend to use this power to guard the Faith.

            Should the Hands of the Faith at the next conclave of all of the Hands still persist in these violations of The Will and Testament and of the Administration and of all that The Beloved Guardian built up upon the admonitions of The Will and Testaments, I may have to tell the Hands that I can no longer keep silent about their violation and that I will be obliged to place the entire matter before the Baha'i world in a final attempt that the people of the Faith will then bring sufficient weight (pressure) upon the Hands necessary to change their cause of supporting violation to one back again to The Will and Testament with the Guardianship.

            But as I state – I trust this step will not be necessary for me to take and that rather than have these matters aired throughout the Baha'i world that the Hands will give in and give up their present policy.

            In any event, the Faith must be saved from the present manner in which the Hands of the Faith are administering it and I, as President of the Baha'i International Council, as the only person in all this world who has the power (as the appointed President of that Council by The Beloved Guardian) to command a halt in the mischief that they (the Hands) are doing to the Faith; therefore, I am exercising this command.

            Therefore, come what may I intend to stand firmly in order that the cause of Baha’u’llah be saved to accomplish its mission in the world and all of this pother is supported by a few of the Hands who don’t want the Guardianship to continue because it will disturb their easy life in Haifa, enjoying the good things of this world when they should be making sacrafices for the spread of the Kingdom of God on earth for which Baha’u’llah, Abdu’l-Baha, followed by The Beloved Guardian devoted their lives!

            God knows and I know too that I have no desire at all to stand up thus and literally beat the Hands of the Faith thus forcing them to abandon the falacious program that they have been fathering for these past years and more – all of which is fallacious and is maiming and sickening and killing the Baha'i Faith – but as I am stating to the Hands in this statement, I am the only one to do this job so I am thus taking command of the situation and telling the Hands what they should do to save the Faith, thereby assuming a command tantamount to that of a Guardian of the Faith to be obeyed by all.

AT SEA, 1 JANUARY 1960 

            On board the S.S. Saturnia bound for Naples to New York.  I awakened early this morning with the thought question in my mind. What is to be done to save the Baha'i Faith if the body of the Hands of the Faith continue to stand firmly upon their present ground of unity in their refusal to consider the continuation of the Guardianship?

            I am hoping that when they receive my first written call or appeal to them and after they have read and studied it, they will see their danger and do something about it.  If they remain firm in their violation of the Administration of the Will and Testament, I may then send out to each Hand of the Faith a copy of this my statement in which I demand that they harken to my order to them – I as President of the Baha'i International Council – that they cease meddling with the International Council that having been established by The Beloved Guardian, being under the Guardianship, can only be put into action by a Guardian of the Faith and that as now there is no Guardian as its President, hold that it remain quiescent until the Guardianship be recognized, established and accepted.

            The program (fallacious as it is) upon which the Hands are working to establish their House of Justice in 1963 depends upon their first having an elected and working International Council.  The stopping of their electing a council and getting it working precludes and brings to an end their hopes for 1963.

            I trust that in their dilemma that they will then be facing that they will then capitulate and decide that they want a Guardian and then the Faith will be on the way again of The Will and Testament – the Administration and all will be well.  But if they refuse to obey me as President of the Council they may turn upon me – expel me from their body – then what am I to do to save the Faith?

            This is the thought question that I awakened with this morning.

            To be sure this entire business of the nine Custodian Hands has no Baha'i sanction whatsoever.  It was thought to be a necessity to bridge the interregnum between the First and Second Guardianships of the Baha'i Faith – this interregnum being caused by there being no Will nor Testament of Shoghi Effendi being found – a seemingly legitimate expediency in this emergency for the Hands of the Faith to take over temporarily, until the next Guardian took over the affairs of the cause but not their province to alter and change the entire structure of the Administration as they are doing by starting out to eliminate forever the Guardianship that is the heart of the Administration of the Faith.  While the Beloved Guardian appointed the twenty seven Hands of the Faith commissioning them in a general way to propogate and to protect the Faith beyond this general commission I, Mason Remey as President of the Baha'i International Council, with Mrs. Collins as Vice President and the other members of this council, were the only ones whom The Beloved Guardian appointed to carry on any special works of the Baha'i Faith, and in this one case he merely appointed us and never went beyond that, therefore the council has always been aquiescent body the duties of which have never been assigned or designated so all that there is to do about the activities of the council must await the instructions to be issued by the Second Guardian of the Faith.

            I therefore, as President of the International Council, am holding the affairs of the council in status quo until we have a Guardian to openly direct these affairs.

            My position therefore while it did not allow me to go ahead with the activities of the council in the days of Shoghi Effendi, now gives me the authority not to do anything with or about the council until so commanded by The Second Guardian of the Faith.  Therefore, I have the right that I take now of ordering the Hands of the Faith to quit this interference and await the coming forth of the Second Guardian of the Faith for when He is accepted by the Baha'i world then He will command all things in the Faith – then all will be well.

            I must if possible avoid creating any movement in opposition to the body of Hands, but at the same time I must bring pressures upon that body in order to turn them from their present course in order to save the Faith.

RESPONSIBILITY OF THE HANDS OF THE FAITH 

            In the appointment of the Hands, the elevation of certain of the twenty seven believers to this station of assistants to the Guardian of the Faith, Shoghi Effendi, laid a great responsibility upon them which responsibility is particularly great right now in this interregnum when there is no acknowledged Guardian to direct the Hands.

            Did the Beloved Guardian by look, word or deed ever indicate that any conditions would or could end the Guardianship with HIS Administration as Guardian of the Faith?  Indeed did he ever entertain such a thought?  Upon the contrary, he had in mind the site further along on the curve of the walk beyond where he placed the Archive Building recently completed where the administration buildings of the Faith were to be placed amongst which would in the future be built the residence of the Guardian.  This was not for Shoghi Effendi himself.  He already had his house in which he lived that formerly had been the home of the Master Abdu’l-Baha.  The residence upon Mount Carmel, whether or not he thought of living there himself, was planned for the future Guardians of the Faith.

            But now I again ask why is it that the Hands are now so insistent that the Guardianship end with Shoghi Effendi?  WHY?  Let each of the Hands of the Faith who does not want the Guardianship to continue look into his or her own mind and heart to find out why he or she does not want the Guardianship to continue?

            As I have cited elsewhere in this writ, during the past two and more years of interregnum the Custodian Hands in The Holy Land have settled themselves down and are very comfortably installed in Haifa.  The Second Guardian of the Faith in taking command there will surely alter very fundamentally the present set up of life there and this would indeed enjoin changes and many sacrafices among these present Custodians but can any such personal considerations, that may be unpleasant from the human viewpoint to contemplate, cause a Hand of the Faith not to want the Guardianship to be?  This is a time when we Hands must arise to make sacrafices for it will be thereby only that the cause will flourish.

            Let us think of this matter and consider the mass of the believers throughout the world who are looking toward the Hands for guidance.  Only through the sacrafices of these Hands of the Faith at this moment can they save themselves from themselves.  It is just as necessary that we Hands sacrafice ourselves in order to properly guide the mass of the believers as it is that this mass of believers stand ready to follow and to support the Hands in this emergency but the first move towards this relation between those who lead and those who are led should be that the leaders maintain the morale of this relationship.  This is the meaning of “Noblesse Oublige”.  The position of the Hands demands that they make the sacrafices!  Thus for since the death of Shoghi Effendi the majority of the Hands have not proved themselves to be faithful to the Guardianship.

            In World War II, a nephew of mine served in our Navy on the U.S.S. Yorktown.  She, worsted in battle on the high seas, her Captain commanded all to stand by ready to abandon ship.  My nephew, in command of a company of eighteen sailors, found that there were but eighteen life preservers in his company’s locker where there should have been nineteen.  Where upon he proceeded to distribute these eighteen to his eighteen men and when the order came to abandon ship he, without a life preserver himself led off diving into the Pacific followed by his men each in his life belt.  Fortunately all were rescued after being in the water for more than an hour. 

            By such acts of those in command is the morale of the Navy sustained and maintained.  This morale is very demanding upon the officers in command of men in battle.  Had a naval officer, in such an example as I have cited, taken a life belt for himself and left one of his men without this protection he would indeed have lost the confidence of his men, the confidence necessary to sustain and maintain naval morale in battle.  So it is in the spiritual battle of the Baha'i Faith!

            How much more necessary is “Nobless Oublige” required of those of us in the Baha'i Faith to whom the mass of the believers the world around are looking for guidance in our present emergency?  How dare the Hands violate The Will and Testament as they are doing?

            At present the people of our Faith the world around are like an army of soldiers who suddenly finding themselves without a commander may soon begin to question and wonder what is going to happen to their Kingdom, for without a commander-in-chief how can their army protect their Kingdom?  Why don’t the Hands of the Faith institute a search through the world for The Second Guardian who is somewhere waiting for the Hands to want Him before He disclosed Himself?

            What will the Baha'i world think and what will they say when they realize that among the Hands of the Faith there are those who want the Guardianship abolished?

THE TWO SUPPORTS OF THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE 

            The Guardianship on one side and the International Assembly upon the other side are the two supports of the Universal House of Justice as explained by the Beloved Guardian and accepted by all of the believers.

            The Universal House of Justice can only function in its infalability when it has these two supports – the International Assembly alone without the Guardianship cannot be the Universal House of Justice.  In other words, the elected International Assembly that is the voice of the mass of the people of the Faith and is chosen by them is alone and by itself not endowed with infalability!

            This I have explained many times in the conferences of the Custodian Hands in Haifa as well as to the body of the Hands in both the second and third conclaves but apparently all to no effect. They holding that the International Assembly chosen by the mass of the people of the Faith is in itself to be infalable without the Guardianship that they hold now to be non-existent.

            How any one of normal mental capacity can reason thus is a mystery to me.  At no time when I have discussed this with any of the Hands of the Faith did this reasoning of mine make any impression upon anyone of them.  They all persisted in their assertion that without a Guardian the Hands had the right to call for the election of an International Assembly in 1963 and when convened this assembly would be the Universal House of Justice the decisions of which assembly would have infallibility. 

            This lack of logic and reasoning not only makes no sense but is positively pernicious.  Such is the result of this violation of the Administration of our Faith.  It is like a disease that the body of the Hands brought upon themselves when they forsook the Guardianship at their first conclave since which their efforts have been concentrated on preaching and teaching this atrocious doctrine of their plans for 1963 to the believers in all parts of the world.

            Personally I marvel that the Baha’is in the occident have not arisen “en masse” to rebel against such leadership that is actually spreading violation whereas the Hands of the Faith are commissioned to protect the Faith from violation!

            When will the Hands of the Faith want and seek for The Second Guardian who alone can free them and the cause from this spiritual disease that is spreading the spiritual blindness the world around?  When??

THE FALLACY OF A UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE IN 1963 

            Although I sat in the conclave at the time, I don’t remember how the idea started amongst the Hands that they were empowered to establish a Universal House of Justice.  But inspired by the violation of The Will and Testament, when started this falacy immediately took the fancy of the great majority and was passed upon to be proclaimed through the Baha’is as the solution of the present Baha'i problem that perplex the Baha'i world.

            To this matter my arguement has been and is that the creating and organizing of the Universal House of Justice is a matter that only a Guardian of the Faith can accomplish and therefore it does not fall within the province of the Hands to undertake.  There are two major supports upon which the functioning of the Universal House of Justice rests, the Guardianship representing the divine infalability of the Faith and the International Assembly to be elected democratically by the believers.

            Under the present condition of the Faith without a Guardian, the Universal House of Justice that the Hands propose inaugurating can in no manner create this infalable element of this first support of a Universal House of Justice.  The formation of the second support since this has no element of infalability and is a human democratic institution proclaiming the voice of the people this second support will be very easy to be elected by the people themselves when the Guardian of the Faith will come forth and tell them so to do but not before He commands it.  Therefore the impossibility of having a Universal House of Justice until there first be a Guardian for without a Guardian to act as its president, there can be no Universal House of Justice.

            The intensive manner in which the Custodian Hands are reiterating in their message to the Baha'i world promising them in all falaciousness that their House of Justice in 1963 will have the infalability necessary to guide the Baha'i Faith to spiritual victories is the greatest sign in the present time of the violation of the Master’s Will and Testament.  Indeed so flagrant is this that I marvel that there has not yet been sporadic uprisings and demonstrations among the believers the world around against such nonsensical pap as is now being thus handed out to them.  I see troubles in the offing that can only be met and avoided by a complete reversal of the entire modus operendi of the Hands of the Faith, since the convening of their first conclave at Behje, where violation made its first appearance.  The heart of the Administration, the Guardianship itself, has thus been violated.

            The Hands of the Faith are working assiduously making frantic efforts to justify themselves in all these matters lest they loose face before the Baha'i world.  They are indeed in great danger of loosing face.  It will be better for them to have to acknowledge to themselves in secret conclave that they have been for these two years and more on the wrong track.  Held within the four walls of the next conclave such recognition will be far less bitter and not so humiliating to the cause as to have all this matter come out openly to be talked over and discussed and God knows what (?) by the Baha'is the world around!

            Therefore before matters become worse than they are now (and they are very bad now and daily becoming worse) let the Hands of the Faith in conclave convening as soon as possible unitedly save the Faith by seeking the only protection that will save it, namely The Second Guardian to pull the cause out of its present dilemma and solve all of our difficulties that all may surge ahead under the direction of a Guardian and at this late date complete the world cruisade started and urged by the First Guardian of the Faith, the Beloved Guardian. To seek for The Second Guardian, is the action that the Hands should now take.  Christ said seek and ye shall find.

THE PERILS OF THOSE IN HIGH ESTATE 

            You the Hands of the Baha'i Faith looked up to by all the Baha'i world have had obligations placed upon you proportionate with this blessing bestowed upon you by The Beloved Guardian.  Obligations of such a nature as yours require that you make sacrafices commensurable with the divine bounty that has been your portion, for such are the requirements, to prove yourselves worthy of the blessings that have been bestowed upon you.

            The beginning of our present time of peril was in the First Behje Conclave when the stand was taken to violate The Will and Testament, eliminating the Guardianship of the Faith and concocting the plan of the majority that is now being preached to the Baha’is of the world to have a guardianless government, a Kingdom of God without a King doing away with the very foundation of all the work of The Beloved Guardian that must needs end only in confusion and in other and further deviation from the basic principles of the Baha'i Faith.

            The peril to the cause is such that the only thing for the Baha’is to do is to seek for The Second Guardian who is waiting to be wanted by the believers before coming forth to lead the believers.  But alas the Hands do not want him!

            In other words, I am protecting the Hands of the Faith by thus shielding you in your violation against your rejection by the believers of the Faith should these believers find out, know and realize your violation of the Administration.  I cannot hold much longer this protection that I am thus giving you.  All that I can hope for is to hold out this protection to the Hands long enough for you to change your attitude toward the Guardianship, renounce your program for 1963, and announce this to the Baha'i world assuring them that you uphold The Master’s Will and Testament that means that you still believe in the Guardianship but that you just don’t know how it is to be continued.

            When you do as I tell you to do you will then be in the position of firmness in the Baha'i Faith in which you will be protected from making these mistakes, that now so becloud your vision and confuse your mind and bewilder and put to test the Baha’is the world around.

            I assure you that I am doing everything I can to make it in the end as easy as possible for you.

            I am the protector of the Faith and my first concern at this time is the protection of the Hands of the Cause, to guard them from the possibility of any criticism past, present  or future, visited upon them by the Baha'i world.  Therefore, Hands of the Faith, follow me and do as I tell you to do!

DANGER THAT THE BAHA'I WORLD LOOSE CONFIDENCE IN THE HANDS OF THE FAITH 

            Were this hazard not uppermost in my mind I might have been included to remain silent and let this violation of The Will and Testament run along as it is going, trusting that in some way or another the Hands of the Faith would have this matter brought to a head when like a gangreneous condition in an ill human body would reach a crisis that would require a major surgical operation to remove.

            I, President of the International Council, have the power to stop their formation of an elected council and I intend to stop it by refusing to recognize their right to do this in order to save the Baha'i Faith.  Without an elected International Council functioning as prelude to the House of Justice there can not be a House of Justice!

            Therefore in order to avoid such an acute crisis in Baha'i affairs that would involve the entire Baha'i world, I am adding this Second Statement to my First Statement to the Hands hoping to awaken them to the danger of allowing the present condition to run along any longer. 

            Therefore, now I bring to bear the power that I have to force this and to compel the Hands to give up their present falacious program of attempting to elect an International Council and a House of Justice.

            I realize the jar and shakeup that this decision of mine will precipitate in the body of Hands, but better have it within that body where you can confine it among the Hands then have it within that body than have a split in the cause the world around!

            Therefore, the present necessity of keeping the contents of these “Statements” (Appeals) from me to you in absolute confidence in order that you Hands of the Faith can quickly clear this violation out from the body of Hands before it attains further credence in the  world and becomes more difficult to meet.  But if the Hands delayand delay to urge the believers to prayerfully look for and await with hope a Guardian, matters will become worse and their problems more difficult.  It is to save the Hands of the Faith from the criticism of the Baha'i world that I urge them so fervently to seek to recognize the Second Guardian as quickly as possible and to save them from further troubles.

THE WILL AND TESTAMENT MUST STAND 

            How dare the Hands of the Faith presume to violate The Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha?  Do away with the Administration that is the Guardianship???

            The answer to this is that the spirit of violation enters quietly but when once in possession of the body it dares do anything to gain its end-the while the body more and more controlled by the violation, is helpless.

            So it is now with the body of the Hands of the Baha'i Faith.  They are controlled by this violation of The Will and Testament – the violation of the Administration of the cause and the violation of the Guardianship – therefore, they are helpless to help themselves.

            Salvation of the body of Hands and that of the Baha'i Faith must come from without the body of their present unity that supports this violation.  No one save The Second Guardian can accomplish this.

            The Beloved Guardian in addition to having elevated me, Mason Remey, to Handship in the Faith also made me the President of the Baha'i International Council thus placing in my hands the power to call a halt to the program of the body of Hands to create an International Council as their first step toward instituting a House of Justice that they declare will have infalable power over the Baha'i cause, thus they calculated to enforce their violation upon the entire Baha'i Faith as it already controls them.

            But here I step into the picture to block this violation by maintaining my position as President of the Baha'i International Council reminding them that The Beloved Guardian Himself appointed me to this position of authority over them and I am now telling them that I will maintain this authority and will not allow them to hold any election to form the International Council thus is frustrated their plan for creating a House of Justice!

            In other words, I of all the believers in the Baha'i Faith hold the key to this situation by having the power in my hands to bring the Hands of the Faith out from under their violation that controls them.  I guard the Faith!

            This is why I am taking this stand against the violation of the Guardianship and this is why I am trying to cast out this evil spirit that is so dominating the Body of the Hands of the Faith for it is only by my taking this stand that the Faith of El Baha can be saved.

            Now at this juncture in this time of interregnum of no Guardianship, the next step is that the Hands of the Faith is to seek the Second Guardian of the Baha'i Faith.  This as I have explained in this call is not only within their province to do, but is a “Must” for them to do now at this time.  They are commanded to protect the Faith and the only way in which they can accomplish this in this emergency is that they seek the protection of The Second Guardian of the Faith.

            I forbid any and all Baha’is to give support to the program of the Hands of the Faith for 1963.

STATEMENT

BY

MASON REMEY

GUARDIAN

OF THE BAHA'I FAITH

            At the first Behje Conclave, the Hands of the Cause took over the management of the affairs of the Baha'i Faith.  This was followed by their repudiation of the Administration – Guardianship of the Faith.  This violation of the Guardianship, that is the heart of the Administration of the Baha'i Faith, is condemned by the Second Guardian of the Faith and all who follow this violation of the Baha'i Faith are pronounced by him to be violators of the Faith for thus by this action have they severed themselves from the Baha'i Religious Faith.

            One of the first actions of these violating Hands of the Cause in this first conclave was to decree that no recorded or written records be taken of things transpiring in their conclaves.  At the same time by a universally passed resolution, all were to hold in secret everything that transpired in those conclaves.

            The Second Guardian of the Faith, then in occultation, in the capacity of a Hand of the Cause and President of the Baha'i International Council, sat with the Hands in this Guardianship was being perpetrated, but hoping to rectify this condition through friendly  argument and pacific methods he agreed with the others, to keep in strict secret with them from the Baha'i world, all things that passed between the Hands of the Faith in their conclaves and conferences.  For he hoped to be able to show them their errors and thus save them from their violation of the Faith.

            Thus two and a half years or thereabouts of time passed, the while he was telling the Hands of their violation and begging them to reconsider their stand against the Guardianship - - but all to fail in the end in this endeavor.

            Through his forbearance, the Second Guardian of the Faith kept this pact of secrecy with the Hands of the Cause as long as it was possible to keep it, hoping that they would have a change of heart, cast aside their violations of the Faith and welcome the advent of the Second Guardian of the Faith.  But when He, the Second Guardian of the Faith, found that the violations of the Hands were at the point of causing irreparable damage to the Baha'i Faith – then he had to break with the Hands of the Faith.  It was then necessary for him to make his advent as Guardian of the Faith in order to save the Faith.

            Therefore when He announced to the Baha'i World, Ridvan 117 B.E., that The Beloved First Guardian of the Faith had during his lifetime appointed him, Mason Remey, the Second Guardian of the Faith, he – for the preservation of the Faith – broke all connections with the violating Hands of the Faith and now for the safety of the Faith, he is telling and explaining to the Baha'i world the things that the Hands of the Faith have been perpetrating against the Faith; namely their attempt to do away with the Administrative-Guardianship of the Faith, the foundation of which was given to the First Guardian of the Faith, and to the Baha'i world in the will and testament of Abdu’l-Baha upon which foundation Shoghi Effendi inaugurated the Administration that the Hands of the Cause are violating.

ANNOUNCEMENT

            This volume is one of a series of treatises- - of nine or ten or more in all- -each of which is printed in a very small edition of but fifteen copies.  These writings are not intended for general circulation at this present time (1960 A.D.), but have been prepared especially to be placed in a few important libraries at home and abroad.  They consequently will be available to readers and will be preserved for future generations as a record of conditions that exist now and things that are at hand and taking place among the followers of the Baha’i World Faith- -the Universal World Religious Movement that of recent years has been spreading in many of the countries of the world but that now, at this time, is threatened by internal forces of disruption, the causes for which are shown and discussed in this series of theses.  This volume contains one of these several arguments and is written, arranged, and bound in this form personally by the present “Second Guardian” as Head of the Baha’i World Faith, and who, at present, is living in the city of Washington in America in voluntary and temporary exile from his home upon Mount Carmel in the Holy Land.

            The libraries at home and abroad where these volumes can shortly be found are registered upon the accompanying listing.  In order to facilitate their indexing in these several libraries, the Library catalogue cards are accompanying each volume now being sent forth by- -

                                                                                                         Mason Remey,

                            Guardian       

                                                                                                        of the Baha'i Faith

From P.O. Box 418

Washington 4, D.C., U.S.A.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

            The transportation of these volumes from Washington, D.C. to the foreign libraries listed has been gratuitously undertaken by the International Exchange Service of the Smithsonian Institution of Washington, D.C.  For this favor, the author and donor of these volumes here expresses his sincere appreciation.

The Libraries:

            Bibliothèque Royale   - - Bruxelles, Belgium

The Library of the

            Free University of Berlin - - Berlin-Dahlem, Germany

            Library of the British Museum  - -  London, England

            The Bodleian Library   - -  Oxford, England

            Bibliothèque Nationale  - -  Paris, France

            State Archives and Library   - -   Hakirya, Jerusalem

                                                             Israel

            Library of the United Nations   - -   Geneva, Switzerland

            Public Library of

New South Wales    - -   Sydney, Australia

In the United States of America these treatises will

be found in:

The Library of Congress   - -   Washington, D.C.

The New York City Public

Library at 42^nd Street and Fifth Avenue    - - New York

            and in libraries in a few other cities.