Baha'i Proclamation to the Government of Israel by Charles Mason Remey, Second Baha'i Guardian
Baha'i
Proclamation
to
The Government
of
Israel
NOTIFICATION
OF THE APPOINTMENT OF
MASON REMEY
GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH
BY
THE LATE GUARDIAN OF THE FAITH
HIS EMINENCE SHOGHI EFFENDI RABBANI
SENT TO
THE GOVERNMENT OF ISRAEL
THROUGH
THE PRESIDENT OF ISRAEL
AND
THE MINISTRY OF RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL
FROM WASHINGTON D.C.
U.S.A.
15 MAY 1960
EXPLANATION
The problems and affairs of the many sects of the several religions of the people of Israel is of such importance in the life of that country that the Israeli Government has created a Ministry of Religious Affairs of Israel to adjust and to regulate many religious problems that arise in that land.
Israel is The Holy Land of the several religious bodies that make up its inhabitants; Jewish, Christian Moslem and Baha'i, the Druses and perhaps others. There is a religious freedom in that land but there are many problems that are to be judicially solved and administered. It is to the Ministry of the Religious Affairs of Israel that I have addressed the following letters that they may know of the appointment of The Second Guardianship of the Baha'i Faith to follow that of the Guardianship of the First Guardian of the Faith.
When the Hands of the Faith took over the affairs of Shoghi Effendi very shortly after his death in November 1956, the Israeli Government allowed them to arrange their own Baha'i affairs as they, the Hands, saw fit. That is, the Government did not take any stand with or against any one – they allowed the Baha'is to make their own decisions, but neither did the Israeli Government take any responsibility themselves. That is, they did not agree to stand by the Hands of the Faith in their decisions. In fact they, the Government, did not agree to uphold or to give protection to any rights that the Hands of the Faith might claim for themselves. The Government simply allowed the Hands of the Faith to take over the management and the direction of Baha'i affairs.
The very large Baha'i properties upon Mount Carmel and at Behje upon the Plain of Acre were considered as belonging to The Baha'i Faith, were religious properties and that they were always to remain as such and were beyond the possibility of being taken over by any individual or individuals of the Faith, but in addition to these lands with their buildings, shrines and other structures sacred to the Baha'is, there were large sums of money that belonged to the Faith but that had been held in the personal name of The First Guardian of the Faith as his own property.
It was arranged that these moneys should be turned over to The Hands of the Faith to administer and to expend for whatever they chose – presumably for the Faith.
Thus the matter still stands. The Israeli Government allows all this but has never committed itself nor vouchsafed to continue to allow the Hands of the Faith to thus administer these moneys.
While I am not a lawyer I have an idea that the Baha'is now under the present Second Guardianship of the Faith, have a very clearly defined legal case against the Hands of the Faith in the tenure and in the administration of these moneys as well as the lands of the Cause.
The case of the appointment of The Second Guardian of the Faith by The First Guardian of the Faith and during his life time upon earth is a very clear case indeed and one that legal minds of jurors would recognize and respect.
To be sure, Shoghi Effendi did not come out in a written Will and Testament (as did Abdu’l-Baha in the case of Shoghi Effendi) and mention me, Mason Remey, as his heir to the Guardianship and the moral recipient outright of all that he possessed in his own name – properties, lands and moneys etc. but Shoghi Effendi did appoint me President of the embryonic Universal House of Justice of the Baha'i Faith. This was a most explicit appointment and one that would be recognized beyond a doubt by court action. There is no other person to contend this because Shoghi Effendi never appointed any other man to any position in the Faith of any description whatsoever; therefore there can be no other man to claim this Guardianship.
According to the Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha, this appointment must be made by The Guardian during his lifetime. This, Shoghi Effendi did and there is no one contesting for this.
Now the Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha that is the foundation of the law and order of the Administration of the Baha'i Faith sate that the President of the Universal House of Justice is the Guardian of the Faith and can never be anyone but the Guardian of the Faith therefore when the Beloved First Guardian appointed me President of the embryonic Universal House of Justice of the Faith, destined to be the President of the Universal House of Justice of the Baha'i Faith which could be none other than the Guardian of the Faith. Therefore no one other than I could be the Second Guardian of the Faith.
A court would see this point very clearly and beyond a doubt.
But all these legal matters need not give us immediate concern now, when the spiritual problems of the present moment need to be met with and righted. The very first concern of the people of the Baha'i Faith now is that they should study the Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha and study the Administration that the Beloved Guardian built upon the foundation of the Will and Testament for by such study will the believers understand that the present danger to the Baha'i Faith is that the Hands of the Faith are now attempting to substitute their plans for 1965 so not as to have the operation of the Guardianship of the Faith any longer.
The Hands of the Faith falaciously hold that they can create an infallible guidance for the Faith sans Guardianship!
This falacious doctrine at this moment, June 2, 1960, has all but universally swayed the assemblies the world around. Like a mass disease or plague it has swept through the Baha'i world with the intent to destroy the faith in the Will and Testament and in the Administration as established by Shoghi Effendi.
Therefore for the time being the firm Baha'is should one and all seek refuge in the Will and Testament and in the Administration established by Shoghi Effendi under the Second Guardianship of the Faith. This is the need of this hour in early June 1960.
Let all arise to this call of their Second Guardian to carry on the works and methods as established by Shoghi Effendi. As we remain firm in this intention this great plague of violation of the Faith by the Hands of the Cause will pass and then we will be able to minister spiritually to these sick and ill souls and place the Faith in safety according to the Will and Testament.
In these letters to the officials of the Government of Israel, I have made no requests. All I wished to do was to register in the consciousness of these several gentlemen the fact that there is now a Guardian Head of the Baha'i Faith from whom they will be hearing from later on when he has been able to bring Baha'i law and order among the people of the Faith and again under the Guardianship of the Faith with which form of Baha'i Government they were well acquainted before and prior to the present confusion of the reign of the Hands of the Faith.
With the President of Israel and Mrs. Ben Zvi I have had a very pleasant personal acquaintance for several years.
With the Minister of Religious Affairs, the Rev Doctor Shapira, who has not held that office long, I have but a slight acquaintance.
With Dr. Colby of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, I have a pleasant but casual acquaintance. He is the official of this Ministry who is the contact, as it were, with and for the Baha'is.
With Dr. Chaim Vardi I have held a delightful friendship since our first meeting in Italy in 1925 when he was a student in Florence and acquainted with some of the Baha'is there. He is now engaged in legal work in the Ministry of Religious Affairs in Jerusalem.
No one questions the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith as to why or how he conducts and directs the Faith. The all important admonition given to us in the Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha is that we obey him whether we understand him or not or whether we like it or not. Why he appointed me, Mason Remey, the Second Guardian of the Faith, in this special, particular or even peculiar way, if one so thinks it to be, is a matter for us (myself encluded) to accept. In my own personal case, he may have had to do this as he did because of my own immaturity. I may have had to be awakened and prepared by degrees to even hear his call and to arise to the responsibilities of Guardianship. It was so supreme a mission to be performed that at first and for some time it seemed to me to be the most impossible thing that one could imagine. At first I rejected the very thought. I didn’t want it at all. I was indeed terrified and all but refused to harken to the cal. Thus for twelve years or thereabouts, I was being prepared, taught, and made mentally ready for that to which the Beloved Guardian had appointed for me. And I dare think that there may have been others too who required time and development to accept that which the Beloved Guardian had in store for them. In any event, we can now see that there must have been some good reason for this interregnum between the First and Second Guardians of the Faith.
I understand that when Baha’u’llah appointed the Master Abdu’l-Baha, his greatest branch, the Center of the Covenant, the authorized interpreter of his teachings, the one who should follow him taking the Faith far and wide – that all this responsibility that eventually devolved upon the Master – as the one great central figure in the Faith of his day – that all this was not contained in one tablet or Holy utterance of Baha’u’llah, but that it was revealed in different tablets and as these were all taken and studied by the believers, together with things and conditions that awakened them spiritually so that gradually the believers because more and more conscious of the vast mission of Abdu’l-Baha and the spiritual power that went forth from him. In other words, they, the people, had to grow up in order to know him. Therefore, this realization of the centralship of the covenant was a process of a series of awakenings – thus the believers of those days grew up to that to which Abdu’l-Baha called them.
MASON REMEY GUARDIAN
of the Baha'i Faith
WASHINGTON D.C.
U.S. OF AMERICA
15 May 1960
TO: The Honorable President of Israel
Doctor Ben Zvi
17 Alharizi Street
Jerusalem, Israel
My Dear Mr. President:
I write to inform you of my appointment as the Second Guardian Head of the Baha'i Faith that was made by the First Guardian of the Faith, His Late Eminence Shoghi Effendi Rabbani, several years prior to his death in November 1956. This appointment I have but recently announced to the people of the Baha'i Faith by Proclamation-Announcement I send you with this letter, enclosing also a copy of a letter that I am writing to Dr. Shapira, your Minister of the Religious Affairs of Israel, in which the matter of my Guardianship of the Baha'i Faith and its present problems is further explained.
I hope, Mr. President, that this letter will find you and Mme. Ben-Zvi both in good health and fortune. I recall so pleasantly your kind courtesy to me in the past when I was President of the Baha'i International Council in Israel.
Most Sincerely Yours,
MASON REMEY GUARDIAN
of The Baha'i Faith
In temporary voluntary exile
from my home in Israel at
Washington 4, D.C.
U.S. Of America
P.O. Box 418
WASHINGTON D.C.
U.S. OF AMERICA
15 May 1960
To: The Reverend Dr. M. Shapira,
Minister of Religious Affairs,
King George Street
Jerusalem, Israel
My Dear Sir:
I am the Guardian Head of the Baha'i World Faith, the administrative center of which for some years has been in Haifa, in Israel.
I was appointed to this important position in this religious faith by His Eminence, the late Shoghi Effendi Rabbani, the First Guardian of the Baha'i Faith which appointment he made some time before his death that happened in London in November 1957. It is but very recently that I have announced this appointment to the people of the Baha'i Faith which I made by a Proclamation to the Baha'i World, a copy of which Proclamation I send to you with this letter in order that you be informed that I, Mason Remey, a citizen of The United States of America (I who has spent the last ten winters in Haifa as the President of the Baha'i International Council) am now the Head of this religion as the Second Guardian of the Faith, the successor to and the heir to the holdings of the former Guardian Head of the Faith, Shoghi Effendi Rabbani, who was the First of the line of Guardian Heads of this Faith.
In my turn, according to the rules of Baha'i procedure, I will appoint my successor who will eventually at my death become the Third Guardian of the Baha'i Faith.
At this present moment the group of nine Baha'i Hands of the Faith residing in Haifa who were appointed by the majority of all the Hands of the Faith in a conclave held in Israel in November 1957 to regulate the affairs of the Baha'i Letter to The Reverend Dr. M. Shapira, dated 15 May 1960, Continued Faith, are in opposition to my appointment as Guardian of the Faith by the First Guardian of the Faith. This condition of these Baha'i affairs brings up problems that can only be solved by the people of the Baha'i Faith themselves, so these matters I will not attempt to elucidate in this present letter to you, The Minister of Religious Affairs in Israel.
I am writing this letter and sending you the accompanying Proclamation merely in order that you be informed of my Guardianship of the Baha'i Faith that until very recently was not known even to the Baha'i World, all of which is explained in the accompanying Proclamation.
May I express to you, Sir, my own personal deep appreciation of the kind and just treatment that the Government of Israel, through its officers, that has always been accorded and meeted out to the people of the Baha'i Faith in Israel which land I consider to be my Baha'i home, to which I shall return to live as soon as my voluntary exile from Israel is ended which time will depend upon the settlement of questions that now exist amongst the people of the Baha'i Faith.
With the best of wishes to you and to the people of the Land of Israel, I am
Very Faithfully Yours,
MASON REMEY GUARDIAN
of The Baha'i Faith
In temporary voluntary exile from Israel
at Washington 4, D.C.
U.S. of America
P.O. Box 418
WASHINGTON D.C.
U.S. OF AMERICA
15 May 1960
TO: Dr. Colby
The Ministry of Religious Affairs of Israel
Jerusalem, Israel
Dear Dr. Colby:
The enclosed Proclamation to the people of the Baha'i world together with the copy of my letter to The Minister of the Religious Affairs of Israel of the same date as this letter to you, will explain to you my present Guardianship as Guardian Head of The Baha'i Faith.
As I have stated to your Minister of Religious Affairs, I have nothing to ask at present from the Government of Israel upon half of the Baha'is of the world. This letter with its enclosures is merely to inform you of my Guardianship of the Baha'i Faith.
With kind personal regards to you, I am
Faithfully yours,
MASON REMEY GUARDIAN
of The Baha'i Faith
In temporary voluntary exile from Israel
at Washington D.C. 4
U.S. of America
P.O. Box 418
Zone 4
WASHINGTON D.C.
U.S.A.
15 MAY 1960
TO: Dr. Chaim Vardi
c/o Ministry of Religious Affairs of Israel
Jerusalem, Israel
Chaim, My Dear Friend:
It has been a long time since you last heard from me. Much water has passed under the bridge between us since our last meeting, but I have ever been conscious of my love for you and the friendship that has existed between us these many years - now 35 years – since our first association in Florence in 1925.
The enclosed copy of my Proclamation to the Baha'i World, with the copy of my letter to the Minister of the Religious Affairs of Israel, will tell you something about my appointment as the Guardian Head of the Baha'i Faith and some of the present problems of this position that I face and that I anticipate (when solved) will eventually take me back to Israel to my home in Haifa.
I hope this letter will find you and your wife and family well in health and prospering in all ways and I trust for the time when we will meet again.
Always affectionately and faithfully yours,
MASON R. GUARDIAN
of The Baha'i Faith
in temporary exile from Israel
in Washington D.C., U.S.A.
where my address is P.O. Box 418
zone 4
Should you ever be coming to America one of these days, please let me know.
PROCLAMATION
TO THE BAHA’IS OF THE WORLD
THROUGH
THE ANNUAL CONVENTION
OF
THE BAHA’IS OF
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
ASSEMBLED AT
WILMETTE, ILLINOIS
RIDVAN 117 BAHA'I ERA
FROM
MASON REMEY
SECOND GUARDIAN
OF
THE BAHA'I FAITH
Washington, D.C.
United States of America
Ridvan 117
BAHA'I ERA
BELOVED FRIENDS:
Believers have questioned me as to my status as President of the Baha'i International Council, appointed by The Beloved Guardian Shoghi Effendi, the First Guardian of the Baha'i Faith. I take the means of this proclamation, to the coming annual national convention to tell all Baha'is exactly what my position and status is in the Faith.
The Baha'i people the world around know that The Beloved Guardian singled me, Mason Remey, out from amongst all of the Believers upon earth to occupy the position of President of the Baha'i International Council. This is the only position suggestive of authority that Shoghi Effendi ever bestowed upon anyone, the only special and specific appointment of authority to any man ever made by him.
The Beloved Guardian declared the Baha'i International Council to be the forerunner of and the first step toward the establishment of The Universal House of Justice, and furthermore, that the Baha'i International Council was the embrio of The Universal House of Justice which embrio would eventually develop into The Universal House of Justice.
Although all Baha'is know that I, Mason Remey, am the President of the Baha'i International Council by the appointment of The Beloved Guardian Shoghi Effendi, yet many of you may not know me personally. I have been living at Haifa much of the time during these past ten years. My visits to America being in the summers when I have done but little travelling among the Baha'i communities so personally I may be a stranger to the many recently registered in the Faith. Therefore, I will tell you something about myself.
My forebearers were early American Colonials of New England in the north and Virginia in the south. I was brought up in the Christian Faith as taught by the Episcopal
Church. The members of this church, as you know, although always orthodox may be anything from Catholic upon one hand to Protestant on the other. While this church is usually classed as Protestant, its Prayer Book proclaims it to be “The Holy Catholic Apostolic Church.” My inheritance was from the Catholic interpretation of Christianity rather than from the Protestant attitude.
To the average American, The Catholic Church usually means Roman Catholic, but there are other Catholic communions. In The Holy Land, that is now my home and has been for these past ten years, the Ministry of Religions of Israel lists eleven different Catholic communions in that country – Roman, Anglican, Russian, Armenian, Greek, Greek Orthodox, Coptic, etc. The Anglican Catholic Persuasion corresponding to the so called High Episcopal Church in America.
With this Catholic background it was the most logical and natural thing in the world for me to accept the Baha'i message without question as I did when I heard it in
1899-1900 from May Ellis Bolles (later Mrs. Sutherland Maxwell), because the Holy Catholic Apostolic Church teaches the Second Coming of Christ – The Christ to come manifesting as the Lord of Creation – the Prince of Peace – coming to establish “His Kingdom upon Earth as it is in Heaven.”
From New England on the north and Virginia on the south, my forebears came into the middlewest where I was born in 1874 at a town on the Mississippi River, two hundred and ten miles from Chicago, not far distant from the geographic center of the United States, this land that our Beloved Guardian has called “The Cradle of the Administration of the Baha'i Faith.” Thus do I introduce myself to those of you who may know me but by name only.
As I travel about through the Baha'i world, the friends ask me many questions about the life of the believers in Israel, and in particular about the Hands of the Faith in The Holy Land? The Baha'i people are just curious to know about things transpiring there and of how the problems of the Faith are being handled?
There is some general information that I can give them that is in no way confidential but I am not mentioning anything of a confidential nature to any Baha'i because as is well known in Baha'i circles from the first of the conclave of the Hands the majority of the Hands of the Faith were united in the opinion that absolutely nothing said or done in these conclaves be divulged, disclosed or revealed to any of the Baha'is outside of the body of the twenty seven Hands. However, each Hand of the Faith is not only allowed but urged to express herself or himself with perfect freedom within the four walls of the chamber in which the Hands are gathered. It is the duty enjoined upon each of the Hands to express her or his own convictions to the Hands when seated in conclave.*
I, as the President of the International Council was one of those things that every Baha'i knows but that just never happened to be talked about nor even mentioned in any of the conclaves or in the conferences of the Hands of the Faith; therefore, as this subject was never mentioned, I, having promised the Hands never to divulge any of their discussions, proceedings or decisions, am not breaking faith with International Council a subject that was never even mentioned nor brought up for discussion by the Hands of the
Faith in any conference that I ever attended or know anything about.
Before going into the subject of my Presidency of the International Council and the stand that I take in the cause and explain in this letter, I would preface my statement by giving in a few words a picture of the set up of things in Haifa under the regime of The Beloved Guardian when all the members of the International Council including the resident Hands lived there and served the Guardian daily. Each of us council members were given instructions by Shoghi Effendi of what he wanted us to do and we reported to him as these various services were underway and completed. The sole authority of all these operations rested in the instructions given to each direct from the Guardian himself, thus as a council, a functioning body, we never undertook any services of any nature whatsoever.
*A Conclave, according to the Oxford Dictionary, is “Any meeting for secret consultation.”
After the appointment of the International Council, many times one of the members would come to me saying, “Mason, you are the President of the Council, get yourself busy, call a meeting, you are the President of the Council, you should take the initiative to organize this body and do something.” To which my response was always, “The Guardian of the Faith appointed the Baha'i International Council and He will tell me what I should do and when I should call the Council into action.”
The First Guardian of the Faith left this world without giving me any orders or instructions whatsoever regarding the International Council. The Beloved Guardian gave me no authority to do anything about the Universal Council during his lifetime for while He was living He was the Guardian of the Faith and as infallibility then was vested in him only, my position was then only that of I myself holding a potential responsibility. But with the death of Shoghi Effendi, He no longer being the center upon earth of infallibility, I became the acting President of the International Council in my own right as President of this body, thus I came into active command of the council. Therefore I am now assuming the powers that came to me automatically upon the death of Shoghi Effendi and that have been mine exclusively of all others upon earth since the death of the First Guardian of the Faith.
This is the authority I am now exercising when I refuse to recognize any interference from anyone in the affairs of the International Council. This means from any
one at all, person or persons.
The Hands of the Faith can only function as protectors of the Faith when they are serving under the direction following the commands of the infallible Guardian of the Faith. They have no authority vested in themselves as Hands of the Faith to act in their own capacity nor in any other capacity, save under the directions of the living Guardian of the Faith.
The Beloved Guardian chose me to be the President of the Baha'i International Council that is according to his explanation the President of the Embrionic Universal House of Justice. Therefore I am the President of the Embrionic Universal House of Justice. When this August body becomes the Universal House of Justice, if such being during my lifetime, I will then be the President of the First Universal House of Justic of the Baha'i Dispensation.
Therefore, inasmuch as The Beloved Guardian in His Infallibility has thus placed
me in command of the Faith to protect and to guard the Faith, I can do nothing but
assume my place that he has given me with all of the responsibilities, the perquisites and emoluments that go with this position, therefore by his infallible orders I now alone after him command the cause and guard its integrity.
The delay until now of my calling the attention of the believers to the provisions for the protection and the guarding of the cause, made some years ago by our Beloved Guardian when He appointed me to be the President of the Baha'i International Council, has given the Hands of the Faith and the believers of the Faith ample time to discover for themselves, had that been possible for them to have discovered my unique position in the Faith. But until now no one, other than I, has discovered that such authority was vested in me by Our Beloved Guardian. To the moment of my sending out into the Baha'i world of this proclamation, I have taken no one into this confidence – I have stood single and alone in all the world guarding the Faith.
That I was to occupy this August position in The Baha'i Faith that the Beloved Guardian has chosen me to occupy, I have definitely known for the past twelve years
more or less, without ever mentioning it to anyone until very recently when privately and in secret, I made this declaration to the Hands of the Faith in the Holy Land. In this proclamation statement to you I am now declaring my position of command in the cause to the Believers here in America, “The Cradle of the Administration of The Baha'i Faith,” and through this convention to all the Baha'i World.
In this time of confusion of thought and purpose that so threatens the Baha'i world, now is the propitious moment for me to make the announcement that I do in this writ. I cannot delay any longer. All these plans of the Hands of the Faith for 1963 that are so absorbing and confusing to the people of the Faith must be dropped and stopped immediately. I am the only one who can command this situation so I have arisen to do so for I alone in all this world have been given the authority and the power to accomplish this.
Be it understood. I of myself make no claims for myself. I am but telling and reminding the Hands of the Faith and the Baha'is of all the world of the responsibilities
that The Beloved Guardian placed upon me as President of the Baha'i International Council.
It is well known throughout the Baha'i world and accepted by all Baha'is that the protection of the Faith and the propagation of the Faith are special and particular functions of the Hands of the Faith, they working and serving under the direction of the Guardian of the Faith. It is from and through the Guardianship that infallibility is vested and that the Hands of the Faith receive their orders.
The Program for 1960 as announced by the Hands of the Faith in their message to the Baha'i world of November 4, 1959 signed by twenty two of the Hands, as well as the same program announced in their former messages, so flagrantly violate and puts to naught the Will and Testament, the Guardianship, and the Administration of the Faith that the Beloved Guardian so laboriously and painstakingly built up during his long
ministry, that I can no longer condone such actions upon the part of the Hands of the Faith. I have remained silent now for over two years hoping that they would give up this destructive propagandizing but all to no effect so now it is necessary that I call a halt upon their activities.
I now command the Hands of the Faith to stop all of their preparations for 1963 and furthermore I command all believers both as individual Baha'is and as assemblies of Baha'is to immediately cease cooperating with and giving support to this falacious program for 1963.
I have delayed as long as I dare delay before issuing this command to the Baha'i world – I, hoping that the Hands of the Faith would see for themselves that the will and testament of Abdu-L-Baha was being violated and that they would of themselves abandon their stand. I, standing single and alone against the entire Baha’s world but confirmed and steadfast in my assurance of ultimately saving the cause from this calamity. My assurance is based upon the authority that The Beloved Guardian gave me as President of the Council, the authority enabling me to act and assume command of the Baha'is that came to me at His death.
It is meet right and timely that I should make this announcement in this convention of Baha'is of America which land the Beloved Guardian called the “Cradle of the Administration.” I make this call here and now standing single and alone before you but fully confident of your support and cooperation in all Baha'i matters for you understand the Administration of the Faith and that I guard it from all violation and harm.
Because the Beloved Guardian called America the Cradle of the Baha'i Administration, the American Baha'is have a very special and particular responsibility to which I am calling them now at this particular time.
I expect the friends in this convention to consider with prayer and with thought this declaration to the entire Baha'i world. I expect them to accept me without question as their Commander-in-Chief in all Baha'i matters and to follow me so long as I live for I am the Guardian of the Faith – the Infallible Guardian of the Baha'i Faith.
The line of the Guardianship of the Baha'i Faith is unbroken for I have been the Guardian of the Faith since the death of the Beloved Guardian Shoghi Effendi.
* * * * * * * * *
At their earliest convenience the National Assembly of the United States should communicate with me so that I can arrange to receive them. Since they are the first amongst the National Assemblies to be called into spiritual action by me their responsibilities are very great for I am calling this American National Assembly first from all other National Assemblies of the world to support me in my command of the Baha'i Cause.
Dearly Beloved Friends, seated in convention in the land of the Cradle of the Administration of the Faith, this is all that I have to tell you now at this time.
With much love to you.
Faithfully In El Abha,
MASON R., GUARDIAN
OF THE BAHA'I FAITH
CHARLES MASON
of Washington, D.C., and Burlington, Iowa
Charles Mason, the third and youngest son of Chauncey Mason and his wife Esther Dodge, was born in Pompey, Onondaga County, New York, October 24, 1804. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point at the head of the class in 1829 in which class were noted officers, who later fought on both sides in the War between the States; among them was General Robert E. Lee. Two years later Charles Mason resigned from the Army, studied law, travelled and prospected in the western states, and eventually settled in Burlington, Iowa. In 1839 he was appointed First Chief Justice of the Territory of Iowa, which office he held until his resignation in 1847. From 1853 to 1867 he was United States Commissioner of Patents at Washington. During his tenure of office he became the first head of a government department in Washington to give regular office employment to a woman, when he chose Miss Clara Barton to be his official secretary, contending that if a woman’s work equaled that of a man she should have a man’s pay. Thus he established a precedent now providing positions for thousands of women.
man she should have a man’s pay. Thus he established a precedent now providing positions for thousands of women.
To the founding and development of law and order in Iowa Charles Mason devoted much time and energy. As the inscription on the tablet to his memory in the Old State House at Iowa City testifies, he was a ‘Pioneer in establishing Law in the Territory of Iowa’ and ‘Principal Architect of the First Code of Laws of Iowa.’
The last twenty years of his life were spent largely in the study and promotion of questions of public welfare, upon which he lectured and wrote much for publication. He was among the pioneer advocates of temperance in the United States. Some of his articles thereon are incorporated in the series of his diaries, now preserved in the Historical Department of the State of Iowa. He travelled widely in this country and abroad, dividing his time principally between Burlington, Iowa, in the summer and the City of Washington, where he usually spent the winter. He died at his home at Burlington on February 25, 1882, survived by his daughter, Mary Josephine Mason Remey, the wife of George Collier Remey (later Rear-Admiral), United States Navy.
Rear-Admiral
GEORGE COLLIER REMEY
United States Navy
(Taken for the most part from Who’s Who
in America)
George Collier Remey was born in Burlington, Iowa, August 10th, 1841, the second son of William Butler Remey (of the line of the French Huguenot refugee Jacob Remy, who landed in Virginia in 1654) and his wife Eliza Smith Howland (of the line of the Mayflower Pilgrim Father John Howland). He entered the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1855 and graduated as one of the five honour men of the class of 1859. He married Mary Josephine Mason, daughter of Chief Justice Charles Mason, of Iowa, and his wife Angelica Gear, on July 8th, 1879. He was appointed Midshipman
June 9, 1859, and promoted through grades to Rear-Admiral, November 22, 1989, and was retired August 10, 1903. He served on the U.S.S. Hartford, East India Squadron, 1859-61; and saw Civil War service on the U.S.S. Marblehead, on the N. and S. Atlantic Blockading Squadron, 1862-63; on the U.S.S. Canandaigua, 1863; participated in siege of Yorktown; engagement with Confederates at White House Landing Pamunky River, June 29, 1862; engagements with batteries on Sullivan Island, S.C.; engagement of Battery Wagner, August 17, 1863; commanded naval battery on Morris Island, August 23-September 8, 1863, bombardments of Forte Sumter and Gregg; commanded a division of boats in night attack on Fort Sumter, September 8, 1863, and was taken prisoner; spent thirteen months in Columbia Jail and Libby Prison, and was exchanged as a prisoner of war, November 15, 1864. He served on the U.S.S. Mohongo, 1865-67; at the U.S. Naval Academy, 1867-69; on the U.S.S. Sabine, 1869-70; on an expedition to Tehuantepec, 1870-71; at the U.S. Naval Observatory at Washington, D.C., 1871-72; on the U.S.S. Worcester, 1872-78; in the Bureau of Yards and Docks, 1874-76; he commanded the U.S.S. Enterprise, 1877-78; was torpedo instructor at the U.S. War College at Newport, Rhode Island, 1878; on duty in the Bureau of Yards and Docks, 1879-81; was attached to
the U.S.S. Flagshig Lancaster, 1881-83; stationed at the Navy Yard, Washington, 1884-86; Captain of the Navy Yard at Norfolk, Va., 1886-89; commanded the U.S.S. Charleston, 1889-92; Captain of the Navy Yard, Portsmouth, N.H., 1892-95; member Naval Examining and Retiring Boards, 1895-96; commanded the Navy Yard, Portsmouth, N.H., 1896-98, 1898-1900; commanded the Base of Naval Operations at Key West, Fla., 1898, during war with Spain; and was Commander-in-Chief of the Asiatic Squadrons, 1900-1902, during the Philippine Insurrection and the Boxer War in China. In 1902 he was appointed Chairman of the Lighthouse Board, which post he held until his retirement in 1908. Rear-Admiral Remey was for several years the oldest officer of the Navy and the ranking officer retired. After his retirement Admiral and Mrs. Remey spent their winters in Washington, D.C., and their summers in Newport, R.I. He died in Washington, D.C., February 10, 1928, survived by his wife and five children. Named in his honor was the destroyer the U.S.S. Remey, that had a distinguished record on the Pacific in World War II.
CHARLES MASON REMEY
(Taken mostly from Who’s Who in America.)
Charles Mason Remey, ‘Architecte diplomé par le Gouvernement Français’ author and lecturer, was born in Burlington, Iowa, May 15, 1874, the eldest son of Rear-Admiral George Collier Remey, U.S.N., and his wife Mary Josephine Mason (daughter of Charles Mason, Chief Justice of Iowa). Student Norfolk Academy, Norfolk, Virginia,
1886-1889; Columbian Preparatory School and Columbian College, Washington, D.C., 1889-1892; Cornell University, 1893-1896; École des Beaux Arts, Paris, 1896-1903; travelled widely in Europe and the Orient; married in 1931 to Gertrude Heim Klemm, who died in 1932. Instructor in Architecture, 1906-1908; assistant Professor of Architecture, 1908-1910, at the George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Made a special study of oriental architecture; lecture tour around the world in the interests of the Baha'i Faith Temple to be built upon Mount Carmel and the Baha'i Temple at Teheran, Iran. Patron in perpetuity, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. Author of several works upon the Baha'i teaching for universal religion; Travel in the Orient; Baha'i Temples; Architectural Compositions in the Indian Style of Architecture; A Nonagonal Temple; The National Church, etc. Founder and organizer of the movement to build the National Church and Shrine of the United States of America in the city of Washington to carry out General Washington’s intention of erecting there at the National Capital a nonsectarian and nondenominational shrine for national purposes, such as public prayer, thanksgiving, funeral orations, etc. Member of the Cosmos and Chevy Chase Clubs of Washington and a Companion of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion
of the U.S.A.
WASHINGTON D.C.
U.S.A.
31 July 1960
Dr. Colby
Ministry of Religions
Jerusalem, Israel
Dear Dr. Colby:
Inasmuch as you are the official contact between the Institution of the Baha'i Faith in Israel and the Ministry of Religious Affairs in Israel, I recently wrote to you enclosing for your information a copy of my Proclamation to the Baha'i world explaining my appointment (I, Mason Remey, of the United States of North America) as the Second Guardian or Head of the Baha'i Faith to follow in turn the First Guardian of the Faith, His Eminence Shoghi Effendi Rabbani, deceased in November 1957 – I appointed by him according to Baha'i law and procedure during his lifetime to follow him as the Second Guardian of the Faith.
At present this appointment is being questioned by the Baha’is residing in The Holy Land, all of which you are doubtless aware of through your contact with the Baha’is resident in Haifa. In all probability it will require legal court action to officially establish my Guardianship of this Faith, this to be taken later on when the time is ripe for such action. Such questions and matters as this will then be settled within the world body of Baha’is. I do not ask for or do I wish any help or influence from without our Faith to help us solve our administrative problems such as this one that now presents itself.
Therefore this letter to you, like my former communication proclaiming my appointment according to all Baha'i authodox procedure, was sent to you as explained merely to inform you of this matter that is of much vital import to the Baha'i Faith of the present as it now is and of the future that is yet to be.
In order that you, the contact of the Administration of the Baha'i Faith with the Ministry of Religious Affairs in Israel, may be cognizant of these present administrative problems of this Faith, I will from time to time send you copies of my Encyclical letters to the Baha'is in all parts of the world. I do not expect you to acknowledge these communications, nevertheless I will send these to you in order that you be informed of that which is transpiring in The Baha'i Faith in parts of the world other than in Israel.
I, as the Head of the Baha'i Faith, am most appreciative of the many kindnesses extended by the Government of Israel to the Baha'i Faith as a religious institution.
With the best of wishes to you, I am
Sincerely yours,
MASON REMEY, The Second Guardian
of The Baha'i Faith
I
ENCYCLICAL
LETTER
TO
THE BAHA'I WORLD
FROM
MASON REMEY
GUARDIAN
OF THE BAHA'I FAITH
TO THE BAHA'I WORLD
THIS IS THE FIRST OF A SERIES OF ENCYCLICAL LETTERS
FROM MASON REMEY, THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH
Sent Forth From Washington, D.C., U.S.A.
Dear Friends of the Faith:
In my Proclamation to the Baha'i World – Ridvan 117 of this Baha'i Era – I announced to the Baha'i world that the Beloved Guardian of the Faith, Shoghi Effendi, had in his own life time appointed me to follow him in the Guardianship of the Faith as the Second Guardian of the Baha'i Cause, and that I have been the Guardian of the Faith (and had stood alone guarding the Faith) since the death of the First Guardian of the Faith.
In answer to any questions that may arise amongst the believers as to why Shoghi Effendi had thus chosen me, an American Baha'i, to fill this office of Guardian of the Faith appointed me to my present office in the Faith – appointed me during this life time as Guardian of the Faith. No believer should question this infallible appointment!
This I explained in my recent Proclamation declaring that I, Mason Remey, made no claims upon mine own behalf but that I was merely telling the Baha'i world what might have been evident to them had they realized that there had been no break in the Guardianship of the Faith between the First and Second Guardians of the Cause; for inasmuch as my appointment was during the life time of Shoghi Effendi, automatically at his death I was the Second Guardian of the Faith!
Therefore, in view of these facts there should be no question as to the legitimacy of my Guardianship since the Beloved Guardian Shoghi Effendi accomplished this appointment all in accordance with the Will and Testament of the Master Abdu’l-Baha.
Let all Baha'is study the Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha that each can understand for himself and for herself the manner in which the Beloved Guardian built up and developed the Administration of the Faith, built up the Administration upon the directions that were contained in the Will and Testament of the Master Abdu’l-Baha.
The Administration of the Faith, that is inseparable from the Guardianship of the Faith, is now under the attack of the violating Hands of the Faith. This is the present issue that the Baha'i world faces! It is the question of the violation and the putting aside and to naught of the Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha and also of all that the Beloved Guardian Shoghi Effendi accomplished during his long ministry as the First Guardian of the Faith.
All Baha'is understand that the Guardian of the Faith is to be the President of the Universal House of Justice and that the Universal House of Justice cannot exist without coexistence of the Guardianship. He who is President of the Universal House of Justice is the Guardian of the Faith for he who is the Guardian of the Faith is President of the Universal House of Justice. These two offices are one and the same. Therefore, when the Beloved Guardian Shoghi Effendi appointed me President of the Baha'i International Council, that he explained was the forerunner of the Universal House of Justice that was the Embrionic Universal House of Justice that would eventually develop into the Universal House of Justice. I or one of my successors in Guardianship would be President of the divinely instituted infallible body, the Universal House of Justice; therefore the Guardianship of the Baha'i Faith and the Presidency of the Universal House of Justice are one and the same position in the Faith.
According to this manner of reasoning did the Beloved Guardian appoint me to be his successor as President to be of the Universal House of Justice and the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith.
Now the Baha'i Faith faces the opposition of the Hands of the Faith who in violation of the Will and Testament of the Master Abdu’l-Baha and of the Administration of the Faith built up upon this Sacred Document by the Beloved Guardian, (this organization of the Hands of the Faith that has no authority whatsoever according to Holy Baha'i Writ – no authority to exist), would put an end for all time to the divine office of the Guardianship of the Faith!
This is the problem that the cause faces now at this time, the problem of violation of the Guardianship of the Faith.
During the years of the mission of and the administration of Baha'i affairs by our late Beloved Guardian Shoghi Effendi there have been but few cases of violation of the Faith – such as, for example, the Ahmad Sohrab defection known as the New History Society and one or two others. These were promptly settled by the Guardian, by the cutting off from the believers and from the cause of his orders these violators.
But now this present well organized violation so far endorsed by all of the Hands of the Faith in their last message to the Baha'i world of November 1959, signed by twenty two of the Hands of the Faith (all that were present) with the exception of myself who refused to sign, threatens the existence of the Faith throughout the entire world.
Therefore, for the protection of the Faith it is necessary that the believers review and re-study the teachings of the Master Abdu’l-Baha about “Violation” and the manner in which this should be met by the people of the Faith.
In the Master’s last message to the Baha'is in this country – a cablegram sent through Roy Wilhelm in New York to me and to another believer (Mrs. Parsons) in Washington – were the words, “He who sits with leper contracts leprosy.” In many of the Master’s other teachings he pronounces “Violation” to be a spiritually infectious plague – a disease destructive to the spiritual life of the soul of man.
I urge all believers to read and to study the Master’s teaching upon “Violation” that they will thus be able to reinforce and protect themselves and the cause against this menace.
Knowledge of the revealed teachings of the Faith will guide the people of the cause to protect the Faith from all such spiritually disintegrating diseases. The believers should study these teachings and thus prepare themselves to avoid these destructive forces of “Violation”.
In order to protect our Faith I, the Guardian of the Cause, order the believers to have nothing whatsoever to do with those who are violating the Administration of the Baha'i Faith. The faithful believers should do what they can to explain this to those who waveringly follow these violators thus to bring them back into the Faith that they are violating, but if people persist in their violation the faithful believers should leave them to themselves – not associate nor fraternize with them. Nor should they in any way give cooperation or support of any description to these violators – this means no cooperation at all with them – the faithful friends should not contribute any money to the activities of these violators nor in any other way countenance any of the activities of this violation.
At this present time Ruhiyyih Khanum is traveling throughout the Baha'i centers in America upholding, preaching and teaching this violation of the Faith – the Administration of the Faith as established by the Beloved Guardian and the ending of the Guardianship!
She is the arch-violator of the violators of this present testing time of the believers. The people of the Faith should not give audience to her, for her determination is to destroy the administration and the Guardianship. The Master Abdu’l-Baha told us that the very breath as a violator is infectious and as a spiritual poison to the Faith! Every believer should study his words.
What more is it possible for me your Guardian to say to you in order to arouse all to protect the Faith?
Faithfully in El Abha
MASON R. GUARDIAN
of the Baha'i Faith
II
ENCYCLICAL
LETTER
TO
THE BAHA'I WORLD
FROM
MASON REMEY
GUARDIAN
OF THE BAHA'I FAITH
TO THE BAHA'I WORLD
THIS IS THE SECOND OF THE SERIES OF ENCYCICAL LETTERS
FROM MASON REMEY, THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH
Sent Forth From Washington 4, D.C. U.S.A.
P.O. Box 418
BELOVED BAHA'I FRIENDS:
After receiving and reading my Proclamation to the Baha'i world, announcing my appointment as The Second Guardian of the Baha'i Faith as made by The Beloved First Guardian of the Baha'i Faith during his lifetime, almost the entire Baha'i world, it would seem, endorsed the violation of the Hands of the Faith in their repudiation of the most important act of The Beloved Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, in thus fulfilling that which he was commanded to do in the Will and Testament of the Blessed Master ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: namely, during his lifetime as First Guardian of the Faith, to appoint his successor, the Second Guardian of the Faith. This he accomplished, as directed in the Will and Testament, when he appointed me, Mason Remey, as his successor in command of the Baha'i Faith.
Although my appointment was veiled at the time, when as his first step he appointed me President of the Baha'i International Council, later on The Beloved Guardian very explicitly explained (still veiled, but clearly explained when all of his statements were taken together with the instructions in the Master’s Will and Testament) his appointment of me as his successor. It is very clear and concise and not to be misunderstood.
Shoghi Effendi’s pronouncement first appointed me President of the International Council, saying that this was his first step toward the establishment of the Universal House of Justice. His next explanation was that the Baha'i International Council, under my Presidency, was the embryonic Universal House of Justice that would develop into the Universal House of Justice. Consequently, when this embryonic House of Justice becomes the fully developed House of Justice, I, Mason Remey, would find myself to be the President of the full functioning Universal House of Justice of the Baha'i world.
As explained in the Will and Testament, the Guardian of the Faith is to be the President of the Universal House of Justice; therefore, he who is President of the Universal House of Justice can be none other personage than the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith.
This is indeed a clear and understandable statement of my appointment by The Beloved Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, as the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith, so this same President of this same living embryonic Universal House of Justice can be none other than the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith.
Thus did Shoghi Effendi indicate to the Baha'i world that I, Mason Remey, was to be his successor in the Guardianship of the Faith!
When the Hands of the Faith in the Holy Land come out, as they are doing in these days, condemning me for telling the Baha'is that I am their Guardian, they are in reality condemning and violating the Beloved Guardian of the Faith, Shoghi Effendi Himself. It was he who made the pronouncement: President of the embryonic Universal House of Justice that would develop into the Universal House of Justice –this embryonic Universal House of Justice in reality actually being The Universal House of Justice –that could only exist with The Guardian of the Faith as its President, which is no other person than I, Mason Remey, Guardian of the Baha'i Faith, thus appointed to this supreme position in the Cause by The First Guardian of the Faith during his lifetime and to take office as Second Guardian of the Faith upon his (Shoghi Effendi’s) death; all is according to the Will and Testament of The Blessed Master ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
What manner of appointment of The Second Guardian of the Faith could be more clear and understandable that this?
Therefore, when the Hands of the Faith condemn me for telling the Baha'i world of this appointment and accuse me of attempting to usurp the Guardianship of the Faith, they are in reality denying that which The Beloved Guardian Shoghi Effendi himself, wrought; for it was he who thus appointed me to be his successor. It was all accomplished by him. I have never made any claims at all for myself. According to the Will and Testament, such was not my role as The Second Guardian of the Faith to perform. The Guardians of the Faith do not appoint themselves, for they are appointed – each Guardian by his predecessor. Thus did Shoghi Effendi appoint me during his lifetime as the Guardian to follow him. My Proclamation to the world was merely the announcement to all Baha'is of that which Shoghi Effendi had done when he appointed me to be his successor, which I have been ever since his death in England in November, 1957.
Now why Shoghi Effendi made my appointment of Guardianship in the particular way in which he did, I do not know. Nor is it admissible or permissible for any Baha'i to inquire about or attempt to understand, because none of the Faith would question this which was done by the Beloved Guardian of the Faith.
Therefore, the fact that the Hands of the Faith now do question and condemn me for announcing my Guardianship to the Baha'i world, this very action of theirs is in violation to that which The Beloved Guardian did and performed, thus showing and clearly demonstrating to all the Baha'i world their own violation as the Hands of the Faith when they condemn the action of the Beloved Guardian and seek to nullify that which he performed.
This matter of violation, treated of so thoroughly in the teachings of The Master ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and acted upon for the protection of the Faith by The First Guardian of the Faith, is not generally understood by many of the believers in these days. Otherwise, the people of the Faith would not be so misled as they are by these violating Hands of the Faith, who, like all violators in the history of the Cause, have been bent upon the destruction of the Faith, as they are now upon the way to do; should they succeed in doing this and should the Guardianship end, as they are striving that it should; the Baha'i Faith would indeed be ended, for without the Guardianship—that is the heart and the soul of the Faith – the Faith must die.
But we of the Baha'i Faith have all assurance that in this great day of God His Kingdom is to triumph in this world and His Kingdom has come to dominate the world and all of its activities, even including the activities of the violators. Therefore, I assure you that nothing is in the end going to prevail against the Baha'i Faith. I assure you of this; and as Guardian of the Faith, my promise to you is infallible. You can with all safety to yourselves as individuals, and collectively as a Cause, depend upon this: the eventual victory of the Baha'i Faith over all obstacles, even this present united violation that seems to be of all of the Hands, save myself, against the Guardianship of the Faith. In the end the Cause will triumph over all.
But now before this triumphant end comes to pass, we find our Faith to be torn and wounded by the claws ad talons of the powers of violation, and so for the moment our attention must be focused upon this enemy that must be overcome in order that the Faith live.
The Master’s last message to America came in a cablegram to me and to another believer (Mrs. Parsons) in Washington, transmitted through Roy Wilhelm in New York. It was a warning to the believers, saying: “He who sits with leper contracts leprosy”.
It is most important now, at this time, that the people of the Faith study the Master’s teachings and tablets upon violation. It is most important that they can see and understand how this spirit of violation now, at this moment, dominates the Hands of the Faith and all their actions. The people should read and study the Will and Testament and note the manner in which the Beloved Guardian built up the Administration of the Cause, founding it upon the plan revealed in the Will and Testament. I urge them to study these holy teachings that they can see and understand for themselves how the Hands of the Faith are trying to lead them astray and kill the Faith in a fixed intent to do away for all time with the Guardianship, the very heart and life center of the Faith. What more can I, their Guardian, say to them? Why do they seek any other direction that this that I give them – I, the Guardian of the Faith?
Acceptance of the basic principles of the Baha'i Faith – namely, the present-day fulfillment of the Covenant as taught by The Master ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and the acceptance of His Will and Testament that gave the Administration of the Faith to the Baha'i World –this forms the basis of the Faith to the Baha'i World – this forms the basis of the Baha'i Faith and belief today and is the message that the Baha'is have in this day to give the world. Such was the message given in the days of The First Guardian of the Faith, thus it still is and ever shall be under The Second Guardian of the Faith in this day, and thus will it be in the days of succeeding Guardians of the Faith in the future.
The message that the violating Hands of the Faith have substituted in place of the message of The Beloved Guardian, the message of the Faith “Sans Guardian”, is similar to that of Ahmad Sohrab and his followers of The New History Society, who claim that they are Baha'i followers of Baha’u’llah and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá but that they do not accept the Guardian of the Faith. Thus, like Ahmad Sohrab and his followers, are the present Hands of the Faith violating the Administrative Guardianship of the Faith.
How does it come that this is not clear to the minds of the overwhelming number of believers of today who are blindly following these Hands of the Faith? Why can they not see, and see clearly, that they are all wrong? I will answer this question “Why?”. It is because of the disrupting forces of VIOLATION that poison the hearts and blind the eyes of the people of the Cause.
Let all Baha'is turn to the teachings and explanations of The Master ‘Abdu’l-Bahá regarding violation, and therein they will find clearly explained the dangers and the pitfalls that attack those who violate and seek to change the Holy Revealed Texts to suit their own ends.
Such is the abyss into which these erring Hands of the Faith are now plunging the Cause the world around. Such should be clearly evident to anyone who reads The Will and Testament upon which is founded the Administration of the Faith.
The first move that should be taken by those who are firm in their support of the Administrative – Guardianship of the Baha'i Faith should be to go to the aid of those of the Faith who are confused and wavering – confused by the false and pernicious teachings of the Hands of the Cause that the believers have been subjected to since the death of the First Guardian of our Faith. These confused souls should be talked to and reasoned with, all argument based upon the study and restudy of the Will and Testament of the Master and the writings and teachings of Shoghi Effendi.
The spiritual safety of those people of the Faith, who have been and are supporting the program of violation of the Faith carried on by the Hands of the Faith, depends upon their knowledge of the Master’s Will and Testament and the interpretations of the Infallible Guardian of the Faith.
The Arc of the Covenant of the Faith in this present storm is in danger. As the first consideration of the Commander of a ship in distress in a storm at sea is to save the lives of those on his ship, so my first concern now, as Guardian of the Baha'i Faith, is the spiritual safety, life, assurance and well-being of the believers in this time of peril to the Faith.
Those who are confirmed and firm in the Covenant and the Administration of the Faith will now, with renewed energies and confirmation, go forth to continue the teaching of the world crusade instituted by our late Beloved Guardian, Shoghi Effendi. The success of the crusade will be assured to them because they will be working under the Guardianship of the Faith – their Guardian being the heart of the Faith and leading them on to this victory, which victory will be followed by other victories of the Faith.
But the believers are now up against this pernicious condition of the violation that has so taken possession of the body of the Hands of the Faith as to make these Hands of the Faith the enemies-in-chief of the Baha'i Cause.
Are the believers of the Baha'i Faith going to accept and follow this studied and determined plan of the violating Hands of the Faith to destroy and put aside forever the Administration of the Guardianship of the Faith, given to the Baha'i world by The Master ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in His Will and Testament and founded upon the Will and Testament by the Beloved First Guardian of the Faith? Is the Administration of our Faith, that is being attacked by these violating Hands of the Cause, now to be abandoned? Are the believers going to join with the violators in their plans for 1963 to set up for themselves another and a different order of procedure, one that they falaciously proclaim will be infallible?
Are the Baha'is going to accept this falacious plan and reject the Administration founded upon the Will and Testament and created by our Beloved Guardian, Shoghi Effendi? If so, it would be better had you never heard of the Baha'i Faith and well for you to so avow our intention that those believers standing firmly with the Guardian of the Faith should know who you are, that they can avoid you, and thereby not allow you to empoison others with this spiritual virus of violation that is so deadly to the Faith.
All Baha'is should read and study the Will and Testament of the Master ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and the teachings that he gave about violation and its ruinous ability to spread corruption and destructiveness in the Cause of God; for unless they read and study these Baha'i teachings and get a basic knowledge of these realities, they will not be able to protect themselves against the forces that, at this time, are so obsessing the Baha'i Faith as to threaten its very existence.
What matters most is that within the Baha'i Fold there be those who understand the Faith, for in knowledge there is safety and spiritual power. Knowledge of the teachings shows the believers how to teach and spread the Faith. Without this knowledge, and the accompanying wisdom that goes with it, one is at the mercy of every violator of the Faith, who one may chance to meet, and he will be unable to protect himself from this violation.
The Hands of the Cause accuse me of attempting to create a split in the Cause –as if this were a bad thing for the Baha'i Faith! I am indeed making a split in the Faith, for I am separating the diseased from the healthy living spiritual organisms of the body of the Baha'is. Such was the manner in which The Blessed Master saved the Faith in his day and the Beloved Guardian saved the Faith in his day.
When there is a cancerous growth in the human body the only way to save that person is for the surgeon to cut out completely all of the infection. Such is the way that we of the Baha'i Faith are taught to treat violation of our teaching – to cut it out and cut it off absolutely and entirely lest all the members of the entire body be destroyed. Those who are the source of this infection should be separated from the others lest all become infected.
Therefore, it is necessary now, at this time, that I, Guardian of the Faith, call all believers to separate and to cut themselves off completely from the direction of the Hands of the Faith and from participation in any way or form or manner with them in their plans for 1963, because these plans are all in violation of the Administration of the Faith as taught by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and the Beloved Guardian, Shoghi Effendi. Therefore, I exercise the right of the Guardianship to cut off from the Baha'i Faith all of those Hands of the Faith who went upon record in the report of November, 1959, sent forth from the Holy Land and published to all the Baha'i world, declaring their intention of support to their plan for 1963.
These Hands of the Faith I expel from the Faith, and I forbid all association with them and any support of their plan by the believers. I cut them off from the Faith until each of them renounces his stand for this violation and indicates to me, beyond a doubt, his intention of following and supporting the Second Guardianship of the Baha'i Faith.
There may be those among the twenty-two Hands, who signed that statement of violation, who did so under pressure upon the false concept that the minority should always follow the majority in Baha'i Administrative matters. If so, to these Hands of the Faith I give every opportunity for reinstatement in the Faith as Hands of the Baha'i Cause. But should there be such who persist in supporting this violation, then these are to remain as outcasts from the Faith.
The rule of the majority applies in all Baha'i administrative matters with the exception of the violation of the teachings and of the principles of the Faith. Where and when the traces of violation become apparent there should be no uniting whatsoever with the violators. Such is the Baha'i teaching. If there are Baha'is who do not understand this, let them turn to the Will and Testament and to the other teachings of the Master ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and they will find this principle of the cutting off from all association with the violators clearly taught and explained.
Therefore, in order to maintain the purity and the spiritual strength of the Cause, I, your Guardian, insist that the Faithful followers of the Baha'i Faith comply with this order to maintain a most firm stand against any violation of our Faith and to sever all connections with and support of those who violate the Faith.
The way of the Baha'i Faith is difficult. At all times one must be awake to its perils, and particularly so in times of crisis such as the one in which the Faith now finds itself; for, at this present time, the very existence and the future of the Faith upon earth hangs in the balance. Should the Guardianship of the Faith lapse and the line to allowed to break (as these violators are making every effort to accomplish), the line of Guardianship will be broken, infallibility will be lost to the Faith, and all hopes will be lost for the Kingdom of God upon Earth.
Such a condition we must not allow to happen. Even though we be but a mere handful – a very small number of followers faithful to the Covenant and the Administration of the Guardianship – we, with all the world in violation against us, must stand together and support the Guardianship.
We must stand in firmness for the Guardianship, that is, the Administration of our Faith. Not only must we do this for our own sakes and for the present existence of our Faith; but it must be done for the Faith in the ages to come, for it we fail now and allow the Guardianship to pass out of existence and this spiritual line of heritage to become extinct, future generations will have no Cause. All infallible divine guidance will be at an end.
Therefore, Friends of the Baha'i Faith, arise and maintain the life center – the heart and the soul of the Abha Kingdom upon earth that is the Guardianship – for only by our so doing will the Cause of El Abha be saved for this world. Even though all the rest of the world be against us, nothing can destroy this Cause so long as even a small few believers stand in support of the Guardian and the continued Guardianship of the Baha'i Faith.
With Baha'i love.
Faithfully in EL ABHA,
Mason Remey, Guardian of the Baha'i Faith
CHARLES MASON REMEY
P.O. BOX 418
WASHINGTON 4, D.C., U.S.A.
24 October 1960
Dr. Colby
The Ministry of Religions of Israel
Jerusalem, Israel
Dear Dr. Colby,
With this letter to you is a copy of the Third Encyclical Letter to the Baha'i world going out from me, the Second Guardian of the Baha'i Faith, I who was appointed to this position in the Faith by my predecessor, the First Guardian of the Faith, His Eminence the late Shoghi Effendi, as prescribed in the cannons of the Baha'i Faith.
You were (and I presume still are) the official contact between the Baha'i Faith and the Minister of Religions of Israel, therefore I am continuing to send you copies of my encyclicals and copies of other articles that appertain to the Baha'i Faith.
These theses and articles I send to you in order that you may be aware of the questions and the problems now existing in the administrative organization of the Baha'i Faith. I do not expect or do I ask that you acknowledge these documents that I am issuing in my capacity of the Second Guardian Head of the Baha'i Faith – that is not for the present and until the Courts of Law in Israel and also in the United States of America decide that legally in accordance with the cannons of the Baha'i Faith that I am the legal Head of the Faith.
Together with the Third Encyclical that goes to you with this letter is an arguement in several parts compiled from the Baha'i Holy Writ written by the American Baha'i scholar Charles H. Gaines of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. In Mr. Gaines articles is clearly put forth and explained according to the canons of the Baha'i Faith, the basis and the foundation of my Guardianship of the Faith.
Mr. Gaines, who as you see by his style of writing has a legal turn of mind (he is not a lawyer) is now preparing my arguement under a series of subjects that will form the basis of my plea that will be presented in the Courts of Israel ere long in order that my Guardianship Head of the Baha'i World Faith be officially recognized and accepted legally as it is already being accepted morally and religiously by followers of the Faith in various parts of the world as attested to by a letter that I sent you some time ago from Mons. Marangella of Orleans, France and by the letter from the Baha'i Assembly of Lahore, Pakistan, a reproduction of which I send you in this letter.
With kind personal regards to you, Dear Dr. Colby, and with devoted appreciation of all that Israel has been, is, and will be in time to come – Always to be The Holy Land of this world.
I am faithfully yours,
MASON REMEY,
SECOND GUARDIAN
OF THE BAHA'I FAITH
III
ENCYCLICAL
LETTER
TO
THE BAHA'I WORLD
FROM
MASON REMEY
GUARDIAN
OF THE BAHA'I FAITH
TO THE BAHA'I WORLD
THIS IS THE THIRD OF A SERIES OF ENCYCLICAL LETTERS
FROM MASON REMEY, GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH
Sent Forth from Washington 4, D.C., U.S.A.
P.O. Box 418
Now is A Time of Judgement of the people of the Baha'i Faith.
Unknown to anyone until his Proclamation to the Baha'i world, he, the Second Guardian of the Faith, had been upon guard over the believers for these past two years and more of his Guardianship since the departure of the Beloved First Guardian of the Faith.
During the period of his occultation, as his mission in the administration of the Faith was gradually being born into his consciousness and his responsibilities were moving him to protect the Faith, the Second Guardian stood alone against the united Custodian Hands of the Faith, they insisting that the Guardianship of the Faith be abandoned and he frankly telling them that they, by their stand, were violating the Will and Testament of the Master ‘Abdu’l-Baha and that everything they were doing in their organization was wrong and in opposition to the Administration of the Faith that had been inaugurated by the Beloved Guardian Shoghi Effendi.
To all of his entreaties and appeals the erring Custodian Hands turned a deaf ear. Neither these Custodians nor the entire body of the Hands when seated in conclave wanted another Guardian. Thus, for reasons of their own, they were against then, as they are now, the continuation of the Guardianship. Thus through their influence among the Baha'is at home and abroad, the Cause now finds itself under this present cloud of violation and dominated by these erring Hands of the Faith.
The present Guardian of the Faith forebore as long as possible to call these violating Hands to the judgement of their iniquities, for according to the Baha'i standard of sin, there is no greater iniquity than that of the violation of the divine holy law and writ. During this period before his declaration, your Guardian was ever pleading and urging the erring Hands not to abandon the Administration, the heart of which is the Guardianship of the Faith. But finally, as Ridvan 117 B.E. approached, this violation had attained such proportions that it was becoming too great a menace to the Faith throughout the entire world to be allowed to continue. Therefore, your Guardian was obliged to take drastic action against this violation by coming forth and revealing himself in his supreme station as the Administrator of the Faith, thereby forcing this issue of the Guardianship upon the believers throughout the entire Baha'i world. He therefore called all believers, without exception, before the Baha'i Bar of Justice, where every individual believer must now make his stand either for or against the Guardianship!
No middle course is allowed. The division must be clear and distinct, and it must be so maintained.
Those who follow the erring Hands of the Faith and reject the Guardianship will inevitably fall into confusion and division amongst themselves, and they will leave naught behind them in this world save a page in the history of the Cause that will be known to future generations as “The Epoch of the Great Violation of the Baha'i Faith”. Upon the other hand, those who remain firm under the guidance of the Guardian of the Faith will lead the Cause on and on toward victory after victory in the triumphant growth and expansion of the spiritual power of the Faith.
Believers, followers, and upholders of the Faith, witness the power of your Guardian! At the approach of the Feast of Ridvan 117 B.E., when apparently all the Baha'i world endorsed and unitedly supported the program of the erring Hands for 1963, a program that would definitely establish their own Universal House of Justice Sans Guardian (all in direct defiance of the Master ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s Will and Testament) – at that time when practically the entire Baha'i world supported this violation, your Guardian then arose as but one believer in solitary opposition to all others on earth and called a halt to this violation of the Hands of the Faith. He, but one individual, pitted his power against all others; he, standing single and alone, was confirmed in changing the entire course of the Faith from the chaos of violation, and with his Proclamation he put the leadership of the Faith back again under the Guardianship. At the moment when the violation of the erring Hands was apparently without question, your Guardian struck them a blow that sent them and their many supporters into a state of confusion that resounds around the world, a state of dismay that demonstrates the fallacy of their stand against the Will and Testament of the Blessed Master ‘Abdu’l-Baha.
Every individual Baha'i in the entire world is now compelled to make his or her stand either with and for the Guardianship, or against the Guardianship and for the violation of the Faith. Thus will the Cause be cleansed of this present violation.
The Guardian of the Faith expels from the Faith all who stand with and give support to these former Hands of the Faith, who are leading this movement in violation of the Guardianship. The Guardian enjoins all believers and supporters of the Administration of the Guardianship to have naught to do with these enemies of the Faith. There must be a clean-cut and a strict line drawn dividing these peoples. This is a very definite and clear-cut issue before the Baha'i world, and it bears no compromise.
The most immediate duty of the believers who are firmly established in the Guardianship is to save as many as they can of those who are following the violation of the Faith. These firm believers should also, and at all times, strive to give the message of the Baha'i Faith (that is, the message of the Guardianship of the Faith) to all the peoples of the world in general, and thus to carry on and win the World Crusade.
Since the day of the First Guardian of the Faith, the message that he taught the believers to propagate has not been given by the erring Hands of the Faith and those supporting them in their violation. They have been making great efforts and sending out their teachers all over the world, and many people have been brought into the violating Baha'i belief that these erring Hands have propagated. But in their propagation of error, they have not been building up the true Baha'i Faith which is “Pro Guardianship”. During these last two years and more they have been converting people to their “Sans Guardianship” doctrine, thus assembling and organizing, in all parts of the world, cohorts who now follow and support them in their violation and who in reality, are the enemies of the only true Baha'is – those who are following and supporting the Guardianship of the Faith.
Friends of the Faith under the Guardianship! At present we are but few in comparison with out enemies, who are commanded by the violating Hands who were formerly of the Faith; but now victory over all opposition is vouchsafed to us, and to us only, for we have been given the power under the Guardianship to stand up against this violation. We will win this battle.
There is no doubt in the mind of your Guardian but that the vast majority of the avowed Baha'is, who are now supporting the violations of the former Hands of the Faith, are sincere in their faith in these violators. But while sincerity is a virtue when following in the true path, sincerity in following the wrong path can lead only to destruction. Therefore, let every avowed Baha'i study and restudy the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Baha and the words and works of our late Beloved Guardian so that each can understand for himself or for herself the path prescribed for Baha'is to follow. The believer will find that there is but one path to follow – the path directed by the Guardian of the Faith. Any and all other paths will lead the followers astray.
As previously explained, this “Epoch of the Great Violation” is indeed a “Time of Judgement” of the people of the Baha'i Faith. The Faith has been spreading throughout the world these past few decades, and now the believers are being tested. Those who are firm in the Covenant and in the Administration under the Guardianship will stand. Those who oppose the Guardianship will fall, and they and their works will come to naught. Let all ponder and think well and deeply with study and prayer. Let each make his or her stand in the Faith.
This is the day of division, when the sheep and the goats are being sorted out, one from the other, and when the wheat and the tares are being separated. We are told in Baha'i holy writ and the day would come when only pure virtue would pass the test and be accepted. The Master ‘Abdu’l-Baha told us of this time when only a few might stand, but following which those who stood firm would arise and carry the Cause to victory after victory.
In that period does the Baha'i Faith now find itself plunged. No one can escape it. It seemingly has come upon the believers with suddenness, as it were, striking the believers all over and around the world and in such a manner that no one individual can escape. Every individual is compelled by force of the circumstances of this situation to take his or her stand either for or against the Guardianship. The division must be clean-cut and decisive beyond a doubt. Therefore, for the safety of the Faith, the Second Guardian now commands all faithful followers to have nothing at all to do with the works and activities of any and all of those who oppose the Guardian of the Faith, the Faith that has been firmly established by the First Guardian of the Faith in the manner directed by the Will and Testament of the Master ‘Abdu’l-Baha.
Let every firm believer, to whom this Encyclical Letter is addressed, do what he or she can to bring back into the fold of the Faith those who are now following and supporting the violation of the Guardianship. Let him or her make every effort to turn them from their erring way, but if they refuse, leave them to themselves and, with radiant heart, go forth to the people of the world who are awaiting and ready for the Baha'i message of the World Crusade, a message that only the Baha'is, led and protected by the Guardian of the Faith, have to give them.
The Guardian urges every firm believer to take it upon himself to seek out those avowed believers who are confused and who are questioning the Guardianship. Let the firm friends do all they can to help these wavering ones and to confirm them in the Guardianship. But should any refuse and decide to stand with the violators against the Guardian of the Faith, then let the Baha'is separate themselves entirely from these enemies of the Faith.
All true Baha'is should take their stand for the support of the Guardianship of the Faith. Let all see and understand from the pronouncements of the erring former Hands of the Faith that this body stands against the Guardianship.
Let every true and sincere Baha'i forsake this violation, turn to the Guardian of the Faith, and openly, and before the world, avow his allegiance to the present Guardian of the Baha'i Faith, who was appointed Guardian by our late Beloved First Guardian Shoghi Effendi. Then, when that state of unity of the pure Faith is re-established as it was in the day of the Beloved First Guardian, when the Cause is free from violation – then, and not until then, will the victory of the Faith be assured and the way made for the triumphant completion of the World Crusade of the Baha'i Faith.
The confirmation and blessings of El Abha will descend upon all who make this stand under the Guardianship and arise to give this message to the world. Then we can succeed in reaching the goal set by the Beloved Guardian in the World Crusade.
With Baha'i Love to All
Faithfully in El Abha,
MASON REMEY, GUARDIAN
of the Baha'i Faith
POSTSCRIPT:
THE BAHA'I FAITH under the Administration of the Guardianship is THE Baha'i Faith – the only TRUE Baha'i Faith! Other organizations, such as the New History Society in New York City, as well as the organizations of the former Hands of the Faith of Haifa, Israel, both of which proclaim themselves to be “Baha’is Sans Guardianship”, should not be considered as Baha'is, for the only true and legitimate Baha'is are those now serving under the Second Guardian of the Faith. These Believers need not trouble themselves at the pretensions, claims, and assertions of those who claim themselves to be “Sans Guardian Baha'is”. You Baha'is under the Guardianship should pay no attention to the declarations of any of the “Sans Guardian” followers, for you are occupied in serving under the infallibly appointed Second Guardian of the Faith and in proclaiming this message to the people of the world. You should ignore all these opposing people.
To reiterate once more in this letter to all Baha'is: The Baha'is under the Guardianship have two very clearly defined duties to perform. They should make every effort to bring into the Faith those who have been led astray by all “Sans Guardian” propaganda; and they should go forth into the world teaching of the fulfillment of Baha’u’llah of the Covenants of the Religious Revelations of the Manifestations of the past ages and calling all people to the Administration under the Guardianship of His Cause that is now engaged in carrying forward the Baha'i World Crusade and giving the message of all the world of the triumphant coming of the Kingdom of God upon earth under the Administration of the infallible Guardianship of the Baha'i Faith.
M.R., G.
of the Baha'i Faith
Mason Remey On behalf of the
Second Guardian of the Baha'i Faith Baha'i Community
Post Box No. 418 LAHORE; 17th Sep 1960
Washington 4, D.C.
O The Beloved of our Hearts!
We thank Almighty God on this day, the 17th Sep 1960, when we received your Blessed Promulgation through Mr Morangello of France for which we were anxiously waiting and trying from various sources and now we hereby declare allegiance to your authority as the Second Guardian of the Baha'i Faith. The Community accepting and supporting your Claim and desirous of serving the Beloved Faith under the direction of your infallible Commands consists of the following members:-
1. Major Nawazish Ali Siyyid – Member NSA Pakistan
2. Mr. Kabir Khan President LSA Lahore
3. Mr. Jan Mohammad Vice President LSA
4. Mr. Zaffar Ali Khan Secretary
5. Mr. Shabbir Hussain Treasurer
6. Mr. Siraj Din Member
7. Mrs. Nawazish Ali Siyyid
8. Mrs. Zaffar Ali Khan
9. Subedar Ghulam Shah
All the above mentioned believers prayfully beg your infallible Guidance for the promotion of their spiritual life in this world and the world to come.
After hearing the news of your Promulgation through a negative source i.e., the so-called Hands faith and the NSA of the Baha’is of Pakistan about 2/3 month ago, the Community loyal and steadfast to the Institution of Guardianship accepted your Claim, rejected the views of the Hands faith, and issued a booklet to the believers is Pakistan and with your supporters from various sources within their reach and at last today this Community received your Declaration and are in a position to express their humble feelings before you.
Kindly accept our allegiance and guide us in these hard days for our spiritual life and keep us posted about your Command and Guidance.
We are circulating your Declaration to all Local Spiritual Assemblies and Believers of Pakistan.
P.S. Kindly Send us as many possible copies of your Declaration and subsequent letters
Yours humbly, in Your Service.,
(Zaffar Ali Khan)
Mian Imam Din’s Quarters
Garhi Shahu., Lahore,
West Pakistan
THE
GUARDIANSHIP
AND
ADMINISTRATION
FIRST INTRODUCTION
_____________
In the face of such trials and tests as these times are likely to lay upon the entire Baha'i World, it is imperative that we take a second look at Baha'i and see what it is that this beloved Faith of ours teaches, stands for and requires, if it is to be triumphant over the sinister forces of nature and of an unregenerate humanity. It is clearly evident how “humanity is languishing upon a bed of sickness, sore-tried and disillusioned.” and it behooves all men to examine anew the remedy that has been prescribed by the Divine Physician, which alone can “deliver mankind from this desolating affliction” and “fuse its discordant, elements” into one organic, indivisible whole; to ponder dispassionately and penetrate, to depths unparalleled, the “wholesome medicine”, the “Elixir” that can “cleanse and revive” a humanity sick unto death; to study and evaluate, detached from all else but God, the “Force” transcending “the potency of the Elixir itself,” and which “alone, can claim the distinction of being endowed with the capacity required for so great and far-reaching a change.”
The Baha'i World community stands on the brink of a calamity that bids fair to accomplish what all the enemies of the Faith have failed to accomplish in its stormy, its turbulent one hundred and seventeen year history. It would be tragic, indeed, were this calamity to be precipitated by the failure of any one or all of us to go to the writings and gain from them our strength and our direction, or were any of us to permit rank or station, precommitments, prejudgments, exaltation or abasement, education or lack of it, personality or familiarity, to keep us back from undeviatingly and unflinchingly obeying and following the Covenant of God.
Can we not use fervent prayer, profound meditation, critical examination and “the greatest gift of God to man – the rational faculty with which God hath endowed the essence of man” – surely never given in vain – to weigh in “the unerring balance” – the revealed and mighty Word – these times and events now facing us? Can we not zealously pursue the truth, confident in the assurance of Baha’u’llah that “no man that seeketh Us will We ever disappoint, neither shall he that hath set his face towards Us be denied access unto Our Court,” and that “He that giveth up himself wholly to God, God shall, assuredly, be with him; and he that placeth his complete trust in God, God shall, verily protect him from whatsoever may harm him, and shield him from the wickedness of every evil plotter”? Have we, dear Friends, so soon reached the place where we can shun truth or be disdainful of investigation or fear inquiry? “Where are the people of assurance?”
In the Holy Writings we are taught to pray for death. Surely, death is better than violation of the Covenant of God; verily, death in loyalty is preferable to life in disloyalty; clearly, death in truth is more precious than life in error; certainly, death is better than to concern onesself, in the Cause of God, with “questions which tend not to edification.” But I cannot convince myself that the desire to be faithful to and firm in the Covenant of God, written by the Manifestation Himself, does not “tend to edification.”
In view of all these considerations then, I have ventured to compile and write this paper on the Guardianship and the Administrative Order, “enunciated with such simplicity and force as far back as (a hundred and seventeen) years ago by Baha’u’llah, embodying in its essentials God’s divinely appointed scheme for the unification of mankind in this age,” and “whose outlines were delineated by Abdu’l-Baha in His Will and Testament”; imploring God that He will compensate my deficiencies and increase my capacities and strengthen my abilities, and set me aright on the straight path.
If there are many repetitions it is because the point can bear great emphasis; if the quotations appear long it is because I am more concerned with bringing the writings to bear and presenting the Sacred Texts for your consideration than I am with brevity, ease of reading, or the expression of my own opinion
June 1960 c.h.g.
WILL AND TESTAMENT OF ABDU’L-BAHA
Source of Administrative Order
*********
“Abdu’l-Baha, Who incarnates an institution for which we can find no parallel whatsoever in any of the world’s recognized religious systems, may be said to have closed the age to which He Himself belonged and opened the one in which we are now labouring. His Will and Testament should thus be regarded as the perpetual, the indissoluble link which the mind of Him Who is the Mystery of God has conceived in order to ensure the continuity of the three ages that constitute the component parts of the Baha'i Dispensation. The period in which the seed of the Faith had been slowly germinating is thus intertwined both with the one which must witness its efflorescence and the subsequent age in which that see will have finally yielded its golden fruit.
“The creative energies released by the Law of Baha’u’llah, permeating and evolving within the mind of Abdu’l-Baha, have, by their very impact and close interaction, given birth to an Instrument which may be viewed as the Charter of the New World Order which is at once the glory and the promise of this most great Dispensation. The Will may thus be acclaimed as the inevitable offspring resulting from that mystic intercourse between Him Who communicated the generating influence of His divine Purpose and the One Who was its vehicle and chosen recipient. Being the Child of the Covenant – the Heir of both the Originator and the Interpreter of the Law of God – the Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha can no more be divorced from Him Who supplied the original and motivating impulse than from the One Who ultimately conceived it. Baha’u’llah’s inscrutable purpose, we must ever bear in mind, has been so thoroughly infused into the conduct of Abdu’l-Baha, and their motives have been so closely wedded together, that the mere attempt to dissociate the teachings of the former from any system which the ideal Exemplar of those same teachings has established would amount to a repudiation of one of the most sacred and basic truths of the Faith.”
- Shoghi Effendi, Guidance For Today and Tomorrow, pp. 78-79;
The Baha'i World, 1950-1954, Vol. XII, p. 319
“…The Charter of which called into being, outlined the features and set in motion the processes of this Administrative Order is none other than the Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha. His greatest legacy to posterity, the brightest emanation of His mind and the mightiest instrument forged to insure the continuity of the three ages which constitute the component parts of His Father’s Dispensation.
“The Covenant of Baha’u’llah had been instituted solely through the direct operation of His Will and Purpose. The Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha, on the other hand, may be regarded as the offspring resulting from that mystic intercourse between Him Who had generated the forces of a God-given Faith and the One Who had been made its sole Interpreter and was recognized as its perfect Exemplar. The creative energies unleashed by the Originator of the Law of God in this age gave birth,
through their impact upon the mind of Him Who had been chosen as its unerring Expounder, to that Instrument, the vast implications of which the present generation, even after the lapse of twenty-three years, is still incapable of fully apprehending. This Instrument can, if we would correctly appraise it, no more be divorced from the One Who provided the motivating impulse for its creation than from Him Who directly conceived it. The purpose of the Author of the Baha'i Revelation had, as already observed, been so thoroughly infused into the mind of Abdu’l-Baha, and His Spirit had so profoundly impregnated His being, and their aims and motives been so completely blended, that to dissociate the doctrine laid down by the former from the supreme act associated with the mission of the latter would be tantamount to a repudiation of one of the most fundamental verities of the Faith.”
- Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, pp. 325-326.
“That Baha’u’llah in His Book of Aqdas, and later Abdu’l-Baha in His Will - -
a document which confirms, supplements, and correlates the provisions of the Aqdas - - have set forth in their entirety those essential elements for the constitution of the world Baha'i commonwealth, no one who has read them will deny. According to these divinely-ordained administrative principles, the Dispensation of Baha’u’llah - - the Ark of human salvation - - must needs be modeled. From them all future blessings must flow, and upon them its inviolable authority must ultimately rest.”
- Shoghi Effendi, World Order of Baha’u’llah, p. 19; Guidance for Today
and Tomorrow, pp. 79-83.
“The bedrock on which this Administrative Order is founded is God’s immutable Purpose for mankind in this Day. The Source from which it derives its inspiration is no one less than Baha’u’llah Himself….The axis round which its institutions revolve are the authentic provisions of the Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha.”
- Shoghi Effendi, World Order of Baha’u’llah, p. 156
“We stand indeed too close to so monumental a document to claim for ourselves a complete understanding of all its implications, or to presume to have grasped the manifold mysteries it undoubtedly contains. Only future generations can comprehend the value and the significance attached to this Divine Masterpiece, which the hand of the Master-builder of the world has designed for the unification and the triumph of the world-wide Faith of Baha’u’llah. Only those who come after us will be in a position to realize the value of the surprisingly strong emphasis that has been placed on the institution of the House of Justice and of the Guardianship…To them alone will be revealed the suitability of the institutions initiated by Abdu’l-Baha to the character of the future society which is to emerge out of the chaos and confusion of the present age…”
- Shoghi Effendi, World Order of Baha’u’llah, p.8; The Baha'i World 1950-1954, Vol. XII, p. 321
THE ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER
“It behooves us, dear friends, to endeavor not only to familiarize ourselves with the essential features of this supreme Handiwork of Baha’u’llah, but also to grasp the fundamental difference existing between this world-embracing, divinely-appointed Order and the chief ecclesiastical organizations of the world….
“…Where and how does this Order established by Baha’u’llah, which to outward seeming is but a replica of the institutions established in Christianity and Islam, differ from them? Are not the twin institutions of the House of Justice and of the Guardianship, the institution of the Hands of the Cause of God, the institution of the national and local Assemblies, the institution of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkar, but different names for the institutions of the Papacy and the Caliphate, with all their attending ecclesiastical orders which the Christians and Moslems uphold and advocate?...
“Upon the answer given to these challenging questions will, in a great measure, depend the success of the efforts which believers in every land are now exerting for the establishment of God’s Kingdom upon the earth….That Baha’u’llah in His Book of Aqdas, and later Abdu’l-Baha in His Will, a document which confirms, supplements, and correlates the provisions of the Aqdas – have set forth in their entirety those essential elements for the constitution of the world Baha'i Commonwealth, no one who has read them will deny. According to these divinely-ordained administrative principles, the Dispensation of Baha’u’llah - - the Ark of human salvation - - must needs be modeled. From them, all future blessings must flow, and upon them its inviolable authority must ultimately rest.
“For Baha’u’llah…has not only imbued mankind with a new and regenerating spirit. He has not merely enunciated certain universal principles, or propounded a particular philosophy, however potent, sound and universal these may be. In addition to these He, as well as Abdu’l-Baha after Him, has, unlike the Dispensations of the past, clearly and specifically laid down a set of Laws, established definite institutions, and provided for the essentials of a Divine Economy. These are destined to be a pattern for future society, a supreme instrument for the establishment of the Most Great peace, and the one agency for the unification of the world, and the proclamation of the reign of righteousness and justice upon the earth. …They have also, in unequivocal and emphatic language, appointed those twin institutions of the House of Justice and of the Guardianship as their chosen Successors, destined to apply the principles, promulgate the laws, protect the institutions, adapt loyally and intelligently the Faith to the requirements of progressive society, and consummate the incorruptible inheritance which the Founders of the Faith have bequeathed to the world.
“…Unlike the Dispensation of Christ, unlike the Dispensation of Muhammad, unlike all the Dispensations of the past, the apostles of Baha’u’llah in every land, wherever they labor and toil, have before them in clear, in unequivocal and emphatic language, all the laws, the regulations, the principles, the institutions, the guidance, they require for the prosecution and consummation of their task. Both in the administrative provisions of the Baha'i Dispensation, and in the matter of succession, as embodied in the twin institutions of the House of Justice and of the Guardianship, the followers of Baha’u’llah can summon to their aid such irrefutable evidences of the Divine Guidance that none can resist, that no one can belittle or ignore…Therein lies the distinguishing feature of the Baha'i Revelation. Therein lies the strength of the unity of the Faith, of the validity of a Revelation that claims not to destroy or belittle previous Revelations, but to connect, unify, and fulfill them. This is the reason why Baha’u’llah and Abdu’l-Baha have both revealed and even insisted upon certain details in connection with the Divine Economy which they have bequeathed to us, their followers. This is why such an emphasis has been placed in their Will and Testament upon the powers and prerogatives of the ministers of their Faith.
“For nothing short of the explicit directions of their Book, and the surprisingly emphatic language with which they have clothed the provisions of their Will, could possibly safeguard the Faith for which they have both so gloriously laboured all their lives.”
- Shoghi Effendi, World Order of Baha’u’llah, pp. 18-25.
“The Administrative Order which this historic Document has established, it should be noted, is, by virtue of its origin and character, unique in the annals of the world’s religious systems. No Prophet before Baha’u’llah, it can be confidently asserted, not even Muhammad whose Book clearly lays down the laws and ordinances of the Islamic Dispensation, has established, authoritatively and in writing, anything comparable to the Administrative Order which the authorized Interpreter of Baha’u’llah’s teachings has instituted, an Order which, the authorized Interpreter of Baha’u’llah’s teachings has instituted, an Order which, by virtue of the administrative principles which its Author has formulated, the institutions he has established and the right of interpretation with which He has invested its Guardian, must and will, in a manner unparalleled in any previous religion, safeguard from schism the Faith from which it has sprung.
“The hereditary authority which the Guardian of the Administrative Order is called upon to exercise, and the right of the interpretation of the Holy Writ solely conferred upon him; the powers and prerogatives of the Universal House of Justice, possessing the exclusive right to legislate on matters not explicitly revealed in the Most Holy Book; the ordinance exempting its members from any responsibility to those whom they represent, and from the obligation to conform to their views, convictions or sentiments; the specific provisions requiring the free and democratic election by the mass of the faithful of the Body that constitutes the sole legislative organ in the world-wide Baha'i Community - - these are among the features which combine to set apart the Order identified with the Revelation of Baha’u’llah from any of the existing systems of human government.”
- Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, pp. 326-327; The Baha'i World 1950
1954,Vol XII, pp. 326-327; cf. World Order of Baha’u’llah, p. 154
“This Administrative Order, unlike the systems evolved after the death of the Founders of the various religions, is divine in origin, rests securely on the laws, the precepts, the ordinances and institutions which the Founder of the Faith has Himself specifically laid down and unequivocally established, and functions in strict accordance with the interpretations of the authorized Interpreters of its holy scriptures…”
- Shoghi Effendi, Guidance For Today and Tomorrow, pp. 8 & 9.
“…The Spirit breathed by Baha’u’llah upon the world…can never permeate and exercise an abiding influence upon mankind unless and until it incarnates itself in a visible Order, which would bear His Name, wholly identify with His principles, and function in conformity with His Laws…”
- Shoghi Effendi, World Order of Baha’u’llah, p. 19; The Baha'i World, 1950-1954, Vol XII, p. 319.
* * * * * * *
VALIDITY OF INSTITUTIONS
Kitab-i-Aqdas and Will and Testament
“I have been acquainted by the perusal of your latest communications with the nature of the doubts that have been publicly expressed by one who is wholly misinformed as to the true precepts of the Cause, regarding the validity of institutions that stand inextricably interwoven with the Faith of Baha’u’llah. …Such incidents we should regard as the interposition of Providence, designed to fortify our faith, to clarify our vision, and to deepen our understanding of the essentials of His Divine Revelation.
“If would be helpful and instructive to bear in mind certain basic principles with reference to the Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha, which, together with the Kitab-i-Aqdas, constitutes the chief depository wherein are enshrined those priceless elements of that Divine Civilization, the establishment of which is the primary mission of the Baha'i Faith.
“A study of the provisions of those sacred documents will reveal the close relationship that exists between them, as well as the identity of purpose and methods which they inculcate. Far from regarding their specific provisions as incompatible and contradictory in spirit, every fair-minded inquirer will readily admit that they are not only complementary, but that they mutually confirm one another, and are inseparable parts of one complete unit. …To attempt to divorce the one from the other, to insinuate that the teachings of Baha’u’llah have not been upheld, in their entirety and with absolute integrity, by what Abdu’l-Baha has revealed in His Will, is an unpardonable affront to the unswerving fidelity that has characterized the life and labors of our beloved Master.
“It should be remembered by every follower of the Cause that the system of Baha'i administration is not an innovation imposed arbitrarily upon the Baha’is of the world since the Master’s passing, but derives its authority from the Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha, is specifically prescribed in unnumbdred Tablets, and rests in some of its essential features upon the explicit provisions of the Kitab-i-Aqdas. It thus unifies and correlates the principles separately laid down by Baha’u’llah and Abdu’l-Baha, and is indissolubly bound with the essential verities of and is indissolubly bound with the essential verities of the Faith. To dissociate the administrative principles of the Cause from the purely spiritual and humanitarian teachings would be tantamount to mutilation of the body of the Cause, a separation that can only result in the disintegration of its component parts, and the extinction of the Faith itself.”
- Shoghi Effendi, World Order of Baha’u’llah, pp. 3-5. Guidance For Today and Tomorrow, pp. 96-99. The Baha'i World 1950-1954,Vol XII, Part Two, pp. 321-323.
* * * *
GUARDIAN AND GUARDIANSHIP
“O my loving friends! After the passing away of this wronged one, it is incumbent upon the Aghsan (Branches), the Afnan (Twigs) of the Sacred Lote-Tree, the Hands (pillars) of the Cause of God and the loved ones of the Abha Beauty to turn unto Shoghi Effendi – the youthful branch branched from the two hallowed and sacred Lote-Trees and the fruit grown from the union of the two offshoots of the Tree of Holiness – as he is the sign of God, the chosen branch, the guardian of the Cause of God, he unto whom all the Aghsan, the Afnan, the Hands of the Cause of God and His loved ones must turn. He is the expounder of the words of God and after him will succeed the first-born of his lineal descendants.”
- Will and Testament, Abdu’l-Baha, Part One, p. 11.
“O ye beloved of the Lord! It is incumbent upon the guardian of the Cause of God to appoint in his own life-time him that shall become his successor, that difference may not arise after his passing. He that is appointed must manifest in himself detachment from all worldly things, must be the essence of purity, must show in himself the fear of God, knowledge, wisdom and learning. Thus, should the first-born of the guardian of the Cause of God not manifest in himself the truth of the words: ‘The child is the secret essence of its sire’ – that is, should he not inherit of the spiritual within him (the guardian of the Cause of God) and his glorious lineage not be matched with a goodly character, then must he (the guardian of the Cause of God) choose another branch to succeed him.”
- Will and Testament Abdu’l-Baha, Part One, p. 12.
“Consider this text of the New Testament: the brothers of His Holiness Christ, came to Him and they said: ‘These are your brothers.’ He answered that his brothers were those who believed in God, and refused to associate with His own brothers.
“Likewise Qurratu’l-Ayn…when she believed in God and was attracted to the Divine Breaths, she forsook her two eldest sons, although they were her two oldest children, because they did not become believers, and thereafter did not meet them. She said: ‘All the friends of God are my children, but these two are not. I will have nothing to do with them.’
“Consider! The Divine Gardener cuts off the dry or weak branch from the good tree and grafts to it a branch from another tree. He both separates and unites. This is that which His Holiness Christ says: that from all the world they come and enter the Kingdom, and the Children of the Kingdom shall be cast out.”
- Abdu’l-Baha, “Last Tablet to America”, The Baha'i World Faith, pp. 437-438 (NOTE: This entire Tablet deals with the Covenant and the Will)
“The Hands of the Cause of God must elect from their own number nine persons that shall at all times be occupied in the important services in the work of the guardian of the Cause of God. The election of these nine must be carried either unanimously or by majority from the company of the Hands of the Cause of God and these, whether unanimously or by a majority vote, must give their assent to the choice of the one whom the guardian of the Cause of God hath chosen as his successor. This assent must be given in such wise as the assenting and dissenting voices may be distinguished (i.e., secret ballot).”
-Will and Testament, Abdu’l-Baha, Part One, p. 12.
“The statement in the Will of Abdu’l-Baha does not imply that the Hands of the Cause of God have been given the authority to overrule the Guardian. Abdu’l-Baha could not have provided for a conflict of authority in the Faith. This is obvious, in view of His own words, which you will find on p. 13 (p. 11 of 1944 U.S. Edition) of the Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha. The mighty stronghold shall remain impregnable and safe through obedience to him who is the guardian of the Cause of God, to turn unto him and be lowly before him. He that opposeth him hath opposed the True One’, etc.”
- Shoghi Effendi, Baha'i News, No. 288, February 1955, p. 1.
“The sacred and youthful branch, the guardian of the Cause of God as well as the Universal House of Justice, to be universally elected and established, are both under the care and protection of the Abha Beauty, under the shelter and unerring guidance of His Holiness, the Exalted One…Whatsoever they decide is of God. Whoso obeyeth him not, neither obeyeth them, hath not obeyed God; whoso rebelleth against him and against them, hath not obeyed God; whoso rebelleth against him and against them hath rebelled against God; whoso opposeth him hath opposed God; whoso contendeth with them hath contended with God; whoso disputeth with him hath disputed with God; whoso denieth him hath denied God; whoso disbelieveth in him hath disbelieved in God; whoso deviateth, separateth himself and turneth aside from him hath in truth deviated, separated himself and turned aside from God. May the wrath, the fierce indignation, the vengeance of God rest upon him! The mighty stronghold shall remain impregnable…”
Will and Testament, Abdu’l-Baha, Part One, p. 11
“An attempt, I feel, should at the present juncture be made to explain the character and functions of the twin pillars that support this mighty Administrative Structure - - the institutions of the Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice. To describe in their entirety the diverse elements that function in conjunction with these institutions is beyond the scope and purpose of this general exposition of the fundamental verities of the Faith. To define with accuracy and minuteness the features and to analyze exhaustively the nature of the relationships which on the one hand, bind together these two fundamental organs of the Will of Abdu’l-Baha and connect, on the other, each of them to the Author of the Faith and the Center of His Covenant, is a task which future generations will no doubt adequately fulfill. My present intention is to elaborate certain salient features of this scheme which, however close we may stand to its colossal structure, are already so clearly defined that we find it inexcusable to either misconceive or ignore.
“It should be stated, at the very outset, in clear and unambiguous language, that these twin institutions of the Administrative Order of Baha’u’llah should be regarded as divine in origin, essential in their functions and complementary in their aim and purpose. Their common, their fundamental object is to insure the continuity of that divinely-appointed authority which flows from the Source of our Faith, to safeguard the unity of its followers and to maintain the integrity and flexibility of its teachings. Acting in conjunction with each other, these two inseparable institutions administer its affairs, coordinate its activities, promote its interests, execute its laws and defend its subsidiary institutions. Severally, each operates within a clearly defined sphere of jurisdiction; each is equipped with its own attendant institutions – instruments designed for the effective discharge of its particular responsibilities and duties. Each exercises, within the limitations imposed upon it, its powers, its authority, its rights and prerogatives. These are neither contradictory nor detract in the slightest degree from the position which each of these institutions occupies. Far from being incompatible or mutually destructive, they supplement each other’s authority and functions, and are permanently and fundamentally united in their aims
“Divorced from the institution of the Guardianship the World Order of Baha’u’llah would be mutilated and permanently deprived of that hereditary principle which as Abdu’l-Baha has written, has been invariably upheld by the Law of God…Without such an institution the integrity of the Faith would be imperiled, and the stability of the entire fabric would be gravely endangered. Its prestige would suffer, the means required to enable it to take a long, an uninterrupted view over a series of generations would be completely lacking and the necessary guidance to define the sphere of the legislative action of its elected representatives would be totally withdrawn.”
-Shoghi Effendi, World Order of Baha’u’llah, p. 148, Guidance For Today and Tomorrow, pp. 85-86.
“From these statements it is made indubitably clear and evident that the Guardian of the Faith has been made the Interpreter of the Word and that the Universal House of Justice has been invested with the function of legislating on matters not expressly revealed in the teachings. The interpretations of the Guardian, functioning within his own sphere, is as authoritative and binding as the enactments of the International House of Justice, whose exclusive right and prerogative is to pronounce upon and deliver final judgment on such laws and ordinances as Baha’u’llah has not expressly revealed. Neither can, nor will ever, infringe upon the sacred and prescribed domain of the other. Neither will seek to curtail the specific and undoubted authority with which both have been divinely invested.
“Though the Guardian of the Faith has been made the permanent head of so august a body, he can never, even temporarily, assume the right of exclusive legislation. He cannot overrule the decision of the majority of his fellow-members, but is bound to insist upon a reconsideration by them of any enactment he conscientiously believes to conflict with the meaning and to depart from the spirit of Baha’u’llah’s revealed utterances. He interprets what has been specifically revealed and cannot legislate except in his capacity as member of the Universal House of Justice.”
- Shoghi Effendi, World Order of Baha’u’llah, p. 150. Guidance For Today and Tomorrow, p. 88.
“It must be also clearly understood by every believer that the institution of Guardianship does not under any circumstances abrogate, or even in the slightest degree detract from, the powers granted to the Universal House of Justice by Baha’u’llah in the Kitab-i-Aqdas, and repeatedly and solemnly confirmed by Abdu’l-Baha in his Will. It does not constitute in any manner a contradiction to the Will and Writings of Baha’u’llah, nor does it nullify any of His revealed instructions…Only future generations can comprehend the value and the significance attached to this Divine Masterpiece, which the hand of the Master-builder of the world has designed for the unification and the triumph of the world-wide Faith of Baha’u’llah. Only those who come after us will be in a position to realize the value of the surprisingly strong emphasis that has been placed on the institution of the House of Justice and of the Guardianship…To them alone will be revealed the suitability of the institutions initiated by Abdu’l-Baha to the character of the future society which is to emerge out of the chaos and confusion of the present age…”
- Shoghi Effendi, World Order of Baha’u’llah, p. 8. The Baha'i World 1950 1954, Vol. XII, pp. 324-325. Guidance For Today and Tomorrow, pp. 102-103.
“The preliminary measures, heralding the unfoldment of the institution of Guardianship, the pivot of Abdu’l-Baha’s Will and Testament, have been adopted, through the appointment of the first two contingents of the Hands of the Cause, numbering nineteen, recruited from the five continents of the globe, representative in their extraction of the three principal religions of mankind, and constituting the nucleus of that august institution invested with such weighty and sacred functions by the Center of Baha’u’llah’s Covenant. The International Baha'i Council, comprising eight members, charged with assisting in the manifold activities attendant upon the rise of the World Administrative Center of the Faith, which must pave the way for the formation of a Baha'i International Court and the eventual emergence of the Universal House of Justice, the Supreme Legislative Body of the future Baha'i Commonwealth, has been established, enlarged, and the functions of its members defined.”
- Shoghi Effendi, Messages To The Baha'i World, 1950-1957, Cablegram;
The Baha’i World 1950-1954, Vol. XII, Part One, p. 134.
UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE
(See also Guardian and Guardianship)
“And now concerning the House of Justice which God hath ordained as the source of all good and freed from all error, it must be elected by universal suffrage – that is, by the believers. Its members must be manifestations of the fear of God and daysprings of knowledge and understanding, must be steadfast in God’s Faith and the well-wishers of all mankind. By this House is meant the Universal House of Justice – that is, in all countries a secondary House of Justice must elect the members of the Universal one. Unto this body all things must be referred. It enacteth all ordinances and regulations that are not to be found in the explicit Holy Text. By this body all the difficult problems are to be resolved and the guardian of the Cause of God is its sacred head and distinguished member for life of that body. Should he not attend in person its deliberations, he must appoint one to represent him. Should any of the members commit a sin, injurious to the common weal, the Guardian of the Cause of God hath at his own discretion the right to expel him, whereupon the people must elect another one in his stead. This House of Justice enacteth the laws and the government enforceth them. The legislative body must reinforce the executive; the executive must aid and assist the legislative body, so that through the close union and harmony of these two forces, the foundation of fairness and justice may become firm and strong, that all the regions of the world may become even as Paradise itself.”
- Abdu’l-Baha, Will and Testament, Part One, pp. 14-15.
“Unto the Most Holy Book every one must turn and all that is not expressly recorded therein must be referred to the Universal House of Justice. That which this body, whether unanimously or by a majority doth carry, that is verily the Truth and the Purpose of God Himself. Whoso doth deviate therefrom is verily of them that love discord, hath shown forth malice and turned away from the Lord of the Covenant. By this House is meant that Universal House of Justice which is to be elected from all countries; that is, from those part in the East and West where the loved ones are to be found, after the manner of the customary elections in Western countries such as those of England….”
- Abdu’l-Baha, Will and Testament, Part Two, pp. 19-20.
“…the guardian of the Cause of God as well as the Universal House of Justice, to be universally elected and established, are both under the shelter and unerring guidance of His Holiness, the Exalted One….”
- Abdu’l-Baha, Will and Testament, Part One, p. 11.
COUNCILS
Evolution of Present Institutions
“The passing of Abdu’l-Baha marked the termination of the first and Heroic Age of the Baha'i Faith and signalized the opening of the Formative Age destined to witness the gradual emergence of its Administrative Order, whose establishment had been foretold by the Bab, whose laws were revealed by Baha’u’llah, whose outlines were delineated by Abdu’l-Baha in His Will and Testament, and whose foundations are now being laid by the national and local councils which are elected by the professed adherents of the Faith, and which are paving the way for the constitution of the World Council, to be designated as the Universal House of Justice, which in conjunction with me, as its appointed Head and the authorized interpreter of the Baha'i teachings, must coordinate and direct the affairs of the Baha'i community…”
- Shoghi Effendi, Introduction, Guidance for Today and Tomorrow, p. 7.
“That the Spiritual Assemblies of today will be replaced in time by the House of Justice, and are to all intent and purposes identical and not separate bodies, is abundantly confirmed by Abdu’l-Baha Himself. He has, in fact, in a Tablet addressed to the members of the first Chicago Spiritual Assembly, the first elected Baha'i body instituted in the United States, referred to them as the members of the ‘House of Justice’ for that city, and has thus with His own pen established beyond any doubt the identity of the present Baha'i Spiritual Assemblies with the Houses of Justice referred to by Baha’u’llah.”
- Shoghi Effendi, World Order of Baha’u’llah, p. 6. The Baha'i World 1950-1954, Vol. XII, pp. 323-324.
“Enumerating the obligations incumbent upon the members of consulting
councils, the Beloved reveals the following: ‘The first condition is absolute love and harmony amongst the members of the assembly….”
-See Baha'i Administration, for complete Text, p. 22.
* * * **
THE UNIVERSAL BAHA'I ORGANISM
“Should we build up the administrative world order to a point of absolute perfection but at the same time allow it to be hampered or disconnected from the channels within, through which channels the Holy Spirit of the Cause pours forth, we would have nothing more than a perfected body out of touch with and cut off from the finer promptings of the soul or spirit. If, on the other hand, the influxes and goings forth of the spirit are scattered, diffused, and subjected wholly to the more or less imperfect guidance and interpretation of individual believers, lacking both the wisdom secured through consultation and also the lights of real unity which shine through consultative action and obedience thereto – a disordered and disorganized activity would be witnessed, which would but dimly reflect the divine purpose for this age, which is no less than the establishment of the reign of divine love, justice, and wisdom in the world, under and in conformity to the Divine Law.
“In the body of man, which is the true divine example or parallel, the spirit, when in ideal control of all the lesser parts of the organism, finds the utmost harmony throughout the whole body – each part is in perfect reciprocity with the other parts. The commands and impulses of the spirit are obeyed by the body and the body in turn in its actions and functions identifies and determines the expression the spiritual impulses shall take. This is divine unity - - and this law being universal and found in every created object in the universe, has full application to the universal Baha'i organism made up of believers everywhere, which has been established by the Manifestation of God.”
- Shoghi Effendi, Guidance For Today and Tomorrow, p. 110.
* * * * *
THE EMBRYO AND ITS DEVELOPMENT
“To recapitulate: As man in the womb of the mother passes from form to form, from shape to shape, changes and develops, and is still the human species from the beginning of the embryonic period - - in the same way man, from the beginning of his existence in the matrix of the world, is also a distinct species; that is, man, and has gradually evolved from one form to another. Therefore, this change of appearance, this evolution of members, this development and growth, even though we admit the reality of growth and progress, does not prevent the species from being original. Man from the beginning was in this perfect form and composition, and possessed capacity and aptitude for acquiring material and spiritual perfections, and was the manifestation of these words, ‘We will make man in Our image and likeness.’ He has only become more pleasing, more beautiful, and more graceful. Civilization has brought him out of his wild state, just as the wild fruits which are cultivated by a gardener become finer, sweeter, and acquire more freshness and delicacy….”
- Abdu’l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith, pp. 309-310.
“The beginning of the existence of man on the terrestrial globe resembles his formation in the womb of the mother. The embryo in the womb of the mother gradually grows and develops until birth, after which it continues to grow and develop until it reaches the age of discretion and maturity. Though in infancy the signs of the mind and spirit appear in man, they do not reach the degree of perfection; they are imperfect….”
“So also the formation of man in the matrix of the world was in the beginning like the embryo; then gradually he made progress in perfection, and grew and developed until he reached the state of maturity, when the mind and spirit became visible in the greatest power. In the beginning of his formation the mind and spirit also existed, but they were hidden; later they were manifested. In the womb of the world mind and spirit also existed in the embryo, but they were concealed; afterwards they appeared….
“All beings, whether large or small, were created perfect and complete from the first, but their perfections appear in them by degrees. The organization of God is one; the evolution of existence is one; the divine system is one. Whether they be small or great beings, all are subject to one law and system….
“In the same way, the embryo possesses from the first all perfections, such as the spirit, the mind, the sight, the smell, the tastes - - in one word, all the powers - - but they are not visible, and become so only by degrees….”
- Abdu’l-Baha, “Man’s Innate Powers” BWF, pp. 312 & 313.
* * * *
FORMATION OF FIRST INTERNATION BAHA'I COUNCIL
“Proclaim National Assemblies of East and West weighty epoch-making decision of formation of first International Baha'i Council, forerunner of supreme administrative institution destined to emerge in fullness of time within precincts beneath shadow of World Spiritual Center of Faith already established in twin cities of Akka and Haifa. Fulfillment of prophecies uttered by Founder of Faith and Center of His Covenant culminating in establishment of Jewish State, signalizing birth after lapse of two thousand years of an independent nation in the Holy Land, the swift unfoldment of historic undertaking associated with construction of superstructure of the Bab’s sepulcher on Mount Carmel, the present adequate maturity of nine vigorously functioning national administrative institutions throughout Baha'i World, combine to induce me to arrive at this historic decision marking most significant milestone in evolution of Administrative Order of the Faith of Baha’u’llah in course of last thirty years. Nascent Institution now created is invested with threefold function: first, to forge link with authorities of newly emerged State; second, to assist me to discharge responsibilities involved in erection of mighty superstructure of the Bab’s Holy Shrine; third, to conduct negotiations related to matters of personal status with Civil authorities. To these will be added further functions in course of evolution of this first embryonic International Institution, marking its development into officially recognized Baha'i Court, its transformation into duly elected body, its efflorescence into Universal House of Justice, and its final fruition through erection of manifold auxiliary institutions constitute the World Administrative Center destined to arise the function and remain permanently established in close neighborhood of Twin Holy Shrines. Hail with thankful, joyous heart, at long last, the constitution of International Council which history will acclaim as the greatest event shedding luster upon second epoch of Formative Age of Baha'i Dispensation potentially unsurpassed by any enterprise undertaken since inception of Administrative Order of Faith, on morrow of Abdu’l-Baha’s Ascension, ranking second only to glorious immortal events associated with Ministries of the three Central Figures of Faith in course of First Age of most glorious Dispensation of the five thousand century Baha'i Cycle. Advise publicize announcement through Public Relations Committee.”
(Cablegram, January 9, 1951) - SHOGHI
-Messages To The Baha'i World, 1950-1957, pp. 7& 8.
SPIRITUAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE WORLD CENTER
“Announce to friends of East and West the following: furnishing Mazra’ih, completion of restoration of historic house of Baha’u’llah in Acre*, scene of prolonged afflictions sustained by Founder of Faith, as well as supreme crisis suffered by Abdu’l-Baha at hand of Covenant-breakers. Greatly enhanced international endowments in Holy Land in twin cities of Acre and Haifa, now include twin Holy Shrines situated on plain of Acre and slope of Mount Carmel; twin mansions of Bahji and Mazra’ih, twin historic Houses inhabited by Baha’u’llah and Abdu’l-Baha; twin International Archives adjoining the Bab’s Sepulcher and the resting-place of the Greatest Holy Leaf; twin Pilgrim Houses, constructed for Oriental and Occidental pilgrims; twin Gardens of Ridvan and Firdaws, associated with the memory of the author of the Baha'i Dispensation.
“Greatly welcome assistance of the newly-formed International Council, particularly its President, Mason Remey, and its Vice-President, Amelia Collins, through contact with authorities designed to spread the fame, consolidate the foundations and widen the scope of influence emanating from the twin spiritual, administration World Centers permanently fixed in the Holy Land. Constituting the midmost heart of the entire planet.”
(Cablegram, March 2, 1951) - SHOGHI
- Messages To The Baha'i World, 1950-1957, pp. 8 & 9.
*Akka
THE GUARDIAN ANNOUNCES APPOINTMENT OF HANDS OF THE CAUSE
“Recall feelings of profound thankfulness and joy at chain of recent historic events heralding long anticipated rise and establishment of the World Administrative Center of the Faith of Baha’u’llah in Holy Land Regarded as third most momentous epoch-making development since inception of the Formative Age on morrow of Abdu’l-Baha’s Ascension.
“Quarter century constituting opening epoch this age signalized successively by erection consolidation over period no less than sixteen years of local, national institutions of Baha'i Administrative Order in five continents of globe in conformity with provisions of the Will of the Center of Covenant, and initiation of first Seven Year Plan by American Baha'i Community marking inauguration first epoch in execution of Abdu’l-Baha’s Divine Plan unavoidably held in abeyance over two decades pending creation of divinely appointed administrative agencies designed by its Author for its effective prosecution.
“Opening years of the second epoch of the Formative Age now witnessing at long last commencement of third vast majestic fate-laden process following two above-mentioned developments destined through gradual emergence of the manifold institutions in World Center of Faith as crown of the administrative structure of Baha’u’llah’s embryonic World Order. Gigantic process now set in motion opening decade second Baha'i century synchronizing with, deriving notable impetus through, birth of sovereign State, Holy Land, greatly accelerated through series of swiftly succeeding events originated in World Center of Faith.
“First, inauguration most holy world-wide enterprise unprecedented in annals of the Faith, construction in heart of Mount Carmel superstructure of the Bab’s Sepulcher. Second, creation of International Baha'i Council in precincts Holy Shrine, forerunner of International House of Justice, supreme legislative organ of nascent, divinely-conceived, world-encircling Baha'i Administrative Order. Third, acquisition, restoration and embellishment of historic sites associated with incarceration Baha’u’llah, Abdu’l-Baha, recognition their sacred character, exemption from taxes by newly formed State, accessibility to appreciative general public. Fourth, initiation of formal negotiation with central municipal authorities of same State with twofold purpose: preserve for posterity immediate directly threatened neighborhood Most Holy Tomb of the Founder of the Faith on outskirts of Akka, and acquire extensive, sorely needed properties in vicinity of Bab’s
Sepulcher destined to serve as site of future edifices envisaged by Abdu’l-Baha to house auxiliary agencies revolving around twin institutions of Guardianship and House of Justice. Fifth, preparation of design of future Mash-riqu’l-Adhkar on Mount Carmel, outstanding indispensable feature unfoldment rising World Administrative Order. Sixth, forthcoming convocation of four conferences embracing eleven National Assemblies in all continents of globe marking inauguration beyond limits of World Center of the Faith of intercontinental stage of Baha'i activity, precursor final step summoning assemblies representative communities all sovereign states, chief dependencies, islands, entire planet.
“Hour now ripe to take long inevitably deferred step in conformity with provisions of Abdu’l-Baha’s Testament in conjunction with six above-mentioned steps through appointment of first contingent of Hands of Cause of God, twelve in number, equally allocated Holy Land, Asiatic, American, European continents. Initial step now taken regard preparatory full development of institutions provided in Abdu’l-Baha’s Will, paralleled preliminary measure formation International Council destined to culminate in emergence of Universal House of Justice. Nascent institution forging fresh links binding rising World Center of Faith to consolidating World Community of followers of Most Great Name, paving way to adopting supplementary measure calculated reinforce foundations structure of the Baha'i Administrative Order.”
(Cablegram, December 24, 1951) - SHOGHI
- Messages to The Baha'i World, 1950-1957, pp. 18-20.
INSTITUTION OF HAND OF THE CAUSE
“To all the Hands of the Cause and all National Assemblies of the Baha'i World.
“Hail emergence of the unfoldment in the opening years of second epoch of the formative age of the Baha'i Dispensation of the august Institution foreshadowed by the Founder of the Faith and formally established in the Testament of the Center of His Covenant, closely associated in provisions of the same Will with Institution of the Guardianship, destined to assume in the fullness of time, under the aegis of the Guardian, the dual sacred responsibility for protection and propagation of the Cause of Baha’u’llah.…”
(Excerpts from Cablegram, April 6, 1954) - SHOGHI
-Messages to the Baha'i World, 1950-1957
* * * *
SECOND INTRODUCTION
____________
There are, at the least, two ways to write about any matter touching on the Cause of God: one, to cite passages and references from the Holy Books, making no comments at all; if, however, the people refuse to place any stock in the writings or have declared, at least by implication, that the writings are no longer of any effect, or hold opinion, deep feelings or inclinations to be more valid, this method is wasted and produces no result: second, to write quoting liberally from the writings and presenting arguments as distinct from opinions and feelings. Abdu’l-Baha tells us that, “If thou wishest the divine knowledge and recognition, purify the heart from all beside God, be wholly attracted to the ideal, beloved One; search for and choose Him and apply thyself to rational and authoritative arguments.”* This is not, in the least, intended to mean that I as an individual have fulfilled the requirements embodied in this injunction. The most it can be intended to mean is that I have accepted this method as the proper method of investigation and have determined to attempt to follow it. “For arguments are a guide to the path and by this the heart will be turned unto the Sun of Truth.”* In the first half of this paper I followed the former method of writing, citing the Writings without comment.
In this half of the paper an attempt will be made to use the latter method, bearing in mind that the Will of God is, and will ever remain, totally independent of human opinion, that in the Cause of God the Word and the Word alone is the only standard.
______________
*Abdu’l-Baha, The Baha'i World Faith, p. 383.
The subject is, at once, packed with emotion, fraught with danger, pregnant with significance and import, and crucial to the soul. I make the claims, as do all men who put forth their arguments - - taking cognizance of the fact that I cannot prove it either to myself or my reader – that I have no desire whatever to abuse, misuse, mutilate or distort the Word. That is why the reader is encouraged to go to the writings himself and to read the entire context of anything that is quoted herein.
It is impossible to accept that there is anyone who is not sincere in the stand he has taken on this issue, but it is not a question of sincerity. It should be borne in mind and repeatedly emphasized that the sincerity of no one - - myself included – is a proper basis for an investigation or far-reaching decision. The Word alone is the Standard.
There can be no doubt that the true Friends wholeheartedly and unreservedly accept the Revelation of Baha’u’llah and His Covenant and unconditionally accept Abdu’l-Baha as the Center and Pivot, the Ideal Exemplar of that Covenant. Therefore we are all agreed on fundamental issues and on who constitutes authority and what constitutes an authoritative argument.
* * * *
THE ARGUMENT
__________
Now we must take up the most crucial issue – the establishment of the validity of Mason Remey’s claim to Guardianship.
In this regard there is need for one prefatory remark. The question is vital because it involves three crucial conditions: (1) the status and condition of the Cause of God; (2) the status and condition of the individual’s soul; and (3) the status and condition of the entire planet, its welfare and ultimate survival. Since it is obvious that most believers, the Hands, and National Assemblies have taken a definitely negative stand on this issue, the task is more difficult, and it becomes absolutely requisite that we remember Baha’u’llah’s injunction about the seeker after truth: “He must so cleanse his heart that no remnant of either love or hate may linger therein, let that love blindly incline him to error, or that hate repel him from the truth.” [i]
The establishment of the validity of the claim hinges on clarifying four points: (1) the power of God to set aside the commands, even of Baha’u’llah – that is, “He doeth whatsoever He willeth and ordaineth whatsoever He pleaseth”; (2) the succession of the guardianship through lineal descent; (3) the creation of the International Baha'i Council and (4), its development from an embryo through successive stages into the Universal House of Justice.
As to the first point, “He doeth whatsoever He willeth and ordaineth whatsoever He pleaseth.” No one who believes in God would ever contend that He has not the power “to do whatsoever He wills and ordain whatsoever He pleases.” To make this statement, however, and to absolutely believe it has nothing whatsoever to do with the validity of our interpretations as to what it means and to what conditions it applies. We have the teachings and example of Abdu’l-Baha to show us that man must also diligently apply his reason, because there are certain salient features of the attributes of God that are impossible to misconceive, even for weak, imperfect, finite man. For example, in speaking of the “Mystery of Sacrifice,” He cites the Church’s teaching of “original sin” and says of it that “it is a superstition” and “that we wish to consider these statements from the standpoint of reason.”[ii] He goes on to point out that for “His Highness the Divinity who is justice itself,”[iii] to inflict punishment upon the holy souls who lived from the time of Adam to Christ, is so manifestly unjust that “even a child could not justly make such and assertion,”[iv] that is to say, the salient features of justice are such that not even a child could misconceive them; yet the Church could and does say, “But God doeth whatsoever He willeth and ordaineth whatsoever He pleaseth,” and we can neither deny nor disprove such an assertion. But we do not recognize it as a valid answer.
Therefore, if one wishes to contend that it is possible that God, under the law, “He doeth whatsoever He willeth and ordaineth whatsoever He pleaseth,” has chosen to eliminate the Guardianship – “Center of the Cause,” “Chief Cornerstone of the Administrative Order of Baha’u’llah,” “Pivot of Abdu’l-Baha’s Will and Testament” – we can neither deny it with certainty nor disprove it. But we can “consider these statements from the standpoint of reason” and seriously ask, “Could we conceive of His Highness the Divinity who is justice itself, inflicting punishment upon the posterity of (this present generation) for (this generation’s own sins and disobedience)?” Then we can suggest for consideration and reflection another more reasonable possibility. Is it possible that God, under the law, “He doeth whatsoever He willeth and ordaineth whatsoever He pleaseth,” has set aside a “lesser” provision of the line of succession to the guardianship, especially since such an “interruption” has been prophesied of old and substantiated by and clearly foreseen by Abdu’l-Baha? This becomes keenly significant since Shoghi Effendi - - the divinely guided, infallible first Guardian of the Faith - - gave no indication, up until the very time of his death, either in writing or action, that the guardianship was to cease or to be interrupted in its continuity after him, and since all the writings for ninety-three years of continuous infallible interpretation point up and emphasize the essentiality of a guardian, stating that it is the only thing that can preserve the unity of the Faith.
Thus, our second point is reached: the descent of the guardianship through lineal succession.
Let us now present the evidences that support and strengthen the latter premise we have adopted in this regard. The Will and Testament specifically states that the successor to the guardian is to be his first-born. This possibility is immediately precluded by the fact that Shoghi Effendi had no children. The Will then permits a deviation from this provision by allowing the guardian to select another than his first-born, and even another branch. At this point ambiguity enters. Abdu’l-Baha has permitted the “Guardian of the Cause of God,” in the event his first-born is unworthy and his lineage unqualified, to choose another branch. Speaking specifically, lineage refers to an entire family and only rarely applies to an individual descendant. Any fair-minded person must admit this. But Abdu’l-Baha did not leave us without guidance and insight into this issue. He clearly foresaw the possibility of confusion and of unqualified lineage, and provided us with an interpretation of this point, if it will be received. It is of great significance that this appears in His “Last Tablet to America” which deals completely with the Covenant, firmness in it, and violation of it. The three key paragraphs will be cited here; the entire text can be read in “The Baha'i World Faith”:
Consider this text of the New Testament: the brothers of His Holiness Christ, came to Him and they said: ‘These are your brothers.’ He answered that His brothers were those who believed in God, and refused to associate with His own brothers.
Likewise Qurratu’l-Ayn, who is celebrated in all the world, when she believed in God and was attracted to the Divine Breaths, she forsook her two eldest sons, although they were her two oldest children, because they did not become believers, and thereafter did not meet them. She said: ‘All the friends of God are my children, but these two are not. I will have nothing to do with them.’
Consider: The Divine Gardener cuts off the dry and weak branch from the good tree and grafts to it a branch from another tree. He both separates and unites. This is that which His Holiness Christ says: that from all the world they come and enter the Kingdom, and the children of the Kingdom shall be cast out. Noah’s grandson, Canaan, was detested in the sight of Noah and others were accepted. The brothers of the Blessed Beauty detached themselves from Him, and the Blessed Beauty never met them. He said: ‘This is an eternal separation between you and Me.’[v]
These are rational arguments based firmly on the explicit sacred Texts. They should be attentively considered.
Now regarding the third point: the creation of the International Baha'i Council. For the sake of thoroughness the complete text of the cablegram announcing this event will be cited:
Proclaim National Assemblies of East and West weighty epoch-making decision of formation of first International Baha'i Council, forerunner of supreme administrative institution destined to emerge in fullness of time within precincts beneath shadow of World Spiritual Center of Faith already established in twin cities of Akka and Haifa. Fulfillment of prophecies uttered by Founder of Faith and Center of His Covenant culminating in establishment of Jewish State, signalizing birth after lapse of two thousand years of an independent nation in the Holy Land, the swift unfoldment of historic undertaking associated with construction of superstructure of the Bab’s Sepulcher on Mount Carmel, the present adequate maturity of nine vigorously functioning national administrative institutions throughout Baha'i World, combine to induce me to arrive at this historic decision marking most significant milestone in evolution of Administrative Order of the Faith of Baha’u’llah in course of last thirty years. Nascent institution now created is invested with threefold function: first, to forge link with authorities of newly emerged state; second, to assist me to discharge responsibilities involved in erection of mighty superstructure of the Bab’s Holy Shrine; third, to conduct negotiations related to matters of personal status with civil authorities. To these will be added further functions in course of evolution of this first embryonic International Institution, marking its development into officially recognized Baha'i Court, its transformation into duly elected body, its efflorescence into Universal House of Justice, and its final fruition through erection of manifold auxiliary institutions constituting the World Administrative Center destined to arise and function and remain permanently established in close neighborhood of Twin Holy Shrines.
Hail with thankful, joyous heart at long last the constitution of International Council which history will acclaim as the greatest event shedding luster upon the second epoch of Formative Age of Baha'i Dispensation potentially unsurpassed by any enterprise undertaken since inception of Administrative Order of Faith on morrow of Abdu’l-Baha’s Ascension, ranking second only to glorious immortal events associated with Ministries of the Three Central Figures of Faith in course of First Age of most glorious Dispensation of the five thousand century Baha'i Cycle.
Advise publicize announcement through Public Relations Committee.[vi]
In the Preface to Guidance For Today and Tomorrow there appears this comment on the writings of Shoghi Effendi: “Every word of the passages contained in it (GFTT) is significant. There are no loose phrases, no vague evasions of crucial issues. The style is one which renders it possible to state basic truths in parentheses and to list in one sentence the chief events of a lifetime. Such writing needs , and is worthy of study, for the implications of its phrases are almost as important as the explicit statements made.”[vii] Question: Have we really done this with this announcement, the one following, and the rest of Shoghi Effendi’s writings? It should be noted that the foregoing announcement was made almost one full year before any public announcement was made about the appointment of the Hands; and it should be seen by all that in these and subsequent announcements, Shoghi Effendi construed his actions to be the fulfillment of the provisions of the Master’s Will and Testament.
Shortly after the above announcement came this pregnant cablegram:
Announce to friends of East and West the following: furnishing Mazra’ih, completion of restoration of historic house of Baha’u’llah in Acre*, scene of prolonged afflictions sustained by Founder of Faith, as well as supreme crisis suffered by Abdu’l-Baha at hands of Covenant-breakers. Greatly enhanced International endowments in Holy Land in twin cities of Acre and Haifa, now include twin Holy Shrines situated in plain of Acre and slope of Mount Carmel; twin mansions of Bahji and Mazra’ih, twin historic House inhabited by Baha’u’llah and Abdu’l-Baha; twin International Archives adjoining the Bab’s Sepulcher and the resting-place of the Greatest Holy Leaf; twin Pilgrim Houses, constructed for Oriental and Occidental pilgrims; twin Gardens of Ridvan and Firdaws, associated with the memory of the Author of the Baha'i Dispensation.
Greatly welcome assistance of the newly-formed International Council, particularly its President, Mason Remey, and its Vice-President, Amelia Collins, through contact with authorities designed to spread the fame, consolidate the foundations and widen the scope of influence emanating from the twin spiritual, administrative World Centers permanently fixed in the Holy Land constituting the midmost heart of the entire planet.[viii]
*Acca - Shoghi
Again notice the emphasis, the language, the repetition of “twin institutions.” Then read the appointment of the first contingent of the Hands of the Cause, in the first section of this paper, and pay particular attention to this paragraph, “Hour now ripe to take long inevitably deferred step in conformity with provisions of Abdu’l-Baha’s Testament in conjunction with six above-mentioned steps through appointment of first contingent of Hands of Cause of God…Initial steps now taken regard preliminary full development of institution provided in Abdu’l-Baha’s Will, paralleled preliminary measure formation International Council destined to culminate in emergence of Universal House of Justice. Nascent institution forging fresh link binding rising World Center of Faith to consolidating World Community of followers of Most Great Name, paving way to adoption supplementary measure calculated reinforce foundations structure of the Baha'i Administrative Order.”[i] Read and ask: What institution, provided for in Abdu’l-Baha’s Will, concerns the institution of the Hands of the Cause? Consider, O people! Reflect!
The fourth point - - the development of the International Council from an embryo through successive stages into the Universal House of Justice - - is intimately related to the foregoing and flows naturally from it.
Shoghie Effendi tells us that “the body of man” is the true divine example or parallel and the law of its development and operation “being universal and found in every created object in the universe, has full application to the universal Baha'i organism.”[ii] He furthermore calls the International Council an embryo. We should, then, go to Some Answered Questions, the book containing the true “philosophy” of the Baha'i teachings, and see what is the indubitable truth of the embryo, its development, its characteristics, and the universal law governing it, referred to by Shoghi Effendi, as explained by Abdu’l-Baha. The complete Texts can be read by all who desire to consider this matter attentively; excerpts from several will be cited here.
“Universal beings,” says Abdu’l-Baha, “resemble and can be compared to particular beings, for both are subjected to one natural system, one universal law and divine organization.”[iii]
“Imagine,” He says again, “that the world of possibility - - that is, the world of existence - - resembles in a general way the body of man. If this composition, organization, perfection, beauty, and completeness which now exist in the human body were different, it would be absolute imperfection.”[iv] “Man is to the world what the head is to the body.” The world without man is imperfect. A living body without a living head cannot be imagined. “For man,” he further states, “from the beginning of the embryonic period till he reaches maturity, goes through different forms and appearances…Nevertheless, from the beginning of the embryonic period he is of the species man – that is to say, an embryo of a man, and not of an animal…”[v] “All beings, whether large or small, were created perfect and complete from the first, but their perfections appear in them by degrees. The organization of God is one: the evolution of existence is one: the divine system is one. Whether they be small or great beings, all are subject to one law and system.”[vi] “In the same way,” He says, “the embryo possesses from the first all perfections…but they are not visible, and become so only by degrees.”[vii]
With many other like words the Master describes and explains the embryo, with many degrees of emphasis, but with ever the same theme: the embryo is perfect from the first. However many stages and transformations it passes through, it never alters its essential members and perfections. The head is in the embryo from the very beginning. If we could imagine an embryonic organism without its head, it would be like the world without man – absolute imperfection. The conclusion is irresistible. The International Baha'i Council as the embryo of the Universal House of Justice is, in all conditions, the Universal House of Justice, and its appointed head is now in the embryo. The head of the Universal House of Justice being synonymous with the guardian, it then becomes clear that Shoghi Effendi in creating the International Baha'i Council, was appointing in his own lifetime his successor. Hence his strong, emphatic and significant language and his ranking it as “potentially unsurpassed by any enterprise undertaken since the inception of the Administrative Order of the Faith…second only to glorious immortal events associated with the Ministries of the three Central Figures of Faith.” Was not one of the “immortal events associated with the three Central Figures” the appointment and/or announcement of their successor? Many believers say: “Shoghi Effendi must have left something. I still believe some document will turn up.” He did leave something - - His writings.
A few final considerations. The being of a guardian is entirely apart from human personality. It is in the nature of the being of a disciple “which (is) born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” To this Abdu’l-Baha Himself testifies when He says, “An humble man without learning, but filled with the Holy Spirit, is more powerful than the most nobly-born profound scholar without that inspiration…No capacity is limited when led by the Spirit of God.”[viii] Is it at all possible that we have been so blinded by the brilliance and magnificence of Shoghi Effendi, which was no doubt further enhanced by being, for thirty-six years, the channel of Divine Guidance, that we are incapable of seeing that same light shine from another lantern, which to outward seeming is less spectacular, and are repeating the days after the Ascension of the Master? It has been done before.
There is one other point to be mentioned. If all this is true, why didn’t Mason Remey see it immediately? To which we reply: Why did John say that he was not Elijah, when Christ said he was? Another thought for reflection with regard to the physical man. “Why did God choose Moses, a stammerer and “Murderer”, to be His Manifestation when He could have picked fluent, eloquent Aaron? The physical man is really unimportant, isn’t he? Can we say here, “He doeth whatsoever He willeth and ordaineth whatsoever He pleaseth”?
There are other questions that can and will no doubt be asked: “Why an American?” etc. There are no answers to these questions; some are to be found in the explicit writings and others are spiritual answers. To those who see the validity of these arguments, the answers to these and other like questions will be as clear as the noonday sun.
We all admit and confess that we are not infallible. Is the unity of the Cause of God, the welfare of our souls and of all humanity, then, not worth a second prayerful detached look at this entire issue?
And finally, let us prayerfully call to mind and meditate upon these words of Baha’u’llah:
“Think ye that your allegiance to His Cause can ever profit Him, or your repudiation of its truth cause Him any loss? No, by My Self, the All-Subduing…Tear asunder the veils of names and cleave ye their kingdom…
“Beware that ye divest not yourselves of the raiment of Divine guidance.”[ix]
July 1960 Charles H. Gaines
[i] Ibid., pp. 18-20.
[ii] Guidance For Today and Tomorrow, p. 110.
[iii] Some Answered Questions, pp. 211-212.
[iv] Ibid., p. 206.
[v] Ibid., p. 224.
[vi] Ibid., p.231.
[vii] Ibid., p.231.
[viii] Paris Talks, Abdu’l-Baha, pp. 105-106
[ix] Gleanings, Baha’u’llah, p. 258.
Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha.
Addendum
FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS ON THE ISSUE OF LINEAL DESCENT
One of the great stumbling-blocks in the matter of the guardianship is lineal descent. Indeed, this is the greatest stumbling-block confronting the entire body of the Hands and the believers. If this issue could be clarified, the entire question of the guardianship could be resolved.
Therefore, these arguments are presented for your earnests consideration and reflection. Consider them attentively.
In the World Order of Baha’u’llah, Shoghi Effendi writes: “Divorced from the institution of the Guardianship the World Order of Baha’u’llah would be mutilated and permanently deprived of that hereditary principle which as Abdu’l-Baha has written, has been invariably upheld by the Law of God.” (p. 148) “Moreover”, he writes, “he who symbolizes the hereditary principle in this Dispensation has been made the interpreter of the words of its Author…” (p. 153)
Consider! What does it mean to symbolize? It is well known that the symbol is not the literal thing. The symbol represents, stands for, something. When we speak of a thing as being symbolized, it means that one thing stands for, represents, another thing, but it is not that thing represented.
The hereditary principle is continuous succession. Therefore, when the guardian is spoken of as “symbolizing the hereditary principle”, it means that the continuity of the guardianship represents, stands for, the principle that things – in this case authority – are handed down in orderly continuous succession from generation to generation. It represents hereditary succession.
Now this does not mean that the guardianship does not and cannot descend according to the strict law of hereditary succession, but it does mean that adherence to the strict law of hereditary succession along physical lines is not absolutely essential.
The history of our Faith provides ample evidence that persons who, according to the law of heredity, should have inherited honorable and important positions, were deprived of those positions because they proved themselves unworthy of the trust. Surely, Baha’u’llah would not have enjoined adherence to a law so inflexible as to force an incumbent guardian to turn the helm of the Faith over to an incompetent, spiritually bankrupt person simply because that person was a physical descendant. We have only to review the history of the Papacy in the Catholic Church to see what would be the result of such a procedure.
Baha’u’llah refers to kings as “emblems of God’s sovereignty”; their station as symbolic of the station of Godhood, but no one construes this to mean that kings are gods. Shoghi Effendi, more than once, has compared the World Order of Baha’u’llah, with the guardian at the head of it, with a monarchy; but no one construes this to mean that the guardian is a king. (see Gleanings, pp. 211, 212, 304; WOB, pp. 152-153)
It has been stated previously that, if the present teachings of the believers are true, the World Order of Baha’u’llah would be permanently deprived of two of its pivotal and essential institutions – the guardianship and the Hands – and a third, the Universal House of Justice, will be mutilated beyond repair. In view of this, then, consider these statements of Shoghi Effendi’s appearing in The World Order of Baha’u’llah:
“No machinery falling short of the standard inculcated by the Baha'i Revelation, and at variance with the sublime pattern ordained in His teachings, which the collective efforts of mankind may yet devise can ever hope to achieve anything above or beyond that “Lesser Peace” to which the Author of our Faith has Himself alluded to His writings…
“The Most Great Peace, on the other hand, as conceived by Baha’u’llah…can rest on no other basis, and can be preserved through no other agency, except the divinely appointed ordinances that are implicit in the World Order that stands associated with His Holy Name.” (pp. 162-163)
“Such institutions as have strayed far from the spirit and teachings of Jesus Christ must of necessity, as the embryonic World Order of Baha’u’llah takes shape and unfolds, recede into the background, and make way for the progress of the divinely-ordained institutions that stand inextricably interwoven with His teachings…” (p. 185)
“Leaders of religion, exponents of religion, exponents of political theories, governors of human institutions, who at present are witnessing with perplexity and dismay the bankruptcy of their ideas, and the disintegration of their handiwork, would do well to turn their gaze to the Revelation of Baha’u’llah, and to meditate upon the World Order, which, lying enshrined in His teachings, is slowly and imperceptibly rising amid the welter and chaos of present-day civilization. They need have no doubt or anxiety regarding the nature, the origin or validity of the institutions which the adherents of the Faith are building up throughout the world. For these lie embedded in the teachings themselves, unadulterated and unobscured by unwarrantable inference, or unauthorized interpretations of His Word.
“How pressing and sacred the responsibility that now weighs upon those who are already acquainted with these teachings! How glorious the task of those who are called upon to vindicate their truth, and demonstrate their practicability to an unbelieving world! Nothing short of an immovable conviction in their divine origin, and their uniqueness in the annals of religion; nothing short of an unwavering purpose to execute and apply them to the administrative machinery of the Cause, can be sufficient to establish their reality, and insure their success.” (p. 24)
Charles H. Gaines
THE
GUARDIANSHIP
AND
UNIVERSAL HOUSE
OF
JUSTICE
INTRODUCTION
The present condition in the Baha'i World has given rise to a host of opinions, feelings, and attitudes, as distinct from proofs and arguments, on the part of individual Baha'is. It has exposed, for all to see, the Baha'is’ ignorance and misunderstanding of their own basic Writings. More than this, it has hurled back at each Baha'i one of the first challenges of Baha’u’llah; to “see with thine own eyes and not through the eyes of others, and know of thine own knowledge and not through the knowledge of thy neighbor”.
For years Baha'is relied on Shoghi Effendi, the Hands, outstanding teachers, and “old Baha’is” to do our reading, thinking, believing and understanding for us. In short, we created a priestly caste, attributed to them all the things that they traditionally been attributed to clergy men, but merely withheld from them the title.
Todays events prove, beyond a shadow of doubt, the desperate need for the majority of Baha'is to become more than “twelve principle Baha’is”, and adherents of “a good platform”.
The more abstruse and difficult writings and recorded talks of Abdu’l-Baha, and the writings of Shoghi Effendi were read only perfunctorily, because we were too intellectually and spiritually lazy to study these writings “word by word”, to immerse ourselves in them. Too many became Baha'is because Baha’u’llah agreed with them, not because they recognized His station and the plane from which He spoke. It was asking too much of us to stretch our minds, to strive, to attain to those new heights of mental development and spiritual growth necessary to understand these writings. We complained that Shoghi Effendi’s style was too complicated; when what we actually meant was, “I don’t want to invest the money in a good dictionary or the time necessary to study, or the thought required to understand what he wrote”. We wanted him to entertain us, when his purpose was to educate and edify us. We continued to protest; “I am a ‘humble’, ‘simple’ person and can’t understand his style of writing”. In some instances, without in the least trying to imply the inferiority of anyone, these were legitimate and true reasons. In many others, however, perhaps most, they were but rationalizations and excuses for mental inanition, clothed in the deceptive garment of “piety”, “humility”, and pseudo-self-effacement.
Today the veil has been torn away and the paucity of our true knowledge, acceptance, and understanding is shameful. Nor has mere knowledge of written word proven of much more avail in other cases. In many of these we have intimate knowledge without true acceptance or comprehension. Words “learned and conned by rote, to cast into the teeth” of our opponents, but not fully, and “inwardly digested”.
Too many had, and still have, excess professional pride in their human knowledge and not enough “pride” in the knowledge of Faith. There were doctors, lawyers, psychologists, historians who liked Baha’u’llah’s principles; but not Baha’is whose professions happened to be in these fields. There were Christians, Moslems, and Jews in thought, attitude and emotional attachment, rather than Baha'is whose backgrounds happened to be in those religions. In other words, too many of us have been something else first and Baha'is second. And there were others who were Baha'is and knew no other religion and have, therefore, never been put to the test of true independent investigation. Today this is ended. We must all start from the beginning again – independent investigation – this time not to find the Manifestation, but to understand and accept His Writings and those of the appointed Interpreters. No one’s rank or station is assured on the basis of past service.
[i] Gleanings, p. 264.
[ii] The Reality of Man, Abdu’l-Baha, “The Meaning of Sacrifice”, pp.48-49.
[iii] Loc. Cit.
[iv] Loc. Cit.
[v] Baha'i World Faith, The, Abdu’l-Baha, “The Master’s Last Tablet to America” pp. 437- 438
[vi] Messages To The Baha'i World 1950-1957, Shoghi Effendi, pp. 7-8.
[vii] Guidance For Today and Tomorrow, Preface, p. x.
[viii] Messages To The Baha'i World 1950-1957, Shoghi Effendi, pp. 8 & 9.
The Babi’s had their Conference of Badasht to proclaim once for all, and for all to see, their severance from the old order. We, especially in the West, have long needed, and now have been forced into, our own spiritual Conference of Badasht, testing whether we can, and will, sever our intellectual and emotional attachments to the old order, and set about building a new creation.
It is painfully and humiliatingly evident that we were not, and thus far in the majority, are not, centered in the Writings and the guardianship. The reality of the guardianship and its “suitability to the type of society that will emerge from this present chaos and confusion” has completely eluded us. Many actually breathed a sigh of relief when it was believed that the guardianship was ended, for this has always been a stumbling block to the Western mind. One begins to believe that it was never fully accepted or recognized by the majority of western believers, and even less so by the Persian believers. To be sure, most of us accepted Shoghi Effendi, the man who was head of the Faith, but not many were convicted in their inmost hearts of the essentiality of the guardianship. The proofs of this assertion are in the attempt now being made to disembowel the Faith of this necessary organ, and the support it gets from the believers.
One of the densest veils obscuring our vision in the present controversy is our unawareness and misunderstanding of the role destined for the Universal House of Justice, relative to the guardianship.
In the perturbation and world-encircling gloom, following the death of Shoghi Effendi, we, all of us, grasped at anything and everything, except the one thing we should have taken a firm hold upon – his thirty-six years of prolific, infallible writing.
Now we are beginning to assign all manner of rights and prerogatives to the, as yet, undeveloped, unevolved Universal House of Justice and the infant institution of the Hands of the Cause; rights and prerogatives far exceeding anything laid down in the Writings of Baha'u’llah, the Master’s Will and Testament, or the authorized, infallible interpretations of Shoghi Effendi, and some of which, in fact, flatly contradict these Writings.
In another effort to redirect our thinking toward the basic Writings, “the fixed and immovable Foundation” of the Administrative Order of Baha’u’llah, this paper is written.
When, in the early days of his ministry, Shoghi Effendi was assailed by a host of misunderstanding about and violations of the Covenant on the part of the believers, some, incidentally, who enjoyed high stations under the Master, he wrote these words: “I am at a loss to explain that strange mentality that inclines to uphold as the sole criterion of the truth of the Baha'i Teachings what is admittedly only an obscure and unauthenticated translation of an oral statement made by Abdu’l-Baha, in defiance and total disregard of the available text of all His universally recognized writings”. *
Today, on the basis of an oral statement to the effect that God can change even Baha’u’llah’s plan, admittedly made by Shoghi Effendi, but no doubt misunderstood and misapplied, we are, “in defiance and total disregard of the available text of all of his universally recognized writings”, immolating the pivotal institutions of the Faith of Baha’u’llah, and disemboweling it of it’s necessary spiritual and administrative organs.
* World Order of Baha’u’llah, Shoghi Effendi, p. 4.
The primary purpose of this paper is to review and explore those “salient features of this scheme which, however close we may stand to its colossal structure, are already so clearly defined that we find it inexcusable to either misconceive or ignore”.* Indeed, this paper is intended to deal with two basic questions. Is a guardian necessary for the Universal House of Justice to be properly established and to properly function? and Can a Universal House of Justice, without a guardian of the Cause, decide on the guardianship and/or elect a guardian?
No attempt will be made to describe exhaustively the functions of these two institutions or define with minuteness their features. This is “a task which future generations will no doubt adequately fulfill”. *
*World Order of Baha’u’llah, Shoghi Effendi, p. 147.
c.h.g.
THE GUARDIANSHIP AND THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE
“Praise and thanksgiving be unto Providence that out of all the realities in existence He has chosen the reality of men and has honored it with intellect and wisdom, the two most luminous lights in either world. Through the agency of this great endowment, He has in every epoch cast on the mirror of creation new and wonderful configurations….
“This supreme emblem of God stands first in the order of creation and first in rank, taking precedence over all created things. Witness to it is the Holy Tradition, ‘Before all else, God created the mind’…” (Abdu’l-Baha, The Secret of Divine Civilization, Baha'i Publishing Trust, Wilmette, Illinois, 1957, p. 1.)
The full force of this “supreme emblem” and the brilliance of this “luminous light” must now be focused on the most crucial issue ever to face the nascent Baha'i World Order. With unprecedented determination and detachment we must rise above our selves, our deepest feelings*, and our most cherished opinions*, at this critical crossroad in the establishment and evolution of the “pattern for future society”, and set out upon the path of true investigation and understanding. In the words of one of the foremost Baha'i teachers we must “become as neutral as a scientist making a laboratory test. Unless (we)** will look at (our) ownselves, (our) heredity and (our) environment…and deliberately assess these influences on (our) judgment, Abdu’l-Baha’s words on blind imitation can never be meaningful to (us)” (Marzieh Gail, The Sheltering Branch, Barnicott Ltd., at the Wessex Press, Taunton, England, 1959, p. 57.)
“A attempt, I feel, should at the present juncture be made to explain the character and functions of the twin pillars that support this mighty
_________________
* We have a right to our feelings and opinions, but this is a very different thing from our feelings and opinions being right.
** The words in parenthesis throughout this quotation are mine. The original author was writing to non-Baha’is about investigating the Baha'i Faith; I am writing to Baha'is about re-investigating their own teachings.
Administrative Structure – the institution of the Guardianship and of the Universal House of Justice.” (Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha’u’llah, Baha'i Publishing Trust, Wilmette, Illinois, 1955, p. 147.) For the degree to which we understand these two essential institutions, their distinctions both in character and function; to that degree will we be able to understand why we cannot hope to build the Baha'i World Order as adumbrated by Baha’u’llah and delineated by Abdu’l-Baha without both these institutions. Furthermore, we will see that the present course of most of the friends while no doubt sincere, is misdirected, and would, if successful, result at the best in the paralysis of the institutions of the Faith, and at worst in the extinction of the Faith itself. This can be readily seen if we attempt to write or speak intelligently, informatively, and comprehensively about the Universal House of Justice without reference to the guardianship. If this is attempted, it becomes obvious that the Universal House of Justice without a guardian only succeeds in paralleling those already powerless international institutions reared on the foundation of man’s imagination and human weakness.
“It should be stated, at the very outset, in clear and unambiguous language, that these twin institutions of the Administrative Order of Baha’u’llah should be regarded as divine in origin, essential in their functions and complementary in their aim and purpose.” (Shoghi Effendi, op. cit., p. 148) The significance of this statement for us is, that by pronouncing, in one sentence, these institutions as “twin”, “divine”, “essential”, and “complementary”, Shoghi Effendi establishes upon an unassailable foundation the reality of the relationship between these institutions and their relationship to the World Order of Baha’u’llah. He has set our feet firmly upon the path leading to a proper approach to these institutions, and has laid down the central affirmation which must, else we repudiate the fundamental tenets of the Faith, characterize and underlie our understanding of and attitudes toward these institutions.
“Acting in conjunction with each other”, he continues, “these two inseparable institutions administer its affairs, coordinate its activities, promote its interest, execute its laws and defend its subsidiary institutions.” (Shoghi Effendi, loc. cit.) Now the central affirmation is complete. With but two sentences he has carried us to the realization that these mighty twin institutions are conjunctive and inseparable. A realization from which, if we wish to be faithful to the Master’s Will and Testament, we can never, so much as a hairs breadth, retreat, without disrupting the Cause and pronouncing a death sentence upon its institutions.
“The guardian of the Cause of God as well as the Universal House of Justice…are both under the care and protection of the Abha Beauty, under the shelter and unerring guidance of His Holiness, the Exalted One. Whatsoever they decide is of God.” (Abdu’l-Baha, Will and Testament of, Trans. Shoghi Effendi, Baha'i Publishing Committee, Wilmette, Illinois, 1944, p. 11.)
In view of Shoghi Effendi’s statement – made in reference to the Hands giving their assent to the guardian’s choice – that “the Master could not have provided for a conflict of authority in the Faith”, (Shoghi Effendi, “Baha'i News”, No. 288, February 1955, p. 1.) it behooves us to consider; why ordain two institutions with infallibility, unless there were to be two clearly defined spheres of jurisdiction and authority?
One might say that this was to assure infallibility in the event the Faith were deprived one or the other of these institutions. But this conclusion is cast out by the terms “conjunction”, “complementary”, “essential”, and “inseparable”. The only conclusion we are permitted by the evidence, is that this dual infallibility is to assure correctness in both religious and secular matters, that is, things pertaining to the spiritual life, involving interpretation of the revealed Word, observance of religious laws, etc.; and things pertaining to the material, secular life, involving legislation on matters not revealed in the explicit text, and that change and transforms with time; in each period requiring new solutions consonant with the conditions of that period, and which may, indeed, vary from country to country. That this is a correct conclusion is finely demonstrated by these words of Shoghi Effendi; “ ‘He (the guardian) is the Interpreter of the Word of God’ Abdu’l-Baha, referring to the function of the Guardian of the Faith asserts…(Shoghi Effendi, World Order of Baha’u’llah pp. 148-149.) “The interpretation of the Guardian, functioning within his own sphere, is as authoritative and binding as the enactments of the International House of Justice, whose exclusive right and prerogative is to pronounce upon and deliver the final judgment on such laws and ordinances as Baha’u’llah has not expressly revealed…” (Shoghi Effendi, op. cit., p. 150)
At this point in our study of these two institutions, definite and limited spheres are taking shape in our mind’s eye. The “salient features” which, even at this early stage of our development, “we find it inexcusable to either misconceive or ignore” are being singled out and described by Shoghi Effendi himself.
As if this were not enough, he ties the guardianship inextricably into this scheme by surveying the faith, sans guardian. “Divorced from the institution of the Guardianship the World Order of Baha’u’llah would be mutilated and permanently deprived of that hereditary principle which, as Abdu’l-Baha has written, has been invariably upheld by the Law of God….Without such an institution the integrity of the Faith would be imperiled, and the stability of the entire fabric would be gravely endangered. Its prestige would suffer, the means required to enable it to take a long, an uninterrupted view over a series of generations would be completely lacking and the necessary guidance to define the sphere of the legislative action of its elected representatives would be totally withdrawn.” (Shoghi Effendi, op. cit., p. 148.)
It is ludicrous to maintain that the Guardianship exists without a guardian. As long as there had never been an appointed guardian this statement was true, for the guardianship, at that time was potential, not active. With the appointment of the first guardian, that institution ceased to be potential and became active. Once made active it is necessary that there be a continuous line of guardians, otherwise the institution of guardianship is abolished by default.
The argument for the necessity of a guardian is now firmly established by Shoghi Effendi himself, the initial proofs are given, all that remains is to see what our efforts along the course of deeper understanding will produce.
Just as Shoghi Effendi knitted the guardianship into this scheme with such force and emphasis, that none who reflect on his writings can deny; likewise he forged an inseparable link between it and the Universal House of Justice; a link which cannot be broken without destroying the Faith.
“Severed from the no less essential institution of the Universal House of Justice, this same system of the Will of Abdu’l-Baha would be paralyzed in its action and would be powerless to fill in those gaps which the author of the Kitab-i-Aqdas has deliberately left in the body of His legislative and administrative ordinances. (Shoghi Effendi, loc. cit.)
From the foregoing statements it is made perfectly clear that both these institutions are inexpendable; neither can be extricated from the framework of the Faith without causing irreparable damage to the entire structure. Further light is also shed on the reason and need for the dual infallibility conferred by Abdu’l-Baha, and our understanding of the character and functions of the twin pillars of the Administrative Order has been carried another very important step nearer to certitude and accuracy. It should be borne in mind, however, that the guardianship is now active, but that the Universal House of Justice is still potential, yet in a state of seed.
“And now, concerning the House of Justice which God hath ordained as the source of all good and freed from all error…It must be elected by universal suffrage, that is, by the believers….in all countries a secondary House of Justice must elect the members of the Universal one.” (Abdu’l-Baha, Will and Testament, p. 14.)
“Unto this body all things must be referred. It enacteth all ordinances and regulations that are not to be found in the explicit Holy Text. By this body all the difficult problems are to be resolved and the Guardian of the Cause of God is its sacred head and the distinguished member for life of that body. Should he not attend in person its deliberations, he must appoint one to represent him.” (Abdu’l-Baha, loc. cit.)
Thus, it is unquestionable that the guardian, or one appointed to represent him, must be present at all deliberations of the Universal House of Justice before that body can be considered complete.
In the womb of the mother the embryo acquires all the members necessary for life in the outer world. What it does not acquire in the womb it is minus and bereft in this world. If it does not acquire eyes it will be born into this world blind. If it develops no tongue it will be born dumb. If it develops no head it will not attain to life at all, for these members cannot be added once the embryo has left the security of the mother’s womb. These laws have full application to the Universal Baha'i Organism. Therefore, they apply to the Universal House of Justice. It is has no head in embryo, the head cannot be added after birth, indeed, it cannot even attain to life. It will be born dead, incapable of existence. But the body with the head, assuming the other members are intact, will be a complete organism. The head does not perform the functions of the hands, but it sends out over the nervous system, the directions which the hands obey. Neither do the hands, even temporarily, assume the functions of the head. So also with the other members of the body. They all have their specific and peculiar functions, and they all have one thing in common – dependency on the head for directions and instructions. All obey the head, but the head does not perform their functions and they cannot function as the head.
That is why it is written, “Though the Guardian of the Faith has been made the permanent head of so august a body he can never, even temporarily, assume the right of exclusive legislation.” (Shoghi Effendi, World Order, p. 150.) Nevertheless, “it is incumbent upon the members of the House of Justice…to show their obedience, submissiveness and subordination unto the guardian of the Cause of God, to turn unto him and be lowly before him.” (Abdu’l-Baha, Will and Testament, p. 11) Thus the universal Baha'i organism continues to conform to the universal laws governing all bodies in the creational world, the members of the body being at all times subject to and under the direction of the head.
“From these statements it is made indubitably clear and evident that the Guardian of the Faith has been made the Interpreter of the Word and that the Universal House of Justice has been invested with the function of legislating on matters not expressly revealed in the teachings.” (Shoghi Effendi, op. cit., p. 150.) It should also be quite clear that the Universal House of Justice cannot decide on the guardianship; whether it should or should not be, or who will occupy this station. Neither can it override the guardian’s interpretations. For the guardian interprets the Writings and defines the sphere of the action of the elected representatives, in this case, the Universal House of Justice.
Thenceforth, the elected representatives, acting within this clearly defined sphere, deliver their final verdict on all problems submitted to them. In this sphere they are infallible, and their decision has the same effect, but not the same status, as the revealed text. The guardian, however, will always determine when they have stepped outside their sphere. “He cannot override the decision of the majority of his fellow-members, but is bound to insist upon a reconsideration by them of any enactment he conscientiously believes to conflict with the meaning and to depart from the spirit of Baha’u’llah’s utterances. He interprets what has been specifically revealed, and cannot legislate except in his capacity as member of the Universal House of Justice.” (Shoghi Effendi, loc. cit., p. 150)
The Universal House of Justice has charge of all administrative affairs; those things “not expressly recorded in the Book and bear upon daily transactions”. (Abdu’l-Baha, Will and Testament, p. 20) In such matters their decision or law has the same effect as the Text itself, but can be repealed by the incumbent or a subsequent Universal House. “This it can do because that law formeth no part of the Divine Explicit Text. The House of Justice is both the Initiator and Abrogator of its own laws.” (Abdu’l-Baha, op. cit., p.20. But it cannot, even temporarily, step into the domain of the guardian, pass on things already revealed in the Book, prescribe religious observances, interpret the meaning of the Book, or repeal or abrogate anything laid down in the sacred Texts. Above all, there is not the remotest hint, the slightest implication or the faintest allusion to its having any authority whatever to legislate on the guardianship or elect a guardian. The guardian is appointed by his predecessor and in no other way.
Ideally, in human government, new social and spiritual forces should be channeled through institutions specifically designed for them. If not there is no alternative for these new forces, but to take over and pour into the old inadequate institutions. When this occurs, the old institutions either give way under the strain; producing explosions – revolutions, wars, upheavals and crime-waves, or proceed to operate erratically; producing social enormities – hate, prejudice, religious fanaticism, weakening of the pillars of religion, etc. When this happens much of the energy of the new forces is dissipated and choked off by the anachronistic institutions, and the state deteriorates. (This example, paraphrased, is borrowed from Arnold Toynbee, A Study of History, 2 vol. abridgement, by D.C. Somervell, Oxford University Press, New York, 1956, pp. 279-280.)
“The state is, moreover, based upon two potent forces, the legislative and the executive.” (Abdu’l-Baha, Secret of Divine Civilization, p. 37.) Thus, in the Baha'i Order “this House of Justice enacteth the laws and the government enforces them. The legislative body must reinforce the executive, the executive must aid and assist the legislative body so that through the close union and harmony of these two forces, the foundation of fairness and justice may become firm and strong.” (Abdu’l-Baha, Will and Testament, pp. 14-15.)
In the Baha'i Commonwealth, this ideal union between new forces and proper institutions to contain and channel them is achieved and reaches its apex in the union and conjunctive actions between the Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice, cited above.
“Severally, each operates within a clearly defined sphere of jurisdiction…Each exercises within the limitations imposed upon it, its powers, its authority, its rights and prerogatives. These are neither contradictory, nor detract in the slightest degree from the position which each of these institutions occupies. Far from being incompatible or mutually destructive, they supplement each other’s authority and functions, and are permanently and fundamentally united in their aims.” (Shoghi Effendi, World Order of Baha’u’llah, p. 148.)
“Neither can, nor will ever, infringe upon the sacred and prescribed domain of the other. Neither will seek to curtail the specific and undoubted authority with which both have been divinely invested.” (Shoghi Effendi, World Order of Baha’u’llah, p. 150.)
With the fingers of a Master musician Abdu’l-Baha has played upon the strings of human government and produced a symphony of divine politics destined to “sooth the savage beast” in a man for generations to come, and raise the ensign of human and political solidarity characteristic of the Kingdom of God on earth.
“It is unquestionable that the object in establishing parliaments is to bring about justice and righteousness, but everything hinges on the efforts of the elected representatives. If their intention is sincere, desirable results and unforeseen improvements will be forthcoming; if not, it is certain that the whole thing will be meaningless, the country will come to a standstill and public affairs will continuously deteriorate. ‘I see a thousand builders unequal to one subverter; what then of the one builder who is followed by a thousand subverters?’” (Abdu’l-Baha, Secret of Divine Civilization, p. 23.)
With a brilliantly conceived, finely executed, set of checks and balances the Master has established the ideal union between executive and legislative, new social and spiritual forces and adequate institutions to channel them into the life stream of the body politic. He has made the guardian the pivot, the heart and center of this Order. His primacy is shown in this, that “should any of the members (of the Universal House of Justice) commit a sin, injurious to the common weal, the guardian of the Cause of God hath at his own discretion the right to expel him…” (Abdu’l-Baha, Will and Testament, p. 14.) and that he delineates and defines the area of the Universal House of Justice’ authority. Exercising such power and fulfilling such essential functions, it is obvious that the Guardian is no mere figurehead.
That the universal Baha'i Organism is the only force in the world with both the spirit and the institutions to bring into tangible reality and practice those ideally united channels is attested to by these words of Shoghi Effendi: “The Spirit breathed by Baha’u’llah upon the world…can never permeate and exercise an abiding influence upon mankind unless and until it incarnates itself in a visible order, which would bear His Name, wholly identify itself with His principles, and function in conformity with His Laws…” (Shoghi Effendi, op. cit., p. 19.) “No machinery falling short of the Standard inculcated by the Baha'i Revelation, and at variance with the sublime pattern ordained in His teachings, which the collective efforts of mankind may yet devise can ever hope to achieve anything above or beyond that ‘Lesser Peace’ to which the Author of our Faith has himself alluded in His Writings.” (Shoghi Effendi, op. cit., p. 162.) “Only future generations can comprehend the value and the significance attached to this Divine Masterpiece, which the hand of the Master-builder of the world has designed for the unification and the triumph of the world-wide Faith of Baha’u’llah. Only those who come after us will be in a position to realize the value of the surprisingly strong emphasis that has been placed on the institution of the House of Justice and of the Guardianship…To them alone will be revealed the suitability of the institution initiated by Abdu’l-Baha to the character of the future society which is to emerge out of the chaos and confusion of the present age.” (Shoghi Effendi, op. cit., p. 8.)
To summarize: The Guardianship and Universal House of Justice are absolutely fundamental and “equisential” (of an equally essential nature) to the proper construction of the Baha'i World Commonwealth. The Guardian is appointed by his predecessor, during the life-time of his predecessor, which precludes the need for the traditional Will. The Universal House of Justice is elected. The Guardian is the head of the Universal House of Justice, which means that the head of the Universal House of Justice is appointed, not elected by the believers or the Universal House of Justice.
Without a continuous line of guardians, each being appointed by his predecessor, the institution of guardianship is abolished by default. With the abolition of the guardianship, the body of the Universal House of Justice is severed from its head and there is, therefore, no such institution as a legitimate Universal House of Justice in the sense that Abdu’l-Baha described it and delineated it in His Will and Testament, or that Shoghi Effendi interpreted and defined it in his writings.
If this happens, the Faith is mutilated and the infallibility of Shoghi Effendi is automatically and inescapably impugned. If we impugn his infallibility we must impugn the infallibility of Abdu’l-Baha as it was He who delineated the Administrative Order and declared the guardian infallible. This makes it necessary to impugn the infallibility of Baha’u’llah, for it was He Who said, “He (Abdu’l-Baha) is the expounder of My Book and is informed of My purpose. All must turn to Him. Whatsoever He says is correct for verily He knoweth the texts of My Book. Other than He, no one doth know My Book.” (Baha’u’llah, quoted by Abdu’l-Baha, Promulgation of Universal Peace, Baha'i Publishing Committee, Wilmette, Ill., 1943, p. 317.)
This, dear friends, quite simply, is what is meant by the extinction of the Faith. The shell, the form, as the form of Christianity, will persist, but the Faith will be dead.
Lancaster, Pa. Charles H. Gaines
Sept. 1, 1960
THE
GUARDIANSHIP
AND
THE HANDS OF THE CAUSE
OF GOD
THE GUARDIANSHIP AND THE HANDS OF THE CAUSE OF GOD
“Baha’u’llah…has not only imbued mankind with a new and regenerating spirit. He has not merely enunciated certain universal principles, or propounded a particular philosophy, however potent, sound and universal these may be. In addition to these He, as well as Abdu’l-Baha after Him, has, unlike the Dispensations of the past, clearly and specifically laid down a set of Laws, established definite institutions, and provided for the essentials of a Divine Economy.” (World Order of Baha’u’llah, The, Shoghi Effendi, p. 19.)
One of these definite and pivotal institutions is the Hands of the Cause of God. The foundation of this institution was laid by Baha’u’llah; its features, authority and function clearly delineated by Abdu’l-Baha, and brought into tangible existence and caused to operate and function by Shoghi Effendi.
It should be borne in mind that, in view of Shoghi Effendi’s diligent and faithful compliance to the Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha, it would be an indictment of his fidelity to that document to interpret any of his statements, with regard to the Hands, as bestowing upon them authority which would amount to a breach of the limits and bounds set for them in the Will and Testament, and provide for a conflict of authority in the Faith.
Since the Hands “must be nominated and appointed by the guardian of the Cause of God”, (Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha, p. 12.) the existence of this institution presupposes and requires the existence of a living guardian.
“This body of the Hands of the Cause of God is under the direction of the guardian of the Cause of God”, (Ibid., p. 13.) and under obligation “to diffuse the Divine Fragrances, to edify the souls of men, to promote learning, to improve the character of all men and to be at all times and under all conditions sanctified and detached from earthly things”. (Ibid., p. 13.)
Another vital function and duty of the Hands is the protection of the Guardian. Abdu’l-Baha expressly enjoins them to “be ever watchful and so soon as they find anyone beginning to oppose and protest against the guardian of the Cause of God cast him out from the congregation of the people of Baha and in no wise accept any excuse from him”. (Ibid., p. 12.) But in keeping with the principle that the Master could not have provided for a conflict of authority in the Faith, this, too, must be done under the direction of the guardian. This very duty presupposes the existence of a guardian; you cannot oppose and protest that which is not.
Nine of the Hands, “elect(ed) from their own number, shall at all times be occupied in the important services in the work of the guardian of the Cause of God”, (Ibid., p. 12.) “these, whether unanimously or by a majority vote, must give their assent to the choice of the one whom the guardian of the Cause hath chosen as his successor”. (Loc. cit.) But this “statement in the Will of Abdu’l-Baha does not imply that the Hands of the Cause of God have been given the authority to overrule the Guardian. Abdu’l-Baha could not have provided for a conflict of authority in the Faith”. (“Baha'i News”, Feb. 1955, p. 1.)
It should be recognized by all that the Hands, singly or collectively are subject to error and violation. “Should any, within or without the company of the Hands of the Cause of God, disobey and seek division, the wrath of God and His vengeance will be upon him,” etc. (Will, p. 13.)
However high and august the institution of the Hands of the Cause of God may be; from the foregoing statements it is clear that not one single function or iota of authority stems from itself or the individual members. It is indubitably clear that they revolve around the guardian and get all of their authority from his direction. On the other hand, this institution is too august for its duration to be measured by the life-span of those who now constitute its membership. This is an institution of the Lord and is not intended to pass away with the passing of a handful of mortals. Right up until the last days of his earthly life Shoghi Effendi spoke of the evolution of the Institution of the Hands of the Cause. (see Baha'i News, Oct. 1957) The validity of this institution as a divine institution stands completely apart from any person or persons involved in it.
To say that the Cause is yet being directed by Shoghi Effendi from the Abha Kingdom is untenable. The Hands themselves testify that during the life-time of Shoghi Effendi they often misunderstood his aims and purpose. If this was true when he was with us, how much more true is it now that he has ascended. To contend otherwise is to revert to the days when each interpretation of the Church fathers was attributed to Christ reigning on His Throne of Glory. Furthermore, it is obvious that the Interpreter, the “sign of God”, is to be upon the earth; otherwise there was no need, from the beginning, to appoint an interpreter.
Let us not be deceived. Success, alone, is not a sufficient measure of correctness. History, as we well know, is replete with examples of man-made institutions that have been successful in keeping themselves artificially alive through the centuries. To use success, alone, as the standard is to embrace the fallacious doctrine “the end sanctifies the means”.
A World Order based partly on the teachings of Baha’u’llah is not the need of this day. The Revelation released by Baha’u’llah can exercise its proper influence only when it “incarnates itself in a visible order, which will bear His name, wholly identify itself with His principles and function in conformity with His Laws.” (World Order Baha’u’llah, p. 19.
Shoghi Effendi, at sundry times and in divers places, addresses the entire body of believers as “stewards”. The Hands, by virtue of the station they occupy and the duties and functions devolving upon them, would and should, quite naturally, be called “Chief Stewards”. But, to take this parenthetical expression of Shoghi Effendi’s last message and use it as sanction for the arrogation of the rights and prerogatives of the guardian, and the assumption of the rights of an Administrative authority apart from the guardian, is an interpretation above all interpretations. Such an action is a self-evident breach of the explicit provisions of the Will and Testament, and transgresses the limits set for the Hands in that document. Anyone who accepts this imposition of, and surrenders to, such an improperly acquired authority, automatically becomes a co-sharer in the crime and co-defendant in the trial which must, necessarily, come from God.
Let it be clearly understood that these words should in no wise be construed as an attempt to whittle down or lower the station of the Hands of the Cause of God. That the Hands occupy an august station and constitute a pivotal institution of the Cause of God; that they are entitled to respect and honor, can be denied by no one who has but cursorily read the Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha and the cablegrams of Shoghi Effendi.
My present intention is to show that the Writings specifically set the limits and bounds of both the authority and functions of the Hands; that in each instance where the functions of the Hands are mentioned, mention is also made of their subjection and relation to the guardian; that regardless of the language used with reference to the Hands it has never, either by implications or explication, conferred infallibility upon them, administrative authority which would amount to a conflict of authority in the Faith, or likened obedience to them as being obedience to God.
To carry this point, and also bring this paper to a close, let me cite two passages from cablegrams sent by Shoghi Effendi.
“…The security of our precious Faith, the preservation of the spiritual health of the Baha'i communities, the vitality of the faith of its individual members, the proper functioning of its laboriously erected institutions, the fruition of its world-wide enterprises, the fulfillment of its ultimate destiny, all are directly dependent upon the befitting discharge of the weighty responsibilities now resting upon the members of these two institutions (Hands and NSA’s), occupying, with the Universal House of Justice, next to the Institution of the Guardianship, foremost rank in the divinely ordained administrative hierarchy of the World Order of Baha’u’llah.” (Messages To The Baha'i World 1950-1957, Shoghi Effendi, p. 123.
“Hail emergence of the unfoldment in the opening years of the second epoch of the formative age of the Baha'i Dispensation of the august Institution foreshadowed by the Founder of the Faith and formally established in the Testament of the Center of His Covenant, closely associated in provisions of the same Will with Institution of the Guardianship, destined to assume in the fullness of time, under the aegis of the Guardian, the dual sacred responsibility for protection and propagation of the Cause of Baha’u’llah. (Ibid., p. 58)
Lancaster, Pa. Charles H. Gaines
August 24, 1960
A STATEMENT BY THE SECOND GUARDIAN OF THE FAITH
In several of my writings I mention a momentary vision, that I had about the year 105 of the Baha'i Era, in which I saw myself as the Second Guardian of the Faith. At the time, this seemed to me to be an absurdity of my imagination. But after the Beloved Guardian called me to Haifa, made me President of the Baha'i International Council, and made his home in the Holy Land to be my home - - these factors, together with other matters that, beyond a doubt in my mind, were preparing me at that time for service I was to do at some future date, I found myself thinking of that momentary vision I had had. However, these thoughts came and went from me. At times I would seemingly forget all about my vision; then it would come to my mind again. These thoughts were vague and fleeting.
Such was my condition of mind - - even for some time after the departure of the Beloved Guardian and all during my years in his house in the Holy Land. As these years accumulated, my future in the Faith was anything but clear to me. In fact, I did not think much about it. I was busy with the then present-day matters of the Cause.
Such was my state of mind when the Hands of the Faith met in the First Behje Conclave shortly following Shoghi Effendi’s passing. While at that time I thought that I might become the Guardian of the Faith in some way or another, I did not know how. It was all more or less vague, hazy and indefinite in my thoughts, and so I succumbed, as did others, to the proposition of the Persian Hands of the Cause and a few others, who all
together formed a ruling and a united majority. So I accepted the dictum of this unity and signed the Proclamation to the Baha'i world along with all of the other Hands.
In other words, while I was semi-conscious to what was going on, I was more or less asleep mentally and spiritually. There just did not seem to be any clear solution to the problem before us. All was more or less confused. Thus, the present regime of the Custodian Hands of the Faith came into working order, accepted by all of us, myself included.
But before long my mind began to work, and I saw that those Hands who did not want a renewal of Guardianship were leading us afar and away from the way of the Will and Testament; but, as I then thought to make things pleasant and happy in Haifa, I said nothing. To myself, however, I thought a great deal.
While I was thus just beginning to awaken to the radical departure that Baha'i affairs were taking in opposition to the Will and Testament, the time came for the Second Behje Conclave of the Hands. That was in November, 1958. It was at this conclave that I found myself thoroughly awakened to the violation of the Hands of the Faith in their NOT WANTING the Guardianship. In this second conclave, the very word “Guardianship” was becoming taboo. It was hinted at when letters and a telegraphic dispatch, bearing hopes for a Second Guardian, were directed to the conclave from the friends in Germany; but while a few of us read these pleas from Germany, asking that the hope for a Guardian of the Faith not be abandoned, none of these communications was before the conclave. Nor were these communications discussed. They were merely mentioned by some, and only then on the side.
But during these sessions I, myself, was beginning to awaken from the state of Baha'i apathy that had until then quite dominated me. I began to think that someone ought to make the stand that these Hands of the Faith should at least appear to want a Guardian, even though they did not know how they were going to get one. The underlying fact (never mentioned in so many words, but then quite clear to me) was that, as shown in their attitudes, these Hands actually did not want the Guardianship to continue.
Between these first and second Baha'i conclaves, a few people in America had begun to question the Hands’ attitude of no more Guardianship wanted.
Ruhiyyih Khanum, in a large public Baha'i gathering at Kampala in Africa, had stated definitely that the friends should abandon all hope of any continuation of the Guardianship. And in America, led by Horace Holley, a Manifesto from Chicago was issued that was signed by Holley, Paul Haney, and Mrs. True, entitled “A New Baha'i Era”. It spoke of the Faith, Sans Guardian, and explained that the Guardianship was a closed subject.
This Chicago Manifesto stirred up a good deal of discussion amongst the Hands in the Holy Land, who, although thoroughly in sympathy with the substance of this Manifesto (this they specifically wrote to Holley), called him down for thus making a stand that publicly proclaimed the Sans Guardian doctrine. Thus were these Hands of the Cause in the Holy Land playing a double-faced game; for they, by avoiding the subject were thus conditioning the believers, if it were possible, to forget about the Guardianship. Thus did they intend to reinforce themselves in their own leadership of the Faith and in their plans for creating a House of Justice in 1963 – a House they claimed would be infallible Sans Guardian!
In order to put over onto the Baha'i world the plans of these Custodian Hands of the Faith, they had decided in the first conclave that all of their actions should be kept a secret from the proletariat of the Cause. In the Chicago Manifesto, those American Hands who signed it broke the pact of secrecy when they consulted with the N.S.A. of the United States. All nine members of this N.S.A. approved; and together with the three American Hands, they signed the Manifesto.
Thoughts on all of these matters were surging through my mind during this second conclave and stirring me greatly. But even then, because of the vague thought of myself as a possible Guardian of the Faith, I felt that if such were ever to be, then someone other than I should, in this conclave, make the stand that the hope for the continuation of the Guardianship should not be abandoned. Reluctant to make this stand myself, I felt that the Hands should at least hold this door open and not close it as they were doing. But I felt that someone other than I should do this, because, as it were, I would be considered as an interested party. Reasoning thus, I waited, hoping that some other person would take this stand. Thus, in this conflict of thoughts, I sat silent most of the time in the conclave. I remained silent up until the last session when I arose, took the floor, and told the members of the conclave that they were violating the Will and Testament of the Master ‘Abdu’l-Baha in their attitude of not wanting a continuation of the Guardianship.
My stand created a stir of indignation in the conclave. I was immediately silenced by several voices under the pretext that I was out of parliamentary order in bringing up a subject that had already been acted upon by the assemblage and was a closed issue. So that was that, and the conclave closed.
However, in this moment so charged with emotion, I was asked why I took this stand in defense of the Guardianship against the united opinion of the conclave. To this my reply was that some one of us Hands should stand for the Administration with the Guardianship; and, as there was no one other to do it, I must alone (against all others) make this stand.
At that time I was then the Guardian of the Faith, as I had so been since the death of Shoghi Effendi; but since I was still asleep spiritually, I was not conscious of my actual status of protector of the Faith as the Guardian. Yet, unconciously, I was thus moved to stand up against this violation of the Will and Testament; and although I was not mentally conscious of my status as Guardian of the Faith, somehow or other I felt that I must stand up alone in that conclave and protect the Faith by defending the Guardianship. It was much over a year later before I realized that at that very time I actually was standing guard over the Cause - - and standing quite single and alone - - against all of the other Hands of the Faith united against me! But at that moment, I had no idea about the why of my doing as I did; I arose only to protect the Faith.
In the conferences of the Custodian Hands in Haifa, following this Second Behje Conclave, I told the Hands repeatedly that they were violating the Will and Testament. Together with them I had made the agreement that strict secrecy be maintained as to all that passed between these Custodians. It had also been agreed that we could and should all speak out openly in our conferences, and this I always did, speaking most frankly. But as I stood alone, no one paid any attention to me. Thus, matters went along for a year until I refused to sign my name any longer as being “In the Service of the Beloved Guardian of the Faith” (Shoghi Effendi). My contention in refusing to sign was that the Guardianship of the Faith is a function of this world and that with Shoghi Effendi in the Abha Kingdom, he was no longer our Guardian in the flesh to be obeyed; consequently, we were no longer in his service. Rather, we should then be in the service of the Second Guardian of the Faith! But even then I did not realize that I, Mason Remey, was then the Second Guardian of the Faith.
My refusal to sign the message of the Hands from the Third Behje Conclave to the Baha'i world, in November 1959, precipitated matters and eliminated me from the nine Custodians. Therefore, shortly after this, I left Haifa for Washington, where I am now in voluntary exile from my home in Haifa - - the home that, publicly and before all of the Baha'i community in the Holy Land, Shoghi Effendi ordained for me on this earth.
The Custodians did not want me to leave Haifa. They evidently feared that I might not keep their pact of secrecy and that I might let the people in America know what they were up to, for at that time there were many in America who still hoped for a Guardian to lead the Faith. But I chose to leave Haifa, and in the end this was accepted by the Hands.
I left for America via Italy, all under apparently pleasant conditions, I assuring the Hands that I could keep their secrets and not tell any of the believers what they were doing. With me to America I took all of my notes and records of the happenings amongst the Baha'is in the Holy Land during my residence there. Then, in America, away from the Custodian Hands in the Holy Land (and even before that in Italy), I started formulating a written argument to the Custodian Hands of the Faith. This argument I prepared in “An Appeal to the Hands of the Faith”, “Another Appeal to the Hands of the Faith”, and a “Last Appeal to the Hands of the Faith”.
These lengthy documents were bound in book form and sent by me to the Hands in Haifa. When I started in upon this last effort to awaken the Hands to their violation, my thoughts, that before this had been disordered, gradually began to arrange themselves in a logical sequence in my mind; and step by step, one thought opened up the way for a more comprehensive thought. Slowly, little by little, one thought led to another until I found myself considering the Beloved Guardian’s appointment of me as the President of the International Baha'i Council (a subject that had never even been mentioned in any of the conclaves or conferences of the Hands of the Faith). Finally, little by little, it was born into my consciousness that I, myself, Mason Remey, was actually then the protector of and the Guardian of the Faith and that I had been in this supreme station of protector – that is, I had been the Guardian of the Faith – ever since the death of the First Guardian.
Thus at last, Ridvan 117 B.E., all was clear to me. The great danger to the Cause from the violating Hands of the Faith made it necessary for me to come out with the Proclamation of my Guardianship – first to the Custodian Hands in Haifa, then before the Ridvan Convention in America. This had to be done in order to save the Faith from the utter destruction that was being perpetrated by the erring violating Hands of the Faith.
I was indeed a very long time in coming to the realization of mine own command of this entire situation of the Faith. But during this time, while my mind was not at all alert to these conditions in the Cause, I was arising instinctively to defend and to uphold the Guardianship of the Faith. As people read over my notes of my thoughts and the mention of events transpiring in Haifa, they will see and understand the complexity of thought that was gradually being straightened out in my mind. At times I was away, far away, from the solution of many of the problems of the Faith, even considering at one time that the Hands of the Faith, in order to protect the Cause, might choose and install a Guardian. Other such ideas were pondered; but out from this maze of thought, I gradually realized that the Beloved Guardian Shoghi Effendi had actually appointed me the Second Guardian of the Faith and had so announced this to all the world. Until that time, no one, not even I, myself, had realized this. It was thus, in this way, and little by little, that I arrived, until now - - as the acknowledged Guardian of the Faith (acknowledged by the few who faithfully follow the admonitions of the Will and Testament, as against the many who are misled by the erring Hands who have renounced the Guardianship) - - I am clear upon any and all matters as they come up for me to take action in leading the Faith on to its destined triumph over the powers of mankind and bringing victory to the Kingdom of God upon Earth.
MASON REMEY, GUARDIAN
Of the Baha'i Faith
Orleans, France
9 July, 1960
Dear Baha'i friends,
By this time I am sure that most, if not all of you to whom this letter is addressed will have learned that I, as well as a number of the other believers in France, have accepted Mason Remey as the second Guardian of the Cause of God.
Not having the time to write all of you individual letters and desiring particularly to communicate with a large number of whom I have known for many years, some since the days of my boyhood, I felt the only way to do so would be to write this general open letter which could be reproduced. My reasons for desiring to write you are twofold:
First; I would like to explain for the benefit of all those who have been wondering why I have made this decision (as they may have, for the time being at least, taken an opposing stand) the processes of my own thoughts and research on the question of the Guardianship following the passing of our beloved first Guardian and prior to receipt of the Proclamation of Mason Remey and the clear and undeniable realization which came to me following receipt of this momentous document.
Second; I feel with all the intensity of my being that the only salvation for the continued life of our beloved Faith lies in a close and studied examination of the Proclamation of Mason Remey in a prayerful attitude from an unprejudiced and unbiased viewpoint and in the light of our Sacred Writings and all that our beloved first Guardian wrote on the Institution of the Guardianship. Only in this way can we free ourselves from the influence and viewpoints of others (whatever their position or rank may be) and hope to arrive at the truth and an unfettered decision. Is this not the same process which we have been enjoined to follow in accepting the Faith itself? (i.e. through independent investigation of the truth).
For those of us who have loved and served our first Guardian during his lifetime and have treasured and held dear his imperishable writings and instructions, our foremost desire since his passing has been, I am certain all will agree, to remain faithful and obedient to the instructions he has given us during his lifetime and left with us as an eternal bequest from his infallible pen. The present crisis which faces our beloved Cause, it seems to me, revolves solely around this point coupled with the doubt which many have permitted to creep into their own minds stemming from a lack of faith in the inviolability of the Covenant of Baha’u’llah, “the all-mighty Covenant, the like of which the sacred Dispensations of the past have never witnessed”, “one of the distinctive features of this most mighty cycle” and the “Ark of Salvation”. (See pg. 239 “God Passes By”)
Following the passing of Shoghi Effendi and the disclosure that a traditional type testamentary document was not found in his papers, we all heard the following speculations which are not acceptable in the light of the provisions of the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Baha and all that our beloved first Guardian has written:
a) That the plan of God had been changed and there would never be another Guardian.
b) That the Faith does not need a Guardian any longer.
As for myself, I perhaps found it easier to embrace the second Guardian than most of my fellow Baha'is because, following the passing of Shoghi Effendi, I had been unable to shove the all-important question of successorship to the back of my mind and forget about it but rather I felt impelled to intensify my studies and review again minutely the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Baha and the “Dispensation”. This study coupled with searching meditation during many sleepless nights led me to come to the following conclusions concerning the Guardianship which, now as I look back in retrospect, prepared me to approach the Proclamation of Mason Remey with an open mind:
a) The Institution of the Guardianship was essential to the continued existence of our beloved Cause.
b) The view that one heard from some source that the Guardianship had ended with the passing of Shoghi Effendi was completely untenable and could never be accepted from whatever source.
c) The Universal House of Justice could not come into existence and function as an infallible body without the Guardian sitting as its’ “sacred head” in view of the following ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS which Shoghi Effendi had so carefully pointed out in the “Dispensation” are performed by the Guardian as its’ President:
- PROVIDES THE INTERPRETIVE AUTHORITY OF THE SACRED WRITINGS.
- “INSISTS UPON A RECONSIDERATION BY THEM OF ANY ENACTMENT HE CONSCIENTIOUSLY BELIEVES TO CONFLICT WITH THE MEANING AND TO DEPART FROM THE SPIRIT OF BAHA’U’LLAH’S REVEALED UTTERANCES” (This clearly indicates that without the guidance of the Guardian it is possible for this body to pass a law which runs counter to both the meaning and the spirit of Baha’u’llah’s Writings and is therefore fallible without his guidance.)
- DEFINES THE SPHERE OF IT’S LEGISLATIVE ACTION.
- POSSESSES THE SOLE AUTHORITY TO EXPEL A MEMBER WHO COMMITS A SIN INJURIOUS TO THE COMMON WEAL.
d) Mason Remey was the only one who could possibly sit as President of the Universal House of Justice when it came into existence (provided he were living) because of his appointment by Shoghi Effendi as President of the International Baha'i Council (the Head of it’s embryo). This conclusion came to me when in my meditations I recalled a very interesting and highly significant conversation at table with Shoghi Effendi on the evening of November 30, 1952 when my wife and I were on pilgrimage. Shoghi Effendi had been describing the successive stages through which the International Baha'i Council would evolve in its development towards maturity and in speaking about its’ second stage (Baha'i Court, cited by Shoghi Effendi in his message of 25 April, 1951, as an “essential prelude to the institution of the Universal House of Justice”), these were his words:
“THE PRESENT PRESIDENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL BAHA'I COUNCIL WILL THEN BECOME THE JUDGE” (THE GUARDIAN IN AN ASIDE TO MASON AND WITH A SMILE ASKED, “MASON, ARE YOU READY TO BECOME A JUDGE”)
Note: The above may be verified from hand-written notes taken by me at the table at the time and inscribed in ink in a book of consecutive unattachable pages.
I remembered being puzzled at the time as to why Shoghi Effendi had singled out Mason Remey as “the Judge” when all the other members of the Council were also seated at the table, except one, and I had considered them all as having co-equal status. Now while meditating on the question of who could possibly occupy the position of President of the Universal House of Justice, if it were to be formed, (as obviously someone would have to fulfill this role) it suddenly dawned on me that Mason Remey by virtue of his having been appointed by the beloved Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, as President of the International Baha'i Council (the embryo of this body) was the only logical one. What now amazes me, since receipt of the Proclamation, is that, although I had come to this conclusion, I did not, either then, or at any time prior to the Proclamation, carry this conclusion one step further and realize, what then should have been obvious, that as Presidentship of the Universal House of Justice and Guardianship are synonomous titles, Shoghi Effendi’s appointment of Mason Remey as President of the International Baha'i Council during his lifetime was, in effect, identical with naming him his successor. (the embryo with its’ appointed head conceived in the infallible mind of Shoghi Effendi was only awaiting its birth).
With the receipt of the momentous Proclamation of our second Guardian, the final veil was lifted from my eyes and I was led to discover and realize the following additional facts:
a) The tremendous import and significance which Shoghi Effendi had attached to “his epoch making decision” to establish the International Baha'i Council as evidenced in his historic message to the Baha'i world of 9 January 1951 in which he had referred to establishment of the Council “as the greatest event shedding lustre on the second epoch of the formative age of the Baha'i Dispensation potentially unsurpassed by any enterprise undertaken since the inception of the Administrative Order of the Faith on the morrow of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s Ascension, ranking second only to glorious immortal events associated with the Ministries of the Three Central Figures of the Faith”.
b) The obvious fact (now that it had been brought to our attention in the Proclamation) that, as Presidentship of the Universal House of Justice is synonomous with Guardianship, (i.e., they are one and the some position) Shoghi Effendi’s appointment of Mason Remey as the President of the Council – the embrionic Universal of Justice – was identical with naming him the future Guardian.
Note: For those who may argue that the third stage of this embrionic Institution (“the duly elected body”) calls for the election of all 9 members, careful thought should be given to the “principle” involved in the “operation” of this Institution for, unlike the National Houses of Justice, of which the present National Spiritual Assemblies are the embryo, the Universal House of Justice combines “the hereditary authority” symbolized by the Guardian – its’ President ~ with the democratic element elected by “the representative of the faithful” (NSA’s). We, as fallible beings, are certainly not empowered to alter this principle and destroy “this divinely revealed Order”, “this unique Order” which “however long it may endure and however extensive its ramifications, cannot ever degenerate into any form of despotism, of oligarchy, or of demagogy which must sooner or later corrupt the machinery of all man-made and essentially defective political institutions. (See pg. 154 “Dispensation”)
c) That the foregoing conclusion is further supported by the words of ‘Abdu’l-Baha concerning the embryo. He said, “the embryo possesses from the first all perfections …..all the powers – but they are not visible and become so only by degrees” (pg. 313, BWF). Therefore, the embrionic Universal House of Justice (the International Baha'i Council) potentially (embrionically) possesses all the powers exercised by the fully developed Universal House of Justice.
d) That as a result of our preconceived idea that Shoghi Effendi’s successor would be named in a traditional-type testamentary document (although this is not prescribed as a requirement in the Will and Testament), we (the Hands included) had overlooked or failed to go back and examine Shoghi Effendi’s message of 9 January 1951 for the key.
e) That, if the Hands had realized the significance and intent of the aforementioned message they would not have found it necessary to create a separate organization called “Hands of the Cause in the Holy Land” (or “Custodians of the Faith” – a term, by the way, applied to Assemblies in the words of Shoghi Effendi on page 331, “God Passes By”). If they had grasped the import of this message which hailed the formation of the International Baha'i Council as the “Forerunner of the supreme administrative institution” they would have realized that the international administration of the Faith should have been placed in its hands while they occupied themselves with their spiritual “obligations” and “responsibilities”, as the chief stewards. Obviously, this Institutions (International Baha'i Council) which Shoghi Effendi had waited so long to establish and whose final formation he had hailed with such joy and been pushed aside and had been all but forgotten (Howbeit unintentionally).
f ) That the separate organization “constituted” by the Hands in their Proclamation of 25 November 1957 (a body of 9 Hands) to reside in Haifa was not the “NINE PERSONS” elected from their own number spoken of in the Will and Testament (as they were selected and not elected). Therefore this body presently in Haifa – this “organization of the Hands of the Faith” has no authority to exist on the basis of the Will and Testament.
g) The Hands in Haifa as time went on inevitably became involved in administrative matters which are clearly outside their domain according to the Will and Testament.
h) That, as the Will and Testament makes very clear and as reemphasized repeatedly by Shoghi Effendi in his writings, the Guardianship is an “hereditary office”, the Guardian “symbolizes the hereditary principle in this Dispensation” and he exercises the “the hereditary authority”. Therefore, the Guardianship can only be handed down from one Guardian to another. (i.e., inherited) The successor in Guardianship cannot be chosen or elected by any other Institution such as the Universal House of Justice or the Hands.
i) That the Covenant of Baha’u’llah had remained INVIOLATE; the CONTINUITY of Guardianship had been preserved. Shoghi Effendi had not only appointed his successor “during his lifetime” but had announced it to the entire Baha'i world.
j) That the Hands are not assigned authority in the Will and Testament but only spiritual “obligations” and “responsibilities”, serving under the direction of the living Guardian of the Faith.
k) That the Hands have no authority according to the Will and Testament to consult with the Universal House of Justice (such as cited in their 4 November 1959 message).
1) That the Hands had interpreted the last message of Shoghi Effendi to the Baha'i world in October 1957 wherein he designated them as the “Chief Stewards”, to confer upon them a role of collective Guardianship of the Faith and had fostered this unwarranted interpretation on the part of the mass of the believers throughout the world. (It is interesting to note that in the last paragraph of this same fateful message, not only the Hands but the “entire body of believers” and “their elected representatives” are all called upon to display a “worthy stewardship of the Faith of Baha’u’llah”.)
Note: For those who insist that “stewardship” denotes authority, your attention is kindly invited to page 143 of “Baha'i Administration” wherein Shoghi Effendi has clearly outlined, in writing about the responsibilities of NSA’s, the difference between authority on the one hand and stewardship on the other.
It need only be said in conclusion that those who continue to accept the self-delegated authority and interpretation of the Hands of the Cause in the Holy Land instead of the explicit provisions of the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Baha and the instructions and appointment of our first beloved Guardian, have only the following to look forward to:
The termination of the Guardianship. (The “Center of the Cause”, the “Guardian of the Administrative Order”, “The Head Cornerstone of the Administrative Order”).
The election of a so-called Universal House of Justice which will not have its sacred appointed HEAD (the Guardian) and therefore, will not be the infallible institution prescribed in the Will and Testament.
The complete absence of a source of divine infallibility.
The annihilation of the Baha'i Faith and the setting up in its place of a man-made religious organization with all the attendant evils found in the past religious organizations.
Whereas, those who accept the second beloved Guardian of the Cause of God:
Praise Baha’u’llah that His Covenant has remained inviolate and the continuity of the Guardianship of His Cause has been preserved as promised.
Have turned to the “Center of the Cause” and sworn fealty to him.
Have preserved the integrity of the Baha'i Faith for the present and future generations.
With warm and loving Baha'i greetings.
Faithfully, in devotion to His Covenant,
Joel Marangella
P.S. What has shocked and distressed me since the issuance of the Proclamation is the obviously superficial manner in which some of the friends have read this document and the first Encyclical letter which followed. Some are saying that Mason Remey is advocating putting aside the Ten Year Crusade when he speaks of “this falacious program for 1963” whereas it is evident he is speaking about the announced program of the Hands to proceed with the election of the Universal House of Justice in1963 (which was never called for under the objectives of the Ten Year Global Crusade given by Shoghi Effendi), or they are saying that in his First Encyclical letter he is claiming the Hands have no authority to exist, whereas, if you read this passage closely, it says: “this organization of the Hands”, which is quite a different matter. The Will and Testament outlines no organization of the Hands, such has been developed by them since the passing of Shoghi Effendi. Nor does this Document prescribe that they meet in conclave or in the consultative meetings to make joint decisions. On the contrary the Will and Testament prescribes that the Hands work as individuals under the direction of the living Guardian of the Faith.
NOTE: THIS OPEN LETTER HAS BEEN SUBMITTED TO THE SECOND GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH FOR APPROVAL PRIOR TO ITS DISPATCH. HE HAS NOT ONLY GIVEN HIS APPROVAL BUT HAS URGED ITS WIDESPREAD CIRCULATION THROUGHOUT THE BAHA'I WORLD, EVEN TO THOSE WHOM I DO NOT KNOW PERSONALLY.
J.B.M.
21 October 1960
Orleans, France
Dear Baha'i friends,
I am writing this second open letter to the believers based on a personal letter which I addressed to a Baha'i friend some time ago. I am doing this at the request of our beloved Guardian as he had been furnished a copy of the aforementioned letter and felt that the arguments set forth therein would constitute a further “document of proof” to the believers. In this letter I should like to discuss certain questions which were not treated in my former letter – questions which I am sure have been in the minds of many, if not most, of the believers, concerning the reasons behind and the causes of the present crisis facing the Baha'i world.
First, before going into these questions, I would like to say that at the time I took my own stand in support of the Second Guardian I felt that a majority of the friends throughout the Baha'i world would not at the outset accept the Second Guardian for the following reasons:
a. The manner of the appointment of Mason Remey by Shoghi Effendi as his successor had obviously been veiled.
b. The Hands in Haifa had immediately rejected his claims and advised all National Spiritual Assemblies throughout the Baha'i world to do likewise.
c. The Proclamation issued by Mason Remey had not been reproduced and given general circulation amongst the mass of the believers by the National Spiritual Assemblies so as to permit the believers to investigate his claims independently and reach their own decisions.
d. In non-English speaking countries there was a dearth of translations of Abdu’l-Baha’s Writings on the Covenant and Shoghi Effendi’s writings on the Institution of the Guardianship (writings which were essential to a full understanding and appreciation of the issues involved).
In the face of the above listed handicaps to recognizing the claims put forth in the Proclamation of the Second Guardian, it would have been surprising indeed if more than a handful of believers had immediately accepted the Second Guardian on the morrow of his Proclamation.
As subtle a test as the Proclamation proved to be to the mass of the believers, it was apparent that it would be even a greater test to the Hands of the Cause because:
a. A majority, if not all, of the Hands had already made up their minds definitely that the Institution of the Guardianship had ceased to exist with the passing of the beloved First Guardian.
b. An acceptance of the Second Guardian on the basis of his Proclamation would necessitate an admission by the Hands that they had lacked the spiritual perception to recognize him during the period since the passing of Shoghi Effendi.
c. Many of them had already revealed the fact that their love for the person of Shoghi Effendi was so great that it would be difficult, if not impossible, for them to transfer this love to his successor even if the appointment were clear and not veiled.
Why is it that the Baha'i world should be faced with this great test? Most of us had assumed that our period of testing in connection with the Covenant had come to an end following the early years of Shoghi Effendi’s ministry and the consolidation of the Institution of the Guardianship accomplished during his ministry.
For an answer to this question let us go back in time and recall to mind the confusion, despair and consternation which seized the Baha'i world on the eve of the passing of Shoghi Effendi when it was learned that a testamentary document of the type which most of us had anticipated was not found. Even those believers who refused to believe that the Guardianship had ended, instead of retaining their faith that Shoghi Effendi had in some inexplicable way appointed his successor according to the manner enjoined upon him in the Will and Testament, deluded themselves into thinking that the question of successorship would be resolved by the Universal House of Justice when it was formed. I, too, was guilty of this delusion for a time. However, when time was found to study and re-study carefully the Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha and the “Dispensation of Baha’u’llah”, the complete falsity of holding such a belief and the impossibility of the Universal House of Justice deliberating upon and resolving such a question became glaringly obvious. It became clear that the believers would either have to maintain their faith that the beloved First Guardian had fulfilled his obligation to name his successor according to the provisions of the Will and Testament, in some way, not as yet clear to us, and despite appearances to the contrary, or face the only other alternative, namely; that the Guardianship had ended. Acceptance of this alternative meant that our Divinely conceived, perfect Administrative Order fashioned by its Master Architect, delineated in the “immortal Document” representing “His greatest legacy to posterity” and “the brightest emanation of His mind” – “the supreme act” associated with His mission, would be for evermore deprived of its Guardian and thereby permanently mutilated and rendered imperfect.
So many of the friends have asked why it was that Shoghi Effendi did not leave a clearly written testament naming Mason Remey his successor which would have left no doubts in the minds of the believers. If we consider this question carefully in the light of the explicit provisions of the Will and Testament it is clear that the Will and Testament does not specify that the Guardian should name his successor in a testamentary document to be opened after his passing. On the contrary, the Will and Testament makes in incumbent upon the Guardian to name his successor during his lifetime. Conceding that this is so, the question then follows, why did not Shoghi Effendi appoint his successor in such a clear way during his lifetime that there would not be any doubt as to his rightful successor and the Baha'i world would not be any doubt as to his rightful successor and the Baha'i world would not now be faced with its present crisis? Without presuming to be able to answer this question, as it is not for the servants of God to question His inscrutable ways, let us ask ourselves this question: What would have been the affect on the believers throughout the Baha'i world had Shoghi Effendi come right out in a clearly announced statement and named Mason Remey, during his own lifetime, as his successor – a man some twenty-five years his senior? If such an announcement had been made, would it not have caused utter consternation and even incredulity amonst the believers? For such an open and clear appointment would have indicated that Shoghi Effendi would not live to an old age, as Mason Remey was destine to outlive him. If for no other reason, was there then not a wisdom in the manner in which Shoghi Effendi chose to accomplish the appointment of his successor in accordance with the sacred provisions of the Will and Testament, while at the same time veiling this appointment and its immediate implications from the believers? It was not the first time in religious history that a Divine appointment has been veiled even from those who have been the closest to the one making the appointment. We need only to call to mind this principle as applied to the appearance of the Manifestations of God down through the ages. Religious history teaches us that rivers of blood have flowed and every Manifestation of God has suffered the direst persecutions and drunk from the cup of martyrdom because the followers of His Predecessor have failed to pierce the veils of love, of pride or their own preconceived ideas concerning the characteristics of the succeeding Manifestation and the manner and conditions of His appearance. And both the Center of the Covenant and the First Guardian were deluged in a sea of tribulations at the beginning of their ministries because of this same failure to understand and to remain steadfast in the Covenant even on the part of many of those closest to Baha’u’llah and Abdu’l-Baha, including their own families. Does this explain the behavior and opposition of the former Hands of the Cause to this Divine appointment; those, who had been elevated to foremost spiritual rank among the believers by the First Guardian? Could the very love and admiration they have for Shoghi Effendi now be the veil interposing itself between them and the recognition of his appointed successor? If this be so, then is it not reminiscent and characteristic of what has happened in past Dispensations and what transpired following the first two Divine appointments in our own Dispensation? (i.e., the appointment of Abdu’l-Baha as Center of the Covenant, and His appointment of Shoghi Effendi as the First Guardian) Both Abdu’l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi were made the target of every abuse and were denied, repudiated vilified by the very ones who should have been the first to accept and support them. In connection with this theme, it is significant that the Master should have seen fit to quote in His Will and Testament the Bab’s warning to His followers: “Beware, beware, lest the Nineteen Letters of the Living and that which hath been revealed in the Bayan veil Thee” (pg. 4, 1944 U.S. Edition). Is this, then, the test that now faces the Baha'i the world over, especially those who loved our First Guardian the most – the test of being able to overcome their great personal love for him as an individual and recognize that the Institution which he represented – the Institution of Guardianship – is eternal in this Dispensation and must be adored above all? In this test do we not find the true meaning of steadfastness in the Covenant? Must the history of mankind’s violation down through the ages of the Greater Covenant and the violation of the Lesser Covenant in this Dispensation which we have already twice witnessed be repeated once more in order that we may be forever freed from the worship of the human personality and attach ourselves, instead, to reality? Are we not Baha'is – the followers of the Light? In pursuance of this theme it is appropriate to call to mind the Bab’s words of warning addressed to Vahid, characterized by Shoghi Effendi as the “most learned, most eloquent and influential among his followers” “By the righteousness of Him whose power causeth the seed to germinate and Who breatheth the spirit of life into all things, were I to be assured that in the Day of His manifestation thou wilt deny Him I would unhesitatingly disown thee and repudiate thy faith…If on the other hand, I be told that a Christian who beareth no allegiance to my Faith will believe in Him, the same will I regard as the apple of Mine Eye” (Pg 101, Dispensation).
Can we use preservation of “Divine Unity” as an excuse to oppose and repudiate the second Guardian of the Cause of God, i.e., join with the majority who have opposed and repudiated him because they are the majority and in order to preserve unity? The answer is clear if we but recall what would have happened if this principle had been followed when the beloved Master was struggling against the machinations and evil doings of the archbreaker of the Covenant at that time who was then supported by “almost the entire family of Baha’u’llah” and who had accused Abdu’l-Baha of being an “ambitious, a self-willed, an unprincipled and pitiless usurper, Who had deliberately disregarded the testamentary instructions of His Father …” – they, together with many who had been the closest to Baha’u’llah, “all united in a determined effort to subvert the foundations of the Covenant which the newly proclaimed Will had laid” (See pg. 247, “God Passes By”). And, a second time, we have the example of what happened to our First beloved Guardian who suffered the repudiation of his entire family. If unity had been the principle followed in both of these instances of violation of the Covenant our precious Cause would have long since been destroyed. We only have to refer to the Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha for the answer. No, it is unmistakably clear that the principle of unity does not apply when the Covenant is being violated. (See Pg 12 W&T).
And are we to be veiled because there was no Aghsan to inherit the Guardianship? Do we think that the Hand of God was chained and unable to assure the continuance of this Divine Institution ordained by Him for the preservation of His Cause? Does not Abdu’l-Baha answer this question for us, and significantly in His last Tablet to America treating exclusively of the Covenant, when He says: “The Divine Gardener cuts off the dry or weak branch from the good tree and grafts to it, a branch from another tree. He both separates and unites…” (BWF, Pg. 438). What could be clearer than this statement of the Master pointing out how God – the Divine Gardener – changes the bad branch for the good? Are we then, in the face of this statement, prepared to say that the Guardian of the Cause of God, acting under His infallible guidance, is incapable of changing the bad branch for the good in appointing his successor?
And, finally, there is the question of approval and endorsement of the nine Hands elected from their company based on the argument advanced by many that the provision contained in the Will and Testament requiring these nine successor, gives them the authority to overrule the Guardian. If those who advance this argument would search out the writings of Shoghi Effendi they would find the following pertinent statement of his appearing in a letter published in the U.S. Baha'i News of February 1955:
“The statement in the Will of Abdu’l-Baha (the passage in the Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha which provides for successor to the Guardian and reference is made to the Hands) does not imply that the Hands of the Cause of God have been given the authority to overrule the Guardian. Abdu’l-Baha could not have provided for a conflict of authority in the Faith. This is obvious in view of His own words which you will find on Pg. 13 (Pg. 11, 1944 U.S. edition) of the Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha. ‘The mighty stronghold shall remain impregnable and safe through obedience to Him who is the gardian of the Cause of God. It is incumbent up…..the Hands of the Cause of God to show their obedience, submissiveness, and subordination unto the gardian of the Cause of God, to turn unto him and be lowly before him. He that opposeth him hath opposed the True One…etc’”
In view of this clear and highly significant statement made by the beloved First Guardian, it is obvious that the argument cited above is completely false and without foundation. How could we have permitted ourselves to think otherwise for the Guardian is infallible in making his appointment. Is he to be opposed or overruled by his fallible assistants? Then you may view Shoghi Effendi’s statement we must search for another significance behind this provision. Without attempting to interpret what this significance is, it is certainly obvious that, as all, including the Hands, are enjoined to be submissive, obedient and lowly before the Guardian of the Cause, any refusal on the part of these nine elected Hands to give their assent would constitute disobedience and disloyality to the Guardian and indicate that they would not be willing to work under the guidance of his successor (should they be living at that time). Under these circumstances the Guardian would have no choice but to expel them. Aside from all this, we know that the present organization of nine Hands in the Holy Land designated by them as the “Hands of the Cause in the Holy Land” or “Hands of the Faith in Haifa” is not the “nine persons” elected from the company of the Hands as provided for in the Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha. We further know that Shoghi Effendi did not call for this election during his lifetime.
There are many who are still clinging to the hope that the Universal House of Justice scheduled to be formed in 1963 under the plan of the Hands (not being one of the objectives outlined by Shoghi Effendi for the Ten Year Global Crusade) will find a way to the continuance of the Guardianship. Aside from the fact that such a body would not be the Divine infallible Institution described in the Will and Testament without its sacred head – the Guardian – serving as its President (a point which I discussed in detail in my general letter), is not such a hope completely unfounded and a delusion when one considers that the Hands have already definitely made up their minds that the Guardianship had ended and have announced in their message of 4 November 1959 to the Baha'i world that they will sit in consultation with the Universal House of Justice which they are bringing into existence (a right not given them by the Will and Testament) and decide the question of the Guardianship. Does anyone harbor the illusion that their minds are going to be changed in the meantime and that their view will not prevail during such consultation and that we shall find any other decision coming out of this body but that the Guardianship (i.e., the living Guardianship) has ended forever? When this happens, those who have deluded themselves into believing that the Universal House of Justice, formed under the plan of the Hands without its sacred head, is, in fact, the infallible Institution described in the Will and Testament will then be forced to bow to the decision made by this body that the Guardianship has ended, under pain of being labeled a Covenant Breaker. This great deception will have then run its full course and the mass of the believers who have supported this decision will find themselves united in a permanent violation of the Covenant of Baha’u’llah.
If there are any of the believers who may still be unconvinced that the former Hands have not made up their minds that the Guardianship has ended, a few of the multiple evidence might be cited. For the American believers, there was the letter put out by the American Hands in 1958 stating all hope should be abandoned for a future Guardian. More recently, in France, we have the statements made by both Mr. Faizi and Mr. Khadem. Mr. Faizi in meeting with the members of the National Spiritual Assembly of France, who had accepted the Second Guardian, stated emphatically that the Guardianship had ended supporting his contention with a perversion of the well-known passage in the Holy Writings of Baha’u’llah wherein Baha’u’llah states there will not be another Manifestation “ere the expiration of a full thousand years” saying that in the text from which he was reading (Persian and Arabic) and translating, this statement of Baha’u’llah’s also applied to the Guardianship. This was a shocking and amazing statement. It is significant that the Master in the Will and Testament twice refers to the use of this same quotation (pgs. 6 and 8, W &T) by those who violated the Covenant in former times and asks, “can a transgression be imagined more glaring than this, the interpolation of the Holy Text?” Mr. Khadem, in a talk given at the Paris Baha'i Centre, (as reported in the illegal French Baha'i Journal of September 1960), had this to say: “The station of the Guardianship of the Faith is so divine and lofty that one is not even able to conceive it. In order to give an elementary idea of it it is necessary to recall this Prophecy of the Koran which says: ‘In the future Manifestation, the Guardianship will be for God, Himself, the true Lord of the world…” The Bab, Baha’u’llah as well as Abdu’l-Baha have spoken of it.” It is interesting to compare this statement of Mr. Khadems with Shoghi Effendi’s own words contained in the “Dispensation of Baha’u’llah” which Shoghi Effendi states he has written to lay special stress “upon certain truths which lie at the basis of our Faith and the integrity of which it is our first duty to safeguard”. In this document Shoghi Effendi says: “The Guardian of the Faith must not under any circumstances, and whatever his merits or his achievements, be exalted to the rank that will make him a co-sharer with Abdu’l-Baha in the unique position which the Center of the Covenant occupies – much less to the station exclusively ordained for the Manifestation of God. So grave a departure from the established tenets of our Faith is nothing short of open blasphemy.” (Starting with last line on Pg. 150) Then, there are the recent addresses of Ruhiyyih Khanum throughout the United States in which she has reiterated views expressed publically at the Kampala Intercontinental Conference that God had changed His plan with regard to the Guardianship – that is, He has ended the Guardianship. Also in hand is a copy of a letter addressed by former Hand, Mr. Ala’i, to a French believer in which we find this curious statement: “According to the opinion of this impotent one, it is certain that the House of Justice will designate among its members someone to be President who in deference to the Blessed Testament will have the title of deputy director or representative, who will operate in accordance with the duties designated under the House of Justice; but it is certain that he will never be the Guardian of the Cause of God.”
Dear friends, it should be clear and obvious that the only hope and salvation for the Baha'i world in this time of crisis is to closely study again in the Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha and all that our beloved First Guardian wrote on the Guardianship. Then in the light of these Writings, let us prayerfully read and reflect on the Proclamation issued by the Second Guardian of the Faith and his Encyclical Letters so that we may discover for ourselves how Shoghi Effendi did not abandon this precious, infant Faith of God to the pitfalls of man-made interpretations, plans and institutions, but on the contrary, has preserved the integrity of our glorious Faith in the manner he was enjoined to do under the sacred provisions of the Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha for both the present and future Baha'i generations.
Very sincerely in my love for His Covenant,
Joel Marangella
“O ye spiritual friends! Firmness (constancy) must reach a degree that if all the souls (Baha'is) be destroyed by the evil wishers and there remain but one, that one singly and alone should be capable of withstanding all who live on earth, and of spreading the fragrance of holiness.” (Pg. 25, Vol. I, Tablets of Abdu’l-Baha)
SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF THE BAHA’IS OF RAWALPINDI
No. SG/1/RSA 437/8, Nai Abadi,
Tench Bhata,
Rawalpindi (West Pakistan)
October 16, 1960.
Mason Remey Esq.,
The Guardian of the Baha'i Faith,
P.O. Box 418
Washington 4, D.C. U.S.A.
Beloved Guardian of the Faith,
I have the honour to submit before you an open letter dated October 7, 1960 issued by the Local Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Rawalpindi to the NSA/LSAs/ Baha'i Groups/Isolated Believers in Pakistan. This letter has been despatched to all concerned in this Country in response to your call to the believers as well as Assemblies to cease cooperating forthwith with those violating the Faith presently and support the institution of Guardianship instead. By the grace of God, we are alive to the need of the day and are whole heartedly willing to uphold the truth wherever it is. Nothing can deter us from treading the correct and rightful path.
We shall feel much obliged if all the relevant documents and encyclical letters issued from your office from time to time are also supplied to this Assembly at your convenience.
We pray to God humbly to enlighten us always with the Divine Guidance and submit, therefore, before the will and command of the Beloved Second Guardian of the Baha'i Faith. May he be gracious enough to accept our humble submissions!
Faithfully yours in El Abha,
S.A. Kazmi
c.c. Secretary
1. Charles.H.Gaines Esq.,
229 W. Chestnut Street,
Lancaster. Pennsylvania,
U.S.A.
2. Joel B. Marangella Esq., 3. L.S.A. Lahore
7. Rue Jousselin,
ORLEANS, FRANCE
.
LOCAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF THE BAHA’IS OF RAWALPINDI
437/8, Nai Abadi
Tench Bhata,
Rawalpindi (West Pakistan)
October 7, 1960.
Will 11, 117 B.E.
To: - The NSA/LSAs/Baha'i Groups/Isolated Believers in Pakistan.
Believers, followers and upholders of the Faith, witness the power of your Guardian! He says, - “Now is a time of Judgment of the people of the Baha'i Faith”. He therefore calls all believers, without exception, before Baha'i Bar of Justice, where every individual believer must now make his stand either for or against the Guardianship!
Ever since the death of our Beloved First Guardian of the Faith, Shoghi Effendi, we have been pondering over the question of Guardianship that is inseparable from the Administration of the Baha'i Faith as given in the Will and Testament of the Beloved Master Abdu’l-Baha. As the Baha’is all over the World had found themselves plunged into the sea of grief and agony on the passing away of Shoghi Effendi, no one could then take the opportunity of going anew through the messages issued to the Baha'i World by the Beloved one – particularly His message of January 9, 1951 wherein He had announced with great emphasis, the appointment of Mr. Mason Remey as President of the Baha'i International Council that is according to His explanation the President of the Embryonic Universal House of Justice. This appointment made by the Beloved Guardian was so veiled that no one on earth could understand its true meaning and significance though this event was definitely ranked by him second only to all other events in the times of the Three Central Figures of the Faith. But as this appointment was made by our Beloved Infallible Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, in his life time, in accordance with the Will and Testament of the Master Abdu’l-Baha, no believer should question this infallible appointment!
LSA Rawalpindi, therefore, considered at length the Proclamation, since issued by Mr. Mason Remey, to the Baha’is of the World through the Annual Convention of the Baha’is of the United States of America, assembled at Wilmette, Illinois during Ridvan 117 Baha'i Era, and were united in their stand to accept Mr. Mason Remey, the Second Guardian of the Faith, Shoghi Effendi, without break. The Assembly submitted before the will and command of the Second Infallible Guardian of the Faith and decided that all relations/connections with the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Pakistan and the former erring Hands of the Faith residing in the Holy Land be severed forthwith.
Beloved friends in the Faith, all this has been done after prayerful thinking when we had been convinced that the Will and Testament of the Beloved Master Abdu’l-Baha, the Mightiest Document unparalleled in the history of religions, wherewith the Beloved First Guardian of the Faith had built up the present Administration of the Baha'i Faith so painstakingly during his long meritorious Ministry, was now being ruthlessly violated by the Hands of the Faith. We, therefore, had no other recourse but to rise up and support the Guardianship – the Guardianship that even upholds the infallibility of the Universal House of Justice with its possibility of an error there if the affairs of the Cause are going to be handled by the Universal House of Justice only and in consultation with the Hands of the Faith but excepting the President of that august body that is none other personage than the Infallible Guardian of the Baha'i Faith. That office cannot under any circumstance, be filled up by election otherwise infallibility, the most essential ingredient for that position, would be lacking. It is incumbent, therefore, on the Infallible Guardian of the Baha'i Faith to nominate, in his life time, his successor as is invariably provided in the Will and Testament of the Master Abdu’l-Baha and that can be none other than the Infallible one fully competent to be the President of the Universal House of Justice. How can it be tenable that the First Infallible Guardian of the Faith, Shoghi Effendi, could not discharge such a vital duty as had been precisely enjoined upon him by the Beloved Master? It may be mentioned here that the Hands have no authority, whatsoever, vested in themselves, to indulge in the Administration of the Faith, assuming thereby the role of collective guardianship. Their duty is only to take their orders from the Living Infallible Guardian of the Faith. Moreover they have no authority whatsoever to organize themselves into a body so as to govern the affairs of the Faith.
We, therefore, sincerely invite you to please give this matter your sincere and prayerful thinking, individually as well as collectively, so that no moment is wasted to support the just cause of Mr. Mason Remey, the Second Guardian of the Baha'i Faith. In case you do not give due weight to our invitation, the future generations will find a page in the history of our religion known as “The Epoch of the Great Violation of the Baha'i Faith”. On the other hand, we have been given an assurance that those who remain firm under the guidance of the Guardian of the Faith, will lead the Cause on and on towards victory after victory in the triumphant growth and expansion of the spiritual power of the Faith.
We would, however, be lacking in our duty if we do not invite the attention of the believers, once again, toward the Mightiest Document of the Faith that is the Will and Testament of our Beloved Master Abdu’l-Baha. As told by the First Guardian of the Faith, Shoghi Effendi, this Document cannot be detached or separated from this Most Holy Book (Aqdas) revealed by the Pen of Baha’u’llah. It is the most invaluable legacy of our Beloved Master and deserves full attention of the believers. No believer should, therefore, ignore the contents of such a document as history has never seen before in the past.
We earnestly hope that the believers will read and re-read the Will and Testament of the Blessed Master Abdu’l-Baha in a true Baha'i spirit with a view to upholding the principle of independent investigation of truth since enunciated by Baha’u’llah and moreover when it is purely meant for this purpose and none else.
You are now to judge and decide individually whether you need the Divine Guidance through the Line of Infallible Guardians exactly in accordance with the Will and Testament of the Master Abdu’l-Baha or the Administration presently run by the Hands of the Faith contrary to the aforesaid Sacred Document meets your spiritual requirements?
Faithfully in El Abha,
Local Spiritual Assembly of
the Baha’is of Rawalpindi.
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 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue - - New York
and in libraries in a few other cities.
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