The Hands of the Faith from Charles Mason Remey, Second Baha'i Guardian
THE HANDS OF THE FAITH
FROM
MASON REMEY
THE SECOND GUARDIAN
OF
THE BAHÁ’Í FAITH
ANNOUNCEMENT
TO
THE HANDS OF THE FAITH
FROM
MASON REMEY
THE SECOND GUARDIAN
OF THE BAHA'I FAITH
OF
HIS APPOINTMENT
OF GUARDIANSHIP
BY
THE FIRST GUARDIAN
OF THE FAITH
INTRODUCTION
The “assertion” that I present in this proclamation to the Hands of the Baha'i Faith are of the same general nature as those of my many appeals. These paragraphs are in no chronical order. These thoughts have come to me under different conditions and while in varying moods of thought. These appeals may be considered each to be but a continuation of my last appeal in which I emphasized the importance that the Hands of the Faith should give to preparing themselves to receive the Second Guardian of the Faith when He makes Himself known to them for then He would take command of the Baha'i world, He the successor to The Beloved Guardian.
I now declare to the Hands of the Faith in this writ that I, Mason Remey, am the Second Guardian of the Baha'i Faith by the appointment of the First Guardian of the Baha'i Faith, the Beloved Shoghi Effendi.
Written in part in
Room #60, Hotel Berchielli,
Florence, Italy
in December 1959
And in part in
Apartment 2,
1310 New Hampshire Avenue N.W.
U.S. of North America
RIDVAN 117 B.E.
MASON REMEY
GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH
FOREWARD
I have made every effort possible to awaken the Hands of the Faith to the danger into which they are thrusting the cause. All with no apparent result, that is no good result for the Faith. The only result so far has been the deterioration of the Faith and the advance of the violation of the Faith, the Administration of the Faith, and of the Guardianship of the Faith.
My times while with the Hands of the Faith, all of whom I personally love devotedly and dearly, have been times of most acute suffering for me, because I was obliged to sit quietly and silently to all appearances in sympathy with them while they one after another would be proclaiming to the people of the Faith their stand for the obliteration of the Guardianship, the Administration, and the cause itself; rushing along hellwards themselves and spreading violation everywhere they went, leading the people astray and destroying their hopes in the Guardianship that is the very heart and soul of the cause.
Thus I suffered in silence, hoping that the Hands, the Nobles of the Kingdom, would change their way but instead of harkening to my admonition that they should cease to oppose the Administration and the Guardianship that is the heart and life center of the Faith, instead of harkening to me they have become bold and more bold in their attacks upon the basic principle of the Faith that is the Guardianship – they directing their attack by honeyed words and promises that they would establish infallibility in 1963 and then the Faith would have the Infallible Guidance of God and that the cause will then no longer need a Guardian for the Faith.
What violation!!!!
I have arisen singly and alone to take this stand before the Ridvan Convention. I have taken no one at all into my confidence, asked no ones advice nor sought any ones support, taking alone the initiative in this matter of facing the American Baha'is at this time of their national convention. The people are so thoroughly (apparently) conditioned to the program of the Hands for 1963 that apparently there is not the slightest question in anybody’s mind but that this program for 1963 will solve all problems of the Faith.
But now with my coming forward showing them that the Beloved Guardian placed me in command of the Faith, this indeed should call for a right about face march in the ranks of the Faith – at least for some – possibly very very few?
Yet am I convinced that the believers will in the end all be guided by me. America is the Cradle of the Administration of the Faith and I anticipate that the people will eventually so arise to this state of consciousness as to ere long convince the Hands themselves of the path of error that they, the Hands of the Faith, have been following. Such is my prayer.
The thought of my failure to lead the people of the Faith back on to the path of the Administration and the Guardianship has never even occurred to me. I know now aforehand that I will succeed because I know that the Baha'i cause is destined to succeed in the world and that I am the commander designated by the Beloved Guardian of the Faith and that success must come at this cruical turning point in Baha'i affairs at this time.
I have delayed long enough in the hope of convincing the Hands but this seems to be an impossibility, therefore I must now turn to the people that they the people may bring a pressure on the Hands that will affect them more than my words and admonitions to them. Therefore I am waiting no longer.
Today April 5th, I went to a printer to have 6,000 copies turned out of my Proclamation to the Convention. These I will send to 11 parts of the Baha'i world. Then the time of justice will be at hand for all Baha'is at home and abroad.
MASON REMEY
GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH
APRIL 1960
WASHINGTON D.C., US.A.
I ACT
The time is up. The hour has struck. I must call upon the believers of the mass, not of the nobility of the cause, to bring back what pressure they can upon the Hands to relinquish their stand against the Guardianship and attempt to seek to find their Second Guardian.
This I will do shortly through the coming National Convention in America. Much as I shrink from detonating such an explosion in the convention such is the only way that I can get my message as the protector of the Faith through protecting the International Council.
This I can do without breaking my promise of silence upon all matters discussed and decided by conference by the Hands because the thing I will talk about to the people will be me, myself, President of the International Council. This has never been mentioned by the Hands in conclave or in conference, therefore Hands of the Faith, your judgement time is at hand. Be prepared to face me shortly in the National Convention of Baha'is in a call that I shall give to the people, a call that will resound through the Baha'i world preparing the Baha'i world to discover for themselves the Second Guardian of the Baha'i Faith, He who is I – the Infallible One – who will guide the cause on to spiritual victory after victory and then on to other victories of the Faith!
THE PRESIDENT OF THE BAHA'I INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL
It is well known and accepted by the Baha'is that I, Mason Remey a Hand of the Faith, was appointed President of the Baha'i International Council by our late Beloved Shoghi Effendi, the First Guardian of the Baha'i Faith, and that for the past ten years of thereabouts I have been living in The Holy Land.
I am now forced to bring this subject to the attention of the Baha'is because of the intention of the Hands of the Faith as announced in their message of November 5, 1959, to elect their own International Council which is a great violation of the appointments of the Beloved Guardian for He Himself appointed the International Council, the embrio of the House of Justice of the future with me, Mason Remey, as the President.
THE PROPOGATION OF THE VIOLATION
For two years I have outwardly and in appearance held my peace in Haifa as I have been obliged to listen to the Hands of the Faith explain and tell to the visiting Pilgrims making them the promise of the infallibility that they would establish to guide the cause and supplant the need of Guardianship so soon as would come this infallibility that they would establish in their plans for 1963.
What indignation surged within me as I was obliged in silence to listen to all this propogation of violation thus going out from the center of the Baha'i Faith to the followers all over the world! I myself could do nothing to turn this tide of false hopes and false teaching that the Hands of the Faith were giving to the people. All that I could do at those times was to pray from my heart that soon a break would come in this propaganda of the violation and the Faith would be gotten back again upon the way of the Administration which of course is the Guardianship and nothing else.
Thus this matter of the propaganda of this violation of the Faith I allowed to continue to proceed yet for a time from the Headquarters of the Faith in The Holy Land, but I am waiting no longer for that which will shake up, wake up and around the Hands of the Faith to clean out from the Faith this evil spirit that is eating away so diligently and persistently controlling the actions of the body of the Hands of the Faith. For I myself am shortly taking over the command of the Faith and I will awaken the Baha'is to this danger. Such is my mission to perform and I know that I will be led and activated at the right moment to accomplish this act that will be for the salvation of the Faith.
Therefore, I am watching and waiting! Waiting with impatience. I supplicate daily for protection lest I be tempted to make an unwise move, harmful to the cause, in my desire to better these conditions and make clean from all this violation the way for the announcement to the Baha'i world of the Second Guardian appointed in escrow, as it were, by our late Beloved Guardian Shoghi Effendi.
THE HANDS OF THE FAITH ASSUME CONTROL OF THE FAITH
As is well known and accepted by all Baha'is that at the death of Shoghi Effendi, the Hands of the Faith assumed the directing of Baha'i affairs. According to the Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha there was no authority for them to assume direction of Baha'i affairs, nevertheless there arose no question about this. The majority of the Hands decided that all proceedings and things discussed among the Hands were to be kept secret – nothing was to be divulged nor spoken of by any Hand nor was any to express their own opinion about any of the business of the Faith and to this the majority agreed.
MY APPOINTMENT
As I have formerly explained in writing when the Beloved Guardian appointed me President of the Baha'i International Council, this appointment did not delegate to me any power to take any action toward inaugurating any work or activity of that body, for at that time He, Shoghi Effendi Himself, was in his office of order and command as the Guardian of the Faith; therefore the only thing for me to do as President of the Council was for me to do nothing. Therefore so long as the Beloved Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, lived and reigned as the Guardian of the Faith, my presidentship of the council was but one of the potentialities of future responsibilities pertaining to this office to which He, the Infallible Guardian of the Faith, had appointed me.
Shoghi Effendi never gave me any further orders save to tell me and to tell the Baha'i world that I was the President of the Baha'i International Council that was the Embrionic Universal House of Justice, which he at that time as Guardian of the Faith established with me as its President, but without delegating to me any independent power to take any action or actions as President – for he being then the Guardian of the Faith held with his position all powers for the direction and command of the Faith.
But with the death of Shoghi Effendi, the potential responsibility that he had vested in me and in me alone (one individual believer out of all the Baha'is in this world). Thus my potential responsibility during the lifetime of Shoghi Effendi automatically was transformed into authority. In other words, at the death of the Beloved Guardian, I Mason Remey, became independently and in my own right as the President of the Baha'i International Council inherited from Shoghi Effendi with all of the assets, rights and the responsibilities pertaining to that institution, the International Council, that was destined to increase and ultimately develop into the Universal House of Justice of the Baha'i Faith, with me as its President which prerogative only the Guardian of the Faith could hold.
Thus did Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith, bequeath such powers to me as President of the Baha'i International Council and Guardian of the Faith.
I make no claim of myself for myself. In this statement I merely call the attention of the Baha'is to this responsibility and authority that the Beloved Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, bestowed upon me.
THE UNITY OF THE BAHA’IS
Unity of spirit leads the Baha’is upon the path of concord. How often did the Master Abdu’l-Baha tell us that the unity of the friends should never be broken. The majority vote on matters should be supported by all. Even when the majority is wrong and when the wrong step has the majority vote, it must be followed by all rather than make a split and a division in the Faith – the principle of this Baha'i unity being that when a united body of Baha'is find themselves upon the wrong track supporting the wrong thing, they can without loosing their unity change their wrong course and adopt the right course without loosing their unity, whereas when this unity as a group or body of believers is once ruptured then there is indeed a great trouble.
As one looks back over the perilous early days of the Faith in America, during the days of the Master Abdu’l-Baha, one sees and realizes the masterful way in which he steered the “Arc of the Baha'i Covenant” through and over many tempestuous seas, his method always being to maintain the unity of the friends.
But in the case of the violation of the teachings by enemies, within the cause, those who violated the teachings and made division amongst the believers here the Master used an entirely different method for in such cases he cut these people off root and branch, and cast them out from the Faith. This principle, the Beloved Guardian Shoghi Effendi acted upon also. We in America witnessed this in the case of Ahmad Sohrab where the Beloved Guardian broke into any unity that may have existed between Ahmad and those of the Faith for He, the Guardian, forebade all association of the believers with this covenant breaker. Just as later on he forebad all association with other covenant breakers who were even members of the Master’s own family in Israel.
KEEP FAITH WITH THE HANDS OF THE FAITH
When a body of individuals come together there are often many conflicting ideas and desires in the minds of the people. So it is in the conferences of the Hands of the Faith. One may want and may insist upon this and another may want and insist upon something else and so it may go, but when the vote is taken among those who want one thing and those who want another, the vote of the majority rules. The result is announced to the Baha'i world by Proclamation or by formal and official messages to the Baha'i world, then every Hands of the Faith is not supposed to make to any Baha'i in the outside world any statement of personal opinions that he or any other of the Hands may hold. All must stick to and support the winning vote of the majority. This is the procedure decided upon by the body of the Hands that now is accepted by all Baha'is.
The unity of the body of the Hands seems to depend upon the careful maintenance and following out of this procedure. Nevertheless, while seated in secret conference it is the bond and duty of each of the Hands of the Faith to speak out his own thoughts fully and frankly before the conclaves of all the Hands, as well as in the consultations of the Hands in The Holy Land of which latter group I was a member during the first two years of this interregnum. I, a Hand of the Faith who am no longer one of the Custodian Hands in Haifa, have assured the other Hands of the Faith upon leaving Haifa that I will in no way tell any Baha'i of any of the proceedings or discussions of the Hands of the Faith in The Holy Land in either the general conclaves nor in the conferences of those bodies of the Hands, but of other Baha'i affairs, those that may affect the cause in general but have never been discussed nor mentioned in any of these conclaves or conferences of the Hands, I speak freely of to the friends as I would speak about any other subject.
A LETTER WRITTEN TO THE HANDS
OF THE CAUSE BUT NEVER SENT
WASHINGTON D.C.
U.S. OF NORTH AMERICA
IN STRICT BAHA'I CONFIDENCE
To the Hands of the Baha'i Faith calling their attention to the questions of some Baha'is in Europe and India, questions that without a doubt will again soon be coming up again for action before the body of Hands in their next conclave (whenever that may be?). Questions that will be precipitated by introduction that I made presenting my Proclamation to the recent National Convention of Baha'is held at Wilmette, Illinois, in United States of North America of this year 117 of the Baha'i Era, introducing myself to that body of Baha'is as the President of the Baha'i International Council and Guardian of the Faith, appointed by the Beloved Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, a copy of which introduction of myself to the convention and my responsibilities I here enclose to you. It explains itself – there is nothing secret about it, thus do I draw your attention to this fact but at the same time I reiterate to you that all the other documents that I am here sending to you are Baha'i secrets they touch upon matters received and talked over by the Hands of the Faith in conference. In other words, those communications coming to the Hands of the Faith from Baha'i friends in Germany, Belgium and India, which questions are confidential between the Hands, however these same questions are also typical of the questions now in the minds of many believers in all parts of the world regarding the Guardianship of the Baha'i Faith.
I send you all this enclosed Baha'i data that in order that you can at your ease read and carefully and prayerfully study these matters before the next coming conclave of the Hands of the Faith, whenever that may be?
I address you and send you these communications all in the most strict Baha'i confidence because as I have written, these missives have to do with the secret affairs of the Hands of the Faith to which all members of the body of the Hands of the Faith have solemnly promised not to divulge, disclose or reveal to the Baha'i world; therefore Dear Hands of the Faith, please be most carefully mindful of your silence before the world upon these matters that are for the Hands only to discuss between themselves in their present dilemma of the Baha'i Cause.
To reiterate, as for this letter that I have written to the National Convention in America that has gone out to Baha'is everywhere, there is no secrecy about this because it was issued at a time before the Hands of the Faith either in the conclave at Behje or in the conferences of the Custodian Hands in Haifa to my knowledge had ever mentioned in any of their conferences anything about the responsibility that our late Beloved Guardian had placed upon me, Mason Remey, when he appointed me President of the Baha'i International Council, all of which is explained to the Baha'i world in this letter from me.
Again I adjure your silence upon all matters pertaining to the affairs of the Hands of the Faith, for you – Hands of the Faith – must solve all cause problems in strictest confidence between all the members of your August body of the Baha'i Faith.
Faithfully yours in the Cause of
Baha’u’llah, the Center of His
Covenant and the Guardianship of
the Faith
MASON REMEY
President of the Baha'i International
Council
I COMPEL THE CAUSE TO ACCEPT ME
The time is now at hand when the Hands of the Faith should know and realize that the Beloved Guardian placed me in command of this situation when he appointed me President of the Baha'i International Council for he gave me the power and the clear authority to call a halt in these ruinous to the cause proceedings of violation; namely the program of plans for 1963 that you the Hands of the Faith are foisting upon the cause.
I forbid you to do anything at all about taking over the International Council as you announce you are going to do.
You have thus appointed yourselves to take over the control of the council. In your last general message to the believers you state the council “is to work under the direction and the supervision of the Hands of the Cause residing in The Holy Land.” What audacity!
As you know and as the entire world knows, the Beloved Guardian appointed me President of the International Council and I will not countenance any usurpation of my responsibilities as you tell the Baha'i world you are going to do in your program for 1963, signed by twenty two of the Hands in conclave. You have no right whatsoever to perpetrate such violation upon the cause and I, President of the International Council and Guardian of the Faith will not permit you to carry through this particular step in your violation of the International Council established by our Beloved Guardian.
The Hands of the Faith have the responsibility of protecting the Faith and this command they have violated – the command to protect the Faith that was given to them by the Will and Testament of the Master! The Guardian alone wields the right to choose and to appoint a succeeding Guardian for the Faith who alone can give the cause the infallible guidance that the Faith must have in order to guide the cause.
As for myself, the Beloved Guardian in His infallibility bestowed upon me, Mason Remey, the power and the authority to halt your program for 1963 and this I am now doing in order to save the cause from this violation of the Administration upon which you are launched, and which is apparently succeeding to such an extent that I am now compelled to exert the full power given me by the Infallible Beloved Guardian to stop your program of activities for 1963 and to insist that this 1963 program be abandoned and thus compel you to acknowledge me as the one appointed by the Beloved Guardian to save the Baha'i Faith in this emergency.
I am surprised that the Hands of the Faith have not realized this without my having to tell these things.
I am not putting forth any claim of mine own for control of this body of Hands. My only claim to this authority was bestowed upon me by the Beloved Guardian when he appointed me President of the Council later to be Guardian of the Faith.
Are you to question this???? The First Guardian of the Faith gave me this authority and this power by which I am now compelling the cause to accept me as the Second Guardian of the Faith.
THE ADVENT OF THE SECOND GUARDIAN
The International Council and all of these were appointed by the infallible decree of the First Guardian of the Faith and in all cases of both the Hands and the International Council members, all were to be under the infallible guidance of the Guardianship of the Faith which infallible guidance was vested in the First Guardian of the Faith until his death – where upon this death of the First Guardian of the Faith this infallibility automatically passed to the Second Guardian of the Faith who during this state of the dilemma of the interregnum was in occultation. He was in the world but he did not make his presence known to the people of the Faith; therefore neither the Hands of the Faith nor the International Council can take any sure or certain action until the Second Guardian declares himself and comes forth to the believers as proclaimed by the Beloved Guardian to be his successor.
The credentials of the Second Guardian of the Faith will be found to have been given by the First Guardian of the Faith and my assurance of this is because in the Master’s Will and Testament it is so written; therefore since the Beloved Guardian was infallible he must perforce have complied with this order described by Abdu’l-Baha in his Will and Testament.
To be sure the Baha'i world does not know as yet who and where the Second Guardian of the Faith actually is occultated but we can be, or should be, sure and confirmed in our belief that the Beloved Guardian did not leave the Faith without infallible guidance to carry the cause on into the future.
Therefore I, President of the Baha'i International Council, have urged the Hands of the Faith to diligently seek to find the Second Guardian of the Cause, thus to prepare themselves to welcome Him.
MY APPOINTMENT
By virtue of my appointment as President of the Baha'i International Council, our Beloved Guardian has bestowed upon me the authority and the power to call this halt that I do to the activities of the Hands of the Faith to take over to put aside the council appointed by the Beloved Guardian, elect another International Assembly and to put it into working order and then to dictate to the International Council what they shall do, all of which is stated as they intend to do in their message to the Baha'i world from their third Behje Conclave and which was signed by twenty two of the Hands of the Faith – that was all of those who were present at that conclave, save I myself who refused to endorse this violation.
MY ANNOUNCEMENT
The condition that forces me at this time to make this announcement to the Baha'i world through this National Convention is precipitated by the announcement to the Baha'i world of the Hands of the Faith in their third annual message to the Baha'is of east and west, dated November 4, 1959, that was signed by twenty two of the Hands of the Faith.
In this document is outlined their plans for 1963 that are so flagrantly in violation of the Administration of the Faith that I find myself obliged to guard and protect the Faith from all such violation.
Dear Friends: To again reiterate, I leave one hope and thought with you to cling to during these difficult days of dilemma in the Faith and it is that our Beloved Guardian of the Cause left the cause amply protected for the period of interregnum and that he indicated beyond a doubt who his successor is – the Second Guardian of the Faith who automatically became the Second Guardian of the Faith at the death of Shoghi Effendi and that the Second Guardian of the Faith will disclose himself to the believers when his way so to do is made feasible for him by the spiritual condition of the Hands of the Faith.
But Dear Friends, please, please rest assured of all that I am telling you. Be at ease until the Hands of the Faith call a conclave to plan to receive in a fitting manner their Guardian when he emerges from his present occultation.
This is a very difficult time for the Hands of the Faith, so the believers should be most considerate of them.
FALLIBILITY OF THE HANDS OF THE FAITH
The Hands of the Faith ignorantly or otherwise are apparently deceiving themselves and also are out to deceive many of the believers who, uninformed of the teachings, believe that this Universal House of Justice that the Hands will establish will give the cause the infallibility as promised by the Hands of the Faith!
This promise of the Hands of the Faith to the Baha'is of the world is indeed a most great violation and an affront to the infallible teachings of the Beloved Guardian who very explicitly explained to the believers that the International Assembly elected by the people as one of the pillars of the Faith had in itself no infallibility without or until it was functioning together with the Guardian of the Faith as its President or at his appointment when absent his representative sitting in his place. Thus the infallibility of the Universal House of Justice is vested in the Guardian who is its President. These two elements, the infallible Guardian on one hand and the International Assembly upon the other, chosen by and representing the people of the Faith, these two are the two pillars or two supports when thus functioning together give infallibility to the Universal House of Justice. But it is impossible to have this infallibility in the manner promised by the Hands of the Faith who are insisting that the infallible element is not necessary and that an International Assembly chosen by the believers has infallibility is pure violation of the accepted teachings of the Baha'i Faith and like other forms of violation should be cut out and cast out from the Faith.
I personally dislike to have to stand and refute the statements of Baha'is but it is most imperative that I take this stand before this convention to warn the people of the Faith against this pernicious teaching that has been circulated these two years and more by the chosen Hands of the Faith themselves against the Administration and against the Guardianship of the Faith. Such heresies are as an axe at the root of the Faith and as a dagger in the heart of the cause. What more can I say? Any normal minded Baha'i should be able to see and to understand this problem!
I, President of the Baha'i International Council, have borne with this problem long enough – yes too long – in the hope that I would not have to take the drastic step that I am taking now and alone and so far as I know with not one Baha'i in the world to stand with me, for this will be the first time that I have spoken to any Baha'i other than to the Hands of the Faith themselves about this the greatest violation of the history of more than a century of the Baha'is and of the Baha'i Faith.
This day is indeed the Judgement Day in the Baha'is of This World!
In the early history of our Faith the martyrs faced torture, imprisonment and death. These enemies of the cause they saw and met face to face and they stood and died like faithful soldiers.
But now this enemy – VIOLATION – is a subtle enemy who comes along quietly and slips into ones confidence with promises of good things and of better times to come through supporting these plausible ideas and notions that promise so much. But all the time the damage is being done, the disease of violation is slowly eating away like a cancer destroying the vitality of the cause.
How long, Oh Lord God, how long are such things to be allowed to be???
AN APPEAL TO THE HANDS OF THE FAITH
Beloved Hands of the Cause, my heart bleeds and suffers for you in this time that is a terrible time for you because it is your time of judgement, the judgement of each of the Hands of the Faith as whether they will follow the orders of the Beloved Guardian or whether they will continue on the path of their violation as declared by them and signed by twenty two of them in their announcement to the Baha'i world of their decisions made in the 1959 Behje Conclave!
You still have time and opportunity to make your retreat from this stand of violation to one of firmness in the Administration and support of the Guardianship!
I personally, as a brother Baha'i, implore and beg of each one of you to reconsider the stand you take in such violation as you have thus endorsed and published throughout the Baha'i world.
The appeal that I make to you as a brother Baha'i I lay aside for the moment my authority as President of the International Council of the Faith and I speak to you in this writ emploring you as a brother to reconsider this matter – not as one having any authority over you – but upon the human plane as a brother.
Should you harken to this my human appeal to each one of you and arise to support the infallible Guardianship of the Faith ALL THAT IS PAST and is forgotten, but if you continue in your violation, you will be lost to the Faith for the wrath of God will surely descend upon you.
THE PRESUMPTUOUSNESS OF THE HANDS OF THE FAITH
The assumption of the Hands of the Faith to order Baha'i affairs as they have been doing since the death of Shoghi Effendi has no authority or support whatsoever in the Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha and this Will and Testament is the foundation of the Administration of the Baha'i Faith. Everything done by the Hands of the Faith which has been done in conclave since the death of the Beloved Guardian has been done in violation of the Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha upon the basis of which the Beloved Guardian built the Administration of the Faith. This I have told repeatedly to the Hands.
Upon the other hand the stand that I take and make thus before this body of believers, as President of the Baha'i International Council and that which I insist upon is not of me (I as an individual) but stems from the authority and the power given to me and to me alone by Shoghi Effendi when he appointed me President of the Baha'i International Council.
I claim nothing myself – all that I do now is to tell the Hands what they already know and acknowledge that the Guardian appointed me President of the International Council and with this appointment the responsibility IN POTENTIA of the affairs of the International Council that rested thus with me in status quo until the death of the Guardian and which I now contend should still remain in status quo until there be an infallible guidance, acknowledged and accepted by the Baha'is to direct the affairs of the Baha'i International Council or in other words, the Second Guardian of the Faith in office and accepted by the believers who will then at his own good pleasure either do or do nothing for the time being about the Baha'i International Council.
Realizing aforehand that this communication will be emotionally disturbing to the entire body of delegates and attendants, both Hands and others there assembled and furthermore I myself shrinking from meeting such emotional storms as this letter will inevitably create in this convention, I myself have not planned to attend these conferences. If however, the friends with my presence amongst them on this or upon any other occasion I will be most happy and pleased to hasten to Wilmette to meet with them.
Another reason why I am thus in absentia addressing this convention is in order that thus my being absent leaves the field open to these Hands of the Faith who may be there that they may have the opportunity to consider and to reconsider with the delegates from all parts of America (the land that our Beloved Guardian blessed with the title of “The Cradle of the Administration of the Faith”) in order that they, the Hands of the Faith, can get the viewpoint of the American believers who are firm in the Administration as opposed to the attitude of these Hands of the Faith according to their proposition for 1963 about which questions are beginning to arise in many of the American believers, that I would rather let these two persuasions have the field to themselves rather than get into it myself; nevertheless I’ll be very pleased to meet all the friends on the convention floor should the Officers of the Convention deem this advisable.
I SPEAK AS PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL
I as president of the Baha'i International Council can remain silent no longer listening to the Hands of the Faith proclaiming their plans for 1963 that so flagrantly violate the Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha and that are opposed to all that was built up by the Beloved Guardian upon the directions contained in the Will and Testament and so evidently supercede and put to naught the latter. Therefore I speak out in this communication calling the attention of the Hands of the Faith to their mistake. This is a step necessary for me to take in order to save the cause from this regression from the Baha'i procedure – that is a violation of the Administration of the Baha'i Faith.
EXPLANATION
In thus explaining myself and my position in the Baha'i Faith I of myself make no claims whatsoever for myself. All that I do is to tell the friends of the station in the cause that the Beloved Guardian bestowed upon me at the same time placing a responsibility that no other soul in this world has – namely the authority and the power to protect and to guard the International Council (which is the embrio that will eventually develop into the Universal House of Justice) from being tampered with by the Hands of the Faith as described to the Baha'i world in their plans for 1963.
The Beloved Guardian not only gave me the authority as President of the International Council to call a halt on such proceedings that would nullify his appointment of me as President and his appointment of the other members of this council, but also with this responsibility and authority he gave me the power to halt all such proceedings – thus to me, one believer against the entire cause should it come to that, I am endowed with the power to stay such transgressions against that which was created by the Beloved Guardian of the Faith.
Therefore in other words do I intend to announce to the believers of the Faith assembled in this coming convention that I, Mason Remey as the President of the Baha'i International Council, forbid the Hands of the Faith to put aside the other members of the present International Council that was appointed by our late Beloved Guardian of the Faith and that I insist that this present set up of the International Council remain and rest as it now is until the cause has an acknowledged source of infallible guidance to direct these actions – the inauguration of this International Council.
Like the subject of me myself as President of the Baha'i International Council, this subject of the Second Guardian of the Faith never was mentioned nor did it come up for discussion in any of the conclaves or conferences of the Hands of the Faith in The Holy Land, therefore this subject of the Second Guardian of the Faith is not tabu for me as a Hand of the Faith to mention and discuss quite openly with the believers as I intend doing.
Dear Hands of the Faith:
I’ve been telling you one and all many times during the past two years and more that you were all wrong in your attitude toward the Administration and the Guardianship. In fact I’ve talked with you about this so much and so earnestly that it is an old story to you and one that no longer interests you coming from me.
In other words my method of talking to you directly and out from the shoulder has ceased to penetrate your consciousness, therefore I am now planning an entirely different arguement. I am going to place my arguement for the continuation of the Guardianship before the American believers in the coming National Convention at Wilmette in a letter addressed to the convention with the special request that it be read from the platform of the convention trusting that my plan not to depart from the admonitions in the Will and Testament of the Master Abdu’l-Baha will so move these friends that they will be moved to bring such pressures upon the Hands of the Faith as to arouse them and make them stand up to support the Guardianship of the Faith and be looking about them trying to find where the Second Guardian of the Faith is and what is the hope of his coming out of his occultation before all the world to lead the Faith upon its victorious onward march of the Kingdom of God upon earth?
Since the Beloved Guardian has called America the Cradle of the Administration, the Administration in reality being inseparable from the Guardianship, I have every hope for the early coming forth of the Second Guardian into the arena of Baha'i activities to take objective control of the Baha'i Faith and lead us on the straight path of service in his kingdom.
Thus my appeal direct to the believers themselves will I trust cause them to bring pressures upon you, the Hands of the Faith, that I trust will have more effect upon chaning your violation of the Guardianship than I alone have been able to accomplish.
I HAVE THE POWER
As President of the International Council I feel that I have a power given and bestowed upon me by the First Guardian of the Faith that nothing can combat or stand against. The fact that I alone have arisen to take over the control of the Baha'i Faith does not even put a question in my mind as to my success in this venture, the fact that I face this problem singly and alone doesn’t even put a question in my mind as to the successful outcome of this venture. I feel a perfect confidence in what lies before me. There is not the least uncertainty about it in my mind and this confidence seems all to stem within me from the fact that the Beloved Infallible Guardian called me and placed upon me this responsibility to which I must now arise and assume with the assurance of success, the absolute assurance of success despite the fact that until now I am the only one in all the world who know this, no one else even suspects it, nevertheless I am given the courage and the assurance that this move that I am about to take, this coming forward to take command of the Baha'i World and get it back again out of the hands of these violating Hands of the Faith and back again on to the track and under the Guardianship of the Faith. The Possibility of failure in this never enters my consciousness.
In fact I am quite conscious of success although I have nothing but my faith in the Guardianship to combat the united body of Hands that now are followed and supported by practically the united Baha'i world – all of these are against me – yet I will succeed quickly, very quickly too. For the matter of this violation of the Faith has gone along now for too long, away long after the eleventh hour. So come the solution of this violation of the Faith – it must come quickly, quickly indeed if it is to save the Faith and I am sure that it will save the cause.
THE PRESIDENT OF THE BAHA'I INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL
According to the Will and Testament the Hands are not to be followed or are they to be obeyed. No, they the Hands are to be directed by the Guardian. They are not to direct anyone, but they themselves are to carry out the orders of the Guardian who will protect them from error. He is their protection. Thus they the Hands of the Faith will have no protection from error until they find themselves under the guidance of the Second Guardian of the Cause.
I, Mason Remey, President of the Baha'i International Council, am the one whom the Beloved Guardian vested with the power and the right to protect the Hands of the Faith and the Baha'i world at large from the violation of the International Council that these Hands of the Faith have announced that they are going to put through in 1963. I am President of the International Council and I order them to stop these plans for 1963.
I LEAD THE CAUSE
The message from the Hands of the Faith to the believers of the world of 1959, the Hands proclaimed their intention of taking over the Baha'i Council dictating to this council what it should do and what it should not do, and then after two years put it out of existence, etc, etc!!! What astonishes me and astounds me is that while the believers at large in the Faith want and hope for a Guardian, the Hands of the Faith neither want or are expecting a Guardian, and more than this they seem hell bent upon doing all they can to destroy any hopes that the believers may have for a Guardian.
Under such conditions could a Guardian come forth and with his credentials from the Beloved Guardian and be accepted by the Hands? Would He be recognized?
What astounding arrogance have these Hands! It would stagger me did I not know that the Beloved Guardian has placed the protection of the Faith in my hands now at this most crucial time and that he gave me both the authority and the power to protect the Faith from all such violation. I, as President of the International Council, am the only refuge that the cause has in this time of peril to the cause. The Beloved Guardian has given me, appointed and passed on to me his authority as the protector and defender of the Baha'i Faith. By virtue of my Presidency of the International Council I single and alone from amongst all the Baha'is in the world am the only one who has the power given by the appointment of the First Infallible Guardian Shoghi Effendi to lead the cause through these perilous times!
In the last message of the Hands to the Baha'i world it stated that I was to be replaced as one of the Custodian Hands in Haifa because I was “unable” to serve. This way of putting it was indeed misleading to the believers and with evident calculation to conceal from them the fact that I refused to serve the Hands as they demanded. I refused to support them in their violation of the Administration and the Guardianship, therefore my voluntary exile for a period of time from my home in Haifa until I shall return there as the Guardian of the Faith accepted by the firm believers of the Faith.
I PROTECT THE HANDS OF THE FAITH
In other words, I am protecting the Hands of the Faith by thus shielding you in your violation against your rejection by the believers of the Faith should these believers find out, know and realize your violation of the Administration. I cannot hold much longer this protection that I am thus giving you. All that I can hope for is to hold out this protection to the Hands long enough for you to change your attitude toward the Guardianship, renounce your program for 1963, and announce this to the Baha'i world assuring them that you uphold the Master’s Will and Testament that means that you still believe in the Guardianship but that you just don’t know how it is to be continued.
When you do as I tell you to do you will then be in the position of firmness in the Baha'i Faith in which you will be protected from making these mistakes that now so becloud your vision and confuse your mind and bewilder and put to test the Baha'is the world around.
I assure you that I am doing everything that I can do to make it in the end as easy as possible for you.
THE HANDS OF THE CAUSE ARE FALLIBLE
The Hands of the Faith receive, as do all Baha'is, infallible guidance through and only through the Guardianship.
The Hands of the Faith have no infallible authority as Hands of the Faith because infallible Baha'i authority is vested only in the Guardianship of the Faith. The body of the Hands of the Faith at all times need the infallible direction of the Guardian for unless they have this unerring guidance how can they protect the Faith?
WASHINGTON D.C.
U.S.A.
April, 1960
TO THE HANDS OF THE FAITH IN THE HOLY LAND
BELOVED FRIENDS:
I have said and done all that I can to awaken the Hands of the Faith to the great danger they have brought upon the Faith but all to no avail so from now on I must take command of the cause myself as President of the Baha'i International Council and right these matters myself, drastically putting aside and doing everything possible to put the Faith back into running order under the Guardianship as it was in the days of the Beloved Guardian who bestowed upon me the authority after him to protect the Faith in this crisis by his appointment of me as President of the Baha'i International Council to take over the duties of that trust that became mine duties at the death of Shoghi Effendi. Thus from now on I am telling the Hands of the Faith that they should take orders from us.
My first order to them is that they desist in all of their preparations for 1963 and that they inform the Baha'i world that I, the President of the International Baha'i Council, have taken over the command of the Faith and that from now on I will direct the Hands of the Faith of how they are to conduct themselves and the manner of rendering their services to the crime for its propagation and protection.
The direction of the Faith assumed by the Hands of the Faith during the interregnum is now over and at an end and I am directing the affairs of the International Council which affairs are the affairs of the cause.
Since the council is the embrio from which will evolve and develop the Universal House of Justice, I at present being the President of this embrionic House of Justice which in time will develop into the Universal House of Justice, Shoghi Effendi commanded me as President of the Council during his life as Guardian of the Faith which command became automatically my command at the death of Shoghi Effendi and that since his death has been my command.
In my position as President of the International Council I stand single and alone in all this world. Therefore my reason for standing single and alone upholding the Administration of the Faith and the Guardianship against the united stand of the Hands of the Faith.
At the present time of this writing (April 5, 1960) I am the only person in the world who knows this, but I shall soon have to explain these matters to the Baha'i world. For the time of silence, confusion and violation is ended.
Thus I give the Hands of the Faith but a few hours before I announce my intentions to the friends of the Faith.
If such is not forthcoming I will direct the believers myself referring them to the words of the Beloved Guardian, spoken many times, referring to the International Council, its functions, its future development with me, Mason Remey as its President.
Wake up Hands of the Faith, see and understand that which the Beloved Guardian has told you about the position in the Faith that he has given me and into which I automatically stepped at the death of the First Guardian of the Faith. I herewith command you, the Hands of the Faith in Thy Holy Land, to make this Proclamation to the Baha'i world through the National Baha'i Assemblies of the world. I give you this instruction now in secret according to the understanding between all the Hands of the Faith that all of our deliberations be held strictly in confidence.
In the meanwhile there are matters about myself as President of the International Council that were never mentioned by the Hands in any of their conferences that I am preparing to write in a letter that I am addressing to the coming convention of the Baha'is in America that I am asking that it be read before the convention. This letter, a copy of which I will send you very shortly, will prepare the Baha'is for whatever you may have to announce or proclaim to them regarding me and my unique present position in the cause.
Should you comply promptly with this my order you, the Hands of the Faith, will be greatly blessed with blessings that will descend immediately upon you and upon the cause the world around but should you delay or oppose me you will make your way difficult.
In the letter that I am preparing to be read before the coming National Convention at Wilmette, I have most scrupulously not mentioned anything about any of the things that transpired in the conclaves and conferences of the Hands. Where I mentioned anything involving the Hands it was those matters that the Hands had published officially throughout the world. Such as for instance their violation of the International Council appointed by the Beloved Guardian, violated by them when they declared that they would elect an International Council to “work under the direction and the supervision of the Hands of the Cause residing in The Holy Land”. What arrogance and foolishness is that and it was signed by twenty two of the Hands of the Faith! And it was circulated all over the world!
Indeed the Hands of the Faith have violated and overstepped. Now is their time of judgement come upon them and this judgement is coming to them not administered by me but by the mass of the believers whom they have been leading astray and deceiving.
I have tried and am now trying to conceal their violations as long as I can from the Baha'i world hoping that at last they will change their attitudes and arise to support the Administration of the Faith. The time is now getting very short for them. Let them make haste to do as I tell them to do, for only by following me will they find Baha'i favor and forgiveness for when violation takes over and dominates a group of Baha'is as it has dominated the Hands of the Faith since that first Behje Conclave, when this plague of violation thus takes over those affected by this plague are no longer able to help or to cure themselves. They must be cured by a power that is from without their own group, therefore I arose single and alone to heal the Hands of the Faith and this I am trying to accomplish now, but I must have your cooperation too. If you cooperate with me now at this time when the eleventh hour is well past, I can and will get you out of your trouble but if you still persist in turning down and turning your backs upon the Will and Testament and trying to destroy the Baha'i International Council appointed and established by our Beloved Guardian, if you still persist in turning his works down, you will then just have to hear the consequences.
THE UNKNOWN GUARDIAN OF THE FAITH
He, the Second Guardian of the Faith, has been the Guardian of the Faith since the death of the First Guardian of the Faith, unknown, single and alone he has stood on guard to protect the Faith from violation. Thus will he continue to stand guarding and protecting the Faith alone and unknown, he now in exile from his home given him by the Beloved Guardian to him as his home, awaiting to be recognized as the Guardian of the Faith. It is not for him thus to reveal himself to the believers for the Beloved Guardian has thus declared him.
This is a most difficult time for the cause, difficult because this time of interregnum has been so prolonged, difficult for the Faith itself, difficult for the believers and of these believers most difficult of all for the Hands of the Faith for they who have been honored and blessed above all believers have also the greatest sacrifices to make spiritual sacrifices to make sacrifices of their of their own human spirit in order that they can serve and make themselves worthy servants next to and under the direction of the Second Infallible Guardian of the Baha'i Faith.
It is the Hands of the Faith for whom my special prayers are directed at this crucial moment of the cause. I am trying to make the right about face change in the policies of the body of Hands as easy for them as possible and I trust that all of the believers will do the same by cooperating in all friendliness and Baha'i love with these Hands of the Faith that in the end none fall by the wayside for the Hands of the Faith are fallible as are all other believers. It is only the Guardian of the Faith who is infallible. Please dear friends, hear and harken to what I, President of the Baha'i International Council am telling you!
THE INFALLIBILITY OF THE GUARDIAN OF THE FAITH
I hold that the only source of infallibility that this Dispensation of Baha’u’llah will ever have is vested in the Guardianship of the Faith and in the Guardianship of the Faith only whether he, the Guardian of the Faith, should weild this infallibility by himself or whether in conjunction with the International Assembly of Baha'is of the world – infallibility is vested only in the Guardian of the Faith, for he, in his office of Guardian of the Faith, is the only infallible one ever to be in this Baha'i Dispensation.
Furthermore, we as Baha'is know that this cause will always be under the infallible guidance of God, therefore at all times there must be a Guardian to weild this power of guidance – therefore there must always be a Guardian of the Faith – one following the other leading the Faith on into the future and directing the cause of its spiritual victories to come, victory after victory.
Therefore, the Baha'i world should be assured that our Beloved Infallible Guardian, Shoghi Effendi’s death did not leave the chair of the Guardianship of the Faith vacant but that he in his infallibility had appointed and left the cause in the care of the Second Guardian of the Faith, now in occultation yet to come forth and proclaim himself to the Baha'i world as the Infallible Guardian of the Faith.
But when he, the Second Guardian of the Faith, will find it possible for him to come forth from his occultation I don’t know? Perhaps some one else does know? If so, let him or her tell the Baha'i world for the firm believers will welcome his appearances – He, the Infallible Guardian of the Baha'i Faith!
THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL
I am but one out of all the believers of the Faith to stand against the stand of the Hands of the Faith now supported by the believers of the Faith, but remember dear friends of the Faith, that the Beloved Guardian so placed me that at his death the protection of the Baha'i International Council, the embrio that was eventually to develop into the Universal House of Justice of the Baha'i Faith, would be under my protection because of my office as President of the Council. Therefore I will explain to all Baha'i friends in this convention that I as President of the Council cannot allow any interference from any one or ones of this responsibility that the Beloved Guardian Shoghi Effendi placed upon me as President of the International Council.
I of myself am making no claims. I am telling you how the Beloved Guardian left this situation to me to defend.
THE SECOND GUARDIAN OF THE FAITH
During the life time of Shoghi Effendi I had no right or power whatsoever to do or to decide anything at all about the International Council, for then all power and right to act was vested in Shoghi Effendi himself, the First Guardian of the Baha'i Faith but with the death of Shoghi Effendi, first Guardian of the Faith, automatically the right and power and my duty to protect and guard the Faith from any violation of the International Council and its functioning descended from him to me because of his appointment of me to the Presidency of this Baha'i institution, thus the International Council was designed and created by the word of the Beloved Guardian himself to be the forerunner and the first step taken by him toward the formation of the embrionic Universal House of Justice, the potential responsibility of which creation by his infallible command he placed upon me when he appointed me President of the Baha'i International Council which as I have said was not a power that devolved upon me until the death of the First Guardian of the Faith when automatically this power then descended from the First Guardian to the Second Guardian of the Baha'is who is I, Mason Remey. So from now on for so long as I live upon this earth, I am the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith and I shall expect and demand that the Hands of the Faith and that all other believers accept me as their Commander in Chief of the activities of the Holy Cause of Baha’u’llah throughout the world.
The Baha'i International Council was a creation of the First Guardian of the Faith, the ultimate accomplishment of the development and functioning and directing of which the Beloved Guardian left to his successor or successors in Guardianship to complete and carry on. When Shoghi Effendi appointed me President of the Baha'i International Council giving me the responsibility of its Presidentship and explained to the Baha'i world that he was thus taking the first step toward instituting the embrionic Universal House of Justice he placed in my hands a responsibility that I am undertaking to carry and a responsibility in which I need the cooperation and the help and the devotion of the Hands of the Faith and of the entire body of believers the world around: therefore I am first explaining and telling you that I am your Guardian and that I wish you to announce this to the believers in all parts of the world.
THE ATTITUDE OF THE SECOND GUARDIAN OF THE FAITH
BEFORE HIS DECLARATION
In their message to the Baha'i world following the last conclave, the Hands of the Faith announced that they would shortly hold an election to elect a Baha'i International Council, etc, which announcement was signed by twenty two of the Hands of the Faith but not by me, the President of this Council, appointed by the Guardian of the Faith.
Therefore as I, as President, and other members of this council were appointed by the Infallible Guardian of the Faith I refuse to relenquish my Presidency of the Council and I refuse to allow the other members of the council to be removed from their membership of the council. I will recognize no authority but that of infallibility; therefore I guard this institution of the International Council in tact as it is – although it now be positively inactive – until the Second Guardian of the Faith comes forth from his occultation directing with infallibility the affairs of the cause.
I shall hold my position as President of the International Council as well as recognize the personnel of the council as appointed by the Infallible Guardian of the Faith until ordered to do so by the one having the right of infallibility tells me what to do. Therefore, since the Beloved Guardian Shoghi Effendi is dead, all the affairs of the International Council must continue to remain in status quo until there be an accepted by the Baha'i world infallible guidance necessary to change the present status quo of the Baha'i International Council.
In thus explaining myself and my position in the Baha'i Faith, I of myself am making no claim whatsoever to any authority in the cause. All that I am doing is to tell you what the station in the cause that the Beloved Guardian bestowed upon me and at the same time placing a potential responsibility upon me that no other soul in all this world has, namely to protect and to guard the cause from the error of tampering with the International Council and putting to naught that which the Beloved Guardian himself created when he appointed me President of the Council – the embrio that would eventually develop into the Baha'i Universal House of Justice of the world.
Had the 22 members of the body of the Hands of the Faith not put their signature to their published intention to put aside that which the Guardian ordained in order that they might elect a Baha'i International Council of their own, I might have remained in silence for a time longer about this matter, but in view of things as they are now in the Baha'i world there is nothing for me to do but to explain this matter frankly to the believers at this time soon to be gathered in the approaching convention at Wilmette, at the same time begging them to desist from any criticism of the Hands of the Faith for having thus overstepped their province in their attempted program for 1963, for even at this late date I hope they will change.
The Hands of the Faith without the infallible guidance and the direction of the Guardian are not able to handle this matter. The believers in general have expected too much from the Hands of the Faith, therefore let all the friends recognize this mistake and seek to find out and to recapture the protection for the Faith that the Beloved Guardian himself arranged for when he appointed me President of the Baha'i International Council.
PROCLAMATION
The Proclamations of the Guardians of the Faith come not from the Guardian’s different individuals or personalities but are given as impersonal announcements coming from the infallible station of the Guardianship to the people of the cause. This infallibility is fixed and is a function only of the impersonality of the Guardianship of the Faith.
In other words, that which one Guardian proclaims is to be obeyed the same as that which another Guardian may proclaim, there being no distinction between the infallibilities of the various pronouncements of the various Guardians who will occupy the chair of Guardianship throughout the ages to come of this Dispensation of Baha’u’llah. In other words, the import of the commands of any one of the Guardians of the Faith rests not upon the personality of that particular Guardian put upon the station of Guardianship that was vested in him as a personality while he who was an individual soul sat in the chair of the Guardianship of the Faith.
Therefore, this function of Guardianship passes on from one who thus guards the Faith to his successor. Thus there can be but one voice of Guardianship at any one time that which any of the Guardians may pronounce is the infallible pronouncement to be followed and followed without question by the Hands and the believers of the Faith.
As times pass and conditions in the cause change, the orders and commands of the Guardian of the Faith change to meet and to minister to these changes, as in a battle the orders of the Commander in Chief are ever changing and shifting from moment to moment to out maneuver the maneuvers of the enemy.
Such is also the method on shipboard in times of storm or battle. The Commanders last order is always to obeyed first in order to meet the ever changing and shifting conditions of the struggle against the enemy or preservation in the storm.
The life of the Baha'i Cause is a continuous battle against attacks coming from the human world. Therefore as in battle the last order coming from the Guardianship is to be obeyed first and is to take precedence over all former orders in order to meet the ever changing and shifting conditions that surround the Faith to be met and to be overcome that the Faith can win the battle against the powers of the world, under the infallible guidance of the Guardian of the Faith.
I CALL A HALT ON PLANS FOR 1963
Much as I shrink from thus stepping forth thus before the Baha'i world at the convening of this convention and calling a halt of all these plans and preparations of the Hands of the Faith for instituting a House of Justice in 1963, much as I personally dislike to take this stand, nevertheless conditions now force me to put into force the prerogatives that are mine, because of my position as President of the Baha'i International Council. Therefore I forbid the Hands of the Faith and all who support them in this their program for 1963 should abandon this program. The very life of the Baha'i Cause depends upon my thus taking command of this situation since I, as President of the Baha'i International Council, am the only person in this entire world who has the authority and the power to save the Faith in this present crisis – which power to protect and to guard the Faith was conferred upon me by the Beloved Guardian of the Cause by his appointment of me as President of the Baha'i International Council.
THE PRESIDENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL
COUNCIL NOW COMMANDS THE CAUSE
The death of the First Guardian of the Faith placed me in command of the International Council in the position of an active and functioning institution of the Baha'i Faith under the orders of the President of the Council. But all such action I deferred for some time hoping that the Hands of the Faith residing in The Holy Land would announce me as Guardian to the Baha'i World, that the Baha'i world might know and accept the authority that I hold, but no – the Hands of the Faith were caught by the spirit of violation and were confused by it.
It is therefore my duty now and at this time before these plans for 1963 proceed any further to call a halt upon all such plans and remind the people of the Faith that the Beloved Guardian placed me in command of this matter and that I have no intention of relinquishing my command of this situation.
I have the authority and the power to command this situation. It is for me to guard the institution of the International Council from any and all usurpers who would violate that which the infallible Guardian of the Faith created and then at his death became my responsibility to carry on towards its completion.
I FORETELL THE APPEARANCE OF
THE SECOND GUARDIAN OF THE FAITH
Thus do I feel constrained to share with the believers now at this time this hope that I have for you in this moment of dilemma among the believers when they don’t know which way to turn to find the infallibility necessary for the direction of those of the Faith. I am thus constrained to extend this hope to you at this time so difficult for you lest you might even loose the hope that you should continue to hold to keep your faith until the Second Guardian of the Faith comes forth from his occultation to be received by the Cause and to lead the Baha'i Faith on its afore-promised victory.
This hope is hope that none of the other Hands of the Faith have save I myself or until now have they any of them ever suspected that I hold such hope. Therefore I take this auspicious occasion to tell the Hands of the Faith as well as to tell you of this hope and explain to you the logic of my reason of how and why from the Beloved Guardian’s own words and I feel so confirmed in this my belief that the Second Guardian of the Faith is now here upon earth with us awaiting to reveal himself to the believers of the cause.
Thus do I share with the believers at this convention in the land of the Cradle of the Administration, the hope that I, President of the Baha'i International Council, have had given to and made clear to me. I as yet speak and tell you these things from the viewpoint of logic that the deductions the process of which I here explain at length which as you follow with me will see is built up upon a firm foundation – this process that will give you the courage, hope and the assurance that I have that all of our Baha'i problems of this period of interregnum will be solved and can only be solved when the Second Guardian of the Faith comes forth from his occultation to give to the Faith the infallible guidance that he alone can now give to the Baha'i World.
ANNOUNCING AND INTRODUCING
THE SECOND GUARDIAN OF THE FAITH
Although Milly Collins sticks yet with and by the united group of the Hands in their decisions and pronouncements and endorses all that they are doing and trying to do toward 1963, yet Milly makes one reservation when she talks with me saying that she believes and has faith that in the end God will show the Hands what He wants them to do. I agree with Milly upon this, my contention, only contention with her being that in the past I was trying to put the pressure on God to hurry up the matter a bit too soon, but now this time limit is about over. The moment has arrived when for the welfare of the cause, there should no longer be delay. I must bring these problems to a finish ere the Faith of the believers be overtaxed more than they can bear; therefore I must now compel the Hands of the Faith to bow to the authority conferred upon me by our late Beloved Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, and call a halt to all those proceedings of your violation of the Baha'i Administration.
I put this matter to you very bluntly and in this very direct way but I tell you these things with a heart full of love and compassion toward you Hands of the Faith as a body and also to each of you as individual Hands of the Faith.
You Hands of the Faith must accept me as your protector to guard you in your position as Hands of the Faith and to protect you in this exhalted rank bestowed upon each of the Hands by the Beloved Guardian. You have made a great mistake in inaugurating your program for 1963 but this may not all together be your fault for you like all other Baha'is were bewildered at the death of Shoghi Effendi. It is not to be surprised at now to condemn under such extenuating circumstances as surrounded the believers that were precipitated by the departure of the Beloved Guardian. But now all that confusion is of the past. The way is made straight and open by my explanation to the world of the unbroken line of the Guardianship that still leads the Faith onward to the predetermined and sure victory – for such is the assurance vouchsafed to the world in this prophetic dispensation of Baha’u’llah.
The only protection that you, as Hands of the Faith, will find will be in your support of me as your Guardian, therefore hasten to announce this to the Baha'i world. Should you hesitate to do this you will indeed be making more trouble for yourselves. The only way you can avoid the humiliation that will be yours when the world knows of the failure of your aspiration for 1963 is now for you to announce to the world the Second Guardian of the Faith that will bring such joy to the Baha'is in all parts that all the mistakes of the Hands will be forgotten and the way will be assured for the triumph of the world cruisade initiated and put into action by the first Guardian of the Baha'i Faith.
I exhort you! Make haste to do this!
I, MASON REMEY, GUARDIAN OF THE FAITH, ALONE COMMAND THE FAITH
Should the spirit of violation so dominate any of the Hands of the Faith as to suggest to them to refuse to harken to this, my proclamation that I, Mason Remey, am now the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith, let them consider how my Guardianship of the Faith gives me the power to stand alone against any and all opposition. Therefore let all of the Hands realize this and recognize that I command the Faith and that I will brook no opposition from any one.
Until now I, Guardian of the Faith, have remained in my occultation and because of my forebearance have in silence allowed the Hands to follow their chosen path of violation. But now that hour of mercy and forebearance is at an end. The hour of justice has struck. This is the day of equity. The Hands of the Faith are the first to be called to this bar of divine justice of which the Guardian of the Faith is the judge here upon earth, therefore let the Hands of the Faith be the first to pass that they resting firm in the Faith may be the first to arise to serve their Second Guardian and thus be prepared to carry out his first command to them that they immediately and without loss of time announce to the Baha'i world through all the National Assemblies that I, Mason Remy, am their Guardian and that I have been Guardian of the Faith since the death of the Beloved Guardian, awaiting in occultation til propitious moment to make my appearance before the Baha'i world.
THE FAITH WITHOUT A GUARDIAN
I have been the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith since the death of Shoghi Effendi and single and alone until now I have guarded it but from now on I will expect the cooperation of the Baha'i world in the carrying on to its fulfillment the world cruisade initiated by the Beloved Guardian of the Faith, Shoghi Effendi. Until now I have stood alone with all against me. From now on I shall expect the support of the believers of the Faith.
THE INFALLIBILITY
The status of the Hands of the Faith is the same after the death of Shoghi Effendi as during his lifetime such as described in the Will and Testament of the Master Abdu’l-Baha. Whereas in the case of I myself as the President of the council, during the lifetime of Shoghi Effendi I had no authority to act (that is) during his lifetime for then he was the infallible director of all Baha'i affairs and the direction of the International Council was his and his only for he never shared this infallible authority with anyone.
During the lifetime of the Beloved Guardian of the Faith, all infallible command of the International Council was vested in him as the Guardian of the Faith. While I was President of the International Council my command of the council was but a potential command, since infallibility was vested only in the Guardian of the Faith, but with the death of Shoghi Effendi my period of potential command became the actual command of the council. So from the death of the Beloved Guardian, I became the commander of the Baha'i International Council and the one to direct its activities that will develop into the Universal House of Justice.
This unique position amongst all Baha'is of guarding the Faith has been mine since the death of the First Guardian of the Faith.
Let all Baha'is know, realize and accept that the Beloved Guardian in his infallibility bestowed this responsibility upon me, Mason Remey.
MY VISION OF MY GUARDIANSHIP OF THE BAHA'I FAITH
Now and then during these past eleven years and more I have occasionally mentioned to friends a vision that I had some years ago in which I had a flash glimpse of the Faith at some time yet in the future from now, a vision of the Faith in progress on its way of triumph, infallibly led over all difficulties and problems. In my vision I saw no intermediate development, only the end which was the triumph of my Guardianship of the Faith and the vision of this end, the triumph of the Faith has stood me well and given me hope in times of trial and trouble that have been my share and that still are my share as I approach the realization of my vision of the Faith triumphant in this world under the rule of the Second Guardian of the Faith.
These Baha'i affairs are eventually coming out all as I saw them to be. The Beloved Guardian appointed me to this position in the Faith, President of the Baha'i International Council. Have confidence in me. I am directing this matter and I am guarding the cause, so please do as I tell you and give all the love you can to the Hands of the Faith for they have assumed the responsibility of the protection of the Faith in the period of this interregnum and their problems and troubles are many.
MY APPOINTMENT
By the Beloved Guardian’s appointment of me as President of the International Council the Shoghi Effendi placed in my hands the unique authority and the power to protect and to guard the Hands of the Faith against the violation that the Hands of the Faith are now trying to perpetrate upon the cause. Thus, I as President of the International Council, have by virtue of this position not only the right but the duty to forbid all violation against myself in this office. Now it is my right and duty to guide, regulate, control and reign over the notion or action of any and all Baha’is, either Hands or common believers – to protect the Faith from violation of the Guardianship – that is of the Administration – that is of the Will and Testament – that is of the interpretation of Abdu’l-Baha, the Center of the Covenant of Baha’u’llah – that is of the Revealed Word or God as given to the world by Baha’u’llah.
All this has the Beloved Guardian bestowed upon me.
During his lifetime, Shoghi Effendi singly and alone held these prerogatives of control of all Baha'i affairs upon earth. This position of command was his and his only by virtue of the fact that he was Guardian of the Baha'i Faith for these qualities and prerogatives were those of the Guardian of the Faith and were vested in him and in him only above all other Baha'is in the world.
With the death of Shoghi Effendi, this position of command that he held during his lifetime automatically passed to me – to whom he by his appointment of me as the unique one to protect and guard the Faith AFTER HIM but not during his lifetime – but to follow him as the Guardian.
Now these prerogatives which were only his during his years of Guardianship upon his death passed to me – prerogatives that only could belong alone to the protector of the Faith. Therefore from the moment of the death of Shoghi Effendi, I have been the inheritor of these prerogatives of the protector of the Faith.
Therefore I now declare that I am the Guardian of the Faith, the Second in line after the Center of the Covenant appointed by Baha’u’llah to interpret and to guide and protect the cause from all error the infallible Guardian of the Faith and that I, Mason Remey, have been the Guardian of the Faith ever since the death of the First Guardian of the Faith – this line of Guardianship has not been broken by Shoghi Effendi’s death. It has but gone into this PERIOD OF OCCULTATION in order that the followers of the Faith, Hands and other believers, be prepared to understand to receive and to accept me as their Second Guardian.
This period of occultation has been a distressing one in the Baha'i world but under the condition of the very sudden death of Shoghi Effendi, it could not have been avoided.
AMERICA, THE CRADLE OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE FAITH
In the days of Baha’u’llah and Abdu’l-Baha, the believers knew nothing about the Administration of the Faith that lay before them so near in the future. The Master’s Will and Testament giving this new regieme of Guardianship to the Baha'i world was indeed a surprising revelation to the Baha'is the world around. From that time on “The Covenant” that had been the sole message during the days of Baha’u’llah and Abdu’l-Baha was then in itself no longer the sole message of the Baha'is to the world, but to this covenant of Baha’u’llah and of the Center of His Covenant was then added adherence to the Administration of the Faith, the Guardianship of the Faith, so that then as well as now the message of the Baha'is to the world as taught by the Beloved Guardian of the Faith was the combined message of the Covenant and the Administration together as one message centering about the Guardianship.
To this message, the American Baha'is arose supporting it and from America, the Cradle of the Administration, pioneers went forth under the orders of the Beloved Guardian, first throughout the Americas then to the European countries, thus the American Pioneers to these foreign lands were the first to be sent forth to teach upon a large scale by the Beloved Guardian, thus America became the acknowledged Cradle of the Administration – strong, very strong in support of the Administration and the light of the infallibility of the Faith as demonstrated to the world during the thirty six years of the ministry of Shoghi Effendi as “The First Guardian of the Baha'i Faith”.
Therefore because America is the Cradle of the Administration of the Baha'i Faith and inasmuch as the Hands of the Faith in The Holy Land have violated the Will and Testament of the Master Abdu’l-Baha, I have chosen the coming annual convention of Baha'is of the United States of America as the place from which to make the declaration of my Guardianship to the Baha'i world commanding the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States of North America to receive me at Wilmette from which point I will begin my direction of Baha'i affairs and from where I will address your body of the Hands of the Faith in The Holy Land.
It would have been my choice to have had the announcement of my declaration to the Baha'i world to go out made by the Hands of the Faith from The Holy Land, but because of your violation this was impossible at this time. Therefore I was obliged to seek exile from my home in Haifa, where I was established by our Beloved Guardian, but because of these conditions of violation of the Baha'i Administration that he established it became necessary for me to leave The Holy Land for a time until I could return there to take residence as befitting the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith.
I trust that there will be no question as to any of the facts that I write to you in this communication and that you will all make haste to welcome my declaration of the Guardianship.
I shall anticipate your faithful adherence to my appointment to this supreme station in the Baha'i world by our late Beloved Guardian, an appointment so clearly stated as to be easily understood by all but so given and so worded as to have been hidden from the entire Baha'i world (with but the exception of myself alone) until now when I have made my declaration to the Baha'i Hands of the Faith shortly to be followed by my declaration to the Baha'i world at this coming convention.
The Document of Proclamation of myself as the Second Guardian of the Faith I am now preparing to send to the convention that it be read before that assemblage of believers from all parts of America.
In my next communication to you I will send you a copy of the text of this letter of Declaration.
In the Name of El Abha
RIDVAN 117 Baha'i Era
MASON R. GUARDIAN
of the Baha'i Faith
THE VIOLATION OF THE HANDS OF THE FAITH
While I speak very frankly, brutally frank but with all love in my heart, to the Hands of the Faith when I tell them (that I have done many times) that they are violating the Will and Testament of the Master Abdu’l-Baha, this is all in private to them and to them only and is a secret to be kept from the Baha'i world.
The Hands of the Faith should have all faith in me their Guardian and they should hold silence before the believing world lest they be criticized and loose face before the Baha'i world of the present and of the future on down through the ages to come. For this day is your day of judgement before the people of the Faith and by the people of the Faith.
Therefore you Hands of the Faith by holding silence about your own indiscretion and your falsification of the evident intent of the Beloved Guardian (that the Guardianship of the Faith continue on an unbroken line of infallibility without interruption) – by holding this silence you will be giving yourself a last opportunity to reorganize and rearrange your attitudes of the violation of the Administration of the Faith by coming now without hesitation under the protection of the Second Guardian of the Faith who is your sole and only protector in this day of your judgement.
Thus do I, your Guardian, make this last effort to save you. This is all that I can do. The rest is in your hands. I can save the cause of Baha’u’llah from you and from your violation but I am helpless to save you, for the Hands of the Faith can only save themselves. Now is their opportunity to wipe out past violation and remain in the service of the Guardian of the Faith, the infallible one.
You Hands of the Faith would do well to call an emergency conclave of the Hands of the Faith to convene as immediately as possible at the Baha'i Temple in Wilmette, called in support of the continuation of the Guardianship of the Faith for such a demonstration on your part would give you the acclaim and assure you of the love and the admiration of the believers throughout the world – a matter that now hangs in the balance.
For your attitude favoring the abolition of the Guardianship forever, as declared in that “Chicago Manifesto” so pleasing in its substance at that time to the majority of the Hands of the Faith in The Holy Land, is known by the believers in many places. Should this be brought up against you by the believers at large, you would have no protection. Even I could not protect you from criticism of your indiscretion. You can only do this of yourselves and as I suggest a conclave of the Hands in the nearest future. Should you remain firm in the Baha'i Administration Covenant this would clear up now once and for all this present dilemma of the cause throughout the world and put all things to right to insure the triumphant success of the world cruisade upon which the Faith is now engaged that was inaugurated by our late Beloved Guardian Shoghi Effendi.
But this matter of an immediately called conclave I do not command of you. This I, your Guardian, only suggest. You Hands of the Faith in The Holy Land must make this decision for yourselves.
VIOLATION
Since two years and more and up until the present time the entire Baha'i world has followed the path of the violation of the Will and Testament of the Master Abdu’l-Baha and the violation of the Administration and all that the Beloved Guardian Shoghi Effendi built up upon the Will and Testament.
I, Mason Remey the Second Guardian of the Baha'i Faith, being the only one of the Hands of the Faith who did not sign that letter of November 5, 1959 that so flagrantly proclaimed to the Baha'i world their violation.
I am wondering if any of the members of the N.S.A. of the U.S.A realize the extent of this violation as attested to by that message to the Baha'i world of November 5, 1959?
To be sure many numbers of the present active groups and assemblies of the Baha'is throughout America have had but little experience with violation. Let those who wish to know something about the danger to the Faith of violation turn to the words of the Master Abdu’l-Baha, particularly to his last message by letter and by cable to the friends in this country. His last cablegram to America bore the message “He who sits with leper contracts leprosy”.
MY VISION PROPHETIC
About a year or eighteen months or there about before the Beloved Guardian called me to Haifa and told me that I was the President of the Baha'i International Council and that from then on my home was to be in Haifa in The Holy Land, I had a dream or to be more explicit an instantaneous flash vision as it were of things that were to be. In this vision I saw myself with a group of believers upon the terrace of The Shrine upon Mount Carmel and I was walking toward the Shrine together with this group. I as the Second Guardian of the Faith was in command of the cause, Shoghi Effendi was dead, and that was all. I tried to dismiss it all from my mind as a figment of my imagination, but the remembrance of it stuck with me.
There had been no element of time in this “Flash Vision” of things to be and no suggestion of the intervening happenings between the then present and this picture of things, people and events, and condition of things in the Faith – just this one flash vision of something to happen, parts of which vision have and are now transpiring but that have not yet all taken place.
As I have written, I paid no or little attention to this vision of things to come, in fact I couldn’t believe that such could ever be – not for some time did I think of it, not until the Beloved Guardian appointed the Baha'i International Council with me as its President. This was the first big happening that seemed to fit itself into the interim of the then present and the fulfillment of my vision. From then on things have so happened in the cause thus forming a build up of events as it were, convincing me of the truth of the prophets vision that I had had so when Paul Haney called me up down at Pohick in Virginia where at that time I was living, saying that he must see me – that something terrible had happened in the cause, so terrible that he hesitated to mention it over the telephone, I knew instantly that Shoghi Effendi was dead.
I went into the First Conclave of the Hands of the Faith at Behje thinking that surely our Beloved Guardian had left written instructions for appointing me his successor – the Second Guardian of the Faith. But no, it was not the divine plan that the Hands of the Faith be told in this way. For by piecing together and fitting into an overall picture the Administration principles of the Will and Testament together with the application of these principles made by the Beloved Guardian in the establishment of the Administration of the Guardianship and the actual thing that he inaugurated in the cause (amongst which was the International Council with me as its President), the Hands of the Faith will find a very clearly defined picture of the Faith in its present state of confusion. The authority is theirs to announce to the Baha'i world the one in their midst who is the Second Guardian of the Faith and their acknowledgement of his authority to be their Guardian, the Commander in Chief of the Baha'i Faith – the Guardian of the Cause.
Thus do I, Mason Remey, place before you my claim to the Guardianship, not coming to me by any wish or desire of mine own but bestowed upon me by the action of our Beloved Guardian and confirmed by his actions, one of which the most easy to understand was his appointment of me as the President of the International Council.
Thus and upon such grounds do I, Mason Remey, declare myself to be the Second Guardian of the Baha'i Faith and do now issue my first command that the Hands of the Faith make this announcement to the Baha'i world.
I AS PRESIDENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL
WAS NEVER MENTIONED BY THE HANDS OF THE FAITH
To reiterate, in none of the conclaves and conferences that I know anything about has my name as President of the Baha'i International Council ever been so much as mentioned much less ever discussed in any, in connection with my appointed capacity of President of the Council though as I state all of the Hands of the Faith know of my appointment to this position yet no one ever mentioned or alluded to it in any of our conferences.
Although I was very conscious of the International Council through these deliberations, very conscious indeed that no one of the Hands thought to make any allusions to my Presidentship of the International Council, the why for of this omission I can only guess. I have no substantiated ideas about it.
As for myself and my unique position in the Baha'i world as President of the International Council, I reiterate that I cannot remember ever having breached this subject for discussion to any of the Hands of the Faith residing in The Holy Land, either in the meetings or individually in conversation with any of these friends; therefore if I speak to this point, to again repeat myself, I will take the stand before this Ridvan convention that I do in this letter that I am not breaking trust nor promise of silence before the Baha'i world of anything said in the conclave or conference of the Hands of the Faith in now explaining my relation to the people of the Faith. I am revealing nothing that has transpired in the conferences among the Hands of the Faith or has been spoken of by any of them in my presence.
BELOVED HANDS OF THE FAITH IN THE HOLY LAND SO NEAR TO MY HEART!
I am no longer addressing “appeals” to you that you reconsider your violation of the Administration of our Faith. The time for appealing to you is now over.
You have now to obey your Guardian who has been in occultation since he became Guardian of the Faith upon the death of Shoghi Effendi, the Beloved Guardian. I have delayed my declaration to the Baha'i world out of compassion for you, one and all, but now at this time when the eleventh hour has passed, for the sake of the Faith I must come out and declare myself to you Hands of the Faith, thus still in secret from the Baha'i world, hoping that now at this extremely late hour you will at this late moment retrieve yourselves, arise in the service of me as your commanding Guardian. You still have this one last opportunity.
This enclosed copy of my proclamation that I am sending to the coming convention to be read before the delegates assembled at Wilmette from all parts of the United States. I send to you thus giving you this one last call to arise, cast off your violation and hasten to step in before this Proclamation is read before the convention and yourselves, as Hands of the Faith, make this formal announcement of your fealty to your present Guardian.
By so doing you will have atoned and expiated for your mistakes of the two years and more planning your program for 1963.
If you do not arise now at this last moment, I can no longer help to cover up your violation. The entire Baha'i world will then know if it, the results of which will be disastrous for you.
This is your very last opportunity to retrieve your mistakes.
With a heart full of love for each one of the Hands of the Faith.
MASON R. GUARDIAN
of the Baha'i Faith
ANNOUNCEMENT
Thus it is clearly to be seen that when the Beloved Guardian appointed me, Mason Remey, President of the Baha'i International Council, he in reality appointed me to be the Second Guardian of the Faith. For as I study over the authority given me as President of the Baha'i International Council, I find that I have the unique right and authorization and responsibility, I among all Baha’is, to protect and to guard the cause and that I have the unique authority and right to handle at my discretion all matters concerned with the International Council that is the embrio of the Universal House of Justice to be – therefore as I sit as the President of the International Council supreme in the embryonic form of the Universal House of Justice so will I, or one of my successors in Guardianship, will sit as President of this fully developed development of the International Council when it becomes the Universal House of Justice of the Baha'i Faith, for the head or President of the Universal House of Justice is to be the Guardian of the Faith.
There can not be these two Presidents of both embronic and fully developed Universal House of Justice, therefore these two presidencies are in reality one presidency. Therefore I am that President – the President of the embrio of the Universal House of Justice which is the President of the International Council, having all the powers of the Guardianship. Then when this embrio develops into the Universal House of Justice, these same powers are those of the Guardian of the Faith. These powers not being powers of the individual that I am, the person Mason Remey, but mine by virtue of this Baha'i office of command to which I am appointed by the Beloved Guardian himself that he himself thus announced to the Baha'i world when he appointed me President of the Baha'i International Council automatically to take over at the death of the First Guardian of the Faith all of the powers and functions of the International Council that are the same as those of the Guardianship, of the Beloved Guardian I myself from that time on being the Second Infallible Guardian of the Baha'i Faith not because of any personal endowments but because of my unique office in the cause, position, power and function in the Baha'i Faith as the Infallible Guardian of the Faith with all the rights and priviledges that are given to the Guardian in the Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha and also all those powers, rights and priviledges enjoyed by the Beloved Guardian of the Faith which came to him and were his by his own infallible command and enjoyed by him at some time or times during his mission as Guardian of the Baha'i Faith and in addition to all these rights, powers and functions I, as the Second Guardian of the Faith in my infallibilityness may at any time add to these rights, powers and functions enjoyed by the First Guardian of the Faith may make any additional rights, powers and functions that I as the infallible Guardian of the Baha'i Faith may choose to assume and enjoy as the Infallible Guardian of the Baha'i Faith as long as I live and am the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith.
Thus do I declare to all Baha'is that I am their Guardian – that I have held this position in occultation since the death of my predecessor in Guardianship, Shoghi Effendi.
MASON R. GUARDIAN
of the Baha'i Faith
RIDVAN in the year
117 of the Baha'i Era which is signed
on 21 March 1960 A.D.
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
THE 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
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.
Comments
Post a Comment