AN ORTHODOX
BAHA’I'S VIEWS ON
STATEMENTS
MADE BY SHOGHI
EFFENDI IN HIS “DISPENSATION”
-The First Guardian’s
“Spiritual Testament” –
A document produced by Shoghi Effendi, the First Guardian of the Faith, and dated February 8, 1934, entitled “The Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh,” can be found in the volume The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh on pages 97 to 157. ‘The Administrative Order’ section of the “Dispensation” begins on page 143. The entire section is of vital importance to anyone seeking an understanding of the components of the future World Order as set forth in Bahá’í Holy Writ. Some key quotations from this authoritative work of Shoghi Effendi, along with some observations regarding them, are provided here.
Pages 143 and 144: “His [‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s] Will and Testament should…be regarded as the perpetual, the indissoluble link which the mind of Him Who is the Mystery of God has conceived in order to insure the continuity of the three ages that constitute the component parts of the Bahá’í Dispensation.”
Comment:
Most present-day Bahá’ís no longer consider
numerous
provisions of the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as
operational. They thus would
appear
to deny Shoghi Effendi’s use of the words “perpetual” and
“indissoluble” in describing the Will, for the accepted dictionary
synonyms and definitions of these words include lasting forever, eternal, never ceasing,
continuous, permanent, enduring, constant, plus “that which
cannot
be dissolved, undone, or destroyed, lasting, firm.”
Page 144: “The creative energies released by the
Law of Bahá’u’lláh, permeating and evolving within
the mind of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, have, by their very impact
and close interaction, given birth to an instrument which may be viewed as the
Charter of the New World Order which is at once the glory and the promise of
this most great Dispensation.”
Comment: The majority of Bahá’ís in the world today are within an organization that does not operate within the terms of the Charter of the New World Order. Because that is the case, that organization is denying the “creative energies released by the Law of Bahá’u’lláh” and the part that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had to play in giving birth to that Charter.
Page 144: “Being the Child of the
Covenant—the Heir of both the Originator and the Interpreter of the Law
of God—the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
can no more be divorced from Him Who supplied the original and motivating
impulse than from the One Who ultimately conceived
it.”
Comment: When one considers that Shoghi Effendi says
the Will is the “Child of the Covenant”, he or she should realize
that what is referred to is the bond between
Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
which
produced the Will. And since the
Will is likened to a “child”, the connotation that can be applied
to it is that it is something more than the product of both
Bahá’u’lláh and
‘Abdu’l-Bahá. It is also an organism that will not
have all of its features in place
at once, but they will develop. In
Some
Answered Questions ‘Abdu’l-Bahá speaks of the origin of
man, and he relates how “the embryo in the womb of the mother,
gradually grew and developed, and passed from one form to another, from one
shape to another, until he appeared with this beauty and perfection, this
force
and this power.”
Later in the same book ‘Abdu’l-Bahá says:
“The seed does not at once become a tree, the embryo does not at once
become a man, the mineral does not suddenly become a stone. No, they grow and develop gradually,
and
attain the limit of perfection.”
The position of Orthodox Bahá’ís is that the Will, the Child of the Covenant, cannot be expected to be fulfilled all at once. Yes, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá identified the Guardian as the ‘sacred head’ of the Universal House of Justice, but all Bahá’ís would agree that when Shoghi Effendi became Guardian there was no UHJ. Nor were there any Hands. Thus, the powers identified within the Will were latent powers. They were like the web-like appendages that one sees in a human embryonic organism that gradually evolve into hands and fingers, etc. It is the belief of Orthodox Bahá’ís that our task as Bahá’ís is to do what we can to insure that this Child of the Covenant has a chance to evolve into this world with all of its features in working order.
The world cannot afford to have this Child aborted or killed once it is born and just beginning to expand its powers for the good of mankind.
Page 144: “The Administrative Order…may be
considered as the framework of the Will itself, the inviolable stronghold
wherein the new-born child is being nurtured and
developed.”
Comment: The framework, according to the dictionary, is “the way in which a thing is put together; structure; system” and when one adds to that the concept that it is “the inviolable stronghold”, the fortress or safe place that is not to be violated or changed, it should be seen that the elements within the Will and Testament are absolutely essential and not to be discarded or revised.
Page 144: “It [the Administrative Order] will, as
its component parts, its organic institutions, begin to function with
efficiency and vigor, assert its claim and demonstrate its capacity to be
regarded not only as the nucleus but the very pattern of the
Comment: The word “component” means essential; so the parts of the Administrative Order that are identified in the Will and Testament are absolutely necessary (as are the vital coordinated institutions) for that Order to be identified as the true Bahá’í Order. Minus such “component parts, its organic institutions,” the pattern identified by Shoghi Effendi in this statement would no longer exist. That faulty condition will therefore be found in any organization that does not have such elements within it.
Page 146: “Alone of all the Revelations gone
before
it this Faith has, through the explicit directions, the repeated warnings, the
authenticated safeguards incorporated and elaborated in its teachings,
succeeded in raising a structure which the bewildered followers of bankrupt
and
broken creeds might well approach and critically examine, and seek, ere it is
too late, the invulnerable security of its world-embracing
shelter.”
Comment: The directions, warnings and safeguards referred to by Shoghi Effendi would undoubtedly include such statements of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s as the following:
*"It is incumbent upon the members of the House of Justice...to
show their
obedience, submissiveness and subordination unto the guardian of the
Cause of
God, to turn unto him and be lowly before him. He that opposeth him hath
Opposed the True One, will make a breach in the Cause of God, will
subvert His
word and will become a manifestation of the
* “Bahá’í unity cannot be preserved save through the Covenant of
God.”
*"...we
must all turn our faces to the appointed Center in order that
Bahá’í unity
might
be preserved; otherwise in one year the Bahá'ís would be divided
into a
thousand
sects."
*"Should any of the members [of the Universal House] commit a sin, injurious to
the common weal, the guardian of the Cause of God hath at his own discretion the
right to expel him..."
*“The mighty stronghold shall remain impregnable and safe
through
obedience
to him who is the guardian of the Cause of God.”
All Bahá’ís, of course, will also recall
‘Abdu’l-Bahá ‘s warning within His Will and
Testament about placing oneself in opposition to the Center of the Cause. A believer’s opposition to what
God had ordained results in the “vengeance of God [to] rest upon
him!”
Page 147:
“An attempt, I feel, should at the present juncture be made to explain
the character and functions of the twin pillars that support this mighty
Administrative Structure – the institutions of the Guardianship and of
the Universal House of Justice…these two fundamental organs of the Will
of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.”
Comment:
Because the believers did not have an
understanding of the “character and functions” of the Guardianship
and the Universal House of Justice, Shoghi Effendi found it necessary to
elaborate on some of the salient features of the Administrative Structure, and
at the outset of his discussion, as can be seen in the quotation, he
identified
the Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice as “fundamental
organs”, that is, they are basic or indispensable to the
Administration. Additionally, they
are “twin pillars”, without which the mighty Administrative
Structure would be unsupported.
The
obvious conclusion to be drawn from such descriptive terms as the first
Guardian used is that the Administrative Structure will collapse without both
pillars in place.
Page 148:
“It
should be stated, at the very outset, in clear and unambiguous language, that
these twin institutions of the Administrative Order of
Bahá’u’lláh should be regarded as divine in origin,
essential in their functions and complementary in their aim and purpose. Their
common, their fundamental object is to insure the continuity of that
divinely-appointed authority which flows from the Source of our Faith, to
safeguard the unity of its followers and to maintain the integrity and
flexibility of its teachings.
Acting in conjunction with each other these two inseparable
institutions
administer its affairs, coordinate its activities, promote its interests,
execute
its laws and defend its subsidiary institutions. Severally, each operates within a
clearly defined sphere of jurisdiction; each is equipped with its own
attendant
institutions—instruments designed for the effective discharge of its
particular responsibilities and duties.
Each exercises, within the limitations imposed upon it, its powers, its
authority, its rights and prerogatives.
These are neither contradictory, nor detract in the slightest degree
from the position which each of these institutions occupies. Far from being incompatible or mutually
destructive, they supplement each other’s authority and functions, and
are permanently and fundamentally united in their
aims.”
Comment: This paragraph
of Shoghi Effendi’s is worthy of a fact-filled study guide. So the remarks provided here cannot
begin
to assess the importance of what he has offered above. How can anyone who is within an
organization that does not see the essentiality of the “twin
institutions of the Administrative Order” be undisturbed by the
absence of one of the twins and of that twin’s subsidiary
institutions? How can such people
justify their organizational pattern in light of the first Guardian’s
statement that the twin institutions must be “regarded as divine in
origin, essential in their functions and complementary in their aim and
purpose”? Why should the
Guardianship, an institution no longer a part of their organization and which,
for them, did not last beyond the first Guardian, be considered as divine in
its origin? What makes that
institution’s functions “essential” and its aim and
purpose “complementary” to the heterodox Universal House of
Justice, if the institution of the Guardianship is no longer in existence
because it does not have a living person ministering its
functions?
Shoghi
Effendi’s statement indicated that the twin institutions would be
“Acting
in conjunction with each other.”
How is it possible for the Universal House of Justice, minus the
Guardian, to act in conjunction with the Guardian? Indeed, how can the Guardian act in
conjunction with the UHJ when he’s not here? Shoghi Effendi said that the
“two
inseparable institutions” are to “administer its [the
Administrative Order’s] affairs, coordinate its activities, promote
its interests, execute its laws and defend its subsidiary
institutions.” Can
anyone
in the sans-Guardian organization satisfactorily explain how a missing
Guardian
of the Cause can be involved in such administering, coordinating, promoting
and
executing? How is it possible for
this twin pillar to assist in supporting
Bahá’u’lláh’s Administrative Structure? What is it about the Guardianship, as
understood by the sans-Guardian believers, that makes it one of the
“two
fundamental organs of the Will of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá”? What is so fundamental
about the Guardianship in their organization today? And how will it be a fundamental organ
in their organization in the future?
Page 148:
“Divorced from the institution of the Guardianship the World Order of
Bahá’u’lláh would be mutilated and permanently deprived
of that hereditary principle which, as
‘Abdu’l-Bahá has written, has been invariably upheld by
the Law of God.”
Comment:
The meaning of the word
“divorced” means completely separated. If, then, there is no individual who holds the
office of Guardian, it should be absolutely clear that a complete separation
exists within that so-called Bahá’í organization, and, as a consequence, the
World Order of Bahá’u’lláh for that organization must, ipso facto, be
recognized as mutilated.
Additionally, the ability of the Guardian of the Faith to identify his
successor in his own lifetime would be missing, and therefore, the World Order
would be deprived of the spiritual inheritance vested in the office of
Guardianship, which, as spelled out by
‘Abdu’l-Bahá in His Will, requires that the
Guardian’s successor must have a “goodly character”
and “must manifest in himself detachment from all worldly things,
must
be the essence of purity, must show in himself the fear of God, knowledge,
wisdom and learning.”
Later
in his “Dispensation” (on page 153), Shoghi Effendi refers to the
Guardian as “he who symbolizes the hereditary
principle.” So, obviously, if the Guardian is no
longer alive and there is no successor, there is no one who
“symbolizes
the hereditary principle.” Such a deficiency clearly must have
major
ramifications. For any
organization
that would call itself Bahá’í yet not have a Guardian within that organization’s
administrative order, there is no way that order can be deemed the framework
for the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh as enunciated by Shoghi
Effendi.
Page 148:
“Without
such an institution [as the Guardianship] the integrity of the Faith would be
imperiled, and the stability of the entire fabric would be gravely
endangered. Its prestige would
suffer, the means required to enable it to take a long, an uninterrupted view
over a series of generations would be completely lacking and the necessary
guidance to define the sphere of the legislative action of its elected
representatives would be totally withdrawn.”
Comment: The word “integrity”, according
to the dictionary definition, means “undivided or unbroken condition;
wholeness; completeness; or entirety.” Picture, then, the current
sans-Guardian
organization(s) and the peril that such organizations are bound to encounter
inasmuch as the requisite institution for maintaining the wholeness or
completeness of the organization is missing. Such a Faith will be unstable, and its
reputation and influence will be diminished because it will be missing what
truly distinguishes the Faith with the living Guardianship: the uniquely
sanctioned interpretative power vested in the Guardian of the Faith. The Guardians provide the uninterrupted
view for the Faith, and, clearly, as the “sacred head” of the
Universal House of Justice, each Guardian provides that body with the
“necessary
guidance” to determine whether it can actually enact a law. For if the Divine Explicit Text has
already established the Rule of Law on a given issue, the UHJ cannot enact a
law that would supersede it. The
responsibility for such a determination is the Guardian’s alone to
make.
Page 150:
“[T]he
Guardian of the Faith has been made the Interpreter of the Word and …the
Universal House of Justice has been invested with the function of legislating
on matters not expressly revealed in the teachings. The interpretation of the Guardian,
functioning within his own sphere, is as authoritative and binding as the
enactments of the International House of
Justice.”
Comment:
It should be noted that there are two
different spheres identified in Shoghi Effendi’s statement, that of the
Guardian and that of the Universal House of Justice. The interpretative function of the
Guardian is not shared with the UHJ, and when he provides his interpretation,
it carries authority and it is binding upon all—including the Universal
House of Justice.
Page 150:
“Neither
can, nor will ever, infringe upon the sacred and prescribed domain of the
other. Neither will seek to
curtail
the specific and undoubted authority with which both have been divinely
invested.”
Comment:
Shoghi Effendi’s statement is clearly
not abided by within the sans-Guardian organization. For instance, the sans-Guardian UHJ has
taken over the Huquq, the “fixed money offering” that, according
to
‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s
Will, can only “be offered through the guardian of the Cause of
God…” Then, too,
because the Hands of the Cause are to be appointed only by the Guardian of the
Cause, and those of Shoghi Effendi are now passing into oblivion, the
sans-Guardian UHJ decided to develop an institution called the Continental
Board of Counselors and to provide them with similar duties to those placed
upon the Hands. The UHJ not only
appoints these individuals, but, unlike the requirement of the Will and
Testament, which says that the Hands must be under the shadow of the Guardian
“and
obey his command,” these ersatz Hands by a different name answer to
the UHJ. Clearly, in the
sans-Guardian administrative order, there is only one domain, not two as
prescribed by Baha’i Holy Writ.
Page 150:
“Though
the guardian of the Faith has been made the permanent head of so august a body
[the Universal House of Justice] he can never, even temporarily, assume the
right of exclusive legislation. He
cannot override the decision of the majority of his fellow-members but is bound to insist upon a
reconsideration by them of any enactment he conscientiously believes to
conflict with the meaning and to depart from the spirit of
Bahá’u’lláh’s revealed
utterances.”
Comment:
The sans-Guardian organization maintains
that
its Universal House of Justice is that body identified by
‘Abdu’l-Bahá in His Will and Testament “as the
source of all good and freed from all error.” However, based upon this statement of
the first Guardian, any reasonable individual would admit that only with the
Guardian in its membership can the UHJ be assured that its decision is
“freed
from error”. Otherwise,
why would Shoghi Effendi have said that the Guardian is “bound to
insist upon a reconsideration” of any action they may
take?
Page 151:
“No
Guardian of the Faith, I feel it my solemn duty to place on record, can ever
claim to be the perfect exemplar of the teachings of
Bahá’u’lláh or the stainless mirror that reflects His
light.” -and- “To the integrity of
this
cardinal principle of our Faith [that Guardians can interpret the Writings
yet remain infinitely inferior to both
‘Abdu’l-Bahá and
Bahá’u’lláh] the words, the deeds of its present and
future Guardians must abundantly testify.”
Comment:
Shoghi Effendi did not here -- or in any
other of his writings – ever provide the believers with the view that he
would be the only Guardian.
Page 152:
“The
Bahá’í Commonwealth of the future, of which this vast Administrative Order
is
the sole framework, is both in theory and practice, not only unique in the
entire
history of political institutions, but can find no parallel in the annals of
any of the world’s recognized religious
systems.”
Comment:
Without the Guardian at its head, as is the
case with the heterodox organization, the Administrative Order is obviously
democratic in character, in contrast to Shoghi Effendi’s statement that
the Order “must in no wise be regarded as purely democratic in
character.” Without the
Guardian at its head, such a so-called Bahá’í Commonwealth will also give the lie to the
first Guardian’s statement that the
Bahá’í Commonwealth is unique and that no parallel
can be found for it “in the annals of any of the world’s
recognized religious systems.”
Page 153:
“Moreover,
he who symbolizes the hereditary principle in this Dispensation has been made
the interpreter of the words of its Author, and ceases consequently, by virtue
of the actual authority vested in him, to be the figurehead invariably
associated with the prevailing systems of constitutional
monarchies.”
Comment:
All Bahá’ís need to realize that when Shoghi Effendi
refers to the individual “who symbolizes the hereditary
principle,”
he is saying that a blood-line hereditary line is not a
‘must.’ That which is
symbolic does not, of necessity, have to be the literal or actual object or
individual being represented. In
fact, symbols usually are different from what they represent. A symbol stands for something
else. Thus, the successor that the Guardian
appoints need not be an Aghsán or member of
Bahá’u’lláh’s family.
Furthermore, all
Bahá’ís need to realize that the Guardianship is an
institution of this world. There
is
no “actual authority” capable of being administered by any
Guardian of the Faith, once he is no longer on this earthly plane. Also, the living Guardian is no mere
figurehead because he has authority that is not to be found in a typical
constitutional monarch.
Page 156:
“The
axis round which its [the Administrative Order of
Bahá’u’lláh’s] institutions revolve are the authentic
provisions of the Will and Testament of
‘Abdu’l-Bahá.”
Comment: It’s clear that the axis is the line,
real or imaginary, that passes through an object and about which the object
turns, as is the case with the earth’s axis. Geometrically, it is the central or
principal
line around which parts are arranged regularly, as the axis of a cone is the
straight line joining its apex and the center of its base. So it is obvious in relation to the
statement made by Shoghi Effendi that at the very center of the Baha’i
Administrative Order everyone should find the Will and Testament of
‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
But it is not just
the
Will in general terms that is there.
Shoghi Effendi said that the institutions revolve “round the
authentic provisions of the Will and Testament of
‘Abdu’l-Bahá.”
When one goes to the
dictionary to get both the denotation and the connotation of the word
“authentic,” he or she will find that it means
“reliable” and “trustworthy”, and that its synonyms
include “authoritative” and
“true”.
Checking on the
definition of “Authoritative,” you will see that its definition
includes “having authority, officially ordered, commanding,” and
“that ought to be believed or obeyed.”
Such terminology does
not seem to provide much wiggle room for those who would contend that certain
provisions of the Will and Testament of
‘Abdu’l-Bahá pertaining to the Administrative Order are
no longer operational. One
authentic provision of the Will is that “the guardian of the Cause of
God is its [the Universal House of Justice’s] sacred head and the
distinguished member for life of that body.” Another authentic provision of the Will
is that “The Hands of the Cause of God must be nominated and
appointed
by the guardian of the Cause of God” and “This body of the
Hands of the Cause of God is under the direction of the guardian of the Cause
of God.” It is an
authentic provision that “He must continually urge them to strive and
endeavor to the utmost of their ability to diffuse the sweet savors of God,
and
to guide all the peoples of the world…”
Still another
authentic provision of the Will is that “It is incumbent upon the
guardian of the Cause of God to appoint in his own life-time him that shall
become his successor, that differences may not arise after his passing.”
Additionally, the Will of
‘Abdu’l-Bahá is authoritative when it provides the
following: “It is incumbent upon the members of the House of Justice,
upon all the Aghsán, the Afnan, the Hands of the Cause of God to
show their obedience, submissiveness and subordination unto the guardian of
the
Cause of God, to turn unto him and be lowly before him.” And finally, it is also an authentic
provision of the Will which reads: “He that opposeth him [the
guardian] hath opposed the True One, will make a breach in the Cause of
God,
will subvert His word and will become a manifestation of the Center of
Sedition.”
If it is true
that “The axis round which its [the Administrative
Order’s]
institutions revolve are the authentic provisions of the Will and Testament of
‘Abdu’l-Bahá,” where, then, are the provisions of the Master’s Will that are
serving as the axis for the administrative system that is presently operating
out of Haifa, Israel, and directed by a sans-Guardian Universal House of
Justice with the Hands reduced to a single individual who is also functioning
without guidance from the living Guardian of the Faith?
Page 157:
“The
pillars that sustain its [the Bahá’í System’s] authority and buttress
its structure are the twin institutions of the Guardianship and of the
Universal House of Justice.”
Comment:
There is no way that sans-Guardian
Bahá’ís can align the authority or the structure of
their administrative system with what Shoghi Effendi has enunciated in his
“Dispensation.” The
first Guardian clearly identified both the Guardianship and the Universal
House
of Justice as absolutely essential in the
Bahá’í System.
--Frank
Schlatter
September
2006