Those who come into contact with Bahá'ís will find that all of them, regardless of the name those believers go by (e.g., Orthodox Bahá'ís), will make reference to the Bahá'í Covenant, and if they are asked, all of them, without exception, will maintain that they are faithful to the Covenant. Unfortunately, what has happened following the death of the first Guardian of the Faith, Shoghi Effendi, in 1957 is that the organization representing most of the believers changed the definition of the Covenant. A clear example of the way in which the changed definition was applied by the heterodox Bahá'í (i.e., sans-Guardian) organization can be seen in the following descriptions by John Ferraby in different editions of his book All Things Made New. The earlier edition was printed in 1957 prior to Shoghi Effendi's death; the later edition was printed in 1975.
The description BEFORE the passing of Shoghi Effendi read:
"The Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh has already given to mankind 'Abdu'l-Bahá, the Centre of the Covenant, and [through Him] Shoghi Effendi, the first Guardian of the Cause of God, and has provided for other Guardians to follow" [for the duration of the Bahá'í Dispensation]. (Page 247 -- 1957 edition)
The revised description AFTER the passing of Shoghi Effendi reads:
"The power of the Covenant has already brought into being the Bahá'í Administrative Order whose yearly growth it sustains; it has enabled the Cause of God to overcome every obstacle..." (p. 148, 1975 edition)
"Although there could have been a series of Guardians, there is nowhere in the writings any promise or guarantee that the line of Guardians would not be broken but would endure forever. When Shoghi Effendi passed on, the conditions laid down by 'Abdu'l-Bahá in His Will and Testament for further succession could not be fulfilled. (Page 246 of later edition.)
CHANGES IN THE MANNER IN WHICH COVENANT-BREAKERS ARE IDENTIFIED:
With the change in description came a change in the perception of those who would be classified as Covenant-breakers. In Ferraby's earlier edition the perception is as follows:
BEFORE Shoghi Effendi's passing:
"These Covenant-breakers profess to accept the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh but they turn away from the Centre of the Cause--in the day of the Centre of the Covenant, 'Abdu'l-Bahá, and in our day, the Guardian--and thereby they deny what they profess to accept." (Page 251 of 1957 edition -- Emphasis added.)
AFTER Shoghi Effendi's passing:
"These Covenant-breakers profess to accept the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh but they turn away from the central authority in the Cause [i.e., an authority outside the Guardianship] to which all must turn and thereby they deny what they profess to accept." (Page 252 of 1975 edition --Emphasis added.)
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These changes in perspective for the majority of the believers are now but a few of the basic facts related to the Bahá'í Covenant. To identify all the facts regarding the Covenant would require at least a book, and probably more. Thus, what we will present here will be only a few more of those facts that Orthodox Bahá'ís deem important and which highlight the reasons why we call ourselves Orthodox Bahá'ís--believers who uphold the fundamental teachings of the Cause and the Bahá'í Administrative Order as delineated in the Will and Testament of `Abdu'l- Bahá.
FACT: All Bahá'ís agree that Shoghi Effendi characterized the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l- Bahá as the "Charter of the New World Order" and "the indissoluble link which the mind of Him Who is the Mystery of God ['Abdu'l-Bahá] has conceived in order to insure the continuity of the three ages that constitute the component parts of the Bahá'í Dispensation." (The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 143-144, Third Printing, 1955.)
FACT: All Bahá'ís acknowledge that Shoghi Effendi said of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's Will and Bahá'u'lláh's Most Holy Book, the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, that "they are not only complementary, but that they mutually confirm one another, and are inseparable parts of one complete unit. (The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 4. -- Emphasis added.)
FACT: All Bahá'ís affirm that Shoghi Effendi, on page 213 of his history of the Bahá'í Faith, God Passes By, (fourth printing, 1957), makes the following reference with regard to the Kitáb-i- Aqdas: "this 'Most Holy Book,' whose provisions must remain inviolate for no less than a thousand years."
FACT: Bahá'ís will confirm that as Shoghi Effendi had characterized the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá to be the "Charter of the New World Order" (see the earlier reference), he, likewise, on page 214 of God Passes By characterizes the Kitáb-i-Aqdas as "this Charter of the future world civilization...", showing that the two Documents are identified with one another and constitute the explicit Holy Text.
FACT: The qualifications for anyone who would identify himself or herself as a Bahá'í include "loyal and steadfast adherence to every clause of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's sacred Will."
FACT: The Will of 'Abdu'l-Bahá states of the Universal House of Justice, the supreme legislative body of the Faith: "By this body all the difficult problems are to be resolved and the guardian of the Cause of God is its sacred head and the distinguished member for life of that body."
FACT: In 1963 the majority body of the Bahá'ís of the world formed an institution they called a Universal House of Justice that was then--and still is--without the Guardian as its head and is, therefore, an incomplete organism.
FACT: The sans-Guardian Universal House of Justice, though denying that it would ever infringe upon the domain of the Guardian of the Cause, has taken control of the Huquq, the fixed money offering, that 'Abdu'l-Bahá's Will says is to be "offered through the guardian."
FACT: The Will states that the Guardian is to nominate and appoint Hands of the Cause who are to be "under the direction of the guardian of the Cause of God."
FACT: The sans-Guardian UHJ, through the device of creating a new institution in 1968 outside the provisions of the Will and Testament of `Abdu'l-Bahá that it called the Continental Boards of Counselors, claimed thereby to develop "the institution of the Hands of the Cause with a view to extension into the future of its appointed functions of protection and propagation" but identified these Hands by another name and made them subservient to their sans-Guardian Universal House of Justice.
FACT: As noted in other articles on this web site and that of the third Guardian, Orthodox Bahá'ís maintain that in 1951 Shoghi Effendi appointed Mason Remey to be the second Guardian when he made him the head of the embryonic Universal House of Justice.
FACT: Orthodox Bahá'ís believe Mason Remey duly appointed Joel B. Marangella as his successor, thus perpetuating the central institution of the Covenant, the continuing line of living Guardians of the Faith as required under the provisions of the Will and Testament of `Abdu'l- Bahá.
FACT: There are now at least two organizations of believers who call themselves Bahá'ís but who have differing views on the essentials of the Bahá'í Covenant -- the majority body that contends the Guardianship continues only in the written interpretations of Shoghi Effendi, and the Orthodox Bahá'ís who believe in the necessity of a continuing line of living Guardians.
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These are but a few of the basic facts that relate to the Bahá'í Covenant. For additional details inquirers are especially encouraged to read the entire Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi's "Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh." Furthermore, the articles on this web site and on that of the third Guardian will provide additional details concerning the facts that are given in this article. We welcome your investigation of all the facts that pertain to the Bahá'í Covenant.