“At the World Center of the Faith, where, at long last the machinery of its highest institutions has been erected and around whose most holy shrines the supreme organs of its unfolding Order, are, in their embryonic form unfolding. . .”
Shoghi Effendi, 30 June 1952
What were these “highest
institutions” and these “supreme organs” of
this “unfolding Order” that Shoghi had
“at long last” erected “in their embryonic form” at the World Center of the Faith?
These
“highest institutions,” erected by Shoghi
Effendi, in their “embryonic form,” were none
other than the Universal House of Justice—this
“first embryonic International
Institution”—that he had appointed on 9 January 1951,
in the only Proclamation he had issued
during his ministry and which he had designated, in the first stage of a
projected four-fold development, as the “International
Bahá’í Council” and his subsequent
appointment on 24 December 1951 of twelve Hands of the Cause, as
the first contingent of that Institution that he would subsequently
increase to a total of twenty-seven by the close of his ministry. Shoghi
Effendi’s statement above, found in his message of 30 June 1952,
only reaffirmed the “historic decision” he had
earlier made in his Proclamation of 9 January
1951, when he had first appointed the International
Bahá’í Council—the
embryonic Universal House of Justice—and had acclaimed the
constitution of this Council as: “the most significant
milestone in (the) evolution of (the)
Administrative Order of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh
in the course of the last thirty years.” And he had further
acclaimed the unprecedented and momentous importance of this decision,
in stating: “Hail with thankful joyous heart at long last the
constitution of the International Council which history will acclaim as
the greatest event shedding luster upon the second epoch of
(the) Formative Age of (the)
Bahá’í Dispensation potentially unsurpassed by any
enterprise undertaken since the inception of (the)
Administrative Order of the Faith on (the) morrow of
‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Ascension.” More than
two years prior to the establishment of the International
Bahá’í Council, Shoghi Effendi had addressed a
letter to the United Nations Special Palestine
Committee in July 1947 and, in discussing the
Bahá’í Administrative Order, he had referred to his
plans to establish this International Council in stating
that: “the foundations are now being laid by
the national and local councils” and are “paving
the way for the constitution of the World Council, to be designated as
the Universal House of Justice, which, in conjunction with me, as its
appointed Head and the authorized interpreter of the
Bahá’í teachings, must coordinate and direct the
affairs of the Bahá’í community . .
.” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá has clearly pointed out that
“the embryo possesses from the first all perfections . . . in
one word, all the powers–but they are not visible, and become so
only by degrees.” (p. 313, BWF) Therefore, it should
be crystal clear and undeniable that these two embryonic
institutions and “supreme organs” of the
Bahá’í Administrative Order, that had, “at
long last,” been erected by Shoghi Effendi, during the
closing years of his ministry, were not provisional, transitory or
incomplete institutions that would later be replaced, but were
unquestionably completely whole, and perfect institutions
“from the first” that he had established in faithful
compliance with the terms of the sacred and immutable provisions of the
Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Only the functions
of these two “supreme organs”
would be progressively and appropriately expanded during the
course of their future development. As an example, Shoghi Effendi, in
his message of 25 April 1951, stated that the International
Bahá’í Council would become, in its second stage of
development, an International Bahá’í Court, a
stage that he emphasized would be an “essential prelude to
the institution of the Universal House of Justice.” This
International Court would then exercise jurisdiction over
“six national Bahá’í Courts in the chief
cities of the Islamic East,” (Tihrán,
Cairo, Baghdád, New Delhi, Karachi, Kabul) whose
establishment, as stated in his message of 8 October 1952, would be one
of the goals of the “decade-long, world-embracing Spiritual
Crusade” that would commence at Ridván 1953.
As only
the Guardian permanently presides as the “sacred
head” of the Universal House of Justice under the terms of
the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, why had Shoghi
Effendi not assumed the Presidency himself of its embryonic
entity—the International Bahá’í
Council—but, in appointing its membership and designating its
officers, had appointed as its President, Hand of the
Cause, Mason Remey, who, if the Council were to immediately become an
actively functioning administrative body, he would then have to either
depose Mason Remey and assume the Presidency himself or otherwise have
to abdicate the Guardianship. Shoghi Effendi had therefore, of
necessity, retained the International Council, as an inactively
functioning body during the remaining years of his ministry, as
confirmed by Mason Remey, who has stated that Shoghi Effendi never
instructed him to activate the Council. For this same reason, Shoghi
Effendi had appointed Rúhiyyíh Khánum, in
his message of 8 March 1952, as the “chosen
liaison” between himself and the Council, which would
preclude any semblance of assuming direction of the Council himself. In
this way Shoghi Effendi carefully retained the Council as an
inactive body during the remaining years of his ministry, and
only assigned tasks, from time to time, to individual members. As
further evidence of its inactive status, is the fact that the members
whom he had appointed as Secretary-General, Hand of the Cause, Leroy
Ioas, and his two Assistant Secretaries, for the East and West
respectively (Lotfullah Hakim and Ethel Revell), never wrote a single
letter in these secretarial capacities, at the direction of Mason Remey,
as President of the Council, during the ministry of Shoghi
Effendi. Why had
Shoghi Effendi not assumed the Presidency of the International
Bahá’í Council himself and had instead appointed
Mason Remey as its President? In accordance with the explicit terms of
the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Shoghi Effendi
had to appoint his successor “in his own
life-time” and not by a conventional testamentary document
that would have been opened following his passing. Having foreseen as
early as 1951 that his ministry would be soon coming to an end, the
evidence of which will be provided below, he would have realized that he
could defer no longer the appointment of a successor. However, he was
faced with a particular dilemma in openly identifying the one whom he
had chosen as his successor. This was because the one whom he would
appoint, was neither a young man, nor a Persian believer, as undoubtedly
the believers would anticipate, but a highly distinguished Hand of the
Cause who was some twenty-three years his senior, in the person of Mason
Remey, whose manifold, exemplary and unique services to the Faith, for
more than half a century, had been unmatched by any other male believer,
and one who had been greatly loved, highly praised for his fidelity to
the Covenant and frequently eulogized by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
in the most glowing terms and most significantly had been promised in
one of His Tablets that: “ere long, thy Lord shall make thee
a sign of guidance among mankind.” (Star
of the Covenant, Vol.V, No. 19, 2 March 1915) Shoghi
Effendi, therefore had certainly realized that, due to the frightful
implication that would be drawn from openly naming Mason Remey as his
successor, who, despite his advanced age, was obviously destined to
outlive him, he would, if he were to faithfully comply with the terms
‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Will and Testament, have to
initially obscure this appointment, in such a manner, that the frightful
implication, that would otherwise be discerned, would not be perceived
by the believers, either at the time, or during the remaining years of
his ministry. For, if, otherwise, he were to appoint Mason Remey more
openly and thereby clearly reveal to the believers the prospect of his
own early passing, he certainly realized that this knowledge would
certainly prove to be such a devastating, unthinkable and incredulous
shock to them that it would possibly be the cause of such widespread
consternation in the Bahá’í world that it would
seriously impede, and put at risk, the successful inauguration and
achievement, at least, in its opening years, of the projected goals of
the Ten Year Global Crusade, scheduled to soon commence at Ridván
1953. Shoghi
Effendi found the ingenious solution to his dilemma in his formation of
the International Bahá’í Council, as the instrument
through which, by appointing Mason Remey as the President of this
embryonic Universal House of Justice and by retaining this body
in an inactive status during the remaining years of his ministry, he
could unquestionably appoint, in this indirect and unobtrusive manner,
and thereby hopefully obscure, at the time, the identity of his
successor. As it has
turned out, Shoghi Effendi had correctly anticipated that the believers
would not perceive, either, at the time, nor during the remaining years
of his ministry, that he had made this appointment of such overriding
importance, in this indirect way, and thus had successfully concealed
from the believers the fact that his ministry was destined to come to an
end in the near future, with his demise actually taking place some seven
years later. However, would he have foreseen or expected the Hands of
the Cause, following his passing, to so quickly lose faith in the
Covenant and in the sacred and inviolable provisions of the Will and
Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá? Or could he have imagined
that, in the light of all that he had written emphasizing the
essentiality and the uninterrupted continuance of the Guardianship down
through the centuries to come of the Dispensation of
Bahá’u’lláh, that the Hands would incredulously,
in effect, declare the major provisions of the Will and Testament of
‘Abdu’l-Bahá null and void? The fact that the Hands had
found it necessary to convene a conclave in ‘Akká, some
three weeks following his passing where they had undertaken a search for
a will and testament left by him, contrary to the provisions of the Will
and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, that clearly enjoins the
Guardian to appoint his successor “in his own
life-time,” should have alerted them to the realization
that they had obviously, not only lost sight of the specific terms of
that Will but they had obviously failed to perceive this appointment
that Shoghi Effendi would have unquestionably made during the course of
his ministry, in complete fidelity to
‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s sacred Mandate, in a way that they
had not anticipated. As a
result, the Hands incredibly, and with undue haste, reached the
unwarranted and tragic conclusion that the Guardianship had ended.
Although Shoghi Effendi had purposely and successfully veiled the
appointment of his successor, for the reasons discussed above, he
certainly would not have expected that the obscurity with which he had
veiled the appointment of his successor during the remaining years of
his ministry would not be discovered, following his passing and that the
Hands would then incredibly announce to the Bahá’í
world that Shoghi Effendi had been unable to appoint a successor, based
on a patently false claim that it was because: “The
Aghsán (branches) one and all are either dead or have been
declared violators of the Covenant by the Guardian for their
faithlessness to the Master’s Will and Testament and their
hostility to him named first Guardian in that sacred document.”
In this
inordinately hasty decision to declare the Guardianship of the Cause
ended, they had failed to take any time whatsoever to review Shoghi
Effendi’s historic and epoch-making messages to the
Bahá’í world, such as those cited above, or actions
that he had taken that would have disclosed the identity of his
successor and enabled them to discover that Shoghi Effendi, faithful, as
ever, to every Mandate of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, had faithfully
appointed his successor in the manner discussed above. They further had
disregarded the extensive writings of Shoghi Effendi on the
Bahá’í Administrative Order, such as those found in
his work titled, “The Dispensation of
Bahá’u’lláh,” in which he had so
importantly explained the divine genesis of the Will and Testament of
‘Abdu’l-Bahá in that wonderful passage stating:
“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” and, therefore,
this Document was nothing less than a co-authored Will and
Testament, reflecting the Will of Bahá’u’lláh,
as well, and actually, as such: “their Will and
Testament,“ as asserted by Shoghi Effendi in the World
Order of Bahá’u’lláh (p.22). How incredulous
it is that in the light of such pronouncements by Shoghi Effendi, the
Hands of the Cause would now consider that this divinely-conceived
Instrument had already become invalid thirty-six years after the
Ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. If one reviews the Will and
Testament, translated into English by Shoghi Effendi and dispatched to
the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the
United States and Canada in February of 1922, it states that, in the
event that the Guardian does not have an eligible first-born son to
inherit the Guardianship, he must “choose another branch to
succeed him.” As Shoghi Effendi has clearly defined the
Aghsán as the sons of Bahá’u’lláh
(on page 239 of God Passes By) and as these sons, had long since
died, they therefore, even if they had remained faithful, could never
have been considered by Shoghi Effendi, or could have been appointed by
him as his successor. In ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s statement,
authorizing the Guardian to appoint “another
branch” to succeed him, He has simply stipulated that the
Guardian may chose another spiritually qualified male believer who
possesses the requisite spiritual and intellectual qualifications that
He has specified in that sacred Document. As further proof that the
Aghsán, because of their infidelity to the Covenant, had
already been written off by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá during His
ministry may be found in comparing Part One of His Will and Testament
with Part Three (penned at a later date) for in Part One He states:
“it is incumbent upon the members of the House of Justice,
upon all the Aghsán, the Afnán,
the Hands of the Cause to show their obedience, submissiveness and subordination unto the
guardian of the Cause of God . . .” whereas in Part Three,
reference to the Aghsán is significantly omitted where He,
again, enjoins fidelity to the Guardian, in stating: “For he
is, after ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the guardian of the Cause of
God, [and] the Afnan, the Hands (pillars) of the Cause and
the beloved of the Lord must obey and turn unto him.”
The future
non-Bahá’í enquirer, who may be examining, for the
first time, the facts pertaining to the Institution of the Guardianship
in the Faith, will learn that Shoghi Effendi’s Canadian-born widow,
Rúhíyyih Khánum, had served as his very
capable secretary for some twenty years and had also written several
articles of her own. In her article titled: Twenty-Five Years
of the Guardianship she had emphasized, in the strongest
terms, the absolute essentiality of the Guardianship. She had come to be
considered by the Bahá’ís as exercising an authority
in the Faith, second only to Shoghi Effendi. Accordingly, upon the
passing of Shoghi Effendi, and as the Hands had failed to recognize both
Shoghi Effendi’s appointed successor, and the primacy vested in the
International Bahá’í Council, the Hands, as well as
all of the believers, turned to her, quite understandably, for
leadership in this time of crisis. This leadership role continued to be
exercised by her upon the convening of the first conclave of the Hands
in ‘Akká some three weeks following the passing of Shoghi
Effendi. Perhaps, due to the terrible shock she had sustained upon
Shoghi Effendi’s sudden death, it had so affected her attitude on
the essentiality of the Guardianship to the World Order of
Bahá’u’lláh that she completely reversed her
previous firm stand on the essentiality of this Institution and the
undeniable necessity for its uninterrupted continuation. as provided for
under the terms of the Will and Testament of
‘Abdu’l-Bahá. For she even amazingly informed the
Hands, as recorded in the Dairy of Mason Remey, that if they were to
recognize a second Guardian of the Faith, she would leave Haifa and they
would never hear from her again. She, therefore, exercised an
overpowering influence over the Hands in their deliberations, which
could well have influenced them in reaching their hasty conclusion, at
the very outset of that conclave, that the Institution of the
Guardianship, designed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to endure as
long as the Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh itself
endured, had come to a tragic and untimely end. The
remaining question is why Mason Remey had not been more assertive at
this first conclave and insisted that his fellow-Hands consider the
basis upon which he had indisputably and rightfully inherited the
Guardianship, in the manner discussed above. Frankly, he had not yet
perceived, himself, the connection between his appointment by Shoghi
Effendi to the Presidency of the International Bahá’í
Council and his consequent accession to the Guardianship that would be
realized upon the activation of that supreme administrative institution
of the Faith. Therefore, he was in no position then to present himself
to them as the second Guardian of the Faith. Mason Remey was a very
humble and self-effacing man and as he has explained in his writings he
did not want to bring about a breach in his relationship with his
fellow-Hands over the question of the continuing Guardianship, that
incidentally he had never for a single moment doubted in his own mind,
as any dispute amongst them would certainly soon become known throughout
the Bahá’í world and reflect adversely on this
institution. However, as he had been summoned by Shoghi Effendi in 1950
to come to Haifa and make it his permanent home, he had naturally been
appointed by his fellow-Hands as a member of the body of
“Custodians of the Bahá’í World Faith.”
His writings, as recorded in his “Daily Observations . .
.” reflect his almost daily remonstrations and earnest pleadings
with his fellow-members not to permanently abandon the Guardianship and
to reconsider their obstinate stand against its reestablishment, all to
no avail. In the second conclave of the Hands, he records that he had
requested that his fellow-Hands reconsider the question of the
Guardianship and was immediately ruled out of order as the question had
been settled in the first conclave.
The Hands
of the Cause, having disastrously failed to perceive that Shoghi Effendi
had faithfully appointed his successor, under the terms of the Will and
Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and clearly lacking any
authority whatsoever under the provisions of that Will to do so,
relegated the International Bahá’í Council to a minor
and subordinate role to themselves and thus prevented Mason Remey, as
the President of that body, and now the unrecognized second Guardian of
the Faith, from exercising the authority that had rightfully become his
to activate and properly preside over this Council in the performance of
its function as the supreme legislative (and later judiciary)
institution of the Faith. Instead,
the Hands of the Cause then unbelievably appointed a substitute body of
their own making that was completely outside of the provisions of the
Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, comprised of nine
Hands appointed by them from their number upon which they conferred the
appellation: “The Custodians of the Bahá’í
World Faith,” a clearly illegitimate body that they
reprehensibly and shamelessly proclaimed to the
Bahá’í World on 25 November 1957 would exercise
“all such functions, rights and powers in succession to the
Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith” and further,
in a resolution published on the same date, stated: “The
Custodians shall be deemed to succeed the Guardian of the
Bahá’í Faith.” Thus, ignominiously, they
abolished the twin Institutions of the Bahá’í
Administrative Order and vested, in an illegitimate single ruling body
of so-called Custodians, also identified as the “The
Bahá’í Hands of the Faith in the Holy Land,”
both executive and legislative functions, blatantly disregarding thereby
the emphasis that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had placed in His Will
and Testament on the essential requirement that the
Bahá’í Administrative Order have both executive and
legislative institutions, for, as He stated:
“through the union and harmony of these two
forces the foundation of fairness and justice may become firm and
strong” and in their “close union and
harmony”—they will “aid and
assist” and “reinforce” each other.
In thus
assuming direction of the Faith and in their usurpation of the authority
that rightfully belonged to the International Bahá’í
Council, the Hands had further either blatantly ignored or overlooked
Shoghi Effendi’s message of 23 November 1951, in which he had
clearly projected the future active role of the International Council,
during the impending Ten Year Global Crusade, as he had stated that this
role would bring the “Central Body directing
these widely ramified operations into direct contact with all the
National Spiritual Assemblies of the Bahá’í
world” as they labored to achieve their respective goals.
As the active role of the Council during the Crusade, that would soon
begin, would be under the Presidency of Mason Remey, this could only
take place if Shoghi Effendi were no longer Guardian of the Faith.
Therefore, Shoghi Effendi had again, in this indirect way, unmistakably
alluded to his passing that would take place sometime during the period
of that Crusade. If the Hands had, as a result of the foregoing, become
convinced that they would be able to identify the Guardian’s successor,
if they were to reexamine carefully the decisions and pronouncements
that Shoghi Effendi had made during his ministry, they then may have, in
reviewing Shoghi Effendi’s momentous Proclamation of 9 January 1951,
discovered to their surprise and delight, the key to the continuity of
the Guardianship in Shoghi Effendi appointment of Mason Remey (first
identified, as such, in his message of 2 March 1951) as the President of
the International Bahá’í Council—the embryonic
Universal House of Justice. For, the head of this body, upon its
activation, could be none other than the Guardian of the Faith,
according to the terms of the Will and Testament of
‘Abdu’l-Bahá. But, unfortunately they did not do this
with serious consequences for the future of the Faith. After
Mason Remey had displayed forbearance towards his fellow-Hands for more
than two years, while still remaining in Haifa, during which time he had
persistently and fruitlessly attempted in the almost daily arguments he
presented to the Custodian Hands to persuade them reexamine and change
their unacceptable stand against the continuance of the Guardianship, he
had failed to do so. He then decided in 1959 to leave Haifa and return
to the United States. From there he addressed several lengthy written
appeals to them, setting forth extensive and brilliant arguments in
support of the essentiality of the Guardianship and the need for its
reestablishment in accordance with Holy Writ, to which they turned a
deaf ear. Finally, losing all hope of any success in this endeavor, he
then issued a Proclamation at Ridván 1960, addressed to the
Bahá’í world through the National Spiritual Assembly
of the United States, in which he set forth in cogent and valid
arguments proof of his rightful accession to the Guardianship. Not only
did his fellow-Hands then reject out of hand and refute his rightful
accession to the Guardianship, but the Custodian Hands in Haifa
immediately dispatched instructions to all National Spiritual Assemblies
to do likewise. These assemblies, with a single notable exception,
immediately complied even though their respective members had not been
given the opportunity to read the Proclamation for themselves, much less
do so in translated versions, in those countries where English was not
understood and thus afforded the opportunity to adjudge for themselves
the validity of Mason Remey’s accession to the Guardianship. The
NSA of France, which fortunately had received directly a copy of his
Proclamation, became a notable exception for this assembly had,
following its study of pertinent references and due consultation, voted
to accept his Guardianship, an action which resulted in its speedy
dissolution by the Hands, although they lacked such authority to do so
under the terms of the Will and Testament of
‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Mason Remey was then severely castigated
by the Hands of the Cause, who, in their further lack of authority,
named him a Covenant-breaker. In their final act of infamy they then
cast him out of the Faith, which had now become for the Hands and for
those believers who followed them in their permanent abandonment of the
Guardianship and the dissolution of their own Institution, upon the
demise of the last Hand, transformed their now sans-Guardian Faith into
nothing more than a Bahá’í sect. Having
completely ignored the indisputable fact that Shoghi Effendi had
established the Universal House of Justice in its embryonic form in
January 1951, as he had reaffirmed in his message of 20 June 1952,
quoted at the beginning of this paper, the illegitimate body of the
so-called Custodians called for the election at Ridván 1963 of an
illegitimate so-called Universal House of Justice which, minus the
Guardian of the Faith, presiding as its “sacred
head,” as required under the terms of the
Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, would obviously be
nothing more than an incomplete fallible, and seriously flawed man-made
body. Unquestionably, this headless body was certainly not, as they
would pretend, the infallible institution prescribed in the Will and
Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Future
spiritually-minded scholars of the Faith, carefully reviewing, without
bias or preconceived ideas, the actions, messages and pronouncements of
Shoghi Effendi and his matchless writings on the
Bahá’í Administrative Order, will readily perceive
that the Hands of the Cause had shamefully and incomprehensibly
disregarded both these significant actions and the historic messages
that he had addressed to the Bahá’í world,
particularly in the last seven years of his ministry, such as those
cited above, that undeniably had provided for and insured the
continuation of the Guardianship. And, they will therefore certainly
conclude that the Hands had diabolically corrupted the
Bahá’í Administrative Order in their replacement of
the divinely-conceived institutions of that Order with a grossly flawed
system of their own making, and thereby had become patently guilty of
nothing less than a shameless and nefarious betrayal of all that Shoghi
Effendi had so faithfully labored to achieve during his thirty-six year
ministry, and had finally gloriously crowned, “at long
last,” as his ministry drew to a close, with the erection
of the “highest institutions”and
“supreme organs” of the
Bahá’í Administrative Order, in complete accordance
with the divine Mandate bequeathed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
Guardian of
the Bahá’í Faith September
2007 Emphasis has been added above throughout where deemed
desirable.
