# Flow of Divine Authority

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Brent Poirier, Flow of Divine Authority, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> Flow of Divine Authority
> 
> Brent Poirier
> 
> published in Deepen3.4:9
> 
> Tsavo West Bahá'í Institute, 1996 Winter
> 
> Introduction
> 
> In His Will, the Master provided for the Guardian of the Cause
> to serve as the "sacred head and distinguished member for life" of the
> Universal House of Justice.1 The Universal House of Justice has
> written that Shoghi Effendi "obviously envisaged" the Institutions of the
> Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice functioning
> together.2 However, these institutions never functioned together.
> Shoghi Effendi did not, and could not, appoint a successor
> Guardian.3 The Universal House of Justice "stepped forth from the
> realm of hope into that of visible fulfillment"4 in 1963, six years
> after the passing of Shoghi Effendi, and there is no successor Guardian to
> Shoghi Effendi. This fact, that the Universal House of Justice must function
> without the participation in its deliberations of its sacred head, the
> infallible interpreter of the Word of God, brings to mind the question: What is
> the scriptural authority for the Universal House of Justice to function without
> the presence of the Guardian of the Cause?
> 
> In order for us to accomplish our goals, we Bahá'ís must possess a profound
> and indomitable5 conviction in the flow of divine authority through
> the Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh to His Successors. The goal of this paper is to
> enhance our conviction in the scriptural authority for that sacred Body to
> function as the Head of the Faith infallibly without the presence of a living
> Guardian, that we may, calling to mind the words of 'Abdu'l-Bahá in His Will,
> believe, rest assured, and stand steadfast in the Covenant.6
> 
> Implicit Authority
> 
> It is important to understand that not all of the important
> Teachings of Bahá'u'lláh were explicitly revealed by Him. Some of the most
> important aspects of the Faith are left implicit in His Writings. For example,
> nowhere does Bahá'u'lláh provide expressly for the Institution of the
> Guardianship; He accomplished this through 'Abdu'l-Bahá. Shoghi Effendi wrote
> that the Institution of Guardianship was clearly anticipated in the
> implications of the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh.7 Bahá'u'lláh chose to
> anticipate that sacred institution in the implications of His Most Holy Book,
> and He brought it into being through the instrumentality of the Will and
> Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. The mighty institution of the Guardianship,
> described in the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá as the "Centre of the
> Cause"8 and described by Shoghi Effendi as the "head
> cornerstone of the Administrative Order"9 is not explicit in the
> Writings of Bahá'u'lláh. This interplay among the Writings of the Central
> Figures, in which momentous teachings of Bahá'u'lláh are left implicit for
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá or the passage of time to make manifest, deserves our examination,
> and illuminates the authority in the Sacred Text for the Universal House of
> Justice to function without the presence of a Guardian.
> 
> Shoghi Effendi has designated the Kitab-i-Aqdas the "brightest
> emanation of the mind of Bahá'u'lláh."10 He applies this same
> term to the Master's Will and Testament, describing it as the "brightest
> emanation" of the mind of 'Abdu'l-Bahá.11 In his masterpiece
> The Dispensation of Bahá'u'llah, Shoghi Effendi shows the
> inseparability of these two sacred Books:
> 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. The Will may thus be acclaimed as
> the inevitable offspring resulting from that mystic intercourse between Him Who
> communicated the generating influence of His divine Purpose and the One Who was
> its vehicle and chosen recipient. Being the Child of the Covenant — the Heir of
> both the Originator and the Interpreter of the Law of God — the Will and
> Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá can no more be divorced from Him Who supplied the
> original and motivating impulse than from the One Who ultimately conceived it.
> Bahá'u'lláh's inscrutable purpose, we must ever bear in mind, has been so
> thoroughly infused into the conduct of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, and their motives have
> been so closely wedded together, that the mere attempt to dissociate the
> teachings of the former from any system which the ideal Exemplar of those same
> teachings has established would amount to a repudiation of one of the most
> sacred and basic truths of the Faith."12 [Throughout this paper,
> this quotation will be referred to as "Quotation A."]
> 
> Please observe how Shoghi Effendi states that the Master's Will cannot be
> "divorced" or "dissociated" from the design of Bahá'u'lláh: To "divorce" the
> Master's Will from the Kitab-i-Aqdas, to "dissociate" the teachings of
> Bahá'u'lláh from the system of the Master, would amount to a repudiation of one
> of the verities of the Faith. In this paragraph of the Dispensation, the
> Guardian shows that the Institutions created in the Master's Will are
> inseparable from the purpose of Bahá'u'lláh. As we shall see, the way in which
> Shoghi Effendi uses the term "divorced" in connection with the institutions of
> the Faith is extremely important to the purpose of this paper.
> 
> Since the institution of the Guardianship, described in the Will and Testament
> of 'Abdu'l-Bahá as the "Centre of the Cause"13 and described
> by Shoghi Effendi as the "head cornerstone of the Administrative
> Order"14 is implicit — not explicit — in the Kitab-i-Aqdas,
> it is not surprising that the possibility that the line of Guardians might end,
> is also implicit and not explicit in the Text. Let us examine one of these
> instances of how the Kitab-i-Aqdas implicitly anticipates the ending of
> the line of Guardians, and provides for the authority of the Universal House of
> Justice to lead the Faith in that event; and how the Will and Testament of
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá makes that authority explicit.
> 
> In its letter, Comments on the Guardianship and the Universal House of
> Justice,15 the Universal House of Justice clarifies how Bahá'u'lláh
> Himself, in the Most Holy Book, foresaw the possibility that the House of
> Justice might well not be formed until after the line of Guardians ended — and
> thus, would have to function without the presence of a Guardian. Bahá'u'lláh
> wrote:
> "Endowments dedicated to charity revert to God, the
> Revealer of Signs. None hath the right to dispose of them without leave from
> Him Who is the Dawning-place of Revelation. After Him, this authority shall
> pass to the Aghsan,16 and after them to the House of Justice — should
> it be established in the world by then — that they may use these endowments for
> the benefit of the Places which have been exalted in this Cause, and for
> whatsoever hath been enjoined upon them by Him Who is the God of might and
> power. Otherwise, the endowments shall revert to the people of Bahá who speak
> not except by His leave and judge not save in accordance with what God hath
> decreed in this Tablet — lo, they are the champions of victory betwixt heaven
> and earth — that they may use them in the manner that hath been laid down in the
> Book by God, the Mighty, the Bountiful."17 [Quotation B]
> 
> In the explanatory notes to the Kitab-i-Aqdas prepared under the supervision of
> the Universal House of Justice it is pointed out that this passage "has
> particular implications...for the succession of authority following the passing
> of Bahá'u'lláh...and of 'Abdu'l-Bahá."18 The House of Justice has
> also written that "The passing of Shoghi Effendi in 1957 precipitated the very
> situation provided for in this passage [Quotation A], in that the line of
> Aghsan ended before the House of Justice had been elected."19
> 
> The crucial phrase for our purposes in Quotation B is "after them," i.e., after
> the Aghsan. The House of Justice has written that this "striking passage"
> envisages the possibility of "a break in the line of Guardians."20
> How can we be assured that by use of the term "after" the Aghsan, Bahá'u'lláh
> means after the line of Chosen Aghsan, implying an end of the line of
> Guardians? Could not this verse mean, "After the passing of all of My sons?" If
> this phrase means His "sons" and not the line of hereditary successors, it
> would merely foreshadow the possibility that the House of Justice might not be
> elected until after the passing of the first generation of the
> Aghsan — Bahá'u'lláh's sons.21 In that case, this phrase would not
> anticipate the House of Justice functioning without the presence of a Guardian.
> 
> Quotation B refers to the "authority" to administer certain assets of the
> Faith — its international endowments. However, Bahá'u'lláh never dispersed
> authority among several individuals; He and 'Abdu'l-Bahá after Him, always
> concentrated all authority in the Cause in one Center.22 The history
> of the Faith shows no instance where the Aghsan (neither the sons as a group,
> nor the entire male lineage of Bahá'u'lláh23 as a group at one time)
> acted as a corporate body or had any authority whatever in the Faith. In fact,
> the Master directed all of the other Aghsan to "show their obedience,
> submissiveness and subordination unto the guardian of the Cause of God, to turn
> unto him and be lowly before him."24
> 
> The fact that the "endowments" paragraph (Quotation B) refers to administrative
> responsibility in the Cause implies that in this instance Bahá'u'lláh's use of
> the term "Aghsan" is limited to the line of "chosen" Aghsan: The Master, and
> the line of Guardians after Him. Since Bahá'u'lláh states that "after" the
> Aghsan the Universal House of Justice will exercise this authority, Quotation A
> foreshadows the possibility of the ending of the line of chosen Aghsan, and
> thus, the ending of the line of Guardians.
> 
> In this same paragraph, Quotation B, Bahá'u'lláh even provides for the exercise
> of authority in the Faith during the interregnum between the passing of Shoghi
> Effendi and the first election of the Universal House of Justice:
> 
> "...[T]he endowments shall revert to the people of Bahá
> who speak not except by His leave and judge not save in accordance with what
> God hath decreed in this Tablet — lo, they are the champions of victory betwixt
> heaven and earth...."25
> 
> Who are the "people of Bahá" in this paragraph of the Kitab-i-Aqdas? They are
> described as those "who speak not except by His leave," and as "the champions
> of victory." The notes to the Kitab-i-Aqdas confirm that in this instance, "the
> people of Bahá" are the Hands of the Cause of God.26 We shall
> compare this Quotation B to other Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh in which He has used
> this same terminology of speaking not before God speaks, and of accomplishing
> the victory of the Cause, to refer to the Hands of the Cause of God:
> 
> "May My praise, salutations, and greetings rest upon the stars of the heaven
> of Thy knowledge — the Hands of Thy Cause-they who circled round Thy Will, spoke
> not save after Thy leave, and clung not save unto Thy hem. They are servants
> whose mention and praise are recorded in the Holy Writ, Thy Books and Tablets,
> wherein are extolled their services, victories, and high resolve. Through them
> the standards of Thy oneness were raised in Thy cities and realms, and the
> banners of Thy sanctity were uplifted in Thy Kingdom...Praise be to Thee, O my
> God, that Thou hast aided me to make mention of them and to praise them in
> their stations in Thy Cause and in Thy days."27
> 
> Thus, we see that in the implications of the Most Holy Book (Quotation B),
> Bahá'u'lláh provided for the transfer of authority from the Chosen Branches, to
> the Hands of the Cause, to the Universal House of Justice functioning without a
> Chosen Branch — without a Guardian.
> 
> My purpose is not to minimize the loss of the Guardian's presence in the
> deliberations of the House. As the House of Justice has cautioned:
> 
> "Although, as is seen, the ending of the line of Aghsan at
> some stage was provided for, we must never underestimate the grievous loss that
> the Faith has suffered."28
> 
> And again, the Universal House of Justice has written:
> 
> "We must guard against two extremes: one is to argue that
> because there is no Guardian all that was written about the Guardianship and
> its position in the Bahá'í World Order is a dead letter and was unimportant;
> the other is to be so overwhelmed by the significance of the Guardianship as to
> underestimate the strength of the Covenant..."29
> 
> My purpose is to follow the guidance of the Universal House of Justice to not
> be overwhelmed by that loss. It is also to help us to counter those who attempt
> to use the absence of a living Guardian today, as a pretext in their claim to
> leadership of the Bahá'i community.30
> 
> Crisis During the Boyhood of Shoghi Effendi
> 
> As stated above, important implications in the laws of Bahá'u'lláh are
> sometimes made explicit in the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. We have seen that in
> the implications of the Kitab-i-Aqdas, Bahá'u'lláh provided the authority for
> the Universal House of Justice to function with only its elected membership.
> Now we will see that in His Will and Testament, 'Abdu'l-Bahá expressly provided
> this authority.
> 
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá revealed Part One of His Will and Testament, in which He appointed
> Shoghi Effendi as the Guardian of the Cause of God, when Shoghi Effendi was a
> little boy. Shoghi Effendi may have been as young as seven, and was surely no
> older than ten. 31 Other Tablets He revealed at that time, show that
> His life was in peril at that time.32
> 
> The Master likewise revealed the Second Part of His Will during a time Shoghi
> Effendi described as "an hour of grave suspense."33 In Part Two of
> His Will, the Master described the crisis that compelled Him to write it: "I
> am now in very great danger and the hope of even an hour's life is lost to
> me."34 This was likely when the Second Commission of Inquiry
> threatened the life of 'Abdu'l Bahá. Had these threats materialized during
> either of the Commissions of Inquiry — in 1904 or in 1907 — Shoghi Effendi, still
> in his boyhood, would have been too young to perform the duties of the
> Guardianship, including appointing a representative to act in his place in the
> deliberations of the Universal House of Justice. 'Abdu'l-Bahá was, of course,
> well aware of this. The Universal House of Justice has directed us to study the
> second part of the Master's Will, especially in connection with the
> establishment of that sacred body through the convening of only its elected
> membership.40
> 
> Let us examine what the Master provided in His Will for the leadership of the
> Faith, in the event that He was martyred while Shoghi Effendi was still a
> child. In the second part of His Will the Master makes no mention of Shoghi
> Effendi or of the Institution of the Guardianship.35 As both Shoghi
> Effendi36 and the Universal House of Justice37 have
> pointed out, during that same crisis the Master wrote a Tablet to the Bab's
> cousin, Haji Mirza Taqi Afnan. In that same Tablet, the Master directed the
> Afnan to arrange immediately for the election of the Universal House of Justice
> if He was put to death. This House of Justice would have been composed of only
> its elected members for several years, until Shoghi Effendi reached the age
> when he could assume his responsibilities as Guardian. The language
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá uses in the second part of His Will refers only to the elected
> members of that Body. Therefore, in the following words the Master provided
> that the Universal House of Justice would act without the presence of the
> Guardian of the Cause of God, or the Guardian's representative, during the
> minority of Shoghi Effendi:
> 
> "Unto the Most Holy Book every one must turn and all that
> is not expressly recorded therein must be referred to the Universal House of
> Justice. That which this body, whether unanimously or by a majority doth carry,
> that is verily the Truth and the Purpose of God Himself. Whoso doth deviate
> therefrom is verily of them that love discord, hath shown forth malice and
> turned away from the Lord of the Covenant. By this House is meant that
> Universal House of Justice which is to be elected from all countries, that is
> from those parts in the East and West where the loved ones are to be found,
> after the manner of the customary elections in Western countries such as those
> of England.... It is incumbent upon these members (of the Universal House of
> Justice) to gather in a certain place and deliberate upon all problems which
> have caused difference, questions that are obscure and matters that are not
> expressly recorded in the Book. Whatsoever they decide has the same effect as
> the Text itself."38 (Identified as "Quotation C" throughout this
> paper.)
> 
> The Master here provided that it was incumbent upon "these
> members" to deliberate, and He identifies "these members" as those
> who were to be "elected from all countries, that is from those parts in the
> East and West where the loved ones are to be found, after the manner of the
> customary elections in Western countries...." Again, He makes no reference
> to the Universal House of Justice functioning with Shoghi Effendi, nor does He
> refer to the Institution of the Guardianship, or to the representative of the
> Guardian acting as chairman of the House of Justice. As we see from Quotation
> C, nowhere does He indicate that in such circumstances, without the presence of
> the Guardian to chair that Body, to define the sphere of its legislative
> action, or to interpret the Word of God, that the House of Justice would not be
> infallible. Rather, He wrote of the House functioning without its hereditary
> Head, and with only its elected members, "That which this body, whether
> unanimously or by a majority doth carry, that is verily the Truth and the
> Purpose of God Himself," and that its decisions will have "the same effect as
> the Text itself."
> 
> Since the Master provided that the House of Justice would function
> infallibly before the beloved Guardian wrote a single authoritative word,
> surely we may conclude that it does so now, when it has the benefit of the
> multitude of Shoghi Effendi's writings.39 Nowhere in the Master's
> Will does He imply that the authority or the guarantee of divine guidance to
> the House of Justice operating without the presence of the Guardian would be
> more limited than they would be with the Guardian as its sacred Head.
> 
> The Inspiration of the Holy Spirit
> 
> Another passage from the Pen of 'Abdu'l-Bahá which
> explicitly provides that the infallibility of the Universal House of Justice is
> not dependent upon the participation of the Guardian in its deliberations is
> quoted by the Universal House of Justice in one of its letters addressing this
> very subject. The Master writes:
> 
> "Let it not be imagined that the House of Justice will
> take any decision according to its own concepts and opinions. God forbid! The
> Supreme House of Justice will take decisions and establish laws through the
> inspiration and confirmation of the Holy Spirit, because it is in the
> safekeeping and under the shelter and protection of the Ancient Beauty, and
> obedience to its decisions is a bounden and essential duty and an absolute
> obligation, and there is no escape for anyone.
> 
> "Say, O People: Verily the Supreme House of Justice is under the wings of
> your Lord, the Compassionate, the All Merciful, that is under His protection,
> His care, and His shelter; for He has commanded the firm believers to obey that
> blessed, sanctified, and all-subduing body, whose sovereignty is divinely
> ordained and of the Kingdom of Heaven and whose laws are inspired and
> spiritual.
> 
> "Briefly, this is the wisdom of referring the laws of society to the House
> of Justice. In the religion of Islam, similarly, not every ordinance was
> explicitly revealed; nay not a tenth part of a tenth part was included in the
> Text; although all matters of major importance were specifically referred to,
> there were undoubtedly thousands of laws which were unspecified. These were
> devised by the divines of a later age according to the laws of Islamic
> jurisprudence, and individual divines made conflict ing deductions from the
> original revealed ordinances. All these were enforced. Today this process of
> deduction is the right of the body of the House of Justice, and the deductions
> and conclusions of individual learned men have no authority, unless they are
> endorsed by the House of Justice. The difference is precisely this, that from
> the conclusions and endorsements of the body of the House of Justice whose
> members are elected by and known to the worldwide Bahá'í community, no
> differences will arise; whereas the conclusions of individual divines and
> scholars would definitely lead to differences, and result in schism, division,
> and dispersion. The oneness of the Word would be destroyed, the unity of the
> Faith would disappear, and the edifice of the Faith of God would be
> shaken."41
> 
> The Master's use of the phrase "whose members are elected by and known to
> the worldwide Bahá'í community" is an explicit reference to the elected
> membership of the Universal House of Justice. This passage shows that when He
> states that the decisions and laws of that "blessed, sanctified and
> all-subduing body" are inspired by the Holy Spirit, He refers to the
> infallibility bestowed upon that Body through its elected membership. This
> Tablet confirms and illuminates a brief reference in one of the Laws of
> Bahá'u'lláh contained in His "Leaves of Paradise."
> 
> The Ultimate Safeguard of the Bahá'í Revelation
> 
> One of Bahá'u'lláh's express promises of infallible divine
> guidance to the Universal House of Justice is found in the Eighth Leaf of
> the Kalimat-i-Firdawsiyyih.
> "It is incumbent upon the Trustees of the House of
> Justice to take counsel together regarding those things which have not
> outwardly been revealed in the Book, and to enforce that which is agreeable to
> them. God will verily inspire them with whatsoever He willeth, and He, verily,
> is the Provider, the Omniscient."42
> 
> How do we know that this promise that "God will inspire them" is a promise of
> infallible divine guidance to the elected membership of the Universal House of
> Justice acting as a body, and does not promise this guidance only if the
> "sacred head" of that Body, the Guardian of the Cause, is present in its
> deliberations? Shoghi Effendi provides the answer in his exposition of this law
> of Bahá'u'lláh, in The Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh:
> 
> "In the conduct of the administrative affairs of the
> Faith, in the enactment of the legislation necessary to supplement the laws of
> the Kitab-i-Aqdas, the members of the Universal House of Justice, it should be
> borne in mind, are not, as Bahá'u'lláh's utterances clearly imply, responsible
> to those whom they represent, nor are they allowed to be governed by the
> feelings, the general opinion, and even the convictions of the mass of the
> faithful, or of those who directly elect them. They are to follow, in a
> prayerful attitude, the dictates and promptings of their conscience. They may,
> indeed they must, acquaint themselves with the conditions prevailing among the
> community, must weigh dispassionately the merits of any case presented for
> their consideration, but must reserve for themselves the right of an
> unfettered decision. "God will verily inspire them with whatsoever He willeth,"
> is Bahá'u'llah's incontrovertible assurance. They, and not the body of those
> who either directly or indirectly elect them, have thus been made the
> recipients of the divine guidance which is at once the life-blood and ultimate
> safeguard of this Revelation."43
> 
> The words selected by the Guardian — the members of the Universal House of
> Justice and not those who elect them — show that Bahá'u'lláh's promise that "God
> will, verily, inspire them" means that infallible divine guidance flows through
> the elected membership of the Universal House of Justice acting as a
> body.44 This, again, is Scriptural authority for the Universal House
> of Justice to function infallibly without the presence of a Guardian.
> 
> "Divorced from the Institution of the Guardianship"
> 
> Any discussion of the authority for the Universal House of
> Justice to function infallibly without the presence of the Guardian must
> address the following passage from Shoghi Effendi's The Dispensation of
> Bahá'u'lláh:
> "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. "In all the Divine Dispensations," He
> states, in a Tablet addressed to a follower of the Faith in Persia, "the eldest
> son hath been given extraordinary distinctions. Even the station of prophethood
> hath been his birthright." Without such an institution the integrity of the
> Faith would be imperiled, and the stability of the entire fabric would be
> gravely endangered. Its prestige would suffer, the means required to enable it
> to take a long, an uninterrupted view over a series of generations would be
> completely lacking, and the necessary guidance to define the sphere of the
> legislative action of its elected representatives would be totally withdrawn."
> ["Quotation D"]
> 
> "Severed from the no less essential institution of the Universal House of
> Justice this same System of the Will of 'Abdu'l-Bahá would be paralyzed in its
> action and would be powerless to fill in those gaps which the Author of the
> Kitab-i-Aqdas has deliberately left in the body of His legislative and
> administrative ordinances."45 ["Quotation E"]
> 
> Some of the friends have experienced particular difficulty in accepting
> the ability of the Universal House of Justice to function infallibly without
> the presence of the Guardian, because they believe that those words from the
> Guardian in Quotation D were a direct warning about that very circumstance. A
> reader of this passage might naturally ask whether Shoghi Effendi when he wrote
> those words in 1934, confident that there would be future Guardians,46
> was elaborating the horrible consequence s to the Cause of God if the
> line of Guardians were to end. From the Guardian's phrase "Divorced from the
> institution of the Guardianship," should we understand his intention to have
> been a description of the mutilation of the Cause that would occur if the
> Universal House of Justice were to function without a living Guardian?
> 
> The House of Justice has provided the key to understanding this subject when it
> elucidates "the principle of inseparability," and gives several examples of the
> application of that principle to the institutions of the Guardianship and the
> Universal House of Justice.47
> 
> In order to understand the meaning of "divorced from the institution of the
> Guardianship" in Quotation D, we have the benefit of other passages in Shoghi
> Effendi's writings where he uses similar, sometimes identical language to
> illustrate this principle. We have seen in Quotation A, how Shoghi Effendi
> warned that to "divorce" or "dissociate" the institutions established by
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá from the underlying laws of Bahá'u'lláh would "amount to a
> repudiation of one of the most sacred and basic truths of the
> Faith."48 In yet another passage, he used strikingly similar
> language to elaborate the scriptural authority for the functioning of the
> Bahá'í institutions:
> "It should be remembered by every follower of the
> Cause that the system of Bahá'í administration is not an innovation imposed
> arbitrarily upon the Bahá'ís of the world since the Master's passing, but
> derives its authority from the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, is
> specifically prescribed in unnumbered Tablets, and rests in some of its
> essential features upon the explicit provisions of the Kitab-i-Aqdas. It thus
> unifies and correlates the principles separately laid down by Bahá'u'lláh and
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá, and is indissolubly bound with the essential verities of the
> Faith. To dissociate the administrative principles of the Cause from the purely
> spiritual and humanitarian teachings would be tantamount to a mutilation of the
> body of the Cause, a separation that can only result in the disintegration of
> its component parts, and the extinction of the Faith itself."49
> [Quotation F]
> 
> Please note that the Guardian described such a "dissociation" as a
> "mutilation of the Cause." This is another illustration of what the Universal
> House of Justice terms "the principle of inseparability." A careful reading of
> Quotation F will show that the Guardian's purpose is to elaborate the unity of
> the components of the Bahá'í Faith, not to issue a warning about possible
> future events. The "mutilation" would be to knowingly misunderstand this
> important verity of the Faith.
> 
> The Guardian again illustrates the principle of inseparability when he explains
> that the distinct periods of Bahá'í history must be understood as one whole; to
> see them in isolation from one another and thereby dissociate them from one
> another, would be to "mutilate" the Cause and pervert the truth:
> 
> "The century under our review [1844-1944] may
> therefore be considered as falling into four distinct periods, of unequal
> duration, each of specific import and of tremendous and indeed unappraisable
> significance. These four periods are closely interrelated, and constitute
> successive acts of one, indivisible, stupendous and sublime drama, whose
> mystery no intellect can fathom, whose climax no eye can even dimly perceive,
> whose conclusion no mind
> 
> can adequately foreshadow. Each of these acts revolves around its own
> theme, boasts of its own heroes, registers its own tragedies, records its own
> triumphs, and contributes its own share to the execution of one common,
> immutable Purpose. To isolate any one of them from the others, to dissociate
> the later manifestations of one universal, all-embracing Revelation from the
> pristine purpose that animated it in its earliest days, would be tantamount to
> a mutilation of the structure on which it rests, and to a lamentable perversion
> of its truth and of its history . . . .
> 
> These four periods are to be regarded not only as the component, the
> inseparable parts of one stupendous whole, but as progressive stages in a
> single evolutionary process, vast, steady and irresistible.
> 50
> 
> In yet another instance, the Guardian uses the same terminology to apply
> the principle of inseparability to the Bahá'í institutions of the
> Mashriqu'l-Adhkar and its Dependencies.51 I suggest that it is clear
> from all of these instances that it is the design of Bahá'u'lláh that the
> Guardian is speaking of.
> 
> In all of these cases, whether he uses the term "divorced," "dissociated," or
> "isolated," the purpose of Shoghi Effendi is to communicate to his reader the
> inseparability of the components of the Faith. This is his way of imparting a
> spiritual truth to us — the "principle of inseparability" in its various
> applications. In all of these instances, the Guardian is using this language to
> communicate to us something our minds have never previously grasped: The wonder
> of this "vast and unique" Order, of this "colossal," this "mighty
> Administrative structure."52 He is not warning us of the
> consequences of the loss of any Bahá'í institution, nor speaking of such a loss
> as a "mutilation" of the Cause of God. Rather, through use of this powerful
> language he infuses our understanding with his vision of the World Order of
> Bahá'u'lláh.
> 
> The Vibrant Body of the Cause
> 
> The purpose of the Guardian in the "Dispensation" [Quotation D]
> was not to foreshadow unthinkable consequences if the Universal House of
> Justice must function without the presence of a Guardian. The most convincing
> demonstration of this is in the paragraph that immediately follows the
> "divorced from the institution of the Guardianship" paragraph [Quotation E]:
> 
> "Severed from the no less essential institution of the
> Universal House of Justice this same System of the Will of 'Abdu'l-Bahá would
> be paralyzed in its action and would be powerless to fill in those gaps which
> the Author of the Kitab-i-Aqdas has deliberately left in the body of His
> legislative and administrative ordinances."53
> 
> Like the other instances where he used the terms "divorced," "dissociated," or
> "isolated," here, by his use of the synonym "severed" he explains yet again,
> the principle of the inseparability of the component aspects of the World
> Order. Quotation E is clearly a parallel to Quotation D, and enables us to
> better understand the intent of Quotation D.
> 
> If one reads "divorced from the institution of the Guardianship" as a
> foreshadowing of the consequences of the ending of the line of Guardians, then
> one must also read "Severed from the no less essential institution of the
> Universal House of Justice" as a portent of the consequences of the World Order
> functioning without the Universal House of Justice.
> 
> We must ask ourselves, where was the Universal House of Justice at the time
> Shoghi Effendi wrote Quotations D and E? The Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh was
> written in 1934, and the House of Justice would not be brought into existence
> for another twenty-nine years. At the time the Guardian wrote the words,
> "severed from...the Universal House of Justice," the World Order was
> functioning without the benefit of a single word from that "no less essential
> institution." Furthermore, if "essential" meant that the World Order could not
> function without the presence of the House of Justice, then the Guardian would
> not have delayed its election.54 In Quotation E the Guardian could
> not be stating that these Institutions cannot function independently, because
> he was himself functioning independently of the "no less essential" House of
> Justice when he wrote those very words.
> 
> The Guardian wrote in Quotation E that the sign of the World Order being
> "severed" from the Universal House of Justice, would be that the World Order
> would be "paralyzed in its action."55 How can we be certain that he
> did not intend to convey that because the House of Justice was not yet
> functioning, the World Order was, in some measure, "paralyzed in its action" at
> that time? We may determine as a certainty that Shoghi Effendi did not intend
> to convey that the World Order was "paralyzed" in 1934 due to the absence of a
> functioning Universal House of Justice. The proof is a few pages later in the
> same letter, where the Guardian contrasts the "vitality" of the institutions of
> the Faith with the paralysis amicting the old world order at that time:
> 
> "The vitality which the organic institutions of this
> great, this ever-expanding Order so strongly exhibit; the obstacles which the
> high courage, the undaunted resolution of its administrators have already
> surmounted; the fire of an unquenchable enthusiasm that glows with undiminished
> fervor in the hearts of its itinerant teachers; the heights of self-sacrifice
> which its champion-builders are now attaining; the breadth of vision, the
> confident hope, the creative joy, the inward peace, the uncompromising
> integrity, the exemplary discipline, the unyielding unity and solidarity which
> its stalwart defenders manifest; the degree to which its moving Spirit has
> shown itself capable of assimilating the diversified elements within its pale,
> of cleansing the m of all forms of prejudice and of fusing them with its own
> structure-these are evidences of a power which a disillusioned and sadly shaken
> society can ill afford to ignore.
> 
> "Compare these splendid manifestations of the spirit animating this vibrant
> body of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh with the cries and agony, the follies and
> vanities, the bitterness and prejudices, the wickedness and divisions of an
> ailing and chaotic world. Witness the fear that torments its leaders and
> paralyzes the action of its blind and bewildered statesmen."56
> 
> Particularly in the last sentence, the Guardian explicitly contrasts the
> "vibrant body of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh" with the leaders and statesmen of
> the world whom he describes as "paralyzed in their action." The Guardian's own
> language shows that he did not intend to convey that the World Order was
> "paralyzed in its action" due to the absence of the Universal House of Justice.
> Rather, it was "vibrant," in contrast to the paralysis amicting the old order.
> We may therefore deduce that the Cause was not then "severed" from the
> Universal House of Justice, even though the World Order of Bahá'u'lláh was
> functioning entirely without its influence.
> 
> Having ascertained that the Guardian did not intend to convey that without a
> functioning House of Justice the dire consequences in Quotation E would ensue,
> we may conclude that in the Quotation D - "Divorced from the Institution of the
> Guardianship" — he was not foreshadowing appalling consequences if there were no
> living Guardian. Rather, he was disclosing the perfection and completion of
> Bahá'u'lláh's design, and that if Bahá'u'lláh had not provided for all of its
> inseparable parts it would have been flawed in design.
> 
> So the explanations in Quotation D regarding the hereditary function of the
> Guardian in relation to the House, that he protects the integrity and stability
> of the Faith, enhances its prestige, provides for its continuity, and defines
> the legislative sphere of the Universal House of Justice, are presented as
> demonstrations of the "principle of inseparability" in the preceding paragraph
> of the Dispensation. These twin institutions "supplement each other's
> authority and functions, and are permanently and fundamentally united in their
> aims."57 That is what that paragraph is about. Without question,
> it emphatically states the importance of the Guardianship. What it does not do
> is state that the World Order would be "mutilated," "imperiled" and
> "endangered" without a living Guardian. What it does not do is to state that we
> are today "divorced" from the institution of the Guardianship.
> 
> Conclusion
> 
> Shoghi Effendi referred to the Bahá'ís as the "stewards" of the
> Faith,58 and designated the Hands of the Cause of God as its "Chief
> Stewards."59 'Abdu'l-Bahá gave the Hands the specific protective
> function of expelling Covenant breakers.60 They were not endowed
> with infallibility; their capacity to lead the Bahá'í Faith was explicit in
> only one word: "Chief." The generality of the Bahá'í community was, as yet,
> unaware of the provisions in the Kitab-i-Aqdas for the transmission of
> authority to the Hands of the Cause and would not learn of this verse for over
> a decade.61
> 
> Despite these limitations on their office, despite the fact that they
> possessed, in the mind of the generality of the friends, only one word of
> authority, it is worth reflecting on the power of that one word to keep the
> Cause of God united until the Universal House of Justice was brought into
> being. One of the first acts of the Universal House of Justice was to express
> its heartfelt love and gratitude to the Hands.62
> 
> In contrast, the authority of the Universal House of Justice to
> function infallibly with only its elected members is explicitly provided in a
> number of passages in the Writings of both Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá. One
> can only wonder at the power of such emphatic language, the power of the
> Covenants of Bahá'u'lláh and of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, to keep the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh
> united behind "[T]he divine and Universal House of Justice...that central
> pivot of the people of Bahá...."63.
> 
> Shoghi Effendi wrote, "Only those who come after us will be in a position to
> realize the value of the surprisingly strong emphasis that has been placed on
> the institution of the House of Justice and of the Guardianship."64
> Among the "surprisingly emphatic language"65 to which he refers, are
> surely these words from the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá:
> 
> "The sacred and youthful branch, the guardian of the Cause
> of God, as well as the Universal House of Justice, to be universally elected
> and established, are both under the care and protection of the Abha Beauty,
> under the shelter and unerring guidance of His Holiness, the Exalted One (may
> my life be offered up for them both). Whatsoever they decide is of God. Whoso
> obeyeth him not, neither obeyeth them, hath not obeyed God; whoso rebelleth
> against him and against them hath rebelled against God; whoso opposeth him hath
> opposed God; whoso contendeth with them hath contended with God; whoso
> disputeth with him hath disputed with God; whoso denieth him hath denied God;
> whoso disbelieveth in him hath disbelieved in God; whoso deviateth, separateth
> himself and turneth aside from him hath in truth deviated, separated himself
> and turned aside from God. May the wrath, the fierce indignation, the vengeance
> of God rest upon him!"66
> 
> We may derive conviction from these words with which 'Abdu'l-Bahá closes His
> Last Will and Testament, words which will ring down through the centuries:
> 
> "All must seek guidance and turn unto the Center of the
> Cause and the House of Justice. And he that turneth unto whatsoever else is
> indeed in grievous error. The Glory of Glories rest upon you!"67
> 
> Notes
> 
> 1) The Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, p. 14.
> 
> 2) Wellspring of Guidance, p. 86.
> 
> 3) "Proclamation by the Hands of the Cause to the Bahá'ís of East and West,"
> November 25, 1957, The Bahá'í World, Vol. Xlll, p. 342; The Ministry of the
> Custodians 1957-1963, pp. 36, 211; "The Guardianship and the Universal House of
> Justice," The Universal House of Justice, Wellspring of Guidance, p. 82.
> 
> 4) Shoghi Effendi, Compilation on the Universal House of Justice, p. 17.
> 
> 5) The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 24, 34; The Light of Divine Guidance, p.
> 84; Unfolding Destiny, p. 57.
> 
> 6) Will and Testament to 'Abdu'l-Bahá, p. 3.
> 
> 7) God Passes By, p. 214; The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 147.
> 
> 8) Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, p. 26.
> 
> 9) Messages to America, p. 8.
> 
> 10) God Passes By, p. 213.
> 
> 11) Ibid., p. 325.
> 
> 12) The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 144; compare God Passes By, p. 325,
> where Shoghi Effendi makes clear that he is referring to the Kitab-i-Aqdas.
> 
> 13) Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, p. 26.
> 
> 14) Messages to America, p. 8.
> 
> 15) Messages from the Universal House of Justice, 1968-1973, pp. 37-44.
> 
> 16) Literally,"Branches."
> 
> 17) Kitab-i-Aqdas, pp.34-35, |br42.
> 
> 18) Ibid.,pp.196-197, Note 66.
> 
> 19) "Comments on the Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice," Messages
> from the Universal House of Justice, 1968-1973, p. 41.
> 
> 20) Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1968-1973, p. 41.
> 
> 21) For example, Shoghi Effendi has sometimes translated Aghsan as "Sons."
> (Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, pp. 93 and 94; Gleanings from the Writings of
> Bahá'u'lláh, p. 244) In each of these instances Bahá'u'lláh speaks of "My" Aghs
> an; perhaps this is why the Guardian translated "Aghsan' as "sons" in those
> instances.
> 
> 22) See The Promulgation of Universal Peace pp.385-386, and the Compilation
> "The Continental Boards of Counselors," pp.44-45.
> 
> 23) Shoghi Effendi has explained the general meaning of the term: "As to
> 'Aghsan it also means branch. But it is a bigger branch than 'Afnan'. It refers
> to Bahá'u'lláh's descendants." From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi
> Effendi to an individual believer, Sept.25,1934; Lights of Guidance, 2nd.
> Edition, pp.470-471, #1548.
> 
> 24) Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, p. 11 (three times).
> 
> 25) Kitab-i-Aqdas, pp.34-35, |br42.
> 
> 26) Ibid., pp.196-197, Note 67.
> 
> 27) Bahá'u'lláh, quoted in the frontispiece to Dr. Muhajir, Hand of the Cause
> of God, Knight of Bahá'u'lláh. Bahá'u'lláh employs very similar terminology In
> speaking of the Hands of the Cause in the Surat-al Haykal; see Paul Haney, "The
> Institution of the Hands of the Cause of God," Bahá'í World, Vol. Xlll, p. 333.
> Also compare Bahá'u'lláh's reference to the Hands of the Cause in a passage
> translated by Shoghi Effendi in The Advent of Divine Justice, p. 85.
> 
> 28) Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1968-1973, p. 41.
> 
> 29) Wellspring of Guidance, p. 87.
> 
> 30) See, for example, the case of Charles Mason Remey,discussed in The Ministry
> of the Custodians 1957-1963, pp.206-226.
> 
> 31) The Master wrote in His Will that the "Committee of Investigation" had come
> to the Holy Land from Constantinople "a few months ago." (The Will and
> Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, p. 7) The first Committee of Investigation arrived
> in the Holy Land in 1904 (Balyuzi, 'Abdu'l-Bahá, p. 111), when Shoghi Effendi
> was seven years old. It appears from the above-quoted language that the first
> part of His Will was written at that time. In that first part of His Will,
> 'Abdu'l-Ba ha appointed Shoghi Effendi as the Guardian, and provided that the
> Guardian would serve as the chairman of the Universal House of Justice. The
> second Commission came to the Holy Land in 1907 (Balyuzi, 'Abdu'l-Bahá, p. 118
> God Passes By, p. 269). At that time, Shoghi Effendi was still a boy of ten
> years.
> 
> 32) Selection #188 in Selections from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá appears to
> have been written at that time. 'Abdu'l-Bahá also refers to that time in
> Memorials of the Faithful, p. 56.
> 
> 33) God Passes By, p. 268.
> 
> 34) The Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, p. 19.
> 
> 35) Ibid., pp.17-22.
> 
> 36) God Passes By, p. 268, The World Order of Bahá'u'1lah, p. 17.
> 
> 37)"Unassailable Foundation of the Cause Of God,'' Wellspring of Guidance, p.
> 49; also quoted in the Compilation on the Establishment of the Universal House
> of Justice, p. 37.
> 
> 38) The Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá (Part Two), pp. 19-20.
> 
> 39) The Universal House of Justice has explained the importance of the
> innumerable definitions provided by Shoghi Effendi in its letter "The
> Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice Wellspring of Guidance", pp.
> 83-84. As early as 1929, Shoghi Effendi had described the sphere of authority
> of the Universal House of Justice as "clearly defined" (The World Order of
> Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 8, 148).
> 
> 40) "The second part of the Master's Will is also relevant to such a situation
> and should be studied by the friends." "Unassailable Foundation of the Cause of
> God" Wellspring of Guidance, p. 49; also quoted in the Compilation on the
> Establishment of the Universal House of Justice at p. 37, and in The
> Compilation of Compilations, Vol. 1 p. 347.
> 
> 41) 'Abdu'l-Bahá, quoted in "The Guardianship and the Universal House of
> Justice," Wellspring of Guidance, pp. 84-86.
> 
> 42) Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 68. Please compare this Tablet of Bahá'u'lláh
> with the Eighth Ishraq of the Tablet of Ishraqat, accounted by Bahá'u'lláh as
> part of the Most Holy Book; see the Kitab-i-Aqdas, p. 91.
> 
> 43) The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 153.
> 
> 44) The Universal House of Justice has deemed this passage so . significant,
> that it has included it in its Constitution. The Constitution of the Universal
> House of Justice, p. 6. Also see the Compilation on the Establishment of the
> Universal House of Justice, pp. 25 and 53.
> 
> 45) The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 148.
> 
> 46) Ibid., p. 151.
> 
> 47) "The Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice," Wellspring of
> Guidance, p. 87.
> 
> 48) The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 144, quoted and discussed above.
> 
> 49) Ibid., p. 5.
> 
> 50) God Passes By, pp. xiv - xv.
> 
> 51) Bahá'í Administration, pp. 185-186.
> 
> 52) The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 146 and 147.
> 
> 53) Ibid., p. 148.
> 
> 54) The Guardian states his reasons for delaying the election of the Universal
> House of Justice in The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 7, and Bahá'í
> Administration, p. 41, and they are further commented upon by Ruhiyyih Rabbani
> in The Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith, pp. 106-107.
> 
> 55) The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 148.
> 
> 56) Ibid., p. 1 55.
> 
> 57) Ibid., p. 148.
> 
> 58) Ibid., pp. 54, 79, 98; God Passes By pp. 26, 340.
> 
> 59) Shoghi Effendi announced "...yet another step in the progressive unfoldment
> of one of the cardinal and pivotal institutions ordained by Bahá'u'lláh, and
> confirmed in the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, involving the designation
> of yet another contingent of the Hands of the Cause of God, raising thereby to
> thrice nine the total number of the Chief Stewards of Bahá'u'lláh's embryonic
> World Commonwealth, who have been invested by the unerring Center of His
> Covenant with the dual function of guarding over the security, and of insuring
> the propagation, of His Father's Faith." Messages to the Bahá'í World, p. 127.
> 
> 60) The Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, p. 12.
> 
> 61) The Bahá'í world became aware of this verse in 1969, when the Universal
> House of Justice issued its letter "Comments on the Guardianship and the
> Universal House to Justice," published in Messages from the Universal House of
> Justice, 1968-1973, p. 41.
> 
> 62) Wellspring of Guidance, pp. 2-3.
> 
> 63) Bahá'í World, Vol. XIV, p. 436.
> 
> 64) The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 8.
> 
> 65) Ibid., p. 22.
> 
> 66) The Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, p. 11.
> 
> 67) Ibid., p. 26.
> 
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> Views17270 views since posted 1998; last edit 2025-02-27 21:06 UTC;
> 
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