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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