| Universal House of Justice
Letters March 9, 1965 |
Commentary by an Orthodox
Bahá'í A Current Reaction |
| Why were steps taken to elect Universal House of Justice with the foreknowledge that there would be no Guardian? Was the time ripe for such an action? Could not the International Bahá'í Council have carried on the work? | Perhaps the questions really should be "Hadn't the Hands already decided that the provisions of the Will were 'Bada'?" "Wasn't the election of a so-called UHJ without a Head actually a sham?"--and-- "Didn't you have any idea of the singular importance of the International Council inasmuch as Shoghi Effendi said it was 'the greatest event shedding lustre upon the second epoch of the Formative Age of the Bahá'í Dispensation'"? |
| At the time of our beloved Shoghi Effendi's death it was evident, from the circumstances and from the explicit requirements of the Holy Texts, that it had been impossible for him to appoint a successor in accordance with the provisions of the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. | The "explicit requirements of the Holy Texts" made it imperative that if the Guardian's "glorious lineage not be matched with a goodly character, then must he, (the guardian of the Cause of God) choose another branch to succeed him." (W&T, para.#18) |
| This situation, in which the Guardian died without being able to appoint a successor, presented an obscure question not covered by the explicit Holy Text, and had to be referred to the Universal House of Justice. | "It is...preposterous that they should claim that the matter of succession was one that could be rightfully referred to the Universal House of Justice... [T]his body 'enacteth all ordinances and regulations that are not to be found in the explicit Holy Text' and 'hath power to enact laws that are not expressly recorded in the Book and bear upon daily transactions.'" --3rd Guardian, 4-11-87. |
| The friends should clearly understand that before the election of the Universal House of Justice there was no knowledge that there would be no Guardian. | This is certainly so, although the "Chicago Manifesto" and other messages from the 'leaders of the Faith' made it clear that "The door to the appointment of a second Guardian, as far as can be determined by references to the Bahá'í writings, is closed." |
| Neither the Hands of the Cause of God, nor the International Bahá'í Council, nor any other existing body could make a decision upon this all- important matter. Only the House of Justice had authority to pronounce upon it. This was one urgent reason for calling the election of the Universal House of Justice as soon as possible. | Let's face it. The Hands of the Cause had decided that they wanted to be in charge of the Faith and, according to Mason Remey's "Daily Observations" they didn't give a thought to investigating the possibility that Shoghi Effendi had appointed his successor in his lifetime, according to the provisions of the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. |
| Following the passing of Shoghi Effendi the international administration of the Faith was carried on by the Hands of the Cause of God with the complete agreement and loyalty of the national spiritual assemblies and the body of the believers. This was in accordance with the Guardian's designation of the Hands as the "Chief Stewards of Bahá'u'lláh's embryonic World Commonwealth." | Did the believers have any choice but to give their loyalty to the "Administration" until such time as the truth was made known to them--either through the Second Guardian's Proclamation or through their own independent recognition that Shoghi Effendi had indeed named his successor? The Hands seized upon the words "Chief Stewards" and interpreted them to mean that they were the leaders of the Faith. |
| From the very outset of their custodianship of the Cause of God the Hands realized that since they had no certainty of Divine guidance such as is incontrovertibly assured to the Guardian and to the Universal House of Justice, their one safe course was to follow with undeviating firmness the instructions and policies of Shoghi Effendi. | There was no "safe course" for the Hands once they set upon the path they did. Certainly, they did not "follow with undeviating firmness the instructions and policies of Shoghi Effendi." The 10-year Crusade did not, for instance, call for the election of the Universal House of Justice in 1963. The first Guardian established specific stages through which the International Council was to evolve. The Hands did not fulfill each of those stages. |
| The Guardian had given the Bahá'í world explicit and detailed plans covering the period until Ridván 1963, the end of the Ten Year Crusade. From that point onward, unless the Faith were to be endangered, further Divine guidance was essential. This was the second pressing reason for the calling of the election of the Universal House of Justice. | One of those stages that the Hands by-passed was the one calling for the International Bahá'í Council to evolve into a Bahá'í Court, which Shoghi Effendi identified in a Cablegram of 25 April 1951 as an "essential prelude to the institution of the Universal House of Justice." The Hands decided that such a stage was not essential. |
| Having been in charge of the Cause of God for six years, the Hands, with absolute faith in the Holy Writings, called upon the believers to elect the Universal House of Justice... | The Hands had disavowed the sacred and immutable Will of 'Abdu'l-Bahá when they decided that the Guardianship had ended. They lost their faith in the Holy Writings. |
| The second series of problems vexing some of the friends centers on the question of the infallibility of the Universal House of Justice and its ability to function without the presence of the Guardian. | This should be a vexing series of problems for anyone following a headless Universal House of Justice! In the Maxwell Notes, Shoghi Effendi clearly states: "It is the Guardian's responsibility to prevent the International House of Justice from abrogating any of the laws of the Aqdas." |
| It should be understood by the friends that before legislating upon any matter the Universal House of Justice studies carefully and exhaustively both the Sacred Texts and the writings of Shoghi Effendi on the subject. The interpretations written by the beloved Guardian cover a vast range of subjects and are equally as binding as the Text itself. | The Maxwell Notes also cite Shoghi Effendi as saying: "The Guardian can over-rule a decision of the International House of Justice if he conscientiously feels it is not in accord with the teachings. This is the interpretive right." In addition, in his "Dispensation", Shoghi Effendi refers to "these two inseparable institutions" and says the Guardian "is bound to insist upon a reconsideration" of positions taken by the UHJ which may "conflict with the meaning and to depart from the spirit of Bahá'u'lláh's revealed utterances." What good is it, then, for the so-called UHJ to study the past writings of the first Guardian when there is now a third Guardian? A living Guardian is essential. |
| Although not invested with the function of interpretation, the House of Justice is in a position to do everything necessary to establish the World Order of Bahá'u'lláh on this earth. | Shoghi Effendi's Dispensation says: "Divorced from the institution of the Guardianship the World Order of Bahá'u'lláh would be mutilated..." |
| Unity of doctrine is maintained by the existence of the authentic texts of Scripture and the voluminous interpretations of 'Abdu'l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi, together with the absolute prohibition against anyone propounding "authoritative" or "inspired" interpretations or usurping the function of Guardian. | To have "unity of doctrine" the friends should remember 'Abdu'l-Bahá's words: "As to the most great characteristic of the revelation of Bahá'u'lláh...: It is the ordination and appointment of the Center of the Covenant. By this appointment and provision He has safeguarded and protected the religion of God against differences and schisms, making it impossible for anyone to create a new sect or faction of belief. To ensure unity and agreement He has entered into a Covenant with all the people of the world, including the interpreter and explainer of His teachings, so that no one may interpret or explain the religion of God according to his own view or opinion and thus created a sect founded upon his individual understanding of the divine Words." (Promulgation of Universal Peace, Second Edition 1982, 455-456.) |
| The friends are called upon to trust to time and to await the guidance of the Universal House of Justice, which, as circumstances require, will make pronouncements that will resolve and clarify obscure matters. | Mason Remey said in his Third Encyclical: "[W]hile sincerity is a virtue when following in the true path, sincerity in following the wrong path can lead only to destruction." The friends need to read the writings and recognize that it is the Guardian who will insure that the Faith is on the proper path. |
| The third group of queries raised by the friends concerns details of functioning of the Universal House of Justice in the absence of the Guardian, particularly the matter of expulsion of members of the House of Justice. Such questions will be clarified in the constitution of the House of Justice... | The Will is clear: "Should any of the members commit a sin, injurious to the common weal, the guardian of the Cause of God hath at his own discretion the right to expel him..." The constitution of the legitimate UHJ will conform with such provisions as are enunciated in 'Abdu'l-Bahá's Will. |
| Meanwhile the friends are informed that any member committing a "sin injurious to the common weal" may be expelled from membership of the House of Justice by a majority vote of the House itself. | Obviously, the present body called the Universal House of Justice is no longer complying with "every clause of our Beloved's sacred Will" as called for by Shoghi Effendi. (See Bahá'í Administration, 90) |
| Should any member, God forbid, be guilty of breaking the Covenant, the matter would be investigated by the Hands of the Cause of God, and the Covenant-breaker would be expelled by decision of the Hands of the Cause of God residing in the Holy Land, subject to the approval of the House of Justice... | When the Hands are gone, the heterodox organization will put the power of expulsion into someone else's hands. But Shoghi Effendi didn't: "The Guardian, like the Master before him, has not considered it advisable to as yet permit any person or Assembly to put another person out of the Cause of God....no one but himself can pronounce a person to be in that diseased condition we call 'Covenant-breaking.'" (See Bahá'í News, June 1949, p. 2) |
| May 27, 1966
You suggest the possibility that, for the good of the Cause, certain information concerning the succession to Shoghi Effendi is being withheld from the believers. We assure you that nothing whatsoever is being withheld from the friends for whatever reason. |
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The so-called Universal House of Justice has apparently done everything in its power to prevent its followers from getting the information that the Orthodox Bahá'í Faith has attempted to give them. If their followers truly realized the importance of the continuing Guardianship and acted on that realization, the UHJ would face a very blank wall. |
| There is no doubt at all that in the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Shoghi Effendi was the authority designated to appoint his successor; but he had no children and all the surviving Aghsán had broken the Covenant. Thus...it is clear that there was no one he could have appointed in accordance with the provisions of the Will. | The first sentence is correct. The second one is not. In God Passes By (p.239) Shoghi Effendi uses the term "'Aghsán'" to apply to the sons of Bahá'u'lláh only and mentions the relatives of Bahá'u'lláh separately from them. As there were no remaining faithful sons (i.e., 'Aghsán') of Bahá'u'lláh at the time the third part of the Will and Testament was written, 'Abdu'l-Bahá." makes no reference to them in this part of the Will, but only to the Afnan. It is obvious therefore that when the Will provides the Guardian with the option of choosing "another branch" to succeed him He is not referring to the 'Aghsán' at all. The term "branch" as used here has a spiritual connotation and refers to a male member of the Faith who fulfills the required qualifications enumerated by 'Abdu'l-Bahá" in His Will and who has demonstrated his outstanding fidelity to the Covenant. |
| ...that same Will had provided a clear means for the confirmation of the Guardian's appointment of his successor, as you are aware. The nine Hands to be elected by the body of the Hands were to give their assent by secret ballot to the Guardian's choice. | The confirmation of the Guardian's appointment is to be done at the time of the appointment, which is, of course, while the Guardian making the appointment is alive. The body of nine Hands was not in existence at the time Shoghi Effendi appointed Mason Remey as President of the embryonic Universal House of Justice. |
| Do not forget that Shoghi Effendi said two things were necessary for a growing understanding of the World Order of Bahá'u'lláh: the passage of time and the guidance of the Universal House of Justice. | Yes, we will gain understanding with the passage of time, but to have the guidance of the true Universal House of Justice, that body must have a Guardian as its "sacred head." |
| The infallibility of the Universal House of Justice, operating within its ordained sphere, has not been made dependent upon the presence in its membership of the Guardian of the Cause. | The Dispensation says that the Guardianship provides "the necessary guidance to define the sphere of the legislative action of its elected representatives." Without the Guardianship that guidance "would be totally withdrawn." If the UHJ is infallible without the Guardian serving as its "sacred head," why would Shoghi Effendi have explained in the "Dispensation" that "he is bound to insist upon a reconsideration" of a position they may have taken, thereby indicating that without his guidance their proposed enactments are subject to error? |
| In the absence of the Guardian, is the Universal House of Justice in danger of straying outside its proper sphere and thus falling into error? | It is interesting to note that even if the Guardian should not attend the deliberations of the Universal House of Justice in person, the Will says: "Should he not attend in person its deliberations, he must appoint one to represent him." Now, why do you suppose that provision is in the Will? |
| Here we must remember three things: First, Shoghi Effendi...has already made innumerable such definitions, supplementing those made by 'Abdu'l-Bahá and by Bahá'u'lláh Himself. | Yes, and as you very much know, he did indeed say that the "salient features of this scheme...are already so clearly defined that we find it inexcusable to either misconceive or ignore." But that's what they've done. |
| Second, the Universal House of Justice, itself assured of Divine guidance, is well aware of the absence of the Guardian and will approach all matters of legislation only when certain of its sphere of jurisdiction, a sphere which the Guardian has confidently described as "clearly defined." | The Universal House of Justice is not the Universal House of Justice unless it contains the institution with which it is "inseparable," namely, the Guardianship. Obviously, the current sans-Guardian body is unaware of the sphere of jurisdiction of a true Universal House of Justice. |
| Third, we must not forget the Guardian's written statement about these two institutions: "Neither can, nor will ever, infringe upon the sacred and prescribed domain of the other." | There is something ludicrous about this statement. The sans-Guardian UHJ has no Guardian. So it's clear their Guardian-in-absentia will not be able to infringe upon the domain that they establish for themselves. Or does this statement by the UHJ attempt to imply that the UHJ does not require the Guardian as its "sacred head" and thereby justify its headless and illegitimate status? |
| Whereas the Universal House of Justice cannot undertake any function which exclusively appertained to the Guardian, it must continue to pursue the object which it shares in common with the Guardianship. | One of the things which gives the lie to this statement is that later on in this same letter the sans-Guardian UHJ states "it must, in the absence of the Guardian, receive and disburse the Huqúqu'lláh, a function which "exclusively appertained to the Guardian" and not an "object which it shares in common with the Guardianship." |
| Now the Universal House of Justice must function without the Guardian, but the principle of inseparability remains. The Guardianship does not lose its significance nor position in the Order of Bahá'u'lláh merely because there is no living Guardian. | This is ridiculous. The Guardianship is one of "the twin pillars that support this mighty Administrative Structure." It is "divine in origin," "essential" in its function, and the two institutions are "complementary in their aim and purpose." (Dispensation, pp. 4 & 5) |
| No good but only evil can come from taking the responsibility for the future of God's Cause into our own hands and trying to force it into ways that we wish it to go regardless of the clear texts and our own limitations. | This is a statement of tremendous irony. The Hands of the Cause took the future of God's Cause into their own hands and tried to force it into ways that are not called for in the clear texts. |
| If some of the statements of the Universal House of Justice are not detailed the friends should realize that the cause of this is not secretiveness, but rather the determination of this body to refrain from interpreting the teachings... | The pronouncements of the sans- Guardian Universal House of Justice are their own interpretations of the teachings. And if one is a follower of that body and goes against that body's interpretations, he or she is called a "Covenant-breaker." |
| However great may be our inability to understand the mystery and the implications of the passing of Shoghi Effendi, the strong cord to which all must cling with assurance is the Covenant. | It's clear that the meaning of the Covenant to the so-called Universal House of Justice is different from the meaning that Orthodox Bahá'ís ascribe to the Covenant. The Covenant has to do with the succession of divine interpreters. As Shoghi Effendi says in the Maxwell Notes: "The Bahá'í Revelation has administrative institutions established by Bahá'u'lláh and made clear in the Master's Will and Testament. The Master's Will appointed both the successor and interpreter. No other Revelation has this." |
| The Universal House of Justice, which the Guardian said would be regarded by posterity as "the last refuge of a tottering civilization," is now, in the absence of the Guardian, the sole infallibly guided institution in the world... | Shoghi Effendi says that the Fathers of the Christian Church "wholly inferred and indirectly derived" the "authority and features of their administration." Likewise, the heterodox UHJ must infer and indirectly derive that Shoghi Effendi had in mind a headless UHJ when he made the statement he did about the UHJ being ""the last refuge of a tottering civilization." On the contrary, all of the writings, messages and pronouncements of Shoghi Effendi until the very last days of his ministry have referred to the Guardianship as an essential, living and continuing institution throughout the entire duration of the Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh. |
| As the Universal House of Justice has already announced, it cannot legislate to make possible the appointment of a successor to Shoghi Effendi, nor can it legislate to make possible the appointment of any more Hands of the Cause, but it must do everything within its power to ensure the performance of all those functions which it shares with these two mighty institutions. | The Will states: "This body of the Hands of the Cause of God is under the direction of the guardian of the Cause of God. He must continually urge them..." The Guardian, like the UHJ, "is equipped with its own attendant institutions-- instruments designed for the effective discharge of its particular responsibilities and duties." The UHJ does not share in the direction of the Hands. (See W&T, para 22 & Dispensation, p. 5) |
| ...it must, in the absence of the Guardian, receive and disburse the Huqúqu'lláh. | This is a particular responsibility/duty of the Guardian. The heterodox UHJ has infringed "upon the sacred and prescribed domain of the other [institution]." (See Dispensation, p. 7) |
| It must make provision in its constitution for the removal of any of its members who commits a sin "injurious to the common weal." | Again, this is the prescribed domain of the Guardian. |
| 7 December 1969
In attempting to understand the Writings, therefore, one must first realize that there is and can be no real contradiction in them, and in the light of this we can confidently seek the unity of meaning which they contain. |
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This statement is an attempt on the part of the heterodox UHJ to justify their sans-Guardian existence. In effect, they are denying the need for "The interpretation of the Guardian, functioning within his own sphere, [which] is as authoritative and binding as the enactments of the International House of Justice." (Dispensation p. 6) |
| It is impossible to conceive that two centers of authority, which the Master has stated "are both under the care and protection of the Abha Beauty, under the shelter and unerring guidance of His Holiness the Exalted One," could conflict with one another, because both are vehicles of the same Divine Guidance. | This is just so much smoke. As long as the heterodox UHJ has no Guardian at its head, the talk of conflict is sense-less. There will be no outward conflict because the heterodox UHJ will not have a Guardian who could "insist upon a reconsideration by them of any enactment he conscientiously believes to conflict with the meaning and to depart from the spirit of Bahá'u'lláh's revealed utterances." (Dispensation, p. 7) |
| Nowhere is it stated that the infallibility of the Universal House of Justice is by virtue of the Guardian's membership or presence on that body. | Nowhere in the Master's writings or in Shoghi Effendi's writings will there be found any statement that the UHJ will be formed without a Guardian as its head. As Shoghi Effendi points out in the Maxwell Notes: "In the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá the words 'irremovable' and 'expounder' are found..." And Shoghi Effendi says the Guardian is the "permanent head" of the UHJ. (Dispensation, p. 7) |
| He [the Guardian] is...made the irremovable head and member for life of the supreme legislative body of the Faith. It is as the head of the Universal House of Justice, and as a member of that body, that the Guardian takes part in the process of legislation. | True. So where is the head of the heterodox UHJ? Where is the heterodox UHJ's "distinguished member for life of that body"? |
| ....One can understand how great would be the attention paid to the views of the Guardian during the above process were he alive. | How much dedicated attention has been given by those in the heterodox organization to the views of the second and third Guardians? |
| Future Guardians are clearly envisaged and referred to in the Writings, but there is nowhere any promise or guarantee that the line of Guardians would endure forever; on the contrary there are clear indications that the line could be broken. | In Bahá'í News, June 1950, p. 8 the Guardian is quoted: "In the spiritual realm they [men] have...reached the point where God could leave, in human hands (i.e. the Guardians'), guided directly by the Bab and Bahá'u'lláh, as the Master states in His Will, the affairs of His Faith for this Dispensation. This is what is meant by 'this is the day which will not be followed by night'. In this Dispensation, divine guidance flows on to us in this world after the Prophet's ascension, through, first the Master, and then the Guardians." |
| In the Bahá'í Faith there are two authoritative centers appointed to which the believers must turn....one center is the Book with its Interpreter, and the other is the Universal House of Justice guided by God to decide on whatever is not explicitly revealed in the Book. | Nowhere in the Will or in the writings of Shoghi Effendi is there a reference to two centers but only "the twin pillars that support this mighty Administrative Structure." The last page of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's Will identifies the Guardian of the Faith as the "Center of the Cause." |
| ...the Interpreter of the Book must also have the authority to define the sphere of the legislative action of the elected representatives of the Cause. The writings of the Guardian and the advice given by him over the thirty-six years of this Guardianship show the way in which he exercised this function in relation to the Universal House of Justice... | Shoghi Effendi writes that "he who symbolizes the hereditary principle in this Dispensation has been made the interpreter of the words of its Author, and ceases consequently, by virtue of the actual authority vested in him, to be the figurehead invariably associated with the prevailing systems of constitutional monarchies." The heterodox organization doesn't even have a figurehead! (Dispensation, p. 9) |
| The fact that the Guardian has the authority to define the sphere of the legislative action of the Universal House of Justice does not carry with it the corollary that without such guidance the Universal House of Justice might stray beyond the limits of its proper authority; such a deduction would conflict with all the other texts referring to its infallibility, and specifically with the Guardian's own clear assertion that the Universal House of Justice never can or will infringe on the sacred and prescribed domain of the Guardianship. | Let's reiterate what Shoghi Effendi wrote: The Guardian "is bound to insist upon a reconsideration by them of any enactment he conscientiously believes to conflict with the meaning and to depart from the spirit of Bahá'u'lláh's revealed utterances." (Dispensation, p. 7) |
| As Shoghi Effendi's secretary wrote on his behalf to an individual believer on 25 March 1930, "The contents of the Will of the Master are far too much for the present generation to comprehend. It needs at least a century of actual working before the treasures of its wisdom hidden in it can be revealed..." | "...at least a century of actual working..." Shoghi Effendi wrote: " ...Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá have both revealed and even insisted upon certain details in connection with the Divine Economy which they have bequeathed to us, their followers. This is why such an emphasis has been placed in their Will and Testament upon the powers and prerogatives of the ministers of their Faith." (WOB, p. 22) Shoghi Effendi also said: "...Bahá'u'lláh in His Book of Aqdas, and later 'Abdu'l-Bahá in His Will--a document which confirms, supplements, and correlates the provisions of the Aqdas--have set forth in their entirety those essential elements for the constitution of the world Bahá'í Commonwealth..." (WOB, p. 19.) For the contents of the Will of the Master to actually work, all the essential elements of the "Charter" of the World Order of Bahá'u'lláh must be in place. Such circumstances do not exist in the man-made organization of the heterodox Universal House of Justice with its subsidiary institutions and believers. Nor will such circumstances ever exist until such time as the duly-appointed Guardian of the Faith is indeed the "Center of the Cause" from whom, with the properly- constituted Universal House of Justice, all must seek guidance. Otherwise, as 'Abdu'l-Bahá states at the end of His Will and Testament, "he that turneth unto whatsoever else is indeed in grievous error." |