Mr. Ali Majid Sabeti appointed as fifth Guardian of the Baha'i Faith

 

Mr. Ali Majid Sabeti - Fifth Guardain of the Baha'i Faith

To the Beloved Believers and Friends of the Covenant,

With hearts filled with joy, humility, and profound spiritual gratitude, we offer our warmest congratulations to Mr. Ali Majid Sabeti on his elevation to the sacred office as the Fifth Guardian of the Orthodox Baháʼí Faith. He is appointed Guardian by the fourth Guardian of the Faith - Nosrat'u'llah Behremand.

Professionally, he is a senior railway quality and project management professional, specializing in quality assurance, acceptance inspection, welding engineering, and process improvement.

As he assumes the vital responsibilities of safeguarding the Covenant, clarifying the Holy Word, and guiding the spiritual destiny of the community, we offer our deepest prayers for his strength, divine inspiration, and continuous guidance.

We also express our enduring gratitude and high esteem for his predecessor, Nosrat’u’llah Bahremand, the Fourth Guardian, whose faithful service and dedicated stewardship carried the community forward during his tenure.

May God , the Almighty, the all-powerful grant them a long and healthy life.

Issues of Authority and Station in the Bahá’í Faith

There is a strong and inseparable connection between the highest authority in the Administrative Order of the Faith i.e. the Guardianship, and the Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh. The Covenant is the channel from which authority is derived and flows through and passes on by appointment. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is the Center of that Covenant, and the Guardians have emerged from the Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh.

Authority of the Guardians:

The authority of the Guardians includes, but is not limited to the right to interpret, to determine, command, control, adjudicate, and to settle issues or disputes in the Faith or about the Faith. [Also, there are other levels of authority in the Administrative Order of the Faith, such as the different levels of the Houses of Justice which shall not be discussed here]

Station:

This word is used to distinguish spiritual status in the Faith (spiritual position or rank). For example, a Hand of the Cause has a station while a member of the Universal House of Justice does not. The station of Bahá’u’lláh, the Báb, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is continued in the next world while the station of the Guardians is limited to this world.

Relation of authority to station:

Authority is an integral of station and they are inseparable. To make it more clear, I give an example: If we look at a chart of a business organization we will see some boxes which like a pyramid is pointed at the top i.e., one box is at the top; in which is written Chairman of the Board of Directors and a line downward connects this box to another box which is written Board of Directors and from this box several lines go to some boxes which represent the positions of the high level directors and executives of the company and the departments that they preside over and from each of these boxes some downward lines are connected to the lower levels of management. Then in the constitution of the company, for each position from top to bottom, there is an explanation of the authority and duties for each position¬Ý and an explanation as to the extent of supervision, command or taking of orders etc. The authority is attached to the position as well as the duties for anybody who occupies these positions. As soon as the person leaves that position, authority will shift to and be exercised by the next person who occupies their place, so the authority is attached to the position and it is not attached to the person. It is the same way with the station of the Guardianship. When a person becomes the Guardian i.e., occupies the station of the Guardianship, he will be endowed with the authority that the "Charter of the New World Order" describes. Neither the authority nor the station of the Guardian has any relationship to bloodline, race, nationality or language. "Acquired infallibility is not a natural necessity." ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, p. 171.

Infallibility and protection from error:

The fact that we must not exaggerate about the station of the Guardians in no way means that we should understate their exalted station. The Guardians are the sign of God, the chosen branch, and interpreter of the Word of God and recipients of the "ray of the bounty of infallibility which shines from the Sun of Reality upon hearts, and grants a share and portion of itself to souls. Although these souls have not essential infallibility, still they are under the protection of God — that is to say, God preserves them from error." If we believe that Guardians are "under the care and protection of the Abhá Beauty, under the shelter and unerring guidance of the Exalted One" as the Master explains in his Will and Testament, and recognize that they are receivers of divine guidance we must accept that they will not make mistakes in matters which are related strictly to the Cause and in interpretation of the teachings. To me "God preserves them from error" clearly means they will not make errors. You preserve food so that it will not deteriorate. We know that Guardians are not infallible on subjects that are not related to the Cause and about these subjects they are like other humans, but whatever they do or say in regards to matters related to the Cause, since they are guided by Bahá’u’lláh and the Báb, it is correct and infallible, and it is the way that it should be at the time, of the situation, condition or occasion, although it may seem to some of us as not right.

There is no one with authority to judge a Guardian:

It is questionable who has the authority to judge a Guardian in regards to matters related to the Cause; to say in this case or that case he made a mistake? We have seen in T.R.B. some comments that Shoghi Effendi made a mistake because he did not announce his successor more clearly than he did or that Mason Remey made a mistake because he delayed making his proclamation or similarly why did Joel B. Marangella wait so long to issue his proclamation? My answer is: those things or similar things had to happen. They were guided to do it the way they did. If Shoghi Effendi trusted Rúhíyyih Khánum, he did not make a mistake as she was a Hand of the Cause and also his secretary. Moreover, she was his wife, and all of the records of her writings prior to the passing of the first Guardian reveal to the reader her profound knowledge of the Faith and the Covenant and emphasize her clear testimony to the necessity of the continuation of the Guardianship until the end of the Bahá’í Dispensation. If Rúhíyyih Khánum after the passing of Shoghi Effendi followed the satanic promptings of her human soul,that was her great error which made her the "Arch Covenant-breaker." The Guardians are not prophets. Some people claim that the Manifestations of God have made a lot of mistakes (which is not true), the fact is that we cannot judge those things that have been done or have happened in the past according to today's knowledge and¬Ýunderstandings and conditions. We cannot blame Jesus for what He did with the businesses in front of the Temple, which by today's laws¬Ýwould be considered a crime. He did what He had to do then according¬Ýto the Will of God. Some people have raised questions as to why Shoghi Effendi put so many of his relatives out of the Faith. The fact is that the condition of the Faith in its infancy required a non-tolerant discipline and on the other hand those relatives' exploitation and misuse of the privileges that they possessed was not acceptable and they left no other choice for the Guardian. He did what he had to do according to the Will of God.

The Guardian must be obeyed:

We have to accept and obey the explanations and interpretations of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and the Guardians, so we have to believe in the explanation and interpretation of Shoghi Effendi, about infallibility, when he says: "The infallibility of the Guardian is confined to matters which are related strictly to the Cause and interpretation of the teachings; he is not an infallible authority on other subjects, such as economics, science, etc. When he feels that a certain thing is essential for the protection of the Cause, even if it is something that affects a person personally, he must be obeyed, but when he gives advice, such as that he gave you in a previous letter about your future, it is not binding; you are free to follow it or not as you please." (Directives from the Guardian, p. 33)

The hereditary principle:

To take hereditary principle in its biological meaning is wrong; it is a system of succession of authority (king, ruler etc.), which stands separate from the electoral system of choosing the head of state, or the appointment of a council. In the hereditary system the head of state chooses his successor, who may be a relative or non-relative.

In the Dispensation of Baha'u'llah, Shoghi Effendi mentions the law of primogeniture to explain why, when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá appointed him, He wrote: "and after him will succeed the first-born of his lineal descendants" (I think this was to emphasize the appointment of Shoghi Effendi and to strengthen him against the opposition of his half brothers) but in the next page of his sacred Will and Testament He made this appointment conditional to being spiritually qualified and to being appointed.

Great violation:

Rúhíyyih Khánum neither looked to authority nor looked to station. She did not want any more Guardians, as simple as that. I have every reason to believe that she knew that Mason Remey was the successor; for me it is hard to believe that Shoghi Effendi, when he was very sick in London and knew that many people had died at this time from the same epidemic of influenza, he had not discussed and disclosed to her the way he had appointed his successor or dictated a last message to the Bahá’í world. The book titled: "Ministry of the Custodians" shows how she propagated and fabricated authority for the Hands, the authority that they did not have and they could not have. She, after a lot of exaggeration about the Hands, mentions the appointment of the first contingent of the Hands on 24 December 1951 and continues in the same manner in explaining the appointments of the Hands up to 1957. Then in a flashback she explains the establishment of the International Bahá’í Council on 9 January 1951 only in a few lines.

Denial of IBC's status and authority

Rúhíyyih Khánum denied the status of the IBC and the authority and station of its sacred head and considered only the authority of those Hands who were the appointed members of the IBC.She even lied that these five Hands were a separate body. Her statement follows:

"In addition to being members of the International Bahá’í Council, these Hands, resident and serving at the World Centre, constituted a separate body, specified by Shoghi Effendi to act as liaison between him and the other Hands throughout the world, conveying their messages to him and his to them, thus giving us, during his own lifetime, a dual function as Hands directly serving under him and officers of the International Bahá’í Council. I believe that at that particularly dangerous juncture in Bahá’í history this duality was providential and greatly reinforced the authority and power of the Custodians when faced by the crisis of his sudden passing." Ministry of the Custodians, p.5

The Ministry of the Custodians is a collection of proofs of dishonesty and deceit of Rúhíyyih Khánum and the Hands who followed her.

In regards to those who continued to follow Mason Remey after his mental deterioration and after he had abdicated the Guardianship, or in other words, after he had vacated his station and passed on the authority which was endowed with the station of the Guardianship, they focused on his personage without caring that due to his mental condition he was now contradicting in his statements, the Will and Testament and deprecating Shoghi Effendi and even what he himself had said and written in his early writings as Guardian.

The present bogus administration practically supposes that Shoghi Effendi made a mistake in not appointing his successor or in not stating there would be no more Guardians.

In the Ministry of Custodians and in the writings of the bogus UHJ, you can see a lot of references to the passing of the first Guardian and to the things that happened as a great test in the Faith, which also we believe was a great test. But how is it a test and what will be tested when the test is to check if those being tested have acquired the necessary knowledge, prior to this test, to realize that its solution would be found in the sacred provisions of the Will and Testament and in the writings and messages of Shoghi Effendi, especially in his proclamation of 9 January 1951?

Nosrat'u'llah Bahremand

The Fourth Guardian of Baha'i Faith

Open Letters of 9 July 1960 and 21 October 1960

FOREWORD TO OPEN LETTER OF 9 JULY 1960

The letter that follows was addressed to the Bahá'í friends some two months subsequent to the issuance to the Bahá'í world of Mason Remey's Proclamation as the second Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith. His Proclamation had been made two and one half years following the passing of Shoghi Effendi, the first beloved Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith.

Mason Remey's Proclamation had been sent to the Bahá'í National Convention of the United States convened at Wilmette, Illinois during the Ridván period 1960 and to the various Bahá'í National Spiritual Assemblies through out the world. By this time, the Bahá'í world had been conditioned by the Hands of the Cause and particularly by a body of these Hands who had set themselves up in Haifa, Israel after the passing of Shoghi Effendi as a sort of collegial Guardianship over the Bahá'í Faith to believe that the Guardianship had terminated. Mason Remey had certainly hoped that at least some of these bodies would accept his claim to the Guardianship. Such hopes as he may have had were dashed as the result of a cabled message from the Hands in Haifa to the National Spiritual Assemblies accusing Mason Remey of imposture and directing that his claim to the Guardianship of the Faith be rejected out of hand.

All of the National Spiritual Assemblies with the exception of the National Assembly of France submitted to this edict and consequently did not reproduce the Proclamation, translate it where necessary and distribute it to the believers under their respective administrative jurisdictions thus keeping these believers in complete ignorance of the claim made by Mason Remey to the Guardianship, an ignorance which still persists to the present day.

Unlike the other Bahá'í National Spiritual Assemblies, the National Spiritual Assembly of France, of which the undersigned was then privileged to be a member, carefully and prayerfully studied the claims set forth in Mason Remey's Proclamation and perceived their complete validity. This body then duly voted its acceptance of Mason Remey as the second Guardian of the Faith.

From the foregoing brief account it may be seen how the vast majority of the Bahá'ís in the world were led blindly into the greatest violation of the Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh that the Faith has known in its history.

The open letter of which this statement is a foreword was but one small effort to reach some of the misled believers and expose the true facts concerning the continuity of the Guardianship. This letter, like others that were written at the time, by those who had rallied to the support of the second Guardian is considered not only of historical value but of continuing value to both present and future students of the Bahá'í Faith.


Joel Bray Marangella




Orleans, France
9 July,1960



Dear Bahá' í friends,

By this time I am sure that most, if not all of you to whom this letter is addressed will have learned that I, as well as a number of the other believers in France, have accepted Mason Remey as the second Guardian of the Cause of God.

Not having the time to write all of you individual letters and desiring particularly to communicate with a large number of you whom I have known for many years, some since the days of my boyhood, I felt the only way to do so would be to write this general open letter which could be reproduced. My reasons for desiring to write you are twofold:

    First; I would like to explain for the benefit of all those who have been wondering why I have made this decision (as they may have, for the time being at least, taken an opposing stand) the processes of my own thoughts and research on the question of the Guardianship following the passing of our beloved first Guardian and prior to receipt of the Proclamation of Mason Remey and the clear and undeniable realization which came to me following receipt of this momentous document.

    Second; I feel with all the intensity of my being that the only salvation for the continued life of our beloved Faith lies in a close and studied examination of the Proclamation of Mason Remey in a prayerful attitude from an unprejudiced and unbiased viewpoint and in the light of our Sacred Writings and all that our beloved first Guardian wrote on the Institution of the Guardianship. Only in this way can we free ourselves from the influence and viewpoints of others (whatever their position or rank may be) and hope to arrive at the truth and an unfettered decision. Is this not the same process which we have been enjoined to follow in accepting the Faith itself? (i.e., through independent investigation of the truth).

For those of us who have loved and served our first Guardian during his lifetime and have treasured and held dear his imperishable writings and instructions, our foremost desire since his passing has been, I am certain all will agree, to remain faithful and obedient to the instructions he has given us during his lifetime and left with us as an eternal bequest from his infallible pen. The present crisis which faces our beloved Cause, it seems to me, revolves solely around this point coupled with the doubt which many have permitted to creep into their own minds stemming from a lack of faith in the inviolability of the Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh, "the all-mighty Covenant, the like of which the sacred Dispensations of the past have never witnessed," "one of the distinctive features of this most mighty cycle" and the "Ark of Salvation." (See p.239, "God Passes By.")

Following the passing of Shoghi Effendi and the disclosure that a traditional type testamentary document was not found in his papers, we all heard the following speculations which are not acceptable in the light of the provisions of the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá and all that our beloved first Guardian has written:

That the plan of God had been changed and there would never be another Guardian

That the Faith does not need a Guardian any longer.

As for myself, I perhaps found it easier to embrace the second Guardian than most of my fellow Bahá'ís because, following the passing of Shoghi Effendi, I had been unable to shove the all-important question of successorship to the back of my mind and forget about it but rather I felt impelled to intensify my studies and review again minutely the Will and Testament of `Abdu'l-Bahá and the "Dispensation." This study coupled with searching meditation during many sleepless nights led me to come to the following conclusions concerning the Guardianship which, now as I look back in retrospect, prepared me to approach the Proclamation of Mason Remey with an open mind:

Excerpts from May Maxwell's Haifa Notes JANUARY–MARCH 1937

(ACCOMPANIED IN HER PILGRIMAGE BY HER DAUGHTER MARY, LATER NAMED RÚHIYYÍH KHÁNUM BY SHOGHI EFFENDI, FOLLOWING HER MARRIAGE TO HIM)

The following excerpts are taken from the Haifa Notes of May Maxwell, who made these notes of Shoghi Effendi’s statements while accompanied by her daughter, Mary, later, as Shoghi Effendi’s wife, given the name Rúhíyyih Khánum, during their pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1937. Although most of the early believers were familiar with these Haifa Notes as they were widely circulated at the time, those who have embraced the Faith in more recent times will certainly never have read them. The following excerpts should prove to those Bahá’ís who were led to believe the living Guardianship came to an end with the passing of Shoghi Effendi in 1957 that nothing could be further from the truth. For the statements of Shoghi Effendi, as recorded in these notes, emphasize, as they also invariably did in his writings, that the Will and Testament is the very "Child of the Covenant" whose "Father" was Bahá’u’lláh and "Mother" ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and, as a result, actually considered, in a mystical sense, as spiritually conceived by Them as their "Child" and "their Will," (see p.22, WOB) with an ordained life-span promised by Them to endure at least a full thousand years. Therefore is it not crystal clear that this sacred "Child" born into life in 1921 upon the Ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá has been destined to live more than a brief period of 36 years and certainly not condemned to a premature death with the passing of Shoghi Effendi, as fallaciously claimed by those who have abandoned the living Guardianship of the Cause of God?

Following are the words of Shoghi Effendi has recorded in these historic Notes:

    The administration was conceived by Bahá’ulláh, but matured in the womb of the Master’s mind. Bahá’u’lláh is its Father; ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, its Mother.

    The World Order was anticipated and announced by the Báb, conceived by Bahá’u’lláh and formulated by the Master and is now being built by the Bahá’ís.

    There was corruption in other revelations. There cannot be any in this one owing to the Administrative Order [as delineated in the Master’s Will].

    The Guardianship and the International House of Justice are the two pillars that support the edifice of the Administrative Order . . . Each of these two pillars has its satellites. The International House of Justice has its local and national Houses of Justice. The Hands of the Cause are a corporate body, an organized body. These are the satellites of the Guardian.

    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 [with His establishment of the institution of the guardianship]. No other Revelation has this.

    Will and Testament, Part I, page 13, Referring to the Hands — they must report the delinquent member to the Guardian. He puts them out. There are three elements in the Will: the Guardian is the Interpreter; the International House of Justice, the Legislator; and the Hands propagate and teach the Cause — through research work and the example of their lives and conduct. The Administrative Order would be paralyzed if one of these institutions should cease to function.

    In the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá the words "irremovable and expounder" are found (Irremovable Head of the International House of Justice and expounder of the teachings). The Huquq is a fixed revenue for the Guardian, paid directly, and has nothing to do with the administrative funds, local, national, or international.

    The Guardians are the equivalent in the Bahá’í Revelation to the Imams in the Muhammadan Revelation. It is the Guardian’s responsibility to prevent the International House of Justice from abrogating the laws of the Aqdas.

    Peter’s position in relation to Christianity and Ali’s in relation to Islam is represented by two institutions in the Cause: the Guardianship and the International House of Justice.

    The laws of the Aqdas can never be touched or changed by any International House of Justice. [applicable as well to the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá for as Shoghi Effendi has written: "they mutually confirm one another and are inseparable parts of one complete unit."]

    Apart from certain distinctions and restrictions in the Teachings, men and women are indistinguishable. As far as the teachings are concerned, this is so. It is the immutable law of God and is not for us to question. The Imams, the 12 Disciples, the Prophets in the Mosaic dispensation, etc. were all men. The Guardians are all men.

    The Friends should read and study the WILL AND TESTAMENT. We are too near it to see it in its proper light, It is like a huge edifice, we cannot yet see it in perspective. This and the Aqdas are the two Chief Depositories of the truths enshrined in the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh.

    The English King reigns, but the Guardian is active as the hereditary element in the Universal House of Justice.

    Bahá’u’lláh purposely left a gap in the Aqdas which was filled by the Master’s Will and Testament with the Guardian. (The Huquq.)

    There was a danger that the friends might misunderstand the Master’s Will and thus the "Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh" was written, Shoghi Effendi’s spiritual testament in detail. He has fixed in it the relations of things to each other. We cannot go beyond what he has defined. However, the second Guardian can interpret the "Dispensation" itself. The Guardian is the interpreter, expounder of the Cause and the protector of the Cause.

    The Guardian can overrule 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... The second part of his work is participation in the legislative body.

    He agrees that the institution of Guardianship takes precedence over the International House of Justice.

    The words of the Guardian are [as] binding as the Words of the three key Figures. The stations are different. What he says about the Guardianship is binding on future Guardians. ([read the] "Dispensation") The Will of the Master is the third kind of Covenant.

    His task is to watch very carefully [to see] that they [the Universal House of Justice] do not get out of their sphere of activity: legislation.

    [In the development of the Faith] "The first stage of oppression and persecution is passing and we are now in the second stage of emancipation. The stage of recognition will be the third stage. . . . We are now in the second stage. When the Egyptian, Indian or Persian government accepts a Bahá’í Court, we will enter the third stage, recognition by the civil authorities. When the International House of Justice is established, the formative period will be over. 1.

Sadly, surprisingly and with tragic consequences, the above statements of Shoghi Effendi were either ignored, forgotten or, in effect, repudiated, however unwittingly, by his widow, Rúhíyyih Khánum, upon his passing in 1957, as evidenced by her incomprehensible abandonment of the Institution of the Guardianship, with her rejection of Shoghi Effendi's appointed successor, together with her fellow-Hands of the Cause (with a single notable exception), followed by their inexcusable and shameless corruption of the Bahá’í Administrative Order, in which they ignominiously usurped the role and functions of the Guardianship and established a substitute sans-Guardian, man-made and deformed replica in its place.

1. Obviously the Faith has not yet reached the third stage of its development — recognition, — as defined above by Shoghi Effendi. As the Faith is still in its formative stage, the establishment of the so-called Universal House of Justice in 1963 by the former Hands of the Cause was considerably premature and improper and obviously contrary to the appropriate time for its establishment as envisaged by Shoghi Effendi.

Joel Bray Marangella

Third Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith

14 January, 2003

Ruhiyyih Khanum on the Guardianship

For the first time in history, a religion has been given to men which cannot be split up into sects, for the two Wills - those of Baha'u'llah and the Master, are so strongly constructed and so authentic beyond a shadow of a doubt, that it is impossible to divorce the body of the teachings from their provisions. The principle of successorship (as found in the Guardianship) endowed with the right of Divine interpretation, is the very hub of the Cause unto which its Doctrines and Laws fit like the spokes of a wheel - tear out the hub and you have to throw away the whole thing.

Ruhiyyih Khanum in her paper Twenty-Five years of the Guardianship '

Trials in Life

Question in the Baha'i Faith what role do trials play? Do they purify us spiritually and are they seen as good in that sense? Are they sent from God or not? How can we best overcome trials? What do the writings say about this?

Below is something that the Master wrote on this subject.

You must not be sad. This affliction will make you spiritually stronger. Do not be sad. Cheer up! Praise be to God, you are dear to Me, I will tell you a story:

A certain ruler wished to appoint one of his subjects to a high office: so, in order to train him, the ruler cast him into prison and caused him to suffer much. The man was surprised at this, for he expected great favours. The ruler had him taken from prison and beaten with sticks. This greatly astonished the man, for he thought the ruler loved him. After this he was hanged on the gallows until he was nearly dead. After he recovered he asked the ruler, 'If you love me, why did you do these things?' The ruler replied: 'I wish to make you prime minister. By having gone through these ordeals you are better fitted for that office. I wish you to know how it is yourself. When you are obliged to punish, you will know how it feels to endure these things. I love you so I wish you to become perfect.'

"Even so with you. After this ordeal you will reach maturity. God sometimes causes us to suffer much and to have many misfortunes that we may become strong in His Cause. You will soon recover and be spiritually stronger than ever before. You will work for God and carry the Message to many of your people."

(Words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá on October 10, 1912 to Mr. Tinsley who was recovering from an accident in San Francisco, California: Star of the West, Vol. IV, No. 12, p. 205)

Abdu’l Baha the Seventh Angel! - Commentary on the Book of Revelation's "Seventh Angel"by Nosrat Bahremand

"And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign forever and ever.” Revelation (11:15)



“GOOD NEWS! GOOD NEWS!

The doors of the Kingdom of God are open!

GOOD NEWS! GOOD NEWS!

Armies of Angels are descending from Heaven!

GOOD NEWS! GOOD NEWS!

The Sun of Truth is rising!

GOOD NEWS! GOOD NEWS!

Heavenly food is being sent from above!

GOOD NEWS! GOOD NEWS!

The Trumpet is sounding!

GOOD NEWS! GOOD NEWS!

The Banner of the Great Peace is floating far and wide!

GOOD NEWS! GOOD NEWS!

The Light of the Lamp of the Oneness of Humanity is shining bright!
GOOD NEWS! GOOD NEWS!

The fire of the Love of God is blazing!

GOOD NEWS! GOOD NEWS!

The Holy Spirit is being outpoured!

GOOD NEWS! GOOD NEWS!

For Everlasting Life is here!

O Ye that sleep, Awake!

O ye heedless ones, Learn wisdom!

O Blind, receive your sight!

O Deaf, Hear!

O Dumb, Speak!

O Dead, Arise!

Be Happy!

Be Happy!

Be full of Joy!”



(Message to the London Baha’is for the Day of the Covenant, November 26th, 1911.--Abdu’l Baha in London, p. 126)

In the Dispensation of Baha’u’llah Abdu’l Baha occupies a unique Station unprecedented in the annals of all Religions. Shoghi Effendi explains:

“An attempt I strongly feel should now be made to clarify our minds regarding the station occupied by 'Abdu'l-Bahá and the significance of His position in this holy Dispensation. It would be indeed difficult for us, who stand so close to such a tremendous figure and are drawn by the mysterious power of so magnetic a personality, to obtain a clear and exact understanding of the role and character of One Who, not only in the Dispensation of Baha’u’llah but in the entire field of religious history, fulfills a unique function. Though moving in a sphere of His own and holding a rank radically different from that of the Author and the Forerunner of the Baha’i Revelation, He, by virtue of the station ordained for Him through the Covenant of Baha’u’llah, forms together with them what may be termed the Three Central

Figures of a Faith that stands unapproached in the world's spiritual history.” (The World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 131)
 

Abdu’l Baha’s contribution to the World Order of Baha’u’llah, the Baha’i Faith and humanity in general is enormously great and magnificent. What He did during His lifetime and “His greatest legacy to posterity” i.e. His Will and Testament “the Charter of a future world civilization, which may be regarded in some of its features as supplementary to no less weighty a Book than the Kitab-i-Aqdas” and “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.” is so magnificent, glorious and luminous which not only will give light and will illumine many centuries in the future to the end of the Baha’i Dispensation, but His future glory and radiance has been observed and foreseen by the prophets of the past. For instance it is recorded in the Bible in the Book of Revelation (11:15) as follows:

"And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign forever and ever.”

Abdu’l Baha has explained and unveiled the meaning of this prophecy, in the book

Some Answered Questions:

“The seventh angel is a man qualified with heavenly attributes, who will arise with heavenly qualities and character. Voices will be raised, so that the appearance of the Divine Manifestation will be proclaimed and diffused. In the day of the manifestation of the Lord of Hosts, and at the epoch of the divine cycle of the Omnipotent which is promised and mentioned in all the books and writings of the Prophets -- in that day of God, the Spiritual and Divine Kingdom will be established, and the world will be renewed; a new spirit will be breathed into the body of creation; the season of the divine spring will come; the clouds of mercy will rain; the sun of reality will shine; the life-giving breeze will blow; the world of humanity will wear a new garment; the surface of the earth will be a sublime paradise; mankind will be educated; wars, disputes, quarrels and malignity will disappear; and truthfulness, righteousness, peace and the worship of God will appear; union, love and brotherhood will surround the world; and God will rule for evermore -- meaning that the Spiritual and Everlasting Kingdom will be established. Such is the day of God. For all the days which have come and gone were the days of Abraham, Moses and Christ, or of the other Prophets; but this day is the day of God, for the Sun of Reality will arise in it with the utmost warmth and splendor.”

(Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, p. 56)



Although knowledgeable Baha’is may know that Abdu’l Baha was referring to Himself saying: “The seventh angel is a man qualified with heavenly attributes,” it is helpful to note that the definition “a man” is the translation of the word of “ENSAN” used by Abdu’l-Baha which means ‘HUMAN BEING’, ‘HUMAN’, ‘MAN’ or ‘PERSON’ of course without the prefix “a” which has been put in place before “man” due to the
 

requirements of English grammar. In Persian conversation sometimes ENSAN is a reference to self. For example, one may say: ‘Ensan can’t stand quiet when he sees such cruelty to people’ which means ‘I can’t stay calm and say nothing when I see this oppression, and this is why I am protesting.’ Even observation of the sequence of the verbs used in the English translation directs the readers to the fact that at the time of utterance “a man qualified with heavenly attributes” refers to the present since “is” =present indicative of be.

“who will arise with heavenly qualities and character.” “who” in this phrase according to the dictionary is a “pronoun; as simple relative, with antecedent expressed: a. in a clause conveying an additional idea. b. used in clauses defining or restricting the antecedent.”. I think the “heavenly attributes” of Abdu’l Baha is known to everyone (at least to those who call themselves Baha’is) and I don’t see that it is necessary to write about His “heavenly qualities and character”, Shoghi Effendi has done it in the best possible way in the following words:

“He is, and should for all time be regarded, first and foremost, as the Center and Pivot of Baha’u’llah’s peerless and all-enfolding Covenant, His most exalted handiwork, the stainless Mirror of His light, the perfect Exemplar of His teachings, the unerring Interpreter of His Word, the embodiment of every Baha’i ideal, the incarnation of every Baha’i virtue, the Most Mighty Branch sprung from the Ancient Root, the Limb of the Law of God, the Being “round Whom all names revolve," the Mainspring of the Oneness of Humanity, the Ensign of the Most Great Peace, the Moon of the Central Orb of this most holy Dispensation -- styles and titles that are implicit and find their truest, their highest and fairest expression in the magic name 'Abdu'l-Bahá. He is, above and beyond these appellations, the "Mystery of God" -- an expression by which Baha’u’llah Himself has chosen to designate Him, and which, while it does not by any means justify us to assign to Him the station of Prophethood, indicates how in the person of 'Abdu'l-Bahá the incompatible characteristics of a human nature and superhuman knowledge and perfection have been blended and are completely harmonized.”

(The World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 133)

“The third period (1892-1921) revolves around the vibrant personality of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, mysterious in His essence, unique in His station, astoundingly potent in both the charm and strength of His character. It commences with the announcement of the Covenant of Baha’u’llah, a document without parallel in the history of any earlier Dispensation, attains its climax in the emphatic assertion by the Center of that Covenant, in the City of the Covenant, of the unique character and far-reaching implications of that Document, and closes with His passing and the interment of His remains on Mt. Carmel. It will go down in history as a period of almost thirty years' duration, in which tragedies and triumphs have been so intertwined as to eclipse at one time the Orb of the Covenant, and at another time to pour forth its light over the
 

continent of Europe, and as far as Australasia, the Far East and the North American continent.”

(Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. xv)

Abdu’l Baha, while explaining the Bible Rev. 11:15 unfolded His plans for the future. His Talks which later were included in the book Some Answered Questions by Laura Clifford Barney took place during the years, 1904-1906 when He was confined to the city of Akka by the Ottoman government and only a limited number of pilgrims were allowed to visit Him. After the revolution of the Young Turks and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire Abdu’l Baha became free and fulfilled His plans, when in 1910 He started his journey to Egypt, Europe and North America.



“The establishment of the Faith of Baha’u’llah in the Western Hemisphere -- the most outstanding achievement that will forever be associated with 'Abdu'l-Baha’s ministry -

-    had, as observed in the preceding pages, set in motion such tremendous forces, and been productive of such far-reaching results, as to warrant the active and personal participation of the Center of the Covenant Himself in those epoch-making activities which His Western disciples had, through the propelling power of that

Covenant, boldly initiated and were vigorously prosecuting.”

“…'Abdu'l-Bahá was at this time broken in health. He suffered from several maladies brought on by the strains and stresses of a tragic life spent almost wholly in exile and imprisonment. He was on the threshold of three-score years and ten. Yet as soon as He was released from His forty-year long captivity, as soon as He had laid the Bab’s body in a safe and permanent resting-place, and His mind was free of grievous anxieties connected with the execution of that priceless Trust, He arose with sublime courage, confidence and resolution to consecrate what little strength remained to Him, in the evening of His life, to a service of such heroic proportions that no parallel to it is to be found in the annals of the first Baha’i century.”

“Indeed His three years of travel, first to Egypt, then to Europe and later to America, mark, if we would correctly appraise their historic importance, a turning point of the utmost significance in the history of the century. For the first time since the inception of the Faith, sixty-six years previously, its Head and supreme Representative burst asunder the shackles which had throughout the ministries of both the Báb and Baha’u’llah so grievously fettered its freedom. Though repressive measures still continued to circumscribe the activities of the vast majority of its adherents in the land of its birth, its recognized Leader was now vouchsafed a freedom of action which, with the exception of a brief interval in the course of the War of 1914-18, He was to continue to enjoy to the end of His life, and which has never since been withdrawn from its institutions at its world center.”
 

“So momentous a change in the fortunes of the Faith was the signal for such an outburst of activity on His part as to dumbfound His followers in East and West with admiration and wonder, and exercise an imperishable influence on the course of its future history. He Who, in His own words, had entered prison as a youth and left it an old man, Who never in His life had faced a public audience, had attended no school, had never moved in Western circles, and was unfamiliar with Western customs and language, had arisen not only to proclaim from pulpit and platform, in some of the chief capitals of Europe and in the leading cities of the North American continent, the distinctive verities enshrined in His Father's Faith, but to demonstrate as well the Divine origin of the Prophets gone before Him, and to disclose the nature of the tie binding them to that Faith.”



“Inflexibly resolved to undertake this arduous voyage, at whatever cost to His strength, at whatever risk to His life, He, quietly and without any previous warning, on a September afternoon, of the year 1910, the year following that which witnessed the downfall of Sultan Abdu'l-Hamid and the formal entombment of the Bab’s remains on Mt. Carmel, sailed for Egypt, sojourned for about a month in Port Said, and from thence embarked with the intention of proceeding to Europe, only to discover that the condition of His health necessitated His landing again at Alexandria and postponing His voyage. Fixing His residence in Ramleh, a suburb of Alexandria, and later visiting Zaytun and Cairo, He, on August 11 of the ensuing year, sailed with a party of four, on the S.S. Corsica, for Marseilles, and proceeded, after a brief stop at Thonon-les-Bains, to London, where He arrived on September 4, 1911. After a visit of about a month, He went to Paris, where He stayed for a period of nine weeks, returning to Egypt in December, 1911. Again taking up His residence in Ramleh, where He passed the winter, He embarked, on His second journey to the West, on the steamship Cedric, on March 25, 1912, sailing via Naples direct to New York where He arrived on April 11. After a prolonged tour of eight months' duration, which carried Him from coast to coast, and in the course of which He visited Washington, Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Montclair, Boston, Worcester, Brooklyn, Fanwood, Milford, Philadelphia, West Englewood, Jersey City, Cambridge, Medford, Morristown, Dublin, Green Acre, Montreal, Malden, Buffalo, Kenosha, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Omaha, Lincoln, Denver, Glenwood Springs, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Oakland, Palo Alto, Berkeley, Pasadena, Los Angeles, Sacramento, Cincinnati, and Baltimore, He sailed, on the S.S. Celtic, on December 5, from New York for Liverpool; and landing there He proceeded by train to London. Later He visited Oxford, Edinburgh and Bristol, and thence returning to London, left for Paris on January 21, 1913. On March 30 He traveled to Stuttgart, and from there proceeded, on April 9, to Budapest, visited Vienna nine days later, returned to Stuttgart on April 25, and to Paris on May first, where He remained until June 12, sailing the following day, on the S.S. Himalaya from Marseilles bound for Egypt, arriving in Port Said four days later, where after short visits to Isma'iliyyih and Abuqir, and a prolonged stay in
 

Ramleh, He returned to Haifa, concluding His historic journeys on December 5, 1913.”



“It was in the course of these epoch-making journeys and before large and representative audiences, at times exceeding a thousand people, that 'Abdu'l-Bahá expounded, with brilliant simplicity, with persuasiveness and force, and for the first time in His ministry, those basic and distinguishing principles of His Father's Faith, which together with the laws and ordinances revealed in the Kitab-i-Aqdas constitute the bed-rock of God's latest Revelation to mankind. The independent search after truth, unfettered by superstition or tradition; the oneness of the entire human race, the pivotal principle and fundamental doctrine of the Faith; the basic unity of all religions; the condemnation of all forms of prejudice, whether religious, racial, class or national; the harmony which must exist between religion and science; the equality of men and women, the two wings on which the bird of human kind is able to soar; the introduction of compulsory education; the adoption of a universal auxiliary language; the abolition of the extremes of wealth and poverty; the institution of a world tribunal for the adjudication of disputes between nations; the exaltation of work, performed in the spirit of service, to the rank of worship; the glorification of justice as the ruling principle in human society, and of religion as a bulwark for the protection of all peoples and nations; and the establishment of a permanent and universal peace as the supreme goal of all mankind -- these stand out as the essential elements of that Divine polity which He proclaimed to leaders of public thought as well as to the masses at large in the course of these missionary journeys. The exposition of these vitalizing truths of the Faith of Baha’u’llah, which He characterized as the "spirit of the age," He supplemented with grave and reiterated warnings of an impending conflagration which, if the statesmen of the world should fail to avert, would set ablaze the entire continent of Europe. He, moreover, predicted, in the course of these travels, the radical changes which would take place in that continent, foreshadowed the movement of the decentralization of political power which would inevitably be set in motion, alluded to the troubles that would overtake Turkey, anticipated the persecution of the Jews on the European continent, and categorically asserted that the "banner of the unity of mankind would be hoisted, that the tabernacle of universal peace would be raised and the world become another world."


(Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 281)



“The clarion call which 'Abdu'l-Bahá had raised was the signal for an outburst of renewed activity which, alike in the motives it inspired and the forces it set in motion, America had scarcely experienced. Lending an unprecedented impetus to the work which the enterprising ambassadors of the Message of Baha’u’llah had initiated in
 

distant lands, this mighty movement has continued to spread until the present day, has gathered momentum as it extended its ramifications over the surface of the globe, and will continue to accelerate its march until the last wishes of its original Promoter are completely fulfilled.”

(The World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 87)



“Praised be the Lord that the prophecies of all His Manifestations have now been clearly fulfilled, in this greatest of all days, this holy and blessed age.”

(Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 182)