How can any Bahá’í who has read the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá rationally claim that the Guardian of the Cause of God continues to exercise his functions in the next world?

For, to so argue, as some incredulously do, how do they rationally explain, notwithstanding the explicit terms of the divinely-conceived and sacred Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá that require the Guardian to preside as “the sacred head and distinguished member for life” of the Universal House of Justice, and “attend in person its deliberations,” he is able to perform this essential role from the next world, and exercise as well the following additional rights and functions conferred upon him in that sacred and immutable Document that unquestionably require the Guardian to be present in this world?

“Should he not attend in person its [UHJ] deliberations, he must appoint one to represent him.”

“Should any of the members [of the UHJ] 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 whereupon the people must elect another one in his stead.”

“the expounder of the Words of God.”

Be “the sign of God”on this earth.

Provide the protection assured in the promise that “The mighty stronghold shall remain impregnable and safe through obedience to him who is the guardian of the Cause of God.”

“Appoint in his own life-time him that shall become his successor, that differences may not arise after his passing.”

Fulfill the specific requirement that “The Hands of the Cause of God, must be nominated and appointed by the guardian of the Cause of God,” nine of whom will subsequently be elected from their own number to assist the Guardian at the World Center at such time as this assistance may be required and who, as unimpeachable witnesses, will attest by secret ballot to the authenticity of the appointment he has made “in his own life-time” of his chosen successor.

These misled Bahá’ís would further have to explain why the statements made by Shoghi Effendi in his pivotal work “The Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh”titled:“The Administrative Order,” a work considered by him as his spiritual testament should be ignored. For he has enumerated the following additional essential and indispensable functions related to his permanent headship of the Universal House of Justice that undeniably can only be exercised by a living Guardian.

He provides “the necessary guidance to define the sphere of the legislative action” of the Universal House of Justice.

He “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.” (proof that this institution is fallible without the presence of the Guardian as its “sacred head.”)

If these Bahá’ís then argue that these terms of the Will and Testament no longer apply, they will, in effect, have declared that a part of the explicit Holy Text, destined to endure as long as the Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh itself endures, has now become null and void. And this despite the fact that Shoghi Effendi has stated: “the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, which together with the Kitab-i-Aqdas, constitutes the chief depository wherein are enshrined those priceless elements of that Divine Civilization, the establishment of which is the primary mission of the Bahá’í Faith”and further: “A study of the provisions of these sacred documents will reveal . . . that they are not only complementary, but that they mutually confirm one another, and are inseparable parts of one complete unit.”

These Bahá’ís have never been informed, of course, of Gayle Woolson’s Haifa Notes, (Feb.16-25,1956). Gayle was a renowned pioneer to Latin America and member of the first Regional Bahá’í Assembly of South America, whose outstanding teaching successes in several countries of Latin America during the first Seven Year Plan were frequently reported in the United States Bahá’í News at the time. In her notes she reported that Shoghi Effendi was queried by a fellow-pilgrim about a son and he had replied: “EVERYTHING THAT IS WRITTEN IN THE WILL AND TESTAMENT WILL BE FULFILLED. THE BAHÁ’ÍS MUST NOT BE ANXIOUS ABOUT THIS.”

Moreover, these new Bahá’ís would certainly also have no knowledge of the highly significant promise enshrined in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Tablet to Mason Remey, as recorded in the “Star of the West” (Vol. V, No. 19, March 2, 1915) that was fulfilled exactly 36 years later on the date of March 2, 1951.That promise was that: “ERE LONG, THY LORD SHALL MAKE THEE A SIGN OF GUIDANCE AMONG MANKIND.” It was on March 2, 1951 that Shoghi Effendi identified Mason Remey in a message to the Bahá’í world, as the President of the International Bahá’í Council, whose establishment “at long last” as “the first embryonic International Institution” he had proclaimed two months earlier on 9 January 1951, and he had extolled as an “historic decision marking the most significant milestone in the evolution of the Administrative Order of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh” since its inception thirty years earlier upon the Ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and had acclaimed as an event “which history will acclaim as the greatest event shedding luster upon the second epoch of the Formative Age of the Bahá’í Dispensation . . . ranking second only to the glorious immortal events associated with the Ministries of the Three Central Figures of the Faith.”

It should be glaringly obvious from the foregoing discussion that the Guardianship of the Cause of God is unquestionably an institution of this world and that this essential and indispensable institution was therefore certainly not taken by Shoghi Effendi to the next world nor was it an institution that was meant to come to a premature end upon the passing of Shoghi Effendi, only thirty-six years following the inception of the Bahá’í Administrative Order.

For detailed information conclusively proving that Shoghi Effendi faithfully fulfilled the sacred mandate of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to appoint his successor “in his own life-time” as delineated in His Will and Testament, a document that represented the Will of Bahá’u’lláh, as well, and accordingly identified by him in his writings as “their Will,” visit my webpage at http://www.Bahai-Guardian.com