THIS BODY REIGNS INGLORIOUSLY, SHAMELESSLY AND IGNOBLY OVER THE WRECKAGE NEFARIOUSLY WROUGHT BY THE FORMER HANDS OF THE CAUSE OF THE DIVINELY-CONCEIVED ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER BEQUEATHED TO US BY ‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ, DECLARING THIS ORDER NOW DEFUNCT AND THE GUARDIANSHIP OF THE FAITH ENDED FOR ALL TIME.

The body referred to above is the sans-Guardian and hence headless, illicitly formed and illegitimate Universal House of Justice, with its seat in Haifa, the election of which first took place at Ridván 1963.

The wreckage of the divinely-conceived Bahá’í Administrative Order and the man-made substitute organization over which this so-called Universal House of Justice now presides is the tragic result of the following inexcusable multiple failures on the part of the former Hands of the Cause 1 immediately following the passing of Shoghi Effendi in their first conclave held in ‘Akká from 18-25 November, 1957.

"For unlike the first and second Seven Year Plan, [2nd plan—1946-1953] inaugurated by the American Bahá’í Community, the scope of the third Seven Year Plan [later superseded by the Ten Year Global Crusade, 1953-1963], the termination of which will mark the conclusion of the first Epoch in the evolution of the Master Plan designed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá will embrace all the continents of the earth and will bring the Central Body directing these widely ramified operations into direct contact with all the National Assemblies of the Bahá’í world, which, in varying degrees, will have to contribute their share to the world establishment of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh, as prophesised by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and envisioned by Daniel,—a consummation that, God willing, will be befittingly celebrated on the occasion of the Most Great Jubilee [at Ridván 1963] commemorating the hundredth anniversary of the formal assumption by Bahá’u’lláh of His Prophetic Office." (emphasis added)

  1. The entire body of the Hands shamelessly bestowed upon themselves the appellation of the "supreme body of the Bahá’í World Community," an appellation to which they were not entitled under the terms of the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, as discussed earlier, and an Institution that, in the absence of a living Guardian to appoint future Hands of the Faith, would gradually and inevitably die out and be no more.

  2. The Hands appointed an illegitimate body of nine Hands from their own number (then totalling 27) as "Custodians of the Bahá’í World Faith." This body, in a letter dated December 2, 1957, then requested all National Spiritual Assemblies to submit a letter to them recognizing them as "the supreme body in the Cause" which actually, in effect, would temporarily depose the remaining Hands from that position and, in response, received from each National Assembly the recognition requested, an outstanding example of which was the letter received from the NSA of ‘Iráq, referring to these so-called Custodians as "the Most Supreme Body in the Bahá’í World Faith," that Assembly, as well as the others, seemingly oblivious of the fact that this illicitly designated supreme body would, according to the plans of the Hands themselves, only reign in this capacity during a brief life-span of some five years before its demise and replacement by the equally illegitimate Universal House of Justice that the Hands had scheduled for election at Ridván 1963.

  3. The sans-Guardian, hence headless and illegitimate Universal House of Justice to be elected in 1963 was referred to by the Hands in their second proclamation issued at the end of their first conclave in ‘Akká as "that Supreme body" thus two bodies would continue to be simultaneously designated as supreme bodies, even after the demise of the Custodian Hands in 1963 and until such time as the last Hand of the Cause had died.

Related above is the sad, tragic and almost unbelievable account of the multiple inexcusable failures of the erstwhile Hands of the Cause (with a single exception) who had been elevated but recently by Shoghi Effendi to their rank in the Faith, and upon being severely tested with his passing, had failed to meet the test and had proved themselves unfaithful to the Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh and to the sacred and immortal Child of that Covenant—the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, as clearly shown in the above account. Having ignored, forgotten or failed to perceive the implications of most, if not all, of Shoghi Effendi’s significant messages to the Bahá’í World, as outlined above, it is glaringly evident that these Hands stand forever charged, incomprehensible as it may be, of blatant infidelity to his Guardianship and of a disgraceful and reprehensible betrayal of Shoghi Effendi. For they had blindly, rejected his chosen successor and destroyed the international institutions of the Faith, the final erection of which had represented the crowning achievement of his indefatigable labors during his 36-year ministry to faithfully accomplish the sacred Mandates bequeathed to us by the Founders of the Faith. These fallen Hands, as well as the members of their sans-Guardian and hence headless Universal House of Justice who have followed them in the abandonment of the Guardianship and the perpetration of this manifest violation of the Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh, stand forever condemned for their perfidy and lack of faith in the indestructibility of the Covenant. These former Hands, as well as the members of the ill-conceived sans-Guardian organization they have created, and who have now joined them in their contemptible corruption of the divinely-conceived Administrative Order will certainly have failed to recall that Bahá’u’lláh, in the Tablet of the Holy Mariner, has clearly prophesied their perfidy, their infidelity, and their illicit and shameless usurpation of authority and functions that are not theirs, under the terms of the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. This highly prophetic Tablet is preceded by the following significant foreword penned by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá of which they, as well as all of the believers who have been led astray by them, would do well to take note.

"Study the Tablet of the Holy Mariner that ye may know the truth, and consider that the Blessed Beauty hath fully foretold future events. Let them who perceive, take warning."

Those who study this prophetic Tablet will note that the future events foretold by Bahá’u’lláh were to take place in "the land of exile" and they pertain to those who "have desired to ascend unto that state which the Lord hath ordained to be above their stations . . . whereupon the burning meteor cast them out from them that abide in the Kingdom of His Presence." Then, most significantly, Bahá’u’lláh enjoined the future "guardian angels" to "Return them to their abode in the world below." Thus, it is clear that their fate is sealed and soon awaits them.

Joel Bray Marangella

Third Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith


ENDNOTES:
  1. My reference to the multiple failures of the Hands of the Cause exclude Mason Remey, as he actually never agreed with his fellow-Hands that the Guardianship of the Faith had forever ended. One has only to read his dairy titled: "Daily Observations," maintained during the years that he served as one of the Custodian Hands in Haifa, to note the recorded arguments he presented and the insistent pleadings he made to his fellow so-called Custodian Hands, almost on a daily basis, not to abandon the Guardianship, were all to no avail. Finally, frustrated with the futility of these efforts, he decided to leave Haifa permanently and return to the United States. From there he addressed three appeals to all of his fellow Hands setting forth valid and compelling arguments in support of the Covenant and reasons why they should not abandon the Guardianship, also to no avail. It was only then, for the first time, that he perceived, himself, the connection between his Presidency of the International Bahá’í Council and the Guardianship after which he issued his Proclamation at Ridván 1960. It should also be noted that Hand of the Cause, Hermann Grossmann, did not initially agree with his fellow Hands that the Guardianship had ended. This is known to be the case, as the undersigned had been appointed by the Hands in Europe as one of the body of nine Auxiliary Board members for propagation of the Faith and in that capacity had been specifically instructed by him to assure the believers in France with whom I came in contact that they should not consider that the Guardianship of the Faith had ended but should continue to have unwavering faith that somehow the Guardianship would eventually be restored. It was only subsequent to the Intercontinental Conference held in Frankfurt that he was strongly pressured by his fellow Hands to desist from any further promulgation of this view. To further insure that he did not exercise any possible influence on the believers in Europe concerning the continuation of the Guardianship the Hands decided to, in effect, banish him to South America. It was therefore surprising that he never accepted the Guardianship of Mason Remey.

  2. The reasons cited by Shoghi Effendi in his Proclamation of 9 January, 1951 that induced him to make his "epoch-making" and "historic decision" to form the International Bahá’í Council were the following:

    1. "Fulfillment of the prophecies uttered by the Founder of the Faith and the Center of His Covenant culminating in the establishment of the Jewish State, signalizing the birth after the lapse of two thousand years of an independent nation in the Holy Land."

    2. "The swift unfoldment of the historic undertaking associated with the construction of the superstructure of the Báb’s Sepulcher on Mount Carmel."

    3. "The present adequate maturity of nine vigorously functioning national administrative institutions throughout the Bahá’í World."

  3. Irrespective of the fact that the Hands were calling for the election of a sans-Guardian, and hence headless Universal House of Justice at Ridván 1963, which they nevertheless pretended was the institution delineated in the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, they ignored Shoghi Effendi’s Proclamation of 9 January, 1951 which specifically outlined the evolutionary stages of an International Court (stated by him to be an "essential prelude"), and a "duly elected body" through which the Council would develop before reaching its "efflorescence into the Universal House of Justice and its final fruition through the erection of manifold auxiliary institutions constituting the World Administrative Center...." It is clearly obvious therefore that the formation of this House of Justice was premature. This fact is further confirmed in the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá wherein He states: "... it is utterly impossible to establish the House of Justice which is mentioned in the Book of Aqdas, nay rather it is impracticable and not to be thought of, that is for the time when the Cause is proclaimed and the Commands [of the Aqdas] have become effective. Therefore now is not the time for the House of Justice, which must be established by general election. Its mention is not permissible and its realization impossible." (p. 411 BWF) While, admittedly, progress in the Faith has now made it possible to mention the Universal House of Justice, as, indeed, it has been by Shoghi Effendi in his momentous cablegrams cited above, its establishment, as an institution that will be able to apply the Laws of the Aqdas, remains to be achieved in the distant future.

  4. The "threefold function" with which Shoghi Effendi invested this "Nascent Institution" of the International Bahá’í Council in his Proclamation of 9 January, 1951 was: "first to forge link with the authorities of the newly emerged State; second, to assist me to discharge responsibilities involved in the erection of the mighty superstructure of the Báb’s Holy Shrine; third to conduct negotiations related to matters of personal status with civil authorities."