SHOGHI EFFENDI INFORMS THE
UNITED NATIONS OF HIS ROLE AS THE "APPOINTED HEAD" OF THE
FUTURE BAHÁ'Í "WORLD COUNCIL" PRIOR TO ITS
FORMATION IN 1951
In July 1947, some three and one half
years prior to his appointment of the International
Bahá'í Council on 9 January 1951, Shoghi
Effendi prepared a statement for submission to the United
Nations Special Palestine Committee that has been published
in pamphlet form under the title of: "The Faith of
Bahá'u'lláh." with the subtitle, "A World
Religion."
On page 3 of this document one may
note the following significant paragraph which incontestably
proves, in Shoghi Effendi's own words, that the one who
presides as President of the International
Bahá'í Council — this "World Council"
— can be none other than the Guardian of the Faith.
"The passing of
'Abdu'l-Bahá marked the termination of the first and
Heroic Age of the Bahá'í Faith and
signalized the opening of the Formative Age destined to
witness the gradual emergence of its Administrative Order,
whose establishment had been foretold by the Báb,
whose laws were revealed by Bahá'u'lláh, whose
outlines were delineated by 'Abdu'l-Bahá in His Will
and Testament, and whose foundations are now being laid by
national and local councils which are elected by the
professed adherents of the Faith, and which are paving the
way for the constitution of the World Council, to be
designated as the Universal House of Justice, which in
conjunction with me, as its appointed Head and the authorized
interpreter of the Bahá'í teachings, must
coordinate and direct the affairs of the Bahá'í
community, and whose seat will be permanently established in
the Holy Land, in close proximity to its world spiritual
center, the resting-places of its Founders."
Author: Joel Bray
Marangella
SHOGHI EFFENDI
FORETELLS THE IMMINENCE OF HIS PASSING COINCIDENT WITH THE
ACTIVATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL BAHÁ’Í
COUNCIL BEFORE RIDVÁN 1963.
SHOGHI EFFENDI’S MESSAGE OF NOVEMBER 23, 1951 THAT
INDIRECTLY AND UNDENIABLY PORTENDED HIS IMMINENT PASSING AND
CONFIRMED THE IDENTITY OF HIS APPOINTED SUCCESSOR
* * * * * * * * *
EXTRACT: "For unlike the first
and second Seven Year Plan, inaugurated by the American
Bahá’í Community, the scope of the third
Seven Year Plan, 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 prophesied 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 commemorating the hundredth anniversary of the formal
assumption by Bahá’u’lláh of His
Prophetic Office."
* * * * * * * * *
Shoghi Effendi unquestionably
indicated that he envisaged an active role for the
International Bahá’í Council before the
expiration of the Ten Year Global Crusade (at Ridván
1963) and that the Council, in this role, would be directing
the NSA’s in achieving the respective goals that had
been assigned to them during this Crusade. And, furthermore,
Shoghi Effendi had indirectly and in this obscure way,
predicted his own passing which would have to take place in
order for the Council to become an actively functioning body
under the Presidency of Mason Remey but a prediction which
none of the believers perceived at the time or afterwards
and, most critically, none of the Hands of the Cause,
following his passing, with such dire consequences for the
Faith.
As Shoghi Effendi had indicated, in
the message quoted above, that this
"Central
Body" — the International
Bahá’í Council — would be
assuming, if not initially, at least some time during the
World Crusade starting in 1953, an active role in
"directing these widely ramified
operations" of the National Assemblies
throughout the world as they endeavored to accomplish the
respective goals that had been assigned to them by him,
it was crystal clear that, upon the assumption of this
active role at some time during the Crusade, Mason Remey,
as the President of this now active supreme
Administrative Body of the Faith would automatically
become the second Guardian of the Faith.
Author: Joel Bray Marangella
SHOGHI
EFFENDI’S ONLY PROCLAMATION IGNORED
On 9 January 1951, Shoghi Effendi
issued the one and only
Proclamation of his ministry. As this Proclamation
was dispatched in cablegram form and even though it opened
with the words: "Proclaim to National
Assemblies of East and West weighty epoch-making
decision of
formation of the first International
Bahá’í Council..." subsequent events
would prove that it
was never recognized as such, not only by the National
Assemblies to which this Proclamation was significantly
addressed but by the entire Bahá’í
world as well, in spite of the superlative and unprecedented
terms used by Shoghi Effendi to describe this
"historic" decision and "the greatest
event shedding lustre on the...
Author: Joel Bray Marangella
A LETTER AND
FIVE MESSAGES ACCLAIMING SHOGHI EFFENDI'S "EPOCH-MAKING"
DECISIONS, BOTH IGNORED AND FORGOTTEN AND THEIR IMPORT
UNPERCEIVED.
In the first conclave
held by the Hands of the Cause in 'Akká, following the
passing of Shoghi Effendi, upon finding that Shoghi
Effendi had not left a will and testament and ignoring the
fact that the Guardian is enjoined under the terms of the
Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá to appoint his
successor "in his own life-time," took no time
to review, much less consider, the importance and
significance of several "epoch-making" and
"historic" decisions that he had acclaimed and
in one case proclaimed, in messages he had dispatched to the
Bahá'í World during the closing years of his
ministry, hastily and tragically reached the erroneous
conclusion that the Guardianship had come to a premature
end.
Having overlooked, inexcusably ignored
and obviously forgotten these decisions, one of which was of
such momentous import that it was announced in a Proclamation sent via cablegram to
the then National Spiritual Assemblies of the
Bahá'í World. This message, opening with the
word: "Proclaim," pertained to his decision to
establish "at long last" the "first
International Institution" of the Faith at the World
Center. This decision was followed by a message of
unsurpassed significance that projected his early passing and
identified, indirectly his appointed successor.
The messages in which these decisions
were acclaimed and, in one instance proclaimed, are
published, with one notable exception, in the book entitled:
MESSAGES TO THE BAHÁ'Í WORLD, 1950-1957.
Author: Joel Bray Marangella
THE
ESSENTIALITY OF THE GUARDIANSHIP TO THE WORLD ORDER OF
BAHÁ’U’LLÁH.
A paper written by Joel Bray Marangella
IRREFUTABLE
EVIDENCE THAT SHOGHI EFFENDI, THE FIRST GUARDIAN OF THE
BAHÁ’Í
FAITH, APPOINTED A SUCCESSOR.
A paper written by Joel Bray Marangella
"EVEN NOW
THEY REFUSE TO FACE THE UNDENIABLE FACTS"
"If indeed the Hands had given due
consideration to this message of supreme importance that had
been unquestionably a Proclamation issued by Shoghi Effendi
(and the only one he had issued during his ministry) they
would have further noted in his follow-up message of 2 March
1951, that he had publicly identified Mason Remey, whose
unparalleled services to the Faith for half a century had
made him unquestionably the most distinguished living Hand of
the Cause and eminently worthy of his appointment by Shoghi
Effendi as the President of “this first embryonic
International Institution”—an
Institution which could be none other than the
embryonic Universal House of Justice.
Author: Joel Bray Marangella
UNANSWERED
LETTERS TO
RUHÍYYÍH KHÁNUM.
Preface and Index of Unanswered
Letters sent to Rúhíyyih
Khánum by the Third Guardian of the
Bahá’í Faith: Ridván 1988 —
Naw-Rúz, 1999
Author: Joel Bray Marangella
THE FINAL
LETTER TO RUHÍYYÍH
KHÁNUM.
The fourth and final letter sent to
Rúhíyyih Khánum by the Third
Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, dated
Naw-Rúz, 1999
Author: Joel Bray Marangella
EXCERPTS FROM
MAY MAXWELL’S HAIFA NOTES
January–March 1937
AN ILLUSTRATIVE
CHART
A chart (PDF) depicting the
development of the International Bahá'í Council
as projected by Shoghi Effendi in his one and only
Proclamation of 9 January, 1951 and the parallel development
of the other institutions of the Administrative Order.
Author: Joel Bray Marangella
OPEN LETTERS OF
9 JULY 1960 AND 21
OCTOBER 1960
Written by Joel Bray Marangella, former Chairman of the
National Spiritual Assembly of France and Auxiliary
Member to the Hands of the Cause in Europe, stating the
reasons for his acceptance of Mason Remey as the second
Guardian of the Faith. These "Open
Letters" were posted to a large number of friends,
following receipt of Mason Remey's Proclamation.
A BRIEF HISTORY
OF THE VIOLATION OF THE COVENANT OF
BAHÁ’U’LLÁH AT THE WORLD CENTER OF
THE
BAHÁ’Í FAITH FOLLOWING THE PASSING OF
THE FIRST GUARDIAN OF THE BAHÁ’Í
FAITH.
Written by Joel Bray Marangella
"HERALD OF THE COVENANT" WINTER 1974/75
"THE TREE
OF THE COVENANT"
A Statement of Beliefs of the Orthodox
Bahá’ís under the Living Guardianship.
"HERALD OF THE
COVENANT"— WINTER
1973/74
(Published by the European Bureau of the Orthodox
Bahá’í Faith)
WHAT IS THE
MEANING OF LOYALTY TO THE COVENANT OF
BAHÁ'U'LLÁH AND WHO ARE THE PRESENT
DAY COVENANT BREAKERS?
Written by Joel Bray Marangella
"HERALD OF THE COVENANT"—NOVEMBER 1977
COMMENTARY ON
THE WILL AND TESTAMENT OF
‘ABDU’l-BAHÁ
Written by Joel Bray Marangella
"HERALD OF
THE
COVENANT" — JANUARY
1985
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 immediately following the passing of
Shoghi Effendi in their first conclave held in
‘Akká from 18-25 November, 1957.
Author: Joel Bray Marangella
TO:
THOSE DIRECTING AFFAIRS AT THE BAHÁ’Í
WORLD CENTER:
WHAT POSSIBLE ANSWER CAN YOU GIVE TO FUTURE
BAHÁ’Í GENERATIONS?
Author: Joel Bray Marangella
TO: THOSE
DIRECTING AFFAIRS AT THE BAHÁ’Í WORLD
CENTER:
THE TABLET OF THE HOLY
MARINER DOOMS BOGUS UHJ TO EXTINCTION
Author: Joel Bray Marangella
A CRITIQUE OF
ADIB TAHERZADEH’S BOOK: "THE COVENANT OF
BAHÁ’U’LLÁH" REVEALING ERRONEOUS
STATEMENTS AND INTERPRETATION PERTAINING TO THE CONTINUATION
OF THE GUARDIANSHIP.
Author: Joel Bray Marangella
THE
ILLEGITIMATE REIGN OF THE "CUSTODIANS" AT THE
BAHÁ’Í
WORLD CENTER THAT WAS NEVER MEANT TO BE
"How [was this body of the Hands] to
assume the reins
of authority with no document to support us, other than
general theological statements about the
Hands?"
The above question posed by
Rúhíyyih Khánum, widow of Shoghi
Effendi, first Guardian of the Bahá’í
Faith, is found in the introduction of a book titled:
"The Ministry of the Custodians" and, while she
is referring to the entire body of the Hands, the
question is equally applicable to the body of nine Hands
of the Cause that the Hands selected from their own
number, to direct the affairs of the Faith from Haifa
following the passing of Shoghi Effendi in November 1957 upon
which they bestowed the appellation of
"Custodians of the Bahá’í World
Faith."
In a resolution signed by all the Hands on 25 November,
1957, they stated that "The Custodians shall be
deemed to succeed the Guardian of the
Bahá’í Faith." As this body
is not one of the
Institutions delineated in the divinely-conceived and
sacred Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, it
clearly possessed no legitimacy in the divinely-conceived
"Administrative Order which the master-hand of
its perfect Architect [‘Abdu’l-Bahá] has
fashioned" and therefore was never meant to be.
(The last quote is from the writings of Shoghi Effendi.)
Author: Joel Bray Marangella
THE UNDENIABLE
FALSEHOOD PROPAGATED BY THE TWENTY-SIX HANDS OF THE CAUSE
THAT ONLY AN AGHSÁN COULD INHERIT THE
GUARDIANSHIP
The Aghsán have been
identified by Shoghi Effendi, both in God Passes By
(p.239) and in the Gleanings from the Writings of
Bahá’u’lláh (p.244), as the
sons of Bahá’u’lláh. Therefore,
the Aghsán were contemporaries of
‘Abdu’l-Bahá and could never have outlived
Shoghi Effendi and been available, even if they had remained
loyal to the Covenant, for appointment as successors to
Shoghi Effendi.
Author: Joel Bray Marangella
AFNÁN as
"branch"
Believers holding the view that the
Guardian has been restricted in his choice of a
successor to an Aghsán can do nothing less
than reconsider their stand in view of the quoted phrase.
Author: Joel Bray Marangella
IF ONLY THE
HANDS HAD TAKEN THE TIME
Most importantly, the Hands would have
come to
understand that, upon the passing of Shoghi Effendi, the
embryonic Head of this embryonic Universal House of Justice
appointed by Shoghi Effendi, now activated as a functioning
body, would remain its
permanent and "sacred head"
throughout all the stages of its development, projected by
Shoghi Effendi (as long as he
lived). Upon attaining this understanding, the Hands
would have been startled by the sudden realization that the
appointed and hence permanent and irremovable HEAD of
this embryonic organism — THE PRESIDENT OF THE
INTERNATIONAL BAHÁ’Í COUNCIL —
Mason Remey, who had been appointed by Shoghi Effendi to
this office could be none other than the second Guardian
of the Faith who had been awaiting recognition by both
them and the believers throughout the world.
Author: Joel Bray Marangella
"ET
TU" FAITHLESS HANDS OF THE CAUSE
For those unfamiliar with the history
of Julius Caesar, it was he who is alleged to have made this
surprised exclamation, "Et tu Brutus!" as recounted by
Shakespeare in one of his plays and since portrayed on both
stage and screen, when Brutus, who had been appointed to a
high postion and had been highly trusted as a faithful
subject, so unexpectedly proved unfaithful as he
treacherously joined a group of fellow-conspirators in
stabbing Caesar to death.
Author: Joel Bray Marangella
THE LAMENTATION
OF SHOGHI EFFENDI
Consider the lamentation of Shoghi
Effendi in the
Abhá Kingdom and his deep sorrow when he observes
that his untiring labors of thirty-six years to faithfully
erect the administrative institutions of the Faith
strictly in complete accordance with the sacred,
divinely-conceived and immortal provisions of the Will
and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and which, in
the closing years of his ministry, had culminated so
gloriously in the erection, "at long
last" of the highest institutions of
the Administrative Order at the World Center of the Faith
had been, upon his passing, almost completely brought to
naught by a tragic, hasty and unwarranted decision of the
Hands of the Cause.
Author: Joel Bray Marangella
"THIS MOST
GREAT ORDER"
Author: Joel Bray Marangella
HOW AND WHY
SHOGHI EFFENDI OBSCURED THE APPOINTMENT OF HIS SUCCESSOR AND
THE CONSEQUENCES.
Author: Joel Bray Marangella
THE FAILED
ABORTION OF "THE CHILD OF THE COVENANT" — THE
"DIVINELY-CONCEIVED" BAHÁ’Í
ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER DELINEATED IN THE WILL AND TESTAMENT OF
‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ
"Furthermore, the Hands did not permit
the International Bahá’í Council to
exercise the active role that Shoghi Effendi had projected
for it in his message of 23 November 1951, cited above, but appointed a body of
nine Hands titled "Custodians of the
Bahá’í World Faith," a superfluous and illegitimate body completely
outside the provisions of the Will and Testament of
‘Abdu’l-Bahá which usurped not only the
functions of the International Council but those of the
Guardianship as well for a brief period of some five and a
half years when they were assumed by an equally illegitimate
sans-Guardian Universal House of Justice elected in
1963."
Author: Joel Bray Marangella
KNOWLEDGE OF
WHICH LANGUAGE IS ESSENTIAL FOR PRESENT-DAY AND FUTURE
GUARDIANS OF THE FAITH?
"Some of the heterodox believers have
expressed the view that it is essential that any successor to
Shoghi Effendi, as Guardian of the Faith, possess a knowledge
of Persian (Farsi) or Arabic to be able to properly perform
the function of Guardianship under the provisions of the Will
and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, not to
mention their equally fallacious view that only an
Aghsan is eligible to inherit the Guardianship which
is patently false based on Shoghi Effendi's statement in God
Passes By that the term Aghsan refers to the Sons of
Bahá’u’lláh and therefore, as
contemporaries of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, they would
obviously never outlive Shoghi Effendi and be available for
appointment as his successor.
Author: Joel Bray Marangella
EVEN NOW, I
COULD ALSO SIGN IT
One of the arguments that has been
used against the second Guardian of the Faith, Mason Remey,
in refutation of his accession to the Guardianship, is that
he signed the proclamation issued by the Hands of the Cause
on 25 November 1957 at the conclusion of their first conclave
in the Holy Land in which they stated three reasons why
Shoghi Effendi had been unable to appoint a successor and
therefore, as they believed, the Guardianship of the Cause of
God, as delineated in the divinely-conceived and sacred Will
and Testament of `Abdu´l-Bahá had already come to
its untimely end only thirty-six years after His
Ascension and the inception of the Administrative Order.
which "the master-hand of its perfect
Architect" had fashioned.
Author: Joel Bray Marangella
THE SATANIC
COLLUSION TO TERMINATE THE INSTITUTION OF THE
GUARDIANSHIP
Between ten Persian Hands of the Cause
who, during the first conclave of 26 of the 27 Hands of the
Cause held in ‘Akká,some two weeks following the
passing of Shoghi Effendi, ignominiously conspired, to put an
end to the Guardianship and the widow of Shoghi Effendi,
Rúhíyyih Khánum, a very charming,
intelligent, much loved and revered person who had served for
many years as a highly capable, devoted and faithful
secretary to Shoghi Effendi in his correspondence with the
English speaking believers
Author: Joel Bray Marangella
THE FOUR AND TWENTY ELDERS
* * * * * * * * *
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, p. 57)
EXTRACT FROM THE GUARDIAN'S RIDVAN LETTER, 2008
I feel that the time has now come on this auspicious occasion to call
attention to a significant letter that Shoghi Effendi wrote to Mrs. George
R. True on July 22, 1943, that was published in the November 1944 issue of
United States Baha'i News, No. 171. She had apparently asked him about the
twenty-four elders mentioned in the Book of Revelation, only nineteen of
whom, as you know, have been identified to date, as the Bab and the eighteen
Letters of the Living. The following is quoted from his letter to her:
"Regarding the four and twenty elders: The Master in a Tablet, stated that
they were the Bab, the eighteen Letters of the Living, and five others who
would be known in the future. So far, we do not know who these five others
are."
Who in the future would be qualified to identify the remaining five elders,
other than a Guardian of the Faith? It will be obvious in my identification
of them below, that neither Shoghi Effendi nor Mason Remey had been in a
position to name these five remaining elders during their respective
ministries and for this reason, it has now become, at long last, my
inestimable privilege to do so.
We find the following wonderful prediction in the Book of Revelation: "There
in heaven stood a throne, and on the throne sat One [the Lord of the
Covenant] whose appearance was like the gleam of jasper and cornelian; and
round the throne was a rainbow, bright as an emerald. In a circle about
this throne were twenty-four other thrones, and on them sat twenty-four
elders, robed in white and wearing crowns of gold." (The New English Bible)
The remaining five elders are:
‘Abdu’l-Bahá — Center of the Covenant.
Bahíyyíh Khánum — The Greatest Holy Leaf.
Shoghi Effendi — First Guardian of the Cause of God.
Martha Root — Preeminent teacher.
Charles Mason Remey — Second Guardian of the Cause of God.
Author: Joel Bray Marangella
