Rúhíyyih Khánum, born Mary Maxwell, was the daughter of William Sutherland Maxwell and May Maxwell, distinguished Canadian Bahá'ís whose meritorious and exemplary services to the Faith over the years were duly recognized by Shoghi Effendi when he elevated them to the rank of Hands of the Cause. Sutherland Maxwell, as he was better known, was the distinguished architect of the magnificent superstructure of the Báb's Sepulcher situated on the slopes of Mount Carmel in Haifa. His illustrious wife, one of the earliest believers and "'Abdu'l-Bahá's beloved handmaid and distinguished disciple," established the Faith in Paris during the early years of this century and became known as "the mother of Paris." She further embellished her long and glowing record of devoted and exemplary service to the Faith by winning a martyr's crown as a result of her final heroic and dedicated act of pioneering service for the Faith when she courageously set out, alone and in the late evening of her life, for Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she, soon afterwards, laid down her precious life.
Having been blessed with parents so completely devoted to the Faith, Mary Maxwell had inevitably been inspired by them to follow in their footsteps and had become imbued at an early age with the same devotion to the Faith. She was well qualified to promote the Faith as she possessed not only a sound knowledge of the teachings but was endowed with such additional helpful attributes as beauty, charm, a high level of intelligence and the ability to express herself extremely well, both verbally and in writing.
It was while she was on a pilgrimage in 1937 to the sacred Bahá'í Shrines in the Holy Land that she met and was asked by Shoghi Effendi to become his wife. They were married the same year. During the twenty years of Rúhíyyih Khánum's marriage to Shoghi Effendi she distinguished herself by her devoted and selfless service to the Guardianship not only because of the duties she performed so well as a gracious hostess to the pilgrims that visited the World Center but more particularly because of her valuable assistance to Shoghi Effendi in a secretarial capacity for much of this period as she answered, on his behalf, so beautifully and efficiently, the many personal letters he received, written in English, for which he had only the time, himself, to add a brief hand-written postscript.
She had enjoyed an unique position during these years to observe, at first
hand, Shoghi Effendi's long and arduous labors to erect the machinery of
the Bahá'í Administrative Order throughout the world in faithful
and complete compliance with the provisions of the divinely-conceived Will
and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá – "the Charter of the New World
Order" – and to witness, as his ministry drew to a close, the culminating
and crowning achievement of these labors which he had so joyfully announced
in a message to the Bahá'í world on 30 June 1952 with the
following words: "At the World Center of the Faith where, at long last,
the machinery of its highest institutions has been erected, and around whose
most holy shrines the supreme organs of its unfolding Order, are in their
embryonic form, unfolding..."
As evident had been her devotion and loyalty to Shoghi Effendi, as the Guardian of the Faith, and "Center
of the Cause" during his ministry, her strongly held conviction in
the continuing essentiality of the Guardianship, as an Institution, to the
World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, down through the future years
to come of the Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh had been emphatically
expressed in two of the works written by her. For example, in her work titled:
"Teaching Problems" she stated: "Belief in the Center of
the Covenant (at present Shoghi Effendi, the Center of the Master's Covenant)
and love for him are the shield and the sword of a Bahá'í. He can conquer with them, without them he is defenseless."
In her paper titled:
"Twenty Five Years of the Guardianship" she wrote: "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 Bahá'u'lláh
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 into 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." Some 30 years had passed since the death of Shoghi Effendi when my first
letter was addressed to Rúhíyyih Khánum at Ridván
1988 and more than 35 years had elapsed since my wife and I had made our
pilgrimage to the Holy Land (28 November-7 December 1952) and experienced
the great joy and privilege of meeting and talking with Shoghi Effendi every
evening as we, together with those members of the International Bahá'í
Council permanently residing in Haifa, (of whom there were seven, including
its President) joined him at the dinner table in the Western Pilgrim House
for the evening meal (the day of our departure being an exception when he
honored us with his presence at lunch as we were departing in the afternoon).
It was at the very outset of our second memorable evening together that
Shoghi Effendi, made a startling, completely unexpected and highly disturbing
observation about himself that precipitated such an immediate physical and
highly emotional reaction on the part of Rúhíyyih Khánum
that she jumped up from the table and in tears rushed out of the room. As
shocking and unforgettable as his remarks had been to me, it was only after
I had read her book published in 1988 titled: "The Guardian of the
Bahá'í Faith" (having read it subsequent to my first
letter to her) that I noted, to my great surprise and incredulity, the following
statement: "I could never have survived the slightest foreknowledge
of the Guardian's death" which clearly indicated, to my great surprise,
that she had completely forgotten the statement he had made to us that evening
in 1952 that had caused such a marked reaction on her part. Although I had
reminded her of this event in my first letter, I felt compelled, upon reading
the lines from her book quoted above, to write my second letter reminding
her again of the fateful words that Shoghi Effendi had spoken on that memorable
evening so long ago and the nature of her reaction to them. She was also
reminded of another equally significant statement that he had made on the
same evening when in the process of discussing the future development of
the International Bahá'í Council he had actually identified
the one who would become his successor, but in such an indirect and wholly
unanticipated manner that he certainly realized that all of us seated around
the table would fail to perceive this fact. For, it had been in the way
that he had phrased a question, he had directed to the President of the
Council that we would have gleaned this surprising information, had we been
truly perceptive. However, Shoghi Effendi had undoubtedly been aware of
the preconceived ideas and misconceptions on the matter of succession that
were held, not only by us, but by all of the believers (as confirmed, indeed,
by future events) which would serve to completely veil from us the significance
and impact of his words. And more than that, we would fail to perceive from
his discussion of the second stage in the evolution of the Council within
a specific timeframe that he had set that he had further confirmed, in an
indirect way, if we had been able to perceive it, his earlier remarks on
the same evening that had been so disconcerting and particularly so to Rúhíyyih
Khánum. The reader should not be led to believe from the foregoing
that because Shoghi Effendi had spoken to us personally of these significant
matters that we who were gathered around the table that evening had been
made privy to information that had not been made available to the Bahá'ís
at large. It would have been possible for someone who was truly perceptive
to derive the same information from such sources as Shoghi Effendi's Proclamation
of 9 January 1951 to the Bahá'í world (in cablegram form)
and from subsequent momentous messages he had dispatched at the time, taken
together with the information outlined in his published plans on the goals
to be achieved during the Ten Year Global Crusade (1953-1963) as they pertained
to the development of the newly-appointed International Bahá'í
Council. On the other hand, in retrospect, it is obvious why Shoghi Effendi
chose to draw an obscuring veil over the information that he had revealed
to us in such an indirect way that evening in Haifa. For, if he had done
otherwise, and openly revealed this information to the Bahá'í
world, it would have produced incredulity, consternation and such chaos
that it would have unquestionably severely impeded, at the very least, our
teaching efforts and the achievement of the goals that Shoghi Effendi had
set for us in the Ten Year Global Crusade (1953-1963). It is also particularly
clear why he could not have confided the name of his successor-to-be to
Rúhíyyih Khánum as it would have informed her that
he knew that his death was not far off (all spiritually advanced souls knowing
when their end shall be) and he had known, as well, as we have learned from
her book about Shoghi Effendi, that she could never have survived such foreknowledge. It is perhaps understandable that Rúhíyyih Khánum,
stricken with profound grief, and still suffering from a state of shock
as a result of Shoghi Effendi's sudden passing on 4 November 1957 while
on a trip to England, would have been very distraught and in less than a
clear frame of mind to consider the matter of succession when the Hands
of the Cause assembled in a conclave in 'Akká less than three weeks
following his passing for the purpose of determining Shoghi Effendi's successor
seemingly unmindful of the fact that such a conclave is not called for or,
in fact, is required under the provisions of the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá
for the Guardian's successor must be appointed by him "in his own
life-time" thereby precluding, even for a moment, any interregnum
in the Guardianship and that he, therefore, had obviously already been appointed
(as, indeed, he had been) but had not been recognized and should be looked
for in their midst. Having looked for and not found a will and testament
amongst Shoghi Effendi's papers (because the use of a will is precluded
under the terms of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's Testament) the Hands issued their
proclamation on 25 November 1957 stating that "Shoghi Effendi had left
no Will and Testament," a statement, in itself, that revealed the obvious
fact that they could not have recently referred to the terms of 'Abdu-l-Bahá's
Will which clearly specify that "It is incumbent upon the guardian
of the Cause of God to appoint in his own life-time him that shall become
his successor, that differences may not arise after his passing."And
they further revealed a surprising lack of understanding of the meaning
of certain passages of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's Will and Testament, not to
mention their obvious and incredible loss of faith in the sacredness, and
immutability of this immortal Document although it had been described by
Shoghi Effendi as "the Child of the Covenant"and "the
Charter of the New World Order" of Bahá'u'lláh, for they
fallaciously stated in this same proclamation that "no successor to
Shoghi Effendi could have been appointed by him." Through the inclusion of the statements quoted above in their proclamation
to the Bahá'í world these Hands apparently did not seem to
realize that, they had, in effect, repudiated the major provisions of the
Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, a Document that Shoghi Effendi
had equated in its sacredness and immutability with the Kitáb-i-Aqdas
and therefore an act, on their part, which can only be characterized as
a flagrant violation of the Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh. Furthermore,
they had, however unwittingly and indirectly, accused Shoghi Effendi of
imposture for they could not point to a single word in all that Shoghi Effendi
had written on the World Order of Bahá'u'lláh that indicated
anything other than the continuity of the Guardianship down through the
future ages of the Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh. Nor had they
seemed to realize that in one fell swoop they had dismantled forever the
international institutions of the Administrative Order at the World Center
of the Faith, as delineated by 'Abdu'l-Bahá, whose establishment,
"at long last," Shoghi Effendi had acclaimed to the Bahá'í
world with such joy but a few years before his passing. That Rúhíyyih
Khánum, should have supported this stand, especially in the light
of her words concerning the Guardianship, quoted above, and acquiesced in
this shameful abandonment of the Guardianship by the Hands of the Cause
(with a single notable exception) and should have continued to do so, as
time went on, when the pain of Shoghi Effendi's loss should have become
less intense and the clarity of her thinking should have been restored to
a state of normalcy had been, in my view, incomprehensible and unpardonable,
to say the least. My third letter to Rúhíyyih Khánum was written because
the Haifa Notes of Gayle Woolson, an American Bahá'í, had
come to my attention only after writing my first two letters. Gayle had
distinguished herself by her outstanding pioneering services for the Faith
in several Latin American countries, the accounts of which can be found
in several issues of the United States Bahá'í News at the
time. The esteem and high regard in which she had been held by the newly
declared Bahá'ís of South America are evidenced by the fact
that she had been elected a member of the first National Spiritual Assembly
of South America. She had made her pilgrimage to the Holy Land during the
period February 16-25, 1956, less than two years prior to Shoghi Effendi's
passing. The credibility of her Haifa Notes were certainly beyond question.
She records in these notes the following highly important statement made
by Shoghi Effendi to one of the Persian pilgrims who had obviously been
concerned about the matter of succession when he questioned him about a
son: " EVERYTHING THAT IS WRITTEN IN THE WILL AND TESTAMENT
WILL BE FULFILLED. THE BAHÁ'ÍS MUST NOT BE ANXIOUS ABOUT THIS.
" As this significant and unambiguous statement made by Shoghi Effendi
can leave no doubt in the mind of the reader that Shoghi Effendi had undeniably
made provision for the continuity of the Guardianship, as enjoined by 'Abdu'l-Bahá
in His Will and Testament, it was placed at the very top of my third letter
to Rúhíyyih Khánum to attract her attention, even if
she chose not to read its remaining contents, with the hopeful anticipation
that this statement by Shoghi Effendi's that so undeniably indicated to
anyone familiar with the provisions of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's Will, the most
important provision of which pertains to the matter of succession, that
Shoghi Effendi had provided, without question, for the continuation of the
Guardianship.
It was my fervent hope then that this would finally bring to her the frightening
realization of her great error in abandoning the Guardianship and of her
failure to exert the great influence that she possessed upon her fellow-Hands
not to do likewise (an effort that would not have been required in the case
of the only Hand of the Cause who had endeavored from the outset, and in
numerous instances afterwards, to persuade them not to forsake the Guardianship)
and that, having seen her tragic error, she would then have undertake a
reexamination of the question of the continuity of the Guardianship and
to reconsider with an open and unbiased mind the validity of the claim to
the Guardianship set forth in the Proclamation of one of her fellow-Hands
whom she had known well since childhood. For he was one whose meritorious
services to the Faith over the years since that time had been in some respects
unique and unsurpassed; one whose fidelity to and firmness in the Covenant
of Bahá'u'lláh as well as the nobility of his character had
been frequently eulogized by 'Abdu'l-Bahá in Tablets addressed to
both him and to others (published in issues of Star of the West); one who
had been the earliest author of several publications about the Faith; one
who had travelled to every continent of the globe for the purpose of assisting
the believers in their teaching endeavors; one whose outstanding achievements
for the Faith had been recognized by Shoghi Effendi when he had been elevated
by him to the rank of a Hand of the Cause (in the first contingent of twelve
living Hands named on 24 December 1951); one who had been the distinguished
architect of several Bahá'í Temples as well as the International
Archives building on Mount Carmel and the Western Pilgrim House, already
constructed, and the architect chosen by 'Abdu'l-Bahá for the Temple
to eventually be built on Mount Carmel; one who had been brought to Haifa
by Shoghi Effendi in 1950 and advised that henceforth he should consider
Haifa his permanent home; one whom Shoghi Effendi had especially honored,
above all others in the Bahá'í world, by appointing him the
President of the International Bahá'í Council – the embryonic
Universal House of Justice – established in accordance with his Proclamation
of 9 January 1951; one who had served as Shoghi Effendi's representative
at appropriate official functions of the Israel government and finally,
following Shoghi Effendi's passing in England as the sorrowful and grieving
friends at his funeral gathered around the grave site in the cemetery in
London where he was to be buried, the one who stood next to Rúhíyyih
Khánum as they lowered the casket of Shoghi Effendi into the grave
and upon whose shoulder she had laid her head as this sad event took place.
One might well ask if such an outstanding servant of Bahá'u'lláh
with his matchless life-long and brilliant record of service to the Faith
had not been deemed worthy to inherit the Guardianship of the Faith who
would ever be worthy? Irrefutable evidence has been presented in these letters
to Rúhíyyih Khánum that Shoghi Effendi did, indeed,
consider him worthy and by appointing him as his successor "in his
own life-time" faithfully preserved the Bahá'í Administrative
Order for future generations to come in all of its divinely-conceived perfection
and glory as delineated by the "master-hand of its perfect Architect."
