Repudiation of the Major Provisions
of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Will and Testament
(by the former Hands and majority of the believers)
Although this Document was extolled by Shoghi Effendi as:
"the Child of the Covenant" "the Charter of the New World Order"
"His greatest legacy to posterity"
"the brightest emanation of His mind"
"the mightiest instrument forged to insure the continuity of the three ages which constitute the component parts of His Father’s Dispensation."
"Heir of both the Originator [Bahá’u’lláh] and the Interpreter [‘Abdu’l-Bahá] of the Law of God."
"the inevitable offspring resulting from that mystic intercourse between Him [Bahá’u’lláh] Who communicated the generating influence of His Divine purpose and the One [‘Abdu’l-Bahá] Who was its vehicle and chosen recipient" and consequently "their Will and Testament."
Let us consider the major provisions of the sacred, divinely-conceived and immortal Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá which, in spite of all that Shoghi Effendi had written about its divine genesis, as cited above, and the emphasis he had repeatedly placed on the essentiality of the Institution of the Guardianship to the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, the Hands of the Cause, with a single exception, upon Shoghi Effendi’s sudden and unexpected passing and his apparent failure to appoint a successor according to their falsely-held ideas, still came to the hasty, ill-considered and incredulous conclusion that these provisions had now become null and void — a conclusion which constituted nothing less than a shameful repudiation of the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and which tragically led to their declaration that the Guardianship had forever ended. These major provisions include:
The Institution of the Guardianship whose successive incumbents, the "Guardian of the Cause of God" are the "Center of the Cause," "the expounder of the words of God" and the "sacred head and distinguished member for life" of the Universal House of Justice. Moreover, as stated by Shoghi Effendi, they are "The Guardian of the Administrative Order" and are "the chosen ministers" of the Covenant.
The provision that the Guardian must "appoint in his own life-time him that shall become his successor that differences may not arise after his passing" thus insuring an unbroken line of Guardians and an uninterrupted continuance of this essential Institution as long as the Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh endures.
The Institution of the Universal House of Justice, the supreme legislative body of the Faith, of which the Guardian, as stated above, is the permanent, essential and irremovable "sacred head." As indisputable evidence of the indispensability of the Guardian as the head of this Institution, are the following functions:
The provision in the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá that, "Should any of its members 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" — a function that obviously can only be exercised by a living Guardian.
In the exercise of his exclusive interpretive authority, as stressed by Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian "is bound to insist upon a reconsideration by them [the UHJ] of any enactment he conscientiously believes to conflict with the meaning and to depart from the spirit of Bahá’u’lláh’s revealed utterances." Without this protection it is therefore indisputable that this body is not the infallible body delineated by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
The Institution of the Hands of the Cause of God, "nominated and appointed by the guardian of the Cause of God" who serve under his direction and whose "obligations" are "to diffuse the Divine Fragrances, to edify the souls of men, to promote learning, to improve the character of all men and to be, at all times and under all conditions, sanctified and detached from earthly things."
The body of nine Hands of the Cause*elected by them from their own number "that shall at all times be occupied in the important services in the work of the guardian of the Cause of God" at the World Center and who, acting as witnesses to the Guardian’s appointment of a successor, "whether unanimously or by a majority vote, must give their assent to the choice of the one whom the guardian of the Cause of God hath chosen as his successor."
As the Hands of the Cause had gained increasing prestige since their first contingent had been appointed by Shoghi Effendi in December 1951, their hasty and erroneous conclusion, reached on the very first day of their conclave held in ‘Akká but a few days after his passing, that the Guardianship had forever ended, was never questioned by the majority of believers throughout the world who then blindly followed these erring Hands in their false belief and in their faithless repudiation of the major provisions of the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as well as their consequent shameful betrayal of Shoghi Effendi as they blatantly and inexcusably ignored the "historic" and "epoch-making" decisions and acts he had taken "at long last," as his ministry drew to a close and which he had announced to the Bahá’í World with such a "thankful and joyous heart" upon the erection of "the machinery of its highest Institutions" in complete fidelity to the provisions of the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, as a befitting crown to his long and tireless labors to establish in all of its perfection and glory "Bahá’u’lláh’s embryonic World Commonwealth," significantly mentioned by him in his very last message to the Bahá’í World a month before his passing.
How can any clear-thinking and faithful believer professing fidelity to the Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh, to the Center of the Covenant and to His Will and Testament — the "Child of the Covenant" — and, in the light of statements quoted above from Shoghi Effendi’s writings, and the acts taken by him during his ministry, as cited above, to faithfully establish the institutions of the divinely-conceived Administrative Order, as delineated by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, still claim to be loyal to that Covenant and to the "Center of the Covenant," and, at the same time, declare their allegiance to and support of a sans-Guardian, mutilated, and illegitimate man-made organization, established following his passing, as an undeniably corrupted substitute for the divinely-appointed Administrative Order fashioned by "the master-hand of its perfect Architect" and bountifully beqeathed to us in accordance with "God’s immutable Purpose for mankind in this day?"
Joel Bray Marangella
*The need for the election by this body of nine Hands from their own number to serve at the World Center had obviously not been deemed necessary by Shoghi Effendi in this early stage in the development of the Faith as this number of Hands in Haifa was not required and it would have taken away one-third of the appointed 27 Hands of the Cause from their vital services in the areas of the world to which they had been assigned, particularly in support of the Ten Year Global Crusade that had been but recently inaugurated. Furthermore, there would be no legitimate reason why the validity of the appointment of his successor, whose identity he had announced to the Bahá’i World, although in an indirect manner, should be open to question following his passing but which under vastly different circumstances in the future development of the Faith would require, as a wisely provided protective measure, this incorruptible body of nine witnesses to confirm by secret ballot, the validity and authenticity of the Guardian’s appointment of his successor, but not a provision, as explained by Shoghi Effendi, that was intended by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to confer upon that body approval authority over that choice.
JBM