Shoghi Effendi

My dear Rúhíyyih,

I hasten to write this third letter to you only because the above quotation taken from the Haifa notes of Gayle Woolson was recently brought to my attention again and if I do not send this letter to you now we may be cut off from communication for some time in view of the ominous events that are looming upon the horizon.

These notes of Gayle Woolson were based, with respect to the above quotation, on a question raised by one of the Persian pilgrims "about his descendents, about a son." during their pilgrimage and recorded in Gayle’s notes during the period February 16-25, 1956, less than two years prior to Shoghi Effendi’s passing. A copy of her complete notes is attached for your information.

What is glaringly obvious from the above quotation is that this quotation from Shoghi Effendi’s words to this pilgrim are in complete contradiction to your alleged statement that there was no one eligible for Shoghi Effendi to appoint as his successor based on your obviously erroneous interpretation of the Will and Testament of the Master that only someone from the bloodline of Bahá’u’lláh could inherit the Guardianship (there being no such person at that time).

It is also significant that these same Haifa notes contain on page 3 a corroborative statement made by Shoghi Effendi with respect to the buildings that would be built on Mount Carmel which he said would include in addition to the Archives building "for Preservation" and the building for the Universal House of Justice "for Legislation," the Guardianship building "for Interpretation" and the building for the Hands"for Propagation." This statement was, of course, a reiteration of his statement contained in his message to the Bahá’í world some two years earlier on 27 November 1954 (page 74, MESSAGES TO THE BAHÁ’Í WORLD 1950-1957).

Certainly you and those who follow you must ask themselves why Shoghi Effendi would have given such definite assurances concerning the continuity of the Guardianship if, in fact, there was no one destined to succeed him. You would be the last one to accuse him of deceiving the Bahá’ís or giving them false assurances. He could make the statement he did to this pilgrim for the very reason that I have attempted to point out in my previous two letters to you and that is that he had, in fact, already provided for his successor in appointing him the Head or President-to-be of the active Universal House of Justice, then only in its inactive embryonic state of development prior to becoming the International Bahá’í Court, whose Head or Chief Judge could be none other than the Guardian of the Faith according to the sacred provisions of the Will and Testament of the Master.

I have recently been rereading the early editions of the STAR OF THE WEST published prior to the ascension of `Abdu’l-Bahá. One has only to do this to realise why Shoghi Effendi deemed Mason Remey spiritually qualified to be appointed his successor, a man of unsurpassed service to the Cause and its Institutions and of undeviating loyalty and fidelity to the Covenant for more than a half century. The following quotation taken from the Tablets of the Master to or about Mason Remey will suffice:

In a letter to Albert Windust the Master referred to Mason Remey in these words:

"His honor Mason Remey, that luminous person and heavenly man, is occupied in service in Germany and Holland. He does not rest for a moment and does not breathe but to raise the call to the Kingdom of God.

In a letter to Corinne True, the Master eulogized Mason Remey in these words:

"Praise be unto God, that the model of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár made by Mr. Bourgeois was approved by his honor, Mr. Remey, and selected by the Convention. His honor, Mr. Remey is, verily, of perfect sincerity. He is like unto transparent water, filtered, lucid and without impurity. He worked earnestly for several years, but he did not have any personal motive. He has not attachment to anything except to the Cause of God. This is the spirit of the firm and this is the characteristic of the sincere. "

(Translated by Aziz’u’lláh S. Bahadur, June 12th, 1920, Haifa, Palestine.)

In Volume 13 of the STAR OF THE WEST (p 221 ), a Tablet of the Master to Mason Remey is quoted under the date of October 7, 1921, as follows:

"Sometime ago I wrote thee a letter the content of which was that, praise be to God, thou hast become confirmed in drawing a plan for the pilgrim house in Haifa. It is my hope that this pilgrim house may be built under your supervision. Also in the future a Mashriqu’l-Adhkár will be established on Mount Carmel. Thou wilt be its architect and founder."

If those who abandoned the Guardianship in 1957 had only had the spiritual understanding of Abul Fazl, that greatest of all Bahá’í scholars who in writing of the twelve Apostles of Christ referred to them as "branches" of that Manifestation they would perhaps have realised that spiritual relationships take precedence over the physical or bloodline relationships and been prepared to accept as a successor to Shoghi Effendi some one other than a son of Shoghi Effendi or a bloodline relative of Bahá’u’lláh and would not have so falsely interpreted the Will and Testament as to place this constraint on Shoghi Effendi’s choice of a successor.

It is my fervent hope and prayer that you, who loved Shoghi Effendi so deeply, will ponder over and reflect upon the words of Shoghi Effendi quoted as a preface to this letter which provided such a clear and unmistakable assurance of the continuity of the Guardianship and re-examine carefully your position in opposition to the continued existence of that divinely-created and appointed Office as prescribed by the unerring and immortal Pen of the Master and urge those who have followed you to do likewise.

Faithfully, in the service of the Covenant,

Joel Bray Marangella