EXCERPTS FROM MAY
MAXWELLS HAIFA NOTES JANUARYMARCH 1937 (ACCOMPANIED IN HER PILGRIMAGE BY HER DAUGHTER MARY, LATER NAMED
RÚHIYYÍH
KHÁNUM BY SHOGHI EFFENDI, FOLLOWING HER MARRIAGE TO HIM) The following excerpts are
taken from the Haifa Notes of May Maxwell, who made these notes of Shoghi Effendis
statements while accompanied by her daughter, Mary, later, as Shoghi Effendis
wife, given the name Rúhíyyih Khánum, during their
pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1937. Although most of the early believers were familiar
with these Haifa Notes as they were widely circulated at the time, those who have
embraced the Faith in more recent times will certainly never have read them. The
following excerpts should prove to those Baháís who were led to
believe the living Guardianship came to an end with the passing of Shoghi Effendi in
1957 that nothing could be further from the truth. For the statements of Shoghi
Effendi, as recorded in these notes, emphasize, as they also invariably did in his
writings, that the Will and Testament is the very "Child of the
Covenant" whose "Father" was
Baháulláh and "Mother"
Abdul-Bahá and, as a result, actually considered, in a mystical sense, as
spiritually conceived by Them as their "Child" and
"their Will," (see p.22, WOB) with an ordained
life-span promised by Them to endure at least a full thousand years. Therefore is it
not crystal clear that this sacred "Child" born into life in 1921
upon the Ascension of Abdul-Bahá has been destined to live more than a
brief period of 36 years and certainly not condemned to a premature death with the
passing of Shoghi Effendi, as fallaciously claimed by those who have abandoned the
living Guardianship of the Cause of God? Following are the words of Shoghi Effendi has recorded in these
historic Notes: The administration was conceived by
Baháulláh, but matured in the womb of the Masters mind.
Baháulláh is its Father; Abdul-Bahá, its
Mother. The World Order was anticipated and announced by the Báb,
conceived by Baháulláh and formulated by the Master and is now
being built by the Baháís. There was corruption in other revelations. There cannot be any in
this one owing to the Administrative Order [as delineated in the Masters
Will]. The Guardianship and the International House of Justice are
the two pillars that support the edifice of the Administrative Order . . . Each of these
two pillars has its satellites. The International House of Justice has its local and
national Houses of Justice. The Hands of the Cause are a corporate body, an organized
body. These are the satellites of the Guardian. The Baháí Revelation has administrative
institutions established by Baháulláh and made clear in the
Masters Will and Testament. The Masters Will appointed both the successor
and interpreter [with His establishment of the institution of the guardianship].
No other Revelation has this. Will and Testament, Part I, page 13, Referring to the Hands
they must report the delinquent member to the Guardian. He puts them out. There
are three elements in the Will: the Guardian is the Interpreter; the International House
of Justice, the Legislator; and the Hands propagate and teach the Cause through
research work and the example of their lives and conduct. The Administrative Order
would be paralyzed if one of these institutions should cease to function. In the Will and Testament of Abdul-Bahá the words
"irremovable and expounder" are found (Irremovable Head of the International
House of Justice and expounder of the teachings). The Huquq is a fixed revenue for the
Guardian, paid directly, and has nothing to do with the administrative funds, local,
national, or international. The Guardians are the equivalent in the Baháí
Revelation to the Imams in the Muhammadan Revelation. It is the Guardians
responsibility to prevent the International House of Justice from abrogating the laws of
the Aqdas. Peters position in relation to Christianity and Alis
in relation to Islam is represented by two institutions in the Cause: the Guardianship
and the International House of Justice. The laws of the Aqdas can never be touched or changed by any
International House of Justice. [applicable as well to the Will and Testament of
Abdul-Bahá for as Shoghi Effendi has written: "they mutually
confirm one another and are inseparable parts of one complete unit."] Apart from certain distinctions and restrictions in the
Teachings, men and women are indistinguishable. As far as the teachings are concerned,
this is so. It is the immutable law of God and is not for us to question. The Imams,
the 12 Disciples, the Prophets in the Mosaic dispensation, etc. were all men. The
Guardians are all men. The Friends should read and study the WILL AND TESTAMENT. We are
too near it to see it in its proper light, It is like a huge edifice, we cannot yet see
it in perspective. This and the Aqdas are the two Chief Depositories of the truths
enshrined in the World Order of Baháulláh. The English King reigns, but the Guardian is active as the
hereditary element in the Universal House of Justice. Baháulláh purposely left a gap in the
Aqdas which was filled by the Masters Will and Testament with the Guardian. (The
Huquq.) There was a danger that the friends might misunderstand the
Masters Will and thus the "Dispensation of Baháulláh" was written, Shoghi Effendis spiritual
testament in detail. He has fixed in it the relations of things to each other. We
cannot go beyond what he has defined. However, the second Guardian can interpret
the "Dispensation" itself. The Guardian is the interpreter, expounder of the
Cause and the protector of the Cause. The Guardian can overrule a decision of the International House
of Justice if he conscientiously feels it is not in accord with the teachings. This is
the interpretive right... The second part of his work is participation in the
legislative body. He agrees that the institution of Guardianship takes precedence
over the International House of Justice. The words of the Guardian are [as] binding as the Words of the
three key Figures. The stations are different. What he says about the Guardianship is
binding on future Guardians. ([read the] "Dispensation") The Will of
the Master is the third kind of Covenant. His task is to watch very carefully [to see] that they [the
Universal House of Justice] do not get out of their sphere of activity:
legislation. [In the development of the Faith] "The first stage of
oppression and persecution is passing and we are now in the second stage of
emancipation. The stage of recognition will be the third stage. . . . We are now in the
second stage. When the Egyptian, Indian or Persian government accepts a
Baháí Court, we will enter the third stage, recognition by the civil
authorities. When the International House of Justice is established, the
formative period will be over. 1. Sadly, surprisingly and with tragic consequences, the above statements of Shoghi
Effendi were either ignored, forgotten or, in effect, repudiated, however unwittingly,
by his widow, Rúhíyyih Khánum, upon his passing in 1957, as
evidenced by her incomprehensible abandonment of the Institution of the Guardianship,
with her rejection of Shoghi Effendi's appointed successor, together with her
fellow-Hands of the Cause (with a single notable exception), followed by their
inexcusable and shameless corruption of the Baháí Administrative
Order, in which they ignominiously usurped the role and functions of the Guardianship
and established a substitute sans-Guardian, man-made and deformed replica in its
place. 1. Obviously the Faith has not yet reached the
third stage of its development recognition, as defined above by
Shoghi Effendi. As the Faith is still in its formative stage, the
establishment of the so-called Universal House of Justice in 1963 by the former Hands of
the Cause was considerably premature and improper and obviously contrary to the
appropriate time for its establishment as envisaged by Shoghi Effendi.
14 January, 2003
Note: Bold type has been used where considered desirable for emphasis.