Questions For The Current Haifa Administration

By: Ross Campbell

Questions For The Current Haifa Administration Over The Heterodox Bahá’ís Of The Earth, Which Administration Is Acting Under The Appellation “Universal House Of Justice”:

(Bold lettering in this document has been added for emphasis)

1. In view of the fact that the vast majority of Heterodox Baha’is contacted in recent years are constantly expressing their belief/s that the continuing Guardianship means the advice and writings left behind on Earth by Shoghi Effendi when he departed for the next world and/or that Shoghi Effendi continues to act as Guardian over the Bahá’ís on Earth even though he is now in the next world, are the aforementioned continuous expressions of belief by Bahá’ís under your oversight a fruitage of your teaching or a fruitage of yournegligence?

2. If, in view of these Words of the Masterquoted from His Will and Testament: “The guardian of the Cause of God as well as the Universal House of Justice…are both under the care and protection of the Abha Beauty, under the shelter and unerring guidance of His Holiness, the Exalted One. Whatsoever they decide is of God”, either or both of the commonly held beliefs of heterodox Bahá’ís mentioned in Question 1. above are a result of your teaching, do you believe and teach that Shoghi Effendi, who is now in the next world, remains “…under the care and protection of the Abha Beauty, under the shelter and unerring guidance of His Holiness, the Exalted One”?

3. If you believe and teach that Shoghi Effendi, although now in the next world, remains in need of “protection”, what is the nature of the protection which you believe he needs?

4. The Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá contains these instructions:

“Unto this body all things must be referred. It enacteth all ordinances and regulations that are not to be found in the explicit Holy Text. By this body all the difficult problems are to be resolved and the guardian of the Cause of God is its sacred head and the distinguished member for life of that body. Should he not attend in person its deliberations, he mustappoint one to represent him.”

Are you keeping a record of the names of the persons whom the guardian has appointed to “represent him” at each of the deliberations of your UHJ which he has not attended “in person”?

Shoghi Effendi as a young boy

5. On November 25th, 1957 the body calling themselves the “Custodians of the Baha’i Faith” made this recorded statement: “The Custodians shall be deemed to succeed the Guardian of the Baha’i Faith.” Under the Light of these Words of the Master from His Will and Testament: “It is incumbent upon the guardian of the Cause of God to appoint …him that shall be his successor,…”, and in view of the fact that Shoghi Effendi included “…loyal and steadfast adherence to every clause of our Beloved’s sacred Will;…” as one of the ‘qualifications’ for a new believer, would it not be fair to conclude that the “Custodians” disqualified’ themselves as believers by their failing to demonstrate“loyal and steadfast adherence” to that “clause”in the sacred Will which so clearly designates the Authority to choose his successor upon the very guardian himself ?

6. In The Dispensation of Bahá’u\'lláh, Shoghi Effendi records this statement: “As I have already stated, in the course of my references to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s station, however great the gulf that separates Him from the Author of a Divine Revelation it can never measure with the distance that stands between Him Who is the Center of Bahá’u\'lláh’s Covenant and the Guardians who are its chosen ministers.”…”The fact that the Guardian has been specifically endowed with such power as he may need to reveal the purport and disclose the implications of the utterances of Bahá’u\'lláh and of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá does not necessarily confer upon him a station co-equal with those Whose words he is called upon to interpret. He can exercise that right and discharge this obligation and yet remain infinitely inferior to both of them in rank and different in nature.”

“To the integrity of this cardinal principle of our Faith the words, the deeds of its present and future Guardians must abundantly testify. By their conduct and example they must needs establish its truth upon an unassailable foundation and transmit to future generations unimpeachable evidences of its reality.”

The above quoted expressions of Shoghi Effendi, the first of our Guardians, stimulate the emergence of this question: If you no longer believe and accept that the Guardians are the “chosen ministers” of the Covenant of Bahá’u\'lláh, as stated by the first Guardian, whom do you now believe and teach to be the ‘chosen ministers’ of His Holy Covenant?

7. No declared Bahá’í will disagree with the truth that the Guardian is the only Interpreter provided by God for the Holy Writings of the Bahá’í Faith. Since the current Haifa administration has no Guardian, no Interpreter of Bahá’í Holy Writings, is not that administration breaching the boundaries assigned by Almighty God to Bahá’í believers (not the Guardians) by offering to the members of the large body of Bahá’ís, interpretations of explicit Holy Text, namely the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, which interpretations are unreviewed, unexamined by the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith?

8. What do you understand the word “divorced” to mean in the context of the following quotation from the writing of Shoghi Effendi: “Divorced from the institution of the Guardianship the World Order of Bahá’u\'lláh would be mutilated and permanently deprived of that hereditary principle which, as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’ has written, has been invariably upheld by the law of God.”? (The World Order of Bahá’u\'lláh) This question is asking you to provide a clear picture of what you believe Shoghi Effendi is warning us to guard against in the above quotation, not merely a dictionary definition of the word ‘divorced’.)

9. Writing in His Will and Testament concerning the members of the Universal House of Justice, the Master provided this directive: “Should any of the 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, whereupon the people must elect another one in his stead.” In view of the fact that it is surely evident to all reasonable Bahá’ís that the writings which Shoghi Effendi left behind when he passed cannot exercise the “discretion” necessary to confront such a circumstance, would you kindly tell everyone the precise manner by which you would expect Shoghi Effendi to perform such an ‘expulsion’ now that he is in the other world.

10. In the Dispensation of Bahá’u\'lláh the first of our Guardians, Shoghi Effendi, instructs us that the institution of the Guardianship provides: “…the necessary guidance to define the sphere of the legislative action of its elected representatives…”. If you believe that such “guidance to define the sphere of legislative action” of the Universal House of Justice must be received from the first of our Guardians although he is now in the other world, rather than from a living Guardian on Earth, please explain the details of the manner by which you expect to receive such guidance from the next world.

11. In the Dispensation of Bahá’u\'lláh, Shoghi Effendi explains the capacity of the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith as a member of the Universal House of Justice, and concerning the legislation by that body, comprised of himself and his fellow-members, he writes with respect to the Guardian: “He…is bound to insist upon a reconsideration by them of any enactment he conscientiously believes to conflict with the meaning and to depart from the spirit of Bahá’u\'lláh’s revealed utterances.” Is it not obvious that this is a function which can only be performed by a living Guardian in this world?

12. In his Will and Testament, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá writes concerning (the Huqúqu’llah)”the Right of God”: “It is to be offered through the guardian of the Cause of God…”. Bringing to mind again that Shoghi Effendi included: “…loyal and steadfast adherence to every clause of our Beloved’s sacred Will…” as one of the qualifications of a new believer, should you not be setting a fine example for all new believers by showing steadfast adherence to the above clause of the Master’s Will, namely: “It is to be offered through the guardian of the Cause of God…”?

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