It seems that Shoghi Effendi, pleading inability to enter upon the duties of his office forthwith, retired into solitude for several years after his return to Haifa , leaving the management of Baha’i affairs in the hands of the older members of the family of Abdul- Baha. Bahiyya Khanum, the “Supreme Leaf, the daughter of Baha’u’llah” who had remained loyal to her brother, became the “titular head” of the movement, while Munira Khanum, the grandmother of Shoghi Effendi, who had induced her husband to make him the Guardian and successor, was the power behind the throne.

After a time, however, Shoghi Effendi after manipulating the Will of Abdul-Baha, came forth from his seclusion, and proceeded to exercise his power as Guardian of the Cause. Acting as a dictator he “took over the reins of the Baha’i Administration, and demanded ready and implicit obedience from the servants of God, in default of which any servant of God was liable to excommunication or summary expulsion from the faith under some pretence or pretext…. His decisions were absolute and final and his words authorative.”

It is not surprising that this policy brought the Guardian into conflict not only with numerous believers but also with the members of his own family, and resulted in their excommunication. The first person to be purged by Shoghi Effendi was his grandmother Munira Khanum, wife of Abdul-Baha, the first lady of the Baha’i realm, to whom the Guardian, to a considerable extent, was indebted for his position.

Later all the members of Abdul-Baha’s family, his daughters, his descendants, his sons-in-law, the brothers and sisters of Shoghi Effendi, and last of all his own parents were excommunicated.

Riyadh Rabbani, a younger brother of the Guardian, has stated that he for years had assisted Shoghi Effendi in his work. Then when Shoghi excommunicated his parents he called upon Riyadh to make a choice between him and his parents. Riyadh decided to side with his parents” whereupon he was rejected by his brother. It seems that Shoghi Effendi’s family accepted this severe discipline without resistance, for to whom could they appeal far redress?

The religion which has come to spread love and kindness to humanity, Bahaullah in his noble saying has emphasized to his followers to love mankind and spread his noble saying to all corners of the world, but unfortunately it was turned in cruelty and hatred under Shoghi’s fake guardianship he started excommunicating not only the closest friends but also to the Noble family of Abdul Baha the reasons were vague, but in reality jealousy was the reason in case of Mirza Ahmed Sohrab and Julia Chanler who were sincerely spreading the teaching of Bahaullah and Abdul Baha, and were becoming known figures in the cause in western countries. With regards to Abdul Baha’s noble family members, the reason were very silly and the act was not like to be punished this way, we will mentioned the reason in details and let the readers decide whether the real guardian of the faith can do such a cruel act to his family members. he has kept aside all the teachings of Bahaullah and Abdul Baha, can a follower of Bahai faith do such cruelty to their brothers and parents, of course not, a true follower of Bahaullah can never imagine to follow guardian footsteps, for such a cause he will definitely will follow Bahaullah’s teaching of love and kindness, but for Shoghi his ego and position which he acquired by creating fake Will and Testaments was important not the teaching of his Great grandfather Bahaullah.

Excommunication of the major part of Abdul Baha’s family;

(Extract from the Book “Abdul Baha’s Grandsons” by Mirza Ahmed Sohrab)

A calamity of vast proportions has befallen the Bahai world; so far-reaching in its implications and tragic in its significance, that the student of the Cause is left speechless and breathless. In some instances his faith is actually threatened. Indeed, the magnitude of this event dwarfs all other considerations at this critical hour of Bahai history.

The news of the calamity is contained in a series of cablegrams coming from Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahai Cause, and addressed to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahais of the United States and Canada. It is published on the front pages of the December 1941 and January 1942 issues of Bahai News.

These cablegrams announce to the American believers the excommunication of the major part of Abdul Baha’s family; namely:

1. Ruhi Effendi Afnan.

2. Zahra Khanum Shahid.

3. Soraya Khanum Afnan.

4. Foad Effendi Afnan.

5. Feyzi Effendi Afnan.

6. Furighyyeh Khanum.

7. Touba Khanum.

8. Rouha Khanum.

9. Mehr-Angiz Khanum.

Their crime which according to guardian was unforgivable that he decided to excommunicate them.

Ruhi Afnan incurred the Guardians dissatisfaction.

His wife, Zahra Khanum Shahid; his sister, Saraya Khanum Afnan his second visit to America in 1935 was made without the consent of the Guardian.

Soraya Khanum, sister of Ruhi Effendi, married so-called Covenant-breaker Feyzi Effendi Afnan, son of Aga Sayyed Ali Afnan and of Furighyyeh Khanum, a daughter of Bahaullah.

Foad Effendi Afnan, brother of Ruhi Effendi, made a trip to England without informing the Guardian.

Touba Khanum, second daughter of Abdul Baha and mother of Ruhi, Soraya and Foad, is apparently included in the excommunication; for in the first cablegram, we find these words: Ruhi’s family concurred. Inform all believers (that) all manner of communication (with) excommunicated family(is) forbidden.

Rouha Khanum, third daughter of Abdul Baha and mother of Zahra, is likewise implicated; for, if she has stood by the side of her daughter and continues to do so, the ban falls on her also.

These drastic steps, taken against the families of two of Abdul Baha’s daughters, did not conclude this dark entry in the current annals of the Cause; for the nosegay of cablegrams contains a further pronouncement, applying to the excommunication of Shoghi Effendi’s own sister, Mehr-Angiz Khanum. This latter message, which was sent on January 1st, constitutes a strange greeting for a New Year’s morn. Was the date a circumstance, pure and simple, or was it perhaps the Guardian’s conception of a blessing to his flock at the birth of another year? We have heard of a Roman Holiday. This was a Bahai Holiday indeed!

The cablegram states that Mehr-Angiz Khanum has fallowed the example of Ruhi’s sister. Now, we know that Ruhi Effendi’s sister, Soraya, married without the Guardian’s consent; therefore, it seems likely that Mehr-Angiz has done the same thing. Possibly, she also married one of her cousins.

Those who have lately been swept out of the Cause at the order of the Guardian are:

Direct Excommunications.

1. Ruhi Effendi Afnan: Grandson of Abdul Baha.

2. Zahra Khanum: Grand-daughter of Abdul Baha and wife of Ruhi Effendi Afnan.

3. Soraya Khanum: Grand-daughter of Abdul Baha and wife of Feyzi Effendi Afnan.

4. Foad Effendi Afnan: Grandson of Abdul Baha.

5. Mehr-Angiz: Grand-daughter of Abdul Baha and sister of Shoghi Effendi.

6. Feyzi Effendi Afnan; Grandson of Bahaullah.

Indirect Excommunications.

7. Touba Khanum; Second daughter of Abdul Baha.

8. Rouha Khanum; Third daughter of Abdul Baha.

9. Mirza Jalal Shahid: Son of the King of the Martyrs and husband of Rouha Khanum.

Posthumous Excommunications.

10. Furighyyeh Khanum! Daughter of Bahaullah.

11. Aga Sayyed Ali Afnan: Husband of Furighyyeb Khanum.

The year of Disgrace.

The law of excommunication puts an absolute ban on those who are expelled from the Faith. The families of these persons and their fellow-believers must leave the ostracized individuals alone. They must neither communicate nor associate with them. They must break all ties of friendship and of humanity even; for, if they deviate one hair’s breath from this law, they themselves fall into the same ditch.

Conclusion.

Shoghi Effendi himself was solely responsible to put the Faith of Bahaullah from where it never came out. A large chunk of Baha’is could not understand the Fraudulent Will on the basis of which Shoghi turned the Faith of Bahaullah into a personal dictatorship. But many realized the corruption in the Will and kept on following the TRUE FAITH OF BAHAULLAH.

12. Lady Munira (Wife of Abdul Baha)

Lady Munira was a widow when she was sent from Isfahan to Acre to do the chores in Baha’s Harem and to reform herself. She was assigned by Baha to wait on Baha’s daughter Samadiyya Khanum in Baha’s brother Mirza Musa’s house. Captivated by her charm, Sir Abbas Effendi falls for her.

In his autograph letter addressed to his wife Mahd-i-Ulya and his children by her, Baha refers to the “She of Isfahan, viz., Munira” as having “stuck to the Most Great Branch [i.e. Sir Abbas Effendi] like unto a tick of Edirne” in allusion to parasite acarids that infested Edirne when Baha was there.

Transcript of Baha’s Autograph Letter addressed to his wife and children on vacation at Haifa.

Lady Munira contributed her mite into the moulding of Shoghi Effendi into a guardian. She incurred his wrath for having allegedly disposed of the cash assets of Sir Abbas Effendi in favor of her daughters and her brother without rendering an account to Shoghi Effendi. Afflicted with chronic diabetes, turned blind, driven out of her home, she was removed to a room on Mount Carmel, attended by one or two maids. There she remained until the appointed destiny which the lord has decreed overtook her. After her death, Shoghi Effendi provided a permanent resting-place for her in a piece of property situated in the ‘Shrine of the BÂB’.

There appears to be not the slightest reference in god passes by to lady Munira’s contribution to the “Cause of God.”

13. Mirza Ahmad Sohrab

Mirza Ahmad Sohrab hailed from Isfahan, in Iran. He emigrated to Acre at the age of 12. After a short stay there he was sent by Sir Abbas Effendi to Port Said, in Egypt, where he worked as a salesman in Sir Abbas Effendi’s son-in-law Mirza Ahmad Yazdi’s store. After several years he proceeded to the United States, and acted as an interpreter to Sir Abbas Effendi’s Bahai proselytiser Mirza Abu-al-Fadl of Gulpaygan. When Sir Abbas Effendi visited the United States in 1912, Mirza Sohrab became part of his entourage, and returned with him to Palestine. During World War I He was Sir Abbas Effendi’s Persian scribe and translator.

When the war was over, Sir Abbas Effendi sent him back to the United States as a bearer of the “Divine Plan” drafted by Mirza Ahmad Sohrab, 1947.

In his publications the word Mirza which means Mr. is invariably prefixed to his name Ahmad Sohrab. According to him, he was “a descendent of the prophet Muhammad”. Mirza Sohrab enjoyed the full confidence of Sir Abbas Effendi, with whom, he had been intimately associated as his Persian scribe and translator. He was also very well acquainted the members of Sir Abbas Effendi’s family, including Shoghi Effendi, with whom he was on the best terms. Like other partisans, under pains and penalties of expulsion from the faith, to communicate and associate with the members of Baha’s family excommunicated by Sir Abbas Effendi for their alleged deviation from him as the center of the covenant, a title to which Sir Abbas Effendi took a fancy, with which he labelled himself, and which, on the strength of the Baha’s own revelation ), was exclusive to the god, alone, Baha who himself before the creation of the heaven and the earths that man should worship none save god alone.” (Materials for the Study of Babi Religion by Prof. Browne P. 111

In July 1954 Mirza Sohrab passed through Cyprus on his way to the Holy Land. “His second Baha’i pilgrimage.” My wife, her niece from Haifa and myself dined with him in his hotel in Nicosia. The following day Mirza Sohrab lunched with us in our house in Kyrenia. Quite naturally he tabled about the Baha’i affairs and Caravan. His attention was called to the fact that in the presence of Baha’s will and testament, Sir Abbas Effendi’s will and testament appointing Shoghi Effendi as guardian of the cause was null and void. Mirza Sohrab admitted that Abbas Effendi’s will and testament was in fact invalid but added that he could not bring himself to denounce it in public as such a move on his part was found to ruin the business of the Caravan.

It must be borne in mind that Mirza Sohrab kept silence when Sir Abbas Effendi swept members of Baha’s family out of the faith (with the axe of excommunication).

Mirza Sohrab believed in two manifestations of God in peaceful co-existence. One for Islam, and one global:- “The Caravan Vol. XXVI -. No 4. October 1960 : – “Page 21- “

It must however be remembered that the role of the BAB is not limited to that of annunciator. In himself the BAB was a manifestation of God, even though manifestation was limited to a brief period, and was followed closely by the greater manifestation which it was his mission to herald.”

Mirza Sohrab had won his spurs during Sir Abbas Effendi’s term of office, his mentor and tutor. This was an asset to Mirza Sohrab, in whom Shoghi Effendi perceived a potential rival fatling for power. Mirza Sohrab was intimately associated with Shoghi Effendi before his accession to power. This was a liability to Mirza Sohrab as Shoghi Effendi was out to have a complete break with the past.

In the eyes of Shoghi Effendi Mirza Sohrab had become a nuisance. Shoghi Effendi could not dismiss him summarily. Shoghi Effendi had to prepare the ground for his expulsion. Thereafter Shoghi Effendi displayed latitude and indulgence and bided his time.

In the meanwhile Mirza Sohrab in collaboration with Mrs. Julie Chamler had founded the new History Society in 1929 and headed a splinter group, suspected of separatist tendencies, which was loggerheads with the main body, the Baha’i administration, established under Shoghi Effendi’s leadership. In the secret tug of war that ensured between the main body and the infant group, which both claimed to have stood for one and the same cause. Shoghi Effendi ostensibly adopted a role of impartiality, and sought to bring about a reconciliation between the contending parties. But, neither side would give in, and in the end things came to a head, when the Bahai administration designated as the organised Bahais resorted to litigation, and sued Mirza Sohrab, a poet and Mrs Julie Chamler, both designated as the unorganised Bahais, and complained that the latter were not authoritative Bahais to conduct Bahai meetings. Lectures due to and to solicit contributions with the use of a Bahai name. The competent court dismissed the case in 1941 on the grounds that the Bahai administration had no right to a monopoly of the name of a religion the word Bahai – therein trade-mark. The court’s decision was upheld on appeal. The dominant factor in the suit was monetary considerations and the issue stemmed from a private feud between Shoghi Effendi, bent on having a complete break with the past, and Mirza Sohrab, who had become a formidable opponent to be reckoned with had to be eliminated.

The Bahai administration was a façade for Shoghi Effendi, who failed in his attempt to dispose of Mirza Sohrab by legal means, played his trump card and excommunicated Mirza Sohrab. In the broken silence published by him after the decision, Mirza Sohrab “affirms that the will of Sir Abbas Effendi is valid and that his appointment of Shoghi Effendi as the guardian of the cause is unchallengeable.” Mirza Sohrab, however takes exception to certain policies and methods initiated by Shoghi Effendi and the Bahai administration under his leadership as the teachings of Baha and Abdul Baha (Sir Abbas Effendi) are liberal to the nth degree.”

It was the intentions,” Mirza Sohrab Maintains “of the founders to establish an unorganised movement, so all-inclusive and free as to be immune to the natural proclivities of men to restrict and limit.” In his later publications, Mirza Sohrab produced a list of the members of Sir Abbas Effendi’s family and condemned his action. The mouthpiece of the New History Society is the Caravan.

Mirza Sohrab, a poet according to him, a descendant of Muhammad according to him, bearer of Sir Abbas Effendi’s ‘Divine Plan’ to the United States, a convinced believer in two manifestations of God in peaceful co-existence commended by Sir Abbas Effendi, and condemned by Shoghi Effendi, passed to the mercy of God in the fullness of time.

14. Mirza Subhi Fazlullah

Mirza Subhi Fazlullah Muhtadi came from a BABI family, and was related to Baha through the latter’s third wife Gauhar Khanum. Mirza Subhi was a man of letters. For a number of years he was sir Abbas Effendi’s Persian amanuensis. Later he was released by sir Abbas Effendi for purposes of missionary enterprises (Tabligh) in Iran. Apparently owing to certain discoveries he had made, his faith underwent considerable abatement and signs of coolness were observed in him during Shoghi Effendi’s term of office, by whom he was EXCOMMUNICATED. Finally he abjured Bahai faith, and returned to the fold of Islam.

He was intimately associated with sir Abbas Effendi, his members of the family and the Bahai settlers in Haifa and Acre. Their daily life, his personal impressions, and assessment of them, treatment of Baha’s second son Mirza Muhammad Ali by them, his reasons for his renunciation of Bahaism are set first in the Kitab-i Subhi and the Payam-i Padar.

In the Payam-i Padar Shoghi, acts and deeds of Effendi, whom the author new very well long before Shoghi Effendi’s assumption of power at the guardian of the cause, are brought into bold relief in a manner far from flattering to Shoghi Effendi. All available copies of the two works were acquired and suppressed by the Bahais.

Note

Jalal Azal says: “I met late Mirza Subhi Fazlullah Muhtadi when he acted as sir Abbas Effendi’s Persian secretary. He was not however, at liberty to meet members of the rival faction.”

15. Ruth White and Zimmer Hermann

Ms. Ruth White and Mr. Zimmer Hermann claimed that the Will and Testament of Abdul Baha is a Fraudulent document.Shoghi Effendi changed it for his own personal gain to claim for Guardianship. Shoghi Effendi changed the most unpolitical religion in the world to a political religion, ignoring the sayings of Abdul Baha that “This religion could not be compressed into an Organization. Shoghi built up an administration where the spirit of the Religion of Bahaullah and Abdul Baha was completely missing. He became for himself a world dictator a power hungry person who excommunicated all the members of the Abdul Baha’s family including his own parents.

He abrogated the most important principle of the Baha’i Faith “Independent investigation of the Truth” and called the followers of the Baha’i Faith as “Harmful Elements”, as “Enemies” or as “Crazy”.

They two were excommunicated by Shoghi Effendi.

https://excommunicatedbahais.wordpress.com/