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The Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

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The Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

Charter of a Divine Civilization

“All praise to Him Who, by the Shield of His Covenant, hath guarded the Temple of His Cause from the darts of doubtfulness, Who by the Hosts of His Testament hath preserved the Sanctuary of His Most Beneficent Law and protected His Straight and Luminous Path.” — ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Testament, page 1.

THE American Bahá’í community today includes a generation of new believers who entered the Cause after the Ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in 1921. It is the privilege and duty of the older Bahá’ís to assist these friends to understand what poignant and heart-shaking experiences stirred the Bahá’í community during the fateful years when the inviolable power of the Covenant was being established throughout the West. To realize the meaning, and appreciate the blessing of His Will and Testament, it is essential to enter into the spirit of those years and retrace the Master’s steps as He demonstrated His authority as Interpreter and Exemplar of Bahá’u’lláh’s Faith. For the truths, the directions, the prayers, the appeals and the interpretations which constitute the text of the Master’s Will were given forth to the friends in embryonic form during His life and mission on earth. In Tablet and address, in deed and action, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá instructed and trained His faithful believers in the spiritual mysteries of unity, sacrifice, authority, devotion, knowledge, worship and administrative action which come to their climax and fulfilment in the text of His Will. The problems, the issues, the burdens which befall the Bahá’ís now, individually and collectively, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá encountered in their most forceful and grievous form, and the Victory won by the Center of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant became the victory of every true Bahá’í. For example: ‘Abdu’l-Bahá exemplified the perfection of love and service to others, whether friend or foe, but when the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh was assailed from within by treacherous and implacable enemies claiming to be believers, the Master by His own decisive action expelled these traitors from the Cause and declared that association with them was forbidden to Bahá’ís.

The Cause of Bahá’u’lláh has advanced by certain definite stages and eras, each characterized by a new blessing and distinguished by a new test. First, after the martyrdom of the Báb, there came the supreme blessing and gift, the Manifestation of Bahá’u’lláh, but not all the followers of the Báb, nor even of Bahá’u’lláh’s own household, could spiritually recognize and accept Bahá’u’lláh’s divine Power. The Cause was therefore purged of its impurity, and the principle of unity was confirmed. Then Bahá’u’lláh passed on, in 1892, leaving His Testament appointing ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and again tumult and confusion seemed to arise and threaten the Cause like the waves of a stormy sea. But this outward tumult and confusion served merely to separate true believer from secret foe. Once more the Bahá’í community, strengthened and purified, met a divinely-ordained test and ordeal and by the experience became better prepared to serve the Faith. The evidence of a divine Faith is its power not only to remain steadfast under the onslaught of hostile parties outside the Cause, but also to purify itself from the insidious whisperer of doubt who works within. Bahá’u’lláh bestowed upon the Master a unique authority and a unique mission. The Master alone could understand that mission and exercise that power. From 1892 to 1921, He stood as the sacred Center of the Bahá’í community of East and West, its inspiration, its teacher, its defender, its guide and its leader. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was in Himself the “Shield of His Covenant.” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá “guarded the Temple of His Cause;” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá led the “Hosts of His Testament” who “preserved the Sanctuary of His Most Beneficent Law.”

In former Dispensations, the spiritual intention of the Founder of religion has not fully penetrated the body of His followers. They have substituted human devices and expedients for the universality of Revelation. But between Bahá’u’lláh and the worldwide body of His followers, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá has stood steadfast, preserving the Faith and, in His Will and Testament, assuring its preservation to the end of the Bahá’í cycle.

The Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá since 1921 has been the power and authority which determine the faith of the individual believer and the spiritual integrity of the Bahá’í community, whether of town, city or nation, in the East or in the West. Through the Will and Testament, as through a pure channel, the Spirit of Bahá’u’lláh flows forth to all parts of the world, developing those institutions which are to maintain the Most Great Peace, and transform a world of darkness into a world of light. Divine Guidance comes to the world through this channel. Those who deny the Will and Testament deprive themselves of connection with Bahá’u’lláh, and isolate themselves from the Community of the Greatest Name.

Turning to the text of the Will, we find that it was revealed in three different parts or sections. Each was revealed at a different time. All were signed or sealed by the Master, and the text was written in His own hand.

As we ponder this tremendous document, we find in the text the development of certain themes.

Subjects of the Will and Testament

1. Appointment of Shoghi Effendi as Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, sole interpreter, after ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, of the Bahá’í Writings, and chairman of the Universal House of Justice; the Guardian to appoint Hands of the Cause; and provision for succession of the Guardianship through the period ended by the coming of the next Manifestation.
2. Method of election of the Universal House of Justice; its functions.
3. Sacred obligation to teach the Cause; the greatest gift of God is teaching.
4. The Bahá’í attitude of obedience to civil government.
5. Consort with all peoples, kindreds and religions in love and fellowship.
6. Explanation of the stations of the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh.

[Page 2] 7 A fixed money offering to be made to God through the Guardian.

8. The greatest of all things is the protection of the True Faith of God; the sin of Covenant-breaking (disobedience to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá); Mírzá Yahyá’s rebellion against Bahá’u’lláh; sedition of Muḥammad-‘Alí after the Master’s appointment as Center of the Covenant.

9. The members of the Holy Family, the Hands of the Cause and the beloved of the Lord must obey and turn unto Shoghi Effendi. Disobedience to the Guardian is denial of Bahá’u’lláh. It is incumbent upon the believers to take the greatest care of Shoghi Effendi. To none is given the right of asserting a personal opinion in relation to the Master’s commands. All must turn to the Center of the Cause, Shoghi Effendi, and to the House of Justice.

There is a mysterious potency in the Word which Bahá’u’lláh explains in “The Kitáb-i-Íqán:” “Meditate profoundly, that the secret of things unseen may be revealed unto you, that you may inhale the sweetness of a spiritual and imperishable fragrance, and that you may acknowledge the truth that from time immemorial even unto eternity the Almighty hath tried, and will continue to try, His servants, so that light may be distinguished from darkness, truth from falsehood, right from wrong, guidance from error, happiness from misery and roses from thorns.”

This general truth throws a clear light on those portions of the Master’s Will which deal with Covenant-breaking, and particularly with the disobedience and hostility of Muḥammad-‘Alí, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s own half-brother. Bahá’u’lláh, in the “Kitáb-i-‘Ahd,” declares that members of the Holy Family are to be respected by the believers. Concerning Muḥammad-‘Alí, who was younger than ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Bahá’u’lláh stated that the Lesser Branch was to be after the Greater Branch, and He further declared: “God’s Will and Testament enjoins upon the Branches, the Twigs, and the Kinsfolk, one and all, to gaze unto the Most Great Branch” (i.e., ‘Abdu’l-Bahá). Therefore, when the Master ascended, Muḥammad-‘Alí, as the eldest surviving brother, would have been head of the Holy Family and possessed of great influence in the Cause ‎has had‎ not the Master’s Will testified to Muḥammad-‘Alí’s disobedience to Bahá’u’lláh’s command. Muḥammad-‘Alí by his own action was cut from the Holy Tree; and as the Master’s Will records: “We wronged them not, but they have wronged themselves.”

Here, in brief, is the reason why ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in His Testament presented the case of the Covenant-breakers so emphatically:—He assured that the believers throughout the world would turn to Shoghi Effendi as the true Center of the Cause, and not to Muḥammad-‘Alí, the self-revealed rebel against the Manifestation. By grasping this principle, and realizing that faith is no mere pretence of universal tolerance but full obedience to divine laws and commands, the believers today have no difficulty in discerning the disobedience and the rebellion of all who now, or at any later time, repudiate the Guardian and flout the Bahá’í Administrative Order while claiming to be Bahá’ís.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá was made by Bahá’u’lláh the touchstone distinguishing believer from non-believer, friend from enemy. His Will and Testament creates a continuance of authority for the Bahá’ís of the entire world, so that none may ever fall victim to the beguilements of personal opinion, nor follow personal influence instead of the true and consecrated guide. The Will and Testament is nothing less than the instrument for the attainment of the oneness of mankind in the outer world of action and fellowship. Eventually, every race, every nation, every class and every creed will find that its real relationship to God and to mankind has been made conditional upon its acceptance of this Will. The Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, moreover, makes our faith dependent not only upon acceptance of the world order of Bahá’u’lláh but likewise upon our activity and sacrifice in teaching the Cause. We have a spiritual life to live and not merely a set of principles to approve.

The Master’s blessed love for the Bahá’ís, consummated in the Will He left them on His departure, summons each believer to translate his belief into sacrifice and deeds. Our predecessors in service, the Persian Bahá’ís, demonstrated their faith in suffering martyrdom for the Beloved. Now that the American believers have been given the sublime mission of spreading the Faith far and wide throughout the world, we must anticipate the need for spiritual heroism in meeting whatever obstacle or challenge confronts us on the path. Whoever demonstrates his faith against opposition, test and hardship will receive a mighty reinforcement from Bahá’u’lláh. Such a believer is made a new being, immersed in a sea of light and life. His doubts and fears are consumed, and his innate capacity and true self transcend his former self, as the tree transcends the seed!

For twenty years the Guardian has been carrying out the provisions of the Master’s Will and Testament, administering the affairs of the Cause, developing its nascent institutions, and expounding the meanings of the Will to the believers throughout the world. The new friends are advised to study and ponder the Guardian’s general statement on the Cause entitled “The Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh,” published both as a pamphlet and as a chapter in the book, “The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh.” Therein he explains with utmost clarity the station of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and the Master’s conveyance of authority to the Guardianship and the Administrative Order of the Cause.

The following excerpts from words of Shoghi Effendi present us with the essential truth on which our understanding of the Will is to be based.

“ ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Who incarnates an institution for which we can find no parallel whatever in any of the world’s recognized religious systems, may be said to have closed the age to which He Himself belonged and opened the one in which we are now laboring. His Will and Testament should thus be regarded as the perpetual, the indissoluble link which the mind of Him Who is the mystery of God has conceived in order to insure the continuity of the three ages that constitute the component parts of the Bahá’í Dispensation . . . .

“The creative energies released by the Law of Bahá’u’lláh, permeating and evolving within the mind of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, have, by their very [Page 3] impact and close interaction, given birth to an Instrument which may be viewed as the Charter of the New World Order which is at once the glory and the promise of this most great Dispensation. . . Bahá’u’lláh’s inscrutable purpose, we must ever bear in mind, has been so thoroughly infused into the conduct of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and their motives have been so closely welded together, that the mere attempt to dissociate the teachings of the former from any system which the ideal Exemplar of those same teachings has established would amount to a repudiation of one of the most sacred and basic truths of the Faith." (The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, pages 143, 144)

SUPPLEMENTARY READINGS

NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF THE BAHÁ’ÍS OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA October, 1942

1. References to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh

When the ocean of My presence hath ebbed and the Book of My Revelation is ended, turn your faces toward Him Whom God hath purposed, Who hath branched from this Ancient Root. And again, When the Mystic Dove will have winged its flight from its Sanctuary of Praise and sought its far-off goal, its hidden habitation, refer ye whatsoever ye understand not in the Book to Him Who hath branched from this mighty Stock.—The Kitáb-i-Aqdas.

It is incumbent upon the Aghsán, the Afnán and My kindred to turn, one and all, their faces towards the Most Mighty Branch. Consider that which We have revealed in Our Most Holy Book: "When the ocean of My presence hath ebbed and the Book of My Revelation is ended, turn your faces toward Him Whom God hath purposed, Who hath branched from this Ancient Root." The object of this sacred verse is none other except the Most Mighty Branch. (‘Abdu’l-Bahá). Thus have We graciously revealed unto you our potent Will, and I am verily the Gracious, the All-Powerful.—The Kitáb-i-Ahd.

There hath branched from the Sadratu’l-Muntahá this sacred and glorious Being, this Branch of Holiness; well is it with him that hath sought His shelter and abideth beneath His shadow. Verily the Limb of the Law of God hath sprung forth from this Root which God hath firmly implanted in the Ground of His Will, and Whose Branch hath been so uplifted as to encompass the whole of creation. Magnified be He, therefore, for this sublime, this blessed, this mighty, this exalted Handiwork!... A Word hath, as a token of Our grace, gone forth from the Most Great Tablet—a Word which God hath adorned with the ornament of His own Self, and made it sovereign over the earth and all that is therein, and a sign of His greatness and power among its people...Render thanks unto God, O people, for His appearance; for verily He is the most great Favor unto you, the most perfect Bounty upon you; and through Him every mouldering bone is quickened. Whoso turneth towards Him hath turned towards God, and whoso turneth away from Him hath turned away from My Beauty, hath repudiated My Proof, and transgressed against Me. He is the Trust of God amongst you, His charge within you, His manifestation unto you and His appearance among His favored servants... We have sent Him down in the form of a human temple. Blest and sanctified be God Who createth whatsoever He willeth through His inviolable, His infallible decree. They who deprive themselves of the shadow of the Branch, are lost in the wilderness of error, are consumed by the heat of worldly desires, and are of those who will assuredly perish.—The Tablet of the Branch.

2. The Covenant: Words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

Inasmuch as great differences and divergences of denominational belief had arisen throughout the past, every man with a new idea attributing it to God, His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh desired that there should not be any ground or reason for disagreement among the Bahá’ís. Therefore with His own Pen He wrote the Book of His Covenant, addressing His relations and all people of the world, saying: "Verily, I have appointed One who is the Center of My Covenant. All must obey Him; all must turn to Him; He is the expounder of My Book and He is informed of My purpose. All must turn to Him. Whatsoever He says is correct, for verily He knoweth the texts of My Book. Other than He, no one doth know My Book." The purpose of this statement is that there should never be discord and disagreement among the Bahá’ís but that they should always be unified and agreed. . . . Therefore whosoever obeys the Center of the Covenant appointed by Bahá’u’lláh has obeyed Bahá’u’lláh, and whosoever disobeys Him has disobeyed Bahá’u’lláh. Beware! beware! lest any one should speak from the authority of his own thoughts or create a new thing out of himself.... His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh shuns such souls.

3. The Will and Testament: Words of Shoghi Effendi

On one hand the remarkable revelations of the Beloved's Will and Testament, so amazing in all its aspects, so emphatic in its injunctions, have challenged and perplexed the keenest minds, whilst the ever-increasing confusion of the world, threatened as never before with disruptive forces, fierce rivalries, fresh commotions and grave disorder, has well-nigh overwhelmed the heart and damped the zeal of even the most enthusiastic believer in the destiny of mankind.

And yet, how often we seem to forget the clear and repeated warnings of our beloved Master, who, in particular during the concluding years of His mission on earth, laid stress on the "severe mental tests" that would inevitably sweep over His loved ones of the West—tests that would purge, purify and prepare them for their noble mission in life. (Bahá’í Administration, 43, 44.)

Humanity, torn with dissension and burning with hate, is crying at this hour for a fuller measure of that love which is born of God, that love which in the last resort will prove the one solvent of its most incalculable difficulties and problems. Is it not incumbent upon us, whose hearts are aglow with love for Him, to make still greater effort, to manifest that love in all its purity and power in our dealings with our fellow-men? May our love of our beloved Master, so ardent, so disinterested in all its aspects, find its true expression in love for our fellow-brethren and sisters in the faith as well as for all mankind. I assure you, dear friends, that progress in such matters as these is limitless and infinite, and that upon the extent of our achievements along this line will ultimately depend the success of our mission in life. (Bahá’í Administration, 52)