Bahá’í World/Volume 18/Paul Edmond Haney
PAUL EDMOND HANEY
1909—1982
In every dispensation the Manifestation of God, after His ascension, has raised up special individuals for the service of His Cause, men
and women who have given their lives to promoting the new Message and who have become stars in the new heaven, second only in brilliance to those original Companions, Apostles, Letters, attendant upon the Prophet Himself during His earthly sojourn. Such a one was Paul Haney.
He was born of Bahá’í parents on 20 August 1909, during the ministry of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and his mother confided in writing to Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum, ‘I was carrying him when we were in the presence of the Master in the Most Great Prison in ‘Akká in 1909—and I have always felt he was destined for the Cause.’ Paul always maintained that this was his first pilgrimage.
Mary Ida Parkhurst and Charles Freeborn Haney were married in 1893 and became Bahá’ís in 1900. They were both of true, God-fearing, religious stock. Charles‘s father having been a well—known Methodist minister in Illinois, and one of the six founders of Northwestern University, in Evanston. His grandson, Paul, benefited from the provision in perpetuity of scholarships for descendants of the six. Not until nine years after their recognition of Bahá’u’lláh, and in the seventeenth year of their marriage, was Paul born, the only child of parents already immortalized as among the handful of first believers in the American continent. From the day they embraced the Faith, the whole life of the Haneys revolved about ‘Abdu’l-Bahá; to serve Him, to consult Him, to be sure they were fulfilling His wishes, to receive His good pleasure, was their all in all. It was ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Who called Mary Haney ‘Mariam’, a name she henceforth used all her life. This complete orientation to the Centre of the Covenant became for Paul—indeed for all that generation of Bahá’í children—the primary relationship in life.
We know little of the effect of pre-natal influences on the soul and not enough about those of childhood, but the indications are that it would be hard to overstate them. Paul‘s entire environment, from that first embryonic visit to the Master, was entirely Bahá’í, focused on the Centre of the Covenant and later on the Guardian. Mariam wrote, ‘Almost immediately after he was born . . . the Master gave him His own name—Abdul Baha—He also gave him the name Paul’, and
Corinne True confirmed, in a letter to Mariam from Alexandria on 19 November 1919, that she had asked the Master ‘if He had given the name Abdu’l-Baha to Paul as had been reported to you and He confirmed what you were given. Paul for the outside world. His real name is Abdu’l Baha.’
Many Tablets from the Master to Mariam refer to Paul. The newly born babe is blessed, and acceptable in the Divine Kingdom. He is a servant of the Blessed Perfection and belongeth to Him. Thank God for having been confirmed to attain such a blessing . . . I ask God that my namesake, Abdul-Bahá, may grow and develop day by day and that his radiant face may be illumined with the light of the greatest bestowal . . . It was also noted that. . . thy dear son, Paul, feeleth greatly attracted to the Kingdom of Abhá. This news imparteth the utmost joy and happiness . . . Send Paul to school; I hope he will become a verdant and fresh plant in the Abhá Paradise . . .
With such showering of grace from the Centre of the Covenant and with such spiritual antecedents it was natural to expect great things from him. Paul fulfilled those hopes—even as a child. He was a charming boy. His red hair—inherited from his mother—his blue eyes, frank and open countenance and cheerful disposition, even his unusual height and gangling gait, delighted people and endeared him to them. May Maxwell wrote to Mariam as Paul’s fifteenth birthday approached, ‘. . . tell me if Paul has a tennis racquet because I would like to give him one on his birthday. I have a peculiar love for that dear, blessed boy.’
His mother adored him. She referred to him in her letters as ‘beloved Paul’, ‘pure-hearted Paul’ who ‘loves everyone”; ‘. . . he is not mine any more for I have given him to the Most Great Cause.’ The boy’s father died when Paul was barely ten years old and Mariam raised him within the aura of her own single—minded devotion to the Master. She raised him alone and under great financial stress, but surrounded him with such tender care and infused into him such complete dedication to the Centre of the Covenant, and to the Covenant itself, that service to the Great Cause became the one purpose of his life. The loss of his father undoubtedly helped to develop in him that sense of responsibility
Paul E. Haney
which was so marked a feature of his character. There is a touching story from his early youth demonstrating this feeling in relationship to his beloved mother. On Paul’s entering Central High School, one of Mariam’s neighbours said to her, ‘Your lovely son will not come out of school as good as he is now.’ Shortly after that Paul assured his mother that she need never worry about him; he was not attracted by the wild life which so many youth feel to be a necessary proof of their manliness. There was no trace of sanctimoniousness in this attitude; he was just not attracted. There was a pure-heartedness about him which seemed an essential, unforced part of his nature. He enjoyed being decent and spiritually-minded and concerned with others. The Master’s bestowal and his mother’s loving education caused him to flourish spiritually. It would be hard to over-estimate Mariam’s influence, not only upon the development of his character but upon his chief interest in life, for she was totally involved in the work of the Cause in North America, being secretary of the National Teaching Committee from 1920—when Paul would have been eleven—for several years onward, and took an active part
in the conferences, Conventions and summer schools. In fact the first Convention for Amity between the Coloured and White Races was held in Washington, D.C., in May 1921, where the Haneys lived. Mariam had asked the Master where she and her son could best serve the Cause, and He sent her a message through Corinne True to go to Washington, where she found a small apartment, of which she wrote, ‘. . . we are both very happy and our one room apartment is a haven of rest for us both . . .‘ As a youth Paul formed a close friendship with Mary Maxwell—later Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum—whom he met with other Bahá’í children at the Green Acre Summer School, Conventions, and on other Bahá’í occasions.
Before going to Northwestern University, Paul obtained work in a government office in Washington, and attended night school. When he was twenty-two years old he was appointed to the National Teaching Committee of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada, an appointment which drew forth from May Maxwell the following note: ‘As for you dear Paul I feel that you bring to the National field of teaching not only the steadfast faith, the spirit of devotion and sacrifice which so characterized the older generation of Bahá’ís and on which foundation our beloved Cause has been established in America, but the forward vision, the world-wide horizon, the thrilling life and motion of which our youthful Guardian is the Head and Source . . .’
The Bahá’í Magazine of January 1934 contains an article entitled ‘The Economic Organization of Society in the New World Order’ by Paul Edmond Haney, M.B.A., and is described as ‘written by a young Bahá’í student of economic problems . . .’ Paul was by now a professional economist, having graduated from Northwestern University. At this time his life revolved around his professional duties and active service to the promotion of the Cause in North America. He was a member of the first National Youth Committee in the United States and was constantly active in the work of the Cause. In 1946 he was elected to membership of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada. Canada established its own National Spiritual Assembly in 1948 and
Paul remained a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States, serving as its chairman from 1950 to 1957. During these years he served the National Spiritual Assembly in innumerable ways. He was chairman of the Temple Trustees Construction Committee for the completion of the interior of the Bahá’í House of Worship in Wilmette; he represented the National Spiritual Assembly at the formation of the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada; in 1951 he represented the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States at the formation of the Regional National Spiritual Assembly of South America, and in 1953 at the formation of the Regional National Spiritual Assembly of Italy and Switzerland. Paul’s Bahá’í background, his deep knowledge of the Cause, his upright and distinguished Character lent prestige to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States, while at the same time his services as its chairman increased his own distinction in the Bahá’í world. It therefore came as no surprise when, on 19 March 1954, the following cable came to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States: ANNOUNCE ALL NATIONAL ASSEMBLIES ELEVATION PAUL HANEY RANK HAND OF THE CAUSE. The Guardian’s cable to Paul himself read: ANNOUNCE YOUR ELEVATION HAND CAUSE CONFIDENT DIVINE BLESSINGS FUTURE SERVICES. Paul’s reply to the Guardian was: OVERWHELMED OUTPOURING BELOVED GUARDIAN’S BOUNTY BESEECH PRAYERS DIVINE ASSISTANCE RENDER ACCEPTABLE SERVICES RISE ABOVE FEELING COMPLETE UNWORTHINESS DEVOTED LOVE PAUL HANEY.
For the next three years Paul Haney’s life was one of constant service in many parts of the world. In April 1956, on behalf of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States, he attended the Convention of South and West Africa; in April 1957 he represented the Guardian at the first Alaskan Convention in Anchorage, where he read the message from the Guardian to that Convention. A letter from the Guardian to Mariam, during these years, contained the following passage in the section written by the Guardian’s secretary: ‘He [Shoghi Effendi] hopes that dear Paul will ever-increasingly be able to render the Cause important services. Surely you and his father in the Abhá Kingdom must
rejoice to see how your cherished hopes are being fulfilled in this beloved son, who is so devoted, and has the interests of the Faith so completely at heart.’
Paul Haney, in his personal life, was unassuming, warm-hearted, friendly and even-tempered. He was a founder and one of the most popular members of the Caesaria Golf Club, where he often acted as judge in competitions and tournaments. One of the latter was an annual event for a trophy presented by the Bahá’í community of Haifa.
In the very early 1940s, when he attended the Green Acre Summer School, he delivered a message from his beloved mother to Helen Margery Wheeler, a Bahá’í from Worcester, Massachusetts. They were married in 1942 on 15 July, at Worcester, and went to live in Washington, not far from Mariam. They remained there until their removal to the Holy Land in 1958. On 1 September 1965 beloved Mariam Haney passed to the Abhá Kingdom. An account of her life may be read in The Bahá’í World, vol. XIV, pp. 346 ff.
The year 1957 brought to all the Hands of the Cause of God the greatest crisis—and the climax—of their lives. The sudden passing of the beloved Guardian, in London, on 4 November of that year, brought instant tragedy and dismay to the heart of every Bahá’í. But it was the Hands of the Cause who bore the main brunt of that bludgeon stroke, for they had been nominated, in the last message penned by Shoghi Effendi, ‘Chief Stewards of Bahá’u’lláh’s embryonic World Commonwealth’. Upon them fell the burden, while bearing the stress of their own unendurable heartache, of preserving the unity of the Bahá’í world, reassuring the friends everywhere and encouraging them to maintain, unabated, the magnificent forward march of the Cause of God which had been built up during the first four years of the beloved Guardian’s World Crusade. Their story is told in other places.1 But that was their day of immortality, when they rendered historic and effective service to the whole of humanity. After the funeral in London they gathered in Haifa, and in the Mansion at Bahjí, to take up their glorious labours. One of their decisions
1 The Bahá’í World, vol. XIV, pp. 431—435; see also Hofman. A Commentary on the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l—Bahá, Epilogue, Rev. Ed. (1982).
was to elect nine of their members to remain in the Holy Land and serve at the World Centre of the Faith to continue the Guardian’s work and bring to a successful conclusion his World Crusade with the election, in 1963, Of the Universal House of Justice. Paul Haney was one of the nine elected; they were known as Hands of the Cause of God Residing in the Holy Land.
The great change for Paul entailed considerable sacrifice. Not only would he be separated from his beloved mother, but, in his professional life he was within sight of appointment to a very high and well-paid position. It is recorded that when requested to serve in the Holy Land he bowed his head and immediately agreed. A letter from Mariam to Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum dated '12 April 1958 reads as follows: ‘The beloved Paul is so pure-hearted, so conscientious, so noble a soul that when this great blessing and honor came to him—that is, of being one of the nine Hands of the Bahá’í Cause to abide in Haifa—he said he could not live with himself had he not accepted this tremendous spiritual bounty . . . naturally I miss Paul—the pure-hearted—but I believe I am with him daily in his service. Distance is no real separation when there is understanding and love.’
From now on Paul’s entire life and total energies were concentrated on service to the Cause of God. He prepared the definitive statement on the Hands of the Cause of God and their activities during the interregnum between the passing of the Guardian and the election of the Universal House of Justice, which forms one of the most important items in the monumental vol. XIII of The Bahá’í World, and he played his part in composing the messages of explanation and encouragement which flowed from the Custodians, as the nine Hands of the Cause Residing in the Holy Land became known. He travelled the world as representative of the Custodians, attending National Conventions in long-established Bahá’í communities and those inaugurating new National Spiritual Assemblies. At the great Jubilee in London’s Albert Hall in 1963, celebrating the hundredth anniversary of the Declaration of Bahá’u’lláh and the victorious culmination of the World Crusade, he presented a significant paper on the importance of the World Centre of the Faith.
One of the first actions of the Universal House of Justice was to invite five Hands of the Cause to remain in the Holy Land for certain specified duties and as advisers to the House of Justice. Paul Haney was one of the five. One of his first appointments was to the Editorial Committee responsible for gathering information from the entire Bahá’í world and rewriting and editing it for distribution to all National Spiritual Assemblies. At Riḍván 1965 he attended the fifty-sixth Annual Convention of the United States Bahá’í community as the official representative of the Universal House of Justice. And thereafter, Paul Haney, Hand of the Cause of God, distinguished, incorruptible, adamantine in his defence of the Covenant, sound in his judgement and greatly loved by Bahá’ís everywhere, travelled throughout the world as representative of the Universal House of Justice, visiting Bahá’í communities and their institutions to advise, encourage and instruct. He attended diplomatic and governmental functions in Jerusalem as representative of the Bahá’í World Centre. Together with other Hands of the Cause he played a great part in the development of the Continental Boards of Counsellors, and later the International Teaching Centre, representing the Universal House of Justice at the inaugural gathering of the Continental Board of Counsellors for Asia, held in New Delhi in 1981. He took part in all four International Conventions held during his lifetime, and was chairman at the opening session of the 1968 event.
In August 1982 he represented the House of Justice at the Continental Conference in Quito, Ecuador, followed by a meeting with the Board of Counsellors for the Americas and attendance at the satellite conferences in Costa Rica and Panama. On his return to the Holy Land he delighted the Bahá’ís at the World Centre with his characteristically jovial, spiritually uplifting and informative account of the journey.
On 3 December 1982 he met death suddenly and instantly in an automobile accident. The Universal House of Justice sent the following cable to the Bahá’í world:
WITH STRICKEN HEARTS ANNOUNCE SUDDEN IRREPARABLE LOSS THROUGH AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENT 3 DECEMBER HIGHLY DISTINGUISHED
GREATLY PRIZED HAND CAUSE GOD STAUNCH DEFENDER COVENANT PAUL HANEY. THIS DISTINGUISHED SERVANT BAHAULLAH WAS BLESSED CHILDHOOD THROUGH ATTAINMENT PRESENCE ABDUL—BAHA. HIS NATURAL GENTLENESS GENUINE HUMILITY UNAFFECTED UNBOUNDED LOVE HIS UPRIGHTNESS INTEGRITY HIS SINGLE-MINDED DEVOTION CAUSE SINCE YOUTHFUL YEARS HIS UNFAILING RELIABILITY METICULOUS ATTENTION DETAIL CHARACTERIZED HIS HISTORIC SERVICES BOTH NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL LEVELS. SPANNING MORE THAN HALF CENTURY HIS TIRELESS LABOURS INCLUDED LONG-TIME MEMBERSHIP AMERICAN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY. SINCE 1954 HE CONSECRATED HIS ENERGIES AS MEMBER UNIQUE COMPANY CHIEF STEWARDS FAITH AND LATER AS MEMBER BODY HANDS CAUSE RESIDING HOLY LAND AT ONE OF MOST CRITICAL PERIODS BAHAI HISTORY. LAST DECADE HIS EARTHLY LIFE WAS FULLY DEDICATED DEVELOPMENT NEWLY FORMED INTERNATIONAL TEACHING CENTRE. GENERATIONS YET UNBORN WlLl, GLORY IN HIS IMPERISHABLE ACHIEVEMENTS AND BE INSPIRED BY HIS UNIQUE FORTITUDE. ARDENTLY SUPPLICATING HOLY THRESHOLD PROGRESS HIS NOBLE SOUL ABHA KINGDOM. ADVISE HOLD THROUGHOUT BAHAI WORLD INCLUDING ALL MASHRIQUL-ADHKARS MEMORIAL GATHERINGS BEFITTING HIS HIGH RANK AND HIS MERITORIOUS SERVICES.