Bahá’í World/Volume 33/Highlights of the Messages from the Universal House of Justice
Highlights of Messages from the Universal House of Justice[edit]
One of the outstanding features of the worldwide Bahá’í community is its unity of principle, vision, and action. One would be hard pressed to find such a degree of unity in any other community on earth. Its reason is not difficult to discern: Bahá’ís look directly to the authoritative sacred writings of their Faith, as revealed by Bahá’u’lláh, authoritatively interpreted by His eldest son and appointed successor, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, later expounded by Shoghi Effendi in his capacity as the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, and now safeguarded by the Universal House of Justice. This clear line of succession of authority from Bahá’u’lláh has flowed from the institution of His Covenant, which He established “to direct and canalize the forces released by His Revelation.” The effect has been to preserve the integrity of the Faith established by Bahá’u’lláh, to maintain its unity, and to stimulate its expansion around the globe over the past century and a half. While the Universal House of Justice has no power to alter any of the teachings explicitly given by Bahá’u’lláh in His writings, it does have the authority to decide on matters not specified in the texts and performs a number of specific functions: “to ensure the continuity of that divinely appointed authority which flows from the Source of the Faith, to safeguard the
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unity of its followers, and to maintain the integrity and flexibility of its teachings.”¹
To this end, letters and messages flow regularly from the Universal House of Justice to National Spiritual Assemblies and to the worldwide community, as well as to individual believers, offering guidance and vision. One of the most important of these regular communications is the message released each year during the Festival of Riḍván (21 April–2 May).
As the Bahá’í world community embarked on the third year of its current five-year plan of growth and development, the message of the Universal House of Justice written at Riḍván 2004 conveyed a strong sense that “processes set in motion” are unfolding as they should—and bearing fruit in all parts of the world, as individuals, institutions, and communities play distinctive roles in the plan and yet also reinforce each other’s actions.
The Universal House of Justice identified several areas in which the capacity gained by the worldwide Bahá’í community is particularly strong: the Bahá’í education of children; the spiritual empowerment of junior youth (ages 12–14); the movement of “clusters” (small geographic areas) to greater levels of activity; the ability of the Bahá’í community to reach out to a wider circle of people and involve them in its activities; the emergence of structures within the Bahá’í community for administering intensive growth; and concentration on raising up human resources in certain geographic areas that show special promise. The Universal House of Justice further noted the role of training institutes in Bahá’í communities around the world as “an engine of growth” and the worldwide use of course materials developed by the Ruhi Institute in Colombia, which has given a sense of global coherence to the process of learning in which the Bahá’í community is engaged.
In contrast, the Universal House of Justice wrote:
A chaotic international society, torn by conflicting perceptions and interests, is assailed by rising terrorism, lawlessness, and corruption, and eroded by economic failure, poverty, and disease. In its midst the Bahá’í community is becoming increasingly visible, inspired by a divinely revealed vision, building on solid foundations, growing in strength through the processes that are now in place, and undaunted by seeming setbacks.
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Recalling that the election of the Universal House of Justice went forward “without a missed step” when world crises necessitated the cancellation of the 2003 International Bahá’í Convention, and noting the reconstitution of long-dissolved Local Spiritual Assemblies in Iraq “despite the disruption and chaos of life” there, the Universal House of Justice wrote: “Now we announce with great joy the election, this Riḍván, of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Iraq, restored after more than thirty years of stifling oppression.”
The year 2004–2005 saw the launch of several new or revamped Websites by the Bahá’í International Community. A letter on 4 January 2005 from the Secretariat of the Universal House of Justice to all National Spiritual Assemblies announced the launch of one of these: the Bahá’í Pilgrimage Website, at http://pilgrimage.bahai.org, which offers information to assist Bahá’ís who are contemplating making a pilgrimage or short visit to the Bahá’í World Centre.²
The year also saw the publication of a significant statement commissioned by the Universal House of Justice, entitled One Common Faith, which was released on the occasion of Naw-Rúz (21 March) 2005. In a foreword to the statement, which is aimed at Bahá’í readers rather than at a wider audience, the House of Justice wrote that its publication was necessitated by “the accelerating breakdown in social order,” which “calls out desperately for the religious spirit to be freed from the shackles that have so far prevented it from bringing to bear the healing influence of which it is capable.” The statement thus expands on points made in an open letter to the world’s religious leaders, which was released at Riḍván 2002. The House of Justice continued, “If they are to respond to the need, Bahá’ís must draw on a deep understanding of the process by which humanity’s spiritual life evolves. Bahá’u’lláh’s writings provide insights that can help to elevate discussion of religious issues above sectarian and transient considerations.” Through study of these teachings, the House of Justice said, “Bahá’ís will come increasingly to appreciate that the Cause they serve represents the arrowhead of an awakening taking place among people everywhere, regardless of religious background and indeed among many with no religious leaning.” To this end, One Common Faith “reviews relevant passages from both the writings of Bahá’u’lláh and the scriptures of other faiths against the background of the contemporary crisis.”
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A letter dated 17 January 2005 announced to all National Spiritual Assemblies that “Considerations of age and the related needs of the Cause have prompted Mr. Douglas Martin and Mr. Ian Semple to request permission to relinquish their membership on the Universal House of Justice in accordance with Article v.2.(c) of its Constitution.” The House of Justice expressed “deep regret” at the departure of these two “much-loved” individuals, noting that Mr. Semple had been a member since 1963 and Mr. Martin since 1993. The results of the by-election held for their successors were announced just over two months later, in a brief message on 20 March 2005 that stated: “We welcome our newly elected members Payman Mohajer and Paul Lample.”
The election of Mr. Lample and Mr. Mohajer left two vacancies on the International Teaching Centre, on which both men had been members. To replace them, Gustavo Correa and Stephen Hall were appointed as Counsellor members of that institution, as announced in a letter from the Universal House of Justice to all National Spiritual Assemblies on 24 March 2005.
A major announcement was made by the Universal House of Justice on 14 April 2005 regarding the site for the Bahá’í House of Worship in Chile. The first Bahá’í temple in South America will be constructed on a site north of Santiago, and a groundbreaking ceremony is anticipated. Representatives from all national Bahá’í communities in the Western hemisphere will be invited to attend, “with a special emphasis on the countries and indigenous peoples of South America.” The House of Justice noted in its letter that the unusual and innovative design prepared by the project architect, Siamak Hariri of Canada, generated “unprecedented media coverage of the project in Chile,” and “[i]n connection with the current decade-long commemoration of Chile’s two hundred years of independent nationhood, the Chilean Bicentennial Commission has designated the house of Worship as one of a limited number of official bicentennial projects in the private sector.” The House of Justice concluded, “This clearly reflects the civil authorities’ recognition of the significance of this edifice and their confidence in the benefit the undertaking will bring to Santiago and to Chile as a whole.” The letter also outlined the financial implications for the
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temple project, citing the total cost at $27 million, which is needed to complete the construction within a three-year period.
Numerous letters during the year detailed specific events related to the persecution of Iran’s long-suffering Bahá’í community, from the destruction of the House of Mírzá Buzurg in Tehran, to the obstruction of Bahá’í students from entrance to Iran’s universities, to arrests, to seizure of property, and perhaps most notably, to the distribution of a letter from Iran’s Bahá’í community to President Khatami.³
The messages of the Universal House of Justice written between April 2004 and April 2005 reflect a community engaged in a coherent, unified process of global education of its members, through its institute program, which will better equip it to minister to the needs of humanity. These communications show a community growing, reaching outward, and yet at the same time actively working to deepen its understanding of its teachings to better engage in meaningful dialogue with the wider society and find points of unity on which positive relationships and collaboration can be built.
NOTES[edit]
1 The Constitution of the Universal House of Justice (Haifa: Bahá’í World Centre, 1972), pp. 3–4.
2 For its part, the Bahá’í International Community’s Office of Public Information announced on 1 June 2004 the launch of a Bahá’í Reference Library Website and, on 20 April 2005, the launch of The Bahá’ís Website, to replace the Bahá’í World site. The Reference Library can be accessed at http://reference.bahai.org/, and The Bahá’ís is accessible at http://bahai.org/. For a full article on these new Websites, see pp. 143–145 of this volume.
3 Further details on this letter and on the persecutions in Iran can be found on pp. 163–174, 279–280 of this volume.