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World Order

WINTER 1972-73

THE FAITH OF BAHÁ’U’LLÁH

Shoghi Effendi

THE LITERATURE OF INTERPRETATION—

NOTES ON THE ENGLISH WRITINGS OF SHOGHI EFFENDI

Glenford E. Mitchéll

ACCOUNTS OF THE PASSING OF ‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ

Florian and Grace Krug

KNOWLEDGE, VOLITION, AND ACTION—

THE STEPS TO SPIRITUAL TRANSFORMATION

Daniel C. Jordan

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World Order

A BAHÁ’Í MAGAZINE • VOLUME 7 NUMBER 2 • PUBLISHED QUARTERLY

WORLD ORDER IS INTENDED TO STIMULATE, INSPIRE AND SERVE THINKING PEOPLE IN THEIR SEARCH TO FIND RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN CONTEMPORARY LIFE AND CONTEMPORARY RELIGIOUS TEACHINGS AND PHILOSOPHY

Editorial Board:

FIRUZ KAZEMZADEH

BETTY FISHER

HOWARD GAREY

ROBERT HAYDEN

GLENFORD E. MITCHELL

WORLD ORDER is published quarterly, October, January, April, and July, at 415 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois 60091. Subscriber and business correspondence and changes of address should be sent to this address. Manuscripts and other editorial correspondence should be addressed to 2011 Yale Station, New Haven, Connecticut 06520.

The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publisher, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States, or of the Editorial Board. Manuscripts should be typewritten and double spaced throughout, with the footnotes at the end. The contributor should keep a carbon copy. Return postage should be included.

Subscription: Regular mail USA, $4.50; Domestic student rate, $3.50; Foreign, $5.00. Single copy, $1.25.

Copyright © 1973, National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States, World Rights Reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.

IN THIS ISSUE

1 Shoghi Effendi (1897-1957)

Editorial

4 Interchange: Letters to and from the Editor

7 The Faith of Bahá’u’lláh

by Shoghi Effendi

12 The Literature of Interpretation: Notes on the

English Writings of Shoghi Effendi

by Glenford E. Mitchell

38 Accounts of the Passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

by Florian and Grace Krug

43 Knowledge, Volition, and Action: The Steps to

Spiritual Transformation, by Daniel C. Jordan

49 Refueling the Federalist Spirit

by Mary Coddington

50 A Review of Rúḥíyyih Rabbaní’s The Priceless Pearl

by Firuz Kazemzadeh

52 A Russian Response

by Winston Evans

56 Authors and Artists in This Issue

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Shoghi Effendi (1897-1957)

IN NOVEMBER 1921 the Bahá’í Faith suffered a staggering blow. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Center of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant, the authorized Interpreter and Perfect Exemplar of His Teachings, the Master, had passed away, ending the Heroic and Apostolic Age of the Bahá’í Dispensation. To the excruciating pain of loss felt by His devoted followers were added apprehension and fear for the future of the small, still obscure, and struggling community held together by invisible bonds of faith and love alone. The adherents of a religion which from its inception had lived amidst the turmoil of assault and persecution knew that the Cause was threatened once more. It stood defenseless, bereft of leadership, lacking national and international institutions that could preserve its unity, assure its growth, and direct its progress.

The darkness was dispelled when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Will and Testament was read, revealing to the Bahá’ís the outlines of the Administrative Order, a unique feature of the Bahá’í Faith, “the inviolable stronghold wherein this new-born child is being nurtured and developed.” In His Will and Testament ‘Abdu’l-Bahá appointed His eldest grandson, Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Cause and Interpreter of the Word of God. Continuity of leadership was thus assured and the Bahá’ís, obedient to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s command, proceeded to spread the Faith and build its institutions in every corner of the world.

Shoghi Effendi, destined to nurture the Cause and preside over it for thirty-six years, was born on March 1, 1897, in the prison city of ‘Akká, attended schools in Haifa, graduated from the Syrian Protestant College (now American University) in Beirut, studied at Oxford, mastered several languages, and became a superb translator of Bahá’í Writings. Yet the dominant experience of his life was his closeness to his Grandfather. It was ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Who fashioned Shoghi Effendi, guided him, taught him, and prepared him for his task. It was in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s service as translator, secretary, and close companion that Shoghi Effendi was trained and acquired so many of the Master’s own characteristics.

From 1922 to the day he died in 1957 Shoghi Effendi functioned as the Guardian of the Cause and the beloved leader of the Bahá’í world community. Systematically and painstakingly he built the local and national institutions of the Cause, issued instructions for the acquisition of properties, the building of centers, the establishment of schools, the erection of houses of worship, the publication [Page 2] of books and magazines. He developed several continental and global teaching plans, compiled statistics, worked out procedures, and taught a generation of Bahá’ís the arts of consultation and cooperation.

While standing guard over the purity of the Teachings and the unity of the Cause, Shoghi Effendi endlessly showered upon us choice gifts of his luminous spirit. He was the builder who raised a golden dome over the dazzling marble of the shrine of the Báb and surrounded it with gardens unsurpassed in their beauty. He was the preceptor who patiently explained to us the principles of the Faith and taught us the standards of Bahá’í conduct. He was the theorist who brilliantly analyzed the trends on the ever-changing world scene and related them to the Teachings. He was the historian who constantly held up to us our heroic past and focused our vision on the Central Figures of the Faith. He was the commander who sent hundreds of pioneers to spread the Faith over most of the earth. He was the inspirer who gave us confidence in our capacity to accomplish the impossible. He was the seer who shared with us his vision of the unfoldment of world civilization.

Shoghi Effendi labored for thirty-six years with a superhuman singleness of purpose. His task was overwhelming, his helpers few. Yet he preserved to the end the brotherly humility and devotion to principle that prompted him to warn the Bahá’ís against addressing him as lord and master, designating him as his holiness, seeking his benediction, celebrating his birthday, or commemorating any event associated with his life.

When he departed this world at the early age of sixty, he left behind a rapidly expanding, well-knit, dynamic community. If in 1921 there were thirty-five countries, territories, and dependencies open to the Faith, in 1957 there were two hundred and fifty-four. If in 1921 there was not one National Spiritual Assembly, in 1957 there were twenty-six. If in 1921 Bahá’ís resided in a few hundred places, mostly in Persia, in 1957 they were found in forty-five hundred localities throughout the world. These and other such statistics can only suggest the growth, spread, and transformation achieved by the Bahá’í community under the guidance of its beloved Guardian. But Shoghi Effendi’s services to the Faith did not stop with his passing. His immortal writings, containing the most profound analysis and interpretation of the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh will continue for centuries to lead, inspire, and guard the Bahá’í community.

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Interchange LETTERS TO AND FROM THE EDITOR

UPON COMPLETION of the Winter 1972-73 issue of WORLD ORDER, the Editors find themselves in a retrospective mood. In 1970, a full year before the event, we set for ourselves the task of preparing an entire issue devoted to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of His passing. The result, the Fall 1971 issue, was successful beyond our high expectations and constituted, in the words of the National Spiritual Assembly, one of the “preeminent works” published in connection with the event—the other being Memorials of the Faithful, a compendium of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s remembrances of seventy-nine believers, most of whom followed Bahá’u’lláh into eXile and prison.

In 1972 the Editors have had the pleasure and excitement of seeing that commemorative issue of WORLD ORDER reprinted and appear in a hard cover edition, which has become a permanent addition to library shelves and a permanent addition to the growing literature on ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

The momentum created by the Fall 1971 issue has made itself felt in other ways too. A single issue, we found, could not contain all the material we had solicited. Thus throughout the ensuing year additional articles on ‘Abdu’l-Bahá continued to appear in WORLD ORDER: Allan Ward’s “‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Speaking in America” (Winter 1971-72) and Gary L. Morrison’s “‘Abdu’l-Bahá and the Early American Bahá’ís” (Spring 1972). Other accounts associated with the passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá unexpectedly surfaced and made their way into the magazine. Dr. Betty J. Fisher found, in the National Bahá’í Archives, a letter written by Emogene Hoagg to Nellie French shortly after the event. It appeared in the Winter 1971-72 issue. In this issue yet other accounts of the Master’s passing have been made available to the Editors: those of Dr. Florian Krug, who attended ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in his last moments, and of his wife Grace Krug.

Yet 1921, with the passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, marked not only a conclusion for the Bahá’í World Community, but also a beginning. For ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, in His Will and Testament, appointed His grandson, Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith. Thus the Editors had scarcely completed plans for an issue devoted to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, when we also determined to devote a subsequent issue to Shoghi Effendi. This Winter 1972-73 issue sees that second happy task come to fruition, for in it we offer to our readers an editorial, an article, and a book review about him, as well as a short account written by the Guardian. November 28, 1921, did indeed mark the end of the Heroic and Apostolic Era of the Bahá’í Faith. At the same time, with the institution of the Guardianship, it marked the beginning of the Formative Age of the Faith. Thus it is fitting that this issue be devoted to Shoghi Effendi, who has had and will continue to have so much to do with the raising up of the World Order envisaged by Bahá’u’lláh.

* * *

The masthead of WORLD ORDER has, since its publication was resumed in Fall 1966, defined the intention of the magazine as that of stimulating, inspiring, and serving “thinking people in their search to [Page 5] find relationships between contemporary life and contemporary religious teachings and philosophy.” In this issue Mary Coddington, in an article first published in the World Citizen—the newsletter of the Fairfield County, Connecticut, World Federalists —examines with humor and honesty the flagging dedication of World Federalists “to world peace through world law” and wonders about “the secret ingredient” which might “effect a federalist renaissance.” Dr. Daniel C. Jordan seeks in the Bahá’í Writings an understanding of the role which knowledge, volition, and action play in the spiritual transformation of men and women so often today plagued with a loss of direction, a sense of goallessness, and an incapacity to act. When their individual lives become infused with a sense of divine purpose, they are transformed into a new race of men and women capable of contributing to the world civilization outlined by Bahá’u’lláh, amplified by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and concretized by Shoghi Effendi.

* * *

With this issue the Editorial Board is losing the valuable services of Gayle Morrison, who, with her husband and small daughter, is leaving the country. Now that she is no longer on the Board, we can give her our unstinted recognition and praise for her excellent services and her faithful dedication and devotion to WORLD ORDER. We wish Ms. Morrison well and hope that, if her name is not to appear again on the masthead, it will be found often in the table of contents. Our love and thanks and admiration go with our fellow editor. We will miss her keen eye, her critical judgment, and her unwavering loyalty.

To the Editor

EARLY AMERICAN BAHÁ’ÍS

It is a delightful pleasure to read your magazine. Gary L. Morrison’s article on “‘Abdu’l-Bahá and the Early American Bahá’ís” [Summer 1972] is indeed very inspiring. As one moves through the pages, one’s inner tongue utters: “God bless the WORLD ORDER and its writers for bringing these beautiful souls and the events associated with their lives to our attention.”

However, one cannot help but wish that the last sentence of this article was worded differently. The great achievements of the years from 1921 to 1957, when Shoghi Effendi directed the affairs of the Bahá’í Faith, were realized because these early American Bahá’ís and many other dedicated believers throughout the world, who had responded to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s call, continued to be sustained by the encouraging words of the Guardian and march forward under his guidance.

S. TAHERI

City Beach

Western Australia

ṬÁHIRIH

I have just received my copy of the Summer [1972] issue of WORLD ORDER. I enjoyed it very much except for one aspect that saddened me. The editor points out at the beginning of “Thralls of Yearning Love” that the story is fictionalized. Well, though not an historian, I did “cavil at details.” It seems to me that the story of Ṭáhirih is exquisite and complete without the addition of fictitious events. I just dislike seeing legends of any form entering into the history of the Bahá’í Faith. It seems to me that it doesn’t need fictionalization to make it meaningful and beautiful.

LINDA S. NOGG

Omaha, Nebraska

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The Faith of Bahá’u’lláh

BY SHOGHI EFFENDI

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This summary of the origin, teachings, and institutions of the Bahá’í Faith was prepared in 1947 for the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine by Shoghi Effendi in his capacity of Guardian appointed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in His Will and Testament. It is also carried as a pamphlet by the Bahá’í Publishing Trust, Wilmette, Illinois.

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THE FAITH established by Bahá’u’lláh was born in Persia about the middle of the nineteenth century and has, as a result of the successive banishments of its Founder, culminating in His exile to the Turkish penal colony of ‘Akká, and His subsequent death and burial in its vicinity, fixed its permanent spiritual center in the Holy Land, and is now in the process of laying the foundations of its world administrative center in the city of Haifa.

Alike in the claims unequivocally asserted by its Author and the general character of the growth of the Bahá’í community in every continent of the globe, it can be regarded in no other light than a world religion, destined to evolve in the course of time into a world-embracing commonwealth, whose advent must signalize the Golden Age of mankind, the age in which the unity of the human race will have been unassailably established, its maturity attained, and its glorious destiny unfolded through the birth and efflorescence of a world-encompassing civilization.

Restatement of Eternal Verifies

THOUGH sprung from Shí‘ih Islám, and regarded, in the early stages of its development, by the followers of both the Muslim and Christian Faiths, as an obscure sect, an Asiatic cult or an offshoot of the Muḥammadan religion, this Faith is now increasingly demonstrating its right to be recognized, not as one more religious system superimposed on the conflicting creeds which for so many generations have divided mankind and darkened its fortunes, but rather as a restatement of the eternal verities underlying all the religions of the past, as a unifying force instilling into the adherents of these religions a new spiritual vigor, infusing them with a new hope and love for mankind, firing them with a new vision of the fundamental unity of their religious doctrines, and unfolding to their eyes the glorious destiny that awaits the human race.

The fundamental principle enunciated by Bahá’u’lláh, the followers of His Faith firmly believe, is that religious truth is not absolute but relative, that Divine Revelation is a continuous and progressive process, that all the great religions of the world are divine in origin, that their basic principles are in complete harmony, that their aims and purposes are one and the same, that their teachings are but facets of one truth, that their functions are complementary, that they differ only in the nonessential aspects of their doctrines, and that their missions represent successive stages in the spiritual evolution of human society.

Fulfills Past Revelations

THE AIM of Bahá’u’lláh, the Prophet of this new and great age which humanity has entered upon—He whose advent fulfills the prophecies of the Old and New Testaments as well as those of the Qur’án regarding the coming of the Promised One in the end of time, on the Day of Judgment—is not to destroy but to fulfill the Revelations of the past, to reconcile rather than accentuate the divergencies of the conflicting creeds which disrupt present-day society.

His purpose, far from belittling the station of the Prophets gone before Him or of whittling down their teachings, is to restate the basic truths which these teachings enshrine in a manner that would conform to [Page 8] the needs, and be in consonance with the capacity, and be applicable to the problems, the ills and perplexities, of the age in which we live. His mission is to proclaim that the ages of the infancy and of the childhood of the human race are past, that the convulsions associated with the present stage of its adolescence are slowly and painfully preparing it to attain the stage of manhood, and are heralding the approach of that Age of Ages when swords will be beaten into plowshares, when the Kingdom promised by Jesus Christ will have been established, and the peace of the planet definitely and permanently ensured. Nor does Bahá’u’lláh claim finality for His own Revelation, but rather stipulates that a fuller measure of the truth He has been commissioned by the Almighty to vouchsafe to humanity, at so critical a juncture in its fortunes, must needs be disclosed at future stages in the constant and limitless evolution of mankind.

Oneness of the Human Race

THE BAHÁ’Í FAITH upholds the unity of God, recognizes the unity of His Prophets, and inculcates the principle of the oneness and wholeness of the entire human race. It proclaims the necessity and the inevitability of the unification of mankind, asserts that it is gradually approaching, and claims that nothing short of the transmuting spirit of God, working through His chosen Mouthpiece in this day, can ultimately succeed in bringing it about. It, moreover, enjoins upon its followers the primary duty of an unfettered search after truth, condemns all manner of prejudice and superstition, declares the purpose of religion to be the promotion of amity and concord, proclaims its essential harmony with science, and recognizes it as the foremost agency for the pacification and the orderly progress of human society. It unequivocally maintains the principle of equal rights, opportunities and privileges for men and women, insists on compulsory education, eliminates extremes of poverty and wealth, abolishes the institution of priesthood, prohibits slavery, asceticism, mendicancy and monasticism, prescribes monogamy, discourages divorce, emphasizes the necessity of strict obedience to one’s government, exalts any work performed in the spirit of service to the level of worship, urges either the creation or the selection of an auxiliary international language, and delineates the outlines of those institutions that must establish and perpetuate the general peace of mankind.

The Herald

THE BAHÁ’Í FAITH revolves around three central Figures, the first of whom was a youth, a native of Shíráz, named Mírzá ‘Alí-Muḥammad, known as the Báb (Gate), Who in May, 1844, at the age of twenty-five, advanced the claim of being the Herald Who, according to the sacred Scriptures of previous Dispensations, must needs announce and prepare the way for the advent of One greater than Himself, Whose mission would be according to those same Scriptures, to inaugurate an era of righteousness and peace, an era that would be hailed as the consummation of all previous Dispensations, and initiate a new cycle in the religious history of mankind. Swift and severe persecution, launched by the organized forces of Church and State in His native land, precipitated successfully His arrest, His exile to the mountains of Ádhirbáyján, His imprisonment in the fortresses of Máh-Kú and Chihríq, and His execution, in July, 1850, by a firing squad in the public square of Tabríz. No less than twenty thousand of his followers were put to death with such barbarous cruelty as to evoke the warm sympathy and the unqualified admiration of a number of Western writers, diplomats, travelers and scholars, some of whom were witnesses of these abominable outrages, and were moved to record them in their books and diaries.

Bahá’u’lláh

MÍRZÁ ḤUSAYN-‘ALÍ, surnamed Bahá’u’lláh (the Glory of God), a native of Mázindarán, [Page 9] Whose advent the Báb had foretold, was assailed by those same forces of ignorance and fanaticism, was imprisoned in Ṭihrán, was banished, in 1852, from His native land to Baghdád, and thence to Constantinople and Adrianople, and finally to the prison city of ‘Akká, where He remained incarcerated for no less than twenty-four years, and in whose neighborhood He passed away in 1892. In the course of His banishment, and particularly in Adrianople and ‘Akká, He formulated the laws and ordinances of His Dispensation, expounded, in over a hundred volumes, the principles of His Faith, proclaimed His Message to the kings and rulers of both the East and the West, both Christian and Muslim, addressed the Pope, the Caliph of Islám, the Chief Magistrates of the Republics of the American continent, the entire Christian sacerdotal order, the leaders of Shí‘ih and Sunní Islám, and the high priests of the Zoroastrian religion. In these writings He proclaimed His Revelation, summoned those whom He addressed to heed His call and espouse His Faith, warned them of the consequences of their refusal, and denounced, in some cases, their arrogance and tyranny.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá

HIS ELDEST SON, ‘Abbas Effendi, known as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (the Servant of Bahá), appointed by Him as His lawful successor and the authorized interpreter of His teachings, Who since early childhood had been closely associated with His Father, and shared His exile and tribulations, remained a prisoner until 1908, when, as a result of the Young Turk Revolution, He was released from His confinement. Establishing His residence in Haifa, He embarked soon after on His three-year journey to Egypt, Europe and North America, in the course of which He expounded before vast audiences, the teachings of His Father and predicted the approach of that catastrophe that was soon to befall mankind. He returned to His home on the eve of the first World War, in the course of which He was exposed to constant danger, until the liberation of Palestine by the forces under the command of General Allenby, who extended the utmost consideration to Him and to the small band of His fellow-exiles in ‘Akká and Haifa. In 1921 He passed away, and was buried in a vault in the mausoleum erected on Mount Carmel, at the express instruction of Bahá’u’lláh, for the remains of the Báb, which had previously been transferred from Tabríz to the Holy Land after having been preserved and concealed for no less than sixty years.

Administrative Order

THE PASSING of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá marked the termination of the first and Heroic Age of the Bahá’í Faith and signalized the opening of the Formative Age destined to witness the gradual emergence of its Administrative Order, whose establishment had been foretold by the Báb, whose laws were revealed by Bahá’u’lláh, whose outlines were delineated by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in His Will and Testament, and whose foundations are now being laid by the national and local councils which are elected by the professed adherents of the Faith, and which are paving the way for the constitution of the World Council, to be designated as the Universal House of Justice, which, in conjunction with me, as its appointed Head and the authorized interpreter of the Bahá’í teachings, must coordinate and direct the affairs of the Bahá’í community, and whose seat will be permanently established in the Holy Land, in close proximity to its world spiritual center, the resting-places of its Founders.

The Administrative Order of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, which is destined to evolve into the Bahá’í World Commonwealth, and has already survived the assaults launched against its institutions by such formidable foes as the kings of the Qájár dynasty, the Caliphs of Islám, the ecclesiastical leaders of Egypt, and the Nazi regime in Germany, has already extended its ramifications to every continent of the globe, stretching from Iceland to the extremity of Chile, has been [Page 10] established in no less than eighty-eight countries of the world,* has gathered within its pale representatives of no less than thirty-one races, numbers among its supporters Christians of various denominations, Muslims of both Sunní and Shí‘ih sects, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, Zoroastrians and Buddhists. It has published and disseminated, through its appointed agencies, Bahá’í literature in forty-eight languages;* has already consolidated its structure through the incorporation of five National Assemblies* and seventy-seven local Assemblies,* in lands as far apart as South America, India and the Antipodes— incorporations that legally empower its elected representatives to hold property as trustees of the Bahá’í community. It disposes of international, national and local endowments, estimated at several million pounds, and spread over every continent of the globe, enjoys in several countries the privilege of official recognition by the civil authorities, enabling it to secure exemption from taxation for its endowments and to solemnize Bahá’í marriage, and numbers among its stately edifices, two temples,* the one erected in Russian Turkistan and the other on the shore of Lake Michigan at Wilmette, on the outskirts of Chicago.

This Administrative Order, unlike the systems evolved after the death of the Founders of the various religions, is divine in origin, rests securely on the laws, the precepts, the ordinances and inStitutions which the Founder of the Faith has Himself specifically laid down and unequivocally established, and functions in strict accordance with the interpretations of the authorized Interpreters of its holy scriptures. Though fiercely assailed, ever since its inception, it has, by virtue of its character, unique in the annals of the world’s religious history, succeeded in maintaining the unity of the diversified and far-flung body of its supporters, and enabled them to launch, unitedly and systematically, enterprises in both Hemispheres, designed to extend its limits and consolidate its administrative institutions.

The Faith which this order serves, safeguards and promotes, is, it should be noted in this connection, essentially supernatural, supranational, entirely non-political, nonpartisan, and diametrically opposed to any policy or school of thought that seeks to exalt any particular race, class or nation. It is free from any form of ecclesiasticism, has neither priesthood nor rituals, and is supported exclusively by voluntary contributions made by its avowed adherents. Though loyal to their respective governments, though imbued with the love of their own country, and anxious to promote at all times, its best interests, the followers of the Bahá’í Faith, nevertheless, viewing mankind as one entity, and profoundly attached to its vital interests, will not hesitate to subordinate every particular interest, be it personal, regional or national, to the over-riding interests of the generality of mankind, knowing full well that in a world of interdependent peoples and nations the advantage of the part is best to be reached by the advantage of the whole, and that no lasting result can be achieved by any of the component parts if the general interests of the entity itself are neglected.

Nor should the fact be overlooked that the Faith has already asserted and demonstrated its independent religious character, has been emancipated from the fetters of orthodoxy in certain Islamic countries, has obtained in one of them an unsolicited testimony to its independent religious status, and succeeded in winning the allegiance of royalty to its cause.

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* In 1972 the Bahá’í Faith had been established in some 333 independent countries, significant territories, and islands. There are 113 National Spiritual Assemblies and some 14,100 Local Spiritual Assemblies throughout the world. Bahá’í literature has been translated and published in more than 501 languages. Five Houses of Worship have been erected—in Wilmette, Illinois; Frankfurt, Germany; Sydney, Australia; Kampala, Uganda, Africa; and Panama City, Panama. Sites have been purchased for more than 83 additional Houses of Worship.

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Tributes By Leaders

“IT IS like a wide embrace,” is Queen Marie of Rumania’s own tribute, “gathering together all those who have searched for words of hope. It accepts all great Prophets gone before, it destroys no other creeds and leaves all doors open. . . . The Bahá’í teaching brings peace to the soul and hope to the heart. To those in search of assurance, the words of the Father are as a fountain in the desert after long wandering. . . . It is a wondrous message that Bahá’u’lláh and His son ‘Abdu’l-Bahá have given us. They have not set it up aggressively, knowing that the germ of eternal truth which lies at its core cannot but take root and spread. . . . It is Christ’s Message taken up anew, in the same words almost, but adapted to the thousand years and more difference that lies between the year one and today. . . . If ever the name of Bahá’u’lláh or ‘Abdu’l-Bahá comes to your attention, do not put their writings from you. Search out their books, and let their glorious, peace-bringing, love-creating words and lessons sink into your hearts as they have into mine.”

“The teachings of the Bábís,” wrote Leo Tolstoy, “. . . have a great future before them . . . I therefore sympathize with Babism with all my heart, inasmuch as it teaches people brotherhood and equality and sacrifice of material life for service to God . . . The teachings of the Bábís which come to us out of Islám have through Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings been gradually developed, and now present us with the highest and purest form of religious teaching.”

“Take these principles to the diplomats,” is the late President Masaryk’s advice, “to the universities and colleges and other schools, and also write about them. It is the people who will bring the universal peace.” “The Bahá’í teaching,” is President Eduard Benes’ testimony, “is one of the great instruments for the final victory of the spirit and of humanity . . . The Bahá’í Cause is one of the great moral and social forces in all the world today. I am more convinced than ever, with the increasing moral and political crises in the world, we must have greater international coordination. Such a movement as the Bahá’í Cause which paves the way for universal organization of peace is necessary.”

“If there has been any Prophet in recent times,” asserts the Rev. T. K. Cheyne in his The Reconciliation of Races and Religions, “it is to Bahá’u’lláh that we must go. Character is the final judge. Bahá’u’lláh was a man of the highest class—that of Prophets.” “It is possible indeed,” declares Viscount Samuel of Carmel, “to pick out points of fundamental agreement among all creeds. That is the essential purpose of the Bahá’í religion, the foundation and growth of which is one of the most striking movements that have proceeded from the East in recent generations.”

“Palestine,” is Professor Norman Bentwich’s written testimony, “may indeed be now regarded as the land not of three but of four faiths, because the Bahá’í creed, which has its center of faith and pilgrimage in ‘Akká and Haifa, is attaining to the character of a world religion. So far as its influence goes in the land, it is a factor making for international and inter-religious understanding.”

And, finally, is the judgment passed by no less outstanding a figure than the late Master of Balliol, Professor Benjamin Jowett: “The Bábí movement may not impossibly turn out to have the promise of the future.” Professor Lewis Campbell, an eminent pupil of Dr. Jowett, has confirmed this statement by quoting him as saying: “This Bahá’í Movement is the greatest light that has come into the world since the time of Jesus Christ. You must watch it and never let it out of your sight. It is too great and too near for this generation to comprehend. The future alone can reveal its import.”

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The Literature of Interpretation

NOTES ON THE ENGLISH WRITINGS OF SHOGHI EFFENDI

BY GLENFORD E. MITCHELL

It is the duty . . . of the interpreter and teacher of Holy Scripture, the defender of the true faith and the opponent of error, both to teach what is right and to refute what is wrong, and in the performance of this task to conciliate the hostile, to rouse the careless, and to tell the ignorant both what it occurring at present and what is probable in the future. But once that his hearers are friendly, attentive, and ready to learn, whether he has found them so, or has himself made them so, the remaining objects are to he carried out in whatever way the case requires. If the hearers need teaching, the matter treated of must be made fully known by means of narrative. On the other hand, to clear up points that are doubtful requires reasoning and the exhibition of proof. If, however, the hearers require to be roused rather than instructed, in order that they may be diligent to do what they already know, and to bring their feelings into harmony with the truths they admit, greater vigour of speech is needed.

—St. Augustine

On Christian Doctrine

SHOGHI EFFENDI, the great-grandson of Bahá’u’lláh, was an interpreter of Holy Scripture. For thirty-six years, from 1921 to 1957, he labored at his divine task, producing in the end a wealth of interpretive literature whose implications for our time and for the far future demand serious study. In a field that had only been speculated about in the past, Shoghi Effendi, by the very nature of his calling, perfected a new literary form. His is the kind of literature of which Saint Augustine, one of the outstanding ancient Christian thinkers, might have dreamed in penning his On Christian Doctrine. While it is not being suggested that we go back to the fifth-century universe of Augustine in order to find meaning in the works of this twentieth-century interpreter, it is instructive and not merely a matter of curiosity that the Augustinian ideal, as partially stated in the epigraph, was never truly realized until the passing of Bahá’u’lláh in 1892 and the subsequent assumption of the office of Interpreter by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Who, in turn, acting in accordance with the divine authority explicitly conferred upon Him by Bahá’u’lláh, appointed Shoghi Effendi to succeed Him. It is largely the fact of appointment that lends a hitherto unknown dimension to the matter of interpretation and places a unique stamp on ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s and Shoghi Effendi’s works as interpreters of Scripture.

That the prevailing Christian concept and practice of interpretation, which Augustine helped to shape, differs in essential details from the Bahá’í experience since the passing of Bahá’u’lláh also deserves notice. But the compass of this article is not equal to the task. The intention here is to introduce the reader to the writings of Shoghi Effendi; and, as it serves the purpose of literary review to ascertain the motivations of the author, some attention to Shoghi Effendi’s major function as interpreter is unavoidable. If, therefore, Augustine is invoked, it is principally because retrospection may offer dimension where comparisons are impossible. The question of the authenticity and method of interpretation with which he wrestled at the morning time of Christianity has only now been conclusively answered in the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh fifteen centuries later and in a way that the facts of Christ’s ministry and the realities of Augustine’s time could not have prepared his vision to perceive.

Yet we can appreciate how significant was his yearning and with what remarkable resourcefulness he discerned and defined the [Page 13] need for authentication of scriptural meaning. Augustine, as Christian exegete, provides an irresistible contrast in concept and method which sharpens one’s perception of the unequaled significance of Shoghi Effendi’s accomplishments. Since Bahá’u’lláh, it must be pointed out at the outset, guarantees unerring authority to the interpreter of Bahá’í Scriptures, it is not necessary in this age to relegate this indispensable exercise to the dialectical dispositions of theologians.

The Matrix of Exegesis

BAHÁ’U’LLÁH, Who declared Himself to be the Spokesman of God for our time, identifies unity as the central purpose of His Revelation, and relates this to the consummate purpose of God for man. “The time foreordained unto the peoples and kindreds of the earth is now come,” He proclaims. “The promises of God, as recorded in the Holy Scriptures, have all been fulfilled. Out of Zion hath gone forth the Law of God, and Jerusalem, and the hills and land thereof, are filled with the glory of His Revelation. Happy is the man that pondereth in his heart that which hath been revealed in the Books of God, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting.” “‘The purpose underlying all creation,’ He confidently asserts ‘is the revelation of this most sublime, this most holy Day, the Day known as the Day of God, in His Books and Scriptures—the Day which all the Prophets, and the Chosen Ones, and the holy ones, have wished to witness.’” “‘O ye children of men,’ He thus addresses mankind, ‘the fundamental purpose animating the Faith of God and His Religion is to safeguard the interests and promote the unity of the human race . . . This is the straight path, the fixed and immovable foundation. Whatsoever is raised on this foundation, the changes and chances of the world can never impair its strength, nor will the revolution of countless centuries undermine its structure.’”

The unity of mankind envisaged by Bahá’u’lláh calls for the establishment of a World Order based on the laws and principles which He Himself has left enshrined in His recorded Writings produced over a period of forty years. The Báb, Himself the author of an independent Revelation and the Forerunner of Bahá’u’lláh, alludes to the glorious prospects of the system to be conceived by His Successor: He states, in the third chapter of the Persian Bayán, “‘Well is it with him who fixeth his gaze upon the Order of Bahá’u’lláh and rendereth thanks unto his Lord! For He will assuredly be made manifest. God hath indeed irrevocably ordained it in the Bayán.’”

Of this central purpose of Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation Shoghi Effendi writes:

For Bahá’u’lláh, we should readily recognize, has not only imbued mankind with a new and regenerating Spirit. He has not merely enunciated certain universal principles, or propounded a particular philosophy, however potent, sound and universal these may be. In addition to these He, as well as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá after Him, has, unlike the Dispensations of the past, clearly and specifically laid down a set of Laws, established definite institutions, and provided for the essentials of a Divine Economy. These are destined to be a pattern for future society, a supreme instrument for the establishment of the Most Great Peace, and the one agency for the unification of the world, and the proclamation of the reign of righteousness and justice upon the earth.

The Houses of Justice, institutions of Bahá’u’lláh’s World Order which He summons [Page 14] the people of every city, hamlet, or village, in every country to elect according to principles enunciated by Him, are to function under the direction and protection of a supreme legislative institution, The Universal House of Justice. “‘It is incumbent upon the Trustees of the House of Justice,’ He asserts, ‘to take counsel together regarding those things which have not outwardly been revealed in the Book, and to enforce that which is agreeable to them’; His assurance is that ‘God will verily inspire them with whatsoever He willeth, and He, verily, is the provider, the omniscient.’” This supreme institution, no less than the local and national Houses of Justice (now known as Local and National Spiritual Assemblies), is to reach its decisions through a process of consultation in which divine guidance is vouchsafed by God. Although all these institutions are assured divine guidance, The Universal House of Justice is especially “freed from all error.”

The establishment and evolution of these unique institutions are part of a grand design which is linked to another unique provision, namely, the establishment of the institution of the Center of the Covenant in the person of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the eldest son of Bahá’u’lláh. In His Kitáb-i-‘Ahd (Book of the Covenant), Bahá’u’lláh declares: “‘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 [Kitáb-i-Aqdas]: “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.’” Bahá’u’lláh, moreover, proclaims in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, “‘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.’”

Furthermore, in the Súriy-i-Ghuṣn (Tablet of the Branch), He asserts:

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.

In such exalted and emphatic tones, Bahá’u’lláh elaborated upon His Covenant with His followers who were not to be left shepherdless after His passing in 1892. As to His meaning He left no room for interpretation or error of judgment: Above all, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was the Center of the Covenant, a Center in which an unexampled variety of divine prodigies converge. It is no wonder, then, that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, in an affirmation of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant, exclaims: “‘So firm and mighty is this Covenant that from the beginning of time until the present day no [Page 15] religious Dispensation hath produced its like.’” In another statement, He indicates the weight of Bahá’u’lláh’s act: “‘It is indubitably clear,’ He says, ‘that the pivot of the oneness of mankind is nothing else but the power of the Covenant.’”

His constant servitude to His Father from the age of nine—from that gloomy aftermath of the Báb’s martyrdom when Bahá’u’lláh was cast into the dark pit in Ṭihrán, marking the beginning of forty years of imprisonment and exile—earned him the title by which he preferred to be known: ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Servant of the Glory. Bahá’u’lláh left His nascent Cause in the capable hands of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. During a period of twenty-nine years, from 1892 to 1921, through unceasing struggle and unremitting pain inflicted by the attacks of enemies of the Cause, He directed its far-flung affairs, traveled to the West to establish its Teachings, delineated its institutions, and revealed the whole pattern and framework of the Administrative Order brought by His Father. No narration, no exposition, no description, indeed no literature yet exists that adequately conveys the essential nature of One Who accomplished so much against so many odds.

Yet it is increasingly demonstrable that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s appointment as Center of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant welded the universal concepts of the Faith He championed and prevented its reduction to a veritable pandemonium of contending factions and vested interests. Bahá’u’lláh’s metaphorical designations of His Son inspire feelings of awe: “‘the Most Mighty Branch of God,’” “‘the Limb of the Law of God,’” “‘a shield unto all who are in heaven and on earth,’” “‘a shelter for all mankind,’” “‘a stronghold for whosoever hath believed in God,’” “‘the Master,’” “‘the Mystery of God,’” the last being, according to Shoghi Effendi, “an expression by which Bahá’u’lláh Himself has chosen to designate Him, and which, while it does not by any means justify us to assign to him the station of Prophethood, indicates how in the person of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá the incompatible characteristics of a human nature and superhuman knowledge and perfection have been blended and are completely harmonized.”

‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s interpretive mind was the crucible in which Bahá’u’lláh’s purpose and the sum of Bahá’í experience were fused in the creation of yet another heretofore unknown institution, the Guardianship. From the reading of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Will and Testament, following His passing on November 28, 1921, there flashes upon the consciousness of the bereaved Bahá’í community the youthful figure of Shoghi Effendi—“as he is,” according to that document, “the sign of God, the chosen branch, the guardian of the Cause of God, he unto whom . . . His loved ones must turn. He is the expounder of the words of God . . .”

The new interpreter, then twenty-five years old and a student at Balliol College, Oxford University, was an issue of the marriage of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s daughter to a descendant of the Báb—a fact emphasized in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s salute to the new Guardian: “Salutation and praise, blessing and glory rest upon that primal branch of the Divine and Sacred Lote-Tree, grown out, blest, tender, verdant end flourishing from the Twin Holy Trees; the most wondrous, unique and priceless pearl that doth gleam from out the Twin surging seas . . .”

‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Will, a tripartite document regarded by Bahá’ís as the Charter of Bahá’u’lláh’s new World Order, is elaborate in its emphases on this appointment, in a manner reminiscent of Bahá’u’lláh’s own treatment of the appointment of the Center of the [Page 16] Covenant. Bahá’u’lláh had written in His own hand the Kitáb-i-‘Ahd (Book of the Covenant), in which the appointment of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was reaffirmed. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, too, wrote in His own hand the Will and Testament. There are certain resemblances in the constructions of the appointive language of each, in the elaborations, in the multiple confirmations. There is no room for doubt as to the identity of the appointee or the authority conferred upon Him. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá writes in the Will:

O my loving friends! After the passing away of this wronged one, it is incumbent upon the Aghsán (Branches), the Afnán (Twigs) of the Sacred Lote-Tree, the Hands (pillars) of the Cause of God and the loved ones of the Abhá Beauty to turn unto Shoghi Effendi . . .

And again:

The sacred and youthful branch, the guardian of the Cause of God as well as the Universal House of Justice, to be universally elected and established, are both under the care and protection of the Abhá Beauty, under the shelter and unerring guidance of His Holiness, the Exalted One (may my life he offered up for them both). Whatsoever they decide is of God. Whoso obeyeth him not, neither obeyeth them, hath not obeyed God; whoso rebelleth against him and against them hath rebelled against God; whoso opposeth him hath opposed God, whoso contendeth with them hath contended with God; whoso disputeth with him hath disputed with God; whoso denieth him hath denied God; whoso disbelieveth in him hath disbelieved in God; whoso deviateth, separateth himself and turneth aside from him hath in truth deviated, separated himself and turned aside from God.

Viewing the Interpreter: An Augustinian Digression

SHOGHI EFFENDI was the second person in history to be appointed interpreter of the words of a Divine Revelator, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá having been the first. It would seem to serve the purpose of scholarship to draw comparisons between the two in order to understand the nature and motivations that constituted their actions. Yet comparison here promises no understanding: the sum of the functions of each is essentially different. In appointing ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Bahá’u’lláh thus instructs the faithful: “‘refer ye whatsoever ye understand not in the Book to Him Who hath branched from this mighty Stock.’” In a subsequent commentary, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá affirms: “‘I am according to the explicit texts of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas and the Kitáb-i—‘Ahd the manifest Interpreter of the Word of God.’” In appointing Shoghi Effendi, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá uses almost identical words to clarify the function of His appointee: “‘He is the Interpreter of the Word of God,’” He asserts. Thus Shoghi Effendi shares with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá the right and obligation to interpret the Bahá’í Teachings. But the similarity in their explicitly appointed functions ends here.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá has to be seen in a much broader, although little understood, context in which are fused the Center of the Covenant, the Exemplar of the Bahá’í Teachings, and the Interpreter. We find, for instance, that this takes ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s interpretations beyond the realm of words alone. Having invested His Son with unerring insight, Bahá’u’lláh went further to certify the infallibility of the volition which transmuted His thoughts into exemplary deeds. Thus ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s deeds were themselves the embodiments of interpretation. Therein lies the distinction upon which Shoghi Effendi comments in several of his writings. He states, for example, “There is a far, far greater distance separating the Guardian from the Center of the Covenant than there is between the Center of the Covenant and [Page 17] its Author [Bahá’u’lláh].” And again: “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.” The Guardian cannot claim to be “the perfect exemplar of the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh or the stainless mirror that reflects His light.”

True, the Guardian, the offspring of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s interpretive mind, a co-sharer in the genius of divine interpretation, occupies a lesser rank; nonetheless, he emerges as an unequaled figure in his own right.

Macaulay once remarked that men judge by comparison, explaining that “they are unable to estimate the grandeur of an object when there is no standard by which they can measure it.” How then does one treat the consequences of uniqueness where there are no comparisons upon which to draw? It seems advisable to summarize them by whatever employment of narrative and description is deemed adequate. But the dimensions of uniqueness are not necessarily well judged through narrative alone; it may indeed be useful then to look back briefly at another time, to view the Bahá’í interpreter in the light of fulfilling a recognized, measured, and articulated centuries-old need rather than as the object of comparison.

The fact that one age is bequeathed blessings which a prior age did not possess does not necessarily mean that men in the former age were incapable of perceiving the need. Interpretation is a reality with which the followers of every religion from the beginning of the history of man have had to deal. How each group coped with it depended on their inheritance. The beginnings of Latin Christendom offer an instructive view of a perhaps heroic, if not wholly successful, struggle with this fundamental question of interpretation. Here enters Augustine, to whom is attributed the shaping of the history of Western exegesis.

In the preface to his treatise, On Christian Doctrine, Augustine proposes to show that teaching rules for the interpretation of Scripture is not a superfluous task. He considers himself equal to it and lays down certain rules in concert with his thesis that “There are two things on which all interpretation of Scripture depends: the mode of ascertaining the proper meaning, and the mode of making known the meaning when it is ascertained.” Ascertaining proper meaning depends upon the ability of the interpreter to exemplify certain qualities. He must, for example, be endowed with the essential graces of faith, hope, and love; and in achieving the necessary wisdom he must ascend certain successive steps of the spirit: fear, piety, knowledge, resolution, counsel, and purification of heart—“For the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. From that beginning, then, till we reach wisdom itself, our way is by the steps now described.”

Wisdom must be buttressed by certain practical means of understanding the unknown and ambiguous signs of Scripture. Among the conventional signs, words hold the chief place. Obscurities in Scripture arise from its figurative language—“Some of the expressions are so obscure as to shroud the meaning in the thickest darkness.” The interpreter is to unravel the meaning of figurative expressions partly by tracing the knowledge of languages and partly by tracing the knowledge of things. The study of the original languages of Scripture, the checking of the texts of translations, knowledge of history, the use of the “science of definition,” the appropriation of whatever [Page 18] has been rightly said by the “heathens” (principally the Greek philosophers, like Plato, who influenced Augustine’s approach) —all are aids to ascertaining meaning.

In summary, the interpreter follows a certain procedure in making sense of obscurities and ambiguities of Scripture:

The man who fears God seeks diligently in Holy Scripture for a knowledge of His will. And when he has become meek through piety, so as to have no love of strife; when furnished also with a knowledge of languages, so as not to be stopped by unknown words and forms of speech, and with the knowledge of certain necessary objects, so as not to be ignorant of the force and nature of those which are used figuratively; and assisted, besides, by accuracy in the texts, which has been secured by skill and care in the matter of correction; when thus prepared, let him proceed to the examination and solution of the ambiguities of Scripture.

Augustine expounds a number of rules designed to assist the interpreter to achieve his goal. These rules help him, for instance, to decide whether an expression is figurative or literal: whatever in a literal sense is inconsistent either with purity of life or correctness of doctrine must be taken figuratively. What, then, validates or confirms the correctness of interpretation? Augustine gives a clue in his rule for interpreting figurative expression: “in regard to figurative expression,” he states, “a rule such as the following will be observed, to carefully turn over in our minds and meditate upon what we read till an interpretation be found that tends to establish the reign of love. Now, if when taken literally it at once gives a meaning of this kind, the expression is not to be considered figurative.” The promotion of love is, of course, the established purpose of religion. The difficulty is that God’s view is not always clear to those who interpret His word. Augustine obviously recognizes this difficulty, but he rationalizes it into insignificance as though to say, if love is the object, misinterpretation can do no harm:

Whoever, then, thinks that he understands the Holy Scriptures, or any part of them, but puts such an interpretation upon them as does not tend to build up his twofold love of God and our neighbour, does not yet understand them as he ought. If, on the other hand, a man draws a meaning from them that may be used for the building up of love, even though he does not happen upon the precise meaning which the author whom he reads intended to express in that place, his error is not pernicious, and he is wholly clear from the charge of deception.

He states further that if the interpreter’s mistaken conclusion “tends to build up love, which is the end of the commandment, he goes astray in much the same way as a man who by mistake quits the high road, but yet reaches through the fields the same place to which the road leads.” Here, perhaps, is one of those false inferences which, Augustine warns, can be drawn from a valid process of reasoning. His point rests on the intent of the interpreter and is understandable in its way; but it does not touch upon the drastic consequences of misinterpretation, however unintended, on those besides the interpreter who are guided by it.

Augustine’s treatise, reduced to its essential usefulness, dramatizes the snares and pitfalls that make reliable interpretation of sacred obscurities improbable. The work is an elaborate exercise in antinomy, producing the very opposite of the author’s stated purpose: “the man who is in possession of the rules which I here attempt to lay down,” he purposefully asserts in the preface, “if he meets with an obscure passage in the books which he reads, will not need an interpreter to lay open the secret to him, but, holding fast by certain rules, and following up certain indications, will arrive at the hidden sense [Page 19] without any error, or at least without falling into any gross absurdity.” Judging from the history of the Christian Church, theory and experience, in this instance, simply did not coincide.

But it does no justice to Augustine’s work to dismiss it on this note. The need for interpretation in the early days of Christianity was too palpable to be ignored, and the absence of any explicit statement by the Revelator left serious-minded followers with a legitimate problem. They cast about for some means of bringing order to the fragments of sayings passed down by oral tradition and found Greek philosophy, with its emphasis on logical arrangement, suitable to their design. Augustine fused these fragments with Platonism; Aquinas, with Aristotelianism. The doctors of the Church simply took matters into their own hands, not realizing that no amount of scholarly borrowings or man-made rules can preserve the ideal end of interpretation, which is to unify the thoughts of all believers in the essentials of faith. The dilemma for the scholars was resolved in their contentment with the idea of plurality of meanings but this luxurious expediency did not resolve the dilemma for the greatest part of the Christians, as can easily be seen from the consequent fragmentation of Christendom itself.

In the Bahá’í Dispensation, the dilemma is solved in the authoritative appointment of interpreters. Although this appointment does not by any means deny freedom of thought to anyone in search of meaning, it does identify and preserve the divine standard against which free thought may measure its fruits. In this connection the Bahá’í position is unmistakable:

A clear distinction is made in our Faith between authoritative interpretation and the interpretation or understanding that each individual arrives at for himself from his study of its teachings. While the former is confined to the Guardian, the latter, according to the guidance given to us by the Guardian himself, should by no means be suppressed. In fact such individual interpretation is considered the fruit of man’s rational power and conducive to a better understanding of the teachings, provided that no disputes or arguments arise among the friends and the individual himself understands and makes it clear that his views are merely his own. Individual interpretations continually change as one grows in comprehension of the teachings.

Viewed in this context, Augustine’s treatise is suited to individual interpretation; the mistake is that he supposed himself to be dealing with authoritative interpretation, not realizing that this is in the province of the Prophet alone, Who, in the light of Bahá’í experience, explicitly confers it by an act of appointment; and, as the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá attest, the interpreter is “overshadowed by the unfailing, the unerring protection of Bahá’u’lláh and of the Báb.” It is this singular fact, and not the mere mastery of the tools of scholarship, as necessary as that is, which enables the Bahá’í interpreter to ascertain the proper meaning of Scripture.

The Interpreter as Guardian

SHOGHI EFFENDI’S interpretive work has to be seen against the broad fabric of his responsibilities as the successor of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: “For he is, after ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the guardian of the Cause of God . . . and the beloved Of the Lord must obey him and turn unto him.” With the passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá it fell to him to guide the Bahá’ís toward fulfillment of the world-encompassing goals set by Bahá’u’lláh and amplified by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. There was a divine [Page 20] Plan to be pursued; it required the firm establishment of new institutions, the pursuance of worldwide teaching projects, the protection of the Faith against its enemies, in short, the building of the new World Order proclaimed by Bahá’u’lláh. Through the extensive travels of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the East and the West and the copious correspondence that flowed from His indefatigable pen, the Faith had been established in thirty-five countries; but the adherents were for the most part loosely organized and largely unaware of the principles of Bahá’í administration. If Shoghi Effendi’s appointment as Guardian was to have meaning, if it implied preserving the integrity of the Faith as well as of its Teachings, he had to do more than explain the texts: he had to direct and guide his trust through the crucible of transformation; he had to forge a Bahá’í community. In addition to interpretation, Shoghi Effendi’s writings were made to serve three major objectives: these were in fact the essential purposes of his exegetic works.

1. Establishment and Consolidation of Bahá’í Administrative Institutions. Shoghi Effendi gave paramount attention at the outset to building administrative institutions. We find evidences of this among his first letters to the West. In a letter to the North American believers, dated March 23, 1923, he wrote:

And, now that this all-important Work may suffer no neglect, but rather function vigorously and continuously in every part of the Bahá’í world; that the unity of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh may remain secure and inviolate, it is of the utmost importance that in accordance with the explicit text of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the Most Holy Book, in every locality, be it city or hamlet, where the number of adult (21 years and above) declared believers exceeds nine, a local “Spiritual Assembly” be forthwith established. To it all local matters pertaining to the Cause must be directly and immediately referred for full consultation and decision. The importance, nay the absolute necessity of these local Assemblies is manifest when we realize that in the days to come they will evolve into the local Houses of Justice, and at present provide the firm foundation on which the structure of the Master’s Will is to be reared in future.

From this beginning, he urged and guided the formation of Local and National Spiritual Assemblies; on November 4, 1957, the time of his death, there existed as many as twenty-six National Spiritual Assemblies and over one thousand Local Assemblies throughout the world.

2. Prosecution of Bahá’í Teaching Programs. Having abolished the clergy, Bahá’u’lláh urged upon His followers the primary duty of teaching His Faith, singling out this act as the “most meritorious of all deeds.” Moreover, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in a series of fourteen letters known as the Tablets of the Divine Plan, addressed to the Bahá’ís in the United States and Canada, outlined the program by which the teaching of the Faith was to be effected throughout the world. Although various teaching projects had been undertaken in the spontaneous response of individuals to these Tablets, it was not until 1937, sixteen years after the death of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, that a systematic teaching scheme, known as the Seven Year Plan, was adopted by the North American believers under the tutelage of Shoghi Effendi and with the direction of their National Spiritual Assembly. In the interim he had been building the administrative system, the channel through which the teaching enterprises, which were to grow successively larger until they encircled the globe, were to be directed. A second Seven Year Plan launched in 1946 preceded the ambitious Ten Year International Teaching [Page 21] and Consolidation Plan initiated in 1953.

At the time of his death at the midpoint of the latter Plan, the Faith had already been established in 200 countries and dependencies. The Plan achieved all its major goals; and at the end in 1963—the centenary of the anniversary of the declaration of Bahá’u’lláh’s mission—The Universal House of Justice was elected by fifty-six National Spiritual Assemblies.

3. Nurture of Bahá’í Community Life. The tragic circumstances which greeted the birth of the Faith—the imprisonment and martyrdom of the Herald-Prophet, the Báb, the vehement opposition of the Muslim clergy which led to the slaughter of 20,000 Bábís, the imprisonment and exile of Bahá’u’lláh, and the official proscriptions imposed upon His followers—had, by 1921, forged the beginnings of independent Bahá’í community life in Persia and other Muslim countries where Bahá’í membership had grown significantly.

But although, as a result of His travels from 1911 to 1913, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had raised up thousands of believers in the West, His instructions concerning Bahá’í collective life had not yet been absorbed. As has already been observed, Spiritual Assemblies, the pivots round which the various communities revolve, had not yet been established on a firm foundation. The believers had not yet known their significance as the channels for guiding and promoting the application of certain devotional practices such as fasting and praying; the dissemination of Bahá’u’lláh’s Teachings for developing the inner life of the individual believer; the use of the Bahá’í calendar in the observance of Bahá’í Feasts, Holy Days, and anniversaries.

The demands upon Shoghi Effendi for instructions, clarifications, and directions concerning these vital purposes were clear; he was the first and ultimate source of genuine guidance to whom the Bahá’ís must turn. His treatment of each and all was inextricably linked to his appointment as “expounder” of the Word of God. These purposes were made the avenues of his exegetic expression, the means by which life was breathed into his explanations.

Every thought he expressed had some particular implication for the immediate or future action of the community, whether that action concerned institutional functions, great undertakings, or the transformation of the character of an individual. It becomes increasingly evident from the reading of his writings in relation to the occasions which elicited them that thought is not to be wasted on sheer argument, much less on satisfying the pride of authorship, as has been largely true of the philosophic and exegetic tradition followed by ancient and modern theologians. Hair-splitting arguments are to be avoided entirely. Thought expressed must serve some purpose, be related to some direction or deed, must urge, inform, confirm, or amplify action. Thus, we discover in his performance as interpreter an eminent example of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s meaning when He states that the “reality of man is his thought” and points out as follows the differences in two classifications of thought:

Thoughts may he divided into two classes:—

Thought that belongs to the world of thought alone.

Thought that expresses itself in action.

Some men and women glory in their exalted thoughts, but, if these thoughts never reach the plane of action they remain useless: the power of thought is dependent on its manifestation in deeds. A philosopher’s thought may, however, in the world of progress and evolution, translate itself into the actions of other people, even when he himself is unable or unwilling to show forth his grand ideals in his own life. To this class the majority of philosophers belong, their teachings being high above their actions. This is the difference between philosophers who are spiritual [Page 22] teachers, and those who are mere philosophers: the spiritual teacher is the first to follow his own teaching; he brings down into the world of action his spiritual conceptions and ideals. His divine thoughts are made manifest to the world. His thought is (a part of) himself, from which he is inseparable.

Shoghi Effendi’s interpretations were obviously oriented to action, in much the same way as the texts he was called upon to interpret. Now, for example, his summons (already quoted) to the believers to form Local Spiritual Assemblies:

And, now that this all-important Work may suffer no neglect, but rather function vigorously and continuously in every part of the Bahá’í world; that the unity of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh may remain secure and inviolate, it is of the utmost importance that in accordance with the explicit text of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the Most Holy Book, in every locality, be it city or hamlet, where the number of adult (21 years and above) declared believers exceeds nine, a local “Spiritual Assembly” be forthwith established.

Here instruction and interpretation are synthesized; they are one and the same thing, because he is asserting the authority and meaning of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas. The only variable is time, the use of which falls within the discretion of his authority as appointed guide. An exposition of the functions of Local Spiritual Assemblies follows the instruction and forms the basis of the letter containing it, a letter in which is also included an explanation of the need and basis for the establishment of National Spiritual Assemblies. In another example, a letter written on May 12, 1925, Shoghi Effendi explains further about the formation of a National Spiritual Assembly:

Regarding the method to be adopted for the election of the National Spiritual Assemblies, it is clear that the text of the Beloved’s Testament gives us no indication as to the manner in which these Assemblies are to be elected. In one of His earliest Tablets, however, addressed to a friend in Persia, the following is expressly recorded:—

“At whatever time all the beloved of God in each country appoint their delegates, and these in turn elect their representatives, and these representatives elect a body, that body shall he regarded as the Supreme Baytu’l-Adl (Universal House of Justice).”

These words clearly indicate that a three-stage election has been provided by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá for the formation of the International House of Justice, and as it is explicitly provided in His Will and Testament that the “Secondary House of Justice (i.e., National Assemblies) must elect the members of the Universal One,” it is obvious that the members of the National Spiritual Assemblies will have to be indirectly elected by the body of the believers in their respective provinces. In view of these complementary instructions the principle, set forth in my letter of March 12th, 1923, has been established requiring the believers (the beloved of God) in every country to elect a certain number of delegates who, in turn, will elect their national representatives (Secondary House of Justice or National Spiritual Assembly) whose sacred obligation and privilege will be to elect in time God’s Universal House of Justice.

Here we gather some insight into the progressive stages of exegesis as they relate to the growth and actions of the community. This letter, which went on to amplify the principles enunciated by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, was a reply to communications, dated April 4 and 18, 1925, which the Guardian had received from the National Spiritual Assembly of the [Page 23]

‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ AND SHOGHI EFFENDI, HIS APPOINTED SUCCESSOR

[Page 24] Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada, that supplied him with information on a variety of subjects and raised questions that he had already treated in a letter written two years before. A number of points emerge from a scrutiny of such letters. Interpretations are given in response to the expressed or demonstrated need of the community at the time. Shoghi Effendi seems completely to avoid gratuitous random interpretations of the Sacred Texts; the questions and needs of the community outline the course and output of his exegesis. In this way his exegesis evolves with the community; it is thus possible to trace and gauge the progressive stages of Bahá’í community development by reading his writings chronologically.

Since they rest on enduring principles, the interpretations given are not limited by time. They both satisfy and transcend the need of the moment and thus serve the future as well as the present. Take, for example, the letter just cited above. The principles of elections for National Spiritual Assemblies, which it explains, are unchangeable; yet they are written in reply to a question of the moment. The introductions of similar letters repeatedly affirm the interplay between the information or question received by Shoghi Effendi and the subsequent guidance he issued. Refer, for instance, to his letter to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada dated February 27, 1929:

Dearly-beloved co-workers:

I have been acquainted by the perusal of your latest communications with the nature of the doubts that have been publicly expressed, by one who is wholly misinformed as to the true precepts of the Cause, regarding the validity of institutions that stand inextricably interwoven with the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.

Or to his letter dated March 21, 1930:

Dearly-beloved co-workers:

Amid the reports that have of late reached the Holy Land, most of which witness to the triumphant march of the Cause, a few seem to betray a certain apprehension regarding the validity of the institutions which stand inseparably associated with the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.

These are the opening passages of letters published under the respective titles, “The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh” and “The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh: Further Considerations.” Both are indispensable statements on the philosophy of Bahá’í administration.

It is no wonder then that Shoghi Effendi had an insatiable need for information and was relentless in the gathering and meticulous in the classification of data. “I am eagerly awaiting the news of the progress of the activities initiated to promote the teaching work within, and beyond, the confines of the American continent,” he cabled the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada in one of his typical requests for information. But he could not have relied and did not rely solely on Assemblies for information. Rúḥíyyih Khánum Rabbani, his widow, writes in her biography of him that “he did not always wait until official channels corroborated the arrival of a pioneer at his post or some other piece of good news which had been conveyed to him through a personal letter or by a pilgrim . . . This practice of his should not, however, mislead us into thinking that he was not extraordinarily thorough. The exactitude with which he compiled statistics, sought out historic facts, worked on every minute detail of his maps and plans was astonishing.” Although the data he received were put to a [Page 25] variety of uses, it is evident that the springs of interpretation were often activated by the influx of information.

His principle of translating exegesis into action was variously manifested in his methods of persuasion by which he alternately employed several modes of praise, censure, and exhortation. A brief survey of The Advent of Divine Justice, the published letter which Shoghi Effendi wrote to the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada on December 25, 1938, will illustrate his methods. In April 1937 these Bahá’ís had, at the direction of the Guardian, launched a Seven Year Plan. The first long-range program designed as a systematic response to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s charter, the Plan set three goals to be accomplished by the end, in 1944, of the first century of the Bahá’í era: forming a Local Spiritual Assembly in each province of Canada and each of the United States; establishing a Bahá’í center in each country of Central and South America and in certain European countries; and completing the exterior ornamentation of the Temple in Wilmette, Illinois.

In the series of letters and cablegrams he sent to the North American believers during the first year of the Plan, Shoghi Effendi marvels “at the range which the driving force of their ceaseless labors has acquired and the heights which the sublimity of their faith has attained.” His exhortations are frequent and compelling: “The seven year plan . . . must at all costs be prosecuted with increasing force and added consecration.” “The American believers must gird up the loins of endeavor and step into the arena of service with such heroism as shall astound the entire Bahá’í world.” But intermingled with his expressions of gratification and praise are displays of anxiety increasingly intensified by the falling shadows of World War II. He intimates his deepening concern not from fear of the gathering spectre but from uneasiness about its probable repercussions upon the outlook of those who were to prosecute such a bold program. “Severe and unprecedented as may be the internal tests and ordeals which the members of this Community may yet experience, however tragic and momentous the external happenings which might well disrupt the fabric of the society in which they live, they must not throughout these six remaining years, allow themselves to be deflected from the course they are now steadily pursuing.” “The rumblings that must precede the eruption of those forces that must cause ‘the limbs of humanity to quake’ can already be heard.” Yet he praises the Community, which “is standing ready, alert, clear-visioned, and resolute.”

It is against this background of bold planning and courageous action, on the one hand, and of precarious world conditions, on the other, that Shoghi Effendi penned one of his most widely used works—The Advent of Divine Justice. He had seized upon the chance afforded him by the seeming incongruity of the humble plan of hope and the imminence of war to reconcile the paradox in an exposition of Bahá’í principles.

He begins with praise:

Best-beloved brothers and sisters in the love of Bahá’u’lláh:

It would be difficult indeed to adequately express the feelings of irrepressible joy and exultation that flood my heart every time I pause to contemplate the ceaseless evidences of the dynamic energy which animates the stalwart pioneers of the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh in the execution of the Plan committed to their charge. (p. 1)

He then documents the reasons for his praise, for he never stoops to flattery. He comments on the “resourcefulness of the national representatives of the American believers,” appreciates the generous support accorded them by the community at large, observes the “close [Page 26] interaction,” “complete cohesion,” “continual harmony and fellowship” between the various Bahá’í agencies as constituting “a phenomenon which offers a striking contrast to the disruptive tendencies” manifested in present-day society (p. 1). The Community has reason to be grateful for the “interpositions of an ever-watchful Providence” (p. 2):

Whereas every apparent trial with which the unfathomable wisdom of the Almighty deems it necessary to afflict His chosen community serves only to demonstrate afresh its essential solidarity and to consolidate its inward strength, each of the successive crises in the fortunes of a decadent age exposes more convincingly than the one preceding it the corrosive influences that are fast sapping the vitality and undermining the basis of its declining institutions. (pp. 1-2)

He enumerates certain crises afflicting the Bahá’í communities in Europe and Asia: the Nazi regime has banned the activities of the German community; “In central Asia, in the city enjoying the unique distinction of having been chosen by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as the home of the First Mashriqu’l-Adhkár of the Bahá’í world,” the community “finds itself at the mercy of forces which, alarmed at its rising power, are now bent on reducing it to utter impotence”; in Persia, “wherein reside the immense majority of its followers,” the community faces a continuing campaign of repression; in the Holy Land, “the heart and nerve-center of a world-embracing Faith” a state of unrest interferes with the flow of pilgrims and suspends various projects associated with the physical development of the World Centre (pp. 2-4).

This somber survey of the state of the Bahá’í community is not, however, to become a litany of defeat. For ‘Abdu’l-Bahá has written that “‘The continent of America is, in the eyes of the one true God, the land wherein the splendors of His light shall be revealed, where the mysteries of His Faith shall be unveiled, where the righteous will abide, and the free assemble’” (p. 5). And, as Shoghi Effendi sees it, “Already, the community of the believers of the North American continent—at once the prime mover and pattern of the future communities which the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh is destined to raise up throughout the length and breadth of the Western Hemisphere—has, despite the prevailing gloom, shown its capacity to be recognized as the torch-bearer of that light, the repository of those mysteries, the exponent of that righteousness and the sanctuary of that freedom” (p. 5).

Hence, the American Bahá’í Community is the “one chief remaining citadel, the mighty arm which still raises aloft the standard of an unconquerable Faith . . .” (p. 5). Thus, “While its sister communities are bending beneath the tempestuous winds that beat upon them from every side, this community, preserved by the immutable decrees of the omnipotent Ordainer and deriving continual sustenance from the mandate with which the Tablets Of the Divine Plan have invested it, is now busily engaged in laying the foundations and in fostering the growth of those institutions which are to herald the approach of the Age destined to witness the birth and rise of the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh” (p. 6).

He has resolved a paradox, and the burden of the actual proof rests on the shoulders of the American Bahá’í Community, “A community, relatively negligible in its numerical sttength”—that fact, itself a paradox (p. 6). How can it bear this awesome challenge? He stirs the Community’s sense of pride by reciting its “matchless and brilliant record of service” (p. 8), but quickly warns that, “Magnificent as has been this record, reminiscent as it is, in some of its aspects, of the exploits with which the dawn-breakers of an heroic Age have proclaimed the birth of the Faith itself, the task associated with the name of this privileged community is, far from approaching its climax, only beginning to unfold” (p. 9). He then points the community’s vision to the grand possibilities of [Page 27] the future which the successful prosecution of the plan in progress will lead to; these include, among others, the election of The Universal House of Justice and its establishment in the Holy Land (pp. 9-12). He asserts the certitude of the “ultimate blessings that must crown the consummation” of their mission (p. 13). But again, he warns:

Dearly-beloved friends! Great as is my love and admiration for you, convinced as I am of the paramount share which you can, and will, undoubtedly have in both the continental and international spheres of future Bahá’í activity and service, I feel it nevertheless incumbent upon me to utter, at this juncture, a word of warning. The glowing tributes, so repeatedly and deservedly paid to the capacity, the spirit, the conduct, and the high rank, of the American believers, both individually and as an organic community, must, under no circumstances, be confounded with the characteristics and nature of the people from which God has raised them up. A sharp distinction between that community and that people must be made, and resolutely and fearlessly upheld, if we wish to give due recognition to the transmuting power of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, in its impact on the lives and standards of those who have chosen to enlist under His banner. Otherwise, the supreme and distinguishing function of His Revelation, which is none other than the calling into being of a new race of men, will remain wholly unrecognized and completely obscured. (pp. 13-14)

He then illustrates his meaning by calling attention to the circumstances and surroundings in which the Prophets of God choose to appear. They deliver Their Message in countries and amid peoples and races who are either in a state of decline or in a state of moral and spiritual degradation. He asserts the conviction that

not by reason of any racial superiority, political capacity, or spiritual virtue which a race or nation might possess, but rather as a direct consequence of its crying needs, its lamentable degeneracy, and irremediable perversity, has the Prophet of God chosen to appear in its midst, and with it as a lever has lifted the entire human race to a higher and nobler plane of life and conduct. For it is precisely under such circumstances, and by such means that the Prophets have, from time immemorial, chosen and were able to demonstrate their redemptive power to raise from the depths of abasement and of misery, the people of their own race and nation, empowering them to transmit in turn to other races and nations the saving grace and the energizing influence of their Revelation. (pp. 14-15)

This principle, he suggests, applies to a lesser degree to the American community, which has been appointed as the executor of the Divine Plan. The American believers are not therefore to

imagine for a moment that for some mysterious purpose or by any reason of inherent excellence or special merit Bahá’u’lláh has chosen to confer upon their country and people so great and lasting a distinction. It is precisely by reason of the patent evils which, notwithstanding its Other admittedly great characteristics and achievements, an excessive and binding materialism has unfortunately engendered within it that the Author of their Faith and the Center of His Covenant have singled it out to become the standard-bearer of the New World Order envisaged in their writings. It is by such means as this that Bahá’u’lláh can best demonstrate to a heedless generation His almighty power to raise up from the very midst of a people, immersed in a sea of materialism, a prey to one of the most virulent and long-standing forms of racial prejudice, and notorious for its political corruption, lawlessness and laxity in moral standards, men and women who, as time goes by, will increasingly exemplify those essential virtues of self-renunciation, of [Page 28] moral rectitude, of chastity, of indiscriminating fellowship, of holy discipline, and of spiritual insight that will fit them for the preponderating share they will have in calling into being that World Order and that World Civilization of which their country, no less than the entire human race, stands in desperate need. (p. 16)

Having thus explained a divine riddle, he exhorts the American believers to “weed out, by every means in their power, those faults, habits, and tendencies which they have inherited from their own nation, and to cultivate, patiently and prayerfully, those distinctive qualities and characteristics that are so indispensable to their effective participation in the great redemptive work of their Faith” (p. 17).

His logic is impeccable, the force of his presentation convincing. A sensitive alternating of praise, of censure, and of exhortation accomplishes the dual purpose of fixing his meaning and inducing volition. And there is drama as well in this versatile undulation of modes, which holds and fascinates the reader to the point of taking action—this is precisely what moved hundreds of the professional, the learned, and the lowly alike to plant the banner of their new-found Faith in remote parts of the earth amid peoples with whom they had previously been wholly unfamiliar. Those “distinctive qualities and characteristics” —which he identified as rectitude of conduct, chastity and holiness, and freedom from prejudice—with which they were to be indispensably armed for their magnificent undertakings received the full measure of his treatment in a subsequent section of this monumental message, a section constituting one of the most eloquent exegetic compositions to be found in his writings. A sampling:

This rectitude of conduct with its implications of justice, equity, truthfulness, honesty, fair-mindedness, reliability, and trustworthiness, must distinguish every phase of the life of the Bahá’í community. “The companions of God,” Bahá’u’lláh Himself has declared, “are, in this day, the lump that must leaven the peoples of the world. They must show forth such trustworthiness, such truthfulness and perseverance, [Page 29] such deeds and character that all mankind may profit by their example.” (p. 19)

This is followed by a copious quoting of corroborative extracts from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá; then he continues:

Such a rectitude of conduct must manifest itself, with ever-increasing potency, in every verdict which the elected representatives of the Bahá’í community, in whatever capacity they may find themselves, may be called upon to pronounce. It must be constantly reflected in the business dealings of all its members, in their domestic lives, in all manner of employment, and in any service they may, in the future, render their government or people. It must be exemplified in the conduct of all Bahá’í electors, when exercising their sacred rights and functions. It must characterize the attitude of every loyal believer towards non-acceptance of political posts, non-identification with political parties, non-participation in political controversies, and non-membership in political organizations and ecclesiastical institutions. It must reveal itself in the uncompromising adherence of all, whether young or old, to the clearly enunciated and fundamental principles laid down by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in His addresses, and to the laws and ordinances revealed by Bahá’u’lláh in His Most Holy Book. It must be demonstrated in the impartiality of every defender of the Faith against its enemies, in his fair-mindedness in recognizing any merits that enemy may possess, and in his honesty in discharging any obligations he may have towards him. It must constitute the brightest ornament of the life, the pursuits, the exertions, and utterances of every Bahá’í teacher, whether laboring at home or abroad, whether in the front ranks of the teaching force, or occupying a less active and responsible position. It must be made the hall-mark of that numerically small, yet intensely dynamic and highly responsible body of the elected national representatives of every Bahá’í community, which constitutes the sustaining pillar, and the sole instrument for the election, in every community, of that Universal House whose very name [Page 30] and title, as ordained by Bahá’u’lláh, symbolizes that rectitude of conduct which is its highest mission to safeguard and enforce.

So great and transcendental is this principle of Divine justice, a principle that must be regarded as the crowning distinction of all Local and National Assemblies, in their capacity as forerunners of the Universal House of Justice, that Bahá’u’lláh Himself subordinates His personal inclination and wish to the all-compelling force of its demands and implications. (pp. 22-23)

Again a compilation of corroborative extracts from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá follows. This was the manner of Shoghi Effendi’s interpreting.

Having equipped the believers with the tools of their success, he devoted the remainder of The Advent of Divine Justice to questions of the Seven Year Plan, relating his comments to the broader Divine Plan of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, of which it is a part, reminding them of the opportunities for teaching inherent in the turmoil of the present age, spelling out the requirements of teaching for individuals and institutions, emphasizing the significance of awakening Latin America to the Message of Bahá’u’lláh, appealing to the youth to arise and play an active part in the teaching plans of the community, refocusing the vision of the believers on their high calling as the chief executors of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan, directing their “special attention, at this decisive hour, to . . . immortal passages, gleaned in part from the great mass of Bahá’u’lláh’s unpublished and untranslated writings” (p. 63), and concluding with a word about the destiny of America as envisaged by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, assuring them that, “Paradoxical as it may seem, her only hope of extricating herself from the perils gathering around her is to become entangled in that very web of international association which the Hand of an inscrutable Providence is weaving” (p. 74).

As was the custom when letters such as this were received from the Guardian, the National Spiritual Assembly acted immediately to publish and circulate it. When, therefore, in September 1939, German guns fired the first shots of World War II, the North American Bahá’í Community knew how to react. At the end of its Seven Year Plan in 1944, it had accomplished every goal that had been set for it. On D-Day a year later, it had already, with the urging of its Guardian, been preparing for the second Seven Year Plan which would take scores of its members to teaching frontiers designated for them in the war-ravaged countries of Europe. Shoghi Effendi had succeeded eminently in translating exegesis into heroic action at one of the most critical and discouraging periods of world history.

A word more about his skill of persuasion. Exegesis is true to its purposes if it induces or perpetuates action in the building of the new World Order. The exegete, as Augustine might have observed, must therefore both expound knowledge and arouse response. As the above review of The Advent of Divine Justice shows, by employment of praise, censure, and exhortation, Shoghi Effendi produces that rhetorical drama which captivates and impels the reader; drama thus becomes a tool of instruction. But there is more. Time, being an indispensable factor of drama, must also perform its appropriate functions. Shoghi Effendi knew that well; and he found ample opportunities to bend time to his advantage, whether on the occasions of the observance of Bahá’í Holy Days and significant anniversaries, or of a temple construction project, or of the arrival of pioneers at their remote posts, or of the deaths of humble teachers of the Faith.

Such ceremonial messages as he was often moved to write—that is, statements in respect of the observance of important events —were therefore not spent on these occasions alone but served also to heighten the horizon and intensify the vision of the faithful.

[Page 31] A Holy Day is imminent: “Fellow-laborers in the Divine Vineyard,” he warmly addresses the North American believers on February 8, 1934: “On the 23rd of May of this auspicious year the Bahá’í world will celebrate the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. We, who at this hour find ourselves standing on the threshold of the last decade of the first century of the Bahá’í era, might well pause to reflect upon the mysterious dispensations of so august, so momentous a Revelation.” The rest of the introduction is a summary of the prophetic missions of Bahá’u’lláh and the Báb, an explanation of the position and rank of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and a discourse on the theory on which the Bahá’í administrative order is based. The letter is now referred to as “The Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh.”

It is the anniversary of the death of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: “The inexorable march of recent events,” he writes on November 28, 1931,

has carried humanity so near to the goal foreshadowed by Bahá’u’lláh that no responsible follower of His Faith, viewing on all sides the distressing evidences of the world’s travail, can remain unmoved at the thought of its approaching deliverance.

It would not seem inappropriate, at a time when we are commemorating the world over the termination of the first decade since ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s sudden removal from our midst, to ponder, in the light of the teachings bequeathed by Him to the world, such events as have tended to hasten the gradual emergence of the World Order anticipated by Bahá’u’lláh.

This began a letter now called “The Goal of a New World Order.” There are other examples of Shoghi Effendi’s employment of time. He used the occasion of the Riḍván Festival (April 21 to May 2)—the anniversary of the declaration of Bahá’u’lláh’s mission, at which time the administration of the Faith is renewed by the election of Assemblies —to impress upon the Bahá’í community the practical steps toward the realization of its vision. In his messages on this occasion he would catalogue and measure the community’s achievements, revise and interpret its goals, praise and challenge its capacity. A sense of historical significance permeates these messages in which the vision of the community is made to perceive, through its accomplishments and goals, a panorama of the past, the present, and the future. On one such occasion, 1957, he writes:

as we gaze in retrospect beyond the immediate past, and survey, in however cursory a manner, the vicissitudes afflicting an increasingly tormented society, and recall the strains and stresses to which the fabric of a dying Order has been increasingly subjected, we cannot but marvel at the sharp contrast presented, on the one hand, by the accumulated evidences of the orderly unfoldment, and the uninterrupted multiplication of the agencies, of an Administrative Order designed to be the harbinger of a world civilization, and, on the other, by the ominous manifestations of acute political conflict, of social unrest, or racial animosity, of class antagonism, of immorality and of irreligion, proclaiming, in no uncertain terms, the corruption and obsolescence of the institutions of a bankrupt Order.

Against the background of these afflictive disturbances—the turmoil and tribulations of a travailing age—we may well ponder the portentous prophecies uttered well-nigh fourscore years ago, by the Author of our Faith, as well as the dire predictions made by Him Who is the unerring Interpreter of His teachings, all foreshadowing a universal commotion, of a scope and intensity unparalleled in the annals of mankind.

The violent derangement of the world’s equilibrium; the trembling that will seize [Page 32] the limbs of mankind; the radical transformation of human society; the rolling up of the present-day Order; the fundamental changes affecting the structure of government; the weakening of the pillars of religion; the rise of dictatorships; the spread of tyranny; the fall of monarchies; the decline of ecclesiastical institutions; the increase of anarchy and chaos; the extension and consolidation of the Movement of the Left; the fanning into flame of the smouldering fire of racial strife; the development of infernal engines of war; the burning of cities; the contamination of the atmosphere of the earth—these stand out as the signs and portents that must either herald or accompany the retributive calamity which, as decreed by Him Who is the Judge and Redeemer of mankind, must, sooner or later, afflict a society which, for the most part, and for over a century, has turned a deaf ear to the Voice of God’s Messenger in this day—a calamity which must purge the human race of the dross of its age-long corruptions, and weld its component parts into a firmly-knit world-embracing Fellowship—a Fellowship destined, in the fullness of time, to be incorporated in the framework, and to be galvanized by the spiritualizing influences, of a mysteriously expanding, divinely appointed Order, and to flower, in the course of future Dispensations, into a Civilization, the like of which mankind has, at no stage in its evolution, witnessed.

Among the most appealing features of Shoghi Effendi’s writings, and particularly of his occasional messages, are the meaning they give to history and the prospect they assign to the future. The future, or, put differently, the destiny of man, emerges as the dominant theme of his work; and from his vision of it we gather a hitherto unformulated understanding of the past and the present. In his essay “The Unfoldment of World Civilization,” for instance, there is an outline of the implications of Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation which lends the reader an unusual perspective of historical process—a process that occurs in the light of man’s purpose which, according to Bahá’u’lláh, is to “carry forward an ever-advancing civilization.” Having evolved through the various units of social life—family, tribe, city-state, and nation, mankind’s present goal is the unity of nations, a world super-state. The final step in man’s social evolution, this goal is concomitant with his impending spiritual maturity. In this connection, Shoghi Effendi states that:

The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, whose supreme mission is none other but the achievement of this organic and spiritual unity of the whole body of nations, should, if we be faithful to its implications, be regarded as signalizing through its advent the coming of age of the entire human race. It should be viewed not merely as yet another spiritual revival in the ever-changing fortunes of mankind, not only as a further stage in a chain of progressive Revelations, nor even as the culmination of one of a series of recurrent prophetic cycles, but rather as marking the last and highest stage in the stupendous evolution of man’s collective life on this planet. The emergence of a world community, the consciousness of world citizenship, the founding of a world civilization and culture—all of which must synchronize with the initial stages in the unfoldment of the Golden Age of the Bahá’í Era—should, by their very nature, be regarded, as far as this planetary life is concerned, as the furthermost limits in the organization of human society, though man, as an individual, will, nay must indeed as a result of such a consummation, continue indefinitely to progress and develop.

[Page 33] Furthermore, in that same essay, Shoghi Effendi sketches the pattern for the society which is to be the outward expression of the unity of mankind. He writes:

The unity of the human race, as envisaged by Bahá’u’lláh, implies the establishment of a world commonwealth in which all nations, races, creeds and classes are closely and permanently united, and in which the autonomy of its state members and the personal freedom and initiative of the individuals that compose them are definitely and completely safeguarded. This commonwealth must, as far as we can visualize it, consist of a world legislature, whose members will, as the trustees of the whole of mankind, ultimately control the entire resources of all the component nations, and will enact such laws as shall be required to regulate the life, satisfy the needs and adjust the relationships of all races and peoples. A world executive, backed by an international Force, will carry out the decisions arrived at, and apply the laws enacted by, this world legislature, and will safeguard the organic unity of the whole commonwealth. A world tribunal will adjudicate and deliver its compulsory and final verdict in all and any disputes that may arise between the various elements constituting this universal system. A mechanism of world intercommunication will be devised, embracing the whole planet, freed from national hindrances and restrictions, and functioning with marvelous swiftness and perfect regularity. A world metropolis will act as the nerve center of a world civilization, the focus towards which the unifying forces of life will converge and from which its energizing influences will radiate. A world language will either be invented or chosen from among the existing languages and will be taught in the schools of all the federated nations as an auxiliary to their mother tongue. A world script, a world literature, a uniform and universal system of currency, of weights and measures, will simplify and facilitate intercourse and understanding among the nations and races of mankind. In such a world society, science and religion, the two most potent forces in human life, will be reconciled, will cooperate, and will harmoniously develop. . . .

A world federal system, ruling the whole earth and exercising unchallengeable authority over its unimaginably vast resources, blending and embodying the ideals of both the East and the West, liberated from the curse of war and its miseries, and bent on the exploitation of all the available sources of energy on the surface of the planet, a system in which Force is made the servant of Justice, whose life is sustained by its universal recognition of one God and by its allegiance to one common Revelation—such is the goal towards which humanity, impelled by the unifying forces of life, is moving.

Future society thus outlined is no utopian dream; on the contrary, it is a natural outcome of man’s spiritual maturity as is fruit-bearing the natural consequence of maturity in the tree. Attaining to such a society involves the travail of growth and transition which in spiritual terms implies a transformation in the character of man—a transformation analogous to the process of adolescence. Shoghi Effendi therefore encourages no illusory ease of attainment to world unity. He is as forthright about the setbacks and pitfalls to be encountered as he is reassuring of the inevitability of this attainment. Referring to Bahá’u’lláh’s principle of the federation of nations, Shoghi Effendi once mused:

Who knows that for so exalted a conception to take shape a suffering more intense than any it has yet experienced will have to be inflicted upon humanity? Could anything less than the fire of a civil war with all its violence and vicissitudes—a war that nearly rent the great American [Page 34] Republic—have welded the states, not only into a Union of independent units, but into a Nation, in spite of all the ethnic differences that characterized its component parts? That so fundamental a revolution, involving such far-reaching changes in the structure of society, can be achieved through the ordinary processes of diplomacy and education seems highly improbable. We have but to turn our gaze to humanity’s blood-stained history to realize that nothing short of intense mental as well as physical agony has been able to precipitate those epoch-making changes that constitute the greatest landmarks in the history of human civilization.

By statements such as this Shoghi Effendi kept the balance between prospect and practicality. One derives from his balanced outlook a quality of naturalness about the goals of the Bahá’í Faith and their attainment. A cohesive and compelling analysis of historical process emerges from the portrayal of cause, effect, and prospect in such essays as “The Goal of a New World Order,” “The Unfoldment of World Civilization,” and “The Promised Day Is Come.” This quality of naturalness induces belief in his perceptions, a belief which is enhanced by the success of the Bahá’í community in translating his instructions into triumphs despite some of the most trying circumstances. One recalls, for instance, that the instructions and advice given in “The Advent of Divine Justice” and other letters which Shoghi Effendi wrote in the thirties and forties guided the community toward the accomplishment of its goals amid the confusion and doubts caused by World War II.

The Interpreter as Literatus

SHOGHI EFFENDI wrote a prodigious quantity of letters which form the bulk of his literary work. But he also translated the words of the Báb, Bahá’u’lláh, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá from Arabic and Persian into English. Gifted with a masterly grasp of the rich vocabulary and subtle nuances of English and endowed with the power of unerring perception, he turned any translation into a thing of wonder and delight. His major works of translation include three complete works of Bahá’u’lláh: Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, The Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh, and The Kitáb-i-Íqán (Book of Certitude); and compilations of Bahá’u’lláh’s Writings: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh and Prayers and Meditations. One of his most celebrated translations is The Dawn-Breakers, Nabíl’s narrative of the early days of the Bábí Revelation. It is said by those who know the original Persian text of the narrative that Shoghi Effendi did more than translate it. He performed the rare feat of creating a translation more splendid than the original yet unfailing in fidelity to its source.

Although a considerable number of Shoghi Effendi’s letters and messages now appear in several anthologies and in a few instances a single letter has been lengthy enough to be published as a book (e.g., The Advent of Divine Justice and The Promised Day Is Come), he actually set out to write only one book in English, God Passes By, which is a stupendous history of the first century of the Bahá’í Faith.

It is in this book that one can appreciate the versatility of his narrative style. The temptation to cite an example is irresistible. The extract cited below follows a recitation of vivid activities during ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s travels [Page 35] in the West. Now how skillfully Shoghi Effendi produces two contrasting bodies of narrative, one in an opening series of questions, the other in a corresponding series of answers. In this one paragraph, salient features of almost seventy years of Bahá’í history are strung together in contrasting colors, as it were, upon the thread of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s life:

Who knows what thoughts flooded the heart of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as He found Himself the central figure of such memorable scenes as these? Who knows what thoughts were uppermost in His mind as He sat at breakfast beside the Lord Mayor of London, or was received with extraordinary deference by the Khedive himself in his palace, or as He listened to the cries of “Alláh-u-Abhá” and to the hymns of thanksgiving and praise that would herald His approach to the numerous and brilliant assemblages of His enthusiastic followers and friends organized in so many cities of the American continent? Who knows what memories stirred within Him as He stood before the thundering waters of Niagara, breathing the free air of a far distant land, or gazed, in the course of a brief and much-needed rest, upon the green woods and countryside in Glenwood Springs, or moved with a retinue of Oriental believers along the paths of the Trocadero gardens in Paris, or walked alone in the evening beside the majestic Hudson on Riverside Drive in New York, or as He paced the terrace of the Hotel du Parc at Thonon-les-Bains, overlooking the Lake of Geneva, or as He watched from Serpentine Bridge in London the pearly chain of lights beneath the trees stretching as far as the eye could see? Memories of the sorrows, the poverty, the overhanging doom of His earlier years; memories of His mother who sold her gold buttons to provide Him, His brother and His sister with sustenance, and who was forced, in her darkest hours, to place a handful of dry flour in the palm of His hand to appease His hunger; of His own childhood when pursued and derided by a mob of ruffians in the streets of Ṭihrán; of the damp and gloomy room, formerly a morgue, which He occupied in the barracks of ‘Akká and of His imprisonment in the dungeon of that city—memories such as these must surely have thronged His mind. Thoughts, too, must have visited Him of the Báb’s captivity in the mountain fastnesses of Ádhirbáyján, when at night time He was refused even a lamp, and of His cruel and tragic execution when hundreds of bullets riddled His youthful breast. Above all His thoughts must have centered on Bahá’u’lláh, Whom He loved so passionately and Whose trials He had witnessed and had shared from His boyhood. The vermin-infested Síyáh-Chál of Ṭihrán; the bastinado inflicted upon Him in Ámul; the humble fare which filled His kashkúl while He lived for two years the life of a dervish in the mountains of Kurdistán; the days in Baghdád when He did not even possess a change of linen, and when His followers subsisted on a handful of dates; His confinement behind the prison-walls of ‘Akká, when for nine years even the sight of verdure was denied Him; and the public humiliation to which He was subjected at government headquarters in that city—pictures from the tragic past such as these must have many a time overpowered Him with feelings of mingled gratitude and sorrow, as He witnessed the many marks of respect, of esteem, and honor now shown Him and the Faith which He represented.

It should perhaps not be surprising at all, given the motivations of his prose, to observe that Shoghi Effendi also possessed the power of definition to a superlative degree, and found more ways than many a celebrated giant of letters to use this power. When you read, for example, his definition of a “chaste and holy life,” you perceive resources of this [Page 36] power that would hardly occur to you in reading the writings of the modern literati:

a chaste and holy life, with its implications of modesty, purity, temperance, decency, and clean-mindedness, involves no less than the exercise of moderation in all that pertains to dress, language, amusements, and all artistic and literary avocations. It demands daily vigilance in the control of one’s carnal desires and corrupt inclinations. It calls for the abandonment of a frivolous conduct, with its excessive attachment to trivial and often misdirected pleasures. It requires total abstinence from all alcoholic drinks, from opium, and from similar habit-forming drugs. It condemns the prostitution of art and of literature, the practices of nudism and of companionate marriage, infidelity in marital relationships, and all manner of promiscuity, of easy familiarity, and of sexual Vices. It can tolerate no compromise with the theories, the standards, the habits, and the excesses of a decadent age. Nay rather it seeks to demonstrate, through the dynamic force of its example, the pernicious character of such theories, the falsity of such standards, the hollowness of such claims, the perversity of such habits, and the sacrilegious character of such excesses. . . .

It must be remembered, however, that the maintenance of such a high standard of moral conduct is not to be associated or confused with any form of asceticism, or of excessive and bigoted puritanism. The standard inculcated by Bahá’u’lláh, seeks, under no circumstances, to deny any one the legitimate joys, beauties, and pleasures with which the world has been so plentifully enriched by an All-Loving Creator.

Shoghi Effendi took to his literary endeavors this code of chastity and holiness, as he had defined it. Neither art nor literature is to be prostituted. The use of language must therefore reflect the virtues of rectitude and yet employ the creative force of imagination, deny falsity and yet be quickened by drama, eschew perversity and yet engage the appeal of beauty; language must exhibit a wholesome respect for the meaning of words, a meticulous attention to the arrangements of sentences, a precise calculation of the effect of paragraphs. In any case, it must say what it means, and mean it well. The good purpose of language is related to the principle of a chaste and holy life; the proper use of language is related to the principle of rectitude of conduct. You see, then, that the fabric of his literary work owes its strength and integrity to his strict adherence to these principles; unlike the perversion of the language which George Orwell saw in modern political writing as “largely the defense of the indefensible,” his manner, his usage, his motivation of language embody the high principles it espouses and legitimize the information and pleasure it conveys.

The messages of the Guardian grew into a voluminous body of literature of a wholly new character; and although there is much more to be said about its uncommon literary quality than can be contained in this essay, the deepest sense of its character, it can be said, in summary, is in the realm of the spirit and thus remains somewhat elusive except to those who experience it directly.

Critics can easily detect in his style traces of the old masters, a Gibbon, a Macaulay, a Shakespeare; for he is known to have kept almost constant company with their books— particularly Gibbon’s—in searching out the wellspring of the English tongue. One could remark randomly about his mastery of what is sometimes called the periodic sentence in which multiple compounds of phrases explode with brilliant sparks of meaning at the ending statement, about the baroque constructions in which words are arranged in rich designs of meaning and imagery like settings of fine stones, about his appreciation of assonance and alliteration, about the lyrical [Page 37] cadence of his sentences which sound better and seem to enlarge upon their meanings when read aloud, about his one-sentence paragraphs, about the mathematical precision of his usage, or about his ability to compress multitudinous meanings into slight space, to reconcile conciseness and amplitude, precision and suppleness, force and elegance.

Concerning rhetoric, the habitual abuse of which aroused constant suspicion and fear among the ancients, Pascal said something that should seem trite to men of letters: “words differently arranged have a different meaning, and meanings differently arranged have a different effect.” Looking at the transcendent achievement of Shoghi Effendi takes the triteness out of Pascal’s statement.

When reading Shoghi Effendi, one senses, as it were, a procession of the great men of letters of bygone ages: you are apt to say, here is Shakespeare, here is Cicero, here is the Prophet of the House of Israel in his awesome eloquence, here is . . . You might say in the end that Shoghi Effendi has distilled the ancient classical virtues; in fact, he has distilled the virtues of language in any age and clothed them with principles of the spirit. You could say he rescued the virtues of English. In this respect, Orwell, who, early in this century, bemoaned the plight of English in our decadent civilization, would most likely have loved and lauded Shoghi Effendi’s continual success in loading such substance into his sentences that they seemed to crackle from the weight of their significances.

The roots of all these marvels in the writings of Shoghi Effendi have their deeper foundation elsewhere: their foundation is in the fear of God to which Bahá’u’lláh repeatedly exhorts humanity. In these exhortations Bahá’u’lláh directs all men to what ennobles them—that correct respect for the majesty of their God, Who created them out of His love to “carry forward an ever-advancing civilization” which ultimately must lead them inexorably and eternally toward Him. Shoghi Effendi, being the noblest of men, knew better than any one else how vital was this sense of respect to the critical role in which he must unerringly guide through his interpretations of God’s Word the processes of an ever-advancing civilization.

Shoghi Effendi died on November 4, 1957. It is too soon for a complete assessment of his literary legacy, but the credentials of his greatness as a writer are already obvious, his immortality assured. Shoghi Effendi was a true interpreter of Holy Scripture.

A Bibliography of Works by Shoghi Effendi

BOOKS BY SHOGHI EFFENDI

God Passes By (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1944).

The Advent of Divine Justice, rev. ed. (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1969).

The Promised Day Is Come, rev. ed. (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1961).

COLLECTIONS OF LETTERS AND MESSAGES

The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, rev. ed. (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1955).

Messages to the Bahá’í World: 1950-1957, rev. ed. (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1971).

Citadel of Faith: Messages to America/1947-1957 (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1965).

Bahá’í Administration, rev. ed. (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1968).

TRANSLATIONS

The Dawn-Breakers (Wilmette, Ill.: Publishing Trust, 1932).

The Kitáb-i-Íqán: The Book of Certitude, rev. ed. (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1950).

Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, rev. ed. (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1953).

Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, rev. ed. (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1952).

Prayers and Meditations (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1938).

The Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh, rev. ed. (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1954).

[Page 38]

Accounts of the Passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

BY FLORIAN AND GRACE KRUG

INTRODUCTION: Dr. Florian Krug, a prominent New York physician, and his wife Grace, were in Haifa at the time of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s passing. Grace Krug’s account, given thirteen years later at a commemorative gathering in West Englewood, New Jersey, bears unmistakable marks of grief that time could not dispel. Dr. Krug’s account is historically more important since it was given in a letter to his son less than two weeks after the event. Mrs. Krug’s talk is printed with minor deletions, indicated by ellipses. Dr. Krug’s letter is reproduced from a xerox copy of the original. The last of its four short pages that contains purely personal matters has been omitted. The Editors wish to thank Mr. Charles S. Krug, Dr. Florian Krug’s son, for placing these documents at their disposal and permitting their publication.

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ACCOUNT OF THE PASSING OF ABDU’L-BAHÁ BY GRACE KRUG (MRS. FLORIAN KRUG) PRESENTED AT “THE CABIN” IN WEST ENGLEWOOD, NEW JERSEY, WEDNESDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 28, 1934.

Dearly beloved Friends,

To give you a word picture of this very important event, without some of the intimate details is impossible. Since the room is filled with Believers only, I will speak freely.

On the 19th of November 1921, Dr. Krug and I arrived in Haifa. The ship dropped anchor about 4 o’clock in the afternoon. Ruhi Afnan and Fugita met us at the pier. After the custom house formalities were over, we drove at once to the American Pilgrim House. The beloved Master was waiting inside the gate to welcome us with a love ineffable. I noticed how tired He looked, my spirit sank, and I said to Ruhi Afnan: “Has the Master been well of late?” He replied, “Yes.” After escorting us into the house and telling us to be seated, the Master inquired, with His usual solicitude, as to our health, the comfort of our journey, etc., and to tell us how happy He was that we had come. Suddenly He arose, asking us to follow Him, led the way out of the house, up the street to the gate of His own residence, into His garden, and up a flight of outside stairs to a room over the garage that had been built during our absence of the past year. He turned, smiled, and said: “Now I am going to give you and Dr. Krug my room.” I burst into tears, I don’t know why, such a feeling of apprehension came over me. His grandson, Ruhi Afnan, tried to comfort me by saying, “The family are all very happy, Mrs. Krug, that the Master has decided to move back into the big house, as we were anxious about His sleeping out here alone.”

Friends, the last nine days in which we were blessed with His presence on earth, His life from hour to hour was so busy and beautiful to watch, that after my early morning visit each day to the Shrine of the Báb, I stood at my window to catch as many glimpses of the Master as possible. In the morning He would seat Himself in the garden, under the grape arbor, to receive the many visitors seeking His wisdom. There were Generals in gaudy uniforms, Arabs, again a [Page 39] poor man or woman asking alms. He was so beautiful and serene, with a sweetness of spirit that I had never noticed before. There was an air of finality and completeness around Him. . . .

A few days before His passing, the Master had fever. Ruhi Afnan suggested to Dr. Krug and me that we go to Abdu’l-Bahá and ask Him to please rest more. We went. Dr. Krug begged Him not to make the physical effort of walking daily to the American Pilgrim House to meals. The Master replied: “Very well, for your sake Doctor, I won’t go any more.” I left His presence again in tears and said to the Doctor: “We creatures through our love and devotion for the Master put our finite wills over His and when He grants our requests we are sadder than before.”

The next morning, Friday, He said to His daughter, Ruha Khanum, “Today Kasro [Khusraw] must be married.”

Kasro’s wedding ceremonies took place early in the afternoon. The Master called us about 5 o’clock to His reception room. The bride was seated at His side. All those in His presence were very happy. Abdu’l-Bahá, with a twinkle in His eye, looked at me and said: “Dr. and Mrs. Krug must have a second honeymoon here.” I replied: “Inshalla, Beloved” (God willing). The Master was very much amused at my answer.

After His ascension, those last words addressed to me were very precious memories.

Saturday He was not well, He saw none of the visiting Pilgrims. In the afternoon His daughter, Moneva [Munavvar] Khanum, found Him with Bahá’u’lláh’s coat wrapped around Him without a pillow under His head on the divan in His room. She said to Him, “Master, please permit me to put a pillow under Your head if you are not feeling well.” He replied: “No, my head is not worthy of a pillow, all other heads are allowed pillows, but not mine.” [Page 40] Oh Friends, the pathos of those last days of servitude!

Sunday, a Bahá’í brother from India gave a most beautiful feast at the Shrine of the Báb. Dr. Krug and I arrived rather early and waited with the friends for the family to come. When Abdu’l-Bahá’s four sons-in-law entered the room without the Master, again that same feeling of dread came over me. The spiritual feast was most uplifting and the bountiful hospitality by our Parsee brother was greatly enjoyed. After the feast was ended, Ruhi Afnan ran at once down the mountain to the Master’s house and said to Him: “Master, all were disappointed that you were not at the Shrine.” He replied: “But I was there in spirit. When this body disintegrates and returns to dust, for that care not at all, it is as a cloud that covers the sun.”

Friends, that night at supper word came that the Master had no fever and was better. We were all so happy and unified in spirit that I doubt if ever again in this world will I feel the same. Little did I know what awaited us!

We retired as usual, but Dr. Krug had a premonition that he would be called to the Master’s bedside before morning. About one fifteen o’clock we were awakened by screams from the Master’s house, “Come Dr. Krug, the Master, the Master!” Like a flash, the Doctor was up, dressed, out of the room and across the garden into the house. You see, friends, had we not occupied Abdu’l-Bahá’s room over the garage, Dr. Krug could not have reached the Master so quickly. I stood absolutely petrified with fear. Finally I was able to slip a one piece dress over my night robe and rushed after the Doctor. Friends, how can I describe that scene in the Master’s bedroom! Dr. Krug stood in the center, his hand raised, saying: “Silence, our Beloved Master has ascended.” I ran to His bedside and there He lay in the majesty of death. His lovely eyes were still open, but the light of love and understanding that had for so many years cheered the souls of men was gone! My first thought was, my Adored One is freed from our endless questions, freed from His life of servitude and headaches. I turned and knelt at the feet of His sister, the Greatest Holy Leaf, put my head in her lap and in that agonized moment, she stroked my head and tried to comfort me. Friends, not one thought of herself! God has never created a more glorious woman than she!

For hours after the ascension that night, chaos reigned. The house was crowded with guests, there were at least 40 women believers with their babies, sleeping oriental fashion on the floor in the large hall of the Master’s house. Abdu’l-Bahá’s daughters told me at the time of Bahá’u’lláh’s ascension the same thing took place. Finally, Dr. Krug called me saying: “Fugita will make a cup of tea for the guests in the American Pilgrim House. Mr. and Mrs. John Bosch, of Guyserville, California; Mr. Curtis D. Kelsey, Dr. Krug and I went over. Not a word was spoken and not a tear did I shed, the agony of His passing was too deep. . . .

In the early dawn Dr. Krug called me and said: “Come dear you must rest a little.” At 9 o’clock that morning there were at least two hundred Mohammedan women in the garden and on the steps of the Master’s house, wailing, as the news of His passing spread like wild fire. After making my way through the crowds of mourners, I entered the reception room and found Moneer [Page 41] [Munírih] Khanum, the Holy Mother, with the four daughters, surrounded by friends of the family. Two Mohammedan Muftis (priests) were chanting the Koran in the hall. I said to the ladies, “Oh, can’t you be alone in your agony of grief?” They replied: “No it is not the custom here, God willing, to-night we will be by ourselves.” All the servants were so grief stricken, that the family was obliged to send to the Hotel in Haifa for cooks to come and prepare the midday meal. There were hundreds of people that had to be fed.

Tuesday morning before 9 o’clock crowds assembled for the funeral, thousands of people. The day was cloudless. Sir Herbert Samuel, the Governor of Palestine, motored all night from Jerusalem to attend the funeral. Over 10,000 men and women followed the casket up Mount Carmel, borne on the shoulders of men who truly revered Abdu’l-Bahá.

LETTER FROM DR. FLORIAN KRUG TO HIS SON CHARLES S. KRUG:

Haifa, P. O. Box 23

January 8th, 1922

My dear Carlie

Your letter dated Nov. 27. 21. arrived only three days ago together with other American mail dated as late as December 18th. I was glad to learn that you are well and that you are getting on nicely with your affairs. We arrived at Haifa on November 18th and were most heartily welcomed by the Beloved Master, His family and all the friends. He bestowed the great honor upon us of assigning to us his own room, which had only recently been built as an annex to his mansion and which he had occupied but a few weeks, instead of being installed in the Pilgrim house for American & European guests.

I noticed upon our arrival a great change that had taken place in His physical condition. He was tired and weary although mentally as youthful as ever.

Nine days we spent in his presence, while he showered kindness and love upon us. Shortly after 1 o’clock A.M. on Monday the 28th of November I was hastily summoned to his bedside. He was beyond any medical help, I had the great privilege of perceiving His last earthly breath and of closing his loving eyes. The scenes of agony, grief and sorrow after his departure are undescribable and unforgettable. The funeral took place on Tuesday morning. More than 5000 people attended, including all the dignitaries, the High Commissioner of Palestine Sir Herbert Samuel, the Governor of Jerusalem, Sir Ronald Storrs, and their staffs travelling all night in their motorcars. The Governor of Haifa & so on. The weather was perfect and I was fortunate enough to get a series of phorographs, fifteen in all, showing the entire funeral from beginning to end. These negatives will be famous for ever. I cannot send you a set until they are reproduced and multiplied. . . .

Lovingly

Pa (signed)

[Page 42]

[Page 43]

Knowledge, Volition, and Action— The Steps to Spiritual Transformation

BY DANIEL C. JORDAN

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This essay forms a part of a series of publications to be brought out by the Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 415 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois 60093.

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BAHÁ’U’LLÁH has said that religion is dying out in every land. One of the most striking evidences of the truth of that statement is the abdication of responsibility for one’s own life on the part of an ever-increasing number of people. To be no longer in charge of determining one’s destiny is to adopt a passive attitude towards life—an attitude devoid of self-discipline, initiative, volition, and attainment. The inevitable consequence is a yielding to the pressures of the old order and conformity to behavior patterns which hasten its downfall.

Religion dies out when man forgets God’s purpose for him. Without a sense of that purpose, there can be no vision of spiritual destiny, no motivation to live in the present in ways that guarantee a spiritual life in the future, no reason to resist the corrupting temptations of a collapsing civilization. The rebirth of religion, therefore, means an infusion of God’s purpose for man into the affairs of men. Fundamentally, this is what the Bahá’í Faith does as it spreads throughout the world; it provides the means through which each individual follower of Bahá’u’lláh can gain knowledge of God’s purpose for man in this day and, in collaboration with all of the Bahá’ís throughout the world, translate that purpose into action which will ultimately lead us to the Most Great Peace.

A true Bahá’í cannot be passive about his Faith. Bahá’u’lláh states that “It is incumbent upon every man of insight and understanding to strive to translate that which hath been written into reality and action.” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá says:

He is a true Bahá’í who strives by day and by night to progress and advance along the path of human endeavor, whose most cherished desire is to live and act as to enrich and illuminate the world, whose source of inspiration is the essence of Divine virtue, whose aim in life is so to conduct himself as to be the cause of infinite progress. Only when he attains unto such perfect gifts can it be said of him that he is a true Bahá’í. For in this holy Dispensation, the crowning glory of bygone ages, and cycles, true Faith is no mere acknowledgment of the Unity of God, but the living of a life that will manifest all the perfections and virtues implied in such belief.

If we are serious about becoming true Bahá’ís, if this is one of our most important objectives, then we must have knowledge of God’s purpose for man, the will to plan our lives around it, and the capacity to act. Without knowledge, volition, and action, no spiritual transformation can occur, for ‘Abdu’l-Bahá tells us:

The attainment of any object is conditioned upon knowledge, volition and action. Unless these three conditions are forthcoming there is no execution or accomplishment.

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Knowledge of God’s Purpose for Man

TO BECOME actively engaged in directing the spiritual transformation of our own lives, conscious knowledge of God’s purpose for man is essential. The transformation process is carried forward by action and reaction based on this knowledge. Since many of our habits and natural tendencies may be more congruent with patterns of the old world order than with the new, and may directly contravene Bahá’í law, many of our actions and reactions will require deliberate and conscious effort to apply this knowledge. Conscious knowledge of God’s purpose for man provides a basis for making decisions that lead to spiritual growth and for choosing courses of action which consolidate the spiritual foundations of our lives.

We find the explanation of God’s purpose for man in this Age in the words of Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and Shoghi Effendi. Bahá’u’lláh declares that we were created to know and to love God and that we have been endowed with the capacity to reflect every one of the names and attributes of God. He further states that we were “created to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization.” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá teaches that our purpose in life is to acquire virtues—the attributes of God translated into human behavior. Shoghi Effendi confirms that the object of our lives should be to promote the oneness of mankind. Indeed, he says that the oneness of mankind is the pivot around which all of Bahá’u’lláh’s Teachings revolve.

Armed with a conscious knowledge of God’s purpose for man, it is possible for us to take a positive and active role in determining our own spiritual destinies. The quality and effectiveness of this role will be dependent upon the depth of our knowledge and our capacity to make the decision to act and then to act.

The Role of Volition in Spiritual Transformation

TAKING CHARGE of our spiritual destinies— directing the process of becoming our true selves—cannot in the last analysis, be delegated to others. Coming to a clear realization of that fact is essential to spiritual transformation. Bahá’u’lláh has written:

Unto each one hath been prescribed a preordained measure, as decreed in God’s mighty and guarded Tablets. All that which ye potentially possess can, however, be manifested only as a result of your own volition. Your own acts testify to this truth.

When this realization is made and fully accepted, we will stop trying to find excuses for our lack of direction or action and cease hunting for people or conditions on which to lay the blame for dissatisfaction with our spiritual state. Energy need no longer be put into these fruitless activities.

Parents, educators, counselors, and therapists, disregarding verification in experience, find it difficult to accept that mere knowledge of what we should do will not enable us actually to do it. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá emphasizes that knowledge alone does not produce appropriate action:

Mere knowledge of principles is not sufficient. We all know and admit that justice is good but there is need of volition and action to carry out and manifest it. For example, we might think it good to build a church but simply thinking of it as a good thing will not help its erection. The ways and means must be provided; we must will to build it and then proceed with the construction.

[Page 45] A pilgrim to ‘Akká reports that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá explained the relationship between knowledge and will in this way:

Will is the centre or focus of human understanding. We must will to know God, just as we must will in order to possess the life He has given us. The human will must be subdued and trained into the Will of God. It is a great power to have a strong will, but a greater power to give that will to God. The will is what we do, the understanding is what we know. Will and understanding must be one in the Cause of God. Intention brings attainment.

The capacity to will something—volition —is a reflection of the “ideal and heavenly force” within man:

Nature is without volition and acts perforce whereas man possesses a mighty will. . . . it is evident that man is more noble and superior; that in him there is an ideal power surpassing nature. He has consciousness, volition, memory, intelligent power, divine attributes and virtues of which nature is completely deprived, bereft. . . . therefore man is higher and nobler by reason of the ideal and heavenly force latent and manifest in him.

What are some of the tangible manifestations of the will at work? It is important for us to know what they are so that when we are experiencing them we may have the confirmation that we are making use of that “ideal and heavenly force” in accordance with God’s purpose for man.

Setting Goals. Among the most important of the tangible manifestations of volition is setting goals for oneself—“high resolves and noble purposes,” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá refers to them:

. . . man’s supreme honor and real happiness lie in self-respect, in high resolves and noble purposes, in integrity and moral quality, in immaculacy of mind.

It is obvious that if no goals are set, there is nothing around which to organize our behavior. Being without goals, without resolve, betrays a totally passive orientation to our Faith. The lack of goals precludes fighting our own “spiritual battles”; it precludes spiritual transformation; ultimately, it frustrates God’s purpose for man.

Perseverance and Patience. Striving is another tangible manifestation of the will at work, for practicing virtues requires effort. Without practice, habits cannot be formed; and it is the formation of spiritual habits which consolidates spiritual transformation. Bahá’u’lláh tells us to

Strive that ye may be enabled to manifest to the peoples of the earth the signs of God, and to mirror forth His commandments.

Striving for the sake of striving, however, cannot establish spiritual habits; rather, we must strive for a specific goal until it is achieved. This type of striving—perseverance —is a basic manifestation of volition. It is one of the major characteristics required if God’s purpose for man is to be reflected in our lives:

The companions of God are, in this day, the lump that must leaven the peoples of [Page 46] the world. They mast show forth such trustworthiness, such truthfulness and perseverance, such deeds and character that all mankind may profit by their example.

Persevering means more than keeping at something for a certain amount of time; it means not giving up in the face of difficulties and trials that may be encountered along the way. Almost anything worthy of achievement will require perseverance through hardships. The capacity to pursue an objective even in the face of great hardships is another facet of volition:

Everything of importance in this world demands the close attention of its seeker. The one in pursuit of anything must undergo difficulties and hardships until the object in view is attained and the great success is obtained.

In the following passage, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá particularizes the role of endeavor and perseverance in achieving world peace:

A few, unaware of the power latent in human endeavor, consider this matter as highly impracticable, nay even beyond the scope of man’s utmost efforts. Such is not the case, however. On the contrary, thanks to the unfailing grace of God, the lovingkindness of His favored ones, the unrivaled endeavors of wise and capable souls, and the thoughts and ideas of the peerless leaders of this age, nothing whatsoever can be regarded as unattainable. Endeavor, ceaseless endeavor, is required. Nothing short of an indomitable determination can possibly achieve it. Many a cause which past ages have regarded as purely visionary, yet in this day has become most easy and practicable. Why should this most great and lofty Cause—the day-star of the firmament of true civilization and the cause of the glory, the advancement, the well-being and the success of all humanity—be regarded as impossible of achievement? Surely the day will come when its beauteous light shall shed illumination upon the assemblage of man.

Responding to hardships with patience is yet another manifestation of the will in operation:

Whosoever, O my Lord, is impatient in the tribulations befalling him in Thy path, hath not drunk of the cup of Thy love nor tasted of the sweetness of Thy remembrance.

Control of Action and Resisting Temptation. Striving to do certain things is not the only action which requires volition and self-discipline. Refusal to do other things, or ceasing to do them, is a significant manifestation of volition. Indeed man’s capacity to resist temptation or to discontinue vices distinguishes him from the animal. This reflection of volition marks him as a spiritual being:

Nature is without volition and acts perforce whereas man possesses a mighty will. . . . Man can voluntarily discontinue vices, nature has no power to modify the influence of its instincts.

We, verily, have commanded you to refuse the dictates of your evil passions and corrupt desires, and not to transgress the bounds which the Pen of the Most High hath fixed, for these are the breath of life unto all created things.

In essence, then, volition has two fundamental manifestations or functions in spiritual transformation. One is striving and persevering to achieve specific goals that are congruent with God’s purpose for man. The other is resisting temptation, discontinuing [Page 47] vices, and controlling impulses and desires that are unspiritual. Volition—will—is needed if we are to direct our lives in ways that will enable us to acquire virtues and, simultaneously, to resist all temptations to break Bahá’í laws.

The Role of Self-Disciplined Action in Spiritual Transformation

BAHÁ’U’LLÁH has stated that “It is incumbent upon every man of insight and understanding to strive to translate that which hath been written into reality and action.” This translation will depend upon “converting satanic strength” into “heavenly power.” It is deeds—action—and not words that count. Spiritual transformation is not possible without action. Thought, prayer, meditation, and study of the sacred scriptures are all very important; but if no spiritual goals are set and no action is taken to achieve them, no spiritual transformation will take place. The reality of spiritual attributes can be perceived only in action. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá says:

Love manifests its reality in deeds, not only in words—these alone are without effect. In order that love may manifest its power there must be an object, an instrument, a motive.

The wrong in the world continues to exist just because people talk only of their ideals, and do not strive to put them into practice.

Not any action will do; whatever action we decide upon must reflect God’s will and facilitate achievement of His purpose for man. Hence, action must be congruent with knowledge of God’s purpose and will require submission of the human will to the will of God. Only then can action result in spiritual transformation.

Once action is initiated, we can very easily become lost in the action itself, thereby becoming inattentive to whether it continues to express God’s purpose for man. We therefore need to make an ongoing assessment of our actions to see whether they conform to the will of God and, if they do not, to modify them by conscious and deliberate effort:

O SON OF BEING!

Bring thyself to account each day ere thou art summoned to a reckoning; for death, unheralded, shall come upon thee and thou shalt be called to give account for thy deeds.

Two important capacities are prerequisite to our being in charge of our spiritual destinies. One of these is the capacity to see a discrepancy between our actions and God’s purpose for man. The other is the ability to modify our actions to make them reflect this purpose. This is where self-discipline, the ability to take oneself in hand and correct a situation, plays a critical role.

It is the spiritual responsibility and obligation of each Bahá’í to develop this type of self-discipline. Our fellow believers cannot provide us with it, nor can the administrative institutions of the Faith develop spiritual qualities for us, though they can guide and encourage us as individuals. If we deviate greatly from God’s purpose for man in a way that affects the Bahá’í community, Bahá’í institutions will help to correct the situation. Nevertheless, only the individual can decide to deal with the inner source of a problem in his own spiritual life.

Persevering in our efforts to act in accordance with God’s purpose for man, without excessive dependence on others or on Bahá’í institutions, has important consequences for the quality of our lives. Such self-disciplined action brings with it a sense of self-worth. It also builds confidence in our capacity to fight our own “spiritual battles.”

Handling our own spiritual struggles is an important way of strengthening ourselves [Page 48] and, at the same time, of helping the Faith. Spiritual Assemblies can counsel individuals and help to resolve serious problems. But they cannot fight our spiritual battles for us. When we ask Bahá’í institutions to do this, we are diverting their energies away from their appointed tasks. The Universal House of Justice, the supreme governing body of the Bahá’í World Community, has written that “all can pray” and “fight their own spiritual battles” and that if we do it will help us to grow.

Fighting our own “spiritual battles” also increases our ability, through the dynamic force of example, to assist others to take charge of their own processes of transformation. Perhaps the most important consequence of such perseverance is the effect it has upon our relationships with others. It helps us to become less possessive, exploitative, manipulative, and dependent, and freer to love and to serve. Through loving and serving we become, in turn, more worthy of love; and the love we attract helps to confirm and reinforce all of our efforts at self-discipline. Thus, a cycle of spiritual transformation is set in motion, which, when sustained by a continual immersion in the ocean of Bahá’u’lláh’s words and an active participation in the building of the new World Order, guarantees continued spiritual growth and development.

O CHILDREN OF ADAM!

Holy words and pure and goodly deeds ascend unto the heaven of celestial glory. Strive that your deeds may be cleansed from the dust of self and hypocrisy and find favor at the court of glory; for ere long the assayers of mankind shall, in the holy presence of the Adored One, accept naught but absolute virtue and deeds of stainless purity. This is the day-star of wisdom and of divine mystery that hath shone above the horizon of the divine will. Blessed are they that turn thereunto.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Foundations of World Unity. Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1945.

———. Paris Talks: Addresses Given by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Paris in 1911-1912. 11th ed. London: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1969.

———. The Secret of Divine Civilization. Translated by Marzieh Gail. 2nd ed. Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1970.

———. Tablets of Abdul-Baha Abbas. Vol. 2. New York: Bahá’í Publishing Committee, 1915.

Bahá’u’lláh. Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh. Translated by Shoghi Effendi. Rev. ed. Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1952.

———. The Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh. Translated by Shoghi Effendi. Rev. ed. Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1954.

———. Prayers and Meditations. Translated by Shoghi Effendi. Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1938.

Bahá’u’lláh, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. The Divine Art of Living: Selections from Writings of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Compiled by Mabel Hyde Paine. Rev. ed. Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1960.

Grundy, Julia M. Ten Days in the Light of Acca. Chicago: Bahá’í Publishing Society, 1907.

Jordan, Daniel C. The Meaning of Deepening. Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, forthcoming.

Rúḥíyyih Khánum. “To the Bahá’í Youth.” Bahá’í News, no. 231, May 1950, pp. 6-8.

Shoghi Effendi. The Advent of Divine Justice. Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1969.

———. The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh. Rev. ed. Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1955.

The Universal House of Justice. Wellspring of Guidance: Messages 1963-1968. Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1969.

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Refueling the Federalist Spirit

BY MARY CODDINGTON

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Reprinted by permission of the author and of World Citizen (Fall 1972), pp. 1-3, newsletter of the Fairfield County, Connecticut, World Federalists. The diacritical marks on Persian and Arabic words were inserted by the Editors.

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A RECENT federalist meeting at Yale was enhanced by the presence of a Bahá’í named Tom Lane. His comments provoked a comparison between world federalism and the Bahá’í faith.

Briefly, Bahá’ism is a modern religious movement that seeks world order through world unity. Its purpose is the creation of a world civilization that offers spiritual rebirth along with laws and principles strong enough to maintain a federal world government. The Bahá’ís derive their name from their prophet, Bahá’u’lláh, who founded the faith in Persia in 1844. His religious principles include adoption of an international auxiliary language; a world legislature; a world tribunal; equality of men and women; universal compulsory education; independent investigation of truth; agreement between science and religion; universal faith based on identity of foundations of great religions; and a world union governed by the representatives of all people.

The similarities between federalism and Bahá’ism are apparent. So, unhappily, are the differences. Bahá’ism is growing steadily and rapidly; the dropout rate is negligible, whereas world federalism, well . . .

Why should this be true? Why should world federalism, with its incontestable plea to human reason, fail to attract converts while Bahá’ism not only attracts them but keeps them. According to one Bahá’í, federalists seem to lack a sense of brotherhood or sisterhood. World federalism, to be sure, is not a religion, but many federalists are as deeply committed to their cause as they would be to a faith. The commitment, however, is intellectual, and instead of generating a congenial esprit de corps, egos too often soar and clash and die.

This unfortunately seems to be the nature of most organizations. Personalities obfuscate ideas with their constant clank of self. But one somehow always expects more from federalists.

“They are too much in their heads,” said one Bahá’í after attending a federalist conference; “there is too much haggling over the wording of telegrams and resolutions, too much verbal duelism. In spite of their great goal, federalists, among themselves, manifest competitiveness and frequent ill will, the very things that castrate the United Nations. They act out personally the reasons why world law is still a dream.” Actualizing the dream, say Bahá’ís, requires more than intellectual commitment to the ideal. It requires the day-to-day living out of everything that goal entails, especially in the way one relates to one’s fellows. The federalists, said one former member, too often appear elitist: and their Esrablishment sometimes relates to organization underlings with the rejecting hauteur of sorority blackballers at some musty girls’ school.

The Bahá’ís, like federalists, believe that world government is humankind’s noblest effort. But they also believe that it cannot be achieved without the interdependent objectives of a regenerated community and spiritual education. They feel that the failure of the United Nations is due to the consistent promotion of vested interests dependent upon a competitive order, which can only be reversed by [Page 50] conscious faith. And it is a faith that the Bahá’ís not only believe in but actively live.

The Bahá’ís, then, could be considered the spiritual counterparts of the federalists, with the former centered on faith and the latter on reason. Bahá’ís, though, contain reason also, which is what makes them unique. It is as if they had decided that reason alone is like a small bird pecking at the hide of a rhinoceros, a beast that requires the guidance of a force equally strong and equally nonrational. This may be why the faith holds such strong appeal for young people, so many of whom are now embracing Eastern religions and the occult.

At the recent conference in Washington, several participants commented on the general lack of spirit among federalists, their cynicism and sense of defeat. Perhaps they need some of Bahá’u’lláh’s advice. This is not to suggest that all good federalists should pick up their marbles and say good-Bahá’í; but such influence might effect a federalist renaissance, especially among those who have lost their original and dedicated commitment to world peace through world law.

Several Fairfield federalists who recently attended Bahá’í meetings have expressed great interest though they prefer friendship to discipleship. “It’s a great thing,” said one, “but they have a lot of strict rules. I wouldn’t be able to demonstrate against the war, for instance, or commit civil disobedience.” Another federalist objected to the Bahá’í taboo on alcohol. “As far as I’m concerned,” he said, “a certain amount of Scotch not only improves my communication with the Deity, but also with other federalists.”

Probably the most outstanding feature of the Bahá’í faith is the fact that it works. And the secret ingredient is that magic which dwarfs mere reason.

A Review

OF RÚḤÍYYIH RABBANI’S The Priceless Pearl (LONDON: BAHÁ’Í PUBLISHING TRUST, 1969), 482 PAGES

BY FIRUZ KAZEMZADEH

The Priceless Pearl is the first full-length biography of the Guardian of the Bahá’í Cause. Its author, Rúḥíyyih Khánum, daughter of distinguished Bahá’í parents, was married to Shoghi Effendi in 1937 and for the next twenty years was his wife, friend, confidante, secretary, and, in difficulties, his “shield.” Rúḥíyyih Khánum thus had a uniquely intimate and deep knowledge of him whose biographer she became. It is for this reason that the book itself is an historical document, a primary source of first importance, a point of departure for all future research into the Guardian’s life and work.

The Priceless Pearl, however, is not merely a memoir. Nor is it only a collection of reminiscences or anecdotes. Rúḥíyyih Khánum had access to Shoghi Effendi’s correspondence and has utilized some of his papers to excellent effect. Since in Shoghi Effendi the person and the station were completely fused, she devotes considerable space to the Guardianship as an institution and shows the Guardian at his appointed task of interpreter, leader, and inspirer of the Bahá’í community.

From her pages Shoghi Effendi emerges as a complex being, naturally open-hearted, friendly, joyful, and outgoing, yet compelled by his station and by circumstances to face challenges, struggle against obstacles, and withstand assaults great enough to crush any man. Adversity strengthened him; the mission entrusted to him by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá turned him into a hero. He combined, in a superlative degree, emotion and intellect, freedom and order, cosmic vision and attention to detail.

As we follow Rúḥíyyih Khánum’s narrative, we see Shoghi Effendi as a spirited little [Page 51] boy, overflowing with energy and leading others in pranks and games. We observe him as a serious student intent upon mastering the arts and sciences of the great cultures of the Islamic East and Christian West. “‘My hope is,’” he said when at Oxford, “‘that I may speedily acquire the best that this country and this society have to offer and then return to my home and recast the truths of the Faith in a new form, and thus serve the Holy Threshold.’” This hope was brilliantly fulfilled when, as Guardian of the Cause, he interpreted and restated the verities of the Faith in the language of the modern world.

At the age of twenty-four Shoghi Effendi lost the One Who had been the center of his life. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was to Shoghi Effendi more than a loving grandfather. No one had a deeper love for and a clearer understanding of the Master. To the intense personal loss caused by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s passing was added the crushing burden of discovering that the mantle of leadership had been placed on his youthful shoulders. It was too much to bear. Shoghi Effendi left Haifa and in the solitude of the Swiss Alps sought recovery from his affliction. Several months later he returned to assume the duties of his sacred office. From then on his life was inseparable from the history of the Bahá’í Faith.

The table of contents is instructive, for the chapter headings themselves tell the great story: “The Writings of the Guardian”; “The Development of the International Institutions of the Faith”; “The Rise of the World Centre”; “The Rise of the Administrative Order”; “The Prosecution of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's Divine Plan.”

This book is a record of sorrow, sacrifice, heartbreak, dedication, joy, and triumph. Old Bahá’ís who knew and loved Shoghi Effendi will instantly recognize him in Rúḥíyyih Khánum’s pen portrait. Those who have enrolled under the banner of Bahá’u’lláh since 1957, and today they form a vast majority of the Bahá’ís of the world, will meet Shoghi Effendi and come to know him as only a few knew him while he lived. Thus Rúḥíyyih Khánum has performed a matchless service: she has shared with the Bahá’í world, present and future, the priceless pearl of her knowledge and understanding of Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Cause of God.

[Page 52]

A Russian Response BY WINSTON G. EVANS

The following contribution is in response to the publication in the Summer 1972 issue of WORLD ORDER of a short novelette by Dimitri Marianoff and Marzieh Gail, which produced much interest and comment among our readers. The current issue carries a letter to the editor presenting one point of view, while the article that follows presents the opposite point of view.

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AT AN INSTITUTE on Religion and Contemporary Civilization at U.C.L.A. in 1944, the last words were spoken by a Chinese philosopher, a Dr. Ch’en, from Pomona College: “A world religion must be the hub of a world civilization.” Just after this closing statement, a young woman from Beverly Hills, in reply to my question why she had attended the session, answered, “I am looking for a world religion.” When she heard the story of the Bahá’í Faith in brief, she said, “I want my friends to know about this!”

Some weeks later this young woman, Blanche Fields, invited some twenty or more friends to her apartment for a Bahá’í evening. Among them were Mr. and Mrs. Dimitri Marianoff. Marianoff stood out, for he had a most illumined countenance. The evening was such a success that all the guests were invited to another home in Beverly Hills a week or two later. Marianoff and his wife were back for more Bahá’í talk. We had another highly successful meeting.

At this time I had a one-way ticket to Tennessee and was burning my bridges in California. On my last free night I phoned Marianoff that I was leaving Los Angeles in a day or two and would like to come by for a short visit. Since our first meeting I had learned that he had married Albert Einstein’s step-daughter, Margot, and that he had lived several years with the Einstein family in Berlin. Also, I learned that he was an author and had written a book entitled Einstein.

Soon after I became a Bahá’í, these words in George Townshend’s The Promise of All Ages made an indelible impression on me:

The progress of the Cause had from the beginning been due not a little to the efforts of a lady of wealth and noble birth, known as Qurratu’l-‘Ayn (Solace of the Eyes) or Ṭáhirih (the Pure) whose genius has made her one of the most brilliant figures in the early history of the Bahá’í movement. Professor Browne [of Cambridge University] writes of her as follows:

“The appearance of such a woman . . . is in any country and any age a rare phenomenon, but in such a country as Persia, it is a prodigy—nay, almost a miracle. Alike in virtue of her marvellous beauty, her rare intellectual gifts, her fervid eloquence, her fearless devotion and her glorious martyrdom, she stands forth incomparable and immortal amidst her countrywomen. Had the Bábí religion no other claim to greatness, this were sufficient—that it produced [Page 53] a heroine like Qurratu’l-‘Ayn.”

I had discussed the possibility of a book based on Ṭáhirih’s life with Miss Ethel Shippen, religion editor at Macmillan in New York. She suggested that I get some author interested in the project, for Macmillan would be interested in publishing such a book.

That night with Marianoff I told him something of the story of Ṭáhirih and of Macmillan’s interest. At that moment he was working on two books for Macmillan—a biography of Maxim Gorky and a novel. Mr. Latham, Vice-president of Macmillan had just been out to see him.

Marianoff’s response to the story of Ṭáhirih was instantaneous. Without a moment’s hesitation he exclaimed, “I’ll write it!” There was little sleep for me that night. Although I had planned to return to Tennessee and had told everybody good-bye, I knew I could not run away from Marianoff. My one way ticket to Tennessee was changed to a round-trip ticket to New York. Marianoff or Dima, as he was affectionately called, instructed me to tell Macmillan that he was dropping everything for the Ṭáhirih project. I had a satisfactory talk with Macmillan and returned to Los Angeles in May. It was about the middle of February 1945 when Marianoff made his momentous decision which changed not only the course of his life but also of mine.

The following letters from Marianoff reveal the tremendous impact the Bahá’í Faith and the story of Ṭáhirih had on him.

March 20, 1945

Dear Winston,

Just received your few lines from New York. Glad to hear that your talk with Macmillan editor was satisfactory. Does that mean that I can soon begin with my writing?

It is fine that you met Mrs. Garrett of “Tomorrow”. What sort of articles would she like to have—I would be glad to submit something.

Thank you for sending me “World Order” and the other little brochures. I cannot explain how great is my thirst to read farther and more. But now my reading is mostly careful study of the “Bahá’í Scriptures”, and soon I will be busy only with the books about the middle of the 19th Century in Persia, and here I will be expecting the advice and material from your Persian friends.

Have not heard from Horace Holley as yet.

Modern “Platos” and “Socrates” from every allied nation are preparing for the complicated political discussions in San Francisco . . . If they only knew that the pattern for what they seek and need is so clearly laid down by the Beloved Architect! But I am no longer worried about this. It will come—as the Bahai Scriptures pronounce.

[Page 54]

What are your plans for the nearest future?

With the very best of wishes, and love from both of us.

Yours,

Dimitri (signed)

April 7, 1945

Dear Winston,

Have you received my last letter?

I feel I must write you again now, after I have read “God Passes By” by Shoghi Effendi and “Abbas Effendi” by Phelps, for the second time. I am living these days with such a clear vision of how to bring to life the epoch of Tihirih, of Bab, Baha U’llah and his disciples: of the horror and passion of the ignorant masses under the cruel rulership of their sovereigns, and how in this nightmare of human madness, God sent his Divine Messenger who gave hope of a new era for mankind; I see all the conflicts, intrigues, low human instincts, jealousies and bestiality, and then in contrast—the divine purity of the Blessed Perfection and His Followers happy to die for Him . . . These pictures have such a tremendous influence upon me, that I feel that whatever I will write from now on, whatever theme I will touch, it will always be from the Bahá’í angle . . .

Shoghi Effendi has a blessed pen. And I will be happy and honored to receive his help and information about Tihirih’s life.

All this will enrich my imagination. I am already inspired, not only as an author who is in love with his heroine, but with the spirit of the history-making Divine Thought, which will reform our lost society.

One day, when the war will be but a bad dream of the past, I will want to go to Palestine to have the opportunity and privilege of meeting a member of the Holy Family, and hear from His own lips about the Revelation which will save the world. I do not doubt that you, too, are longing for such a visit.

Please, dear Winston, write me a little more about yourself, and your near plans. And please, do not allow yourself to be worried over the difficulties whenever or wherever they may arise. If you believe that I am chosen to write the book, then, sooner or later, everything will come out all right.

In Friendship,

Yours

Dimitri (signed)

This letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Cause, gave us the courage to proceed. His approval of the Ṭáhirih project and his encouragement were deeply appreciated.

Haifa

June 21st, 1945

Dear Spiritual Brother:

Shoghi Effendi received your letter of May 7th, 1945, and has instructed me to answer you on his behalf.

He can well understand that the brilliant and charming personality of Tahirih has captured your imagination and fired you with a desire to write about her in a manner that would appeal to the popular imagination and bring before the public a vivid example of the inspiration which the new release of Divine Power during the last century gave some members of one of the most backward and decadent races in the world.

We are still so close to the great events surrounding the inception of the Bahá’í Dispensation that many historic facts remain to be discovered and compiled through careful research. No doubt in the future, as correspondence, diaries, official records and so on, come to light, a much more complete picture of Tahirih’s life will be obtained than we now have at our disposal. But it would be a pity, since you so strongly feel the desire to bring the truly inspiring personality of this great heroine before the public, to give up your [Page 55] projected book due to lack of material.

He does not see how you can present a complete historical biography of her life with the limited information available; but you could present an imaginative biography, based on historical facts, and accurately giving the Persian background during her days. This would be feasible with the data at hand, and should make a very interesting book indeed.

Regarding references: what he himself has written and translated in “God Passes By”, and the “Dawn Breakers”, is the most authentic data we possess. Miss Martha Root has also written a book, the most comprehensive yet published, entitled “Tahirih the Pure, Iran’s Greatest Woman”. There are a few scattered references to her in Bahá’í Tablets and books already translated, and he feels sure any Bahá’í who knows the teachings well would be glad to seek them out for you. You can also refer to the works of Prof. E. G. Browne who mentions her and has translated some of her poems. Other orientalists have also referred to her, but one cannot be sure of the accuracy of their observations and it is better to disregard them when they conflict with what we have in Bahá’í histories.

He wishes you success in this undertaking and will pray that you may be inspired to produce a story worthy of such a noble theme, and which will, through setting forth the truly beautiful and unique nature of this great woman, be a force for good in the lives of those who read it, and a means of attracting their hearts to this Faith which God has given humanity in its hour of direst need.

The pen is a wonderful instrument for serving mankind, and he is very happy to see that a man of your abilities desires to use it for the enlightenment and guidance of his fellow men.

With loving Bahá’í greetings,

Yours in the Faith,

R. Rabbani (signed)

For the next two or three years I was closely associated with the Marianoffs. The tests, the trials, and the joyful experiences were many. Without question, Dima was one of the most lovable and generous-hearted men I have ever known. He was universally loved. He was completely captivated by the spirit of Bahá’u’lláh. When Marzieh Gail first saw him, she exclaimed, “He hasn’t got the spirit, the Spirit has got him.”

Having gone through the Russian revolution and having spent some years in Hitler’s Germany, Dima would say, “When you’ve been through two revolutions, you’re not afraid of a new Revelation.” More than once he would say, “One day the Russian people will embrace the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.” He felt absolutely sure about the future of the Faith in Russia.

My years with the Marianoffs were replete with many rich and rewarding experiences. Perhaps I should mention one incident that took place at the beginning of the project. Dima was to write in Russian, but finding a Russian secretary, even in Hollywood, proved to be quite a formidable task. He naturally wanted someone who would be sympathetic and in harmony with Bahá’í thinking. Finally he settled on a Russian woman called Vera. She seemed to be a most unlikely prospect; but, after working with Marianoff two weeks, she too became aflame with the spirit of the Cause and embraced the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.

After such a propitious beginning, the Ṭáhirih project did not appear to have a happy ending. When the manuscript was almost finished, the Marianoffs left for New York in Ocrober 1947. Dima became seriously ill and died before he could complete his work.

However, in New York, Marianoff was to have the invaluable assistance and collaboration of the gifted Marzieh Gail—we know that timing is all important! In the Summer 1972 issue of WORLD ORDER Mrs. Gail has resurrected the Ṭáhirih project as no one else could do.

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Authors & Artists

SHOGHI EFFENDI (1897-1957) was appointed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in His Will and Testament Guardian of the Cause of God and authorized Interpreter of Bahá’u’lláh’s Teachings. For thirty-six years Shoghi Effendi led the worldwide Bahá’í community, inspiring its every activity, guiding its destinies, preserving its unity, and building its institutions. His heritage includes unmatched translations of Bahá’u’lláh’s Writings as well as collections of letters and original works of great power and scope, among them The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, The Advent of Divine Justice, The Promised Day Is Come, and God Passes By.

MARY CODDINGTON, a graduate of the University of Vermont and of Columbia University, is a freelance writer and editor. She has worked for Prentice-Hall, the Patent Trader, the Brooklyn Heights Press, and the Fair Press, a Westport, Connecticut, daily newspaper. Mrs. Coddington prefers writing fiction and is now working on a novel; her nonfiction generally deals with social problems. An active member of the World Federalists, Mrs. Coddington is currently editor of World Citizen, the newsletter of the Fairfield County World Federalists and has been a delegate to the National Council of World Federalists.

WINSTON G. EVANS, a retired investment securities broker, held a B.A. degree from the University of the South. Mr. Evans represented the Bahá’í Faith at the World Council of Churches, in Uppsala, Sweden, in 1968. He had for many years a special interest in modern Christian theology as it related to the problem of the Advent. He appeared in the Summer 1967 issue of World Order as coauthor, with Marzieh Gail, of “The Voice from Inner Space.” Mr. Evans died on January 13, 1973, while this issue was in preparation.

FIRUZ KAZEMZADEH, Editor of World Order, is an historian who has written books on Transcaucasia during the Russian Revolution and on Anglo-Russian rivalry in Persia. He is now engaged in research on the Russian conquest of Central Asia. Dr. Kazemzadeh is a Professor of Russian history at Yale University.

FLORIAN KRUG was born in Germany and studied at the University in Freiburg. He came to New York as a young man and became a leading gynecologist. Violently opposed to the Bahá’í Faith when his wife became interested, he became an active teacher after ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s visit to America in 1912. Dr. Krug was in Haifa at the time of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s passing in 1921. Dr. Krug died in 1924.

GRACE KRUG first heard about the Bahá’í Faith in 1904 or 1905 and became a devoted follower a few years later. She had the privilege of seeing ‘Abdu’l-Bahá on three different occasions—during His visit to America in 1912; during a visit to Haifa in 1920; and during a second visit to Haifa in 1921, shortly before His passing. Mrs. Krug continued a devoted teacher of the Faith until her death in 1939.

DANIEL C. JORDAN, a faithful contributor to World Order, directs the Center for the Study of Human Potential in the School of Education at the University of Massachusetts and the ANISA Comprehensive Early Education Model, a major project being developed by the Center. Professor Jordan has served as consultant to the U.S. Office of Education and a variety of state agencies working on the problems of education. He holds a doctorate in human development from the University of Chicago, where he specialized in psychology and social anthropology.

GLENFORD E. MITCHELL, who holds a Master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University, served for four years as Assistant Editor of Africa Report. He has taught English at Howard and Indiana State Universities. Mr. Mitchell is the Managing Editor of World Order.

ART CREDITS: Page 3, photograph of Shoghi Effendi, courtesy Bahá’í Archives; p. 7, ceiling of Bahá’í House of Worship, Frankfurt, Germany, photograph by Glenfotd E. Mitchell; pp. 23 and 39, photographs courtesy Bahá’í Archives; pp. 42, dome of the Shrine of the Báb, Haifa, Israel, photograph by Glenfotd E. Mitchell; p. 51, view of the ceiling of the Bahá’í House of Worship, Wilmette, Illinois, photograph by Glenford E. Mitchell; back cover, photograph by Glenford E. Mitchell.

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