All Baha'is are Brothers and Sisters in the Faith

Series of Questions continued from the posting of September 23, 2008
Q.6. Do you believe then that these Baha’is who have been led astray and are now under the leadership of the Haifa organization will forever consider the provisions of the Will and Testament of Abdu’l Baha pertaining to the institution of the Guardianship no longer applicable?
Ans. No. If those Baha’is who were formerly ardent and faithful believers during the Guardianship of Shoghi Effendi and have now been led to believe that the Guardianship ended with his passing as well as those Baha’is who have accepted the Faith following his passing would investigation fairly, sincerely and without bias the overwhelming evidence attesting to the continuation of the Guardianship found on our several web sites, they would inevitably perceive that the provisions of the divinely-conceived and sacred provisions of the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l- Baha pertaining to the Guardianship have remained valid and unalterable and that the first Guardian faithfully fulfilled his obligation to appoint his successor according to its sacred Mandate. Accordingly, I invite and implore all the Baha’i friends to investigate independently and sincerely the truth and accept the “Will and Testament of Abdul Baha” as immutable documentary evidence that has undeniably insured the continuity of the Guardianship.
Q.7. Do I understand that the Baha’is under the Guardianship (i.e. Orthodox Baha’is) consider Baha’is who have rejected the continuation of the Guardianship as violators of the Covenant of Baha’u’llah?
Ans: No, the Guardian of the Faith has asked Orthodox Baha’is, in sharp contrast to the leaders of the sans-Guardian or Heterodox Baha’is who have labeled those of us who support the continuing Guardianship as Covenant-breakers, to consider all Baha’is as brothers and sisters in the Faith who unfortunately have been sadly and ironically lead far astray themselves from the Covenant but who hopefully will eventually, if not at this time, ultimately investigate the truth, embrace completely the provisions of the Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha as sacrosanct and turn their faces towards and fully support the living Guardian of the Faith, as enjoined by Him in that sacred and immortal Document.
Q. 8. Do I understand correctly that there is no clergy in the Baha’i Faith?
Ans: Yes. We have only the Administrative Order. All Baha’is study the Teachings of Baha’u’llah for themselves and endeavor to teach the Faith to others to the best of their ability.

Birthday of the Bab

On 20th October, the Baha'is observe a holy day as it is the Birth anniversary of the Bab, the Promised One foretold in the great religions. This date marks the anniversary of His birth, He was known as Siyyid 'Ali-Muhammad and was born in 1819 in Shiraz, Iran.

On this grand moment we offer our heartiest greetings to our beloved living guardian and to all the Baha'is of the world.

The First Guardian Shoghi Effendi wrote in the Dispensation of Baha'u'llah:

"Dearly beloved friends! That the Bab, the inaugurator of the Babi Dispensation, is fully entitled to rank as one of the self-sufficient Manifestations of God, that He has been invested with sovereign power and authority, and exercises all the rights all the rights and prerogatives of independent Prophethood, is yet another fundamental verity which the Message of Baha u llah insistently proclaims and which its flowers must uncompromisingly uphold. That He is not to be regarded merely as an inspired Precursor of the Baha’i Revelation………
There can be no doubt that the claim to the twofold station ordained for the Bab by the Almighty, a claim which He Himself has so boldly advanced, which Baha u llah has repeatedly affirmed, and to which the Will and Testament of Abdu’l Baha has finally given the sanction of its testimony, constitute the most distinctive feature of the Baha’i Dispensation."

The Dispensation of Baha’u’llah, page No.31.

SHOGHI EFFENDI on the Institution of the GUARDIANSHIP

Baha’i Faith would be imperiled without the Guardian

The First Guardian of the Baha’i Faith, Shoghi Effendi warned to the Baha’is in his Spiritual Testament “The Administrative Order of The Dispensation of Baha’u’llah” that the Faith would be imperiled, and the stability of entire fabric would be gravely endangered without the guardian. Therefore Baha’is should obey his commandments and search the Living Guardian of Baha’i Faith.
He wrote:
“An attempt, I feel, should at the present juncture be made to explain the character and functions of the twin pillars that support this mighty Administrative Structure—the institutions of the Guardianship and of the Universal House of Justice. To describe in their entirety the diverse elements that function in conjunction with these institutions is beyond the scope and purpose of this general exposition of the fundamental verities of the Faith. To define with accuracy and minuteness the features, and to analyze exhaustively the nature of the relationships which, on the one hand, bind together these two fundamental organs of the Will of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and connect, on the other, each of them to the Author of the Faith and the Center of His Covenant is a task which future generations will no doubt adequately fulfill. My present intention is to elaborate certain salient features of this scheme which, however close we may stand to its colossal structure, are already so clearly defined that we find it inexcusable to either misconceive or ignore”.

Twin Pillars of Bahai Faith “The Guardianship and UHJ” should be regarded as divine.
He wrote:
“It should be stated, at the very outset, in clear and unambiguous language, that these twin institutions of the Administrative Order of Bahá’u’lláh should be regarded as divine in origin, essential in their functions and complementary in their aim and purpose. Their common, their fundamental object is to insure the continuity of that divinely appointed authority, which flows from the Source of our Faith, to safeguard the unity of its followers and to maintain the integrity and flexibility of its teachings. Acting in conjunction with each other these two inseparable institutions administer its affairs, coordinate its activities, promote its interests, execute its laws and defend its subsidiary institutions. Severally, each operates within a clearly defined sphere of jurisdiction; each is equipped with its own attendant institutions—instruments designed for the effective discharge of its particular responsibilities and duties. Each exercises, within the limitations imposed upon it, its powers, its authority, iits rights and prerogatives. These are neither contradictory, nor detract in the slightest degree from the position which each of these institutions occupies. Far from being incompatible or mutually destructive, they supplement each other’s authority and functions, and are permanently and fundamentally united in their aims”.
Divorced from the institution of the Guardianship the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh would be mutilated
He wrote:
“Divorced from the institution of the Guardianship the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh would be mutilated and permanently deprived of that hereditary principle which, as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá has written, has been invariably upheld by the Law of God. “In all the Divine Dispensations,” He states, in a Tablet addressed to a follower of the Faith in Persia, “the eldest son hath been given extraordinary distinctions. Even the station of prophethood hath been his birthright.” Without such an institution the integrity of the Faith would be imperiled, and the stability of the entire fabric would be gravely endangered. Its prestige would suffer, the means required to enable it to take a long, an uninterrupted view over a series of generations would be completely lacking, and the necessary guidance to define the sphere of the legislative action of its elected representatives would be totally withdrawn”.

The Will and Testament of Abdu’l Baha is according to the Author of Kitab-i-Aqdas
He wrote:
“Severed from the no less essential institution of the Universal House of Justice this same System of the Will of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá would be paralyzed in its action and would be powerless to fill in those gaps which the Author of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas has deliberately left in the body of His legislative and administrative ordinances”.
The Administrative Order of the Dispensation of Baha’u’llah. Page No.4 & 5 (Printed by Mother Bahai Council of the United States, 1993.

Compiled by the Secretary of the National Baha’i Council of India.