Naw Ruz Greetings

We extend our heartiest greetings to all the Bahai friends throughout the world and we pledge on this day to be obedient, submissive and subordinate to the living Guardian of the Cause of God, Joel Bray Marangella, in faithful conformity with the following commands of the Master, Abdu'l Baha, in His Will and Testament:
"The Mighty stronghold shall remain impregnable and safe through obedience to him who is the guardian of the Cause of God. It is incumbent upon the members of House of Justice, upon all the Aghsan, the Afnan, the Hands of the Cause of God to show their obedience, submissuveness and subordination unto the guardian of the Cause of God to turn unto him and be lowly before him." (Will and Testament - 12).
Dr. A Parikh,Secretary, National (Orthodox) Bahai Council of India.
Vinod Kumar,Secretary, National Teaching Committee.

Does Anyone Else have the Right to Expel Believers?

The Guardian, like the Master before him, has not considered it advisable to as yet permit any person or Assembly to put another person out of the Cause of God. There is a sharp distinction between depriving a believer of his voting rights, which is a severe disciplinary measure and not a spiritual sanction, and pronouncing a former believer to be a truly spiritually diseased soul, a soul in the condition the Master referred to when, in His last cable to America before His ascension, He said: 'he who sitteth with a leper catcheth leprosy'. The Guardian has, within the last few years, considered the National Assemblies strong enough to wield the instrument of sanction in the sense of depriving a Bahá’í of his voting rights. But no one but himself can pronounce a person to be in that diseased condition we call "Covenant-breaking", and no one but he can reinstate a Covenant-breaker. No National Assembly has been given this right and cannot, therefore, review the question or reinstate any one. All any National Assembly can do is to report to the Guardian if they are approached by a Covenant-breaker, and then the Guardian will take action. Read Full Article

Is the bogus UHJ a legitimate Bahá'í entity?

By Hand of the Cause of God Nosrat'u'llah Bahremand

“THE PRINCIPAL FACTORS THAT MUST BE TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION BEFORE DECIDING WHETHER A PERSON MAY BE REGARDED A TRUE BELIEVER OR NOT: FULL RECOGNITION OF THE STATION OF THE FORERUNNER, THE AUTHOR, AND THE TRUE EXEMPLAR OF THE BAHÁ'Í CAUSE, AS SET FORTH IN`ABDU'L-BAHÁ'S TESTAMENT; UNRESERVED ACCEPTANCE OF, AND SUBMISSION TO, WHATSOEVER HAS BEEN REVEALED BY THEIR PEN; LOYAL AND STEADFAST ADHERENCE TO EVERY CLAUSE OF OUR BELOVED'S SACRED WILL; AND CLOSE ASSOCIATION WITH THE SPIRIT AS WELL AS THE FORM OF THE PRESENT DAY BAHÁ'Í ADMINISTRATION THROUGHOUT THE WORLD “
(Shoghi Effendi, Bahá'í Administration, p. 90)

Is the bogus UHJ a legitimate Bahá'í entity?

This is a question that Heterodox Bahá'ís should ask themselves. The only way to find the right answer is to check and test the establishment and structure of that body and its claims, practices and writings in the light of the sacred writings of the Bahá'í Faith. Shoghi Effendi, the first Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith, stated that:

“the Will and Testament of `Abdu'l-Bahá-- "The Charter of the New World Order”-- "together with the Kitab-i-Aqdas,“ . . . "are inseparable parts of one complete unit”

The Will and Testament of `Abdu'l-Bahá explains how the Universal House of Justice must be elected and how its structure should be, clarifies the nature of its function and duties and stipulates that the Guardian “is the sacred head and the distinguished member for life of that body,” thus emphasizing the necessity of the participation of the Guardian of the Cause of God or his representative in its meetings and He further sheds light on the preservation of its integrity by conferring upon the Guardian of the Cause of God the sole right to expel any member of that body who may “commit a sin, injurious to the common weal”

Following is the passage in which Master discusses the Universal House of Justice:

“And now, concerning the House of Justice which God hath ordained as the source of all good and freed from all error, it must be elected by universal suffrage, that is, by the believers… By this body all the difficult problems are to be resolved and the Guardian of the Cause of God is its sacred head and the distinguished member for life of that body. Should he not attend in person its deliberations, he must appoint one to represent him. Should any of the members commit a sin, injurious to the common weal, the Guardian of the Cause of God hath at his own discretion the right to expel him, whereupon the people must elect another one in his stead…

(`Abdu'l-Bahá, The Will and Testament, p. 14)

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SOME ANSWERED QUESTIONS

Our Travel Teachers faced a series of questions from the Baha’is (Sans Guardian believers) during the discussions and debate regarding the Continuity of Guardianship in Baha’i Faith. Following are the answers of two questions and the remaining will be published in series.
You are welcome to write to us any doubt you have regarding to the "continuity of guardianship" in Baha’i Faith.
In the services of third guardian of Baha’i Faith.
Rajendra Upadhyaye.

Question: Why do you call yourself an Orthodox Baha’i?
Answer: When you come to know the history of the Baha'i Faith, you will learn that the Baha'is are now divided into two major groups, one group organized since 1963 under the leadership of a body calling itself the Universal House of Justice (UHJ) based in Haifa, Israel, and the other group under the guidance of the third Guardian of the Faith.

Question: As you have said, the UHJ is based in Haifa, then where is the Headquarters of the Baha’i group under the Guardian?
Answer : The Third Living Guardian of Baha’i Faith is Mr. Joel Bray Marangella who has been exiled from his rightful place in Haifa and resides at this time in Australia. He guides the Orthodox Baha’is of the world. He has appointed Hands of Cause of God, an International Baha’i Council with its seat in the United States, and on a provisional basis both National Baha’i Councils and Local Baha’i Councils in different cities which in due course will become elected bodies.

Guardian in the eyes of Bahiyyih Khanum

Bahiyyih Khanum wrote:
Shoghi Effendi, the chosen branch, the Guardian of the Cause of God, has been received together with the scrolls of doubt you had enclosed. Indeed, men whose nostrils have been perfumed by the fragrance of the Abhá Paradise, whose ears have been exhilarated by the sweet melodies of the nightingale warbling in the rose-garden of immortality, and whose souls have been refreshed and quickened by the reviving breaths of holiness, would surely be saddened to hear the screech of the raven and the croaking of the crow, and from them they would certainly endeavour to flee. For the disgusting odour of violation is like poisonous air, whose baneful effects upon the body and soul are injurious and harmful, nay rather it will eventually lead to terrible loss and perdition. Thus the way you have dealt with this matter is approved and acceptable.....>>>Click for full article<<<