True Bahá'í

a collective pseudo-Guardianship

They [the Hands after the death of Shoghi Effendi and after searching in vain for a will] then appointed an illegitimate body under the title of "Custodians of the Bahá'í World Faith," comprised of nine Hands, clearly outside of the provisions of the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, and relegated the International Bahá'í Council (the embryonic Universal House of Justice) that Shoghi Effendi had appointed in his Proclamation of 9 January 1951, prior to the appointment of their own institution, as the "first embryonic International Institution" to an insignificant role subordinate to this body. This body then illicitly and presumptuously took on the role of a collective pseudo-Guardianship of the Faith that blatantly assumed supreme administrative jurisdiction over national and local Bahá'í assemblies and the believers throughout the world for a period of some five years until the ill-gotten authority that they had seized was, in turn, passed on at Ridván 1963 to an elected. equally illegitimate, headless, and deformed body identified by them, notwithstanding this gross deformity, as the Universal House of Justice, in which the Guardian of the Faith did not preside, as its "sacred head," as clearly required under the explicit terms of the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá.

Joel B. Marangella
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Wrong on all counts

"A message addressed to those Bahá'ís who maintain the following beliefs:"

1. That the Guardianship of the Faith ended with the passing of Shoghi Effendi because he was restricted under the terms of the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá to the appointment of an Aghsán as his successor --- WRONG.

2. The choice of "another branch" to be his successor, in the event that the Guardian does not have a son worthy of inheriting the Guardianship, refers to an Aghsán  --- WRONG.

3. That the term Aghsán referred to all of the male relatives of Bahá'u'lláh --- WRONG.

4. That Shoghi Effendi died unexpectedly --- WRONG.

5. That Shoghi Effendi made no provision for a successor --- WRONG.

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Joel B. Marangella

perhaps an attempt should have been made...

The Hands in the Holy Land became self-interpreters after the first Guardian's death, developed a plan of their liking, and brainwashed the majority of the believers who now expect it to lead to the Promised Kingdom. Was it never considered that perhaps an attempt should have been made to conform to his instructions rather than to immediately declare that it was impossible for him to have appointed the second Guardian?

When one looks objectively at the conditions of rampant poverty, war, destruction and total chaos in today's world versus the promises of God's Plan as described in the Writings of all the Manifestations, with its theme of continuation through the Baha'i Faith, how could the peaceful promises be realized without the full cooperation of that God? God's cooperation will only happen within the following  of `Abdu'l-Bahá's definition of the Covenant, and the explicit directions of Shoghi Effendi.

In the meantime, the UHJ's humanly-conceived plan continues with the only realistic outcome to be that of frustration and non-accomplishment of salvation for the world.

David Maxwell
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True to his word....

"Everything that is written in the Will and Testament [of 'Abdu'l-Bahá] will be fulfilled. The Bahá'ís must not be anxious about this."

The above quoted words of Shoghi Effendi are extracted from the Haifa Notes of Gayle Woolson, (Feb.16-25, 1956) renowned pioneer to Latin America whose outstandingly successful teaching efforts in several countries throughout Latin America were chronicled at the time in many issues of the Bahá'í Newsletter of the United States. She was subsequently elected to the first Regional Spiritual Assembly of South America. Her credibility is therefore of the highest order.

True to his word, Shoghi Effendi unquestionably provided for the continuation of the Guardianship.

Joel B. Marangella
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The forgotten promise found in Isaiah 9

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder."

All Bahá'ís believe that this quotation from the Book of Isaiah refers to Bahá'u'llah and that the promise that in this "Day of God" the government of the world "will be upon His shoulder," shall be fulfilled when the World Order of Bahá'u'llah is ultimately established in all of its perfection and glory.

This promise has been forgotten, following the passing of Shoghi Effendi, when twenty-six of the twenty-seven Hands of the Cause, who, ignoring the fact that Shoghi Effendi had been enjoined by the provisions of the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, to appoint his successor "in his own life-time," looked for a will and testament making this appointment, and upon not finding such a conventional testamentary document, immediately and tragicsally lost faith in the Covenant of Bahá'u'llah and in the immortality of the divinely-conceived and sacred "Child of the Covenant"  --the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá-- that clearly provides for a succession of Guardians as long as the Dispensation of Bahá'u'llah endures.

Joel B. Marangella
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faithful believers never entertained any doubt....

And when he [Shoghi Effendi] passed to Abha Kingdom In 1957 his body was laid to rest as the first Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith

"The flowers were removed from the casket, revealing an engraved tablet on which was written:

Shoghi Effendi Rabbani

*First Guardian of the Bahá'í  Faith*

March 3rd, 1896-November 4th, 1957"  (Ruhiyyih Khanum, The Passing of Shoghi Effendi, p. 22)

At that time the question was: Who is the second Guardian?  Not, had the first Guardian appointed his successor? Because faithful believers never entertained any doubt or question that Shoghi Effendi would fail to faithfully fulfill his most important obligation, under the terms of the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Baha.  But obviously one person was determined to adopt and nourish this inappropriate question and project a negative conclusion, and hatched a plot to draw the attention of the Bahá'ís  away from the proper recognition of the International Bahá'í  Council and attract their attention instead to the Hands of the Cause, so Ruhiyyih Khanum sent the following cablegrams:

"…URGE BELIEVERS REMAIN STEADFAST  *CLING INSTITUTION HANDS LOVINGLY* REARED RECENTLY REINFORCED EMPHASIZED BY BELOVED GUARDIAN…"   (Ruhiyyih Khanum, The Passing of Shoghi Effendi, p. 11)

"…FUNERAL OUR BELOVED GUARDIAN SATURDAY LONDON HANDS ASSEMBLY BOARD MEMBERS INVITED ATTEND ANY PRESS RELEASE SHOULD STATE MEETING *HANDS SHORTLY HAIFA WILL MAKE ARRANGEMENT TO BAHAI WORLD REGARDING FUTURE PLANS* STOP URGE HOLD MEMORIAL MEETINGS SATURDAY."  (Ruhiyyih Khanum, The Passing of Shoghi Effendi, p. 13)

(In the Ministry of the Custodians, instead of "ARRANGEMENT" is written "ANNOUNCEMENT")

Nosrat'u'llah Bahremand
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shocking loss of faith...

In this decision, made with undue haste but a few days after his passing, and on the basis of a patently false premise, the Hands, (with a single notable exception) demonstrated a lamentable and shocking loss of faith in the Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh and in the immutability of the sacred, and divinely-conceived Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá that Shoghi Effendi had repeatedly emphasized in his writings should be considered an expression of the Will of Bahá'u'lláh, as well, even referring to it as "their Will," (W.O.B. p.22), a Document which, therefore, would remain in force as long as the Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh itself endured. This Will clearly provides for an unbroken line of Guardians of the Cause of God, each appointed by his predecessor "in his own life-time" and who, as "the Center of the Cause," the sole interpreter of Bahá'í holy Writ and "the sacred head for life of the Universal House of Justice," are called upon to exercise these unique, irreplaceable and essential functions in the Bahá'í Administrative Order. In their unpardonable abandonment of the Guardianship that would bring about the demise of their own institution, upon the death of the last Hand of the Cause appointed by Shoghi Effendi, these now errant Hands, in effect, had shamelessly abrogated the major provisions of the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá that Shoghi Effendi had further equated in its sacredness and immutability with Bahá'u'lláh's Most Holy Book, the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, in further stating that these two Documents: "are not only complementary, but that they mutually confirm one another and are inseparable parts of one complete unit." (W.O.B. p.4).

Having thus in their faithlessness incredibly abandoned the Guardianship, and decreed their own ultimate demise, these fallen Hands then set about establishing a substitute organization of their own making....

Joel B. Marangella
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...they incredulously assigned the rights and functions of the Guardianship

"...they hastily tragically concluded that the Guardianship of the Cause of God had come to a premature end only 36 years after the inception of the Administrative Order in November, 1921 upon the Ascension of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. They then took it upon themselves to appoint an illegitimate body from their number comprised of nine Hands, to which they gave the title: "Custodians of the Bahá'í World Faith" and to which they incredulously assigned the rights and functions of the Guardianship. This now illicitly formed supreme body remained unaware and ignorant of the continuing Guardianship, as well, and stubbornly refused, despite the many insistent appeals, as subsequently reported by one of its members who had made them, to reconsider the tragic conclusion and decision reached by the Hands in their first conclave that the Guardianship had come to an end. This body, with its seat in Haifa reigned over the Faith for some six years until its demise and replacement with the so-called Universal House of Justice, elected during Ridván,1963. This equally illicitly formed body and its successor elected bodies have also stubbornly refused to examine the facts, that have been presented by the believers under the Guardianship, that were obviously overlooked by the Hands, immediately following the passing of Shoghi Effendi, which undeniably provide evidence that he faithfully and unquestionably insured the continuation of the Guardianship. In turn, this body has influenced the great mass of believers to avoid any contact with those believers who have accepted the living Guardian of the Faith or to read any of the material they have published, using the diabolic argument that in doing so they would be consorting with those believers whom they have labeled, under their distorted interpretation, as Covenant-breakers, although these believers, unlike themselves, continue to faithfully adhere to every clause of the sacred and immutable provisions of the divinely-conceived Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá.

Joel B. Marangella
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I don't think so!

Does it seem at all reasonable to suppose that Shoghi Effendi, knowing the circumstances of his position, should fail to fulfill that trust placed in him by `Abdu'l-Bahá? Would he not know of the sacrifice that had been made for his birth? When he was chosen by `Abdu'l-Bahá as the first in a line of future Guardians, very explicitly outlined in the Will and Testament of `Abdu'l-Bahá, would he then have chosen to pass to that same celestial garden NOT having chosen his successor, and NOT having fulfilled the duty placed on him by `Abdu'l-Bahá?

I don't think so!

Marilyn Meyer
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The Guardianship: an Institution of this world

These Bahá'ís [the misled who believe there is no living Guardian] have never been informed, of course, of Gayle Woolson's Haifa Notes, (Feb.16-25,1956). Gayle was a renowned pioneer to Latin America and member of the first Regional Bahá'í Assembly of South America, whose outstanding teaching successes in several countries of Latin America during the first Seven Year Plan were frequently reported in the United States Bahá'í News at the time. In her notes she reported that Shoghi Effendi was queried by a fellow-pilgrim about a son and he had replied: "EVERYTHING THAT IS WRITTEN IN THE WILL AND TESTAMENT WILL BE FULFILLED. THE BAHÁ'ÍS MUST NOT BE ANXIOUS ABOUT THIS."

Moreover, these new Bahá'ís would certainly also have no knowledge of the highly significant promise enshrined in 'Abdu'l-Bahá's Tablet to Mason Remey, as recorded in the "Star of the West" (Vol. V, No. 19, March 2, 1915) that was fulfilled exactly 36 years later on the date of March 2, 1951.That promise was that: "ERE LONG, THY LORD SHALL MAKE THEE A SIGN OF GUIDANCE AMONG MANKIND." It was on March 2, 1951 that Shoghi Effendi identified Mason Remey in a message to the Bahá'í world, as the President of the International Bahá'í Council, whose establishment "at long last" as "the first embryonic International Institution" he had proclaimed two months earlier on 9 January 1951, and he had extolled as an "historic decision marking the most significant milestone in the evolution of the Administrative Order of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh" since its inception thirty years earlier upon the Ascension of 'Abdu'l-Bahá and had acclaimed as an event "which history will acclaim as the greatest event shedding luster upon the second epoch of the Formative Age of the Bahá'í Dispensation . . . ranking second only to the glorious immortal events associated with the Ministries of the Three Central Figures of the Faith."

It should be glaringly obvious from the foregoing discussion that the Guardianship of the Cause of God is unquestionably an institution of this world and that this essential and indispensable institution was therefore certainly not taken by Shoghi Effendi to the next world nor was it an institution that was meant to come to a premature end upon the passing of Shoghi Effendi, only thirty-six years following the inception of the Bahá'í Administrative Order.

Joel B. Marangella
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