By Stephen Rhodes
The Guardianship was preserved by Shoghi Effendi when he appointed Mason Remey as President (Head) of the International Bahá'í Council, (the embryonic Universal House of Justice,) in 1951. The full meaning of the establishment of that Council and the appointment of Mason Remey as its President did not become fully revealed until 1960 when it was shown to the Bahá'í world in the Proclamation of Mason Remey. Shoghi Effendi, who diligently fulfilled his every duty, did not overlook his “incumbent duty” to appoint “within his own lifetime” his successor (that duty having been assigned to every guardian by the Will and Testament of `Abdu'l-Bahá.) The fact that the majority of the Bahá'í world turned against Mason Remey is their negligence, not his. That Mason Remey stood alone during the earliest part of his ministry is not a judgement against him, but against those who failed to independently investigate the legitimacy of his claim and join him in carrying forward the original, unadulterated Bahá'í Faith. The Guardianship was preserved by Shoghi Effendi, and it has continued, uninterrupted in the Orthodox Bahá'í Faith (the true Bahá'í Faith.)
The word ‘Bahá'í’ means something. While it literally translates as ‘glory’, Shoghi Effendi gives us the following standard as a minimum requirement for adopting the name ‘Bahá'í’:
“Full recognition of the station of the Forerunner (the Báb), the Author (Bahá'u'lláh), and `Abdu'l-Bahá the True Exemplar of the Bahá'í Cause: Unreserved acceptance of, and submission to, whatsoever has been revealed by their Pen; loyal and steadfast adherence to every clause of `Abdu'l-Bahá’s sacred Will…” (By-laws of the Declaration of Trust, Article II and Shoghi Effendi’s Bahá'í Administration, p.81)
Immediately after the death of Shoghi Effendi in 1957, Rúhíyyih Khánum, and those who followed her lead, interpolated the sacred word found in the Will and Testament of `Abdu'l-Bahá and other Bahá'í writings--even going so far as to say, “GOD CHANGED HIS MIND.” They not only perverted the word, but they violated the trust under which the temples, the writings, and the name itself were originally dedicated.
Now there is no going back for them. What is required is that every individual in his independent investigation of truth look deeply into the original Bahá'í Writings and not to simply accept the sweeping accusations that the false Bahá'í leadership makes against the Orthodox Bahá'í Faith. We, the Orthodox Bahá'ís, are accused of “causing division,” of being “covenant-breakers,” and of being an insignificant “splinter group.” However, if one looks with a dispassionate eye at the truth of what took place and investigates the actual history in light of what is revealed in the original writings of Bahá'u'lláh,`Abdu'l-Bahá, and Shoghi Effendi, one will see who adheres to the Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh, whose claims are legitimate, and who is really breaking the Covenant.
The word ‘Bahá'í’ has scriptural meaning, and it is not necessarily what the largest number of people claiming allegiance to that name say it means. It means following the entire teachings of Bahá'u'lláh, including the authority invested in `Abdu'l-Bahá, and His establishment of the institution of the Guardianship with its promise of a continuing line of living Guardians. The original, unadulterated, and true Bahá'í Faith continues, along with that Guardianship, in the Orthodox Bahá'í Faith.
Go to the Orthodox Bahá'í website to see what really happened: www.orthodoxbahai.com
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