An historical analysis of critical transformations

PART III

MODERN BAHA’I: THE FAITH AS AN INSTITUTIONALIZED RELIGION

CHAPTER VI

SHOGHI EFFENDI AND THE INSTITUTIONALIZING

OF THE FAITH
The form of the Baha’i faith to emerge under the direction of

Shoghi Effendi may appropriately be referred to as “modern Baha’i” in

sharp distinction from the faith’s previous forms. Shoghi Effendi gave

to Baha’i a precision of historical understanding, doctrinal formulation,

and institutional organization which had not yet been fully achieved in

the religion and, thus, made obsolete much of the faith’s previous litera-

ture, doctrine, and practice.
SHOGHI EFFENDI’S APPOINTMENT AS GUARDIAN
‘Abdu’l-Baha had no surviving sons. His son, Husayn, died in

childhood. In his Will and Testament, ‘Abdu’l-Baha appointed as his

successor, Shoghi Effendi, his eldest grandchild and his first grandson,

born of his eldest daughter, Diya’iyyih Khanum.1 The will is divided

into three parts, each written at different times.2 In the earliest part,

these words are written:

O my loving friends! After the passing away of this wronged one,

it is incumbent upon the Aghsan (Branches), the Afnan (Twigs) of the

Sacred Lote-Tree, the Hands (pillars) of the Cause of God and the

loved ones of the Abha Beauty to turn unto Shoghi Effendi—the youth-

ful branch branched from the two hallowed and sacred Lote-Trees and

the fruit grown from the union of the two off shoots of the Tree of

Holiness,—as he is the sign of God, the chosen branch, the guardian

of the Cause of God, he unto whom all the Aghsan, the Afnan, the Hands

of the Cause of God and His loved ones must turn. He is the expounder

of the words of God and after him will succeed the first-born of his

lineal descendents.3
The authority which ‘Abdu’l-Baha herewith bestowed upon his grandson is

fully revealed in his statement concerning “the guardian” and the Universal

House of Justice, which in the future was to be elected and established:
Whatsoever they decide is of God. Whoso obeyeth his not, neither

obeyeth thee, hath not obeyed God; whoso rebelleth against him and

against then hath contended with God; whoso disputeth with him hath

disputed with God; whoso denieth him hath denied God; whose 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. May the wrath, the fierce indignation, the ven-

gence of God rest upon him! The mighty stronghold shall remain impreg-

nable and safe through obedience to him who is the guardian of the

Cause of God. It is incumbent upon the members of the House of Justice,

upon all the Aghsan, the Afnan, the hands of the Cause of God to show

their obedience, submissiveness and subordination unto the guardian of

the Cause of God, to turn unto him end be lowly before him. He that

opposeth him hath opposed the True One, will make a breach in the Cause

of God, will subvert His word and will become a manifestation of the

Center of Sedition.4

The necessity to give obedience to Shoghi Effendi is again stated in the

concluding portion of the third part of the will, and these words are added:

To none is given the right to put forth his own opinion or express

his particular convictions. All must seek guidance and turn unto the

Center of the Cause and the House of Justice.5
These words appear to be a blatant denial of the Baha’i principle of “inde-

pendant investigation of truth” and to reveal the basic inconsistency in

affirming such a principle in a religion which demands absolute submission

to the authority of each successive head of the faith. David Hofman, a

Baha’i, insists that the first sentence
cannot be lifted from its context and applied to anything else. It

applies only to the appointment of the Guardian and the authority

vested in him. Indeed such a statement in any other setting would

be a direct contradiction of the Baha’i principle of consultation,

which requires everyone to set forth his views with moderation and

recognizes that “out of the clash of differing opinions the spark

of truth cometh forth”.6
If one may not question the appointment of Shoghi Effendi, however, then

seemingly it would follow that neither could he question any of Shoghi

Effendi’s acts or statements of doctrine while holding that office, since

whoever disputes with him, according to ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s will, disputes with

God. If one must turn to Shoghi Effendi and seek his guidance in all things

pertaining to the faith, then one’s own convictions would seem to be annulled,

except as they should agree with the guardian’s views. The passage is a dif-

ficult passage to interpret, and opinions have differed as to its meaning.

The authority which passed to Shoghi Effendi was undoubtedly a

high authority. The language which ‘Abdu’l-Baha used, that anyone denying,

disbelieving, disputing against, and opposing Shoghi Effendi would be denying,

disbelieving, disputing against, and opposing God, is similar to language

which Baha’u’llah used in reference to the authority which was to pass from

him to ‘Abdu’l-Baha. The language used by ‘Abdu’l-Baha may even be somewhat

stronger than that used by Baha’u’llah, and it was probably asserted so

strongly because of the opposition which ‘Abdu’l-Baha had faced during his

ministry. The words could be understood as placing Shoghi Effendi in a

station as high as that of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, but Shoghi Effendi, himself, declined

a station equal to ‘Abdu’l-Baha. Nonetheless, he held a high station and was,

therefore, in a position to make whatever codifications in the faith he deemed

necessary, and none could stay his hand nor question his actions.
SHOGHI FFFEND’S TRANSFORMATION
When his grandfather passed away in 1921, Shoghi Effendi was

only twenty-four years of age, a student at Oxford University, but the young

Shoghi Effendi took a firm bold on the direction of the faith’s affairs.

The period of his administration (1921-1957) is one of the most remarkable

periods in the faith’s history in terms of institutional development, geo-

graphical expansion, literature production and distribution, and doctrinal

solidification. Under Shoghi Effendi, the Baha’i faith became truly the

Baha’i World Faith. Baha’u’llah gave the faith a definite world vision,

but Shoghi Effendi, armed with that vision, led in the dramatic extension

of the faith into all parts of the world. From the thirty-five countries

opened to the faith at the time of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s passing in 1921, the faith

under Shoghi Effendi’s leadership penetrated into 254 countries and depen-

denies.
The Establishing of Baha’i Doctrine
One notable contribution of Shoghi Effendi’s ministry was the

solidifying of Baha’i doctrine. What took Christianity several centuries

to do—to arrive at a definitive statement of cardinal doctrines—Shoghi

Effendi, by the supreme authority which he exercised, singlehandedly ac-

complished for his faith during the thirty-six year span of his ministry

by defining the stations of the three central figures of the faith and by

formulating other basic Baha’i concepts.
The Station of the Bab
Edward Browne understood that the Baha’is, in relegating the

Bab to the position of forerunner to Baha’u’llah, were thereby denying

the Bab’s claim of being an independent manifestation.7 Other non-Baha’is

have followed Browne in this view. The confusion in understanding the

Baha’i position regarding the Bab is also reflected in Wilson’s statement

that to all intents and purposes the Bab is as much an obsolete prophet

as Mani or Babak.”8
Shoghi Effendi, however, clearly states not only that the Bab

is an independent manifestation but that his greatness lies primarily in

his independent prophethood:
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 and prerogatives of independent Prophethood, is yet another funda-

mental verity which the Message of Baha’u’llah insistently proclaims

and which its followers must uncompromisingly uphold. That he is not to

be regarded merely as an inspired Precursor of the Baha’i Revelation,

that in His person, as He Himself bears witness in the Persian Bayan, the

object of all the Prophets gone before Him has been fulfilled, is a truth

which I feel it my duty to demonstrate and emphasize. … Indeed the

greatness of the Bab consists primarily, not in His being the divinely-

appointed Forerunner of so transcendent a Revelation, but rather in His

having been invested with the powers inherent in the inaugurator of a

separate religious Dispensation, and in Him wielding, to a degree

unrivaled by the Messengers gone before Him, the scepter of independent

Prophethood.9

The Bab, therefore, holds a twofold station, as an independent manifestation

and as the forerunner of Baha’u’llah. Shoghi Effendi finds the independent

prophethood of the Bab a further sign of the greatness of Baha’u’llah’s

revelation:

Among the distinguishing features of His Faith ranks, as a further

evidence of its uniqueness, the fundamental truth that in the person

of its Forerunner, the Bab, every follower of Baha’u’llah recognizes

not merely an inspired annunciator but a direct Manifestation of God.

It is their firm belief that, no matter how short the duration of His

Dispensation, and however brief the period of the operation of His

laws, the Bab had been endowed with a potency such as no founder of

any of the past religions was, in the providence of the Almighty,

allowed to possess.10
Two questions raised for Baha’is by the Bab’s ministry are why,

if he is an independent manifestation, his ministry was so short and why

certain of his lams were of such a drastic nature. Concerning the former

question, Shoghi Effendi answers: “As the Bab was not only a Manifestation

but a Herald of this Baha’i Faith, the interval between His Revelation

and that of Baha’u’llah was of shorter duration.”11 But due to the essen-

tial relatedness of the Babi and Baha’i religions, Shoghi Effendi sees the

Bab and Baha’u’llah as co-founders of the Baha’i faith. Thus, “His Dispen-

sation in a sense will last as long as Baha’u’llah’s lasts.”12 As to the

Bab’s severe laws, Shoghi Effendi writes:

These drastic measures enforced by the Bab and His followers were

taken with the view of undermining the very foundation of Shi‘a‘h

orthodoxy, and thus paving the way for the coming of Baha’u’llah.

To assert the independence of the new Dispensation, and to prepare

also the ground for the approaching Revelation of Baha’u’llah the

Bab had therefore to reveal very severe laws, even though most of

them, were never enforced. But the mere fact that He revealed them

was in itself a proof of the independent character of His Dispensa-

tion and was sufficient to create such widespread agitation, and

excite such opposition on the part of the clergy that led them to

cause His eventual martyrdom.13
Concerning the Bab’s numerous writings, Shoghi Effendi maintains:
Except for the Bayan, the Seven Proofs and Commentary on the Surih

of Joseph, we cannot be sure of the authenticity of most of His

other works as the text has been corrupted by the unfaithful.14
Although the Bab’s writings have been superseded by Baha’u’llah’s revela-

tion,10 modern Baha’is attribute to the Bab’s works a certain validity.

Baha’is, of course, revere all the previous revealed scriptures and acknow-

ledge their validity for the times in which they were written, but the Bab’s

writings, although being superseded along with the other revealed scriptures

of the past, stand in a closer relationship to Baha’u’llah’s. They consti-

tute somewhat of an “Old Testament” for Baha’is. They foretell in a special

sense, Baha’is believe, the coming of Baha’u’llah and magnify the greatness

of his revelation. The doctrinal outlook is much the same as well as the

allegorical method of interpreting previous scriptures. The Bab’s writings,

however, have not been translated into English except for isolated passages

in Baha’i writings and a few prayers.

The Station of Baha’u’llah
Baha’is, of course, regard Baha’u’llah as the supreme manifesta-

tion. His revelation signalizes the human race’s “coming of age”; and,

although other manifestations will follow Baha’u’llah, it marks “the last

and highest stage in the stupendous evolution of man’s collective life on

this planet.”16 Baha’is believe that it will eventually usher in mankind’s

golden age of peace and unity.

The supremacy of Baha’u’llah’s revelation raises the questions

of Baha’u’llah’s relationship with God and with the other manifestations.

Is Baha’u’llah, unlike the other manifestations, to be identified with the

essence of God? Is his manifestation an incarnation of that essence? Shoghi

Effendi explains:
The divinity attributed to so great a Being and the complete incarnation

of the names and attributes of God in so exalted a Person should, under

no circumstances, be misconceived or misinterpreted. The human temple

that has been made the vehicle of so overpowering a Revelation must, if

we be faithful to the tenets of our Faith, ever remain entirely distin-

guished from that “innermost Spirit of Spirits” and “eternal Essence of

Essences”—that invisible yet rational God Who, however much we extol

the divinity of His Manifestations on earth, can in no wise incarnate

His infinite, His unknowable, His incorruptible and all-embracing Rea-

lity, in the concrete and limited frame of a mortal being. Indeed, the

God Who could so incarnate His own reality would, in the light of the

teachings of Baha’u’llah, cease immediately to be God. So crude and

fantastic a theory of Divine incarnation is as removed from, and in-

compatible with, the essentials of Baha’i belief as are the no less

inadmissible pantheistic and anthropomorphic conceptions of God—both

of which the utterances of Baha’u’llah emphatically repudiate and the

fallacy of which they expose.17
Again Shoghi Effendi maintains:
That Baha’u’llah should, notwithstanding the overwhelming

intensity of His Revelation, be regarded as essentially one of these

Manifestations of Cod, never to be identified with that invisible

Reality, the Essence of Divinity itself, is one of the major beliefs

of our Faith—a belief which should never be obscured and the integrity

of which no one of its followers should allow to be compromised.18

Baha’u’llah, then, according to these pronouncements, is not to be identified

with the invisible essence of God nor to be understood as an incarnation of

that essence. He is essentially one with the other manifestations of God,

although the latest in the series. His greatness consists, in Baha’i thought,

not in any innate qualities but simply in the greatness of time when his

manifestation occurred—at the point of mankind’s maturity and the outpouring

of God’s full revelation. This time, Baha’is hold, is foretold and antici-

pated by all the previous manifestations of God.

The Station of ‘Abdu’l-Baha
‘Abdu’l-Baha occupies a unique station in the Baha’i faith, for

Shoghi Effendi defines his station as less than a manifestation yet posses-

sed of superhuman characteristics. Shoghi Effendi maintains that there is

no authority whatever:

for the opinion that inclines to uphold the so-called “mystic unity”

of Baha’u’llah and ‘Abdu’l-Baha, or to establish the identity of the

later with His Father or with any preceding Manifestation.19
Shoghi Effendi repeatedly declares that “‘Abdu’l-Baha is not a Manifestation

of God.”20 Yet, Shoghi Effendi maintains that, notwithstanding ‘Abdu’l-

Baha’s own denials of holding a station equal to the Bab or Baha’u’llah,

his station is “immeasurably exalted … above and beyond the implica-

tions of … His own written statements.”21
Although not a manifestation, ‘Abdu’l-Baha is linked with

the Bab and Baha’u’llah in a special way:

Though moving in a sphere of His own and holding a rank radically

different from that of the Author and the Forerunner of the Baha’i

Revelation, He, by virtue of the station ordained for Him through

the Covenant of Baha’u’llah, forms together with them what may be

termed the Three Central Figures of a faith that stands unapproached

in the world’s spiritual history. He towers, in conjunction with

them, above the destinies of this infant Faith of God from a level

to which no individual or body ministering to its needs after Him,

and for no less a period than a full thousand years, can ever hope

to rise. To degrade His lofty rank by identifying His station with

or by regarding it as roughly equivalent to, the position of those

on whom the mantle of His authority has fallen would be an act of

impiety as grave as the no less heretical belief that inclines to

exalt Him to a state of absolute equality with either the central

Figure or Forerunner of our Faith.22
As Baha’u’llah was a “mirror” of God’s attributes, so is ‘Abdu’l-Baha a

mirror of Baha’u’llah’s glory:

He is and should for all time be regarded, first and foremost,

as the Center and Pivot of Baha’u’llah’s peerless and all-enfolding

Covenant, His most halted handiwork, the stainless Mirror of His

light, the perfect Exemplar of His teachings, the unerring interpreter

of His Word, the embodiment of every Baha’i ideal, the incarnation of

every Baha’i virtue …23

The expression, the “Mystery of God,” by which Baha’u’llah designated ‘Abdu’l-

Baha, Shoghi Effendi maintains, “does not by any means justify us to assign

to him the station of Prophethood” but does indicate how
in the person of ‘Abdu’l-Baha incompatible characteristics of a

human nature and superhuman knowledge and perfection have been blended

and are completely harmonized.24
As to ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s words, Shoghi Effendi holds that “His words

are not equal in rank, though they possess an equal validity with the

utterances of Baha’u’llah.”25 ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s words, however, appear in a

variety of forms, in books he has written, recorded from his speeches, quoted

in newspaper and magazine articles, written in diaries of individual Baha’is,

reported in biographies and other books by Baha’i and non-Baha’i authors,

collections of sayings published by Baha’i pilgrims, in letters to various

persons, and sayings attributed to him by his former secretaries or close

associates.

Shoghi Effendi urged the believers in the West to “quote and

consider as authentic only such translations as are based upon the authenti-

cated text of His recorded utterances in the original tongue.”26 The Baha’i

News reported:
Shoghi Effendi has made it clear that all diaries and records of visits

during the lifetime of the Master, if consisting of quotations taken

down by the pilgrim and not corrected and approved by ‘Abdu’l-Baha, are

to be edited in such a way as to make it clear that these words of

‘Abdu’l-Baha are not direct quotations but rather the understanding of

the editor himself of what the Master said. This removes all such works

from the list of what we might call the authoritative utterances.27
Shoghi Effendi later indicated:
Baha’u’llah has made it clear enough that only those things that have

been revealed in the form of Tablets have a binding power over the

friends. Hearsays may be matters of interest but can in no way claim

authority. … This being a basic principle of the Faith we should

not confuse Tablets that were actually revealed and mere talks attri-

buted to the Founders of the Cause. The first have absolute binding

authority while the latter can in no way claim our obedience.28
Holding the highest rank of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s words, therefore, are those

writings specifically revealed by him: The Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-

Baha, The Secret of Divine Civilization, Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Baha (3 vols.),

Tablets of the Divine Plan, and Memorials of the Faithful.
Collection of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s talks and sayings which have been

approved either by ‘Abdu’l-Baha or by Shoghi Effendi are Some Answered

Questions, Paris Talks, and The Promulgation of Universal Peace (2 vols.),

although concerning the latter Shoghi Effendi has suggested the eventual

retranslation of this work from Mahmud’s original Persian notes. Included

with these writings may be listed Foundations of World Unity (compiled

largely from the previously mentioned work).29
A large amount of Baha’i agrapha, therefore, consists of ‘Abdu’l-

Baha’s sayings printed in unauthenticated works. Included in the list of

unauthentic or obsolete texts are Ahmad Sohrab’s collection of sayings,

entitled I Heard Him Say, a circulated mimeographed work attributed to

‘Abdu’l-Baha, entitled Fourth Dimensional Consciousness, a Tablet to the

Americas, The Mysterious Forces of Civilization (retranslated from the

original Persian by Shoghi Effendi and retitled The Secret of Divine Civili-

zation), and Myron Phelps’s Abbas Effendi, His Life and Teachings, regarded

by Shoghi Effendi as not entirely correct historically.30 Added to these

are numerous unauthenticated sayings in newspapers and magazines.
The Station of Shoghi Effendi
Shoghi Effendi also defined the station which he, himself, held

and which he believed would be held by the guardians who would succeed him.

For wide as is the gulf that separates ‘Abdu’l-Baha from Him Who is

the Source of an independent Revelation, it can never be regarded as

commensurate with the greater distance that stands between Him Who is

the Center of the Covenant [‘Abdu’l-Baha] and His ministers who are to

carry on His work, whatever be their name, their rank, their functions

or their future achievements.31

Although ‘Abdu’l-Baha referred to Shoghi Effendi as “the sign of God” and

conferred upon him an authority in terms similar to those which Baha’u-

’llah had used in reference to ‘Abdu’l-Baha, Shoghi Effendi made no claim of