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THE QUESTION OF THE GUARDIANSHIP by MASON REMEY

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THE

QUESTION

OF

THE GUARDIANSHIP

OF

THE BAHÁ’Í FAITH

SEVERAL LETTERS RECEIVED

BY

THE HANDS OF THE FAITH

IN THE HOLY LAND

RELATIVE TO

THE CONTINUATION OF

THE GUARDIANSHIP OF THE BAHÁ’Í FAITH

NOW CIRCULATED BY

MASON REMEY

HAND OF THE FAITH

PRESIDENT OF THE BAHÁ’Í INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL AND

GUARDIAN OF THE BAHÁ’Í FAITH

IN THE YEAR 117 OF THE BAHÁ’Í ERA

(CHARLES MASON REMEY)

INTRODUCTION TO THE QUESTION OF THE GUARDIANSHIP OF THE BAHÁ’Í FAITH

 

The letters that are reproduced in this folio from Germany, Belgium and India explain themselves. Dr. Udo Schaefer gives a very comprehensive outline of his treatise upon the Administrative-Guardianship of the Bahá’í Faith. Mr. Eugen Schmidt expresses with deep feeling the hopes of the believers centered in the Administrative-Guardianship of the Faith. Mr. Gupta of Lucknow, India, gives the most powerful statement that I have as yet seen from the pen of a believer on the station and the spiritual power of the Guardianship. While Mons. Louis Henuzet extends the hope of the continuation of the Guardianship, on and on, as given to the Cause in the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and as promised also by The Beloved First Guardian of the Faith.

But now (June 1960) the Hands of the Faith have arisen to violate the Guardianship and to put an end to the Administrative-Guardianship of the Bahá’í Faith. At this moment they have been so successful in their attack that their propaganda and evil stand have so swept the Bahá’í world around as to all but put aside and destroy the hopes of the assemblies and communities of the Bahá’ís in the Administrative-Guardianship of the Faith!

Even these European believers in Germany and Belgium, who were once so firm, have now repudiated the stands they have taken in these accompanying documents written by them: and they have assured the Hands of the Faith in The Holy Land of giving them their complete and unqualified support in their Sans Guardian Program for 1963! Thus has the plague or pestilence of violation of the Revealed Word swept through the Bahá’í world.

I add to this compilation my letter to Dr. Udo Schaefer. But as yet I have had no reply from him.

From Mr. Gupta of Lucknow, India, I have heard nothing. However, from the time of this accompanying letter that he writes to the Hands of the Faith, I can hardly see him accepting their dicta.

Thus stands this question of the Guardianship of the Faith now at this moment. But I have all faith in its eventual triumph. Therefore, I add to the matter in this folio my Proclamation of Ridván 117 B.E., in which I call the attention of the Bahá’í world to my appointment as the Second Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith. I make no claims to anything of mine ownself, but merely call the attention of the Bahá’í world to my appointment to this supreme position in the Administration of the Faith – and appointment made by the Beloved Guardian, during his lifetime, and all in accordance with the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

MASON REMEY, GUARDIAN of the Bahá’í Faith

Dr. Udo Schaefer

Dr. Udo Schaefer Neckargemund,

Neckargemund November 9th,1958

Peter-Schnellbach-Str. 36

Revered Hand of the Cause

Dear Mr. Remey,

As the Hands of the Cause have gathered in the Holy Land at present the believers look at them full of hope. Most of the believers are depressed and entangled in deep resignation since the death of the Guardian. They are not only depressed because they have lost their brilliant Guardian, but because they fear that the vacancy of the Guardianship, which at first seemed to be temporary appears to be final. This fear of the Believers is multiplied by the sad message of the Hands of June 12th, 58, in which the message of the Hands of November 1957 is interpreted in such a way, that the believers should give up all hope for a future Guardian, and in which they are admonished “to desist from all further speculation on the future development of the institutions of the Faith”. This message was very discouraging to everyone; we cannot believe that there never again will be a Guardian, for this would result in a complete ruin of our Order. I doubt that the Hands who have not been “freed of all error” by Bahá’u’lláh have the authority to answer such a question definitively in a negative sense.

I have worked and meditated a lot about the questions of our Administrative Order, for I wrote my Dr.’s thesis on this subject. I took the liberty to make a compilation of all the important reasons proving that there must be another Guardian,which you will find enclosed. You may rest assured that it was my sense of responsibility and my conscience which lead me to take action for the preservation of the Faith.

Nowhere else the advice of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá should be more heard than in this question of vital importance for our community: “to act with utmost care and wisdom”. If I may give an advice, be not only lead by your intuition but also by the human mind. Shoghi Effendi once mentioned: “God has given men a rational power to be used and not killed.” Shoghi Effendi had a keen and clear-sighted mind and he was not a religious fanatic; this I have experienced from his writings. What we need today is his clear and far-sighted mind.

It would be fatal indeed if this meeting of the Hands should end in a similar communiqué, which shows every sign of a compromise, because it tries to meet all opinions. This would be a communiqué which can be used by everyone in a different sense.

And moreover; the plans left by Shoghi Effendi are not forming their own object, but have to be thought over anew. You may rest assured the our 10-Years-Crusade will find its fulfillment if the believers can draw new courage and strength from the certainty that there will be a new Guardian. Then the technical details will not give way for further speculations. Without this positive knowledge our teaching-work seems to be a fruitless undertaking.

May God bestow upon you a clear mind, wise far-sightedness, and great courage!

Yours,

in His Service

(signed) UDO SCHAEFER

(Footnote added in the handwriting of Mason Remey, Second Guardian of the Bahá’í World Faith)

Shortly after receiving this letter I wrote to Dr. Schaefer as follows no more, and no less: “I have received your letter of November 9th ’58 with its enclosures and I have read it – re read it and studied it with much and very deep thought.”

Sincerely Yours

MASON REMEY.

 

The Telegramme from the German National Assembly

H1062

YL 782 1958 Nov 22 PM 6 22

Frankfurtmain 25 22 1619

LT

Handsfaith Haifa Israel 592

Assure praying Divine Guidance for safeguarding unity cause in adherence with twin pillars Guardianship head cornerstone world order and Universal House of Justice.

BAHAIRAT Frankfurt

1CFM Y 1782 LT Handsfaith

(Copied from the original telegramme by C.M.R.)

THE HANDS OF THE CAUSE OF GOD IN EUROPE November 19, 1958

TO THE REVERED HANDS OF THE CAUSE

OF THE BAHA’I WORLD COMMUNITY

P.O. BOX 155, HAIFA (ISRAEL)

Dearly Beloved Bahá’í Friends:

The whole Bahá’í Community will direct its mind and wishes in these days to the Center of our Faith where the Hands of the Cause of all parts of the world will be gathered for the second time after the sudden passing of the Beloved Guardian. Surely the result of this very important conference of the Hands will influence the Destiny of the World Bahá’í Community and its service for the execution of the ten year plan profoundly and decisively.

I feel that the propagation as well as the protection of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh are depended upon the clear and divinely inspired conception of the continuity of the Guardianship, the “Divine Masterpiece, which the Hand of the Master-Builder of the World has designated for the unification and triumphs of the world wide Faith of Bahá’u’lláh”, (From Shoghi Effendi in “World Order of Bahá’u’lláh” p.8) in conjunction with the powers granted to the Universal House of Justice by Bahá’u’lláh in the Kitáb-i-AKDAS the Guardian emphasizes that the Guardianship “Enhances the prestige of that exalted assembly, stabilizes its supreme position, safeguards its unity, assures the continuity of its labors, without presuming in the slightest to infringe upon the inviolability of its clearly defined sphere of jurisdiction (W.O.B. p.8).

Because I was informed about different meanings about this essential question for the unity and integrity of the Bahá’ís my conscience and responsibility as a board member as well as a member of the German-Austrian N.S.A. compels me to direct your attention to this fundamental problem. Personally I am firmly convinced that the successful function of the institution of the Bahá’í Administration is impossible without the continuation of the Guardianship. There are may reasons for this fact. Regarding the Universal House of Justice “The Highest Legislative Organ” Shoghi Effendi wrote that “without such an institution the integrity of the Faith would be imperiled and stability of the entire fabric would be gravely endangered”. (W.O.B. p.148) ‘Abdu’l-Bahá designates the Guardian as the sacred and the permanent head and the distinguished member for life of that body. The right to expel a member of the Universal House of Justice is only laid in the Hand of the Guardian.

The member of the German-Austrian N.S.A., our friend Dr. Udo Schaefer sent me a copy of his letter and compilation about the said question, directed to the hands of the Cause. I think his compilation of many quotations concerning this matter is worthful for your conference. His arguments for the continuity of the two pillars of the Bahá’í Administration are remarkable and clearly seen.

In prayerful unity with you I would like to express my sincere hope that Bahá’u’lláh may you all illuminate and inspire to solve the great problems according to His Spirit and Will and in the sense of Our Beloved Guardian.

With loving greetings

In His Service,

Yours,

Eugen Schmidt

COPIED FROM THE ORIGINAL LETTER BY C.M.R.

* * * * * * * * *

The resolution passed in the presence of seven members of the Assembly (L.S.A. LUCKNOW) on November 9th,1957

REGISTERED SOCIETY NO. 141 NOVEMBER 18, 1958

(U.P. INDIA) RAFFANIAN

L.S.A. (LUCKNOW) HAIFA, ISRAEL

Whereas by a resolution passed in the presence of seven members of the Assembly on November 9th,1957, it was resolved that “the activities of this L.S.A. be suspended till the appointment of the next Guardian of the Faith” and the same was intimated to the N.S.A., New Delhi, and whereas it comes under the purview of the Supreme Council, so, therefore, it behooves this assembly to place the following arguments without prejudice, before the aforementioned Supreme Council through Raffanian, Haifa (Israel):

    1. Man’s nature is two-fold; he is spirit and body and therefore, at once, a citizen of this world and of the Heavenly City.

 

    1. The State of Guardianship is the supermost thing upon Earth, for the Guardians are not only God’s lieutenants upon earth, and sit upon God’s throne, but even by God Himself they are called Gods. That which concerns the mystery of The Guardian’s power is not lawful to be disputed, for, that is to wade into the weakness of Gods and to take away the mystical reverence that belongs unto the temporal presence of them that sit in the Throne of God.

 

    1. The Guardian ought to have no equal in his realm because this would nullify the rule that an equal cannot have authority over his equals. Still less ought he to have a superior or anyone more powerful than he, for he would then be below his own deputies and it is impossible that inferiors should be equal to the Supreme.

 

    1. The Supremacy of the Guardian in spiritual matters is absolute under God. Substantially He is the “AKDAS” in the sense that he can neither be removed nor held responsible and has ultimate authority over the rest of the hierarchy, which his deputies have not. The Guardian has full power to create Hands of the Cause and can do so without any of the customary forms of election.

 

    1. The unique power possessed by The Guardian alone, is, therefore a “Divine Right”. It confers a peculiar superiority, a power of revision and supervision over all other forms of authority whether ecclesiastical or secular. In substance the Guardian alone is the head of the entire legal system, not, indeed, as a universal executive but as a court of final authority which functions not in absentia but by presence. It is evident that it is impossible to invest the community or even the Hands of the Cause, with the supreme authority which is the Divine prerogative of the Guardian.

 

    1. The present system is but conciliary and the concilliarists have set against it the ideal of a harmony of powers cooperating by free and mutual consent. Such an argument is fought with the implication that God had changed the mode of imposing His Divine Right according to the wishes of the few. Such a democratic conception is vitally opposed to the Spirit of the Faith. The concilliarist theory strands curiously balanced between past and present. Wherever authority stands upon the exploitation of a sacred name, intimidation has to be adopted as policy on considerations.

 

L.S.A. Lucknow in animated suspense til the consecration of the Guardian on His vacant throne.

51 Sundarbagh,

Lucknow U.P. (India)

Copied from the original letter by C.M.R.

“Gupta” was the name of the writer of Lucknow, India.

* * * * * * * * *

La lettre de Louis Henuzet du Conseil Auxilaire Européen

Puis les amis entendirent la lettre de Louis Henuzet du Conseil Auxilaire Européen:

A tous les Amis des Pays de Benelux,

Très Cheres Amis,

Notre Foi Bien-aimée traverse une très douloureuse épreuve. Notre Guardian, après s’être donné tout entier à la tâche de construire les premières institutions de notre Foi, nous a quitté avant que le triomphe final ne soit acquis.

A cette heure de souffrance, je vous conjure de vous montrer dignes de son sacrifice et d’étaler le courage et la fermeté dont vous êtes capables. La seule façon d’exprimer notre amour envers le Cher Disparu, ainsi que notre confiance en sa sagesse qui nous a guidée, est de rester fermement attachés aux institutions divines crées par la Plume même de Bahá’u’lláh et d’Abdu’l-Bahá, et que le premier Gardien de la Cause a appelé à l’existence.

Ces institutions sont la forme même du Covenant et seul le Covenant est capable d’assurer la continuité de notre Cause, de l’abriter contre tout shisme et partant, de réaliser notre but final qui est l’instauration de l’ordre Divin de Bahá’u’lláh, charpente du Royaume de Dieu sur la terre.

Si notre Gardien a été rappelé par la volonté du Très-Haut, l’institution du Gardiennat reste fermement établie. C’est vers elle que nous devons nous tourner avec la même loyauté et la même ferveur. Rien, alors, ne sera changé. Car l’inspiration infaillible de l’Auteur de notre Foi continuera à guider Celui sur qui retombera la lourde responsabilité de conduire les destinées futures de notre Cause.

En attendant que nous soit connu le sucesseur de Shoghi Effendi, les dépositaires temporaires de cette mission divine de guider le peuple Bahá’í, sont le Mains de la Cause, dont l’institution vient d’être récemment renforcée. La sagesse divine qui a animé notre regretté Gardien, l’a attaché, tout partriculièrement dans ces dernières années, à épanouir cette institution, à lui donner toutes ses prérogatives et à la faire comprendre de tous les croyants.

Ainsi donc, mes Chers Amis, si Shoghi Effendi nous quitte avant que sa tâche ne soit entièrement terminée, les fondations qu’il a creusées de ses mains, sont indestructibles et rien ne prévaudra contre elles.

Ceux qui bâtiront sur ces fondations seront assurés du triomphe final tandis que ceux qui choisiront de s’en éloigner, ne bâtiront que sur le sable mouvant.

Hommage donc à la Gloire et à la Puissance du Covenant de Bahá’u’lláh!

Hommage au Centre de Ce Covenant qui nous l’aura fait comprendre par son Testament!

Hommage à Shoghi Effendi, premier Gardien de notre Foi, bâtisseur des institutions administratives et des institutions spirituelles du Covenant, conducteur infaillible du Plan Divin!

Hommage à Celui qui lui succèdera pour continuer cette tâche, aux Mains de la Cause qui l’assisteront, aux Assemblées Spirituelles Nationales qui se dévoueront à son service!

Hommage enfin à tous les croyants de notre Foi, qui se rapprocheront dans l’épreuve et seront dignes de l’héritage que leur laisse SHOGHI EFFENDI, notre très cher, notre bien-aimé notre sublime Frère disparu!

Louis Henuzet

Membre du Conseil Auxiliaire.

* * * * * * * * *

Letter to Dr. Jur. Udo Schaefer

MASON REMEY

GUARDIAN

OF THE BAHÁ’Í FAITH

IN EXILE

FROM HIS HOME IN HAIFA, ISRAEL

TEMPORARILY LIVING IN

WASHINGTON 4, D.C. , U.S.A.

WHERE HE CAN BE REACHED AT

P.O. BOX 418

& #9;& # 9;& # 9;

# #

June 1, 1960

Dr. Jur. Udo Schaefer

Neckargemund, Germany

Peter Schnellbach Str 36

Dear Dr. Schaefer:

I am very pleased to have your letter of May 16, 1960 and the copy of yours of the same date addressed to The Hands of the Cause residing in The Holy Land, regarding the Proclamation that I sent you of my appointment as Second Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith by our late Beloved Guardian Shoghi Effendi that was made by him during his lifetime in conformity with The Will and Testament of The Master ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

Before taking up with you the matter of my Guardianship, I would like to touch upon your personal reaction to certain of the fiats of the Hands of the Faith

In your letter of November 9, 1958, a copy of which was addressed to me personally and in its accompanying presentation of your studies of the Guardianship, you present the Guardianship of the Faith in a most masterful way – a document that in my opinion will go down through the ages to come as one of the great treatises upon our Faith. I, myself, have had 100 copies of this letter with its enclosures reproduced and spread amongst the believers in America for their edification.

But now as I read your letter to The Hands of the Faith with your approval and support of their disapproval and rejection of the Guardianship and of their intention of electing their Universal House of Justice in 1963 to take over the direction of all Bahá’í affairs, sans Guardian, I ask myself – How you can possibly support their program for 1963?

With your clear concept of the infallibility of the “Guardianship”, how can you endorse and accept any Universal House of Justice that the Hands could establish without their first having a “Guardian” to give the first support – that of infallibility to that institution? According to The Will and Testament, the Administration is built up about and is centered in the Guardianship. Therefore how can you look at this plan of the Hands for 1963 as anything other than flagrant violation of the Will and Testament and the Administration that the Beloved Shoghi Effendi built up upon and about the Guardianship? A believer with your clear concept of the Guardianship and its relation to the Administration of the Faith should come out frankly and warn others not to follow this violation of the Hands of the Cause.

From your letter to the Hands, Dear Dr. Schaefer, I fear that you are not aware of the fact that the Hands of the Faith from their first conclave have definitely between themselves agreed to put and end to all future Guardianship. This has been their unannounced-to-the-world-but-fixed-intention for their first conclave. Thus by consent they decided amongst themselves to perpetrate this violation upon the Faith.

This you should have realized from the studied way in which (in the Proclamation from Bahjí and from all messages from the Hands to the Bahá’í world) the Guardianship has been sedulously avoided – avoided with the intent of gradually destroying any hopes that the people might entertain for a continuation of the Guardianship, the result of which has been to gradually so condition the popular Bahá’í mind as to forget the Guardianship and in its place accept their fallacious invention of their plan for 1963.

You see I have been living with the Hands of the Faith in Haifa up until last November. During a period of over two years I have argued with the Hands showing them and telling them that they were wilfully violating the Will and Testament and urging them to uphold the Guardianship and [not to] repudiate it and the Administration thereof. I being the only one among the 27 Hands who stood for the Guardianship. The truth of the matter was that the majority of the Hands were so strongly opposed to Guardianship that there could be no discussion. Thus the Hands as a body (all save I) [supported] the Sans Guardian Policy.

This great violation has grown and spread out throughout the Bahá’í world. Until now even you and other believers in Germany who have seen with such clarity that the Cause cannot exist Sans Guardian that even you now come forth and support the Hands in their violation.

Your letter of November 9, 1958 to me, that of Eugen Schmidt of November 18, 1958, and the telegramme from the German National Assembly dated 22 November 1958, that reads “Assure praying divine guidance for safeguarding unity Cause in adherence with twin pillars Guardianship Head cornerstone world order and Universal House of Justice”. All of these were received at the Bahjí Conclave of 1958 but none of these communications were even read before this conclave or were any of these documents read before any other conference of the Hands in Haifa.

When I asked the Hands what was going to be done about these messages from Germany, I was told that the two German Hands of the Faith upon their return home would talk with the German friends about the plan for 1963.

Now what I ask of you, My Dear Dr. Schaefer, is how can you together with our other German friends give your support to such flagrant violation of the Administration as is now being perpetrated by the Hands of the Faith? How can you?

I am in receipt of a message from the Hands in Haifa of May 10, 1960 telling me of the confidence and the full support of the German National Spiritual Assembly in their support of their plans for the Cause without the Guardianship!

Why are you in Germany thus giving your support to that which the Hands are perpetrating when you know so perfectly well that the continuance, the solidarity, and the triumph of the Bahá’í Faith depends upon the Guardianship?

In your recent letter to me of May 16, 1960 you write “I agree with you that without the institution of the Guardianship, the order of Bahá’u’lláh is not only incomplete, but also the unity of the believers and the integrity and identity of the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh cannot be guaranteed and preserved.”

Therefore I ask you again, how can you and others holding such a Bahá’í orthodox belief, how can you at the same time uphold the program of the Hands of the Cause for 1963 – Sans Guardian? In other words, why are you and others in Germany supporting so heartily the program of the Hands, that which you know to be wrong; namely the ending of the Guardianship?

This question of violation brings to my mind all that the Master ‘Abdu’l-Bahá taught us about violation of the teachings of the Faith, which during his ministry of thirty years as “The Center of the Covenant” was the outstanding problem of the Cause, but which during the ministry of the Beloved Guardian Shoghi Effendi while always of major import was not so wrecking to the Faith as it had been in the days of the Master. The Sohrab violation and other minor violations were handled by Shoghi Effendi without any great disturbance to the Bahá’í world.

But now this present great violation of the united Hands of the Faith has encompassed the Cause throughout the entire world so now it is necessary that the believers everywhere study the teaching upon the subject of violation and its evil effects of confusion and destruction to the Faith.

The Master compared violation of the teachings to a poisonous disease oft working quietly and secretly to undermine and to destroy the Faith. The Master’s last message to me and to another believer in Washington, cabled but a few hours before his death read “He who sits with leper, contracts leprosy”.

Such is this insidious power like a malignant cancerous growth that disrupts the Faith of God. For this reason the Master and later Shoghi Effendi forbade all contact or communication of the faithful with those who violated the Revealed Word of God.

I beg of you, Dr. Schaefer, to make a study of violation that you can protect yourself and other souls from this curse. You have prepared a very complete exposition, I am told, upon the Guardianship – one that I understand the Hands of the Faith refuse to allow you to publish but a treatise upon this all important subject of violation now before the world I trust to see in print in various languages for the enlightenment of the Bahá’í world.

I am not at all surprised that the publication of your thesis on The Guardianship has been held up by the Hands of the Faith. This fact in itself should show you that they don’t want the people to even think about Guardianship.

However as things now are in the Bahá’í world in this state of confusion caused by violation, an effort by you to put forth a comprehensive treatise upon “Violation” would at this time be a great safeguard against the evil virus of violation that dominates the Hands of the Faith and all with whom they contact

Please do this , Dr. Schaefer, both for your own edification and in order to give this great protection to others that this knowledge of the teaching of how to protect against violation would assure those whose belief and faith is in the Guardianship. For unless this belief and faith be safeguarded from this now almost prevailing violation of the Hands of the Faith, it threatens in the end to kill the Bahá’í Faith. Thus it is most important that the believers should know how to protect themselves and the Faith from violation. The power to give this protection lies only in the knowledge of the teaching about violation, its ways and its subtleties. This knowledge , the friends should understand for such is their only protection and that of the Cause.

As for my present Proclamation of Ridván 117 B.E. in which I call the attention of the Bahá’í world to the fact that The Beloved First Guardian of the Faith had during his lifetime upon earth appointed me to be The Second Guardian of the Faith – your reaction to this in your letter to me was that is was ABSURD! Curiously enough my own first reaction to this fact was precisely the same as yours – I thought it to be absurd indeed and for some time I would have nothing at all to do with the thought of this that at that time seemed to me to be such an absurdity! But as the truth of the Beloved Guardian’s appointment of me to this supreme station in the Administration of the Faith penetrated my consciousness, I myself, who at first revolted against this – I myself was the first one who had to accept this appointment – not that I wanted it, but because the Beloved Guardian had ordained it.

My own personal resistance was therefore my first resistance to this appointment by the Beloved Guardian that I had to overcome. I assure you that nothing but my allegiance to the Beloved Guardian and to the Will and Testament of the Master ‘Abdu’l-Bahá made me accept this for in the Will and Testament all are commanded to obey the Guardian of the Faith.

During the seven years (more or less) that I dwelt with and served our Beloved Guardian in his home in Haifa, he spoke to us, there assembled at his table, many times of the way that Almighty God had of sometimes putting aside and completely nullifying the plans of men and even the word and plans of the Manifestation of God Himself – putting all aside and changing even that which the Manifested Word of God had ordained! Shoghi Effendi spoke of this to us many times!

The Persians call this state of affairs “BADA“. When the Almighty God puts aside and does away with even that which was ordained by the Manifestation Himself – this they call BADA.

Such was the case of the inheritance of the Guardianship of the Faith. It was the written intent of the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá that the Guardianship be kept within the line of descent from Bahá’u’lláh and this was understood by all the Bahá’í world. But because of their violation of the Will and Testament by all of the members of his own family – all of them without exception – the Beloved Guardian was obliged to cut them all off from any possibility that any of them inherit the Guardianship from him. This the Beloved Guardian declared to the Bahá’í world and all Bahá’ís should know this without question.

As is well known the Beloved Guardian himself had no issue to carry on any such inheritance from him. Here God the Almighty stepped in and changed the entire possibility of the Beloved Guardian’s carrying out this order of inheritance that was written in the Will and Testament. In other words, this particular command had gone BADA and that was definitely all that here was to it – BADA.

Then it was that the Beloved Guardian in his infallibility designated that I, Mason Remey, succeed him in the Guardianship of the Faith. This must be accepted without question by every firm and steadfast believer for what Bahá’í would presume to question the infallibility of the Guardianship of the Faith? Only those who violate the command and the word of the Guardian would question this, and this is the state of the Hands of the Faith and those who follow them at this particular juncture in the affairs of the Bahá’í world – those Bahá’ís who do not accept the Beloved Guardian’s appointment of me as their Guardian are violating the command of Shoghi Effendi and are definitely enemies of Shoghi Effendi and enemies of the Administration that he founded upon the precepts of the Will and Testament.

The Faith indeed faces a time of disruption and this time of trial and bewilderment will continue until this matter is settled and this settlement can only be achieved when all who violated are cast out from the Faith and from all association and all connection with the Faith. This is why I urge you and all other believers to study the teaching of The Center of the Covenant upon this subject of violation that each believer see for himself that “He who sits with leper, contracts leprosy”. Let all beware, take this urgency to heart and stand firmly for the Guardianship of the Faith, now dedicating their efforts to serve under my guidance, the Second Guardian of the Faith. There is no halfway about this matter – one must by wholly all upon the one side for there is no compromise to be made.

The facts of my appointment by the Beloved Guardian Shoghi Effendi to follow him as the Second Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith were presented by me to the Bahá’í world by my Proclamation to the American National convention of Ridván 117 B.E.– not as claim made by me, Mason Remey, for that most exalted position in the Faith, but as statement to the Bahá’ís in convention and through them to the Bahá’ís of the world that the Beloved Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, had himself and of himself bestowed this position of Guardianship of the Faith upon me. Of this appointment I had nothing to do whatsoever. I never put myself forward for such position in the Faith, neither before nor since this appointment. The only step that I made in issuing my Proclamation was to tell first to the Hands of the Faith, then to the believers of that which the Beloved Guardian had done, all of which I reiterate came from him (the Guardian) and not in any way from me.

To begin with, Shoghi Effendi some time after appointing me a Hand of the Faith, appointed me President of the Bahá’í International Council telling me that from that time on Haifa in Israel was to be my home and saying that this was the forerunner and his first step toward the formation of the Universal House of Justice.

Then some time later he further elucidated this matter by saying that this International Council with me as its President was in fact the embryonic Universal House of Justice that was to destined to develop into the full functioning Universal House of Justice of the Bahá’í Dispensation of the future ages,the heart and the infallibility of which would rest in the Guardian of the Faith who would be the President of the House of Justice as prescribed by the Will and Testament of the Master ‘Abdu’l-Bahá during his lifetime. In order to make the appointment of Shoghi Effendi more clear to the people I reminded them that this, my special appointment by the Beloved Guardian, was the only special appointment that Shoghi Effendi ever make to any man during his life tenure of the office of Guardian of the Faith. In this he fulfilled the only special or unique appointment that the Will and Testament of the Master ‘Abdu’l-Bahá enjoined upon the Guardian of the Faith to make – namely that of the special appointment of the Guardian of the Faith to follow him. The Hands of the Faith were not unique appointments for there were any number of these. The Beloved Guardian’s one unique appointment being that of the next Guardian to follow him.

Putting all these various elements of this question together and arranging them in this logical form and sequence, what could be more clear to the sincerely seeking Bahá’í mind than to realize that Shoghi Effendi himself had complied with that which the Will and Testament told him to do and that in his infallibility, he took this way of perpetuating the living Guardianship of the Faith by appointing me as his successor in Guardianship.

If there be those who don’t approve of this action of Shoghi Effendi, the faithful friends of the Faith should shun them, separate from them and if they persist in their violation leave them in the outer darkness of the world – thus let them have no relations with these violators remembering always the last warning sent to me in America that was intended for all the believers – “HE WHO SITS WITH LEPER, CONTRACTS LEPROSY“.

As I have stated in this writ, from the first conclave after the death of Shoghi Effendi the majority of the Hands of the Faith were determined that the Guardianship be ended. In none of their deliberations was there ever any suggestion that the Beloved Guardian might have appointed his successor as he was commanded to do in the Will and Testament – never did one of the Hands show any inclination whatever to seek to find or to determine whether or not there was a Second Guardian.

No will or testament was found in Shoghi Effendi’s desk or in his safe where he kept precious documents and a few objects of Bahá’í import. No will was discovered. But in addition to these two places, there was no search through the several large filing cabinets that were filled with the Beloved Guardian’s notes and writings and in all a large quantity of papers. There was a very decided aversion against pursuing the subject of the Guardianship so in the Proclamation that was followed by other messages from the Hands to the Bahá’í world, the Guardianship was not only not mentioned but the people were ordered to desist from all conjecture as to the future. Thus did the Hands with purpose try to destroy any hope that the believers might entertain of any continuation of the Guardianship, but at the same time trying to assure the people that their plan for 1963 would give a substitute infallibility so that the Cause could function without Guardianship – thus this violation of the Faith was made.

At the recent National Convention of Bahá’ís in America Ridván 117 B.E., Rúhíyyih Khánum took the stand in her attitudes if not in actual spoken words that the Guardianship was a closed chapter in the Bahá’í Faith and following that gathering she travelled about through America meeting the believers and making every effort to destroy any hopes that they had for ever having another Guardian of the Faith. Thus are the forces of the violation of the Bahá’í Administration being propagated. In order to understand what is really in the minds of these violators, one should study their “attitudes” in order not to be deceived by what they say in words.

As I have already written, what I can’t understand is why you, Dr. Schaefer, and others of the German Bahá’ís (who apparently from your writings understand the Guardianship so clearly and so well), why you should accept this most apparent violation of the Hands of the Faith and why you should so willingly support their violation?

Why do you follow the Hands, supporting their plans for 1963, when you know or should know perfectly that according to the Bahá’í teachings, the Universal House of Justice will have two pillars or supports, or in other words, it is of two parts working together thus making one functioning body – one pillar being the Guardianship of the Faith, infallibly appointed and infallible in decrees – the other the International Assembly chosen by the peoples of the national Bahá’í assemblies of the world, that is popularly elected by the mass of the proletariat of the Faith of the world.

But now the fallacy of the Hands of the Faith is that without a Guardian to form the first pillar of support to this Universal House of Justice, the Hands of the Faith have declared that thy will elect a House of Justice directly by the popular vote of the proletariat mass of the people without the first pillar of the two necessary pillars – namely the Guardianship.

Furthermore, through ignorance of or by ignoring the Beloved Guardian’s explanation of the two necessary elements that form the Universal House of Justice, the people of the Faith are now accepting this violation of the Hands of the Faith and are arising in many places just as you are in Germany to give their support to this violation. I pray and trust that something will happen to awaken you spiritually one and all to arouse you to the danger of this violation of the teaching that you are following – the plan for 1963 all of which is fallacious and contrary to the Will and Testament of the Master ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and to everything taught by Shoghi Effendi.

I urge all Bahá’ís to make as complete a study as possible of the Will and Testament of the Master ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and in addition to this study what he taught about VIOLATION and study the matter of BADA.

At this particular moment in the Bahá’í Faith, the only safety for the people of the Faith lies in their knowledge of the written divined holy teachings of the Faith.

Faithfully yours in El Abha,

MASON REMEY GUARDIAN

of the Bahá’í Faith

P.S. To recapitulate: How is it possible, Dr. Schaefer, that you, Dr. Eugen Schmidt and other Bahá’ís in Germany can apparently believe so implicitly in the Guardianship of our Faith that is founded upon the Will and Testament of ’Abdu’l-Bahá, all of which you have so clearly expressed in your writings while at the some time you endorse and give your support to the program of the Hands of the Faith for 1963 the object and the intent of which program is to nullify and to do away with the Guardianship and replace it by a fallacious House of Justice of their own creation, Sans Guardian, that they, in their violation, claim will give them the infallibility necessary to direct and manage the affairs of the Bahá’í Faith?

My question to you is how can you hold and be loyally faithful to both of these diametrically opposing fealties? The stand that you, Mr. Schmidt and other Bahá’ís in Germany who hold belief in the Guardianship should take is that you renounce your support of the violation program of the Hands of the Cause for 1963 and that you accept and give your Bahá’í allegiance to the Second Guardian of the Faith now known to the Bahá’í world since Ridván 117 B.E. who was appointed by the first Guardian during his lifetime as directed that he should do during his (Shoghi Effendi’s) own lifetime.

The acceptance of me, Mason Remey, the second Guardian of the Faith, appointed by the first Guardian of the Faith, is the only salvation of the Bahá’í Faith. You, Dr. Schaefer, with your clearly defined conception of the Bahá’í Administration should be able to accept and to follow me, the second Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith.

The Will and Testament of the Master ‘Abdu’l-Bahá vests all authority in the Guardianship of the Faith, as directed by him.

That the Hands of the Faith at this present time have arisen unitedly to take control is a clear case of violation of the Will and Testament for they are attempting to usurp the power that belongs only to the Guardian of the Faith. This role of the Hands of the Faith not only has no sanction in Bahá’í procedure but is a most flagrant violation of Bahá’í principle, law and order. You, Dr. Schaefer, with your knowledge of the Bahá’í Administration and your written attestation of your faith in the Guardianship – how can you stand with these Hands of the Faith sustaining them in their activities and in their determination to do away forever with the Guardianship? How can you compromise your loyalty in this manner?

M.R. G.

of the Bahá’í Faith

A STATEMENT BY THE SECOND GUARDIAN OF THE FAITH

In several of my writings I mention a momentary vision, that I had about the year 105 of the Bahá’í Era, in which I saw myself as the Second Guardian of the Faith. At the time, this seemed to me to be an absurdity of my imagination. But after the Beloved Guardian called me to Haifa made me President of the Bahá’í International Council, and made his home in the Holy Land to be my home – these factors, together with other matters that, beyond a doubt in my mind, were preparing me at that time for service I was to do at some future date, I found myself thinking of that momentary vision I had had. However, these thoughts came and went from me. At times I would seemingly forget all about my vision; then it would come to my mind again. These thoughts were vague and fleeting.

Such was my condition of mind – even for some time after the departure of the Beloved guardian and all during my years in his house in the Holy Land. As these years accumulated, my future in the Faith was anything but clear to me. In fact, I did not think much about it. I was busy with the then present-day matters of the Cause.

Such was my state of mind when the Hands of the Faith met In the First BAHJÍ Conclave shortly following Shoghi Effendi’s passing. While at that time I thought that I might become the Guardian of the Faith in some way or another, I did not know how. It was all more or less vague, hazy and in definite in my thoughts, and so I succumbed, as did others. to the proposition of the Persian Hands of the Cause and few others, who all together formed a ruling and a united majority. So I accepted the dictum of this unity and signed the Proclamation to the Bahá’í world along with all of the other Hands.

In other words, while I was semi-conscious to what was going on, I was more or less asleep mentally and spiritually. There just did not seem to be any clear solution to the problem before us. All was more or less confused. Thus, the present regime of the Custodian Hands of the Faith came into working order, accepted by all of us, myself included.

But before long my mind began to work, and I saw that those Hands who did not want a renewal of Guardianship were leading us afar and away from the way of the Will and Testament; but, as I then thought to make things pleasant and happy in Haifa, I said nothing. To myself, however, I thought a great deal.

While I was thus just beginning to awaken to the radical departure that Bahá’í affairs were taking in opposition to the Will and Testament, the time came for the Second Bahjí Conclave of the Hands. That was in November, 1958. It was at this conclave that I found myself thoroughly awakened to the violation of the Hands of the Faith in their NOT WANTING the Guardianship. In this second conclave, the very word “Guardianship” was becoming taboo. It was hinted at when letters and a telegraphic dispatch, bearing hopes for a Second Guardian, were directed to the conclave from the friends in Germany; but while a few of us read these pleas from Germany, asking that the hope for a Guardian of the Faith not be abandoned, none of these communications was read before the conclave. Nor were these communications discussed. They were merely mentioned by some, and only then on the side.

But during these sessions I, myself, was beginning to awaken from the state of Bahá’í apathy that had until then quite dominated me. I began to think that someone ought to make the stand that these Hands of the Faith should at least appear to want a Guardian, even though they did not know how they were going to get one. The underlying fact (never mentioned in so many words, but then quite clear to me) was that as shown in their attitudes, these Hands actually did not want the Guardianship to continue.

Between these first and second Bahá’í conclaves, a few people in America had begun to question the Hands’ attitude of no more Guardianship wanted.

Rúhíyyih Khánum, in a large public Bahá’í gathering at Kampala in Africa, had stated definitely that the friends should abandon all hope of any continuation of the Guardianship. And in America, led by Horace Holley, a Manifesto from Chicago was issued that was signed by Holley, Paul Haney, and Mrs. True, entitled “A New Bahá’í Era”. It spoke of the Faith, Sans Guardian, and explained that the Guardianship was a closed subject.

This Chicago Manifesto stirred up a good deal of discussion amongst the Hands in the Holy Land, who, although thoroughly in sympathy with the substance of this Manifesto (this they specifically wrote to Holley), called him down for thus making a stand that publicly proclaimed the Sans Guardian doctrine. Thus were these Hands of the Cause in the Holy Land playing a double-faced game; for they, by avoiding the subject were thus conditioning the believers, if it were possible, to forget about the Guardianship. Thus did they intend to reinforce themselves in their own leadership of the Faith and in their plans for creating a House of Justice in 1963 – a House they claimed would be infallible Sans Guardian

In order to put over onto the Bahá’í world the plans of these Custodian Hands of the Faith, they had decided in the first conclave that all of their actions should be kept a secret from the proletariat of the Cause. In the Chicago Manifesto, those American Hands who signed it broke the pact of secrecy when they consulted with the N.S.A. of the United States. All nine members of this N.S.A. approved; and together with the three American Hands, they signed the Manifesto.

Thoughts on all of these matters were surging through my mind during this second conclave and stirring me greatly. But even then, because of the vague thought of myself as a possible Guardian of the Faith, I felt that if such were ever to be, then someone other than I should, in this conclave, make the stand that the hope for the continuation of the Guardianship should not be abandoned. Reluctant to make this stand myself, I felt that the Hands should at least hold this door open and not close it as they were doing. But I felt that someone other than I should do this, because, as it were, I would be considered as an interested party. Reasoning thus, I waited, hoping that some other person would take this stand Thus, in this conflict of thoughts, I sat silent most of the time in the conclave. I remained silent up until the last session when I arose, took the floor, and told the members of the conclave that they were violating the Will and Testament of the Master ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in their attitude of not wanting a continuation of the Guardianship.

My stand created a stir of indignation in the conclave. I was immediately silenced by several voices under the pretext that I was out of parliamentary order in bringing up a subject that had already been acted upon by the assemblage and was a closed issue. So that was that, and the conclave closed.

However, in this moment so charged with emotion, I was asked why I took this stand in defence of the Guardianship against the united opinion of the conclave. To this my reply was that some one of us Hands should stand for the Administration with the Guardianship; and, as there was no one other to do it, I must alone (against all others) make this stand.

At that time I was then the Guardian of the Faith, as I had so been since the death of Shoghi Effendi; but since I was still asleep spiritually, I was not conscious of my actual status of protector of the Faith as the Guardian. Yet, unconsciously, I was thus moved to stand up against this violation of the Will and Testament; and, although I was not mentally conscious of my status as Guardian of the Faith, somehow or other I felt that I must stand up alone in that conclave and protect the Faith by defending the Guardianship. It was much over a year later before I realized that at that very time I actually was standing guard over the Cause – and standing quite single and alone — against all of the other Hands of the Faith united against me. But at that moment, I had no idea about the why of my doing as I did; I arose only to protect the Faith.

In the conferences of the Custodian Hands in Haifa following this Second BAHJÍ Conclave, I told the Hands repeatedly that they were violating the Will and Testament. Together with them I had made the agreement that strict secrecy be maintained as to all that passed between these Custodians. It had also been agreed that we could and should all speak out openly in our conferences, and this I always did, speaking most frankly. But as I stood alone, no one paid any attention to me. Thus, matters went along for a year until I refused to sign my name any longer as being “In the Service of the Beloved Guardian of the Faith” (Shoghi Effendi). My contention in refusing to sign was that the Guardianship of the Faith is a function of this world and that with Shoghi Effendi in the Abhá Kingdom, he was no longer our Guardian in the flesh to be obeyed; consequently, we were no longer in his service. Rather, we should then be in the service of the Second Guardian of the Faith. But even then I did not realize that I, Mason Remey, was then the Second Guardian of the Faith.

My refusal to sign the message of the Hands from the Third Bahjí Conclave to the Bahá’í world, in November 1959, precipitated matters and eliminated me from the nine Custodians. Therefore, shortly after this, I left Haifa for Washington, where I am now in voluntary exile from my home in Haifa – the home that, publicly and before all of the Bahá’í community in the Holy Land, Shoghi Effendi ordained for me on this earth.

The Custodians did not want me to leave Haifa They evidently feared that I might not keep their pact of secrecy and that I might let the people in America know what they were up to, for at that time there were many in America who still hoped for a Guardian to lead the Faith. But I chose to leave Haifa, and in the end this was accepted by the Hands.

I left for America via Italy, all under apparently pleasant conditions, I assuring the Hands that I could keep their secrets and not tell any of the believers what they were doing. With me to America I took all of my notes and records of the happenings amongst the Bahá’ís in the Holy Land during my residence there. Then, in America, away from the Custodian Hands in the Holy Land (and even before that in Italy), I started formulating a written argument to the Custodian Hands of the Faith. This argument I prepared in “An Appeal to the Hands of the Faith”, “Another Appeal to the Hands of the Faith”, and a “Last Appeal to the Hands of the Faith.

These lengthy documents were bound in book form and sent by me to the Hands in Haifa. When I started in upon this last effort to awaken the Hands to their violation, my thoughts, that before this had been disordered, gradually began to arrange themselves in a logical sequence in my mind; and step by step, one thought opened up the way for a more comprehensive thought. Slowly, little by little, one thought led to another until I found myself considering the Beloved Guardian’s appointment of me as the President of the International Bahá’í Council (a subject that had never even been mentioned in any of the conclaves or conferences of the Hands of the Faith). Finally, little by little, it was born into my consciousness that I, myself, Mason Remey, was actually then the protector of and the Guardian of the Faith and that I had been in this supreme station of protector –that is, I had been the Guardian of the Faith – ever since the death of the First Guardian.

Thus at last, Ridván 117 B.E., all was clear to me. The great danger to the Cause from the violating Hands of the Faith made it necessary for me to come out with the Proclamation of my Guardianship – first to the Custodian Hands in Haifa then before the Ridván Convention in America. This had to be done in order to save the Faith from the utter destruction that was being perpetrated by the erring violating Hands of the Faith.

I was indeed a very long time in coming to the realisation of mine own command of this entire situation of the Faith. But during this time, while my mind was not at all alert to these conditions in the Cause, I was arising instinctively to defend and to uphold the Guardianship of the Faith. As people read over my notes of my thoughts and the mention of events transpiring in Haifa they will see and understand the complexity of thought that was gradually being straightened out in my mind. At times I was away, far away, from the solution of many of the problems of the Faith, even considering at one time that the Hands of the Faith, in order to protect the Cause, might choose and install a Guardian. Other such ideas were pondered; but out from this maze of thought, I gradually realized that the Beloved Guardian Shoghi Effendi had actually appointed me the Second Guardian of the Faith and had so announced this to all the world. Until that time, no one, not even I, myself, had realized this. It was thus, in this way, and little by little, that I arrived, until now – as the acknowledged Guardian of the Faith (acknowledged by the few who faithfully follow the admonitions of the Will and Testament, as against the many who are misled by the erring Hands who have renounced the Guardianship) – I am clear upon any and all matters as they come up for me to take action in leading the Faith on to its destined triumph over the powers of mankind and bringing victory to the Kingdom of God upon Earth.

MASON REMEY, GUARDIAN of the Bahá’í Faith