BOOK OF HERMANN ZIMMER

 A  FRAUDULENT
TESTAMENT

Devalues the Bahai Religion

Into Political Shoghism

English by
Jeannine Blackwell

Revised by
Karen Gasser M.A. and Gordon Campbell M.A.

World Union for Universal Religion and
Universal Peace, Free Bahais

Chapter 1.

l. A HANDWRITING ANALYSIS OF THE TESTAMENT IN 1930

The fictitious Will and Testament of Abdul Baha is discovered to be a falsification by a London handwriting expert — Further external indirect proof of falsification - The reaction of the Guardian to these accusations - Time works against the Guardian

Motto:

"Protect yourselves with utmost vigilance, lest you be entrapped In the snare of deception and fraud." 11

In her book The Bahai Religion and Its Enemy, the Bahai Organization (Rutland 1929), the American Ruth White directed sharp attacks against the alleged testament of Abdul Baha and the man it favored, Shoghi (Effendi) Rabbani. The contents of this alleged testament were not only a reversal of the teachings of Baha'u'llah themselves, but they also stand in direct contradiction to the commentary and explanations concerning these teachings by Abdul Baha.

In March of the following year, 1930, Shoghi wrote a letter which was published in April by the German National Spiritual Assembly of Bahais and published in New York In 1938 In the series of letters of the "World Order of Baha'u'llah". In this writing, the Bahai world was warned by Shoghi about the slowly forming truth of the alleged testament of Abdul Baha with the words, "For let every earnest upholder of the Cause of Baha'u'llah realize that ... this Infant Faith will have to contend with enemies more powerful and more insidious than the cruelest torturers and the most fanatic clerics who have afflicted it In the past..." 12

This sentence represents a pure diversionary tactic because the attacks of the clergy, particularly in the Western world, are completely insignificant compared to the sharp criticism from the ranks of non-organized Bahais. These highly dangerous enemies described by Shoghi are simply the factual evidences which in the time to follow would be presented against his system. Only a few days later, Shoghi received a letter from Mrs. White (dated March 19, 1930) requesting the original document of the alleged last will of Abdul Baha for analysis by a handwriting expert who was familiar with Persian script. Although the receipt of this letter was acknowledged by Shoghi's secretary, a reply never came.

A few months later, the first of the "more powerful and more insidious enemies" prophesied by Shoghi appeared in the form of a report that the handwriting expert Dr. Ainsworth Mitchell, a staff member of the British Museum in London and publisher of the periodical "The Analyst", had presented on June 3, 1930 about his examination of the photocopy of the alleged testament of Abdul Baha. Mrs. White condensed the most important points of the report into two statements:

1 "The alleged will of Abdul Baha was not written throughout by the same person

2 No part of the alleged will has the characteristics of the writing of Abdul Baha,
as shown In the authenticated specimens."

In other words, the alleged testament did not issue from Abdul Baha and thus it is fraudulent. 13

This attack by Mrs. White, carried out with much courage, the spending of much energy in the procurement of photocopies and with considerable investment of her own means, found a strong response only in Germany and resulted In the creation of the "Bahai World Union" by W. Herrigel and the friends of Abdul Baha who assembled around him. The further arguments of Ruth White, for example, about Abdul Baha's extraordinary care in the translation of his Tablet To the Central Organization for a Durable Peace, The Hague, 1919, which was republished by the Bahai Verlag in 1968, left the great majority of Bahais rather cold. At that time, two other Persians worked with Shoghi Effendi and Dr. Esslemont as translators.14 Nothing more is mentioned about them in the publication of 1968. Mrs. White's very appropriate question remained open: Why, then, did a so much more important manuscript, namely Abdul Baha's alleged testament, have to be translated by the one person favored by the document, namely Shoghi himself, completely on his own? Moreover, this translation took place after the demise of Abdul Baha. For the critically oriented Bahais, it was a further piece of evidence for the charge of fraudulency.15

The problems of the alleged testament of Abdul Baha had been brought into the open a couple of years earlier, not by the organization but by some independent thinkers, particularly in written form by Mrs. White herself. The problems were these: The inherited Guardianship; the placing of succeeding Guardians at the summit of the "House of Justice" in an indisputable political function; the payment of the tax allegedly instituted by Baha'u'llah, not to the House of Justice but to the Guardian himself and the rigid organization with paid officials or priests, the "Hands of the cause". All this was precisely the opposite of what Baha'u'llah and Abdul Baha had taught.16 Ruth White had discussed these problems in Bahai assemblies in many large cities in the USA when she traveled to California in 1926.17 We read the reaction to this explanatory activity in a letter from the Guardian dated February 27,1929:

"I will not attempt in the least to assert or demonstrate the authenticity of the Will and Testament of Abdul Baha, for that In itself would betray an apprehension on my part as to the unanimous confidence of the believers In the genuineness of the last written wishes of our departed Master"18

With these slick words, truly a masterpiece, Shoghi sneaked away from the proof he could not provide. How elegantly he has taken in the Bahais with the proverbial cunning of the Levantines. He had learned from his teacher Machiavelli, "You must probe the malignity of the abscess and if you have enough power to heal it, then do it quickly and ruthlessly. If you do not have this power, leave It alone and don't provoke it." 19

On December 31, 1928, Mrs. White had publicly maintained in a letter to the former English High Commissioner of Palestine that the alleged testament of Abdul Baha was fraudulent. At the same time she had requested this highest official of the mandate government to investigate this accusation. She had distributed this letter as a pamphlet under the title "Abdul Baha's Alleged Will is Fraudulent". In his above mentioned letter of February 27, 1929, Shoghi is supposed to have expressed his opinion about this pamphlet in the following words:

"The friends meanwhile should avoid hurting Mrs.White's feelings and refrain from provocation. Her case ... should remain completely unnoticed by the believers.."20

This letter from Shoghi on February 27, 1929, was printed as the first letter in Shoghi Effendi, World Order of Baha'u'llah (New York, 1938). There, too, the above mentioned passage is missing and no marks of omission make it plain that this letter was not printed in entirety. Perhaps a scend letter was written by Shoghi Effendi on this day. Shoghi faithfully followed the directions of his mentor Machiavelli at that time: it paid to be completely quiet and wait until the storm, complete with lightning, thunder and torrents of rain intermixed with big hailstones, was over. The appearance of Mrs. White's book about The Bahai Religion and its Enemy the Bahai Organization and, one year later In 1930, the proof by the handwriting expert that the alleged testament of Abdul Baha did not corne from him were accepted nearly without question as fact by the Bahai world and then laid aside.

A few years later in Haifa, fortune smiled on the Guardian again. The heavy storms were forgotten and Shoghi sat in the saddle more securely than ever and whistled Machiavelli's tune as he wrote:

"The attitude which a besotted woman later on assumed, her ludicrous assertions, her boldness In flouting the Will of Abdul Baha and in challenging its authenticity and her attempts to subvert Its principles were again powerless to produce the slightest breach in the ranks of its valiant upholders." In the emotional excess of the victor, Shoghi writes a couple of lines later: "...these notorious exponents of corruption and heresy have succeeded in protruding for a time their ugly features only to sink, as rapidly as they had risen, into the mire of an ignominious end."21

The score of the discussions between the critics of the alleged testament of Abdul Baha and the favored Shoghi Effendi was 1:0 for the critics. Yet the great majority of Bahais were sleeping then and still clung to the Guardian, although no one saw him. If the Captain of Koepenick, alias Shoemaker Wilhelm Voigt, had the courage to put on a uniform he had bought and to keep a small town at bay with a handful of soldiers, Shoghi never had the courage to put on the self-made uniform of Guardian — continuing the comparison — and to proclaim the teachings of Baha'u'llah of the unity of mankind, the unity of religion and the necessity of world peace. "The power is mine. . .", Shoghi seemed to want to say, and in so doing ignored the opposing argument, "...yet tremble before the slow, quiet power of time." 22

It was only time which brought the further proof that the alleged testament of Abdul Baha was fraudulent. With the publication of Shoghi's greatest work, God Passes By in 1945 and Its German translation in 1954 arose the opportunity to compare passages stylistically from the book with expressions and excerpts from the alleged testament of Abdul Baha (published in toto in 1964 In Frankfurt by the Bahai Publishing Committee). Any intelligent 14-year old schoolboy can follow this linguistic comparison, and thus the expert evidence of the London handwriting expert finds confirmation from many quarters. But before this linguistic proof of coincidental expressions of one and the same author comes an historical comparison with another great falsification in the area of religion, "one of the most momentous falsifications" of history, the famous "Constantinian Grant".

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11. Words of Baha-ullah, cited in BWF, p. 431.
12. Shoghi Effendi, WOB 1938. p. I7.
13. White, Abdul Baha's Alleged Will Is Fraudulent, Rutland 1930. p. 16 f..
14. See Frankfurt edition of 1948.
15. White. Abdul Baha's Questioned Will and Tastament, Beverly Hills 1946, p. 70f:
Abdul Baha, Tablets II. 1919, p. 467, Tablets I, 1930, p. 151 f.
16. White, Bahai Religion, p. 53 f.
17. White, loc. cit, p. 27.
18. World Order of Baha'u'llah. 1938, p. 4.
19. Macchiavelli. Fischer Bucherei, 1956, p. 41.
20. The Bahai News Letter, Nr. 31 April, 1929. quoted in letters between lhe High
Commissioner of Palestine and Ruth White concerning the alleged Testament of Sir
Abdul Baha Abbas, edited by Ruth White, 1932, mimeographed in German, Stuttgart 1932, retranslated.
21. Shoghi Eflendi WOB, p. 90, Letter ol April 21, 1933.
22. F. Schiller, Wallensteins Tod, I/3.

Chapter 2.

 

II. A HISTORICAL PROOF OF THE FRAUDULENCE OF THE ALLEGED TESTAMENT OF ABDUL BAHA. 

 

A comparison of the alleged testament of the Master with the famous falsification of the "Constantinian Grant" (c. 750 A.D.) shows that this served as a model for the forger of Abdul Baha's alleged testament

"Falsification of historical sources of every kind are in abundance in medieval and modem times." (Roessler/Franz, Sachwor- terbuch zur Deutschen Geschichte, 1958, Artikel Falschungen, p. 255.)

The more a forger exerts himself, the more precisely he handles his forgery, the more certain he is that the time of discovery of his product is shifted into the future or that the falsification will never be discovered at all. The alleged testamant of French cardinal and minister of state Richelieut(1642), which was published in 1643 by a Jesuit, was shown to be unauthentic only in 1922 after the famous historian Leopold von Ranke did not recognize it as a falsification and considered it valid. The alleged testament of Peter the Great (+1725), probably put together in 1797-99, was recognized as fraudulent after hardly 100 years.

The best known historical falsification of the Middle Ages, which has made history for a long time because of its far reaching political effects on the relationship between church and state, is the so-called "Constantinian Grant". It refers to Caesar Constantine the Great, who was the first Roman emperor to tolerate Christianity and who stopped the persecution of its believers. Out of thankfulness for the healing of his leprosy he is supposed to have relinquished an extraordinarily large number of legal privileges to Pope Silvester I after conversion and baptism. This grant of Constantine's came into history with the Latin name Donatio Constantini or Constitutum Constantini (abbreviated CC). It is interesting to pursue now the parallels which exist between the alleged testament of Abdul Baha and the CC.

Alleged "WILL & TESTAMENT OF  ABDUL BAHA"	"CONSTANTIAN GRANT" Consitutum Constantini
1 "Very long document" (Ahmad Sohrab, Will, p. 13) 24 pages long as opposed to the Testament of Baha'u'llah, the founder of the Bahai religion, which is 3 pages. Baha'u'llah, Kitab-I-Ahd in BWF p. 207f.) Kitab-EI-Ahd (The Book of the Covenant) in Three Tablets of Baha'u'llah, Bahai Publishing Society Chicago 1918, p. 149f.), Will and Testament of Abdul Baha, Wilmette 1971.	1 "An Extensive Document" (Realenzyklopaedia fur Protestantische Theologie 1902, Vol. XI, p.1.)
2 The alleged Testament of Abdul Baha was divided into three parts in the translation (from the Persian); because the third part is only a repetition of the first part, it consists of only two parts in actuality. At the burial of Shoghi (Elfendi) Rabbani only parts I and II were read aloud (Ruhiyyih Khanum/John Ferraby: The Passing of Shoghi Effendi, 1958, p, 25).	2. The "Constantinian Grant" falls into 2 parts : Part I : The Silvester Legend     Part II: Concessions to the    Pope ( Die     Religion in    Geschichte und Gegenwart ,     1929, Vol. III, column 1227 f.).
3 "The Document ... signed and sealed by Abdul Baha; entirely written with His own hand." (Shoghi Effendi, GPB, p. 328).	3. The document .. - a decree of Constanline the Great to Pope Silvester ... with the date and his own signature . . ." (Johannes Haller, Das Papsttum, 1934, p. 406).
4 Abdul Baha never mentioned in his lifetime anything — either spoken or written — about a successor.	4 "Until the middle of the eighth century there was no trace to be found about this grant which was later to become so famous . . ." (Dollinger, Die Papstfabein des Mittelalters, 1890.
5 Abdul Baha died on November 28, 1921. In the middle of February in a Bahai gathering in New York a typewritten translation of his alleged Will and Testament was read aloud, without commentary. Three years later, in February 1925, typed copies of the document were distributed "only among old and recognized believers" (White, Bahai Religion 1929, p. "In view of the momentous importance of the Last Will and Testament of Abdul Baha . .. we feel that it would be inadvisable, for the present, to undertake any commentary on its contents ..." (J. E. Esslemont, Baha'u'llah and the New Era, 1923, p. 223).	5. "It is nevertheless certain that in the beginning nobody took pains to circulate It (the alleged decree of the Grant of Constantine)" (Dollinger, loc cit.p.89).
6 "This written paper . .. preserved underground . .. that certain parts of it were injured by the damp..." (Alleged Will and Testament of Abdul Baha, 1971, p. 15)	6. "Indeed, already in Rome . . .'they had let themselves be deceived by documents which had been handed down and partially mutilated" (Haller, Das Papsttum, 1950, Vol. 1. p. 437).
7 "By this body (that is, the Universal House of Justice, a kind of World Parliament - author's remarks) all the difficult problems are to be resolved and the guardian of the Cause of God is its sacred head . . ." (Alleged Will and Testament of Abdul Baha, 1971, p. 14) The "Guardian" and his heirs and/or the designated successors receive the highest sovereignty over the "House of Justice" (a kind of World Parliament chosen from all mankind) as spiritual leaders over the government of all nations of the world.	7. "Because it is not right that an earthly ruler has sovereignty where the Prince of the bishops and the Head of Christianity has been appointed by the heavenly Lord." (A section from the CC, quoted by Haller, Das Papsttum , 1934, Vol. I, p. 407)
8. "He (the Guardian) is the expounder of the words of God . . . Whatsoever they (the House of Justice and the Guardian) decide, i3s of God . .." (Alleged Will and Testament of Abdul Baha, cited in Whlte, Bahai Religion ,1929, p.179 andW.&T.1971,p.21).	8.  The forger has his pseudo -Constantine maintain, "and that the Bishop of the Holy Roman Church ... should be higher and prince over all the Bishops In the whole world and that all things concerning worship of God and belief of Christianity to be undertaken or confirmed are determined by his judgement." (Martin Lutherssammtliche Werke, ErIanger Ausgabe 1830, Vol. 25 P. 178. The article about the Constantinlan Grant, translated into German by Luther, 1537).
9, ". . . that the Hands of the Cause of God must be ever watchful and as soon as they find anyone beginning to oppose and protest against the Guardian of the Cause of God, cast him out from the congregation of the people of Baha. . ." (Alleged Will and Testament of Abdul Baha, cited in White, Bahai Alleged "Will and Testament of Abdul Baha" Religion, 1929, p. 179 and W.&T. 1971, p. 12)	9. "Further, under the name of Constantine, the right is given . . . to have a bodyguard." (Doellinger, loc. cit. p. 87).
10 Threats by the Pseudo-Abdul Baha directed toward those who do not listen to the Guardian: "May the wrath, the fierce indignation, the vengeance ot God rest upon him" (Alleged Will and Testament of Abdul Baha, cited In White, Bahai Religion, 1929, p. 179 and W.&T. 1971, p. 21).	10. The fictitious Constantine wishes that every offender "should be bound and subjected to eternal damnation ... and burn and rot with the devil and all the godless in the deepest hell". (quoted by Martin Luther, loc. cit. p. 181.)
11. Immediately upon the entrance of a new believer into the Bahai community, the applicant is bound fourfold by the alleged testament. In Shoghi's own words, "I would only venture to state very briefly . . . the principle factors that must be taken Into consideration before deciding whether a person may be regarded a true believer or not." a "Full recognition of the station of the Forerunner (the Bab), the Author (Baha'u'llah) and the True Exemplar of the Bahai Cause, as set forth in Abdul Baha's Testament; b Unreserved acceptance of, and submission to, whatsoever has been revealed by their Pen (therefore also of the alleged Testament of Abdul Baha - remarks by the author); c Loyal and steadfast adherence to every clause of our Beloved's sacred Will: and d Close association with the spirit as well as the form of the present-day Bahai Administration throughhout the world (Shoghi Effendi, Bahai Administration, 1968, p. 90, included in Article II "By-Laws of the National Spiritual Assembly", De claration of Trust and By-Laws, Wilmette 1969, p. 9)	11 . The power of the Popes had become so strong that they forced the emperor to acknowledge the "Constantinian Grant" at his coronation: "Clement V . . . arranged it so that the German Emperor Heinrich VII swore confirmation of the Constantinian Grant in his royal oath . . ." (Helmut Luepke, Historische Falschungen als Werkzeug der Politik, 1939, p. 13).
12. Falsifiers and covenant breakers who want to destroy the divine teachings and against whom one must defend himself, are mentioned on fourteen of the twenty-six pages of the testament. The tiring, unceasing repetition of these relatively minor falsifications and their creators-which had actually taken place earlier, particularly at the death of Baha'u'llah and Abdul Baha's acceptance of the responsibility for the teachings-is supposed to mislead mankind about the mammoth falsification at the death of Abdul Baha and the discovery of his alleged Will and Testament. About the contradictions in the alleged testament of Abdul Baha, more is later spoken.	12 "People have despised to this day ... the use of fraudulent documents and therefore have had a right to consider themselves exalted over the 'treachery of the Greeks' who had to use these means more often .. ." (Johannes Haller, 1950, loc. cit. p. 437). In reference to the Pseudo-Isidore Decrees, Johannes Haller speaks of "endless repetitions and occasional contradictions". (Johannes Haller, Nikolaus I. und Pseudo-lsidor, 1936, p. 171). The Pseudo-lsidorian Decrees are a collection of church laws and privileges with valid, invalidated and forged edicts and documents in which the Constantinian Grant was also contained. Its editor called himself Isidor Mercator, probably after the famous Bishop Isidore of Seville (632).
13. At every opportunity, mention of the "Will and Testament" was made by Shoghi and is still made today by the organization. The thing that should be tested serves as a basis of proof !	13 The "Constantinian Grant" represents the absolute legal basis for the papal party.
14. The fictitious testament is the foundation of administrative arrangement and of the whole organization.	14 From the eleventh century on, the fictitious document, this "Constantinian Grant" plays a fateful role in the argumentation of the papal party for the realization of their claim to world authority. (Article on "Konstantinische Schenkung" in RGG, 1959, Vol. Ill, column 1787.)
15 The alleged testament of Abdul Baha has become the Magna Charta, the great carte-blanche for the Bahai organization and the basis for re-evaluation and devaluation of the Bahai religion. Further parallels between the pronouncements of the Guardian Shoghi Effendi and his followers and those of the "Constantinian Grant".	15 The "Constantinian Grant" strongly influenced the course of history In the Middle Ages.
16 "By leaving certain matters unspecitied and unregulated in His Book of Laws, Baha'u'llah seems to have deliberately left a gap in the general scheme of Bahai Dispensation ." (Shoghi Effendi, WOB, p. 4).	16 The concessions of Constantine mean the restitution of the rights to Peter which had been withheld from him up to this point.
17 Also to Shoghi's Administration, Matthew 22:21, "Render unto Caesar. .." is no longer valid. Just as invalid is the statement, "My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36: the fictitious testament proves this. The Bahai organization thinks it must take over political power (cf. also Sears, Thief in the Night, 1961, p. 148f.).	17 'The Constantinian Grant belongs to the genre of great ecclesiastical falsifications which the Popes and their lawyers have known how to use as an effective weapon against the empire throughout the centuries" (Roessler/Franz, Sachwor- terbuch zur Deutschen Geschichte, 1958, p. 555). "Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's..." is likewise antiquated.
18 Did not Shoghi Eflendi likewise Interpret the legal basis for the "Bahai World State" from the Will andTestament of the pseudo-Abdul Baha? Only in tha Shoghi era were the words of Jesus, "Render unto Caesar.. .", still absolutely valid to Baha'u'llah and Abdul Baha, replaced by: "the idea of religion giving a law to the nation". (Shoghi Effendi, WOB 1938, New York, introduction by H. Holley, p. VI).	18 "Innocent IV... the one who interpreted the legal basis for the Christian state from the former legal basis for papal rights and claims . . ." (Luepke, loc. cit. p. 13).
19 Ahmad Sohrab gives sharp, Justified criticism about tha interpretation of the Bahai teachings by Shoghi and the organization; however, he does not question the validity of the document.	19 The heretics in the thirteenth century did not attack the validity of the document.
20 Pseudo-Abdul Baha's Will and Testament was supposed to play a role in world history. However, already in 1930 the American Ruth White made public the conclusion of research on Abdul Baha's fictitious testament by a recognized London handwriting authority in a brochure, "Abdul Baha's Alleged Will is Fraudulent". No line of the long testament Is identical with the handwriting of Abdul Baha. Also the four signatures on the envelope do not come from him.	20 The "Constantinian Grant" played a role In world history until its discovery by the humanist Valla in 1440, whose 'declamatio' was printed in 1519 by Ulrich von Hutten and was translated in 1537 by Martin Luther.
21 In Russia, where the first Bahai temple was built, the movement was prohibited in 1938 thanks to the politicalization of the Bahai religion. Many really enthusiastic believers in the religion of Baha'u'llah were repulsed by this political trend and have become "Free Bahais", only following the teachings and not the organization.	21 "And it (the Constantinian Grant) also remains the faithful companion to the papal claims, always alive to the domination of the church over the state and thereby at the same time to world domination." (Luepke, loc. cit. p. 12.)
22 The Bahai Organization acts like Shoghi: It Ignores all attacks. On the other hand it buys up the entire critical literature about the problem of the Testament and its effects on the teachings of Baha'u'llah and Abdul Baha, published by believers in the Bahai teachings existing outside the Organization. These publications are swept up from the American bookmarket, whether new or second hand. Neither through recognized International booksellers nor with the help of American friends is it possible to supply oneself with such publications. Thus Ruth White's prediction has come true: that the Bahai Organization would do everything to suppress the brochure of Badi'u'-llah: "The Epistle to the Bahai World" and thus to withhold It from future generations. That the same thing would happen with her own writings is the logical consequence (See White, Bahai Religion, p. 127).	22 "After the inferior work (of the Constantinian Grant) was discovered in the fifteenth century, the incipient attempt to dispute the fact of the falsification by the Papal Court and its disciples was finally given up as hopeless." (H. Brunner, Das "Constitutum Constantini" in 'Festgabe fur Rudolf von Gneist, 1888, p. 3f.)
23 From his study of the "Constantinian Grant" it became obvious to the creator of the alleged Will end Testament of Abdul Baha that this religious falsification was believed for about 1,000 years in the Christian-Catholic community. Is not the statement of Mrs. Shoghi, "It may take a thousand years to correctly appraise the implications of Abdul Baha's Will and Testament. . ." (Ruhiyyih Khanum, Twenty-five Years of the Guardianship, 1948, p. 26), is not this statement a proof of the complicity of this woman in the spectacular falsification"?	23 It was 1,000 years before the Catholic church gave up the claim of the validity of the Constantinian Grant. "Since the middle of the nineteenth century the contents of the Constantinian Grant have been considered fraudulent by the Catholic party. (Lexikon fur Theologie und Kirche, 1961, Vol. VI, column 484.)
24 After the death of Shoghi, who had no children and who had named no successor for the Guardian dynasty, as defined by the alleged testament, the "Guardianship" was abolished (1963) — but Shoghism has remained.	24 The attitude of the Catholic church toward the fictitious grant until the beginning of the 19th century: "Its outer form is invalid; the contents of the marvelous Grant of Constantine is valid." (Realenzykiopaedie fur protestantische Theologie, 1902, Vol. XI, p. 5.)
	25 What would have been the consequences for the fabricator of the "Constantinian Grant" if he had been caught? H. Brunner concerns himself with this problem in the above-mentioned essay according to Roman, Lombardian and Frankish law. (H. Brunner, loc. cit., p. 34f.)

In contrast to the "Constantinian Grant", the falsification of Abdul Baha's valid last will and testament brought no direct disadvantages for the state or to the individual nations but it damaged the new religion itself. Is it not a judgement of God if Shoghi does not have his last resting place in the midst of his splendid gardens under the dome made of 12,000 or more gilded tiles beside Abdul Baha and the Bab? Instead, his resting place is beside that of Mr. X and Mrs. Y in one of the countless graveyards of London, one of the world's largest cities. Whether Shoghi was fleeing the Asian flu or purchasing furniture In London for his new archives is an irrelevance. And what does Machiaveili, who may well be regarded as Shoghi's guide to power, have to say about such a matter? "Among all men who are valued, the heads and founders of the religions are the most highly valued. Unhonored and despicable, on the other hand, are the destroyers of religion."

Our task, however, is not to judge but to clarify and to present clearly. In the memory of future generations, Shoghi Effendi will live long as the Judas Iscariot of the Bahai Religion who betrayed the religion of Baha'u'llah for might and money!  With most of these contrasting points from the alleged Will and Testament of Abdul Baha as well as with the statements quoted from the different historical researchers who have dealt with the Constantinian Grant, one is automatically reminded of words from "Tosca": "How the pictures resemble one another!" Set this alongside Shoghi's small work. The Promised Day Is Come which was published in 1943 in Wilmette, Illinois, USA. When we browse through this paper we are stunned —it is a political tract, not a religious one. Here Shoghi leads us to the sources of the alleged testament of Abdul Baha and shows us how intensively he had studied medieval church history and the battle between church and state, and how he had absorbed it when he writes, "Innocent III who, during the eighteen years of his pontificate, raised and deposed the kings and the emperors, whose interdicts deprived nations of the exercise of Christian worship, at the feet of whose legate the King of England surrendered his crown..." (Shoghi Effendi, The Promised Day Is Come, 1967, p. 56). An earlier quoted German researcher wrote of this same pope, "The worldly domination of the papacy over the whole earth proclaimed by Innocent III is based on that Constantinian Grant..." (Luepke, loc. cit., p. 13) Thereby every doubt that Shoghi diligently studied the "Constantinian Grant" and used it as a basis for his inferior work of the alleged Will and Tesfament of Abdul Baha may be eliminated. This fabrication fits the situation after the death of Abdul Baha "like a key into a keyhole". (Johannes Haller, dbs Papsttum, 1934, p. 407.)

PART TWO

Book of Ruth White

Is the Bahai Organization
the Enemy of the Bahai Religion? 

An Appendix to Abdul Baha and the Promised Age.  

Ruth White

Seven years have elapsed since the passing of Abdul Baha’ollah and it is with mingled feelings of regret, as well as from a sense of duty, that  I add this chapter to my book.

Two months after the death of Abdul Baha’ollah his sister sent the following cablegram to this country:

January 16, 1922

Haifa, Wilhelmite, N. Y.

In will, Shoghi Effendi appointed Guardian of the Cause and Head of House of Justice.

(Signed) GREATEST  Holy Leaf.

A typewritten translation of the alleged will arrived in America four weeks later and was read by Mr. Horace Holley to a gathering of Baha’is.

The appointment of a successor came as a thunderbolt out of a clear sky to all the Baha’is, as Abdul Baha’ollah had given no hint that he intended to appoint a successor. On the contrary, he said that after him the power of the Baha’i Cause was to vest in what will be known as Houses of Justice. Among many instances that could be cited is the following, published in the official magazine of the Baha’i organisation. The Star of the West, November 23, 1913, p. 238:

In case of difference, Abdul Baha’ollah must be consulted. . . . After Abdul Baha’ollah whenever the Universal House of Justice is organized it will ward off differences.

Commenting on the above the editors of The Star of the West, in a footnote of the December 31, 1913, issue express in the following the belief current among the Baha’is during the lifetime of Abdul Baha’ollah:

The cycle of Baha’ollah’ extends for one thousand or thousands of years from 1844 A.D.; but it is unique in that the "Most Great Characteristic" of the New Covenant is the appointment of a Center, which is now in the person of Abdul Baha’ollah, and after him shall be vested in the Universal House of .Justice for a period of one thousand or thousands of years.

At the time the document was read I neither accepted it nor rejected it. I felt that if it were true the results of the adminis­tration of Shoghi Effendi would be one of the strongest proofs of its authenticity. If it were not true, then time and circum­stances would eventually cause the truth to become known.

This stand on my part caused me no embarrassment in as much as I had never belonged to the Bahai organization (Spiritual Assemblies). For from my personal contact with Abdul Baha’ollah, as well as from all of his teachings, and those of Baha’ollah’, I realized that one of their chief aims was to eradicate the clan consciousness from man, and bring him into the universal consciousness, and not as the Baha’is were doing into an organization, or a box. In primitive times the clan idea, or organization, was the great achievement. For man was so lacking in the conscious­ness of the oneness of mankind that he had to be educated into so simple an organization as the family life. Little by little he was led to broaden his conception from family to tribe and from tribe to country. But that which was a splendid thing and very necessary at one stage in the life of an individual, or a race, becomes not only unnecessary at a later stage but harmful as well. For in exact accordance as people increase in numbers in these different boxes, or organizations, do they use the force of numbers to impose their will upon the rest of the race. So that today we witness the same old primitive warfare of tribe against tribe, only as it is now called organization, and is conducted on a larger scale, we lose sight of the fact that the principle is the same as that which governed the primitive races. And this was the martyrdom of Abdul Baha’ollah. He spoke for the maturity of the age and hoped his followers would catch a glimpse of that matur­ity, and not be content with the effete methods of the past.

Now while I do not mean to imply that 1 understand this maturity, yet I do know that only as we function on the universal plane do we catch glimpses of it. The many tests that befall us blur these glimpses, if we succumb to them. Butwith each test that we overcome the Truth grows clearer. One of the tests that beset me, just after I had become interested in the Baha’i Cause, was an offer to travel as a paid teacher in order to promulgate the Baha’i Message. But I refused this offer, because Iknew that the door of further spiritual enlightment would close unless I kept my religion inviolate from money, and love, of leadership, as Abdul Baha’ollah had cautioned his followers to do.* (*See page 208 on tests)

These were my convictions when I visited Abdul Baha’ollah at Haifa, Palestine in 1920. Therefore, one day when he very opportunely spoke of certain conditions existing in America among the Baha’is, I mentioned to him that 1 had never belonged to the Baha’i or­ganization (Spiritual Assemblies). His face beamed with happi­ness as he replied:

Good, very good. The organization that the Baha’is have among themselves has nothing to do with the teachings of Baha’ollah. The teachings of Baha’ollah are universal and cannot be confined to a sect.

This same thought runs through all the writings of Baha’ollah and of Abdul Baha’ollah. It is expressed in many different ways, ranging from the above, and the following unequivocal statement: "The Baha’i Religion is not an organization. You can never organize the Baha’i Cause," to the less obvious way of saving the same thing. For instance, Abdul Baha’ollah says that it will be impossible to create any schism in the Baha’i Religion. The Baha’is have inter­preted this as meaning that two Baha’i organizations cannot be formed when, us a matter of fact, both Baha’ollah and Abdul Baha’ollah show that no organization can be formed. The moment a person joins the Baha’i organization he is following a "particular meeting of unity" which Abdul Baha’ollah in the following says he should not do:

O friends! It is the wish of Abdul Baha’ollah that the friends may establish general unity and not a particular meeting of unity. You must have great consideration of this fact, for while during past cycles such events were, in the beginning, a means of harmony, they became in the end the cause of trouble.

But to return to the subject of the alleged will of Abdul Baha. Although the document had been read at a meeting of Baha’is in February, 1922, at which I was present, yet it was not until three years later, in February, 1925, that typewritten copies of the document were distributed only among "old and recognized be­lievers" with the permission of Shoghi Effendi. I was presented with a copy.

The reason that the will had come as such a complete surprise was because Abdul Baha not only had given no hint that he intended to appoint a successor but he declared himself in unmis­takable terms against such a policy. The following was spoken at a Persian meeting and was recorded by his secretary, Mirza Ahmad Sohrab, July 19, 1913. This was five or six years after the appointment of a successor was supposed to have been made:

The Blessed Perfection* (*Baha’ollah) has up torn the root of the tree of superstition and religious offices. In the Past the ambitious leaders of religions have been the cause of the retrogression and ignorance of a nation. In this Cause there are no religious titles, no cere­monies of ordination. One is not respected simply because he wears a peculiar dress or carries a religious title, or has inherited it from the Fathers. No! These are not the marks of distinction. On the other hand, those SANCTIFIED souls, the signs of their divine sanctity and spirituality become apparent in the hearts of others. People are unconsciously attracted to them through their pure morality, their justice and loving kindness. Everyone is drawn to them through their praiseworthy attributes, and pleas­ing qualities and all the faces are illumined by the light of their virtues and integrity. In this movement there is no title to be given to anyone; no See to be inherited by any person. "The Hands of the Cause” are the Hands of Truth. Therefore whosoever is the promoter and the servant of the Word of God he is the hand of Truth. By the "hands of God" certain definite meanings are con­noted. It is not only a verbal expression. Whosoever is more humble in the Cause of God he is more confirmed, and whosoever is more evanescent, he is more favored.

And again Abdul Baha says:

"There are no officers in this Cause. I do not and have not 'Appointed' anyone to perform any special service, but I encourage everyone to engage in the service of the Kingdom. The foundation of   this   Cause   is   pure   spiritual   democracy   and   not   a theocracy."

From the Diary of Ahmad Sohrab.

The keynote of the teachings of Baha’ollah and of Abdul Baha is freedom of conscience and freedom from the clan conception of life. Therefore the appointment of a successor, endowed with all the powers of a pope, to whom all must turn in obedience, means a reversal of all that they taught during their lifetimes. For instance in "A Traveller's Narrative," edited and translated from the Persian by Professor Edward G. Browne, there is a summary of  Baha’ollah’s teachings on the freedom of conscience, part of which is. as follows:

. . . the conscience of man is sacred and to be respected; and that liberty thereof produces widening of ideas, amendment of morals, improvement of conduct, disclosure of the secrets of creation, and manifestation of the hidden verities of the con­tingent world. . . . So in the world of existence two persons unanimous in all grades (of thought) and all beliefs cannot be found. "The ways unto God are as the number of the breaths of (His) creatures,” isa mysterious truth. . . .

Every line of the teachings of Baha’ollah and of Abdul Baha breaths forth this spirit of freedom. Then what a shock to come in contact with the mutilations to which the leaders of the Baha’i organization have subjected these teachings, such as the following by Mr. Horace Holley, who is the paid secretary and leader of the Spiritual Assembly:

. . . the individual conscience must be subordinated to the decisions of the Spiritual Assembly, . . .

P. 55, Bahai Year Book, 1926, Vol. I.

Could inversion of the teachings of Baha’ollah and of Abdul Baha go further than this: To organize the religion which these founders said could not be organized—to have paid officials and teachers in the religion which the founders said must be kept free from paid officials—and finally, to cap the climax, to have one of the paid officials declare, that the individual conscience must be subordinated to the Spiritual Assembly!

In order to understand how the leaders of the Baha’i organiza­tion came to see the Baha’i  Religion in this inverted manner, it will be necessary to show that they have confused two aspects of the teachings of Baha’ollah and of Abdul Baha, as meaning the same, thing. One aspect is the path of personal attainment which Baha’ollah describes with great beauty in "The Seven Valleys." Abdul Baha’ confirms this path of personal attainment as being the only sign of real faith. That is, we can be Baha’is only through deeds and not through words. To assist in promulgating the Cause, wherever there are nine believers, an assembly may be established. The members of these assemblies are counseled to correspond with the members of the other assemblies all over the world, in order to promote international good-will. But Abdul Baha’ shows in the following that even these assemblies are not necessary:

Regarding the Spiritual Assembly (Board of Consultation, Working Committee, House of Spirituality), this is not the House of Justice. It is a purely Spiritual Assembly, and belongs to spiritual matters, and that is, to teach the Cause of God, and diffuse the fragrance of God.

If the believers arise in the accomplishment of this work, the existence of the Spiritual Assembly will not become absolutely necessary or obligatory. The aim is to teach the Cause of God and spread the fragrance of God. In California they have no Board, but the teaching of the Cause is being done.            

Instructions of Abdul Baha, November 1, to the members of the spiritual meeting.

. . . How I was pleased with the friends in California! They said: "We do not want a committee of consultation, lest we fail into the thought of leadership and superiority, and become the cause of dissension; ... we are serving according to our capacity, and have no thought or aim except the spreading of the fragrances of God."              

Diary of Mirza Mahmood, November, 1912.

The Cause of God is like unto a college. . . . The students must show the results of their study in their department and deeds, otherwise they have wasted their lives. Now the friends must so live and conduct themselves as to bring greater glory and results to the Religion of God. To them the Cause of God must be dynamic force, transforming the lives of men, and not a question of meetings, committees, futile discussions, unnecessary debates, and political wire-pulling.

Extract   from  Ahmad’s  Diary.   Lake  Tiberias,  Syria,  May 6, 1914

Furthermore Abdul Baha says that the ideal assembly is the attainment to the spiritual condition that the disciples of Christ experienced when they gathered together after his crucifixion.

Only as mankind succeeds in putting the principles of the first aspect into practice will the second aspect come into existence. This deals with the government of the future state. That is, when the majority of the peoples of the world become Bahais through deeds, they will naturally want to vote for the laws which Baha’ollah and  Abdul Baha have outlined for the economic readjustment of the affairs of the world. This is as follows: In each country of the world there will be established, by universal vote, what will be known as Houses of Justice. These will take the place of our senates and parliaments of the world. From the members there will be established a Universal House of Justice. One of the ordinances of the House of Justice will be the Laws of Inheritance:

. . .seven classes inherit-children, wives, fathers, mothers, brother's, sisters and teachers. In the absence of one or more of these classes, the share which would belong to them goes to the House of Justice" (Beytul-Adl) to be expended on the  poor, the fatherless and widows, or on useful public works. . . .*
 See   The   Journal   of   the   Royal  Asiatic   Society,  1889,   pp. 948-949.

(* Professor E. G. Browne had several Mss. of the Lawh-i-Akdas of Baha’ollah in Persian and this is his translation and summary of one of these laws.)

Another ordinance of the House of Justice will be the law of Huquq. This is similar to our present income-tax laws, and these two laws will help equalize the wealth of the world so that there will no longer be the extremes of wealth and poverty. But Abdul Baha makes it very clear that this will take place only by the vote of the majority of the peoples of the world. The people naturally will obey these Houses of Justice in the same way that we obey our governments  today (or should obey). Abdul Baha says:

. . . The House of Justice will be appointed by the people. It must be obeyed because it is the Law of God expressed through the people by their own will and voice.
... It is the centre of true government and must be obeyed in all things, it is the Law of God embodied in the people, reflecting His Will and their need and desire; not blindly  following command.          

Ten Days in the Light of Acca, p. 24.

And again in "The Light of the World," pp. 102-103:

Each state, for instance New York, will have one House of Justice. The cities (of that state) will be under that House of Justice. The nations will choose directly the International House of Justice and everything will be in its hands. For instance, Syria will have a House of Justice. The people will elect it. Then this House of Justice of Syria (as a state under the: Turkish Empire) will elect the House of Justice of Constantinople. Then Con­stantinople, London, Paris, Washington and so on will elect the International House of Justice.

All during the lifetimes of Baha’ollah and Abdul Baha the words "Beytul-Adl," which literally mean "House of the Just," were translated as meaning just what they mean—House of Justice. But since the death of Abdul Baha these words have been mistranslated as meaning "Spiritual Assembly." That is by sub­stituting the words "Spiritual Assembly" for "House of Justice" it makes the writings of Baha’ollah and of Abdul Baha read as if they meant that the Spiritual Assemblies should be obeyed, instead of which they mean that we should obey the future state when it is called "House of Justice," exactly as we are commanded to obey our governments today. Also in the alleged will the tax, which will be one of the ordinances of the future government, and which is to be paid to the House of Justice, is to be paid to Shoghi Effendi.

These inversions and others have taken place .so gradually that many of the Baha’is are unconscious of the extent of these inver­sions. It is therefore a constant source of wonder, that, for some unaccountable reason to themselves, intelligent people shy off when they try to persuade them to come into their organization, or box. They have, therefore, resorted to indirect methods of propaganda, and they have organized "World Unity Conferences" and a magazine called World Unity and a World Unity Foundation. Shoghi Effendi wrote to the Assemblies in 1926 as follows:

In connection with the World Unity Conferences, ... as to the policy that should be adopted with regard to these conferences and other Baha’i activities in general, . . . the National Spiritual Assemblies should . . . resort to the twofold method of directly and indirectly winning the enlightened public to the unqualified acceptance of the Baha’i faith. The one method would assume an open, decisive and challenging tone. The other, . . . would be progressive and  cautious. . . .

Bahai Administration by Shoghi Effendi, pp. 114-115.

The World Unity Conferences are held in all the large cities, but no mention is made from the platform that it is a Baha’i activity. The Bahais flock to these meetings to do what they call "follow-up work" among those who evidence any interest. Then the process begins of trying to achieve the impossible. That is, these teachers who do "follow-up work" try to interest those who have just heard universal principles propounded from the platform, to accept the inverted conception of these principles, and join their organization and become clan conscious. Mr. Horace Holley, is one of the leaders of the Baha’i organisation, and yet as one of the leaders of World Unity Conferences, and as managing editor of. World Unity Magazine he represents himself as a modernist. And for promulgating these irreconcilable viewpoints he receives a salary from both sides of the organization.

The Baha’is do not call their activities "organization" because they know that the founders of the Baha’i religion said it could not be organized. Therefore, Shoghi Effendi and the Baha’is have tried toside-step this issue by calling their activities "Baha’i Administration." This despite the fact that since the death of Abdul Baha they have incorporated the Baha’i Religion, and have even made it an article of faith that unless one belongs to their corporation, and subordinates one's conscience to it one is not to be considered a Baha’i. Some of the activities of their corporation are: collecting funds to build the Baha’i Temple—financing their paid officials, and their Green Acre Summer School—delivering lectures at their headquarters 119 West 57th Street, and in other large cities—publishing The Baha’i Magazine, as well as their indirect activities flourishing under World Unity Conferences.

In December, 1925, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States and Canada issued a pamphlet,
"A Plan of Unified Action to Spread the Baha’i Cause." The object of this plan was to make a drive to raise $100,000, as the following quotations show:

The objects of the plan are, in brief, to unify the efforts and enlarge the numbers of the Cause in North America, penetrate the consciousness of the public with the spirit of Baha’ollah, and, by the end of three years at most, accumulate, in response to the request of Shoghi Effendi, a fund of $400,000 to construct the first unit of the superstructure of the Mushriqu'l-Adhkar *  (* Baha’i Temple) at Wilmette, Illinois.

... It is the fixed and unalterable intention of the National Spiritual Assembly to so administer the affairs of the Cause, and so assist the friends, that the amount specified by the Guardian (Shoghi Effendi) – 4,00,000— can be gathered together by De­cember 31, 1928. . . .

To carry this plan steadily forward to a successful conclusion means that contributions must average nine dollars per month from every confirmed American Baha'i beginning January, 1926, and continued uninterruptedly until December, 1928.

At the end of the three-year period the condition of the Fund will be laid before the Guardian of the Cause. . . .

One of the pamphlets and a letter soliciting contributions to this fund, were mailed to me. Without remembering at the time that both Baha’ollah and Abdul Baha had forbidden soliciting, or begging in any form, I made several contributions. Shortly after this I realized that such policies, and others that the leaders of the Bahai organization were advocating, were contrary to the principles of the Baha’i Religion, one of which was that it should be kept inviolate from money and other worldly con­siderations, such as paid officials, and paid teachers. And it was because I saw that under the administration of Shoghi Effendi the Baha’i teachings had not only become more and more inverted, but more and more commercialized that I at last de­manded of the National Spiritual Assembly that they send for photographic copies of the alleged will, and have this document examined by the best handwriting expert. I based my demand on the fact that the Baha’i organization had asked me to subscribe to this fund, and that I had donated to it, without knowledge at the time that the will had not been legally authenticated. In this demand that I made on December 3, 1927, to the nine following members of the Spiritual Assembly: Mr. Horace Holley, Mr. Roy C. Willhelm, Mr. Alfred Lunt, Mr. Allen McDaniel, Mr. Carl Scheffler, Mr. Louis Gregory, Mrs. Amelia Collins, Mrs. May Maxwell, and Mrs. Florence Morton, I also called their attention to the many warnings ofAbdul Baha had given the Baha’is not to accept Tablets purporting to be his which gave authority to any person, such as in the following:

. . . be most careful and attentive that it is in my writing and my signature, that they may not be counterfeits.

Four weeks later, on December 31,  I received a reply from Mr. Holley, part of which is as follows:

Cable Address

Bahai, New York.

National spiritual Assembly Of the Baha’is’ Of The United States and Canada

Office  of the Secretary;

129 East Tenth Street,

New York City

December 31, 1927

My Dear Mrs.  White:

Although you have indicated several points on which you desire explanation or comment, we feel that your letter raises only one fundamental question, namely, the validity of the Will and Testa­ment of 'Ahdu'l-Baha. Since this Will appoints a Guardian to administer the administrative affairs of the Cause, and since the Guardian has approved the matters you question, it of course follows that those who really desire to conform to the wishes and instructions of 'Abdul Baha will accept His instructions concern­ing administrative affairs as soon as they know what these instructions are.

We can, therefore, give you full assurance that the Will and Testament of 'Abdul Baha, a copy of which was sent you over two years ago, is a document written by Him in His own hand, the validity of which has been established by a number of well-known Baha'is from different countries who inspected the original at Haifa.

Apart from this entirely convincing proof, it is a matter of interesting historical record that, when the custody of one of the Bahai tombs at Haifa was questioned after the departure of 'Abdul Baha the finaldecision lay in the hands of the representa­tive of the British Government administering Palestine under the. mandate of the League of Nations, and after full investigation he restored the keys of the Tomb to the Guardian appointed in the Will und Testament of 'Abdul-Baha’.

As no photographic copies of this document exist in the country, we are unable to meet your request for such a copy. In view of the fact that the world-wide Baha'i community naturally most concerned with establishing- the completeness and accuracy of Abdul Baha’s final instruction to His followers, has been .satis­fied with the verbal accuracy of His Will and Testament; and in view also of the fact that the highest civil authorities of Palestine have also accepted the Guardian as the administrative head of the Baha'i Cause, we know that you may rest assured that obedience to Abdul-Baha at this time means obedience to the Guardian appointed by Him in all matters pertaining to the Baha'i Cause."

(Signed)   HORACE HOLLEY, Secretary.

This letter was wholly unsatisfactory because Mr. Holley and the National Spiritual Assembly had evaded answering the ques­tion at issue, which was that they had no legal, or spiritual, right to represent the Baha’is, inasmuch as they based their authority on an unauthenticated will in disobedience to the commands of the maker of the alleged will. Furthermore, the "representative of the British Government" had not had the will authenticated legally as no direct property was involved and no one had contested it to the point of insisting upon this tiring done.

As Mr. Mountford Mills was one of the "well known Baha’is" who had gone to Palestine shortly after the passing of Abdul Baha, I wrote to him asking him to give me what information he could concerning the alleged will. He answered as follows;

THE HAVARD CLUB

27 West  44th St.

NEW York City

January 19th  1928

Dear Mrs. White,

I have your letter of yesterday and have also received the copies of your earlier letters to the National Spiritual Assembly and to Mr. Holley, all bearing upon the question whether the Will accepted by the National Spiritual Assembly as Abdul Baha’s Last Testament is really so. Needless to say, I am glad to give you any information I can relating to the matter.

Answering more specifically the questions in your letter to me, it  is signed by him.

Its parts written before the Master's seal was stolen from him in this country arc sealed.

It is not dated, but its approximate date appears from its contents.

It has not been probated in the sense that we use the word, as there is no provision under the laws of Islam for such a pro­ceeding. It has, however, been officially recognized by the British Government, the Mandatory Power now governing Palestine.

Ihope these answers will satisfy the doubts that have arisen in your mind concerning the authenticity of the Will. Please let me know. I have enjoyed exceptional opportunities to learn the facts about it and do not hesitate to assure you that the document of which copies have been circulated among the Baha’is in this country is the Last Will and Testament of Abdul Baha and embodies his final and most sacred message to his followers.

Sincerely Yours,

(Signed)    MOUNTFORD Mills.

Then upon further questioning he wrote again as follows:

THE HAVARD CLUB
27 West  44th St.

January 22nd  1928

Dear Mrs. White,

I have your letter of yesterday.

As I wrote in my last letter, the formal standards in executing wills here required by our laws cannot be applied to the Will of Abdul Baha. Viewing it through the eye of our custom so far as possible, however, we should consider its three parts as forming his main Will to which two codicils had been added, all three parts being his Last Will and Testament. This is the view I took when writing you. It also seems beyond question that this was the Master's own intention. The three parts were filed together in one place by him, with the evident intent that they should be read together as one document.

Answering your specific questions.

All three sections are signed by Abdul Baha.

The first two sections are sealed.

All three sections are in the handwriting of Abdul Baha.

The Master's seal was stolen during his visit to this country in 1912.

The first two sections were thus obviously written before 1912, the last section after his return to Palestine in 1913. A closer approximation to the exact dates can be drawn from events referred to in the separate sections, but I have not this data with me here. As explained above, following our occidental terminology, there is but one Will with two codicils, the three parts having been written at different dates.

The commands of Abdul Baha which you quote, concerning the identification of letters alleged to have been written by him were given out with special reference to Orientals who might come to this country and mingle with the Friends with the purpose of creating differences among them, and it has always been supposed that the commands were given with particular reference to Dr. _____, who, us you know, did come here shortly afterwards. That these instructions could not have been intended to apply in full detail to all of the Master's writings is clearly shown by the innumerable Tablets sent to us that were almost never written in his own hand beyond the signature. However, 1 agree with you entirely that he would wish even more strongly that anyone feeling that he had reasonable grounds to doubt the authenticity of so gravely important a document as his Will should take every reasonable precaution to be sure.

Sincerely,

(Signed) MOUNTFORD MILLS.

.

In response to other letters that I wrote to the National Spiritual Assembly, reiterating my demand that they send for photographs of the alleged will, and have it examined by hand­writing experts, I received a reply from Mr. Holley, asking me to meet the members of the Spiritual Assembly, I accepted this invitation and met them on February 25, 1928. The object of the meeting on their part was, apparently, to try to make me believe that I should accept this document on faith, or on verbal and circumstantial evidence. I, on my part, tried to make them realize that to accept it in this manner was disobedience to the commands of Abdul Baha such us the following which, though it sounds severe, yet was necessary inasmuch as Mohammed Ali and his colleagues were continually trying to undermine the teachings of Abdul Baha:

Any Persian, … (who comes to America) . . . even if it is Shoghi Effendi, or Rouhi Effendi (the two grandsons of Abdul Baha) the friends must demand of him before anything else, his credential letter written in my handwriting, or signed with my signature.          

(Signed) ABDUL BAHA ABBAS.

From Star of the West, October 16, 1915.

They contended, just as Mr. Mills had in his letter to me, that this referred lo a certain relative of Abdul Baha’s. I maintained that it referred to anyone, and that it made no difference whether a person brought a letter or document, or sent one, purporting to be Abdul Baha's which gave him authority, this command applied equally to either case, and that it applied overwhelmingly in the case of his alleged will. For that gave Shoghi Effendi more poten­tial authority than a king or a pope. At this meeting I learned that the photographs of the alleged will, which I had requested three months prior to this meeting, had not even been sent for.

The next day, before the meeting adjourned, I sent the members of the Spiritual Assembly, a letter by special delivery demanding that they cable to Mr. Allen Me Daniel, who was then in Haifa, and request him to bring back the photographs when he returned, In response to this letter Mr. Holley wrote that the photographs had been sent  for.

But on April 25, as I had received no assurance to numerous inquiries I had made that the photographs had even been started on the way, and hearing that photographs of this document existed in London, I sailed for England for the twofold purpose of securing this document, and also to observe the effects of the adminis­tration of the Bahai Cause under Shoghi Effendi. Due to a very fortunate combination of circumstances that had happened several years earlier, I succeeded in obtaining the photographs of the alleged will.

In England, as well as in Germany, I found that the admin­istration of Shoghi Effendi had brought chaos to the Baha’i Cause, Lady Blomfield, whom I met on several occasions, said that there was practically no longer a Baha’i Cause in England, and she had come to the conclusion that the Baha’i Cause cannot he organized. She had asked Abdul Baha in 1911 if he approved of the Houses of Spirituality (the organized groups of Baha’is also called Spiritual Assemblies). He replied as follows:

If you had lived in the time of His Holiness the Christ which would you have chosen to be—one of his disciples, or a member of the Council of Trent?

She replied: Without question I would have chosen to be one of His disciples. But if  by my presence I could have leavened and helped the Council of Trent, then I would have chosen to he one of them.

Lady Blomfield now perceives that the latter choice would have been amistake, for she tried to leaven the Baha’i organisation and found it an impossible task.

I returned to America on May 29th with the much coveted docu­ment. On that very day Mr. Holley also wrote to me that the photographs of the will were at his office, and invited me to inspect them, which, needless to say, I was glad to do. He informed me that neither he nor the National Spiritual Assembly intended to have  the will examined by experts, as theywere per­fectly certain that it was valid. With this final refusal of the Spiritual Assembly to comply with the wishes of Abdul Baha, I knew that his prophecy had indeed come true. He said that when the final test came to America there might not be two Bahais left. This, then, had been the great test—they had tried to build it on a foundation of disobedience; they had violated the Covenant, which could result in one thing and one thing only—disaster to them­selves individual and disaster to their organization.

I had also taken this matter up with Mrs. Mary Handford  Ford, who is the leader of the other faction in the Baha’i organisation. For there are two decided factions in the Baha’i organization. One faction is represented by the leaders of the National Spiritual Assembly, the chief of which is Mr. Holley. It is the sectarian, dogmatic group which by garbling, or at any rate acquiescing to the garbling, of the texts of Baha’ollah' and of Abdul Baha, has led the public to believe that the obedience which Baha’ollah and Abdul Baha said mankind must give to the future government, means obedience to the leaders of the Baha’i organization. The other faction, of  which Mrs. Ford is the leader, does not go in for such extreme organization. Therefore, I had more hope that she and her group would see that to accept the appointment of Shoghi Effendi, based on an unauthenticated will, was spiritually and legally wrong and my disappointment was keen when she failed to do so.

After I had been to Mr. Holley's office and examined the photographs  of the  alleged  will,  I  wrote  to him  and  the Spiritual Assembly asking them if they would permit me to use their photo­graphs as their copies were clearer titan those I possessed. I also asked them if they would secure for me photographs of several Tablets known to be in the handwriting of Abdul Baha. Nearly six weeks latter, on .June 13, I received a letter from Mr. Holley with the photographs, but no mention of my request regarding the Tablets.

My next step was to try to secure the services of the greatest handwriting expert in the land, and I finally selected one who is conceded to be so. Due to the fact that he was working on a book, shortly to be published, he could not undertake the work before January, if then; but he gave me some valuable advice, that the document should be examined from three different angles: First, from the spiritual point ofview. Does the alleged will agree with the teachings, and the intent, that the maker held during his life­time, or dues it contradict them? Secondly, from the. literary point of view. Is it written in the style of Abdul Baha; Thirdly, from the scientific point of view - submit it to the scrutiny of the best handwriting experts.

I decided to undertake the examination of it from the spiritual point of view. My two main reasons for believing it to be invalid are, because it contradicts the teachings of Baha’ollah and of Abdul Baha, and also because, under the administration of  Shoghi Effendi, the Baha’i teachings have become completely inverted and commercialized. $9,806,00 was sent to Shoghi Effendi in ten weeks, from November 30, 1925 to February 8, 1926.

Every incident that has happened in connection with this affair convinces me that the real enemy of the Baha’i Religion is the Baha’i organization. It was not mere chance that the Baha’i organi­zation was founded by Dr. I. G. Kheiralla and Mirza Assad'ullah,* (* Assad'ullah organized the first Spiritual Assembly, which was called The House of Spirituality, at Chicago in 1901.) the two arch enemies of Abdul Baha, and it has continued ever since as the enemy of the Baha’i Religion. Not of course as the open or avowed enemy, because such an enemy is never effective; but the enemy, nevertheless, which, while purporting to represent Baha’ollah and Abdul Baha in words, are their bitterest enemy in policies.  For although  the Baha’is have long since repudiated

Dr. Kheiralla and Mirza Assad’ullah personally (they had to as both of these men, shortly after they had organized assemblies, became the open enemy of Abdul Baha, and allied themselves with Mohammed Ali) yet they never repudiated the inverted interpretation that these two men gave to the Bahai Religion. This has prevailed ever since.

I do not mean to imply that the leaders of the Baha’i organiza­tion are conscious enemies of the Baha’i Religion, any more than the bigots of the dark ages were the conscious enemies of Christianity. For like those same bigots, these modern-day bigots shout the loudest that they are the only true representatives of the religion they claim to represent. It was the policies of the bigots of the dark ages that were the enemies of Christianity, exactly as the policies of the Baha’i organization are the enemies of the Baha’i Religion today. In both instances the underlying idea of their respective organizations were the same—that the individual conscience must be subordinated to the leaders of their organiza­tion, and in both cases they gave to the world the inverted idea of the religion they claimed to represent; for Christianity taught the freedom of conscience, just as the Baha’i Religion reiterates it today.

I now believe that it would make little difference to the leaders Of the Baha’i organisation whether the will proved to be valid or invalid, for they would continue to follow their present policies just the same. Except that in case it proved to be invalid they would merely repudiate Shoghi Effendi personally, just as they had repudiated Dr. Kheiralla and Mirza Assad'ullah, while still retaining their policies. It also occurred to me that perhaps the most effective means of precipitating matters that will lead to the legal examination of the alleged will was to send the following letter to the High Commissioner of Jerusalem:

To His Excellency

The High Commissioner of Palestine,

Jerusalem, Palestine.

Your Excellency:

I wish to consult you about a matter of international im­portance, which is as follows:

Sir Abdul Baha Abbas of Haifa, Palestine, and his illustrious Father, Baha’ollah, the founders of the Baha’i Religion, have adherents in all the great countries of the world. Eight weeks after the death of Sir Abdul Baha Abbas, in November, 1921, his sister sent cablegrams to the Baha’is of the world announcing that Sir Abdul Balm Abbas had left a will in which he appointed Shoghi Effendi (his oldest grandson) his successor. The powers granted to Shoghi Effendi in this alleged will, endows him with as much potential power as a king or a pope. For a tax is to he paid to him by all the Baha’is of the world, and this as well as other things in the alleged will, is contrary to everything that Sir Abdul Baha Abbas taught during his lifetime.

In December, 1925, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States and Canada distributed pamphlets, the object of which was to collect funds, as the following extract will  show:

The objects of the plan are in brief, to unify the efforts and  enlarge the numbers of the Cause in  North  America,  penetrate the consciousness of  the public with  the spirit  of Baha’ollah. and. by the end of three years at   most, accumulate in response to the  to the request of Shoghi Effendi, a fund of $400,00 to construct  the first   unit of the super structure of the Mashriqu'l Adhkar * (* Bahai Temple) at Wilmette., Illinois.

I subscribed to this fund, us the enclosed Photostats of the checks will show, without knowledge at the time that this docu­ment had not been legally examined by handwriting experts. I understand that no one contested it to the extent of insisting upon this being done. It is very significant that Mohammed Ali, the half brother of Sir Abdul Baha Abbas, did not insist upon this being done, for the following reasons:

When Baha’ollah died, in 1892, he left a will appointing Sir Abdul Baha’ollah Abbas his successor. This infuriated Mohammed Ali to such an extent that he interpolated an epistle of Baha’ollah's, in order to nullify the influence of Sir Abdul Baha’ollah Abbas, and claim the succession for himself. This interpolation was made public by Badi'u'llah, in a pamphlet called "An Epistle to the Baha’i World," in which he confessed that he had witnessed Mohammed Ali's interpolation. After this public confession the influence of Mohammed Ali was broken. But in all the years that have intervened since 1892, Mohammed Ali has been secretly work­ing to gain control of the Baha’i Religion. The alleged will of Sir Abdul Baha  Abbas, is a recital of the plotting of Mohammed Ali, in order that the Baha’is would not follow Mohammed Ali after the death of Sir Abdul Baha. Abbas. Therefore, Mohammed Ali knowing that the could not be the successor himself may have, in collusion with other members of the family of Sir Abdul Baha Abbas, interpolated into this authentic document the appointment of Shoghi Effendi. The motive for this is very obvious, for the appointment of a successor of any member of the family of Sir  Abdul Baha Abbas endowed them with as much potential power as the family of a king or of a pope. For if there had been no appointment, the family of Sir Abdul Baha Abbas would have been penniless. The thing that gives credence to these supposition is the fact that the alleged will contradicts the teaching of Sir Abdul Baha Abbas, inasmuch as the appointment of a continual line of successors, to whom the tax must be paid, is contrary to everything that lie taught during his lifetime.

May I ask you (if it comes under your jurisdiction) to have the alleged will examined by handwriting experts, and with especial care the parts relating to the appointment of Shoghi Effendi? If it does not come under your jurisdiction then will you please delegate it to the proper official;

Mr. Mount ford Mills, a Bahai who went to Haifa to inspect the alleged will shortly after the death of Sir Abdul Baha Abbas, wrote to me as follows, in answer to questions I asked concern­ing it:

It  has.  however,  been  officially recognized  by the British government, the Mandatory power now governing Palestine

May I ask you also, as a special favor, if you will give me the report dealing with this recognition by the British Government. The enclosed check is for this report. 1 shall he glad to send you another cheek for any other necessary expenses.

This request is made in the interest of universal peace, which Baha’ollah and Sir Abdul  Abbas worked so hard to establish, and because I believe their work is being nullified under the powers granted In the alleged will.

I shall he deeply grateful if you will look into these matters.

Respectfully yours,

( Signed)  Ruth White

This letter has been dispatched. In a later edition of this book I shall give the details of this affair as they unfold. It is with much regret that due to the fact that the leaders of the Baha’i organization refused to do their duty, legally and spiritually, that the unpleasant task devolved upon .me of doing it for them. Also in the doing of it their policies, and actions, became so clear to me that I felt this history should be published, inasmuch as it is a problem that affects the present as well as the future welfare of humanity. This chapter is a preliminary effort to rescue from the chaos of the Baha’i organization the universal religion that Baha’ollah' and Abdul Baha gave to the world.