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".

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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