A FRAUDULENT TESTAMENT Part-3

Chapter 4.

 

lV. CRITICAL COMMENTS ABOUT THE FICTITIOUS WILL AND TESTAMENT OF ABDUL BAHA

The leitmotiv is: Keep a distance from those who think things over critically — Outrageous statements of the non-historical Abdul Baha about his fellow-man - Further Internal contradictions in the alleged testament of Abdul Baha - The alleged testament of Abdul Baha exercises the strongest Involvement In politics -Comparison of the style and sentence structure in the alleged testament of Abdul Baha and in Shoghi's works God Passes By and The Promised Day is Come - "Le style, c'est l'homme" or "the style is the man" — Built-in safeguards in the alleged testament of Abdul Baha — Opinions concerning the alleged testament of Abdul Baha — There can be no further interpreter of the Word of God after Abdul Baha - In the Kitab-i-Akdas, the "Most Holy Book", no omission is possible.

The leitmotiv carried throughout the whole alleged testament is the warning about the covenant breakers.

Already in the first sentence our attention is called to the ones "that have threatened to subvert His divine edifice. . ."The''divine edifice" is the religion of Baha'u'llah: because Abdul Baha was the "Center of the Covenant", so designated by Baha'u'llah as his successor, the "covenant breaker" is basically whoever does not acknowledge Abdul Baha as the successor of Baha'u'llah. At the same time is praised as "the temple of His Cause" — the religion of Baha'u'llah — has been protected from "the darts of doubtfulness". How was this accomplished? "..through the aid of men whom the slander of the slanderer affect not. ." 27

Thus, from the first sentence of the twenty-four-page testament on, there is a counter-defense against the doubters, who turn Into "covenant-breakers" by communicating their doubts to others. Whatever is not believed, but on the contrary doubted and passed on as doubts, these are the "slanders of the slanderers".

The trespasses of Mohammed Ali — covenant breaking, falsifications and distortions of the Holy Text which are enumerated for pages and are repeated in ever new definitions — serve to use Abdul Baha's alleged testamentai statements for the benefit of his grandson Shoghi (Effendi) Rabbani and to shield against every criticism and critical judgement. Shoghi Effendi is the Guardian of the Bahai religion and expounder and interpreter of the words of Baha'u'llah and Abdul Baha. His heirs follow him and form a Guardian dynasty. The "Hands of the Cause of God" form a kind of bodyguard and helper. As "Head of the House of Justice",

Shoghi is the main political functionary, and the dues of his believers, called "Huquq'u'llah" or "Right of God" form the private income of this "emperor without a country".

Moreover, the position of the Guardian is given a much higher value and he is practically put on the level of a manifestation of God when it says,

"Whoso opposeth him hath opposed God; ... whoso disputeth with him hath disputed with God; whoso denieth him hath denied God; whoso disbelieveth In him hath disbelieved In God; whoso deviateth, separateth himself and turneth aside from him hath in truth deviated, separated himself and turned aside from God." 28

Whosoever has been sent to the godless side in this way must still accept the medieval verdict of damnation, "May the wrath, the fierce indignation, the vengeance of God rest upon him!"29 Because the forger has put himself on a medieval level so well, we want to bring up another similar voice from the past, a counterpart as it were, in order to show that such utterances belonged to the handcraft in that period.

The Abbot Hilduin of St. Denis (near Paris) triad to prove that the founder of his order, the holy Dionysius was the same Dionysius who went with the Apostle Paul as a companion on his missionary journeys. After taking great pains to present much evidence that the two Dionysius' were identical, this Abbot, at the end, "held out the prospect of heavenly reward to the believers in the identity of the two Dionysius' — eternal damnation to the deniers of this tearing and to the doubters."30

But back to the alleged testament of Abdul Baha. By this, a "new covenant" has been created. Thus, whoever does not acknowledge the favored one of this "covenant", Shoghi Rabbani is therefore also a "covenant-breaker". The above mentioned warning can refer lo the old or the new covenan-breakers, "for they will utterly destroy the Cause of God, exterminate His Law and render of no account all efforts exerted in the past".31

Now follows the triple repetition of the concept of "covenant-breaker" and the quadruple repetition of the word "falsifier" or "counterfeiter" on the space of one page. This concentrated enumeration of crimes committed is supposed to create the psychological basis for the transition allegedly expressed by Abdul Baha from the Testament of Baha'u'llah to his own alleged testament:

"that — the friends that are fast and firm in the Covenant and Testament to be ever wakeful lest after this wronged one is gone this alert and active worker ot mischief may cause disruption, privily sow the seeds of doubt and sedition and utterly root out the Cause of God." 32

The testament forger makes it completely clear that the alleged testament of Abdul Baha will kindle "doubt and sedition" and cause a division which naturally then took place. The illegitimacy of the covenant-breakers' attacks on Abdul Baha (after Baha'u'llah's death) is now transferred to the alleged testament of Abdul Baha. These attacks are supposed to be just as illegitimate as before, and the attackers who sow the "seeds of doubt and sedition" are "covenant-breakers", just as before.

In the reading of the testament one is buried under the concepts of "falsification and misrepresentation of the Holy Text." This frequent repetition pursues a completely definite goal: Whoever so often enumerates the falsifications and misdeeds of others cannot also be a forger himself! The outcome has shown that these considerations of the forger of Abdul Baha's valid Testament were right. The great majority of Bahais were smoothly taken in by the Guardian!

The moment that the alleged testament of Abdul Baha appeared, the Bahais were divided into two groups: the "fellow-travellers" and the "doubters". The doubters could refer to the first statement of the Bahai principles, "All men should investigate religious truth independently". The truth concerning the alleged testamentshould not, however, be investigated. "The Bahai authorities of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahais of the United States and Canada have set it up (the Testament) as the test of fidelity ... Furthermore, it never is commented on within the movement as it considered the ultimate word." 33 And Sohrab continues, "... even now, twenty-three years after the departure of the Master from our midst, his last instructions are never openly and frankly discussed . . . the Will is ranked as more important than the actual Teachings..." 34

In a discussion; that is, a more exact preoccupation with such last instructions, doubts become apparent and contradictions evident. The doubts which are communicated in conversation change into certainties. This is exactly what should be prevented!

In the third part of the alleged testament, the continuation of defense against the "covenant-breakers" who have "turned away from your Testament" follows methodically. The subject here is first, naturally, Baha'u'llah's Testament. Once again the whole list of attacks on Abdul Baha is dragged into memory: the "arrows of hate", the "sword of tyranny", the "darts of calumny". They sowed "the sore seeds of sedition" and wanted "to ruin the edifice of the Covenant", "sowing the seeds of doubt", "to bring to naught the Covenant and the Testament".

At this point Shoghi is again presented and is once more raised to the level of a manifestation: "He that obeyeth him not, hath not obeyed God .. ." The forger knows it is not hard to attack these statements and therefore continues again with a warning, "'Beware lest anyone falsely interpret these words, and like unto them that have broken the Covenant after the Day of Ascension of {Baha'u'llah) advance a pretext, raise the standard of revolt, wax stubborn and open wide the door of false interpretation." 35

Critics of this alleged testament of Abdul Baha were thus put on the same level as the text forger and the covenant-breakers, who did not acknowledge Abdul Baha after Baha'u'llah's death as the "Center of the Covenant".

The Persian H. Sabet, one of the chief ideologists of the Bahai Administration, in his 1967 book, The Divided Heaven, said about Abdul Baha, "his thoughts centered only around love, forgiveness and the unity of mankind . .." 36

In Abdul Baha's alleged testament, however, we find expressions which are attributed to him and are far from these thoughts. We read there, "Consider how foolish are the peoplel"37 Or remembering the Testament of Baha'u'llah in which Abdul Baha was named as the center of the covenant and interpreter of the Holy Teachings, "with whom Thou didst make . . . Thy firm Testament, wherein Thou biddest them . . . to keep away from me the foolish, the unjust.. ." 38 This part has much in common with the following from Shoghi Effendi's The Promised Day is Come: "He (Baha'u'llah) referring to the foolish ones of the earth, has written..."39 A page further, the fictitious Abdul Baha becomes still clearer. "The Covenant-breakers ... waxed fiercer in their rancour ... are foolish and ignoble ... and walk in the footsteps of the most imperfect and foolish amongst them." 40

Still another statement from the alleged testament certainly does not originate from the personality with which it is associated as It expresses an absolutely different attitude. "For so grievous is the conduct and behavior of this false people that they. .." 41 These statements are attributed to the historical Abdul Baha, of whom Kurt Hutten, the director of the "Protestant Center for Ideological Questions Stuttgart" says, "that the Bahai religion possesses in Its three prophetic leaders . . . much that is worthy of devotion. Is not this mild spirit of practical philosophy, the breadth of view, the pacifism and the brotherhood, is this not a gift which our world, torn by hate and distrust, bitterly needs?" 42

The expressions attributed to Abdul Baha above fit poorly with this image of the Bahai leaders shown by a recognized theologian and publisher — expressions such as "false people", the "Covenant-breakers .... foolish and ignoble", "to keep away from me the foolish, the unjust..." and "how foolish are the people..." These expressions attributed to Abdul Baha fit more honestly to the one who said, "The new believers should be protected from the poison which he is trying to instill into their minds and souls."

"He" here is Ahmad Sohrab, who in collaboration with the Chanler couple took great pains to circulate the thoughts of Baha'u'llah and Abdul Baha in New York, independent of the Bahai organization. Through his more liberal methods which he had learned from Abdul Baha as his former secretary, he couid actually achieve greater success than the Administration. This above quoted letter of the Guardian Shoghi ends with the prophecy of "his (Sohrab's) ultimate downfall and complete obliteration". 43

Exactly the same tenor confronts us in a statement of the alleged Will of Abdul Baha: ". . . how day by day he (Mohammed Ali) Is speeding towards destruction. Ere long will ye behold him and his associates, outwardly and inwardly, condemned to utter ruin." 44

In the second part of the testament we find the statement, "Unto the most Holy Book everyone must turn and all that is not expressly recorded therein must be referred to the Universal House of Justice." 45

In the Kitab-i-Akdas, the Most Holy Book, however, there is no statement about Guardian, Guardianship and Guardian dynasty nor about his being the head of the House of Justice or his livelihood being financed by his believers. There is nothing in it about the "Hands of the Cause", the new clergy with a new name.

With this statement which appears three times,the whol ealleged testament has become still more questionable than it already was before. All the innovations that it brings are again untenable. Very briefly, this was pointed out already in tho first part, where it says,

"It enacteth all ordinances and regulations (of the Universal House of Justice) that are not to be found in the explicit Holy Text."* 46

On page 20 it is once again pointed out that "this House of Justice hath power to enact laws that are not expressly recorded in the Book. . ." Other passages in the alleged testament of Abdul Baha are diametrically opposed to pronouncements of Abdul Baha. Thus, it says in the alleged testament, for example, "... that the Hands of the Cause of God must be ever watchful and so soon as they find anyone beginning to oppose and protest aginst the guardian of the Cause of God, cast him out from the congregatlon of the people of Baha and in no wise accept any excuse from him..." 47

what is Abdul Baha's opinion, however, about one who asks for pardon or forgiveness? In Esslemont 1970, loc. cit., p. 82 we find the words of Abdul Baha, "Among the teachings of Baha'u'llah is one requiring man, under all conditions and circumstances, to be forgiving..."

How petty, ugly and also untrue, on the contrary, the statement from the alleged testament of Abdul Baha sounds!

Whoever rebels against the recognition of the Guardian's coercion which he built up so suddenly with a good bit of stage effect is supported by Baha'u'llah himself. When it says in the alleged testament of Abdul Baha,

"Whoso obeyeth him not (the Guardian), neither obeyeth them (Members of the House of Justice) hath not obeyed God..." 48

Esslemont is referring to something else: Baha'u'llah . .. is entitled to claim obedience from all men, and has authority to abrogate, alter, or add to the teachings of His predecessors." 49 Thus, this statement clarifies two facts:

1 Obedience is to be rendered to the manifestation. Is the Guardian a manifestation?

2 Only a manifestation has the power to complete the teachings. Abdul Baha never said he was a manifestation, but always only that he was the expounder and interpreter of the manifestation. Thus, he cannot complete his teachings in his alleged testament. It is therefore, in contrast to the assertions of Shoghi, not the duty of Abdul Baha in his alleged testament

"to fill in those gaps which the Author of the Kitab-i-Akdas has deliberately left in the body of His legislative and administrative ordinances." 50

The double tract; that is, the contradiction which we identified already in the alleged testament and in the first edition of the Esslemont book, appears again here in the lust quoted, well-circulated work Tfte Dispensation of Baha'u'llah. On the same page we read as a poor copy of the alleged testament, 

"Unto the Most Holy Book (the Kitab-i-Akdas) ... everyone must turn, and all that is not expressly recorded therein must be referred to the Universal House of Justice." 51

No more word of "filling in gaps"! One has the impression that the clever writer Shoghi tests the intelligence of his readers and is certain from there on in that no one is aware of these contradictions!

Another striking contradiction : At the end of the first para we read,

"Without their (the sovereigns of the world and the governments) leave and permission do not meddle with political affairs, for disloyalty to the just sovereign Is disloyalty to God Himself." 52

That is very nicely said. However, these statements only cover the deed because the maker of the alleged testament of Abdul Baha already accomplished this involvement in political affairs on the page before in that he catapulted himself to the "Head of the House of Justice" at the peak of this body.

"This House of Justice enacteth) His laws and the government enforceth them … that through the close union … of these two forces… all the regions of the world may become even as Paradise Itself." 53

Thus, the Guardian sits in the legislature and has become a pure politician!

As a completion and extension of the comparable manner ol expression In the alleged testament of Abdul Baha and Shoghi’s major work God Passes By, we should consider the sentence structure and style of both works more closely.

In the alleged testament the overlong length of the sentences is especially striking as is the long windedness, the vagueness and the unintelligibility. The third sentence fills almost half a page. On pages 4, 5, 10 and 11 are found sentences a quarter page in length: one also finds such sentence monstrosities in God Passes By. On page 69/70 we find an involved sentence almost 24 lines long: on page 100, a sentence with 20 lines, on page 72/73 one with 16 lines and on page 318 one with 14 lines. With a normal page size and forty-one lines to a page these sentences encompass an area which one does not often find. The existence of these mammoth sentences has certainly already occurred to many a reader. Firuz Kazemzadeh, associate professor of history at Yale University and a compatriot of Shoghi, made note of this peculiarity in the foreword to The Promised Day is Come, 1967, whose author is Shoghi Effendi. "The style … is entirely original. Some readers find it difficult at first. .. The sentences are long . -."" This style, difficult at first, is nevertheless the special characteristic not only of many sentences In God Passes By but also above all of the alleged testament. In the following section, we will compare a sentence of the alleged testament with a sentence from God Passes By.

Alleged Will and Testament of Abdul Baha, Wilmette 1971
Long sentence, p.3

"Salutation and praise, blessing and glory rest upon that primal branch of the Divine and Sacred Lote-Tree, grown out, blest, tender, verdant and flourishing from the Twin Holy Trees; the most wondrous, unique and priceless pearl that does gleam from out the Twin surging seas; upon the offshoots of the Tree of Holiness, the twigs of the Celestial Tree, they that in the Day of (the Great Dividing have stood fast and firm in the Covenant; upon the Hands (pillars) of the Cause of God that have diffused widely the Divine Fragrances, declared His Proofs, proclaimed His Faith, published abroad His Law, detached themselves from all things but Him, stood for righteousness in this world, and kindled the Fire of the Love of God In the very hearts and souls of His servants; upon them that have believed, rested assured, stood steadfast in His Covenant and followed the Light that after my passing shineth from the Day spring of Divine Guidance — for behold! he is the blest and sacred bough that hath branched out from the Twin Holy Trees."

Shoghi Effendi God Passes By, Wilmette 1970
Long sentence p. 69-70:

"Afire from the very beginning with an uncontrollable enthusiasm for the Cause He had espoused; conspicuously fearless In His advocacy of the rights of the downtrodden; in the full bloom of youth; immensely resourceful; matchless in His eloquence; endowed with inexhaustible energy and penetrating judgment; possessed of the riches, and enjoying, In full measure, the esteem, power and prestige associated with an enviable high and noble position, and yet contemptuous of all earthly pomp, rewards, vanities and possessions; closely associated, on the one hand, through His regular correspondence with the Author of the Faith He had risen to champion, and intimately acquainted, on the other, with the hopes and fears, the plans and activities of its leading exponents; at one time advancing openly and assuming a position of acknowledged leadership In the forefront of the forces struggling tor that Faith's emancipation, at another deliberately drawing back with consummate discretion In order to remedy, with greater efficacy, an awkward or dangerous situation; at all times vigilant, ready and indefatigable in His exertions to preserve the Integrity of that Faith, to resolve its problems, to plead its cause, to galvanize its followers, and to confound its anyagonists, Baha'ullah, at this supremely critical hour in Its fortunes, was at last stepping into the very centre of the stage so tragically vacated by the Bab on which He was destined, for no less a period than forty years, to play a part unapproached in its majesty, pathos and splendor by any of the great Founders of the world's historic religions." 

In our opinion the same writer is hidden behind these unclear mammoth sentences which one must break into smaller parts in order to understand.

As regards the content, the last line of this overly long sentence, where there is much to read about Baha'u'llah's "part unapproached in its majesty, pathos and splendor..." and which is again compared with the other "great founders of the historical religions of the world. . ." might be as much a fairy tale — at least in reference to the splendor — as the alleged testament of Abdul Baha and His alleged "Last Main Tablet" which will be a later topic.

In France they say, "Le style, c'est l'homme" or "the style is the man". This style is long winded, vague and indefinite. Shoghl took pains to remain unknown and unrecognized, always to hide. In the single Shoghi report "Shoghi Effendi, An Appreciation" by Marcus Bach, New York, 1958, which after the death of the Guardian was sorted out from Bach's work, published in 1957, The Circle of Faith", and was published as a separate manuscript (without page numbers), it says on the back of the bookjacket: Shoghi Effendi . . . who was never photographed . .." In a time with so much focus on the mass media, such behavior is incomprehensible. One cannot, however, speak of exaggerated modesty in this connection. Whoever has himself addressed as "Eminence" according to Webster, "used as a title for a cardinal") is already extremely conceited. When Ethel Revell, secretary of the International Bahai Council in Haifa, turning to Marcus Bach, the author of the report and professor of comparative religion at the American University of Iowa, says, "His Eminence will dine with us", 55 one remembers the time when during Abdul Baha's visit in Stuttgart in 1913 the situation was approximately as follows: The Master wants to meet with all the friends in the Schwarz family's garden in the Wagenburg area to be united with them in a photograph. But when one reads further and finds the sentence, "Madame Rabbani .the wife of the Guardian) ... said she would see whether His eminence was now ready to see me. .."56, one thinks on closer view that the Guardian has a completely different face!

Yet this other face was present from the beginning. Already in the letter, the "Greatest Holy Leaf" (in the German reproduction without date, place information: Persian Colony on Mount Carmel, Palestine) the sister of Abdul Baha, who was Shoghi's representative in 1922 during his eight month absence from Haifa, speaks of "reporting the misfortune to His Highness Shoghi Effendi". This concerns the sham fight with Mohammed Ali, brother and main opponent of the Master in his lifetime, who had acquired the keys to the burial vault of his father Baha'u'llah.

From a distance, the Guardian appears to be a complete democrat — at least until the Guardianship was firmly established — for he writes, for example, "Dearly beloved co-workers" 57 or, "Fellow-believers in the Faith of Baha'u'llah" 58 Further: "Friends and fellow-defenders of the Faith of Baha'u'llah."59 More: "Friends and fellow-promoters of the Faith of God" and "Fellow-laborers in the Divine Vineyard".60

Even the salutations at the end of his letters are thoroughly democratic when he closes them with the greetings, "Your true brother Shoghi"61 or with, "Your brother and co-worker Shoghi".62 The letter of 1934, published in German as a brochure under the title, "The Dispensation of Baha'u'llah", ends in the original English text with only "Shoghi". In the German transcription, the "Shoghi" is completely gone in spite of the letter's beginning, "Fellow-laborers in the Divine Vineyard". Also in the last letter in WOB of 1936, only "Shoghi" stands at the end of the English .original. The democrat had to yield to the autocrat! The next voluminous letter, dated March 21, 1941, which was published in English under the name "The Promised Day is Come" is signed with "Shoghi Effendi". The aristocrat takes his place next to the autocrat. We have already seen how the antidemocratic attitude is further developed: Shoghi's wife has to speak of her husband as "His Eminence' !

This is not a new world the Master spoke of In words of such plasticity. This is only a new hierarchy with its center not in Rome, Bethlehem or Jerusalem but in Haifa. The cardinals only have a new name: They are called the "Hands of the Cause" and when they assemble one simply uses the old word, as in the following sentence, "Considering the extensive area of the Western Hemisphere ... was decided by the recent conclave of the Hands (according to Merriam-Websters dictionary 1971, p. 172: "a meeting of Roman Catholic cardinals .. . while choosing a pope." (The English meaning of conclave is broader than the German one — author's statement).63 There was certainly no new Guardian chosen there; on the contrary, the president of the International Bahai Council, Mr. Mason Remey, who would have gladly played Guardian number two was fired; that is, excommunicated, about this time together with his men. But the word "conclave" gives such a vague exultation, a foretaste of the speedy victory which was constantly apostrophied by Shoghi. Bahai Religion, how you have changed!

It is very interesting to pursue which safety valves the forger established in order to hinder the discovery of this fictitious document.

Right after the previously mentioned statements, in which rejection and non-recognition of the Guardian is equivalent to rejection and non-recognition of God, follows the final destruction of the soul by God himself: "May the wrath, the fierce indignation, the vengeance of God rest upon him."64

But how can this unfortunate situation be avoided? Well, by obedience, and again obedience, submissiveness, subordination and humility before the Guardian. The watchful Hands of the Cause of God must "so soon as they find anyone beginnning to oppose and protest against the Guardian of the Cause of God, cast him out from the congregation of the people of Baha. .."65

At the end of Part II of the Testament the forger turns to all believers. Here the transition from the Testament of Baha'u'llah takes place. Baha'u'llah's Testament was published long before his death in contrast to the alleged testament of Abdul Baha, which was first made known ten weeks (the middle of February, 1922) after his death (November 26, 1921). The warning is given that "this alert and active worker of mischief may cause disruption, privily sow the seeds of doubt and sedition and utterly root out the Cause of God." (W.&T. 1971, p. 21) Every contact with him should therefore be avoided and whoever has "the least connection with him" should be cast out, for "he will surely cause disruption and mischief." (W.&T. 1971, p. 21) The forger makes it clear that after the death of Abdul Baha the attacks apply not only against the favored one of this alleged testament, thus against him himself, but also just as strongly against the testament about whose existence nothing at all was earlier known.

The tried and true method turns out to be "to shun and avoid entirely the Covenant -breakers".66 This obligation is repeated and completed as follows: "the beloved of the Lord must entirely shun them, avoid them, foil their machinations and evil whisperings ..." 67

An equivalent proposal was already recommended somewhat earlier: "Beware lest ye approach this man (Mohammed Ali) . . ." The critics of the alleged testament of Abdul Baha, working with objective arguments, are evaluated in the same way as the critics of Baha'u'llah's Testament, who are identical with the falsifiers and forgers of some of his tablets. Here at this juncture (the death of Abdul Baha), the fact that the doubt concerning the Testament of Baha'u'llah was unjustified is further applied to the alleged testament of Abdul Baha. The criticisms of this testament are supposed to be just as groundless. A further security measure: In the Testament of Baha'u'llah, It says, "He (God) forbade conflict and strife — a rigid prohibition in the Book (Kitab-i-Akdas}" 69 The forger snatches up this phrase and repeats it. Baha'u'llah, according to our view, had prohibited fighting and quarreling with weapons. But mental battles and disputes with mental weapons exist and must always exist because graveyard peace and paradise stillness are not the nourishing soil for great development. The letters of Baha'u'llah to the kings and leaders of the world are not doves of peace. For the forger, this statement is very convenient and he amply exploits it for himself: "Every aggressor deprives himself of God's grace." (W.&T., p. 13) For the situation where all safety valves give way and do not function, the all- encompassing protection must apply, "To none is given the right to put forth his own opinion or express his particular conviction."70 Because we have come further today in both the great Christian confessions than this exacting demand, the result of this command would be a regression into the Age of the inquisition. Even to the straightline Bahais this statement seems a little too much. Thus, the Englishman David Hofman in his small semi-official brochure, A Commentary on the Will and Testament of Abdul Baha (1948) has watered down this thesis considerably. This sentence "cannot be lifted from its context and applied to anything else. It applies only to the appointment of the Guardian and the authority vested in him."71 Expressed in other words, with the designation of the Guardian one must ignore his intellect, not have his own opinion and simply believe this document of designation, the alleged testament of Abdul Baha, this "Charter of a New World Order". If one is supposed to ignore his intellect as is here demanded, if this demand refers only to the designation of the Guardian, this is indeed a clear admission that something here is not right, that here a shady deal has been undertaken.

The free Bahais, too, have contributed a commentary about this statement. In his "Explanations about the Testament of Abdul Baha" (duplicated, no date, originated in 1930), Alfred Diebold gave the following interpretation to the above mentioned important last statement from the alleged testament of Abdul Baha, "And which Bahai who has perceived the all encompassing spirit of Baha'u'llah and Abdul Baha does not have to set forth doubts about the originality of the Testament for this one sentence's sake? How crass Abdul Baha's words sound against such a statement: 'The Bahai Religion is not an exclusive society, but a Divine congregation, the dome of which Is the Infinite Heaven, and the temple of which is the expanse of the earth.' (cit. White, loc. cit, p. 26) Our spirit wants to enter this unending dome. We want to worship God in spirit In this earthwide temple; but we do not want to enter this prison of the spirit, whose jailguard is a Guardian, as he is ordered in the alleged testament."72 In another place in the same pamphlet, Diebold writes about this same statement,

"After receiving stimulus from Shoghi Effendi to settle in Stuttgart and to work for the cause, Mr. Klus .. - thinks that this statement Is necessary because unity and subordination never take place if everyone gives voice to his opinions. One needs only to think of the first principle ol Baha'u'llah, It is everyone's duty to search for truth independently', In order to recognize that this kind of passage could never have come from Abdul Baha. The Bahai cause was necessary and came into the world to set men free from the chains of spiritual imprisonment and lower thoughts, not to enslave them still more."73

The alleged last will of the expounder and interpreter of the teachings of God's messenger in our day has created an impressive position for the Guardian, in the 1930's the free Bahais designated Shoghi Effendi as World Pope and World Emperor because, as Guardian, he stands not only at the pinnacle of the Bahai religion but, as head of the House of Justice, in that prophesied world parliament which "enacteth the laws" at the pinnacle of the world legislature. The "Huquq" assures, then, the required means to a life according to the standard. Thus, it cannot surprise us when Shoghi speaks of it as "that immortal Document",74 or views it so: 'The Will and Testament of Abdul Baha, His greatest legacy to posterity, the brightest emanation of His mind."75 There is no political system at all "to conform with the Administrative Order which the master-hand of its perfect Architect has fashioned".76 Earlier in the same volume he had already compared the fictitious Will and Testament with "this Divine Masterpiece, which the hand of the Master-builder of the world has designed . . ."77

The Englishman David Hofman, later appointed as a "Hand of the Cause", has expressed himself almost as enthusiastically when he writes, "The more frequently one reads the Will and Testament the more is one intrigued and delighted by its artistic and aesthetic qualities".78 Shoghi is somewhat more honest there when he underlines the "vigorous language employed by Abdul Baha with reference to the band of Covenant-breakers that has opposed Him in His days".79 Moreover, Hofman appears not to have studied this document so intensively at all, because he pronounces, "No human being would claim today to understand fully the Will end Testament of Abdul Baha".80 Just how much dishonesty, how much byzantinism is put in this base flattery, is revealed in the following sentence: "The Guardianship is another mystery whose full significance will only be discovered by later generations."81 Exactly twenty years after the first edition of this commentary on the Will and Testament of Abdul Baha, thus 1963, the Guardianship was officially removed by the Bahai organization itself.

Hofman reaches the high point ot adulation, however, when he maintains, "It (the Will and Testament of Abdul Baha) is no less than the Charter of world civilization, the 'Bill of Rights' of all mankind." (page 9) This can only be lip service, from which it must be insinuated that he has not read the real Bill of Rights at all. The testament really only has the single goal of raising a totally unknown relative of Abdul Baha's on a pedestal he would not have been able to reach on the strength of his own performances.

George Townshend, M. A., former canon of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, Archdeacon of Clonfert, converted to the Bahai religion and was later appointed by Shoghi as the "Hand of the Cause". In his small 1957 volume, Christ and Baha'u'llah, Townshend delivers two statements about the alleged testament of Abdul Baha:

"On His death the most deeply conceived and constructive of His works was published, known as The Will and Testament of Abdul Baha. It completed the great masterpiece of Baha'u'llah — His book of laws (Kitab-l-Akdas) — the two works together composing one complete and harmonious whole." 82

How a former clergyman can speak of this alleged testament of Abdul Baha in its caustic and puffed up language, garnished with the endless repetition ol a number of lower human instincts as a "Most deeply conceived and constructive work" becomes understandable to us if we only remember that Shoghi was the employer of the "Hands", the one who appointed them and gave orders that the salary was remitted to them from any funds. Has one read anywhere that a masterwork was completed fifty years later by any descendant or follower of a 'Master School'? In the whole history of the fine arts, poetry or music this is unthinkable, and therefore also in the area of religion.

In the alleged testament of Abdul Baha it says, "Shoghi Effendi ... the Guardian of the Cause of God — is the expounder of the words of God. . ." 83 What, however, do we know from Abdul Baha about the interpretation of the Bahai teachings? Even in the lifetime of Abdul Baha, long balore the dispute about the validity of the alleged testament was initiated, we can read in a tablet of Abdul Baha in "Star of the West", Vol. VIII, p. 187, "One ol the al teachings of this cycle ... is that His Holiness Baha'u'llah left no possibility for differences .. . and proclaimed the one to whom all should turn; and He referred expressly to the interpreter book and in this way closed the door for interpretations." 84

The above quoted passage in the alleged testament of Abdul Baha is ravealed to be false by the following explanations of Abdul Baha. This is confirmed by further sayings of Abdul Baha: Center of the Covenant (Abdul Baha) . . . is the Expounder Book. No mortal has the right, publicly or privately, to say only one word by himself or to expound the text of the Book." 85 

Shoghi also expresses his opinion about this theme in different publications. In the widely distributed small work, "The Dispensation of Baha'u'llah" (1934) which refers to a letter of Shoghi from 1934, we read "passages in the writings of Abdui Baha, the appointed interpreter of these same utterances . . ." 86 Shoghi Effendi remarks further about the same theme in the same writing: "To these authoritative assertions and solemn declarations made by Bahau'llah and the Bab must be added Abdui Baha's own incontrovertible testimony. He, the appointed interpreter of the utterances of both Baha'u'llah and the Bab..." 87 Abdul Baha himself says, "I am the Interpreter of the Word of God; such is my interpretation".88 Shoghi Effendi states, "Abdul Baha... whose function is to be confined to that of an authorized interpreter of His Father's teachings..." 89 The Guardian explains that Abdul Baha is "the unerring interpreter of His Word . . ." 90 Shoghi Effendi quotes Abdul Baha further: "In accordance with the explicit texts Kitab-i-Akdas Baha'u'llah hath made the Center of the Covenant the Interpreter of His Word . . " 91 Abdul Baha repeats, . . ." I am... according to the explicit texts of the Kitab-i-Akdas and the Kitab-i-Ahd the manifest Interpreter of the Word of God ... Whoso deviates from my interpretation is a victim of his own fancy." 92

In two further passages Shoghi stresses the fact that Abdu! Baha is the interpreter of the Word of God. "Being the Child of the Covenant-the Heir of both the Originator and the Interpreter of the 'Law of God..." 93 (This refers to the alleged testament of Abdul Baha) Shortly before the concluding sentences, Shoghi once aqain repeats, "Its guiding principles are the truths which He Who is the unerring Interpreter of the teachings of our Faith has so clearly enunciated in His public addresses throughout the West." (WOB. p. 156)

Shoghi also sticks to the same line of these sayings in other publications. In the introduction to The Promised Day is Come, (in German) entitled The Faith of Baha'u'llah, Shoghi Effendi points out, "Abdul Baha was appointed by Him (Baha'u'llah) as His lawful successor and the authorized Interpreter of His teachings." Two pages later, however, the Guardian continues, "This administrative order ... functions in strict accordance with the interpretations of the authorized interpreters of its holy scriptures."94 Here the Guardian calls on the alleged testament of Abdul Baha which was quoted at the beginning.

This alleged testament of the Master gives him the basis for his claim to be the expounder and interpreter of God's word. From "The Dispensation of Baha'u'llah" we hear the Guardian's claims, 

"the Guardian of the Faith has been made the Interpreter of the Word..." 95 and however much he (the Guardian) may share with Abdul Baha the right and obligation to Interpret the Bahai teachings..." 96 Further "The fact that the Guardian has been specifically endowed with such power as he may need to reveal the purport and disclose the implications of the utterances of Baha'u'llah and of Abdul Baha..." 97

And lastly,

"Moreover, he (Shoghi Effendi) ... has been made the Interpreter of the words of its Author..." 98

Even In the major work of the Guardian, God Passes By, we find the same tactic:

"The Kitab-i-Akdas... ordains, in addition to the function of Interpretation which it confers upon His Successor...." 99

One page further, we read,

"He, (Baha'u'llah) ... invests Him {Abdul Baha) with the right of Interpreting His holy Writ..." 100 Or,

"On Him (Abdul Baha) ... had bestowed the function of Interpreting His Holy Writ...." 101 

Furthermore,

"...the appointed Center of Baha'u'llah's Covenant and the authorized Interpreter of His teaching,.." 102

In two later passages, Shoghi pays further tribute to the truth:

"... between Him (Baha'u'llah} ... and the One Who had been made its sole Interpreter..." 103 

In the next sentence, Shoghl repeats,

"The creative energies (Baha'u'llah's)... gave birth, through their Impact upon the mind of Him Who had been chosen as its unerring Expounder..." 104

On the following page the alleged testament is now introduced and the Guardian continues,

"... the Administrative Order which the authorized Interpreter of Baha'u'llah's teachings has instituted..." 105 In the next sentence Shoghi therefore speaks of "the right of Interpretation with which He (Abdul Baha) has invested its
Guardian.... " 106 

To make a better impression, he repeats,

"The Guardian ... (has) ... the right of the Interpretation of the Holy Writ solely conferred upon him..." 107 

The wife of the Guardian, Ruhiyyih Khanum, naturally works along the same lines:

"the hereditary office of Interpreter and Protectorof the Faith..."108

Whatever is repeated a few times is easier to retain:

"The principle of successorehip endowed with the right of Divine
Interpretation..." 109

The single proof that the Guardian is the expounder and interpreter of God's word is the alleged testament of Abdul Baha. Because this is fraudulent, as we have proved, Shoghi's claim to be the expounder and interpreter of the teachings of Baha'u'llah and Abdul Baha is untenable. Thus, Abdul Baha is again the single interpreter of the teachings of Baha'u'llah.

From the Greatest prison of Akka, Baha'Li'llah wrote, 

"We verily ... have not fallen short of Our duty to exhort men, and to deliver that whereunto I was bidden by God, the Almighty, the All-Praised." 110

If a Manifestation of God writes this sentence, this means that he has said and commanded everything that has been communicated to him by God to say to mankind for this era. We know that his son Abdul Baha always asserted himself as only the expounder and interpreter of the words of his father. If a relative of this generation which follows the second generation after the manifestation; thus, the great-grandson, maintains, 

"By leaving certain matters unspecified and unregulated in His Book of Laws, Baha'u'llah seems to have deliberately left a gap in the general scheme of the Bahai Dispensation, which the unequivocal provisions of the Master's Will has filled..."111 then this sentence stands in absolute contradiction to the Manifestation himself as well as to his expounder and Interpreter, Abdul Baha.

Have people sometimes also appeared after Moses, after Jesus, after Zoroaster, after Buddha or after Mohammed, who criticized these manifestations fifty years later and said that they had forgotten to say this and that? And if these proclamations stand in flat contradiction to other words of these personalities, what is one supposed to say to a man like Shoghi Effendi?

Shoghi's wife, Ruhiyyih Khanum, also takes up her husband's gap theory.

"In many ways the Will of the Master completes and supplements the Aqdas . .. He (Abdul Baha) also fills In a remarkable gap In that mighty book of laws and one which any intelligent commentator on that document must be immediately struck by ... Abdul Baha's Will ...fills In the conspicuous blank left by Baha'u'llah." 112

In other places the Guardian expresses himself about the Kitab-i-Akdas in such a form that one's head reels with the contradictions.

"this 'Most Holy Book' ... the brightest emanation of the mind of Baha'u'llah ... the Mother Book of His Dispensation ... stands out ... unique and incomparable among the world's sacred Scriptures." 113

If there was still something else to be completed, what purpose does Baha'u'llah then serve?

"By the elaboration and elucidation of some of the laws He had already laid down ... by the establishment of subsidiary ordinances designed to supplement the provisions of His Most Holy Book. These were recorded in unnumbered Tablets which He continued to reveal until the last days of His earthly life..." 114

In his letter of March 28, 1941, which was published under the title The Promised Day is Come, Shoghi writes,

"In the Kitab-i-Akdas (The Most Holy Book), that priceless treasury enshrining for all time the brightest emanations of the mind of Baha'u'llah, the Charter of His World Order, the chief repository of His laws, the Harbinger of His Covenant, the Pivotal Work containing some of His noblest exhortations, weightiest pronouncements, and portentous prophecies..." 115

And in such a work are there supposed to be "obvious gaps"? As Shoghi writes to excess further about Baha'u'llah,

"He ... enunciates the Doctrine of the 'Most Great Infallibility' of the Manifestatlon of God; asserts this Infallibility to be the inherent and exclusive right of the Prophet.. ." 116

Instead of filling in the "obvious" and "noteworthy gap", which would suit an infallible manifestation, Shoghi speaks now of something completely different. He mentions "the translation into English of the Appendix to the Kitab-i-Akdas, entitled "Questions and Answers"...117

And what sort of "questions and answers" are these? "A reference ... to the 'Questions and Answers' which elucidates the laws and ordinances of the KItab-i-Akdas..." 118

Thus, these methodical-didactic comparisons are still applied to the omissions which would certainly be very worthy of a pedagogue, but for a manifestation of God it seems only a superflous pastime ! And no one has had these "Questions and Answers" in hand or even mentioned them, not even such diligent source researchers as the doctors Rudolf Jockel II (1952) and Udo Schaefer (1957). Judging from the situation of things, the "Questions and Answers" referred to in both the previously mentioned passages as Baha'u'llah's epilogue to the Kitab-l-Akdas are a further fiction, a further invention of Shoghi's. In order to fill the measure of contradictions, still another passage from God Passes By: "To the trustees of the House of Justice He (Baha'u'llah) assigns the duty of legislating on matters not expressly provided in His writings.. ." 119 This passage corresponds to the one which is left out in the "improved" second edition of the Esslemont book, but can be read three times in the alleged testament of Abdul Baha (W.&T., p. 14, 19, 20).

After these different sayings of Shoghi's there remains only the conclusion that then Baha'u'llah, the manifestation of God in our time, simply forgot in his Book of the Laws, Guardian and Guardianship, treasury, the Hands of the Cause, the bodyguard and the position of the Guardian as Head of the World Parliament, just as schoolboys forget something, or old men whose memory is slowly fading. But Baha'u'llah was not yet sixty years old at the time of the writing of Kitab-i-Akdas and many past and present politicians prove that it Is quite possible to possess full mental power at such an age.

The opinion of Abdul Baha might settle the matter in these statements about the "gap" left open by Baha'u'llah'

"Praise be to God! Baha'u'llah left nothing unsaid. He explained everything. He left no room for anything further to be said... If you find harmful teachings are being set forth by some individual, no matter who that individual be, even though he should be my own son, know verily that I am completely severed from him ... Those who speak falsehoods, who covet worldly things and seek to accumulate the riches of this earth are not of me ...If on the other hand you see anyone whose deeds and conduct are contrary to and not in conformity with the good-pleasure of the Blessed perfection and against the spirit of the Hidden Words, let that be your standard and criterion of judgment against him, for know that I am altogether severed from him no matter who he may be. This is the truth." 120

Were not the Guardianship and the heirs of its dynasty a lie? Does not the appointment to the "Head of the Universal House of Justice" signify the just quoted "lust after worldly things"? Has Shoghi not sought to hoard "the treasures of this world" when he mentions in the table of contents of his compiled work The Bahai Belief 1844-1952 (Frankfurt 1956),

"Data about important national and International Bahai possessions page 18
National American Bahai possessions page 20
Evaluated worth of American possessions page 21

Has Shoghi forgotten that in 1803 the majority of ecclesiastical possessions came into government hands in Europe and were thus secularized? Already in the early Middle Ages, in the Lombardian and Frankish times it was reported that the princes appropriated the possessions of the Christian church in order to finance their armies. Doesn't Shoghi himself write that 10,000 square miles of land were taken away from the Christian church in the USSR? 121 Has Shoghi already forgotten that it was in the USSR itself that all Bahai possessions were also confiscated, including the Bahai temple in Ishkabad, which he praises as follows: 

"This enterprise must rank not only as the first major undertaking launched through the concerted efforts of His followers In the Heroic Age of His Faith, but as one of the most brilliant and enduring achievements In the history of the first Bahai century." 122

Not even for the duration of the completion of his major work was the temple in Bahai possession. We read on page 360, "culminating in the seizure of the first MashriquI-Adhkar of the Bahai world and of the few accessory institutions already reared about it". In the 50's the temple was torn down and its former site was leveled. "Sic transit gloria mundi (Thus passes the glory of the world)!"

PART FOUR

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27. W..& T., p. 3
28. W..& T., p. 11
29. W..& T., p. 11
30. Max Buchner, Die Areopagitika des Abtes Hilduin von St. Denis..., Studien...zur Falschungstechnik am
Vorabend der Entstehung der Pseudoisidorlschen Dekretalen, 1939, p.192
31. W..& T., p. 20
32. W..& T., p. 21
33. Sohrab, Will. Author's Statement
34. Sohrab, loc. cit., p. 10
35. W..& T. p. . 25 f
36. Sabet, loc. cit.. p. 118
37. W.&T., p. 6
38. W.&T., p. 17
39. Shoghi Effendi, loc. cit., p. 2
40. W..& T., p. 18
41. W..& T., p. 25
42. Hutten, Ssher, Grubler, Enthusiasten, 195B, p. 276
43. Excerpts from letter from the Guardian in "Bahai News" Nr. 145, July 1941, quoted by Sohrab, Silence, p. 424
44. W.& T. p. 6
45. W.& T. p. 19
46. W.&T.. p. 14
47. W..& T., p. . 12
48. W..& T., p. 11
49. Esslemont 1970, loc. cit., p. 124
50. Shoghi Effendi, WOB, 1938, p. 148
51. Shogtii Effendi, WOB, 1938. p. 149
52. W..& T., p. 15
53. W..& T., p. 14 f.
54. Shoghi Effendi, loc. cit., p. IX
55. Bach, loc. cit., 3rd part
56. Bach, loc. cit., 5th part
57. WOB, Letter of February 27, 1929 and March 21, 1930
58. WOB, Letter of November 28, 1931
59. WOB. Letter of March 21, 1932
60. WOB. pp. 71 and 97
61. WOB, Letters 1929, 1931, 1932, 1933
62. WOB, Letter of 1930
63. "Bahai Nachrichten" of March 2. 1960. Vol. 17, p. 1, "Nachricten aus dem Weltzantrum des Glaubens".
64. W.& T. 1971, p. 11
65. W.& T. p. 12
66. W.& T. p. 20
67. W.& T. p. 25
68. W.& T. p. 21
69. Baha'u'llah, Kitab-l-Ahd. published in BWF 1971, p. 209
70. W.& T., p. 26
71. Hofman. loc. cit., p. 27f
72. Alfred Diebold, loc. cit., p. 4
73. Alfred Diebold, loc. cit., p. 18f
74. GPB. p. 268
75. GFB, p. 325
76. WOB, p. 152
77. WOB, p. 8
78. Hofman, Commantary, 1955, p. 29
79. WOB. p, B
80. Hofman, loc. cit., p. 3
81. Hofman, loc. cit., p. 7
82. Townshend, loc. cit, p.97
83. W.&T., p. 11
84. Abdul Baha. Tablet, quoted In "Star of West", Vol. VIII, p. 187, (retranslated) cited in The Covenant and
Administration 1971, p. 17f.
85. Abdul Baha. Tablet, quoted In "Star of West", Vol. VIII, p. 223, (retranslated) cited in The Covenant and
Administration 1971, p. 16
86. WOB 1938, p. 110
87. WOB 1938, p. 127
88. WOB 1938, p. 133
89. WOB, p. 133
90. WOB, p. 134
91. WOB, p. 136
92. WOB, p. 138
93. WOB, p. 144
94. Shoghi Effendi, The faith of Bahaullah, 1971, pp. 10 and 13
95. WOB, p.150
96. WOB, p. 151
97. WOB, p. 151
98. WOB, p. 153
99. GPB, p. 213
100. GPB, p. 214
101. GPB, p. 242
102 GPB, p. 244
103. GPB, p.325
104. GPB, p.325
105. GPB, p. 326
106. GPB, p. 326
107. GPB, p. 326
108 . Ruhiyyih Khanum, Guardianship, p. 4 Guardianship, p. 4
109. Guardianship, p.23
110. GPB. p. 220
111. WOB p.4
112. Ruhiyyih Khanum, Guardianship, p. 4
113. GPB. p. 213
114. GPB, p. 216
115. loc. cit.. p. 24
116. GPB, p. 214
117. GPB, p. 383
118. GPB, p.
119. GPB p. 218f
120. Abdul Baha, The Promulgation ot Universal Peace. 1925, Vol. II. p. 452f.
121. Promised Day, p. 103
122. GPB, p. 300