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.
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.
... 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:
"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.
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.
