Bahá’ís the world over are very familiar with the book Some Answered Questions, which provides a series of questions that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá succinctly answers with an unequivocal authority and rightness, and the volume is therefore one of the Bahá’í Faith’s most cherished works. Some Answered Questions provides for inquirers Bahá’í responses to questions about God, His Manifestations, and the “origin, powers and conditions of man,” as well as dealing with such topics as the nonexistence of evil, reincarnation, and the methods of acquiring knowledge. Unfortunately, the mass of Bahá’ís around the world do not have a similarly authoritative book for a series of other questions that most of them either refuse to face or are totally unaware that such questions have gone unanswered by those who call themselves Bahá’ís. And what is singularly disturbing is that we who raise such questions are invariably labelled as “covenant-breakers” simply because we have the temerity to ask the questions. It is therefore a very sad time when the questions that need to be answered are not given the attention that they deserve.
Perhaps one of the most important of the questions that is being asked at this time is this: Why are those who ask questions about the legitimacy of the present administration of the Bahá’í Faith which has its “Universal House of Justice” in Haifa, Israel, considered to be breaking the Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh?
That question cannot be answered satisfactorily because of the way it leads to all the other un-answered questions that Bahá’ís the world over are not prepared to answer. It is one thing to smugly assert that your religious organization has all the answers to resolve the world’s problems. It is quite another matter to face up to those questions that your administrative bodies and your religious leaders do not want you to consider. The questions that have never been satisfactorily answered by the current administration of the majority of Bahá’ís in the world are these:
1) If, as Shoghi Effendi states on page four of The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh the Most Holy Book of Bahá’u’lláh (The Kitáb-i-Aqdas) and the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá “are not only complementary, but that they mutually confirm one another, and are inseparable parts of one complete unit,” how can the current administration of the Faith for the majority of Bahá’ís in the world disavow some of the major provisions of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Will?
2) Upon what basis in the writings of the Faith did the Hands of the Cause in 1957 assume the role of a collective Guardian of the Faith when the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá specifically states that the Hands of the Faith “must be under his [the Guardian’s] shadow and obey his command,” that they are to be “under the direction of the guardian of the Cause of God” and further that “He [the Guardian] must continually urge them to strive and endeavor to the utmost of their ability to diffuse the sweet savors of God…”?
3) Where in the writings of the Faith are the Hands of the Cause assured that they, minus a living Guardian to guide them, will make the right decisions for the guidance of the Faith?
4) Where in the writings of the Faith is the Universal House of Justice given the power to take over a function of the Guardian’s which is expressly delineated in the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá–namely, that provision in the Will which states that the fixed money offering, the Huquq, “is to be offered through the guardian of the Cause of God”?
5) Where in the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, a divinely conceived Testament that delineates the Bahá’í Administrative Order, is there a provision which authorizes the Universal House of Justice to be established or function without the Guardian serving as its sacred head? (The Will states: “By this body all the difficult problems are to be resolved and the guardian of the Cause of God is its sacred head and the distinguished member for life of that body.”)
6) Where is the “sacred head” of the current UHJ?
7) If Shoghi Effendi translated ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Will and Testament into English, as he did, and if, as he said, future translations of the Will were to be made from the English version, then why must anyone believe that the provision in the Will and Testament related to the appointment of the Guardian’s successor makes it mandatory for the appointed one to be of the “blood-line of Bahá’u’lláh” as interpreted by the Hands of the Cause and subsequently by the sans-Guardian UHJ?
[The provision in the Will reads as follows:
O ye beloved of the Lord! It is incumbent upon the guardian of the Cause of God to appoint in his own life-time him that shall become his successor, that differences may not arise after his passing. He that is appointed must manifest in himself detachment from all worldly things, must be the essence of purity, must show in himself the fear of God, knowledge, wisdom and learning. Thus, should the first-born of the guardian of the Cause of God not manifest in himself the truth of the words:–‘”the child is the secret essence of its sire,” that is, should he not inherit of the spiritual within him (the guardian of the Cause of God) and his glorious lineage not be matched with a goodly character, then must he, (the guardian of the Cause of God) choose another branch to succeed him.]
8) Where in the aforementioned passage from the Will is there a clearly-established proviso that the successor of the Guardian of the Faith must be of the “blood-line of Bahá’u’lláh?”
9) How do the Bahá’ís who presently follow the sans-Guardian Universal House of Justice respond to the view that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi both stated that the spiritual relationship is far more important than the physical one, thus making it clear that the Guardian’s appointment of his successor would be based on spiritual qualities rather than on strictly family ties?
10) Upon what basis in the writings can anyone be called a “covenant-breaker” if that individual, in compliance with Shoghi Effendi’s qualifications of a believer, maintains a “loyal and steadfast adherence to every clause of our Beloved’s sacred Will” [See Bahá’í Administration, p. 90.]
Until such time as the Bahá’ís around the world have the kinds of definitive answers to these questions that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Himself provided to the questions asked of Him and which appear in Some Answered Questions, the Bahá’ís will continue to be at odds with one another over the legitimate organizational pattern that will lead to “that Divine Civilization, the establishment of which is the primary mission of the Bahá’í Faith,” spoken of by Shoghi Effendi on pages 3 and 4 of The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh.
