By Saman Bahá’í
Abstract
Some of the Bahá’í books have been distorted and changed by the Bahá’í administration during successive publications. One of these distorted books is “A Brief look at the Bahá’í Faith” by Ahmad Yazdani. He is a famous Bahá’í teacher, and his book is one of the important Bahá’í books which have been used in their classes.
This documented article is about the perversion of this book, and it is written by “Saman Bahá’í.”
The documents indicate that the UHJ (which doesn’t include a Guardian of the Cause anymore) is going to remove all Bahá’í relics concerning with the subject of “the Guardianship.”
In order to accomplish this goal, “national assembly of Iran” distorted this book which had emphasize “the Guardianship”.
Key words
Guardian of the Cause, the book “A Brief look at the Bahá’í Faith”, Ahmad Yazdani, House of Justice, Perversion of relics and writings
Introduction
In any school of thought, there are some motifs which cause the perversion of relics and writings:
1- Mistakes and misconceptions which have been prevailed after a period of time.
2- Imperfections and deficiencies which should be complemented by other people in future.
3- Disconformities to requirements of the time which obligates the next leaders of the school to change it.
4- New situations which cause the Change in directions of the school.
5- The predictions about the future which has come to be not true for that school.
6- Next leaders’ statesmanship which makes them to change the previous principles and texts according to their interests.
The book “A Brief look at the Bahá’í Faith” was approved by “Bahá’í national publication committee” and published in 107 Badi (according to Bahá’í calendar) or 1329 A.H. (according to Islamic solar calendar).
Bahá’ís were interested in this book and they were using it in their classes. So, the first, second, and third publications of this book were finished soon. This book was approved by “the Blessed Guardian of the Cause; Shoghi Effendi”, three years before its publication in 104 Badi. The first page of the book is as follows:
“It is taken from the Exalted epistle which was written in 13th of shahr-ul-ghodrat (month of power) in 104 Badi:
The Blessed Guardian of the Cause appreciated the book of “A Brief look at the Bahá’í Faith “by “Ahmad Yazdani” and said:
“Write that reading this book is very useful, and we hope to fulfill our major goals by its publication….”
This book was not distorted until its third publication. It had some complements in its second and third publications which were about the telegraphs of Bahá’í progress in all around the world. These complements were added to the 8th and 9th chapters. Some parts of “tablet of Rezvan 105” also were added to the book in its third publication in which the meanings were not clear enough.
The book had a lot of perversions and deletions in next publications. I’m going to compare the 3rd and 5th publications of this book in order to clarify the perversions. The book contains 9 chapters in its original and undistorted copy:
Chapter1: A brief history of the Bahá’í Faith
Chapter 2: Social and spiritual teachings and principles
Chapter 3: Administrative order and the Bahá’í administration
Chapter 4: Religious laws and ordinances
Chapter 5: Glad tidings and reasoning
Chapter 6: The selected words and verses
Chapter 7: Some of the statements and witnesses
Chapter 8: Summary of propagation of Bahá’í Faith in the world
Chapter 9: Glossary of some of important Bahá’í books and relics
The distorted cases
One of Bahá’í teachings is as follows: “Religion must be the cause of unity and love.” Mr. Yazdani explains this teaching by considering the reasons of disagreement in religions and meanwhile, he regards some of Baha’u’llah’s writing and finally concludes:
“According to Blessed expressions of Exalted Baha’u’llah, there is no way for appearance of disagreement and minor beliefs in Bahá’í religion and the cause of unity and love between people is prepared in this religion.”
Then, he expresses some of the Bahá’í teachings and explains 9 parts successively. I mention the first 2 here.
Note that NSA of Iran distorted or omitted those parts completely. I ‘m going to compare the 3rd and 5th publications of this book which were both published by NSA of Iran.
I’m considering the perversions in this article, and request you to judge about it.
Some of the Changes and Omissions Advised by the NSA of Iran
1-It should be considered as a “new book”, and no trace, nor reference should be made to previous editions.
2-In the whole text, the sentence, “the Guardian of the Cause is the permanent member and Head of the Universal House of Justice” should be deleted and substituted with the sentence “UHJ is the Center of legislation….”
3- The birth date of the Guardian, as mentioned in the previous editions to be deleted, and another birth date mentioned on his grave stone, in the Southgate Cemetery to be added.
4- The fourth perversion
On p.31, the text related to appointment and succession of the Guardians and their positions to be deleted and substituted with sentences regarding the infallible position of UHJ and its authority to settle the conflicts and resolve the problems of the Baha’i community.
Also, the text related to appointment and succession of the Guardians and their positions to be deleted and substituted with sentences regarding the infallible position of UHJ and its authority to settle the conflicts and resolve the problems of the Baha’i community.
“A Brief look at the Bahá’í Faith “, p.31, line 3 (the original copy, 3rd publication, published in 107 Badi)
- D) the Exalted Baha`u`llah implicated obviously to Abdul-baha as the center of covenant and interpreter of verses, after the great legislator and the Exalted Abdul-baha implicated obviously to Exalted Shoghi Effendi as the Guardian of the Cause and also the successive guardians were appointed as the “Guardian of the Cause” and “permanent chairman of House of Justice”. So, unlike the previous religions, there is no discord between Bahá’í people in the case of guardianship and succession.
“A Brief look at the Bahá’í Faith “, p.31, line 17, (the distorted copy, published in 128 Badi)
- D) the Exalted Baha`u`llah implicated obviously to Exalted Abdul-baha as the center of covenant and interpreter of verses after the great legislator and the Exalted Abdul-baha implicated obviously to Exalted Shoghi Effendi as the Guardian of the Cause.
The omitted parts
… and also, the successive guardians were appointed as the “Guardian of the Cause” and “permanent chairman of House of Justice”. So, unlike the previous religions, there is no discord between Bahá’í people in the case of guardianship and succession!
5-The fifth perversion
“A Brief look at the Bahá’í Faith “, p.31, line 9 (the original copy, 3rd publication, published in 107 Badi)
- E) All beliefs and religious duties should be turning back to the book and to the texts. If either individuals or spiritual assemblies have disagreement in inference of the texts or if they confront difficulties either in comprehension of the texts or in finding the truth of verses, they must refer to the Guardian of the Cause. His expressions will resolve the problems.
“A Brief look at the Bahá’í Faith “, p.31, line 17, (the distorted copy, published in 128 Badi)
- E) All beliefs and religious duties should turn back to the book and the texts. If either individuals or spiritual assemblies have disagreement in inference of the texts or if they confront difficulties either [in comprehension of the texts or in finding the truth of verses, they must refer to the House of Justice. Their expressions which are evaluated by Bahá’í legislator will resolve the problems.
The distorted part
The “Guardian of the Cause” has been changed to the “House of Justice” while the responsibility of the Guardian of the Cause as a settlement in divisions and dis-agreements has not been given to the House of justice in any Bahá’í text.
6-The sixth perversion
The whole chapter 3 of the book, that talks about “the Guardian of the Cause of God” must be omitted.
Mr. Yazdani explains the principles of administrative order and the Bahá’í administration in the third chapter of his book. Third chapter- the Administrative Order and the Bahá’í Administration:
- F) “Administrative order consists of principles of Bahá’í Administration and organization which propagate the spiritual teachings in the world. It is like a beautiful body in which the spiritual soul is revealed and it will brighten the human world.
The source of administrative principles is “The will and testament of Blessed Abdul-baha” in which Shoghi Effendi is appointed as the Guardian of the Cause, center of Covenant, leader of Bahá’í people and permanent chairmen of House of Justice.
These two administrative and spiritual centers i.e., “House of Justice” and “Guardian of the Cause” are solver of spiritual, administrative, social and economic problems of humanity and they are known as the pillars of Bahá’í religion. Bahá’í administration is of three kinds: local, national, international or general.”
“National assembly of Iran” distorted the third chapter as follows:
- F) “Administrative order consists of principles of Bahá’í administration and organization which propagate the spiritual teachings in the world. It is like a beautiful body in which the spiritual soul is revealed and it will brighten the human world. Bahá’í administration is of three kinds: local, national, international or general.”
The omitted parts
…The source of administrative principles is “The will and testament of Blessed Abdul-baha” in which Shoghi Effendi is appointed as the Guardian of the Cause, center of Covenant, leader of Bahá’í people and permanent chairmen of House of Justice.
These two administrative and spiritual centers i.e., “House of Justice” and “Guardian of the Cause” is solver of spiritual, administrative, social and economic problems of humanity and they are known as pillars of Bahá’í religion.
Mr. Ahmad Yazdani explains Bahá’í teachings in various discussions by means of a profound knowledge, he has, about the Bahá’í community under the leadership of Shoghi Effendi. (The first Guardian of the Cause)
He never hesitates about the permanent leadership of the guardian of cause in the House of justice, and since establishment of House of justice would be among the future plans of the Blessed Guardian (and this assembly will do his duties permanently under the leadership of the Guardian of the Cause), the successive presence of Guardians in the House of Justice would not be strange. That’s why he implicated to the next Guardians of the Cause in different parts of his book as supporter and interpreter of divine texts.
“Ahmad Yazdani” cannot imagine Bahá’í Faith without interpreter of verses because the importance of “The will and Testament of Abdul-baha” and its significance for future planning of Bahá’ís is to the extent that the belief in this interpreter, is taken into account as the belief of Bahá’í people in Guardianship of Shoghi in his time.
7- The seventh perversion
the paragraph about the future Guardians to be deleted and substituted with a phrase that “Abdul-Baha and Shoghi Effendi were supporter and promoter of the cause, and Interpreter of the divine scriptures.”
“A Brief look at the Bahá’í Faith “, p.38 (the original copy, 3rd edition, published in 107 Badi)
- G) “15- UHJ and consultation:
There are two kinds of personal and aggregative affairs in Bahá’í religion:
- Devotions, Percepts, Religious rights, Ethics, Spiritual principles and general guidelines of social, economic and teaching affairs which are entrusted to divine texts… and the Blessed Guardian of the Cause and the next Guardians are supporter, propagator and interpreter of divine texts…”
The national assembly of Iran has distorted the text as follows:
“A Brief look at the Bahá’í Faith”, p.41, (the distorted copy, published in 128 Badi)
- G) “15- UHJ and consultation:
There are two kinds of personal and aggregative affairs in Bahá’í religion:
- Devotions, Percepts, Religious rights, Ethics, Spiritual principles and general guidelines of social, economic and teaching affairs which are entrusted to divine texts … and the Blessed Guardian of the Cause and in our time the Great House of Justice is supporter, propagator and interpreter of the ambiguous text and they will establish the law.”
The distorted parts should be mentioned seriously:
1- “The next Guardians of the Cause” is omitted from the original text and changed to “and in our time, the great House of Justice.” It should be mentioned that this book was written at the time of the Guardian of Cause and the House of justice had not been established at that time so there is no place for the adverb of “in our time” in the text!
2- The “House of Justice” would be the interpreter of the ambiguous texts. Which texts are really ambiguous up to a level that needs the interpretation of the House of Justice which doesn’t anymore include a Guardian of the Cause?
3- According to which text, House of Justice is responsible for interpretation of the texts? Don’t the Bahá’í people have to ask this question from the House of Justice?
Meanwhile, according to their texts, just Abdul-baha, the Guardian of the Cause and in future the next successive Guardians of Cause will be interpreters of verses.
8-The eighth perversion
On p.47, the sentence (Rule) “The Rights of God –Huququllah– should always be handed to the Guardian” to be deleted and substituted with the words “Huququllah is referred to the UHJ!”
9-The ninth perversion
Now, we’re going to consider the third chapter and its perversion by the national assembly of Iran; the one which is working under the leadership of House of Justice which doesn’t anymore include a Guardian of the Cause.
On p.53, phrases “the permanent head of the UHJ” and “these two spiritual and administrative centers, namely, the Guardian of the cause, and UHJ” to be deleted and substituted with the sentence, “this spiritual and administrative center is UHJ!”
Mr. Ahmad Yazdani explains the administrative order and the Bahá’í administration in the 3rd chapter:
- H) “The source of administrative principles is “The Will and Testament of the Blessed Abdul-baha” in which Shoghi Effendi is appointed as the Guardian of the Cause, center of Covenant, leader of the Bahá’í people and permanent chairmen of House of Justice. These two administrative and spiritual centers i.e., “House of Justice” and “Guardian of the Cause” are solver of spiritual, administrative, social and economic problems of humanity, and they are known as the pillars of Bahá’í religion.” (p.53)
Then, he explains the administration in local, national and international levels.
According to the mentioned expressions, House of Justice is the center of Bahá’í administration and solves the spiritual, social, economic and official problems of society under the permanent leadership of the center of Covenant who is the Guardian of the Cause, so Guardianship is the main pillar of Bahá’í administration.
The mentioned paragraph was omitted in the distorted publication of the book.
10-The tenth perversion
The writer of the book explains the basis of Bahá’í administrations in the 3rd chapter completely. He expresses that local assemblies should obey the national assemblies in their decisions and if they have any complain against the national assemblies they should do as follows:
The original text
- I) “7- The local spiritual assemblies are under the leadership of national spiritual assemblies of the country and they should accomplish their programs and decisions. But, whenever a local assembly has a complaint against the decisions of the national assembly, they should refer to the Blessed Guardian of the Cause who is the great chairman of the House of Justice and they should ask his opinion about the problem.” (p.56)
The mentioned text pointed to the Guardian of the Cause as the settlement in disagreements and the author believes that only the Guardian deserves this position because he is the Center of Covenant and nobody in Bahá’í religion share this position with him.
But national spiritual assembly of Iran distorted this part and entrusted this responsibility to the House of Justice which has neither a Guardian of the Cause nor a permanent chairman. Now, notice the distorted paragraph:
The distorted text
- I) “7- The local spiritual assemblies are under the leadership of national spiritual assemblies of the country and they should accomplish their programs and decisions. But, whenever a local assembly has complaint against the decisions of the national assembly, they can refer to House of Justice and ask their opinion about the problem”. (p.63)
11-The eleventh perversion
On p.61, the sentence related to the “necessity of attendance of the Guardian of the Cause in UHJ” must be deleted.
12- The twelveth perversion
The author explains the establishment of national assembly according to Bahá’í administration:
- J) “2- The number of Bahá’í delegation in each country is determined by decision of the Guardian of the Cause. In Iraq and Egypt 19 people, and in Iran 95 people were appointed as the Baha’i delegation;in these countries up to now. Iran is divided to 22 Bahá’í sections and 95 people are selected according to the number of Bahá’ís in each section.” (Third chapter, second part, p.59)
The mentioned paragraph was distorted as follows:
- J) “2- The number of Bahá’í delegation is determined by decision of UHJ and it is 171 people in Iran up to now.” (p.67)
13- The thirteenth perversion
On p.68, before the sentence. “But UHJ …”, should be added that “Abdul-Baha has stated is his Will and Testament”, and the whole text “The Guardian of the Cause, is the sacred Head of this council, the special, most preferred, and unremovable member of the UHJ. If he could not attend the meetings personally, he will appoint a representative and deputy. And if any of the members of the UHJ committed a sin, the causes a loss to the public people, the Guardian of the Cause has authority to dismiss him.” to be wholly deleted!
14- The fourteenth perversion
On p.75, the statement “the Baha’i Faith is based on two essential pillars of the Guardian of the cause and the UHJ” to be deleted, and substituted with the sentence, “It is based on two essential pillars; the first is the scriptures, and the second is the universal House of Justice, that is the source of legislation.”
15- The fifteenth perversion
On p.87, the sentence “Receipt of Huququllah should always be done by the Guardian of the cause.” to be deleted and substituted with the phrase, “All every time, Huququllah will be presented to the sacred authority of the Baha’i Faith, and will be spent by the order and decision of that authority!”
Conclusion
Now, regarding this article which discussed about the great position of the Guardian of the Cause as permanent chairman of House of Justice, please answer these questions:
* Is NSA of Iran attached to the great position of the Guardian of the Cause as the leader of Bahá’í people, and has distorted the book because of this attachment?
* Is the artificial House of justice happy for the omission of Guardianship as its permanent chairman?
* Is the significance of Guardianship removed in Bahá’í Faith by means of these perversions, and can the usurpers continue their leadership in Bahá’í community?
To be continued…
Note:
Here you can see all the perversion of this book in a view of a table: