Chapter 6.
VI. WHAT IS A BAHAI?
THE GOAL OF THE BAHAI RELIGION ACCORDING TO ABDUL BAHA AND ACCORDING TO SHOGHI EFFENDI
THE GOAL OF THE BAHAI RELIGION ACCORDING TO ABDUL BAHA AND ACCORDING TO SHOGHI EFFENDI
The
best proof of the consequences of this goal is the fate of the
Bahai
movement in the USSR.
In Esslemont's book Baha'u'llah and the New Era we find a
chapter concerning this question. Abdul Baha answers it as follows:
"To be a Bahai simply means to love all the world; to
love humanity and try to serve it; to work for universal peace and universal
brotherhood." 132
In another part, Abdul Baha considers, "The man who lives the
life according to the teachings of Baha'u'llah is already a Bahai. On the other
hand, a man may call himself a Bahai for fifty years, and if he does not live
the life he is not a Bahai". 133
In the same speech, Abdul Baha asserts, "A man may be a Bahai
even if he has never heard the name of Baha'u'llah.
These statements would apply correspondingly to the followers of
all other Manifestations of God. For Christian or Bahai, for Moslem or
Buddhist, the word of Jesus, "Whoever will be my disciple must deny
himself and take up his cross and follow me" is also valid.134
In the same measure that the Kingdom of God reigns in the hearts
of individual men — be they Christian or Jew, Moslem, Bahai or believer in any
other religion — in this same measure, too, the Kingdom of God grows up slowly
on the earth. The seeking of religious truth leads us to the love of God, the
dissolution of and separation from all egotistical wishes, to obedience to
God's commandments, to service to our fellowman. A Bahai — like a Christian —
teaches his fellow-man by being a living example, by courtesy and respect, by
overlooking the faults of others, by humility, truthfulness, trustworthiness
and self-knowledge. These ethical-religious values are handled by Baha'u'llah
and Abdul Baha with the question about the essence of a Bahai.
What is a Bahai according to Shoghi Effendi? The alleged Guardian
does not reach back to these eternal values which every manifestation of God
proclaimed anew with different words, but bases his Idea on that which was
indicated by the fictitious Will and Testament of Abdul Baha.
1 "Loyal and steadfast adherence to every
clause of Abdul Baha's sacred Will"; thus, of the alleged testament of
Abdul Baha. Completing this:
2 "Unreserved acceptance of, and submission to whatsoever has
been revealed by their (Bab, Baha'u'llah, Abdul Baha) pens"
3 "Close association with the spirit as well as the
present-day Bahai administration . . ." '"
What is now the essential goal of the religion? We know this from
the mouth of Jesus: love of God and love of man. The goal of a new religion, of
a renewed outpouring of the divine spirit is then a deepening of the love of
God and a heightening of the love of mankind, which has experienced in the last
phase of the previous religious age a decline, a winter from which the religion
is supposed to be led out now to a new spring. What does Shoghi say in his
major work God Passes By about "the goal of the Bahai outpouring?" It
is "the Administrative Order upon which the institutions of the future
Bahai World Commonwealth must needs be ultimately erected..." 136
The fact that the graves of the founders of the Bahai belief lie
at the foot of Mt. Carmel is not the reason that it has become the object of
the devout reverence of its believers, but that here the "permanent world
Administrative Center of the future Bahai Commonwealth . . ." will
eventually be established." 137
It is a special characteristic of the Bahai Administration that it
pushes the collective goals of the Bahai religion down to the political level.
The assertions, meanwhile interlaced "on the nonpolitical character of the
Faith" 138 or "a world religion ... nonpolitical 139 can only
have the purpose of veiling this previously mentioned political goal and
therefore they are not credible to the critical observer. That the penetration
of our world with the Bahai ideals would also result in an improvement and
enobling of political conditions cannot be doubted. Today we, too, speak of a
Christian West without Jesus ever having indicated anything of the kind.
Proceeding the concept ofthe"Christian West",however, has been the
work of the Christian churches of different leanings and their individual members
throughout the centuries. This work must also be performed now: it Is the
presupposition for this eventual Bahai state in the same way as we live in the
West in "Christian nations" today. This final result could not have
been anticipated by the religion's founders at all.
With these big words of "Bahai world state" and of
"Bahai Commonwealth", Shoghi sets himself not only above the word of
Jesus — "Render unto Caesar..." — but also simultaneously about the
word of Baha'u'llah — "And whatsoever hath proceeded out of His blameless,
His truth speaking, trustworthy mouth can never be altered." 140
In the Letter to the Son of the Wolf, Baha'u'llah himself brings
up these words of Jesus: "Yea, render unto Caesar the things that are
Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's." 141
Already in 1902 the first Bahai temple was erected in Ishkabad
(Turkistan) not far from the Persian border, in the Bahai literature there are
different indications that high Russian officials of the Czarist period: thus,
in the lifetime of Abdul Baha, spoke out for the Bahai religion and even sided
with them in case of emergency. Leo Tolstoy's words, "The teachings of the
Babists, which proceeded from Mohammedanism and have been developed into the
Bahai teachings (teachings of Baha'u'llah) represent one of the greatest
teachings in religion", are well-known.Even a few years after Shoghi's
accession to the Guardianship, everything went well; very well. The following
excerpts prove this: " The government is very friendly towards the Bahai
teachings because it broadcasts true knowledge and does not pursue politics.
Among the 130 million inhabitants of Russia there exists only one religious
periodical, and this is the Bahai newspaper "Khurshid Khavar"; In
English, "The Sun of the East".142
Also In the following years we find a singular "high" in
the Russian fair weather map:
"The news from Russia is very heartening; the friends In
Moscow have obtained permission to publish the teachings freely, and every
facility to enable them to propagate their cause has been accorded them. The
friends work together with the Tolstoy group, which offers great interest In
the movement In the near future they hope to be able to publish a newspaper in
Russian, Persian and English." 143
The news became more and more optimistic. As it says, "The
government has allowed the Bahais to use their own press for publication of
their printed materials and newsletters."144
The last joyous messages about Russia can be read in the
"Bahai Nachrichten" of August, 1927: "We hear from Moscow of the
founding of a new Bahai society in Tiflis... We learn from Teheran that
Baha'u'llah and the New Era by Dr. Esslemont, lquan and Wonderful Proofs by
Abdul Fazl were translated into Russian and we are impatiently looking forward
to publication in Moscow."
In a small special excerpt, "our brethren in Ishkabad"
ask that printed materials be sent only in Esperanto because "no one in
our city understands English." An address is then given for
correspondence: Soviet der Bahaauoj, Post Office Box 9, Askabad-Poltorazk,
Turkistan, USSR. 145
In the "Bahai News" of September, "1927, addresses
of the National Spiritual Assemblies were given: among others, that of the
Russian regions of the Caucasus and Turkistan. But it was an exile National
Spiritual Assembly with the one and the same Persian living in London. Whether
this Persian was simply appointed by the American National Spiritual Assembly,
from which all the addresses come, is not known to us.
During the whole year of 1928, there is nothing to be read in the
"Bahai News" about the Russian group. In Germany preparations were
being made in this period for the separation of the Free Bahais from those of
the administration. W. Herrigel was chosen as acting chairman of the National
Spiritual Assembly at the Bahai congress in Stuttgart at Easter.146 However,
he then had to withdraw, perhaps in connection with the publication of the
Esslemont book around this time, because the name Herrigel is missing in the
repeated information about the composition of the NSA of Germany in the
"Bahai News" of June-July, 1972. The German Bahai Publishing Company
went into the hands of the Bahai Bureau under Frau A. Schwarz on October 1,
1928. In 1929 in the SdW parts of Ruth White's book Abdul Baha and the Promised
Age were published, the last time in October. When they found out in Stuttgart
about this American's criticism of Shoghi's administration in her book The
Bahai Religion ... she came into the Bahai Index.
On January 1, 1929, Shoghi had also written his letter with the
news of the confiscation of the Bahai temple in Ishkabad. 147 The
Russians had probably begun an investigative commission which had determined,
with the help of the available literature, the new direction of the Bahai
teachings; namely, to political Shoghism.
One can interpret the motivations of the Russians from Shoghi's
writing without difficulty when he says, "... due to circumstances wholly
beyond their control ... our Bahai brethren ... have had to endure the rigid
application of the principles already enunciated by the state authorities and
universally enforced with regard to all other religious communities under their
sway." The veil that now obscures the vision of the Russian rulers will be
lifted and Shoghi hopes that God "will in time ... reveal the nobility of
aim, the innocence of purpose, the rectitude of conduct and the humanitarian
ideals" of the Bahai communities in every land. Moreover, the Guardian
will "specially request them (the Bahais of the world) to proclaim in
their written representation to the authorities concerned their absolute
repudiation of whatever... political design may be imputed to them by their
malignant adversaries." 148
We have already pointed out the goal and purpose of the Bahai
outpouring in Shoghi's verdict and proved the dishonesty of its leadership in
the different indications of the testament falsification. These proofs were
possible for us, however, only on the basis of later publications.
The complete prohibition of the Bahai religion in Russia followed
then in 1938 when the temple in Ishkabad was expropriated and transformed into
an art gallery. Simultaneously, the "imprisonment of over 500 believers —
many of whom died . . . confiscation of their property . . . exile of several
prominent members of these communities to Siberia . . . the polar forests and
other places in the vicinity of the Arctic Ocean.. ." 149
What were the reasons? Was it Shoghi's work World Order of
Baha'u'llah published in the same year (1938} in New York, in the foreword of
which H. Holley, the often mentioned secretary of the NSA of Bahais of the USA
and Canada, had written of the "unique realization of the ultimate aim and
purpose of Baha'u'llah's Revelation" by Shoghi Effendi that shows
"the very essence of world statesmanship" 150 of the
Guardian and that "the command (of Jesus) 'Render unto Caesar...' has been
annulled ... by Baha'ullah"? 151
We can only surmise that these words, which are rejected by every normal believer in the religion of Baha'u'llah and Abdul Baha, supplied an excellent reason for the Soviet authorities to completely prohibit the Bahai religion which was still unbelievably favored in 1926 and 1927 as we have cited. This relationship between the prohibition of the Bahai religion in the USSR in 1938 and the publication of Shoghi Effendi, World Order of Baha'u'llah (New York, 1938), with these comments of the American secretary Holley about Shoghi's "world statesmanship" and the annulling of Jesus' commandment "Render unto Caesar..." is only an assumption because an inquiry at the Russian embassy in Rolandseck in 1967 has remained unanswered until today and closer details can hardly be found without a knowledge of the Russian language.
PART SIX
We can only surmise that these words, which are rejected by every normal believer in the religion of Baha'u'llah and Abdul Baha, supplied an excellent reason for the Soviet authorities to completely prohibit the Bahai religion which was still unbelievably favored in 1926 and 1927 as we have cited. This relationship between the prohibition of the Bahai religion in the USSR in 1938 and the publication of Shoghi Effendi, World Order of Baha'u'llah (New York, 1938), with these comments of the American secretary Holley about Shoghi's "world statesmanship" and the annulling of Jesus' commandment "Render unto Caesar..." is only an assumption because an inquiry at the Russian embassy in Rolandseck in 1967 has remained unanswered until today and closer details can hardly be found without a knowledge of the Russian language.
PART SIX
132. loc cit.,
1970, p. 71
133. Abdul Baha in London, Chicago, 1921, p. 109, cit. by Esslemond Ioc. cit., p. 71 f.
134. Matthew 16 : 24
135. Shoghi Effendi In Article II, By-Laws of the National Spiritual Assembly, cit. White, loc. cit., p. 59 and Bahai Administration, 1968, p 90
136. GPB, p. 325
137. GPB, p. 348
138. GPB, p. 342
139. GPB. p. 354
140. BWF, p. 60
141. Quoted by Shoghi Promised Day, p. 73
142. Article "Visit from South Russia" by A. Sch., SdW, 1925, p. 73
143. Bahai-Nachrichten August 1926, p. 22 in "Sonne der Wahrheit", 1926 after p. 96 '" 144.
Bahai-Nachrichten", January, 1927, p. 42 in SdW, 1926 after p. 176
145. "Bahai -Nachrichten". p. 22, "Sonne Her Wahrheit" 1927, after p. 96
146. Bahai-Nachrichten", May, 1927, p. 12
147. SdW 1929, p. 19 ff.
148. Bahai Administration. p. 160 ff.
149. GPB. p. 361
150' loc. cit., p. VI
151. loc. cit., p. VII
133. Abdul Baha in London, Chicago, 1921, p. 109, cit. by Esslemond Ioc. cit., p. 71 f.
134. Matthew 16 : 24
135. Shoghi Effendi In Article II, By-Laws of the National Spiritual Assembly, cit. White, loc. cit., p. 59 and Bahai Administration, 1968, p 90
136. GPB, p. 325
137. GPB, p. 348
138. GPB, p. 342
139. GPB. p. 354
140. BWF, p. 60
141. Quoted by Shoghi Promised Day, p. 73
142. Article "Visit from South Russia" by A. Sch., SdW, 1925, p. 73
143. Bahai-Nachrichten August 1926, p. 22 in "Sonne der Wahrheit", 1926 after p. 96 '" 144.
Bahai-Nachrichten", January, 1927, p. 42 in SdW, 1926 after p. 176
145. "Bahai -Nachrichten". p. 22, "Sonne Her Wahrheit" 1927, after p. 96
146. Bahai-Nachrichten", May, 1927, p. 12
147. SdW 1929, p. 19 ff.
148. Bahai Administration. p. 160 ff.
149. GPB. p. 361
150' loc. cit., p. VI
151. loc. cit., p. VII
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