Below
is an excerpt from a letter to the Universal House of Justice and all
National Spiritual Assemblies, regarding conflicts in the writings of
Shoghi Effendi and the Universal House of
Justice when compared to the Holy Writings, dated
December 23rd, 2023. As of November 30th, 2024 (i.e. after over 11 months); the Universal House of
Justice had not responded. The excerpt follows:
In a letter to the Baha'i World, written in 1987, the Universal House
of Justice says of those who have emigrated to Israel, "people
[different sects of Judaism and secular Jews] who have only recently
returned, after many centuries of exile, to their homeland [modern-day
Israel] bespeaks a token of divine favor of incalculable spiritual and
historical importance for the Jewish people". This conflicts with what
the Bible (Old and New Testaments), the Quran, the writings of the Bab,
the writings of Baha'u'llah, and the writings of Abdu'l-Baha, say about
those who rejected Jesus Christ, a Manifestation of God (as reflected
in over twenty different references in passages 2.1 - 7.3). Who are
"damned"; who "truly have strayed and are in error"; who are "guilty of
folly, denial, blasphemy, and oppression"; whose "Dispensation is
superseded and annulled"; who "were heedless [of the Covenant of God]";
whose "works shall in no wise be mentioned before God"; who "were blind
to reality"; whose negligence "became the cause of keeping away a
multitude from the heavenly bounties and from the beneficence of the
Holy Spirit for nineteen-hundred [now 2,000] years"; who by rejecting
Jesus, Muhammad, the Bab, and Baha'u'llah (rejecting belief in Divine
Unity) have "also turned away from the Messengers of the past"; who
"know the letter only and they utter the words, as parrots, without
understanding their inner meanings"; and so on. In a letter by the
Guardian to the U.N., written in 1947, regarding the future of
Palestine, he states, "The Bahá’í Faith is entirely non-political and
we neither take sides in the present tragic dispute". In the Most Holy
Book (Book of Baha'i Laws), Baha'u'llah, the Most Great Infallibility,
says (regarding those who succeed Him), "But he whose words conflict
with that which hath been sent down in My Holy Tablets is not of Me."
Also, a reference to the "Temple Mount" can be found in the English
translation of the Most Holy Book, though it is not part of the Baha'i
Holy Writings, like the Aqsa Mosque. It's also worth noting, not all
followers of Judaism support political Zionism; there are those who
condemn it. Detailed primary and secondary references compiled at the
following link:
https://www.bahaiwritings.net/cse/c_followers_moses.html
The writings of Shoghi Effendi and the Universal House of Justice
indicate that only Independent Prophets are Manifestations of God. This
conflicts with the writings of Baha'u'llah, the Independent Prophet,
the Most Great Infallibility, and other Holy Books. In passages 4 - 6,
Baha'u'llah indicates that the Holy Imams (Dependent/Lesser Prophets of
Muhammad, one of the two classes of Prophets) and David (a
Dependent/Lesser Prophet of Moses) are also Manifestations of God.
Passage 4 on the "station of pure abstraction and essential unity" of
the Manifestations of God includes Muhammad, Adam, Noah, Moses and
Jesus, who are Independent Prophets ("Supreme Manifestations"); Imam
Ali and the Holy Imams, who are Dependent/Lesser Prophets of Muhammad;
who "are all invested with the robe of prophethood [are all Prophets]".
The writings of the Bab, Muhammad, and the Holy Imams, also indicate
the Holy Imams are Manifestations of God. The writings of Abdu'l-Baha
also indicate the two classes of Prophets are all Manifestations of
God. According to Baha'u'llah, "all the Prophets", both Independent
Prophets and Dependent/Lesser Prophets, are God's Chosen Ones, are
Manifestations of God, are "seated upon the same throne", are the "Face
of God", are "the First" and "the Last"; in keeping with belief in
Divine Unity. The compilation on the Manifestations of God has over a
dozen references to Dependent/Lesser Prophets; including Imam Ali, Imam
Husayn, Imam Sadiq, David, the "Moon", the "Temples of the Cause of
God", and so on. A number of prophecies about the coming of Baha'u'llah
and the Bab were revealed by the Holy Imams. Detailed primary and
secondary references compiled at the following link:
https://www.bahaiwritings.net/cse/c_manifestations_of_god.html
At the following link are over 50 examples of writings of Shoghi
Effendi and the House which conflict with the Holy Writings (including
the two examples mentioned above), and therefore need to be officially
corrected, in keeping with the divine teachings (5 references shown
further below). Immediately following are descriptions of the first 20
conflicts.
https://www.bahaiwritings.net/cse/index.html
1. Conflicting writings on who are the Manifestations of God.
2. Conflicting writings on when the Dispensation of the Bab ended, and when the count of one thousand years begins.
3. Conflicting writings on the continuation of divine guidance after the ascension of the Independent Prophet.
4. Conflicting writings on the separation of Church and State vs. mentions of "Baha'i Theocracy", "Baha'i State", etc.
5. Conflicting writings on the Prophethood (Dependent/Lesser) of Imam Husayn.
6. Conflicting translations of the Imamate in the Kitab-i-Iqan, one of Baha'u'llah's major works.
7. Conflicting writings as relates to the successorship of Imam Ali.
8. Conflicting interpretations of the words, "the day which will not be followed by night".
9. Conflicting writings regarding polygamy as among "unwarranted
practices" in past eras, causing "incalculable harm to the Faith of
God".
10. Conflicting writings about the followers of Moses (political Zionism).
11. Conflicting writings about the Caliphate and Imamate being interchangeable.
12. Conflicting writings on when the illegitimacy of the Caliphate was evident.
13. "lowborn Christian girl", "child-like members of some of these
primitive races", "[AFRICA] DARK SPIRITUALLY DECADENT CONTINENT", etc.
14. Conflicting writings on the timing of the Lesser Peace.
15. Conflicting writings on schism and its supposed implications.
16. Reference is made to the "Temple Mount" in the Most Holy Book, though it's not part of the Holy Texts, like the Aqsa Mosque.
17. Conflicting writings regarding whether Christ appointed a successor.
18. Conflicting writings regarding the abrogation of past dispensations.
19. Conflicting writings regarding Persian Hidden Words No. 77.
20. Conflicting writings on the four and twenty elders.
O thou who hast set thy face towards the Realm on High and hast quaffed
My sealed wine from the hand of bounteousness! Know thou that the term
'Infallibility' hath numerous meanings and divers stations. In one
sense it is applicable to the One Whom God hath made immune from error.
Similarly it is applied to every soul whom God hath guarded against
sin, transgression, rebellion, impiety, disbelief and the like.
However, the Most Great Infallibility is confined to the One Whose
station is immeasurably exalted beyond ordinances or prohibitions and
is sanctified from errors and omissions. Indeed He is a Light which is
not followed by darkness and a Truth not overtaken by error. Were He to
pronounce water to be wine or heaven to be earth or light to be fire,
He speaketh the truth and no doubt would there be about it; and unto no
one is given the right to question His authority or to say why or
wherefore. Whosoever raiseth objections will be numbered with the
froward in the Book of God, the Lord of the worlds. 'Verily He shall
not be asked of His doings but all others shall be asked of their
doings.' [1] He is come from the invisible heaven, bearing the banner
'He doeth whatsoever He willeth' and is accompanied by hosts of power
and authority while it is the duty of all besides Him to strictly
observe whatever laws and ordinances have been enjoined upon them, and
should anyone deviate therefrom, even to the extent of a hair's
breadth, his work would be brought to naught.
[1 cf. Qur'án 21:23.]
-- Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 108
Praise be unto God Who hath made the Most Great Infallibility
[Baha'u'llah, the Independent Prophet] the shield for the temple of His
Cause in the realm of creation, and hath assigned unto no one a share
of this lofty and sublime station--a station which is a vesture which
the fingers of transcendent power have woven for His august Self. It
befitteth no one except Him Who is seated upon the mighty throne of `He
doeth what He pleaseth'. Whoso accepteth and recognizeth that which is
written down at this moment by the Pen of Glory is indeed reckoned in
the Book of God, the Lord of the beginning and the end, among the
exponents of divine unity, they that uphold the concept of the oneness
of God.
When the stream of words reached this stage, the sweet savours of true
knowledge were shed abroad and the day-star of divine unity shone forth
above the horizon of His holy utterance. Blessed is he whom His Call
hath attracted to the summit of glory, who hath drawn nigh to the
ultimate Purpose, and who hath recognized through the shrill voice of
My Pen of Glory that which the Lord of this world and of the next hath
willed. Whoso faileth to quaff the choice wine which We have unsealed
through the potency of Our Name, the All-Compelling, shall be unable to
discern the splendours of the light of divine unity or to grasp the
essential purpose underlying the Scriptures of God, the Lord of heaven
and earth, the sovereign Ruler of this world and of the world to come.
Such a man shall be accounted among the faithless in the Book of God,
the All-Knowing, the All-Informed.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 105-106
He, however, who denied God in His Truth, who turned his back upon Him
and rebelled, who disbelieved and made mischief, the verdict of
"impiety", "blasphemy", "death", and "fire" was passed upon him.
-- Baha'u'llah, Gems of Divine Mysteries, p. 44
Those men, however, who, in this Day, have been led to assail, in their
inflammatory writings, the tenets of the Cause of God, are to be
treated differently. It is incumbent upon all men, each according to
his ability, to refute the arguments of those that have attacked the
Faith of God. Thus hath it been decreed by Him Who is the All-Powerful,
the Almighty.
-- Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 329
O my God, aid Thou Thy servant to raise up the Word, and to refute what
is vain and false, to establish the truth, to spread the sacred verses
abroad, reveal the splendours, and make the morning's light to dawn in
the hearts of the righteous.
Thou art verily the Generous, the Forgiving.
-- Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 250
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