Sunday 14 December 2014

Meaning of the Covenant

By Nosrat’u’llah Bahremand




Anybody who reads the writings of the illegitimate and headless body, which undeservedly and wrongly calls itself the Universal House of Justice, will notice that, without having the authority to do so, has created a different meaning to the Covenant which contradicts the following meaning, as explained by the authorized Interpreter of the Word, Shoghi Effendi, the first Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith:

43 COVENANT (Meaning of Bahá’í)

“As regards the meaning of the Bahá’í Covenant: The Guardian considers the existence of two forms of Covenant both of which are explicitly mentioned in the literature of the Cause. First is the Covenant that every Prophet makes with humanity or, more definitely, with His people that they will accept and follow the coming Manifestation who will be the reappearance of His reality. The second form of Covenant is such as the one Bahá’u’lláh made with His people that they should accept the Master. This is merely to establish and strengthen the succession of the series of Lights that appear after every Manifestation. Under the same category falls the Covenant the Master made with the Bahá’ís that they should accept His administration after Him.” (Shoghi Effendi, Directives from the Guardian, p. 15) 


THE COVENANT THE MASTER MADE WITH THE BAHÁ’ÍS THAT THEY SHOULD ACCEPT HIS ADMINISTRATION AFTER HIM

In the light of the above explanation, it will be an outright lie, a shameful deviation and a wicked sin for anybody to claim that the phrase: “His administration” refers to the administration of Rúhíyyih Khánum and the former Hands who abandoned `Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divinely-conceived administration and replaced it with their own man-made administration without the Guardian of the Cause of God—the “sign of God,” “the chosen branch,” “the expounder of the words of God,” “the sacred head,” “the distinguished member” of the Universal House of Justice, the one whom “Should he not attend in person its deliberations, he must appoint one to represent him,” the one whom, “Should any of the members commit a sin, injurious to the common weal, the Guardian of the Cause of God hath at his own discretion the right to expel him,” the one whom “The Lord, as a sign of His infinite bounties, hath graciously favored His servants by providing for a fixed money offering (Huqúq), to be dutifully presented unto Him.”

“His administration” revolves around the Guardian who is the “Center of the Cause” about whom Rúhíyyih Khánum wrote the following, when she was faithful:“The principle of successorship, endowed with the right of Divine interpretation, is the very hub of the Cause into which its Doctrines and Laws fit like the spokes of a wheel — tear out the hub and you have to throw away the whole thing.”

(Rúhíyyih Khánum, Twenty Five Years of the Guardianship, p. 23)


In “His administration” the Guardian of the Cause of God is “the supreme spiritual head,” The Universal House of Justice is “The legislative body.”

In “His administration”: “The Hands of the Cause of God must be nominated and appointed by the Guardian of the Cause of God. All must be under his shadow and obey his command…This body of the Hands of the Cause of God is under the direction of the Guardian of the Cause of God. He must continually urge them to strive and endeavor to the utmost of their ability to diffuse the sweet savors of God, and to guide all the peoples of the world, for it is the light of Divine Guidance that causeth all the universe to be illumined. TO DISREGARD, THOUGH IT BE FOR A MOMENT, THIS ABSOLUTE COMMAND WHICH IS BINDING UPON EVERYONE, IS IN NO WISE PERMITTED, that the existent world may become even as the Abhá Paradise, that the surface of the earth may becomeheavenly, that contention and conflict amidst peoples, kindreds, nations and governments may disappear, that all the dwellers on earth may become one people and one race, that the world may become even as one home.” (`Abdu’l-Bahá, The Will and Testament, p. 13) 

It is foolish to think that despite the clear provisions of the sacred Will and Testament of `Abdu’l-Bahá and the comprehensive explanations and interpretations of the first Guardian concerning the continuance of the Guardianship to the end of the Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh, that the Guardianship ended with Shoghi Effendi and after 1957 there would be no more “LIGHTS” and that “DIVINE GUIDANCE” no longer “FLOWS ON TO US IN THIS WORLD.”

In the Bahá’í Faith, the “SERIES OF LIGHTS THAT APPEAR AFTER EVERY MANIFESTATION” refer to `ABDU’L-BAHÁ and the GUARDIANS of the Cause of God; I do not think that anybody can claim otherwise, for Shoghi Effendi, the first Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, has made it very clear in stating:

“IN THIS DISPENSATION, DIVINE GUIDANCE FLOWS ON TO US IN THIS WORLD AFTER THE PROPHET’S ASCENSION, THROUGH FIRST THE MASTER, AND THEN THE GUARDIANS. IF A PERSON CAN ACCEPT BAHÁ’U’LLÁH’S FUNCTION, IT SHOULD NOT PRESENT ANY DIFFICULTY TO THEM TO ALSO ACCEPT WHAT HE HAS ORDAINED IN A DIVINELY GUIDED INDIVIDUAL IN MATTERS PERTAINING TO THE FAITH.” 

“”He feels that if … ponders more deeply about the fundamentals of Divine Revelation, she will also come to understand the Guardianship. Once the mind and heart have grasped the fact that God guides men through a Mouthpiece, a human being, a Prophet, infallible and unerring, it is only a logical projection of this acceptance to also accept the station of `Abdu’l-Bahá and the Guardians. The Guardians are the evidence of the maturity of mankind in the sense that at long last men have progressed to the point of having one world, and of needing one world management for human affairs. In the spiritual realm they have also reached the point where God could leave, in human hands (i.e. the Guardians) guided directly by the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh, as the Master states in His Will, the affairs of His Faith for this Dispensation. This is what is meant by ‘this is the day which will not be followed by night.’ in this Dispensation, divine guidance flows on to us in this world after the Prophet’s ascension, through first the Master, and then the Guardians. If a person can accept Bahá’u’lláh’s function, it should not present any difficulty to them to also accept what he has ordained in a Divinely guided individual in matters pertaining to the faith.” (Shoghi Effendi, Directives from the Guardian, p. 34

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