1997 marks the centenary of the Birth of Shoghi Effendi.
There are no celebrations of the occasion official or otherwise, because Shoghi
Effendi did not wish his birthday to be celebrated. He made this clear in
writing “to commemorate any event associated with his life would be tantamount
to a departure from those established truths that are enshrined within our
beloved Faith” [Shoghi Effendi, ‘Dispensation of Baha’u’llah’]. However there
is nothing to stop us from remembering him, indeed how can we forget so unique
and indispensable a figure of the Faith of Baha’u’llah. Since I have been
offered an opportunity a very welcome one I should say, and a pleasant
opportunity of being with you today, I invite you to join me in remembering
Shoghi Effendi as interpreter.
It is only fair, I think, to tell you that the talk I am
about to give will be lengthy. It comprises of three parts. The first part is
the Word as Genesis, second interpreting the Word and third the literature of
interpretation. Now, perhaps you have heard that phrasing before because I have
been involved in some form of resurrection... and… not as spectacular as that
involved Lazurus but it was some form of resurrection because some years ago I
wrote an article by this title which was published in the World Order magazine
so since I assume most of you have not heard about this article I take a chance
and bring a large of it chunk to your attention. So then let’s begin.
Part 1
The Word as Genesis
"The Word is the beginning and the end of all
things." You know the Word, capital W:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God and the Word was God". So begins the gospel according to St. John.
"Thou didst wish to make thyself known unto men, therefore thou didst
through a Word of Thy mouth bring creation into being and fashion the
universe". So goes one of the statements in one of the well-known prayers
of Baha’u’llah.
Creation is sustained and advances by the power of the Word.
The manifestation comes in a human form and although we have in Him a physical
presence, a tangible sign of God’s love, yet this is temporary. When He leaves
what we have is the Word because His most important act is to deliver the Word.
Baha’u’llah describes it, that is the Word, in a prayer as "Thy most
sublime Word, through whose potency Thou didst call creation into being and
didst reveal Thy Cause".
The Word then is the abiding evidence of the reality of the
Manifestation. It becomes the generating force of civilized life. Baha’u’llah
says, "The Word is the master-key for the whole world, inasmuch as through
its potency the doors of the hearts of men, which in reality are the doors of
heaven, are unlocked." And the Word is extended or renewed in successive
appearances of the Divine Messenger. In this very terminology - Divine
Messenger – the Word is implied.
As the initiator, the dynamo, the sustainer of existence,
the Word exercises an influence that pervades all things and all conditions.
"It hath ever dominated and will continue to dominate the realm of
being", Baha’u’llah says.
The Word is at the center of the realm of thought, through
which consciousness expresses itself. ‘Abdu’l-Baha tells us, that "the
reality of man is his thought." It stands to reason then that it is at
this point of reality that the Word produces a powerful impact. In a large
sense, thought is the product of the Word, and reflects its effects and even
some of its characteristics. Thought is revealed through the employment of
language. Language being, you might say, a coherency of words. So the Word in a
certain sense is a progenitor of words.
Baha’u’llah speaks of the "Word of God as the Cause of
the entire creation while all else besides His Word are but the creatures and
effects thereof." Thought also manifests itself though varieties of
actions and patterns of behavior. In this regard the Master informs us that the
thought without action is useless. "The power of thought is dependent in
its manifestation in deeds", He asserts. Of course, we know what
Baha’u’llah has to say about words exceeding deeds. Good intentions, you know,
but no action. You know what kind of road is paved by such.
Informal or Spontaneous Interpretation
A vital occupation of thought is its search for meaning. The
why and wherefore of things -- tangible and intangible. The reason for this or
that constantly exercises our thought. Without a sense of meaning human life is
impossible. Perhaps this is why so many people when they do not understand the
meaning of or the reason for something they fill in the void with products of
their imagination. One of these of course is superstition. Meaning comes
through a variety of modes and means such as experience, observation,
instruction, conversation.
But common to any effort in arriving at a meaning is the
capacity to interpret. That is, the ability to understand or to make sense of
signs, language, behavior, relationships, actions, impressions, dreams and all
other kinds of phenomenon, etc. etc. In fact human beings are forever engaged
in the act of interpreting, as you are now. Webster’s third international
dictionary offers the following as one definition of the word interpret: “to
understand and appreciate in the light of individual belief, judgment, interest
or circumstances”. In other words to construe, so you interpret a law, you interpret
a contract, you interpret the signs of a coming storm and so on and so on.
There are of course other definitions of the word interpret, and we shall come
to them later. What this definition, taken together with the points already
made, conclusively indicates is this: Interpretation is an essential activity
or function of intelligence. We do it all the time, and indeed, cannot do
without doing it. Right now you are doing that. How else can you understand in
any shape or form what I am saying to you? And you are doing other things
besides listening to my words, you are watching my gestures, you are trying to
decide whether I slept enough last night, you are interpreting all kind of
things while I talk. [laughter from the audience]. You are registering, you are
interpreting you are understanding things that I do, in ways that I would not
understand. But that’s fine. It is constant, this exercise of the human the
mind, it is spontaneous, it is irrepressible and involuntary.
As the Universal House of Justice said in one of its letter
to an individual with regards to the interpretation of the Baha’i teachings:
"a clear distinction is made in our Faith between authoritative
interpretation and the interpretation or understanding that each individual
arrives at for himself from his study of the teachings. While the former is
confined to the Guardian", that is the authoritative interpretation
"the latter according to the guidance given to us by the Guardian himself,
should be by no means suppressed. In fact such individual interpretation is
considered the fruit of man’s rational power". This brings us to the
second consideration of the talk namely interpreting the Word.
Part 2
Interpreting the Word
We might start here by attempting to provide a context, by
establishing categories of interpretation, and exploring briefly additional
dictionary definitions of interpret and interpretation. It seems to me that
interpretation falls into three main categories. Now these I invented, and I
hope you will have mercy on me if I am totally wrong. So the three are:
informal or spontaneous, formal, and authoritative.
Those are my categories. Informal or spontaneous, formal,
authoritative. The first, that is the informal, as already described, refers to
the habit of mind which obliges one to derive meaning or understanding from the
normal ongoing occurrences and conditions of life. The second, that is formal,
is concerned with a disciplined or a systematic approach to interpreting
phenomenon, including Sacred Scripture. The third, Authoritative, is unique to
the Baha’i Faith, and is related specifically to the interpretations of
‘Abdu’l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi.
We will come back to the second and the third categories,
since the first has already been touched upon. Here I need the further aid of
definitions. Interpret: Webster says, to explain or tell the meaning of -- in
other words to expound, elucidate, translate. Translate into intelligible or
familiar language or terms. Again Webster says, to apprehend, and represent by means
of art. There you go: by means of art -- show by illustrative representations,
bring perhaps a score or a script to active realization by performance. So
interpret means all of that, and interpretation of course is the act or result
of interpreting, and you, I won’t go any further into defining it because you
understand all of that.
Formal Interpretation
Now regarding the formal category of interpretation: let me
introduce the formal terminologies as used in academic circles, and by Biblical
scholars and by such establishments as the Roman Catholic Church.
Hermeneutics. This derives from the Greek word Hermenuin, to
interpret. This is the intellectual discipline concerned with the nature and
presuppositions of the interpretation of the human expression. This word is
associated etymologically with the name of the Greek God Hermes. He was
considered the messenger of the Gods and Deity of boundaries. Hermes took
messages from the Gods to others, i.e. to an audience, and therefore was a
mediator or an interpreter. Thus the associations of the term Hermeneutics with
Hermes reflect inherently what they call the triadic structure of the act of
interpretation.
A sign, I drew a chart for it. I had to do it for myself. A
sign or a message or a text of some sort requires a mediator or interpreter to
convey to some audience. So the triadic structure implicitly contains major
conceptual issues concerning Hermeneutics. The nature of a text, what it means
to understand a text. How understanding and interpretation are determined by
the presuppositions and beliefs of the audience to which the text is being
interpreted. I want also to call your attention, before I go on with this, to
other words that will pop up. Exegetics which is at the bottom of my chart --
there is another term for Hermeneutics. It is the science of interpretation
especially of Scripture, and then what you get from that is exegesis, that is
exposition, explanation, especially critical interpretation of a text or a
portion of Scripture. And then the one
who does it is called an exegete. I’ll be using these terminologies on and off
throughout my talk.
Now, even though interpretation is fundamental to all the
intellectual disciplines, Hermeneutics is relatively new to Western culture.
Fredrick Stiermacher, who lived between 1768 and 1834 is generally regarded as
the founder of modern Hermeneutics. Then there was a man named Wilhelm Dilsey,
who lived between 1833 and 1911. He hoped to develop a foundational discipline
for the cultural sciences that would render their conclusions as objective and
as valid as those of the natural sciences. Collateral with this newly born
interest in Hermeneutics was a rapid emergence of specialized disciplines as
recognized and preserved by the organizational structure of the modern
university – Art, History, Anthropology, Economics, History, the various
literatures, Political Science, Psychology, Philosophy etc. By the way, I
picked up all this materials from encyclopedias. Encyclopedia of Religion and
what not. So that’s where I got my materials.
At first it appeared these disciplines were more concerned
with methodologies than with hermeneutics. But powerful intellectual currents
have forced hermeneutics forward. Interest in it has therefore burgeoned among
literary critics, sociologists, historians, anthropologists, theologians,
philosophers and students of religion. What has brought about these currents? I
am told by the things I have read:
1) New theories of
human behavior in the psychological and social sciences, that’s one.
2) Developments in epistemology and philosophy of language
-- these have encouraged claims that what counts as reality for a given culture
is a function of the linguistic structures superimposed upon experience.
3) Arguments advanced by philosophers such as Ludwig
Whitgenstien and Martin Heidegar that all human experiences are basically
interpreted and that all judgments take place within a context of
interpretation mediated by culture and language behind, which it is impossible
to go.
A general assumption seems to have emerged from all this --
namely, that human consciousness is situated in history and cannot transcend
it. This assumption thus raises important questions concerning the cultural
conditioning in any understanding. The effort at laying down the foundational
principles for hermeneutics has however not realized its goal. The encyclopedia
of religion states that even a superficial glance at the contemporary
intellectual scene reveals little agreement concerning how hermeneutics is
conceived or how the discipline should proceed. The encyclopedia also calls
attention to the fact that the intellectual disciplines constituting the modern
university, have themselves been fractured into parties each of which has its
own methods and mode of interpretation. In psychology for example, there are behaviorists,
cognitive psychologists, Freudians, Jungian and Gestaltists, just as in social
sciences there are functionalists, structuralists, ethno-methodologists, and
Marxists.
Nonetheless interest in hermeneutics surges. They say that
diversity and conflict of interpretation have increasingly provided the
stimulus and the urgency for acquiring understanding and agreement. The study
of religion, where we come in, produces more problems for hermeneutics than any
other academic discipline. We can thank God that our Faith found a way of
resolving that. The encyclopedia of Religion comments that, conceptually
religions themselves may be regarded as communities of interpretation. So the
scholarly study of them takes the form of an interpretation of an interpretation.
OK. Now I fiddled around and read a little bit about
Buddhism, and I discovered this. This is an illustration. The fundamental
problems of Buddhist hermeneutics are the co-existence of conflicting sources
and concepts of authority. According to tradition, the Buddha was not the sole
preacher of Dharma. Even during Buddha’s life, His disciples acted as
missionaries and their words were considered as part of the original message of
Buddhism. The texts affirm that at the Buddha’s own behest the disciples began
each sermon with the words meaning "thus have I heard on one
occasion". This formula presumably served as a guarantee of authenticity
or rather of faithfulness to the teachings of the Master, yet the same
introductory formula was used indistinctly for sermons attributed to the
Master, to his disciples or to mythical sages and deities.
Scholarly study of religion and modern hermeneutics very
often are based on assumptions that are different from religious
interpretation, therefore the religious participant frequently views scholars’
interpretation as reductionistic and alien. The consequence is the endless
debate among scholars of religion as to whether and to what degree scholarly
interpretation of religion does justice to the believers own point of view.
Western scholarship in religion is commonly allied with the religious tradition
of liberal Protestantism. This tradition is itself a product of a series of
bitter hermeneutical debates concerning the application of historical critical
methods to the Christian Bible. These debates showed that orthodox Christians
regarded the application of these methods as "alien mode of
interpretation".
You see what has happened to a religion that does not have
interpreters. The issues involved were resolved by liberal Protestantism which
defined the essence of religious faith as "experience rather than
doctrine, or historical belief". Just think about that for a minute.
Stiermacher the founder of modern hermeneutics was himself a liberal
Protestant. He exerted such influence on the arrival at this compromise, much
influence I should say. His opinion was that the various religions were the
culturally conditioned forms of an underlying universal religious sensibility.
The locus of Faith thus shifted from belief to experience. Very important point
now bear in mind. The problem here essentially rests with the text and the
inability to establish its authoritative meaning. This proposed shift, in my
view, of Faith from belief to experience seems no less than a dodge. The way
then to determine the intent of the Author of a sacred Text, according to
Stienmacher, is to develop the basic grammatical and psychological conditions
necessary for the understanding of any text whatever. He felt that the nature
of language was the crucial theoretical issue.
An elaboration of this point goes like this, and I quote
"A correct interpretation requires, not only an understanding of the
cultural and historical context of an author, but a grasp of the latter unique
subjectivity. This can be accomplished only by an act," they say "of
divination and intuitive leap by which the interpreter re-lives the
consciousness of the author. By seeing this consciousness in the larger
cultural context the interpreter comes to understand the author better than the
author understands himself or herself".
Interesting. It seems normal to think that understanding of
the author’s intent is essential to interpretation, and Steinmacher had
regarded for this point of view of course. However for some decades now the
prevailing attitudes of scholars has been to ignore the authorial intent
altogether. For example, the Encyclopedia states that most literary criticisms
has been built on the assumption that a literary text has its own afterlife,
independent of the author and that to understand it has little or no
relationship to the understanding the author’s intentions when writing it. I
don’t mind that. It’s nice to play around with fiction. It’s fun. Anyway, I
want to get us out of this entanglement with Academia. That’s not really what I
want to do. I was having fun playing with you. Probably I don’t understand half
of what I am saying to you.
One theorist holds that there is no one right or wrong way
to interpret anything, including texts, hence the quest for agreement is not a
desideratum. In other words, it’s not desired, it’s not essential. It’s not
needed. Imagine that! Vicgunstien advanced the notion that explanations and
interpretations make sense only within a horizon of pre-suppositions, practices
and assumptions that our culture mediates to us, or tradition, so to speak.
When all is said and done, these philosophers and theorists have not been able
to lay down singly or collectively a general theory of understanding on which
there is agreement, but the conflicting fragments of thoughts they have brought
to the continuing debate regarding hermeneutics have seized upon the minds of
the less thoughtful folks than they and produced pretexts for a license of
expression and criticisms, that not only shatters religious faith but also
threatens all good sense.
Now I wanted to give an example of Roman Catholic Churches
reaction to all of this. In 1993, you can see I was having fun, I have read
these documents. I don’t understand it but anyway. In 1993 the Pontifical
Biblical Commission issued a document on the interpretation of the Bible in the
Church. It is a fascinating document for a Baha’i to read, really honestly, I
have read them. Its issuance in 23 April 1993, to commemorate the centenary of
the encyclical of Leo the XIII. This thing he called Providenticimus Deos and
the 50th anniversary of the encyclical of Pios XII which he called Divino
Efflante Spirito. Both concerning Biblical Studies. Pope John Paul II in his
address on that occasion, that is 1993, said that "on the one hand
Providenticimus Deos wanted especially to protect Catholic interpretation of
the Bible from the attacks of rationalistic science, on the other hand Divino
Effante Spirito was primarily concerned with defending the Catholic
interpretation from attacks that opposed the use of science by exegetes, that
wanted to impose a non-scientific so called spiritual interpretation of the
sacred scriptures." These things are two opposing things, you see. He
furthermore quotes an assertion made at the second Vatican Council "All
that has been said about the manner of interpreting the Scripture is ultimately
subject to the judgment of the Church, which exercises the Divinely conferred
Commission and ministry of watching over and interpreting the Word of
God".
Now I would like to know the Scriptures that underlie this.
Now, so, I have dealt with formal interpretation so to speak. So let’s deal a
little bit with authoritative, which brings us home.
Authoritative Interpretation
I have suggested three categories of interpretation: 1)
Informal or Spontaneous, that is the habit of mind which obliges one to derive
meaning or understanding from the normal ongoing occurrences and conditions of
life. 2) Formal, a disciplined or
systematic approach to understanding or interpreting a phenomenon including
Sacred Scriptures, one which even though it aspires towards a scientific method
does not adhere to a general theory of understanding on which there is an
agreement. 3) Authoritative.
I have adopted the description authoritative for the third
category which is related to the Baha’i Faith and is unique to it. This
uniqueness derives from a distinctive fact. Namely that Baha’u’llah himself in
two major documents, explicitly, designated an interpreter of His Writings. No
Revelator before Him has so clearly done this. A lack which has been largely
responsible for the disunity and schism within other major religions. In both
the Kitab-i-Aqdas and the Kitab-i-Ahd, which is the book of Covenant,
Baha’u’llah designated Abdu’l-Baha as the interpreter of God’s Word. You know
that. This unequivocal statement appears in the most Holy Book.
"When the Ocean of My presence hath ebbed, and the Book
of My revelation is ended, turn your faces towards him whom God hath purposed
who hath branched from this Ancient Root."
Again Baha’u’llah states
"when the mystic dove will have winged its flight from
its sanctuary of praise and sought its far off goal, it’s hidden habitation,
refer ye whatsoever ye understand not in the Book, to him who hath branched
from this Mighty stock".
‘Abdu’l-Baha commenting on the authority conferred on him,
stated the following:
"In accordance with the explicit texts of the
Kitab-i-Aqdas, Baha’u’llah hath made the Center of the Covenant, the interpreter
of His Word. A Covenant so firm and mighty that from the beginning of time
until the present day, no religious dispensation has produced its like".
Again, ‘Abdu’l-Baha says,
"I am according to the explicit texts of the
Kitab-i-Aqdas, and the Kitab-i-Ahd the manifest interpreter of the Word of God,
whoso deviates from my interpretation is a victim of his own fancy."
Baha’u’llah makes a highly illuminating statement about
appointed interpreters. Listen:
"Know assuredly", He said. "Just as thou
firmly believest that Word of God, exalted be His Glory, endureth for ever,
thou must likewise believe with undoubting faith that its meaning can never be
exhausted."
Then this:
"They who are its appointed interpreters, they whose
hearts are the repositories of its secrets, are however the only ones who can
comprehend its manifold wisdom."
Fascinating and instructive to contemplate the phrase
"they whose hearts are the repositories of its secrets”, secrets of the
Word. The indication is that there is something here which transcends the
competencies of academic training. Obviously, the function of authoritative
interpretation is, in its very nature and purpose, different from any
arrangement we have known before. Its purpose extends beyond the need to know
the meaning of the Scripture as they apply to the interactive behavior of the
individuals, of peoples, of societies. It is to make possible the achievement
of the primary aim of the Baha’i Revelation, namely, the unity of the entire
human race.
As you know the Baha’i Faith has had the benefit of two
appointed interpreters – ‘Abdu’l-Baha and his successor Shoghi Effendi.
Let me now quote from a text of antiquity. Since it provides
a bridge to the third and final part of the talk that is the Literature of
Interpretation. This text is taken from the literature on Christian doctrine, a
treatise by St. Augustine, which deals with Christian exegesis:
"It is the duty of the interpreter and teacher of Holy
Scripture, the defender of the true Faith, and the opponent of error, both to
teach what is right and to refute what is wrong, and in the performance of this
task, to conciliate the hostile, to rouse the careless, and to tell the
ignorant both what is occurring at present and what is probable in the future.
But once that his hearers are friendly, attentive, and ready to learn, whether
he has found them so or has himself made them so, the remaining objects are to
be carried out in whatever way the case requires. If the hearers need teaching,
the matter treated of must be made fully known by means of narrative. On the
hand to clear points that are doubtful requires reasoning and the exhibition of
proof. If however, the hearers require to be roused, rather than instructed, in
order that they may be diligent to do what they already know, and to bring
their feelings into harmony with the truths they admit, greater vigor of speech
is needed."
Isn’t that fascinating? St. Augustine.
Shoghi Effendi, the great-grandson of Baha’u’llah was an
interpreter of holy Scripture for 36 years from 1921 to 1957. He labored at his
divine task producing in the end a wealth of interpretive literature, whose
implications for our times and for the far future demands serious study. In a
field, that had only been speculated about in the past, Shoghi Effendi, by the
very nature of his calling, perfected a new literary form. His is a kind of an
achievement of which St. Augustine, one of the outstanding ancient Christian
thinkers, might have dreamed, in writing his treatise on Christian doctrine.
While it is not being suggested that we go back to the 5th century universe of St.
Augustine to find meaning in the works of this 20th century Interpreter, it is
instructive and not merely a matter of curiosity that the Augustinian idea was
never truly realized until the passing of Baha’u’llah in 1892 and the
subsequent assumption of the office of Interpreter by ‘Abdu’l-Baha who in turn
acting in accordance with the divine authority explicitly conferred upon him by
Baha’u’llah, appointed Shoghi Effendi to succeed him. It is largely the fact of
appointment that lends a hitherto unknown dimension to the matter of
interpretation in the Baha’i dispensation and places a unique stamp on
‘Abdu’l-Baha’s and Shoghi Effendi’s works as Interpreters of Scripture.
That the prevailing Christian concept and practice of
interpretation which St. Augustine had to shape, differs in essential details
from the Baha’i experience since the passing of Baha’u’llah also deserves
notice but…, I lost my way here… but it is not the purpose of this talk to do
this. The intention here is to discuss the writings of Shoghi Effendi and as it
serves the purpose of literary review to ascertain the motivation of the
author, some attention to Shoghi Effendi’s major function as an interpreter is
unavoidable. If therefore Augustine is invoked, it is principally because, retrospection
may offer dimension where comparisons are impossible. The question of
authenticity and the method of interpretation with which he wrestled, has only
now been conclusively answered in the Revelation of Baha’u’llah, fifteen
centuries later, and in a way that the facts of Christ’s ministry and the
realities of Augustine’s time could not have prepared his vision to perceive.
Yet we can appreciate how significant was his yearning, and with what
remarkable resourcefulness he discerned and defined the need for authentication
of scriptural meaning.
Baha’u’llah, who declared Himself to be the Spokesman of God
for our time, identifies unity as the central purpose of His Revelation and
relates this to the consummate purpose of God for man. Unity of mankind envisaged
by Baha’u’llah calls for the establishment of a World Order, based on the laws
and principles, which He Himself has left enshrined in His recorded Writings,
produced over a period of forty years. The Báb, Himself the author of an
independent revelation, and the Forerunner of Baha’u’llah, alludes to the
glorious prospects of the system to be conceived by His Successor. He states in
the third chapter of the Persian Bayan, "Well is it with him who fixeth
his gaze upon the order of Baha’u’llah, rendereth thanks unto his Lord for he
will assuredly be made manifest. God hath indeed irrevocably ordained it in the
Bayan." Of this central purpose of Baha’u’llah’s revelation, Shoghi
Effendi writes:
"For Baha’u’llah we should readily recognize, has not
only imbued mankind with a new and regenerating Spirit. He has not merely
enunciated certain universal principles, or propounded a particular philosophy,
however potent, sound and universal these may be. In addition to these, He, as
well as ‘Abdu’l-Baha after Him, has, unlike the dispensations of the past,
clearly and specifically laid down a set of laws, established definite
institutions, and provided for the essentials of a divine economy. These are
destined to be a pattern for future society, a supreme instrument for the
establishment of the Most Great Peace, and the one agency for the unification
of the world, and the proclamation of the reign of righteousness and justice
upon the earth."
The Houses of Justice, institutions of Baha’u’llah’s World
Order, which He summons the people of every city, hamlet or village, of every
country to elect, according to principles enunciated by Him, are to function
under the direction and protection of a Supreme legislative institution, the
Universal House of Justice.
This Supreme institution, no less than the Local and
National Houses of Justice, now known as the Local and National Spiritual
Assemblies, is to reach its decisions through a process of consultation in
which divine guidance is vouchsafed by God. Although all these institutions are
assured of divine guidance, the Universal House of Justice is especially freed
from all error. The establishment and evolution of these unique institutions
are part of a grand design, which is made possible through a unique provision,
namely, the establishment of the Institution of the Center of the Covenant, in
the person of Abdu’l-Baha, the eldest son of
Baha’u’llah.
You know what the Scriptures are that designated Him such,
as the Center of the Covenant, and we know how much Baha’u’llah wrote about His
son, how He loved Him, how He praised Him, how He conveyed in His various
Writings, the nature, the character of His successor. For instance, in one of
His Tablets, Baha’u’llah says:
"Render thanks unto God O People! for His
appearance," that is, ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s appearance, "for verily He is
the most great favor unto you, the most perfect bounty upon you, and through
Him every moldering bone is quickened. Whosoever turneth towards Him hath
turned towards God, and whosoever turneth away from Him, hath turneth away from
My Beauty, hath repudiated My Proof and transgressed against Me. He is the
Trust of God amongst you, His Charge within you, His manifestation unto you,
and His appearance amongst His favored servants. We have sent him down in the
form of a human temple, Blest and sanctified be God who created whatsoever He
willeth through His inviolable, His infallible Decree. They who deprive
themselves of the shadow of the Branch, are lost in the wilderness of error,
are consumed by the heat of worldly desires, and are of those who will
assuredly perish".
You know in that passage where Baha’u’llah says He is “His
charge within you, His manifestation unto you” -- do you remember in the Old
Testament when Moses was being assigned His mission as a Manifestation, and He
was parrying with God and wanted to slip out of it, and He made all kinds of
excuses, and one of His excuses was that He was a stammerer and could not
speak, and God said, all right, you are still the One, Aaron can speak, you
tell him what to say. I am your God and You are his God. You see it’s
interesting.
In exalted and emphatic tones Baha’u’llah elaborated His
Covenant with His followers, who were not to be left shepherd-less after His
passing in 1892, as to His meaning. He left no room for interpretation or error
of judgment. Above all ‘Abdu’l-Baha was the Center of the Covenant, a Center in
which an unexampled variety of divine prodigies converge. It is no wonder then that
‘Abdu’l-Baha in an affirmation of Baha’u’llah’s Covenant exclaims: "So
firm and mighty is this Covenant, that from the beginning of time until the
present day, no religious dispensation has produced it’s like."
During a period of 29 years from 1892, till 1921 through
unceasing struggle and unremitting pain, inflicted by the attacks by the
enemies of the Cause, ‘Abdu’l-Baha directed the far-flung affairs of the Cause,
traveled to the West to establish it’s teachings, delineated it’s Institutions
and revealed the whole pattern and framework of the Administrative Order
brought by His Father. No narration, no exposition, no description indeed no
literature yet exists, that adequately conveys the essential nature of one who
accomplished so much against so many odds, yet it is increasingly demonstrable,
that ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s appointment as the Center of Baha’u’llah’s Covenant welded
the universal concepts of the Faith He championed, and prevented its reduction
to a veritable pandemonium of contending factions and vested interests.
Baha’u’llah’s metaphorical designation of His son inspired
feelings of awe, "The most Mighty Branch", "The limb of the law
of God", "A shield unto all who are unto heaven and on earth",
"A Shelter for all mankind", "A stronghold for whosoever hath
believed in God", "The Master", "The Mystery of God".
The last, " The Mystery of God", is “an
expression” according to Shoghi Effendi, “by which Baha’u’llah Himself has
chosen to designate Him, and which while it does not by any means justify us to
assign Him the station of Prophethood, indicates how in the person of
‘Abdu’l-Baha, the incompatible characteristics of a human nature and superhuman
knowledge and perfection have been blended and are completely harmonized.”
‘Abdu’l-Baha’s interpretive mind was the crucible in which
Baha’u’llah’s purpose and the sum of Baha’i experience were fused in the
creation of yet another heretofore unknown Institution, the Guardianship. From
the reading of Abdu’l-Baha’s Will and Testament following His passing on
November 28th 1921, there flashes upon the consciousness of the bereaved Baha’i
community a youthful figure of Shoghi Effendi. As he according to that document
is the "Sign of God", the " Chosen Branch", "The
Guardian of the Cause of God", "He unto whom His loved ones must
turn. He is the expounder of the Word of God.”
‘Abdu’l-Baha’s Will, a tri-partied document, regarded by
Baha’is as the Charter of Baha’u’llah’s New World Order, is elaborate in its
emphasis on this appointment in a manner reminiscent of Baha’u’llah’s own
treatment of the appointment of the Center of the Covenant. Baha’u’llah had
written in His own hand, in the Kitab-i-Ahd, that is the Book of Covenant, in
which the appointment of ‘Abdu’l-Baha was re-affirmed. ‘Abdu’l-Baha too wrote
in His own hand, the Will and Testament. There are certain resemblances in the
construction of the appointive language, of each in the elaboration, in the
multiple confirmations, there is no room for doubt as to the identity of the
appointee or the authority conferred upon him. You are familiar with these
texts.
Shoghi Effendi tells us, writing about Guardian,
Guardianship, about himself, he says:
"The fact that the Guardian has been specifically
endowed with such power as he may need to reveal the purport and disclose the
implications of the utterances of Baha’u’llah and of ‘Abdu’l-Baha does not
necessarily confer upon him a station co-equal with those, whose words he is
called upon to interpret. He can exercise that right and discharge this
obligation and yet remain infinitely inferior to both of them in rank and
different in nature".
For instance, he tells us that "the Guardian cannot
claim to be the perfect exemplar of the teachings of Baha’u’llah or the
stainless mirror that reflects His light". True, the Guardian, the
offspring of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s interpretive mind, the co-sharer in the genius of
divine interpretation occupies a lesser rank, nonetheless he emerges as an
unequal figure in his own right.
Shoghi Effendi as an Interpreter
Shoghi Effendi’s interpretive work has to be seen against
the broad fabric of his responsibilities as a successor of ‘Abdu’l-Baha. With
the passing of Abdu’l-Baha it fell to him to guide the Baha’is toward
fulfilling the world encompassing goals, set by Baha’u’llah and amplified by
‘Abdu’l-Baha. There was a divine plan to be pursued. It required the firm
establishment of new institutions. The pursuance of worldwide Teaching
Projects, the protection of the Faith against its enemies, in short the
building of the New World Order proclaimed by Baha’u’llah. Through the
extensive travels of ‘Abdu’l-Baha in the east and the west and the copious
correspondence that flowed from his indefatigable pen, the Faith had been
established in 35 countries but the adherents were for the most part loosely
organized and largely unaware of the principles of Baha’i Administration. If
Shoghi Effendi’s appointment as Guardian, was to have meaning, if it implied
preserving the integrity of the Faith, as well as it’s teachings, he had to do
more than explain the texts, he had to direct and guide his trust, through the
crucible of transformation. He had to forge a Baha’i community.
In addition to interpretation, Shoghi Effendi’s writings
were made to serve three major objectives. These were in fact the essential
purposes of his exegetic works. These three purposes were: the establishment
and consolidation of Baha’i Institutions, the prosecution of the Baha’i
Teaching programs, and the nurturing of Baha’i community life.
Now let’s look
at the first:
Establishment and consolidation of the Baha’i Institutions
Shoghi Effendi gave paramount attention at the outset to
building administrative Institutions. We find evidences of this among his first
letters to the West. In a letter to the North American believers, dated 23
March 1923, he wrote
"And now that this all important work may suffer no
neglect but rather function vigorously and continuously in every part of the
Baha’i World, that the unity of the Cause of Baha’u’llah may remain secure and
inviolate, it is of the utmost importance, that in accordance with the explicit
texts of the Kitab-i-Aqdas, the Most Holy Book, in every locality, be it city
or hamlet, where the number of adult declared believers exceeds nine, a Local
Spiritual Assembly be forthwith established. To it all local matters pertaining
to the Cause must be directly and immediately referred for full consultation
and decision. The importance, nay, the absolute necessity, of these Local
Assemblies is manifest when we realize that in the days to come they will
evolve into the Local House of Justice, and at present provide the firm
foundation on which the structure of the Master’s Will is to be reared in
future."
From this beginning, Shoghi Effendi urged and guided the
formation of Local and National Spiritual Assemblies. On Nov. 4 1957 the time
of his death, there existed as many as 26 National Spiritual Assemblies and
over 1000 Local Assemblies throughout the world.
The second purpose:
The prosecution of the Baha’i Teaching Programs
Having abolished the clergy, Baha’u’llah urged upon His
followers to the primary duty of teaching His Faith as "the most
meritorious of all deeds". Moreover, ‘Abdu’l-Baha in a series of 14
letters known as the Tablets of the Divine Plan, addressed to the Baha’is in
United States and Canada, outlined the program by which the teaching of the
Faith was to be effected throughout the world. Although various Teaching
Projects had been undertaken by the spontaneous response of individuals to
these Tablets, it was not until 1937, sixteen years after the death of
‘Abdu’l-Baha that a systematic Teaching Scheme, known as the Seven Year Plan
was adopted in this very room I think (Foundation Hall of the House of Worship
in Wilmette) by the North American believers, under the tutelage of Shoghi
Effendi and with the direction of their National Spiritual Assembly. There is a
fascinating story surrounding this but I don’t have the time to get into it.
In the interim, he had been building the administrative
system, the channel through which the teaching enterprises, which were to grow
successively larger until they encircled the globe, were to be directed. The
Second Five Year Plan launched in 1946 preceded the ambitious 10 year
international teaching and consolidation plan initiated in 1953. At the time of
his death in the mid-point of the later Plan the Faith had already been
established in 200 countries and dependencies. The plan achieved all its major
goals and at the end in 1963, the centenary of the anniversary of the
Declaration of Baha’u’llah’s mission, the Universal House of Justice was
elected, by 56 National Spiritual Assemblies.
The third:
Nurturing of Baha’i Community life
Nurture of Baha’i communities, let me make a few comments on
that. The tragic circumstances, which greeted the birth of the Faith,
imprisonment and martyrdom of the Herald Prophet the Báb, vehement opposition
of the Muslim clergy, which led to the slaughter of some 20,000 Bábís, the
imprisonment and exile of Baha’u’llah, and the official proscriptions imposed
upon His followers had by 1921 forged the beginnings of independent Baha’i
Community life in Iran and other Muslim countries where Baha’i membership had
grown significantly.
But although as a result of His travel from 1911 to 1913
‘Abdu’l-Baha had raised up thousands of believers in the West, His instructions
concerning Baha’i collective life, had not yet been absorbed. As has already
been observed, Spiritual Assemblies, the pivots around which the various
communities revolved had not yet been established on a firm foundation. The
believers had not yet known their significance as the channels for guiding and
promoting the application of certain devotional practices, such as fasting and
praying, the dissemination of Baha’u’llah’s teaching for developing the inner
life of the individual believer, the use of the Baha’i Calendar and the
observance of Baha’i Feasts, Holy Days, and anniversaries.
The demands upon Shoghi Effendi for instruction,
clarifications and direction concerning these vital purposes were clear. He was
the first and ultimate source of genuine guidance, to whom the Baha’is must
turn. His treatment of each and all was inextricably linked to his appointment
as the expounder of the Word of God. These purposes were made the avenues of
his exegetic expression, the means by which life was breathed into his
explanations. Every thought he expressed had some particular implication for
the immediate or future action of the community, whether that action concerned
institutional functions, great undertakings, or the transformation of the
character of an individual. It becomes increasingly evident from the reading of
his writings, in relation to the occasions which elicited them, that thought is
not to be wasted on sheer argument, much less on satisfying the pride of
authorship as has been true of the philosophic and exegetic tradition followed
by ancient and modern theologians. Hair-splitting arguments are to be avoided
entirely. Thought expressed must serve some purpose, be related to some
direction, or deed, must urge, inform, confirm or amplify action.
Thus we discover in his performance as interpreter an
eminent example of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s meaning when he states, "The reality of
man is his thought", and points out the two differences in two
classifications of thought namely, thought that belongs to the world of thought
alone and thought that expresses itself in action. Shoghi Effendi’s
interpretations were obviously oriented to action.
In much the same way the as the texts he was called upon to
interpret. I have already referred to the texts that got us launched in
establishing Institutions, Local and National. Here instruction and
interpretation are synthesized. They are one and the same thing, because he is
asserting the authority and meaning of the Kitab-i-Aqdas when he calls us to
establish Local or National Houses of Justice or Spiritual Assemblies. The only
variable is time. The use of which falls within the discretion of his authority
as appointed guide. An exposition of functions of Local Spiritual Assemblies
follows the instructions and forms the basis of the letter containing it. A
letter in which is also included an explanation of the need and the basis for
the establishment of the National Spiritual Assemblies. In another example a
letter written on May 12 1925, Shoghi Effendi explains further about the
formation of National Spiritual Assemblies. He writes, "Regarding the
method to be adopted for the election of the National Spiritual Assemblies, it
is clear that the texts of the Beloved’s Testament," that is
‘Abdu’l-Baha’s testament, "gives us no indication as to the manner in
which these Assemblies are to be elected. In one of His earliest Tablets,
however, addressed to a friend in Persia, the following is expressly recorded,
‘Whatever time all the beloved of God in each country, appoint their delegates
and these in turn elect their representatives and these representatives elect a
body, that body shall be regarded as the Supreme Bait-ul-Adl.’ i.e. Universal
House of Justice.” The Guardian goes on, "These words, clearly indicate that
a three stage election has been provided by ‘Abdu’l-Baha for the formation of
the International House of Justice, and as it is explicitly provided in his
Will and Testament that the Secondary Houses of Justice, i.e. the National
Spiritual Assemblies must elect the members of the Universal one, it is obvious
that the members of the National Spiritual Assemblies will have to be
indirectly elected by the body the believers in their respective
provinces."
You see, he lets us, he opens a window, and lets us into his
processes of thinking: "In view of these complimentary instructions, the
principle set forth in my letter of March 12, 1923 has been established
requiring believers in every country to elect a certain number of delegates,
who in turn will elect their national representatives, whose" that is the
National Assembly’s, you see, "sacred obligation and privilege will be to
elect in time God’s Universal House of Justice". Here we gather some
insight into the progressive stages of exegesis, as they relate to the growth
and actions of the community. This letter which went on to amplify the
principles enunciated by ‘Abdu’l-Baha was a reply to a communications dated
April 4 and 18, 1925 which the Guardian had received from the National
Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada that supplied him with the
information on a variety of subjects and raised questions that he had already
treated in a letter written two years before.
A number of points emerge from a scrutiny of such letters.
Interpretations are given in response to the expressed or demonstrated need of
the community at the time. Shoghi Effendi seems completely to avoid gratuitous,
random interpretations of the Sacred Texts. The questions and needs of the
community outline the course and output of his exegesis. In this way his
exegesis evolves with the community. It is thus possible to trace and gauge the
progressive stages of Baha’i community development by reading his letters
chronologically. Since they rest on enduring principles, the interpretations
given are not limited by time. They both satisfy and transcend the need of the
moment, and thus serve the future as well as the present. Take for example the
letter just cited, above earlier. The principles of elections for the National
Spiritual Assemblies which he explains are unchangeable, yet they are written
in reply to a question of the moment.
The introductions of similar letters, repeatedly affirm the
interplay between the information or question received by Shoghi Effendi and
the subsequent guidance he issued. Refer for instance, to his letter to the
National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada, this one dated 27
February 1929; he writes:
"Dearly Beloved Co-workers, I have been acquainted by
the perusal of your latest communications with the nature of the doubts that
have been publicly expressed by one who is wholly misinformed as to the true
precepts of the Cause. Regarding the validity of the Institutions that stand
inextricably interwoven with the Faith of Baha’u’llah"; or to his letter
dated March 21, 1930:
"Dearly Beloved Co-workers, amid the reports that have
of late reached the Holy Land most of which witnessed the triumphant march of
the Cause, a few seem to betray a certain apprehension, regarding the validity
of the Institutions which stand inseparably associated with the Faith of
Baha’u’llah." These are the opening passages of the letters published
under the respective titles, "The World Order of Baha’u’llah" and
"The World Order of Baha’u’llah - further Considerations" These are
indispensable documents you can’t survive without reading them. These are the
responses to those questions, to those letters. Both, as I say, are
indispensable responses on the philosophy of Baha’i Administration. It is no
wonder then, that Shoghi Effendi had an insatiable need for information, and
was relentless in the gathering and meticulous in the classification of data.
You of the present generation must remember that the House
of Justice needs information. It does not get revelation, and if you do not
supply information, you are likely to miss out on a lot of things, and it is
likely to make its own decisions in its own way and you will have to obey it. (Laughter
from the audience).
He writes "I am eagerly awaiting, the news of the
progress of the activities initiated to promote the teaching work within and
beyond the confines of the American continent." This he sent in a cable,
but he could not have relied and did not rely solely on Assemblies for
information. Amatu’l-Baha writes in her biography of him that he did not always
wait until official channels corroborated the arrival of a pioneer at the
pioneering post or some other good news which has been conveyed to him by a
pilgrim. “This practice of his should not however mislead us into thinking that
he was not extraordinarily thorough. The exactitude with which he compiled
statistics, sought out historic facts, worked on every minute details of his
maps and plans, was astonishing”, she says. Although the data he received were
put to a variety of uses, it is evident that the springs of interpretation were
often activated by the influx of information.
His principle of translating exegesis into action were variously
manifested in his methods of persuasion, by which he alternately employed
several modes of praise, censure and exhortation. A brief survey of the Advent
of Divine Justice, the published letter which Shoghi Effendi wrote to the
Baha’is of Baha’is of the United States and Canada on December 25 1938, will
illustrate his methods. I will just do a run through this.
In April 1937, these Baha'is had at the direction of the
Guardian, launched the Seven year Plan. The first long range Teaching Program
designed as a systematic response to ‘Abdul-Baha's Charter. The Plan set three
goals to be accomplished by the end in 1944, of the first century of the Baha'i
era. Forming a Local Spiritual Assembly in each province of Canada and in each
State of the United States, establishing a Baha'i Center in each country of
Central and South America and in certain European countries, and completing the
exterior ornamentation of the Temple in Wilmette. These were the three major
goals of the Seven Year Plan, the First Seven Year Plan. In the series of
letters and cablegrams he sent to the North American believers during the first
year of the Plan, Shoghi Effendi marvels at the range which the driving force
of their ceaseless labors has acquired and the heights which the sublimity of
their faith has attained. His exhortations are frequent and compelling.
The Seven Year Plan, he writes, "must at all costs be
prosecuted with increasing force and added consecration. The American believers
must gird up their loins of endeavor and step into the arena of service with
such heroism as shall astound the entire Baha'i World.”
But intermingled with his expression of gratification and
praise, are displays of anxiety, increasingly intensified by the falling
shadows of World War II. He intimates his deepening concern, not from fear of
the gathering specter but from uneasiness about its probable repercussions upon
the outlook of those who were to prosecute such a bold program. So he writes:
"Severe, and unprecedented as may be the internal tests
and ordeals, which the members of this community may yet experience, however
tragic and momentous the external happenings which might well disrupt the
fabric of the society in which they live, they must not throw out these six
remaining years, allow themselves to be deflected from the course they are now
steadily pursuing."
Again he says:
"The rumblings that precede the eruption of those
forces which must cause the limbs of humanity to quake, can already be
heard." Yet he praises the community which is "standing ready, alert,
clear-visioned and resolute."
It is against this background of bold planning and
courageous action on the one hand and the precarious world conditions on the
other that Shoghi Effendi penned one of his most widely used works, as I refer
to the Advent of the Divine Justice. He had seized upon the chance afforded him
by the seeming incongruity of the humble plan of hope and the imminence of the
war to reconcile the paradox in an exposition of Baha'i principles.
He begins this long and wonderful document with praise:
"Best beloved brothers and sisters, in the love of
Baha'u'llah, It would be difficult indeed to adequately express the feelings of
irrepressible joy and exaltation that flood my heart every time I pause to
contemplate the ceaseless evidences of the dynamic energy which animates the
stalwart pioneers of the World Order of Baha'u'llah, in the execution of the
plan committed to their charge."
He's got you! [laughter from the audience] He then documents
the reasons for his praise, for he never stoops to flattery. He comments on the
resourcefulness of the National representatives of the American believers,
appreciates the generous support accorded them by the community at large,
observes the close interaction, complete cohesion, continual harmony and
fellowship between the various Baha'i agencies, as constituting a phenomenon
which offers a striking contrast to the disruptive tendencies manifested in the
present day society.
"The community has reason to be grateful" he says,
"for the interposition of an ever watchful providence." He writes,
"Whereas every apparent trial, with which the unfathomable wisdom of the
Almighty deems it necessary to afflict His chosen community, serves only to
demonstrate afresh, its essential solidarity, and to consolidate its inward
strength. Each of the successive crisis in the fortunes of the decadent age
exposes more convincingly than the one preceding it the corrosive influences
that are fast sapping the vitality and undermining the basis of its declining
institutions."
He then enumerates certain crises afflicting the Baha'I
communities in Europe and Asia. The Nazi regime has banned the activity of the
German Baha'i community. In central Asia, the city enjoying the unique
distinction of having been chosen by Abdu'l-Baha as the home of the first
Mashriqu'l-Adhkar of the Baha'i world, the community finds itself at the mercy
of the forces which alarmed at its rising power are now bent on to reducing it
to utter impotence. In Persia, wherein reside the immense majority of its
followers, the community faces a continuing campaign of repression. In the Holy
Land, the heart and world center of the world embracing Faith, as state of
unrest interferes with the flow of pilgrims and suspends various projects
associated with the physical development of the World Center.
This somber survey of the state of the Baha'i community is
not however to become a litany of defeat, for ‘Abdu'l-Baha has written that,
and he quotes, you see, "the continent of America is in the eyes one true
God, the land wherein the splendors of His light shall be revealed, and where
the mysteries of His Faith shall be unveiled, and where the righteous will
abide and the free assemble." Shoghi Effendi sees it. "Already the
community of the believers of the North American continent at once the prime
mover and pattern of future communities which the Faith of Baha'u'llah is
destined to raise up throughout the length and breadth of the western
hemisphere, has despite the prevailing gloom shown its capacity to be
recognized as the torchbearer of that light. The repository of those mysteries.
The exponent of that righteousness, and the sanctuary of that freedom."
When the last time you you read the Advent [of Divine Justice], do you remember
or know that you are all of that?
Hence the North American Baha'i Community is the one
"chief remaining citadel, the mighty arm, which still raises aloft the
standard of unconquerable faith." If you wonder why the pioneers took off
and went into the wildernesses of the world, acquaint yourself with these
texts. "Thus while its sister communities are bending beneath the
tempestuous winds that beat upon them from every side, this community,
preserved by the immutable decrees of an omnipotent Ordainer and deriving
continual sustenance from the mandate with which the Tablets of the Divine Plan
have invested it, is now busily engaged in laying the foundations and in
fostering the growth of those institutions which are to herald the approach of the
age destined to witness the birth and rise of the World Order of
Baha'u'llah".
He has resolved a paradox and the burden of the actual proof
rests on the shoulders of the American Baha'i Community. "A community,
relatively negligible in its numerical strength." That fact itself a
paradox. How can it bear this awesome challenge? He stirs the community's sense
of pride by reciting its matchless and brilliant record of service. He does
this for pages, paragraphs, but quickly warns that, "magnificent as has
been this record, reminiscent as it is, in some of its aspects, of the exploits
with which the dawn-breakers of a heroic age have proclaimed the birth of the
Faith itself, the task associated with the name of this privileged community,
is far from approaching its climax, only beginning to unfold."
He then points the community's vision to the grand
possibilities of the future, which the successful prosecution of the Plan in
progress will lead to. These include among others the election of the Universal
House of Justice, and its establishment in the Holy Land. He asserts the
certitude of the ultimate blessings that must crown the consummation of their
mission. But again he warns, and now listen to this:
"Dearly beloved friends, great as is my love and admiration
for you, convinced as I am of the paramount share which you can and will
undoubtedly have in both the continental and international spheres of the
future Baha'i activity and service," This is 1938, mark you, "I feel
it nevertheless incumbent upon me to utter at this juncture, a word of warning,
the glowing tributes so repeatedly and so deservedly paid to the capacity, the
spirit, the conduct and the high rank of the American believers, both
individually and as a community, must under no circumstances be confounded with
the characteristics and the nature of the people from which God has raised them
up.
A sharp distinction between that community and that people
must be made, and resolutely and fearlessly upheld, if we wish to give due
recognition to the transmuting power of the Faith of Baha'u'llah in its impact
on the lives and standards of those who have chosen to enlist under His banner,
otherwise the supreme and distinguishing function of His Revelation, which is
none other than the calling into being a new race of men will remain wholly
unrecognized and completely obscured."
He then illustrates his meaning, by calling attention to the
circumstances, and surroundings in which the prophets of God chose to appear.
They deliver their message, in countries and amid peoples and races who are
either in a state of decline, or in a state of moral and spiritual degradation.
He asserts the conviction that:
"...not by reason of any racial superiority, political
capacity, or spiritual virtue, which a race or nation might possess, but rather
as a direct consequence of its crying needs, its lamentable degeneracy, and
irremediable perversity, has the prophet of God chosen to appear in its midst,
and with it as a lever has lifted the entire human race to a higher and nobler
plane of conduct. For it is precisely under such circumstances, and by such
means the prophets have, from time immemorial, chosen and were able to
demonstrate their redemptive power to raise from the depths of abasement and of
misery, the people of their own race and nation, empowering them to transmit in
turn to other races and nations the saving grace and the energizing influence
of their Revelation".
Isn't that an amazing perspective? This principle he
suggests, applies to a lesser degree to the American Community, and you must
listen carefully, "which has been appointed as the executor of the Divine
Plan" Chief executors at that:
The American believers are not therefore," he says:
"…to imagine for a moment, that for some mysterious
purpose or by any reason of inherent excellence or special merit, Baha'u'llah
has chosen to confer upon their country and people so great and lasting a
distinction. It is precisely by reason of the patent evils which,
notwithstanding its other admittedly great characteristics and achievements, an
excessive and binding materialism, has unfortunately engendered within it, the
author of their Faith and the Center its Covenant have singled it out to become
the standard bearer of the New World Order envisaged in their Writings."
Principle again of the lever:
"It is by such means as this, that Baha'u'llah can best
demonstrate to a heedless generation His Almighty Power, to raise up from the
very midst of a people, immersed in a sea of materialism, a prey to one of the
most virulent and long-standing forms of racial prejudice, and notorious for
its political corruption, lawlessness and laxity in moral standards, men and
women who, as time goes by, will increasingly exemplify those essential
virtues, of self-renunciation, of moral rectitude, of chastity, of
undiscriminating fellowship, of holy discipline, and of spiritual insight that
will fit them for the preponderating share they will have in calling into being
that World Order and that World Civilization of which their country, no less
than the entire human race, stands in desperate need."
Having thus explained a divine riddle, he exhorts the
American believers:
"…to weed out, by every means in their power, those
faults, habits, and tendencies which they have inherited from their own nation,
and to cultivate, patiently and prayerfully, those distinctive qualities and
characteristics that are so indispensable to their effective participation in
the great redemptive work of their Faith".
His logic is impeccable. The force of his presentation
convincing. A sensitive alteration of praise and censure and of exhortation
accomplishes his dual purpose of fixing his meaning and inducing volition.
There is drama as well in this versatile, undulation of modes, which holds and
fascinates the reader to the point of taking action. This is precisely what
moved hundreds of believers of various backgrounds to plant the banner of their
newfound faith in remote parts of the earth amid peoples with whom they had
been previously wholly unfamiliar.
Those distinctive qualities and characteristics, which he
identified as rectitude of conduct, chastity and holiness, freedom from
prejudice, with which they were to be indispensably armed for their magnificent
undertakings received the full measure of his treatment in a subsequent section
of this monumental message -- a section constituting one of the most eloquent
exegetic compositions to be found in his writings, you are all familiar with
that:
"They must show forth such trustworthiness, such
truthfulness and perseverance, such deeds and character that all mankind may
profit by their example."
This is followed by a copious quoting of corroborative
extracts from the Writings of Baha'u'llah and ‘Abdu'l-Baha. And then he goes on
to elucidate further the themes that he has appointed -- you know of chastity
and holiness -- and again a compilation of corroborative extracts from the
Writings.
Having equipped the believers with the tool of their
success, he devoted the remainder of the Advent of Divine Justice to the
questions of the Seven Year Plan, relating his comments to the broader divine
plan of ‘Abdu’l-Baha of which it is a part. You know from having read the book
what he has done, in calling the friends to service in this Plan and explaining
how they should go about it. He sends them to Latin America, he sends them
scampering across the country here in the United States, he sends them
throughout the reaches of Canada. Then he concludes about his dissertation
letter with a word about the destiny of America, as envisaged by ‘Abdu’l-Baha
assuring them that, "Paradoxical as it may seem", remember they are
facing the Second World War, storm clouds are gathering. The Americans are in a
state of isolationist zeal, as they frequently get into this, we want to pull
in the horns. Remember our first President said, "Don't get entangled in
the foreigners business". Allright, Shoghi Effendi is saying,
"Paradoxical as it may seem, her only hope in extricating herself from the
perils gathering around her is to become entangled in that very web of
International Association which the hand of inscrutable Providence is
weaving."
Shoghi Effendi snatched the very words out of the literature
of this country and turned it around. They said don't get entangled. He said
No, paradoxical as it may seem, entanglement is the thing. As was the custom
when a letter such as this, is received from the Guardian, the National
Assembly acted immediately to publish and circulate it. When therefore in
September 1939, the first shots of World War II were fired, the North American
Baha'i Community knew how to react. At the end of its Seven Year Plan in 1944,
it had accomplished every goal that had been set for it. On D-Day a year later,
it had already with the urging of its Guardian, been preparing for the second
Seven Year Plan, which would take scores of its members to teaching frontiers
designated for them in the war ravaged countries of Europe.
Shoghi Effendi had succeeded eminently, in translating
exegesis into heroic action, at one of the most critical and discouraging
periods of world history. This is coming to end. A word more. It will come to
an end. A word more about his skill of persuasion.
"Exegesis is true to its purpose if it induces or
perpetuates action in the building or the New World Order." The exegete as
Augustine might have observed must therefore both expound knowledge and arouse
response. As the earlier review of the Advent of Divine Justice shows, by
employment of praise, censure and exhortation, Shoghi Effendi produces that
rhetorical drama which captivates and impels the reader -- drama thus becomes a
tool of instruction. But there is more. Time being an indispensable factor of
drama, must also perform its appropriate functions. Shoghi Effendi knew that
well, and he found ample opportunity to bend time to his advantage. Whether on
the occasions of the observance of Baha'i Holy Days and significant
anniversaries, or of a Temple construction project, or of the arrival of
pioneers at their remote posts, or of the death of teachers of the Faith, such
ceremonial messages as he was often moved to write, that is statements in
respect of the observance of important events, were therefore not spent on these
occasions alone but served also to heighten the horizon and intensify the
vision of the faithful. A Holy Day is imminent. He writes:
"Fellow laborers in the Divine Vineyard, On the 23rd of
May of this auspicious year, (this was 1934) the Baha'i World will celebrate
the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Faith of Baha'u'llah. We who at
this hour find ourselves standing on the threshold of the last decade of the
first century of the Baha'i era might well pause to reflect upon the mysterious
Dispensation of so august, so momentous a Revelation.”
The rest of the introduction is about the prophetic missions
of Baha'u'llah and the Báb, an explanation of the position and the rank of
‘Abdu’l-Baha, and the discourse of the theory on which Baha'i Administrative
Order is based. The letter is now referred to as the Dispensation of
Baha'u'llah. We can't live without it.
It is the anniversary of the death of ‘Abdu’l-Baha. He
writes:
"The inexorable march of recent events has carried
humanity so near to the goal foreshadowed by Baha'u'llah that no responsible
follower of His Faith viewing on all sides the distressing evidences of the
world's travails, can remain unmoved at the thought of its approaching
deliverance. It would not seem inappropriate when at a time we are
commemorating the world over the termination of the first decade since
‘Abdu’l-Baha's sudden removal from our midst, to ponder in the light of the
teachings bequeathed by Him to the world, such events as have tended to hasten
the gradual emergence of the World Order anticipated by Baha'u'llah.”
Thus began a letter now called the "Goal of a New World
Order"
There are other examples of Shoghi Effendi's employment of
time. He used the anniversary of the Ridvan festival, the anniversary of the
declaration of Baha'u'llah at which time the administration of the Faith is
renewed by the election of the Assemblies, to impress upon the Baha'i community the
practical steps towards the realization of its vision. In his messages of this
occasion he would catalog and measure the communities' achievements, revise and
interpret its goals, and praise and challenge its capacity. A sense of
historical significance permeates these messages, in which the vision of the
community is made to perceive through its accomplishments and goals, a panorama
of the past, the present and the future. One such occasion in 1957, he writes:
"As we gaze in retrospect, beyond the immediate past
and survey in however a cursory a manner, the vicissitudes afflicting a
tormented society, and recall the strains and stresses to which a fabric of
dying order has been increasingly subjected, we cannot but marvel at the sharp
contrast presented on the one hand by the accumulated evidences of the orderly
unfoldment and the uninterrupted multiplication of the agencies of an
administrative order designed to be the harbinger of a World Civilization, and
on the other by the ominous manifestations of the acute political conflicts, of
social unrest, of racial animosity, of class antagonism, of immorality and of
irreligion proclaiming in no uncertain terms the corruption and obsolescence of
the institutions of a bankrupt order. Against the background of these
afflictive disturbances, the turmoil and retribution of a travailing age -- we
may well ponder the portentous prophesies uttered well-nigh four score years
ago by the Author of our Faith, as well as the dire predictions made by Him who
is the unerring interpreter of His teachings, all foreshadowing a universal
commotion of a scope and intensity unparalleled in the annals of mankind. The
violent derangement of the World's equilibrium, the trembling that will seize
the limbs of mankind, the radical transformation of the human society, the
rolling up of the present day order, the fundamental changes effecting the
structure of governments, the weakening of the pillars of religion, the rise of
dictatorships, the spread of tyranny, the fall of monarchies, the decline of
ecclesiastical institutions, the increase of anarchy and chaos, the extension
and consolidation of the movements of the left, the fanning into flame of the
smoldering fire of racial strife, the development of infernal engines of war,
the burning of cities, the contamination of the atmosphere of the earth --
these stand out as the signs and portents that must either herald or accompany
the retributive calamity which, as decreed by Him who is the Judge, the
Redeemer of mankind, must, sooner or later, afflict the society which for the
most part and for over a century has turned a deaf ear to the Voice of God's
Messenger in this Day, a calamity which must purge the human race of the dross
of its age old of corruptions, and weld its component parts into a firmly knit
world embracing fellowship -- a fellowship destined in the fullness of time, to
be incorporated in the framework, and to be galvanized by the spiritualizing
influences, of a mysteriously expanding, divinely appointed Order, and to
flower in the course of future Dispensations into a Civilization, the like of
which mankind has, at no stage in its evolution, witnessed."
How is that for eloquence? I die when I read these things.
Among the most appealing features of Shoghi Effendi's
writings, and particularly of his occasional messages, are the meaning they
give to history, and the prospect they assign to the future. The future, or put
differently the destiny of humanity, emerges as the dominant theme of his work,
and from the vision of it we gather a hitherto unformulated understanding of
the past and the present. In his essay, ‘Unfoldment of the World Civilization’,
for instance, there is an outline of the implications of Baha'u'llah's
Revelation which lends the reader an unusual perspective of historical process.
A process that occurs in the light of man's purpose which according to
Baha'u'llah is to carry forward an ever advancing civilization. Having evolved
though the various units of social life, family, tribe, city, state and nation,
mankind's present goal is the unity of nations, a world super-state, the final
step in man's social evolution. This goal is concomitant with his impending
spiritual maturity. I don't want to read the passage that folds that out.
That's too long. But you know how wonderful it is, in the Unfoldment of the
World Civilization where he gives the vision of the unity of mankind. We pass
that by today. But, ummm... just a smidgen: [laughter from audience]
"The unity of the human race as envisaged by
Baha'u'llah," he writes, "implies the establishment of a world
commonwealth, in which all nations, races, creeds and classes are closely and
permanently united, and in which the autonomy of its state members and the
personal freedom and initiative of the individuals that compose them are
definitely and completely safeguarded."
That's a taste!
Now the other day when we were getting ready to put up our
website, I remembered a line from this very section of his letter, and it says
this:
“A mechanism of world inter-communication will be devised
embracing the whole planet freed from national hindrances and restrictions, and
functioning with marvelous swiftness and perfect regularity."
He wrote that 60 years [rather] 61 years ago, and now we go
to our computers and we push a button and there it is.
Future society thus outlined is no utopian dream. On the
contrary it is the natural outcome of man’s spiritual maturity as is
fruit-bearing the natural consequence of the maturity in the tree. Attaining to
such a society involves a travail of growth, and transition which in spiritual
terms implies a transformation in the character of man - a transformation
analogous to the process of adolescence. Shoghi Effendi, therefore, encourages
no illusory ease of attainment of world unity. He is as forthright as about the
setbacks and pitfalls to be encountered, as he is reassuring of the
inevitability of this attainment. Referring to Baha'u'llah's principle of
federation of nations, Shoghi Effendi once mused:
"Who knows that for so exalted a conception to take
shape a suffering more intense than any it has yet experienced will have to be
inflicted upon humanity? Could anything less than the fire of a civil war with
all its violence and vicissitudes -- a war that nearly rent the great American
Republic -- have welded the states, not only into a union of independent units,
but into a nation in spite of all the ethnic differences that characterize its
component parts, that so fundamental a revolution involving such far-reaching
changes in the structure of the society can be achieved through the ordinary
processes of diplomacy and education seems highly improbable. We have but to
turn our gaze to humanity's blood stained history to realize that nothing short
of intense mental as well as physical agony has been able to precipitate those
epoch-making changes that constitute the greatest landmarks in the history of
human civilization."
You see how straightforward he was about things. By
statements such as this Shoghi Effendi kept the balance between prospect and
practicality. One derives from his balanced outlook, a quality of naturalness
about the goals of the Baha'i Faith and their attainment, a cohesive and
compelling analysis of historical process emerges from the portrayal of cause,
effect, and prospect in such essays, as in the Goals of a New World Order, The
Unfoldment of World Civilization and the Promised Day is Come. This quality of
naturalness induces belief in his perceptions - a belief which is enhanced by
the success of the Baha'i community in translating his instructions into
triumphs, despite some of the most trying circumstances. One recalls for
instance that the instructions and advise given in the Advent of Divine Justice
and the other letters that Shoghi Effendi wrote in the 30's and 40's guided the
community towards the accomplishment of its goals amid the confusion and doubts
caused by the World War II.
Now a word about him as the interpreter. I think now I am
coming closer to the end, bear with me a little bit. Shoghi Effendi wrote a
prodigious quantity of letters which formed the bulk of his literary work, but
he also translated the words of the Báb, Baha'u'llah and ‘Abdu’l-Baha from
Arabic and Persian into English. Gifted with a masterly grasp of the rich
vocabulary and the subtle nuances of English, and endowed with the power of
unerring perception, he turned any translation into a thing of wonder and
delight. His major works of translation include three complete works of
Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, The Hidden Words of Baha'u'llah,
and the Kitab-i-Iqan, and the compilations of Baha'u'llah's writings for
instance the Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, and Prayers and
Meditations. One of his most celebrated translations is the Dawn Breakers -
Nabil's narrative of the early days of the Babi Revelation. It is said by those
who know the original Persian text of the narrative that Shoghi Effendi did
more than translate it; he performed the rare feat of creating a translation
more splendid than the original, yet unfailing in fidelity of its source.
Although a considerable number of Shoghi Effendi's letters
and messages now appear in several anthologies and in a few instances a single
letter has been lengthy enough to be published as a book, for instance the
Advent of the Divine Justice and The Promised Day is Come, he actually set out
to write only one book in English - God Passes By - which is a stupendous
history of the first century of the Baha'i Faith. It is in this book that one
can appreciate the versatility of his narrative style. The temptation to set an
example is irresistible. The extract I will now read follows a recitation of
vivid activities during ‘Abdu'l-Baha's travels in the West. Note how skillfully
Shoghi Effendi produces two contrasting bodies of narrative, one in an opening
series of questions, the other in a corresponding series of answers. In this
one paragraph salient features of almost seventy years of Baha'i history are
strung together in contrasting colors as it were upon the thread of
‘Abdu’l-Baha's life. Listen:
"Who knows what thoughts flooded the heart of
‘Abdu'l-Baha as He found Himself the central figure of such memorable scenes as
these? Who knows what thoughts were uppermost in His mind as He sat at
breakfast beside the Lord Mayor of London, or was received with extraordinary
deference by the Khedive himself in his palace, or as He listened to the cries
of "Allah-u-Abha" and to the hymns of thanksgiving and praise that
would herald His approach to the numerous and brilliant assemblages of His enthusiastic
followers and friends organized in so many cities of the American continent?
Who knows what memories stirred within Him as He stood before the thundering
waters of Niagara, breathing the free air of a far distant land, or gazed, in
the course of a brief and much-needed rest, upon the green woods and
countryside in Glenwood Springs, or moved with a retinue of Oriental believers
along the paths of the Trocadero gardens in Paris, or walked alone in the
evening beside the majestic Hudson on Riverside Drive in New York, or as He
paced the terrace of the Hotel du Parc at Thonon-les-Bains, overlooking the
Lake of Geneva, or as He watched from Serpentine Bridge in London the pearly
chain of lights beneath the trees stretching as far as the eye could see?
Memories of the sorrows, the poverty, the overhanging doom of His earlier
years; memories of His mother who sold her gold buttons to provide Him, His
brother and His sister with sustenance, and who was forced, in her darkest
hours, to place a handful of dry flour in the palm of His hand to appease His
hunger; of His own childhood when pursued and derided by a mob of ruffians in
the streets of Tihran; of the damp and gloomy room, formerly a morgue, which He
occupied in the barracks of Akka and of His imprisonment in the dungeon of that
city -- memories such as these must surely have thronged His mind. Thoughts,
too, must have visited Him of the Báb's captivity in the mountain fastnesses of
Adhirbayjan, when at night time He was refused even a lamp, and of His cruel and
tragic execution when hundreds of bullets riddled His youthful breast. Above
all His thoughts must have centered on Baha'u'llah, Whom He loved so
passionately and Whose trials He had witnessed and had shared from His boyhood.
The vermin-infested Siyah-Chal of Tihran; the bastinado inflicted upon Him in
Amul; the humble fare which filled His kashkul while He lived for two years the
life of a dervish in the mountains of Kurdistan; the days in Baghdad when He
did not even possess a change of linen, and when His followers subsisted on a
handful of dates; His confinement behind the prison-walls of Akka, when for
nine years even the sight of verdure was denied Him; and the public humiliation
to which He was subjected at government headquarters in that city - pictures
from the tragic past such as these must have many a time overpowered Him with
feelings of mingled gratitude and sorrow, as He witnessed the many marks of
respect, of esteem, and honor now shown Him and the Faith which He represented." (‘God Passes By’)
It should perhaps not be surprising at all, given the
motivations of his purpose, to observe that Shoghi Effendi also possessed the
power of definition to a superlative degree, and found more ways than a
celebrated giant of letters to use this power. When you read for example his
definition of a chaste and holy life, you perceive resources of this power that
would hardly occur to you in reading the writings of the modern literati.
Shoghi Effendi took to his literary endeavours this code of chastity and holiness
as he had defined it. Neither art nor literature is to be prostituted. The use
of language must therefore reflect the virtues of rectitude, and yet employ the
creative force of imagination. Deny falsity and yet be quickened by drama.
Eschew perversity and yet engage the appeal of beauty. Language must exhibit a
wholesome respect for the meaning of words. A meticulous attention to the
arrangements of sentences, a precise calculation of the effect of paragraphs.
In any case it must say what it means and mean it well. The good purpose of
language is related to the principle of a chaste and holy life. The proper use
of language is related to the principle of rectitude of conduct. You see then
that the fabric of his literary work owes its strength and integrity to this
strict adherence to these principles; unlike the perversion of the language
which George Orwell saw in modern political writing as largely the defense of
the indefensible. His manner, his usage, his motivation of language, embody the
high principles it espouses and legitimizes the information and pleasure it
conveys. The messages of the Guardian grew into a voluminous body of literature
of a wholly new character; and although there is much more to be said about its
uncommon literary quality that can be contained in this talk, the deepest sense
of its character, it can be said in summary, is in the realm of the spirit and
thus remains somewhat elusive except to those who experience it directly.
One could remark randomly about his periodic sentence in
which multiple compounds of phrases explode with brilliant sparks of meaning at
the ending statement, about the baroque constructions, in which words are
arranged in rich designs of meaning and imagery like the settings of fine
stone, about the appreciation of assonance and alliterations, about the lyrical
cadence of his sentences, which sound better and seem to enlarge upon their
meanings when read aloud, about his one sentence paragraphs, about the
mathematical precision of his usage, about his ability to compress
multitudinous meanings into a slight space, to reconcile conciseness and
amplitude, precision and suppleness, force and elegance.
You might say in the end that Shoghi Effendi has distilled
the ancient classical virtues, in fact he has distilled the virtues of language
in any age and clothed them with the principles of spirit, you could say he
rescued the virtues of English, in this respect, Orwell, who in this century
bemoaned the plight of English in our decadent civilization, would most likely
have loved and lauded Shoghi Effendi's continual success in loading such
substance into his sentences that they seem to crackle with the weight of their
significances.
The roots of all these marvels in the writings of Shoghi
Effendi have their deeper foundation elsewhere. Their foundation is in the fear
of God, to which Baha'u'llah repeatedly exhorts humanity. In these exhortations
Baha'u'llah exhorts all people to what ennobles them, that correct respect for
the majesty of their God, who created them out of his love, to carry forward
and ever advancing civilization, which ultimately must lead them inexorably and
eternally toward Him. Shoghi Effendi being the noblest of men knew better than
anyone else, how vital was this sense of respect to the critical role, in which
he must unerringly guide through his interpretation of God's Word -- the
processes of an ever advancing civilization.
