Guardianship

is a major issue for Baha'is and is the cause of often considerable angst. If you are what Baha'is call a seeker (the Baha'i code word for sucker) you are very likely never to learn about the issues of the Guardianship. Bascially, the situation is this. Abdul Baha, the son of Baha'u'llah, was designated by his father as the center of Baha'u'llah's covenant and to be the one Baha'is should turn to after Baha'u'llah's passing. Baha'u'llah died in 1892. At that point Abdul Baha is considered by Baha'is to have been the leader of the Baha'i community.

Abdul Baha wrote a Will and Testament in the early 1900's in which he designated his own grandson, Shoghi Effendi, as the "Guardian of the Cause of God." So after Abdul-Baha'is passing in 1921, Shoghi Effender became the leader of the Faith. Shoghi Effendi was designated by Abdul Baha as the sole interpretor of the Baha'i writings and was to be the head and member for life of the Universal House of Justice - which at the time did not exist. However, once it was to be put into existence, the Guardian of the Cause of God was to be the head of that body.

Abdul Baha, in his Will and Testament, also said that Shoghi Effendi must choose the next Guardian. He was to do so publicly before his death. Furthermore, nine of the "Hands of the Cause", a body to be appointed by the Guardian, must meet and approve of the Guardian's decision. "The election of these nine must be carried either unanimously or by majority from the company of the Hands of the Cause of God and these, whether unanimously or by a majority vote, must give their assent to the choice of the one whom the Guardian of the Cause of God hath chosen as his successor." Preferably, the Guardian was to chose the first born of his lineal (male) descendants. However, if this person did not have the qualifications, then the Guardian was to chose another "branch" to succeed him. The term "branch" is understood by Haifan Baha'is to refer to descendants of Baha'u'llah's family. It appears to Baha'i Angst that this interpretation is accurate. Certainly, the Will and Testament continuously uses that term with that meaning throughout (the term being "ghusn" in the singular and "aghsan" in the plural).

Unfortunately, Shoghi Effendi, for reasons that remain obscure to this day, never had any children. Still, he should have been able to chose other male descendants of Baha'u'llah as his successor and there was a considerable pool to choose from. However, he had managed by the 1950's to have declared every single male eligible to succeed him as a covenent breaker - the worst thing that can happen to a Baha'i. So, as he entered his 60th year with no children and all the eligible males declared covenant breakers, one would think that the Baha'is might have had some concerns. However, Shoghi Effendi died in 1957 at the age of 60 without ever appointing a successor or having dealt publicy with the problem of there not being one.

Furthermore, all Baha'is are required to write wills. So when Shoghi Effendi died there was a search for a will with the hope that the problem of a successor would be dealt with therein. No will was ever found, or at least no will was found that was ever made public. So the Guardianship came to an end, even though Abdul-Baha'is will would make anyone think that Abdul Baha thought the Guardianship would continue for generations. Shoghi Effendi's writings give exactly the same impression. Shoghi Effendi even wrote that the World Order of Baha'u'llah would be "mutilated" without the Guardianship. The Haifan answer is that the Guardianship as an institution lives on in the writings of Shoghi Effendi, even though Shoghi Effendi appointed no successor and left no will despite being required to do both. To see how Haifan officials deal with the issue, read the bio on Shoghi Effendi here.

So, as one would expect, there were claimants to the title of Guardian of the Baha'i Faith after Shoghi Effendi's passing. Click here to read an introduction to the beliefs of one group of Baha'is, called covenant breakers by the Haifans, who have followed a succession of Guardians since the passing of Shoghi Effendi. Baha'i Angst does not endorse their views, but believes that people should be able to read and decide for themselves. The statement may have also been posted to the news group talk.religion.bahai. Look there for further contact information. The author of the statement is Brent Reed.
Brent also runs a yahoo discussion group called Heart of the Baha'i Faith.

To read Brent's article, click here.

Brent says the group to which he belongs is "very small" though he does not have exact numbers. You'll find if you cruise around the internet a bit that there are several Baha'i factions, apparently all very small. The Haifans are probably at least 98 percent of all folks who call themselves Baha'is.