In a discussion on Talisman9, one friend said that he felt obliged to incorporate any statement made by the Universal House of Justice under the infallible protection of God into his corpus of beliefs, and another said that if the Universal House of Justice makes a certain understanding of doctrine an inherent part of its legislation, he felt obligated to understand and believe that. Does the *UHJ’s power of elucidation imply this? Read the rest of this entry »
Posts Tagged ‘Will and Testament’
UHJ elucidations
Posted by Sen on March 7, 2011
Posted in Theology | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Bahai Faith, bahai theology, Shoghi Effendi, Universal House of Justice, Will and Testament, بهائی, بهائیت, شوقی افندی, عبدالبهاء | 103 Comments »
A 1912 Announcement of the Covenant?
Posted by Sen on January 13, 2011
This posting is about a story, according to which New York is the city of the Covenant because that is where Abdu’l-Baha announced the Bahai Covenant in the West, on June 19, 1912. The words of the important talk by Abdu’l-Baha, which has been called the ‘announcement,’ have been preserved in a surprisingly reliable form. As it is not published in sources such as Promulgation, I have reproduced it below. Reliable as it is, the text and the stories around this announcement, raise some questions: what exactly was newly announced, or revealed? Who named New York the city of the Covenant, when, and why? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Bahai Writings, History | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Bahai Faith, bahai theology, covenant, Shoghi Effendi, Star of the West, Will and Testament, بهائی, بهائیت, شوقی افندی, عبدالبهاء | 2 Comments »
Muhammad Ali revived? (2)
Posted by Sen on April 17, 2010
In a comment on my earlier posting on the latest attempt to revive the ‘Unitarian’ variant of the Bahai Faith, as expounded by Abdu’l-Baha’s younger brother Muhammad Ali, one reader wrote:
> I dont feel I have anything to fear from Muhammed Ali or most members
> of the UBA. They simply have a different narrative based upon certain
> historical facts, progressive ideas .. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Community, History | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'u'llah, Bahai Faith, kitab-i-aqdas, Will and Testament, بـهاءالله, بهائی, عبدالبهاء | 26 Comments »
Executive and legislative
Posted by Sen on October 29, 2009
[Updated, July 2012: added A Traveller’s Narrative]
One of the friends asked:
What do you make of ‘Abdu’l-Baha having written:
“This House of Justice enacteth the laws and the government enforceth them. The legislative body must reinforce the executive, the executive must aid and assist the legislative body so that through the close union and harmony of these two forces, the foundation of fairness and justice may become firm and strong, that all the regions of the world may become even as Paradise itself.” (Will and Testament, 14)
Posted in Bahai Writings, Church and State, Political science | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Bahai Faith, bahai theology, Church and State, International Tribunal, poltical theology, Secret of Divine Civilization, Shoghi Effendi, Supreme Tribunal, Tablet to the Hague, The Art of Governance, Will and Testament, بهائیت, شوقی افندی, عبدالبهاء | 1 Comment »
Mitchell’s mistake
Posted by Sen on May 27, 2009
I’ve been looking again at an old claim that Abdu’l-Baha’s Will and Testament was not written by Abdu’l-Baha, that it was ‘fraudulent.’ This claim is the foundation for two small Bahai splinter groups that reject the institution of the Guardianship (established by Abdu’l-Baha in his Will and Testament), and it has also been propagated in Germany in anti-Bahai polemics published by the Lutheran ‘Central Office for Questions of Ideology’ (EZW). In looking through the documents, I’ve noticed something that doesn’t seem to have been commented on in the past.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Bahai Writings, History, Polemics | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Ainsworth Mitchell, Guardianship, handwriting analysis, Will and Testament, بهائی, بهائیت, عبدالبهاء | 30 Comments »
No counterfeits
Posted by Sen on May 11, 2009
This posting points out that there is a clear procedure for the appointment of a legitimate Guardian of the Bahai Faith, and none of the claimants satisfy it. Therefore, all the past claimants and present hopefuls are counterfeit.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Aqdas and Law, Defence of the Faith | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Guardianship, Hands of the Cause, hermeneutics, Mason Remey, secret ballot, Will and Testament, بهائی, بهائیت, عبدالبهاء | 11 Comments »