User:Peter Deer/Sandbox/Bahá'í Guardian

This page is a draft page for a future division of Shoghi Effendi into a biographical page and a page regarding his position as Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith.

The Guardian of the Cause of God is a hereditary appointed position within the administration of the Bahá'í Faith. After the death of `Abdu'l-Bahá in 1921, the Guardian represents the only authoritative interpreter of Bahá'í literature, and as the highest appointed position, can appoint Hands of the Cause.

The first occupant was Shoghi Effendi, who held the position from 1921 until his death in 1957. It was within the rules laid down by `Abdu'l-Bahá that the Guardianship could continue indefinitely, as long as the appointee was a male descendant of Bahá'u'lláh, and that other specific conditions were met. At the time Shoghi Effendi died, he had no children, and there were no eligible appointees to the position. Thus, the position was left permanently vacant and he remains the first and last Guardian. After an interim leadership, the Universal House of Justice was elected in 1963 and is currently the supreme governmental body for Bahá'ís.

Background
`Abdu'l-Bahá was the appointed head of the Bahá'í Faith from the time of his father's death in 1892 until his own death in 1921. His position was unique and distinct from both his predecessor and the administration that followed. The Will and Testament of `Abdu'l-Bahá established for the first time the idea of a hereditary position of leadership, alongside the elected Universal House of Justice already elaborated upon by Bahá'u'lláh. The will also appointed Shoghi Effendi as the first Guardian.

The issue of successorship to `Abdu'l-Bahá was in the minds of early Bahá'ís. On the occasion of some Persian Bahá'ís asking him about a successor, `Abdu'l Bahá responded: ...Know verily that this is a well-guarded secret. It is even as a gem concealed within its shell. That it will be revealed is predestined. The time will come when its light will appear, when its evidences will be made manifest, and its secrets unravelled.

On another occasion, Western believers, hearing of the birth of Shoghi Effendi, wrote to `Abdu'l Bahá and asked if this child is the one mentioned in the Bible in Isaiah 11:6 where it says "a little child shall lead them". The response was: Verily, that child is born and is alive and from him will appear wondrous things that thou wilt hear of in the future. Thou shalt behold him endowed with the most perfect appearance, supreme capacity, absolute perfection, consummate power and unsurpassed might... ages and centuries will bear traces of him.

Authority
The Will and Testament of `Abdu'l-Bahá is considered a charter document of the Bahá'í administration. In it, he clearly gives both the Guardian and the elected Universal House of Justice the authority of God;

...The Guardian of the Cause of God, as well as the Universal House of Justice to be universally elected and established, are both under the care and protection of the Abha Beauty... Whatsoever they decide is of God. Whoso obeyeth him not, neither obeyeth them, hath not obeyed God; whoso rebelleth against him and against them hath rebelled against God; whoso opposeth him hath opposed God; whoso contendeth with them hath contended with God; whoso disputeth with him hath disputed with God; whoso denieth him hath denied God; whoso disbelieveth in him hath disbelieved in God; whoso deviateth, separateth himself and turneth aside from him hath in truth deviated, separated himself and turned aside from God.

Duties
The role of the Guardian is considered complimentary to that of the House of Justice, the Guardian providing authoritative interpretation, and the House of Justice providing flexibility and the authority to adjudicate on "questions that are obscure and matters that are not expressly recorded in the Book." The Guardian is considered a permanent member of the House of Justice, and is to send a representative if he cannot attend meetings. Though he cannot influence the decisions of the House of Justice, other than by voting as a member, he has the authority to expel members as he deems necessary, in which case the Bahá'í community is to elect a new member.

The Guardian has the unique ability to appoint Hands of the Cause, an appointed position to maintain the needs of the religion on a continental scale. The Hands of the Cause go on to appoint their own auxiliaries, who appoint their own assistants.

Succession
`Abdu'l-Bahá warned the Bahá'ís to avoid the problems caused by his half-brother Muhammad `Alí. He stipulated the criteria and form for selecting future Guardians, which was to be clear and unambiguous. His Will required that the Guardian appoint his successor "in his own life-time ... that differences may not arise after his [the Guardian's] passing." (p. 12) The appointee was required to be either the first-born son of the Guardian, or one of the Aghsán (literally: Branches; male descendants of Bahá'u'lláh). Finally, `Abdu'l-Bahá left a responsibility to nine Hands of the Cause, elected from among all the Hands, to ratify the selection by majority vote (p. 12).

Shoghi Effendi
thumb|left|180px|Shoghi Effendi at the time of becoming Guardian in 1921. Taken in Haifa.

Ministry of the Custodians
In Shoghi Effendi's final message to the Bahá'í World, dated October 1957, he named the Hands of the Cause of God, "the Chief Stewards of Bahá'u'lláh's embryonic World Commonwealth." (Shoghi Effendi, Messages to the Bahá'í World - 1950-1957, p. 127) Consequently, following Shoghi Effendi's passing, the Bahá'í Faith was temporarily stewarded by the Hands of the Cause, who elected among themselves 9 "Custodians" to serve in Haifa as the head of the Faith. They reserved to the "entire body of the Hands of the Cause" the responsibility to determine the transition of the International Bahá'í Council into the Universal House of Justice, and that the Custodians reserved to themselves the authority to determine and expel Covenant-breakers.

This stewardship oversaw the execution of the final years of Shoghi Effendi's ordinances of the ten year crusade (which lasted until 1963) culminating and transitioning to the election and establishment of the Universal House of Justice, at the first Bahá'í World Congress in 1963.