APPEALS TO THE HANDS
OF THE FAITH
IN THE HOLY LAND
BY MASON REMEY
1960
AN APPEAL
TO
THE HANDS OF THE FAITH
IN THE HOLY LAND
MADE STRICTLY IN PRIVATE
TO
THESE FRIENDS
RESIDING IN THE HOLY LAND
BY
MASON REMEY
PRESIDENT OF THE BAHA'I INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL
AND
HAND OF THE BAHA'I FAITH
IN THE YEAR 117 OF THE BAHA'I ERA
WASHINGTON D.C., USA
APRIL, 1960
TABLE OF CONTENTS
A MOST CONFIDENTIAL LETTER TO THE HANDS OF THE BAHA'I FAITH IN THE HOLY LAND (AN APPEAL TO THE HANDS OF THE FAITH).......................1
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A MOST CONFIDENTIAL LETTER TO THE HANDS OF THE BAHA'I FAITH IN THE HOLY LAND
BELOVED FELLOW HANDS:
The time approaches for the annual convention of Baha'is here in America and I hear that many are looking forward expectantly to meeting Rúhíyyih Khánum, Leroy Ioas and others of the Hands who will be there; while as for myself, nothing could please me more than does the prospect of these friends being at the convention.
I find that the friends in this country in general have many questions in their minds about the Guardianship of the Faith. I feel that much good will result from this visitation of these Hands from the Holy Land to America, for when they are there upon the ground, gathered at the Baha'i Temple at Wilmette that is in the heart of America (that land that the Beloved Guardian called the Cradle of the Administration) that these visiting Hands from the Holy Land w i l l then find themselves very close to the American believers enmasse, and will have the opportunity through this closeness of understanding the attitude of the American mind toward the Administration and the Guardianship that seems to be generally quite different in some respects from that of the mind of the Persian believers, particularly with regard to the continuation of the Guardianship. Thus while in America these visiting Hands from Haifa will be able to get an all-around-the-world picture of these conditions and with more clarity than can be had at the distance that separates Israel and America.
The real question that the American Baha'is hold is with regard to the Administration and what is to become of the Administration as it was given in the Will and Testament of the Master and founded and put into working order by the Beloved Guardian, and NOW??? This is the question in the American Baha'i mind.
This question is in the mind of the American friends upon all sides. Although the people here are thinking of this all the time, and this shows and is clearly to be detected in their attitudes; however, they are obeying the orders from the Holy Land and not discussing it. But
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it just will crop out occasionally in moments of relaxation. I have seen this condition for some time and the reason of this letter to you is to warn you to tell you that in my opinion while here in America these Hands will in all probability come up against questions about the Guardianship and its future.
With this letter I am sending you Photostat copies of a letter that I received from Dr. Udo Schaefer of Germany, together with its accompanying enclosures-also a general letter from Louis Henuzet of Belgium, a copy of a telegram from Germany, addressed to the Second Conclave of the Hands, a copy of the letter of Eugene Schmidt of Germany to the Hands of the Faith, and a copy of that letter from Lucknow, written by a Baha'i by the name of Gupta.
I take it for granted that you each and all have read and studied these documents, but they were received so long ago in Haifa that you may no longer remember the questions that they bring up.
So nearly as I can understand the mind of the American Baha'is, basically their questions are practically the same as those of these friends in Germany, Belgium and this believer Gupta of Lucknow who writes with such vision! The American mind may not be as clear and concise in its thinking as are these German, Belgian, and Indian minds, although on the whole and in the end, Americans are quite as thorough in sizing things up as are these Germans and others.
I send you this expression of Baha'i thought coming from Europe and Asia because it is these same questions that they have that are in the American mind; thus to warn you of that which you will in all probability be confronted with while in America!
As for myself, I am well and mingling with the Baha'i friends here where a very kindly and friendly spirit reigns in the meetings. There is not much spirit of life in the meetings but always a sweet but passive and kindly spirit. While with these believers I have ever in mind my promise to you before I left Haifa that I would in no way disclose nor divulge anything that transpired in the Conclaves nor conferences of the Hands in the Holy Land, and this attitude I will continue to adhere to most carefully. The Americans, you know, are by nature not a suspicious people, not until their suspicions are
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aroused, but when something causes them to mistrust, conjecture and surmise takes over and thus augur for uncertainty and loss of faith and trouble. I assure you that I will always do all in my power to guard and to promote the secrecy established by the Hands of the Faith as to all of their proceedings and considerations, despite the fact that, as you all know how I myself differ so absolutely with the present decisions and policies of the Hands regarding the Administration of the Faith; namely their discontinuation of the Guardianship. However, notwithstanding my stand against the united body of the Hands of the Faith, all of which I have spoken to you about in our Conclaves and in our other consultations, I know that the only thing for me to do under these present conditions is to try to build up and maintain the trust of the people in the Hands of the Faith, the while, at the same time, trusting and praying that you will become aware of the evils into which your present program for 1963 is plunging the Cause before it be too late; that is, before you lose the confidence of the people and you lose face before the Baha'i World, for such to come to pass, you should never allow to happen. For the honor of the Cause, the Hands of the Faith must always maintain the confidence of the Baha'i people of America, the Cradle of the Administration that is in reality the Guardianship.
Things are now at this critical point in America when a very slight jarring might result in the loss of prestige in which the believers hold the Hands of the Faith, and to guard against any such loss of face of the body of Hands is, at this moment, my chief concern as I view the approach of the coming convention, but despite such caution one must be faithful to the Teachings of the Cause.
I tell you frankly that the mass of the believers here think and feel exactly as Louis Henuzet did when he wrote this letter of which I enclose a Photostat. Please have someone translate this from the French, so that you can all read and study it. It is a most comprehensive statement made by a most thoughtful believer.
The believers in America don't realize that the overwhelming majority of the Hands don't want the Guardianship to continue. They in America still hope for a Guardian. In plain words, they are deceived as to the real intent of the majority of the Hands of the
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Faith, which is that the Hands intend that the Guardianship be forever closed!
Therefore, I look with approval upon the attendance of Rúhíyyih Khánum, Leroy Ioas, and others of the Hands at this coming convention that they may see for themselves the real condition of things here in the Cradle of the Administration. This is why, as I have already explained, I am writing you this letter. The Hands of the Faith have much to learn about the ways of and the conditions of the Baha'i Faith, and at this moment I feel that they can learn these things better here in America than in the Holy Land.
I promise you that I will do all I can to buttress up and to maintain the prestige of the Hands of the Faith in the eyes of the people. It will be well if the common believers exert gentle and kindly pressures upon the Hands to awaken the Hands to these conditions of which they, the Hands, may not be aware. This is why I urge you to study and ponder over these enclosed letters from Germany, India, and Belgium; this, in order that you may understand how both the Indian, American and these European believers think and feel, and in their hearts, react to the dictums of the Hands.
Again, as a last word to you before the coming of the Hands of the Faith to this American National Convention, please be assured again of my most sincere efforts to support the dignity of the Faith - this means the dignity of the Hands of the Faith - before the people and in every way support you in your special right and spiritual province of the protection of the Faith, that includes not only its inner workings but its eminence and honor before the world.
To reiterate again, it is very evident to me from both what I hear said by friends here in America, as well as from what they don't say that they are well and strongly centered in the Administration and in the Guardianship, and it is also evident to me that these Hands who are coming to the convention from Haifa are intent upon reinforcing the stand of the majority of the Hands against the continuation of the Guardianship which propaganda that has been behind and under all of the moves of many of the Hands since the First Conclave at Behje (although, of course, this intention has been withheld from the people and has only gotten out occasionally through the carelessness
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of some of the Hands talking outside of your conferences) which propaganda you will surely eventually find impossible to continue putting over upon the American believers.
These believers in America are not going to make any trouble for the Hands such as openly revolting against the program that you are engaged upon for 1963; no, according to my thought they will do nothing like that, but they will, by their attitudes, if not by anything that they may say, get over to and into your heads and into your consciousness their underlying and basic faith in the Administration as given by the Master's Will and Testament, and thus make you realize the futility of your program for 1963, and all this will thus result because America is the "Cradle of the Administration", to which trust the Americans are faithful.
But, as I say, I hope that there will be no division amongst the believers upon this matter, and I don't think there will be for in the end the people, by their deep attachment to the Administration and the Guardianship, will follow the Hands, I trust, until the awakening of the Hands and their abandonment of the program for 1963.
Something is going to happen as a surprise to the Baha'i world from another direction altogether that is going to compel the Hands to reacknowledge or to deny, the Guardianship and thus save the Faith and all this will then be accomplished in accordance with the Will and Testament of the Master, reinforcing the Administration and the Guardianship in the hearts of the Baha'is all over the world. Then and only then will the way be made open for all to realize the source of the infallible guidance necessary for the accomplishment of this World Crusade launched by our late Beloved Guardian, Shoghi Effendi. But in the meanwhile, before all these things are accomplished and the violation of the Will and Testament is overcome and cast out, the Hands of the Faith, for the most part, will have to take an awful thrashing; thus, in the end will they expatiate and atone for this condition in the Cause that they have brought upon themselves. This is inevitable.
But all this should be brought about among the Hands and from within their own body and for this reason, as well as for many other reasons, it is necessary that the Hands of the Faith have the support
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of the entire Baha'i world in order to protect the unity of the Faith in these days of the interregnum; therefore, for this reason, I am giving all the support that I can to support and maintain before the world the prestige of the Hands of the Faith. At this stage of the interregnum, this unity is the most important thing to be maintained. But I know that you are upon the wrong track and that in the end your majority will be obliged to acknowledge your mistake.
Every night and every morning I pray in this same vein, concluding my prayer with an invocation to the Beloved Shoghi Effendi in the Abhá Realm that "He pray, supplicate and intercede before the Throne of God upon my behalf." With much Baha'i love and affection and devotion to and my prayers for each of the Hands of the Faith in the Holy Land.
Faithfully, MASON R.
NOTE
I send you the attached copies of communications from Europe and Asia in the most strict confidence, because these missives have to do with those subjects that the Hands of the Faith decided to hold in great secrecy; - that is, all that has transpired in the Conclave and conferences of the Hands of the Faith in the Holy Land.
As for myself and my conduct of myself, I am most mindful and careful never to mention to any Baha'i anything that has transpired in our private meetings of the Hands of the Faith.
Thus, you will see that of all the things discussed by the Hands of the Faith in private I have made mention only of those matters that they, the Hands, have officially told to the outside Baha'i World in their messages to the Baha'is of the world.
Source: Dave Cornell