UNDERSTANDING THE DICHOTOMY
"THERE IS NO ASSOCIATE FOR THE DAWNING PLACE OF COMMAND (THE
MANIFESTATION OF GOD) IN THE SUPREME SINLESSNESS"
"In truth he is the Manifestor of 'He does what He wishes' in the kingdom of creation. Verily God has reserved this station for Himself, and has not left to any one a share of this inviolable condition" (Kitab-i-Aqdas).[1]
Know that sinlessness [infallibility] is of two kinds: essential sinlessness and acquired sinlessness. In like manner there is essential knowledge and acquired knowledge and so it is with other names and attributes. Essential sinlessness is peculiar to the universal Manifestations, for it is his essential requirement, and an essential requirement cannot be separated from the thing itself...But acquired sinlessness [infallibility] is not a natural necessity; on the contrary, it is a ray of the bounty of sinlessness which shines from the Sun of Reality upon hearts, and grants a share and portion of itself to souls...To epitomize: essential sinlessness belongs especially to the universal Manifestations, and the acquired sinlessness is granted every holy soul. For instance, the General House of Justice, if it be established under the necessary conditions--with members elected from all the people--the House of Justice will be under the protection of the guardianship of God. If that House of Justice shall decide unanimously, or by a majority, upon any question not mentioned in the Book (Kitab-i-Aqdas), that decision and command will be guarded from mistake. Now the members of the House of Justice have not, individually, essential sinlessness; but the body of the House of Justiceis under the protection of God; this is called conferred infallibility" (Some Answered Questions, pp. 197-199).
As the world around us is in great confusion and divided, so also are the Baha'is. This is a result of their not understanding Baha'u'llah's Covenant. In His Covenant He refers to the meaning of, "A mighty power and supreme potency is hidden and concealed in the world of being." Then He goes on to tell us to, "Focus your gaze upon it and the direction of its unity, not upon the differences which are apparent therein." Here He is telling us that what He is giving us in His following paragraph is the source of unity for the whole world, but there are apparent differences
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1 "i.e., The Most Holy Book. The principle work of Baha'u'llah, which contains the greater part of the commandments. It is the basis of the principles of Bahaism" (Some Answered Questions, p. 197).
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therein. The whole Baha'i World has gone astray by not focusing its gaze upon the mighty power and potency, and has devised something other than what Baha'u'llah provided, replacing it with something of their own creation. What Baha'u'llah asked us to gaze upon was 'Abdu'l-Baha, the most great Branch:
"When the sea of My Presence is exhausted and the Book of Origin hath reached its end, turn you unto him ('Abdu'l-Baha) who is desired by God--he who is issued from this ancient root." The purpose of this sacred verse is the most great Branch. Thus have we declared the matter as a favor on our part, and we are the gracious, the beneficent! (Kitab-i-Ahd)
There hath branched from the Sadratu'l-Muntaha this sacred and glorious Being, this Branch of Holiness; well is it with him that hath sought His shelter and abideth beneath His shadow. Verily the Limb of the Law of God hath sprung forth from this Root which God hath firmly implanted in the Ground of His Will, and Whose Branch hath been so uplifted as to encompass the whole of creation. Magnified be He, therefore, for this sublime, this blessed, this mighty, this exalted Handiwork!...A word hath, as a token of Our grace, gone forth from the Most Great Tablet--a Word which God hath adorned with the ornament of His own Self, and made it sovereign over the earth and all that is therein, and a sign of His greatness and power among its people... Render thanks unto God, O people, for His appearance; for verily; He is the most great Favor unto you, the most perfect bounty upon you; and through Him every mouldering bone is quickened. Whoso turneth towards Him hath turned towards God, and whoso turneth away from Him hath turned 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 among His favored servants...We have sent Him down in the form of a human temple. Blest and sanctified be God Who createth whatsoever He willeth through His inviolable, His infallible decree. They who deprive themselves of the shadow of theBranch, are lost in the wilderness of error, are consumed by the heat of worldly desires, and are of those who will assuredly perish (Tablet of the Branch as quoted in the World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 135).
And again [Baha'u'llah states] "...refer ye whatever yeunderstand not in the Book, to Him ['Abdu'l-Baha] Who hath branched from this mighty stock." 'Abdu'l-Baha Himself wrote the following--"In accordance with the explicit text of the Kitab-i-Aqdas Baha'u'llah hath made the Center of the Covenant [Abdu'l-Baha] the interpreter
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of His Word--a Covenant so firm and mighty that from the beginning of time until the present day no religious Dispensation hath produced its like" (Station of 'Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'u'llah and the New Era, chapter 4).
Baha'u'llah proclaimed that He was the ancient root and 'Abdu'l-Baha was the Most Great Branch. In so doing Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah in his 11th chapter, "And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse and a Branch shall grow out of his roots." "And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek; and his rest shall be glorious" (Isaiah 11:1 and 10). This shows that 'Abdu'l-Baha, who Baha'u'llah decreed to be His successor and the interpreter of His Revelation, is a Promised One of God, and therefore going against 'Abdu'l-Baha is going against God.
In spite of the clarity of the above the entire Baha'i World has gone astray. With the passing of Shoghi Effendi in 1957 a nonauthoritative group called the "Hands" usurped the control of the faith by falsely decreeing that the guardianship of the faith, set up by 'Abdu'l-Baha, and was to exist forever, had come to an end. They said God had broken His Covenant. This act was done maliciously so they could get control of the faith. The Baha'i World went along with this violation because they were confused by a dichotomy that had occurred.
In the text of the Covenant (Kitab-i-Ahd) following where Baha'u'llah had established the most great Branch ('Abdu'l-Baha), Baha'u'llah declared: "God hath, verily, decreed the station of the great Branch [Muhammad Ali] next to that of the most great Branch ['Abdu'l-Baha]. Verily He is the wise ordainer." Here Baha'u'llah had provided for two successors upon whom He had conferred infallibility. After these two would be the Universal House of Justice that would inherit the infallibility of these two successors, as Baha'u'llah had already, as stated above, conferred infallibility upon that body.
The confusion and trouble occurred after the passing of Baha'u'llah, when the Lessor Branch, Muhammad Ali, didn't like the framework his Father, Baha'u'llah, had placed him in, the Lessor Branch. He wanted to be equal to 'Abdu'l-Baha, and not to function consecutively, but concurrently with 'Abdu'l-Baha. As the Lessor Branch he would not be able to change anything that 'Abdu'l-Baha set up and interpreted. When 'Abdu'l-Baha would not go along with Muhammad Ali's violation, he made war upon 'Abdu'l-Baha, causing 'Abdu'l-Baha to become reincarcerated within the confines of Akka.
With Muhammad Ali breaking the Covenant and separating himself from the Baha'i faith it was necessary for 'Abdu'l-Baha to replace him. Because Baha'u'llah, in the Kitab-i-Ahd, had disqualified the other brothers of 'Abdu'l-Baha and Muhammad Ali from being
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successors to Baha'u'llah, Muhammad Ali thought he had 'Abdu'l- Baha over a barrel, so-to-speak, thinking 'Abdu'l-Baha would not be able to replace him, therefore he thought 'Abdu'l-Baha would have to concede to his Covenant-breaking.
So 'Abdu'l-Baha set up a dichotomy. He divided the station that Muhammad Ali was to inherit in two, giving to his son the Davidic kingship lineage, and to his grandson the conferred infallibility. He adopted Charles Mason Remey to be his son according to Palestinian Law and also in conformity of the present day Israeli Law, to replace his only son that had passed away in infancy, thus conferring upon him the Davidic lineage that he himself had inherited from Baha'u'llah who was a direct male descendant in an unbroken chain of father-to-son ancestors seated on David's throne. But 'Abdu'l-Baha did not confer on Mason Remey the infallibility that Baha'u'llah had conferred on 'Abdu'l-Baha and then Muhammad Ali. In hisWill and Testament 'Abdu'l-Baha conferred this infallibility upon Shoghi Effendi, his grandson through his daughter who was Shoghi Effendi's mother. Because Shoghi Effendi was not a male line descendant of 'Abdu'l-Baha and Baha'u'llah he could not inherit the throne of David which is only passed down through the male line. That is why 'Abdu'l-Baha adopted Mason Remey. As an adopted son Mason Remey had all the rights and privileges of a natural son including the right of kingship. Whereas when 'Abdu'l-Baha named Shoghi Effendi the infallible guardian of the Baha'i faith, he conferred upon Shoghi Effendi the infallibility that would have been Muhammad Ali's had he not defected. This infallibility was to be passed down to Shoghi Effendi's lineal descendants. Baha'u'llah only provided for two infallible descendants ('Abdu'l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi) and then the House of Justice.
Thus Shoghi Effendi's lineal[2] descendant, being he did not have a biological son, was the House of Justice that Shoghi Effendi had set up in its embryonic form as the first International Baha'i Council. Shoghi Effendi intended for this first International Baha'i Council to become a World Court in 1963, then he planned that the body would become elected and then it would blossom into the Universal House of Justice.
Shoghi Effendi appointed the members of that embryonic International Baha'i Council and placed 'Abdu'l-Baha's son, Mason Remey, a member, as its president, making him the fallible head of the infallible Universal House of Justice and thus the fallible guardian of the Baha'i faith. This was in accordance with 'Abdu'l- Baha's Will and Testament which mandated that the guardians would be seated at the head of the Universal House of Justice. Thus the
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2 "lineal" meaning a straight line does not necessarily have to be a genealogical son. In this case it means that what succeeds Shoghi Effendi.
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head of the Universal House of Justice is the guardian of the Baha'i faith.
'Abdu'l-Baha explained it this way using symbols:
The meaning is that certain personages guided the people with a staff grown out of the earth, and shepherded them with a rod, like unto the rod of Moses. Others trained and shepherded the people with a rod of iron, as in the dispensation of Muhammad. And in this present cycle, because it is the mightiest of dispensations, that rod grown out of the vegetable kingdom and that rod of iron will be transformed into a rod of purest gold, taken from out the endless treasure houses in the Kingdom of the Lord. By this rod will the people be trained ('Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Baha, p. 166).
In this case, the staff of wood that is grown out of the earth and is reproduced by its seed, is Baha'u'llah's genealogy, a father-to-son descendent of King David. The genealogy of the Bab and of Shoghi Effendi show that they were male descendants of Muhammad and were thus rods of iron. Muhammad didn't have a son, so his descendants were from his daughter, Fatima (the female represents the spiritual), thus they were spiritual descendants of Muhammad or rods of iron.
'Abdu'l-Baha explained that the reason Shoghi Effendi was infallible, being of the lineage of the "Twin Holy Trees,"[3] was because this lineage was from both the Bab, who was a descendant of Muhammad (iron), and Baha'u'llah, who was a descendant of King David (wood), making him arod of purest gold. Therefore Shoghi Effendi could not be succeeded by just a rod of wood, Mason Remey. Thus Shoghi Effendi could only be succeeded by another rod of purest gold. This consisted of the Universal House of Justice in its embryonic state, the first International Baha'i Council. Shoghi Effendi appointed the members of the body of that Council making them his spiritual heirs or a rod of iron. He placed that fallible head of wood, Mason Remey, to be the head and member of that body making it an infallible rod of purest gold.
Now the members of the House of Justice have not, individual, essential sinlessness; but the body of the House of Justice is under the protection of God: this is called conferred infallibility (Some Answered Questions, p. 199).
When the wicked and sinful "Hands" chopped off the head of that body, and then aborting it in embryo and preventing it from
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3 Page 3, Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Baha.
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becoming a World Court on Mt. Carmel in 1963, they did away with the hereditary guardianship set up by 'Abdu'l-Baha in his Will and Testament, as well as, the IBC. By going against 'Abdu'l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi they were going against God, leaving Mason Remey no other alternative but to expel them from the Baha'i faith.
Had the Baha'i World been awake and had they digested the Covenant as delineated in 'Abdu'l-Baha's Will and Testament, as enacted by Shoghi Effendi, they would not have gone along with the Covenant-breaking, nonauthoritative "Hands" in their violation of the Covenant. They would have immediately, upon the passing of Shoghi Effendi, turned solely to the head of the faith, the first International Baha'i Council (the UHJ in its primary state), that was Shoghi Effendi's successor and nobody else.
Now that they find they are in the great violation, they should exit it by turning to the second International Baha'i Council set up by the one promised in scriptures and in the Baha'i writings, whose mission is to lead them out of their violation and to reestablish them back into the Baha'i faith that the Covenant-breakers had thrown out. He is the great teacher prophesied in scriptures to come as the "seventh angel," as explained by 'Abdu'l-Baha in the 11th chapter of Some Answered Questions; as "Blessed is he" that was prophesied to come in 1963 as explained by 'Abdu'l-Baha in the 14th chapter of Baha'u'llah and the New Era under the subtitle of the Coming of the Kingdom of God; and in the 3rd chapter of Zechariah.
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