Extract Translation included in a letter
from the Universal House of Justice
to an individual believer dated February, 2001;
Full correspondence published at
http://www.bahaistudies.net/takfir.html.
Full web edition prepared, proofread
and published
by MehdiWolf, December, 2002.
Lawh-i-Bayt-ul-‘Adl-‘Azam va Úsúl-i-Qadá’í[1]
(Tablet Concerning the Universal House of
Justice and the Principles of Jurisprudence) (Extract)
‘Abdu’l-Bahá’
‘Abbas
Authorized Trans.
Bahá’í World Centre
Ye have asked
concerning the wisdom of referring certain important laws to the House of
Justice. Before all else, this divine cycle is purely heavenly and spiritual,
and concerned with the matters of the soul. It hath but little connection to
physical, temporal, or worldly matters. The Christian dispensation was in like
manner solely spiritual. Thus, in the entire New Testament, there appeareth
naught but the prohibition of divorce and the allusion to the abrogation of the
Sabbath. Even as He saith, ‘the Son of man came not to judge the world
but to save the
world.’[2] This
most great cycle is likewise of purely spiritual character and is the bestower
of life eternal. For the head cornerstone of the religion of God consisteth in
refining the characters, reforming the manners, and improving the attributes of
[Page 3] men. The purpose is that beings that are veiled may see, and that dark
and defective realities may become illumined.
All other ordinances are subservient to faith, certitude, confidence,
and understanding. This blessed cycle being however the greatest of all divine
cycles, it embraceth all spiritual and temporal matters, and is endowed with the
utmost power and sovereignty. Therefore,
those[3] matters of
major importance which constitute the foundation of the Law of God are
explicitly recorded in the Text, but subsidiary laws are left to the House of
Justice. The wisdom of this is that the times never remain the same, for change
is a necessary quality and an essential attribute of this world, and of time and
place. Therefore the House of Justice will take action accordingly.
Let it not be imagined that the House of Justice will take any
decision according to its own concepts and opinions. God forbid! The Supreme
House of Justice will take decisions and establish laws through the inspiration
and confirmation of the Holy Spirit, because it is in the safekeeping and under
the shelter and protection of the Ancient Beauty, and obedience to its decisions
is a bounden and essential duty and an absolute obligation, and there is no
escape for anyone.
Say, O People: Verily the Supreme House of Justice is under the wings
of your Lord, the Compassionate, the All-Merciful, that is under His protection,
His care, and His shelter; for He has commanded the firm believers to obey that
blessed, sanctified, and all-subduing body, whose sovereignty is divinely
ordained and of the Kingdom of Heaven and whose laws are inspired and spiritual.
Briefly,[4]
this is the wisdom of referring the laws of society to the House of Justice. In
the religion of Islám, similarly, not every ordinance was explicitly
revealed; nay not a tenth part of a tenth part was included in the Text;
although all matters of major importance were specifically referred to, there
were undoubtedly thousands of laws which were unspecified. These were devised
by the divines of a later age according to the laws of Islamic jurisprudence,
and individual divines made conflicting deductions from the original revealed
ordinances. All these were enforced. Today this process of deduction is the
right of the body of the House of Justice, and the deductions and conclusions of
individual learned men have no authority, unless they are endorsed by the House
of Justice. The difference is precisely this, that from the conclusions and
endorsements of the body of the House of Justice whose members are elected by
and known to the worldwide Bahá’í community, no differences
will arise; whereas the conclusions of individual divines and scholars would
definitely lead to differences, and result in schism, division, and dispersion.
The oneness of the Word would be destroyed, the unity of the Faith would
disappear, and the edifice of the Faith of God would be shaken.
Notes
[1] The
original of this Tablet of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’ appears in
Majmu‘ih-‘i-Makatib-i-Hadrat-i-‘Abdu’l-Bahá
(“Collected Letters of His Holiness
‘Abdu’l-Bahá’”). Volume 59. Irán National
Bahá’í Archives Private Printing:
Tihrán, 1978. The title as given for
this text is not original and was suggested by the present editor. The English
transliteration of the Arabic translation was kindly provided by Dr. Mehran
Ghasempour in an e-mail message to the present editor, dated Friday, January
10th, 2003 (MW’s note).
[2]
John 12:47 (MW’s note).
[3] The
passage from this point to the end of the paragraph is published in the
Introduction to Bahá’u’lláh’s
Kitáb-i-Aqdas, The Most Holy Book, (Haifa:
Bahá’í World Center, 1992), p. 4-5 (MW’s note).
[4] Passage
from this point to the end of the paragraph published in the Introduction to
Bahá’u’lláh’s Kitáb-i-Aqdas, The Most
Holy Book, (Haifa: Bahá’í World Center, 1992), p. 5
(MW’s note).