golha wrote:We know that one of the most important social teachings of Bahai Faith is
Word Peace.But does it contradict the excommunications in Bahá'u'lláh 's family members?:
1. BiBi Fatima surnamed the Supreme Cradle (Mahd-i-Ulya) the second wife of Bahá'u'lláh and their four children:
Muhammad Ali, Samadiyya, Ziyaullah, Badiullah
were all excommunicated by 'Abdu'l-Bahá .
At Shoghi Effendi's direction, his secretary wrote on his behalf: "... it has nothing to do with unity in the Cause; if a man cuts a cancer out of his body to preserve his health and very life, no one would suggest that for the sake of unity it should be reintroduced into the otherwise healthy organism. On the contrary, what was once a part of him has so radically changed as to have become a poison."
(From a letter written on behalf of the Guardian to an individual believer, November 28, 1944: Principles of Bahá'í Administration, pp. 22-23; Lights of Guidance, p. 184)
As explained in detail in the Master's Last Tablet to America, this is a spiritual protection for the unity of the Cause:
"In short, the point is this: 'Abdu'l-Bahá is extremely kind, but when the disease is leprosy, what am I to do? Just as in bodily diseases we must prevent intermingling and infection and put into effect sanitary laws -- because the infectious physical diseases uproot the foundation of humanity; likewise one must protect and safeguard the blessed souls from the breaths and fatal spiritual diseases; otherwise violation, like the plague, will become a contagion and all will perish. In the early days, after the Ascension of the Blessed Beauty, the center of violation was alone; little by little the infection spread; and this was due to companionship and association." (Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith, p. 438)
In that Tablet, the Master points out the quotations from Jesus Christ in the Gospel that support this same action.
golha wrote:2. Furughiyya , Bahá'u'lláh 's daughter from Gowhar( His third wife) was excommunicated by 'Abdu'l-Bahá .
As to Furughiyyih:
"After the ascension of Bahá'u'lláh, Siyyid 'Ali and his wife Furughiyyih sided with Mirza Muhammad-'Ali and rose up in opposition to 'Abdu'l-Bahá. After inflicting much pain upon the Centre of the Covenant for several years, Siyyid 'Ali repented of his iniquitous deeds and the Master forgave him. But his repentance was short-lived; he returned to his den again and resumed his odious activities against 'Abdu'l-Bahá. It was the members of his family who were chiefly responsible for delivering the most painful blows upon the person of Shoghi Effendi during his ministry. They caused havoc in the family of the Master and tore it apart altogether." (Adib Taherzadeh, The Child of the Covenant, p. 145)
You also wrote:
golha wrote:3. Shoghi Effendi excommunicated his father, Mirza Hadi Afnan and his brothers and sisters :
Ruh-Angiz , Mihr-Angiz, Husayn and Riyadh, whom were titled Effendi by 'Abdu'l-Bahá .
Though this is often quoted, I believe it is mistaken; I do not believe that there is any indication in Baha'i literature that Shoghi Effendi expelled either of his parents from the Cause of God. Shoghi Effendi's parents are both buried in the Baha'i Cemetery at the foot of Mount Carmel.
As to his siblings and his cousins, because of the incessant opposition of the Covenant-breakers such as Furughiyyih and others, and because these siblings and cousins disobeyed the command to shun the breakers of the Covenant, the entire family turned against Shoghi Effendi. The "Effendi" added to their names was no longer true. As Shoghi Effendi wrote to the Persian believers, the Ghosn-i-Akbar (Most Great Branch, Mirza Muhammad Ali) became the Hatam-i-Akbar (Most Great Firewood) when he turned against Abdu'l-Baha.
The cutting of a diseased portion of the body, formerly healthy and useful, is a radical act, a last act, to preserve the life of the organism. It is what Jesus referred to when He said to cut off the hand or pluck the eye. It is shameful that these relatives all disobeyed so grievously. But the act of Shoghi Effendi was not shameful; it was an expression of his highest function as protector of the Cause. As the Guardian's secretary wrote on his behalf to a National Spiritual Assembly:
"The Guardian feels that one of the best antidotes to those - Sohrab or others - who seek to undermine the faith of the believers, especially by harping on the subject of excommunication, is to place in their hands a [copy of] "God Passes By". For in that book he (the Guardian) has clearly pointed out that the Cause of God has always been attacked from within, and that, beginning in the days of the Báb, the "Sea of Truth" has over and over cast out its spiritually dead. It must do this, even as the body seeks to rid itself of poisons so as to preserve the health of the entire organism." (The Light of Divine Guidance v I, p. 136)
Brent
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I changed the formatting and instead put quotation boxes around the quotes, so that its easier to see what is being referred to
-british_bahai, 9th Sep 2007.