THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE
BAHA'I WORLD CENTRE
Department of the Secretariat
2 December 1982
Kalimát Press
Dear Bahá'í Friends,
The Universal House of Justice has instructed us to thank you for your letter of 1
October 1982 and the copy of My Memories of Bahá'u'lláh as well as the
copy of correspondence that you had on this matter. As was expressed in the letter
written on its behalf on 20 September 1982, the House of Justice greatly regrets the
confusion which unfortunately arose over the publication of this book and the problems
that have been caused to your firm through no fault of yours.
Enclosed for your information is a copy of a letter written to Mr. Juan Cole on the
instructions of the Universal House of Justice. From this you will see why the House of
Justice feels that the publication of such a manuscript in such a form is untimely and
unwise. It is clear that neither the reviewing committee, nor others involved, were
sensitive to these points. Indeed it is apparent that you yourselves misconstrued the
reasons behind the ad hoc committee's requests for the deletion of certain passages.
In view of this experience the House of Justice has decided that it will have to review all
such documents itself in future before permitting them to be published.
Since the English translation of the Salmání memoirs is already in print,
the House of Justice has decided that it may remain so, but in any reprinting you should
not re-introduce any of the passages that you have omitted. The House of Justice does not
wish the Persian text to be published at this time. However, a well-written version of
the text would be useful at the World Centre and therefore the House of Justice will be
glad to purchase from you, for the price you are paying, the calligraphic version that
you have commissioned.
The House of Justice cannot undertake to reimburse you for the loss of the sales that you
might have made had the publication of the book not been delayed; as you say, such
amounts are impossible to assess. It remains ready, however, to cover any additional
costs of production that were incurred because of the changes that had to be made. You
should feel free to share this letter, if you wish, with the translator, the author of the
introduction, and others concerned with the project.
With loving Bahá'í greetings,
(signed)
For Department of the Secretariat
cc: The International Teaching Centre
The National Spiritual Assembly of the United States
THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE
BAHA'I WORLD CENTRE
Department of the Secretariat
December 1982
Mr. Juan Ricardo Cole
Department of Medieval and Modern History
Lucknow University, India
Dear Bahá'í Friend,
The Universal House of Justice has now been able to compare the published edition
of the Salmání memoirs with the Persian manuscript and to consider the
passages which the ad hoc committee had marked for deletion. It is clear that
Kalimát Press scrupulously followed all the provisions for review of this book
before publication, but, unfortunately the process has been dogged by a series of
misunderstandings and confusions. The House of Justice has instructed us to send you the
following comments on the points raised in your letter of 13 August 1982.
When the early correspondence took place between the World Centre and
Kalimát Press concerning this publication, the House of Justice was relying on
the discretion of the appropriate committee in the United States to check not only the
normal review aspects, but also the timeliness and wisdom of such a publication. It did
not itself check the manuscript. If it had done so it now concludes that it would not gave
given permission for its publication or translation at this time, for reasons which will
be explained below.
In June 1982, concern was expressed to the Universal House of Justice about the
'possible publication in full, in Persian, of these memoirs,' and action was taken in
July, in great haste, to eliminate the most harmful passages so that the publication of the
book, which was already at the press, could proceed. Unfortunately at that time the ad
hoc committee was unaware of the earlier correspondence and of the fact that certain
passages had already been quoted in translation in books by Mr. Hasan Balyuzi and Mr.
Adíb Taherzadeh.
Kalimát Press, in its turn, knowing of the prior publication of these
passages, and not understanding the reasons for the proposed deletions, has, in fact,
retained the larger part of the objectionable passages. The publication is a fait accompli
and the House of Justice has therefore decided to permit it to stand, but not to permit the
publication of the Persian text which, in fact, would be more damaging than the English
version.
To the points of substance which you have raised concerning the publication of historical
texts, the House of Justice instructs us to explain the following.
In order to preserve basic information and historical materials for the use of
future historians, the beloved Guardian instructed the communities throughout Iran to
record the history of the Faith in their localities, and also gave instructions for the
memoirs of a number of early believers to be written down and preserved. This was not
a new advice and many friends, eyewitnesses of certain events in the lives of
Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá, had already committed their
reminiscences to writing. The memoirs of Ustád Muhammad-'Alíy-i-
Salmání are among these and were written down from his spoken
recollections in his old age. There is no question whatsoever of suppressing such records
- on the contrary, the whole purpose of having them made was to preserve them, and
they have been made available to Bahá'í historians such as Mr. Balyuzi
and Mr. Taherzadeh for use in their work. When excerpts are translated and published
in such works, they are placed in context, related to other records and, where necessary,
annotated and commented on. You will readily agree that such a use is not the same as
publication in full, even if supplementary footnotes are added, and does not carry the
same implications.
In time entire collections of early documents of the Faith will be published in
scholarly editions for general use. An initial step in such a process is Dr. Moojan
Momen's admirable book "The Bábí and Bahá'í Religions,
1844-1944 — Some Contemporary Western Accounts". Additional considerations,
however, have to be weighed in publishing texts by Bahá'í writers.
At the present time the general public, even if it has heard of the Faith, is largely
uninformed or misinformed. An increasing amount of misinformation is continually
being disseminated by opponents of the Faith, both in the east and in the west. The
principal task of the Bahá'ís at the present time - and especially of
Bahá'í scholars - is to present a true picture of the Faith to the general
public and to relate the Bahá'í teachings to the concerns and problems of
mankind. When a Bahá'í publishing house issues a translation of a
document such as Salmání's memoirs, the implication to an average
reader is that the Bahá'ís consider this particular account worthy
of publication and, in the absence of adequate footnotes or commentary to the contrary,
the reader will assure that Salmání's actions and statements are approved
by Bahá'ís and are accurate portrayals of the Faith. After all,
Salmání was a close companion of Bahá'u'lláh, comparable
in the eyes of a Christian reader with one of the early disciples of Christ.
Viewed in this light, certain of Salmání's accounts are misleading
or
unworthy and, apart from distorting the Faith for the average reader, can
provide material for the enemies of the Faith who at the present time
are seizing every opportunity to attack the Cause and blacken its
reputation.
To take a few examples from the passages queried by the ad hoc committee:
1. p.17. There is a brief account of some believers from
Sultánábád saying to Bahá'u'lláh "You being
God, Uncle, why do You give us such a hard row to hoe?" It is an old accusation
against the Bahá'í's, especially from Muslims, that we regard
Bahá'u'lláh as God. To print such a story without an appropriate
commentary gives fuel to our Muslim enemies and makes the Faith look ridiculous
to a western reader. Unfortunately Kalimát Press, not realizing the reason
for the objection, let the objectionable part stand and deleted a parenthetical
comment "The Shí'ís, however, were very hostile", which is
entirely innocuous.
2. p.30. There are some virtually incomprehensible comments about
Mírzá Áqá Ján's head, which are of no historical
importance but are unpleasant and unworthy.
3. pp.31-34. There are three unpleasant stories recounted by
Salmání to illustrate Azal's gluttony. Shoghi Effendi was always
very careful in his accounts of Azal to confine his strictures to his truly infamous
conduct. He never stooped to making personal criticisms of such a nature, which
are unworthy. Publication of such stories in the context of an annotated edition of a
historical document for scholarly study is one thing; publication in a book for the
general reader is quite another. Again, unfortunately, Kalimát Press did
not appreciate the reason for the committee's objection and published the whole
passage apart from a couple of brief deletions which were of no significance.
4. p.34. There is the account of a disagreement between
Bahá'u'lláh and Azal over the shaving of Azal's son's head — another
unworthy story, the point of which is obscure.
There are others of a similar character.
The passages which have already been published in translation, such as Azal's
attempt to persuade Salmání to murder Bahá'u'lláh,
provide striking examples of the profound difference between publication in the context
of a properly balanced historical exposition, and publication as unadorned parts of a
narrative.
In sum, to a knowledgeable Bahá'í reader,
Salmání's memoirs are a graphic illustration of the overwhelming
problems with which Bahá'u'lláh had to deal both from His enemies and
because of the actions of some of His own
faithful followers; but to an uninformed reader they give a misleading and distorted
picture of the faith and of Bahá'u'lláh Himself.
With loving Bahá'í greetings,
(signed) For Department of the Secretariat
cc: The International Teaching Centre
National Assembly of the United States
Kalimát Press
|