Thursday, May 31, 2018

May 30. On this date in 1936, Shoghi Effendi referred to "American believers, the vanguard and standard-bearers of the radiant army of Bahá'u'lláh."

 
May 30. On this date in 1936, Shoghi Effendi referred to "American believers, the vanguard and standard-bearers of the radiant army of Bahá'u'lláh."
I fervently hope and pray that the year into which we have just entered may be signalized by fresh conquests and unprecedented triumphs in the teaching field within the United States and beyond its confines. A systematic, carefully conceived, and well-established plan should be devised, rigorously pursued and continuously extended. Initiated by the National representatives of the American believers, the vanguard and standard-bearers of the radiant army of Bahá'u'lláh, this plan should receive the wholehearted, the sustained and ever-increasing support, both moral and financial, of the entire body of His followers in that continent. Its supreme immediate objective should be the permanent establishment of at least one center in every state of the American Republic and in every Republic of the American continent not yet enlisted under the banner of His Faith. Its ramifications should gradually be extended to the European continent, and its scope should be made to include those countries, such as the Baltic States, Poland, Greece, Spain and Portugal, where no avowed believer has established any definite residence. The field is immense, the task gigantic, the privilege immeasurably precious. Time is short, and the obligation sacred, paramount and urgent.  The American community must muster all its force, concentrate its resources, summon to its aid all the faith, the determination and energies of which it is capable, and set out, single-minded and undaunted, to attain still greater heights in its mighty exertions for the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh.
May 30, 1936

May 30. On this date in 1930, Shoghi Effendi addressed a letter to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada stating "To accept the Cause without the administration is like to accept the teachings without acknowledging the divine station of Bahá'u'lláh. To be a Bahá'í is to accept the Cause in its entirety. To take exception to one basic principle is to deny the authority and sovereignty of Bahá'u'lláh, and therefore is to deny the Cause."

 
May 30. On this date in 1930, Shoghi Effendi addressed a letter to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada stating "To accept the Cause without the administration is like to accept the teachings without acknowledging the divine station of Bahá'u'lláh. To be a Bahá'í is to accept the Cause in its entirety. To take exception to one basic principle is to deny the authority and sovereignty of Bahá'u'lláh, and therefore is to deny the Cause."
"...To accept the Cause without the administration is like to accept the teachings without acknowledging the divine station of Bahá'u'lláh. To be a Bahá'í is to accept the Cause in its entirety. To take exception to one basic principle is to deny the authority and sovereignty of Bahá'u'lláh, and therefore is to deny the Cause. The administration is the social order of Bahá'u'lláh. Without it all the principles of the Cause will remain abortive. To take exception to this, therefore, is to take exception to the fabric that Bahá'u'lláh has prescribed; it is to disobey His law."
(From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada, May 30, 1930: Bahá'í News, No. 43, August 1930, p. 3)

May 30. On this date in 1974, the Universal House of Justice wrote regarding "a vasectomy, in general it is not permissible to have a surgical operation for the purpose of avoiding having unwanted children if such an operation could result in permanent sterility."

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May 30. On this date in 1974, the Universal House of Justice wrote regarding "a vasectomy, in general it is not permissible to have a surgical operation for the purpose of avoiding having unwanted children if such an operation could result in permanent sterility."
"Directly to your question about having a vasectomy, in general it is not permissible to have a surgical operation for the purpose of avoiding having unwanted children if such an operation could result in permanent sterility. While circumstances might exist in which sterilization would be justified, this does not appear to be the case with you."
(From a letter of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer, May 30, 1974)

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

May 30. On this date in 1997, the Universal House of Justice sent a letter to all National Spiritual Assemblies, announcing the formation of Regional Bahá’í Councils, a level of the Bahá’í Administrative Order between the local and national level that may be elected or appointed at the Universal House of Justice's discretion.




May 30. On this date in 1997, the Universal House of Justice sent a letter to all National Spiritual Assemblies, announcing the formation of Regional Bahá’í Councils, a level of the Bahá’í Administrative Order between the local and national level that may be elected or appointed at the Universal House of Justice's discretion.
The Universal House of Justice 
30 May 1997
To National Spiritual Assemblies
Dear Bahá’í Friends,
The expansion of the Bahá’í community and the growing complexity of the issues which are facing National Spiritual Assemblies in certain countries have brought the Cause to a new stage in its development. They have caused us in recent years to examine various aspects of the balance between centralization and decentralization. In a few countries we have authorized the National Spiritual Assemblies to establish State Bahá’í Councils or Regional Teaching and Administrative Committees. From the experience gained in the operation of these bodies, and from detailed examination of the principles set forth by Shoghi Effendi, we have reached the conclusion that the time has arrived for us to formalize a new element of Bahá’í administration, between the local and national levels, comprising institutions of a special kind, to be designated as "Regional Bahá’í Councils."
Regional Bahá’í Councils will be brought into being only with our permission and only in countries where conditions make this step necessary. Nevertheless, we find it desirable to inform all National Spiritual Assemblies of the nature of this historic development, and to make clear its place in the evolution of national and local Bahá’í institutions.
The institutions of the Administrative Order of Bahá’u’lláh, rooted in the provisions of His Revelation, have emerged gradually and organically, as the Bahá’í community has grown through the power of the divine impulse imparted to humankind in this age. The characteristics and functions of each of these institutions have evolved, and are still evolving, as are the relationships between them. The writings of the beloved Guardian expound the fundamental elements of this mighty System and make it clear that the Administrative Order, although different in many ways from the World Order which it is the destiny of the Bahá’í Revelation to call into being, is both the "nucleus" and "pattern" of that World Order. Thus, the evolution of the institutions of the Administrative Order, while following many variants to meet changing conditions in different times and places, should strictly follow the essential principles of Bahá’í administration which have been laid down in the Sacred Text and in the interpretations provided by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and the Guardian.
One of the subtle qualities of the Bahá’í Administrative Order is the balance between centralization and decentralization. This balance must be correctly maintained, but different factors enter into the equation, depending upon the institutions involved. For example, the relationship between a National or Local Spiritual Assembly and its committees is of a different nature from that between National and Local Spiritual Assemblies. The former is a relationship between a central administrative body and "its assisting organs of executive and legislative action," while the latter is a relationship between national and local levels of the House of Justice, each of which is a divinely ordained institution with clearly prescribed jurisdiction, duties and prerogatives.
Regional Bahá’í Councils partake of some, but not all, characteristics of Spiritual Assemblies, and thus provide a means of carrying forward the teaching work and administering related affairs of a rapidly growing Bahá’í community in a number of situations. Without such an institution, the development of a national committee structure required to cover the needs in some countries would run the danger of over-complexity through adding a further layer of committees under the regional committees, or the danger of excessive decentralization through conferring too much autonomy on committees which are characterized by the Guardian as "bodies that should be regarded in no other light than that of expert advisers and executive assistants.
The distinguishing effects of the establishment of Regional Bahá’í Councils are the following:
It provides for a level of autonomous decision making on both teaching and administrative matters, as distinct from merely executive action, below the National Assembly and above the Local Assemblies.
It involves the members of Local Spiritual Assemblies of the area in the choice of the members of the Council, thus reinforcing the bond between it and the local believers while, at the same time, bringing into public service capable believers who are known to the friends in their own region.
It establishes direct consultative relationships between the Continental Counselors and the Regional Bahá’í Councils.
It offers the possibility of forming a Regional Bahá’í Council in an ethnically distinct region which covers parts of two or more countries. In such a situation the Council is designated to work directly under one of the National Assemblies involved, providing copies of its reports and minutes to the other National Assembly.
The greater degree of decentralization involved in the devolution of authority upon Regional Bahá’í Councils requires a corresponding increase in the capacity of the National Spiritual Assembly itself to keep fully informed of what is proceeding in all parts of the territory over which it has ultimate jurisdiction.
For those National Spiritual Assemblies which have already established Regional Bahá’í Councils or Regional Teaching and Administrative Committees, we enclose a document which outlines the various policies governing the formation and functioning of Regional Bahá’í Councils. For the sake of simplicity, we have used the designation "Regional Bahá’í Councils" throughout, but the actual name used will, as heretofore, vary from country to country, including such names as "State Bahá’í Councils," "Provincial Bahá’í Councils" or, when referring to an individual Council, "The Bahá’í Council for … etc. To avoid the confusion of thought which seems to have been caused by referring to "Regional Teaching and Administrative Committees," we have decided to cease using this designation and to refer to these bodies as Bahá’í Councils formed by appointment rather than election. We shall be writing separately to these National Spiritual Assemblies, indicating what modifications, if any, they should now make to the existing structures.
It is our ardent prayer at the Sacred Threshold, that the establishment of Regional Bahá’í Councils will greatly enhance the ability of the Administrative Order to deal with the complex situations with which it is confronted in a number of countries at the present time, and thus carry forward, with increased vigor, the propagation of the Cause of God.
[signed: The Universal House of Justice]

In 1951, Shoghi Effendi, as Guardian, appointed members to the International Bahá’í Council, naming Mason Remey as the Council's President and describing it as an embryonic international House of Justice.
 
When Shoghi Effendi died in 1957 without having appointed a successor Guardian, as confirmed by a "Unanimous Proclamation of the 27 Hands of the Cause of God", the Hands of the Cause of God elected from among their own nine individuals who would serve as Custodians to help lead the transition of the International Bahá’í Council, into the Universal House of Justice.
 
In 1961 the International Bahá’í Council was changed to an elected body, with members of all National Spiritual Assemblies voting.
 
In 1963, the first Universal House of Justice was elected, and its members are elected every five years by members of each Bahá'í National Spiritual Assembly in the world. In practice, the Bahá’í electoral system most closely resembles council democracy as it still exists in Cuba, wherein individuals elect Local Spiritual Assemblies, who then elect National Spiritual Assemblies, who then elect the Universal House of Justice. With no politicking or partisanship allowed, there is little turnover in leadership and Universal House of Justice members almost invariably serve until retirement or death. New members are currently generally elected from the appointed institutions of the Bahá’í administration, particularly the International Teaching Centre. In fact, all of the current members of the Universal House of Justice previously served as members of the International Teaching Centre. In council democracies, these career [bureaucrats](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureaucracy] were known as the nomenklatura.
 
With the eventual passing of the individual Hands of the Cause of God appointed by Shoghi Effendi and without a Guardian to appoint additional Hands, the Universal House of Justice saw the need for developing an institution for the purpose of performing the Hands' function of protection and propagation of the Faith.
 
In 1968 the Continental Board of Counselors was formed. The Counselors appoint Auxiliaries collectively referred to as Auxiliary Boards in smaller regional areas, who in turn appoint their own Assistants to work in localities.
 
Auxiliary Board Members for Protection are charged with watching over the security of the Bahá’í Faith, and Auxiliary Board Members for Propagation are responsible for working with the grassroots on the global Plans established by the Universal House of Justice. Originally, members of the Auxiliary Boards were appointed by and served under the Hands of the Cause of God who directed their efforts worldwide. The first members of the Auxiliary Boards were appointed in 1954, and they were divided into five distinct geographical regions
 
In 1973 the administrative branch called the Institution of the Counselors was formed. Also in 1973, the International Teaching Centre was first formed by the Universal House of Justice, and originally consisted of the 17 Hands of the Cause still living at that time, plus three Counsellor members. The number of Counsellor members was raised to four in 1979, to seven in 1983, and finally to the current nine in 1988. The Counsellor members of the International Teaching Centre are appointed by the Universal House of Justice to five-year terms that begin shortly after the International Convention and election of the Universal House of Justice.

May 29. On this date in 1849, Arthur P. Dodge, later a Disciple of 'Abdu’l-Bahá, was born. Dodge became a Bahá’í after attending lessons taught by Ibrahim George Kheiralla.



May 29. On this date in 1849, Arthur P. Dodge, later a Disciple of 'Abdu’l-Bahá, was born. Dodge became a Bahá’í after attending lessons taught by Ibrahim George Kheiralla.
 
 
Dodge, Arthur Pillsbury. (1849-1915).  Disciple of `Abdu’l-Bahá. Arthur P. Dodge was born on 29 May 1849 in Enfield, N.H. of Puritan New England stock.  He was self-educated, which made him a firm believer in "common sense" and in the importance of providing people information through magazines and the media so that self-education was possible.  At age sixteen Dodge was hired by the Manchester Union Leader, one of New Hampshire’s leading newspapers, as a reporter; a few years later Dodge passed the New Hampshire and Massachusetts bar examinations and became a lawyer.  Mary Baker Eddy, founder of Christian Science, asked him to be one of her lawyers, but he declined.  In 1880 he published a flattering biography of the Hon. Phinehas Adams, a businessman from Manchester, N.H.  In 1886 Dodge became a magazine publisher in Boston; in 1891 he moved to Chicago and became an inventor.
 
Dodge had always been curious about religion and attended many churches, but became increasingly skeptical about Protestant teachings.  In the fall of 1897, when he was about to move to New York City, he heard of the Bahá’í Faith.  He received Kheiralla’s Bahá’í lessons in abbreviated form; he invited Kheiralla to come to New York City to teach the Faith there, and hosted him.  In January or February 1898, Dodge, his wife Elizabeth, and two of his sons took Kheiralla’s entire set of lessons in the first Bahá’í class held in New York City.  They all became Bahá’ís.
 
The Dodge family immediately became active in the Bahá’í community.  In the spring of 1898 the New York Bahá’ís elected officers, and they chose Dodge to be their President.  In the fall of 1900 Arthur and Elizabeth Dodge went on pilgrimage; returning to the United States via Britain, they visited Edward Granville Browne, the famous Cambridge Orientalist who had met Bahá’u'lláh, and asked him to translate the letters of `Abdu’l-Bahá that they carried home with them.  In New York Dodge published the letters from `Abdu’l-Bahá, with some of `Abdu’l-Bahá’s statements to them, as a booklet titled Tablets from Abdul Beha Abbas to Some American Believers in the year 1900.  It was one of the first works of Bahá’í scripture published in the United States.  The tablets focused on the interpretation of Christian doctrines and biblical prophecies offered by Kheiralla, as well as Kheiralla’s teaching of reincarnation.  On 7 December 1900 Dodge was elected to the New York Bahá’í Board of Counsel, the first Bahá’í governing body in that city.
 
In 1901 Dodge published The Truth of It: The Inseparable Oneness of Common Sense–Science–Religion, the first introductory book on the Bahá’í Faith written by a western Bahá’í.  Chapters on common sense and science were followed by a series of chapters that defined religion and criticized popular Christian understandings.  The work was as much an attack on corrupt clergy, secular-minded scientists, misdirected biblical scholars, foolish cultic beliefs, and organized religion as it was an explanation of a few Bahá’í teachings.  The book demonstrates how little a prominent American Bahá’í knew about the Faith in 1900; the depth of Dodge’s bitterness toward the churches; and his frustration with scientists, who had consistently displaced his inventions with better ones.
 
Dodge remained active in the New York Bahá’í community, though not always on its Board of Counsel; by June 1901 apparently he had resigned from the body, probably because of personal disagreements with other members.  In 1906 the Board of Counsel listened to a disagreement between Dodge and Howard MacNutt about the station of `Abdu’l-Bahá.  Dodge maintained that `Abdu’l-Bahá was the return of Christ; MacNutt viewed Him as an ordinary man who had attained His station through personal effort.  Neither man’s position was correct, as `Abdu’l-Bahá’s station is understood today.  `Abdu’l-Bahá’s reply denied the idea that He was the return of Christ and emphasized His complete servitude to Bahá’u'lláh; in New York this was understood as a victory for MacNutt’s point of view.  Since the tablet arrived just six weeks before the 1907 election, MacNutt was elected to the Board of Counsel but Dodge was not; subsequently `Abdu’l-Bahá wrote to a Bahá’í to insist that Dodge be treated with consideration and respect.  In 1909 Dodge was again elected to the Board.
 
In 1907 Dodge published his third and last book, titled Whence?  Why?  Whither?  Man, Things, Other Things.  In the work Dodge started by exploring the nature, purpose, and direction of human existence.  The book’s second part considered the nature of religion and offered interpretations of biblical passages and prophecies.  The third section spoke of the coming of God’s Kingdom on earth.  The final section was a discussion of a miscellany of subjects such as racism, crime, church heresy trials, and strikes, with criticism expressed of such figures as Andrew Carnegie, the anti-religious scientist Andrew White, and playwright George Bernard Shaw.
 
Early in 1914 Dodge and his family moved to Freeport, New York, on Long Island.  In his last two years Dodge lost much of the bitterness he felt toward the churches.  He died in Freeport on 12 October 1915.
 
Bibliography.  The only recent summary of Dodge’s life may be found in O. Z. Whitehead, Some Bahá’ís to Remember (Oxford: George Ronald, 1983).  Wendell Phillips Dodge, son of Arthur Dodge, has written several biographical articles on his father: "In Memoriam: Arthur Pillsbury Dodge, 1849-1915," in Star of the West, vol. 6, no. 19 (2 March 1916), 161-63, 165-67, is the best. He was probably also the author of "Arthur P. Dodge Dead, After Varied Career," a newspaper obituary reprinted in Star of the West, vol. 6, no. 13 (4 November 1915), 100-01.  Wendell Phillips Dodge also published "Arthur Pillsbury Dodge and His Motor Car" in New Hampshire Profiles, April 1971, 40.  A brief and detailed account of Dodge’s life may be found in Robert H. Stockman, The Bahá’í Faith in America, Origins, 1892-1900, Volume One (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1985), 116-17.  In Robert H. Stockman, The Bahá’í Faith in America, Early Expansion, 1900-12, Volume Two (unpublished) descriptions of Dodge’s pilgrimage and his two books may be found.  Dodge’s books are very rare today: they are [Arthur Pillsbury Dodge, comp.,] Tablets of Abdul Beha Abbas to Some American believers in the year 1900.  The Truth Concerning A. "Re-incarnation"; B. "Vicarious Atonement"; C. "The Trinity"; D. Real Christianity. (New York: Board of Counsel, 1901); Arthur Pillsbury Dodge, The Truth of It: The Inseparable Oneness of Common Sense — Science — Religion (New York: Mutual Publishing Company, 1901); and Arthur Pillsbury Dodge, Whence?  Why?  Whither?  Man, Things, Other Things (Westwood, Mass.: Ariel Press, 1907).
 
 
 

May 29. On this date in 1921, Alessandro Bausani was born in Rome. He was a noted Italian Orientalist and convert to the Bahá'í Faith.

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May 29. On this date in 1921, Alessandro Bausani was born in Rome. He was a noted Italian Orientalist and convert to the Bahá'í Faith.
 
 
BAUSANI, ALESSANDRO (b. Rome, Italy, 29 May 1921; d. Rome, 11 March 1988), prolific Italian Orientalist in several fields: Persian Literature, Islam, linguistics, the history of Islamic science, Urdu, Indonesian, and other Islamic literatures. His family was Roman Catholic and his father, who exerted a strong influence over him, was a particularly strict observer, being a member of the laic Dominican Tertiary Order. From childhood he showed an exceptional interest in languages and invented a language when playing games with his only sister. He later discovered that the grammatical structure of this language was very similar to that of Turkish. He published an analytical description of this language, which he had named Markusko, in a booklet, Le lingue inventate (Rome, 1974, of which there is also an earlier version in German, Geheim und Universal Sprachen, Stuttgart 1970). This won him the honorary chairmanship of the Centro Italiano di Interlinguistica, whose members were mostly interested in Esperanto, a language cultivated by Bausani himself. It is not surprising that during his adolescence he studied the main European languages and, later on, languages such as Basque, to which he dedicated some articles of such merit that he was elected as a member of the Royal Academy of the Basque Language.
At an early age he also began studying Arabic with one of his neighbors, the well-known Italian Arabic scholar, Virginia Vacca. Francesco Gabrieli in his obituary (Rome, 1991, p. IX) pointed out that in 1940 Bausani had already exhibited in his first Arabic language test a remarkable grasp of the language. Consequently, he took an interest in the Near and Middle East and attended courses at IsMEO (see ITALY xv. IsMEO, Istituto per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente), the Institute for Middle and Far Eastern Studies, founded by Giuseppe Tucci, and at PIO, the Pontificio Istituto Orientale, run by Jesuits, where in 1943-44 he studied Turkish with Mgr. Paul Mulla (1882-1959) a Cretan Turk who had converted to Catholicism. His Persian was soon so fluent that during the Second World War, when he was only 21, he directed a radio program in Persian transmitted by Radio Roma. In any case, he followed what was at the time the normal humanistic curriculum: he attended a secondary school specializing in classical studies (Latin and Greek) and then the Faculty of Arts at Rome University La Sapienza where he took his degree in 1943, defending a thesis on “The Historical Development of Neo-Persian Syntax.” At the university, he had the opportunity of studying under Francesco Gabrieli (d. 1996), Ettore Rossi (d. 1955), and Michelangelo Guidi (d. 1946). With Guidi, Bausani shared not only an academic interest in religious phenomena but also deep religious beliefs that set him on a quest and an inner search that would eventually lead to his conversion to Baha’ism. The exact date of his conversion is not known. In 1949, he wrote a letter to his father from which we can assume that he had already abandoned Catholicism. On the basis of several of his public speeches, there seems to have been a brief attraction to Protestantism and, in all likelihood, to Islam. Certainly he was a Baha’i by 1955 when he married a Baha’i, and the ceremony was performed according to Baha’i rituals.
The acceptance of the Baha’i faith marked the end of a certain uneasiness that he had experienced in the post-war period, especially after 1948, when the Christian Democratic Party won the first free elections in Italy, contrary to all expectations. Like other Catholic intellectuals who had been strongly anti-fascist, he joined a small group of so-called Catholic Communists for a certain period. They were later excommunicated by Pope Pius XII (d. 1958), but continued their activity under the title of The Christian Left. Then, for about two years, he was a member of the Italian Communist Party. After he left the Communist Party, he no longer took an active part in politics, although for a long time he supported Aldo Capitini (d. 1968). The latter was a celebrated politician and philosopher of religion, much influenced by Gandhi and was engaged in a non-violent pacifist movement that acted through the network of Centers of Religious Guidance (COR) with a large following among progressive Catholics.
Bausani’s involvement in Baha’ism affected his research: his Saggi sulla fede Bahāʾi, a testimony to his role in the Italian Baha’i community, was published posthumously (Rome, 1991), but his academic works on the topic are numerous (for example: “Religioni nuove sorte dall’Islam,” Storia delle religioni, 6th ed., Turin, 1970-71, V, pp. 213-74; or the entries Bāb, Bābis, Bahāʾ-Allāh, Bahāʾīs, all in EI2). Baha’ism also influenced his Italian translation of the Qurʾān (Florence, 1955). Although many other translations have been published subsequently, Italian scholars generally continue to favor Bausani’s, both for its accuracy and for its literary style, which is somehow imbued with the aura of Qur’ānic Arabic, as well as affected by his own personal religious commitment (Scarcia Amoretti, OM, 1991,pp. 516-17). To be precise, Bausani understood (“Postille a Cor. II, 248; XXXIX, 23; XX, 15,” Studi orientalistici in onore di Giorgio Levi Della Vida, Rome, 1998, pp. 32-51, esp. p. 51) the expression ḵ-ātam al-nabiyyin (Q. xxxiii, 40, referring to the Prophet Mohammad) in Baha’i terms: Mohammad, as with all past and future prophets, was the “seal” only of his temporal cycle.
He was a member of many academies and orientalist associations, but he was particularly proud of belonging to the Accademia dei Lincei: in 1967 he was made Corresponding Member, and National Member in 1983. The Accademia dei Lincei was founded in 1603 by Federico Cesi, a young Italian aristocrat interested in the more esoteric aspects of Arabic and the Orient, for the implementation of research in the fields of the natural sciences, mathematics, and philosophy. Galileo Galilei was among its members. Today, the Accademia administers Leone Caetani’s (d. 1935, the author of the Annali dell’Islam) personal oriental library, where Bausani worked as a librarian for some years up to 1958. He was also president (1978-83) of the Istituto per l’Oriente, founded in 1921 by Carlo Alfonso Nallino, the eminent historian of medieval sciences and ancient astronomy, to further research the contemporary history of Middle Eastern Muslim countries. In 1976 he received the National Award of the Presidency of the Italian Republic for his excellence in philology.
He held the Chair of Islamic Studies at Rome University La Sapienza from 1971 until his death, and at La Sapienza he was the director of the Institute of Islamic Studies. His “Cinquant’anni di islamistica” (Fifty years of Islamic Studies) (Gli studi sul Vicino Oriente in Italia dal 1921 al 1970 II, pp. 1-26), possibly his most important survey of the development of Islamic Studies in Italy, was published during his first year in the Chair. In it he tackled the following crucial issues: Islamic Studies as an independent subject of study within the broad field of history; the need to overcome the traditional subordination to philology, in particular to Arabic philology; the importance of learning not only Arabic but also other Middle Eastern languages; as well as presenting a diachronic approach to Islam itself (Calasso, OM, 1998, pp. 453-55); the definition of Islam as a monotheistic (and rationalistic) religion; the assumption that Qurʾānic monotheism differs sharply from the Christian conception of a unique God in so far as it is an absolute and primary monotheism like Judaism, given its origin in a non-monotheistic context. Such a difference expresses itself in a unitary cultural system that can be referred to as žIslamic,’ recognizable in both its central and peripheral manifestations in Sunnism and in Shiʿism. Consequently, it is historically and culturally incorrect to privilege one “expression” of Islam over another; the only possible exception may arise in the context of “contemporary” Islam, closely enmeshed as it is in politics and Western ideas.
His academic career began before 1971. He taught Persian language and literature in Rome from 1944 to 1956, when he left to become Professor of Persian at Naples at the Istituto Universitario Orientale. The period in Rome is divided between his academic research on modern Persian literature (“Un ghazal di Qurratu’l-ʿAin,” OM 29, 1949, pp. 190-92), in particular on Moḥammad Iqbāl and his many poetical works, which Bausani translated and annotated (e.g., the Jāvidnāma, Il poema celeste, Rome, 1952), and regular contributions to an important Italian review, Studi e materiali di Storia delle Religioni. It was here that he published, his “Note per una tipologia del monoteismo” (vol. 28 pp. 67-88; Notes towards a typology of monotheism), which is still considered a significant point of reference for the definition of tawḥid. In this same period he began to publish articles on religious subjects for a wide audience, as well as his “Letterature islamiche” in Islamologia, a comprehensive handbook compiled by Felix M. Pareja (Rome, 1951, pp. 594-688). The variety of topics he dealt with throughout his career may seem eclectic and unfocused, but only at the first glance. For example, Bausani’s interest in Iqbāl had different implications. On the one hand, he wanted to prove that within Islam there was the possibility of inducing a modern approach without denying the existing tradition. There are two main foci in his view of the nature of Islamic tradition. The first is the promotion of scientific research that took place in medieval Middle Eastern societies as a result of their acceptance of Islam. Biruni is the best example (“Al-Bīrūnī, un grande pensatore del Medioevo islamico, nel millenario della nascita,” RSO 48, 1974, pp. 75-97; “Christian Trinity in al-Bīrūnī and Ibn Rushd Scientific vs. Philosophical method,” The Commemoration volume of BīrūnīInternational Congress in Tehran, Tehran, 1976, pp. 479-93), although a scientific approach to reality can be traced in some Sufi medieval poets and thinkers (“Niẓāmī di Gangia e la žpluralitá dei mondi’,” RSO 46, 1971, pp. 197-215; “Note su alcuni aspetti žscientifici delle Fūtūḥāt Makkiyya di Ibn ʿArabī,” RSO 52, 1978, pp. 199-215) and also, for example, in the treatises of the Eḵ-wān al-Ṣafā (q.v.; L’Enciclopedia dei Fratelli della Puritā. Riassunto, con Introduzione e breve commento, dei 52 Trattati o Epistole degli Ikhwān as-Safāʾ, Naples, 1978). The second one inspired some of his major works and relates to Persia after the Muslim conquest and its subsequent role in the making of Islamic civilization. From his perspective a reformed Islam, such as the one he attributed to Iqbāl, would be capable of discouraging a drift into a kind of chauvinistic extremism inherent in all nationalistic movements (as those active in all the Muslim world after the end of the Second World War, labeled by him “auto-colonialism”), and at the same time, combating the fundamentalist element in a religious-based ideology. The failure of Iqbāl’s model, which for a long time Bausani associated with Pakistan (Bredi, OM, 1998, pp. 443-52), a country that he loved and visited often, partly accounts for his indifference to contemporary topics concerning the Middle East in the last phase of his life.
On the other hand, Iqbāl’s familiarity both with Persian and Urdu may have further stimulated Bausani’s interest in Urdu literature, again within the framework of Pakistan. His Storia delle letterature del Pakistan: Urdu, Pangiābī, Sindhī, Belucī, Pasc’tō, Bengali Pakistana, Milan, 1958 (2nd rev. ed., Florence and Milan, 1968) is still an indispensable work of reference. Nonetheless, Islam in the context of non-Arabic countries was a topic that Bausani cultivated during different periods of his career (e.g., “L’Islam non arabo,” Storia delle Religioni, 6th ed. V, Turin, pp. 179-211; “L’Islam indonesiano,” Attidel Convegno internazionale sul temaAspetti dell’Islam marginale, Rome, 1983, pp. 1-24). Yet his focus on Southeast Asia (Le letterature del sud-est asiatico: Birmana, siamese, laotiana, cambogiana, vietnamita, giavanese, malese-indonesiana, filippina, Florence and Milan, 1970; Malesia: Poesie e leggende, Milan, 1963), beside his knowledge of the many local languages (“Note sui vocaboli persiani in malese-indonesiano,” AIUON, n.s. 14, 1964, pp. 1-32; “Notes on Persian Words in Tamil,” Proceedings of the Second Conference of Tamil Studies I, Madras, 1971, pp. 460-78), was due to his love for geography and, consequently, for travel literature (L’Indonesia nella relazione di viaggio di Antonio Pigafetta, Rome, 1972), and for everything that had to do with the sea (see his articles in L’Italia nel Kitāb al-Bahriyye di Piri Reis, collected by L. Capezzone, “Eurasiatica,” Venice, 29 May 1990; “Le maree nei Murūgal-Dhahab di al-Masʿūdī (m. 956),” OM 60, 1980, pp. 63-67; “Osservazioni su alcuni lessici marinareschi dell’Oceano Indiano e del Mar Rosso,” AIUON 19, 1969, pp. 487-520).
Considering what has been said so far, it is possible to place in an appropriate perspective two other distinctive features of Bausani’s concept of Islam’s distinctiveness: first of all, the notion of “Islamic languages” (“Le lingue islamiche: interazioni e acculturazioni,” Il mondo islamico tra interazione e acculturazione, ed. A. Bausani andB Scarcia Amoretti, Rome, 1981, pp. 3-19); secondly, the rejection of the label of “pagan survivals” in relation to the eventual debt of Muslim societies to rituals and customs that existed prior to their acceptance of Islam (“ žSopravvivenze pagane nell’islam’ o integrazione islamica?,” SMSR 37, 1966, pp. 189-209). He speaks, instead, of “integration” to highlight the peculiar interaction between Islam and the civilizations it came in contact with (“L’Islam: integrazione o sincretismo religioso?,” Incontro di religioni in Asia tra il III e il X secolo, Florence, 1984, pp. 99-114). In both cases, Bausani takes into account the indifference of medieval Muslim scholars to anything sounding “ethnic”: an attitude, according to him, more widespread in the Muslim world than in pre-modern Christian culture. Muslims, in his opinion, were always well aware of belonging to the same civilization. This consciousness originates from professing a common religion, which attributes a special status to Arabic—written Arabic in particular—as the language of the Qurʾān. On a linguistic level, the large number of Arabic words and expressions, often of Qurʾānic origin, in the “national” or “local” languages of populations which accepted Islam, is not the result of an encounter between native Arabic speakers and speakers of other languages. The Arabic vocabulary, together with the concepts expressed by it, were introduced by the elites of the very peoples who learnt, and eventually adopted literary, written Arabic as a sign of their persisting hegemonic role. Bausani calls “osmosis from above” such a learned process that deeply affected the illiterate classes, enhanced their Muslim identity, and devalued the cultural/linguistic elements of the pre-existing “ethnic” strata. In practical terms, this means that it was easier for Muslims to be multi-lingual, and that they possessed the rare advantage of being able to “translate” from one “Muslim language” into another, without much risk of conceptual misunderstandings. The integration of pre-Islamic religious or cultural elements into the “Islamic system” is a similar phenomenon. Bausani singled out a threefold typology: Islam at the time of Mohammad integrated some elements of Arab culture (for instance the Kaʿba or the jinn); Islam during the Umayyad and Abbasid periods absorbed Greek/Oriental, Syriac, Iraqi, and, above all Iranian elements, resulting in the learned stratum of universal Islam; local Islam, or rather multiple “Islams,” absorbed local elements which differ according to the contexts but which are present everywhere, in the Arabian Peninsula as well as in Malaysia, in Syria as well as in Africa.
We could consider Iran and Persian literature his case study par excellence, were it not for the fact that two of his major works precede most of the above studies. These works are Persia Religiosa: Da Zaratustra a Bahā’u’llāh (Milan, 1959; Religion in Iran, New York, 2000) and Storia della Letteratura persiana (Milan, 1960, pp. 151-898 covering “neo-Persian literature,” while the pre-Islamic period is covered by Antonino Pagliaro, pp. 9-146). Iran, the first Islamic society that Bausani seems to have encountered and meditated upon in his academic formation, is portrayed as the most accomplished and inimitable example of what, according to him and the evidence he adduces, holds true for all Muslim societies.
In the introduction to the section on neo-Persian literature (pp. 158-59), he stresses the sequence of conquests that marked all of Iran’s history, and the extraordinary importance of the conquerors that came from the West, in particular Alexander the Great and the Muslim armies. To their credit is the “Westernization” of Iran, hence Iran’s extensive cultural role in the Near East and in the Mediterranean. In a short presentation on the Persian language, he advances a new approach, in both aesthetic and historical terms, to Persian lyric poetry, which undoubtedly interests him more than prose or the epic. Through samples of all the lyric genres presented in transliteration, interlinear translation, and free poetic translation, the book offers an anthology of Persian poetry (Hafez being the most quoted poet), a history of the development of Persian lyric poetry, an essay on prosody, and an inventory of recurrent stylistic motifs: the rose, the nightingale, the zephyr, the young Magian, etc. Each of these latter acts as a symbol and, consequently, conveys a plurality of meanings (e.g., profane love and the mystical quest), all being complementary and interchangeable facets of the same aesthetic canon. In this book, Bausani advances the hypothesis that the original model of the robāʿi may have come from China. His views were informed by Tadeusz Jan Kowalski (“Ze studjóv nad forma poezij ludów tureckich” I, Cracow, 1922), and M. Fuad Köprülüzade (“Klāsik türk mazminda rubāi şeklinin eskiliği,” Türk dili ve edebiyatı hakkında araştırmalar, Istanbul, 1934, p. 115), on the impact of the Turkish Central Asian popular robāʿi. On the comparison between Persian and Chinese quatrains with reference to the similarity of the rhyme pattern in what he calls a “three-cornered” robāʿi (aaba), he makes the following observation: in Chinese poetry the quatrain became popular during the Tang dynasty (7th - 9th centuries), when relations between China and Central Asia were stronger than ever, and one of the most famous authors of quatrains, Li poh (d. 762), was exiled for a certain time in Central Asia. A few years later (“Considerazioni sull’origine del ghazal,” Attidel Convegno internazionale sul temaLa Persia nel Medioevo, Rome, 1971, pp. 195-208), he re-works this hypothesis in relation not only to the quatrain but also to the ghazal (ḡazal). The Tang period is again the focus. Bausani’s arguments are both historical (the China-Central Asia connections) and stylistic (the analogy in the versification, concerning the rhyme scheme in particular). Moreover, in Storia della Letteratura persiana, Bausani applies some elements of his analysis of the so-called “Indian style” (sabk-e hendi), one of his major areas of expertise in relation to Persian poetry. In the Indian style, he singles out (“Contributo a una definizione dello žstile indiano’ della poesia persiana,” AIUON, n.s. 7, 1958, pp. 167-78) the breaking point of the conventional formal harmony so typical of classical lyrics, which is realized by comparing only objects that enjoy a formal resemblance (full-moon/face; cypress/stature (qāmat) of the beloved, etc.). He attributes the novelty and originality of this new poetic canon (its main new features being the use of the infinitive in the plural [raftanhā, kardanhā, etc.], the introduction of abstract concepts, and of a kind of mental mythology of possible Indian influence) to the free choice in comparisons between objects, and not to the diffusion of progressive or scientific trends among the poets who adopted this style.
Finally, let us look at Persia religiosa. The book can be regarded as an oblique response to Henry Corbin’s view, outlined in many of his works dating from 1954-59. According to Corbin, there is no dividing line in Iran between pre- and post-Islamization, since Persian religious identity implied a faithfulness to the country’s intrinsic destiny as the indisputable seat of gnosis and metaphysical concerns featuring all expressions of religious phenomena that took place in the country. Such phenomena have a peculiar meta-historical and elitist dimension, contrasting with the most common interpretation of Islam, i.e. a rationalist and legalistic religion, little inclined to philosophical speculation and hostile to any form of esotericism. Hence the conception of Shiʿism as the result of the introduction of the Persian heritage of symbols, myths, and cults into Islam, and the attribution to Iran, and not to Islam, of many philosophical works authored after the Persians officially embraced Islam. Bausani also believes that continuity, particularly in the area of religion, is a hallmark of Persian cultural identity, but he explains it in antithetical terms. The chief factors in Iran’s “Westernization” were Zarathustra’s reform that determined Iran’s religious dimension—not monotheistic, strictly speaking— but still contributing to the distinction between Iran and the general polytheistic context without downplaying the contribution of the surrounding civilizations; the heresies of Māni and Mazdak are evidence of Gnostic influence which had Iranian elements, although it originated outside of Iran; and the conquest of Alexander the Great and the Islamization, mentioned above. The absolute monotheism of Islam helped to clear Iranian culture of its persistent archaic features. In Persia religiosa Bausani is concerned with the same manifestations of Islam referred to by Corbin: Shiʿite and Iranian opposition to the first Abbasid caliphate; Ismaʿilism (Nāṣer-e Ḵosrow is particularly in the spotlight); Avicenna (Ebn Sinā) and the ešrāqi amendment to his falsafa (Avicenna’s “Epistle of the Bird”and Sohravardi’s “Crimson Intellect” are translated); and Sufism through Rumi’s works and life. But, Bausani’s reading of all this is opposite to that of Corbin. Significantly, it is Persian literature that can demonstrate the Iranian ability both to integrate foreign elements into its own background and to create a new and original synthesis. It is nourished by pre-Islamic Persian mythology, reintroduced into Muslim Persia by Ferdowsi, but the core of the symbolism of its literary code is Islam. Bausani does not deny an Iranian inclination to return constantly to ancient religious/cultural forms. The never-abandoned reference to angelic metaphysics, inherited from ancient Persia and revisited in the form of “angelized” Platonism is an example. But such “re-archaisation” as Bausani calls it, also occurs in the political history of Persia, and it entails a conscious reference to a past heritage. The last parts of the book, dedicated to the Safavid period, the Isfahan school, and the šayḵ-i movement, are presented as an anticipation of Baha’ism which, for Bausani, was the logical outcome of Iran’s Islamic religious history.
Bibliography:
Biographical information.
F. Gabrieli, “Profilo di Alessandro Bausani,” Yād-nāma. In memoria di Alessandro Bausani, 2 vols., Rome, 1991, I, pp. IX-XII
“Alessandro Bausani: una breve biografia,” Saggi sulla fede Bahā’ì, Rome, 1991, pp. 7-13.
S. Moscati, “Ricordo di Alessandro Bausani,” RSO 66, 1-2, 1993, pp. 197-99.
Obituary in Opinioni Baha’i 12, Spring 1988.
V. Poggi, “Preti a colloquio con Alessandro Bausani,” RSO 66, 1-2, 1993, pp. 201-8.
“Testimonianze” by A. M. Di Nola, P. Filippani-Ronconi, G. Garbini, L. Lanciotti, N. Minissi, U. Scerrato, T. Tentori, Un ricordo che non si spegne. Scritti di docenti e collaboratori dell’Istituto Universitario Orientale di Napoli in memoria di Alessandro Bausani, Naples, 1995, pp. IX-XXXIX.
Bibliography of Alessandro Bausani’s works.
A. Ventura, “Bibliografia degli scritti di Alessandro Bausani,” La Bisaccia dello Sheikh: Omaggio ad Alessandro Bausani nel sessantesimo compleanno, Venice, 1981, pp. 7-16.
Idem, “Bibliografia degli scritti di Alessandro Bausani,” Yād-nāma I, pp. XIII-XXVII; both to be integrated with A.V. Rossi, “Su Alessandro Bausani,” Un ricordo che non si spegne, pp. V-XIV.
Critical appraisals of Bausani’s works.
Oriente Moderno 57 (78), 1998 pp. 421-529 (with contributions from eight scholars).
Selected bibliography of Alessandro Bausani, excluding the items already mentioned in the text:
History of Islam.
Islam in India. Tipologia di un contatto, Rome, 1973.
“Religion in the Saljuk Period,” Cambridge History of Iran V, Cambridge, 1968, pp. 283-302.
“I fondamenti culturali dell’Iran moderno. Maometto o Dario?,” AIUON, n.s. 9, 1960, pp. 31-50.
I Persiani, Florence, 1962 (Eng. tr., The Persians, London, 1971).
Literature.
“Considerazioni sulla Tadhkiratu’l-Awliyā di žAṭṭār,” Attidel Colloquio Italo-Iraniano sul poeta mistico Fariddìn žAṭṭār, Rome, 1978, pp. 71-88.
“Sensibile e sovrasensibile nella poesia ḥāfeẓiana,” Attidel convegno internazionale sullaPoesia di ḤOāfeẓ, Roma 1978, pp. 5-31.
“Indian elements in the Indo-Persian poetry: the style of Ghanīmat Kunjāhī,” Orientali-Hispanica sive Studia F.M. Pareja octogenario dicata, Leiden, 1974, pp. 105-19.
“L’opera di Mirza Abdul qadir Bedil nel panorama letterario-culturale dell’Afghanista,” Il Veltro 16, 1972, pp. 447-63.
“Note sulla natura in Bēdil,” AIUON, n.s. 15, 1965, pp. 215-28.
“The Position of Ghālib (1796-1869) in the history of Urdu and Indo-Persian poetry,” Islam 31, 1958, pp. 99-127.
Il Gulšan-i rāz-i ğadīd di Muḥammad Iqbāl,” AIUON, n.s. 8, 1958, pp. 125-72.
“Contributo alla definizione dello žstile indiano’ nella poesia persiana, AIUON, n.s., VII, 1957, pp. 167-78.
Linguistics.
“Is classical Malay a žMuslim language’?” Boletín de la Associacción Española de Orientalistas 11, 1975, pp. 11-121.
“Note sui prestiti arabi nella più antica poesia persiana,” Studia classica et orientalia Antonino Pagliaro oblata I, Rome, 1969, pp. 173-88.
“Un caso estremo di diffusione della scrittura araba: il sino-arabo,” OM 68, 1968, pp. 857-76.
“Per una lettura comparata delle lingue islamiche,” Atti del II Congresso diStudi arabi e Islamici, Naples, 1967, pp. 145-56.
(Biancamaria Scarcia Amoretti)
Originally Published: April 7, 2008
Last Updated: April 7, 2008

May 29. On this date in 1907, 'Abdu'l-Bahá wrote Saichiro Fujita about Japan that "One will encounter a little difficulty in the beginning of the establishment of the Cause of God in that country, but later it will become very easy....There are prophecies concerning the Manifestation in the Buddhist books."

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May 29. On this date in 1907, 'Abdu'l-Bahá wrote Saichiro Fujita...
O thou spiritual Youth!
Japan has made wonderful progress in material civilization, but she will become perfect when she will also make spiritual developments and the Power of the Kingdom become manifest in her.
One will encounter a little difficulty in the beginning of the establishment of the Cause of God in that country, but later it will become very easy. For the inhabitants of Japan are intelligent, sagacious, and have the power of rapid assimilation. For the present a perfect youth like thee is favored by the Bounty of the Kingdom, and attained to the knowledge of the Lord of the Kingdom. Show thou forth an effort that thou mayest finish that which is necessary in the acquisition and study of science and art; then travel thou toward the countries of Japan; so that thou mayest hoist the Ensign of Truth, waving upon the Apex of the Supreme Concourse. Look thou not upon thine own capability, the Invisible Divine Confirmations are great, and the Protection and Providence of the Beauty of Abhá is the helper and assistant. When a drop draws help from the ocean, it is an ocean itself, and a little seed through the outpouring of rain, the favor of the sun, and the soul-refreshing breeze will become a tree with the utmost freshness, full of leaves, blossoms and fruits. Therefore do not consider thy capacity and merit, but rely upon the infinite Bounty and trust to His Highness the Almighty. Do not delay. Undertake soon that which thou art intending.
There are prophecies concerning the Manifestation in the Buddhist books, but they are in symbols and metaphors, and some spiritual conditions are mentioned therein, but the leaders of religion do not understand. They think these prophecies are material things, yet those signs are foreshadowing spiritual occurrence.
(Revealed in Akka, May 29, 1907. Translated by Ahmad Esphahani, July 21, 1907, Washington, D.C.)

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

May 28. On this date in 1960, the Hands of the Cause of God in the Holy Land addressed a letter "repudiating the preposterous claim of Mr. Remey."

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May 28. On this date in 1960, the Hands of the Cause of God in the Holy Land addressed a letter "repudiating the preposterous claim of Mr. Remey."
To the Hands of the Cause of God and the National Spiritual Assemblies throughout the Bahá'í World
Two weeks ago we shared with you messages received up to that time from twenty-four National Spiritual Assemblies repudiating the preposterous claim of Mr. Remey and pledging undeviating loyalty to the Institution of the Hands of the Cause. Since then similar messages have been received in Haifa from all of the remaining national and regional bodies with the exception of the National Assembly of France. The full texts of these communications are attached.
In spite of this world-wide demonstration of solidarity and steadfastness in the Covenant, a group of five members of the French National Assembly accepted Mr. Remey as the Guardian of the Faith, and the National Assembly informed the believers of France of the advent of a new Guardian.
Acting immediately to protect the Faith, the Hands in the Holy Land sent the Hand of the Cause Abu'l-Qasim Faizi, to France as their representative, with specific instructions to dissolve the National Assembly and call for a new election if the five members persisted in their dangerous and disloyal course of action. These misguided believers remained adamant in their views, refused to cooperate with the Hands, resigned as members of the National Assembly, and are now actively opposing the efforts of the Hands to protect the Faith.
The vast majority of the French believers have remained firm, and coinciding with the Commemoration of the Ascension of Bahá'u'lláh, a new election will be held, and a reconstituted National Assembly will come into existence. The thirty-one national and regional bodies will then form an impregnable and closely-knit World Community, dedicated to the fulfilment of the divinely-guided Plan of our beloved Guardian, and triumphant over-any forces seeking to disrupt its basic unity.
The cables and other messages received from the various National and Regional Assemblies, as well as numerous communications sent to the Hands from individual believers in various parts of the world, reflect general acceptance and understanding of the reasons why Mr. Remey's regrettable claim, and his so-called proclamation announcing it, are insupportable and contrary, not only to the Sacred Texts of our Faith, but also to specific instructions and messages of our beloved Guardian.
For the information of the friends everywhere we bring to their attention some of the points which refute this unfortunate and baseless claim.
(1) The quality or station of infallibility, we are told by 'Abdu'l-Bahá, is of two kinds, one the Most Great Infallibility, which is the one possessed inherently by the Manifestations of God, and the other the conferred infallibility, such as that given to the Master, to the Guardian of the Cause of God, and to the Universal House of Justice. In the Bahá'í Dispensation, only the authorized interpretations of the. Holy Word by the Master and the Guardian, and legislation by the Universal House of Justice have been given this conferred infallibility. There is nothing in the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, nor in the messages or instructions of our beloved Guardian, which gives Mr. Remey any basis whatsoever for claiming to be the infallible Guardian. Indeed no one can claim such a station; it can only be conferred by an infallible source, in this Dispensation in accordance with explicit, divinely-revealed Texts.
(2) Mr. Remey makes the preposterous claim that since the International Bahá'í Council was referred to by our beloved Guardian as the forerunner of the supreme administrative institution of the Universal House of Justice, his appointment or designation by Shoghi Effendi as President of this appointed body meant that he would: automatically become the head of the Universal House of Justice when it is elected, and therefore is now to be considered as the Guardian of the Faith. This ridiculous and insupportable contention completely overlooks the fact that the beloved Guardian created the International Council as an appointed body, to serve for a temporary period, with functions clearly defined by him, and that he announced it would be transformed into a "duly elected body". Thus the membership and officers of the elected body would be created only by election, not appointment. There is not the slightest indication in any text or message of the beloved Guardian that Mr. Remey's designation as President of the appointed International Council was any more permanent than that of any of the other appointed members or officers.
(3) Mr. Remey himself signed the Proclamation of the Hands of the Cause in November, 1957 which contained the definite statement that "no successor to Shoghi Effendi could have been appointed by him". This document also clearly stated that "The entire body of the Hands assembled by the nine Hands of the World Centre will decide when and how the International Bahá'í Council is to evolve through the successive stages outlined by the Guardian, culminating in the call to election of the Universal House of Justice by the membership of all National Spiritual Assemblies." This pledge is being fulfilled by the plans announced in the message of the Hands to the Bahá'í world following their last Conclave.
It is clear that Mr. Remey's claim to be the infallible Guardian must be dismissed as completely without foundation, since there is no written authority in the Sacred Texts to support it. We can only repeat the hope expressed in our letter of May 10 that the profound emotional disturbance which undoubtedly prompted his regrettable action will prove to be temporary in character. We are confident that the friends will now direct all their thoughts and efforts toward the attainment of final victory in the Holy Crusade entrusted to us by our beloved Guardian, and be ever mindful of these words addressed to us by 'Abdu'l-Bahá in His Will and Testament:
O ye beloved of the Lord! The greatest of all things is the protection of the True Faith of God, the preservation of His Law, the safe guarding of His Cause and service unto His Word.
With warm Bahá'í love,
In the service of the beloved Guardian,

May 28. On this date in 1954, a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi stated that "These 19 Day Feasts are for the Bahá'ís, and the Bahá'ís exclusively, and no variation from this principle is permitted."

 

May 28. On this date in 1954, a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi stated that "These 19 Day Feasts are for the Bahá'ís, and the Bahá'ís exclusively, and no variation from this principle is permitted."
805. The Nineteen Day Feast for Bahá'ís Exclusively--No Variation from this Principle Permitted
"The beloved Guardian has instructed me to write you concerning an action recently taken by your National Assembly, as published in your January-February Bahá'í News, that non-Bahá'ís may attend 19 Day Feasts if 'the earnestness of their interest in the Faith' is vouched for by a declared believer.
"The Guardian wishes me to direct your attention to the fact that none of the institutions of the Faith nor its cardinal principles may be changed under any circumstances.
"The 19 Day Feast is an institution of the Cause, first established by the Bab, later confirmed by Bahá'u'lláh, and now made a prominent part of the administrative order of the Faith. These 19 Day Feasts are for the Bahá'ís, and the Bahá'ís exclusively, and no variation from this principle is permitted.
"Thus the Guardian feels you should rescind the action taken by your Assembly in opening the Feasts to 'near Bahá'ís', as it is not consistent with the spirit of the administrative order for non-Bahá'ís or near Bahá'ís to attend the 19 Day Feasts, particularly the administrative portion of the Feast."
(From a letter written on behalf of the Guardian to the National Spiritual Assembly of Germany and Austria, May 28, 1954: The Nineteen Day Feast, November 1975)

May 28. On this date in 1984, the Universal House of Justice addressed a letter stating "From a Bahá'í point of view the belief that the Resurrection was the return to life of a body of flesh and blood, which later rose from the earth into the sky is not reasonable, nor is it necessary to the essential truth of the disciples' experience, which is that Jesus did not cease to exist when He was crucified (as would have the belief of many Jews of that period), but that His Spirit, released from the body, ascended to the presence of God and continued to inspire and guide His followers and preside over the destinies of His Dispensation."

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May 28. On this date in 1984, the Universal House of Justice addressed a letter stating "From a Bahá'í point of view the belief that the Resurrection was the return to life of a body of flesh and blood, which later rose from the earth into the sky is not reasonable, nor is it necessary to the essential truth of the disciples' experience, which is that Jesus did not cease to exist when He was crucified (as would have the belief of many Jews of that period), but that His Spirit, released from the body, ascended to the presence of God and continued to inspire and guide His followers and preside over the destinies of His Dispensation."

March 28. On this date in 1911, William Sears, later named a Hand of the Cause of God by Shoghi Effendi in 1957, was born in Duluth, Minnesota. A popular radio and television personality, he is perhaps best know for writing the best-selling book, Thief in the Night, which ties the Bahá'í Faith to the fulfillment of Christian prophecy, particularly based on Seventh-day Adventist literature and the teachings of Baptist preacher William Miller. It has been reprinted over twenty times by George Ronald Publisher, an official publishing house of the Bahá'ís Administrative Order.

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March 28. On this date in 1911, William Sears, later named a Hand of the Cause of God by Shoghi Effendi in 1957, was born in Duluth, Minnesota. A popular radio and television personality, he is perhaps best know for writing the best-selling book, Thief in the Night, which ties the Bahá'í Faith to the fulfillment of Christian prophecy, particularly based on Seventh-day Adventist literature and the teachings of Baptist preacher William Miller. It has been reprinted over twenty times by George Ronald Publisher, an official publishing house of the Bahá'ís Administrative Order.

William Miller, a Baptist preacher, predicted that on October 22, 1844, Christ would return to the Earth. Although the prophecy was not fulfilled, leading to what was called the Great Disappointment, the Millerites would go on to form the various Adventist churches.
 
Thief in the Night, argues that Miller's interpretation of biblical prophecies for the signs and dates of the coming of Jesus were correct and fulfilled by the Báb who declared that he was the "Promised One" on May 23, 1844, and began openly teaching in Iran in October 1844.

What is interesting about these events in general is the manner in which individuals react. In the classic work of social psychology, When Prophecy Fails, Leon Festinger, Henry Riecken, and Stanley Schachter studied a small UFO religion in Chicago called the Seekers that believed in an imminent apocalypse. They describe the coping mechanisms after the event did not occur, and their findings have been generally applicable to a wide variety of scenarios involving cognitive dissonance and true-believer syndrome.

Festinger describes the basic hypotheses of cognitive dissonance as follows (page 3):
  1. The existence of dissonance [or inconsistency], being psychologically uncomfortable, will motivate the person to try to reduce the dissonance and achieve consonance [or consistency].
  2. When dissonance is present, in addition to trying to reduce it, the person will actively avoid situations and information which would likely increase the dissonance.
Festinger and his co-authors conclude that the following conditions lead to increased conviction in beliefs following disconfirmation (page 4):
  1. The belief must be held with deep conviction and be relevant to the believer's actions or behavior.
  2. The belief must have produced actions that are difficult to undo.
  3. The belief must be sufficiently specific and concerned with the real world such that it can be clearly disconfirmed.
  4. The disconfirmatory evidence must be recognized by the believer.
  5. The believer must have social support from other believers.
Festinger describes the increased conviction and proselytizing by cult members after disconfirmation as a specific instantiation of cognitive dissonance (i.e., increased proselyting reduced dissonance by producing the knowledge that others also accepted their beliefs) and its application to understanding complex mass phenomena. (pages 252-259)

When Prophecy Fails was published in 1957, the year that Shoghi Effendi died without having written a will as prescribed in Bahá'u'lláh's Kitáb-i-Aqdas and without having designated a successor Guardian as stipulated in `Abdu'l-Bahá's Will and Testament.

Monday, May 28, 2018

May 27. On this date in 1910, the Journal of the Royal Society of Arts published an article titled "Persia and the Regeneration of Islam" by Bernard Temple stating "Not less than one-fifth of the population of Persia is estimated to have embrace Bahaism..not a religion, but a religious movement. If it were a religion its chance of diffusion would probably be small."



May 27. On this date in 1910, the Journal of the Royal Society of Arts published an article titled "Persia and the Regeneration of Islam" by Bernard Temple stating "Not less than one-fifth of the population of Persia is estimated to have embrace Bahaism..not a religion, but a religious movement. If it were a religion its chance of diffusion would probably be small."
Not less than one-fifth of the population of Persia is estimated to have embraced Bahaism
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not a religion, but a religious movement. If it were a religion its chance of diffusion would probably be small."
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It is, in very brief, the Protestantism of Islam. It comes to inaugurate the Reformation in Asia. Its spirit is anti-papal, anti-episcopal, anti-clerical. The Bab was the John Huss of Persia; Baha Ullah was the Martin Luther.
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You have only to consider that the Muhammadan converts to Bahaism number more than two million and the non-Muhammadan converts only a few thousand to perceive the strength of the statement. The Bahai dream of a world-wide propaganda is doubtless a proper, and may even be a reasonable, object of aspiration and endeavor. My concern here is with what is actually being accomplished.
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Bahais seems to reconcile the spiritual and temporal authorities in Islam by showing that each is a necessary adjunct of the other : the Church performs the religious functions of the State; the State discharges the Civil obligations of the Church.
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I have never met two men, I have never read two books, whose accounts of Bahai teaching wholly agree. It would not be difficult for me to present to you many different concepts of Bahaism, gathered in my travel, each resting on authority.