By Fourth Guardian of Baha’i Faith,
Mr. Nosrat'u'llah Bahremand -
On 15 October, 1960, some three years after the passing of Shoghi Effendi, the first beloved Guardian of the Faith, the former Hands of the Cause in Haifa, who had upon his passing, publicly declared to the Baha’i world that the institution of the Guardianship had come to an end with his passing, notwithstanding, sent a letter to all National Spiritual Assemblies signed by them: “In the service of the beloved Guardian, Hands of the Cause in the Holy Land.” This letter is of considerable historical importance since in making such a declaration they, in fact, the Hands had thereby ignobly registered publicly their infidelity to, and betrayal of, both Abdu’l Baha and Shoghi Effendi, in consequence of which, they had forfeited their rank as Hands of the Cause, a rank that had been bestowed upon them by Shoghi Effendi during the closing years of his ministry. Future Baha’i historians will certainly record their ignominious downfall as one that had reduced the rank of these Hands to an even lower degree than that to which Judah Iscariot and Umar had fallen during the respective Dispensations of Christ and Muhammad. For, instead of remaining faithful to the mandate contained in the sacred Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Baha that enjoined them to remain “under his shadow and obey his command.”* [i.e. the living Guardian of the Cause of God] they had joined the ranks of the unfaithful who sought to “disobey and seek division,”* an act for which they would bring down upon themselves “the wrath of God and His vengeance”*
*(From the Will and Testament, p. 12)
Although their letter had contained a
quotation from the Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha they had taken no heed of
the following warning contained in that same Document:
"Beware, beware, lest the days after
the ascension (of Baha’u’llah) be repeated, when the Centre of Sedition waxed
haughty and rebellious and with Divine Unity for his excuse deprived himself
and perturbed and poisoned others."
And despite of the strong warnings of Abdu’l
Baha in His sacred Will and Testament “they advanced a pretext, raised the
standard of revolt, waxed stubborn and opened wide the door of false
interpretation.”
Shamelessly, at the end of their letter, they
have quoted the following from Abdu’l Baha:
" ...O God, my God! I call Thee, Thy
Prophets and Thy Messengers, Thy Saints and Thy Holy Ones, to witness that I
have declared conclusively Thy Proofs unto Thy loved ones and set forth clearly
all things unto them, that they may watch over Thy Faith, guard Thy Straight
Path and protect Thy Resplendent Law. Thou art, verily, the All-Knowing, the
All-Wise!" While they had shunned the Guardian of the Cause of God and disregarded
the Will and Testament which proclaims:
“The mighty stronghold shall remain
impregnable and safe through obedience to him who is the Guardian of the Cause
of God.”
(Abdu'l-Baha, The Will and Testament, p. 11)
The discussion below shall be confined only to
the false interpretation that the former Hands placed upon the word ‘branch’ as
it appears in the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Baha and the consequent
confusion and misunderstanding that they created amongst the believers in this
regard.
The letter of the now violating Hands failed
to present any rational logic and it contains statements that are clearly
contradictory to the provisions of the Will and Testament of Abdu’l Baha and
the writings of Shoghi Effendi. Ironically, they themselves wrote:
“It has become clear during the past months
that lack of knowledge of the meaning of the word "branch" as used in
the Master's Will and Testament has led to great confusion in certain quarters
in the West.”
(Ministry of the Custodians, p. 232)
The fact is that there should have been no
confusion. It was the errant Hands themselves, in their rebellion against
and opposition to the continuing Guardianship, who had created confusion about
the meaning of the word ‘branch’ for they, although clearly lacking any
authority to do so, came up with their own erroneous interpretation as to the
meaning of this word as contained in the following statement:
“The word 'Ghusn' (plural Aghsan) is an
Arabic word, meaning branch. Baha’u’llah used this word specifically to
designate His own male descendants. It does not apply to any other category of
people. He gave the title to 'Abdu'l-Bahá of 'The Most Great Branch,’ His
second son, Mehdi, 'the Purest Branch', etc. The Guardian himself is designated
in the Master's Will as 'the Chosen Branch'. All the male relatives of the Báb.
are invariably referred to as "Afnan", which means "twigs".
“These two designations are not
interchangeable.”
“Over and over in Baha’u’llah’s
Tablets these terms Aghsan and "Afnan" are specifically used
in this sense,
“For instance, in the Tablet of the Branch,
the original word "Ghosn" (i.e. branch), refers to 'Abdu'l-Bahá.”
(Custodians, Ministry of the Custodians, p. 233)
At first glance the first paragraph in the
quotation above seems to be correct, but it is questionable why they
capitalized the first letters of the words ‘ghusn’ and ‘aghsan’ but then didn’t
capitalize the first letter “b” in its translated meaning of ‘branch’?
Later, when their baseless assertion about the use of caps is made,
their reason for doing this comes to light. Their statement in the second
paragraph is an outright falsehood, because the Arabic word ‘ghusn’ refers to a
division or subdivision of the stem or axis of a tree or shrub, similarly to
the meaning of the word ‘branch’ in English. Whenever this word is used by
itself it carries the original meaning of ‘branch’. In the writings of
Baha’u’llah there will be found several instances of the usage of the word
‘ghusn’ and its plural ‘aghsan’ which simply means ‘branch’ or ‘branches’ as
defined previously.
It must be noted that similarly to the use of
the word ‘branch’ in English to define sections or subdivisions such as: branches
of learning and science, of a library, a river, etcetera, the word
‘ghusn’ and its plural ‘aghsan’ in its relationship with other words has been
used in the writings of Baha’u’llah in representational or symbolic ways, but
significantly they have usually been employed to portray spiritual
relationships or intellectual realities, even when used in their negative sense
such as in the term ’aghsan-i-kebr’ which means ‘branches of haughtiness’ that can be found in
one of Baha’u’llah’s Tablets in its original language in the book:
(Majmuih-yi-Alvah-i-Mubarakih, (Chap-i-Misr, p. 184)
Half a century has elapsed since this
false interpretation was made and publicized by the errant Hands of the Cause
and all of these former Hands have died without their having presented any
evidence from the writings of Baha’u’llah in support of their false statement
that He had “used this word specifically to designate all of His male
descendants.” Neither has, nor will, the Hands-made bogus UHJ ever be able to
do so either.
Baha’u’llah has conferred a superlative or
comparative appellation upon each of His sons prefaced by the *Ghusn,* such as
*Ghusn-I-Azam* (Greatest Branch), *Ghusn-I-Athar* (Purest Branch), or
*Ghusn-I-Akbar* (Greater Branch). He never conferred upon anyone
other than His sons such titles or never did He write anything designating His other
male descendants in such a manner.
The former Hands have written:
“The Guardian himself is designated in the
Master's Will as 'the Chosen Branch'.”
It must be noted that in the Master’s sacred
Will and Testament, translated into English by Shoghi Effendi, contrary to the
translation of the terms of the Will and Testament wherein the former Hands
have referred to the Guardian as the “Chosen Branch,” Shoghi Effendi has used
the lower case form of the letter “b” in reference to the Guardian as “the
chosen branch” who had moreover, been identified by Abdu’l-Baha in
this same document as the ‘sign of God’ and ‘the Guardian of
the Cause of God,’ terms that obviously referred to the station of
Guardianship and not solely to the personage of Shoghi Effendi (and, therefore,
not meant as a personally exclusive title that pertained only to him).
Abdu’l Baha enjoins every believer to obey Shoghi Effendi “as he is the sign
of God, the chosen branch, the Guardian of the Cause of God, he unto whom all
the Aghsan, the Afnan, the Hands of the Cause of God and His loved ones must
turn.”
(Abdu'l-Baha, The Will and Testament, p. 11)
The errant Hands have written:
“All the male relatives of the Báb. are
invariably referred to as "Afnan", which means "twigs"
(i.e. small branches). These two designations are not interchangeable.”
It must be understood that the relationship to
Baha’u’llah is of two kinds: one is spiritual and the other biological or
genetic, the spiritual relationship being much more important than the other.
This is very clear in His writings, and the beloved Guardian gives the
following example:
“The following words of Baha’u’llah are to
be found in one of His supplications in the book: PRAYERS AND MEDITATIONS
(translated by Shoghi Effendi). This significant phrase is included in the
following passage quoted in its entirety below as it appears on page 154 of
that book:
"I beseech Thee, O Thou Who art
my Governor and the Possessor of all names, to protect them that have branched
out from me (Afnán), whom Thou hast caused to be related to Thyself, and to
whom Thou hast, in this Revelation, shown Thy special favor, and whom Thou hast
summoned to draw nigh unto Thee and to turn towards the horizon of Thy
Revelation."
It should be clear that the relationship to
which Baha’u’llah refers in the above passage is a spiritual one and it has
been their fidelity to Him that has earned them the designation of spiritual
branches. It is such spiritual relationships in the Faith that have taken
precedence in the past and shall always take precedence in the future over
physical relationships.”
Similarly, the following attribute of an Afnan
can be seen on page 92 of the book Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah
which has been translated by Shoghi Effendi as well.
“O Afnan, O thou that hast branched
from Mine ancient Stock! My glory and My loving-kindness rest upon
thee. How vast is the tabernacle of the Cause of God! It hath overshadowed all
the peoples and kindreds of the earth, and will, erelong, gather together the
whole of mankind beneath its shelter.”
Careful study of the writings of Baha’u’llah
makes it clear to the reader that He has used the word ‘ghusn’ and its plural
‘aghsan’ mostly to indicate a spiritual relationship to Him and has nothing to
do with a physical and biological relationship or descent. Actually,
Baha’u’llah Himself, on several occasions has clearly and explicitly in
unambiguous language explained this fact, but the errant Hands have ignored
this and have shamelessly asserted the opposite. They and their Hand-made and
bogus UHJ have tried to hide this fact. Those who know Persian can read the
book (Majmuih-yi-Alvah-i-Mubarakih, (Chap-i-Misr, p.343) and the book
(Ma'idiy-i-Asmani (Vol 4, p.42) and see with their own eyes the statement
of Baha’u’llah in the original language in which He explains:
“Since the affectionate and faithful
believers are as the (aghsan) branches
and the leaves of this Holy Tree, therefore whatever hath
fallen on this Mighty Stock; will also befall the (aghsan) branches, twigs and
leaves as well. This is how in every age these tragedies and nuisances have
been and will be for the lovers of the Beauty of the All-Glorious.”
Also they can see this for themselves in the
following translation of the original text:
“O’ Seeker do not consider reference in The
Holy Scriptures to such attributes and names as: the Tree of Blessedness, the
Divine Lote-Tree, the Forbidden Tree, the Leaves, the Fruits and the like of
that Tree, to be imaginary or fictional. In the sight of God, He has made
reference to these attributes in distinguishing the devoted believers in God.
As long as a believer is under the shadow of the Divine Lote Tree he will be a
branch of the Tree of Blessedness and be exalted in the presence of God, but
upon turning away will be consigned to the burning bush of Hell. While
remaining faithful, either as an afnan (twigs), as aghsan (branches), as o’ragh
(leaves) and assmar (fruits) of that Tree, their faith will be perceived as
substantiated but upon their opposition all will be considered as rejected and
abandoned”
(Baha’u’llah, Ma'idiy-i-Asmani. Vol
7,p.21)
Similarly while we can see the usage of the word ‘Leaf’ and its plural
‘Leaves’ as a title for the mother and sister of Abdu’l Baha in the writings of
Baha’u’llah, Abdu’l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi, the same words without the usage
of caps is noticeable when they have addressed or made reference to other
spiritual women.
For example, caps are
used when Baha’u’llah addressing or referring to female members of the Holy
Family, such as found in a title in which He has addressed Bahiyyih
Khanum –“The Greatest Holy Leaf” as follows:
“My Leaf! Hearken thou unto My Voice: Verily
there is none other God but Me, the Almighty, the All-Wise. I can well inhale
from thee the fragrance of My love and the sweet-smelling savor wafting from
the raiment of My Name, the Most Holy, the Most Luminous.”
(Compilations, Bahiyyih Khanum, p. 3)
Or as He has
revealed to the Most Exalted Leaf, mother of Abdu’l-Baha:
Oh thou blessed and sparkling Leaf! Sing and
chant on the Twigs of the Bower of Baha in this exalted Word; Verily there is
no God but Him, the Lord of the Beginning and the End. We have surely ordained
thee as the best of the maid-servants, and have bestowed upon thee such a
station from before Our Presence to which no women have preceded (thee).
(Compilations, Baha'i Prayers 9, p. 9)
With
reference to the “question concerning the 54th chapter of Isaiah: This chapter
refers to the Exalted Leaf, the mother of Abdul-Baha.”
(Abdu'l-Baha,
Tablets of Abdu'l-Baha v1, p. 107)
And, as used by Shoghi
Effendi in the following message:
“The Purest Branch, the martyred son, the
companion, and amanuensis of Baha’u’llah, that pious and holy youth, who in the
darkest days of Baha’u’llah’s incarceration in the barracks of 'Akká entreated,
on his death-bed, his Father to accept him as a ransom for those of His loved
ones who yearned for, but were unable to attain, His presence, and the saintly
mother of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, surnamed Navvab by Baha’u’llah, and the first recipient
of the honored and familiar title of "the Most Exalted Leaf," separated
in death above half a century, and forced to suffer the humiliation of an alien
burial-ground, are now at long last reunited with the Greatest Holy Leaf with
whom they had so abundantly shared the tribulations of one of the most
distressing episodes of the Heroic Age of the Faith of Baha’u’llah.”
(Shoghi Effendi, Messages to America, p. 31)
As an example of the
use of the lower case is found in the following Tablets of Baha’u’llah that
denote a spiritual relationship:
“O MY handmaiden, O My leaf! Render thou thanks unto the Best-Beloved of
the world for having attained this boundless grace at a time when the world's
learned and most distinguished men have remained deprived thereof.”
(Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 254)
“O
My handmaiden and My leaf! Rejoice with great joy inasmuch as thy call hath
ascended unto the Divine Lote-Tree and is answered from the all-glorious
Horizon. Verily, no God is there but Me, the Wronged One, the Exile.”
(Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 251)
And, as
used by’ Abdu’l-Baha in the following Tablets:
“O maid-servant of
God! Be rejoiced for God hath made thee a believing maid-servant in His Holy
Threshold and a leaf of the leaves of the Tree of Life.”
(Abdu'l-Baha,
Tablets of Abdu'l-Baha v1, p. 140)
“Convey my greetings to the spiritual leaf,
the servant of God, thy honored wife, the esteemed . . . . . . . ., and say
unto her: "Serve in the olive garden of God, that God may help thee by
those confirmations by which intellects are astounded and the perceptions are
cleared."
(Abdu'l-Baha,
Tablets of Abdu'l-Baha v1, p. 172)
How can anyone who calls her/himself a Baha’i
disregard the clear writings of Baha’u’llah and blindly accept the false
interpretation of the former violating Hands and the bogus organization they
have set up or any other cult which shamefully has concocted and substituted
their own false, alleged and materialistic eligibility qualifications
pertaining to the line of succession.
In the writings of Baha’u’llah He uses the
word ‘Ghusn’ and its plural ‘Aghsan’ when referring to a physical or biological
relationship only when He refers to His sons either individually which was most
often the case and then He identifies them by their full title such as
‘Ghusn-I-Azam’ (Greatest Branch), ‘Ghusn-I-Athar’ (Purest Branch), or when
He mentions them collectively as the ‘Aghsan’ (Branches) such as found in the
Kitab-i-Ahd (Book of the Covenant). Whenever, Shoghi Effendi, the first
Guardian of the Baha’i Faith and the sole authorized interpreter of the Word,
was engaged, during his unique and precious service to the Cause of God, in
translating the sacred writings into English in which he made reference
to the ‘Ghusn’ or ‘Aghsan’, it was invariably a reference to the
sons of Baha’u’llah and accordingly Shoghi Effendi would capitalize the first
letter according to the rules of English grammar. Furthermore, he identified
the ‘Aghsan’ or’ Branches’ (with caps) as the Sons of Baha’u’llah, as can be
seen in God Passes By (p.239). In the Gleanings from the Writings of
Baha’u’llah (p.244), and in Baha'u'llah’s Epistle to the Son of the Wolf
(p. 93). This fact has been explained comprehensively by the
third Guardian of the Baha’i Faith in an article titled “THE AGHSAN MYTH
EXPOSED” and
it can be accessed through his site: http://www.bahai-guardian.com
Whenever ‘ghusn’ or ‘aghsan’ has been used in
the original meaning of ‘branch’ such as in a division or subdivision of the
stem or axis of a tree or shrub or in a general reference to the faithful and
devoted believers or in any other general references, Shoghi Effendi would in
his translation use the lower case. In the following quotation from the
writings of Baha’u’llah the usage of both the upper and lower cases may be seen
in one paragraph, thereby clearly enlightening the meaning that is to be given
to the word ‘Branches’:
“We pray God to protect thee from the heat
of jealousy and the cold of hatred. He verily is nigh, ready to answer."
Thus hath My tongue spoken unto one of My Branches (sons), and We have
mentioned it unto such of Our loved ones as have cast away their idle fancies,
and clung unto that which hath been prescribed unto them in the day whereon the
Daystar of Certitude hath shone forth above the horizon of the will of God, the
Lord of the worlds. This is the day on which the Bird of Utterance hath warbled
its melody upon the branches, in the name of its Lord, the God of
Mercy.”
Baha'u'llah,
“Epistle to the Son of the Wolf” ( p. 93)
The errant Hands in the following section of
their letter have exhibited their ignorance, egotism, lack of logic and
laughable reasoning:
“The ordinary English usage of the word
'branch' has caused a great deal of confusion, whereas there is not a shadow of
ambiguity in the Persian and Arabic texts. Because of ignorance of the Arabic
and Persian languages and the use of these two terms in our sacred texts,
spurious arguments have been put forth by those making the false claim that
Shoghi Effendi could have appointed a successor other than a blood descendant
of Baha’u’llah.”
“It should likewise be pointed out that
neither in Persian nor Arabic are there ever any capital letters, so that it is
impossible to deduce any arguments from a capitalization or lack of
capitalization in the English texts.”
In saying the above, the violating Hands had
the audacity to criticize the interpretive translation of the Master’s Will and
Testament by the Shoghi Effendi in stating that: “The ordinary English usage of
the word 'branch' has caused a great deal of confusion.” Obviously they were
referring to his translation of the following passage in the Will and
Testament:
“O ye beloved of the Lord! It is incumbent
upon the Guardian of the Cause of God to appoint in his own life-time him that
shall become his successor, that differences may not arise after his passing.
He that is appointed must manifest in himself detachment from all worldly
things, must be the essence of purity, must show in himself the fear of God,
knowledge, wisdom and learning. Thus, should the first-born of the Guardian of
the Cause of God not manifest in himself the truth of the words: -- "The
child is the secret essence of its sire," that is, should he not inherit
of the spiritual within him (the Guardian of the Cause of God) and his glorious
lineage not be matched with a goodly character, then must he, (the Guardian of
the Cause of God) choose another branch to succeed him.”
(Abdu'l-Baha, The Will and Testament, p. 12)
By the Hands writing that: “The ordinary
English usage of the word 'branch' has caused a great deal of confusion,” these inexcusably
ignorant Hands were, in effect, claiming that the word ‘branch’ as used in this
passage of the sacred Will and Testament should have been translated by Shoghi
Effendi as ‘Branch’ so as to confirm their patently false claim that only a
male descendant of Baha’u’llah could inherit the Guardianship!
Shoghi Effendi knew perfectly Arabic, English
and Persian. This is a fact that had been admitted by the errant Hands too.
As the divinely appointed authorized interpreter of the Writings, he was “under the care and
protection of the Abha Beauty, under the shelter and unerring guidance of the
Exalted One” so there can be no question that when Shoghi Effendi translated the
sacred documents of the Faith into English he did it very carefully and
correctly. Not only did he in his translations carefully select the
proper words of the English language to correctly convey the closest meaning to
the writings in their original language but he superbly used English grammar
and whenever it was considered necessary he added an explanation or definitions
to prevent any confusion such as, for example: “the Aghsan (His sons)” and “My
Branches (sons)”.
The fact that in Arabic and Persian writings
capital letters are not used has no bearing on their usage in English writing
where capital letters are used and their usage or not usage does make a lot of
differences in the meaning of a sentence. It is very ridiculous to say that
because the original language does not utilize caps, we must not use caps in
English or that we must not care about it.
Moreover, the errant Hands ignored the fact
that the main purpose of this passage in the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Baha
conveys instructions pertaining to the critical and mandatory manner in which
the Guardian is required to appoint his successor, as Abdu’l-Baha states: “it is incumbent
upon the Guardian of the Cause of God “to appoint in his own life-time him that
shall become his successor” but He outlines the qualifications that his
successor must possess in stating: “He that is appointed must manifest in
himself detachment from all worldly things, must be the essence of purity, must
show in himself the fear of God, knowledge, wisdom and learning.” It is obvious from the
foregoing requirement that Abdu’l Baha did not stipulate that the successor
Guardian must be a biological relative or male descendant of Baha’u’llah.
The third Guardian has written:
“ . . .any claim that 'Abdu'l-Bahá had
restricted the Guardian's choice of a successor, under the terms of His Will
and Testament to an Aghsan, is completely without foundation and is patently
false. Furthermore, there is no clause in the Will and Testament that
requires the Guardian to appoint only a descendant of Baha’u’llah or a Persian
as his successor. There is no excuse, therefore, for refusing to
accept Shoghi Effendi's undeniable
appointment of a successor "in his own
life-time" in complete conformity with
the provisions of the Will and
Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá”.
(Joel B. Marangella, “The Aghsan Myth
Exposed”)
Recently some members of the heterodox
organization have imagined that the letters which appear in the compilation
“The Light of Divine Guidance”(v I, p. 62), allegedly written on behalf of
Shoghi Effendi by his secretary to an individual, provide evidence for their
spurious claim that as: “The word 'Ghusn' (plural Aghsan) is an Arabic word,
meaning branch that Baha’u’llah had used this word solely to designate His own
male descendants.” The obvious falsehood of this same claim, erroneously
produced by the former violating Hands, has been proven previously above, but
before getting back to this document it is necessary to mention that the said
compilation was not prepared during Shoghi Effendi’s lifetime and its contents
were put together by an NSA under the direction of the bogus UHJ nearly a
quarter of a century after his passing. Therefore due to the clear
possibility of a manipulation of the writings it particularly cannot be
considered a reliable source on matters concerning or relating to the
Guardianship.
Also paying attention to the following
guidance from the first Guardian is necessary:
“Although the secretaries of the Guardian
convey his thoughts and instructions and these messages are authoritative,
their words are in no sense the same as his, their style certainly not the
same, and their authority less, for they use their own terms and not his exact
words in conveying his messages.”
(Shoghi Effendi, “The Unfolding Destiny of the
British Baha'i Community,” p. 260)
“The exact status which Shoghi Effendi has
intended the friends to give to those communications he sends to individual
believers is explained in the following statement written through his secretary
to the National Assembly on November 16, 1932:
"As regards Shoghi Effendi's letters to
the individual Bahá'ís, he is always very careful not to contradict himself. He
has also said that whenever he has something of importance to say, he
invariably communicates it to the National Spiritual Assembly or in his general
letters. His personal letters to individual friends are only for their personal
benefit and even though he does not want to forbid their publication, he does
not wish them to be used too much by the Bahá'í News. Only letters with special
significance should be published there."
(Shoghi Effendi, Extracts from the USBN)
The letter in question is written by a
secretary to Dr. Muhlschlegel on 25 September 1934.
This secretary wrote:
“I am directed by the Guardian to
acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated August 29th, and to express his
appreciation of your highly-valued efforts for the translation of the
"Kitab-i-Ahd" into German. He hopes that copies of this precious
tablet will soon be made available to all the friends and that through its
study their knowledge of the Teachings will be deepened, and their zeal
for their spread stimulated and sustained.
The term "afnan" means
literally small branch, and refers to the relatives of the Báb, both men and
women. As the Bab’s only son died while in infancy, the former had no direct
descendants. The "afnan" are, therefore, all directly related to the
Báb.
As to "aghsan", it also
means branch. But it is a bigger branch than "afnan". It refers to
Baha’u’llah’s descendants.”
Apparently, the comment of the secretary is in
response to a question posed by Dr. Muhlschlegel about the ‘afnan’ and ‘aghsan’
which possibly arrose when he was translating the Kitab-i-Ahd (Book of
Covenant), into German. The question he asked is not known but it gives
the impression that it is not related to the ‘Aghsan’ and ‘Afnan’ mentioned by
the Blessed Perfection in His Book of the Covenant since, in this case,
unlike that sacred document ‘aghsan’, ‘afnan’ and ‘branch’ are written in
lower case, considering the fact that the Guardians are ‘aghsan’ i.e.
‘branches’ of the Holy Tree and spiritual descendants of Baha’u’llah,
and although the answer was not directly provided by Shoghi Effendi it seems to
be correct.
The ‘Aghsan’ mentioned in the Kitab-i-Ahd
(Book of Covenant), are clearly identified by Shoghi Effendi as sons of
Baha’u’llah in the book “God Passes By” of which he was the author.
My fervent hope is that the Baha’is will
heed the guidance of Abdu’l Baha found in His statement below and completely
discard any semblance of blind imitation and obey the commandment of
Baha’u’llah to investigate the truth for themselves.
“It is evident that no vital results
are now forthcoming from the customs, institutions and standpoints of the past.
In view of this, shall blind imitations of ancestral forms and theological
interpretations continue to guide and control the religious life and spiritual
development of humanity today? Shall man gifted with the power of reason
unthinkingly follow and adhere to dogma, creeds and hereditary beliefs which
will not bear the analysis of reason in this century of effulgent reality?
Unquestionably this will not satisfy men of science, for when they find premise
or conclusion contrary to present standards of proof and without real
foundation, they reject that which has been formerly accepted as standard and
correct and move forward from new foundations.”
(Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith - Abdu'l-Baha Section, p. 224)
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