Tests of Baha'i community life -- a balanced perspective: 22 July 1981

Dear Baha'i friend,

The Universal House of Justice has received your letter of 6 March 1981 and has instructed us to send you the following comments on the issues you have raised.

The House of Justice feels that your questions are very perceptive and that, in many instances, you have, yourself, provided the answers. As ‘Abdu'l-Baha so often points out, the Manifestation of God is a Divine Educator. He attracts the hearts of men, pours out His spirit upon those who respond to Him, instructs them in the right way of life, uses them to carry forward the development of human society, and disciplines them by His law. We Baha'is, we who have answered His call, bear the responsibility of carrying forward His work among mankind, and in spite of our innumerable failings His plan is irresistibly progressing. The great tragedy of mankind at this time is the failure of the vast majority of human beings to heed the Divine Call, and this is in large part occasioned by the failure of most of those who have believed to live up to the high standard that Baha'u'llah has set. This is the condition in which we must work in our service to mankind, turning a sin-covering eye to the faults of others, and striving in our own inmost selves to purify our lives in accordance with the divine Teachings.

The Day of God is a Day of joy, but also a Day of Judgement. Every Man is guided both by the Love of God and by the Fear of God. In their relationships with one another individual believers should be loving and forgiving, overlooking one another's faults for the sake of God, but the Spiritual Assemblies are the upholders of the law of God. They are embryonic Houses of Justice. The education of a child requires both love and discipline; so also does the education of believers and the education of a community. One of the failings of Baha'is, however, is to confuse these two roles, individuals behaving like little Spiritual Assemblies, and Spiritual Assemblies forgetting that they must exercise justice.

Our attitude and actions toward the impending catastrophe: 13 May 1980

Dear Baha'i friend,

Your letter of 13 January to the Universal House of Justice has been received and we are instructed to convey its response.

As a concert pianist you are uniquely endowed for service to God and mankind, for the Master states that "the musician's art is among those arts worthy of the highest praise, and it moveth the hearts of all who grieve." Further, the pursuit of excellence in your art both fulfils Baha'i admonitions and is worship manifested in your profession.

Your concern about the future in these troubled times is understandable. There is every reason to expect that the world will experience travail and testing as never before, but we do not know what form these upheavals will take, when exactly they will come, how severe they will be, nor how long they will last. In a letter dated 30, September 1950 written on behalf of the beloved Guardian to an individual believer, it is stated:

“He does not feel that fear -- for ourselves or for others -- solves any problems, or enables us to better meet it if it ever does arise. We do not know what the future holds exactly, or how soon we may all pass through another ordeal worse than the last one.

Zoroastrian era: 13 May 1979

Dear Bahá'í Friend,

The Universal House of Justice has asked us to convey the following in reply to your letter of April 6 [1979].

1. Regarding the beginning of the Zoroastrian era, in one of His Tablets 'Abdu'l-Bahá states that Zoroaster lived about 750 years after Moses. In a letter to an individual believer the Guardian's secretary wrote on his behalf: "Zoroaster lived about a thousand years before Christ. There is no exact date in the teachings regarding the beginning of His Dispensation."

2. Concerning your second question referring to a purported Tablet of the Bab stating that there were thirty Zoroasters, the Research Department states that no text from the Bab has been found on this subject. However, Mirza Abu'l-Fadl has stated in his writings that there appeared in Iran many prophets prior to the Dispensation of Zoroaster.

With loving Bahá'í greetings,

For Department of the Secretariat

(Baha’i Library Online)

Living a chaste and holy life: 8 May 1979

Dear Baha'i friend,

The Universal House of Justice has received your letter of 12 September 1978 and is impressed with the eager desire you show to train your behaviour in accordance with the standards of the Faith. It has asked us to send you the following comments in answer to your questions.

On page 25 of The Advent of Divine Justice the beloved Guardian is describing the requirements not only of chastity, but of "a chaste and holy life" -- both the adjectives are important. One of the signs of a decadent society, a sign which is very evident in the world today, is an almost frenetic devotion to pleasure and diversion, an insatiable thirst for amusement, a fanatical devotion to games and sport, a reluctance to treat any matter seriously, and a scornful, derisory attitude towards virtue and solid worth. Abandonment of "a frivolous conduct" does not imply that a Baha'i must be sour-faced or perpetually solemn. Humour, happiness, joy are characteristics of a true Baha'i life. Frivolity palls and eventually leads to boredom and emptiness, but true happiness and joy and humour that are parts of a balanced life that includes serious thought, compassion and humble servitude to God are characteristics that enrich life and add to its radiance.

Shoghi Effendi's choice of words was always significant, and each one is important in understanding his guidance. In this particular passage, he does not forbid "trivial" pleasures, but he does warn against "excessive attachment" to them and indicates that they can often be "misdirected." One is reminded of 'Abdu'l-Baha's caution that we should not let a pastime become a waste of time.

Concerning the positive aspects of chastity, the Universal House of Justice states that the Baha'i Faith recognizes the value of the sex impulse and holds that the institution of marriage has been established as the channel of its rightful expression. Baha'is do not believe that the sex impulse should be suppressed but that it should be regulated and controlled.

Directing the course of one’s life: 11 October 1978

Dear Baha'i friend,

The Universal House of Justice has received your moving appeal for guidance in your letter of 5 September 1978, and has instructed us to convey to you the following advice.

Each individual is unique and has a unique path to tread in his lifetime. In espousing the Baha'i Faith you have defined the direction of that path, for your recognition of God's Manifestation for this Day and your devotion to His Message provide the spiritual and ethical basis for all aspects of your life of service to mankind, while the continuing guidance that He has provided for the community of His followers enables you to know the directions in which the most effort is required at the present time.

While, during the early years of the development of the Faith, Baha'u'llah, 'Abdu'l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi sometimes gave specific instructions to individual believers on how they should serve the Cause, the Universal House of Justice seldom does this. It is, indeed, the precious privilege of the individual human being to direct the course of his own life. Through exercising this privilege while striving always to conform his conduct to the divine Teachings and devote his talents in the best possible way to the service of the Cause and mankind, a soul deepens his understanding of God and His will.

Love for God and Baha'u'llah: 25 May 1978

Dear Baha'i friend,

The Universal House of Justice has received your letter of 21 March 1978 in which you express concern that you do not yet feel in your heart the degree of love for God and for Baha'u'llah that you wish to have and which you witness in others, and is touched by the depth of your longing and effort. We have been requested to convey the following.

One source of true joy and happiness which you would do well to concentrate upon is that you have been able to recognize and accept God's supreme Manifestation in the Day of His appearance. There is no greater bounty than this and the souls of all Baha'is should be filled with gratitude for this supreme gift.

The House of Justice encourages you to continue your reading of the Words of Baha'u'llah and the Master and adds that spiritual growth has been likened to organic growth. Everything living must change. Growth and change can be imperceptible or dramatic and rapid. It is stated in a letter dated 6 October 1954 written on behalf of the beloved Guardian to an individual believer:

“When a person becomes a Baha'i, actually what takes place is that the seed of the spirit starts to grow in the human soul. This seed must be watered by the outpourings of the Holy Spirit. These gifts of the spirit are received through prayer, meditation, study of the Holy Utterances and service to the Cause of God.”

We have been directed to assure you of the prayers of the House of Justice for your spiritual advancement and that you may be so strengthened in your faith that you will be enabled to devotedly serve the Cause of Baha'u'llah.

With loving Baha'i greetings,

The Department of the Secretariat

(‘Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1963-1986’)

The response of humanity to the summons of Bahá’u’lláh and the reconstruction of society: 21 August 1977

Dear Baha'i friend,

The Universal House of Justice has studied your long letter of 19 May 1977. With many of your observations it thoroughly agrees; others, it believes are founded on erroneous information, on an inaccurate assessment of the current status of the Baha'i community, or on misconceptions about the objectives towards which it is working. The House of Justice does not have the time which would be required to formulate a detailed reply to all the various points in your letter. It reaffirms, however, the decisions conveyed to your National Spiritual Assembly in its letter of 2 December 1976, and has instructed us to add the following comments.

Mankind's response to the Message of Baha'u'llah has been dangerously, one might say disastrously, slow. From the earliest days it has been brought to the notice of leaders and scholars, but few of these, very few, have rallied to its support. The most profound and most widespread response has been from the middle classes and indeed from the poor, the unlettered, the deprived and the suffering. But, as the Guardian's secretary wrote on his behalf on 20 June 1942,

“That is perhaps what is most glorious about our present activities all over the world, that we, a band not large in numbers, not possessing financial backing or the prestige of great names, should, in the name of our beloved Faith, be forging ahead at such a pace, and demonstrating to future and present generations that it is the God-given qualities of our religion that are raising it up and not the transient support of worldly fame and power. All that will come later, when it has been made clear beyond the shadow of a doubt that what raised aloft the banner of Baha'u'llah was the love, sacrifice, and devotion of His humble followers and the change that His teachings wrought in their hearts and lives.”

Involvement in politics and the eradication of injustice: 7 July 1976

Dear Baha'i friend,

The Universal House of Justice received your letter of 15 May conveying your thoughts on the need for Baha'is to become involved as may be necessary in political affairs and to participate in activities aimed at the eradication of injustice. The sincerity which prompted you to write such a letter and to candidly express your sentiments deeply touched the Universal House of Justice. We have been asked to convey its comments to you.

You ask if silence on the part of Baha'is will not allow chaos and human humiliation to be a permanent feature on earth, and state that shunning of politics by the Baha'is can but weaken the freedom fighters of the world. When viewing the conditions of our society we see a world beset by ills and groaning under the burden of suffering. This suffering, Baha'u'llah has Himself testified, is because the "body" of the world, "though created whole and perfect, has been afflicted, through divers causes, with grave ills and maladies," and "its sickness waxed more severe, as it fell under the treatment of unskilled physicians who have spurred on the steed of their worldly desires and have erred grievously." Baha'u'llah's statement in this passage concludes with the assertion that the "sovereign remedy" lies in turning and submitting to the "skilled," the "all- powerful," and "inspired Physician. This, verily, is the truth, and all else naught but error."

This Divine Physician has assured us in His Writings that God is All-Seeing and All-Knowing and has willed to establish in this Day and among men His everlasting Kingdom. "The whole earth," Baha'u'llah has stated, "is now in a state of pregnancy. The day is approaching when it will have yielded its noblest fruits, when from it will have sprung forth the loftiest trees, the most enchanting blossoms, the most heavenly blessings." In order to achieve this purpose God sent us the spirit and message of the New Day through two successive Manifestations, both of Whom the generality of mankind have rejected, and have, alas, preferred to continue in their own blindness and perversity. Commenting on such a world spectacle, Baha'u'llah wrote: "soon will the present-day order be rolled up, and a new one spread out in its stead." "After a time," He further wrote, "all the governments on earth will change. Oppression will envelop the world. And following a universal convulsion, the sun of justice will rise from the horizon of the unseen realm."

A number of laws in the Kitab-i-Aqdas and the confinement of the membership of the Universal House of Justice to men: 24 July 1975

Dear Baha'i friend,

Your letter of 16 March 1975 has been received and we have studied the various questions arising from your study of the Synopsis and Codification of the Kitab-i-Aqdas. ...

Concerning your questions about the equality of men and women, this, as 'Abdu'l-Baha has often explained, is a fundamental principle of Baha'u'llah; therefore the Laws of the Aqdas should be studied in the light of it. Equality between men and women does not, indeed physiologically it cannot, mean identity of functions. In some things women excel men, for others men are better fitted than women, while in very many things the difference of sex is of no effect at all. The differences of function are most apparent in family life. The capacity for motherhood has many far-reaching implications which are recognized in Baha'i Law. For example, when it is not possible to educate all one's children, daughters receive preference over sons, as mothers are the first educators of the next generation. Again, for physiological reasons, women are granted certain exemptions from fasting that are not applicable to men.

Laws of the Kitab-i-Aqdas concerning men and women: 28 April 1974

Dear Baha'i friend,

The various questions you set forth in your letter of 18 February were noted, and we offer you the following comments.

The Laws of the Kitab-i-Aqdas, and indeed all the Teachings of the Faith, form a coherent whole; therefore in order to understand their implications they must be considered in their own context. For example, in the case of intestacy, as you have noted, the eldest son receives preferential treatment in certain respects but, as 'Abdu'l- Baha has explained in one of His Tablets, he should take into consideration the needs of the other heirs.

Furthermore it should be remembered that, as Shoghi Effendi has explained (see The World Order of Baha'u'llah, page 148), Baha'u'llah has deliberately left gaps in the body of His legislative ordinances, to be filled in due course by the Universal House of Justice.

You should, therefore, when studying the Synopsis and Codification of the Laws and Ordinances of the Kitab-i-Aqdas, bear these factors in mind, and always remember Baha'u'llah's exhortation to "Weigh not the Book of God with such standards and sciences as are current amongst you, for the Book itself is the unerring balance established amongst men.  In this most perfect balance whatsoever the peoples and kindreds of the earth possess must be weighed, while the measure of its weight should be tested according to its own standard, did ye but know it."