Huququ’llah transactions and inclusion in one’s testament

November 1991

Dear Bahá'í Friend,

The Universal House of Justice received your letter of 12 November 1991 and has asked us to send you the following response.

The House of Justice was very pleased to see the degree to which you are helping those believers and Bahá'í institutions which are eager to adopt legal measures to follow the principles and laws of the Faith in relation to their estates and also to augment the income of the Bahá'í funds. Undoubtedly, once the law of Huququ'llah becomes universally applicable next Ridvan, you will receive many more questions on this subject. The House of Justice is glad to help you in these matters.

Your first two questions [1] which relate to the matters to be covered in a will as prescribed in the Kitab-i-Aqdas will be elucidated when the translation of the Most Holy Book is published. In general, the conclusions you have drawn are not incorrect, but it would be preferable not to go into them at the present time, and to confine your advice to the financial aspects of wills.

Question #3: It would seem from your description of the procedure, that a Revocable Living Trust constitutes a legal document which supplements the will. If this is so, there is no objection to its use as you outline it. The Bahá'í law leaves a believer free as to the distribution of his possessions at his death. If his will points to a document which makes clear what is to be done, that is entirely acceptable. Provisions as to the payment of debts and the balance of Huququ'llah due could also be in the Trust document.

Question #4: We do not know of any guidance on the subject of "living wills" beyond that published in Lights of Guidance.

Question #5: Since the answer to this question requires some detailed examples, the question was referred to an Ad Hoc Committee. Its memorandum on the subject is enclosed, and the House of Justice hopes that these comments will be helpful to you.

The need for prepublication review

28 October 1991

Dear Bahá’í Friend,

. . . The House of Justice was deeply touched by the spirit of your letter, warmly congratulates you on the status you have attained as an academic, and appreciates your efforts to make use of your scholarly training in lending expression to the Faith in academic circles.

The requirement that materials about the Faith authored by Baha’is must be reviewed by Bahá’í institutions before publication is imbedded in a Bahá’í administrative policy which originated with the explicit instruction of Abdu’l-Bahá. Shoghi Effendi included this instruction in his outline of the duties of National Spiritual Assemblies, and the duty of reviewing Bahá’í material is included in the constitution of these institutions with his approval. The requirement is temporary and is meant to protect the interests of the Faith at the early stages of its development.

You are, of course, entirely correct that only the Guardian had the prerogative of interpretation; it is not a prerogative that he could have devolved on other institutions. Yet in a number of letters written on his behalf, the importance of reviewing manuscripts about the Faith was repeatedly emphasized, such as in a letter dated 15 November 1956 written to an individual, in which the following is stated:

“Any Bahá’í book presenting the Faith should be reviewed by a competent body. This only means that they should ascertain whether there is any misrepresentation of the Teachings in it. Sometimes the friends think they have to go into literary reviews and interfere with the author’s style etc., which of course is wholly unnecessary. ...”