Proper pronunciation of Arabic words

8 August 1995 

Mr. ... wishes to know whether there is any guidance in the Bahá'í Writings about the style of pronunciation which Bahá'ís should adopt when learning to speak Arabic.

The Research Department has found nothing in the Bahá'í Writings which refers to the "proper" pronunciation of Arabic. However, we provide the following observations for Mr. ...'s consideration:

• The Arabic language itself is spoken with different dialects in various parts of the Arabic world.
• Since Arabic is also the language of religion for the entire Muslim world, peoples who speak languages other than Arabic, such as the Persians and the Turks, have developed their own idiosyncratic pronunciation of Arabic words and names. The same thing happened in the Christian world with the pronunciation of Hebrew, Greek and Latin names and words.
• Persians long pronounced Arabic in a peculiarly Persian way, and there would have been no reason for Bahá'u'lláh, ‘Abdu'l-Bahá or Shoghi Effendi to change this.
• When chanting the Qur'an, Persians have traditionally tried to follow the Hijazi accent, and when talking with Arabs in Arabic they would have tried to adhere to Arabic usage, even if it was with a Persian accent.
• It would never occur to Arab Bahá'ís to pronounce Arabic Tablets in the Persian manner, and they do not attempt to do so.

Bahá'ís who are neither Arabs nor Persians have generally picked up a pronunciation similar to that of the Persians because they have learned it from Persian Bahá'ís, but there is no constraint on them to follow this pattern if they are familiar with Arabic and wish to pronounce Arabic words in the Arabic manner. This could, however, present them with some practical difficulties unless they are in an Arab country. If, for example, when in America, Mr. ... pronounces "Ridvan" in the Arabic manner, it may puzzle those who will hear the majority of their fellow Bahá'ís, Persian and American, using the Persian pronunciation or an approximation to it.

Department of the Secretariat of the Universal House of Justice

(Baha’i Library Online)

 

The Guardian’s statement concerning legislative responsibilities of the Universal House of Justice regarding Obligatory Prayers

Memorandum

25 June 1995

To: The Universal House of Justice 

From: Research Department

In an email message dated 14 May 1995, Mr. ... states that he has recently read the transcript of a talk by Mr. Ian Semple wherein the legislative activities of the Universal House of Justice regarding worship are discussed. The transcript contains a reference to a letter "in which [the Guardian] indicates that the House of Justice would legislate on details related to the obligatory prayers". Mr. ... would like to have a copy of the relevant portion of this letter for study.

Mr. ...'s letter was referred to the Research Department. We have located the statement in question in a letter dated 10 October 1936 written on behalf of the Guardian to an individual believer. The statement is as follows:

First, with regard to your questions concerning the obligatory prayers, the "Aqdas" does not give detailed instructions about them. The Universal House of Justice, however, will have to define the exact time for their recital, and lay down, if required, other detailed instructions concerning their use. One of the three obligatory prayers should be recited. This is an obligation. But individual believers are absolutely free to choose any one of them. There is no particular time of day fixed for the reading of the long prayer.

(Baha’i Library Online)

Policy concerning not to teach the Faith in Israel

23 June 1995 

The Universal House of Justice has received your email message dated 29 June 1995 and we have been asked to respond.

You have asked how the policy of not teaching Israelis applies in the situation in which you have contact with an Israeli via an "interactive relay chat" (IRC) connection. The House of Justice has not asked the friends to avoid contact with Israelis. When you discover that a person you are in contact with via IRC is an Israeli, you should feel free to maintain friendly contact, but you should not teach the Faith to him. If he has already developed a personal interest in the Faith and seeks more information, you should refer him to the Offices of the Bahá'í World Centre in Haifa.

For your information, the people in Israel have access to factual information about the Faith, its history and general principles. Books concerning the Faith are available in libraries throughout Israel, and Israelis are welcome to visit the Shrines and the surrounding gardens. However, in keeping with a policy that has been strictly followed since the days of Bahá'u'lláh, Bahá'ís do not teach the Faith in Israel. Likewise, the Faith is not taught to Israelis abroad if they intend to return to Israel. When Israelis ask about the Faith, their questions are answered, but this is done in a manner which provides factual information without stimulating further interest.

With loving Bahá'í greetings,

Department of the Secretariat

(Baha’i Library Online)

Character of internet discussions

19 May 1995 

Dear Bahá'í Friend,

The Universal House of Justice has consulted on your email message of 4 April 1995 concerning the character of some of the postings on Bahá'í subjects in electronic discussion groups, and has asked us to convey to you the following.

Your concerns, in the context in which you have described them in the second paragraph of your message, are legitimate for a Bahá'í, and you should not hesitate to express them, as you wish, in a manner that is intended to illumine the exchange of ideas in any discussion in which you may participate.

The opportunity which electronic communication technology provides for more speedy and thorough consultation among the friends is highly significant. Without doubt, it represents another manifestation of a development eagerly anticipated by the Guardian when he foresaw the creation of "a mechanism of world intercommunication ... embracing the whole planet, freed from national hindrances and restrictions, and functioning with marvellous swiftness and perfect regularity".

As you well appreciate, the extent to which such technology advances the work of the Faith depends, of course, on the manner in which it is used. As a medium for Bahá'ís to exchange views, it imposes on participants the same requirements of moderation, candour, and courtesy as would be the case in any other discussion. Likewise, those involved should avoid belittling the views of one another. In this regard, the House of Justice has noted your understandable repugnance at an apparent temptation to use misleading and invidious labels like "traditionalists" and "liberals", which divide the Bahá'í community. To the extent that this divisive habit of mind may persist in the Bahá'í community, it is obviously a carry-over from non-Bahá'í society and a manifestation of an immature conception of life. If Bahá'ís were to persist in this mode of thinking, it would bring to naught even the most worthwhile intellectual endeavour, as has so conspicuously been the case with societies of the past.

To strive for a “greater understanding of the essentials of the Administrative Order”

18 May 1995 

Dear Bahá'í Friend,

The Universal House of Justice has considered your email message of 4 April 1995 and has instructed us to convey to you the following.

The House of Justice appreciates your having shared with it your thoughts and enthusiasm about electronic discussion of the Teachings. The exchange of ideas related to the Cause in electronic discussion groups is indeed a very positive development - one full of great potential for a growing spread and understanding of the Faith - and the House of Justice is pleased you are benefiting from your participation. In all such discussions a sound knowledge of the Bahá'í Teachings is a powerful touchstone, one enabling those so engaged to assess the value of what is being set forth.

Your message suggests that the House of Justice "outline which aspects of current Bahá'í Administration are permanent and which are subject to change". You have made this suggestion in the light of your concern that some of the ideas you have seen expressed for making the administration work better might be inappropriate. The House of Justice judges that for it to make such a categorization would not be fruitful. The believers' own study of the writings, especially those of Shoghi Effendi and including the Constitution of the Universal House of Justice, should enable them to arrive at an ever greater understanding of the essentials of the Administrative Order. The workings of the community, as you will appreciate, are organic in nature and so is its growth. As time passes, the community expands, and conditions change, the House of Justice will make such adjustments and developments as are required. In so doing, the House of Justice takes cognizance of the conditions prevailing in the community and any views presented to it, reserving for itself the right of an unfettered decision in the manner described by Shoghi Effendi in "The Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh". Its first consideration must always be to remain faithful to the revealed purpose of Bahá'u'lláh, as expounded and interpreted by Abdu'l-Bahá and the Guardian.

Evolution Towards World Order

Memorandum

(Research Department of the Universal House of Justice)

27 April 1995 

Extracts from letters written by and on behalf of the Universal House of Justice

You have also asked whether the institutions of the Faith will in the future only concern themselves with the spiritual affairs of the community or whether they will also be engaged in matters of state and be identical with the civil government. We have been asked to state that a careful reading of the words of the beloved Guardian will reveal that what you describe are two future stages in the development of the Faith. Thus, he wrote: "Not only will the present-day Spiritual Assemblies be styled differently in future, but they will be enabled also to add to their present functions those powers, duties, and prerogatives necessitated by the recognition of the Faith of Baha’u’llah, not merely as one of the recognized religious systems of the world, but as the State Religion of an independent and Sovereign Power." ("The World Order of Baha’u’llah", pp. 6-7)

The statement quoted above envisages the development of the institutions of the Faith purely as agencies conducting the affairs of the community of the followers of Baha’u’llah. In "The Advent of Divine Justice" (p. 12), however, Shoghi Effendi goes beyond the stage when the Faith becomes the "State Religion". This stage, he explains, "... must give way to its assumption of the rights and prerogatives associated with the Bahá’i state, functioning in the plenitude of its powers, a stage which must ultimately culminate in the emergence of the worldwide Bahá’i Commonwealth, animated wholly by the spirit, and operating solely in direct conformity with the laws and principles of Baha’u’llah", This last stage is described in slightly different terms in the following words of Shoghi Effendi: "And as the Bahá’i Faith permeates the masses of the peoples of East and West, and its truth is embraced by the majority of the peoples of a number of the Sovereign States of the world, will the Universal House of Justice attain the plenitude of its power, and exercise, as the supreme organ of the Bahá’i Commonwealth, all the rights, the duties, and responsibilities incumbent upon the worlds future superstate." (Cf. "The World Order of Baha’u’llah", p. 7) It is obvious that in these last stages the religious and secular aspects are clearly merged into one set of institutions, i.e., the institutions of the World Order of Baha’u’llah. This concept is further confirmed by Shoghi Effendi when he clearly states that the "Administrative Order" will in the future "assert its claim and demonstrate its capacity to be regarded not only as the nucleus but the very pattern of the New World Order destined to embrace in the fullness of time the whole of mankind". ("The World Order of Baha’u’llah", p. 144) (9 March 1977 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer) [1]

[I] This extract appears on p.15 of the 1984 edition of “The Advent of Divine Justice".