The Covenant of Baha'u'llah

by Adib Taherzadeh

chapter 30

start page

single page

chapter 32

Chapter 31

Rebellion in the West

While this handful of Covenant-breakers in Persia was agitating in the early days of Shoghi Effendi's ministry to arrest the onward march of the Faith and dishonour its Founders, a similar situation was brought about in the West. It started as soon as the contents of the Will and Testament of Abdu'l-Bahá became known to the community. The first person to react was Ahmad Sohrab, who had served for some time as the Master's secretary and interpreter. One of the believers, Mrs Nellie French, has recounted the reaction of Ahmad Sohrab when she communicated to him the contents of the Will. He was intensely agitated. His face turned black and pacing back and forth, he exclaimed: 'This cannot be. Shoghi Effendi knows nothing about the Cause. He was never with Abdu'l-Bahá as I have been. I am the one who should have been appointed.'

When Mirza Abu'l-Fadl was in the United States of America, he used to live alone in his apartment, and the friends were concerned about his health. Ali-Kuli Khan[1] has described the circumstances which led to the despatch of Ahmad Sohrab to America in order to act as a servant to Mirza Abu'l-Fadl. He writes:
[1 An eminent Bahá'í teacher; see Gail, Summon Up Remembrance.]

"That is how it was. Mirza sick from not eating, and unable to adjust to American food and American life. He would not let me serve him in any way. If we went shopping, he would not even let me carry the packages. Finally I wrote to the Master, because the responsibility for his life and work was more than I could bear, and I told of the difficulty of expediting Mirza's book and described everything just as it was. Then I added that it might be a Persian attendant, who could prepare food for Mirza and look after his needs, would solve the problem. When I had come through Port Sa'id on my way to America, there was a boy around fifteen who worked in Ahmad Yazdi's store there. His name was Ahmad-i-Isfahani (later he took the name of Sohrab). This boy had begged me to request the Master to send him to America. I now suggested that he come here to look after Mirza. The Master sent him here, to serve Mirza and return with him to the East. However, when Mirza sailed for home in 1904 — with the MacNutts, Mrs. Julia Grundy, and the Woodcocks and their daughter — Ahmad-i-Isfahani did not accompany him. He remained in the United States until 1912, when the Master Himself took him back to the East, although he seemed loath to go." [31-1]

While in America, Ahmad became proficient in English and, when the Master went to the United States, he served Him as interpreter. However, from the beginning, Ahmad showed signs of insincerity and faithlessness. Many a time his behaviour brought deep sorrow to the heart of Abdu'l-Bahá. But he remained with Him throughout the journey, and later when he went to Haifa, he continued to serve Him as a secretary. The Master knew that Ahmad would rebel against the Centre of the Cause after Him and had intimated this to one or two persons who were close to Him.

At the time of Abdu'l-Bahá's passing, Ahmad had become well-known among the believers of the West. Having emerged as a prominent Bahá'í, he, like Avarih, wanted the establishment of the Universal House of Justice immediately after the passing of Abdu'l-Bahá. And as Shoghi Effendi began to create local and national Spiritual Assemblies instead, Ahmad opposed the move. With the help of a certain wealthy woman, Mrs Lewis Stuyvesant (Julie) Chanler, he formed an organisation known as 'The New History Society', and made a great deal of propaganda to recruit members. He used the name and teachings of the Faith to attract people to his cause, clearly denouncing Shoghi Effendi's directives for the building of the Administrative Order. He also created the 'Caravan of East and West', the chief activity of which was international correspondence.

Ahmad Sohrab, who was referred to by the believers as 'Avarih of the West', tried to create a new sect of his own based on the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh. He did not question the authenticity of the Will and Testament of Abdu'l-Bahá, but maintained that Shoghi Effendi had erred in his function as the Guardian of the Faith. He made great efforts to penetrate the American Bahá'í community in order to undermine the foundation of the local and national Spiritual Assemblies and to establish himself in place of Shoghi Effendi, but he utterly failed. The Bahá'ís remained faithful to the Covenant; they shunned him entirely, and with the passage of time his hopes were dashed and his plans and activities bore no fruit whatsoever. At the height of his endeavours, Shoghi Effendi wrote the following to the American National Spiritual Assembly through his secretary:

"In regard to the activities of Ahmad Sohrab, Shoghi Effendi has already stated that such attacks, however perfidious, do not justify the friends replying or taking any direct action against them. The attitude of the National Spiritual Assembly should be to ignore them entirely..." [31-2]

A common pattern of behaviour of most Covenant-breakers is that at first they claim to be devoted and sincere Bahá'ís but later they demonstrate by their actions that they are not. For instance, those who broke the Covenant during Shoghi Effendi's Ministry declared their faith in Bahá'u'lláh and Abdu'l-Bahá in the early stages but as time went on and they foresaw the bankruptcy of their position they compromised and progressively distanced themselves from their earlier practices and assertions. In almost every case the new Covenant-breakers joined hands with the old ones whom they had previously denounced. For example, Ahmad Sohrab at first did not have anything to do with Mirza Muhammad-'Ali and his associates, whom he regarded as enemies of Abdu'l-Bahá. But at a later time, when he noticed the ascendancy of the Cause of God, he forged links of friendship and co-operation with them. He even went further and denounced Abdu'l-Bahá, whom he used to regard in the early days of his rebellion as the Centre of the Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh and whose writings he used to quote in his public pronouncements.

In 1954, the year that witnessed the extraordinary expansion of the Faith when hundreds of Bahá'í pioneers had settled in virgin territories of the globe, Ahmad Sohrab, incensed by the growth and consolidation of the institutions of the Cause world-wide, visited the Holy Land, went to the home of some of the old Covenant-breakers, held meetings there and gave them his support and encouragement. He publicly announced that Bahá'u'lláh had appointed two successors, Abdu'l-Bahá and Mirza Muhammad-'Ali, and charged that Abdu'l-Bahá had disobeyed the Will of Bahá'u'lláh, taken charge of the affairs of the Cause and eliminated Muhammad-'Ali.

At a press conference in Haifa he told the reporters that Abdu'l-Bahá was a Muslim. And when they questioned this, he reiterated his statement, and asserted that he was indeed a Muslim. Such a statement by one who used to preach that Bahá'u'lláh was the new Manifestation of God and Abdu'l-Bahá His successor, reveals the extent of his hypocrisy and falsehood.

In another interview in Tel Aviv, Ahmad introduced himself as the secretary of Abdu'l-Bahá and His leading disciple. One of the reporters reminded him that Abdu'l-Bahá had left a Will, and asked, if Ahmad was sincere in his devotion to Abdu'l-Bahá, how was it that he was not working with the present world Bahá'í community? Ahmad acknowledged the authenticity of the Will of the Master and accepted the fact that Abdu'l-Bahá had appointed Shoghi Effendi as the Guardian of the Faith. But he said that while the Master apparently thought Shoghi Effendi would make a good Guardian of the Faith, this had not been the case, and the problem was now how to get rid of Shoghi Effendi.

Having failed to make an impression upon the public in the Holy Land, Ahmad's hopes of weakening the position of Shoghi Effendi were dashed. Frustrated and embittered, he and his associates sought by every means to exploit some of the contentious claims which surfaced from time to time against the Guardian from the Covenant-breakers in the Holy Land. For instance, when Shoghi Effendi in 1956 demolished one of the houses situated in close proximity to the Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh, Mrs Chanler sent a petition to the President of Israel in which she supported the claim of one of the Covenant-breakers to the property and introduced the latter as the representative in the Holy Land of a group of people whom she described as 'free Bahá'í'.

Activities such as this continued until the end of Shoghi Effendi's Ministry, but they produced no positive results for Ahmad. On the contrary, toward the end of his life, the movement which he had created and spent so much effort in promoting was near extinction. It completely disintegrated after his death in 1958. All endeavours which this misguided man exerted over several decades to undermine the Cause of God brought forth quite the opposite effect of stimulating its growth. The Message of Bahá'u'lláh had reached the furthest corners of the earth, and by then the institutions of His Faith were established in most countries and territories of the globe.

In 1941, when Ahmad was at the height of his rebellion, Shoghi Effendi wrote of him in these words:

"And now more particularly concerning the prime mover of this latest agitation, which, whatever its immediate consequences, will sooner or later come to be regarded as merely one more of those ugly and abortive attempts designed to undermine the foundation, and obscure the purpose, of the Administrative order of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh. Obscure in his origin, ambitious of leadership, untaught by the lesson of such as have erred before him, odious in the hopes he nurses, contemptible in the methods he pursues, shameless in his deliberate distortions of truths he has long since ceased to believe in, ludicrous in his present isolation and helplessness, wounded and exasperated by the downfall which his own folly has precipitated, he, the latest protagonist of a spurious cause, cannot but in the end be subjected, as remorselessly as his infamous predecessors, to the fate which they invariably have suffered.

"Generated by the propelling and purifying forces of a mysterious Faith, born of delusion or malice, winning a fleeting notoriety derived from the precarious advantages of wealth, fame or fortune, these movements sponsored by deluded, self-seeking adventurers find themselves, sooner or later, enmeshed in the machinations of their authors, are buried in shame, and sink eventually into complete oblivion.

"The schism which their foolish leaders had contrived so sedulously to produce within the Faith, will soon, to their utter amazement, come to be regarded as a process of purification, a cleansing agency, which, far from decimating the ranks of its followers, reinforces its indestructible unity, and proclaims anew to a world, sceptical or indifferent, the cohesive strength of the institutions of that Faith, the incorruptibility of its purposes and principles, and the recuperative powers inherent in its community life." [31-3]

After his death, the Hands of the Cause in the Holy Land, who were acting as custodians of the Faith prior to the establishment of the Universal House of Justice, sent the following telegram to the Bahá'í world on 28 April 1958.

"Sohrab, relentless enemy faith after witnessing for third of a century the irresistible spread of the Holy Cause, in forty-five hundred centres under guidance beloved Guardian, died the first of Ridvan, every hope frustrated, every plan extinguished, every ambition thwarted. This striking evidence of God's avenging wrath on the one hand and on the other the unfailing protection of the community and institutions reared by the beloved Guardian inspires believers to arise and serve with renewed courage and dedication to insure the complete success of the crusade." [31-4]

Another person who rose up in opposition to Shoghi Effendi and to the establishment of the institutions of the Faith was Mrs Ruth White in the United States; she was an old believer and had visited Abdu'l-Bahá in the Holy Land in 1920. She claimed that the Will and Testament of Abdu'l-Bahá was not authentic, and she created much agitation in the community by attacking the National Spiritual Assembly whose establishment she considered to be against the teachings and wishes of Abdu'l-Bahá. For several years Mrs White persevered in her determination to prevent the establishment of the institutions of the Faith. She wrote a letter to the United States Postmaster General and asked him, among other things, to prohibit the National Spiritual Assembly from 'using the United States Mails to spread the falsehood that Shoghi Effendi is the successor of Abdu'l-Bahá and the Guardian of the Cause'.

Mrs White wrote many letters to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States and Canada, as well as to some believers. In these she vehemently objected to the directives of Shoghi Effendi and the administration of the Cause through the local and national institutions. One of Mrs White's converts was Dr Herrigel, a founder member of the German Bahá'í community. He too rejected the authority of the Will and Testament and became numbered among the Covenant-breakers.

Mrs White also wrote a letter to the High Commissioner for Palestine in which she completely misrepresented the position of Shoghi Effendi. But the authorities in the Holy Land were well aware of the facts and did not heed her appeals.

It is interesting to note that no one who has studied the Will and Testament of Abdu'l-Bahá, with the exception of Mrs White and a few others whom she influenced, has ever questioned its authenticity. Even other Covenant-breakers who rose up against Shoghi Effendi did not agree with her. Ahmad Sohrab and Subhi had both served Abdu'l-Bahá as His secretary. They never questioned the authenticity of the Will. Neither did Muhammad-'Ali or Badi'u'llah, or other enemies who were looking for any flaws they could find with which to attack the Guardian of the Faith.

It must be remembered that the Will and Testament was written in Abdu'l-Bahá's handwriting and bore His seal. The Will and Testament was very familiar to the Persian believers. This is because Abdu'l-Bahá had written innumerable Tablets in His own hand and almost every Bahá'í family in Persia had been the recipient of these Tablets. When the photostat text of the Will and Testament was sent to Persia and elsewhere, it was easily acknowledged by everyone to be in the handwriting of Abdu'l-Bahá.

Another criterion for its authenticity is Abdu'l-Bahá's unique style and mode of expression which is familiar to the Persian friends. Indeed, anyone who is versed in the Writings of the Faith in the original language can easily tell the difference between the writings of Bahá'u'lláh, Abdu'l-Bahá or Shoghi Effendi, as each has its own special tone and style. The Universal House of Justice has made the following statements:

"The second aspect, the literary style of the Will, can only be properly judged by one who is familiar with the Persian language because most of the Master's Tablets that are published in English are in early translations that leave great room for improvement. Abdu'l-Bahá had a very characteristic, inimitable style and there is no doubt at all in the minds of the Persian Bahá'ís (who, until the time of Shoghi Effendi's passing, composed the majority of the followers of Bahá'u'lláh) that the Will and Testament is written in that style.

"Thirdly, as regards the handwriting of the Will, you should know that Shoghi Effendi sent out photostatic copies of the Will not only to National Spiritual Assemblies, but also for distribution among individual believers in Persia. You should also remember that the members of the Master's family, including his half-brother, Muhammad-'Ali, who is so strongly condemned in the Will, as well as the thousands of Persian believers who had received or studied Tablets from Him, were thoroughly familiar with the handwriting of Abdu'l-Bahá, and the Will is so obviously in that handwriting that no one who was qualified to judge — even those who could profit by claiming that the Will was invalid — has ever questioned its authenticity. Even believers who became bitter enemies of Shoghi Effendi after the passing of the Master, ... did not question the validity of the Will. The only challenge came from Mrs. White, an American ignorant of Persian, who had the ulterior motive of trying to discredit an administration which she personally opposed. The handwriting expert whose opinion she quoted in support of her argument was also a westerner and himself stated that he could not give a final opinion without seeing the writing in the original.

"Mrs. White went as far as appealing to the civil authorities of Palestine to take legal action in the matter, a request which the British Authorities curtly refused. When, several months later, Badi'u'llah, the brother and lieutenant of the deceased arch-breaker of Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant, approached these same authorities claiming the right to oppose the projected transfer of the remains of the Mother and Brother of Abdu'l-Bahá from Akka to Haifa, they categorically upheld the authority of Shoghi Effendi as the Successor of Abdu'l-Bahá on the basis of their scrutiny of the Will and Testament, the validity of which Badi'u'llah did not dispute.

"Abdu'l-Bahá's Will was written in three parts at three different times in His life. All three parts are in His handwriting and are signed by Him. All three, comprising twelve pages in all, were in an envelope under lock and key in His safe when He died. The face of the envelope was addressed to Shoghi Effendi in the Master's handwriting and signed by Him. On the back it bears three more signatures of Abdu'l-Bahá across the flap where it was stuck down. Shoghi Effendi was in England when the Master died and therefore His Will was taken from His safe at that time by some members of His family and opened to see if He had given any instructions about His burial." [31-5]

Although the violators of the Covenant in the East and the West during Shoghi Effendi's ministry were few in numbers yet the relentless attacks which they launched against the Faith during the entire period of Shoghi Effendi's ministry were fierce. In spite of their persistent efforts to make a breach within the Bahá'í community, they did not succeed. The vast majority of believers remained firm in the Covenant, turned to Shoghi Effendi with great devotion and laboured in the promotion of the Faith and the establishment of its divinely-ordained institutions throughout the world. Nevertheless the Guardian, being the Centre of the Cause of God, was the target of all the assaults which the Covenant-breakers inflicted upon him. The sufferings that he endured as a result of their rebellion are truly heart-rending. However, at the same time that Shoghi Effendi sustained the attacks which they had directed against him and the Cause of which he was the Guardian, he exhorted the believers to shun the Covenant-breakers and completely ignore their odious propaganda. In this way, each one of them was severed from the community, and, like a branch of a tree which is cut off, withered away and perished in time.

chapter 30

start page

single page

chapter 32