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Sources of the Bahá'í World Order
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It would, however, be helpful and instructive to bear in mind
certain basic principles with reference to the Will and Testament
of `Abdu'l-Bahá, which, together with the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, constitutes
the chief depository wherein are enshrined those priceless elements
of that Divine Civilization, the establishment of which is the primary
mission of the Bahá'í Faith. A study of the provisions of these
sacred documents will reveal the close relationship that exists between
them, as well as the identity of purpose and method which
they inculcate. Far from regarding their specific provisions as incompatible
and contradictory in spirit, every fair-minded inquirer
will readily admit that they are not only complementary, but that
they mutually confirm one another, and are inseparable parts of one
complete unit. A comparison of their contents with the rest of Bahá'í
sacred Writings will similarly establish the conformity of whatever
they contain with the spirit as well as the letter of the authenticated
writings and sayings of Bahá'u'lláh and `Abdu'l-Bahá. In fact, he
who reads the Aqdas with care and diligence will not find it hard to
discover that the Most Holy Book itself anticipates in a number of
passages the institutions which `Abdu'l-Bahá ordains in His Will.
By leaving certain matters unspecified and unregulated in His Book
of Laws, Bahá'u'lláh seems to have deliberately left a gap in the general
scheme of Bahá'í Dispensation, which the unequivocal provisions
of the Master's Will have filled. To attempt to divorce the one
from the other, to insinuate that the Teachings of Bahá'u'lláh have
not been upheld, in their entirety and with absolute integrity, by
what `Abdu'l-Bahá has revealed in His Will, is an unpardonable
affront to the unswerving fidelity that has characterized the life and
labors of our beloved Master.
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I will not attempt in the least to assert or demonstrate the authenticity
of the Will and Testament of `Abdu'l-Bahá, for that in itself
would betray an apprehension on my part as to the unanimous confidence
of the believers in the genuineness of the last written wishes
of our departed Master. I will only confine my observations to those
issues which may assist them to appreciate the essential unity that
underlies the spiritual, the humanitarian, and the administrative
principles enunciated by the Author and the Interpreter of the
Bahá'í Faith.
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I am at a loss to explain that strange mentality that inclines to
uphold as the sole criterion of the truth of the Bahá'í Teachings
what is admittedly only an obscure and unauthenticated translation
of an oral statement made by `Abdu'l-Bahá, in defiance and total
disregard of the available text of all of His universally recognized
writings. I truly deplore the unfortunate distortions that have resulted
in days past from the incapacity of the interpreter to grasp
the meaning of `Abdu'l-Bahá, and from his incompetence to render
adequately such truths as have been revealed to him by the Master's
statements. Much of the confusion that has obscured the understanding
of the believers should be attributed to this double error involved
in the inexact rendering of an only partially understood statement.
Not infrequently has the interpreter even failed to convey the exact
purport of the inquirer's specific questions, and, by his deficiency of
understanding and expression in conveying the answer of `Abdu'l-Bahá,
has been responsible for reports wholly at variance with the
true spirit and purpose of the Cause. It was chiefly in view of the
misleading nature of the reports of the informal conversations of
`Abdu'l-Bahá with visiting pilgrims, that I have insistently urged
the believers of the West to regard such statements as merely personal
impressions of the sayings of their Master, and to quote and
consider as authentic only such translations as are based upon the
authenticated text of His recorded utterances in the original tongue.
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It should be remembered by every follower of the Cause that
the system of Bahá'í administration is not an innovation imposed
arbitrarily upon the Bahá'ís of the world since the Master's passing,
but derives its authority from the Will and Testament of `Abdu'l-Bahá,
is specifically prescribed in unnumbered Tablets, and rests
in some of its essential features upon the explicit provisions of the
Kitáb-i-Aqdas. It thus unifies and correlates the principles separately
laid down by Bahá'u'lláh and `Abdu'l-Bahá, and is indissolubly
bound with the essential verities of the Faith. To dissociate
the administrative principles of the Cause from the purely spiritual
and humanitarian teachings would be tantamount to a mutilation of
the body of the Cause, a separation that can only result in the disintegration
of its component parts, and the extinction of the Faith
itself.
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