Bahá'í Administration
This page is for the book of this title. For the topic, see Administration
Read online at https://bahai-library.com/shoghi-effendi_bahai_administration
Quotations on need to read[edit]
“I grieve to learn of the situation which the disharmony of the believers has created. Emphasis should be laid by all members, and with increasing force and determination, upon the essentials of the Administrative Order as explained in the book entitled “Bahá’í Administration”. Whatever is not provided, should be referred to your national assembly. The decision of the majority must, under all circumstances be upheld and enforced. Persevere and never lose heart and courage.”
- (Shoghi Effendi, The Importance of Deepening our Knowledge and Understanding of the Faith, no. 81)
“The Guardian would strongly urge each and every member of the National Spiritual Assembly to carefully peruse, and to quietly ponder upon the outer meaning and upon the inner spirit as well, of all his communications on the subject of the origin, nature and present-day functioning of the administrative order of the Faith. A compilation of these letters has been lately published in the States under the title 'Bahá'í Administration', and a complete knowledge of that book seems to be quite essential to the right handling of the administrative problems facing your National Spiritual Assembly at present.”
- (On behalf of Shoghi Effendi, 9 May 1934, to a National Spiritual Assembly, The Importance of Deepening our Knowledge and Understanding of the Faith, no. 120)
“The collected messages of Shoghi Effendi to the American community published in such well-read and familiar titles as 'Bahá'í Administration', 'The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh', 'The Advent of Divine Justice', 'Messages to America', 'The Promised Day is Come' and 'Citadel of Faith', form part of the primary literature of the Faith.”
- (From a letter dated 1 October 1987 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to a Bahá'í Publishing Trust, Compilation on the Writings of Shoghi Effendi, no. 15)
Adequacy (along with statements already issued by the National Assembly) for the time-being as far as administrative guidance[edit]
"The various rulings and regulations recorded in the 'Bahá'í Administration', and the supplementary statements already issued by the National Assembly, he feels, are for the present sufficiently detailed to guide the friends in their present-day activities... The American believers, as well as their National representatives, must henceforth direct their attention to the greater and vital issues which an already established Administration is called upon to face and handle, rather than allow their energies to be expended in the consideration of purely secondary administrative matters."
Paragraphs of the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá included in part I of Bahá'í Administration[edit]
- First section: 2, 3, 4, 9 (first 2 sentences), 11, 13-25, 26 (first 8 sentences), 29, 30 (out of 32)
- Second section: 8 (beginning 4th sentence), 14, 15 (out of 15)
- Third section: 11-14 (out of 14)
By page[edit]
p. 64[edit]
"When the Master says the Local and National Assemblies are the 'Voice of truth', He means here that they must be obeyed, not that they are infallible."
- (From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, November 25, 1947, in Lights of Guidance, no. 1587)
p. 88 (pp. 149-150?) (regarding calendar differences for festivals)[edit]
"In regard to the question submitted to your Assembly by the Bahá'í group at Maui, Hawaii, concerning the passage on page 88 of the book 'Bahá'í Administration,'
"...The Guardian wishes me to inform you that the festivals of the Declaration of the Báb and the birthday of 'Abdu'l-Bahá referred to in that passage as having been celebrated on the twenty-second of November, 1925, by the Bahá'ís of the Orient, are based on the lunar calendar. For this reason the date of the celebration is not fixed, but shifts every year. Eventually as the Master has explicitly stated, a uniform system will have to be established by the International House of Justice."
