Dispensation of Baha'u'llah - Intro and Paragraph 1

In about two weeks, we will celebrate the birth of Baha’u’llah, one of the Holy Days for the Baha’is. As our thoughts are turned to that supreme felicity, it might be appropriate to prepare ourselves by studying a little about the august station of Baha’u’llah.

During the last 7 months, we’ve had some indepth and thought-provoking discussions at Saturday night deepenings in Clearwater Center about the person and station of Baha’u’llah, but lot more remains to be said. I like to continue this process of community deepening by doing an online “slow read” of the first part of Shoghi Effendi’s “Dispensation of Baha’u’llah”.

This is how it will work. Every day, I’ll post a paragraph or two of this fascinating document along with a little commentary to make sure obscure points are explained and to bring in any additional material that might be helpful to a better appreciation of the subject. I won’t post very much, so that everyone has time to read the materials and digest them. If any questions or comments please feel free to write.

I’ll start with a little intro to this letter of the Guardian.

Shoghi Effendi wrote only one book, God Passes By. But he wrote lots of letters. One of the most important documents that he ever penned is known as “The Dispensation of Baha’u’llah”. He wrote this on February 8, 1934.

Early 1930s was a peculiar time. Baha’i community in the West was gradually recovering from the shock of the passing of ‘Abdu’l-Baha. After all, hundreds of the Baha’is in the North America and Europe had gone to the Holy Land and visited Abdu’l-Baha. Abdu’l-Baha himself had come to Europe (twice) and North America (for 239 days) and visited with all the major communities. He had traveled the States from coast to coast and great many Baha’is had hastened to meet him and to drink their fill from his unbounded wisdom.

Abdu’l-Baha had spoken to them a great deal about Baha’u’llah. But the Baha’is knew very little – almost nothing about Baha’u’llah. They knew even less about the Bab. And had never heard of the “Administrative Order”.

In 1934, Shoghi Effendi decided to correct this. He wrote one of the most significant documents of his entire ministry to tell the Western believers about the august station of Baha’u’llah, the Bab and the importance of the Administrative Order. He also wanted to correct their understanding about the station of Abdu’l-Baha.

This document is therefore in 4 parts.

The first part is all about the station and the person of Baha’u’llah. That’s the part that we’ll be studying over the next 2 weeks.

The second part is about the Bab. Most Baha’is of 1934 had not heard of the Bab or knew very little about him. Had it not been for Shoghi Effendi and this document (not to mention his masterful translation/composition of the Dawn-breakers), I dare say that today we would not know very much about the Bab and would think that he was just some holy man who foretold of Baha’u’llah. We would have thought of him the same way that we think of Shaykh Ahmad Ahsa’i or John the Baptist. Thanks to Shoghi Effendi, the Bab and his station were rescued from obscurity and found their rightful place in the cosmic and divine design of the prophetic panorama.

The third part of this document is also very interesting. It is about Abdu’l-Baha. But it really is about who Abdu’l-Baha is not. For instance, Shoghi Effendi helped the believers understand that Abdu’l-Baha was not the return of Christ. That may sound strange to us in 2009, but back then many Baha’is were so in love with the fatherly figure of Abdu’l-Baha – his Christ-like personality – that they considered him to be the return of Christ, or perhaps more. Shoghi Effendi had to provide them with a better and fuller perspective, and remind them that Abdu’l-Baha was not to be considered on the same plane as the Prophets.

The fourth and final section is all about the Administrative Oder, the role of the House of Justice, its relation to the Institution of the Guardianship, etc. It is a fascinating piece and hopefully we’ll have a chance to study it at some point down the road.

To sum, in 1934 Shoghi Effendi set out to write “The Dispensation of Baha’u’llah” to properly introduce the Central Figures of the Faith (that’s a phrase used by Baha’is to refer to Baha’u’llah, the Bab and Abdu’l-Baha) and the Administrative Order, which is the machinery for organization of the Baha’i community and the means for channeling diving will into action.

With this as a backdrop, let’s read the opening paragraph of this document:

To the beloved of God and the handmaids of the Merciful throughout the West.

Fellow-laborers in the Divine Vineyard:

[1] On the 23rd of May of this auspicious year the Bahá'í world will celebrate the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh. We, who at this hour find ourselves standing on the threshold of the last decade of the first century of the Bahá'í era, might well pause to reflect upon the mysterious dispensations of so august, so momentous a Revelation. How vast, how entrancing the panorama which the revolution of four score years and ten unrolls before our eyes! Its towering grandeur well-nigh overwhelms us. To merely contemplate this unique spectacle, to visualize, however dimly, the circumstances attending the birth and gradual unfoldment of this supreme Theophany, to recall even in their barest outline the woeful struggles that proclaimed its rise and accelerated its march, will suffice to convince every unbiased observer of those eternal truths that motivate its life and which must continue to impel it forward until it achieves its destined ascendancy.

Let’s go back and see what Shoghi Effendi has written.

He refers to the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Baha’i Faith. That’s because the Baha’i Faith traces its origin to 1844 when the Bab declared himself to be a prophet of God with a mission for humanity. Shoghi Effendi was writing this letter in 1934. 1934 – 1844 = 90 years.

Next sentence should be clear.

The third sentence refers to “four score years and ten”. Everyone remembers Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address? If so, then you remember that “score” means 20 years. Four scores is 80 years and then add 10 to it to make it into 90 years which we talked about earlier. Simple enough?

Read a bit more in that paragraph and you come across the phrase “supreme Theophany”. Now that’s a word we don’t hear very often. It means: visible manifestation of God to man. Or more simply, think of it as “Dispensation”. But if you want to read more about it, click here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theophany

The rest of the paragraph is simple. He closes by saying, “until it achieves its destined ascendancy.” This echoes the promise of Baha’u’llah in numerous tablets and books that his Faith will envelope the entire humanity and will embrace all its peoples.