1957 to 1963: Baha’i Faith Crisis and the Controversial Birth of UHJ Explained

 

From the time that Shoghi Effendi passed away on November 4, 1957, until the election of the Bogus Universal House of Justice (UHJ) on April 21, 1963—a span of roughly five and a half years—the faith operated without an Infallible living spokesperson or an official body considered infallible. This interregnum pushed the Baha’is to hastily elect the UHJ by 1963.They still had Shoghi Effendi’s infallible written plans for the faith until 1963. But what if they departed from those plans?

 

Notably, in their rush to elect the UHJ by 1963, the Hands of the Cause abandoned Shoghi Effendi’s plan for the International Baha’i Council (IBC) to become a world court by 1963, which he had labeled an "essential prelude to the institution of the Universal House of Justice" (Messages to the Baha’i World: 1950-1957, p. 152). Instead, they called for the election of a new IBC in 1961, intended to serve for a brief two-year period before morphing into the UHJ in 1963.

 

Did they have the authority to change Shoghi Effendi’s plan?

 

The deviation was so drastic that they even hinted at the possibility of dropping the world court altogether, as seen in the custodians’ message dated November 4, 1959:

 

We wish to assure believers that every effort will be made to establish the Baha’i Court in the Holy Land prior to the date set for the election. We should bear in mind that the Guardian himself indicated this goal, due to the strong trend toward the secularization of Religious Courts in this part of the world, might not be achieved.

(Ministry of the Custodians, pp. 168-169)

 

We the Orthodox Baha’is contend that there is no written evidence that Shoghi Effendi ever spoke of abondoning the “word court”.

 

Mason Remey argued that the hands had no authority to call for an election of a new IBC in 1961, which would likely replace some or all the members of the IBC appointed by Shoghi Effendi.

 

Did the hands of the cause have warrant to make these changes in Shoghi Effendi’s plan?

 

The decisions made in these five and a half years become extremely important to the faith. This is why having a record of what transpired in this period, especially in the first of the six conclaves, which set the motion for much of the direction of the faith afterwards, is crucial.

 

This is not something which Ruhiyyah Khanum wanted for obvious reasons.

 

However, it was Second Guardian Mason Remey who took responsibility for revealing what the hands were doing in their 'violation of the Faith.' An account of these secret deliberations has been preserved by Charles Mason Remey in what he called 'Daily Observations,' much of which has been verified on crucial points in later comments by the hands.

 

Hence, one may refer to the Diary of Charles Mason Remey to know the historical records of what exactly happened in these conclaves.

 

Recording events of November 19 and 20, 1957, Remey wrote the following:

 

Upon Ruhiyyih Khanum’s insistence, no minutes or written records were kept of the proceedings of the conclave. To me this seemed unwise. I felt that a record should be kept of this most important meeting of the Hands of the Faith, but no one made any objection to this procedure, and as I was quite conditioned through many years of residence in Haifa to accept and follow without question everything that Ruhiyyih Khanum told us to do, I therefore refrained from saying anything about the subject. (“Daily Observations,” as cited in “The Fateful Decisions,”)

 

 

Remey explained later his reason for revealing what happened in the secret meetings. He says:

 

Through his forbearance, the Second Guardian of the Faith remoting to himself kept his pact of secrecy with the Hands of the Cause as long as it was possible to keep it, hoping that they would have a change of heart, cast aside their violation of the Faith and welcome the advent of the Second Guardian of the Faith. But when He, the Second Guardian of the Faith, found that the violation of the Hands were at the point of causing irreparable damage to the Baha’i Faith — then he had to break with the Hands of the Faith. (Statement by Mason Remey, p. 1)

 

The decisions and actions during this critical period, shrouded in secrecy and marked by deviation from established plans, have left an indelible mark on the faith. The rush to institute the UHJ and the abandonment of key elements of Shoghi Effendi’s vision reflect a troubling departure from the original plans laid out by the Guardian, raising profound questions about the legitimacy and direction of the faith post-1963.