Re: Scope of the House of Justice

[Firouz Anaraki]

Dear Susan, you wrote:   What the rest of the Baha'i community did was go back to what Baha'u'llah said was to happen if His lineage ran out before the election of the Universal House of Justice. This was stated in the Aqdas:   "Endowments dedicated to charity revert to God, the Revealer of Signs. None hath the right to dispose of them without leave from Him Who is the Dawning-place of Revelation. After Him, this authority shall pass to the Aghsán, and after them to the House of Justice--should it be established in the world by then--that they may use these endowments for the benefit of the Places which have been exalted in this Cause, and for whatsoever hath been enjoined upon them by Him Who is the God of might and power. Otherwise, the endowments shall revert to the people of Bahá who speak not except by His leave and judge not save in accordance with what God hath decreed in this Tablet--lo, they are the champions of victory betwixt heaven and earth--that they may use them in the manner that hath been laid down in the Book by God, the Mighty, the Bountiful."   I think this verse in Kitab-i-Aqdas is just referring to the matter of endowmwnt (vaqf and oqaf) and how it should be handled. Why should one relate it to Guardian? I have also heard some Baha'is saying that by this verse Baha'u'llah indeed talked about the institution of Guardianship. Personally I think this verse is not saying anything about this institution or what you're saying above. Do you have any authorized comments about this verse that I may have not seen.     That is pretty much what we did until the Universal House of Justice was elected in 1963. Note that Baha'u'llah assumes here that the House of Justice can operate without an "Aghsan" (a descendent of Baha'u'llah) which the Will and Testament stipulated a Guardian had to be.   As far as I understand Baha'u'llah never mentions about the Institution of Guardian. Abdu'l-Baha created this institution and I guess it was meant to be temporary.   Regards, Firouz   __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:archive@mail-archive.com To unsubscribe, send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, use subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:bahai-st@list.jccc.edu Web - http://list.jccc.edu/read/?forum=bahai-st News - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Public - http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.net New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu