As far as letters from the Secretariat on behalf of the House of Justice, as distinguished from letters signed "The Universal House of Justice": My feeling is that this may be more of an honorific matter. Letters from the Universal House of Justice itself, must be signed by a member of the House. My impression is that most of the letters communicating the decision of the House are, perhaps as a matter of convenience more than anything else, written at the direction of the House, and signed by a member of the Secretariat. I believe the Secretariat is composed not of a pool of typists, but comprises the personal assistants of each House member, as well as some other staff members. But I don't think that the fact that a letter is signed by a member of the Secretariat is an indication that the decision or guidance embodied in that letter, is not the product of consultation by the entire body of the House of Justice; it may well have been the product of consultation by all nine members. And I don't personally think it is a distancing mechanism. I'm not sure how the House decides when one of its members will sign a letter, and when one of the staff will. Maybe the House just doesn't want to have one of its members have to sign all those letters, so it is just a matter of convenience.
I know that the House blocks out its calendar, as does the International Teaching Center, for certain periods of the year when all nine members will be in the Holy Land. Certain consultations are reserved for these periods. Some of these are specified in the Constitution, such as amendment of the Constitution, and removal of a House member. I'm sure there are many more categories for that "agenda for 9" but I don't know what they are. I would not be surprised if any one member of the House can request that a matter be set for that agenda. I think that the House has one or more members absent around half of the time; not sure if it is more or less than that. As far as whether the House regards its decisions as more infallible with all 9 members; the Master said in His Will that whatever the House decides "whether unanimously or by a majority" is "verily the truth and the purpose of God Himself", so I personally think that is the standard. I don't know how the House has organized itself in this regard. For example, if 7 members are present, does a "majority" mean the majority of those present, i.e. 4? Or does a majority mean a majority of the full membership, so in all cases 5 votes are needed. I don't know. But anyway, the only messages I have seen issued in the name of the House of Justice itself in recent years are the Ridvan messages. And I'm confident that a lot more decisions than the contents of those messages are the product of consultation by all nine members. So I think perhaps it is either a matter of convenience, or a matter of bestowing greater honor on the recipient. But this is just my impression. Ahang posed the question: "Is there anything from the Central Figures or Shoghi Effendi that defines the scopes and limits of legislation by the House of Justice (other than the 13th Glad Tidings passage)?" This is an interesting subject. The short answer is that the Constitution of the House is a condensation of the various Writings of Baha'u'llah, the Master and the Guardian on the powers and duties of the House, so there is a lot more. For example on page 6 of the Constitution, quoted from WOB 153, the Guardian states that the House is divinely guided whether it is making legislative, administrative, or judicial decisions. There are several other passages from the Writings bearing on the legislative sphere of the House, on which I would like to offer some personal thoughts. The sphere of the House is much broader than legislation; but for the moment I just want to address the question of the legislative sphere. Some passages in the Writings state that the House will legislate where the Text is silent. Other passages in the Writings specifically provide for the House to legislate in a certain area; for example, in Questions and Answers #49 Baha'u'llah states that the House of Justice will decide on the degrees of various offenses. So the Text is not silent on that subject; rather, the Text specifically endows the House with this legislative authority. Another area where the House can legislate is to enact subsidiary legislation; again, the Text is not silent. There is a revealed law; and the House can enact laws and regulations subsidiary to that law. Another area where the House can legislate is to make "deductions" from the revealed laws, as the Master explains in one of His Tablets quoted on p. 86 of Messages from the House 1963-1986. I read this as a general provision that the process of jurisprudence now rests with the House of Justice, rather than with the Learned, as is the case in Islam. Another aspect of the sphere of legislation of the House is the application of the details of the laws, and the Guardian's letter about the obligatory prayers relates to this. (Likewise, the House has explained how to recite the obligatory prayer for the dead, and it is different from every time I have ever seen this prayer recited: One person is supposed to recite ALL of the prayer including the 6 verses repeated 19 times each, while everyone else remains silent for the entire prayer including those repetitions; everyone stands but does not face the Qiblih; Allah'u'Abha is not recited 6 times in a row, but is recited one time each before the 6 verses that are repeated 19 times. (Aqdas p. 172 and http://bahai-library.com/?file=uhj_prayer_dead.html But I digress.) And this is not a complete description of the legislative scope of the House. But it points out to me that when we say that the House enacts legislation where the Text is silent, this is an incomplete statement. "when Shoghi Effendi explained the scope of UHJ included legislation on Obligatory Prayers, did he have in mind a House of Justice that had a living Guardian serving on it, who could interpret the intent of Baha'u'llah?" My reading of the statement of the Guardian on the legislative responsibilities of the House of Justice related to the obligatory prayers http://bahai-library.com/?file=uhj_legislating_prayers.html is that if it had been a matter of interpreting the intent of Baha'u'llah, Shoghi Effendi would have done it instead of saying that the House would make this decision. Only the Guardian can elaborate the meaning of the Text. My personal reading of this letter of the Guardian is that he is specifying that this matter fits within one of the areas I've mentioned above, perhaps the right of the House of Justice to make "deductions" from the revealed laws; perhaps the right of the House to "apply" Baha'u'llah's laws (WOB 144) I don't know. My own starting point in examining the sphere of the House of Justice is this statement from Shoghi Effendi about the sphere of the Guardianship: "Just as the National Assembly has full jurisdiction over all its local Assemblies, the Guardian has full jurisdiction over all National Assemblies; he is not required to consult them, if he believes a certain decision is advisable in the interests of the Cause. He is the judge of the wisdom and advisability of the decisions made by these bodies, and not they of the wisdom and advisability of his decisions. A perusal of the Will and Testament makes this principle quite clear. He is the Guardian of the Cause in the very fullness of that term, and the appointed interpreter of its teachings, and is guided in his decisions to do that which protects it and fosters its growth and highest interests." (From a letter written on behalf of the Guardian dated May 13, 1945, Letters from the Guardian to Australia and New Zealand, pp. 55-56) He is the Guardian "in the very fullness of that term". I take from this that in evaluating the powers of the House of Justice we will gain the most accurate picture by seeing its powers in the "fullness" of those terms. Brent __________________________________________________ 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
