Dear Dr. Momen:
Towards the end of our last meeting you said something that has remained with me. You thought that if Baha’is should listen to me and to what I had to say it would shake their faith. The next day, — it took me a few hours of sleep to recover from our absorbing, eight hour session — the question came to mind: ‘shake their faith in what?’ Could any amount of talking anyone heard from me or Hassan shake anyone’s faith in the core principles, ideals, or world view of the Bab or Bahaullah? Could anything you have heard us say shake a Baha’i’s faith in the definition of a Baha’i? In the purpose and goal of a Baha’i’s existence; the end towards which he should strive; the compassion, love and understanding with which he should seek to serve humanity; the ingrained spirituality and godliness that should be his guiding light; the responsibility, kindness and forgiveness that can move mountains and build a new world? Have you ever heard Hassan or I say anything that would shake a Baha’i’s faith in any of these?
What might shake their faith is the discrepancy between the ‘facts’ as they are compiled and presented on the internet, on sources such as Bahai Library on-line, Bahaikepedia, the planned Bahai encyclopedia, a variety of articles, and what actually happened. In my humble opinion, it would serve the Cause far better if more care is taken to make sure that these ‘facts’ were actually factual. In fact it would be much better to do without a great many of these articles and compilations altogether. What are you afraid of? Why does the Cause require so much fending off of ‘enemies’? They have always been there and will probably always be there. But does a Cause such as this need anything more than the luminous message it brought? Does it need ‘propaganda’ beyond its own words of wisdom and spiritual enlightenment?
Historians allowed too many witnesses and participants in the events of the time to die without interviewing a single one of them, or finding out firsthand what actually happened, how and why. They were so busy categorizing covenant breakers and shunning them that history passed them by. What you are now left with are regurgitated accounts of events that often have little to do with how things actually were.
The Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, held the will of Abdul Baha aloft and with what he interpreted as the Master’s blessings, set out to make the institution of Guardianship a jewel mounted in a framework of complete conformity, total obedience and unswerving loyalty to the authority heading the Cause, whether the Guardian or the Universal House of Justice — not forgetting that together they were divinely guided and infallible. However, like all man-run institutions, no matter how sacred in origin, these are stepping stones in a certain direction, not eternal edifices never to be questioned or changed. Maybe when you said I or Hassan could shake a Baha’i’s faith you meant faith in what these institutions brought forth, did or decided, notwithstanding their infallibility. If a Bahai believes in all this what would shake his faith: my words or what in his/her name and the name of the Bahai Faith, is being said to the world now on the internet, — coming from official Baha’i sources? Ironically, what is put on the internet — that ‘curse’ as you called it — should, considering how many ‘enemies, battles, conflicts, expellees, covenant breakers, faithless, disloyal, treacherous, arch-enemies, plotters and schemers are mentioned, all relating to the family of Abdul Baha and Shoghi Effendi, be enough to shake anyone’s faith. And that is exactly what I am talking about. If you wish to hang the families of Abdul Baha and Shoghi Effendi like washing on a line on the internet, at least have your facts right. I do not believe it serves any cause, leave alone the Cause of Bahaullah to have the names of the descendants of Abdul Baha and the immediate family of the Guardian so besmirched with mud, which, upon closer scrutiny, simply does not stick. When one fact is shown to be incorrect it casts doubt on the whole body of work. How much more when ‘fact’ after ‘fact’ is not correct?
That is what shakes a believer’s faith. When those who should know better ignore the truth, a truth that always, somehow, has the habit of putting on an appearance.
Sincerely,
Bahiyeh Afnan Shahid
https://web.archive.org/web/20190430172739/http://www.abdulbahasfamily.org/
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