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The Hands of the Cause of God must elect from their own number nine persons
that shall at all times be occupied in the important services in the work of
the Guardian of the Cause of God. The election of these nine must be carried
either unanimously or by majority from the company of the Hands of the Cause of
God and these, whether unanimously or by a majority vote, must give their
assent to the choice of the one whom the Guardian of the Cause of God hath
chosen as his successor.
(Abdu'l-Baha, The Will and Testament, p. 12)
Can someone explain why the Hands never did elect those nine people? The Will
and Testament says they must, but they didn't. The first sentence shows that
the nine aren't elected just to approve a new Guardian, but were to be helping
the Guardian. Did Shoghi Effendi ever say anything about the election, or
non-election, of these nine? Is the election of the nine to be considered as
optional? If so, what other passages in the Will and Testament are optional,
and how do you determine which passages must be followed and which don't have
to be? The passage says 'must', so I don't see how there's any option. I
thought Shoghi Effendi was bound by the Will and Testament, or was the
authority it gave him such that he could override parts of it? That the nine
were never elected suggests to me Shoghi Effendi did not want the election. As
far as Hands serving Shoghi Effendi as mentioned the following passages
indicates five of them were, and these five were appointed, not elected:
In addition to being members of the International Bahá'í Council, these Hands,
resident and serving at the World Centre, constituted a separate body,
specified by Shoghi Effendi to act as liaison between him and the other Hands
throughout the world, conveying their messages to him and his to them, 6 thus
giving us, during his own lifetime, a dual function as Hands directly serving
under him and officers of the International Bahá'í Council. I believe that at
that particularly dangerous juncture in Bahá'í history this duality was
providential and greatly reinforced the authority and power of the Custodians
when faced by the crisis of his sudden passing. When that terrible blow fell
upon the Bahá'í world, these five Hands had been constantly serving under his
personal instructions for almost six years.
(Custodians, Ministry of the Custodians, p. 5)
So there were five Hands 'occupied in the important services' of the Guardian,
all appointed by him. This instead of nine Hands elected by themselves. I
don't get it. The 'at all times' part indicates to me an election at the
beginning of Shoghi Effendi's ministry. Otherwise they were only helping some
of the time. The five Hands only helped him for six years. There are a lot of
great minds here, so I'm sure you can resolve my perplexity.
Regards,
David
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