Baha'i movers & shakers

[napoleon]

images - 2024-04-14T005922.860.jpg (13.41 KiB) Viewed 117 times

[rachel]

Continuing on from this post and your question, @napoleon. I've decided to move it so not to infect another thread with Baha'i stuff. Just on the bank accounts thing, while I haven't positively linked them, there is a fascinating connection.

Baha'i Guardian Shoghi Effendi, who died unexpectedly in London in 1957 aged 60; his wife was Canadian Mary Maxwell. He married when he was 40 and she was 26. It appears to be an arranged marriage, it is said they met when she was a girl once, then she came to visit and they were married within a week or two, not letting anyone know until after the ceremony...this is while Shoghi is Guardian of the faith.

Things to know about Mary; her mother was also called Mary Maxwell, but she was known as May Maxwell because her mother was also called Mary. Shoghi Effendi is not his given name, Effendi meaning something like Master, Mr or Sir, his actual name being Shoghí Afnán. Apparently Mary never took his surname in marriage and remained Maxwell, but to hide this she was also given an honorary title Rúhíyyih Khánum which she continued to use after Shoghi's death and for the rest of her life. It's all "let's pretend!"

Anyway, as a quirk, Bill Gates mother is also called Mary Maxwell. And if you know anything about the Baha'i faith, it actually started with Babism and The Báb, pronounced Bob...which means The Gate. Fancy that. So Gates apparently comes from Seattle, so let's see if there are any interesting Baha'i links.

First of all, Seattle is a port city, and it really not that far from the Canadian Border, remembering Mary Maxwell was Canadian.

Port of Seattle

I've found this PDF regarding the history of the Baha'i faith in Seattle, I've only had a quick look.

https://bahai-library.com/pdf/n/ness_10 ... eattle.pdf

Looking back over the first one hundred years of the Baha‟i Faith until its arrival in Seattle is a journey that started almost exactly with the formation and settling of the first pioneers in Washington State. It all begins on the afternoon of Easter Day April 15,1907 around 3:15 pm on Beacon Hill for the Baha‟is, but much had to occur that lead up to this time in history. We will need to go back to 1844 in far away Persia.

If one had to summarize the last one hundred years of the Baha‟is in Seattle we would say that it started with a small band of pioneers who embraced a God given mission that was far ahead of its time as envisioned by Baha‟u‟llah (The Glory of God), the founder of the Baha‟i Faith in Persia. Our pioneers here immediately grasped the idea to lay the foundation and infrastructure for a future society that would take for granted a global community, elimination of prejudices of all kinds be they racial, economic or educational. The equality of woman and man was not an option and the sharing of wealth was a self-imposed spiritual quest. Today these principles are well advanced and commonly accepted. However, in the 1850‟s or by the turn of the century our local citizens still find them to be a challenge.

Baha'i Faith "equality of woman" is an invention to sell the religion, the founder of the faith viewed women the same as any other Muslim. Such was the problem, all translations of Baháʼu'lláh writings were banned in English. Western women really wouldn't want to know what the Blessed Beauty actually thought, or the fact he had three wives all at the same time.

Translated from the Kitáb-i-Aqdas.

Read about the earlier translations here, and the pains the Universal House of Justice have gone to do deny what it says.

Part 1 - http://kitab-i-aqdas.info/Aqdas_Bahai_S ... oodie.html
Part 2 - http://kitab-i-aqdas.info/Bahai_Aqdas_H ... Faith.html

Elder & Miller published the first English translation of the mysterious Baha'i "Kitab-i-Aqdas" in 1961. Though Baha'is revered it with superlative names like "Most Holy Book" and "The Book of Laws, a full eighty-eight years had already passed with the Baha'i administration refusing to publish it or make its contents known. This was for obvious reasons: Release of the text in any unadulterated form would have damaged the religion's prospects in the west.

Thus the publication in England by the Royal Asiatic Society was an unwelcome development for Baha'i Officials, who were centered in Haifa, Israel and Wilmette, Illinois and developing a carefully crafted image for their religion. It was an image designed to appeal to western intellectuals and social progressives, and an image very different from the impression one received when opening the "Most Holy Book."

An informal English translation by Anton Haddad had circulated among the few early western Baha'is as early as 1900. Why wouldn't it? It is utterly understandable that religious devotees would want to have access to their central scripture! Still it was allowed to fade by Baha'i promoters, and only circulated in the form of a few typewritten copies in the earliest years, and among the few. Though the 1900 translation was written by a Baha'i partisan and translated to put the best face on the spectacular Islamic unction of their mysterious avatar Baha'u'llah --it was still "too much, too soon."

The Haddad translation was, from the point-of-view of Baha'i managers, an early undisciplined "leak" that they could manage with time and attrition of members. By the 1960's it was nowhere to be seen in Baha'i circles. Only Baha'i officialdom was aware of its existence. Incoming believers now accepted it when told by their administration: "The Kitab-i-Aqdas has not been translated yet."

To get some idea of the vigor with which Baha'i managers have suppressed their own "most holy" text, there is evidence that a repectable translation existed even prior to that of Anton Haddad. In "The Baha'i Faith and It's Claims," Samuel Graham Wilson provides excellent renderings of the Aqdas that are not those of Haddad, but appear to be translations by the English orientalist scholar Edward G. Browne. If true, that no one in modern times ever knew about this scholarly translation is hard to believe. Yet I can find no trace of its existence except as cites in the Wilson book. Obliterating any trace of an E.G. Browne Aqdas translation from western awareness could have only occurred through strenuous efforts by Baha'i managers and possibly in collusion with Browne himself.

Thus the 1961 Elder-Miller translation was no doubt a crisis to Baha'i image managers. But by ignoring it, and through the constant membership churning characteristic of the Baha'i Faith, and through assiduous book-weeding by Baha'i stalwarts early on -- it soon attained non-existence within the insular culture that is Baha'i life.

I know, I was one of the Baha'is who was continually told this by Baha'i authorities whenever I asked, eagerly and innocently: "When will the Kitab-i-Aqdas be translated?" Then by happenstance, just after another Baha'i "Auxiliary Board Member" answered me "It's not been translated yet," I happened upon the Elder-Miller version hidden away in a very old, messy, and poorly-managed Baha'i lending library. Somebody had not had the heart to destroy it.

Baha'is believe their Most Holy Book was God's guidance to mankind for the next thousand years. This "revelation" by the Baha'i founder Baha'u'llah is believed to have been completed by 1873, thus 139 years have already passed and Baha'is are still not wearing sable or marking thieves on the forehead...

Does this feel like the cancel culture we see in the West now? And just to show that's not an exaggeration above, here's a letter from the Universal House of Justice denying what the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, Baha'is most holy books says.

https://bahai-library.com/uhj_wives_bahaullah/

Wives of Baha'u'llah

by / on behalf of Universal House of Justice
1995-10-23

Dear ...,
...[personal advice deleted]...

Regarding the wives of Bahá'u'lláh, extracts from letters written on behalf of the beloved Guardian set this subject in context. They indicate that Bahá'u'lláh was "acting according to the laws of Islám, which had not yet been superseded", and that He was following "the customs of the people of His own land":

...as regards Bahá'u'lláh's marriage it should be noted that His three marriages were all contracted before He revealed His Book of Laws, and even before His declaration in Baghdád, at a time when Bahá'í marriage laws had not yet been known, and the Revelation not yet disclosed.
(25 May 1938 to a National Spiritual Assembly)

Bahá'u'lláh had no concubine, He had three legal wives. As He married them before the "Aqdas" (His book of laws) was revealed, He was only acting according to the laws of Islám, which had not yet been superseded. He made plurality of wives conditional upon justice; 'Abdu'l-Bahá interpreted this to mean that a man may not have more than one wife at a time, as it is impossible to be just to two or more women in marriage.
(11 February 1944 to an individual believer)

...Bahá'u'lláh married the first and second wives while He was still in Tihrán, and the third wife while He was in Baghdád. At that time, the Laws of the "Aqdas" had not been revealed, and secondly, He was following the Laws of the previous Dispensation and the customs of the people of His own land.
(14 January 1953 to an individual believer)

The three wives of Bahá'u'lláh were:
Nawáb (Asíyih Khánum): married some time between 24 September and 22 October 1835; died 1886; seven children.

Mahd-i-'Ulyá (Fátimih Khánum): born 1828; married 1849; died 1904; six children. She broke the Covenant after the Ascension of Bahá'u'lláh as did all her children. See God Passes By (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1987), chapter 15.

Gawhar Khánum: married in Baghdád; died during the Ministry of 'Abdu'l-Bahá; one child. She and her daughter both broke the Covenant after the Ascension of Bahá'u'lláh. See God Passes By, chapter 15.

On the subject of monogamy, it is stated in note 89 of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas:

Polygamy is a very ancient practice among the majority of humanity. The introduction of monogamy has been only gradually accomplished by the Manifestations of God. Jesus, for example, did not prohibit polygamy, but abolished divorce except in the case of fornication; Muhammad limited the number of wives to four, but making plurality of wives contingent on justice, and reintroducing permission for divorce; Bahá'u'lláh, Who was revealing His Teachings in the milieu of a Muslim society, introduced the question of monogamy gradually in accordance with the principles of wisdom and the progressive unfoldment of His purpose. The fact that He left His followers with an infallible Interpreter of His Writings enabled Him to outwardly permit two wives in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas but uphold a condition that enabled 'Abdu'l-Bahá to elucidate later that the intention of the law was to enforce monogamy.

On page 39 of A Synopsis and Codification of the Kitáb-i -Aqdas it is stated that "Plurality of wives is forbidden." The note explaining this appears on page 59 and states:

The text of the Aqdas upholds monogamy, but as it appears also to permit bigamy, the Guardian was asked for a clarification, and in reply his secretary wrote on his behalf: "Regarding Bahá'í marriage; in the light of the Master's Tablet interpreting the provision in the Aqdas on the subject of the plurality of wives, it becomes evident that monogamy alone is permissible, since, as 'Abdu'l-Bahá states, bigamy is conditioned upon justice, and as justice is impossible, it follows that bigamy is not permissible, and monogamy alone should be practised."

The House of Justice assures you that it will pray in the Holy Shrines for your guidance as you consider the many important decisions which face you at this stage in your life.

Sincerely,
For Department of the Secretariat

Dispute their answer, if you're a Baha'i, you'll just be declared a covenant breaker and excommunicated. then no Baha'i can ever talk or see you ever again, else they will be declared a covenant breaker too and excommunicated.

Anyway, from that first PDF we get the idea the Baha'i faith was active in Seattle with the same timeline as Chicago, another port city. This is interesting, we've got Wall Street, earlier we had China named, and more journeys to the Orient and Esperanto as the universal language, remember the Georgia Guidestones, the language used is very similar.

"3. Unite humanity with a living new language."

The 1870‟s witness, however, the birth of a female Baha‟i heroine in Richwood, Ohio. Her name is Martha Louise Root. She comes from Puritan family stock settling in this country in 1640 around Salem, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. Her family over the years had a history of missionary workers serving the rough part of several cities. Elihu Root became secretary of war under President McKinley and secretary of State under President Theodore Roosevelt. Eventually he would become the recipient of the Nobel Prize in 1912 which acknowledged his international arbitration for peace. It is of no surprise that Martha eventually will be ahead of her time and become a known journalist as a Society and Religious Editor for the Pittsburgh Post. Spreading the message of Universal Peace is in her genes. But it is not until 1908 at an interdenominational missionary convention in Pittsburgh that she first hears of the Baha‟i Faith from a neighboring table. She overhears the conversation of a wealthy coffee broker named Roy Wilhelm residing on Wall Street who just returned from a visit with Abdu‟l Baha. Just like Hyde Dunn in Seattle she immediately grasps the universal message of peace promulgated by Baha‟u‟llah. She knows instinctively the time has come to follow her new fate and destiny. It is this middle-aged early Baha‟i pioneer who will arise to meet the challenge to become distinct by leaving this country to travel around the world numerous times and eventually meeting kings and queens, emperors, professors and paupers. She is that humble soul that introduces Queen Marie of Romania to the message of Baha‟u‟llah. Books have been written about her, but we must mention her here as she comes and visits Seattle to start one of her many journeys to the Orient. She teaches at over 100 universities and colleges alone. You can hear her regularly on the radio or read about her in the local papers. Fortunately for us she is well recorded and leaves a trail of articles on her many presentations and speeches. She is closely involved with and promotes Esperanto, the international language developed by Dr. Ludwig Zamenhof in Poland. This new world language is supposed to bring together the people of the world under one common language. His daughter Lydia later becomes a Baha‟i during the time that she works on translating “Baha‟u‟llah and the New Era” into Esperanto. Lydia has a law degree and is eager to teach this new global message of hope for mankind.