arthra

The passing of the Guardian is not a Holy Day but it is worthy of remembrance nonetheless..

On Saturday morning, the beloved Guardian told Ruhiyyih Khanum that he wanted a large table placed in his room, big enough so that he could lay on it the map of the world on which he had been working. He had prepared one of those beautiful maps he used to make showing the progress of the work, and this one he called The Half-Way Point of the Ten-Year Crusade, in other words, the progress made, and the victories won, during five years. He had already worked a great deal on this map; indeed it seems a strange coincidence that the first time and the last time he worked on it should both have been occasions on which he was ill, symbolic of the great sacrifice of his life and strength that went into the conception and prosecution of the World Crusade.

About two months before he passed away, the beloved Guardian had had a cold, with a temperature the first night; the next day he had no fever, but it was understood he would remain in bed and rest. It was that day that he worked on his map for the first time, for about ten hours, and it was on Saturday, November end, that he worked on it for the last time. He told Ruhiyyih Khanum that he wanted her to check over carefully with him the figures and said that except for adding a few extra details and making sure that what was on the map agreed with his various lists, the work was finished. She remonstrated with him and begged him not to work, saying that in a few days he would be stronger and could then complete it, but he said: "No, I must finish it; it is worrying me. There is nothing left to do but check it. I have one or two names to add that I have found in this mail, and I will finish it to-day. "

In the early afternoon he stood in front of the table and worked for about three hours.

The table was strewn with pencils and files of papers which constituted the Guardian's lists of languages, tribes, countries, Temples, Haziratu'l-Quds, work completed, work being carried out, and a tremendous amount of data. At one time, while Ruhiyyih Khanum was checking over with him the various lists and totals, he said to her, as he had said many, many times during the last year:

"This work is killing me! How can I go on with this? I shall have to stop it. It is too much. Look at the number of places I have to write down. Look how exact I have to be!"

Read more at

Ruhiyyih Khanum : The Passing of Shoghi Effendi [bahai : english : bahairesearch.com]

cire perdue

Thoughts on the Ministry of the Universal House of Justice, Some

The article mentions a prophecy that is apparently fulfilled by formation of the Universal House of Justice in 1963.

I am not sure where the talks of Mr. Nakhjavani are that mention that Mr Nakhjavani believed the Guardian knew he would die soon, but they are really fine deductions and feel very true to me. I have always believed that events have happened as they were supposed to, and it is myself who must accept them.

Since the Guardian died of heart failure it was something that had gone on for a very long time. He would have lived many more years if there had been access to medications to treat this that would not be available for at least another decade. This makes it even more likely that the Guardian sensed his death.

cire perdue

Ruhiyyih Khanum was shattered by Shoghi Effendi's death. She made remarks in person that to me implied she blamed the Baha'is. I think it took her decades to get over losing the Guardian. I know that Shoghi Effendi literally went to his bed for an approximate month after the passing of the Master, not returning to Israel no matter how urgent. Losing Figures of the Faith was more than unusually devastating to those close to Them. I heard her make these comments at the St Louis Conference, however by 1992 she was much more peaceful. Even she was a human being who learned and grew. She was not the only one who used a tone of guilt about things at that time, and I am so glad to say that has changed. I no longer see guilting used which is another example of how we have come to embrace the Baha'i lifestyle and perspective about life and dying.

cire perdue

Many things support Mr. Nakhjavani's thoughts that the Guardian knew he was dying. Heart failure is not without symptoms. Who knows what Shoghi Effendi did not tell anyone? He also said a day or 2 before he died that he was NOT going back to Haifa, that Khanum would have to go without him. I think the person who was least shocked at his death would have been himself.

aidan

There was a divine plan for the Guardian.He had to die in order for The House to begin its work

arthra

The Guardian in setting up the administrative order and leading and directing the successive Plans laid the foundation for Universal House of Justice as much as he completed the Shrine of the Bab and directed the grounds work of the Haram-i-Aqdas, the Shrine of Baha'u'llah.

"For it must be clearly understood, nor can it be sufficiently emphasized, that the conjunction of the resting-place of the Greatest Holy Leaf with those of her brother and mother incalculably reinforces the spiritual potencies of that consecrated Spot which, under the wings of the Báb's overshadowing Sepulchre, and in the vicinity of the future Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, which will be reared on its flank, is destined to evolve into the focal center of those world-shaking, world-embracing, world-directing administrative institutions, ordained by Bahá'u'lláh and anticipated by 'Abdu'l-Bahá, and which are to function in consonance with the principles that govern the twin institutions of the Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice. Then, and then only, will this momentous prophecy which illuminates the concluding passages of the Tablet of Carmel be fulfilled:

"Ere long will God sail His Ark upon thee (Carmel), and will manifest the people of Baha who have been mentioned in the Book of Names."

~ Shoghi Effendi, Messages to America, p. 32