Concerning individual Bahá’ís’ letters to the Guardian and
his replies; the friends are free to write to the Guardian when they feel the
urge to do so. However, for the believers to suppose that the Guardian’s
letters to them, however full of loving encouragement they may be, give them
any special powers or authority to go against or ignore the wishes of their
local or national assembly, is to grossly misinterpret his true meaning. The
Guardian has been at great pains to build up the administrative order and teach
the friends how to use it. How could he possibly himself act in such a way as
to ignore or belittle the functions of these bodies? He often encourages
believers to work, to teach, to pursue some plan they propose in their letters
to him but this does not mean a veto of the assembly’s rights, or that the
individual thus becomes free to ignore its authority. He trusts this will make
the matter quite plain to the friends.
- Shoghi Effendi (From a letter dated 18 April, 1942,
written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi; ‘Letters from the Guardian to Australia
and New Zealand’)
