Aspects of the Bahá'í Teachings, Conditions for Membership, Voting Rights, and Seven various questions

 Memorandum

To: The Universal House of Justice

30 December 1991

From: The Research Department

Questions about Aspects of the Bahá'í Teachings

The Research Department has considered the questions about various aspects of the Bahá'í teachings and their application contained in the letter dated 20 October 1991 from Mr. .... We provide the following response.

1. Bahá'í Status and Community Membership

Mr. ... raises a number of issues about whether the various terms that are applied to individuals who accept Bahá'u'lláh connote substantive differences in status and have implications for determining membership in the Bahá'í community.

1.1 Definitions

With regard to whether there are differences between an individual's accepting Bahá'u'lláh as the Manifestation of God, being a Bahá'í, and being a member of the Bahá'í community, in broad terms, it might be said that the recognition of Bahá'u'lláh as the Manifestation of God for this age represents a declaration of faith, the fulfilment by the individual of the "first duty prescribed by God for His servants". However, "twin duties" are prescribed — acceptance of the Manifestation and obedience to His laws are required. Bahá'u'lláh cautions that "Neither is acceptable without the other". See "Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh" (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1983), pp. 330-331.

Acceptance of Bahá'u'lláh is an important milestone along the way both to becoming a member of the Bahá'í community and to being a Bahá'í. Shoghi Effendi in a letter dated 9 July 1957 written on his behalf to a National Spiritual Assembly affirmed that:

“The essential thing is that the candidate for enrolment should believe in his heart in the truth of Bahá'u'lláh....”

Further, the Universal House of Justice in a letter dated 10 February 1985 written on its behalf to an individual believer indicated that:

Huququ’llah transactions and inclusion in one’s testament

Memorandum

To: The Universal House of Justice

Date: 9 December 1991

From: Ad Hoc Committee

Re: Questions asked by Mr. xxxx in his letter of 12 November 1991

We have considered question #5 of Mr. xxxx's letter, which you referred to us, and have the following comments.

We feel that to understand the principle by which Huququ'llah becomes payable again on property when it changes hands, it is necessary to realize that Huququ'llah is payable on the accumulation of a believer's assets (other than the exempt ones) so that, by the end of his life, he will have paid 19% of his accumulated savings when they reached their highest point.

When a particular asset passes from one believer to another it is deducted from the first person's total assets, and added to the second owner's. In considering the outcome one must distinguish between an asset's becoming assessable to Huququ'llah when passing from one person to another and the consequent liability to actually pay Huququ'llah. In the illustration that Mr. xxxx gives, for example, neither Bahá'í has had an increase in the total of his-assessable possessions. One has reduced his assessable property by $81,000 in cash and increased it by $81,000 in real estate; the other vice versa. Thus, although the cash and real estate become assessable again on passing from one owner to another, neither believer would have to pay additional Huququ'llah as a result of the transaction.

In real life, however, such a transaction will be more complicated, because one s liability to pay Huququ'llah depends upon a number of factors which affect the value of the assets for Huquq purposes at the time of the transaction. We append a reconstruction of the transaction that Mr. xxxx instances, applied to two hypothetical individual believers.

The meaning and correct transliteration of invocation: Yá 'Aliyyu'l-A'lá

 Memorandum

To: The Universal House of Justice

From: The Research Department

Date: 3 October 1991

Yá 'Aliyyu'l-A'lá

In her e-mail message of 2 September 1991, ... has written to ask about the meaning and correct transliteration of "Yá 'Aliyyu'l-A'lá" and where it can be found. She also asks if it is an invocation to the Báb.

The Research Department has located the invocation "Yá 'Aliyyu'l-A'lá" in two places. It appears in a Tablet of 'Abdu'l-Bahá on page 312 of "Selections from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá" (Haifa: Bahá'í World Centre, 1962), and in a letter of the beloved Guardian found in "Messages to the Bahá'í World, 1950-1957" (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1971), page 153. The spelling used by the Guardian is given above, and accords with the system of transliteration which he established (found in any volume of "The Bahá'í World"). We note that the rendering printed in "Selections from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá" contains a misplaced inverted comma.

The translation of "Yá 'Aliyyu'l-A'lá", as rendered by Shoghi Effendi in 1921 when he translated the above mentioned Tablet of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, is "O Thou Most High".[1] We note that in his letter of 1953, also referenced above, he chose to leave "Ya 'Aliyyu'l-A'la" in the original language, as did the Universal House of Justice when they later published the Master's Tablet in "Selections from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá".

In Islamic tradition, “A’lá”, "The Most High One", is one of the names of God.[2] Thus, a Muslim might use "Yá 'Aliyyu'l-A'lá" to call upon God. However, in Bábí and Bahá'í tradition, especially as A’lá was the Báb's name, "Yá 'Aliyyu'l-A'lá" is understood to be an invocation to the Báb.

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[1] See "Star of the West", vol. 12, no. 13, 4 November 1921, p. 229.

[2] See Robert Stade, "Ninety-Nine Names of God in Islam", a translation of the major portion of Al-Ghazálí's "Al-Maqsad Al-Asná (Ibadan, Nigeria: Daystar Press, 1970), pp. 72-75.

(Baha’i Library Online)