31 May 1988
The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of New
Zealand
Dear Bahá’í Friends,
We have been informed of a paper presented at a recent New
Zealand Bahá’í Studies conference, which raises the possibility that the
ineligibility of women for membership on the Universal House of Justice may be
a temporary provision subject to change through a process of progressive
unfoldment of the divine purpose. We present the following points as a means of
increasing the friends’ understanding of this established provision of the
Order of Bahá’u’lláh that membership of the Universal House of Justice is
confined to men.
The system of Bahá’í Administration is “indissolubly bound
with the essential verities of the Faith" as set forth in the Writings of
Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. A unique feature of this system is the
appointment of authorized interpreters, in the persons of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and the
Guardian, to provide authoritative statements on the intent of Bahá’u’lláh’s
Revelation. Writing in "The Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh," Shoghi
Effendi stated that Abdu’l-Bahá and the Guardian "share . . . the right
and obligation to interpret the Bahá’í teachings." In relation to his own
function as interpreter, he further stated that "the Guardian has been
specifically endowed with such power as he may need to reveal the purport and
disclose the implications of the utterances of Bahá’u’lláh and of
‘Abdu‘l-Bahá." The significance of this important provision is that the
religion of God is safeguarded and protected against schism and its essential
unity is preserved.
The function of the divinely appointed interpreters is
evident in the progressive disclosure and clarification of the details of the
Bahá’í teachings concerning the membership of the Universal House of Justice.
Bahá’u’lláh in His Writings ordained both the Universal House of Justice and
Local Houses of Justice. However, in many of His laws He refers simply to
"the House of Justice" and its members as "Men of Justice,"
leaving open for later clarification to which level or levels of the whole
institution each law would apply. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Center of Bahá’u’lláh’s
Covenant and the unerring Interpreter of His Word, not only provided for the
establishment of National Spiritual Assemblies, to be designated at some future
time as Secondary Houses of Justice, but He also outlined the means by which
the Universal House of Justice was to be elected. In His Will and Testament the
Master wrote:
