Baha’i Justice

Victor said, “By Mason establishing a second IBC and placing Marangella at the head of it, does not immediately constitute an appointment to the Guardianship.”
I have a photocopy of a letter given to Joel by Mason Remey dated 5 of December,1961 that says, “Dear Joel, This is to tell you to tell the Baha’i World that I appoint you to be the third Guardian of the Baha’i Faith according to the Will and Testament of the Master, Abdu’l-Baha. Mason, Guardian of the Baha’i Faith”
So, Marangella does meet the appointment criteria. Now the question of being a son is easy according to your parameter, we just have to find someone, somewhere that witnessed either Mason or Abdu’l-Baha referring to Mason endearingly as a son and then handing him a stick or a stone. I thought we could all be considered part of a family if we are spiritually connected in love.
Don’t we all inherit the blessings of the kingdom when we turn our hearts toward God? Janice

Janice wrote:
According to Shoghi Effendi in God Passes By an Aghsan is a son of Baha’u’llah. Aghsan means branch in English. When Shoghi translated the Will and Testament, he used the word “Aghsan” when he meant sons of Baha’u’llah and he used the word branch when he meant branch. In the part where he mentions who the Guardian can choose as his successor, he uses the word branch with a small “b” meaning the Guardian can choose someone from another lineage. That’s my understanding.

And as far as I understand it, the small “b” branch is the singular “ghusn” of the plural “Aghsan”. It’s still the father to son lineage and succession from Baha’u’llah.
Victor

Janice wrote:
I would guess then, that since Marangella was appointed by Mason, he must have considered him an Aghsan or he would not have been able to appoint him. Why is he not the rightful Guardian in your eyes.

Mason was testing the believers. Mason said that he was going to test the Baha’is even further as they would not know who the next Guardian was. The line of succession is from father to son. Marangella wasn’t Mason’s son. Donald Harvey wasn’t Mason’s son. It doesn’t matter what the Baha’is believe of think. The Guardian is determined by the two-part criteria as well as used by him to ensure a successor. The test was if people were going to follow the Aghsan lineage or not without adding to or amending the criteria. By Mason establishing a second IBC and placing Marangella at the head of it, does not immediately constitute an appointment to the Guardianship. Number one…(God, I sound like an echo)…he has to be a son, and he has to be appointed. The law of primogeniture is the inheritance goes to the oldest son or only son. If you want you could say that in the W&T it says that if the Guardian cannot attend the meetings himself, then he can appoint one to represent him. But that’s different than having a son who inherits your position. This was the test.
Victor

According to Shoghi Effendi in God Passes By an Aghsan is a son of Baha’u’llah. Aghsan means branch in English. When Shoghi translated the Will and Testament, he used the word “Aghsan” when he meant sons of Baha’u’llah and he used the word branch when he meant branch. In the part where he mentions who the Guardian can choose as his successor, he uses the word branch with a small “b” meaning the Guardian can choose someone from another lineage. That’s my understanding. Janice

Janice wrote:
Pepe was Italian? Wouldn’t it have been necessary to follow the laws of the land in the activation of an adoption in that land? I find the story about how Abdu’l-Baha “adopted” Mason very endearing. It confirms even stronger that Mason indeed was someone to be trusted and listened to. But, the adoption of Neal Chase by Pepe is a little far fetched. Had they ever even met?

Dear Janice,

As far as I know Pepe Remey was legally adopted as Mason Remey’s heir but this had nothing to do with appointing him Guardian. As I said, Remey offered Pepe the Guardianship and he refused on account of the fact he didn’t consider himself a believer. As for Pepe’s supposedly adopting Neal Chase as his own son, no such adoption ever took place. Pepe, in his letters to the followers of Leland Jensen would often joke about adopting people as his ‘sons.’ He did that with Brent Matheiu long before he ever did it with Neal Chase. Neal Chase claims to have gone to Italy and collected Pepe’s belongings which supposedly included a medallion which Jensenites believe represented Mason Remey’s office. Thing is, we have no real evidence other than Chase’s word that this ever happened or that there ever was a medallion which had this significance.

As for Ottoman adoption laws, here I’m afraid the Jensenites don’t know what they are talking about. I can tell you as Middle Eastern historian, there is no such thing in the Islamic world as adoption as we know it. The Islamic term for what is commonly called adoption is kafala, which comes from a word that means “to feed.” It refers to the act of taking an orphan into ones home, but the child retains his birth parent’s name and he does not inherit from his ‘adoptive’ parents.
If you think I’m wrong about this, ask Victor to produce the text of the Ottoman law he refers to. If you try and google adoption laws in the Ottoman Empire it will almost invariably take you to a Jensenite website because this is a fiction of their own invention. Susan

I would guess then, that since Marangella was appointed by Mason, he must have considered him an Aghsan or he would not have been able to appoint him. Why is he not the rightful Guardian in your eyes. Janice

Belief in the Everlasting Covenant as exemplified in the Will & Testament of Abdu’l-Baha is belief in the fact that the Guardianship continues through the Aghsan lineage. Again, there are two criterion and two criterion only; that he is a son (Aghsan) and that he is appointed. Period. Nothing else. This is the way the Throne line has existed for three thousand years. It is prophesied in the bible that the Gentiles would inherit the Kingdom and that this would be the “times of the Gentiles” being fulfilled. That is, that there would be a time that the Throne line (Kingship) would be inherited by Gentiles (non-Jewish) and this time has come and gone and a “natural branch” (Jew) was grafted back into the Tree.

Pepe adopted and appointed Neal Chase in the same style and manner that Abdu’l-Baha adopted Mason. He announced publicly to everyone calling him “MY SON” and as Abdu’l-Baha says as quoted in Mason’s diaries:

‘Abdu’l-Baha to his only son Mason Remey:

“I have adopted you as my son [Persian: aghsan]. You have to appreciate this favor very much indeed. One should see that you are living according to the requirements of this sonship. You should be aware of your responsibilities. My prayers will help you. I always pray for you.”
(‘Abdu’l-Baha to Mason Remey, cf.“The Diaries of Mason Remey”, Folio 2, “A Pilgrimage to the Holy Land: Reminisces of the Master, 1921”, pp. 127-129. New York Public Library Collection)

So Abdu’l-Baha counsels Mason that being his son took on certain “requirements”
and “responsibilities”, these of course being the fact that Mason is “Aghsan” now and that means he would end up being the only candidate for the job of Guardian and Abdu’l-Baha knew this and knew that it would be a huge test for the believers, but it would only be those believers who would not deviate a hairs breadth from the promise of the Guardianship through the Aghsan lineage who would pass this test. The test of there always having to be a Guardian is over, Mason told the believers in Washington that that test was over but now it would be a test of who the Guardian is. Two criteria. Son, appointed. Mason had only one son through adoption, at the passing of Mason that would mean there is only one choice as to who could be Mason’s successor, his son. Period. this is the “Straight Path” of God’s Divine Will. Any deviation from this path through excuses and reasonings and theologies is not the Straight Path of the Covenant. Pepe addressed Neal as his “Son” in the same way as Abdu’l-Baha addressed Mason and at the passing of Pepe, there is only one choice as to Pepe’s successor and this would be the only one who fulfills the requirement of being a son in the same context as that of Abdu’l-Baha and Mason and this is Neal Chase.
Victor

Pepe was Italian? Wouldn’t it have been necessary to follow the laws of the land in the activation of an adoption in that land? I find the story about how Abdu’l-Baha “adopted” Mason very endearing. It confirms even stronger that Mason indeed was someone to be trusted and listened to. But, the adoption of Neal Chase by Pepe is a little far fetched. Had they ever even met? Janice

Neal Chase was adopted according to these same requirements. In letters addressed to Mr. Chase, Pepe referred to him as his son and asked of Neal if it was ok to adopt him for the purpose of succession. After the passing of Pepe, Mr. Chase was called by the executor of Pepe’s estate and was given tokens of his inheritance that again, symbolized the passing of this line of succession.
Victor

“This idea of equating adopted children with natural children in matters of succession is well expressed in a responsum of Rabbi Jacob Emden which the learned Judge cited in another decision, In re: Succession of the late Yoseph Blum deceased (4)(at pp. 161), as follows:“If he rears the child for the glory of God the child is certainly to be regarded as his child and not only in lineage, but even where the child had parents and is being brought up by the stranger as a meritorious act, if the latter has no children [‘Abdu’l-Baha had no living natural sons] and is bringing up the child to be his son and to succeed him and they address each other as father and son”(response of Yavetz, Part I, section 168). So also with the deceased in the present case: He reared the child as his daughter to succeed him, and she called him “father” and he called her “daughter.” These were not vague terms of affection but expressed the precise legal relationship which had been created between them – at any rate with respect to the matter of succession.”
(Selected Judgments from the Israeli Supreme Court,
Vol. III, pp. 426-7.)
This was usually confirmed by some token such as a stick or a stone, or something, to make it definite that it was meant that it was a legal adoption. This is called institutive evidence.
“Institutive evidence is that which is created or adopted as a memorial of a fact and for the purpose of being evidence of the fact. The stone set up for a boundary; the giving of a clod of earth or a twig in livery of seizing as evidence or the transfer of the title [etc]….”(Sagebeer, The Bible in Court, p. 104.)
“The Master gave Mr. Remey what no one else ever received – relics of the Blood and Hair of Baha’u’llah; in the East this act symbolizes Mr. Remey’s adoption as a Son by ‘Abdu’l-Baha and his becoming a member of the Holy Family.”
(Questions and Answers about Charles Mason Remey and the Baha’i Faith, by F.C. Spataro.)
Shoghi Effendi recognized ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s adoption of Mason as true and legal. Immediately after the death of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, Shoghi Effendi called Mason to the Holy land in February and March of 1922 giving to him a “package of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s most sacred possession,” which was left to Shoghi Effendi, as the executor of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s Will to deliver to Mason Remey as his inheritance:“locks of Baha’u’llah’s hair”(which represents the headship of the International Baha’i Council/Universal House of Justice) and “drops of his coagulated blood”(which represents the bloodline of David and Baha’u’llah). On the outside of the package Shoghi Effendi addressed it to ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s “dear son” whom he later appointed to the headship of the IBC/UHJ. The hair and blood are the tokens of inheritance.‘Abdu’l-Baha’s most prized possession shows the evidence of the legal adoption passed on from father to son –‘Abdu’l-Baha to Mason. This type of evidence of a token is called “institutive evidence.”
Victor