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Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit

Chapter 31 of Some Answered Questions

Moojan Momen

Some Answered Questions is a book of the answers thatAbdul-Bah gave to questions put to Him by Laura CliffordBarney in the house of Abdul-Bah in Akka in the early 1900s.The Persian and English texts of these replies were published in1908. The Persian text was seen, corrected by Abdul-Bah inHis own hand and approved by Him with the affixing of Hisseal. The English text has a number of problems and is currentlybeing retranslated.

One of the questions put to Abdul-Bah asked Him for anexplanation of the verse in the Bible (in the ensuing quotationsfrom the Bible, the Authorised King James Version is givenfirst with the Revised Standard Version in parenthesesafterwards):

Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin andblasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but theblasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven

unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against theSon of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoeverspeaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not beforgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the worldto come. (Matt. 12:31-32: Therefore I tell you, every sinand blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemyagainst the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoeversays a word against the Son of man will be forgiven;but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be

forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.)Since this is a quotation from Christian scripture it is first

necessary to put it into its Christian context and to see whatChristian theologians and commentators on the Bible have saidabout it. The verse comes in the context of a story about a manpossessed with a devil, blind, and dumb (22: a blind and dumb


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Lights of Irfn Book Ten 276

demoniac) who was brought to Jesus and healed. The peoplewere amazed, saying Is this not the son of David (23: Can thisbe the Son of David ?) in other words: can this be theMessiah who was to spring from the loins of David? But the

Pharisees, no doubt fearing for their station and theirfollowing, said: This fellow doth not cast out devils, but byBeelzebub the prince of the devils (24: It is only by Be-elzebul,the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons) andtherefore he is not the son of David. Beelzebub was theringleader of the apostasy from God and rebellion against him.But Jesus refuted the Pharisees through logic, saying Everykingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; andevery city or house divided against itself shall not stand (25:

Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no cityor house divided against itself will stand) so why would Satanor Beelzebub cast out devils why would he act againsthimself? (26: and if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided againsthimself; how then will his kingdom stand?). And if he is to beaccused of casting out demons through Beelzebub, then whatabout those from among the Jews who also cast out demons(and about whom it was said that they did this though theSpirit of God)? He thus condemns them for making their

judgments not out of justice but out of prejudice. He thengoes on to point out that this is in fact a proof of His mission:

But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then thekingdom of God is come unto you. Or else how can oneenter into a strong mans house, and spoil his goods,except he first bind the strong man and then he willspoil his house? He that is not with me is against me;and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.

(28-30: But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast outdemons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.Or how can one enter a strong mans house andplunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man?Then indeed he may plunder his house. He who is notwith me is against me, and he who does not gather withme scatters.)

Then there comes the verses that Abdul-Bah was asked tocomment upon and, following these, there are verses thatexpand upon this point:

Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or elsemake the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for thetree is known by his fruit. O generation of vipers, how


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Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit 277

can ye, being evil, speak good things? For out of theabundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A goodman out of the good treasure of the heart bringethforth good things: and an evil man out of the evil

treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you,That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall giveaccount thereof in the day of judgment. For by thywords thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thoushalt be condemned. (33-37: Either make the tree good,and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruitbad; for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood ofvipers! how can you speak good, when you are evil? Forout of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

The good man out of his good treasure brings forthgood, and the evil man out of his evil treasure bringsforth evil. I tell you, on the Day of Judgment men willrender account for every careless word they utter; forby your words you will be justified, and by your words

you will be condemned.)

The following is an abbreviated version of the commentaryof Matthew Henry (1662-1714), an English non-conformist

clergyman in his Exposition of the Old and New Testaments(1708-1710) on this verse.1 He states that this verse gives thegracious assurance of the pardon of all sin upon gospel terms,that the greatness of sin shall be no bar to our acceptance withGod, if we truly repent and believe the gospel. The onlyexception to this is the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost,which is here declared to be the only unpardonable sin. Inexplaining this, he harks back to a few verses earlier: But Jesus

knew their thoughts, (v. 25). It is not all speaking against the

person or essence of the Holy Ghost, or some of his moreprivate operations, or merely the resisting of his internalworking in the sinner himself, that is here meant; for who thenshould be saved? Further on he says: this blasphemy isexcepted, not for any defect of mercy in God or merit inChrist, but because it inevitably leaves the sinner in infidelityand impenitency. He goes on to say that those whoblasphemed Christ when he was here upon earth, and called hima Winebibber, a Deceiver, a Blasphemer, and the like, they had

some colour of excuse, because of the meanness of hisappearance, and the prejudices of the nation against him; andthe proof of his divine mission was not perfected till after hisascension; and therefore, upon their repentance, they shall bepardoned.


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Matthew Henry then goes on to tie in the blasphemy againstthe Holy Ghost with the Pentecostal appearance of the HolySpirit saying that although during the ministry of Jesus somemay have been confused about His station, all reasonable

doubt was removed with the coming of the Holy Spirit atPentecost:

But if, when the Holy Ghost is given, in his inwardgifts of revelation, speaking with tongues, and the like,such as were the distributions of the Spirit among theapostles, if they continue to blaspheme the Spiritlikewise, as an evil spirit, there is no hope of them thatthey will ever be brought to believe in Christ.

John Wesley gives a much shorter and more direct explanation:

The blasphemy against the Spirit: How much stir hasbeen made about this? How many sermons, yea,volumes, have been written concerning it? And yetthere is nothing plainer in all of the Bible. It is neithermore nor less than the ascribing those miracles to thepower of the devil, which Christ wrought by the powerof the Holy Ghost.

Whosoever speaketh against the Son of man: In anyother respects: It shall be forgiven him Upon his truerepentance: But whosoever speaketh thus against theHoly Ghost, it shall not be forgiven, neither in thisworld nor in the world to come This was a proverbialexpression among the Jews, for a thing that wouldnever be done. It here means farther, He shall notescape the punishment of it, either in this world, or in

the world to come. The judgment of God shall overtakehim, both here and hereafter.2

The equivalent to Beelzebub (Beelzebul) and Lucifer in theApocrypha of the Bible,3 the personification of rebellionagainst God, is, in the Quran, Iblis, the angel who is orderedto bow down before Adam and refuses and is therefore castout of heaven and becomes Satan. It is thus pride anddisobedience that cause his fall:

It is We who created you and gave you shape; then Webade the angels bow down to Adam, and they boweddown; not so Iblis; he refused to be of those who bowdown. (God) said: what prevented thee from bowingdown when I commanded thee? He said: I am better


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than he: thou didst create me from fire and him fromclay. (God) said: Get thee down from this: it is not forthee to be arrogant here: get out, for thou art of themeanest (of creatures).4

In Shii Islam, a parallel with blasphemy against the HolySpirit can be seen in the concept of those such as Abu Bakr,Umar and Muawiya who opposed the Imams as successors tothe Prophet Muhammad and prevented them from gaining theirrightful place. In one of his orations which have been compiledin the Nahj al-Balaghah, Ali refers to the fact that Abu Bakrknowingly and deliberately went against the expressed wish ofMuhammad when he took over the leadership of Islam (the

caliphate) instead of giving this to `Ali whom Muhammad hadnamed: By God the son of Abu Quhafah [Abu Bakr] dressedhimself with it [the caliphate] and he certainly knew that myposition in relation to it was the same as the position of theaxis in relation to the hand-mill. The flood water flows downfrom me and the bird cannot fly up to me.5

Also related to this theme are Alis words in anotheroration, when he reminds his followers of events at the Battle ofSiffin and of how his enemy Muawiyah, at the battle of Siffin,had used the outward appearance of piety to advance his innerdesigns of enmity and his desire to grasp the leadership:

When they had raised the Quran by way of deceit,craft, artifice and cheat, did you not say: They are ourbrothers and our comrades in accepting Islam. Theywant us to cease fighting, and ask for protectionthrough the Book of Allah, the Glorified. Our opinionis to agree with them and to end their troubles. Then I

said to you, In this affair the outward appearance ofit is faith but the inner reality is enmity. Its beginningis pity and the end is repentance. Consequently youshould stick to your position, and remain steadfast on

your path. You should press your teeth (to put all yourmight) in jihad and should not pay heed to the shoutsof the shouter. If he is answered he would mislead, butif he is left (unanswered) he will be disgraced.6

Let us now proceed to consider what Abdul-Bah saysabout this verse from St Matthews Gospel. He states that theManifestations of God have two aspects one is the place ofmanifestation (i.e. the physical body of the Manifestation)which can be compared to the globe of the sun, and the other


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the resplendency of the Manifestation (the divine qualities ofthe Manifestations), which are like the heat and light comingfrom the sun. It is the latter which is the defining characteristicof the Manifestation; if it were not present then that

individual would not be the Manifestation. This appearance ofdivine qualities in the person of the Manifestation is theappearance of the Holy Spirit in them.7

If a person, Abdul-Bah states, remains remote from theManifestation, this can be corrected. The person did notrecognize the appearance of divine attributes in theManifestation but may be awakened from this state. Ifhowever, a person hates the divine attributes themselves, in

other words hates the Holy Spirit, then this is a state that hasno remedy and cannot be forgiven; this person cannot beawakened from this state because they are already fully awarethat the Manifestation is the possessor of divine attributes butthey hate those attributes and thus must remain far from theManifestation. The Manifestations dispense the bounties ofGod through the Holy Spirit that appear in them, not throughtheir personality, therefore if a person hates the Holy Spirit,that person cannot receive the bounties of God, remains

deprived and thus remains beyond the reach of the grace andforgiveness of God. Abdul-Bah points out that many whowere enemies of the Manifestations of God later recognizedtheir error and were forgiven; they had been enemies of thelight-holder and remained distant but once they realised thattheir enemy was in fact the place of the manifestation of light,they came close, their enmity was transformed into love andthey were forgiven. However, those whose enmity is towardsthe light itself must ever remain remote and for this condition

there is no remedy, no reunion and no forgiveness.8

This passage speaks of people who are utterly lost and have

put themselves beyond the reach of Gods grace andforgiveness, and the Bah scriptures also condemn in thestrongest possible terms those who are named covenant-breakers. Indeed some of the expressions used in this passageabout blasphemy against the Holy Spirit are very similar tolanguage used regarding covenant-breakers; for example, in thisBible passage about blasphemy and the commentary upon it, itis made clear that some are ignorant of the fact that they areattacking the Holy Spirit and these are not to be considered asthose who blaspheme against the Holy Spirit. It is only thosewho are aware and knowingly do this that are considered


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condemned. The same is stated by Abdul-Bah aboutcovenant-breakers:

Thus it is seen that no means for dissension hath been

left, but carnal desires are the cause of difference as itis the case with the violators. These do not doubt thevalidity of the Covenant but selfish motives havedragged them to this condition. It is not that they do

not know what they do they are perfectly aware andstill they exhibit opposition.9

Thus it is tempting to equate this passage about Blasphemyagainst the Holy Spirit with these condemnations of thecovenant-breakers. There exist however a number of points thatshow that there may some distinction to be made.

1. In this passage it is stated that those who blasphemeagainst the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven. The Kitb-i Aqdasstates however that the greatest covenant-breaker of the time ofBahullh, Mrz Yahy, can be forgiven (v. 184). Thisdifference can be explained however by pointing out that thisverse of the Kitb-i Aqdas makes forgiveness conditional uponthe repentance of Mrz Yahy: Return unto God, humble,

submissive and lowly. Thus it could be said that if MrzYahy repented and returned to God, he was no longer in astate of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit and thus no longerin that state where Gods grace and forgiveness could not reachhim.

2. The passages about covenant-breaking in the Bahscriptures assign a number of motives to those who havebroken the Covenant: Abdul-Bah states that they have an evil

intention and are thinking of leadership and of forming aparty10 or are deprived of the Spirit of God and are lost inpassion and are seeking leadership.11 The passage regardingblasphemy against the Holy Spirit does not ascribe anymotives to those who are in this position but rather posits ametaphysical state an evil tree bringing forth evil fruit is thedescription given in the following verse (v. 33). It couldhowever be argued that the verses preceding those mentioningblasphemy against the Holy Spirit state that the crowd were

wondering whether Jesus could be the Messiah as a result of themiracle they had observed and it was in order to counter thisand to preserve their own leadership that the Pharisees made theaccusation that Jesus had worked the miracle throughBeelzebub and not by Divine power. Thus the Gospel passage


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can be stated to ascribe motives of seeking leadership to thisphenomenon in the same way as the above statements ofAbdul-Bah do.

3. In Abdul-Bahs last Tablet to America in which there isa long discourse on covenant-breaking and Abdul-Bah quotesa number of verses from the Gospels as referring to thisphenomenon, this passage is not mentioned.12

4. There are certain individuals who are described inapocalyptic terms as the Anti-Christ. Since it is used in theBah authoritative texts as a generic term applying even toindividuals in relation to the Bb and Bah religions, itsmeaning must be opposition to Holy Spirit which is equally inChrist, the Bb and Bahullh. It would thus appear to besynonymous with those who commit blasphemy against theHoly Spirit. However, among those given this designation isHj Mrz qs, the Prime Minister of Muhammad Shah whois described as the Anti-Christ of the Bb dispensation.13He isnot however regarded as a covenant-breaker. Similarly thepassage in St Matthews Gospel that refers to blasphemyagainst the Holy Spirit is written in relation certain Phariseesand their opposition to Jesus and these would not beconsidered covenant-breakers in the Bah usage of that word.

Thus it would seem that the two categories of those whoblaspheme against the Holy Spirit and covenant-breakers maynot be wholly congruous. Certainly it would appear that thereare some who fit in the first category who do not fit into thesecond category but it does seem likely that all who fit intothe second category are included in the first category that isto say, all covenant-breakers fit into the category of those who

blaspheme against the Holy Spirit. It is of some interest tonote that in discussions of covenant-breaking, Abdul-Bahrefers to Judas Iscariot14and to Umar.15

Definition and Classification of Covenant-breakers

The Universal House of Justice has described covenant-breaker thus:

When a person declares his acceptance of Bahullh asa Manifestation of God he becomes a party to theCovenant and accepts the totality of His Revelation. Ifhe then turns round and attacks Bahullh or theCentral Institution of the Faith he violates the


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Covenant. If this happens every effort is made to helpthat person to see the illogicality and error of hisactions, but if he persists he must, in accordance withthe instructions of Bahullh Himself, be shunned as

a Covenant-breaker.16

This is not however a comprehensive definition since some

who have been declared covenant-breakers do not fall withinthis definition. This point may be further developed byconsidering who are and are not in this category. Those whoare not Bahs and oppose the Bah Faith or its head (such asmany Muslim and Christian religious leaders) are not usuallyconsidered Covenant-breakers; those who leave the Bah Faith

because they have lost faith are similarly not consideredCovenant-breakers; and those who commit infractions ofBah law may loose their administrative rights, but are notconsidered Covenant-breakers.

In considering those who are considered covenant-breakers,it is useful to create a classification of these:

1. Leadership claimants: Those who raised a claim toleadership of the Bah community against the duly appointed

and authorised head of the Faith. These include Mrz Yahywho is considered to have violated the clear instructions in thewritings of the Bb not to oppose anyone who claimed to bethe next Manifestation of God;17Mrz Muhammad Al whoopposed the authority of Abdul-Bah and even plotted to haveAbdul-Bah imprisoned or killed;18and Charles Mason Remeywho claimed the Guardianship of the Bah Faith after thedeath of Shoghi Effendi.19

2. Dissidence: This group consists of those who accept thelegitimacy of the head of the Bah Faith religion, but opposehis policies and actions. This group consists mostly ofopponents of the Bah administration such as Ruth White,who was opposed to the concept of the Bah administrationand tried to prove that Abdul-Bahs Will and Testament wasa forgery as a way of discrediting it; and Ahmad Sohrab, whoopposed the concept and setting up of the Bahadministration in the United States. He and his associate Julie

Chanler set up the New History Society as a way of spreadingthe Bah teachings but refused to allow it to be under theauthority of the National Spiritual Assembly of the UnitedStates or the Local Spiritual Assembly of New York, where itwas based.


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3. Disobedience: Those who disobeyed the authorized head ofthe Bah Faith in a direct instruction from him havesometimes been regarded as covenant-breakers and beenexpelled. Of course it could be argued that most Bahs have at

one time or another failed to obey one or other of the laws ofthe Bah Faith, which are the instructions of the head of thereligion. It has however been disobedience to theadministrative injunctions directed by the head of the BahFaith towards particular individuals or groups of people thathave caused people to be expelled. Thus for example, AmnullhFard was expelled when he left Haifa for Europe and North

America against the instructions of Abdul-Bah, who wantedto protect the Western Bahs from him. Similarly in the years

after World War II, Shoghi Effendi felt that the arrival of largenumbers of Iranian students in the United States wasswamping the American Bah community and damaging itsorganic growth.

4. Association: Individuals associating with covenant-breakers can, if they do not cease doing so after being warned,be declared covenant-breakers. This may be considered part ofthe previous category, in that successive heads of the Bah

Faith have always instructed Bahs to avoid contact withcovenant-breakers and thus association with known covenant-breakers could be considered an act of disobedience to the headof the Faith The reasoning given by the head of the Faith in thisinstance is however different. Abdul-Bah likens covenant-breaking to a contagious spiritual disease and states that thisis why association with covenant-breakers is forbidden. In hislast tablet to the Bahs of America he wrote:

In short, the point is this: Abdul-Bah is extremelykind, but when the disease is leprosy, what am I to do?Just as in bodily diseases we must preventintermingling and infection and put into effectsanitary laws because the infectious physical diseasesuproot the foundation of humanity; likewise one must

protect and safeguard the blessed souls from thebreaths and fatal spiritual diseases; otherwiseviolation, like the plague, will become a contagion andall will perish. In the early days, after the Ascension ofthe Blessed Beauty, the centre of violation was alone;

little by little the infection spread; and this was due tocompanionship and association.20


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Similarly Shoghi Effendi, in a letter written on his behalf,warns that the Bahs of the West do not sufficientlyappreciate the dangers of contact with covenant-breakers:

It is a pity that some of the Western friends, withremarkable naivete, do not grasp the fact that there isabsolutely nothing keeping those who have broken theCovenant, whether Bahullhs or the Masters, out ofthe Cause of God except their own inner spirituallysick condition. If they were sound, instead of diseased,and wanted to enter the service of our Faith, theywould apply direct to the Guardian, and he would beable to adjudge of their sincerity and, if sincere, would

welcome them into the ranks of the faithful as he didwith Sydney Sprague. Unfortunately a man who is ill isnot made well just by asserting there is nothing wrongwith him! Facts, actual states, are what count.Probably no group of people in the world have softertongues, or proclaim more loudly their innocence, thenthose who in their heart of hearts, and by their everyact, are enemies of the Centre of the Covenant. TheMaster well knew this, and that is why He said we must

shun their company, but pray for them. If you put aleper in a room with healthy people, he cannot catchtheir health; on the contrary they are very likely to catchhis horrible ailment.21

Many of the members of Abdul-Bahs family were declaredcovenant-breakers because of their continued association withother members of the family who had previously been declaredcovenant-breakers, for example three of the daughters ofAbdul-Bah: Rh, Tb and Munavvar Khnum, as well asseveral of their children.

5. Children of Covenant-Breakers. This category may beconsidered a sub-section of the above category, but again,some different considerations apply, in that, although the sameconsiderations of contagion apply, the association of childrenwith their parents is not a voluntary one. Despite this, thechildren of covenant-breakers are regarded as covenant-breakers. The reason is given in a letter written on behalf of

Shoghi Effendi:The friends are sometimes surprisingly naive andsuperficial in their approach to the subject ofCovenant-breakers. They do not seem to understand


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that the descendants of Azal, with their mothers milk,drank hatred of Bahullh, just as the descendants ofMrz Muhammad-Al and his relatives have imbibedfrom babyhood a false concept of the Master. It takes

practically a miracle to overcome this lifelong habit ofwrong thought.22

Thus for example, Parvine Afnan Shahid, the daughter of themarriage between two grand-children of Abdul-Bah wasdetermined by the Universal House of Justice to be a covenant-breaker in 1996, since by virtue of her continued associationwith this lady, another Bah was declared a covenant-breaker.23

Classification of Those who Blaspheme against theHoly Spirit

It is then possible to create a classification of those whomay be regarded as having blasphemed against the Holy Spirit:

1. Covenant-Breakers according to the above classification.

2. Apostasy. Although most individuals who leave the Bahcommunity because of loss of belief are not considered anydifferently from those who have never been Bahs, there havebeen a small number of persons who left the community andthen began to attack it maliciously and vehemently and who arereferred to in terms identical to those he used of theCovenant-breakers. Indeed, this goes back to the time of theBb, who characterised three of his followers (Mull JavdBaraghn, Mull Abdul-Al Hirt, and Mrz Ibrhm

Shrz), who out of jealousy towards the station of MullaHusayn Bushrui, left the Bb community, joined with theBbs enemy, the Shaykh leader Mrz Muhammad Karim KhanKirmani. According to Nabl, these three persons werecompared in the Bbs writing with Smir who, according toIslamic tradition, produced the calf for the Israelites toworship, and with Jibt and Tght, two idol worshipped byQuraysh24 B language very similar to that later used byBahullh and Abdul-Bah with regard to the

Covenant-breakers.25

An apostate from the time of Shoghi Effendi was Mrz

Abdul-Husayn Taft, known as vrih (1290/1873-1953), whowrote a book called Kashful-Hiyal (The Uncovering of


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Trickery) in three volumes attacking the Bah Faith and itscentral figures in vitriolic and intemperate language. ShoghiEffendi urged the Bahs of Iran to avoid all contact with

vrih26and, in one of his letters to the Bahs of Iran, Shoghi

Effendi referred to vrih as a dead body which the surgingocean of the Cause of God had cast upon its shores27, all veryreminiscent of the actions taken and words used againstcovenant-breakers by both Shoghi Effendi and Abdul-Bah.Indeed, in one of his writings, Shoghi Effendi groups togetherthe rejected vrih with the the jealous covenant-breaker[Mrz Muhammad Ali], the thankless Yahy [Azal], and Karmthe transgressor [Khan Kirmani].28 Shoghi Effendi alsodescribes vrih as Satan (Iblis), which is the same term used by

Bahullh (Satan, in the garb of man) about covenant-breakers.29

3. Religious Leaders and others who knowingly oppose theBah Faith. It is clear from the Kitb-i-qn that not allreligious leaders who oppose the Bah Faith are in thiscategory since some are stated to have opposed out ofignorance:

Leaders of religion, in every age, have hindered theirpeople from attaining the shores of eternal salvation,inasmuch as they held the reins of authority in theirmighty grasp. Some for the lust of leadership, othersthrough want of knowledge and understanding, havebeen the cause of the deprivation of the people. By theirsanction and authority, every Prophet of God hathdrunk from the chalice of sacrifice, and winged Hisflight unto the heights of glory.30

Those who recognize the truth of the new religion and stilloppose because of lust of leadership, are however in thiscategory. The clearest example of this is Hj Mrz qs whois identified as the Anti-Christ of the Bb religion. There arehowever other clerics who are stigmatized by Bahullh withsuch labels asDhib(the wolf, Shaykh Muhammad Bqir Najafof Isfahan) and Raqsh (the she-serpent, Mr MuhammadHusayn Imm-Jumih of Isfahan), while others are condemnedin his writings, such as Muhammad Karm Khn Kirmn.

Interestingly, vrih, who was named in the previous categoryis also namedRaqsh by Shoghi Effendi.31


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Causes of Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit

We may also try to assess the causes of this phenomenon.Why would anyone knowingly attack what they know to be

good? The following suggested causes are not intended to beexclusive. Most individual cases contain elements of more thanone. The following are some preliminary ideas on this:

1. Desire for leadership of the Bah community and ajealousy of the position of power and leadership of the head ofthe religion. Such motives are hinted at repeatedly in theauthoritative Bah texts; thus Abdul-Bah writes:

Thus it is seen that the ocean of the Covenant hathsurged and surged until it hath thrown out the deadbodies souls that are deprived of the Spirit of Godand are lost in passion and self and are seeking

leadership.32

The importance of this matter is pointed out by the UniversalHouse of Justice:

The seriousness of Covenant-breaking is that it strikes

at the very centre and foundation of the unity ofmankind. If God were to allow the instrument to bedivided and impaired, how then would His purpose beachieved?33

This applies mainly of course to those in category 1 of theclassification of Covenant-Breaking given above those whocontended directly for leadership, such Mrz Muhammad Aland Charles Mason Remey.

2. Rebelliousness and pride. Where there is no attempt togain the leadership of the Bah Faith, the actions of rebellingand opposing the head of the Bah Faith appear to derivemainly from a refusal to submit to the leadership of the head ofthe religion out of pride or stubbornness. Thus for example,

Ahmad Sohrab, although to some extent exhibiting a desire forleadership, was eventually expelled because of his refusal tosubmit to the Bah administration that Shoghi Effendi wasputting in place. Shoghi Effendi writes:

However, since the Masters Will was read, and theadministrative order, under the Guardianship, beganto be developed, he [Ahmad Sohrab] became cognizantof the fact that his personal ambition for leadership


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would have to be subordinated to some degree ofsupervision; that he would have to obey the Nationaland local assemblies just like every other Bah, andcould not be free to teach wholly independent of any

advice or supervision. This was the beginning of thedefection which in the end took him outside the pale ofthe Faith: he refused not to be handled always as anexception, a privileged exception. In fact, if we keenlyanalyse it, it is almost invariably the soaring ambitionand deep self-love of people that has led them to leavethe Faith.34

3. Contempt born of closeness. In many of the members of

the family of Bahullh and Abdul-Bah who were expelled, acertain degree of contempt for the head of the religion can beseen. Simply put, the family of Bahullh (except BahiyyihKhnum), were unable to transfer the respect that they had forBahullh to the new head of the religion, Abdul-Bah.Similarly, the family of Abdul-Bah was unwilling or unable totransfer the respect they had for Abdul-Bah to the new headof the religion Shoghi Effendi. Thus in the case of ShoghiEffendi, they had known the head of the religion as a boy and

considered that they knew his foibles and weaknesses; they didnot see why they, who were also members of the Holy Familyshould be ordered around by this youngster. Indeed theyconsidered it their duty to give Shoghi Effendi the benefit oftheir experience and advice. In the case of Mrz MuhammadAls family, they thought of the leadership of the Bah Faithas a family affair in which they had a share and they wereannoyed with Abdul-Bah for depriving them of what theyconsidered their rightful claim to both the leadership and of

income.This can be most clearly seen in the case of the actions of

Abdul-Bahs family. While Abdul-Bah was alive, none ofthem would have ever considered any major life decision(marriage, a major journey, or the name of a child) withoutseeking Abdul-Bahs advice, approval and blessing. They wereunable to transfer this respect to Shoghi Effendi. Even if weleave aside the fact that Shoghi Effendi was the head of theBah faith, as eldest grandson of Abdul-Bah, he was thehead of the family and the customs of a traditional MiddleEastern family would demand that the head of the family beconsulted about major life decisions and his blessing obtained.So when Shoghi Effendis sister Ruhangiz married Nayyir

Afnan while Shoghi Effendi was absent and without informing


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him, and his other sister and cousin married two brothers ofNayyir Afnan (again without seeking his approval), and hisbrother Husayn Rabbani married a German girl withoutconsulting him and Ruhi Afnan went off on a trip to America

without his approval all of these omissions showed contemptfor his headship and authority both in the family and in theBah Faith; they were deliberate and very open snubs to ShoghiEffendi which would have been evident to all of the members ofthe family and even to the people of Haifa and beyond. WhenMunib Shahid married the grand-daughter of an avowed enemyof the Bah Faith, Al-Husayni, the Mufti of Jerusalem, in aMuslim ceremony, at a time when Shoghi Effendi was strivingto establish the independence of the Bah Faith from Islam,

this was not only a personal snub to Shoghi Effendi who wasnot consulted but also to what he was striving to achieve forthe Bah Faith.

4. Desire to maintain leadership. Those clerics who opposedthe Bah Faith did so out of a fear for their position insociety and their wealth. This includes Hj Mrz qs, whoas well as being Prime Minister, was the spiritual guide ofMuhammad Shah. It also applies to the other clerics mentioned.

It also brings us back to the quotation from the Gospel of StMatthew with which we started this paper, because of coursethe people to whom these words of Christ about blasphemyagainst the Holy Spirit were directed were the Pharisees, theJewish religious leaders who feared for their position andwealth if the people thought that Jesus really was the Messiah,son of David.

Conclusions

In summary, a number of conclusions can thus be drawnabout this phenomenon of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit:

1. This phenomenon seen in all religions. In this paper, wehave seen that it is present in both Christianity and the Bahfaith. However, from a Bah perspective, the phenomenon ofcovenant-breaking has also occurred in Islam with theusurpation of Alis succession to the prophet Muhammad and

the opposition of the Umayyad dynasty to the Imams. And soit would appear to be a general phenomenon across all religions


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2. Consists of knowing opposition to the truth. Thephenomenon consists of knowingly opposing and attacking thesource of divine guidance.

3. Can be external to the religion. Some of the religiousleaders of the previous religious dispensations who, knowingthe new religion to be the truth nevertheless oppose it, areconsidered to be in this category.

4. Can be internal to the religion. This is opposition to thehead of the Bah Faith or founder of the religion ordisobedience of direct instructions of that leader.

5. The motives of those engaged in this activity, insofar as

they can be ascertained are those of jealousy and pride6. Since making a judgement as to who is to be classed as

having blasphemed against the Holy Spirit involves anassessment of the inner spiritual state of a person, onlydivinely inspired leadership can make such a judgement.

NOTES

1 Matthew Henry, A Commentary on the Old and New Testaments,

London: Cassells, 1876. Seewww.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.i_1.xiii.html (accessed 22 May 2008)

2 www.christnotes.org/commentary.php?com=wes&b=40&c=12 (accessed 22June 2008)

3 The Testament of Solomon (trans. F. C. Conybeare) verse 26; seewww.esotericarchives.com/solomon/testamen.htm (accessed 4September 2008)

4Quran 7:11-135Imam Ali, Khut@bah ash-Shiqshiqiyyah,Nahj al-Balaghah. The allusion to

flood water is said to denote knowledge, while it is stated that Abu Bakrhad towards the end of his life likened himself to a bird.

6Imam Ali, Sermon 121,Nahj al-Balaghah7Some Answered Questions (Wilmette, IL: Bah Publishing Trust, 1981),

p. 1278Some Answered Questions, pp. 127-89Abdul-Bah,Selections from the Writings of Abdul-Bah(Haifa: Bah

World Centre, 1978 ), p. 215-610 The Covenant Of Bahullh (Manchester: Bah Publishing Trust,

1950), p. 15411Star of the West, vol. 10, no. 14 (23 Nov. 1919), p. 265


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12Bah World Faith (2nd edn., Wilmette, IL: Bah Publishing Trust,1976), pp. 429-38 (see esp. pp. 431-2)

13Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By(rev. edn., Wilmette, IL: Bah Publishing

Trust, 1974), p. 164; Shoghi Effendi, High Endeavors: Messages toAlaska ([Anchorage]: National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahs ofAlaska, 1976), p. 69

14Bah World Faith, p. 43215 In particular Abdul-Bah refers to the words of Umar: the Book of

God is enough for us which blocked the desire of the ProphetMuhammad on his death-bed to write down the appointment of hissuccessor. See Law-i Hizr Bayt, Muntakhabt az Mak t b-i Hadrat-iAbdul-Bah , vol. 4 (Hofheim-Langenhain: Bah-Verlag, 2000), pp.

263-5

16Letter to an individual Bah dated 23 March 1975, quoted in The Powerof the Covenant, Part Two (Thornhill, Ontario: National Spiritual

Assembly of the Bahs of Canada, 1987), pp. 7-817This statement is in the Persian Bayan, Vahid 6, chap. 818Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, pp. 249, 269-27119 The most comprehensive and authoritative statement of the Bah

position on Mason Remey is contained in a memorandum MasonRemey and Those Who Followed Him issued with a letter from the

Universal House of Justice to all national assemblies, 31 January 1997.See also Adib Taherzadeh, Child of the Covenant (Oxford: GeorgeRonald, 2000), pp. 369-71

20 Abdul-Bah, Bah World Faith, p. 438. Shoghi Effendi later had tostate that this analogy should not be taken too far: CovenantBreaking is truly a Spiritual disease, and the whole view-point andattitude of a Covenant Breaker is so poisonous that the Master likenedit to leprosy, and warned the friends to breathe the same air wasdangerous. This should not be taken literally; He meant when you are

close enough to breathe the same air you are close enough to contacttheir corrupting influence. Your sister should never imagine she, loyaland devoted, has become a carrier. (From a letter written on behalfof the Guardian to an individual believer, 29 July 1946 in Lights ofGuidance, p. 183)

21 From a letter written on behalf of the Guardian to the NationalSpiritual Assembly of the United States, April 11, 1949; in Lights ofGuidance: A Bah Reference File (compiled by Helen Hornby, 2ndedn., New Delhi: Bah Publishing Trust, 1988), p. 187

22From a letter dated 18 August 1949 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendito a National Spiritual Assembly in the compilation from the UniversalHouse of Justice: Non-Association with Covenant-breakers, seebahai-library.com/unpubl.compilations/covenant-breakers.html(accessed 1 July 2008)


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23Letter of Universal House of Justice to National Spiritual Assembly ofNew Zealand, 12 December 1996; Letter of National Spiritual Assemblyof the New Zealand to Bahs of New Zealand, 16 December, 1996.

24 The Dawn-Breakers: Nabls Narrative of the Early Days of the BahRevelation, Wilmette, IL: Bah Publishing Trust, 1970), p. 162

25Star of the West, vol. 13 (1922), pp. 20-22; Bah World Faith, p. 429-38(esp. p. 431); Adib Taherzadeh, The Revelation of Bahullh, vol. 4(Oxford: George Ronald, 1987), p. 211

26 Shoghi Effendi, Tawqiat 1922-1948 (Tehran: Muassih Mill MatbtAmr, 130 B.E./1973), p. 13

27Adib Taherzadeh, The Child of the Covenant, p. 29528Maidih Asmani (9 vols., Tehran: Muassih Mill Matbt Amr. 121-129

B.E./1964-1972), vol. 6, p. 64; Tawqiat 1927-1939 (Tehran: MuassihMill Matbt Amr. 129 B.E./1972), p. 186

29 Shoghi Effendi, Tawqiat 1927-1939, p. 188; cf. Bahullh quoted byAbdul-Bah inBah World Faith, p. 430

30 Bahullh. The Kitb-i-qn, the Book of Certitude (trans. ShoghiEffendi, 2nd edn., Wilmette, IL: Bah Publishing Trust, 1974), p. 15

31Tawqiat 1927-1939, p. 18832Abdul-Bah,Selections from the Writings of Abdul-Bah, p. 21033

Letter from the Universal House of Justice, dated 23 March 1975, to anindividual; in Developing Distinctive Bah Communities (Wilmette,IL: National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahs of the United States,1968), section 5.14; see bahai-library.com/?file=nsa_developing_dis-tinctive_communities.html&chapter=1#5.1 (accessed 4 September 2008).

34 Shoghi Effendi, The Light of Divine Guidance: The Messages from theGuardian of the Bah Faith to the Bahs of Germany and Austria (2vols., Hofheim-Langenhain: Bah-Verlag, 1982), vol. 1, p. 134

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