MASON REMEY CRITICIZES SHOGHI EFFENDI - CALLS HIM A SICK SOUL

Shoghi Effendi in Coffin

Mason Remey criticizing Shoghi Effendi had said that Shoghi Effendi was a very "confused and sick soul" he was "ego maniac". He flaunted and disobeyed the laws of the Aqdas and created all this confusion himself and that he (Shoghi Effendi) was guardian of the Babi religion and was not the guardian of the Baha’i faith. Speaking of his administration as a Babi, rather than Baha’i administration. 

Remey became intrigued, particularly, by two passages from Shoghi Effendi’s, The Dispensation of Baha'u'llah.

The first one was Shoghi Effendi’s announcement that “upon the 23" of May of this auspicious year [1934], the Baha’i World will celebrate the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Faith of Baha’u’llah.” The 90 years would be from 1844, when the Bab declared his mission.

The second passage occurs on page 57:

The sacred and youthful branch, the Guardian of the Cause of God, as well as the Universal House of Justice to be universally elected and established, are both under the care and protection of the Abha Beauty, under the shelter and unerring guidance of the Exalted One (the Bab) (may my life be offered up for them both) whatsoever they decide is of God.

(Shoghi Effendi, The Dispensation of Baha'u'llah, p. 57)

Remey reasoned from these passages that Shoghi Effendi had built his administration around the Babi religion, since (according to Remey) the Babi and Baha’i faiths are distinct:

The Babi Dispensation was but 19 years and was ended and completed with the Declaration of Baha'u'llah in 1863 in the Garden of Ridvan at Baghdad.

The Babi Faith and the Baha’i Faith are two distinct and different religions — this was not made clear in the forming of the Administration of the Faith that was formed about the Babi Religion instead of the Baha’i Faith. In other words,... The first Guardian of the Faith so construed the Master Abdu’l Baha’s Will and Testament that he formed bis Administration upon the Babi Faith and not upon the Baha’i Faith.

(The Guardian’s Letter, Vol. 1, No. 2 [December, 1966], p. 1; the ellipsis after “In other words” appears in the letter.)

Because Shoghi Effendi had “so construed” ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s will and testament, Mason Remey believed something had to be done to correct matters. Hence, his formation of the Abha World Faith: This mistake (Shoghi Effendi’s building his administration upon the Babi religion] has caused so much confusion and misunderstanding and trouble that the only thing for the second Guardian to do, to set matters aright, is to discard all which Shoghi Effendi did and to institute a New Faith which shall be the Orthodox Faith under the Holy Name of ABHA in order to carry out the conditions that will lead to the establishment of the TRUE Baha’i Faith (of Baha'u'llah) which Faith has not yet been established in the world. (Ibid)

Four paragraphs later in the same letter,

In my general letter to the Baha’i World, both Pro and Sans Guardian, of January 1967 I explain at length how the First Guardian Shoghi Effendi built his Administration about the Babi Faith and not about the Baha’i Faith. Shoghi Effendi was a very confused soul. He was an ego maniac. He flaunted and disobeyed the laws of the Aqdas and created all this confusion himself. Therefore, the only thing for me to do has been to explain the condition in my letters to the Friends telling them frankly that the first step is to wipe out and to efface everything that Shoghi Effendi did and then to inaugurate a new Faith based upon the teachings of Baha'u'llah (and not upon the Bab).

(Remey letter to James Meyer, July 18, 1967)