In the Hands of the Hands

The problem of succession is a tricky business in the patriarchal Moslem world. The Shiite Moslems broke with the Sunnis .over naming the successor to Mohammed; the Babists broke with the Shiites over the successor to the successor; and, in more recent times (1863), the Bahais splintered from the Babists when Baha'u'llah proclaimed himself the true successor or Bab (literally, "gate" to Paradise). Last week the Bahais, who claim a membership of close to 10,000 in the U.S. (1,500,000 in the world), wrestled with a succession problem of their own.

Founder Baha'u'llah ("the manifestation of God") had appointed his son ("the perfect man") to succeed him, and the son in turn appointed Shoghi Effendi Rabbani ("a man under divine guidance"). When Asian flu carried off 61-year-old Shoghi Effendi in London last month. Bahais from Illinois to Iran speculated on whom he had appointed to carry on as Guardian. At Bahai world headquarters in Haifa last week 26 of the 27 "Hands of the Cause of God," chief stewards of the faith, gathered to find the answer in Shoghi Effendi's will. But where was the will?

The 26 Hands ransacked the headquarters at No. 7 Persian Street; they searched Shoghi Effendi's safe-deposit box without success. All week long they met in secret session, were tight-lipped about rumors of stormy rivalry between two candidates for Guardian--one of them said to be an American. At last they announced the solution: there would be no new Guardian at all, but a nine-man council of Hands at Haifa, titled "Hands of the Cause of God on Holy Land." The new body will have no power to interpret scripture.

"Everything would certainly have been much simpler if Shoghi Effendi had made a will," said a Hand from Paris when the meeting was over. But Bahais have hopes that they will not remain without scriptural interpretation too long. Founder Baha'u'llah decreed that when Bahaism was established in 57 countries, the world's Bahais were to elect a Universal House of Justice with power to make the faith's laws and interpret its teachings. The liberal, world-brotherhood Bahai religion is already rooted in 26 countries and, say its devotees, is spreading fast.

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