##### National Spiritual Assemblies / United States # **A New Baha'i Era (The Chicago Manifesto)** #### Letter signed by the American Hands of the Cause and the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States\[1] #### **1958, unpublished, privately circulated.**\[2] *** With the passing of the beloved Guardian, we believers have entered a new era in the history of the Faith of Baha’u’llah. The landscape has changed; in some aspects it is unfamiliar; we pause in temporary confusion until we become accustomed to the new condition and can see its relationship to the eternal verities of the revelation we have accepted with all our hearts. The American Hands of the Cause and the National Assembly deeply appreciate the need for reorientation in order to reunite the powers of understanding with the power of faith, since the Baha’i Faith is conscious knowledge and not traditional indoctrination nor blind credulity. Ardor emanates from the unity of our whole being, when there is reconciliation and fusion of will, feeling and knowledge in the mystery of a God-given faith. As we relate ourselves anew to the Baha’i Revelation in its successive eras of unfoldment, we are assured that the Martyr-Prophet, the Bab, fulfilled His mission in terminating the prophetic era and inaugurating the era of world religion and world unity. We have full assurance that Baha’u’llah manifested the divine Love and Purpose in establishing a Universal Faith, a new Order. We likewise have full assurance that ‘Abdu’l-Baha, the Center of His Covenant with mankind, completed the structural pattern of the new Order, united the understanding and devotion of the Baha’is of East and West, revealed the Tablets of the Divine Plan destined to prepare humanity for the Most Great Peace, and conferred upon the Baha’is the unique blessing of the Guardian. The beloved Shoghi Effendi, appointed Guardian, interpreted the Master’s Testament, pointed out the essential purpose of the Revelation, translated basic Baha’i writings, preserved and developed the Holy Shrines, defined the functions of the Baha’i institutions, and instituted successive teaching plans culminating in the World Crusade. From 1921 until 1957 Shoghi Effendi stood forth as the world leader of the Baha is, their inspirer, guide and teacher, their link with the Heroic Age of their Faith. Without Shoghi Effendi, without a successor to the station of Guardianship, without his guidance for the future Universal House of Justice, how are we believers to teach the Cause and fulfill our individual and collective missions? Here, as all the friends realize, are the vital questions we must answer before we can release our potential energies in service to the Cause of God. The answers are supremely important to our Baha’i generation, even though it we fail in our mission we know that the Faith of God will raise up new Baha’is to take our place and complete our work. The American Hands and your National Assembly therefore appeal for most earnest consideration, understanding and acceptance of the following facts and truths. **The Proclamation** The Proclamation prepared by the Hands of the Cause assembled in the Mansion of Baha’u’llah adopted and promulgated in their capacity of “Chief Stewards of the Embryonic World Commonwealth of Baha’u’llah,” a station conferred upon the Hands by the Guardian in his last message to the Baha’i world – a message written only a few weeks before his death. It is known from the physicians’ examination after the Guardian’s passing that his death was not caused by disease but by the complete exhaustion incurred during the unremitting labors of his thirty-six years of sacrifice to the Faith of Baha’u’llah. This particular responsibility was therefore assigned to the Hands in the Guardian’s awareness of his condition in order to create an international Baha’i authority qualified to act after his own passing. The very phrase “Chief Stewards of the Embryonic World Commonwealth of Baha’u’llah,” establishes this fact. Herein lies the foundation for our rational understanding and acceptance of the new Baha’i era. As we know, the Proclamation conveyed the determination of the Hands “to carry out every aspect of the Guardian’s wishes and hopes,” thereby defining in these words their function and purpose to be trustees and custodians of Shoghi Effendi’s expressed plans, which laid down the road of Baha’i progress for years to come. The Proclamation, likewise, in appointing nine of their number to serve at the World Center, revealed obedience to a definite provision of the Master’s Testament. The work of the nine Hands is clearly explained in the text of the Proclamation, as is the function of the International Baha’i Council in its evolution to fulfillment in the election of the Universal House of Justice, “the source of all good and freed from all error.” All claim to capacity of interpretation by the Hands is disavowed in the Proclamation. They will coordinate the activities of the National Assemblies, energize the believers in their services to the World Crusade, receive and act upon reports from the Hands of the Cause located in the several continents, and answer questions by references to the Teachings which throw light upon the particular problem. Finally, (also in accordance with the Master’s Testament) the nine Hands will exercise the authority to expel Covenant-Breakers from the Baha’i community. **The Guardianship** Shoghi Effendi appointed no successor in his own lifetime because he himself had no natural heir and because no member of the Holy Family qualified. The Master’s Testament is the sole authority controlling the appointment of successive Guardians, and its specific provisions were scrupulously upheld by the Guardian in his non-appointment of a second Guardian.  Shoghi Effendi, moreover, could not leave a written will and testament because he possessed no personal estate but held title to the Shrines and the International Fund solely in his capacity as Guardian. The designation of the Hands as Chief Stewards provides a body of trustees capable of serving as custodians but not as successor to the Guardianship. Since a successor could only be chosen and designated by Shoghi Effendi in his own lifetime, the friends must dismiss all hopeful expectation that a will appointing a second Guardian may later be found. The door to the appointment of a second Guardian, as far as can be determined by reference to the Baha’i writings, is closed. Neither the Hands of the Cause nor the Universal House of Justice has been endowed with authority for such appointment. **The Universal House of Justice** Shoghi Effendi wrote “The Dispensation of Baha’u’llah” in February, 1934. The twenty-three and a half years intervening between that date and the hour of his passing produced a stupendous development in the operation of local and National Assemblies, the station of the Hands of the Cause, and in our knowledge of the laws and principles as well as teachings recorded in the Holy Text. In fact, the Baha’i World Community received from Shoghi Effendi the guidance and direction needed until 1963 and for years thereafter. The Guardianship continues in terms of Shoghi Effendi’s peerless accomplishments even though the person of the Guardian has been called to a higher world. No Baha’i text declares that the House of Justice cannot be elected without a Guardian. The House, as an independent institution, is assured of Divine Guidance in acting upon matters lying within its own special province. More than once Shoghi Effendi declared that he need not attend all sessions of the House of Justice as he would be occupied with his own separate affairs. In the Guardian’s writings the members of the House of Justice possess a body of material uniquely supplementing the Tablets of Baha’u’llah and of ‘Abdu’l-Baha. **A New Baha'i Era** The final question which arises from the grief-stricken hearts of Baha’is is: why should we be deprived of a Guardian? Even though we begin to realize how we can serve and how we can teach, the mystery of this loss still remains. It marks a change in the structural pattern of the Baha’i World Community which has come about for no human cause or reason. Here, beloved friends, we must raise our vision to that highest realm, the Will of God, which (as the Guardian pointed out in his letter referring to the Persian persecutions) can intervene in the Baha’i Plan, apparently disrupt its operation, but in the long run reinforce the Baha’i Plan. That Realm of Mystery is higher even than the teachings of Baha’u’llah; it is whence all the Manifestations are bidden to appear and whence They are inspired and directed. The passing of the Guardian does not and cannot represent a failure of the Master to perpetuate a faithful Holy Family, nor of Baha’u’llah to guide and guard His Faith. It represents no failure of Shoghi Effendi, whose record as Guardian elicits our profoundest admiration and gratitude. We can only behold in this strange event an intervention of God’s Plan and await with certitude a mighty reinforcement of Baha’i capacity and opportunity, and a great, unexpected spiritual quickening within the peoples of the world. This is the answer to the why. The year 1957 was a fateful period for the nation and for human survival as well as for all Baha’is. Understanding is fulfilled in action. We Baha’is are confronted with the greatest challenge our generation of believers has ever encountered. We are called upon to attain true maturity, as when youth becomes manhood with the death of a kind and protective father, and destiny can no longer be met at second hand. Not only the individual believer but also the local and national Assemblies must become mature, fulfilling their functions as trustees elected by the community and charged with definite responsibilities for the progress of the Faith. Our goal is 1963, the termination and climax of the World Crusade, when the foundations must be prepared for the election of the future House of Justice. That revered body, in consultation with the surviving Hands of the Cause, can determine the future operation of the Faith of Baha’u’llah. We are the bridge between the passing of the Guardian and the formation of the Universal House of Justice. We pray to God that we may be faithful to our sacred trust. >“Lauded be thy Name, O Lord my God! Darkness hath fallen upon every land, and the forces of mischief have encompassed all the nations. Through them, however, I perceive the splendors of Thy wisdom, and discern the brightness of the light of Thy providence. > >“They that are shut out as by a veil from Thee have imagined that they have the power to put out Thy light, and to quench Thy fire, and to still the winds of Thy grace. Nay, and to this Thy might beareth me witness! Had not every tribulation been made the bearer of Thy wisdom, and every ordeal the vehicle of Thy providence, no one would have dared oppose us, though the powers of earth and heaven were to be leagued against us. Were I to unravel the wondrous mysteries of Thy wisdom which are laid bare before me, the reins of Thine enemies would be cleft asunder. > >“Glorified by Thou, then, O my God! I beseech Thee by Thy most Great Name to assemble them that love Thee around the Law that streameth from the good pleasure of Thy will and to send down upon them what will assure their hearts. > >“Potent art Thou to do what pleaseth Thee. Thou art, verily the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting.” ###### **American Hands of the Cause** ###### **National Spiritual Assembly** *** **Endnotes** **1.** \[Editors notes: - Signed "American Hands of the Cause" while in actuality three Hands were responsible, Corinne True, Hermann Grossmann, and Horace Holley. Hermann Grossmann was a European Hand and, based on writing style, it has been suggested that Horace Holley was the author. - Widely distributed by mail in the the Unites States and abroad to associated NSAs. - Publication in print, *Baha'i News*, was halted by a cable from the Hands of the Cause of God in the Holy Land (see *The Ministry of the Custodians*, p.99.).] **2.** \[Editors notes: - Following the initial circulation of the letter, and particularly due to it being withdrawn from circulation by the Hands, the letter saw a continual and ongoing copying and sharing amongst Baha'is for historical and ideological reasons into the 21st century. - The note on the title page of the PDF copy in the collection reads as follows (author unknown): >In April of 1958, a four-page, mimeographed letter, undated, unsigned and attributed to the “American Hands of the Cause” and the “National Spiritual Assembly” was distributed to Nationals throughout the world, these institutions distributing the prepared copies to their Locals, who in turn passed them on to individual English-speaking believers. > >This letter caused considerable impact on believers — in some cases shock and disbelief — and finally earned such notoriety as to ultimately come to be known as the “CHICAGO MANIFESTO.” When the full implications of the impact were realized by its authors, urgent efforts were made to have it recalled with instructions given to destroy or return all copies.] *** `Posted: 10 September 2025`