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Directives from the Guardian

  • Author:
  • Shoghi Effendi

  • Source:
  • India/Hawaii, 1973 edition
  • Pages:
  • 87
Go to printed page GO
Pages 50-51

137: N.S.A. INVOLVEMENT (Appeals Prohibited)

“Anything whatsoever affecting the interests of the Cause and in which the National Assembly as a body is involved should, if regarded as unsatisfactory by Local Assemblies and individual believers, be immediately referred to the National Assembly itself. Neither the general body of the believers, nor any Local Assembly, nor even the delegates to the annual Convention, should be regarded as having any authority to entertain appeals against the decision of the National Assembly. Should the matter be referred to the Guardian it will be his duty to consider it with the utmost care and to decide whether the issues involved justify him to consider it in person, or to leave it entirely to the discretion of the National Assembly.
“This administrative principle which the Guardian is now restating and emphasizing is so clear, so comprehensive and simple that no misunderstanding as to its application, he feels, can possibly arise. There are no exceptions whatever to this rule, and the Guardian would deprecate any attempt to 51 elaborate or dwell any further upon this fundamental and clearly enunciated principle.”