The Universal House of Justice, which the Guardian said
would be regarded by posterity as “the last refuge of a tottering
civilization,” is now, in the absence of the Guardian, the sole infallibly
guided institution in the world to which all must turn, and on it rests the
responsibility for ensuring the unity and progress of the Cause of God in
accordance with the revealed Word. There are statements from the Master and the
Guardian indicating that the Universal House of Justice, in addition to being
the Highest Legislative Body of the Faith, is also the body to which all must
turn, and is the “apex” of the Bahá’í Administrative Order, as well as the
“supreme organ of the Bahá’í Commonwealth.” The Guardian has in his writings
specified for the House of Justice such fundamental functions as the
formulation of future worldwide teaching plans, the conduct of the
administrative affairs of the Faith, and the guidance, organization and
unification of the affairs of the Cause throughout the world. Furthermore in God
Passes By the Guardian makes the following statement: “the Kitáb-i-Aqdas … not
only preserves for posterity the basic laws and ordinances on which the fabric
of His future World Order must rest, but ordains, in addition to the function
of interpretation which it confers upon His Successor, the necessary
institutions through which the integrity and unity of His Faith can alone be
safeguarded.” He has also, in “The Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh,” written that
the members of the Universal House of Justice “and not the body of those who
either directly or indirectly elect them, have thus been made the recipients of
the divine guidance which is at once the life-blood and ultimate safeguard of
this Revelation.” The Universal House of Justice
- The Universal House of Justice (From a message dated 27 May 1966 to an
individual believer; Online Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World
Center)
