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Interpretation and the Guardianship
A talk given by Ian Semple at a seminar in Haifa on18 February 1984
1
 
The subject “Interpretation and the Guardianship” may seem tobe very straight-forward, but the more I have thought about it, themore I have become aware that the Bahá’í concept of interpretationis very different from that prevalent in earlier Dispensations andthat, even within the Faith, there are many misconceptions, and thatthese can give rise to tests for the believer.Here I would like to digress from the subject for a moment, tomake a personal comment about the coexistence of divine authorityand individual freedom of expression, which is such a characteristicfeature of the Faith. Someone — I think it was a pilgrim — oncecommented to me that he thought that if the Guardian had beensitting in the meeting of the Universal House of Justice it wouldhave been impossible for the members to say frankly what theythought. I have had the privilege of only a few hours in the presenceof the Guardian, but I do not agree with that point of view. Ibelieve that in his presence one would not have
dared 
to do anything
but
say exactly what one thought. I am also confirmed in this viewby the actions of the Hands of the Cause of God since the cominginto being of the Universal House of Justice — the Hands whoworked so closely with the beloved Guardian. They have alwaysdemonstrated absolute loyalty and also absolute frankness in all theirconsultations with the Universal House of Justice, and thiscombination has been a tremendous source of strength andinspiration to the Universal House of Justice.So I believe that the presence of a source of divine guidance inthe Faith, while being a guarantee of its unity and preserving thepurity of its teachings, is no contradiction to the principle offreedom of thought. I doubt if it is possible to obtain a totally clearunderstanding of the subject of interpretation, but perhaps we canclarify it to some extent.I propose to divide the subject into three main topics:1.
 
The distinction between the interpretation that we all do whendiscussing any subject, and Authoritative Interpretation asexercised by the Guardian2.
 
The distinction between authoritative interpretation, anddivinely guided legislation
 
204 Interpretation and the Guardianship
3.
 
 Aspects of the function of Interpreter as exercised by ShoghiEffendi This part of the subject is our main concern in this talk,and therefore I shall divide it also into a number of aspects,although I must emphasize that this is a purely arbitrary division,and each type of interpretation shades into the others. They are:3.l. Defining the meaning of specific Texts.3.2. Explaining what is the thought conveyed by the Texts,i.e. expounding their meaning.3.3. Development of seminal statements in the Sacred Text.3.4. Examples of refusal to comment further on a Text ormake statements on matters not covered in the Text.3.5. Definition of the sphere of authoritative interpretation.3.6. Illumination of the overall significance of theRevelation.3.7. The power to take a long and uninterrupted view over aseries of generations.Let us go back to the first of the three main topics.
1. Aspects of Interpretation, Individual and Authoritative
It is, of course, impossible to understand or speak about anystatement, whether written or oral, without interpretation. TheManifestation of God has the superhuman task of conveying tomankind truths that it does not yet understand and training it inmodes of behaviour that it has not yet risen to. To do this He has touse the limited languages that are spoken around Him, with all theiraccumulated meanings and connotations. He not only uses wordsand metaphors and similes with consummate skill, but in using oldforms and old concepts, He transforms them and breathes into themnew meaning. So, in trying to educate ourselves in the Revelation,we need to study three meanings in each text we read: the meaningof the words themselves; the meaning they will have had for theparticular person or persons that the Manifestation was addressing;and also the new meaning or meanings that He will be trying toconvey. In other words, we must avoid three pitfalls: one is that ofignoring the obvious meaning of the words (in the past people weresometimes so keen on extracting the esoteric significance of a textthat they were blind to the clear meaning of the words); the secondpitfall is that of taking the words out of their historical and socialcontexts; the third is that of thinking that the social and historicalcontexts will, in themselves, give us an understanding of the obviousmeaning and of what the Manifestation is saying.
 
Lights of ‘Irfán Book Six 205
 A good example to show this is Bahá’u’lláh’s Tablet to aPhysician. Some passages are quite straightforward. To understandothers we need to remember the caution of the Guardian that thisTablet was addressed to a physician of the old school of medicine,and that without an understanding of the terminology of thatschool, we could not understand what Bahá’u’lláh was saying.However, it is clear that Bahá’u’lláh was not merely recounting tothe physician what the physician already knew; He was explaining tohim, in terminology that he could understand, certain truths that Hewanted to convey about health and healing.The historical and social context is not the only context of apassage. There is also the context of the other teachings. In
Gleanings
we find the following words of Bahá’u’lláh:
If it be your wish, O people, to know God and to discover the greatness of His might, look, then, upon Me with Mineown eyes, and not with the eyes of anyone besides Me. Yewill, otherwise, be never capable of recognizing Me,though you ponder My Cause as long as My Kingdomendureth, and meditate upon all created things throughoutthe eternity of God, the Sovereign Lord of all, theOmnipotent, the Ever-Abiding, the All-Wise.
(GWB 272)
This, I think, implies among other things that the most importantkeys to understanding the Writings are the Writings themselves;that we must read them not merely from our point of view, trying tosee what
we
can understand, but consider them from Bahá’u’lláh’spoint of view: what is
He
trying to convey? And for what purpose?It is no good taking one text and trying to understand it in isolationfrom all the other teachings which might bear upon it. Therefore wemust relate every statement to all the rest of the Revelation and tryto understand what Bahá’u’lláh is striving to
convey 
. Theconsequence of this realization is to accept that, since we can
never 
 encompass the whole Revelation we must always be tentative in ourunderstanding even when it may seem to us to be absolutely clear. Astriking example of the importance of this occurs in the Kitáb-i- Aqdas, where we find the verses:
“God hath enjoined upon
 
 youmarriage” 
and
“Enter into wedlock, O people, that ye may bring forth one
 
who will make mention of Me: this is My commandmentunto you, obey it as a succour to yourselves.” 
One would think thatthese are very clear statements not susceptible of any interpretation.It seems, on the face of it to be an unambiguous and bindingcommand. Yet one of the believers asked Bahá’u’lláh Himself aboutthis passage, and whether it meant that marriage was compulsory.Bahá’u’lláh replied: “This is not compulsory.” I instance this becauseit is quite a temptation sometimes for Bahá’ís, during discussion of a
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