The Baha'i Faith & Religious Freedom of Conscience

Together with Dr. Mitchell's Report available at the link above, these documents constitute the entire collection
that Ruth White deposited with the Library of Congress in 1930.  Bibliography of Ruth White's books at the bottom of this page.

LC Control No.: mm 81000871
Type of Material: Archival Manuscript Material (Collection)
Personal Name: ?Abdu'l-Baha´, 1844-1921.
Main Title: Collection regarding the will of ?Abdu'l-Baha´,1930-1932.
Description: 9 items.
Biographical/Historical Data:
Religious leader.

Summary: Correspondence and reports by Ainsworth C. Mitchell and
Ruth White concerning the authenticity of a copy of the
will of ?Abdu'l-Baha´. Correspondents include the
assistant of Effendi Shoghi, officials of the government
of Palestine, and Ruth White.

Notes: MSS871
Forms part of: Miscellaneous Manuscripts collection.
Acquisition Source:
Gift, Ruth White, 1930-1932.
Additional Formats:
Positive photocopies and handwritten and type written transcripts.

Subjects: ?Abd ul-Baha¯ ibn Baha¯ Ulla¯h, 1844-1921.
Mitchell, C. Ainsworth (Charles Ainsworth), 1867-
Shoghi, Effendi--Correspondence.
White, Ruth.
White, Ruth--Correspondence.
Palestine. Chief Secretary's Office--Correspondence.
Bahai Faith.
Religious leaders. itoamc
Local Shelving No.:
MMC
Repository: Library of Congress Manuscript Division Washington, D.C.
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-- Request in: Manuscript Reading Room (Madison, LM101)
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A sincere man in Shoghi's position should gladly have accepted my challenge for an investigation. Any man confident of the justice of his case would, in fact, have courted and insisted upon an impartial and judicial examination of the alleged will and of all the facts bearing on his claim to Guardianship. Shoghi Effendi however, it can be seen, was congratulating himself that there was no likelihood of the Palestine authorities considering the question. He shunned a test of the alleged will and of his claims. And I have every reason to believe that his advice to his followers not to hurt my feelings at that time was with a view to prevent me from pursuing the matter further (1).

To His Excellency
The High Commissioner of Palestine
Jerusalem, Palestine.
October 7, 1930

Your Excellency:

As a victim of a fraud, which is being perpetrated under the Mandatory Power now governing Palestine, I wish to make a complaint against Shoghi Effendi, of the Persian Colony, at Haifa Palestine.

Shoghi Effendi is collecting money from the people of the various nations of the world under the powers granted him in an alleged will which he claims is the will of Sir Abdul-Baha Abbas, and in which he is appointed successor of Sir Abdu-Baha Abbas. I base my assertion that a fraud is being perpetrated by Shoghi Effendi on the following facts:

About three months after the death of Sir Abdul-Baha Abbas, in November 1921, typewritten copies of an English translation of a document were sent to England, America, and other countries, which Shoghi Effendi alleged is the will of Sir Abdul-Baha Abbas, appointing him his successor. This alleged will is undated, unwitnessed, unprobated, and unstamped by the Government. It also contradicts the intent that its alleged maker held during his lifetime. for the alleged will commands people to obey Shoghi Effendi as if he were God, and to pay a tax to him. This is the motive of the fraud--money and power" (2).

I have submitted the photographs of the alleged will to Dr. C. Ainsworth Mitchell, the renowned English handwriting expert, and editor of The Analyst, at 85 Eccleston Square London, S.W.1. and his report shows that this document is fraudulent. No part of it was written by Abdu'l-Baha. Shoghi Effendi ignored my request for permission to send a handwriting expert to Haifa to examine the original document.

...I also enclose a photostat copy of Dr. Mitchell's report.

I am not making this complaint merely because of the money I have contributed, as this is small compared to the expense that I have incurred in collecting evidence against Shoghi Effendi. But I am making this complaint in order to protect the public from a fraud, and a movement, which under Shoghi Effendi has become far more subversive than that of Bolshevism. For Shoghi Effendi aims to become world dictator, and he is establishing enemy states within each state, and collecting taxes from the people of these enemy states. All this is contrary to the teachings of Sir Abdu'l-Baha Abbas whose successor he claims to be (2-3).

I am glad that the first step has been accomplished, and that you have compared the photographs I sent you of the alleged will of Sir Abdu'l-Baha Abbas with the original document purporting to be his will, and found that the photographs are reproductions of it. Thank you for taking this very necessary step. But you of course are aware that my request for an investigation was not in order to ascertain whether the photographs I sent you were copies of this purported document, for I never doubted that they were. My request was for you to ascertain whether the document is authentic or fraudulent. When Dr. Mitchell examined the enlarged photographs, and that the next step should be for an expert to examine the original alleged will at Haifa in order to ascertain many points that can be ascertained only through an examination of an original document, as for instance--the chemical analysis of the ink, its age, and evidences of erasures, and also evidences of paper having been pieced together, and many other points familiar to a handwriting expert (5-6).

After Dr. Mitchell told me this I sent Shoghi Effendi Rabbani a registered letter asking him to grant me permission to send a handwriting expert to Haifa and have the original examined. but to this he did not reply, nor did I expect him to, inasmuch he has done everything to prevent an investigation. Yet he has not hesitated to collect money from me and other Bahais under the powers granted in this alleged will.

I most respectfully repeat my request to you that inasmuch as I am one of the victims of this fraud, and inasmuch as this fraud is continuing to be perpetrated internationally upon the public, and great sums of money collected under the powers granted in this alleged will, that you have the original alleged will of Sir Abdu'l-Baha Abbas examinined by a handwriting expert and report your finding to me. Your report that the photographs examined by the handwriting expert to whom I submitted these (Dr. Mitchell) have been verified as accurate reproductions of the original document, in conjunction with the report of Dr. Mitchell make a prima facie case of fraud against those who have used this alleged will as a basis of soliciting money from the public, and you will hence recognize the necessity of further action on your part.

You already have Dr. Mitchell's report which shows that his examination of the photographs of this allleged will proves it to be fraudulent. You also have photostats of the receipts showing that I contributed to this Bahai Faun (from which Shoghi Effendi receives his tax). And at the time I contributed to this fund it was without knowledge that the alleged will had not been fully authenticated. Therefored as all indications are overwhelmingly in favour of the belief that his alleged will, which was undated, unwitnessed, unprobated and unstamped by the government, is fraudulent, and especially as this belief is backed up by the report of Dr. C. Ainsworth Mithcell showing it to be fraudulent, I am confident that you will take the final step and have the document examined and make a report so that these victims may no longer be defrauded by Shoghi Effendi Rabanni, who claims to be the successor of Sir Abdu'l-Baha Abbas, and that restitution may be made to me, and to many others, from whom large sums have been obtained under false pretences (6).