No Guardian of the Faith, I feel it my solemn duty to place
on record, can ever claim to be the perfect exemplar of the teachings of
Bahá’u’lláh or the stainless mirror that reflects His light. Though
overshadowed by the unfailing, the unerring protection of Bahá’u’lláh and of
the Báb, and however much he may share with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá the right and
obligation to interpret the Bahá’í teachings, he remains essentially human and
cannot, if he wishes to remain faithful to his trust, arrogate to himself,
under any pretense whatsoever, the rights, the privileges and prerogatives
which Bahá’u’lláh has chosen to confer upon His Son. In the light of this truth
to pray to the Guardian of the Faith, to address him as lord and master, to
designate him as his holiness, to seek his benediction, to celebrate his
birthday, or to commemorate any event associated with his life would be
tantamount to a departure from those established truths that are enshrined
within our beloved Faith. The fact that the Guardian has been specifically
endowed with such power as he may need to reveal the purport and disclose the
implications of the utterances of Bahá’u’lláh and of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá does not
necessarily confer upon him a station co-equal with those Whose words he is
called upon to interpret. He can exercise that right and discharge this
obligation and yet remain infinitely inferior to both of them in rank and
different in nature.
(Shoghi Effendi, from a letter dated February 8, 1934; ‘The World Order of Baha’u’llah’)
