Briefly, this is the wisdom of referring the laws of society
to the House of Justice. In the religion of Islam, similarly, not every
ordinance was explicitly revealed; nay not a tenth part of a tenth part was
included in the Text; although all matters of major importance were
specifically referred to, there were undoubtedly thousands of laws which were
unspecified. These were devised by the divines of a later age according to the
laws of Islamic jurisprudence, and individual divines made conflicting
deductions from the original revealed ordinances. All these were enforced.
Today this process of deduction is the right of the body of the House of
Justice, and the deductions and conclusions of individual learned men have no
authority, unless they are endorsed by the House of Justice. The difference is
precisely this, that from the conclusions and endorsements of the body of the
House of Justice whose members are elected by and known to the worldwide Bahá'í
community, no differences will arise; whereas the conclusions of individual
divines and scholars would definitely lead to differences, and result in
schism, division, and dispersion. The oneness of the Word would be destroyed,
the unity of the Faith would disappear, and the edifice of the Faith of God
would be shaken.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (Extract from a Tablet included in a letter
dated 18 April 2001 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an
individual believer)
