A collection of excerpts containing chronologically issued answers to some of the questions submitted by individual believers and institutions

4/27/2020

The “symbol of the Greatest Name should not be used on gravestones” - 15 March 1975

Although there exists an instruction that the symbol of the Greatest Name should not be used on gravestones, no instruction has been found prohibiting the use of the symbol of the Greatest Name on any other particular item, such as jewelry, books or pamphlets. However, the Greatest Name should not be used in an undignified manner. Nothing has been found which would prohibit a believer from manufacturing and selling items using the Greatest Name provided that the manner in which the Greatest Name is used is dignified.  

- The Universal House of Justice  (From a letter dated March 25, 1975; compilation: Developing Distinctive Baha’i Communities, NSA of USA, 1998 edition)

4/20/2020

Age at which formal education should begin for children - 10 March 1975

There is nothing in the teachings specifically to state that a child must not be separated from its parents and its home for the first five years of its life. In a Tablet, however, 'Abdu'l-Bahá points out that formal education at school begins when the child is five years old. Shoghi Effendi has indicated in one of his letters that the formulation of system of education based on the teachings can only be gradually undertaken, and has to be accomplished by Bahá'í scholars and educationalists of the future... 

- The Universal House of Justice  (From a letter written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States, March 10, 1975; compilation: ‘Lights of Guidance’)

4/12/2020

The Greater and Lesser Covenant - 3 March 1975

There is, for example, the Greater Covenant which every Manifestation of God makes with His followers, promising that in the fullness of time a new Manifestation will be sent, and taking from them the undertaking to accept Him when this occurs. There is also the Lesser Covenant that a Manifestation of God makes with His followers that they will accept His appointed successor after Him. If they do so, the Faith can remain united and pure. If not, the Faith becomes divided and its force spent… It is a Covenant of this kind that Bahá'u'lláh made with His followers regarding 'Abdu'l-Bahá, and that 'Abdu'l-Bahá perpetuated through the Administrative Order that Bahá'u'lláh had already created. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (Letter from the Universal House of Justice, dated March 3, 1975, to an individual believer; Developing Distinctive Baha’i Communities, NSA of USA, 1998 edition)

4/04/2020

The “three different aspects of teaching” - 27 February 1975

The House of Justice . . . has instructed us to point out that proclamation, expansion, and consolidation are really three different aspects of teaching which to some degree merge into one another and therefore it is largely for each National Spiritual Assembly to decide how it will allocate these different aspects to committees in light of the volume of the work and the condition in each country. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (Letter written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice, dated February 27, 1975, to a National Spiritual Assembly; compilation: Developing Distinctive Baha’i Communities, NSA of USA, 1998 edition)