Ruth White Collection, Library of Congress, 1930
http://www.fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/RWhiteLibC.htm
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).
EXCERPTS - Ruth White. Abdul Baha's Questioned Will and Testament.
http://www.fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/archives/WhiteABQWT.pdf
Download All Documents Deposited by Ruth White at the Library of Congress
PDF:
http://www.fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/archives/WhiteLCDocs.pdf
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).
The Baha'i Faith & Religious Freedom of Conscience
http://www.fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/
See 2007 - Lawsuit by Wilmette NSA Against Other Denominations
http://www.fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/
Ruth White, Excerpts, Bibliography
http://www.fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/Ruth%20White.htm
Dr. C. (Charles) Ainsworth Mitchell - Certified Copy from the Library of
Congress
Report on the Writing Shown on the Photographs of the Alleged Will of
Abdu'l-Baha. 1930.
http://www.fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/CAMitchell_Report.htm
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