scient." "Unto the Most Holy Book" (the
Kitab-i-Aqdas), 'Abdu'l-Baha states in His Will, "every one must turn, and
all that is not expressly recorded therein must be referred to the
Universal House of Justice. That which this body, whether unanimously or
by a majority doth carry, that is verily the truth and the purpose of God
Himself. Whoso doth deviate therefrom is verily of them that love discord,
hath shown forth malice, and turned away from the Lord of the Covenant."

Not only does 'Abdu'l-Baha confirm in His Will Baha'u'llah's above-quoted
statement, but invests this body with the additional right and power to
abrogate, according to the exigencies of time, its own enactments, as well
as those of a preceding House of Justice. "Inasmuch as the House of
Justice," is His explicit statement in His Will, "hath power to enact laws
that are not expressly recorded in the Book and bear upon daily
transactions, so also it hath power to repeal the same... This it can do
because these laws form no part of the divine explicit text."

Referring to both the Guardian and the Universal House of Justice we read
these emphatic words: "The sacred and youthful Branch, the Guardian of the
Cause of God, as well as the Universal House of Justice to be universally
elected and established, are both under the care and protection of the
Abha Beauty, under the shelter and unerring guidance of the Exalted One
(the Bab) (may my life be offered up for them both). Whatsoever they
decide is of God."

From these statements it is made indubitably clear and evident that the
Guardian of the Faith has been made the Interpreter of the Word and that
the Universal House of Justice has been invested with the function of
legislating on matters not expressly revealed in the teachings. The
interpretation of the Guardian, functioning within his own sphere, is as
authoritative and binding as the enactments of the International House of
Justice, whose exclusive right and prerogative is to pronounce upon and
deliver the final judgment on such laws and ordinances as Baha'u'llah has
not expressly revealed. Neither can, nor will ever, infringe upon the
sacred and prescribed domain of the other. Neither will seek to curtail
the specific and undoubted authority with which both have been divinely
invested.

Though the Guardian of the Faith has been made the permanent head of so
august a body he can never, even temporarily, assume the right of
exclusive legislation. H