The Covenant-breaker controversies; CCWV.LIFE

At each succession, a small number of claimants have disputed the appointed line, and this record states them with the caution the subject requires. After 1892, Bahá'u'lláh's son Mírzá Muhammad 'Alí contested 'Abdu'l-Bahá's headship; after 1957, Charles Mason Remey claimed the Guardianship, and a small Orthodox Bahá'í Faith later formed around his successors. The worldwide Bahá'í community characterizes these claimants as Covenant-breakers and holds no fellowship with them; the claimants' own followers dispute that characterization and maintain their separate accounts. The numbers involved have always been very small beside the worldwide community. The record names the claims, the community's response, and the scholarly literature, and settles none of it.

Tagged: Bahá'í Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice Ministry of 'Abdu'l-Bahá

The Event

Date: 1892-present (exact)
Era: The Ministry of 'Abdu'l-Bahá; Standard periodization of Bahá'í history
Location: Haifa and worldwide; today Worldwide
Traditions: Bahá'í
Streams: Ministry of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice
Key figures: Mírzá Muhammad 'Alí, Charles Mason Remey

How the Tradition Tells It

Editorial caution, recorded as the table requires: the mainstream community's term Covenant-breaker is its own characterization, attributed to it here; the claimant groups reject it. Scholarly treatments, including MacEoin's and Cole's, document the disputes from outside both parties.

Connections

History Event 'Abdu'l-Bahá 1892-1921 arises within

Illustration for Guardianship of Shoghi Effendi

History Event Guardianship of Shoghi Effendi 1921-1957 arises within

Primary Sources

The Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá.
Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By (the community's account).
The claimant groups' own published statements.

Secondary Sources

MacEoin, Denis. The Messiah of Shiraz: Studies in Early and Middle Babism. Leiden: Brill, 2009.
Momen, Moojan. The Baha'i Faith: A Beginner's Guide. Oxford: Oneworld, 2008.
Shoghi Effendi. God Passes By. Wilmette: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1944 (the community's own history, cited as such).
Smith, Peter. An Introduction to the Baha'i Faith. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Warburg, Margit. Citizens of the World: A History and Sociology of the Baha'is in Britain and North America. Leiden: Brill, 2006.

Provenance: HIST-1115; confidence 0.95; accessed 2026-10-28.