Talk:Ruth White

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[edit] Why a forgery

It's just right now a *rough* feeling of what she's saying. My phrasing might be poor, so feel free to clarify it if you want, based on what she said that is. Not based on what anyone else said, which is irrelevant :) Wjhonson 22:45, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

Her contention was that the will was forged. In this she was virtually alone. Her expert, C. Ainsworth Mitchell, never saw the original — only a facsimile — and used "authenticated" comparison documents that White herself supplied and nobody else. Ainsworth Mitchell is explicit that his analysis is contingent upon these being accurate (White, Abdul Baha's Questioned Will and Testament, pp. 63-64)

[1]

The will was never questioned by anyone else, and accepted as genuine even by people opposed to both `Abdu'l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi.

"It is interesting to note that no one who has studied the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, with the exception of Mrs White and a few others whom she influenced, has ever questioned its authenticity. Even other Covenant-breakers who rose up against Shoghi Effendi did not agree with her. Ahmad Sohrab and Subhi had both served 'Abdu'l-Bahá as His secretary. They never questioned the authenticity of the Will. Neither did Muhammad-'Ali or Badi'u'llah, or other enemies who were looking for any flaws they could find with which to attack the Guardian of the Faith.

It must be remembered that the Will and Testament was written in 'Abdu'l-Bahá's handwriting and bore His seal. The Will and Testament was very familiar to the Persian believers. This is because 'Abdu'l-Bahá had written innumerable Tablets in His own hand and almost every Bahá'í family in Persia had been the recipient of these Tablets. When the photostat text of the Will and Testament was sent to Persia and elsewhere, it was easily acknowledged by everyone to be in the handwriting of 'Abdu'l-Bahá.

Another criterion for its authenticity is 'Abdu'l-Bahá's unique style and mode of expression which is familiar to the Persian friends. Indeed, anyone who is versed in the Writings of the Faith in the original language can easily tell the difference between the writings of Bahá'u'lláh, 'Abdu'l-Bahá or Shoghi Effendi, as each has its own special tone and style.

(Adib Taherzadeh, The Covenant of Baha'u'llah, p. 347)

[edit] World Unity Conferences

White discusses these on less than two pages [2] & [3] of a twenty-two page pamphlet, and then never again in her works. Doesn't seem to get over the WP:NN bar. MARussellPESE 18:41, 7 September 2006 (UTC)