Baha’is believe that Baha’u’llah promised to give inspiration to their most beloved Institution: the Universal House of Justice. Baha’is trust that the decisions of this divinely ordained Institution reflect the Will of their God-inspired Founder. As Baha’u’llah wrote of ‘His men of the House of Justice,’ “God will verily inspire them with whatsoever He willeth, and He, verily, is the Provider, the Omniscient.” (TB pg. 68).
For some this belief is a test, as other religions have made claim to ‘infallibility’ in their decision-making, and then gone on to perpetrate horrific acts against humanity in the name of God. Again, the difference for Baha’is is that this Institution was ordained ‘by name,’ by their Founder in pen and ink, and the authority was directly given to it to guide and lead the Baha’i World. Our Writings state, “It is incumbent upon these members (of the Universal House of Justice) to gather in a certain place and deliberate upon all problems which have caused difference, questions that are obscure and matters that are not expressly recorded in the Book. Whatsoever they decide has the same effect as the Text itself. And inasmuch as this House of Justice 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. Thus for example, the House of Justice enacteth today a certain law and enforceth it, and a hundred years hence, circumstances having profoundly changed and the conditions having altered, another House of Justice will then have power, according to the exigencies of the time, to alter that law. This it can do because that law formeth no part of the Divine Explicit Text. The House of Justice is both the Initiator and the Abrogator of its own laws.” (Abdu’l-Baha, BWF, p. 447)