Bahā’u’llāh has said:

Ere this, in Our Epistles, have We commanded the Trustees of the House of Justice, either to choose one of the existing tongues, or to originate a new one, and in like manner to adopt a common script, teaching these to the children in all the schools of the world, that the world may become even as one land and one home.[1]

Although Baha’is propagate this principle with great pride and regard it as one of their greatest teachings in achieving oneness of humanity, the Baha’i administration has failed after more than 150 years, in implementing Bahā’u’llāh’s direct order in implementing this principle or even selecting or creating a single language to serve this purpose!

`Abdu’l-Bahā too had put great emphasis on the implementation of this principle:

Were we in possession of a universal language, the Western books could easily be translated into that language, and the Eastern peoples be informed of their contents. In the same way the books of the East could be translated into that language for the benefit of the people in the West. The greatest means of progress towards the union of East and West will be a common language. It will make the whole world one home and become the strongest impulse for human advancement. It will upraise the standard of the oneness of humanity. It will make the earth one universal commonwealth. It will be the cause of love between the children of men. It will cause good fellowship between the various races.[2]

Instead of starting a campaign for a universal auxiliary language and translating Baha’i works into a single universal language, Baha’is have started a campaign of translating their literature into every possible language in the world and according to official Baha’i figures, Baha’i literature has been translated into 800 different languages worldwide![3]

In a letter from the Universal House of Justice (UHJ) to an individual dated 8 June 1980, the UHJ simply puts the blame on governments for not implementing this language:

You are quite correct in stating that there are two different provisions in the Sacred Texts for the selection of an International Auxiliary Language. On the one hand, this task is given to the governments of the world, on the other it is given to the House of Justice. It is not possible now to see how this will come about, but it would seem reasonable to assume that, long before the Bahā’ī community is large enough or can exercise the authority to produce such a world-embracing change, events will compel the governments, either progressively or all in concert, to select an International Auxiliary Language to be taught as a second language in all schools and to be used in all international commerce. At a much later stage, possibly at the time of the Bahā’ī World Commonwealth, the Universal House of Justice may well decide to review the situation and either confirm the decision that the governments had made, or change the choice to a more suitable language.[4]

Why does a person who claims to be a manifestation of God with Divine Knowledge fail to point the Baha’i administration to an appropriate and specific language to be used for this task? Why is the UHJ waiting all these years to see which language will be universally accepted as a universal language? If these figures were Divinely Inspired and had superhuman knowledge, then why did they not tell the world about the auxiliary language of the future and why did they not propagate that specific language? Is it not because neither `Abdu’l-Bahā nor Bahā’u’llāh could foresee the future, and the UHJ fears that any language they select for this purpose will result in a failure, like what happened when `Abdu’l-Bahā selected Esperanto to serve this purpose?

[1] J. E. Esslemont, Bahā’u’llāh and the New Era, p.163.

[2] J. E. Esslemont, Bahā’u’llāh and the New Era, pp.164-165.

[3] For example see http://news.bahai.org/media-information/statistics (retrieved 25/01/2014)

[4] Paul Desailly, Making World Peace Real: The Baha’i Faith and Esperanto (Melbourne: Howard Perkins, 2003), p. 40 (electronic version: http://www.bahaindex.com/documents/Making_World_Peace_Real.pdf)