The most distinguished of the state prisoners whom the British found there in 1878 was Subh-i-Azel

Cyprus was used by the Turks, as by their predecessors, as a place of banishment for fallen dignitaries or undesirable persons; and, as Gunnis remarks (p. 88), Famagusta became under them little more than a prison. The most distinguished of the state prisoners whom the British found there in 1878 was Subh-i-Ezel, leader of one of the two dissident Babist sects (see Luke, Anatolica, pp. 112 ff.).

(A History of Cyprus By Sir George Hill, Volume IV - The Ottoman Province, The British Colony, 1571-1948 Edited By Sir Harry Luke, p. 253)

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According to Browne Subh-i-Azal was the successor of the Bab

Browne attached great significance to this letter and called it 'a document of great historical interest, viz. the appointment of Subh-i-Ezel [Mirza Yahya Azal] by the Bab as his successor'. Making no distinction between the rank of a successor and that of a vicegerent, Browne continues: 'This document furnishes us with the grounds whereon Subh-i-Ezel's claims to be the Bab's vicegerent are based.' Elsewhere, Browne states that the appointment was made explicitly. Browne evidently regards the role of a successor or vicegerent as that of a kind of vali, who leads the community until the coming of the new Manifestation.

(Making The Crooked Straight by Udo Schaefer, Nicola Towfigh, Ulrich Gollmer, p. 633)

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It is evident from various Azali and Baha'i sources that Mirza Yahya Azal occupied a special status in the Babi community, appointed head of the Babi community

It is evident from various Azali and Baha'i sources that Mirza Yahya Azal occupied a special status in the Babi community, which had been bestowed on him by the Bab. From the outset of his mission (1844), the Bab had faced fierce resistance on the part of the Shi'a clergy and the state authorities, with the result that his remaining years, until his martyrdom in 1850, were spent mainly in prison. It was probably for this reason that he appointed a head for the young community. While in prison, he appointed Mirza Yahya Azal as leader of the Babi community, probably in 1849. ['Abdu'l-Baha does not cite the exact date but mentions only that this appointment was made after the death of Muhammad Shah, which occurred in 1848 (A Traveller's Narrative, pp 62f.) Browne states that Mirza Yahya was appointed to this rank in July/August 1849 (Tarikh-i-Jadid, Intro., p. xviii). In a hitherto unpublished article, Momen concludes that the appointment was made towards the end of 1849.] Because of his appointment to this position, Mirza Yahya was highly respected in the Babi community until the 1860s.

(Making The Crooked Straight by Udo Schaefer, Nicola Towfigh, Ulrich Gollmer, p. 631)

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the Bab employed the title Subh-i-Azal in reference to various other leading Babis

This title of honour [Subh-i-Azal] was evidently not conferred on him by the Bab, who only called him Thamaratu’l-Azaliyya and Ismu'l-Azal (see Mirza Yahya, Mustayqiz, pp. 391f). However, the Bab did employ the title Subh-i-Azal in reference to various other leading Babis (see the commentary on the Hadith of Kumayl, Teheran Baha'i Archives MS 6006C, pp. 74ff.)

(Making The Crooked Straight by Udo Schaefer, Nicola Towfigh, Ulrich Gollmer, p. 631)

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Baha'i scholars write about the Azali community... Azalis finally integrated into Muslim society

Today, it would appear that there is no longer an Azali leader. Indeed, there does not even seem to be an Azali community. With the exception of isolated efforts exerted by a Cypriot grandson of Mirza Yahya Azal, Jalal Azal, who died in 1971, and by an Azali in Iran called Qasimi, who published a small number of Azali writings between the 1940s and 1960s, there have been no further attempts to promote the cause of Mirza Yahya Azal or to publish Azali books. There is evidently no collection of writings and no Azali archive, as MacEoin’s research has shown. Azal's descendants who still live in Cyprus are Muslims and know little about the history of their family or about their religious past. Riza Ezel, grandson of Mirza Yahya Azal, who tends his grandfather’s grave, regards Mirza Yahya Azal as a Muslim saint. A sociological study has established that the Azalis do not form a distinct, active group, and that a kind of paralysis has set in. No growth is taking place. The Azalis do not present themselves as such, but are integrated into Muslim society, making use of the services provided by and for the wider Muslim community.

(Making The Crooked Straight by Udo Schaefer, Nicola Towfigh, Ulrich Gollmer, p. 630)

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the Guardian not only deprived anyone who did not openly declare his Faith of his voting rights, but even indicated they were Covenant breakers.

"In Persia, even during the period of persecution, when life was in danger, and complete freedom offered to those who indicated they were Muslims and not Bahá’ís, the Guardian not only deprived anyone who did not openly declare his Faith of his voting rights, but even indicated they were Covenant breakers.

"Thus you will see that it is completely inconsistent for a Bahá’í under any circumstances whatsoever, to indicate they are anything but a Bahá’í, regardless of what the result may be."

(From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to two believers, April 30, 1957)

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Baha'i community had become such an unhealthy place spiritually. -Steven Scholl

Steven Scholl, founding publisher of White Cloud Press, was threatened with being declared a covenant breaker for having published books without administrative approval. He chose to resign for the reasons in his quote below, from “Enemies Within : Conflict and Control in the Baha'i Community.” By Bacquet, Karen

“My wife is a Baha'i as are many of her family members,... The very real threat of being declared a Covenant breaker meant my wife had to face the decision of joining me as a heretic or divorcing me so that she could maintain her relationships with her family and other lifelong friends. Since [my wife] had no intention of divorcing me, the choices then extended out to her family. Her sister would not refuse to socialize with us so she would automatically be declared a covenant breaker along with her husband and children. Many of my close Baha'i friends would also be faced with the decision of maintaining friendships or joining me as a heretic. The whole thing is absurd and quite medieval. But it does raise the issue which you point out so well; how anyone would want to belong to a group which is willing to act this way and be so cruel is beyond me. That is why I voluntarily left the religion. Not in order to escape punishment but because the Baha'i community had become such an unhealthy place spiritually. I was terribly saddened that my spiritual home of 25 years had turned into a prison and nightmare.”

(Enemies Within: Conflict and Control in the Baha’i Community by Karen Bacquet. Published in Cultic Studies Journal - Psychological Manipulation and Society, Volume 18, 2001)

https://library.internationalculticstudies.org/24n77ga/2

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Baha'u'llah was a criminal

ʿIzzīya Khānum in her book Tanbīh al-Nāʾimīn (Exhortation to those who Slumber) states:

He [Baha’u’llah] gathered together the rabble, riffraff, and hoodlums from the provinces of Iran, along with the strays and fugitives of those regions—men who at no time had entered into any religion, nor believed in any prophet; who knew no trade save murder, and pursued no occupation besides despoiling the property of others. Yet, while making claims to Ḥusaynīya [of being the return of Imam Ḥusayn], he assembled around himself these evildoers whose deeds resembled those of Shimr [the murderer of Ḥusayn]. Every person from whom there issued a breath other than that which pleased them, they cut off. Every head from which there arose a voice other than devotion unto them, they struck down. Every throat from which there emerged a word other than submission unto them, they severed. And every heart within which there dwelt aught besides love for them, they split asunder.

The companions of the first rank, whose names have already been mentioned, fled in fear of those bloodthirsty executioners, setting out under the pretext of visiting the sacred shrines toward Karbalāʾ and Najaf, while others escaped to different regions. They beheaded Sayyid Ismāʿīl of Iṣfahān. They ripped open the belly of Ḥājjī Mīrzā Aḥmad Kāshī. They slew Āqā Abū’l-Qāsim Kāshī and cast him into the Tigris. They finished off Sayyid Aḥmad in advance. They smashed the brains of Mīrzā Riḍā, the maternal uncle of Ḥājjī Sayyid Muḥammad, upon a stone. They tore open the flank of Mīrzā ʿAlī Riḍā and drove him upon the royal road of non-being.

Besides these individuals, they murdered a number of others in the darkness of night and threw their corpses into the Tigris. Others they hacked to pieces in broad daylight, amidst the marketplace, with daggers and swords. Such was the case that these actions caused some of the believers and adherents themselves to lose the firmness of their conviction and the foundation of their trust. Because of these ugly deeds and acts of wrongdoing, they turned away from the Religion of the Bayān, and would recite the following verse in gatherings, laughing as they did so:

If Ḥusayn-ʿAlī be the manifestation of the Ḥusayn of ʿAlī,

Then a thousand mercies of Truth be upon the pure soul of Yazīd!

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Conflict and Control in the Baha’i Community by Karen Bacquet

Karen Bacquet’s article, "Enemies Within: Conflict and Control in the Baha’i Community," outlines several criticisms focusing on the gap between the religion's progressive public image and its internal administrative practices.

Here are some key points:

• Authoritarian Governing Structure: The Baha'i Faith is governed by an elected body, the Universal House of Justice (UHJ), which is believed to be divinely guided and infallible, making its decisions unchallengeable by adherents.
• Lack of Institutional Accountability: Although the governing bodies are elected, they are not held accountable to the electorate but are considered accountable only to God.
• System of Censorship: Adherents are subject to "prepublication review," a policy where any Baha’i writing about the Faith for public consumption must have their work approved by the administration.
• Fear of Internal Enemies: There is a pervasive fear of internal dissent that might disrupt unity; those who challenge the administration are often labeled "covenant-breakers" and described as "spiritually sick".
• Practice of Shunning: Individuals designated as covenant-breakers are subject to mandatory shunning by the rest of the Baha'i community.
• Suppression of Dissent: The administration uses intimidation and investigations by appointed officials (Auxiliary Board Members) to monitor and silence members who express unorthodox views.
• Theocratic Ambitions: The Baha'i administrative order is viewed not just as a church structure, but as an evolving world theocracy that considers Western democratic systems inferior and eventually doomed.
• Inequality in Governance: Despite teachings on gender equality, women are excluded from serving on the supreme governing body, the Universal House of Justice.
• Internet Crackdowns: The leadership has threatened and sanctioned intellectuals for expressing liberal opinions on private email forums and the Internet.
• Summary Expulsions: In recent years, the administration has dropped critics from membership rolls without prior warning or due process for expressing dissenting views publicly.
• Hostility toward Modern Scholarship: The administration often condemns academic methods as "materialistic" and interferes with scholarly projects sometimes by deleting passages from primary sources.
• Pressure for Conformity: Adherents are placed in a psychological bind where they are attracted by liberal ideals but pressured into absolute obedience to an administrative system that does not tolerate public disagreement.

(Enemies Within: Conflict and Control in the Baha’i Community by Karen Bacquet. Published in Cultic Studies Journal - Psychological Manipulation and Society, Volume 18, 2001)

https://library.internationalculticstudies.org/24n77ga/2

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community assembly hall, schools, a university, a library, scientific research laboratories, hospitals and auxiliary medical units, homes for the aged, the orphaned and the handicapped.

Each town or village would have a community centre at the heart of which would stand the place of worship, a domed, nine-sided building, surrounded by trees, fountains and gardens. This house of worship is known as the Mashriqu’l-Adhkar or Dawning Place of God’s Praise. Other public buildings in the town or village would be the seat of the Local House of Justice, the community assembly hall, schools, a university, a library, scientific research laboratories, hospitals and auxiliary medical units, homes for the aged, the orphaned and the handicapped.

“The Mashriqu'l-Adhkar has important accessories which are accounted of the basic foundations. These are : school for orphan children, hospital and dispensary for the poor, home for the incapable, college for the higher scientific education, and hospice. In every city a great Mashriqu'l-Adhkar must be founded after this order. ... When these institutions, college, hospital, hospice and establishment for the incurables, university for the study of higher sciences, giving post-graduate courses, and other philanthropic building are built, the doors will be opened to all the nations and religions. There will be absolutely no line of demarcation drawn. Its charities will be dispensed irrespective of colour or race. Its gates will be flung wide open to mankind; prejudice towards none, love for all. The central building will be devoted to the purpose of prayer and worship. Thus...religion will become harmonized with science, and science will — be the handmaid of religion, both showering their material and spiritual gifts on all humanity.”

— ‘Abdu 'l-Baha.'

(The Earth Is But One Country - New Revised Edition By John Huddleston)

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This institution is under the protecting power of Bahá’u’lláh Himself.

He [Bahá’u’lláh] has ordained and established the House of Justice, which is endowed with a political as well as a religious function, the consummate union and blending of church and state. This institution is under the protecting power of Bahá’u’lláh Himself.

(“The Promulgation of Universal Peace”, 1982 ed., p. 455)

https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/compilations/universal-house-of-justice-compilation/5#692131058

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Mirza Yahya was the Bab's appointed trustee

No comment was made by Mirza Yahya Azal until later in Edime, where Baha’u’llah, in an epistle entitled Suriy-i-Amr, officially requested a statement from him as the Bab's appointed trustee. This document, written in Arabic in Baha’u’llah’s own hand, sets out clearly Baha’u’llah's claim to be the Man yuzhiruhu’llah foretold by the Bab and entrusted with a new revelation. This claim implied that a new dispensation had been initiated, that a new religion had come into being, and that the period of Mirza Yahya Azal’s trusteeship was over.

(Making the Crooked Straight: A Contribution to Bahá'í Apologetics, by Udo Schaefer, p. 612)

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after hearing the news of Badasht, Mulla Husayn vowed that if he had been present he would have punished the transgressors with sword.

...a march to Mazandaran was undertaken under the joint leadership of Qurrat al-'Ayn and Quddus, in order to establish a Babi foothold in his home town, Barfurush. This venture however, ended in total disaster when the Babis were raided by a band of villagers in the nearby Niyala. The local mulla who led the aggressive crowd was apparently outraged by the sight of the unveiled Qurrat al-'Ayn sitting inside a huda next to Quddus and chanting poems out loud, together with her companions. The assailants must have seen the Babi party as no more than a group of libertine infidels worthy of death. Even for the Babis, who witnessed with amazement, perhaps horror, the unrestrained conversation between a daring woman and her male traveling companion, perhaps even her unspoken affection for him, it was hard not to perceive the prevailing climate of emancipation as “abuse of liberty” and excesses from “bonds of moderation.” Reportedly, after hearing the news of Badasht, Mulla Husayn vowed that if he had been present he would have punished the transgressors with sword.

(Resurrection and Renewal - The Making of the Babi Movement in Iran, 844-850 by Abbas Amanat, p. 328)

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Mulla Husayn failed in Qum because there were no Shaykhi elements there

In Isfahan, during the first stage of his mission, Mulla Husayn succeeded in converting a number of favorable Shaykhi elements. As in Shiraz, his public preachings drew attention from prominent 'ulama and in due course led to their mild condemnation. En route to Tehran, Mulla Husayn stopped in Kashan, where he attracted a number of Shaykhi sympathizers and called upon a celebrated mujtahid. He then proceeded to Qum, where according to Nabil Zarandi “he found the people utterly unprepared to heed his call,” perhaps due to the absence of any Shaykhi connection there.

(Resurrection and Renewal - The Making of the Babi Movement in Iran, 844-850 by Abbas Amanat, p. 261)

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I give sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, the power of speech to the mute

I am serving God. I am the servant of God. I give sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, the power of speech to the mute and knowledge to the ignorant. I raise the dead, I deliver those who are in darkness and guide them into the realm of light. I make the poor rich and the weak powerful. I satisfy the hungry ones with the bread of life and allay the thirsty ones with the pure water of immortality. This is my work.

(Abdul-Baha: Diary of Mirza Sohrab, June 30, 1914)

https://bahai.works/Star_of_the_West/Volume_8/Issue_15/Text

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