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)

Read More

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)

Read More

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

Read More

Schools must first train the children in the principles of religion

Schools must first train the children in the principles of religion, so that the Promise and the Threat recorded in the Books of God may prevent them from the things forbidden and adorn them with the mantle of the commandments...

(Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh, Kalimát-i-Firdawsíyyih)

https://www.bahai.org/beliefs/universal-peace/articles-resources/universal-education-quotes

Read More

industrial approach to religious expansion

The letter outlines a highly systematized, almost industrial approach to religious expansion, prioritizing numerical outcomes and institutional scaling over individual spiritual journeys. It utilizes language that treats potential converts as a quantifiable resource to be harvested through "systematic growth" and "intensive programs of growth". The primary objective is "advancing the process of entry by troops," a phrase suggesting a military-like maneuver to secure a "constant influx of new adherents". The document explicitly calls for an "acceleration of this vital process" and the creation of a "critical mass" of believers to "spearhead" efforts to "deliver the Message," emphasizing "large-scale expansion" and "vigorous personal teaching" as essential tactics.

The strategies detailed rely on "mobilizing" believers into "teaching teams" to "target receptive populations" and execute "teaching projects" designed to "enroll a large number" of people in short timeframes. The letter advocates for a "major shift from the gradualist approach," urging believers to "seize such opportunities" and engage in "direct teaching methods" to "lead them to embrace the Cause". By focusing on "targets"—such as taking "50 or so believers through the sequence" to trigger growth—and calculating the "pyramid of human resources," the document reveals a focus on "increasing numbers" and "large-scale expansion" that could be seen as prioritizing institutional growth and conversion quotas over the authenticity of an individual's personal belief.

(Summary of "Intensive Growth: 2004 letter to all Continental Counsellors", International Teaching Centre, 2004-11-28)

https://bahai-library.com/itc_28_november_2004

Read More

a Baha'i who carries on teaching activities without the consultation and collaboration of the Assembly is not within the pale of the divine Administration.

[Abdu'l Baha] created... the Divine Administration, of which, through the blessed Guardian, the Beloved, is the heart and center and every individual Bahá’i is a living unit.

(Report of National Teaching Committee published in Bahá’í News, Issue 34)

https://bahai.works/Bahá’í_News/Issue_34/Text

Then go before the Assembly, explain everything and humbly ask them to forgive you. This is true Baha’i love, and will prevent this whole matter getting much worse. As ... said last night, "We know, ...that according to the law of Baha'u'llah a Baha'i who carries on teaching activities in a city without the consultation and collaboration of the Assembly is not within the pale of the divine Administration." 

(The Maxwells of Montreal, Volume 2)

Read More

between 1940 and 1952 alone, the Guardian gave the Municipality of Haifa over ten thousand dollars

In the years when the people of Palestine and, later, of Israel were undergoing great hardships, between 1940 and 1952 alone, the Guardian gave the Municipality of Haifa over ten thousand dollars for the poor of all denominations. In addition to such help given through government and municipal agencies, he also responded to the appeals of many charities, gave individually to those he deemed worthy, and even sometimes contributed money for some special purpose connected with the mosque in Haifa. Many times he gave contributions spontaneously, such as the £100 he donated to the Government Lunatic Asylum in Akka—the former Turkish barracks—when the room occupied by Bahá’u’lláh was turned over to the custody of the Bahá’ís, and the sum he presented towards the construction of the Institute of Physics which the Weizmann National Memorial was undertaking.

(The Priceless Pearl, Rúhíyyih Rabbani)

Read More

Abdul Baha used to call a Muslim to chant to Shoghi Effendi the sublime verses of the Quran

The childhood nurse of Shoghi Effendi used to recount that when he was still a baby the Master was wont to call one of the Muslims who chanted in the mosque to come at least once a week and chant to the child, in his melodious voice, the sublime verses of the Qur’án.

(The Priceless Pearl, Rúhíyyih Rabbani)

Read More

Initial history of the Baha'is in Haifa

Some years before the outbreak of the First World War, the Bahais had settled in Haifa. Persecuted in Persia; they had fled to Baghdad, from where they were exiled by the Turkish government to Adrianopolis and, finally, to Acre, where Baha Allah (‘the glory of God’) arrived in 1868. Towards the end of the nineteenth century the bones of his predecessor, Mirza Ali Muhammad, were brought to Acre and finally interred on Mount Carmel in 1909, at a spot chosen by Baha Allah. Today, the Golden Dome Shrine rises over it. Baha Allah had been a Shi’ite Muslim, but by the changes he introduced in the faith, he separated himself from Islam. By the time he died in Acre in 1892, he had acquired a number of disciples. In the course of his many trips, his son Abbas Effendi (Abd al-Baha) disseminated Baha Allah’s teachings throughout the world, acquiring hundreds of thousands of new adherents to the Bahai belief, especially in the United States. In 1908 Abbas Effendi came to live in Haifa, where his well-preserved house still exists (on Persian Street). Abbas Effendi rapidly became an admired and respected figure in Haifa. He attracted Bahais eager to listen to his preaching, and many of them decided to settle in Haifa in consequence. On the strength of contributions from all over the world, the Bahais bought up large tracts of land on the slopes of Mount Carmel, where they later built their shrine, surrounded by extensive gardens. In this way, at the end of Ottoman rule, Haifa became the centre of a new community, at the head of which stood Abbas Effendi, a personage of a stature the like of which Haifa had perhaps never known before.

(Ottoman Haifa A History of Four Centuries under Turkish Rule By Alex Carmel)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10977949-ottoman-haifa

Read More

In the beginning the Baha'i faith permitted converts to maintain participation in their birth religion and thus not fully break with their communities.

...as pressures to convert to Islam diminished, and some economic success was achieved, the Zoroastrian community faced more challenges. One was the rise of Bahaism. Bahaism, founded in mid‑nineteenth‑century Iran, promoted equality, repudiated the concept of non‑Muslims as polluting, and permitted converts to maintain participation in their birth religion and thus not fully break with their communities. There were intra‑marrying Zoroastrian Baha’is, Jewish Baha’is, and Muslim Baha’is (Kestenberg Amighi 2022: 142). However, conversions to the Baha’i religion reduced the small Zoroastrian population by some 4,000 people (Maneck 1991: 1) and caused fierce rifts between Zoroastrian traditionalists who saw the Baha’is as a threat, and reform‑minded Zoroastrians and Parsis who believed that the Baha’is were laying a foundation for the liberalisation of Iran. The conflict grew so intense that, in 1915, a pro‑Baha’i Zoroastrian in Yazd, educator Master Khodabakhsh, was murdered (Kestenberg Amighi 1990: 166), and like‑minded Ostad (‘teacher’) Keyomarz was warned to flee Iran (Fischer 1973: 108 fn1). According to one theory, it was the conservative Zoroastrian organisation, Yazd Right Followers, which was responsible for the murder and threats (Dadbakhsh and Moftakhri 2018: 4–5).

(ZOROASTRIAN POLITICS IN THE ERA OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL REVOLUTION IN IRAN
(1905–1911) by Janet Kestenberg Amighi)

Read More

When Baha'u'llah read Mulla Muhammad Baqir Majlisi he went into a state of acute depression for some time

Bahaullah had intimations of his prophetic calling while still a youth. He recounts an experience in his early years that changed his life, when he had read Mulla Muhammad Baqir Majlisi's (d. 1111A.H./ 1699C.E.) traditional account of the treachery of the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza, whose betrayal had placed the earliest Muslim community in mortal danger. On grounds of treason, the prophet Muhammad upheld a judge's order to punitively massacre all male members of that tribe (cf. Q. 33:26). MacEoin notes the impact of all this on the impressionable youth, writing that "the effect of this was to plunge him [Bahaullah] into a state of acute depression for some time, despite his recognition that 'what occurred had been the decree of God'" (MacEoin 1983, 223 on MA 7: 136; cf. ISH 34 and IQT 116ff). This characterization of the event truncates Bahaullah's own account of this psychological turning point.

(Paradise and Paradigm : Key Symbols in Persian Christianity and the Baha'i- Faith by Christopher Buck)

Read More

Some of Iran’s most innovative and successful industrialists, engineers, architects, and artists were either Jewish or Baha’i.

The Shah’s crucial decade from 1965 to 1975 was also critical for the regime’s cultural politics. Iran in this period was a discordant combination of cultural freedoms and political despotism—of increasing censorship against the opposition but increasing freedoms for everyone else....

Much to the consternation of the Shiite clergy in this period, the Baha’i enjoyed freedom and virtual equality with other citizens. The same was true about Iranian Jews—some 100,000 of them, who had lived in Iran for over 3,000 years. In the words of David Menasheri, it was the Jews’ “golden age,” wherein they enjoyed equality with Muslims and in terms of their per capita incomes “they might have been the richest Jewish community in the world.” Some of Iran’s most innovative and successful industrialists, engineers, architects, and artists were either Jewish or Baha’i. The Arjomand family, dominant in the production of home appliances in Iran; the Sabet family, who brought television and Pepsi to the country; and finally Habib Elghanian, who introduced the nation to the magic of “plastic,” were all members of the Baha’i and Jewish faiths. The Shah’s private physician, Dr. Ayadi, was an active member of the Baha’i faith and was instrumental in facilitating Baha’i security and prosperity in Iran.

(The Shah by Milani, Abbas)

https://archive.org/details/shah0000mila

Read More

There were some racist incidents at Baha'i gatherings

...the New York City Bahá’í community had dedicated itself to regularly disrupting the Black/White color line, inclusive of inter-racial teaching efforts in Harlem. Toward that end, there was a marked increase between New York area Bahá’ís and groups like the NAACP and Urban League (Buck 2012; Hogenson 2022). Yet, intra-Black issues and unintentional slights proved weighty matters. While “the Bahá’ís naturally associated with all kinds of people, including immigrants from the Caribbean and Africa,”wrote historian Kathryn Hogenson, “… these groups of Blacks were not welcomed by Blacks from the United States—an issue within Harlem that spilled over into the Bahá’í community. It also had to deal with reports of incidents at Bahá’í gatherings which were perceived by community members to be racist” (Hogenson 2022, pp. 175–176).

(Confronting Culture and Caste in the American Bahá’í Magazine World Order, 1935–1949 by Matthew Hughey)

Read More

In 2014, the husband converted to Twelver Shi‘i Islam, while the wife remained a follower of the Baha’i religion.

In 2020, a civil lawsuit seeking the dissolution of a marriage (infisakh-i nikah) was filed before a family court in Tehran. The parties, a man and a woman, had married in 2003, both adhering at the time to the Baha’i faith, a religion unrecognized under the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran. In 2014, the husband converted to Twelver Shi‘i Islam, while the wife remained a follower of the Baha’i religion.

Initially, the husband filed a claim for annulment of the marriage, arguing that their religious divergence rendered continuation of the marital relationship impossible. The family court rejected this claim, stating that the grounds for annulment (batiliyat-i nikah) are narrowly enumerated in the Iranian Civil Code (Qanun-i Madani-yi Iran), and that conversion of one spouse alone does not constitute a valid basis for annulment.

(Equality, Plurality and Personal Status Laws A Research Companion Edited by Nathalie Bernard-Maugiron, Baudouin Dupret, Jean-Louis Halpérin, Radhika Kanchana, Ayang Utriza Yakin and Zohra Aziadé Zemirli)

Read More

Why Baha'u'llah was a sham, charlatan?

Baha or Baha'u'llah is a later title (not given by the Bab) of Mirza Husayn-Ali Nuri, who was the older brother, guardian and intermediary of Mirza Yahya Nuri (Subh-i-Azal) who was the named successor of the Bab and source of revelation after him according to the Bab's own well-known testament [1]. First in the middle of the 1850s Baha'u'llah was accussed of making claims, which he denied, called the claimers "liars" [2], and continued to write in high praise of Subh-i-Azal (see [3], [4]).
Later in the 1860s he claimed that he was doing taqiyya all the time, was actually the Bayani messianic figure himself, and the true source of Subh-i-Azal verses [5]. This is the opposite of what actually happened, Baha'u'llah's position was wholly derived from the position of his younger brother (see also [6]), who also contributed to one of most well-known works, the Kitab-i-Iqan, according to the Bayanis, not vice versa. Baha'u'llah's own works testify for the absurdity of this claim, as Subh-i-Azal's style of writing in Baha'u'llah's absence does not differ from his style of writing in the latter's presence. He did nevertheless gather his own followers but his religion has little to do with the actual substance of the Bayan, despite referencing it.

[1] https://bayanic.com/lib/fwd/vesayat/Vesayat-FWD.html, "when you art cut off from this Throne recite the verses that your Lord causes to be inspired in your heart ... preserve yourself, and then that which has been sent down in the Bayan, and then what will be sent down to your presence"

[2] https://bahai-library.com/bahaullah_lawh_kull_taam, "My munificence overfloweth with the sprinklings of servitude in the Land of the Theophany ... bear witness and be assured that I [Bahá'u'lláh] have claimed naught but servitude to God, the True One. And God is my arbitrator against that which the people falsely allege"

[3] https://www.bahai.org/fa/library/authoritative-texts/bahaullah/additional-tablets-bahaullah/583990268/1#899160984, "The Kitab-i-Nur ... is the book of a glorious and loved one, and consists of the verses of the Protector, the Self-Subsisting" (part translated by Denis MacEoin in "Divisions and Authority Claims in Babism")

[4] https://hurqalya.ucmerced.edu/node/511, later verses (not translated in Stephen Lambden's draft) say even go so far as saying whoever rejects Subh-i-Azal is a disbeliever

[5] https://bahai-library.com/bahaullah_surih_haykal_haddad, "verily We have chosen one of our brothers and showed to him a small drop of the high sea of science, and clothed him with the garment of one Name of the Names, and elevated him to a rank whereby every one rose to praise him..."

[6] https://www.reddit.com/r/BAYAN/comments/u63g6x/the_points_command_to_haba_full_tablet_translated/

The official explanation from Baha'u'llah of all of this is taqiyya, see his many writings where he accused Subh-i-Azal of jealousy as an excuse for that. But it is overall an embarrassing topic the Baha'is sweep under the rug completely in the West at least.

Source : https://www.reddit.com/r/BAYAN/comments/1svlk1e/why_is_bahāullāh_not_he_who_shall_make_manifest/oidntz7/

Read More