A Baha'i who practiced dissimulation

To add to the difficulty of identifying Najmābādī’s religious affiliation, we should mention here that his grandson considered him a secret Bahā’ī. For Afsaneh Najmabadi’s account of her father’s opinion of his own grandfather, Shakh Hādī Najmābādī being a Bahā’ī who practiced dissimulation, See Zohreh T. Sullivan, “Interview with Afsaneh Najmabadi,” in Exiled Memories: Stories of Iranian Diaspora (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2001), 73. There is nothing in Taḥrīr al-‘uqalā’ that would disprove this assertion.

-Mina Yazdani, University of Toronto, 2011

https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/69065/3/Yazdani_Mina_20116_PhD_thesis.pdf

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'Abdu'l-Baha berated Jews for not accepting Christ:

When you [the Jewish people] glorify and honor the memory of Christ, rest assured that the Christians will take your hands in real fellowship. All difficulty, hesitancy and restraint will vanish. Consider the troubles and persecutions heaped upon you in Russia for your fanaticism of unbelief. And you must not think that this is ended.

This humiliation will continue forever. The time may come when in Europe itself they will arise against the Jews. But your declaration that Christ was the Word of God will end all such trouble. My advice is that in order to become honorable, protected and secure among the nations of the world, in order that the Christians may love and safeguard the Israelitish people, you should be willing to announce your belief in Christ, the Word of God. This is a complete statement; there is nothing more. Is it not thoughtless, ignorant prejudice which restrains you from doing so? Declare that, verily, the Word of God was realized in Him, and all will be right.

https://bahai-library.com/compilation_holocaust_greater_plan

Within the framework of the Faith his derision of the Jews applies equally to Christians who rejected Muhammad, but he presumably knew he couldn't get away with upbraiding Christians (indeed its arguable his remarks to the Jews here were primarily for the benefit of his Christian audience, showing he advocates for Christ).

It is interesting that he makes ominous remarks which Baha'is would likely interpret as "prophecy", (apparently unaware of how unimpressive "prophesizing" anti-semitism in Europe is), and the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice included it in a compilation on the holocaust.

It seems to me that the implication is that the House views these comments as saying Jews not accepting Christ 'caused' the Holocaust, and judging by the tone of 'Abdu'l-Baha's remarks one could almost say the implication is they deserved it (although that may be somewhat of a long bow to draw.)

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Facts that the Baha'is under the bogus UHJ will not tell to the people

Let's start with the facts the Bahá'ís under sans-guardian UHJ will not tell to the people:

a) The continuing Guardianship was totally expected until the passing of Shoghi Effendi. In the book 'World Order of Bahá'u'lláh', Effendi wrote about "the deeds of its present and future Guardians" and that "Divorced from the institution of the Guardianship the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh would be mutilated...". He also commented about the many Guardians in the future as reported in Isobel Sabri's Pilgrims notes. The scription on his casket, as described by Ruhiyyh Khanum, says: Shoghi Effendi - The First Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith. Thus, the absurd ending of the Guardianship only came up after Effendi's death.

b) The authority of the Hands of Cause is submitted to the Guardian. At that time Shoghi Effendi created the "embryo UHJ": International Bahá'í Council; and the Hands did not have any power to dismantle something performed by the Guardian. A letter addressed on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to Emeric Sala, said: "future Guardians: they cannot "abrogate" the interpretations of former Guardians, as this would imply not only lack of guidance but mistakes in making them; however they can elaborate and elucidate former interpretations, and can certainly abrogate some former ruling laid down as a temporary necessity by a former Guardian." also, the Will and Testament of 'Abdul-Bahá is immutable, no one can change the administrative design described on it, but the Hands did so.

c) The bahá’í literature was significantly altered subsequent to Shoghi Effendi's death, with the notable removal of references to "The First Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith," the "first and present Guardian". John Ferraby's All Things Made New is second only to Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era in the number of textual changes, as Vance Salisbury wrote.I'm not a member of the Orthodox Bahá'í Faith but I totally support THE RIGHT of any group to interpret and follow the precepts of your religion, differently from bahá'ís under sans-Guardian UHJ that preaches unity but shun the groups and people they consider disaffected (as they did with Juan Cole who was declated CB and the absurd case of Sean Mcglinn who was unerolled but not considered a CB!!), and including the fact they lost in the court the attempt to avoid the bahá'í sects to use the name Bahá'í.

In a historical point of view from the Orthodox Bahá'ís the short answers are:

1. He admitted there was no W&T nor living descendant, his position was perceived a little time further.
2. AB W&T says: "...must he (the guardian of the Cause of God) choose another branch to succeed him" Aghsán (Branch) with capital (male descendants) is different from aghsán (branch) (qualified successor). The argument that Remey was adopted came from Neal Chase, from the sect BUPC, not from Remey himself.
3. He should be appointed in his lifetime not in a Will.
4. The approval from the Hands is only to confirm the Guardian's choice considering a scenario with the UHJ
5. The Guardian should meets spiritual requirements, not fluency in languages
6. He nomined only 1 sucessor, the claims after that was done when Remey was no longer a Guardian
7. Remey presented symptoms of senility after 1965 and again, he no longer was the Guardian at that time8- It is the opposite, Federal appeals court rules in favor of the Orthodox Baha'i group in 2009 and after this, they started to increase the number of members worldwide specially with the use of social networks and the crescent number of disillusioned people coming from the mainstream bahá'í group.
You call them Remeytes but sorry, wanting or not, according to the Federal law they are Bahá'ís but following another leadership.If you advocate they are completely wrong and Mason Remey's claim is false, that is fine, but it is mandatory to admit that Shoghi Effendi buried the Bahá'í Faith with himself as he failed to continue the Guardianship and today a cluster from Haifa is driving a man-made institution.

https://web.archive.org/web/20210904100040/https://old.reddit.com/r/FreeSpeechBahai/comments/p6typz/i_believe_the_current_destruction_of_the_bahai/

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Baha'i statistics

Baha'is always claim the Faith is booming in Africa and the Pacific but never provide any hard statistics so I would hazard a guess it just isn't, but the lack of a strong media presence and independent statistical data through a solid census allows the Baha'is to claim whatever they want about the third world whereas in the first world any bogus claims would get shown up immediately.

One only needs to look at how much the number of LSA's in the world has declined from the 80's to the 00's to see that the Faith is in terminal decline (perhaps LSA's have dropped even more since then, but the Faith conveniently stopped reporting this statistic around the time they started pushing Ruhi).

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When the Baha'i State will be established...

Early in 1933, a Bahai wrote to Shoghi Effendi asking, “Is the universal Tribunal, sometimes called by the Master the International Court of Arbitration, identical with the Universal House of Justice? Or is it to be a separate judicial body, with jurisdiction to pass upon all disputes between nations and outside the control of the Universal House?” The reply, written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, came back “The Universal Court of Arbitration and the International Tribunal are the same. When the Baha’i State will be established they will be merged in the Universal House of Justice.” (June 17, 1933)

https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/the-universal-house-of-justice/messages/19850131_001/19850131_001.xhtml

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The Baha'i Faith failed me during my youth

Baha'u'llah, Abdul Baha, and Shoghi Effendi correctly predicted that there would be a great cultural deterioration in the West, and this is something we must give all three of them immense credit for, because they were 100% correct. People now hate good music and love bad music, and they hate intelligent moral people and love stupid immoral people. They desecrate their bodies with tattoos. They worship pointless trends and are hostile to those who don't conform. Their values are backwards in every way possible.

When the culture is rotten, a moral and intelligent person will have a hard time fitting in, because he is the antithesis of what the culture worships. The Baha'i community should be receptive to these people. They should try to promote their interests. But they don't!

The problem of the Baha'is is that even though they correctly identified the problem, they failed to deliver a solution.

When I was a youth, I wasn't able to make any friends, so I turned to religion. I thought that if I attended Baha'i gatherings, I would make friends. But I almost never met anyone else my own age, because even though there were young people within driving distance, they subdivide the communities to be so small so that I never met them.

"There is a wisdom behind this" they say. They say that if I want to expand the number of people at Baha'i gatherings, then I should convert my friends to the Baha'i Faith.

Since I have no friends to convert, it looks like my only option is to instead convert myself to a religion that promotes the interests of its members.

https://old.reddit.com/r/FreeSpeechBahai/comments/pch5om/the_bahai_faith_failed_me_during_my_youth/

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Authoritarians love the idea of "unity"

No one can deny that when everyone agrees, this is unity, and when there are non-conformists, there is potential for disunity. Authoritarians hate non-conformists and therefore they love the idea of unity.

This is one of the reasons why Baha'i authorities have made sort of an idol out of unity. If the masses worship the Unity Idol, then any time someone holds an unconventional opinion, authoritarians will easily be able to convince the masses that this person is immoral, and therefore deserves to be persecuted, since holding a unconventional opinion is contrary to unity.

Should punitive action be taken against non-conformists so that they are forced to conform, or should they be left alone? Baha'u'llah says that unity should not be taken to an extreme:

"Such exhortations to union and concord as are inscribed in the Books of the Prophets by the Pen of the Most High bear reference unto specific matters; not a union that would lead to disunity or a concord which would create discord. This is the station where measures are set unto everything, a station where every deserving soul shall be given his due."

(Bahá'u'lláh, Lawḥ-i-Maqṣúd)

But such reasonable and moderate position is inconvenient for the Baha'i authorities, and so they instead prefer to ignore this and push the Unity Idol, so that they can justify punitive action against non-conformists.

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Mirza Muhammad Ali would have saved the Baha'i Faith

If the Baha'i's had obeyed Baha'u'llah, and turned to Mirza Muhammad Ali after Abdul Baha's death, the Baha'i Faith would have been saved from a lot of the insanity that is rampant in the Baha'i community today. The Baha'i Faith today is effectively in the process of killing itself, as any intelligent person will witness. Muhammad Ali offered an interpretation that would have saved the Baha'i Faith, but tragically the Baha'is rejected this, and abandoned him and his family. And so now the global Baha'i community is stuck with insanities such as Cluster Science, a global system of clergy (auxiliary board), a broken election system where charisma is the only factor for getting elected since debate is banned. And Baha'i's can't change any of this because they consider it all to have come from God! Muhammad Ali's interpretation offered a way out, but the Baha'i's universally rejected him and despised him, and now the Baha'i community is paying the price.

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Shua Ullah Behai on the lack of progress of the Baha'i Faith in America

It is nearly half a century since [the Baha’i] principles were introduced in the United States of America, but with all the efforts that have been made we have not progressed as we should.... The time has come that we should arise from our slumber and pull the wool off our eyes and see the defect which is causing our stagnation. Avoiding questioners, and excommunications, are signs of weakness and anti-Baha’i principles. Independent investigation of truth should replace these flaws.

-Shua Ullah Behai (Grandson of Baha'u'llah)

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If you want to join the Baha'i Faith...

If you want to join the Baha’i Faith, here are some things you will have to accept. There’s no room for discussion.

1. Misogyny: No woman will ever be allowed to be elected to the Faith’s highest governing body. If you truly believe in equality, this is not the place for you, nor for 50% of humanity
2. Magical thinking: Open, curious intellectual debate and discussion is not welcomed, and you will be required to accept ideas that require the suspension of logic and reason. If you believe that all questions require a sensible, coherent and rational response you will not be appreciated.
3. Belief Trumps Knowlege: While advances in our scientific knowledge expand and extend our knowledge of the Universe and our place within it, you be obliged to accept a belief in an all knowing, all powerful and all loving God - one that allowed the enslavement of 11 million Africans, the Holocaust, Srebenica, and the Taliban -amongst innumerable other acts of hatred and despotism throughout human history. If God is all powerful and all loving, how were these possible?
4. Shunning: Should you join this Faith, in admiration of many of its noble principles, be warned that if you leave for reasons of conscience, your Baha’i friends will abandon you and shun you, and you will discover the true meaning of Baha’i Unity.
5. Abuse of Statistics: The Baha’i Administration does not publish accurate statistics concerning the true membership numbers. Anyone who joins is usually counted as an active member of the community. Attrition is not reported accurately, and it is highly likely that the total membership is significantly less than as reported, and that this is NOT the world’s fastest growing religion. In fact, the Baha’i Faith may actually be shrinking. But ask for the facts and make up your own mind.
6. Internal Focus: The doctrinaire and rather condescending Ruhi Institutes have become the almost singular focus of any study of the Faith. They are designed to reduce attrition because the promise of Entry By Troops that was pursued by the administration for the past 30 years has simply not materialized.
7. Persian Influence: The vast majority of believers have roots in Persian culture, and while this has many positive attributes - especially the food! - be prepared to embrace this. It is not going away.
8. The Panopticon: You will not be permitted access to publications concerning alternative interpretation of events in the early history of the Faith that differ from the official and highly controlled versions emanating from Haifa. If you do find them, read them and then request that they be explained you will most likely discover the Counsellors whose role is to prevent any open dialogue, and to ensure complete conformity with the official, and highly censored versions. The Baha’i Politburo can at times be as ruthless as the Stasi…

I was a devout Baha’i for twenty years, gave it my best, with no regrets, other than it cost me my beloved children and now their families- They remain Baha’is and refuse to communicate with me. So much for family love and unity…

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Was Shoghi Effendi a closeted Homosexual?

According to research done by Jackson Armstrong-Ingram (primarily based on letters of the Afnan family and other firsthand accounts) and Mildred Mottehedeh who confided to Michael Zargarov and several others, Shoghi was a homosexual who struggled with his condition for his whole lifetime. There have also been suggestions that George Townsend was perhaps the one true love of Shoghi's life, and not as popularly believed Mary Maxwell (aka Amatu'l-Baha Ruhiyyih Khanum).

Apparently among Ruhi Afnan's papers, there are several letters which explicitly suggest Shoghi's homosexuality as early as his days in Beirut, well before Ruhi and Soheil's expulsion at Shoghi's hands. Perhaps these cousins were in fact expelled because they knew Shoghi's dark secret.

Mildred Mottehedeh, who was quite close to the Rabbanis, had also known about this. Perhaps the time has come to psycho-analyze the "Guardian," re-asses his ministry and examine his authoritarian style of governance in light of his repressed homosexuality and unrequitted love for George Townsend. After all, according some recent historical findings, Adolf Hitler was a bisexual who struggled with his effeminate ponceness and compensated it with political power and the Will to Power (* Ernst Roehm, leader of the Brown Shirt SA, was an out and out ponce). Perhaps a Nietzchean-Freudian probe into Shoghi's life and writings is not that too far off in the horizon, not to mention suggestions by Wombat Joey that one of the Persian Hands who was a lifelong Shoghi devotee was himself also a closet homosexual.

Former Baha'i scholars Avarih and Sobhi, both, have written about Shoghi Effendi's sexual orientation and his spending of Baha'i funds for his long vacations to Switzerland.

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In spiritual matters we need not obey the Government

In administrative matters we must obey the Government, in spiritual matters we need not obey. If the Government says dont meet such a person, we must obey. It does not mean we have antagonism towards him, but if the Government requires us to denounce him, speak evil of him, this is violating a spiritual principle. The law may say we discourage you from doing such and such a thing - we need not obey - we must obey what is prohibited. We are weighing the two; discouragement by Government and a spiritual principle. But as soon as you prohibit it, we obey, (if it does not dishonor the Faith in any way.) We will never obey in violating a spiritual principle, even if the law commands it. If the Government lays down a law that the Bahais must denounce a Jew, we will never do it, but if the Government says we must avoid him, we obey.

https://bahai-library.com/maxwell_haifa_notes&chapter=2

Mary Maxwell Pilgrim Notes of Shoghi Effendi's words

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Example of Baha'u'llah's innate knowledge - "As some had questioned Us concerning him, We felt it necessary to refer to his books, in order that We might answer Our questioners"

For instance, a certain man,[1] reputed for his learning and attainments, and accounting himself as one of the pre-eminent leaders of his people, hath in his book denounced and vilified all the exponents of true learning. This is made abundantly clear by his explicit statements as well as by his allusions throughout his book. As We had frequently heard about him, We purposed to read some of his works. Although We never felt disposed to peruse other peoples' writings, yet as some had questioned Us concerning him, We felt it necessary to refer to his books, in order that We might answer Our questioners with knowledge and understanding. His works, in the Arabic tongue, were, however, not available, until one day a certain man informed Us that one of his compositions, entitled Irshadu'l-'Avam,[2] could be found in this city. From this title We perceived the odour of conceit and vainglory, inasmuch as he hath imagined himself a learned man and regarded the rest of the people ignorant. His worth was in fact made known by the very title he had chosen for his book. It became evident that its author was following the path of self and desire, and was lost in the wilderness of ignorance and folly. Methinks, he had forgotten the well-known tradition which sayeth: "Knowledge is all that is knowable; and might and power, all creation." Notwithstanding, We sent for the book, and kept it with Us a few days. It was probably referred to twice. The second time, We accidentally came upon the story of the "Mi'raj"[3] of Muhammad, of Whom was spoken: "But for Thee, I would not have created the spheres." We noticed that he had enumerated some twenty or more sciences, the knowledge of which he considered to be essential for the comprehension of the mystery of the "Mi'raj". We gathered from his statements that unless a man be deeply versed in them all, he can never attain to a proper understanding of this transcendent and exalted theme. Among the specified sciences were the science of metaphysical abstractions, of alchemy, and natural magic. Such vain and discarded learnings, this man hath regarded as the pre-requisites of the understanding of the sacred and abiding mysteries of divine Knowledge.

---------------------
[1 Haji Mirza Karim Khan.]
[2 "Guidance unto the ignorant."]
[3 Ascent]

Baha'u'llah, Kitab i Iqan

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Most of the laws of the Kitab-i-Aqdas are designed for the future when the Baha'i Faith becomes the religion of the land

"The study of the Writings of Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha makes it clear that most of the laws of the Kitab-i-Aqdas, apart from those which are of a spiritual nature, or in conformity with the conditions prevailing at the time, are designed for the future when the Baha'i Faith becomes the religion of the land It is then that these laws will be fully implemented within the framework of a new civilization which is to emerge later from amidst the chaos and confusion of present-day society."

(Adib Taherzadeh, Revelation of Baha'u'llah, Volume 3)

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Names of some prominent former-Baha'is from western countries

Names of 19 former-Baha'is from western countries (most of whom were scholars)

1) Denis MacEoin

2) Juan Cole

3) Frederick Glaysher

4) William Garlington

5) Karen Bacquet

6) Jenifer Tidwell

7) Eric Stetson

8) Dr. Phyllis Bernard

9) Steven Scholl

10) John Ford Coley

11) Francesco Ficicchia

12) Phoebe Hearst

13) Hermann Roemer

14) Dann May

15) K. Paul Johnson

16) Dale Husband

17) Inge Barthel

18) Kai Borrman

19) Darrick Evenson

About 66 individuals were identified as ex-Bahá'ís and Momen has written about some of them in his article, here - https://bahai-library.com/momen_marginality_apostasy

Prominent Marginalized Baha'is

1) Sen McGlinn

2) Jonah Winters

3) Alison Marshall

4) Steve Marshall

Scholars of the Baha'i faith who never accepted the Baha'i faith

1) Edward G. Browne

2) Margit Warburg

3) Vernon Elvin Johnson

4) Moshe Sharon

Some not so prominent former Baha'is (The list will be updated gradually)

1) Michael Zargarov

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