Edward Browne about the Baha'i teachings

These teachings are in themselves admirable, though inferior, in my opinion, both in beauty and simplicity to the teachings of Christ.

— Edward G. Browne, Materials for the Study of the Babi Religion, Introduction, p. xxi.

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Former-UHJ member discouraging young Baha'is from seeking a college education because "the Revelation of Baha'u'llah" contains "all knowledge."

According to Peter Khan (a Pakistani-Australian engineer who was elected to the Universal House of Justice in 1987), world-denying fundamentalists go to the extreme of discouraging young Baha'is from seeking a college education because "the Revelation of Baha'u'llah" contains "all knowledge." He adds that in this view

The physical sciences are stigmatized as being incorrect because they take no account of the spiritual dimension of creation. Psychology is condemned because most theories appear not to take account of the spiritual nature of man. Economics is dismissed as appearing not to accommodate a spiritual solution to economic problems. Evolution and the Darwinian perspective are condemned as being contrary to the belief in God. (Khan 1999:46-47).

The presence of such views in the US during the 1960s is confirmed by an old-time Baha'i, who said his parents were "always warning me about those wacko Baha'is who thought that you only needed to read the Writings and nothing else. And there was a good deal of tension over whether one ought, as a Baha'i, to go to university-wouldn't it be better to go pioneering [move abroad to do missionizing]?" (Pers. Comm., 17 June 2000).

(Fundamentalism in the Contemporary U.S. Baha'i Community, Juan R. I. Cole, Review of Religious Research, Vol. 43, No. 3 (Mar., 2002), pp. 195-217 (23 pages))

https://www.jstor.org/stable/3512329?seq=1

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Baha'i Tactics & Technique exposed by a former-Baha'i

*Baha'i Tactics & Technique:*

1. As far as possible they hold back from responding

2. Then they claim no knowledge [of the given issue] by feigning ignorance

3. After the exposer has exposed they will try to divert to secondary and totally peripheral and irrelevant side-issues

4. The exposer is then painted as someone with an axe to grind, biased, deluded (while they, the Baha'is, still have not responded to the main issue exposed)

5. Next they relate mental instability and insanity to the exposer [i.e. shoot the messenger]

6. Then, the last tactic, is to wheel out several dubious personas on the scene who claim to be neutral non-Baha'i observers who then begin attacking the exposer as well as the issue exposed and supporting the Baha'is and their issues as so-called non-Baha'is.

Other techniques here : http://fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/technique.htm

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Three or four Baha'is were killed by the Persians for ridiculing their religious ceremonies

These sectarians (of Baha'u'llah), though long resident at Baghdad, had not hitherto openly professed the new creed, but during the last Mohurrem they attracted the ill-will of true Shiahs by ridiculing the ceremonies usual with the latter at that season, and three or four of their number have since lost their lives in encounters with the Persians.

The Babi and Baha'i Religions 1844-1944 Some Contemporary Western Accounts edited by MOOJAN MOMEN M.A., M.B. GEORGE RONALD, Publisher, page 267

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Baha'i women wore chadur (veil) in obedience to Abdul Baha

Florence gradually broke the news to her family that in Persia she would be wearing a chádur (the word means tent), an outer garment concealing the wearer from head to foot. Some chádurs were of black satin, others of black brilliantine (a dress fabric such as mohair or goat’s wool, glossy on both sides). The chádur was not so much a garment as a humiliation, a kind of degradation, and her wearing it horrified the American missionaries, but in obedience to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá she would wear it, as did the Bahá’í women of Persia.

(Arches of the Years by Marzieh Gail, Page 9)

https://bahai-library.com/pdf/g/gail_arches_years.pdf

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Baha'u'llah converted to Babism at the age of 27, at the age of 31 he chose the name 'Baha' for himself.

In 1844 Mirza Husayn Ali received a visit from Mulla Husayn, one of the Bab’s early disciples. The Bab sent Mulla Husayn to Tehran to deliver a letter to Mirza Husayn Ali (Baha'u'llah), he converted to Babism at the age of 27.

In 1848 Mirza Husayn Ali organized and helped to direct the gathering of Babis in the village of Badasht; this conference at Badasht gave Babism a new and more revolutionary direction. It was also at the Badasht Conference that Mirza Husayn Ali gave each of the Babis gathered there a new name, one that reflected their spiritual qualities. For himself he chose the name Baha, which means “Splendor” or “Glory.”

(WORLD RELIGIONS - BAHA’I FAITH, THIRD EDITION by Paula Hartz, Page 41)

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They purchased land by force from the Israelis

In the interviews taken by some Israeli researchers, they found that:

Interviewees from all groups, with the exception of site promoters, perceived the Baha'i as exerting power over the residents, in some cases with the help of the courts, to induce them to sell their apartments. In most instances, references were not to physical force but to the power stemming from influence, economic resources, and information lacked by the local residents. Thus, some interviewees associated with local groups maintained that they “may have been” forced to sell, whereas others said so with certainty. According to one interviewee, “they purchased land by force... and they came and practically forced people to sell, using temptation (money).” According to another interviewee also associated with local groups, “the Baha'i purchased apartments from the residents by exerting force and pressure on them to sell.” In their account of the events, interviewees also used words expressing power and aggressiveness, such as “theft,” “stealing,” “taking over,” and “destroying.”

Kreiner, Noga Collins; Shmueli, Deborah F.; Gal, Michal Ben. "Understanding conflicts at religious-tourism sites: The Baha'i World Center, Israel". Tourism Management Perspectives. 16: 232. ISSN 2211-9736.

https://www.academia.edu/15426699/Understanding_conflicts_at_religious_tourism_sites_The_Bahai_World_Center_Israel

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Baha'is may receive contributions from non-Baha'is

"Your letter ... about accepting donations from non-Bahá'ís for the maintenance of tutorial schools has been received, and we have been asked to reply as follows.

"Bahá'ís may receive contributions from non-Bahá'ís for charitable activities whose beneficiaries are non-Bahá'ís as well. However, it is very important to ensure that the acceptance of funds from any source should in no way affect the school's direction and policy."

(From a letter written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to the National Spiritual Assembly of India, January 13, 1978)

http://bahai-library.com/hornby_lights_guidance_2.html&chapter=4#n1890

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Individuals can also be shunned for expressions of conscience.

Former Bahá'í, Juan Cole stated:

The most serious sanction of all is being declared a “covenant breaker.” Although Baha’u’llah himself attempted to abolish the practices of shunning and ritual pollution, contemporary Baha’is, like members of the Watchtower and other cults, shun those who are excommunicated. Only the head of the Baha’i faith can impose this punishment, so that this authority now rests with the House of Justice. Whereas loss of voting rights does not necessarily speak to one's spiritual well-being, being declared a covenant-breaker makes one spiritually condemned. Baha’is are not to speak to or have anything to do with covenant breakers (Hornsby 1983: 148-153). Baha’i friends and family, including the spouse, cut the covenant breaker off. Rank and file Baha’is take the obligation of shunning very seriously, and being cast out from one’s support network can be devastating. This punishment typically is imposed upon a Baha’i who has come into direct conflict with the head of the religion. Most often this is because the individual has put forth a competing claim and attempted to form a Baha’i sect, or because a Baha’i has chosen to join or associate with such a sect. Baha’i officials sometimes even declare ex-Baha’is covenant-breakers. In late 1996 in New Zealand a new Baha’i who refused to terminate her friendship with the daughter of a covenant breaker responded to pressure to do so by formally withdrawing from the Baha’i religion. She was nevertheless declared a covenant breaker (Universal House of Justice 1996d). Individuals can also be shunned for expressions of conscience. Recently, the House of Justice informed an American Baha’i liberal who had been critical of the U.S. National Spiritual Assembly and had urged reform of Baha’i judicial procedure that, should he continue on this path, "he and those with whom he has been closely associated” would “find themselves in direct conflict with the Covenant" (Universal House of Justice 1996b). In Baha'i terminology, they were threatening to have these Baha’is shunned if they continued publicly criticizing (“attacking and undermining”) Baha'i institutions or their policies, even though they were not fomenting a schism. Threats to use shunning for this purpose have increased with the rise of cyberspace.

"The Baha'i Faith in America as Panopticon, 1963-1997".

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/bahai/1999/jssr/bhjssr.htm

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Baha'u'llah was unhappy with the uprisings of Nayriz and Zanjan

Whatever his attitude towards the exploits of the Bābīs at the Shaykh Ṭabarsī shrine, it is evident that Ḥusayn 'Alī (Baha'u'llah) was generally unhappy about the course of events after 1848 and that he viewed the uprisings in Nayrīz and Zanjān as contrary to the divine purpose. Writing in later years, he expresses his disapproval of Bābī militancy in explicit and unequivocal terms: ‘the excesses of some at the beginning of the cause were like devastating, ruinous winds that cast down the saplings of trust and hope. On account of them, the state became opposed and the people disturbed, for they were ignorant of the divine will and decrees, and acted according to their own desires’. In a letter written in Acre about 1890, he contrasts the violence of early Babism with the reformation instituted by him in Baghdad: ‘All know that, previously, in every year there was strife and fighting: how many souls were slain on both sides! In one year at Ṭabarī (i.e. Shaykh Ṭabarsī), in the next at Zanjān, in the next at Nayrīz. After this wronged one went to Arab Iraq by permission of the king (i.e. Nāsir al-Dīn Shāh), we forbade all ̣ to engage in sedition or strife’. Similarly, in a letter addressed to the French diplomat, Comte de Gobineau, during the early Acre period (about 1869), he draws much the same comparison: ‘In the sixteen years since my arrival in Baghdad until now, no offense has been committed by anyone. Your excellency will have heard that, before those sixteen years, this sect did not endure oppression, but took revenge...’

(The Messiah of Shiraz, Denis MacEoin, Page 504-505)

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Babi killing of non-Babis and Baha'i killing of Azalis

Babis (predecessors of the Baha'is) have killed many Muslims in Iran. Baha'is have also killed many Azalis.

...the Bab ordered to kill non-Babis, burn all non-Babi books, destroy Muslim shrines, shun all non-Babis, remove all non-Babis from 5 major cities of Iran. The Babis were a cause of at least 3 civil wars in Iran. At least 20 Azalis were killed by the Baha'is.

Source : http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/babism-index

The names of a number of Azalis murdered by the Baha'is are given by Edward Browne in the Persian Introduction to Nuqtatul-Kaf, p. 42, and also in New History, pp. XXIII, XXIV, and J.R.A.S. July 1889, p. 517

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Punishments for those who are eligible but do not pay Huququ'llah

"While Bahá’u’lláh promises us many blessings when we are honest in our duty to pay Ḥuqúqu’lláh, He also warns us not to neglect our duty or to be dishonest in calculating it. No one can force us to pay Ḥuqúqu’lláh, but, if we are eligible but do not pay, or we are not trustworthy and honest in calculating it, God will punish us. In the first quote He warns us not to act “treacherously” towards Ḥuqúqu’lláh and in the second quote, He tells us what the punishment would be if we do so. If we act treacherously, God in justice will expose us and we will also not receive the bounties of God."

"Refusing to pay Ḥuqúqu’lláh or spending it on other concerns, no matter how charitable they may be, would be seen as misusing the funds that belong to God, and an act of dishonesty. Any contributions to charities or even other Funds of the Faith should be made after we have paid our Ḥuqúqu’lláh."

Source : Huqúqu'lláh - The Right of God, Study Guide by Firaydoun Javaheri 2015, p 19

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Bahá’ís Cannot Associate with Those Who Have Left the Cause and are Associating with Covenant-Breakers

"There is no excuse for believers continuing to associate with … and those who, knowing everything, still insist on doing so, should be shunned by their fellow-Bahá’ís. The same applies to people who have left the Cause and associate with …. The point is that if the believers know and meet with people who are acquainted with Covenant-breakers there is no harm in this, for such individuals are not Bahá’ís and have nothing to do with the issues concerned. But those who have left the Cause, knowing all about such matters, and deliberately associate with Covenant-breakers, are well aware of what they do, and we must not associate with them at all. It is for the Local Assembly, guided by the N.S.A., to enforce such decisions and protect the Cause in its area of jurisdiction.

"The friends should, without too much dwelling on these negative things, be made to understand that some people are spiritually sick and that their disease is, alas, contagious. Some recover from it, as did Mr. … whose heart could not rest till he returned to the fold; others do not. The Master and Bahá’u’lláh have taught us that associating with these souls is not likely to heal them at all, but on the contrary exposes one to grave danger of contagion. The history of the Faith has proved this over and over again. The only way we can prove to such people that they are wrong is to censure their conduct; if we sympathise with them we only fortify their perversity and waywardness."

(From a letter written on behalf of the Guardian to an individual believer, January 23, 1945)

https://bahai.works/Lights_of_Guidance/Believers_Forbidden_to_Associate_with_Covenant-Breakers

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Committee of Vigilance to watch over the Faith

"He feels that your Assembly should redouble its vigilance, in fact he feels that the National Assembly should consider itself, aside from its other duties, as a Committee of Vigilance to watch over the Faith and protect it from its internal enemies, and from the constantly carried on and insidious activities…."

(From a letter written on behalf of the Guardian to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States, September 21, 1957)

https://bahai.works/Lights_of_Guidance/Believers_Forbidden_to_Associate_with_Covenant-Breakers

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In the future world civilization envisaged by the Baha'is, secular law would have to comply with the higher principles of Baha'i law and administration.

In the future world civilization envisaged by the Baha’is, secular law would have to comply with the higher principles of Baha’i law and administration. According to Shoghi Effendi, these are not ‘‘an idle imitation of any form of absolutistic ecclesiastical government, whether it be the Papacy, the Imamate or any other similar institution’’ because the right of legislation is conferred to elected representatives (Shoghi Effendi, 1991a: 153). However, nor are they to ‘‘be regarded as purely democratic in character inasmuch as the basic assumption which requires all democracies to depend fundamentally upon getting their mandate from the people is altogether lacking in this Dispensation’’ (Shoghi Effendi, 1991a: 153).

(Margrit Warburg, Baha'i: A Religious Approach to Globalization, Social Compass 46(1), 1999, p 54)

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