An intermediary step between Islam and the ultimate abandonment of religious belief

ʻAbdu'l-Bahá emphasized Baháʼís "seek freedom and love liberty, hope for equality, are well-wishers of humanity and ready to sacrifice their lives to unite humanity" but on a more broad approach than the Young Turks. He had favorable relations with Abdullah Cevdet, one of the founders of the Committee of Union and Progress, who would go on trial for defense of Baháʼís in a periodical he founded.

Abdullah Cevdet considered the Baháʼí Faith an intermediary step between Islam and the ultimate abandonment of religious belief.

M. Şükrü Hanioğlu, The Young Turks in Opposition, Oxford University Press, p. 202

https://books.google.com/books?id=fU7azFR3AqcC&pg=PA202

A Conflict on Bahaʼism and Islam in 1922, Abdullah Cevdet and State Religious Agencies

https://web.archive.org/web/20161001173158/http://insanvetoplum.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Ays%CC%A7e-Polat.pdf