striking of necks, the burning of books and papers, the destruction of shrines

In a letter apparently addressed to the Baha'is of either Baghdad or Shiraz (madinat Allah), he (Abdul Baha) puts forward the view that, in every religious dispensation, a particular teaching was given special emphasis. Thus, in the time of Moses, obedience and submission to God were stressed; in the days of Jesus, moral behaviour, friendship, harmony, and turning the other cheek; and, in the dispensation of Muhammad, the smashing of idols and the prohibition of the worship of false gods. In the days of the Bab, he goes on, 'the decree of the Bayan was the striking of necks, the burning of books and papers, the destruction of shrines, and the universal slaughter of all save those who believed and were faithful'.

(Babism to Bahaism by Denis MacEoin)

Baha'i Scholar Abd al-Hamid Ishraq Khavari states that "the decree of 'jihad' with the unbelievers, and insistence on treating them harshly, was revealed repeatedly, time and again, by the pen of the Bab in the 'Qayyum al-asma', and there is hardly a sura in this blessed book (Bayan) which does not contain this decree".

(Ganjina, p.272.)

Abul Fadl Gulpaygani makes a similar statement in his Al-hujjaj al-bakiyya: "The unseemly actions of the Babis cannot be denied or excused, but to arrest Baha'is for them is oppression, for these unfortunates have no connection with the Babis, who took up arms, nor are they of the same religion or creed."

(The Baha'i Proofs trans. Eshtael-ebn-Kalenter (New York, 1902), pp. 77-78; cf. p. 63)