Mirza Husyan 'Ali Nūri [Baha'u'llah] was born into a family closely connected to the Qajar court. His father, Mirzā 'Abbās, was a noted calligrapher who acted as vazir to Imām-Virdi Mīrzā, while numerous relatives held official posts in the capital. Substantial details of Ḥusayn 'Ali's early life are lacking, but we do know that at the age of twenty-seven...
Friday, March 31, 2023
Shoghi said "This work is killing me!" when he was in London during the last days of his life and ill due to Influenza.
While he was working, he repeated once again the words I had so often heard him say during the last years of his life: “This work is killing me! How can I go on with this? I shall have to stop it. It is too much. Look at the number of places I have to write down. Look how exact I have to be!” He was tired when it was finally done and went back to his...
Thursday, March 30, 2023
Hasan Niku accused ‘Abdu’l-Baha of excessive worldly ambition and desire for money.
Hasan Niku was a leading Iranian Baha’i missionary who,
after leaving the Baha’i faith, published a book explaining why he became
disillusioned with the movement. Among other things, he accused ‘Abdu’l-Baha of
excessive worldly ambition and desire for money, and criticized him for writing
flattering epistles to wealthy and powerful people whom he hoped...
Where is the "Home for the Aged"?
It was during this second phase of the World Crusade that the American National Assembly purchased the land for its first Temple dependency. The Guardian had advised that Assembly that he did not consider a library—the first proposal—sufficiently demonstrative of the purpose and significance of the institution of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár in Bahá’í society...
How a cult leader collects money from his followers?
A bare week before this event [the death of Dr Esslemont] Shoghi Effendi had sent messages to the Bahá’í world which reflected another keen point of anxiety occupying his mind at this time. Rumours had been bruited about that the remains of a certain prominent leader of Zionism might be brought to the Holy Land to be buried befittingly on Mt Carmel....
Wednesday, March 29, 2023
Denis MacEoin about Balyuzi's Hagiographical book on Baha'u'llah
Here, as in most other Baha'i historical works, I would like to have seen far more footnote references to the sources used. References are almost exclusively to actual quotations, while the many details of fact, some of them fresh, go unsourced This would be bad enough in any work of history, but in a study of a subject so thick with controversy it...
Denis MacEoin about Balyuzi's dishonesty in dealing with the Babi militancy
But the present book is described by the publishers as a work of scholarship and does not appear to be intended solely for internal consumption. It is, therefore, probably worth saying that, for the non-believer, particularly the academic, there are several irritating features in this study that might perhaps have been played down or even removed by...
Denis MacEoin about Baha'u'llah's brief imprisonments, mansions and expensive gifts
I was much impressed by the fact that, unlike many other Baha'i writers, Balyuzi has avoided the temptation to colour Baha' Allah's periods of exile and his brief imprisonments as forty years of unrelieved horror and close confinement. There are references to mansions rented, to expensive gifts bestowed, and to trading activities, so that the hitherto...
Hasan Balyuzi
Censorship, Denis MacEoin, Personal Observations
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Hasan Balyuzi, who died in 1980 after a long illness, on the eve of the publication of his full-length biography of Baha' Allāh, had devoted himself with particular attention to researching and writing on the lives of the central Baha'I figures. … Beginning somewhat late in life, he wrote three biographical studies devoted to the three 'Central Figures'...
It is nonetheless curious that Baha'is have been content until now with brief and inadequate descriptions of the life of Baha'u'llah.
It is a curiosity of the history of Baha'ism that, for all the emphasis placed within the religion on the historicity and chronological proximity of events relating to its origins, there has not until recently appeared any very detailed biography of the movement's founder, Mirza Husayn 'Ali Nüri Bahā' Alläh (1817-1892). Bahā'ī historical writing has...
What happened to a Baha'i who was expelled from the Baha'i faith?
"Shunned by the entire body of the believers, abandoned by his life-long and most intimate friends, deserted by his wife, separated from his only child, refused admittance into even his own home, denied of the profit he hoped to derive from the sale and circulation of his book, he found to his utter amazement and remorse his best hopes irretrievably...
Tuesday, March 28, 2023
Most of Chicago Baha'is were the students of Kheiralla
America (United States), Converting People, Freemasonry
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By 1898, the Chicago Baháís had grown to 225 members, most of them having taken Kheiralla's spiritual healing classes in his offices at the Masonic Temple.(Baha'i Temple by Candace Moore Hill) https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=Yt5eIEnzfYMC&pg=GBS.PT17.w.1.0.0_188&hl...
the real reason was not only religious but on grounds of political affiliations and so on.
I told him all about Monib’s marriage to Jamal Husseini’s daughter, etc. He was very surprised and wrote down his and Hassan’s name. I also told him about Ruhi being out and that as he might have wondered at the dissension in our own family the real reason was not only religious but on grounds of political affiliations and so on. (The Priceless Pearl,...
A Spiritual Assembly in Mecca was formed during the lifetime of Shoghi Effendi himself
His banner was planted in Islam’s very heart through the establishment of a Spiritual Assembly in Mecca; ...(The Priceless Pearl, Rúhíyyih Rabba...
Properties purchased by Shoghi Effendi
Before he passed away he had succeeded in creating great protective rings of land around the holiest of all Shrines, Bahá’u’lláh’s Tomb, and around the resting-places of the Báb, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, His mother, sister and brother. In addition to this he had chosen and directed the purchase of the land on Mt Carmel which would serve as the site of the future...
small wooden box containing the remains of the Bab
It took more than one hundred years for Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi to finally discharge the sacred trust which the Báb’s remains represented for them, a trust which lasted from the day of His martyrdom in 1850 until the final completion of His Shrine in 1953. From the moment when He was apprised of the execution of the Báb until He...
buy this land and bring the body of the Báb and inter Him here.
Abdul-Baha, Bab, Baha'u'llah, Israel, Money, Palestine, Ruhiyyih Khanum
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One day Bahá’u’lláh rested on Mt Carmel. He pointed out a spot to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and said buy this land and bring the body of the Báb and inter Him here.(The Priceless Pearl, Rúhíyyih Rabba...
Shoghi Effendi's cars, gold gift, trips to Swiss Alps and Cameras
Shoghi and Abdul Baha's CarsShoghi Effendi for many years had had a private automobile and chauffeur (like ‘Abdu’l-Bahá before him) ...I remember the Guardian telling me of how (I believe it must have been in early 1920) one of the old American Bahá’ís had sent a gift to the Master of a Cunningham automobile; notice of its arrival at the quayside in...
Arms are sold openly in Arab quarters. The Bahá’ís here, in Akka, from Tiberius, etc., all testify to this
“Arms are sold openly in Arab quarters. The Bahá’ís here, in
Akka, from Tiberius, etc., all testify to this ... Hassan said he and his
cousin Muhammad were sitting in a cafe in Tiberius; they heard a boy hawking,
he was crying ‘Grenade, grenade!’ Hassan could not believe his ears so he
called him over and asked him what he was selling? He said bombs....
Monday, March 27, 2023
How the soul of universalism banished from the teachings of Baha'u'llah?
The guardian, hierarchies, assemblies, rituals, taboos, rules for membership, approved forms of behavior, committees on publications, boards of censors, causes for excommunication—all the elaborate ramifications of the institutional pattern conspired to banish the soul of universalism from the Bahai teachings. (Haridas T. Mazumdar in Broken Silence,...
Saturday, March 25, 2023
Here are some of the cult-like tendencies in the Baha'i Faith that are not found in other major religions
Here are some of the cult-like tendencies in the Baha'i Faith that are not found in other major religions:1. Each Baha'i has a 'membership card' with a membership number2. Strict censorship and approval process for new books3. Punishments against individuals for perceived infractions include deprivation of voting rights and potential ostracism and...
Friday, March 24, 2023
He was responsible for converting 200 Chinese people in a small village.
One of our Vietnamese Bahá’ís named Minh lived on the outskirts of Saigon among many Chinese. Before he became a Bahá’í he was teaching the Faith. He was responsible for bringing in 200 Chinese believers in a small village which I visited several times. Minh was quite a person. He kept a boa constrictor under the bed where he slept at night. It was...
Story of Jamshed Maani
He [Dr. Muhájir] had an assistant, Jamshed Maani, who also did wonderful work there, in Sarawak and in Borneo where he was sent in 1963 by the National Spiritual Assembly for the region. Jamshed brought in 6,000 Bahá’ís among the Dyak tribe, who lived in long houses. Each long house had an Assembly. The Dyaks told Jamshed they had been waiting for...
Converting primitive people to the Baha'i faith in Indonesia
Dr. Muhájir had pioneered in Mentawai Island, located in the Indian Ocean on the west side of Indonesia. From Djakarta, the capital of Indonesia, it took about a week to get there. The people were very primitive and wore no clothes. The Indonesian government was Muslim and employed Iranian medical doctors to help keep their people healthy. As a doctor...
Covenant-breakers are like the cow of Imam Hasan
This claim of vain glory reminded me of the story that
beloved Mr. Bakhtavar told us regarding the misconceptions of the Covenant
Breakers about their station: In the early period of Islamic Era, when the
grandson of Muhammad and the second Imam of Shi’at, Imam Hassan was reigning
the Shi’at Community, he lived a simple life and did not have many worldly
possessions....
What is the problem with the Baha'i faith?
1. Women equality (UHJ) issue.2. Push for Ruhi Indoctrination.3. Endless meetings on recruiting others into the faith and forming clusters, etc. instead of focusing on the local community and it’s needs.4. Heavy-handedness & Intimidation by Institutions and their administrative officers (ABM, etc.)5. Lack of fun and social activities.6. Shunning...
Wednesday, March 22, 2023
Baha'u'llah and Abdul Baha advocated Taqiya but Shoghi Effendi made a law prohibiting it.
ʿAbd-al-Bahāʾ himself urged his followers on different occasions to practice ḥekmat and abide by taqiya: ʿalaykom be’t-taqiyya (ʿAbd-al-Bahāʾ, pp. 325-27).But Shoghi Effendi made a law prohibiting dissimulation:The first notion of a prohibition in regard to dissimulation seems to be contained in a letter of Shoghi Effendi to the National Spiritual...
Baha'u'llah admits to have supplied women to Subh-i-Azal
Once We [Baha'u'llah] had entered Iraq and a number of days passed, We were joined by My brother [Subh-i-Azal], and he remained with Us for a period of months that hath been mentioned in Tablets. He sought from Us a wife; We procured for him what quelled his carnal desire, and he dwelled comfortably in the land.Though We sent for believing women to...
Tuesday, March 21, 2023
Major Tudor Pole served during the war in the Royal Marine Light Infantry, and then in the Directorate of Military Intelligence in the Middle East
Independent Investigation of Truth, Loyalty, Spying
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Prophecies also swirled around the conflict in the Near East. In November 1914, the spiritualist Wellesley Tudor Pole (1884-1968), who served during the war as a Major in the Royal Marine Light Infantry, and then in the Directorate of Military Intelligence in the Middle East, surveyed what he knew of relevant prophecies circulating in relation to the...
Saturday, March 18, 2023
No Baha’i can believe in Baha’u’llah without accepting His Administrative Order
... let us make it quite clear that Baha’i Administration can never be divorced from Baha’u’llah’s other teachings. No Baha’i can believe in Baha’u’llah without accepting His Administrative Order, and working through it ...(The New Garden: An Introduction to the Bahá'í Faith by Hushmand Fatheazam)https://bahai-library.com/fatheazam_new_gar...
The matter which concerned Shoghi Effendi most... Shí‘ah enemies of the Faith
Covenant-Breakers, Ruhiyyih Khanum, Shi'ih, Shoghi Effendi
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The matter which concerned Shoghi Effendi most, however, was the Shrine of Bahá’u’lláh at Bahjí. The keys of the inner Tomb were still held by the authorities; the right of access to other parts of the Shrine was accorded Bahá’ís and Covenant-breakers alike; the Bahá’í custodian looked after it as before, and any decision seemed in a state of abeyance....
The subject of the Covenant is a very important one. It is referred to in all the Holy Books
The subject of the Covenant is a very important one. It is referred to in all the Holy Books; in the Brahmanist, in the Zoroastrian, and more clearly found in the Old and New Testament of the Gospels and of the Koran.These Covenants referred to in the Holy Books, focalize in the great Covenant of the Bahai dispensation, namely, the Covenant witnessed...
the administrative principles of the Cause are unassailable
The National Assembly, however, feels it desirable to emphasize the fact that, even though the administrative principles of the Cause are unassailable, they can be obscured by unwise Assembly attitudes and actions. Only complete courtesy and consultation can fulfill all the obligations imposed upon those called to be “trustees of the Merciful among...
Friday, March 17, 2023
A Baha'i "loves all men... commits no violence"!!
Abdul-Baha, Covenant-Breakers, Muhammed Ali (Ghusn)
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"A Bahai denies no religion; he accepts the Truth in all, and would die to uphold it. He loves all men as his brothers, of whatever class, of whatever race or nationality, of whatever creed or color, whether good or bad, rich or poor, beautiful or hideous. He commits no violence; if he is struck he does not return the blow. He calls nothing bad, following...
People could be called into the Prison by Baha'u'llah when its door was closed to them.
“. . members of the Blessed Family came to visit and welcome us. I returned with them, and for the first time stood in the Presence of the Blessed Perfection. The state of ecstasy and rapture that possessed me was beyond description. The first words of Bahá’u’lláh were these: ‘We have brought you into the Prison at such a time when the door of meeting...
Baha'is must not have any affiliations with churches
Bahá’ís Must Have no Affiliation with Churches In other words, there is no Christian church today whose dogmas we, as Bahá’ís, can truthfully say we accept in their entirety—therefore to remain a member of the Church is not proper for us ...… No Bahá’í can any longer dissimulate his faith and practise the laws and ordinances of a previous dispensation...
Thursday, March 16, 2023
Transporting the body of the Bab from Iran to Israel
The Baha'i claim that the Bab is buried in Haifa (Israel) is one that raises many questions. According to this cult, their leader was executed in Iran in 1850, and his mingled body (most part of it was eaten by stray dogs when it was thrown in the garbage outside Tabriz) was smuggled, in a trunk, successfully from Iran to Israel in a time and place...
why the Iranian regime would jail only a tiny fraction of the Baha'i population and leave the rest free!
The claim that Baha'is are persecuted in modern-day Iran is exaggerated. There is a narrative that the Iranian regime puts people in jail just for being Baha'is, but this is not the case. According to Baha'i Administration in the US, there are only around 90 Baha'is in prison in Iran, out of a total of 300,000 Baha'is in the country. This begs the...
Association with Covenant-Breakers prohibited
Association With Covenant-Breakers ProscribedThe glorious Báb forbade association with Covenant-breakers. Bahá’u’lláh strictly forbade association with the Covenant—breakers, and even warned the friends against entering, if possible, a city where Covenant-breakers resided, as their poison polluted the entire area. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s teaching with regard...
Wednesday, March 15, 2023
One former Baha'i wrote that the Baha'i faith can become an oppressive dictatorial theocratic cult.
The Baha'i Faith basically has two distinct phases with a very clear tipping point for when the switch is to take place. Sen McGlinn was disenrolled from the Faith for writing an argument that the Faith was compatible with the idea of separation of church and state and the UHJ issued a letter around this time affirming the Baha'i Faith's goal is theocracy.They...
Tuesday, March 14, 2023
Shoghi Effendi's support for the Jews and the solution of their basic problem. And Albert Hourani's statement against what was advocated by Shoghi Effendi.
Covenant-Breakers, Israel, Jews, Loyalty, Palestine, Politics
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Shawki Rabani's advocacy of the Partition Plan for Palestine before the Enquiry Commission of 1946 was not the first or the last proof of Baha'i support for the Jews and the solution of their basic problem.(Agudat Iḥud (Israel), Indiana University, 1960)https://www.google.com/books/edition/נר/B9MMAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&The Case against a Jewish State in...
Monday, March 13, 2023
These books have frequently been borrowed and burned by Baha'is
For a seemingly liberal faith, Baha'ism has a disappointing record with regard to censorship issues. Babism, out of which the movement emerged, made the burning of books not strictly treating of the faith a religious obligation. Baha' Allah, in reversing many Babi ordinances (like holy war) indicated that book-burning was to be considered a grave sin....
Sunday, March 12, 2023
The concept of 'Bada' and future Babi states
Bab, Denis MacEoin, New World Order (NWO), Punishment
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The ambiguity of the Babi position can also be seen in the Babis' apparent expectations for the future. Initially, the Báb himself referred to the final jihad (holy war) that the Mahdi was expected to fight against the forces of unbelief, depicting the coming struggle in fairly traditional Shi'i terms: God's victory was near at hand and all people...
Friday, March 10, 2023
None is permitted to interpret what God has sent down in the Bayan
None is permitted to interpret what God has sent down in the Bayan, other than to relate all the letters of paradise to him whom God shall manifest or to his Letters of the Living, and all the letters of hellfire to the gates of his inferno.(The Bab, The Persian Bayan)It is not permissible to interpret the Bayan other than in accordance with the interpretation...
Thursday, March 9, 2023
you must read the Bayan everyday
...every day, certainly, you must read the Bayan it is thus that from this sea you might derive the jewels. -The Bab (Kitab-i-Bayan Arabic)https://bahai-library.com/pdf/b/bab_bayan_arabic_terry....
The goods become pure when the Babis become possessors thereof.
The goods which the believers [Babis] take from the non-believers become pure when the believers become possessors thereof.-The Bab (Kitab-i-Bayan Arabic)https://bahai-library.com/pdf/b/bab_bayan_arabic_terry....
Bab about Akhbari, Usuli and Shaykh Ahmad
"Now that you know the true significances of this world, know that, today, in the branch of the Isna Ashari, the divergencies have arrived at their summit. Certain ones, known under the name of Ousouli believe in the possession of the truth, because they have the science of Zenn (analogy), on the subject of which they all agree; others, known under...
Wednesday, March 8, 2023
Subh-i-Azal was designated by the Báb as his successor when he was 16 or 17 years old.
A Turkish dervish who, impelled by curiosity to see so celebrated a heresiarch, visited him soon after his arrival in Cyprus, remarked with surprise "He is still but a child!" Gobineau (p. 277) makes his age only 16 at the time of the Báb's death (A.D. 1850), but it is more probable that this was his age when he was designated by the Báb as his successor,...
Sunday, March 5, 2023
American University of Beirut and the Baha'i students. High number of these students left the Baha’i religion or were expelled from it.
Christians, Covenant-Breakers, Education, Independent Investigation of Truth, Palestine
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In the early
twentieth-century there were roughly 300 Iranian students in AUB.Iranian students at AUB constituted an eclectic mix of Iranians from Palestine,
Iran and other parts of the Ottoman Empire and post-Ottoman Arab states although most
coalesced around their Baha’i identity through student clubs. Muslim Iranians formed a small
minority...
British mandatory officer Gertrude Bell was in close contact with the Baha'is in Iran, Iraq and Palestine.
Gertrude Bell (1868-1926) was a British mandatory official who knew the Middle East well, met `Abdu’l-Bahá and was in contact with Bahá’ís in Iran, Iraq and Palestine.There is an unpublished book about her connections with the Baha'is at the website of Afnan Library.https://afnanlibrary.org/gertrude-be...
Cecil Hourani, the non-Baha'i grandson of Baha'u'llah
America (United States), Baha'u'llah, Covenant-Breakers, Israel, Palestine
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In chapter 2, "Return to Sources," Hourani narrates his war years in Lebanon, Palestine, and
Egypt, where he served at G.H.Q. Chapter 3, "Discovery of America,"
deals with his work as head of the Arab Office in Washington, which was set up
by the Arab League and directed by Musa Alami, of whom a very sympathetic
picture is drawn. There Hourani came...
Secretaries of Shoghi Effendi who broke the covenant
These people disbelieved in 'Abdu'l Baha's will and testament. They also served as secretaries to Shoghi Effendi.Rouhangiz Rabbani (sister of Shoghi Effendi) with her entire family.Ruhi Afnan (cousin of Shoghi Effendi.) and his mother.Diyaiyyih Khanum (mother of Shoghi Effendi)'Azizu'llah Bahadur (a Persian Baha'i from Shiraz and he was well versed...
The Baha'i Hizbullah
Ironically, the first group in modem Iranian history to call itself hezbollah (the Persian pronunciation) were the Baha'is, who used it to signify their non-partisanship in worldly politics, the term having been used by Baha'ullah in the Tablet of Unity (Lawh-i Ittihad). In 1948 a party by the name of Hezbollah was founded in Shiraz but proved to be...
How Sabet became one of Iran's richest man?
Sabet admits that he did not know much about cars, but he finally settled on a Ford, whose representative was a man named Charles Corm: ‘Corm was a dignified, well-mannered man, a poet and a scholar who has left behind a number of books and poems. He was very well dressed and always wore pastel-coloured silk shirts and elegant suits.’Sabet adds that...
Baha'is were not allowed to visit Beirut
Covenant-Breakers, Israel, Muhammed Ali (Ghusn), Palestine, Shoghi Effendi
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A few years before the founding of the state of Israel, the third leader of the Baha’i faith, Shoghi Effendi Rabbani (1896-1957), asked the Baha’is of northern Palestine to leave, and most left for Jordan and Lebanon. These Baha’is, together with those in Mashghara, form a small community that has found its place in the religious mosaic of Lebanon;...
The impact of AUB on the development of the Baha’i faith
In Chapter 4 [of this book], Richard Hollinger analyses the Baha’i presence at AUB and discusses the impact of the university on the development of the Baha’i faith and of its Baha’i graduates on Iran.(H. E. Chehabi, Distant Relations: Iran and Lebanon in the last 500 years, Centre for Lebanese Studies in association with I.B.Tauris Publishers, p ...
It was only when Baha’is started proselytizing, that some at SPC were upset, as, in the words of one early Baha’i student, ‘they had come to the Levant to convert, not to be invited to convert.’
Baha’is [studying in SPC / AUB] from Iran regularly visited Baha’ullah and his son and successor, Abbas Effendi Abdul-Baha (1844-1921); and the proximity of Beirut to Akka made the SPC doubly attractive to Iranian Baha’is, for they could spend their holidays with their religious leader. It was only when Baha’is started proselytizing, that some at SPC...
Saturday, March 4, 2023
Shaykhi school of thought responsible for the formation of the Babi and Baha'i movements
It will also be observed that there
are implications regarding Aḥsāʾı’s intention in bringing an alternative to the mainstream (Usụlısm ), proven by a number of facts, including his
efforts to redefine ijtihād, as well as the emphasis on his recurring dreams
of the imāms. And last but not least, although Shaykhısm̄ is an autonomous school of thought...