Abdu'l Baha and Baha'u'llah were lying through their teeth when they pretended to be pious Muslims while propagating a doctrine heretical to Islam.

Menachem Mendel Schneerson is an example of a relgious leader who stayed within the bounds of his religion. Like Baha'u'llah, he was a prolific writer whose teachings fill over 400 volumes. Like Baha'u'llah he commanded a sect of believers who considered him to be divine, indeed, perhaps the Messiah. Like Baha'u'llah, his grave at Montefiore Cemetery in Queens has become a site of pilgirmage for his followers. Schneerson also shared traits with Shoghi Effendi. He was a reluctant Messiah, perhaps planning to become an engineer before being pressed into service based on his family and religious connections. Like Shoghi, he was begged by his sect to take up the mantle of leadership. (Many members of the sect were murdered during the Holocaust and the survival of the group was in question at the time) Like Shoghi, he needed time to think about it and adjust himself to the idea of being a major religious leader. He was a hard worker, like Shoghi, rarely taking a vacation, a man whose chief recreation was visiting the grave of his father-in-law. Like Shoghi, he was married but did not have children. Like Shoghi, overwork contributed to his death, and like Shoghi he is buried within a day's journey of where he died. Indeed, Chabad headquarters is right down the road from the graveyard at 770 Eastern Parkway, Queens, NY. This is the "world center" for the Chabad/Lubavich movement. Like Shoghi, he did not name a successor although he did leave a will.

But the essential difference is this. Schneerson directed his followers back to Jewish teachings, denying claims of his own divinity. (though he may have encouraged his followers to worship him, the subject is debated). He founded a mulitude of Jewish charities to the point where non-religious Jews consider Chabad the public face of Jewish Orthodoxy despite it's sectarian leanings. His organization directs non-religious Jews back to traditonal practices. Schneerson might or (more likely) not be the promised Messiah, but it was clear to all that he would never replace Moses.

On Sunday, March 1, 1992, Gabriel Erem, the editor of Lifestyles Magazine told Schneerson that on the occasion of his ninetieth birthday they would be publishing a special issue and wanted to know what his message to the world was. Schneerson replied that "'Ninety', in Hebrew, is 'tzaddik'; which means 'righteous.' And that is a direct indication for every person to become a real tzaddik—a righteous person, and to do so for many years, until 120. "This message", Schneerson added, "applies equally to Jews and non-Jews". (107)

This long digression is simply a way of saying that if a group remains within a prophetic tradition then they are a sect. If they go beyond that and replace or supercede a prophet they are a a new religion (as Bahai's would have it) or a cult (as some Baha'i critics, especially zealous Christians and Muslims would put it). Either way, Abdu'l Baha and Baha'u'llah were lying through their teeth when they pretended to be pious Muslims while propagating a doctrine heretical to Islam. Shoghi, to his credit ended this deceitful practice of his ancestors.