the Tablet cannot be authenticated at this time as neither an original manuscript nor an authenticated transcription of it is available.

Your email letter of 16 January 2022, together with its enclosure, in which you request a typescript of a Tablet of Bahá’u’lláh that you refer to as the Lawḥ-i-Jadhb as well as information about where it was revealed and the identity of the addressee, has been received at the Bahá’í World Centre. The delay in replying is regretted. The Research Department has previously reported that, while several manuscript copies of this work are held in the Archives at the World Centre, the Tablet cannot be authenticated at this time as neither an original manuscript nor an authenticated transcription of it is available. It is possible that, in the future, a reliable manuscript will come to light, which would enable that Department to confirm its authenticity.

(THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE SECRETARIAT, 16 May 2022)

https://bahai-library.com/uhj_lawh-jadhb_not_authenticated

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Baha'i community had become such an unhealthy place spiritually. -Steven Scholl

Steven Scholl, founding publisher of White Cloud Press, was threatened with being declared a covenant breaker for having published books without administrative approval. He chose to resign for the reasons in his quote below, from “Enemies Within : Conflict and Control in the Baha'i Community.” By Bacquet, Karen

“My wife is a Baha'i as are many of her family members,... The very real threat of being declared a Covenant breaker meant my wife had to face the decision of joining me as a heretic or divorcing me so that she could maintain her relationships with her family and other lifelong friends. Since [my wife] had no intention of divorcing me, the choices then extended out to her family. Her sister would not refuse to socialize with us so she would automatically be declared a covenant breaker along with her husband and children. Many of my close Baha'i friends would also be faced with the decision of maintaining friendships or joining me as a heretic. The whole thing is absurd and quite medieval. But it does raise the issue which you point out so well; how anyone would want to belong to a group which is willing to act this way and be so cruel is beyond me. That is why I voluntarily left the religion. Not in order to escape punishment but because the Baha'i community had become such an unhealthy place spiritually. I was terribly saddened that my spiritual home of 25 years had turned into a prison and nightmare.”

(Enemies Within: Conflict and Control in the Baha’i Community by Karen Bacquet. Published in Cultic Studies Journal - Psychological Manipulation and Society, Volume 18, 2001)

https://library.internationalculticstudies.org/24n77ga/2

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Conflict and Control in the Baha’i Community by Karen Bacquet

Karen Bacquet’s article, "Enemies Within: Conflict and Control in the Baha’i Community," outlines several criticisms focusing on the gap between the religion's progressive public image and its internal administrative practices.

Here are some key points:

• Authoritarian Governing Structure: The Baha'i Faith is governed by an elected body, the Universal House of Justice (UHJ), which is believed to be divinely guided and infallible, making its decisions unchallengeable by adherents.
• Lack of Institutional Accountability: Although the governing bodies are elected, they are not held accountable to the electorate but are considered accountable only to God.
• System of Censorship: Adherents are subject to "prepublication review," a policy where any Baha’i writing about the Faith for public consumption must have their work approved by the administration.
• Fear of Internal Enemies: There is a pervasive fear of internal dissent that might disrupt unity; those who challenge the administration are often labeled "covenant-breakers" and described as "spiritually sick".
• Practice of Shunning: Individuals designated as covenant-breakers are subject to mandatory shunning by the rest of the Baha'i community.
• Suppression of Dissent: The administration uses intimidation and investigations by appointed officials (Auxiliary Board Members) to monitor and silence members who express unorthodox views.
• Theocratic Ambitions: The Baha'i administrative order is viewed not just as a church structure, but as an evolving world theocracy that considers Western democratic systems inferior and eventually doomed.
• Inequality in Governance: Despite teachings on gender equality, women are excluded from serving on the supreme governing body, the Universal House of Justice.
• Internet Crackdowns: The leadership has threatened and sanctioned intellectuals for expressing liberal opinions on private email forums and the Internet.
• Summary Expulsions: In recent years, the administration has dropped critics from membership rolls without prior warning or due process for expressing dissenting views publicly.
• Hostility toward Modern Scholarship: The administration often condemns academic methods as "materialistic" and interferes with scholarly projects sometimes by deleting passages from primary sources.
• Pressure for Conformity: Adherents are placed in a psychological bind where they are attracted by liberal ideals but pressured into absolute obedience to an administrative system that does not tolerate public disagreement.

(Enemies Within: Conflict and Control in the Baha’i Community by Karen Bacquet. Published in Cultic Studies Journal - Psychological Manipulation and Society, Volume 18, 2001)

https://library.internationalculticstudies.org/24n77ga/2

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no Bahá’í work may be published without approval

Although no Bahá’í work may be published without approval, it is not mandatory to print an approval notice in any publication.

(Publishing, Bahá'í, Memorandum on: Materials to be Deposited with the Bahá'í World Centre Library, Bahá'í International Archives, Universal House of Justice 1998/2000)

https://bahai-library.com/bwc_memorandum_bahai_publishing

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Rewriting history

Totalitarian governments often rewrite history and delete as non-persons those they do not like; I should hope that Bahá’í historians will be more honest.

-Juan R. Cole

https://bahai.works/World_Order/Series2/Volume_16/Issue_4/Text

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The BIC owns the copyrights to the texts of the four Central figures of the Baha'i Faith and the texts of letters of the UHJ

The entire contents of the Baha'i World Centre Etext Server are copyrighted by the Baha'i International Community, Copyright (c) 1994, All Rights Reserved, as a collective work (compilation copyright). They may be freely redistributed in their entirety provided that this copyright notice is not removed...

The Baha'i International Community asserts that it owns the copyrights to the texts of the four Central figures of the Baha'i Faith (The Bab, Baha'u'llah, Abdu'l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi) and the texts of letters of the Universal House of Justice, which are available for distribution by the Baha'i World Centre Etext Server, as part of its compilation copyright.

(February 1997, The Secretariat, Baha'i International Community, P.O. Box 155 31001, Haifa - Israel)

https://sacred-texts.com/bhi/cnote.txt

All material on this website, including but not limited to, text, photographs, images, illustrations, maps, audio clips, and video clips (“Content”) is protected by copyrights, trademarks, and other intellectual property rights. The Bahá’í International Community retains full legal protection for its Content under all applicable national and international laws.

https://www.bahai.org/legal

Trademarks owned by the Baha'i Administration

https://www.trademarkia.com/the-universal-house-of-justice-88806367

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The translation of the writings of Bahá'u'lláh is not a priority for the Universal House of Justice

If translating and making available the writings of Bahá'u'lláh were in fact any sort of priority of the Universal House of Justice, they have enormous resources with which to do so. (Anyone who can spend $250 million on building works has the money for other projects, as well). They have simply decided to expend their resources on other things. I once saw in a library a big set of books, The Collected Works of Sri Aurobindo in Bengali with English translations. Aurobindo was a 20th century Indian holy man. But his followers managed to get his *complete* collected works not only published but also translated, not long after his death. Aurobindo's following is tiny and poor compared to that of the Bahá'ís. That only about 5% of Bahá'u'lláh's works have been translated is not an unfortunate side effect of lack of resources in the Bahá'í community. It is a deliberate decision to invest the money in things like monumental architecture instead.

Moreover, the Universal House of Justice's own translations, as represented in Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh and some of the compilations, are riddled with errors and mistranslations that give an extremely misleading impression of the intent of the original on a number of occasions. So it is not as if the UHJ's own record in translation work is spotless. Unfortunately, it is precisely the attitude of suspicion toward qualified academics and the rigidity of their preconceived opinions, evident in their letter on the Tablet of the Houri, that has caused them to so discount solid expertise and resulted in these many errors in their publications.

-Juan Cole

https://bahai-library.com/uhj_lawh_huriyyih_cole

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'Abdu’l-Bahá used to drink castor oil to clear his bowels.

'Abdu’l-Bahá used to drink castor oil to relieve constipation. This detail appears in the original Persian edition of the book but was left untranslated by Ahang Rabbani in the English version.

Go to page 113 of the translation here,

https://bahai-library.com/rabbani_reminiscences_khalil_shahidi

Check Footnote No. 131

It says:

A small paragraph pertaining to the private life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is left untranslated.

In the original Persian edition the omitted paragraph states:

حضرت عبدالبهاء گاهی اوقات محض تخلیه ی از فضول و اعتدال مزاج، فقط روغن کرچک را اختیار می فرمودند با پرهیز.

Which means,

'Abdu’l-Bahá would sometimes take only castor oil, along with dietary restraint, to relieve constipation and keep his body in balance.

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The first differences which happened after the death of Baha'u'llah

Mirza Jawad continues, “The first differences which happened after the death of His Great Holiness our Master within this community was that Abbas Efendi concealed some part of the book of [Baha’u’llah’s] Testament entitled “the Book of my Testament,” which book was given to him by Baha’u’llah in his own holy writing. The detail of this is that on the ninth day after the Ascension [i.e., the death of Baha’u’llah] Abbas Efendi chose nine persons from amongst the Companions, one of whom was the author (of this book) and disclosed to them this document, concealing, however, a portion of it with a blue leaf [of paper], without any reason or justification, and gave it to them that they might enjoy the blessing of its perusal. One of them...read,...to the place concealed by the blue leaf, whereupon Abbas Efendi said to the persons above mentioned, ’Verily a portion of this book is concealed for a good reason, because the time doth not admit of its full disclosure’.” Later on the same day it was read to a number of other relatives and believers, down to the concealed portion.

”Let it not be hidden,” concludes Mirza Jawad, “...that the injunctions set forth in the above-mentioned book all refer to this community generally; haw then could it be right for Abbas Efendi to disclose what he wished and conceal a portion thereof? For there is no doubt that if what was concealed had not been suitable [for general publication] His Holiness Baha’u’llah would not have written it in his august writing.”

There is no question that Baha’u’llah appointed Abbas Efendi as his successor. But what authority was he to have? The Bab had indicated that his successor Subh-i-Azal had the same rank that he had, and was one with him. But Baha’u’llah made it very clear that anyone who succeeded him could never claim to share his rank as a Great Manifestation. For before his death he had stated in the Kitab-i-Aqdas that anyone who claims “Command,” that is, claims to have the rank of a Manifestation, before a thousand years is a false liar. Hence, Abbas Efendi was not authorized to take his father’s place, and be a continuation of his Manifestation, But very soon it began to appear that this was what he wanted to do. He called himself Abdu’l-Baha (the slave of Baha), and professed perfect submission to his father’s will. But he also assumed the title, “the Center” of the Covenant,” a title which many Baha’is thought belonged only to God. “Abbas Efendi,” writes Mirza Jawad, “after he had attained to supremacy..... claimed such lofty stations and high degrees as belong exclusively to Divine Theophanies.” And he quotes several pages of sayings of the new leader which show how high his aspirations were.

One of Abbas Efendi’s claims was that he alone had the right to interpret the writings of Baha’u’llah. “This servant is the expositor of the Perspicuous Book, and whatever of God’s writings is not confirmed by this servant is not worthy of credence.” In another place he says, “You must ask him [Abdu’l– Baha] regarding the meaning of the texts of the verses. Whatsoever he says is correct. Without his will not a word shall anyone utter.” Though he never called himself a new Manifestation, by claiming to be the sole infallible interpreter of the Ward of God, and by asserting that his writings were equally authoritative with those of his father, he assumed a station of which Baha’u’llah would most probably have warmly disapproved. Modern Baha’is, however, fully agree to these claims. For instance, the volume entitled Bahai Scriptures, to which frequent reference has been made, has two parts. Part I comprises the verses of Baha’u’llah, and Part II (larger than Part I), the writings and addresses of Abdu’l-Baha. Both are considered equally authoritative. “The words of Abdu’l-Baha..... have equal rank and spiritual validity with those of the Manifestation.”

(The Baha'i Faith: Its History and Teachings by William McElwee Miller)

https://www.h-net.org/~bahai/diglib/books/K-O/M/miller/Bahaism_Miller_1931.pdf

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erasing Azal from history

Subsequent Bahā’ī theologian-historians began the process of erasing Azal from history, denying his popularity among the Bābīs 1854–1865, and finding it implausible that an old-time Bābī like Mukārī could have initially leaned toward Azal. By the time we get to Tāherzādeh in the 1970s, information to the contrary is being actively suppressed in English. Bahā’u’llāh in the view of these later partisans had to have not only won out that September, he had to have always possessed supremacy. That the magnitude of Bahā’u’llāh’s victory can only be diminished by rendering Azal a non-entity did not faze them.

(Juan R. I. Cole, THE AZĀLĪ-BAHĀ’Ī CRISIS OF SEPTEMBER, 1867)

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Baha'u'llah's last will and testament includes a passage about Mirza Aqa Jan which 'Abdu'l-Baha removed

Baha'u'llah's last will and testament includes a passage about Mirza Aqa Jan which 'Abdu'l-Baha removed and it has never been released in full. The UHJ has admitted this in a letter to a Baha'i academic and stated it will never release the full Will and Testament.

Quoted in this article https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316833019_The_1893_Russian_Publication_of_Baha'u'llah's_Last_Will_and_Testament_An_Academic_Attestation_of_'Abdu'l-Baha's_Successorship

https://old.reddit.com/r/exbahai/comments/1jhy3kj/whats_the_most_shocking_fact_about_the_history_of/

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Shoghi Effendi did not translate that part in the Gleanings

Bahá'u'lláh writes in a tablet called Lawh-i-‘Abdu’r-Razzáq [1]:

O people of Bahá, drink this wine of everlasting life openly in the name of the Beloved, the Most Glorious, despite the enmity of the adversaries. Leave these artificial, dung-beetle-like forms to occupy themselves with the impurities of their own loathsome, foul insinuations. By My life, the True One! The nostrils of the cow cannot partake of this most pure fragrance, and this peerless, incomparable stream of the All-Glorious is not, nor will ever be, the portion of the people of error.

Original Persian:

ای اهل بها اين خمر بقا را بر ملا باسم محبوب ابهی بياشاميد رَغْمًا لِأَنْف الأعدآء بگذاريد اين هياکل جَعْليّه جُعَليّه را در خبائث اشارات کثيفهء منتنه خود مشغول شوند * فو نفسی الحق مشام بقر را از اين عطر اطهر نصيبی نه و اين زلال بيمثال سلسال ذوالجلال قسمت اهل ضلال نبوده و نخواهد بود

Shoghi Effendi did not translate that part in the Gleanings, I wonder why!

[1] https://oceanoflights.org/bahaullah-st-021-fa/

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Use of dark psychology and manipulations by Baha'i leaders.

It's all documented in books and online by Bahá'u'lláh's family:
• "The Religion Of The Bayan And The Claims Of The Baha'is" is an analysis of the manipulations of Bahá'u'lláh and some of his sons, by Jalal Azal, grandson of Bahá'u'lláh's brother Subh-i-Azal and husband of Bahá'u'lláh's granddaughter Ismat.
• "A Lost History of the Bahá'í Faith" is about the manipulations of 'Abdu'l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi, based on the work on Bahá'u'lláh's grandson Shua'u'llah.
• 'Abdu'l-Bahá's family is a website documenting the madness of Shoghi Effendi.

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Revision, Censorship, and Suppression in Modern Baha’i Literature

While Babi-Baha’i history suffers a kind of distortion at the hands of Baha’i authors which is rather subtle, a more direct approach is taken by the Baha’i Administration and publishers, through revision of previously printed materials and by a review process of future publications. This ongoing policy of updating earlier writings and regulating works by Baha’is, whether for publication in Baha’i organs or otherwise, is intended to preserve doctrinal purity and to “‘present a true picture of the Faith to the general public…'” Justification for such practices have generally centered on the need to correct minor errors and update statistics. Or, in the case of the review process, to ensure some standard of academic quality. However, the evidence suggests that the the primary concerns are the promotion of a consistent picture of Baha’i history and dogma, the blotting out of references to failed predictions and promises, and the diversion of readers from differing or hostile points of view.

(A Critical Examination of 20th Century Baha’i Literature by Vance Salisbury)

www.bosalisbury.com/interests/the-bahai-faith/a-critical-examination

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Reality magazine

'Reality' was a Baha'i magazine produced in New York between 1919 and 1929. During the ten years of its existence, it changed its style and contents dramatically, serving first as an organ for articles on Baha'ism and related topics, then (1923-1926) as a vehicle for attacks on the new Baha'i organization being built up by Shoghi Effendi Rabbani, and finally becoming a general magazine with little reference to Baha'i matters.

-Denis MacEoin

Source: Bulletin (British Society for Middle Eastern Studies), Vol. 13, No. 1 (1986), pp. 85- 91
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/194982

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Sufi influence on Baha'u'llah's writings

Mirza Husayn 'Ali Nuri Baha' Allah [spent some time with] some Naqshbandi Sufis during a period of self-imposed exile in Iraqi Kurdistan from 1854 to 1856. Many of Baha' Allah's writings from the period of his Baghdad exile (1853-1863) show profound Sufi influence, but until now this issue has been little studied because of the prevailing doctrine that, as a divinely-inspired prophet, he could not have fallen under any external influence at all.

-Denis MacEoin

Source: Bulletin (British Society for Middle Eastern Studies), Vol. 13, No. 1 (1986), pp. 85- 91

Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/194982

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if this is a sign of the direction in which Baha'i studies may be moving, it does not augur all that well for the future.

Since the 1950s or so, however, the situation in the West has changed somewhat, largely with the advent of a new generation of better-educated converts eager to study their religion in a more systematic and academic manner than has hitherto been the case. Such an approach is encouraged by doctrinal approval for 'the harmony of science and religion' and 'an unfettered search after truth'. In spite of the very real difficulties of pursuing such principles within the context of a movement that also places a high premium on a belief in infallible knowledge enshrined in scriptural texts guarded by 'divinely-ordained' institutions possessed of considerable coercive powers, some younger Baha'i scholars have succeeded in pioneering fresh academic work in the subject. Since the completion of M.Zabih's doctoral dissertation entitled Die Losung der sozialen Frage auf Grund der Baha'i-Lehren at Stuttgart in 1949, over 30 doctoral and master's theses have appeared dealing with Babi and Baha'i topics (for details up to 1982, see bibliographies by P.Smith, BRISMES Bulletin, 6:2 [1979], pp.129-30 and 9:1 [1982], pp.98-90). With only a few exceptions, these studies have been carried out by members of the sect, and at the moment the present writer is the only non-adherent engaged in full-scale research or writing on the subject. That, clearly, is an unhealthy situation and one that must be remedied before long.

[…] I am aware that Baha'i authors have problems in getting their materials past official 'reviewing committees' and that the publishers are in the difficult position of trying to promote academic scholarship in face of opposition from powerful fundamentalist elements within the Baha'i ranks; but if this is a sign of the direction in which Baha'i studies may be moving, it does not augur all that well for the future. … for example, … Peggy Caton's article entitled 'Baha'i Influences on Mirza 'Abdu'llah, Qajar Court Musician and Master of the Radif'…. It is an excellent, illuminating, and scholarly piece of writing by a Westerner with a rare knowledge of Persian music, but, for all it tells us about Mirza Abd Allah Farahani and his role as a court musician under Nasir al-Din Shah, or about Persian music in general, or Qajar court life in particular, it is rather forced in its attempt to relate any of this to the fact that the subject of the article was a Baha'i convert. He seems to have done nothing conspicuous within the movement, nor does his conversion appear to have had any clearly discernible effect on his music.

-Denis MacEoin

Source: Bulletin (British Society for Middle Eastern Studies), Vol. 13, No. 1 (1986), pp. 85- 91
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/194982

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Denis MacEoin about Ishraq Khavari

Ishraq Khavari's many editions of Baha'i texts, for example, useful as they are in the absence of anything else, betray great carelessness and a lack of the most elementary knowledge of editorial methods.

-Denis MacEoin

Source: Bulletin (British Society for Middle Eastern Studies), Vol. 13, No. 1 (1986), pp. 85- 91

Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/194982

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In the West, Baha'ism had established itself as a moderately-successful middle-class cult, but it remained too peripheral to attract serious attention within the academic world.

In the West, Baha'ism had established itself as a moderately-successful middle-class cult, but it remained too peripheral to attract serious attention within the academic world. It had become far too Westernized in its modern phase to hold much appeal for orientalists; its pretensions to the status of a 'new world religion' carried little weight with scholars in religious studies working within the major traditions; and sociologists of religion had not yet developed a serious interest in non-Christian sects or what are now termed 'new religious movements'. The religion's adherents wrote plenty of books and pamphlets, of course, but these contributed next to nothing to a real understanding of the subject, being directed almost exclusively to apologetic, devotional, didactic, or organizational ends.

-Denis MacEoin

Source: Bulletin (British Society for Middle Eastern Studies), Vol. 13, No. 1 (1986), pp. 85- 91
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/194982

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Nabíl’s Narrative - "Shoghi Effendi had fabricated the entire thing"

At the time when Shoghi Effendi produced Nabíl’s Narrative, the Covenant-breakers spread a rumour among their Arab friends that Shoghi Effendi had fabricated the entire thing and that only they possessed Nabíl’s narrative. Apart from that claim, as stated earlier, we also have a Tablet from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, in which He states that the revised edition of Nabíl’s narrative was among the documents stolen by the Covenant-breakers.

When Shoghi Effendi set out to translate Nabíl, he had the instructions of Bahá’u’lláh before him, and we can be sure that he tried his best to remove anything that he felt was overstated or based on assumption. He gave us everything that he thought was authentic, and in conformity with the spirit of Bahá’u’lláh’s wishes.

(‘Alí Nakhjávání in Shoghi Effendi: The Range and Power of his pen)

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