Baha'i Prophecies about Iran, Israel, the United States & future Baha'i Commonwealth

Nor should a survey of the outstanding features of so blessed and fruitful a ministry omit mention of the prophecies which the unerring pen of the appointed Center of Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant has recorded. These foreshadow the fierceness of the onslaught that the resistless march of the Faith must provoke in the West, in India and in the Far East when it meets the time-honored sacerdotal orders of the Christian, the Buddhist and Hindu religions. They foreshadow the turmoil which its emancipation from the fetters of religious orthodoxy will cast in the American, the European, the Asiatic and African continents. They foreshadow the gathering of the children of Israel in their ancient homeland; the erection of the banner of Bahá'u'lláh in the Egyptian citadel of Sunni Islam; the extinction of the powerful influence wielded by the Shí'ah ecclesiastics in Persia; the load of misery which must needs oppress the pitiful remnants of the breakers of Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant at the world center of His Faith; the splendor of the institutions which that triumphant Faith must erect on the slopes of a mountain, destined to be so linked with the city of 'Akká that a single grand metropolis will be formed to enshrine the spiritual as well as the administrative seats of the future Bahá'í Commonwealth; the conspicuous honor which the inhabitants of Bahá'u'lláh's native land in general, and its government in particular, must enjoy in a distant future; the unique and enviable position which the community of the Most Great Name in the North American continent must occupy, as a direct consequence of the execution of the world mission which He entrusted to them: finally they foreshadow, as the sum and summit of all, the "hoisting of the standard of God among all nations" and the unification of the entire human race, when "all men will adhere to one religion ... will be blended into one race, and become a single people." (God Passes By, p. 314-6)

(Bahá'í Answers, compiled by Olivia Kelsey, 1947, APPROVED BY THE REVIEWING COMMITTEE OF THENATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF THE BAHÁ’ÍS OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA)

https://bahai-library.com/kelsey_bahai_answers

Read More

Can Baha'is be considered a political group?

Participation in partisan politics is certainly not permitted among Bahá’ís, and anyone breaking this rule is liable to expulsion. Put differently, anyone participating in politics would have ceased to be a practicing Bahá’í by so doing.

Nevertheless, Bahá’ís cannot claim to be completely uninvolved in politics. They believe, after all, that the present world order is doomed and will one day be replaced by their faith. Islam generally, and Ayatollah Khomeini’s interpretation of it in particular, make no clear distinction between religion and politics, and the same can be said for the Bahá’í faith.

The Bahá’ís also have specific views on what most people call political questions. Dr. Denis MacEoin has pointed out that Bahá’ís are opposed to communism and socialism, and have adopted clear positions on such issues as racism, nationalism and world government. In several cases, such as their attitude toward communism, their views coincide with those of the orthodox clergy in Iran, but there is one major difference. Bahá’í texts refer to divinely sanctioned monarchy, and it is clear that this is the form of government they prefer.

Despite the ill-treatment Bábís received from Qajar autocrats, Bahá’í leaders from Bahá’u’lláh onwards were rarely critical of the institution of monarchy, or even autocracy. They took no part in the Constitutional Revolution, for example, and described Mohammad Ali Shah, who tried to overthrow the Constitution, as a “just king.” Bahá’ís apparently said prayers for Mohammad Reza Shah during the 1978-79 Revolution. The Shi‘i clergy, by contrast, were in the main opposed to both the Qajar and Pahlavi regimes, and believe that monarchy is by definition unjust.

(Bahá’í News, December 1982, Bahá’í Year 139, ‘The Bahá’ís of Iran’: A special report)

https://bahai.works/Bahá’í_News/Issue_621/Text

Read More

The New World Order of Baha'u'llah is Vitamin C

You can have a person that suddenly has a disease that bleeds all over, so you say "okay", we pick up all kinds of band-aids, and we put one bandage here and one bandage here and everything just to band-aid the person so that you wouldn't bleed. And then this person suddenly finds that his bones are getting very soft and cannot walk. We say "okay", we put all kind of sticks and wrap it around the bones so that he can walk. And the person becomes weak. And so we say "okay", this person is becoming weak so we find a couple of other people to carry him around or put him in a wheelchair. And then gradually the person starts not being able to breathe, and so let's give him oxygen. And if that doesn't work, we just give him a pump that constantly pumps his chest so that he can have the necessary oxygen. And it goes on and on and on, which is what's happening in the medical model today. However, if we had paused for a moment and say, "Let's see what is happening with this person? Could it be that this person doesn't have something that he should have?" And we investigate and find that he lacks vitamin C.

Transcript of: Creating New World Order by Hossain Danesh

https://bahai.works/Transcript:Hossain_Danesh/Creating_New_World_Order

Read More

When the laws He has instituted are carried out, there will be no millionaires possible in the community and likewise no extremely poor.

When the laws He has instituted are carried out, there will be no millionaires possible in the community and likewise no extremely poor. This will be effected and regulated by adjusting the different degrees of human capacity. The fundamental basis of the community is agriculture, tillage of the soil. All must be producers. Each person in the community whose need is equal to his individual producing capacity shall be exempt from taxation. But if his income is greater than his needs, he must pay a tax until an adjustment is effected. That is to say, a man’s capacity for production and his needs will be equalized and reconciled through taxation. If his production exceeds, he will pay a tax; if his necessities exceed his production, he shall receive an amount sufficient to equalize or adjust. Therefore, taxation will be proportionate to capacity and production, and there will be no poor in the community.

(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, pp. 301–303)

https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/compilations/social-action/5#163186040

Read More

In the Baha’i Faith, there is a clear tension between its universal message of unity and its dogmatic and theocratic institutional claims.

I. The Absolute Claim of the Baha’i Faith

The Baha’i Faith presents itself as a universal world religion, claiming to complete and fulfill all previous historical faiths.

Scope and Fulfillment

• Universal Scope: The claim is explicitly universal, envisioning the eventual inclusion of all humanity within the Baha’i system.

• Superseding Revelation: Baha’is regard Baha’u’llah as a new Manifestation of God with a revelation intended for the entire world. This revelation fulfills and supersedes all previous religious dispensations—Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and others—rendering their laws and rites no longer binding.

• Temporal Exclusivity: Baha’u’llah’s revelation inaugurates a new, all-encompassing cycle (the Baha’i Cycle). During the current thousand-year period, the Baha’i Faith is the sole divinely valid religion. The simultaneous validity of multiple independent religions is explicitly denied. The Baha’i law revealed in the Kitab-i-Aqdas is absolutely and universally binding.

• Prophetic Authority: The authority of Baha’u’llah is regarded as absolute and infallible. No criticism of his revealed knowledge is permitted.

The Theocratic Goal

The Absolute Claim extends into the social realm through the goal of establishing a theocratic world order.

• The envisioned system is a universal commonwealth governed exclusively by Baha’i law and principles.

• Baha’i social laws are intended to be binding even for non-Baha’is within this anticipated order.

• This system requires the overcoming of national sovereignty and the replacement of existing religious and political systems with a centralized Baha’i administration.

---

II. The Doctrine and Promotion of Tolerance

The Baha’i Faith publicly promotes significant ideals of tolerance, unity, and openness, especially in its ethical teachings and its appeals to Western audiences.

Principles of Unity and Brotherhood

• Global Unity: The Faith teaches the unity of humanity, nations, and religions, calling for the elimination of all religious, racial, and national prejudices. Loving the entire human race is presented as the highest virtue.

• Peace and Nonviolence: Baha’u’llah firmly rejected holy war and violence, marking a clear departure from elements of early Babism.

• Religious Dialogue: The Faith affirms the divine origin of the major scriptural religions and views them as different expressions of one eternal religious truth.

• Intellectual Freedom and Science: The human intellect is held in high regard, and the Faith teaches the harmony of science and religion: “Any religion not in accord with science is ignorance.” It also upholds the principle of the independent search for truth and states that no one should be coerced into belief.

Pragmatic Tolerance During the ‘Abdu’l-Baha Era

The period of ‘Abdu’l-Baha (1892–1921) was marked by an outward emphasis on tolerance and flexibility.

• ‘Abdu’l-Baha minimized complex Persian theosophy and legal details when addressing Western audiences, presenting the Faith primarily as a religion of unity, love, and reason.

• He largely refrained from emphasizing the absolute doctrinal claims of Baha’u’llah and instead portrayed the Faith as an inclusive, ecumenical movement, easing Western concerns about the strict legal prescriptions of the Kitab-i-Aqdas.

---

III. The Contradiction: Intolerance and Dogmatism in Practice

Despite its public message of freedom, unity, and tolerance, the inner reality of the Baha’i Faith is one of dogmatic exclusivity and strict authoritarianism, especially within its administrative order.

Formal and Internal Intolerance

• Exclusion of Alternatives: The Faith is considered formally intolerant due to its goal of imposing a universal religious law upon all peoples, and internally intolerant because it rejects positive recognition of internal diversity.

• Infallible Authority: The Baha’i administrative order consists of two institutions endowed with infallibility: the Guardian and the Universal House of Justice. This structure combines the absolute spiritual authority of the Shi‘ite Imamate with the collective infallibility associated with Sunni consensus.

• Submission and Freedom: While publicly advocating freedom, the system teaches that real freedom lies only in complete obedience to divine law. Human autonomy is treated as merely formal, and deviation from divine ordinances is condemned.

• Rejection of Independent Thought: Although the “independent search for truth” is emphasized for seekers, the principle becomes limited after conversion. Individual believers are barred from independent interpretation or expressing dissenting theological views. This rigid uniformity risks intellectual stagnation.

Sanctions and Exclusion

Maintaining unity of the Faith is considered paramount and is strictly enforced.

• Covenant-breaking: Refusal to accept the authority or infallibility of the institutions, or criticism of their decisions, is labeled “Covenant-breaking,” understood as an attack on the divine order.

• Excommunication: Covenant-breakers are excommunicated and subjected to complete social shunning, dissolving all ties—including family relations—and rendering the individual a complete outcast.

(Extracted from Francesco Ficicchia's Der Baha'ismus: Weltreligion der Zukunft? Geschichte, Lehre und Organisation in kritischer Anfrage, Stuttgart: Quell Verlag, 1981)

Read More

Attacks by intellectuals... The effort is to sow seeds of doubt among believers about the Faith's teachings and institutions

In general, the strategy being pursued has been to avoid direct attacks on the Faith's Central Figures. The effort, rather, has been to sow the seeds of doubt among believers about the Faith's teachings and institutions by appealing to unexamined prejudices that Bahá'ís may have unconsciously absorbed from non-Bahá'í society. In defiance of the clear interpretation of 'Abdu'l-Bahá and the Guardian, for example, Bahá'u'lláh's limiting of membership on the Universal House of Justice to men is misrepresented as merely a "temporary measure" subject to eventual revision if sufficient pressure is brought to bear. Similarly, Shoghi Effendi's explanation of Bahá'u'lláh's vision of the future Bahá'í World Commonwealth that will unite spiritual and civil authority is dismissed in favour of the assertion that the modern political concept of "separation of church and state" is somehow one that Bahá'u'lláh intended as a basic principle of the World Order He has founded. Particularly subtle is an attempt to suggest that the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar should evolve into a seat of quasi-doctrinal authority, parallel to and essentially independent of the Local House of Justice, which would permit various interests to insinuate themselves into the direction of the life processes of the Cause.

(Issues Related to the Study of the Bahá'í Faith, Universal House of Justice, Bahá'í Publishing Trust of the United States, 1998-05)

https://bahai-library.com/compilation_issues_study_bahai

Read More

and its dominion will have been established over the entire planet.

It is indeed my fervent and constant prayer that the members of this firmly-knit, intensely alive, world-embracing Community, spurred on by the triple impulse generated through the revelation of the Tablet of Carmel by Bahá’u’lláh and the Will and Testament as well as the Tablets of the Divine Plan bequeathed by the Center of His Covenant–the three Charters which have set in motion three distinct processes, the first operating in the Holy Land for the development of the institutions of the Faith at its World Center and the other two, throughout the rest of the Bahá’í world, for its propagation and the establishment of its Administrative Order– may advance from strength to strength and victory to victory. May they hasten, by their present exertions, the advent of that blissful consummation when the shackles hampering the growth of their beloved Faith will have been finally burst asunder, when its independent status will have been officially and universally recognized, when it will have ascended the throne and wielded the scepter of spiritual and temporal authority, when the brightness of its glory will have illuminated the whole earth, and its dominion will have been established over the entire planet.

(Shoghi Effendi, Messages to the Baha’i World pp.84-85)

https://bahai-library.com/tinto_universal_cycles

Read More

Kings and rulers of the world will cast their crowns upon the ground, prostrate themselves to kiss its fragrant earth

This beautiful and majestic path, which extends from the Shrine of the Báb to the City of Haifa in line with the greatest avenue of that blessed city, which is adorned with trees and verdant plants and illumined with bright lights, which is the object of the admiration of the people of this region and a source of joy and pride to the authorities in this land, will subsequently be converted, as foreshadowed by the Centre of the Covenant, into the Pathway of the Kings and Rulers of the World.

These mighty embodiments of kingly power, humble pilgrims to the Sanctuary of the Lord, will, upon their arrival in the Holy Land, first proceed to the Plain of ‘Akká, there to visit and circumambulate the Qiblih of the People of Bahá, the Point around which circle in adoration the Concourse on High. They will then make their way to this august and venerated city, and climb the slopes of Mount Carmel. With the utmost rapture, ardour and devotion, they will hasten towards this Sacred Spot and, with reverence and submissiveness, humility and lowliness, ascend these terraces to approach the luminous precincts of the sanctified and holy Shrine. Reaching the threshold of the Sanctuary of Grandeur, they will cast their crowns upon the ground, prostrate themselves to kiss its fragrant earth and, circling around its hallowed arcade, call out ‘Here am I, here am I, O Thou Who art the Exalted, the Most Exalted One!’ and recite in tones of fervent supplication the perspicuous Verses of the Tablet of Carmel.

Thereafter they will walk over the spacious lawns and through the wondrous gardens of this sublime and holy spot, this garden of the Exalted Paradise, will inhale its fragrant scents and taste of its choice and luscious fruits. They will, with tearful eyes and burning hearts, call to mind the pain and suffering, each affliction and calamity, the duress, imprisonment and martyrdom which befell that Wronged One of the world, will behold, with their own eyes, on every hand in this exalted Spot, the glory of Carmel and the evidences of the compelling might and greatness, the invincibility, the all-encompassing dominion of the Conqueror of the worlds, and will praise and glorify the Lord of Carmel.

- Shoghi Effendi (From a letter dated Naw-Ruz 108 B.E. to the friends in the East, authorized translation from the Persian; Baha’i News, October 1990)

(Quoted in SHOGHI EFFENDI: THE RANGE AND POWER OF HIS PEN by ‘Ali Nakhjavani, 2006)

Read More

the future of this Revelation.

During the time of Christ only a few souls believed in Him, but they were so powerful in spirit that none of the learned men among the Israelites could resist and stand against them, and afterwards their light illumined the world, their call was raised abroad, their stars twinkled in heaven, their diadem became resplendent and they are shining With great brilliancy. When Christ passed away He had eleven disciples. The greatest among them was Peter and he denied Christ three times, but when Baha’u’llah departed He had a hundred thousand believers who were calling out Yá-Baha’u’l-Abhá while they were under swords and daggers, and in these late years many men and women in Yazd were killed by inches without uttering a single cry or complaint, but rather called out the Greatest Name. From these incidents we may judge the future of this Revelation.

(The Bahá’í World, Volume 9, p 806)

Read More

A Baha’i theocracy would suck.

A Baha’i theocracy would suck. The big reason is that Baha’is have a goal and advocate for a one world government where Baha’i institutions slowly replace secular institutions. Baha’i institutions only allow Baha’is in good standing and over the age of 21 to vote and do not allow for campaigning during elections. This means all minorities have no right to vote and that nobody who is a Baha’i can meaningfully advocate for reform peacefully because you can’t run a campaign even if you are a Baha’i in good standing. This means Baha’is have less political mobility than even people in Iran (Iranians of multiple religions can vote and hold office despite it being an Islamic theocracy, and Iranians can hold campaigns and advocate for reform. I hate the Islamic Republic as an Iranian myself, so it takes a lot for me to admit even this shitty society still allows more political mobility than Baha’i politics does)

In this Baha’i society, alcohol and any other drugs would likely be banned, premarital sex (or even just kissing or holding hands) would be a punishable offense (loss of voting rights and fine), and women would be discriminated against in inheritance laws as well as not be eligible for the Universal House of Justice (highest religious court and main leadership arm of the faith). Also since the faith advocates for conversion therapy to this day, it is likely there would be state sponsored gay conversion therapy.

A Baha’i may defend this by saying only Baha’is must uphold Baha’i law, but this just means that the only way to have voting rights would be to uphold these laws and convert to the religion. And even if you have voting rights, you can’t campaign in favor of reform because campaigning is banned. In a Baha’i election, everyone in good standing is on the ballot of Local Spiritual assembly (this is the only election regular Baha’is can participate in, only higher up members can elect higher offices like National positions) and the people with the most votes win. The people with the most cotes tend to be the richest and most popular people on a community. This means even though you have elections, the same people tend to always win anyways, especially since all votes are closed door and you cannot see who votes for what or what the voting margin is. This would be like if the supreme court made a ruling but you don’t get to see the voting margin, who voted for what, or what the dissenting opinion was.

I also wanna clarify that most Baha’is are perfectly lovely people and I condemn infinitely how the Islamic Republic and other parts of the world treat Baha’is. Nobody deserves to have their human rights trampled on. I just wanted to write this rant because when the Baha’i Faith is discussed, it’s usually just the narrative the Baha’i Faith pushes and not the nuances or baggage associated with their narrative. If your answer is still the same, that’s fine, I just don’t want people to think Baha’i Theocracy is sunshine and rainbows. No theocracy is and a Baha’i Theocracy isn’t even uniquely better. Its just softer than conservative/fundamentalist Islamic law.

https://old.reddit.com/r/religion/comments/1mhmjfx/if_you_had_to_live_as_a_religious_minority_in_a/

Read More

a state comprising a Baha’i majority

We can see that the basic positive spirit of the doctrine of toleration advocated by John Locke is far more strongly affirmed by Baha’u’llah and His successors. Not only must the state abstain from using coercion to force citizens to adopt a particular religion, but a state comprising a Baha’i majority would have an obligation to safeguard minority rights. We can see that this idea is one of the basic implications of the removal of the sword. However, Baha’u’llah’s message also cannot be equated with the liberal Western conception of civil society, religion, and state. If Baha’u’llah prohibits the use of coercion to enforce His religion, this does not mean that He therefore also accepts the Western—especially the American—idea of complete separation of religion from public life.

(Logos and Civilization: Spirit, History, and Order in the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh. By Nader Saiedi)

Read More

the Seat of Guardianship

The Bahai World Administrative Center. The passage “Ere long will God sail His Ark upon thee” in Bahāʾ-Allāh’s Tablet of Carmel (Lawḥ-e Kārmel) (Bahāʾ Allāh, tr. Taherzadeh et al., p. 5) was later interpreted by Sho-ghi Effendi as an allusion to the future establishment of The Universal House of Justice on Mount Carmel. Sho-ghi Effendi designated the world administrative buildings around the Arc Garden to be the Bahai International Archives, the Seat of the Hands of the Cause of God (Ayādi-e amr-Allāh, q.v.), the Seat of Guardianship, and the Seat of the Universal House of Justice (Shoghi Effendi, 1958, p. 74). Afterwards, the Seat of the Guardianship became the Center for the Study of the Texts building, and the Seat of the Hands of the Cause of God became the International Teaching Center building; the Bahai International Library, the last building of the complex referred to as the Arc buildings, has not yet been built. The Bahai World Administrative Center, according to Shoghi Effendi, symbolizes the “seat of spiritual and temporal power” and will serve as “the seat of the future Bahai commonwealth” (1958, pp. 73-75).

(Encyclopedia Iranica)

www.iranicaonline.org/articles/haifa/

Read More

Building of the new World Order... there is nothing in the old world to compare with the work which we are doing.

In reference to the building of the new World Order, Mr. Taherzadeh said there is nothing in the old world to compare with the work which we are doing. Do we build our Assemblies according to our own ideas? No! For then they would be dry and old, and with no spirit, like the old world that we came from. We get our building materials from the Creative Word of Bahá’u’lláh; from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Center of the Covenant which Bahá’u’lláh established with us; from Shoghi Effendi, the appointed Guardian of His Cause; and from The Universal House of Justice, the Supreme Body called into being by the Creative Pen of Bahá’u’lláh.

(The American Bahá’í, September, 1971)

https://bahai.works/The_American_Bahá’í/Volume_2/Issue_9/Text

Read More

Shoghi Effendi, the great grand-son of Baha'u'llah, the first Guardian of the Baha'i Faith, the head of the World Super-State Government.

Shoghi Effendie, the great grand-son of Baha'u'llah, the first Guardian of the Baha'i Faith, the living Spiritual Leader to whom millions of Bahai's of the world are devoted to and are bound together in his centre, the future and first Head or Chairman of the International House of Justice or World Super-State Government, writes that "The Humanitarian and Spiritual Principles enunciated decades ago (1863 A.D.) in the darkest East (Persia), by Baha'u'llah and moulded by Him into a coherent scheme are one after another being taken up by the world unconscious of their source as the marks of progressive civilization. And the sense that mankind has broken with the past and that the old guidance will not carry it through the emergencies of the present has filled with uncertainty and dismay all thoughtful men save those who have learned to find, in the story of Baha'u'llah, the meaning of all the prodigies and portents of our time".

(Letters dated August 1st, 1944 Written by Mr. Mani H. Mehta To Messrs. Gandhi and Jinnah, page 10)

Read More

Baha'i Administrative Order would become the government in a Baha'i State.

The UHJ states that the Baha'i Administrative Order would just become the government in a Baha'i State:

"Not only will the present-day Spiritual Assemblies be styled differently in future, but they will be enabled also to add to their present functions those powers, duties, and prerogatives necessitated by the recognition of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, not merely as one of the recognized religious systems of the world, but as the State Religion of an independent and Sovereign Power."

https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/the-universal-house-of-justice/messages/19950427_001/1#474157083

As such the Baha'i Administrations guidance on Assemblies and, of course, the Universal House of Justice apply which include (may grab quotes later to prove):

• No public dissent against institutional decisions
• No debate on institutional decisions
• No accountability of the institution to the public
• No public criticism or skepticism to be expressed about institutions
• No "electioneering" (read, no campaigns in which prospective electees clearly state their platform)
• No freedom of speech
• No publication of any material without prior submission to institutions for approval
• No independent arbitration of an institutional decision
• No discussion of candidates
• No separation of power (Supreme Court of the Faith also to be subservient to the UHJ in the same way all Assemblies/Governments are)
• No transparency (i.e., minutes, consultations and results of votes confidential)
• Concerns about an institution only to be raised directly with the institution in secret
• Complete subservience of local governance to the Universal House of Justice
• Rulings of the UHJ are infallible and not subject to appeal or discussion
• Contention with a UHJ decision punishable by excommunication
• UHJ decisions considered decisions of God (disagreement to result in excommunication)
• Suspension of the right to vote, be elected, or participate in governance made the prerogative of the institutions
• Individuals subject to 'excommunication' and shunning from society
• Contact with and reading material by shunned individuals forbidden
• Appointed arm (appointed by the UHJ) which "outranks" the elected arm
• Appointed arm responsible for excommunication (complete shunning from society in this scenario)
• Appointed arm responsible for investigating individuals on behalf of the UHJ
• Appointed arm independent of democratically elected institutions
• Appointed arm responsible for ensuring elected arm activities/decisions align with UHJ.
• Appointed arm exempt from criticism, accountability, or transparency (answerable only to UHJ).

When you really think about it the Faith's model for government is pretty similar to the Soviet Union. A one party state with no transparency, show elections, a secret police, and all dissent or skepticism punished by being erased/excluded from society.

Baha'is say the world needs to be mature to be ready for the Baha'i World Order, I say the world needs to be infantilized and regress before it would accept this.

Read More

The authority of the Local and National Assemblies

The authority with which Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi have invested both Local and National Assemblies is clear and unquestionable. It is enjoined upon the believers to obey the decisions of their Assembly. To disobey them on the grounds that a decision might be wrong is not permitted.

[...]

A true Bahá’í, therefore, will not criticize or censure the decisions of the Spiritual Assembly in word or attitude. A member of the Spiritual Assembly who does not wholeheartedly accept the majority decision of the Assembly is indeed breaking a spiritual commandment of the Cause of God. At the same time, the individual is not deprived of the right to air personal views through proper channels and, if dissatisfied, to appeal against a decision of the Assembly. The believer is given ample opportunity to raise any matters with the Spiritual Assembly, either personally or in consultation with the community at the Nineteen Day Feast, and has the right of appeal to the National Spiritual Assembly against a decision of the Local Assembly, or to the Universal House of Justice against that of the National Spiritual Assembly. But, in the meantime, the individual will continue to accept the decision of the Assembly until the result of the appeal is made known. To challenge the authority of the Assembly at any time or for any reason is to break yet another spiritual principle firmly established in the Cause of God.

[...]

...the voice of the majority, which we are told by our Master to be the voice of truth, never to be challenged, and always to be wholeheartedly enforced. To this voice the Friends must heartily respond, and regard it as the only means that can ensure the protection and advancement of the Cause.

(Trustees of the Merciful - An Introduction to Bahá’í Administration by Adib Taherzadeh)

Read More

More buildings to be built on Mount Carmel

On the ninth day of my pilgrimage, January 19th, 1955, we were again in the presence of Ruhiyyih Khanum when the Guardian arrived. She joined him, and then I proceeded to the door of his room. When I heard him say, “Befarmaid, Befarmaid!” I entered, greeted him, and took a seat. He wanted to know what I had done that day. I told him that we had visited the archives, and he wanted to know which archives—the small or main one. I answered that we had seen the main one. He wanted to know if we had seen the photograph of His Holiness Baha’u’llah, the painting of His Holiness the Bab, and the picture of the Master, and I answered that we had seen them all. He recounted how he had gathered many Holy relics and kept track of the names of the donors, writing these out in English and in Farsi and how he was busy erecting the buildings of the World Center which would consist of multiple buildings. The first would be the International Archives building. In the second and third epochs of the history of the Faith, the other buildings would be built. This construction would continue until the Golden Age. Mr. Remey, the Hand of the Cause of God, had designed the Archives building, the significance of which was not yet known to the believers but would be in the future.

(The Memoirs of Shamsi Sedaghat by Shamsi Sedaghat edited by Hillary Chapman - 2023)

https://bahai-library.com/sedaghat_chapman_memoirs

Read More

Unquestionably, all will come under the shadow of the Cause of God.

"...the Cause has reached its present degree because it is confirmed. The hosts of the Supreme Concourse assist it and the powers of the Kingdom of Abha confirm it. Unquestionably, all will come under the shadow of the Cause of God."

(Abdul Baha, Star of the West)

https://bahai.works/Star_of_the_West/Volume_9/Issue_3/Text

Read More

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 argue that non participation in politics is a principle for unity's sake, but state that the Baha'is will rewrite national constitutions and impose Baha'i governments once the majority of a country's population is Baha'i, since the country will then voluntarily adopt the Faith as a national religion!

Baha'i Faith is this new age tolerant hippy religion for self preservation, but the moment it has enough people it is designed to morph into an oppressive dictatorial theocratic cult.

https://www.reddit.com/r/exbahai/comments/11im6it/bahai_vision_of_the_future/

Read More

The concept of 'Bada' and future Babi states

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 were summoned to assist in the approaching battle against the infidels (among whom the Babis included those Muslims who refused to recognize the Báb), purifying the Earth for the return of the Imám. The faithful were to prepare for "the day of slaughter." Such a jihad was never launched, however. Returned from Mecca in 1845, the Báb avoided going to Karbalá to meet his followers who had gathered there-essentially saying that God had changed his mind. Babi missionary expansion continued after this, but in his extensive writings the Báb turned to other matters, elucidating quranic verses and Islamic doctrines and practices, and elaborating the laws for future Babi states. He reduced emphasis on jihad and left its application to future Babi kings (MacEoin 1982b).

(The Oxford Handbook of Millennialism, 2011, p. 479)

Read More