They will now be punished

“America,” he said, “is no longer even actively quarreling. They are passively stagnant.” This is why, he said, that he asked them to disperse — so that they may become alive again and not wither. They will now be punished, he told a pilgrim, both materially and spiritually if they do not disperse. Those who now fail to respond to the summons of the Crusade will suffer both materially and spiritually. Those who do not respond to the commander, he said, will feel this double suffering.

(First and Last Meeting with Shoghi Effendi - William Sears, April 1, 1954)

https://bahai-library.com/pilgrim_accounts_collection_files/html/1954,%20William%20Sears%20-%20First%20and%20Last%20Meeting%20with%20Shoghi%20Effendi%20-%20Part%20II.html

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Siyyid Muhammad Isfahani was a spy thus he was killed by a group of Baha'is in Akka

When Siyyid Muhammad was sent to Akka with the group of exiles, he acted as a spy for the Ottoman government. He was tasked with monitoring the activities of Baha'u'llah and the Baha'is and reporting them to the central authorities.

In 1288 AH (1871 AD), Siyyid Muhammad and two of his associates (Mirza Aqajan and Mirza Rida-Quli) were killed in Akka by a group of Baha'is.

(Taqrirat-i-Dar Bareh Kitab-i-Aqdas by Abdu'l-Hamid Ishraq-Khavari)

https://notebooklm.google.com/notebook/4c0ff5cf-e471-427c-9344-d16bfabc0994

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Bab's notions did not contain much originality. Mahommedans... ought to be exterminated.

Bab's notions did not contain much originality. Atheism, under the disguise of pantheism, was the basis of his principles. Every single atom in the universe, he said, was actually God, and the whole universe collectively was God ; not a representative of, or emanation from God, but God himself. Everything in short was God. Bab was God, and every living creature down to each lowest insect. Death was not real it was only another form of divinity, if such language has any signification at all. Virtue had no existence, neither had vice; they were necessarily wholly indifferent, as being portions or emanations of the Godhead. Rights of property had no existence, excepting in the equal division of all things among the godly. But this was a fiction, the real doctrine being the reign of the Saints, that is, of the Babees, and their possession of the goods of the ungodly, in other words, the non-Babees. It was the simplest of religions. Its tenets may be summed up in materialism, communism, and the entire indifference of good and evil and of all human actions. There was no antipathy, it was affirmed, on the part of the Babees to Christians, or to the followers of any other creed excepting Mahommedans, who, as they slew Babees, ought to be exterminated.

(GLIMPSES OF LIFE AND MANNERS IN PERSIA, BY LADY SHEIL, p. 179)

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Removing a believer from the Baha'i membership list

Inactivity alone is not a cause for removing a believer from the Bahá’í membership list. Removal can be done only when the believer himself withdraws from the Faith or is removed from the list of voting members by formal administrative action.

(Baha'i News, No. 195, May, 1947)

https://bahai.works/Bahá’í_News/Issue_195/Text

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Baha'i efforts to punish Iran

UHJ asks Baha'is to identify companies, in their countries, interested in doing Business with Iran.

https://archive.org/details/UHJ_LETTERS/2%20May%202016%20UHJ%20letter%20Doing%20Business%20With%20Iran/

UHJ asks Offices of External Affairs (in different countries) to contact government officials / business people visiting Iran.

https://archive.org/details/UHJ_LETTERS/5%20february%202016%20UHJ%20letter%20speaking%20with%20officials%20travelling%20to%20Iran/

UHJ asks Baha'is to lobby against Iran through their Offices of External Affairs, to meet with their government contacts, non-governmental organizations and individuals of influence.

https://archive.org/details/UHJ_LETTERS/24May2016LobbyingAgainstIran/

NSA of the US asks Baha'is across the country to join in a congressional "call-in"... to ensure that House Resolution 220 passes with the same strong bipartisan support.

https://archive.org/details/UHJ_LETTERS/20160502NsaOnMay13CongressionalCall-inCampaign/

Baha'i Comedian Omid Djalili speaks about "change" in Iran

https://youtu.be/os5kzKlqer8

Israeli Channel 12 interviews a Baha'i woman

https://www.reddit.com/r/exbahai/comments/1lowhw1/israeli_channel_12_interviews_a_bahai_woman/

18 Year old Baha'i, Borna Dehghani, takes part in anti-government protests in Iran, loses his life.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DTid3BXkdee/?igsh=MWc4ajM5ZjhpZm9mOQ==

But Baha'i Administration warns Hamid Taheri for being in contact with a Muslim from Iran.

https://taherifiles.blogspot.com/2009/09/april-2002-letter-of-australian-nsa.html

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Some of the most prominent instances of violence by the Babis

Some of the most prominent instances of violence by the Bábís include:

• Rescue Operations: In Mashhad, Bábís launched a violent rescue of a detained companion named Ḥasan, which resulted in the death of several government guards.
• The Clash at Bárfurúsh: Upon entering Bárfurúsh (modern Babol), the Bábís were attacked by a fanatical mob. In a famous display of strength, Mullá Ḥusayn cleaved an attacker, his musket, and a tree in half with a single sword stroke! Later, Bábís charged out of a caravanserai to repel besiegers, resulting in more fatalities among the attackers.
• Military Sorties at Shaykh Ṭabarsí:
  • In the first major battle, Bábís "mistakenly" attacked the village of Qáḍı́-Kalá, destroying houses and "accidentally" killing the mother of a tribal leader.
  • In December 1848, a small band of Bábís surprised the regional army at dawn, killing 430 soldiers, including the commander.
  • In January 1849, during a night raid on the royal camp at Vás-Kas, Bábís killed three royal princes and roughly 70 soldiers.
• Retaliatory Acts: Following reports that the royalist army had decapitated and burned Bábí corpses, the Bábís beheaded slain Muslim soldiers and impaled their heads on pikes around the fort's ramparts as a deterrent.
• Individual Acts of Resistance: During the final executions, a prisoner named Mı́rzá Muḥammad-Báqir-i-Qá’inı́ broke his bonds, snatched a sword from an executioner, and killed him on the spot before being shot by soldiers.

(Quddús - The First in Rank by Boris Handal)

https://bahai-library.com/pdf/h/handal_quddus_first_rank.pdf

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Consequences of Withholding Ḥuqúqu’lláh

Payment of Ḥuqúqu’lláh is considered one of the essential spiritual obligations laid down by Bahá’u’lláh, similar to prayer and fasting. It is also a unique test used to distinguish the friend from the stranger.

1. Spiritual and Bountiful Deprivation: Individuals who fail to honor the obligation of Ḥuqúqu’lláh deprive yourselves of so great a bounty. Bahá’u’lláh states that whoso faileth to observe this law bringeth loss upon himself. The bounties received from paying Ḥuqúqu’lláh—prosperity, blessing, honor, and divine protection—are consequently withheld.
2. Divine Retribution for Dishonesty: Bahá’u’lláh warns against dealing faithlessly or treacherously with the Right of God. If one is eligible but does not pay, or is not trustworthy and honest in calculating the amount, God will punish them. Furthermore, "He who dealeth faithlessly with God shall in justice meet with faithlessness himself". If one acts treacherously, God will expose them and they will not receive God’s bounties.
3. Wealth Becomes a Source of Affliction: Regarding those who are ignorant of the significance of Ḥuqúq and continuously endeavor to amass riches, Bahá’u’lláh notes that their life is wasted, troubles are endured, and wealth becometh a source of affliction. Woe betide the rich that hold back Ḥuqúqu’lláh and fail to observe the injunctions upon them.
4. Societal Hardship: Bahá’u’lláh warns that withholding payment of Ḥuqúq can contribute to collective hardship, promising that had the friends observed this payment, the people of that region would have enjoyed ease and comfort and would not have experienced any hardship.
5. Debt Upon Death: Believers are encouraged to pay their Ḥuqúqu’lláh before they pass on so that they go to the next worlds without a debt to God. If the debt is not cleared, the administrator of the estate should pay it after funeral expenses and debts are paid.

It is also important to note that if Ḥuqúqu’lláh is offered, but not paid willingly, with eagerness, love, and "with the utmost joy and radiance," it will not be accepted in the sight of God.

(Extracted from Ḥuqúqu’lláh - The Right of God by Firaydoun Javaheri, 2015)

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God will assuredly send down one who will deal mercilessly with him.

O Dhabíḥ! The Tongue of Grandeur saith: By Myself that speaketh the truth! In this most mighty Revelation all the Dispensations of the past have attained their highest and final consummation. Whoso layeth claim to a Revelation after Him, such a man is assuredly a lying impostor. We pray God that He may graciously assist him to retract and repudiate such claim. Should he repent, God will no doubt forgive him. If, however, he persisteth in his error, God will assuredly send down one who will deal mercilessly with him. He, verily, is the Almighty, the Most Powerful.

(Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh Translated By Shoghi Effendi)

https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/bahaullah/gleanings-writings-bahaullah/6#618644675

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Badiullah confirms that ʻAbdu'l-Bahá did not physically assault anyone further after that day.

Badiullah recounts that he was near the garden area when ʻAbdu'l-Bahá approached, laughing in a manner that was "contrary to custom," and delivered one slap to Badiullah. Badiullah felt this blow was a severe strike motivated by malice. Badiullah’s immediate response was to retaliate by striking ʻAbdu'l-Bahá "on the chest with a fist," after which ʻAbdu'l-Bahá quickly departed.

Baháʼu'lláh, having heard the disturbance, summoned Badiullah and asked why he was so agitated. After Badiullah described the incident, Baháʼu'lláh stated that ʻAbdu'l-Bahá had committed the action because he bore enmity toward all of them. Baháʼu'lláh placed His hand on the mark left by the slap, promised to chastise ʻAbdu'l-Bahá that very day, and assured Badiullah that ʻAbdu'l-Bahá would never raise a hand again. Badiullah confirms that ʻAbdu'l-Bahá did not physically assault anyone further after that day.

(The memoirs of Badi'u'llah, Baha'u'llah's youngest son)

https://bayanic.com/showPict.php?id=badi&ref=0&err=0&curr=0

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Why some people like Ghodsi Effendi were expelled by Shoghi Effendi?

After the end of the 1st World War the Master had chosen Ghodsi Effendi to collect the mail by hand from the post office and to bring it to him. His remuneration for this service was a daily meeting with Abdul Baha. After the Master passed away, he continued to render this service to Shoghi Effendi. At one point a member of the family asked him to deliver his mail to him directly and not to take it to Shoghi Effendi first. This he found difficult to do, and consequently asked Shoghi Effendi to relieve him of this duty. Shoghi Effendi became very angry at the idea that his mail would not be brought to him daily and by hand. As a result he kicked out Ghodsi Effendi. But matters did not stop there. Agha Sayyed Mirza Yahya. Ghodsi's father, was also kicked out because he did not shun his son, and expressed the opinion that for such an unimportant matter his son did not deserve to be thrown out of the Cause. This reached the ears of Shoghi Effendi and made him still more angry. He considered it a protest against the prerogatives of his guardianship and as a result kicked out the father, mother, brother and sister of Ghodsi Effendi.

Source : Ruhi Afnan’s 1970 letter to the Spiritual Assembly of Iran

https://abdulbahasfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/ruhi-afnan-1970-letter.pdf

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The Marriage Dispute of Mirza Abdul-Husayn Khan Dihqan and Khazar Razi

The marriage dispute between Mirza Abdul-Husayn Khan Dihqan and Khazar Razi highlighted significant challenges within the early administrative establishment of the Baha'i Faith after 'Abdu'l-Baha's passing. The couple's marriage, conducted according to Islamic law instead of Baha'i law, was viewed as a serious violation, undermining the community's legal and administrative identity. Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Cause, expressed deep concern and took decisive action, instructing the National Assembly to remove them from any positions in the Local Spiritual Assembly if re-elected and to deprive them of their administrative rights within the community. This incident became a key test of loyalty and adherence to Baha'i laws, setting a precedent for the enforcement of Baha'i administrative and spiritual order.

(Ninth volume of Tarikh Zuhur al-Haqq by Mirza Asadu’llah Fadil Mazandarani)

https://bahai-library.com/pdf/m/mazandarani_tarikh_zuhur_haqq_9_typed.pdf

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Superlative character of Baha'u'llah's Revelation

Stressing the superlative character of His Revelation as compared with the Dispensation preceding it, Bahá’u’lláh makes the following affirmation: “If all the peoples of the world be invested with the powers and attributes destined for the Letters of the Living, the Báb’s chosen disciples, whose station is ten thousand times more glorious than any which the apostles of old have attained, and if they, one and all, should, swift as the twinkling of an eye, hesitate to recognize the light of My Revelation, their faith shall be of no avail and they shall be accounted among the infidels.”

(Page 108 of “The World Order of Baha’u’llah”)

https://bahai.works/Bahá’í_World/Volume_14/Selections_from_the_Writings_of_Shoghi_Effendi_about_Bahá’u’lláh

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Shoghi Effendi on Palestine

We are assured that the Jews will get all of Palestine; Abdu'l-Bahá mentioned this in "Some answered Questions"; also, the British Secretary Balfour in his declaration mentioned it. The Jews are establishing their home in Palestine. The word "Israel" means "Hastening to God." "Isra" means "hastening" and "el" means "God." The Jews suffered for 2,000 years for persecuting Christ, "The Son of God," for 3 years; the Moslems and the Arabs persecuted Bahá'u'lláh, "the Father," for 50 years, so they will suffer more and endure greater sufferings. The time of banishment is now over for the Jews. They will return to Palestine and Palestine will be their home forever. The Moslems and Arabs will be scattered. The Arabs suffered severe defeat because they did not respond to the call of Bahá'u'lláh. One million Jews came into Israel and one million Arabs went out of Israel in 1948 and 1949. The Jews will get all of Palestine because the Arabs will make trouble with the Jews and the Jews will drive them out. The standard of Israel must be raised...

(Haifa Notes by Ramona Brown - May 2, 1954)

https://bahai-library.com/brown_haifa_notes

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Severe punishment for those who fail to turn towards Baha'u'llah

Baha'u'llah said:

“We have a fixed time for you, O peoples. If ye fail, at the appointed hour, to turn towards God, He, verily, will lay violent hold on you, and will cause grievous afflictions to assail you from every direction. How severe, indeed, is the chastisement with which your Lord will then chastise you!”

(The World Order of Bahá’ú’lláh)

https://www.bahai.org/shoghi-effendi/articles-resources/from-world-order-bahaullah

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Why was Baha'u'llah imprisoned in Iran and why he went to Baghdad?

In August 1852, a small group of Babis in Tehran unsuccessfully attempted to assassinate the Shah—an event that was reported in several European newspapers and in diplomatic reports. Many Babis, including Baha’u’llah, were arrested, and about fifty of them were executed, some after cruel torture. Baha’u’llah, who clearly was not involved in the assassination attempt, avoided execution, however, and was instead put into a subterranean prison cell in Tehran. According to Baha’u’llah’s late writings, it was during this imprisonment in 1852 in Tehran that he had his first vision of his divine mission.

At the time of the assassination attempt on the Shah, Subh-i-Azal was involved in an abortive attempt to create a rebellion in his home province of Nur. Subh-i-Azal avoided arrest and succeeded in escaping from Iran to Baghdad. Many Babis chose to follow suit, left Iran and joined Subh-i-Azal in Baghdad, and before long, there was a sizeable Babi community in this city.

After four months of imprisonment, Baha’u’llah was released at the intervention of the Russian ambassador, whose legation secretary was Baha’u’llah’s brother in-law. Refusing an offer of exile in Russia, he went to Baghdad, and in January 1853, he joined the Babi exile community there.

(Citizens of the World - A History and Sociology of the Baha’is from a Globalisation Perspective by Margit Warburg)

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There is an artificial hill which the Guardian made from the houses of the covenant breakers who had been occupying the Mansion.

The gardens at Bahjí are places where pilgrims and others are to be found slowly walking and trying to absorb and retain that spiritual fragrance. There is an artificial hill which the Guardian made from the houses of the covenant breakers who had been occupying the Mansion. He destroyed those houses and then made them into a terraced hill of gardens. Those who try to resist the Will of God are thus reduced to dust. All that they strove so hard for is now beneath the believers' feet.

(The Baha'i Communities of Iran - 1851-1921 - Volume 1: The North of Iran by Moojan Momen)

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The Baha’i Faith as an organization does the complete opposite of what they teach ‘seekers’.

One exBahai says:

The Baha’i Faith as an organization does the complete opposite of what they teach ‘seekers’. They tell interested souls that it is a universal religion that accepts the validity of all religions, then goes around telling its own membership that the world is suffering because all of humanity hasn’t become Baha’is. It tells interested minds that the Baha’i Faith doesn’t demand or accept blind faith, unlike those ‘old religions’, but then tells skeptical believers that ‘there are some things you’re just going to have to accept, even if you can’t understand the wisdom of it at the moment’.

It tells open hearts that there is no clergy in the Baha’i Faith, that the consciences of human beings are sacred and should be protected, that every one has the right and obligation to independently investigate the truth, that every one has the right to express their concerns and opinions without fear; yet its top leadership disenrolls, excommunicates, and shuns those who ‘cross the line’. I don’t blame Baha’u’llah or ‘Abdu’l-Baha for this, though. I think it is the organization’s fault for missing the mark of their teachings drastically. Baha’u’llah and ‘Abdu’l-Baha would have had to been total hypocrites or lost all memory of being prisoners of conscience in Iran and the Ottoman Empire, to then set up their own version of religion that scares people from speaking their true feelings and opinions by threatening them with the possibility of shunning and excommunication, or being subject to religious tribunals with different names, etc.

https://stetsonius.wordpress.com/2009/04/21/ridvan-2009-bahais-missing-the-point-of-their-own-religion/#comment-6

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most terrible of all punishments

... most terrible of all punishments described by the Master in His Will when He wrote:

‘Should any, within or without the company of the Hands of the Cause of God disobey and seek division, the wrath of God and His vengeance will be upon him, for he will have caused a breach in the true Faith of God.’

(“Guard Ye the Cause of God” A Message from the Hands of the Faith Residing in the Holy Land)

https://bahai.works/Bahá’í_News/Issue_353/Text

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They must suffer to awaken.

After the coming calamity the United States will fulfill the prophecy that the United States will suffer, then it will lead all the nations spiritually. He said that he has given up warning the friends, as they paid no heed to either the warnings of Abdu'l-Bahá nor to Shoghi Effendi. They must suffer to awaken.

https://bahai-library.com/moffett_pilgrims_notes

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The National Assembly is the guardian of the welfare of the Faith

The National Assembly is the guardian of the welfare of the Faith, a most sacred and heavy responsibility and one which is inescapable. They must be ever vigilant, ever on the look-out, ever ready to take action, and, on all matters of fundamental principle, refuse to compromise for an instant. Only in this way can the body of the Faith be free of disease.

(From a letter dated 14 August 1957 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to a National Spiritual Assembly)

https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/compilations/national-spiritual-assembly/national-spiritual-assembly.xhtml

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