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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Fanaticism - growing tendency in the Baha'i community

We must beware of thinking that fanaticism is something which is only practiced by others. On the contrary, it is a universal human frailty, namely the high virtue of steadfastness taken to an extreme, an evil from which even we, who call ourselves Baha'is, are not immune.

There is a growing tendency in the Baha'i community to allude to "covenantal implications" (Takfir), when issues are raised, which have not yet been openly discussed, or if an opinion is voiced that deviates from the common understanding in the community.

(Loyalty to the Covenant and Critical Thought by Udo Schaefer)

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Names of some prominent former-Baha'is from western countries

Names of some former-Baha'is from western countries (most of whom were scholars)

1) Denis MacEoin

2) Juan Cole

3) Frederick Glaysher

4) William Garlington

5) Karen Bacquet

6) Jenifer Tidwell

7) Eric Stetson

8) Dr. Phyllis Bernard

9) Steven Scholl

10) John Ford Coley

11) Francesco Ficicchia

12) Phoebe Hearst

13) Hermann Roemer

14) Dann May

15) K. Paul Johnson

16) Dermod Ryder

17) Dale Husband

18) Inge Barthel

19) Kai Borrman

20) Darrick Evenson

21) August J. Stenstrand

22) Harrison Gray Dyar

24) Alden Penner

25) Brendan Cook (Raised a Baha'i, Brendan was refused formal membership in the Canadian Baha'i community when he applied as an adult.) https://bahaisonline.net/entries-by-category?start=600

About 66 individuals were identified as ex-Bahá'ís and Momen has written about some of them in his article, here - https://bahai-library.com/momen_marginality_apostasy

Prominent Marginalized Baha'is

1) Sen McGlinn

2) Jonah Winters

3) Alison Marshall

4) Steve Marshall

5) Fadil-i Mazandarani

https://public.websites.umich.edu/~jrcole/talisman/t95dec5b.htm

Scholars of the Baha'i faith who never accepted the Baha'i faith

1) Edward G. Browne

2) Margit Warburg

3) Vernon Elvin Johnson

4) Moshe Sharon

Some not so prominent former Baha'is (The list will be updated gradually)

1) Michael Zargarov

2) Jeff Bixby (Converted to Christianity)

https://www.dewittobserver.com/news/local/new-pastor-plants-roots/article_e2ceb6aa-3c18-11ec-985e-3ba1bcc71f59.html

3) Hilmar Zonneveld

https://www.quora.com/profile/Hilmar-Zonneveld

4) Lisa Armstrong

https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2011/jan/06/bahais-plan-interfaith-powwow-20110106/

https://www.quora.com/profile/Lisa-Armstrong-18

5) Dennis James Rogers

6) Heather Carr-Rowe (Larry) Rowe

https://www.interfaith.org/community/threads/3693/

7) Emily Armstrong

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkxaFpZoAfY

8) Dan Jensen

9) Timothy Mulligan

10) Andrew Turvey

https://www.quora.com/What-caused-you-to-leave-the-The-Bahai-Faith/answer/Andrew-Turvey-4

11) Elliott Hulse

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXz5JJzHXD8

12) Anisa George

https://emergencemagazine.org/essay/chasing-cicadas/

13) Zohreh Davoudi (American - Persian)

https://alisonelizabethmarshall.com/book-review-mother-of-all-evil-by-zohreh-davoudi/

14) Michael McKenny

https://public.websites.umich.edu/~jrcole/bahai/1999/mckenny.htm

15) Anjali Sivan

https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/orthodoxyandheterodoxy/2013/07/19/believing-thomas-how-i-left-the-bahai-faith/

16) Michael Tabor

https://web.archive.org/web/20151210012216/http://www.bahai-faith.com/ex-Bahai-3.html

17) Priscilla Gilman

http://bahaitheway.blogspot.com/2007/07/quite-few-friends-and-acquaintances.html

18) Timothy Casey

https://web.archive.org/web/20150813043133/http://timothycasey.info/why-i-am-no-longer-a-bahai/index.shtml

19) George Fleming

https://web.archive.org/web/20151124080136/http://www.bahai-faith.com/ex-Bahai-7.html

20) 

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Fundamentalism in the Teachings of Baha'u'llah

The Faith claims that its teachings constitute "the sole panacea for the innumerable ills afflicting our present-day world" (Directives from the Guardian, p. 74). In other words, it is not just the answer to all of our problems, but the only answer to all of our problems. Such a belief is, in fact, extremely fanatical and reminiscent of current fanatical religious groups in the world.

We are accustomed to religious fundamentalists saying, incessantly and even stridently, that the only solution to the problems that the individual person will encounter, or, for that matter, that the family, the neighborhood and municipality, the province, the nation, the world will face, can only be solved by God, and by a particular faith tradition – God's religion. Most Bahá’ís are accustomed to thinking of themselves as progressives, liberals, and not fundamentalists of any kind. How astonishing it may be then, for Bahá’ís and their friends to discover that this doctrine is found in the Teachings of Bahá'u'lláh.

(Peter Terry, The Sovereign Remedy: A Study of Bahá'í Sources)

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Claims of Quddus

"It is abundantly clear from Haji Mirza Jani's history that Hazrat-i-Quddus advanced the most extravagant claims, and that many of the Babis were disposed to regard him as superior to the Bab. He not only developed himself to be Christ come back to earth, but even went so far as to say, 'Whosoever hath known me is become a polytheist, and whosoever hath not known me is become an infidel, and whosoever asketh 'why' or 'wherefore' or 'how' concerning me is become a reprobate."

(The Tarikh i Jadid or New History of Mirza Ali Muhammad The Bab. Translated by Edward Browne)

https://bahai-library.com/berger_sect_church_bahai

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By My life! This is the truth, and all else naught but error.

By My life! This is the truth, and all else naught but error.

-Baha'u'llah

http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/b/ESW/esw-4.html

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Man’s actions are acceptable after his having recognized Baha'u'llah

Man’s actions are acceptable after his having recognized (the Manifestation). He that turneth aside from the True One is indeed the most veiled amongst His creatures.

http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/b/ESW/esw-4.html

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he that turneth unto whatsoever else is indeed in grievous error.

All must seek guidance and turn unto the Center of the Cause and the House of Justice. And he that turneth unto whatsoever else is indeed in grievous error.

- Abdu'l Baha

http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/ab/WT/wt-3.html

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Baha'is believe all non-Baha'is are astray.

"The first duty prescribed by God for His servants is the recognition of Him Who is the Dayspring of His Revelation and the Fountain of His laws, Who representeth the Godhead in both the Kingdom of His Cause and the world of creation. Whoso achieveth this duty hath attained unto all good; and whoso is deprived thereof hath gone astray, though he be the author of every righteous deed. It behoveth every one who reacheth this most sublime station, this summit of transcendent glory, to observe every ordinance of Him Who is the Desire of the world. These twin duties are inseparable. Neither is acceptable without the other. Thus hath it been decreed by Him Who is the Source of Divine inspiration."

(Baha'u'llah, Kitab-i Aqdas, verse 1)

Baha'u'llah also states:

"whoso turneth away from this Beauty hath also turned away from the Messengers of the past” (Baha'u'llah, Tablet of Ahmad)

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Two months before his death, Shoghi Effendi sent a cablegram announcing "Purification of Haram-i-Aqdas."

On September 6, 1957, two months before his death, Shoghi Effendi sent a cablegram announcing "Purification of Haram-i-Aqdas." This purification would be completed by the Universal House of Justice with the removal of the remains of Bahá'u'lláh's son Mirza Díyá'u'lláh, which had laid beside his father.

Purification of Haram-i-Aqdas
Announce to Hands and all National Assemblies that following the loss of the appeal to the Supreme Court, the Government expropriation order has been implemented, resulting in the complete evacuation of the remnant of Covenant-breakers and the transfer of all their belongings from the precincts of the Most Holy Shrine, and the purification, after six long decades, of the Haram-i-Aqdas from every trace of their contamination. Measures under way to effect transfer of title deeds of the evacuated property to the triumphant Bahá'í community.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, September 6, 1957]

The "purification" is described in pages 248 and 249 of The Bahá'í World: Volume 13 (1954-1963)...

In April, 1957 Shoghi Effendi announced to the Bahá'í world that an expropriation order relating to the "entire property owned by Covenant-breakers within the Haram-i-Aqdas" had been issued by the Treasury Department of the Government of Israel and published in the Israel Official Gazette. Behinds this lay a hard and protracted struggle, waged in the Guardian's name by Leroy Ioas, Hand of the Cause in Haifa and Secretary-General of the International Bahá'í Council. An appeal against the appropriation order was made by the Covenant-breakers to Israel's Supreme Court, but on June 3, 1957 Shoghi Effendi cabled the triumphant news that the order had been upheld, "enabling the civil authorities to enforce the original decision and proceed with the eviction of the wretched remnants of the once redoubtable adversaries . . ." On September 6, 1957 a further cable announced their "complete evacuation . . . and the purification . . . of the Haram-i-Aqdas from every trace of their contamination." At long last the Qiblih of the Bahá'í world had been cleansed and the way opened to fulfill, in future decades, the Guardian's vision for the construction of a "stately and befitting Mausoleum designed to enshrine the holiest Dust the earth ever received into its bosom."
It had been Shoghi Effendi's wish to direct in person the razing of the buildings evacuated by the enemies of the Cause, but this was not to be, and it fell to the Hands of the Cause in Haifa to carry out this task. It was their first endeavour, and by December, 1957 no trace of the buildings was left. They then proceeded to enlarge the gardens of the Haram-i-Aqdas according to the Guardian's plan, covering the site of the buildings entirely, and raising the third terrace he had planned toward the east, above the two he himself had completed. To the east of the Mansion a long strip of garden was planted, comprising four thousand square metres, also part of the Guardian's plan.
The Hands succeeded, moreover, in effecting the Guardian's purpose to transfer the title deeds of this evacuated property "to the triumphant Bahá'í community." In a deed of sale from the State of Israel, thirteen separate titles for the Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh , the Mansion of Bahjí, and all the newly-acquired properties were transferred to the name of the Israel Branch of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States.
Thus did the Sign of God on earth achieve ascendancy in his last hours, glorifying his ministry, and fulfilling one stage of his own promise for the World Centre of the Faith: "Resistlessly will this Divine institution flourish and expand, however fierce the animosity which its future enemies may evince, until the full measure of its splendour will have been disclosed before the eyes of all mankind."

It should be noted that in this text Shoghi Effendi is called "the Sign of God on earth," which is what the term "Ayatollah" means.
Also, the "thirteen separate titles" include some property that a November 12, 1952 cablegram sent by Shoghi Effendi announced as "acquisition of vitally-needed property" of the Mansion of Bahji and the area around it from "the Development Authority of the State of Israel...The exchange of said property, including land and houses, was made possible by the precipitate flight of the former Arab owners."
The "purification" would continue under the Universal House of Justice, who on November 11, 1965 sent a cable announcing the "removal from immediate precincts (of the) holy shrine (of) Bahá'u'lláh remains (of) Mirza Díyá'u'lláh."

26 Purification of the Most Holy Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh, the Qiblih of the Bahá'í World 11 NOVEMBER 1965
To all National Spiritual Assemblies
26.1 ANNOUNCE BAHA'I WORLD REMOVAL FROM IMMEDIATE PRECINCTS HOLY SHRINE BAHA'U'LLAH REMAINS MIRZA DIYA'U'LLAH YOUNGER BROTHER MIRZA MUHAMMAD ALI HIS ACCOMPLICE IN EFFORTS SUBVERT FOUNDATIONS COVENANT GOD SOON AFTER ASCENSION BAHA'U'LLAH. THIS FINAL STEP IN PROCESS PURIFICATION SACRED INTERNATIONAL ENDOWMENTS FAITH IN BAHJI FROM PAST CONTAMINATION WAS PROVIDENTIALLY UNDERTAKEN UPON REQUEST FAMILY OLD COVENANT BREAKERS A PROCESS WHOSE INITIAL STAGE WAS FULFILLED BY ABDU'L-BAHA WHICH GATHERED MOMENTUM EARLY YEARS BELOVED GUARDIAN'S MINISTRY THROUGH EVACUATION MANSION ATTAINED CLIMAX THROUGH PURIFICATION HARAM-I-AQDAS AND NOW CONSUMMATED THROUGH CLEANSING INNER SANCTUARY MOST HALLOWED SHRINE QIBLIH Bahá'í WORLD PRESAGING EVENTUAL CONSTRUCTION BEFITTING MAUSOLEUM AS ANTICIPATED BELOVED SIGN GOD ON EARTH.
UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE

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Tahirih abandoned and shunned most of her family because they did not adopt her new religion.

On August 27 in 1852, subsequent to a failed assassination attempt by some Bábís of Naser al-Din Shah Qajar, Fatimah Baraghani, also known as Qurrat al-Ayn, was executed. An influential Bábí theologian, she would shun most of her family because they did not adopt her new religion.
Fatimah Baraghani, later known as Qurrat al-Ayn (Consoloation of the Eyes) and Tahirih (the Pure One), was an influential theologian of the Bábi faith.

Her interpretation of the Báb's message was considered radical by many of his other believers, including Mullá Muḥammad 'Alí-i-Bárfurúshi, also known as Quddús, who was the most prominent disciple of the Báb and the eighteenth and final Letter of the Living who accused her of "heresy." Among her theological contributions was that she "wedded the messianic message to the figure of al-Bab." and "her rise to leadership aptly characterized the messianic ethos around which the entire Bábi movement was formed."

She abandoned and shunned most of her family because they did not adopt her new religion.
From The Master's Last Tablet to America in Bahá’í World Faith—Selected Writings of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

Likewise Qurratu’l-‘Ayn, who is celebrated in all the world, when she believed in God and was attracted to the Divine Breaths, she forsook her two eldest sons, although they were her two oldest children, because they did not become believers, and thereafter did not meet them. She said: “All the friends of God are my children, but these two are not. I will have nothing to do with them.”

And from Martha Root's Táhirih the Pure

The question of her returning to her husband arose, and this she absolutely refused to do. Try as they might, she would not consent to be reconciled with her husband, Mullá Muhammad. She gave as her reason: "He, in that he rejects God's religion, is unclean; between us there can be naught in common."

She has become the object of hagiographic work, including numerous biographies, poems, songs, choreographed dances, and paintings. The Tahirih Justice Center is named after her.

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Why some Shi'i scholars consider Shaykh Ahmad to be an apostate?

According to Tonokābonī, the reasons for the declaration of takfīr were three: Aḥsāʾī’s views on maʿād, meʿrāǰ, and the nature of the Imams (Qeṣaṣ al-ʿolamāʾ, pp. 44-48). Although Baraḡānī seems not to have referred to it, the shaikh had already been involved in discussions on the nature of the divine knowledge in Isfahan as early as 1228/1813 (Šarḥ al-resālat al-ʿelmīya, tr. Nicolas, Essai sur le Chéïkhisme IV, p. iv). As the takfīr was taken up by other ʿolamāʾ, the charges came to include further points. Raštī mentions some of these in his Dalīl al-motaḥayyerīn: It was claimed that Aḥsāʾī had said all the ʿolamāʾ from Shaikh Mofīd to his own contemporaries were in error and that the Moǰtahedī (Oṣūlī) school was false; that he regarded ʿAlī as the Creator; that he held all Koranic phrases referring to God as really being references to ʿAlī; that he spoke of God as uninformed of particulars and maintained that He had two forms of knowledge, one created and one eternal; and that he did not believe the Imam Ḥosayn to have been killed (p. 40).

http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ahsai-shaikh-ahmad

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These religions are not the only true religions that have appeared in the world, but are the only ones still existing.

"The number nine which in itself is the number of perfection is considered by the Bahá'ís as sacred because it is symbolic of the perfection of the Bahá'í Revelation which constitutes the ninth in the line of existing religions, the latest and fullest Revelation which mankind has ever known. The eighth is the religion of the Bab, and the remaining seven are: Hinduism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the religion of the Sabeans. These religions are not the only true religions that have appeared in the world, but are the only ones still existing. There have always been divine Prophets and Messengers, to many of whom the Qur'an refers. But the only ones existing are those mentioned above."

(From a letter written on behalf of the Guardian to an individual believer, July 28, 1936: Bahá'í News, No. 105, February 1937, p. 2)

http://bahai-library.com/hornby_lights_guidance_2.html&chapter=4#n1373

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Affiliation with Faith Alone is Insufficient

"So far as non-Bahá'ís affiliating with the Bahá'í Faith is concerned, either a person becomes a Bahá'í and accepts Bahá'u'lláh as the divine Manifestation for this day, or he does not. The tenets of the Bahá'í Faith are simple as outlined by the Guardian, but they do not permit of any variations. In other words, if any members of the ... Movement wish to become Bahá'ís, they will be most welcome; but they can only become Bahá'ís on the basis of accepting Bahá'u'lláh as a divine Manifestation, and of course, with this goes the acceptance of the Bab as the Forerunner, and Abdu'l-Bahá as the Center of the Covenant, and the present Administrative Order.

"When a person has reached the sea of immortality, it is idle to keep seeking elsewhere...."

(From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to the Spiritual Assembly of Japan, July 24, 1953: Japan Will Turn Ablaze, pp. 76-77)

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The power to ex-communicate lies with the Guardian alone.

"...he feels that all National Spiritual Assemblies should bear in mind that this is the heaviest sanction we possess at present in the Faith, short of ex-communication, which lies within the powers of the Guardian alone, and is consequently a very weighty weapon to wield."

(From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada, March 3, 1955: Messages to Canada, p. 51)

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Haifan UHJ shamelessly disregards Abdul-Baha's words

Abdul-Baha, Tablet of a Thousand Verses:

"In the religion of God, there is no practice of declaring believers to be morally corrupt (tasfiq) or of declaring them not believers (takfir), nor is debasing or showing contempt for others permitted."

Majmu`ih-'i Makatib, INBA Private Printing Volume 59 (Tehran: National Baha'i Archives, 1978; digitally reprinted, East Lansing, Mi.: H-Bahai, 2000), pp. 340. Tr. Juan Cole.

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All non-Baha'is are astray

"The first duty prescribed by God for His servants is the recognition of Him Who is the Dayspring of His Revelation and the Fountain of His laws, Who representeth the Godhead in both the Kingdom of His Cause and the world of creation. Whoso achieveth this duty hath attained unto all good; and whoso is deprived thereof hath gone astray, though he be the author of every righteous deed. It behoveth every one who reacheth this most sublime station, this summit of transcendent glory, to observe every ordinance of Him Who is the Desire of the world. These twin duties are inseparable. Neither is acceptable without the other. Thus hath it been decreed by Him Who is the Source of Divine inspiration."

(Baha'u'llah, Kitab-i Aqdas, verse 1)

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Those who do not believe in Baha'u'llah do not believe in previous prophets.

"whoso turneth away from this Beauty hath also turned away from the Messengers of the past”

(Baha'u'llah, Tablet of Ahmad)

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