Such will be the majesty of the Faith in the future.

Nevertheless, the Shrine of Bahá’u’lláh is the Most Holy, the Most Sacred Shrine on the planet. And, as I stated before, the Shrine of the Báb and the World Administrative Centre are under the shadow of the Shrine of Bahá’u’lláh. Blessed are those who are able to visit that Shrine. In this day we are permitted to enter the Shrine – what a blessing this is! Do you think, when millions and billions will become Bahá’ís, that it will be possible to enter that Shrine or the Shrine of the Báb? They will have to satisfy themselves with circumambulation, while visiting the Shrines from outside. Such will be the majesty of the Faith in the future.

(Shoghi Effendi: The Range and Power of His Pen, Ali Nakhjavani)

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Do you not remember your sodomies?

Of these times at Adrianople I have heard an interesting narrative from a Persian Mirza, in whose testimony as a witness I have strongest confidence. He was at the time a peesh-Khidmat to the Persian Minister at Constantinople. He was at Samsun when Azal, Baha and their party embarked, and was introduced to them by Haji Rajab Ali Khan. He saw them day by day. Afterwards he went to Adrianople bearing presents to Baha. He found Baha and Azal living in separate rooms of the same house, under guards. The contest for supremacy was active, and the murids (followers) had been won over by Baha. I continue, using the Mirza's language : "I entered one day. I heard words of angry disputation and revilings. Yahya (Azal) said, Oh ! Husain Ali (Baha), you are vile ! Do you not remember your sodomies? You are defiled. Your wife is a bad woman!" Husain Ali answered, "Oh, cursed one! Your son, Nur-i-Kanur (Nur allah), is the son of a certain Sayid - not your own. You are a sodomite, an adulterer." Such and like revilings they hurled at one another. I called Mishkin Kalam, and said to him: "What are these words and doings? If Baha is true, why does he talk so? Why do these brothers revile each other? What a fool I am to have come so many miles to bring presents to and to hear such vile words from a divinity !" I then went to the room of Ishan. My companion said to him, "Why do they revile so?" I said, "I wish to ask you a question." He said, "What is it?" I said, "You say they do not work miracles, but must there not be personal influence and power in their speech?"

This bitter quarreling between Azal and Baha and their followers led to mutual accusations against each other before the Osmani government, and to the transfer of the former to Cyprus and the latter to Acca. It developed into a bitter schism. The two sects in Persia hate each other intensely. Professor Browne found the attitude of the Baha'is towards the Azalis in Persia "unjust and intolerant," and reprimanded them for "their violence and unfairness." They cursed and reviled in the presence of Professor Browne.

-Bahaism, It's failure in Moral Conduct by S.G. Wilson

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Self-perception of Baha'is

The Baha'i religion is a small international community whose members wish to be perceived as adherents of a 'major world religion'. This creates problems for Baha'is, since outside observers may contradict their self-perception and use different criteria to evaluate their status.

-Denis MacEoin

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1016/j.religion.2008.08.009

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tormenting trials will have surged above your heads...

"Say: O concourse of the heedless! I swear by God! The promised Day is come, the Day when tormenting trials will have surged above your heads, and beneath your feet, saying: 'Taste ye what your hands have wrought!'"

(Bahá’u’lláh, quoted in The Advent of Divine Justice, p. 81)

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ignorant men and smokers of opium.

It is impossible in this brief note to do justice to this remarkable book (Haji Mirza Jani Kashani's Nuqtat-al-Kaf), which contains many particulars not to be found elsewhere. For instance, in discussing (on p. 179) my allusion to the "stationary" Babis called "Kullu-Shay'i," the author describes and names the small group at Yazd of whom they consisted, their leader being Mirza Ja'far the shoe-maker (kaffash), whose chief followers were Sayyid Isma'il the dyer (sabbagh) and Mirza Sulayman the builder (banna). These he had taken the trouble to visit, and found them ignorant men and smokers of opium.

(Edward G. Browne)

https://books.google.com/books?id=SuU8AAAAIAAJ

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Extravagant claims by the Babis

In July of 1850 the Bab was executed by the Iranian government. Thereafter a number of important Babis put forth extravagant claims, including, in 1851, Sayyid Basir-i Hindi of Multan. Bahá'u'lláh challenged Sayyid Basir, and asserted his own divinity instead (many Babi leaders of the time represented themselves as participating in a pleroma of divine manifestation, similar in some ways to that claimed by Sufis or mystics). In June, 1851, the vizier put pressure on Bahá'u'lláh to leave the country, which suggests that the government had by that time infiltrated the Babis and discovered who the community's real leader was. Bahá'u'lláh went to the shrine city of Karbala in Iraq, the site of the tomb of the Imam Husayn, where a small but active Babi group existed. He found that it was led by a Sayyid 'Uluvv, who had made claims to being God incarnate. Bahá'u'lláh faced the man down and convinced him to retract those claims. On the other hand, during his stay in Karbala between August 1851 and March 1852, Bahá'u'lláh told some of his close companions that he was himself the return of the Imam Husayn, whose return Shi'ites expected after the advent of the Qa'im or Mahdi.

(Juan Cole, https://bahai-library.com/cole_encyclopedia_bahaullah)

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Production of revelation-like verses

Baha'u'llah complains that Azal has asserted that whereas the production of eloquent divine verses [of the sort Baha'u'llah produced] constituted a valid proof of prophethood in the time of the Bab, this particular feat was no longer probative later in the Babi dispensation. I have not read enough of Azal to know the details of this controversy, but it could be that Azal was convinced that no new prophet could arise so soon, and if it was not the right time for a prophet to appear then the production of revelation-like verses was not in itself enough to establish prophethood. There were after all many eloquent self-proclaimed prophets in Islamic history long before the Bab, including the famed poet al-Mutanabbi (who gave up his claims and turned to earning a nice living praising princes). They couldn't from a Babi point of view have been prophets, because it wasn't 1260/1844. In the same way, Azal felt that no prophet was expected in the 1280s/1860s, so the production of verses that sounded like the Qur'an and the Bayan was irrelevant.

-Juan Cole

https://www.h-net.org/~bahai/trans/vol5/son/son.htm

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cast him out from the congregation of the people of Baha

My object is to show that the Hands of the Cause of God must be ever watchful and so soon as they find anyone beginning to oppose and protest against the Guardian of the Cause of God, cast him out from the congregation of the people of Baha and in no wise accept any excuse from him.

-The Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Baha
https://www.bahai.org/abdul-baha/articles-resources/from-will-testament-abdul-baha

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Conflict between Baha'u'llah and Subh-i-Azal

In Baghdad, says Bahiyyih Khanum, "disharmony and misunderstanding arose among the believers--discord--strife--contention." Therefore Baha'u'llah went, off to Kurdistan.

He refers in the "Iqan" to the dissensions, "Such an odour of jealousy was diffused, banners of discord hoisted, enemies endeavoured to destroy this servant,--hardships, calamities and sufferings inflicted by Moslems were as nothing compared with what hath been inflicted by the believers." His opponents say that he wished to introduce innovations, relax the law and put forward on his own account a claim to be a Manifestation and being resisted in this, he" got angry." After they were removed to Adrianople the quarrel waxed hotter. Abul Fadl describes it as one of "interior fires of dissension and jealousy between the rival leaders, far exceeding the jealousy of outsiders. Mohammed Jawad Qazvini says there were "all manner of intrigues, falsehoods and untruths." I have received from a Muslim convert to Christianity an interesting account of conditions then and there. He was at that time a peesh-khidmat to the Persian Minister at Constantinople. He was at Samsun when Subh-i-Azal and Baha'u'llah and their parties embarked and was introduced to them by Haji Rajab Ali Khan, brother-in-law of my informant. He saw them day by day and became a serious inquirer. Afterwards he went to Adrianople bearing presents to Baha'u'llah. He found Baha'u'llah and Subh-i-Azal living in separate rooms of the same house under guards. The two brothers were in dispute over the supremacy, and the mureeds had been won over by Baha'u'llah. He narrates "I entered one day. I heard words of angry disputation and revilings. Yahya said, "Ay! Husayn Ali, you are vile! Do you not remember your sodomies? You are defiled. Your wife is a bad one!" Husayn Ali (Baha'u'llah) answered, "Ay, cursed one! Your son Nur'u'llah is not your son but son of Sayyid --. You yourself are a sodomite, an adulterer." Such like revilings they hurled at each other. I called Mishkin Qalam and said to him, "What are these words and doings? If Baha'u'llah is true why does he talk so? Why do these brothers revile each other? What a fool I am to come so many miles to hear such revilings from a divinity!" We then went to the room of Ishan. My companion said to Ishan, "Why do they curse so?" I said, "I wish to ask a question." He said, "What is it?" I said, "You say they do not work miracles, but must there not be personal power and influence in words?" [1]

The condition at Adrianople culminated in a series of crimes, which now come before us for examination. Charges have been made, in detail, against the companions of Baha'u'llah of assassinating the Azalis, the followers of his rival Subh-i-Azal. Most of the information regarding the matter is to be found in the books and translations of Professor Browne, the great authority on Baha'i Faith in the Anglo-Saxon world.

[1] Professor Browne, afterwards in Persia, found the attitude of the Bahais towards the Azalis "unjust and intolerant" and reprimanded them, for "their violence and unfairness." They cursed and reviled in the presence of Professor Browne ("A Year Among the Persians," pp. 525-530).

http://bahai-library.com/books/bahaism/bahaism10.html

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Establishment of a Babi state and twenty-four claimants to supreme authority

The system propounded by the Bāb depended for its implementation on the establishment of a Babi state, which was now only a very remote possibility. There was, moreover, a lack of certainty over the question of leadership. Although the consensus seemed to favor the acceptance of Subh-i Azal as head of the faith, he appears to have lacked the qualities of a good leader and to have adopted a retiring mode of life. The concept of theophanies, already apparent in the roles ascribed to Bāb al-Bāb, Quddūs, and Qurrat-al-ʿAyn, led to a succession of at least twenty-four claimants to supreme authority in the movement, few of whom obtained a substantial following.

http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/babism-index

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Baha'u'llah about the Twelfth Imam of the Shi'ih

All that thou hast heard regarding Muhammad the son of Hasan - may the souls of all that are immersed in the oceans of the spirit be offered up for His sake - is true beyond the shadow of a doubt, and we all verily bear allegiance unto Him. But the Imams of the Faith have fixed His abode in the city of Jabulqa, which they have depicted in strange and marvellous signs. To interpret this city according to the literal meaning of the tradition would indeed prove impossible, nor can such a city ever be found. Wert thou to search the uttermost corners of the earth, nay probe its length and breadth for as long as God's eternity hath lasted and His sovereignty will endure, thou wouldst never find a city such as they have described, for the entirety of the earth could neither contain nor encompass it. If thou wouldst lead Me unto this city, I could assuredly lead thee unto this holy Being, Whom the people have conceived according to what they possess and not to that which pertaineth unto Him! Since this is not in thy power, thou hast no recourse but to interpret symbolically the accounts and traditions that have been reported from these luminous souls. And, as such an interpretation is needed for the traditions pertaining to the aforementioned city, so too is it required for this holy Being. When thou hast understood this interpretation, thou shalt no longer stand in need of "transformation" or aught else. Know then that, inasmuch as all the Prophets are but one and the same soul, spirit, name, and attribute, thou must likewise see them all as bearing the name Muhammad and as being the son of Hasan, as having appeared from the Jabulqa of God's power and from the Jabulsa of His mercy. For by Jabulqa is meant none other than the treasure-houses of eternity in the all-highest heaven and the cities of the unseen in the supernal realm. We bear witness that Muhammad the son of Hasan was indeed in Jabulqa and appeared therefrom. Likewise, He Whom God shall make manifest abideth in that city until such time as God will have established Him upon the seat of His sovereignty. We, verily, acknowledge this truth and bear allegiance unto each and every one of them. We have chosen here to be brief in our elucidation of the meanings of Jabulqa, but if thou be of them that truly believe, thou shalt indeed comprehend all the true meanings of the mysteries enshrined within these Tablets.

-Baha'u'llah, Gems of Divine Mysteries

https://www.bahai-library.net/english/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=30:gems-of-divine-mysteries-&catid=2:bahaullah-writings&Itemid=3

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Though sprung from Shi'ih Islam...

Though sprung from Shi'ih Islam, and regarded, in the early stages of its development, by the followers of both the Muslim and Christian Faiths, as an obscure sect, an Asiatic cult or an offshoot of the Muhammadan religion, this Faith is now increasingly demonstrating its right to be recognized, not as one more religious system superimposed on the conflicting creeds which for so many generations have divided mankind and darkened its fortunes, but rather as a restatement of the eternal verities underlying all the religions of the past...

-Shoghi Effendi

https://www.bahai-library.net/english/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=70:summary-statement-1947-special-un-committee-on-palestine

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No fewer than twenty-five separate individuals claimed to be "him whom God shall manifest".

The most striking feature of Babism during the 1850s is the proliferation of claims to some form of theophanic status on the part of individual members of the sect. ʿAbbās Effendi maintains that no fewer than twenty-five separate individuals claimed to be man yuẓhiruhuʾllāh at this time. Browne goes even further, saying that religious speculation “threatened, especially during the two or three years succeeding the Bāb’s martyrdom (1850–1853), to destroy all order and discipline in the young church by suffering each member to become a law unto himself, and by producing as many ‘Manifestations’ as there were Bābīs.” Both these statements are exaggerations: the real number of distinct ẓuhūrāt may indeed have been around twenty-five...

(Denis MacEoin, The Messiah of Shiraz, Page 376)

After the martyrdom of the Bab there came to view twenty-five individuals, each claiming to be the fulfillment of “Him whom God shall Manifest.” Wherever one turned, one came across such persons, all bent on exaggerating their egos. There was a vendor of sweets in Teheran, a hasheesh smoker in Esphahan, a baker in Bagdad and so on. Yet, when Baha-u-llah appeared, all repented and confessed their error.

(I Heard Him Say - Words of Abdul Baha as Recorded by his Secretary Mirza Ahmad Sohrab, Page 119)

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...at the mosque, during the prayers with Abdul Baha

The exaggerated and discourteous behavior of the other children, and especially that of Mirza Shua'u'llah, was shocking to me. His same attitude at the mosque, during the prayers with 'Abdu'l Baha, caused such a deep feeling of disgust in me that I never wanted to see Shua' again.

-Moments with Baháʼuʼlláh: Memoirs of the Hand of the Cause of God, Taraz Allah Samandari

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Abdul Baha was responsible for Haji Siyyid Muhammad Afnan's death

After returning from the said voyage and remaining a few years under the shadow of the Great Sun of Truth, Baha'u'llah, again by His command I journeyed to Bombay (East India) [in 1889]. This time my son Shua'u'llah and the late Haji Khavar accompanied me. The previous voyage was for the purpose which I have already explained, and this time also the object was to serve the cause of God. The existence of a printing press was essential, in order to publish some of the blessed revelations [of Baha'u'llah] and spread them abroad, that the ears of those who seek may hear the call of the Supreme Pen. It was difficult to attain this object in this land [i.e. Palestine] and I therefore humbly petitioned to Baha'u'llah to grant me permission to fulfill this important service during my visit to India.

The Supreme Will commanded [it], and after my arrival at Bombay I held a meeting with the late Haji Siyyid Muhammad Afnan, upon him be His Mercy and Glory. He showed a great deal of enthusiasm, and though it was financially difficult for him at that time, he arranged it eventually, and opened the Naseri Press. I petitioned to Baha'u'llah and explained the situation. Permission was granted with one understanding, that the said Afnan should control the press and I should have no interest in it whatsoever.

When the project was carried out and the printing press was in full action, the Book of Aqdas and the Book of Haykal were copied by the late Haji Mirza Husayn Shirazi, better known as Khartumi, and the late Mulla Ahmad Ali Nayrizi. I carefully compared them with the original manuscripts, then sent them to the printing press. When the proofs of both books came, I presented them to Baha'u'llah through the mail and again secured His permission for the final printing. Also an epistle which was composed by Ghusn-i-A'zam ('Abdu'l-Baha) and which I asked the late Mirza Muhammad of Isfahan, who was the caretaker at the pilgrim house in Acre, to inscribe. This was also printed. Later on, other holy books [by Baha'u'llah] were printed, namely the Book of Ishraqat, the book inscribed by Mishkin-Qalam, the Book of Aqdas in modern type, the book of supplications [i.e. Baha'i prayer book] inscribed by Haji Mirza Husayn Khartumi, and the small book of supplications in modern type.

All the above-mentioned books were printed by the said Naseri Press. The owner was Haji Siyyid Muhammad Afnan and the manager [was his cousin] Aqa Mirza Ibrahim Afnan. Doubtless Baha'u'llah considered this as one of the most important events [in his ministry], and the said Haji Siyyid Muhammad Afnan was bestowed with the great favor to be the pioneer in this service. Indeed he did everything in his power either in the way of service or in spending capital to arrange this printing press. He lost a considerable amount of money in this enterprise, as after the ascension of Baha'u'llah, they (Abdu'l-Baha and his supporters) did not let him receive any earthly benefit from it, and finally he was obliged to sell the printing press at a loss and return to Shiraz, Iran. His heart was broken, and in grief he became ill and passed unto the Eternal Realms.

-A Lost History of the Baha'i Faith

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