The Russians, fearing the effect of Babi propaganda near their border

After having been protected at Isfahan, in 1847 the Bab was imprisoned in Sunni Kurdistan where he continued to spread his predictions of catastrophe via his disciples. The Russians, fearing the effect of Babi propaganda near their border – they already had faced two Messianic preachers in the Caucasus – demanded that the prisoner be moved away from their territories. The Bab was thus taken to the Ottoman border to the Chehriq fortress, but still numerous visitors came to see him. As the agitation continued, Mirza Aqasi decided to have him judged at Tabriz to humiliate him in front of his followers when he continued to claim to be the Twelfth Imam. Despite the determination of the ulama who interrogated him and judged him to be guilty of apostasy, he was declared insane and got away with a bastinado. At the same time, the Babis rose up in the north of the country, notably around the stronghold of Sheykh-Tabarsi in Mazandaran. After a ten-month siege they surrendered; the survivors were disemboweled and had their throats slit. But the Bab, although better supervised in the fort where he had been taken after his trial in Tabriz, continued to make himself heard by visitors to whom he spoke via his prison’s window. He was still there when the Shah died.

(Iran - A Social and Political History since the Qajars, Yann Richard, Sorbonne Nouvelle – Paris, Cambridge University Press, p. 33)

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How Baha'is ask for money?

With two and one-half months still to be accounted for, we are far short of the target. Total receipts must amount to $144,232 monthly to achieve the intermediate goal set for November 12 or $108,298 monthly to reach the final goal of $1,060,000 by March 31.

Bahá’ís are privileged to contribute to the International Bahá’í Fund, the Continental Bahá’í Fund, the National Bahá’í Fund and the International Deputization Fund. To facilitate a contribution to the National Fund the National Spiritual Assembly has approved the enclosure of an envelope so addressed with this issue of Bahá’í News. You are urged to give prayerful consideration to the use of this envelope for a special contribution at this particular time to help wipe out the accumulated deficit and permit the National Program of proclamation to proceed unhindered in any material way.

(Baha'i News, No. 116, October 1967)

https://bahai.works/U.S._Supplement/Issue_116/Text

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The Bab appointed Mirza Yahya (known as Subh-i-Azal), to become the chief of the Babí community upon His passing.

Baha'i Scholar Peter Terry states,

The Báb appointed Mirzá Yahyá (known as Subh-i-Azal), to become the chief of the Bábí community upon His passing. Mirzá Yahyá assumed that position but did not exercise it in any systematic or constructive fashion, according to the Bahá'í reports of the period in question, from July 1850 until April 1863. Bahá'u'lláh became cognizant of His Mission, that He was "Him Whom God shall make manifest" promised by the Báb in many of His writings...

(Baha'u'llah In His Own Words by Peter Terry)

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Abdul Baha also met various diplomats & U.S. military officers

While in North America, 'Abdu'l-Bahá was treated as a dignitary and an eminent advocate for world peace. He met with many of the great American social, religious, and political leaders of the age. These included Jane Addams, founder of Hull House in Chicago; Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone; Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor; W. E. B. DuBois, the prominent African American leader; Mrs. Phoebe Hearst, a well-known philanthropist and the wife of Senator George F. Hearst; Admiral Peary, who traveled to the North Pole; and former president Theodore Roosevelt. 'Abdu'l-Bahá also met various diplomats, U.S. military officers, members of Congress, and Supreme Court justices.

(Prophet's Daughter, The Life and Legacy of Bahíyyih Khánum : Outstanding Heroine of the Baháʼí Faith By Janet A. Khan · 2005)

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Baha'u'llah's writing a will did not save his family.

A niece of Bahíyyih Khánum recounts that nine days after the passing of Bahá'u'lláh, His will was read, first to the men, and then to the women of the household. The will established Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant with the believers, making clear that His son 'Abdu'l Bahá was appointed not only as the Center of the Covenant but also as Bahá'u'lláh's successor... Despite the clear provisions of the will, within a very short time, disunity regarding its interpretation emerged within the extended family and the community. 'Abdu'l Bahá's position and authority were challenged. ...none of the male members of the family were willing to assist 'Abdu'l-Bahá in the tasks that he was now called upon to perform.

(Prophet's Daughter, The Life and Legacy of Bahíyyih Khánum : Outstanding Heroine of the Baháʼí Faith By Janet A. Khan · 2005)

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Some Covenant-breakers

I reached 'Akká by night, and went to the hospice, where I found Hájí 'Abbás. He was an Arab from Baghdad, and became a Covenant-breaker in the end. Hájí 'Abbás had been in Beirut, heading for 'Akká, and I had said to him, "Don't tell anyone in 'Akká that Ustád Muḥammad-'Alí is coming."

Jamal-i-Burujerdi, this man was an important Bahá'í teacher during Bahá'u'lláh's lifetime. But, afterward, he rebelled against 'Abdu'l-Bahá's authority and became one of the most implacable of Covenant-breakers. See God Passes By, pp. 247-48; Stories from The Delight of Hearts, pp. 128-29, 135-43 passim; The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, Vol. 2, p. 119-19, 264-67.

This Siyyid Mihdiy-i Dahijí broke the Covenant after the passing of Bahá'u'lláh and became known as Takhtih-Kanah-sí [Bedbug] because of his stubborn personality. Ismu'lláhu'l-Mihdí (The Name of God, the Guide] is a title which was conferred on the siyyid by Bahá'u'lláh. See The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, Vol. 2, pp. 272-75.

(My Memories of Baha'u'llah by Kalimat Press, Muhammad-'Aliy-i Salmani - 2001)

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"my words... are preserved from sin and ignorance and error."

Al-Ahsā’ī went much further than any of his contemporaries in claiming more or less perpetual access to supernatural sources of knowledge, thus:

The “ulamā” derive their knowledge one from the other, but I have never followed in their way. I have derived what I know from the [Twelve] Imāms of guidance, and error cannot find its way into my words, since all that I confirm in my books is from them and they are preserved from sin and ignorance and error. Whoso derives (his knowledge) from them shall not err, inasmuch as he is following them. (Sharh al-fawā’id [1818] [Tabriz(?) 1856], vol. 2, p. 4)

This knowledge was, moreover, transferable. In speaking of his successor, Sayyid Kāzim Rashtī, al-Ahsā’ī emphasized his own role as a medium for transmitting divinely inspired knowledge, that Rashtī “has learnt what he knows orally from me, and I have learnt orally from the Imams, and they have learnt from God without the mediation of anyone” (quoted in Kirmani 1960–1961: 71).

(GNOSIS IN BĀBISM AND GNOSTIC SIGNS IN BĀBĪ TALISMANS, Denis M. MacEoin, p. 580)

https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.4324/9781315561608-54

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“orders had been given to beat me and throw me out”

"According to Ruhi Afhan, he was even banned from visiting Baha’u’llah’s tomb, and threatened by Shoghi Effendi’s wife, who informed him that “orders had been given to beat me and throw me out” if he ever went to the Shrine. This only changed as a result of a lawsuit by Kamar Bahai in 1952."

(Letter by Ruhi Mohsen Afnan to the Baha’i Spiritual Assembly of Iran, 1970)

https://www.abdulbahasfamily.org/

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As of October 27 [2021], there were 38 Baha’is in prison.

NGOs reported that as of October 27 [2021], there were 38 Baha’is – 16 men and 22 women – in prison.

(INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM REPORTS, by U.S. Department of State, Custom Report - e17950a37d)

https://www.state.gov/report/custom/e17950a37d/

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sacred obligation is to deliver the message to their fellowmen at once, and on as large a scale as possible.

There is so much suffering, such a great and desperate need for a true remedy and the Bahá’ís should realize their sacred obligation is to deliver the message to their fellowmen at once, and on as large a scale as possible. If they fail to do so, they are really partly responsible for prolonging the agony of humanity.

-Shoghi Effendi, Lights of Guidance, p. 127

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The Bab and the law of tattoo

We have already seen how in the Persian Bayán cleanliness and beautification is emphasized as a means of spiritualizing the material body. The Báb even allows the believers to have a tattoo on their bodies: since the heart is the seat of the love of God, the Báb states that it is permitted that the phrase “O Thou My God” (Alláhumma), for males, and “the Most Gracious” (ar-Rah.mán), for females, be inscribed on their chests, in the most beautiful of calligraphy. (Persian Bayan 8:6) 

(Gate of the Heart, Understanding the Writings of the Báb – Nader Saiedi P.329)

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The Babi Laws

The apparent tolerance shown in the many positive statements made in the Bayān is quite contradicted by a string of very harsh regulations governing relations with non-believers. The latter are forbidden to live in the five central provinces of Iran; the shrines and holy places of previous religions (including the Shīʿī shrines in Kūfa and elsewhere, together with the Kaʿba) are to be demolished; all non-Bābī books are to be destroyed; believers are not to sit in the company of non-believers, nor marry them; the property of unbelievers can legitimately be taken from them by believers.

Once in the realm of worship and ritual, no holds are barred. There are elaborate regulations for pilgrimage, fasting, the drawing and use of talismans, the manufacture of rings, engraved stones, and tattoos, the use of perfume, the washing and disposal of the dead, and so on. Here, more than anywhere, the Bāb gives free rein to his tendency to surrealism. Instituting his house in Shiraz as the new Kaʾba, he writes that it is to measure thirty-six cubits long and wide. If it were possible, his followers would be commanded to fill it to the top with diamonds, to replace its earth with elixir, and its water with red perfume. Since that isn’t possible, mirrors will do instead. Believers are expected to wear or carry any number of inscribed rings, stones, and talismans. Coffins are to be made from crystal, marble, or polished stone. And so on.

(Denis MacEoin, The Messiah of Shiraz, p. 650)

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Refutation of Abdul-Baha's claims

Read 'The Three Questions' by Dr. Ibrahim Kheiralla. It gives a refutation of Abdul-Baha's claims based on the Kitab-i Aqdas and other writings of Baha'u'llah, and it is a pretty short read.

https://www.h-net.org/~bahai/diglib/books/K-O/K/kheiralla/T3Q.htm

There is a post about it here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/FreeSpeechBahai/comments/ttcbw0/dr_kheirallas_view_on_abdulbahas_station_as/

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Some reasons why Fazl'ollah Mohtadi Sobhi left the Baha'i faith

His first real doubts started after seeing 'Abdu'l-Baha for the first time and realizing that he was nothing like how he was described by Baha'i missionaries. Finally after seeing how Mírzá Muhammad ʻAlí was treated by 'Abdu'l-Baha and his followers he devised a plan to extend his 19-day stay in Haifa to investigate the truth (...)

He recounts many things that troubled him in Palestine. 'Abdu'l-Baha posing as a Hanafi Sunni and attending the Friday prayers at the Muslim mosque and denying he was part of a new religion, accepting Knighthood from the British crown while a number of Muslims had rejected it at the same time, 'Abdu'l-Baha's close relatives indulged in leisure and living off the money sent by Baháʼís from abroad, bias and discrimination in favor of western pilgrims over Iranian pilgrims and 'Abdu'l-Baha's constant belittling of the people of Iran in his letters to the western Baháʼís.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fazl%27ollah_Mohtadi_Sobhi

http://www.h-net.org/~bahai/areprint/authors/subhi/Payam-i_Pidar.pdf

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"And if ye say that He is in need of a guardian for His cause, verily this is an injustice"

The religion basically started with what we would now call 'covenant-breaking', as Baha'u'llah rebelled against Azal who was the legitimate head of the faith at that time. In his defence, Baha'u'llah wrote:

"These are the days of the Manifestation and God is manifest like unto the sun in the midst of heaven, and in the courtyard of His sanctity, nothing of the vanities of the world existeth which would necessitate a guardian to divide it. And if ye say that He is in need of a guardian for His cause, verily this is an injustice on your part with regard to God, the Protector, the Eternal. For the cause is, and shall be going round Himself and shall never separate from Him. Beware lest ye create for God a minister, an equal, an adversary, a like, a guardian, a companion, or a match." (see "A Lost History of the Baha'i Faith")

Years later Muhammad Ali would use the same quote as defence against 'the Master' and 'the Guardian'.

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