The early view of the Baha'is was that Abdul Baha would be succeeded by Mirza Muhammad Ali.

The early view of the Bahais was that Abdul Baha would be succeeded by Mirza Muhammad Ali. After he had a disagreement with Abdul Baha he was 'replaced' by Shoghi. The Will and Testament of Abdul Baha can be read as a justification of the appointment of Shoghi and dismissal of Muhammad Ali, by comparing Mirza Muhammad Ali to Mirza Yahya and by attributing misdeeds and crimes to him. Now Bahais believe that Abdul Baha was always to be succeeded by Shoghi (and Shoghi by the UHJ), but this is not historically accurate.

https://www.reddit.com/r/FreeSpeechBahai/comments/1cq86pl/ambiguity_of_the_matters_of_successorship_in/

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They don't care

Persia was very far away from where Baha'u'llah lived so the Persian Bahais only got partial information. And they have mostly been oppressed since the beginning, so questioning their leadership was probably the last thing on their mind.

During the life of Baha'u'llah external affairs were in the hands of Abdul Baha, and internal affairs were in the hands of Mirza Muhammad Ali. This might explain why most Bahais in other parts of the world followed Abdul Baha, while most of Baha'u'llah's family and close companions followed Mirza Muhammad Ali.

Still, the fact that that Tablet was published in a book proves that people must have read it. I wonder why nobody took the statement to its logical conclusion.

As for the UHJ, I assume they are more than aware of the Faith's dirty secrets. They have an entire archive of Bahai writings, which was created after they asked all the believers to hand in their handwritten copies of Bahai writings, and which they refuse to share with anyone else.

https://www.reddit.com/r/FreeSpeechBahai/comments/1cq86pl/ambiguity_of_the_matters_of_successorship_in/

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because they are deadly poison, the lepers, the covenant breakers.

There is room for practically everybody in the Baháʼí Faith. Some of them may need spanking, and some of them have got to be kept out because they are deadly poison, the lepers, the covenant breakers. But that is another thing. But really the children of men, this Faith is their home. And there is room for all of them in it.

(Rúhíyyih Khánum speaking at the closing session of the Bahá’í World Congress in London, 1963)

https://bahai.works/Transcript:Ruhiyyih_Khanum/Speech_at_close_to_Bahá’í_World_Congress,_1963

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Another terrible Tablet of Baha'u'llah I wish to nominate is the Lawh-i Istintáq

Another terrible Tablet of Baha'u'llah I wish to nominate is the Lawh-i Istintáq, also known as the Tablet of Inquisition. The reasons are more serious and macabre than for other tablets discussed.

The tablet deals with the murder of 3 Azali's (Sayyid Muhammad Isfahani, Aqa Jan Kaj-Kulah and Mirza Rida-Quli Tafrishi) in Akka by a gang of 7 Baha'is -- the intimate companions of Baha'u'llah -- shortly after their arrival in Akka.

What's striking about this Tablet is that despite all the posturing by Baha'is about this situation, and the suggestion that the 7 Baha'is were not under Baha'u'llah's explicit or implied instruction to commit a triple homicide, Baha'u'llah actually outed himself with this verse: -

"Verily the Mute [al-akhras, Isfahani] called himself 'Quddus' and hath claimed what the Evil Whisperer (al-khannas) claimed for himself. The other one [Aqá Ján] called himself the 'Sword of Truth' (sayfu'l-haqq);; he said: 'I, verily, am the conqueror of the cities'. God hath sent the one who hath smitten upon his mouth, so that all may firmly believe that through this Satan's tail hath been cut off by the sword of the Merciful (sayfu'r-rahmán)." 

(Baha'u'llah, Lawh-i Istintáq)

Clearly, Baha'u'llah was pleased and believed they got what they deserved. This is further evidence that Baha'u'llah was at the very least complicit in serious criminal behaviour throughout his life. He deserved every minute of his jail time and exile and deserved far worse treatment than he actually received.

This is another tablet that Baha'is are ashamed to translate and distribute.

https://oceanoflights.org/bahaullah-pub20-092-fa/

https://old.reddit.com/r/exbahai/comments/10jp5qm/which_are_the_worst_tablets_of_bahaullah/j68iaeo/

In this tablet Baha'u'llah uses numerous severe and condemnatory terms in both Arabic and Persian for  Rida Quli, Áqá Ján, and Sayyid Muḥammad and the general category of opposing persons.

Adjectives and Nouns (Referencing Individuals):

• ظالم (ẓālim, oppressive)
• خبیث (khabīth, vile/wicked)
• خبیثین (khabīthīn, the two wicked ones)
• سید محمد خبیث (Sayyid Muḥammad-i khabīth, vile Sayyid Muḥammad)
• خبیث مردود (khabīth-i mardūd, vile, rejected one)
• اشقیا (ashqīyā, wretched ones)
• ملعون (malʻūn, accursed one)
• غافل پلید (ghāfil-i palīd, negligent, polluted one)
• اخترس (al-akhras, the mute) (Used specifically against the one who called himself Quddús)
• خناس (al-khannās, the slinking/withdrawing evil one) (Used specifically against the one who called himself Quddús)
• کاذبین (kādhibīn, liars)
• ذفراء (adh-dhufarāʼ, stinking ones)
• مشرکین (mushrikīn, associators/polytheists)
• کذاب (kadhdhāb, lying writer/book)

Descriptions of Actions and Character:

• اعمال شنیعه (aʻmāl-i shanīʻe, shameful deeds)
• اعمال خبیث (aʻmāl-i khabīth, vile deeds)
• غبره تیره ظلمانیه (ghubra-yi tīra-yi ẓulmānīyye, dark, obscure cloud) (Used to describe the corrupting influence originating from them)
• نفوس غافله (nufūs-i ghāfile, negligent souls)
• احوال غیر مرضیه (aḥwāl-i ghayr-i marḍīyye, unpleasing conditions)
• شئونات غیر لایقه (shuʼūnāt-i ghayr-i lāʼiqe, unbefitting states)
• اظهرت (اظهار) هستی و خودبینی (iẓhār-i hastī va khūd-bīnī, display of existence and ego)
• اعمال ناشایسته (aʻmāl-i nā-shāyiste, unbefitting deeds)
• اعمال ردیه غیر مرضیه (aʻmāl-i radīyye-yi ghayr-i marḍīyye, rejected, unpleasing deeds)
• شئونات مکرهه نالایقه (shuʼūnāt-i makrūhe-yi nā-lāʼiqe, hateful, unbefitting states)
• ذنب (dhunb, sin/vice)
• فقرات کفر آمیز (fiqarāt-i kufr-āmīz, paragraphs mixed with infidelity/unbelief)
• امر خبیثه کاذبه (amr-i khabīthe-yi kādhibe, vile, lying affair)
• اذ اؤتمن خان (when trusted he betrays)
• و اذا وعد خلف (and when he promises he breaks it)
• اذا حدث کذب (when he speaks he lies)
• روایات کاذبه سقیمه (rivāyāt-i kādhibe-yi saqīme, lying, unsound narrations)
• مجعولات مفتریه (majʻūlāt-i muftarīye, fabricated calumnies)
• کذب صراح (kiḏhbu ṣarāḥ, clear lie)
• قبح افعال و اعمال و ظنون و اوهام (qabḥ-i afʻāl va aʻmāl va ẓunūn va awhām, ugliness of deeds, actions, notions, and illusions)
• اثر جحیم (athar-i jaḥīm, mark of hell/blaze)
• رائحه اهل سجین (rāʼiḥa-yi ahl-i sijīn, odor of the people of Sijjin)

Curses and Maledictions:

• علیه لعنة الله (ʻalayhi laʻnatu’llāh, upon him is the curse of God)
• الا لعنة الله علی القوم الظالمین (al-laʻnatu’llāhu ‘ala’l-qawmi’ẓ-ẓālimīn, the curse of God upon the oppressive people)
• الا لعنة الله علی الکاذبین (al-laʻnatu’llāh ʻala’l-kādhibīn, the curse of God upon the liars)
• علیهما غضب الله (ʻalayhimā ghaḍabu’llāh, upon them both is the wrath of God)

Finally what happened?

The severe curses of Baha'u'llah upon Rida Quli (رضا قلی), Áqá Ján (آقا جان), and Sayyid Muḥammad (سید محمد) paved the way for their tragic end. These men, were not only cursed by Baha'u'llah but had also provoked the "wrath of God" through their betrayal! Baha'u'llah's loyal followers, guided by the intensity of Baha's curses, felt compelled to act. The seven Baha'is, his intimate companions, carried out the killing. Baha'is claim that this act was not merely a human decision but a consequence of the "divine retribution" that had been set in motion by the severe curses of Baha'u'llah, who had warned that "God takes him who turns away from His Cause." Their deaths were the inevitable result of their persistent opposition and defiance!!

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All Too Human: A list of inconvenient truths drawn solely from the letters of the Universal House of Justice or its Research Department

All Too Human: A list of inconvenient truths drawn solely from the letters of the Universal House of Justice or its Research Department

The Bab bought at least one black slave, for which there is a bill of sale.

Baha’u’llah and Abdu’l-Baha did not explicitly state that Abdu’l-Baha is infallible.

Abdu’l-Baha concealed (pgs. 39-40) a part of Baha’u’llah’s Will that has never been published.

Abdu’l-Baha falsely accused his brother Muhammad-Ali of interpolating Baha’u’llah’s Suriy-i-Haykal.

Abdu’l-Baha was sometimes wrong about historical facts.

Abdu’l-Baha forbade (pgs. 5-6) striking children to discipline them but he spanked his grandson, Shoghi Effendi.

Abdu’l-Baha wrote that bigamy is prohibited but in a separate letter he said it is allowed.

Abdu’l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi gave several different dates for the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy of 1,335 days.

Shoghi Effendi misattributed and misquoted biblical passages in God Passes By.

The Universal House of Justice told youth in 1983 that they will see the establishment of the Lesser Peace.

www.reddit.com/r/exbahai/comments/rx0vod/all_too_human_a_list_of_inconvenient_truths_drawn/

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Baha'u'llah was a fraud.

If I were to limit myself to three:

The bad characters of the faiths founders, including involvement in a civil war, multiple homicides, and multi-generation familial hatred and disunity. They didn't practice what they preach. There is a 0% chance in my mind that God would try to bring about the unity of the world via such a disunited and dysfunctional family.

Outdated ideas. The world has already moved past the stage where exclusion of women from the highest public office is acceptable. Baha'i teachings on LGBQT are abhorrent by modern standards and several countries have made correction therapy illegal. Scientific statements made by the faiths founders have aged terribly, e.g. on evolution and life on other planets. The overarching goal of a world run by a global theocracy is unfashionable, to say the least, and fraught with problems.

The Bahai writings are entirely consistent with what we would expect of fallible 19th century Iranian men given their respective biographies. Baha'u'llah would quote verbatim from unattributed works (plagiarism), and in many cases the books which influenced his ideas and style are known. Simply put, Baha'u'llah was a fraud.

https://old.reddit.com/r/exbahai/comments/129fb9f/biggest_theological_problems_in_bahai_teaching/jen64a9/

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Baha'u'llah - A Serial Murderer

It's known that Baha'u'llah's ambitions for leadership created a trail of homicides across the Middle East, several of which are acknowledged even by Baha'i sources.

Baha'u'llah was involved in upwards of 20 homicides, including prominent Babis who didn't accept his claims to be HWGSMM and Azalis who opposed him. This is not to count Baha'u'llah's involvement in organising military insurgencies where many hundreds died.

Is there a complete list of the known victims of these crimes?

Here are a few I've gathered:

Hajji Mirza Ahmad of Kashan -- murdered in Baghdad, author of the early Babi history Kitab-i Nuqtat al-Kaf, a Babi who was loyal to Subh-i-Azal

Mirza `Alī Muhammad Sarrāj -- murdered in Baghdad by stabbing, author of a book opposing the claim that Baha'u'llah was HWGSMM

Sayyid Ismail Zawareh -- murdered in Baghdad, his throat was cut and the knife placed in his hand to make it look self-inflicted

Aqa Ali Muhammad -- murdered in Baghdad, a brother-in-law of the Bab

Aqa Abul Jasim of Kashan -- murdered in Baghdad, "because he had reported to Subh-i Azal that he heard that Baha’s pretension was that he was the return of the Imam Hussein"

Mullā Rajab `Alī (Qahir) -- murdered in Karbala, brother of Sarraj and a supporter of Subh-i-Azal. He was murdered with a revolver by a Baha'i man called Nasur the Arab.

Aqa Sayyid Ali the Arab -- murdered in Tabriz

Mirza Nasrullah -- murdered in Edirne, the brother-in-law of Subh-i-Azal

Mulla Rajab Ali Qahir -- murdered in Karbala, a brother-in-law of the Bab

Haji Mirza Muhammad Rida -- murdered in Akka, maternal uncle of Haji Sayyid Muhammad of Isfahan

Sayyid Muhammad Isfahani -- murdered in Akka, a supporter of Subh-i-Azal, seven Baha'is were convicted and jailed

Aqa Jan Kaj-Kulah -- murdered in Akka, a supporter of Subh-i-Azal, seven Baha'is were convicted and jailed

Mirza Rida-Quli Tafrishi -- murdered in Akka, a supporter of Subh-i-Azal, seven Baha'is were convicted and jailed

Muhammad Khan -- murdered in Akka, murdered in the Carawansaray of corn-sellers, buried in a shallow grave and discovered by authorities

Hajji Ibrahim -- murdered in Akka, murdered in the Carawansaray of corn-sellers, buried in a shallow grave and discovered by authorities

https://old.reddit.com/r/exbahai/comments/11jgnv4/bahaullah_a_serial_murderer/

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I did not study Arabic... but I know how to speak and write Arabic better than eloquent Arabs.

I did not study Arabic. When I was a child, I had a book of prayers by His Holiness the Bab in the handwriting of the Blessed Beauty. I really yearned to read it. At night, I would wake up and gaze with longing and intense desire until I saw that I understood Arabic well. Old friends know well that I did not study, but I know how to speak and write Arabic better than eloquent Arabs.”

(Abdu’l-Baha, Mahmud’s Diary, Europe, 308; quoted in Muhammad Ali Faizi, Hayat Hazrat Abdu’l-Baha, 4)

https://web.archive.org/web/20220128084658/http://www.kashkul.org/2018/06/16/abdul-bahas-arabic/

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How Baha'is did their best to prevent the appointment of Hubbu'llah (Abdul Baha later disapproved their actions)

'A new school has recently been opened in Tihran and Hubbu'llah, a son of the notorious Jamal-i-Burujirdi [father and son were both Covenant-breakers], was being considered for employment as a teacher. As soon as we heard this, the Hands of the Cause, two other friends and myself consulted together in a meeting and agreed to do everything in our power to prevent the appointment of Hubbu'llah to this post. We sent a certain individual to persuade the school authorities not to appoint him...'

(Adib Taherzadeh (2000). The Child of the Covenant. Oxford, UK: George Ronald.)

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Education as Prerequisite for Women Serving on Universal House of Justice

“Question. I see that in his tablet to Ex-Governor Sulzer the Master says that the Universal Arbitration Tribunal will consist of the best men and women of the different countries. Will women in the future sit in the Beit-ul-Adl also?

Abdul Baha: Men and women are equal in this respect, with the condition that women should reach to the degree of men. As yet they have not reached this state. They will become members of the Beit-ul-Adl in the future. The time will come when women will reach the degree of men (as regards education). Then they will be equal.”

[Abdu’l-Baha, oral statement recorded by Fujita, 7 December 1919 (Phelps ABU1350) – credit to Steven Phelps for the find]

https://web.archive.org/web/20220128080717/http://www.kashkul.org/2020/10/05/education-as-prerequisite-for-women-serving-on-universal-house-of-justice/#comment-101721

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Baha'u'llah about Fornication, Sodomy, and Adultery among most Babis

In the letter, Baha’u’llah responds to the questions of someone who knows Ism Allah al-Asdaq, a Hand of the Cause and one of the earliest believers in the Bab. The questioner seems to have inquired about the religious lawfulness of some behaviors current among the Baha’is. We can surmise that some of these behaviors were sexual given the nature of Baha’u’llah’s response, in which he blames the early Babis and some of their leaders for condoning such acts (we’re not given specifics) and then provides guidance on which behaviors God forbids: zina, liwat, and khiyana.

Some behaviors are among the early customs of the people of the Bayan that were current among them and were done wrongfully. You and the other loved-ones know that before this Most Great Theophany, most of the people of the Bayan did that which accords with no (religious) community or law and is unacceptable to anyone possessing intellect and insight. (Such was the case) until the sun of the theophany dawned. From the years sojourning in Iraq until the present, which is the seventeenth day of the month second Jumada of the year 1291 [Aug 1, 1874], wondrous tablets have descended continuously and uninterruptedly from the heaven of the divine Will.

[...]

O brother! The pearl of the Cause is hidden by unseemly deeds, and this is the general reason that has caused people to hesitate (embracing the Cause). Otherwise, you would hear from all sides and every land the cry of “I have turned to you and hastened to you, O desire of the worlds!”

In Iraq, after the light of the world dawned, he forbade everyone from (engaging in) some behaviors. Some abandoned (those behaviors) as bidden, and some, even though they were in the shadow of God, continued to do what they were doing but it would be concealed.

[...]

In the early days, some behaviors appeared from the leaders of the Bayan that veiled people and caused their hesitation (to embrace the Cause).

If this servant were to mention the deeds of some that he has witnessed himself, all would be astonished.

https://web.archive.org/web/20220128090837/http://www.kashkul.org/2021/09/06/bahaullahs-tablet-on-fornication-sodomy-and-adultery/

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The grave of Diya'u'llah was desecrated despite Abdul Baha forgiving him.

Baha’u'llah’s other son, Mirza Diya’u’llah, was a vacillating person who wavered in his allegiance to the Centre of the Covenant; he was easily manipulated and became a willing tool in the hands of Mirza Muhammad-‘Ali. He lived in the Mansion of Bahji along with the rest of the family, all of whom were affected by the spirit of Covenant-breaking. Mirza Diya’u’llah died in 1898 not very long after the passing of Baha’u’llah. He did not live to take an effective part in all the hostile activities which his brother was conducting against ‘Abdu’l-Baha. After his death ‘Abdu’l-Baha said that He had forgiven him.

(The Covenant of Baha’u’llah by Adib Taherzadeh, p 165)

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Abdul Baha's prophesy

‘Abdu’l-Baha prophesied that Majdu’d-Din (a covenant-breaker) would live a long life to see the triumph of the Cause and the frustration of his evil plots. This prophecy was fulfilled: he lived to be over a hundred years old and saw the birth of the Administrative Order, the child of the Covenant, and the strengthening of its foundations by Shoghi Effendi. Majdu’d-Din died in 1955, two years after the Ten Year Crusade was launched by the Guardian...

(The Covenant of Baha’u’llah by Adib Taherzadeh, p 164)

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Covenant is a major theme in the Quran

Covenant is a major theme in the Qur'an, a book which may certainly be read as a summons to a renewal of the so-called Abrahamic covenant. There is no space here to treat the topic at anything near the length it deserves. For its importance in Sunni Islam there is a growing library of specialized studies (al-Qadı 2006; Lumbard 2015; Jaffer 2021). Its importance in Sufism has long been an object of excellent scholarship (Ritter 2003; Böwering 1980). However, the literature on the covenant in Shi'ism is rather under-developed. This is ironic, because it may be in Shi'ism that the divine institution of the covenant is most emphasized. According to Shi'ism, it was precisely a violation of the renewed ancient covenant, through Muhammad, that caused the division of the early Muslim community into competing, sometimes fractious and definitely fissiparous Islamicate sub-identities. It was a breaking of the covenant, in the first place, that cruelly violated the divine message of unity which Muhammad had been sent to proclaim and about which the Qur'an is so eloquent and insistent.

(The Baha’i Faith: Doctrinal and Historical Explorations, Editors - Moojan Momen, Zackery Mirza Heern)

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Qayyum al Asma

... Qayyum al-Asma, the Bab’s proclamatory summons, disguised as a Qur'an commentary, in which he claimed to be in immediate and intimate contact with the hidden Imam and, therefore, the centre of all authority (walaya) whether political or spiritual.

(The Baha’i Faith: Doctrinal and Historical Explorations, Editors - Moojan Momen, Zackery Mirza Heern)

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