Udo Schaefer about Law on Property Inheritance in the Baha'i faith

Legal succession is based on quotas or shares (as is also the case in the estate laws of Islam). The decedent’s estate (al-mawarith) is divided into two thousand five hundred and twenty parts and shared among seven categories of heirs, namely the children, spouse, father, mother, brothers, sisters and teachers of the deceased. Persons who are not Baha’is are excluded from the legal line of succession. If the decedent’s estate contains a residence, this passes exclusively to male offspring, not female, namely to the eldest son. If there is no male offspring, one third of the residence passes to the House of Justice.

The separation of the residence from the rest of the decedent’s estate and its allocation to the male offspring (and only secondarily to female offspring - I.e., if there are no male offspring (see Kitab-i Aqdas, Questions 72) is—as already mentioned—an exception to the principle of gender equality. With regard to the staggered allocation of shares, the question arises as to whether the clearly disadvantaged position of female relatives (mother and sisters) in comparison with their male counterparts (father and brothers) is also an exception to the principle of equality.

https://bahai-library.com/pdf/s/schaefer_introduction_bahai_law.pdf

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Excommunication under Baha’i law by Udo Schaefer

The divine law does not contain a legal definition of this offense, but from the scriptural passages, it is clear that only exponents of subversion and sedition are covenant-breakers (naqidu'l-mithaq): they who "sow the seeds of doubt in the hearts of men" and promote "discord" and bring about "division." 'Abdu'l-Baha calls them "mischief-makers" who are "seeking leadership." Because they do not declare their evil intentions openly but instead "they secretly sow the seeds of suspicion" — "sweet in words, ... but at heart a deadly poison" — they are also referred to as "hypocrites" (al-munafiqun). As the covenant-breaker has struck with his axe at "the root of the Blessed Tree" the divine law provides that covenant-breakers, along with all who continue to associate with them, be cast out from the congregation of the people of Baha. The believer who has been excommunicated is no longer a member of the Baha'i community.

https://bahai-library.com/pdf/s/schaefer_introduction_bahai_law.pdf

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Can a Christian Become a Baha'i?

William Miller says that the Bahá'ís have stolen their theology from Christianity. He writes:

[n]o religion has been so widely misrepresented in its presentation in the West... voluntary missionaries have represented the faith as an enlightened humanism with a new and original message of universal peace. As a matter of fact, there is not one truth in these Occidental representations of Baha'ism that is not borrowed from Christianity...

For more details, check "Can a Christian Become a Baha'i?" by Miller 

Samuel Graham Wilson, in his writings, offers an analogue to Miller's belief that Christians can not be Bahá'ís by enumerating six reasons for characterizing the Bahá'í faith as "antichristian":

1. It lowered Christianity to the same level as other religions.

2. The Bahá'í Faith claimed to supersede Christianity with a new revelation.

3. The Bahá'í Faith dethroned Christ and saw him as one manifestation of God among many.

4. It assumed falsely that Bahá'u'lláh is Christ returned.

5. It argued that biblical prophecies were fulfilled by Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'1-Bahá.

6. It denied Christ's miracles and his bodily resurrection.

(The Bahá'í Faith and its relationship to Islam, Christianity, and Judaism: A brief history, Adam Berry)

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Articles 13 and 14 of the Iranian Constitution

Articles 13 and 14 of the Iranian Constitution.

Article 13 [Recognized Religious Minorities]

Zoroastrian, Jewish, and Christian Iranians are the only recognized religious minorities, who, within the limits of the law, are free to perform their religious rites and ceremonies, and to act according to their own canon in matters of personal affairs and religious education.

Article 14 [Non-Muslims' Rights]

In accordance with the sacred verse "God does not forbid you to deal kindly and justly with those who have not fought against you because of your religion and who have not expelled you from your homes" [Q60:8], the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and all Muslims are duty-bound to treat non-Muslims in conformity with ethical norms and the principles of Islamic justice and equity, and to respect their human rights. This principle applies to all who refrain from engaging in conspiracy or activity against Islam and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

(ADAM BERRY - THE BAHA'I FAITH AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO ISLAM, CHRISTIANITY, AND JUDAISM A BRIEF HISTORY)

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Baha'i faith "resembles other esoteric offshoots of Shi'ite Islam"

Former Baha'i, Historian and Scholar, Juan Cole says that the Baha'i faith "resembles other esoteric offshoots of Shi'ite Islam such as Ismailism or the Nusayris in having an onion-like series of layers, with an outward one presented to outsiders."

https://bahai-library.com/cole_mcmullen_bahai

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"participation in anti-apartheid demonstrations and protest activities could be construed as involvement in politics, and therefore should be avoided."

April 16. On this date in 1985, the Universal House of Justice wrote an NSA "participation in anti-apartheid demonstrations and protest activities could be construed as involvement in politics, and therefore should be avoided."

1805. The Bahá'í Must Scrupulously Avoid Involvement in Political Issues Therefore Cannot Participate in Anti-Apartheid Demonstrations

"In reply to your letter of 15 July 1985 seeking further clarification on the issue of apartheid, the Universal House of Justice has instructed us to point out that as the policy of apartheid derives from racial discrimination, it cannot be accepted by Bahá'ís wherever, and in whatever form, it may be practised.

"While the friends should, of course, support the principles of the Faith, including those advocating the oneness of mankind, and may associate with groups and engage in activities which promote these principles, they must scrupulously take care not to become involved in political issues. As stated in the letter to you dated 16 April 1985, participation in anti-apartheid demonstrations and protest activities could be construed as involvement in politics, and therefore should be avoided.

"...The world around us is seething with unrest caused by the conflicting interests of governments, peoples, races and individuals. Each of these contending parties has some good and some evil on its side, and, whereas we will unhesitatingly uphold Bahá'í principles, we will never become embroiled in these internecine conflicts by identifying ourselves with one or other of the parties, however much in our hearts we may sympathize with its aims.

"The positive attitude to the question of racial prejudice is radiant and whole-hearted exemplification of the principle of the oneness of mankind, first among the members of your National Spiritual Assembly and then throughout the Bahá'í community...."

(From a letter written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to a National Spiritual Assembly, August 18, 1985)

More here : https://www.reddit.com/r/exbahai/comments/mrf8r4/because_the_cultlike_nature_of_the_bahai_faith_is/

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Babism is abrogated and replaced by the Baha'i faith

Babism and Baha'ism are both correlative and almost inseparable. Both are the part of the same religion, and have almost identical beliefs and doctrines, with the difference that Babism is considered to be the essential precedent to, and an integral part of Baha'ism. As according to Muslim belief Judaism is considered to have been abrogated and replaced by Christianity and subsequently Christianity by Islam, so also Babism is believed by the Baha'is to have been abrogated and replaced by, and at the same time assimilated into, Baha'ism.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/20846959?seq=1

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"Tablet explaining this existed but had been stolen by Covenant-breakers."

The obligatory prayer should be said facing the qiblih (point of adoration, i.e. the direction to face in prayer). The Báb had specified that in prayer believers should face Him Whom God shall make manifest. Thus during His lifetime Bahá'ís prayed facing the person of Bahá'u'lláh. `Abdu'l-Bahá later explained that after Bahá'u'lláh's death, the qiblih was Bahá'u'lláh's shrine and that a Tablet explaining this existed but had been stolen by Covenant-breakers. Facing the qiblih is obligatory for all three obligatory prayers.

John Walbridge, 1950. "Sacred Acts, Sacred Space, Sacred Time." Baha'i Studies 1996


Three days after the ascension of Baha’u’llah, Mirza Muhammad-‘Ali asked me to give him the keys so that he might open the cases. He said: “Baha’u’llah has placed a certain document in these cases which needs to be studied.’ He took the keys from me. The next thing I noticed was that with the help of Majdu’d-Din, ‘Ali Rida, his sister, and the mother of Shu‘a‘u’llah the cases were taken out of the window onto the balcony of the mansion and from there into the room of Mirza Muhammad-‘Ali. He took out all the Tablets of Baha’u’llah...

Shahin Vafai, The Essence of the Covenant - Features, History, and Implications

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Recantation of the Bab

To appease the 'ulama and calm public excitement, he was then brought to the Friday congregation in the Vakil mosque and urged by Shaykh Abu Turab, the imam jum'a of Shiraz (and a friend of the Bab’s uncles), to renounce claims made by or attributed to him. In conformity with his own policy of prudence, in his statement from the pulpit the Bab denied claims to the Imam’s representation or deputyship, though he did not (and was not requested to) extend his denial to the claim of Qa’imiya itself. In a written statement, apparently produced under pressure, he again recanted any claims to the position of Babiya (gatehood), disowned those who advocated such beliefs, and added: “If certain words flowed from my pen, they are purely instinctive and entirely against the accepted norms and thus not to be taken as proofs of any cause.” To the satisfaction of the relatively tolerant Shaykh Abu Turab and perhaps the relief of his own family, the Bab’s statement saved him from the death penalty sought by some mujtahids and diverted public attention from him.

(Abbas Amanat, Resurrection and Renewal: The Making of the Babi Movement in Iran, 1844-1850, Page 255)

https://books.google.com/books/about/Resurrection_and_Renewal.html?id=UWnYAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y

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The glory of Sunni and Shia Islam shall be turned into the most abject abasement - Abdul Baha

The voice of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Center of the Covenant of God, has, likewise, been raised, announcing the dire misfortunes which were to overtake, soon after His passing, the ecclesiastical hierarchies of both Sunní and Shí’ih Islám. “This glory,” He has written, “shall be turned into the most abject abasement, and this pomp and might converted into the most complete subjugation. Their palaces will be transformed into prisons, and the course of their ascendant star terminate in the depths of the pit. Laughter and merriment will vanish, nay more, the voice of their weeping will be raised.” “Even as the snow,” He moreover has written, “they will melt away in the July sun.”

The dissolution of the institution of the Caliphate, the complete secularization of the state which had enshrined the most august institution of Islám, and the virtual collapse of the Shí’ih hierarchy in Persia, were the visible and immediate consequences of the treatment meted out to the Cause of God by the clergy of the two largest communions of the Muslim world.

https://reference.bahai.org/en/t/se/PDC/pdc-22.html

(The Promised Day Is Come, Shoghi Effendi)

https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=13KdDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA287#v=onepage&q&f=false

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Baha'ism does not distort the teachings of other religions! Lie.

 Former Baha'i scholar and historian, Denis MacEoin states:

Smith (Baha'i scholar) quotes Shoghi Effendi to the effect that Baha'ism does not distort the teachings of other religions, but does not examine the obvious distortions that Baha'i teachings create for Jews, Christians, Muslims and others. It is quite easy to see that key doctrines in all other faiths are contradicted by Baha'i beliefs and that there are no simple ways to reconcile them.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0048721X.2012.705975

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How Baha'i scholar Peter Smith misleads his readers?

Denis MacEoin says:

He (Baha'i scholar - Peter Smith) writes: ‘The writings of the Bab … and to a lesser extent those of Baha’u’llah are pervaded by Islamic concepts; and many Babi and Baha’i practices bear an obvious resemblance to those of Islam’ (Smith 1996: 13). Of course, this is rather misleading. Babi and Baha’i practices and, for that matter, writings and doctrines do not just resemble those found in Islam: they are derived, sometimes wholesale, from them. Baha’ism has two hajj pilgrimages, lesser pilgrimages (ziyarat) a month-long fast, ritual prayer (salat), a system of religious law (shari‘a) an aversion to homosexuality, a stress on the divine unity, and so on, and it is only right that these debts be recognised for what they are.

Source: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0048721X.2012.705975

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Fulfilment of specific wishes

The religious potency of the monuments is reflected in the Baha’i lore that if one prays for the fulfilment of specific wishes at the grave of Navvab (Baha’u’llah’s first wife), she will intervene with Baha’u’llah to urge that one’s wishes be granted.

(David Michael Piff, Bahá’í Lore, Oxford, George Ronald, 2000, p. 232.)
(Margit Warburg, Citizens of the World, Page 440)

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Edward Browne about the Baha'i teachings

Edward Browne who met Baha’u’llah a couple of times and was granted four successive interviews with him, says about the Baháʼí teachings:

These teachings are in themselves admirable, though inferior, in my opinion, both in beauty and simplicity to the teachings of Christ.

— Edward G. Browne, Materials for the Study of the Babi Religion, Introduction, p. xxi.

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Former-UHJ member discouraging young Baha'is from seeking a college education because "the Revelation of Baha'u'llah" contains "all knowledge."

According to Peter Khan (a Pakistani-Australian engineer who was elected to the Universal House of Justice in 1987), world-denying fundamentalists go to the extreme of discouraging young Baha'is from seeking a college education because "the Revelation of Baha'u'llah" contains "all knowledge." He adds that in this view

The physical sciences are stigmatized as being incorrect because they take no account of the spiritual dimension of creation. Psychology is condemned because most theories appear not to take account of the spiritual nature of man. Economics is dismissed as appearing not to accommodate a spiritual solution to economic problems. Evolution and the Darwinian perspective are condemned as being contrary to the belief in God. (Khan 1999:46-47).

The presence of such views in the US during the 1960s is confirmed by an old-time Baha'i, who said his parents were "always warning me about those wacko Baha'is who thought that you only needed to read the Writings and nothing else. And there was a good deal of tension over whether one ought, as a Baha'i, to go to university-wouldn't it be better to go pioneering [move abroad to do missionizing]?" (Pers. Comm., 17 June 2000).

(Fundamentalism in the Contemporary U.S. Baha'i Community, Juan R. I. Cole, Review of Religious Research, Vol. 43, No. 3 (Mar., 2002), pp. 195-217 (23 pages))

https://www.jstor.org/stable/3512329?seq=1

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