Removing a believer from the Baha'i membership list

Inactivity alone is not a cause for removing a believer from the Bahá’í membership list. Removal can be done only when the believer himself withdraws from the Faith or is removed from the list of voting members by formal administrative action.

(Baha'i News, No. 195, May, 1947)

https://bahai.works/Bahá’í_News/Issue_195/Text

Read More

an administration they must obey

"Those who declare themselves as Bahá’ís should become enchanted with the beauty of the Teachings; and touched by the love of Bahá’u’lláh. The declarants need not know all the proofs, history, laws, and principles of the Faith, but in the process of declaring themselves they must, in addition to catching the spark of faith, become basically informed about the Central Figures of the Faith, as well as the existence of laws they must follow and an administration they must obey."

(Universal House of Justice, 13 July 1964)

Read More

The Babi and Baha'i Faiths arose in the Twelver Shia Islam

The Babi and Bahá'í Faiths arose in the Twelver Shi`i milieu in Iran and are related in many ways to Shi`i belief, practice, and concepts.

(Shi`i Islam, Moojan Momen, 1995)

https://bahai-library.com/momen_encyclopedia_shii_islam

Read More

Temporary Marriages (Mut'a, Sighih) of the Bab, Baha'u'llah and Subh-i-Azal

The Báb and Bahá’u’lláh both entered into temporary marriages (sighih). According to Bahá’í scholar Moojan Momen, "the practice of sighih, [is] a form of prostitution recognized and legalized in Shi'i Islam" (see The Baha'i Communities of Iran 1851–1921 Volume 1: The North of Iran).

The Báb’s temporary wife, Fátimih Khánum, was an Isfahání girl and the sister of the prominent Bábí Mullá Rajab-‘Alí. She was "married" around 1847, at the age of twenty-five, to "serve" the Báb during His sojourn in Isfahán.

After the death of the Báb, despite the fact that he had asked his wives not to remarry (see "Fátimih Khánum" on Bahaipedia, page now deleted but available via archive), Fátimih Khánum married Subh-i-Azal for one month. He later gave her in marriage to Siyyid Muhammad Isfahání (see The Baha'i Communities of Iran 1851–1921 Volume 2: The South of Iran).

---

Baha'u'llah married three times, first Asiyih "Nuvvab" Khanum in his youth, then his cousin, Mahd-i 'Ulya, whose family had been martyred; he had a number of children with each of these co-wives, in accordance with Middle Eastern customs of the time. In Baghdad he married Gawhar Khanum (the latter appears to have been a pro forma temporary marriage [mut'ah] of a sort required of Shi'ite law where a man had a live-in maid, and Gawhar Khanum had been brought into the household in the Shi'ite Karkh district in order to serve Asiyih Khanum). He had only one child, a daughter, with Gawhar Khanum). Baha'u'llah's eldest son and vicar, 'Abdu'l-Baha, later Interpreted the Most Holy Book to require monogamy. Baha'u'llah had altogether fourteen children from his three wives, including four daughters. Five of his sons predeceased him... Baha'u'llah died of a fever in 'Akka on 29 May 1892, at the age of 74."

("A Brief Biography of Baha'u'llah" Juan R.I. Cole, Department of History, University of Michigan)

https://web.archive.org/web/20170422142512/https://bahai-library.com/wwwboard/messages03/665.html

Read More

how the idea of 750 rifles developed

About the firing squad, Sen McGlinn in one of his comment on Youtube, states:

The idea that the firing squad for the Bab's execution was very large is only found in much later reports. There are contemporary accounts that speak of a small firing squad, even a "platoon," and there are multiple contemporary accounts that say there was a firing squad, with no mention of its size, implying that it was what the observer and his expected reader understood by the term "firing squad." We also have some evidence about how the idea of 750 rifles developed, from bad translations and misunderstandings. This "transmission history" is also positive evidence that would have to be refuted to make a claim of a large firing squad plausible. I have some of the sources online on my Bahai Studies blog, under "750 muskets."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2ea2siOww8&lc=Ugz-UGy8ycywZ1Opn_B4AaABAg


This document contains multiple sources that have narrated the execution of the Bab in chronological order. These include multiple non-Baha'i sources including reports from British and Russian officials and etc. What is obvious, is that the earlier non-Baha'i sources do not mention the fancy miraculous and exaggerated claims that were later fabricated and propagated by Baha'is. It's an interesting document:

https://www.paintdrawer.co.uk/david/folders/spirituality/bahai/bab/Martyrdom%20of%20the%20Bab%20(Sources).doc

https://archive.org/details/martyrdom-of-the-bab-sources

Read More

Abdu'l-Baha mistakenly calls Ja'far al-Sadiq "the seventh imam"

In a letter to Adib, Abdu'l-Baha calls Ja'far al-Sadiq "the seventh imam." Of course, Abdu'l-Baha likely knew Ja'far was the sixth imam, so it's a very minor mistake. He's a normal human, so you'd be right to shrug and say "who gives a shit." But for Baha'is who adopt the maximalist position that Abdu'l-Baha never made a mistake, it's a problem.

The letter is found in Mazandarani's Asrar, 1:82-3 (Phelps AB03482), which I typed up below. The context is the Constitutional Revolution, which Abdu'l-Baha says he asked the Baha'is to stay away from (there's a paper on the subject here). Sayyid Ali Akbar, who he mentions in the letter, kept him informed from Iran. Abdu'l-Baha is frustrated that some of the Baha'is aren't heeding his directives so he throws up his hands and says that God had other plans (a Shii idea called bada).

هو اللهان منادی پیمان ... در بدایت انقلاب ( انقلاب مشروطیت در ایران ( عبدالبهاء بنهایت همت کوشید که یاران بی طرف مانند و خیر دو جهت باشند ملاحظه شد که بعضی تأویل مینمایند و مداخله میفرمایند و نتیجه آنست که حکومت بهانه نماید و ماده بعضو ضعیف ریزد و جميع احبای الهی را قتل عام کنند و واسطه صلح نمایند و بسبب این قضیه حکومت نفوذ شدید یابد و اقتدار جدید نماید جناب آقا سید علی اکبر را احضار نمودم گفتم که آنچه خواستیم یاران را از مداخله منع نمائیم ممکن نشد بعضی مایل به مداخله هستند و این نتایج مضره بخشد حال محض اینکه این مداخله را منع نمایم میخواهم که عبارتی در حق مرکز سلف نویسم اگـر چنانچه باید و شاید قیام نماید فبها والا از قضایای مسلمه امر الله است . به حضرت امام جعفر صادق گفتند که ما منتظر معصوم سابع بودیم و سابعهم قائمهم میگفتند چگونه شد که تحقق نیافت فرمودند آن سابع منم ولی بدا شد خلاصه بمومی الیه گفتم که در قائمیت اما جعفر صادق بدا جائز بود حال اگر چنانچه باید و شاید معمول نگردد بدا سهل است .

He is God!

O herald of the covenant….At the beginning of the (Constitutional) Revolution, Abdul-Baha tried very hard to ensure that the friends remained neutral and well-wishers of both sides. It was observed that some were misinterpreting (my instructions) and interfering. The result is that the government uses this (interference) as a pretext to weaken and eliminate a member (of parliament), massacre all the divine loved ones, and make peace through mediation [i.e. play the peacekeeper], thereby allowing the government to gain significant influence and assert new authority.

I summoned Aqa Sayyid Ali Akbar and said, “We wanted to prevent the friends from intervening but it was not possible. Some are inclined to interfere and this will have harmful consequences.

Now, simply to prevent this intervention, I want to write a statement about the center of the predecessors [the Qa’im]. If he arises as he must and should, then good; otherwise, it is one of the settled decrees of God. They said to Imam Ja'far Sadiq, “We were waiting for the seventh infallible (imam), for as the (imams) used to say 'the seventh is their Qa'im.’” When asked why it did not materialize, Ja’far said, “That seventh is me, but bada happened.” In summary, I told (Sayyid Ali Akbar) that for Ja’far Sadiq, being the Qa'im was permissible. If something does not happen as it should, it is simply bada.

https://www.reddit.com/r/exbahai/comments/1co10og/abdulbaha_mistakenly_calls_jafar_alsadiq_the/

Read More

Baha'i administration defends its image at the expense of justice

Dr. Hossain Danesh a former secretary of the NSA of Canada lost his psychiatry license after multiple sexual abuse allegations. Instead of being decisively removed or publicly condemned within the Baha'i community he was given a prominent role at Landegg University and later supported in returning back to Canada to conduct seminars, on topics like "Healthy Marriage and Family Life."!

In another case a young Baha'i girl accused her father (then chair of an NSA) of sexual abuse. Rather than prioritizing the victim, the institutions allegedly focused on protecting their reputation. Baha'i administration defends its image and its important people even at the expense of justice and victims.

See: 

https://web.archive.org/web/20170823184205/http://bahairants.com/hossain-danesh-heavily-promoted-by-nsa-1048.html

https://www.oocities.org/shirinstory/bacquet.html

https://bahaitheway.blogspot.com/2008_08_01_archive.html

https://archive.org/details/bahai-scandals

Read More

The BIC owns the copyrights to the texts of the four Central figures of the Baha'i Faith and the texts of letters of the UHJ

The entire contents of the Baha'i World Centre Etext Server are copyrighted by the Baha'i International Community, Copyright (c) 1994, All Rights Reserved, as a collective work (compilation copyright). They may be freely redistributed in their entirety provided that this copyright notice is not removed...

The Baha'i International Community asserts that it owns the copyrights to the texts of the four Central figures of the Baha'i Faith (The Bab, Baha'u'llah, Abdu'l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi) and the texts of letters of the Universal House of Justice, which are available for distribution by the Baha'i World Centre Etext Server, as part of its compilation copyright.

(February 1997, The Secretariat, Baha'i International Community, P.O. Box 155 31001, Haifa - Israel)

https://sacred-texts.com/bhi/cnote.txt

All material on this website, including but not limited to, text, photographs, images, illustrations, maps, audio clips, and video clips (“Content”) is protected by copyrights, trademarks, and other intellectual property rights. The Bahá’í International Community retains full legal protection for its Content under all applicable national and international laws.

https://www.bahai.org/legal

Trademarks owned by the Baha'i Administration

https://www.trademarkia.com/the-universal-house-of-justice-88806367

Read More

Many tablets revealed to the women have been lost.

In a tablet to Aqā Shāhzāda, Baha'ullah says he is addressing her from the prison in 'Akka with a call that is sweeter than sugar and more luminous than the sun and moon. Baha'ullah says that she has drunk the wine of revelation, and taken hold of his tablets and writings (Baha'ullah and 'Abdu'l- Baha 2005: 208). In another tablet to her, Baha'ullah likens his words to precious gems and pearls which were hidden and which he has now revealed for her. Elsewhere, Baha'ullah tells Shahanshāh Baygum that she has been mentioned at the throne ('arsh) of God, and that her name has been recorded in the tablets, and that he has revealed verses for her so that from them she might perceive the scent of the shirt of her Lord (a reference to the story of Joseph; ibid.: 205). It is impossible to know how many of the tablets originally revealed for these women have been lost. In a tablet to Diya' al-Ḥājjīya, Baha'ullah says she has repeatedly received divine verses (Ibid.: 219), and in a tablet to her from 'Abdu'l-Baha we read that she received many tablets (alvāḥ-i muta'addada) during the time of Baha'ullah (Ibid.: 294).

(The Baha'is of Iran: Socio-Historical Studies. (2012). United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis.)

https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Baha_is_of_Iran/H4YrBgAAQBAJ

Read More

Indian believers teaching the Baha'i faith to Pakistanis!!?

India

Baluchistan site of teaching trip

An extensive teaching trip was made to Baluchistan, Pakistan, in December, by three Indian believers. Baluchistan is an arid and mountainous region.

The first town visited in the province of Baluchistan was Kalat. Nasir Shah, a new believer there, welcomed the travelers and arranged a meeting which was attended by many inquirers. The report of the traveling teachers said, “We held long discussions on many aspects of the Faith and during the course of these conversations, Bahá’u’lláh’s unfailing confirmation blessed the region of Baluchistan with a new Spiritual Assembly, the first in Kalat, where nine souls enrolled in the Army of Light.”

The team also visited the four local believers of Pasni, addressed some inquirers who had been studying the Faith, answered questions they had prepared, and had the joy of witnessing the formation of the first Local Spiritual Assembly as a result of the acceptance of the Faith by some of the inquirers.

Through the enrollment of an inquirer in Jiwini and in Khuzdar, two new localities were opened to the Faith.

(Bahá’í News, Issue 554, May 1977, Bahá’í Year 134)

https://bahai.works/Bahá’í_News/Issue_554/Text#Weekly_teaching_efforts_spreading_Faith

https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:Baha%27i_News_554.pdf&page=17

Read More

Payam Aryan about false claim of equality of men and women in the Baha'i faith.

Former-Baha'i Payam Aryan states:

People like you are unbelievable. Of course men and women are different, but not in their rights. Becoming a member of international consultation and decision making assembly isn’t a role that women are incapable of doing. All humankind are entitled to be treated equally in the terms of rights and justice. Your reasoning is so weak. According to your “role” logic some people can be masters and some people are their slaves. Don’t forget that even AbdulBaha hasn’t answered a question regarding this injustice and said in the future “wisdom” of this divine law will be known by all. He has basically deceived people by saying that in a “unknown” future the problem will be solved. Moreover, in Bahai inheritance law there are several inequities. The main house goes to first male child. The share of father is more than mother. The share of brother is more than sister and so on….. these are all in contradiction to the “equality of rights between men and women” teaching/principle. False Claim.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V4pKaCw3VE&lc=UgyRG0BAHXx_DZcj5X14AaABAg.ATRd4j1VERVATSc6diYwX6

Read More

Two Bahá’ís were arrested recently in Murree, Pakistan, for teaching the Baha'i Faith.

“Islam and the Bahá’í Faith” is the topic of weekly classes arranged by the Teaching Committee of Islamabad.

The youth committee in Karachi has arranged for deepening classes for pre-youth in that city.

Two Bahá’ís were arrested recently in Murree, Pakistan, for teaching the Faith. Their case is now pending in the courts.

(Bahá’í News October 1981 Bahá’í Year 138)

https://bahai.works/Bahá’í_News/Issue_607/Text#Teaching_campaign_opens_new_areas

Read More

The New World Order of Baha'u'llah is Vitamin C

You can have a person that suddenly has a disease that bleeds all over, so you say "okay", we pick up all kinds of band-aids, and we put one bandage here and one bandage here and everything just to band-aid the person so that you wouldn't bleed. And then this person suddenly finds that his bones are getting very soft and cannot walk. We say "okay", we put all kind of sticks and wrap it around the bones so that he can walk. And the person becomes weak. And so we say "okay", this person is becoming weak so we find a couple of other people to carry him around or put him in a wheelchair. And then gradually the person starts not being able to breathe, and so let's give him oxygen. And if that doesn't work, we just give him a pump that constantly pumps his chest so that he can have the necessary oxygen. And it goes on and on and on, which is what's happening in the medical model today. However, if we had paused for a moment and say, "Let's see what is happening with this person? Could it be that this person doesn't have something that he should have?" And we investigate and find that he lacks vitamin C.

Transcript of: Creating New World Order by Hossain Danesh

https://bahai.works/Transcript:Hossain_Danesh/Creating_New_World_Order

Read More

Iranian National Plan

He [Mas’ud Khamsi] once was a Director of the first television station in Iran established by Mr Sabet, his brother-in-law. Within the Bahá’í environment he was actively occupied with others gaining the goals of Shoghi Effendi’s first 45-month Iranian National Plan which consisted of the consolidation of all Bahá’í local communities, the reestablishment of 62 dissolved Spiritual Assembles, the formation of 22 new groups and the creation of 13 new centres throughout Iran.

(The Khamsis: A Cradle of True Gold by Boris Handal)

https://bahai-library.com/pdf/h/handal_khamsis_cradle_gold.pdf

Read More

Baha'i villages in Iran

Sayyid Nasru’llah Khan Báqirof owned a group of six or seven villages south of Tehran in the area known as Ghar. These included Hasanabad (pop. 380 in 1951), Ja’farabad (5 km southwest of Rayy on the main Tehran to Qumm road, pop. 20 in 1951) and ‘Alíyabad (9 km south of Rayy, 1 km west of the Tehran to Qumm road, pop. 150 in 1951). A former resident of Báqirabad states that in 1950s Báqirabad consisted of a population of 110, of whom 65 were Bahá’ís. From about 1910 Báqirof encouraged Bahá’í villagers to move to these villages, especially from the villages of the Kashan area, which was being ravaged by Na’ib Husayn Kashani and the Sultanabad area. They farmed the area, growing grains and sugar beet and herding livestock. In 1918 ‘Abbas Mahmúdi moved to these villages and began to teach the Bahá’í children there. The Bahá’í villagers often talked about the Bahá’í Faith with the Muslims in these villages and in the surrounding villages such as Sayyid-abad, Khalazir (6 km northwest of Rayy, pop. 395 in 1951) and Pala’in (8 km west of Rayy, pop. 176 in 1951). Among those who tried to spread the Bahá’í Faith in this way were Mírzá Husayn Jawshqani Masiha’i and his son Mírzá Amanu’llah Mudir Masiha’i; Mírzá Hatim Khan (of Ahl-Haqq origin), the clerk at the mill in Hasanabad; Ustad Habibu’llah Vadqani, the master miller; and Haji Ulya. These individuals would invite those Muslims who showed interest to meetings at which ‘Abbas Mahmúdi spoke.

(The Khamsis: A Cradle of True Gold by Boris Handal)

https://bahai-library.com/pdf/h/handal_khamsis_cradle_gold.pdf

Read More