Why Christians Reject the Bahá’í Faith?

The Story of Sama'ullah (Jamshid Ma'ani), one of the post-Baha'i religious claimant.

Extreme Left Jamshid Ma'ani with Shirin Fozdar and others

“I have been trying to reconstruct the history of one of the most obscure post-Bahá’í religious claimants, who even my family has had history with and still believe to this day: Jamshid (Jamshed) Maʿānī (Persian: جمشید معانی), an Iranian Bahá’í missionary who, sometime around the early to mid-1960s, appears to have transformed from a highly successful Bahá’í pioneer into the founder of a small independent revelatory movement of his own. I can’t find much information about him, except for scattered references across Bahá’í memoirs, some Persian articles, archived Google group discussions, and random mentions of him in bibliographies and surviving publication listings. What I’ve learnt all points to the fact that this man was once the center of a small international schism.

My grandmother and family still believe in him, and they have a weird twelver-shia + Jamshidi view on how he’s ‘Imam Mahdi’, and in order to discuss it more with them I wanted to look for more information on the guy.

I am putting everything I have found so far into this long post in the hope that someone else may know more, possess documents, or have family memory of this movement.

Here’s what I’ve compiled:

Jamshid Maʿānī did not begin as an outsider. All evidence suggests that he emerged from inside the formal Bahá’í missionary apparatus. Multiple Bahá’í recollections describe him as a charismatic Iranian muballigh (traveling teacher/public speaker) from a prominent Bahá’í family. Some online discussants familiar with Iranian Bahá’í history even state that his family had served Bahá’í institutions for two generations, and that some of his relatives remained loyal to Haifa after his split. He is repeatedly described in these early years as eloquent, handsome, deeply detached, mystical in demeanor, and unusually effective in missionary work. One memoir source, ‘Servants of the Glory: 40 Years of Pioneering’, gives one of the clearest institutional snapshots of him before his break. There he appears as the assistant of Dr. Muhájir in the Indonesian field, working in Mentawai and later sent by the Southeast Asian National Spiritual Assembly in 1963 to Sarawak and Borneo, where he reportedly enrolled approximately 6,000 Dyak tribespeople into the Bahá’í Faith. The memoir writer says the Dyaks believed a man would come bringing a new religion and therefore accepted him readily, and that Jamshid was seen at that time as one of the great success stories of Bahá’í pioneering. Another recollection says he resembled Jesus Christ in appearance and was thought by fellow pioneers to possess an, “extraordinary spiritual aura”.

Around 1963–1964, shortly before or around the establishment of the Universal House of Justice, Jamshid Maʿānī appears to have begun privately advancing claims that he himself had become a new divinely appointed figure. Several independent sources agree on this timeline. Bahá’í memoir accounts say that he announced after a dream or revelatory experience that Bahá’u’lláh had told him he was the next prophet. Persian literature says he surfaced as one of the post-Shoghi claimants exploiting the succession confusion after Shoghi Effendi died in 1957 without a successor. Other online discussion posts state that on a visit to Iran he quietly informed family members and local believers that he was not merely a teacher but the Third Manifestation of God after the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh, sent to inaugurate an entirely new dispensation. One poster even summarizes his claim in the extraordinary phrase that he presented himself as “the One Who creates the Messengers at every instant.”

The titles under which he operated are fascinating and seem to show an escalation in self-presentation. In English publications he publicly styled himself simply as “The Man” or “Insān.” At first glance this can sound humble, and some later followers such as ones in my family apparently interpreted it that way - as if he were only saying “I am merely a human being.” But the doctrinal context strongly suggests this was not humility at all. In metaphysical vocabulary, al-Insān can invoke the idea of the Perfect Man, the completed archetype of humanity, the one in whom divine attributes are fully reflected. Several surviving descriptions of his movement explicitly say that the title “The Man” was used to signify that humanity had entered a new stage of maturity and that the “real station of man is spiritual.” In other words he was presenting himself as the exemplary or perfected human through whom a new stage of revelation had arrived. Later Persian sources say he also used the title Samāʾu’llāh / Samaullah (سماءالله), literally “The Heaven of God” or “Firmament of God,” and one archived source says he referred to himself in writing as Qalam al-Ahmar, the Crimson Pen.

From this point onward his movement began to crystallize into what references call “Faith of God.” This was apparently a fully structured mini-religion. It had an administrative branch called the House of Mankind, echoing the Bahá’í House of Justice, and a projected future world institution called the Universal Palace of Order. The movement retained the Bahá’í doctrine of progressive revelation but inserted Jamshid as the newest revealer in the chain after Zoroaster, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh. Some surviving descriptions say he taught that all worship was acceptable so long as it was not contrary to wisdom, that the universe was alive and evolving, and that humanity was entering spiritual perfection under his dispensation. His new era would have no binding shari‘a or religious law whatsoever, suggesting he was presenting his revelation as a law-transcending universal maturity. This may explain why some Persian critics treated him not merely as a Bahá’í dissident but as a total post-Bahá’í claimant.

Jamshid also left behind books. Bibliographic listings from Bahá’í archives and compilations preserve a surprisingly rich publication trail. Known titles associated with him include:

•  To the Bahá’í Community Throughout the World (1967),

•  Prayers of the Man for All Mankind (published in Lahore in 1970),

•  God, Heaven, The Reason of Man’s Creation,

•  The Sun of the Word of the Man,

•  Universal Order,

•  and references to Kitab-e-Insan or Book of Man.

I can’t find copies of these online but I’d appreciate if anyone can share them with me, if they have any of these. My family isn’t willing to share anything with me.

Several of these were privately printed in Mariposa, California around 1971. Some readers who saw samples of his texts say he emulated Bahá’u’lláh’s Arabic/Persian prose style so closely that portions felt almost plagiarized or consciously imitative of Bahá’í scripture. This may explain why early seekers found the literature compelling before meeting him in person, one of them being John Carré.

Carré was himself already a complicated post-Bahá’í personality, having earlier supported the claims of Mason Remey after the Bahá’í succession crisis. After becoming disillusioned with Remey, Carré encountered Jamshid Maʿānī and appears to have become his principal American champion. Multiple bibliographic records list Carré as translator, compiler, editor, or publication associate on Maʿānī’s books. The California printing addresses, the English-language editions, and the establishment of the House of Mankind in the United States all seem to run through Carré’s home in Mariposa. Carré later admitted in archived correspondence that he joined Jamshid because Maʿānī’s writings “echoed the spiritual teachings of the Bahá’í Faith” and because in a time of Bahá’í confusion he thought it better to investigate than dismiss. He then traveled among Jamshid’s followers in Iran, England, Mauritius, Pakistan and South America. He even visited my family apparently in the 70s.

Yet Carré also became the central witness to the movement’s collapse. In a later candid statement he wrote that Jamshid came to stay in his California home for several months and that, despite the beauty of the writings, Carré and his family concluded he was “not what he claimed to be.” In another source this judgment is phrased even more bluntly: Jamshid was “not at all godly or spiritual, and certainly was not a Manifestation of God.” Carré says he sold a cabin to pay Jamshid’s airfare back to Iran and then informed the followers of his findings, an act which “decimated his community.” Nancy Carré independently corroborates this, saying her parents initially accepted Jamshid, later discovered the writings were heavily derivative, and knew with certainty after meeting him in America that something was deeply wrong. This falling out appears to have been catastrophic. The American House of Mankind ceased functioning soon after, and Carré spent the rest of his life distancing himself from that episode, though he never fully stopped eschatological speculation.

So one of the largest pillars of Jamshid’s movement, his Western publication and financing network, was suddenly gone by the mid-1970s. But the movement had another major branch: Pakistan.

This is where the story becomes especially strange. A number of Persian and Urdu references explicitly mention that Pakistani Bahá’īs were drawn into Jamshid’s orbit. One archived advertisement-like note which I found reads almost like missionary outreach:

“Jamshed Mani ‘The Man’ from Iran, in 1964 claimed to be the next manifestation of God after Bahaullah… Any one interested about the faith can contact Syed Nawazish Ali Shah, a renowned disciple of Jamshed Mani, at 170-BB D.H.A. Lahore Cantt, Pakistan.”

This Nawazish, a retired Major in the Pakistan Army, was also one of the main carriers of Jamshids legacy and is who even my family was involved with and who got them into the sect. In other Bahai libraries you can also see that a book by Jamshid, ‘Prayers of the Man for All Mankind’, was also translated and printed in Lahore in 1970. Persian analyses of Bahá’īs in Pakistan likewise mention Jamshid Maʿānī as one of the internal schismatic currents affecting Pakistani Bahá’īs. This suggests that a small but real Pakistani Samavī/Insānī network existed.

And this is all I have gotten so far. Present-day oral memory from my family begins to conflict with internet history. Most surviving Bahá’í or ex-Bahá’í sources imply that Jamshid’s organized movement effectively collapsed by the mid to late 1970s after Carré withdrew, his writings were discredited, and concerns about his mental health intensified. Some accounts say he was hospitalized in Tehran. One Bahá’í anecdote says very bluntly that “the poor guy went crazy” and claimed to be a messenger of God, eventually dying in a mental institution in Tehran. Another older archived post from a Google group says he later lived in seclusion somewhere near the Caspian Sea and had “completely lost his cookies.” Yet these same internet-visible sources are contradicted by persistent family memories from Pakistani circles like that of my grandmother, who claimed that she and my aunts and uncles visited Jamshid personally in Iran even in the late 1990s and early 2000s. This implies that the movement survived privately in hidden devotional networks long after it had ceased to exist publicly in Bahá’í discourse? The way they talk about him is very similar to cult-worship, hence why I’m so curious about this and went down this rabbithole.

There are also repeated suggestions that his followers were called Firqa Samavī (from Samāʾu’llāh) or were informally known simply as followers of Insān/The Man. Whether there was ever a self-conscious institutional “Samavī” denomination or whether this is a label retroactively used by Persian critics is still unclear, or my internet geoblocks most websites which can provide me with more information on this.

Then there is the final unresolved matter of his later life. Some sources say he returned to Iran after the California break. Some claim he resurfaced briefly in Northern California in the late 1980s. Others say he later went back again to Iran. Some place him in Karaj. Others place him in seclusion near the Caspian. Some insist he died in psychiatric confinement. I do know from my family that he died because they tried visiting again in 2010s and were informed of his passing. I have not yet found a definitive obituary, death certificate, burial notice, or firsthand account of his final years. And again, my family doesn’t like sharing anything about it with me. I did find that his brother Hedi Ma’ani was murdered in New Zealand, but that was from a fringe podcast I found on this subreddit and also can’t find much more about it.

So as of now, this is what seems reasonably reconstruction: Jamshid Maʿānī was an Iranian Bahá’í missionary of considerable success in Indonesia and Southeast Asia who, amid the post-Shoghi succession confusion, announced himself around 1963–64 as a new revelatory figure under titles such as The Man/Insān, Samāʾu’llāh, and possibly the Crimson Pen; he built a post-Bahá’í religion called Faith of God with institutions called House of Mankind and Universal Palace of Order; he published multiple books in Iran, Pakistan and California; he attracted followers in Iran, Pakistan, England, Mauritius, South America and the United States; he was heavily sponsored and translated by John Carré until Carré personally met him and concluded he was not spiritually authentic; this rupture decimated the movement publicly in America; reports of mental collapse then begin to dominate Bahá’í memory; yet there are lingering indications that private Pakistani and Iranian adherent circles may have continued revering him for decades after the movement was thought dead.

I am posting all this because I am convinced there is much more here than the internet currently preserves. I want to learn more about what happened; but for that I’d also appreciate any evidence that points to him being hospitalized etc.

Source : https://www.reddit.com/r/exbahai/comments/1t4hjeh/story_of_jamshid_maani_insan_samaullah/

Why Baha'u'llah is not “He whom God shall make manifest”?

Baha or Baha'u'llah is a later title (not given by the Bab) of Mirza Husayn-Ali Nuri, who was the older brother, guardian and intermediary of Mirza Yahya Nuri (Subh-i-Azal) who was the named successor of the Bab and source of revelation after him according to the Bab's own well-known testament [1]. First in the middle of the 1850s Baha'u'llah was accussed of making claims, which he denied, called the claimers "liars" [2], and continued to write in high praise of Subh-i-Azal (see [3], [4]).

Later in the 1860s he claimed that he was doing taqiyya all the time, was actually the Bayani messianic figure himself, and the true source of Subh-i-Azal verses [5]. This is the opposite of what actually happened, Baha'u'llah's position was wholly derived from the position of his younger brother (see also [6]), who also contributed to one of most well-known works, the Kitab-i-Iqan, according to the Bayanis, not vice versa. Baha'u'llah's own works testify for the absurdity of this claim, as Subh-i-Azal's style of writing in Baha'u'llah's absence does not differ from his style of writing in the latter's presence. He did nevertheless gather his own followers but his religion has little to do with the actual substance of the Bayan, despite referencing it.

[1] https://bayanic.com/lib/fwd/vesayat/Vesayat-FWD.html, "when you art cut off from this Throne recite the verses that your Lord causes to be inspired in your heart ... preserve yourself, and then that which has been sent down in the Bayan, and then what will be sent down to your presence"

[2] https://bahai-library.com/bahaullah_lawh_kull_taam, "My munificence overfloweth with the sprinklings of servitude in the Land of the Theophany ... bear witness and be assured that I [Bahá'u'lláh] have claimed naught but servitude to God, the True One. And God is my arbitrator against that which the people falsely allege"

[3] https://www.bahai.org/fa/library/authoritative-texts/bahaullah/additional-tablets-bahaullah/583990268/1#899160984, "The Kitab-i-Nur ... is the book of a glorious and loved one, and consists of the verses of the Protector, the Self-Subsisting" (part translated by Denis MacEoin in "Divisions and Authority Claims in Babism")

[4] https://hurqalya.ucmerced.edu/node/511, later verses (not translated in Stephen Lambden's draft) say even go so far as saying whoever rejects Subh-i-Azal is a disbeliever

[5] https://bahai-library.com/bahaullah_surih_haykal_haddad, "verily We have chosen one of our brothers and showed to him a small drop of the high sea of science, and clothed him with the garment of one Name of the Names, and elevated him to a rank whereby every one rose to praise him..."

[6] https://www.reddit.com/r/BAYAN/comments/u63g6x/the_points_command_to_haba_full_tablet_translated/

The official explanation from Baha'u'llah of all of this is taqiyya, see his many writings where he accused Subh-i-Azal of jealousy as an excuse for that. But it is overall an embarrassing topic the Baha'is sweep under the rug completely in the West at least.

Source : https://www.reddit.com/r/BAYAN/comments/1svlk1e/why_is_bahāullāh_not_he_who_shall_make_manifest/oidntz7/

What do Iranian government sources say about the Baháʼí Faith and the rights of Baháʼís in Iran?

The Baha’i faith, in Iran, is a political sect or cult, not an independent world religion. Following are some organizational, historical, and psychological factors:

• Authoritarian Leadership and Divine Claims: The sect is viewed as being governed by authoritarian leaders who have historically asserted false claims of Mahdism, Prophethood, and Divinity to legitimize their power and decision-making.
• Hierarchical "Pyramid" Power Structure: It is governed by an "iron hierarchical structure" centered at the House of Justice in Israel. This structure ensures that directives from the top reach all levels, including remote villages, and requires absolute obedience.
• Implementation of Mind Control: The sources define the group as a cult because it utilizes psychological techniques of mind control to enlist and manipulate its members. This includes the "Ruhi Plan," a systematic propaganda strategy designed to foster unwavering obedience to the organization.
• Information and Time Control: Cult-like behavior is identified in the way the organization manages members' time with relentless schedules of meetings and missions to prevent independent contemplation. Members are also taught to believe that external information is false and malevolent.
• Surveillance and Reporting Structures: The organization encourages a reporting structure where members surveil and report on one another. It also exercises organized oversight into the intimate personal and familial conduct of its adherents.
• Severe Punitive Measures: Dissent or criticism of the organization leads to harsh punishments, such as "spiritual and administrative rejection" (excommunication). This often involves the total severing of family ties, where even parents or spouses are forbidden from interacting with the rejected individual.
• Political and Colonial Origins: The sources claim Baha’ism is a "man-made construct" rather than a divine religion, alleging its origins are rooted in political establishment by colonial powers like Russia and Britain to sow discord in Islamic territories.
• Prioritizing Sect Directives Over National Law: Baha’is are mandated to prioritize the orders of the global center in Israel over the laws of their home country. This leads to the formation of clandestine, illegal political networks that gather confidential data and interfere with state security.
• Aggressive Propagation Methods: The sect is accused of using deceptive and aggressive propagation under the guise of altruism or public service to target individuals who lack knowledge of Islam.

In spite of this, the IR of Iran maintains a policy of tolerance toward Baha’i individuals, granting them the same citizenship rights and legal protections afforded to all Iranians under the Constitution.

Despite not being recognized as an official religious minority, Baha'is in Iran have access to the following rights:

• Equal Legal Protections: Under Articles 19 and 20 of the Constitution, all citizens enjoy equal rights regardless of race or language, encompassing the inviolability of life, property, dignity, and housing.
• Judicial Rights: Adherents have the right to legal representation, fair trials, defense, interpreters, and the right to appeal or file criminal complaints in court.
• Economic Participation: Baha’is are active in production, trade, and services, including industries like technical engineering, agriculture, and cosmetics. They are permitted to acquire business licenses, enter contracts with government entities, and access banking facilities and agricultural loans.
• Social Welfare: They enjoy relative prosperity and have the same access to government cash subsidies, basic and supplementary insurance, and pension disbursements as other citizens.
• Educational Opportunities: The state provides free education at all levels, and Baha’i students have the opportunity to pursue higher education and obtain university degrees as long as they adhere to educational regulations.
• Cultural and Religious Freedom: Individuals may conduct personal worship freely and hold collective rituals, such as "feasts," every 19 days. They also have access to private cemeteries for burials according to their own beliefs.
• Access to Public Services: They are entitled to national identification cards, driver’s licenses, and healthcare services, including vaccines.
• Civil Liberties: Members of the sect can utilize cyberspace for cultural dissemination, participate in trade unions, and access public amenities like sports complexes.

Baha'is in Iran
Source : https://bahaiculture.blogspot.com/2020/03/bahais-of-shiraz-and-kerman-iran-13.html

(Unveiling Human Rights Perspectives: A Comprehensive Examination of the Baha’i Sect, Published by The High Council for Human Rights of The Islamic Republic of Iran, December 2023)

https://milan.mfa.gov.ir/files/enMilan/Bultan/گزارش%20بهاییت%20انگلیسی.pdf

The Rise and Ruin of Hojabr Yazdani, the most corrupt Baha'i tycoon in Iran

Hojabr Yazdani didn’t build an empire through hard work; he built a monument to greed on the backs of the broken. He lived like a "Don Corleone" who relied on cronyism, the act of using powerful friends like General Ayadi and General Nasiri to bypass the law and snatch whatever he wanted. He was a bully, not a businessman, who used mercenaries to spark violent gang wars in the streets of Tehran just to steal land from poor sheep ranchers. Yazdani was so paranoid and mean that his only "friend" was a pearl-handled gun he carried everywhere, even into the bathroom. He was driven by an arrogant superstition for the number thirteen, surrounding himself with thirteen bodyguards and thirteen rings. He was very notorious for his cruelty. His thirst for power soon moved from the fields to the very heart of the country’s money.

When he moved into banking, Yazdani used tricks and bribes to cheat the entire system. He took control of massive banks like Saderat and the Iranian Bank using "ghost money" that did not exist. His favorite trick was to bribe bank managers to "hide" his bad checks, delaying the system so he could use money he hadn’t actually paid to buy more power. He was essentially stealing from the banks to buy the banks. The "so what" of his crimes is seen in the wreckage he left behind for the poor. In Costa Rica, he took the life savings of thousands of small farmers and workers and gambled it all on coffee fields. When his plan failed and the bank went bankrupt, he stole their futures to keep his own pockets full. He spent his time in hiding, ignoring the cries of the families whose lives he had ruined while he sat on a mountain of stolen cash.

Yazdani’s final years were defined by a shameful escape from justice. He was arrested on the thirteenth day of the month with the highest bail price in the history of the country, yet he refused to face his crimes. During the chaos of a revolution, his thugs used a giant vehicle to ram through a prison wall, and he fled the country with the prison warden himself trailing behind like a servant. He spent the rest of his life in a mansion with twenty-two bathrooms and a Rolls Royce, living in luxury while his victims stayed poor. Even as an old man, he obsessed over lottery numbers, still hoping for one more payout. He died a coward in a palace, a man who believed his wealth made him a king when it only made him a thief. Hojabr Yazdani remains the ultimate symbol of corruption, a man who traded his soul for a number and left a nation to pay the price.

More here https://hojabryazdanimafia.blogspot.com

The Political Architecture of the Baha'i faith

The contradiction of Non-Partisanship: Neutrality as a Strategic Facade

The Baha'i Faith consistently projects an image of a spiritual movement divorced from the entanglements of partisan politics. This claim of "non-involvement" is not a theological principle but a sophisticated strategic facade. It functions as a protective membrane, allowing for global administrative expansion while masking an intensely ambitious geopolitical agenda. By positioning itself above the political fray, the movement secures diplomatic immunity and social acceptance, yet its core objective—the establishment of a "New World Order"—is fundamentally and aggressively political.

This contradiction is laid bare when one examines the observations of Denis MacEoin (1979). MacEoin correctly identified the Baha'i Faith as "one of the most political movements around," noting that its stated platform involves the abolition of non-Baha'i religious legal systems (such as Islamic Sharia), the retention of a class system, and the abolition of tariffs—issues that are among the "hottest political issues" in any era. MacEoin argued that the Baha'i goal of a world state is "no less extreme than the aim of every Marxist." In this framework, "teaching the faith" is not a spiritual endeavor but a substitute for violent revolution, intended to achieve the same result: the establishment of a Baha'i Super-State.

This "soft" approach to political transformation allows the faith to cultivate a "chameleon-like" reputation. It adopts the language of universal peace to bypass the scrutiny usually applied to overtly subversive movements. By framing its administrative growth as a spiritual necessity, the faith obscures its ultimate design to "step in" when the current global order inevitably collapses. This strategic ambiguity is not a modern innovation but the outcome of a century-long history of high-level political cultivation.

The Imperial Blueprint: Historical Alliances with Global Powers

Early Baha'i leadership recognized the tactical necessity of aligning with dominant colonial and military powers to ensure survival and secure an administrative seat in Haifa. Far from being spiritual retreats, the travels and meetings of Baha'i leaders were calculated diplomatic missions. On October 4, 1919, 'Abdu'l-Baha was invited aboard the British warship HMS Marlborough by the acting Military Governor of Haifa, a meeting that signaled his status as a high-level geopolitical asset. This was followed by "intensely interesting" private meetings with General Allenby, Commander-in-Chief of British forces, as well as high-ranking officials like General Sir Arthur Money and Ronald Storrs.

The true nature of these "spiritual" alliances is revealed by their practical utility. While 'Abdu'l-Baha met with figures such as Theodore Roosevelt, Admiral Peary, and U.S. Supreme Court justices to cultivate a peaceful reputation among the Western elite, the administrative wing of the faith was performing concrete functions for military strongmen. A report to the U.S. Secretary of State dated August 10, 1924, explicitly noted that Reza Khan "freely made use... of the intelligent services of the Baha'is" within the Iranian army and civil service. These imperial alliances were not mere social calls; they were the integration of the Baha'i administrative apparatus into the "intelligent services" of the era’s dominant powers, paving the way for specific territorial entanglements in the Levant.

The Zionist Nexus: Land, Finance, and State Concessions

The transition of the Baha'i center to modern Israel was facilitated by a symbiotic relationship with the Zionist movement. In 1914, 'Abdu'l-Baha hosted Baron Edmond James de Rothschild, a leading financier of the Zionist project, and publicly proclaimed that "a Jewish government might come later," urging Zionists to "do more and say less." This support extended into land transactions; Shoghi Effendi eventually sold land in al-Samra to the Jewish National Fund, a move that contributed to the eventual depopulation of the Arab village in 1948.

The "greatest victories" for the Baha'is in the region were won through the "personal liking" of high-ranking British administrators for Shoghi Effendi. Figures such as Sir Arthur Wauchope, Colonel Symes, and Keith-Roach—administrators overtly sympathetic to Zionist aspirations—facilitated the vital tax exemption for the Shrine of the Bab on Mt. Carmel. The claim that the Baha'i Faith "does not take sides" in the Israel-Palestine conflict is deconstructed by these financial and territorial benefits. A truly "neutral" faith does not receive massive land-tax exemptions from a colonial power during a period of intense regional displacement. The Baha'i movement did not merely witness the birth of the Israeli state; it actively secured its "heart and nerve centre" through these strategic Zionist alliances.

The Iran Objective: Sanctions, Regime Change, and Narrative Warfare

In the modern era, the Baha'i leadership has transitioned into overt political advocacy against the Iranian state, weaponizing their "persecuted minority" status to lobby for Western intervention. Figures like Payam Akhavan openly assert that "all the ingredients for regime change in Iran are there," comparing the current state to the fallen Soviet Union and apartheid South Africa. This narrative warfare is coordinated by the Universal House of Justice (UHJ), which has issued directives asking Baha'is to identify companies interested in doing business with Iran and coordinating with "Offices of External Affairs" to influence visiting business people and government officials.

The rhetoric used by Baha'i influencers has become increasingly dehumanizing and violent. Omid Djalili has framed the Iranian regime as "zombies" and a "cancer," supporting "painful" conflict if it achieves the removal of the government. This outlook finds its root in a chilling theological justification; when the believer Varqa asked how the cause would be adopted, Baha'u'llah replied that first, there must be "enormous bloodshed throughout the world." As MacEoin’s critique suggests, the Baha'i leadership judges the justice of a regime solely on its treatment of Baha'is; they offer no concern for the suffering of millions of Muslims and Palestinians, effectively viewing their deaths as a retributive "calamity" for the persecution of the faith and rejection of Baha'u'llah.

Destruction as Construction: The Theology of Global Disorder

The Baha'i political objective is predicated on the belief that the "Old World Order" is fundamentally defective and must be demolished. This is not a tragic necessity but a divinely orchestrated plan. Counselor B. Afshin explicitly links this to Marxist dialectics, expressing an almost ghoulish excitement at the prospect of a "wall collapse" so that the Baha'i system can be erected in its place.

The "Plan of God for Destruction" includes several core tenets:

• Destruction is Construction: The belief that "no construction without destruction" is a prerequisite for their New World Order.
• Orchestrated Incident: The assertion that all global incidents are happening "for the cause of God" to intentionally upset the world's balance.
• Synchronized Demolition: The command that Baha'i plans must "match and coincide" with the destructive plan of God, stepping in as shelters are removed.

This reveals the "New World Order" not as a peaceful evolution of humanity, but as an opportunistic administrative system waiting to seize power amidst global wreckage.

Selective Obedience: Embracing Dictators and Discrediting Critics

The Baha'i principle of "loyalty to government" is revealed to be highly transactional. Loyalty is demanded for regimes that protect Baha'i interests, while "regime change" is sought for those that do not. This has led the movement into disturbing associations with brutal authoritarian figures:

 
Nazi Germany: In a 1934 letter, Shoghi Effendi insisted on a "sacred obligation" to obey the Nazi regime, praising Adolf Hitler’s attitude toward peace and suggesting the regime would not "trample upon the domain of individual conscience."

 
Idi Amin and Augusto Pinochet: The Baha'i leadership "extolled" these dictators when it served their administrative ends. Hassan Sabri described the murderous Idi Amin as a "man who had brought God back into the picture," while Baha'i officials posed for photos with Augusto Pinochet, who showed "marked interest" in their holy places.

 
The David Kelly Case: The movement’s reach into the military-industrial complex is exemplified by Dr. David Kelly, who served as the treasurer of the small but influential Baha'i branch in Abingdon. Kelly was a prime source of the false information regarding Iraq's WMDs, illustrating how "spiritual" members of the faith are positioned to serve political ends that result in global catastrophe.

The "beautiful picture" of a spiritual, apolitical Baha'i Faith is a grand illusion. When the veil of neutrality is lifted, we find a movement that is intensely political, opportunistically aligned with colonial and Zionist powers, and theologically committed to the destruction of the current global order. The record of the faith is one of transactional loyalty—praising fascists like Hitler and Amin when it suits their growth, while advocating for the economic strangulation of nations that oppose them.

This represents "new levels of evil" in narrative warfare, where human rights and spiritual rhetoric are weaponized to facilitate the rise of a global Super-State. The Baha'i Faith is not a spiritual refuge; it is a sophisticated political architecture designed to wait for the collapse of civilization and rule over its ruins.

UK Baha'i Comedian, Omid Djalili, has gone full Zionist shill. May his career go down the toilet.

U.S. at Fault in Strike on School in Iran, Preliminary Inquiry Says

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/11/us/politics/iran-school-missile-strike.html

A Tribute to Leila Shahid, a Great-Great-Granddaughter of Bahá’u’lláh

Leila Shahid in the center

On February 18, 2026, in the quiet commune of Lussan, France, Leila Shahid transitioned from this world, leaving a void that the Palestinian cause may never truly fill. She was not merely a diplomat or the General Delegate of Palestine to the EU; she was, in the words of Jean Genet, an "ardent heroine" whose life served as a living rebuke to those who trade human rights for institutional comfort.

She became known for her deep compassion, which grew from her time in refugee camps in South Lebanon and later developed through her work in Europe’s diplomatic circles. She gave her whole life to supporting people living under occupation. At the same time, the Baha’i faith turned inward, focusing mainly on its own struggles and concerns, and paid no attention to the suffering of other oppressed people.

Dr. Munib Jalal Shahid and his younger brother Hassan Jalal Shahid, grandsons of Abdul’Baha and cousins of Shoghi Effendi

Leila Shahid’s history is a tragedy of institutional cruelty. Her father, Dr. Munib Shahid, was a grandson of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and a man who "lived" the Baha'i Cause through his service as a prominent doctor at the American University of Beirut. Yet, in a devastating display of administrative tyranny, Shoghi Effendi excommunicated Munib and his entire family. His "crime" was choosing love over dogma: he married Serene Husseini, a daughter of a prominent Palestinian Arab, in a Muslim ceremony.

This was not just an expulsion; it was the crushing of a believer’s soul. Munib remained a "sincere and true Baha'i" who spent his final years seeking a way back to the community through Abul Ghassem Faizy, only to die a "disappointed man," robbed of the spiritual home he cherished. The institution’s coldness was immortalized by Hassan Jalal Shahid:

"I believe religion should be based on love and understanding. I find expulsion so contrary to the Spirit and principles of Bahaism."

While the Baha'i leadership which has been described as "book burners" of their own history, actively erases the inconvenient past, Leila stood as the custodian of memory. She salvaged her family’s massive archive from the "ravages of war" in Beirut, choosing to preserve history rather than sanitize it for the sake of administrative purity.

History has rendered its verdict on the Baha'i administration’s long-standing alignment with the architects of Palestinian displacement. The timeline of collusion is as clear as it is damning:

• 1914: On the brink of the Great War, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá hosted Baron Edmond de Rothschild, the financier of the Zionist dream, during his early trips to Palestine.
• 1919: Following the British occupation, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá explicitly praised the Zionist movement, urging them to "come and do more and say less," and prophesying that a "Jewish government might come later."
• 1922: Shoghi Effendi cultivated a cozy relationship with Sir Herbert Samuel, the British High Commissioner whose appointment was the first step in forming a Zionist national home in the heart of the Arab world.
• 1954: In the "Haifa Notes," Shoghi Effendi stripped away any pretense of neutrality. He claimed the Jews would "drive out" the Arabs and asserted a grotesque theological victim-blaming: because the Arabs did not respond to Baha'u'llah, they would "suffer more" than the Jews had for persecuting Christ.

Persians in Los Angeles celebrating the attack on Iran

The modern Baha'i institution maintains a veneer of "universal peace," but the mask slips when blood is spilled in the Middle East. Recently, in Los Angeles, home to the largest Persian Baha'i community, members were documented dancing in the streets, celebrating military strikes and the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader. Waving signs for Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu, these "pro-peace" advocates revealed a shameless joy that mirrors Shoghi Effendi’s own historical "satisfaction" at the deaths of those he expelled as "covenant-breakers."

From a legal perspective, this celebration of violence is an endorsement of international crime. The military strikes against Iran constitute a manifest violation of Article 2(4) of the UN Charter. These actions fail every standard of self-defense under Article 51, representing instead a "complete evisceration of the jus ad bellum." By cheering for these strikes, the Baha'i community aligns itself with the destruction of the very international order they claim to champion.

Leila Shahid was the great-great-granddaughter of Baha'u'llah yet she walked away from the sanitized heights of Haifa to stand in the dust of the ghetto. In 1982, she accompanied Jean Genet into the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps, witnessing the "vision of horror" that would define her life’s mission.

She was a scathing critic of compromised power, even within her own circles, expressing total disillusionment with the mediocrity and failures of the leadership in Ramallah. Her life was defined by service to the Palestinian national movement through the PLO and Fatah, holding the following vital posts:

• 1976: President of the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS) in France.
• 1989: PLO Representative to Ireland.
• 1990: PLO Representative to the Netherlands and Denmark.
• 1994–2005: General Delegate of Palestine to France.
• 2005–2015: General Delegate of Palestine to the European Union, Belgium, and Luxembourg.

The divide is absolute. On one side stands the Baha'i administration, an entity that has historically bartered its principles for the favor of Imperial Britain, Zionist Israel, and the modern MAGA movement. On the other stands Leila Shahid, who rejected the comforts of her lineage to walk the path of the ghettoized and the occupied.

She chose the struggle of the oppressed over the cold administration of a "Faith" that excommunicated her father for the crime of love. Leila Shahid was the very best of us because she understood that true humanity is found not in the service of power, but in the relentless pursuit of justice for those power seeks to erase.

In honor of Leila Shahid (1949–2026): A life dedicated to the freedom of Palestine.

What Really Happened in Tabriz? Re-examining the Execution of the Bab

The barrack square in Tabriz, where the Báb was executed. 

The Doctrinal Contradiction: Reason vs. Legend

The execution of the Báb in a Tabriz barracks square in July 1850 is the foundational "miracle" of the Baha'i Faith, a moment where divine intervention supposedly suspended the laws of physics. For a religious movement that explicitly benchmarks its identity against the harmony of science and reason, this narrative creates an insurmountable logical impasse. The Baha'i leadership, through the hagiographical accounts of Shoghi Effendi and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, insists upon a 750-man firing squad failing to strike its target at close range. However, this claim collapses under the weight of its own internal contradictions when subjected to basic empirical scrutiny.

The Problem of "Cherry-Picking" Logic A religion cannot maintain a claim to rationalism while simultaneously demanding the suspension of logic to accommodate supernatural folklore. When the foundational history of a movement is contaminated by physical impossibilities, the believer is forced into a binary choice: apply empirical standards consistently or admit that their history is a collection of curated exaggerations. To "cherry-pick" when to be a scientist and when to be a fundamentalist is a failure of intellectual integrity.

With the physical impossibility of the miracle established by the laws of ballistics and geometry, the burden of proof shifts from the theological to the mechanical.

The Geometry of Impossibility: Why 750 Muskets is a Myth

The hagiographical text The Dawn-Breakers depicts 750 soldiers arranged in three files of 250 men each. To anyone applying "carpenter’s logic" - the pragmatic assessment of spatial reality - these numbers are a logistical fantasy. A modern-day empirical staging of a 750-man squad conducted in Bend, Oregon, confirmed that such a formation would require a span of 125 to 150 meters. Placing such a line in the Tabriz barracks square reveals the absurdity of the "miracle."

If a firing line is 150 meters long and the target is 15 meters away, the soldiers at the far ends are over 75 meters from the Báb. To even attempt a shot, these men would have to turn at an 80-degree angle, firing directly across the faces and front ranks of their own companions. This is not a military formation; it is a recipe for a fratricidal massacre.

Logistical Absurdities of the 750-Man Narrative:

• The Smoke-Screen Effect: In 1850, muskets utilized black powder. A simultaneous discharge of 250 rifles would generate a "mighty smoke" so dense that the subsequent ranks would be firing blind into a wall of gray soot, unable to see the target or the men in front of them.
• The Danger of Hot Wads: Firing in three ranks is a tactical impossibility with muzzle-loaders. The "glowing hot remains" of the wads from the third rank would fall directly onto the front ranks, causing immediate injury and panic.
• The "Mowing Down" of Ranks: Because of the required 80-degree firing angle from the flanks, the crossfire would have inevitably mowed down the front ranks in handfuls.
• Structural Backstop: There is no historical record of the catastrophic structural damage 750 lead balls would cause. Such a volley would have shattered the building, destroyed the shutters, and likely killed any occupants in the rooms behind the Báb.

With the physical reality debunked, the burden of proof shifts to the genealogy of the lie itself.

The Genealogy of an Exaggeration: From Platoon to Regiment

The inflation of this event follows a classic trajectory of oral transmission errors and linguistic drift. The shift from a standard "platoon" to a "regiment" of 750 men likely stems from the Persian preposition "Az", which can mean both "from" (a subdivision) and "consisting of" (the whole).

The chain of transmission is transparent: Source A reports a firing squad from (az) Sam Khan's regiment; Source B interprets this as a squad consisting of (az) the regiment; Source C asks how many men are in a regiment (750); and Source D invents the "three files" to make the 750 men fit a mental image of an execution.

Comparative Analysis of Execution Accounts

Source Name	Year	Description of Firing Squad Size / Role
Anitchkov (Russian Consul)	1850	"The soldiers" (No unusual size; noted their lack of skill).
Richard Stevens (British)	1850	"A volley of musketry" (No mention of a massive squad).
Haji Mirza Jani	Pre-1852	"Three bullets struck him" (Implies a standard squad size).
Jakob Polak	1865	"A small party of soldiers."
Mirza Kazem-Beg	1865	"A platoon from the Christian regiment."
Quch-Ali Sultan	1858	The Captain who actually finished the execution with a sabre.
Sam Khan	1880s	Colonel of the Christian Regiment; early records cite 40 guards.
Rev. L. Rosenberg	1868	750 soldiers (The first recorded mention of this figure).
Shoghi Effendi	1944	750 rifles in three files of 250 men each.

The "750" figure was first recorded by Reverend L. Rosenberg in 1868, based on oral reports from Baha'is in Adrianople nearly twenty years after the fact. It is a mid-19th-century invention designed to provide what British Consul Richard Stevens called "lustre" to a secular event.

The Grim Reality: Mutilation and the Town Ditch

The final proof of a non-miraculous event is found in the visceral descriptions of the remains. While hagiographies claim a "disappearance," contemporary diplomatic records describe a brutal, bungled execution. There was no "divine protection" over the bodies; instead, Baha'u'llah’s own writings admit to "mingled flesh and bones" and remains that were "enmeshed together" by the force of the bullets.

The Russian Consul, Anitchkov, provided the most devastating blow to the miracle narrative: he commissioned an artist to draw the mutilated remains as they lay in the dirt. This was not a celestial transition, but a point-blank execution often carried out in a guardroom (as noted by Gobineau) rather than in a grand display in the square.

The Fate of the Physical Remains:

• Mutilation: The bodies were riddled with bullets, so enmeshed that they were inseparable.
• The Ditch: The bodies were thrown into the town moat (the "town ditch") outside the city gates.
• Scavenging: Anitchkov recorded that the remains were "devoured by dogs," a detail that underscores the lack of any supernatural preservation.
• The Finishing Blow: Rather than a massed volley, the Báb was ultimately finished "at point-blank range" by Quch-Ali Sultan after the first attempt failed due to incompetence or the accidental severing of the ropes.

Conclusion: The Fabrication of a Sign

The "750 muskets" narrative is a manufactured myth, a product of religious imagination rather than historical documentation. By inflating the scale of the execution to a geometrically impossible size, the Baha'i community sought to transform a chaotic, poorly executed state killing into a "divine sign." However, the records of the Russian and British consuls, alongside the earliest internal accounts, consistently point to a standard platoon-sized squad.

So What? Reducing the execution to a "platoon" makes the story of the cut ropes and the initial miss plausible - soldiers miss targets and hit ropes in documented historical accidents. However, stripping the story of its 750-man exaggeration also strips it of its supernatural status. It transforms a "miracle" into a logistical mess and a clerical error. The cost of this historical accuracy is the loss of a divine icon; the Báb is returned to his role as an ordinary human figure, while the "750 muskets" remains a testament to the community's need to sanitize a grim reality with impossible lustre.

Sources:

https://senmcglinn.wordpress.com/2008/12/25/750-muskets/

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

https://archive.org/details/russian-book-about-the-bab

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