Baha'u'llah - Prophet or God?

In this section we will now briefly discuss the rebellions which took place among the Babis after the execution of the Bab.

Let me remind you that, in his lifetime, Bab made numerous claims. Initially he claimed to be the 'Bab' (Gate) of Mahdi, and then claimed to be Mahdi himself. He is still referred to as Bab even by the Bahais which is actually testimony to the fact that he was not the Mahdi, just the Bab and even then a false one.

Not only this he also claimed to be the incarnation of Prophet Muhammad as also several other Prophets like Yahya (John), and then God Almighty himself. His followers who were blind in his devotion, accepted each of these claims as they were issued. After witnessing their leader making tall claims for himself without reasonable or sufficient proofs, they began making tall claims for themselves too. Thus a series of claimants rose, among the Babis on a first come first serve basis. Those who claimed earlier, could claim the better and lucrative positions whereas the late comers had to be satisfied with what was left. Unfortunately, no two persons staked the same claim. Here we present some of the claimants and their respective claims.

1. Mulla Hussain Bushrui, the first person to accept the Bab called himself 'Bab-ul-Bab' (Gate of the Gate).

2. Haji Mohammed Ali claimed to be the Return of Prophet of Islam.

3. Qurratul Ayn, Tahera Qazvini claimed to be the Return of Fatima (Daughter of Prophet of Islam)
(Ref: Nuktatul Qaaf by Mirza Jani, Page 141)

4. Bushrui claimed to be the Return of Imam Husain, the grandson of the Prophet of Islam.
(Ref: Nuktatul Qaaf, Page 253)

5. Seven years after the claim of Bab, Baseer claimed to be the Return of Imam Hasan, the grandson of the Prophet of Islam.

6. Bab had predicted the advent of 'Man Yazharahullaho' (The one whom God will manifest) in Bayan (Persian), Chapter 17. This title was supposed to be referring to Mirza Yahya Nuri 'Subh-e-Azal', the younger brother of Mirza Hussain Ali 'Baha'u'llah'. However the first person who staked his claim for this title was Mirza Asadullah, a staunch Babi. Those who supported Mirza Asadullah in his claims were known as Ál-Hamdi's'. However Mirza could not defend his claim for long, and he was ruthlessly murdered. The question is - by whom?

According to Count Gobisnow, the Babis tied a rope around the neck of Mirza Asadullah's legs, and drowned him in the river Tigris in Iraq.

However a more accurate version can be found in the pages of Traveller's Narrative (pages 360-5) which, for example, say, "On the orders of Baha'u'llah, his servant Mirza Mohammed Mazandarani murdered Mirza Asadullah".

Later Mirza Yahya claimed this title and ultimately Baha'u'llah usurped it from him and today the Bahais address Baha'u'llah with the usurped title of "Man Yazharahullaho", 'The One whom God will Manifest'.

The crux of all what we said can be attributed to one simple observation made by Professor E. G. Browne while writing the foreword of Nuktatul Qaaf of Mirza Jani. He writes, "Matters had reached to such an extent that any Babi, as soon as he would get up from his sleep, would have a claim for himself to announce to the world."

This was about the various claims of the Baha'is. Let us now talk about Mirza Yahya Noori, "Subh-i-Azal", and Mirza Hussain Ali, "Baha'u'llah".

Mirza Yahya "Subh-i-Azal: he was 13 years younger than Baha'u'llah. He became a Babi at the age of 14. According to Nuktatul Qaaf, when Mirza Yahya went in the presence of Qurratul Ayn at Barfarosh, "She truly nourished him with her milk until he became strong in manners and ethics under her training and guidance".

To understand the rather complex character of Qurratul Ayn - Tahira, we request readers to read the article on this topic.

Since Mirza Yahya was a favourite of Quddoos and Qurratul Ayn, hence all the other Babis also humoured him. Consequently, he became everybody's 'darling'. Even the Bab, the great master-deceiver, himself sent him prized personal possessions like his inkpot, papers, writings, dresses and rings to Mirza Yahya. Moreover in his will he clearly nominated Mirza Yahya as his successor.

The Emperor of Iran had executed the Bab. Naturally, the Babis bore a lot of animosity towards him. They were thirsty for revenge. All this resulted in an unsuccessful attempt by the Babis to assassinate the Emperor. This failed and the Emperor rounded up the culprits and imprisoned all those involved in the assassination attempt. In this connection, Baha'u'llah was imprisoned, whereas, Mirza Yahya escaped to Baghdad posing as a Sufi.

After spending 9 months in prison, Baha'u'llah was released after the intervention of the Russian Embassy. The intervention of the Russians and their interest in his release is a matter the significance of which would come to light later. After his release, Baha'u'llah went to Baghdad. For 10 years the two brothers lived in Baghdad. During this period, since Mirza Yahya was appointed as the successor by Bab, Baha'u'llah also surrendered to his orders and executed his commands as his agent. The matters which he wrote during this period were full of expression and devotion to Mirza Yahya and of the announcement of his obedience to him. (Book of Iqaan, by Baha'u'llah, Page 195) This continued until a dispute arose between the brothers over the leadership of the Baha'is and this led to an intense struggle for power between them. Baha'u'llah abandoned obedience to Yahya's orders and represented himself as the envoy of God and the sole undisputed leader of the Bahais. This claim which was in contradiction with the beliefs of and the sayings of the Babis caused disunion and in this manner a conflict arose between Yahya and Baha'u'llah and consequently among their followers.

In this conflict, all etiquette, courtesty and politeness, not to mention blood relations were forgotten. Baha'u'llah called his brother as 'lamb' (Asrar al Athar-e-Khususi, Vol 4 page 197), 'Satan' (Ibid. Vol 4, page 101 and Vol 5, page 346) and entitled him as 'bull' (Bahaullah, the Book Badi, page 772). He abused him under the name 'deceptive snake' (Asrar al Athar-e-Khususi, vol 4 page 34) and called his followers as 'dogs' (Ibid. Vol 5 page 177) and considered their sayings as the calls of the 'wolf' and the 'pig' (Ibid. Vol 5 page 177). By this time the brothers started divulging their well-preserved secrets. Consequently a lot of unsaid issues many of them unspeakable and unknown to the Babis were out in the open.

The disunion and conflict between the brothers and the followers did not cease with the name calling and mud slinging. After a while the followers of Baha'u'llah began to massacre the adherents of Mirza Yahya at his command. They trapped the opponents through foul lots and swooped down upon them and murdered them in cold blood (Ishraq Khavari, Abd-al-Hamid, Tarikh-e-Amr. page 245).


Baha'u'llah had a sister by the name of Iziyah Khanum, who wrote a book entitled "Tambihun Naimeen" (Awakening the Sleepy). She points out to the inhuman massacres of the Baha'is in various parts of the book and names many people who had been killed through cutting off their necks or ripping off their bellies, or suffocating them in the river or shooting them, because of not believing in Baha'u'llah.
(Ref: Tambihun Naimeen, page 15-16)

This is not a discussion of the inhuman acts of the group. The aim of the investigation has not been to prepare a report of their crimes, because that would involve writing a voluminous book. I wanted to see, investigate and inform my readers particularly the Baha'i, how this ideology which claims to be divine, has met the needs of men for unity and solidarity. From the mails I receive I know I can take credit for enlightening several Baha'is (Author of Bahaiawareness.com)

We saw that the foundation of this religion was essentially built on opposition to unity and correlation. When Baha'u'llah could not reconcile with his own brother and opposed him openly it personally perplexes me how he can to be the return (read reincarnation/avatar) of Jesus and/or a Yehuda for the Jews and/or Behram to the Zorastrians, and/or Kalki Avtaar to the Hindus. I don't know much about other faiths, but I can tell with confidence with what little I know that their followers would be extremely disappointed and even amused to find their saviour in the form of a person who was so bloodthirsty that he did not spare his own brother. I have personally mentioned about Baha'u'llah, the Bab and the Baha'i Faith to some of my non-Muslim friends who are into religious and theological research and they think he is the biggest fraud to come out of that part of the world.

It is now time to consider the Baha'i beliefs regarding God. These are just a few examples highlighting the Baha'i beliefs which are in contrast to those of the earlier faiths, particularly Islam.

1. It is mentioned in the Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics under the title 'Bab', that the Baha'is called Mirza Alimohammed Bab as "Rabbi-ul-Aalaa" (The Most Elevated Lord) [View online] and Baha'u'llah as "Haqqe Taála" (The True God). [View online]

2. Baha'u'llah mentions in Aqdas, page 43, "There is no God but I the Honoured , the Wise".

3. He again writes in Aqdas, page 144 "Accept whatever is commanded by Baha (himself) the Lord of Eternity".

4. In Aqdas, page 8, "We have sent down all the Messengers and we have revealed all the Books".

5. In Istadaaraat, page 34, Baha'u'llah writes, "The Master of Eternity lies in prison".

6. In his Tablets, Page 217, Baha'u'llah writes, "All save me are created from my command".

7. In his Al-Mubeen, page 34, Baha'u'llah writes "All praise is for you O Baha'u'llah, the Creator of existence".

8. In the same book, page 190, he says, "Obey the commands of your Elevated, Splendorous God, Baha'u'llah.

9. Again in Al-Mubeen, page 297, he again refers to himself as, "You Most beneficent Lord, Baha'u'llah",

10. In his Tajalliyaat (Tajalli number 4), page 5, Baha'u'llah decrees, "Most surely I am Allah. There is no God save me. I am the Lord of everything. Then O my creatures, you worship me alone".

11. Abdul Baha writes in Badaaiul Aasaar, page 139, Baha'u'llah is unique, Incomparable. It is necessary for everyone to turn towards Baha'u'llah in his prayers.

12. In Maftoon, page 15, Baha'u'llah writes to his son Abdul Baha, "This s a letter from Allah, the Honoured and the Wise (Baha'u'llah) to Allah the Gracious, the Aware (Abdul Baha)." This is interesting - one God greets another one!

These are indeed surprising beliefs!

Source : http://www.bahaiawareness.com/bahai05.html