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| Subh-i-Azal |
In
this article, we will examine a severe case of Instant Karma suffered
by Abdu’l-Baha. The incident occurs when Abdu’l-Baha is bashing his
father’s half-brother, Mirza Yahya Subh-i Azal, for making a minor
mistake when citing verse 21:52 of the Quran. This is the verse:
Original Arabic:ما هذِهِ التَّماثيلُ الَّتي أَنْتُمْ لَها عاكِفُونَ
Translation: “what are these statues/images that you are worshipping”
Transliteration: "mā hādhihī l-tamāthīl al-latī antum lahā `ākifūn"
Now the story: Abdu’l-Baha utters the following statement when criticizing Mirza Yahya:
«از جمله از شخص مجهول (منظور میرزا یحی صبح ازل است) نوشته‌ای به خطّ دست او داشتند، آیه مبارکه قرآن «ما هذه التّماثیل الّتی انتم علیها
عاکفون» را عافکون نوشته بود و الآن در نزد میرزا یحیی قزوینی موجود است.
ملاحظه فرمائید که مقتدای این قوم عاکف را از عافک فرق نمی‌دهد و چگونه آیه
صریحه کتاب اللّه را به خطّ خویش تحریف می‌نماید.» (عبدالبهاء، منتخباتی از مکاتیب حضرت عبدالبهاء، شماره 430)
“He had written the blessed verse of the Quran ‘what are these statues/images that you are worshipping’ (mā hādhihī l-tamāthīl al-latī antum `alayhā `ākifūn) [and had written the last word] as `āfikūn
and the [text] is in the possesion of Mīrzā Yaḥyā Qazwīnī. Pay
attention that the leader of this group cannot make a distinction
between `ākif and `āfik and he distorts the evident verse of the Book of God in his own handwriting!”
(Abdu’l-Baha,
Muntakhabātī az makātīb Ḥaḍrat `Abdu’l-Bahā [Selections from the
Letters of Abdu’l-Baha], vol. 6, no. 430) The original Farsi text can be
found here: http://reference.bahai.org/download/swa6-fa-pdf.zip
Now,
the moment of instant Karma. Pay attention to how Abdu’l-Baha writes
the verse (shown in red) and compare with the original:
mā hādhihī l-tamāthīl al-latī antum lahā `ākifūn (original)
mā hādhihī l-tamāthīl al-latī antum `alayhā `ākifūn (Abdu’l-Baha version)
Abdu’l-Baha distorts the same verse that he was bashing Mirza Yahya for distorting! He uses the word `alayhā (over) instead of the word lahā (for). Would Baha’is feel good if we use Abdu’l-Bahas own words to describe him for distorting this verse of the Quran:
“Pay attention that the leader of this group cannot make a distinction between `ākif lahā and `āfik `alayhā and he distorts the evident verse of the Book of God in his own handwriting!”
To
make matters worse, both Baha’u’llah and Abdu’l-Baha have made numerous
mistakes and distortions when citing verses of the Quran. Baha’u’llah’s
original version of the book of Iqan contained many such distortions
that were fixed in later versions of the book (Yes in Baha’ism Gods
words are edited and updated everytime someone finds an error in them)
and many of Abdu’l-Baha’s tablets contain such distortions. There are
even instances where completely new statements are created and then put
forward by Abdu’l-Baha as being verses from the Quran. A large number of
these distortions have been documented in the book: Twelve Principles: A
Comprehensive Investigation on the Baha’i Teachings, Chapter 4,
Section: 6-The Bāb, Bahā’u’llāh, and `Abdu’l-Bahā’s Religious Knowledge,
subsections: b- Bahā’u’llāh’s Religious Knowledge and c- `Abdu’l-Bahā’s
Religious Knowledge (download from here).
No the story doesn’t end here. Abdu’l-Baha continues the aforementioned quote like this:
«رغماً عن انفه از قلمش این خطّ صادر تا واضح شود که رئیس اهل تحریف است و زعیم اهل جحیم. بعضی از تابعین آن مجهول با وجود آنکه به رأی العین این را مشاهده نمودند باز بیدار نشدند تا ثابت کردند که همج رعاع اتباع کلّ ناعق یمیلون بکلّ ریح هستند»
“This writing has been unwillingly inscribed by his pen so that it becomes evident that he is the chief of the distorters and the leader of those who are in Hell. Some of the followers of that unknown person [1]—even though they saw this [distortion] with there own eyes—didn’t wake up and proved that they were lowly flies that followed any caller and bended with any breeze.”
How
would Baha’is react if we use the exact same reasoning and words to
refer to Baha’u’llah and Abdu’l-Baha who have distorted numerous verses
of the Quran, and the Baha’is who don’t wake up and follow them?
Oh and these not-so-loving, kind, and polite statements were uttered by the same Abdu’l-Baha who would continuously preach:
“So
far as ye are able, ignite a candle of love in every meeting, and with
tenderness rejoice and cheer ye every heart. Care for the stranger as
for one of your own; show to alien souls the same loving kindness ye
bestow upon your faithful friends. Should any come to blows with you,
seek to be friends with him; should any stab you to the heart, be ye a
healing salve unto his sores; should any taunt and mock at you, meet him
with love. Should any heap his blame upon you, praise ye him; should he
offer you a deadly poison, give him the choicest honey in exchange; and
should he threaten your life, grant him a remedy that will heal him
evermore. Should he be pain itself, be ye his medicine; should he be
thorns, be ye his roses and sweet herbs. Perchance such ways and words
from you will make this darksome world turn bright at last; will make
this dusty earth turn heavenly, this devilish prison place become a
royal palace of the Lord—so that war and strife will pass and be no
more, and love and trust will pitch their tents on the summits of the
world. Such is the essence of God’s admonitions; such in sum are the
teachings for the Dispensation of Bahá.” (Abdu’l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu’l-Baha, p.34)
“There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Collected Works
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Collected Works
[1] ‘unknown person’ is a reference to Mirza Yahya. The Arabic word used is majhūl which literally means unknown and was probably used by Abdu’l-Baha to degrade him, or it could be that Abdu’l-Baha had intended to say jāhil which means ignorant.
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