A Baha'i convert to Bayani / Azali faith exposes Baha'i cultists.

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August J. Stenstrand was likely one of, if not the first, follower of Subh-i-Azal in the United States. August J. Stenstrand was born in Sweden in May 1862. He emigrated from Sweden to the United States on 12 February 1889 and was naturalised on 21 March 1899 [Date of entry Feb. 12, 1889. District CT of 25th Judicial District McPherson Co, Kansas. Certificate of Naturalisation #3805. Sweden & Norway. Date Nat. March 21, 1899]. He is listed in the 1900 census as living in the Elfstrom household along with other individuals of Scandinavian descent and being an unemployed day labourer. He was unemployed for four months as of the time of the census. He would be exposed to the teachings of Bahai Religion through missionary Dr. Ibrahim G. Kheirullah (The Complete Call to the Heaven of the Bayan, see: p. 5).

The following are selections from his writings published by Muhammad al-Ahari in The Complete Call to the Heaven of the Bayan.

"The first open notice of this separation which took place between the Behaists, and the Babists or Azalists was at a meeting in a Masonic temple, hall 912, on May 6th, 1906, when I was by an unanimous vote, voted out of the 'First Central Church of the Manifestation' belonging to the Society of the Behaists of America" (Ibid., p. 53).

"It is very remarkable that the Babists, before Baha ever appeared on the stage, had as it stands in the book of Ighan, over twenty volumes of inspired books written by the Bab and some of his learned disciples as proof for this religion. And I know that the Behaists have tried with all their might and power to proof Baha's claim with utterances from all the existent- religions on the face of the earth; but they have not translated a single copy of all those twenty volumes of books which the Bab and his learned friends wrote as Proof for Baha's claim, which seems very suspicious to me, although the Bab is taught by the Behaists to be Baha's forerunner or road-clearer. Does it not to you?" (Ibid., p. 97)

"Now since I published "A Call of Attention to the Behaists or Babists of America" in 1907, and "An Open Letter to the Babi World" in 1911, I have received many letters from my Bahai friends, both friendly and unfriendly. Some have asked me, "What right have you to disturb a religious movement so peaceful as the Bahais?" Well, my friends! The Bahai relgion has not proven to be very peaceful in its propagation so far. The history proofs contrary. The early Babist's waged war openly against their opponents, and when Baha declared himself to be the head of the movement it became a secret warfare by assassinating their opponents with either poison, bullet or dagger; not less than twenty of the most learned and oldest of the Babists, including many of the original 'Letters of the Living,' were thus removed. It was said, that Baha did not order these assassinations. No, but he was well pleased with them, and the perpetrators, for be promoted them to higher names and ranks. One of them received the following encouragement from Baha for stealing £350 in money from one of his antagonists:

O phlebotomist of the Divine Unity! Throb like an artery in the body of the Contingent World, and drink of the blood of the 'Block of Heedlessness' for that he turned aside from the aspect of thy Lord the Merciful!...

The Behaists in this country have not been very peaceful either. But on the contrary have they outsteth, given bad names and throwing mud at each others both in their sermons and their print worst than any of the Christian denominations or heathen religions have done. I am afraid of a religion of which its highest disciple and promulgators makes utterances like this:

Surely, you cannot pretend to deny that a Prophet, who is an incarnation of the Universal Intelligence, has as much right to remove anyone whom he perceives to be an enemy to religion and a danger to the welfare of mankind as a surgeon has to amputate a gangrened limb?

What a very contrasting idea opposed to the teaching of the 'Point of the Bayan' which says:

No one is to be slain for unbelief, for the slaying of a soul is outside of the religion of God; . . . and if any one commands it, he is not and has not been of the Bayan, and no sin can be greater for him than this"

(Ibid., p. 102-103).

"Others have asked me, 'Why should an illiterate and ignorant man like you who hardly knows the English language try to dispute the well established fact, that Baha'ullah is the True Manifestation, and 'He Whom God should manifest' as foretold by the Bab?' It is true, that I am ignorant in the English language, as well as other languages. But my dear friends! My object was not to teach languages or grammar. My only purpose was this: I had received an idea concerning the Babi religion different from the ideas of the rest of the Babists' or Behaists' view of looking at things. And this idea I wished to put before the people to consider, and I thought that the most peaceful and practical way was to publish it and send it around to them, and then let them choose or reject as they please [...] Concerning the 'well established fact that Baha'ullah is the True Manifestation, and 'He whom God should manifest' as foretold by the Bab' is very doubtful. The history, and the sacred scriptures of the Babis, as well as the twenty or more assassinations of the oldest and, most learned disciples of the 'Point of the Bayan' which inaugurated Baha's claims disproof this. And it is my purpose with this little booklet to take the sacred scriptures of the Babis and try to proof that Baha is not what he, claims to be, but the contrary. And in doing so I will ask my readers to overlook my illiterateness, and my grammatical defects and only look to the ideas I am trying to put forth, and I will do my best in setting them forth in as plain language as I am able to do, to make you understand what my ideas are concerning the religion which today is called Babism or Bahaism; and if I can do this my object is attained" (Ibid., p. 104-105).

"The Most and the Strongest Evidence of the Baha'is Assassinating the Azali's at Acca are from the Baha'is themselves. In Phelps history, page 75. Behiah Khanum — a sister of Abbas Effendi — says that the Bahai assassins had no intention to kill the Azalis at Acca, but only to scare them to death. But that such fierce fight occurred that they had to kill them in order to save themselves. She says that two Azalis and one Bahai were killed" (Ibid., p.165).

"In the 'Materials for the Study of the Babi Religion,' pages 154-155. Prof. Browne has quoted a letter which he received from Dr. Kheiralla [...] concerning these events, wherein Dr. Kheiralla's life is threatened by Abbas Effendi's messengers to America. This letter is read as follows: —

'Statement of the Words of Mirza Hasan Khurdsani to me on November 30th, 1900.
'I came here to especially bring you back to your allegiance to Abbas Effendi, and am prepared to stay ten years if necessary. If you return to Abbas Effendi, I will cause the American believers to follow you as head in everything even better than heretofore. If you will not listen to me and become a follower of Abbas, your abode will be in the bowels of the earth [...] If you will not listen, your life will be short. If Abbas Effendi should give me the word to cut you to pieces, or to tear your eyes out, or to kill you, I will do so at once. I fear not the consequences' [...] He then repeated to me the fate of Mirza Yahya of Jeddah, and offered me a copy of the pamphlet published by himself entitled 'the Great Miracle of Abbas Effendi'"

(Ibid., p. 169-170).

"[W]e can plainly see that it was the order and the customs of the followers of Baha not to slay anyone before they had received the command form their spiritual head or chief. This testimony is also from the Bahai sources and not from the Azalis" (Ibid., p. 171).