Baha'i Population in Iran

by Ravian Bilani
25-Jun-2010

There has always been confusion in the Population of the Baha'i Faith followers in every country, since its ORIGIN. Regarding their numbers, "Millions" is the usual figure claimed by them.

Very recently Baha’is are also interested in giving Fake ‘percentage Baha’i population’ for every country. Thanks to the internet – their lie is getting exposed. The number of countries and localities varies with each web site. There is ‘no consensus’ regarding the actual number of countries, the actual number of localities, and the actual number of Baha’i. This trouble in the Baha’i population is not generated by the Baha’i Administration themselves but it is just the continuation of what Abdul Baha and Shoghi Effendi have done.

As a result Baha’is and Baha’i Administration have gone on defensive. They are quick to blame the Christians for this exaggeration and inconsistency. Where did the Christians get their data? It is only from the National spiritual Assembly of the various countries especially the NSA of USA. It is only the Baha'is and their officials who are to blame for the false-misleading reports on the wildly exaggerated Baha'i census. It is not the fault of the editors of Christian World Encyclopedia and Encyclopedia Britannica who relied on information given to them by the Baha’is.

One may ask, why didn't the NSAs , UHJ-ITC-ABM-CBC ever contact the Christian World Encyclopedia Editors, and request a correction? This is because the Baha’is wants to jack-up their numbers- for "public image".

Baha’i Population in Iran as claimed in the time of Abdul Baha

In case of the Baha’i population in Iran the Baha’is speak lies which puts to shame any lover of justice. Sometimes they say one third of the Iranian population is Baha’i and sometimes they propagate that half of the Iranian population is Baha’i. To my utter surprise during my visit to India in 2002, a Baha’i convert informed me that the whole of Iran has accepted the Baha’i Faith. I politely told him that the Baha’is have made a fool out of him .There are not more than 20,000 Baha’is.

Even the Zoroastrians, Jews and Christians of Iran are not being sparred from this onslaught of lie for which the Baha’is claim that all of them have accepted the Baha’i Faith.

Here are the Excerpts from the writing of Edward Brown,

1. Ibrahim George Kheiralla says: "Abdul Karim, 1896, assured me that the believers in Baha were fifty millions. I wrote to Syria to ask. Sayid Mohammed, secretary of Abbas Effendi, said that the number was fifty-five million souls." Kheiralla afterwards denounces it as a gross deceit.
2. As to Persia, they place the proportion at one-third or one-half. Dreyfus writes, "Probably half the population of Persia is Baha’i." Incidentally the Baha’is claim that there are 3,000,000 (three million) Baha’is in Iran.
3. The majority of Zoroastrians are recognized as Baha’is. On the contrary Professor Browne writes: "I had been informed that Zoroastrians were accepting Baha’ism. However after much discussion with the Zoroastrians of Yezd and Kerman for the space of three and a half months, I came to the conclusion that few, if any, had adopted the Baha’i creed." In India the proportion of Parsee-Baha’is is very small.
4. As to Jews, Remey says: "In Hamadan there is a large Israelites following of Baha." A census made by a European Jew showed exactly 59 parents and with their children. 194 persons out of a population of 6,000 Jews. As to the United States, I give some particulars in the closing chapter. ." The inference is plain that no native of Israel had become Baha’i through sixty years of contact with Baha and his seventy followers.
5. Abdul Baha gave the impression that many of the Christians of Persia are converts to Baha. Dr. J. H. Shedd wrote in 1894, "I have heard of no case of a Christian conversion to Baha’ism." Dr. G. W. Holmes wrote, 1903, "I do not know of a single Christian in Persia, who has been converted to Baha’ism. Some Baha’is who made a profession of Christianity turned back to Baha." Rev. J. W. Hawkes declares that in his observation none of the members of the Syrian (Nestorian) or Armenian churches in Persia have become Baha’is. I have known of one Armenian family in Resht and two men in Maraga, one of whom was a notorious, who kept up his opium using as before.

Population in Iran as claimed at the time of UHJ

From 3,00,000 to 4,61,351 followers. The percentage varies from 0.69 to 2%. This is unimaginable lie. The Encyclopedia Britannica and Encyclopedia of Christians have conveyed that the Baha’is have told them. The reporters are none other than Douglas Martin (former member of House of Justice) and Simeon Kohlman Rabbani (a Baha’i), who gave the information to World Christian Encyclopedia is a Baha’i.

There is one silver lining in the Baha’i census of Iran. It exposes the falsehood. Abdul Baha, leader of the faith (of lies), claimed fifty five millions at his time. UHJ is now claiming only 3,00,000 !!!

Presented below are certain eye-openers !!!

No. Year Population % Reference

1 1984 300,000 Ref: Hatcher, William S. & J. Douglas Martin. The Baha'i Faith: The Emerging Global Religion. San Francisco, CA: Harper & Row (1984); pg. 181.

2 1990 410,000 “Data transcribed by Simeon Kohlman Rabbani”
Ref: Barrett, David B. World Christian Encyclopedia (2001)

3 2001 463,151 (0.69%) Data transcribed by Simeon Kohlman Rabbani.
Ref: Barrett, David B. World Christian Encyclopedia (2001)

Present Baha’i Population of Iran

The actual number of Baha’is in Iran is not more than 30,000. That should not make anyone who is a Baha'i very depressed. The Baha’is should know that exaggerating Baha’i census was the policy of Abdul Baha, Shoghi Effendi and now House of Justice.

What the Universal House of Justice should know, is that by making false claim of number of Baha’is or by parroting Anna’s presentation, no one will ever change his/her Faith. They can organize reflection meetings, deceptive children classes, launch fake Intensive program of Growth have useless cluster growth meetings - the Baha’i population will not grow. The Baha’i population will not grow by sending young Iranian Baha’i girls outside Iran for propagation of Baha’i Faith.

Baha’ism is now a failed attempt, a misfired plot to portray a man made religion to be counted amongst major religions of the world. Baha’ism is dying in its infacy. It will never see the light of the day.

http://www.iranian.com/main/blog/ravian-bilani/baha-i-population-iran

Baha’i population now stands at 6 millions minus 2.2 millions

It is indeed a notable act that the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of India deleted the figure “2.2 million Baha’is” from Official website of the Baha’is of India. But it is equally regretted that the actual number of Baha’is which is 11,324 was not put on instead to give the exact number of Baha’is to its viewers and as amark of respect for the dedicated census officials of India who wentdoor to door for carrying out such a huge census.

Well it is hoped that the NSA of India will bring some more corrections like the number of localities which they still insist on being more than 10,000. It is very clear that if there are only 11,324 bahais than how their can be 10,000 localities?

The number of Local Spiritual Assemblies also have been changed from 700 to 600, again in Baha’i Administration official census it 500. It looks like a hundred assembly doesn’t matter much to the NSA. The NSA is well aware that there are not more than 20 LSAs.

Now the Baha’i Administration should not expect that the Government of India will carry out a separate census for the Localities of Baha’is and the number of LSAs in India, so that again they may do that correction.

It should be made clear to the Baha’i officials that the official sites are for providing true and exact information to its loggers and at any point of time it should not be false and misleading.

Ravi kumar
talk.religion.bahai

Hossein Danesh is Back : By Baquia

... The Baha’i Faith has its own, albeit small, share of these sort of public scandals. In the 1990’s Dr. Hossein Danesh, a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Canada (and a long time secretary of the body – from 1985 to 1989) gave up the right to practice psychiatry as a result of charges of sexual abuse brought forward by a handful of his former patients.

Far from being sanctioned and sent away in shameful seclusion he was soon given a plum job at the new Baha’i Landegg university in Switzerland. He then proceeded to run that institution into the ground. The university closed its doors in 2005.

Recently Danesh’s “old boy” network connections at the NSA got him a heavily promoted gig in Canada. With the full backing of the national Baha’i institution, he conducted a $50/person seminar on “Healthy Marriage and Family Life”. Here is a promotional flyer for one of the many planned seminars:



They key element in this is to ask whether Danesh would be able to slink back to Canada and receive such a warm welcome had he not been a long-standing member of the NSA. Would the NSA have gone out of its way to promote the workshop of a regular Baha’i who had a checkered past?

The other question is why other Baha’is who are infinitely more qualified in this field and have a stainless reputation are not being given the same platform? The only distinction is the personal connections that Danesh made through his many years of membership on the NSA. This is what leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. Rather than being loyal to virtues and principles, the NSA has betrayed itself as being loyal to personal connections.

There was another scandal a few years ago involving a young Baha’i in the developing world who alleged that she was being sexually abused by her father. It turned out that her father was a member of the country’s NSA (and its chairperson). Instead of considering her physical and mental health as the highest priority, the institutions instead focused on how to mitigate any fallout this might have on the Baha’i administration and the image and reputation of the same....

Comments can be made on the blog of Baquia
http://bahairants.com/lessons-of-the-catholic-church-sex-abuse-scandal-460.html

Baha'i sexual abuser Hossein Danesh is back, with the blessings of his NSA

I'm sure most here remember Hossein Danesh, the disgraced Canadian NSA member from a few years back. Now that Landegg is no more, he's back with the full support of the Canadian NSA:

http://bahairants.com/lessons-of-the-catholic-church-sex-abuse-scandal-460.html

As you can see in the poster, Danesh is referred to as Dr. and as a psychiatrist. This is completely untrue. He gave up the right to practice psychiatry and was stripped of that rank by the governing body of that profession as part of his settlement. He was accused of sexual abuse not by one patient, not by two but by three patients.

To shield him, the Baha'i administration moved him away from Canada where his reputation was in tatters to the lakeside resort in Switzerland called Landegg Academy to be the grand-poobah there with a paid salary. Now with about 15 years having gone by and people's memories faded, he returns and is presented thusly:

"Dr. Danesh was an Associate Professor of psychiatry at the University of Ottawa, establishing and directing the Marriage Therapy Centre. He is an author, international lecturer and consultant, with more than 35 years of academic and clinical experience as a phsychiatrist and peace educator. He is also a former member of the National Spiritual Assembly."

If someone is going to give a seminar on weight loss, you would balk if they waddled onto the stage, wheezing from the exertion of having to cart their massively obese form around. I think it is as ludicrous to have a man who was disgraced and thrown out of his profession for sexual misconduct to give a seminar on relationships.

Especially when the Baha'i community has no shortage of excellent and impeccable professionals that have the same or better academic qualifications. Why is Danesh given the star treatment? why are seminars arranged for him? why are the seminars promoted heavily by the NSA in Baha'i communities through the national Baha'i publication and through LSA notices? why is the truth about his past hidden? why is he referred to as "Dr." and a "psychiatrist" when he does not have the right to use those titles by law?

Why indeed. The answer is as clear as it is unpalatable.

Larry Rowe

World Baha'i Statistics

by Ravian Bilani
20-Apr-2010

Recently two articles posted on net effectively analyzed exaggerated Baha’i census. One “Exit by troops”
(http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/bigquestions/troopsex...) and the other “Three types of Baha’i census of India”. (http://bahaicensusindia.blogspot.com/)

The first article is a very moderate view of the author, whereas the second article “The Three Type of Baha’i census of India” is much deeper analysis supported by documents authenticated by figures.

The common point in the two analyzations is the fact that one reason for this huge discrepancy in Baha’i census is that, no one is ever removed from the membership rolls unless they write a letter to the National Center renouncing their belief. So a person who becomes disillusioned and simply drifts away can remain on the rolls indefinitely. Once a Baha’i then always a Baha’i even after his death.

There is another opinion by Mr. Larry Rowe who believes that “The gross exaggeration of world Baha'i membership numbers is meant to placate all those who have been promised entry by troops for the past 80 years. The gross exaggeration of the number of actual Baha'is in India goes hand in hand with the inclusion of tens of thousands of people who signed declaration cards in North America in the past 20 to 40 years and that was it; they never truly became Baha'is they simply put their name on a card like you would on a Zellers card and never followed it up. Also the many others who signed declaration cards but who have become inactive and no long believe in the Baha'i faith or have actually joined other religious communities but have never taken the time to resign and have been addressing unknown for many years.”

Well I feel that the real cause for such a huge exaggeration in Baha’i census is much deeper and that is ‘well planned strategy of Baha’i administration centered at Haifa to show to the world high acceptability and success so as to claim that Baha’i Faith is one of the major religions of the world. It can be considered as the thirteen unwritten principle of Haifa based organization. All the counselors, ABMs assistant and members of LSAs are trained to work towards achieving this goal. The one who is more expert in this exaggeration is promoted much higher in the Baha’i Organization.

The Ruhi book courses are just to collect the addresses and to claim these are Baha’is. False stories are fabricated that the whole world is just dying for doing Ruhi books and to be converted. Whereas the fact is that many countries have deported Baha’is for proselytizing children and Junior youths as young as fifteen years and in many countries the Priests have warned the baha’is not to do any moral classes with Christian children, they may do it only for Baha’i children.

There is virtually no Baha'is in continental Europe. Very few in Holland, similar in Spain, Germany and France, fewer in Italy. From a demographic point of view this may as well be "zero."

The Baha’is claim to be about 5,000 in the UK but who knows what that means, and it is not a lot anyway. Likewise the CIS countries have very few Baha'is. Almost none in China. So, with Europe, Eurasia and China out of the way, where are they?

There are 60,000 adult Baha'is with good addresses in the US, 12,500 in Canada. These are addresses only! It means the aim of Ruhi Books courses are implemented very successfully. Actually they are not more than 500 in US and same number in Canada

The Middle East is likewise very small. Mostly Persians who married deceitfully Arab women’s without giving their Baha’i identity and then claiming their Baha’i children as citizen of that country.

There are 2,000 at most in the Arab world mostly Iranian pioneers. There are less than 30,000 registered Baha’is in Iran. Maybe 200, mostly Iranian refugees, in Turkey.

Not more than 1500 in Pakistan (mainly former Hindus, mainly rural peasants). About 500 in Bangladesh.

There are 300 in Thailand. There were 400 in Vietnam before the revolution, but few are likely to remain. There are very few, then, in all of Southeast Asia. There are only a few hundred in Japan, and a similar number in Korea. East Asia is a wash.

All that is really left is Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and India. 2.2 millions are claimed in India but the official census of Government of India say the exact number of Baha'is are only 11,324. Indians like to 'join' things, but go on being Hindus.

The claim of millions of Baha'is in Latin America is also fake. Mexico appears to have almost none. Columbia and Bolivia may have few hundreds each, to my recollection, but that is not the same as millions.

The biggest community was Uganda. But it has been greatly disrupted in the last 2 decades by war and dictatorship, and one doesn't know how many are left.

The Baha’i movement contains no potential for growth. It has only vertical potential of growth in terms of different sects originating in small time of 160 years. (www.sectsofbahais.com). The 7 million reported to Encyclopedia Britannica by someone in Wilmette or Haifa is.... wish-fulfillment rather than a solid social science statistic. This high exaggeration also points towards a high level of frustration which is developing amongst members of Haifa based organization. At any point of time the Baha’i population in the World is not more than hundred thousand (0.1 million).

Baha’i Faith is essentially Persian dominated organization. It is no where near Christianity. It is not the fastest growing religion, it is not the most widespread religion after Christianity. Yes it may be the most comfortable religion, well then that is not a religion.

http://www.iranian.com/main/blog/ravian-bilani/world-bahai-statistics