One of the questions and ambiguities that has always made the minds of countless audiences busy is the existence of a prophet from God for other tribes and nations. Those prophets who are known and introduced to humanity are from the West Asian region and there is no information about the prophets of other regions. Some people, adhering to some verses of the Holy Qur’an, which states:
«وَ لِکُلِّ أُمَّةٍ رَسُولٌ فَإِذا جاءَ رَسُولُهُمْ قُضِی بَینَهُمْ بِالْقِسْطِ وَ هُمْ لا یظْلَمُونَ»
“To every people [was sent] a messenger: when their messenger comes [before them], the matter will be judged between them with justice, and they will not be wronged” [yunus/47]
Some people attribute examples and cases to the prophets without any valid reason, and some give other justifications.
In the meantime, to prove and propagate their false ideas and beliefs, the deviant cult of Baha’ism uses various tricks that were effective in advancing their goals, and therefore one of the tricks they relied on was that Some of the religions whose divinity is rejected or at least disputed in other religions, including Islam, have been considered as divine religions by Baha’ism. For example, Buddha and Zaroaster have been mentioned as prophets of God, as Sahib Faraid, who is one of the famous Baha’i proselytizers, says: “Buddha is the first divine lawgiver who arose in the Chinese nation and legislated a known religious law.” [1]In another place, the same book says: “All the religions on the earth, from Buddhism and Zoroastrian, are all from the divine religions and the divine religious laws.”[2]
However, the reason and aim that made them consider Zoroaster and Buddha as divine prophets can be the following factors:
- Confronting against Shiism and justifying ignorant minds
Because the enemies and exposers of the deviations of the deviant cult of Baha’ism are Muslims, especially Shias, and among Shias and Muslims, the prophecy of Zoroaster and Buddha has not been proven. There are hadiths in this regard that indicate that Zoroaster is not one of the prophets of God, such as the hadith of the Prophet of Islam – peace be upon him and his descendants- who said: “The Magi had a prophet who was killed and they had a book that their prophet wrote and brought in the skin of twelve thousand cows. They burned it.” [3] And a hadith narrated by Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) that a Zandiqi asks him if Zoroaster is the Prophet of Magi? Imam – peace be upon him – answered: “Zoroaster came among the Magi and claimed prophethood, and some of them believed in him, and some of them denied him and drove him out until he became a prey of predators in the desert.” In this hadith, Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) made a distinction between Magi and Zoroastrian.[4] And in the case of Buddha, no evidence has been found to prove his prophethood. Suggesting that Zoroaster and Buddha are among divine prophets, the Baha’is want to propagate that it is not only our religion whose prophets (the Bab and Baha’u’llah) have been rejected and invalidated by Muslims and Shiites, but prophets such as Zoroaster and Buddha are not considered as divine prophets by them. Although they did not say these words explicitly, but such aims can be obtained from their texts and books. As the author of the book (Religious Guidance) analyzes the Baha’i motivation, why did they consider Zoroaster and Buddha among the main prophets?, says: “In order to correct their wrong reasons, they have considered all the false religions to be right.”[5]
- Justification of their deviant opinions and ugly actions
Another factor could be that Baha’ism has allowed a series of ugly things that no divine religion will approve them. In order to justify their deviant beliefs and ugly actions, they consider some of the other religions that have a common aspect with them in this respect as divine like their own religion. For example, this misguided cult considers it permissible to marry all except the father’s wife. As Hossein Ali Nouri (Baha’u’llah) says in the Book Aqdas on page 30: “It is forbidden for you to get married with the wives of your fathers and we are ashamed to express the verdict of sons.” Examples of these provisions can be seen in Zoroastrian creed. Although they say that this matter has no roots in Zoroastrian beliefs and later on they have become common in this creed.[6]
But observing such relations, the Baha’is have considered Zoroastrian to be a divine religion, in order to validate their actions. In order to make their beliefs appear correct, this misguided cult has referred to Buddhism, like believing in divinity of Bab and Baha, because they have seen that there are cults in Buddhism that believe in divinity of the Excellency Buddha. Like the Mahayana which is one of the great Buddhist cults that believe: “Buddha is a being, deserving of worship and serving, because he has the aspect of divinity… After repeated reincarnations and numerous appearances in bodies, He has traveled his perfect course to the point where he has reached the rank and position of divinity and is placed in the sky.[7]
- The prevalence of religious pluralism (pluralism)
The third reason for which it can be said that the Baha’is considered these two religions to be divine ones is that they have wanted to spread pluralism or (religious pluralism) so that they could express their deviant beliefs and actions under its shadow.
Considering these three factors that have been mentioned, it can be said that if the Baha’is considered Buddha and Zoroaster or even other persons as divine prophets, they were not in the position of expressing the truth, but with these tricks, they wanted to propagate their fake religion and to make ignorant people accept it.
[۱] Shahroudi, Ahmad, Religion Guidance, Publisher: Heydari Printing House, 1343 S.H., p. 28.
[۲] Ibid., p. 29.
[۳] Sabah Magazine, No. 7-8, p. 116, quoted by Seqat-al-Islam Koleini, Al-Kafi, vol. 4, p. 14.
[۴] Sabah Magazine, Vol. 7-8, Zoroaster article, quoted by Majlesi, Mohammad Baqer, Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 10, p. 179, Beirut, third edition.
[۵] Religion guidance, p. 28, part three.
[۶] Mortazavi, Mohammad Mahdi, Killing Baha’I insects, published by Mohammad Reza Towa, 1340 S.H., p. 67.
[۷] Group of Beliefs, Knowledge of Religions, Publisher of Textbook Compiling Unit, 1st edition, 1378 S.H., p. 158.
