If you ask the Baha’is about the Baha’i faith, you will get this answer: “There isn’t any division or branch in the Baha’i faith because of adherence to the covenant.” They use this statement as a reason to prove the truth of Baha’is.
Let’s take a look at the divisions in Baha’i history.
An important will that was not implemented!
Bahaullah had willed in the Book of the Covenant (Kitab-i-Ahd) that after him first Abbas (Abdul Baha) and then his younger son (Muhammad Ali) would assume the leadership of the Baha’is.
In this will, Abbas Effendi was named Ghosn Azam (the Greatest Branch) and Muhammad Ali Ghosn Akbar (the Great Branch). But because of the differences that arose between these two brothers, each of them claimed independence at that time and separated. In Baha’i, the followers of Abdul Baha were called Thabitin, which means steadfast on the covenant, and the followers of Muhammad Ali Effendi were called the Naaghezin (violators), which means people who violated the covenant.
آنچه در ادامه می خوانید
Baha’i dilemma
Abdul Baha deposed his brother Muhammad Ali from the succession and replaced his grandson Shoqi Effendi. In this way, the Baha’is were divided into two groups:
The first group: They followed Shoqi Effendi be referring to the Tablets and Testaments of Abdul Baha. This group believes that God changed his fate (Bada) in his desting regarding the succession of Muhammad Ali. This group calls itself Thabitins and other Baha’is as non-Baha’is, and in principle they do not consider them Baha’is. They even banned any communication with them.
The second group: Unitarian Baha’is that obeyed Muhammad Ali according the Kitab-i-Ahd believed that Will and Testament of Abdul Baha is false because the pepuse of the Kitab-i-Ahd was solving the disagreements among the Baha’is, and its’ not meaningful that God changes his fate in a such important subject.
The subject not only exacerbated the branches in the Baha’i faith but also a motivation in ex-communication through the leaders of the Baha’is and the family members of Bahaullah.
After that, Abdul Baha declared that the communication with his brother Muhammad Ali and his followers is forbidden. Also, his sons: Shuaullah, Muhammad Amin and Musa ex-communicated as Unitarian Baha’is.
The behavior and treatment of two brothers!
The fact that according to the will of Bahaullah Abbas and Muhammad Ali were supposed to become Baha’i leaders and because of differences between them, the will was not carried out, is not our priority. However, the behavior of two brothers in a Baha’is family is a significant issue…
Abdul Baha, the second leader of Baha’is had many special scribes. But among them, a Baha’i believe named Sobhi took the title of scribe of revelation from him. Therefore, he was trusted and approved by Abbas Effendi. Sobhi, in his book, “Payam-i-Pedar (the Message of Father, deals with the behavior of Abbas Effendi with his brother Muhammad Ali.
Payam-I Pedar 102-183 and 114
“On another occasion, Abdul Baha’s son-in-law Mirza Jalal and others on their way to Baha’s tomb ran into Muhammad Ali. They made gratuitous remarks agai8nst him and took liberties with him.” Such incidents were not infrequent.
Payam-i-Pedar, pp. 104-105”
“In his meeting attended by his followers exclusively, Abbas Abdul Baha would dilate on the “bad conduct” of his brother Muhammad Ali and his adherents to the “delectation” of his audience and would “work up feelings of his followers against them. Apprehensive of the dissemination of Muhammad Ali’s utterances among Baha’is, Abdul Baha would sound the alarm that such utterances were infected with poison which would work into one’s system” and affect if not afflict, any person however strong and robust one may be. He would say “he had seen Muhammad Ali flirting with a girl.”
We leave it up to the truth-seeking and researching Baha’is themselves to determine which other Baha’i sources can be used to study the documents dealing with the ex-communicated Baha’is. However, how can the teaching of the unity of the human world be considered a universal mirror for Baha’i with these behaviors?!
Conclusion
Looking at pages of Baha’i history with evidence, this question arises in the mind of Baha’i:
- Why don’t Baha’is have the right to know their own history?
- Why don’t the Baha’is know that they had a split in their faith?
- Why are the Baha’is not allowed to decide for themselves about their historical truth? Before these documents are crushed in the wheels of censorship of the Baha’i organization and the Universal House of Justice?
