Contradictions

Kissing of hands in Baha’i Faith

In a number of earlier religious Dispensations and in certain cultures the kissing of the hand of a religious figure or of a prominent person was expected as a mark of reverence and deference to such persons and as a token of submission to their authority. Bahá’u’lláh prohibits the kissing of hands and, in His Tablets, He also condemns such practices as prostrating oneself before another person and other forms of behaviour that abase one individual in relation to another.

Reference: Kitáb-i-Aqdas, Pg 254, Bahá’í World Centre, 1992 edition

Note: There are multiple instances of both Bahaullah and Abdul Baha going against this law and enjoying the fame and position of their followers coming and kissing their hands.

Contradictions

Bahā’u’llāh:
“Contradiction has and will not ever have a way in the sanctified realm of the Divine Manifestations.”

Reference: Bahā’u’llāh, Badī`, p. 126.

Is the Principle “Religion Must Be the Source of Unity and Fellowship in the World” New?

`Abdu’l-Bahā: This is a new principle brought forth by my father.

“He sets forth a new principle for this day in the announcement that religion must be the cause of unity, harmony and agreement among mankind. If it is the cause of discord and hostility, if it leads to separation and creates conflict, the absence of religion would be preferable in the world,”

Reference: `Abdu’l-Bahā, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 454–455.

`Abdu’l-Bahā: All prophets came to create love and kindness among the people.

“All the Prophets came to nurture the people so that the immature individuals could reach maturity and to bring about kindness and love among the people, not hatred and enmity,”

Reference:`Abd al-Ḥamīd Ishrāq Khāwarī, Payām-i malakūt, p. 65.

Is Bābism a Religion?

`Abdu’l-Bahā: If religion causes enmity and war, it is not a religion.

Reference: `Abd al-Ḥamīd Ishrāq Khāwarī, Payām-i malakūt, pp. 44–45.

Ponder on: The conflicts among the Bābīs over the title of Him Whom God Shall Make Manifest.

Twenty seven people among the Bābīs brought themselves forth as the Promised One in the Book of Bayān, such as Mīrzā Yaḥyā Ṣubḥ Azal, Mīrzā Ḥusayn `Alī Nūrī (Bahā’u’llāh), Mīrzā Asad-Allāh Dayyān, Mīrzā Muḥammad Nabīl Zarandī, Mīrzā Ghughā Darwīsh, and Sayyid Baṣīr Hindī.

Reference: Muḥammad `Alī Fayḍī, Ḥaḍrat Bahā’u’llāh, pp. 103–104.

The massacres and bloody wars that were started on the Bab’s orders in three different parts of Iran.

Reference: Nabīl Zarandī, The Dawn-Breakers: Nabīl’s Narrative of the Early Days of the Bahā’ī Revelation, chapters XIX, XXII, XIV.

The Bab’s orders to behead and massacre those who did not believe in him.

“The utterance of the [book or religion] of Bayān in the day of the appearance of his Highness A`lā (meaning the Bāb) was to behead, burn the books, destroy the monuments, and massacre [everyone] but those who believed [in the Bāb’s religion] and verified it,”

Reference:`Abdu’l-Bahā, Makātīb (Egypt: 1330 AH), vol. 2, p. 266

“The unbelievers and the faithless have set their minds on four things: first, the shedding of blood [beheading]; second, the burning of books; third, the shunning of the followers of other religions; fourth, the extermination of other communities and groups. Now however, through the strengthening grace and potency of the Word of God these four barriers have been demolished, these clear injunctions have been obliterated from the Tablet and brutal dispositions have been transmuted into spiritual attributes.”

Reference: Bahā’u’llāh, Tablets of Bahā’u’llāh Revealed After the Kitāb-i-Aqdas, p. 91.

Were the Bābī Wars Solely Defensive?

Baha’i History books: The Bāb’s followers were a peaceful oppressed people who only defended their women and children against the evil Persians.

“That humiliating episode was soon followed by a number of similar attempts on the part of the supporters of the governor, all of which utterly failed to achieve their purpose. Every time they rushed to attack the fort, Hujjat would order a few of his companions, who were three thousand in number, to emerge from their retreat and scatter their forces. He never failed, every time he gave them such orders, to caution his fellow-disciples against shedding unnecessarily the blood of their assailants. He constantly reminded them that their action was of a purely defensive character, and that their sole purpose was to preserve inviolate the security of their women and children. “We are commanded,” he was frequently heard to observe, “not to wage holy war under any circumstances against the unbelievers, whatever be their attitude towards us,”

Reference: Nabīl Zarandī, The Dawn-Breakers: Nabīl’s Narrative of the Early Days of the Bahā’ī Revelation, p. 546.

Bahā’u’llāh and `Abdul’-Bahā: The Bāb gave the order to massacre and behead all non-Bābīs.

Reference: `Abdu’l-Bahā, Makātīb (Egypt: 1330 AH), vol. 2, p. 266.

Reference: Bahā’u’llāh, Tablets of Bahā’u’llāh Revealed After the Kitāb-i-Aqdas, p. 91.

Is Baha’ism a Religion?

`Abdu’l-Bahā: If a religion causes divisions it is not a religion.

“Religion should create unity and create links between the hearts. Jesus and the other divine prophets came to create unity and fellowship. If religion causes divisions, its non-existence is preferred.,”

Reference: `Abd al-Ḥamīd Ishrāq Khāwarī, Payām-i malakūt, p. 59.

Ponder On: The conflicts between Bahā’u’llāh and his brother Mīrzā Yaḥyā.

The conflicts, feuds, and bloodshed between Bahā’u’llāh and his brother Mīrzā Yaḥyā Ṣubḥ Azal and their followers resulted in the exile of the Azalīs (the supporters of Mīrzā Yaḥyā Ṣubḥ Azal) to Cyprus and the Baha’is to Palestine.

The conflicts between `Abdu’l-Bahā and his brother Muḥammad `Alī.

Bahā’u’llāh had willed that his successor would be Ghuṣn A`ẓam (`Abdu’l-Bahā’) and after him Ghuṣn Akbar (`Abdu’l-Bahā’s brother Muḥammad `Alī): “God has destined the station [for] Ghuṣn Akbar after his position (meaning `Abdu’l-Bahā’), for He is the Commanding Wise. We chose the Akbar after the A`ẓam, an order from the All Knowing and Aware (God). All must show kindness towards the two Ghuṣns . . . All must respect and admire the two Ghuṣns,”

Reference: Bahā’u’llāh, Majmū`iy-i alwāḥ-i mubārak-ih, pp. 302–303.

After Bahā’u’llāh’s death the two brothers differed on the amount of authority they had and fights ensued between them and their followers.

The disputes between Shoghi and those who opposed his successorship.

According to Bahā’u’llāh’s orders the successor after `Abdu’l-Bahā was supposed to be his brother Ghuṣn Akbar. `Abdu’l-Bahā disobeyed this decree and instead appointed his own grandson Shoghi Effendi as his successor. This resulted in many differences and conflicts between Shoghi and many Baha’is who didn’t accept his authority.

The dispute between Rūḥiyyih Maxwell and Mason Remey.

In contrast to what `Abdu’l-Bahā had prophesized, Shoghi was sterile and had no children to succeed him. In a bid to become his successor, an internal conflict erupted between Bahā’u’llāh’s followers. Amongst these conflicts, the most intense was the one between Shoghi’s widow (Rūḥiyyih Maxwell) and Mason Remey (President of the International Baha’i Council). Mason Remey claimed that the UHJ established by Rūḥiyyih Maxwell was illegitimate and in a countermove the UHJ excommunicated Mason Remey from the Baha’i community.

Is Baha’ism the Cause of Hatred and Having No Religion Is Better than Being a Baha’i?

`Abdu’l-Bahā: If religion causes enmity and hatred it is not a religion.

“Religion must be the cause of unity and fellowship. If religion causes enmity it will have no result and having no religion is better. For it becomes the cause of enmity and hatred between humanity and whatever causes enmity is hated by God and whatever causes unity and fellowship is accepted and praised. If religion causes killing and savagery it is not religion and having no religion is better than that. For religion is meant to be a cure. If a cure causes sickness then of course, no cure is better than it. Thus, if religion causes war and slaughter, then of course, it is better to have no religion,”

Reference:`Abd al-Ḥamīd Ishrāq Khāwarī, Payām-i malakūt, pp. 44–45.

Bahā’u’llāh: When I claimed to be He Whom God Shall make Manifest, such hatred and envy occurred that had never existed to such a degree from the beginning of creation and never will occur again.

Reference: Bahā’u’llāh, The Kitāb-i-Īqān, p. 249.

I want to incite the fire of hatred in the chest of non-Baha’is.

Reference: Bahā’u’llāh, Āthār-i Qalam-i A`lā, vol. 1, no. 97, p. 339.

Are Other Peoples’ Beliefs Any of Our Business?

`Abdu’l-Bahā: Other people’s beliefs are none of our business. Issues of faith are relevant to God and he will handle them on the Day of Judgment. God has not made us the police of the peoples’ actions.

Reference: `Abdu’l-Bahā, Khaṭābāt (Tehran), vol. 2, pp. 284–285.

Bahā’u’llāh: Torment the deniers of Baha’ism.

“And you, oh friends of God, be clouds of grace for those who believe in God and his signs, and be certain torment for those who do not believe in God and are polytheists (deniers of Baha’ism),”

Reference: Bahā’u’llāh, Majmū`iy-i alwāḥ-i mubārak-ih, p. 216.

Befriending the Enemies or Being like Flame of Fire to Them?

Bahā’u’llāh: “If, God forbid, you have an enemy, do not see him as an enemy but rather a friend. Deal with your friends in the same way you deal with your enemy.”

Reference: Abdu’l-Bahā, Khaṭābāt (Egypt), vol. 1, p. 154.

Bahā’u’llāh: “Be like a flame of fire to my enemies and a river of eternal life to my friends.”

Reference: Bahā’u’llāh, Ad`iyyih-i ḥaḍrat-i maḥbūb (Egypt: Published by Faraj-Allāh Dhakī al-Kurdī, 1339 AH), p .184.

Kindness or Violence?

`Abdu’l-Bahā: When everyone was in utmost hatred and spite, Bahā’u’llāh invited the word to kindness and fellowship and brought about unity and agreement.

Reference: `Abdu’l-Bahā, Khaṭābāt (Tehran), vol. 2, p. 54.

Bahā’u’llāh’s Sister: Bahā’u’llāh and his followers murdered many people in Baghdad.

Reference: `Izziye Khānum (Khānum Buzurg), Tanbīh al-nā’imīn, pp. 11–12.

Is Religion a Cause of Fellowship or Fear?

`Abdu’l-Bahā: Religion must be a cause of fellowship. It must cause kindness. It must cause links among humanity.

“The third principle of his highness Bahā’u’llāh is that religion must be the source of fellowship. It must cause links among humanity,”

Reference: `Abdu’l-Bahā, Khaṭābāt (Tehran), vol. 2, p. 146.

`Abdu’l-Bahā: In Iraq, Bahā’u’llāh had caused such fear in the heart of the Muslims, that not a single person dared to protest against him.

Reference: `Abdu’l-Bahā, Makātīb (Egypt), vol. 2, p. 177.

Bahā’u’llāh: Once my followers conquer the lands they will cleanse them from non-Baha’is and everyone will fear them!

“God will soon take out from the sleeves of power the hands of strength and dominance and will make the Servant (Bahā’u’llāh) victorious and will cleanse the earth from the filth of every rejected polytheist (deniers of Baha’ism). And they will stand by the cause and will conquer the lands using my mighty eternal name and will enter the lands and they will be feared by all the servants,”

Reference: Bahā’u’llāh, Āthār-i Qalam-i A`lā, vol. 2, no. 90, p. 587.

Courtesy: Twelve Principles – A Comprehensive Investigation on the Bahai Teachings

Contradictions Part 4

Q5. Is Aggression Forbidden?

Bahā’u’llāh: All kinds of aggression and quarreling are prohibited.

“Using the sword has been completely abrogated and invasion has been completely prohibited. Even quarreling with other nations is not permissible,”

Reference: `Abd al-Ḥamīd Ishrāq Khāwarī, Ganjīniy-i ḥudūd wa aḥkām, chap. 36, p. 272.

`Abdu’l-Bahā: My father (Bahā’u’llāh) told his companions to hit the kabob seller in the mouth because he merely said the Bābīs have come again.

“When his holiness returned from Sulaymaniyah, he was strolling in the street one day with the late Āqā Mīrzā Muḥammad Qulī. A Kabob seller quietly said, ‘These Bābīs have appeared again!’ His holiness said to Mīrzā Muḥammad Qulī, ‘Hit him in the mouth!’ Mīrzā Muḥammad Qulī grabbed his beard and started hitting him in the head,”

Reference: Ḥabīb Mu’ayyad, Khāṭirāti Ḥabīb, vol. 1, p.266.

Q6. Did Baha’ism Put an End to All Disputes and Fights?

`Abdu’l-Bahā: Bahā’u’llāh dispelled all wars and battles between religions, governments, and tribes in Iran!

“In a time when Iran was infested with war and battle and there were wars between religions and faiths, and religions had enmity towards each other and avoided one another and regarded others as impure, and there was war between governments, tribes, and lands, in such a time and such darkness, his highness Bahā’u’llāh appeared and dispelled those darkness’s,”

Reference: `Abd al-Ḥamīd Ishrāq Khāwarī, Payām-i malakūt, p. 72.

However the History shows otherwise!

Q7. Can a Conquering Lands Be Praiseworthy?

`Abdu’l-Bahā: Yes it can.

“A conquest can be a praiseworthy thing, and there are times when war becomes the powerful basis of peace, and ruin the very means of reconstruction,”

Reference: J. E. Esslemont, Bahā’u’llāh and the New Era, p. 172.
`Abdu’l-Bahā: We must not go to war over these lands!

“It is clear that man lives on this land for a few years [and once he dies] will go under it (i.e. buried in it) forever and it is his eternal grave. Is it worth it to go to war over this eternal graveyard?”

Reference: `Abd al-Ḥamīd Ishrāq Khāwarī, Payām-i malakūt, pp. 104–105.

Q8. When Will Universal Peace Be Established?

`Abdu’l-Bahā: Universal peace will be established in 1957.

This Prophecy was not fulfilled and was removed from Baha’i books!

“Perhaps the most important change in Bahā’u’llāh and the New Era was made on page 212 of the 1923 edition. Recorded as a Bahā’ī prophecy concerning the “Coming of the Kingdom of God,” Esslemont cited Abdu’l-Bahā’s interpretation of the last two verses of the Book of Daniel from the Bible. He stated that the 1335 days spoken of by Daniel represented 1335 solar years from Muhammad’s flight to Medina in 622 A.D., which would equal 1957 A.D.. When asked “‘What shall we see at the end of the 1335 days?’,”

Abdu’l-Bahā’s reply was: “‘Universal Peace will be firmly established, a Universal language promoted. Misunderstandings will pass away. The Bahā’ī Cause will be promulgated in all parts and the oneness of mankind established. It will be most glorious!'”

In editions published after his death, Esslemont’s words have been changed to say that Abdu’l-Bahā “reckoned the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy from the date of the beginning of the Muhammadan era”

One of Abdu’l-Bahá’s Tablets is quoted on the same subject in which he writes, “‘For according to this calculation a century will have elapsed from the dawn of the Sun of Truth . . . Esslemont recorded Abdu’l-Bahā as declaring explicitly that the prophecy was to be computed from the Hijra or 622 A.D. and that specific conditions would exist in the world upon it’s fulfillment in 1957.

When it became apparent that this Bahā’ī prophecy would not be fulfilled, it was replaced with the ambiguous material which has remained in the text to the present,”

Reference: Vance Salisbury, A Critical Examination of 20th-Century Baha’i Literature. http://bahai-library.com/salisbury_critical_examination_literature (retrieved 22/2/2014).

Courtesy: Twelve Principles – A Comprehensive Investigation on the Bahai Teachings

Contradictions Part 3

Bahā’u’llāh:
“Contradiction has and will not ever have a way in the sanctified realm of the Divine Manifestations.”

Bahā’u’llāh, Badī`, p. 126.

Q1. Are Aggression and Abuse Forbidden?

`Abdu’l-Bahā: All kinds of aggression and quarreling are prohibited.

“Using the sword has been completely abrogated and invasion has been completely prohibited. Even quarreling with other nations is not permissible,”

Reference: `Abd al-Ḥamīd Ishrāq Khāwarī, Ganjīniy-i ḥudūd wa aḥkām, chap. 36, p. 272.

Bahā’u’llāh’s sister: Bahā’u’llāh and his followers ruthlessly murdered many people in Iraq.

Reference: `Izziye Khānum (Khānum Buzurg), Tanbīh al-nā’imīn, pp. 11–12.

Q2. Universal Peace or Tormenting Bahā’u’llāh’s Enemies?

`Abdu’l-Bahā: “Our wish is the Oneness of Humanity and our goal is universal peace.”

Reference: `Abd al-Ḥamīd Ishrāq Khāwarī, Payām-i malakūt, p. 52.

Bahā’u’llāh: “Be like a flame of fire to my enemies and a river of eternal life to my friends”

Reference: Bahā’u’llāh, Ad`iyyih-i ḥaḍrat-i maḥbūb, p. 184; The same quote can be found on p.196 on the typed version at: reference.bahai.org

Reference: Bahā’u’llāh, Majmū`iy-i alwāḥ-i mubārak-ih, p. 216.

“God has made him (Bahā’u’llāh) a light for the monotheists (Baha’is) and a fire for the polytheists (non-Baha’is).”

Reference: Bahā’u’llāh, Āthār-i Qalam-i A`lā, vol. 2, no. 74, p. 372.

Q3. Should We Defend Ourselves If We Are Attacked?

`Abdu’l-Bahā: If someone attacks or wants to kill you don’t defend yourself!

“If someone abuses me, shows me injustice and oppresses me, and wounds the place of my liver, I will never show aggression,”

Reference: `Abdu’l-Bahā, Mufāwaḍāt, p. 189.

Shoghi: Baha’is are perfectly justified in defending their lives!

Reference: Helen Bassett Hornby, Lights of Guidance: A Bahā’ī Reference File, no. 398.

Bahā’u’llāh: No self-defense is allowed with weapons!

“As a religious body, Baha’i’s have, at the express command of Bahā’u’llāh, entirely abandoned the use of armed force in their own interests, even for strictly defensive purposes. In Persia, many many thousands of the Bābīs and Baha’is have suffered cruel deaths because of their faith. In the early days of the Cause, the Bābīs on various occasions defended themselves and their families by the sword with great courage and bravery. Bahā’u’llāh, however, forbade this . . .”

Reference: J. E. Esslemont, Bahā’u’llāh and the New Era, pp.169–170.

`Abdu’l-Bahā: Self-defense is allowed when a savage tribe attacks with the intention of killing everybody!

“It may happen that at a given time warlike and savage tribes may furiously attack the body politic with the intention of carrying on a wholesale slaughter of its members; under such a circumstance defense is necessary,”

Reference: J. E. Esslemont, Bahā’u’llāh and the New Era, p. 171–172.

Q4. Weapons and Wars Are Prohibited or Not?

`Abdu’l-Bahā: Wars are prohibited in the Baha’i creed.

“In the [book of] Bayān, the order was [given] to invade other religions. But the book of Aqdas abrogated these orders, because using the sword has been completely abrogated and invasion has been completely prohibited,”

Reference: `Abd al-Ḥamīd Ishrāq Khāwarī, Ganjīniy-i ḥudūd wa aḥkām, chap. 36, p. 272.

`Abdu’l-Bahā: Sometimes to reach peace one must use war.

“A conquest can be a praiseworthy thing, and there are times when war becomes the powerful basis of peace, and ruin the very means of reconstruction. If, for example, a high-minded sovereign marshals his troops to block the onset of the insurgent and the aggressor, or again, if he takes the field and distinguishes himself in a struggle to unify a divided state and people, if, in brief, he is waging war for a righteous purpose, then this seeming wrath is mercy itself, and this apparent tyranny the very substance of justice and this warfare the cornerstone of peace,”

Reference: J. E. Esslemont, Bahā’u’llāh and the New Era, p. 172.

Courtesy: Twelve Principles – A Comprehensive Investigation on the Bahai Teachings

Contradictions Part 2

Q3. Start and End of the Baha’i Cycle?

Bahā’u’llāh: Start unclear but is eternal!

“I swear by my True Self, all manifestations have come to an end by this Most Great Manifestation (meaning Baha’ism). Whoever claims (to be a manifestation) after that is a slandering liar. We ask God to make him successful in returning (to the correct path) and if he repents then He will accept the repentance and if he insists on what he is claiming God will send someone who will deal mercilessly with him,”

Reference: Bahā’u’llāh, Iqtidārāt wa chand lauḥ dīgar, p. 327.
Shoghi: From the Bab to 500 thousand years!

“Thus ended a life which posterity will recognize as standing at the confluence of two universal prophetic cycles, the Adamic Cycle stretching back as far as the first dawnings of the world’s recorded religious history and the Bahā’ī Cycle destined to propel itself across the unborn reaches of time for a period of no less than five thousand centuries,”

Reference: Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, pp. 54–55
Shoghi: From Adam to 500 thousand years!

“For while the Dispensation of Bahā’u’llāh will last for at least one thousand years, His Cycle will extend still farther, to at least 500,000 years. The Bahā’ī cycle is, indeed, incomparable in its greatness. It includes not only the Prophets that will appear after Bahā’u’llāh, but all those who have preceded Him ever since Adam,”

Reference: Shoghi Effendi, Directives from the Guardian (India/Hawaii: 1973), p. 7.
`Abdul-Bahā: From Bahā’u’llāh to 500 thousand years!

“the second manifestation, was the manifestation of the Primal point, may my soul be sacrificed for him, in which the Sun of Truth stopped in that cycle (daur) for twenty years . . . in the cycle (daur) of the blessed beauty . . . whose length will be at least 500000 years . . .,”

Reference: Abdu’l-Bahā, Makātīb (Egypt), vol. 2, pp. 75–76.
`Abdul-Bahā: Eternal!

In this great cycle (kaur) and in this new cycle (daur) legislation of materialistic laws are
mostly referred to the House of Justice for this cycle (kaur) will have a great length and this cycle (daur) will have an eternal unending interval, vastness, and continuity,”

Reference:`Abdu’l-Bahā, Makātīb (Egypt), vol. 2, p. 68.
Q4. Are visions of the prophets real?

`Abdu’l-Bahā: Visions of the prophets are not dreams. They are real.

“The visions of the Prophets are not dreams; no, they are spiritual discoveries and have reality. They say, for example, “I saw a person in a certain form, and I said such a thing, and he gave such an answer.” This vision is in the world of wakefulness, and not in that of sleep. Nay, it is a spiritual discovery which is expressed as if it were the appearance of a vision,”

Reference:`Abdu’l-Bahā, Some Answered Questions, p. 251.
Baha’u’llah: In a vision, I sexually fondled with the Holy Spirit who appeared to me as a maiden! I yearned for her, removed her veil, and exposed one of her breasts.

“She then descended, drew near, and came forward until she stood before me. I was bewildered at the delicacy of her creation and her exquisite behavior. I found in myself a perplexity due to my yearning for her and an attraction due to my love for her. I rose my hand to her and removed the bottom of her veil from her shoulder and found her hair to be spread in wavy curls on her back and hanging down to near her legs in ringlets . . . once I saw her as the fire that had kindled in the Divine Tree . . . she then came forward until she stood opposite my face and spoke with a tone like the tone of a dove . . . when I paid attention with all my being I heard the mention of God the Most Exalted the Abhā in her tunes and the name of God the Most Exalted the Most High in her chants. It was then that I became attracted, perplexed, and hazed from her exquisite voice so I raised my hand once more and bared a breast from her breasts that were hidden behind her dress…,”

Reference: Bahā’u’llāh, Āthār-i Qalam-i A`lā (Tehran: Mu’assisiyi Millī Maṭbū`āt Amrī, 125 B..[ Reprinted, H-Bahai: East Lansing, Mi., 2000]), vol. 4, pp. 383–384.

Courtesy:- Twelve Principles – A Comprehensive Investigation on the Bahai Teachings.

Contradictions Part 1

Bahā’u’llāh:
“Contradiction has and will not ever have a way in the sanctified realm of the Divine Manifestations.”

Ref: Bahā’u’llāh, Badī, p. 126.

Let us analyze if the above saying is true:

Q1. Are Religions Renewed?
`Abdu’l-Bahā: “Everything is renewed and so, the essence of Divine Religion must be renewed too.”

Reference: `Abdu’l-Bahā, Makātīb (Egypt), vol. 3, p. 332.
Bahā’u’llāh: There will be no more prophets or manifestations after me.

“I swear by my True Self, all manifestations have come to an end by this Most Great Manifestation (meaning Baha’ism). Whoever claims (to be a manifestation) after that is a slandering liar,”

Reference: Bahā’u’llāh, Iqtidārāt wa chand lauḥ dīgar, p. 327.

Q2. When Will a New Prophet Appear?
Bahā’u’llāh: Never!

“I swear by my True Self, all manifestations have come to an end by this Most Great Manifestation (meaning Baha’ism). Whoever claims (to be a manifestation) after that is a slandering liar,”

Reference: Bahā’u’llāh, Iqtidārāt wa chand lauḥ dīgar, p. 327.
Bahā’u’llāh: Not before a thousand years!

“The Dispensation of Bahā’u’llāh will last until the coming of the next Manifestation of God, Whose advent will not take place before at least ‘a full thousand years’ will have elapsed,”

Reference: Bahā’u’llāh, The Kitābi Aqdas, p. 195.

`Abdu’l-Bahā: Not before 500000 years!

`Abdu’l-Bahā uses the word cycle to refer to dispensation: “. . . in the first manifestation the sun will stop in the middle of the sky for ten days, in the second manifestation twenty days and in the third manifestation thirty days. Know that the first manifestation in this report is the manifestation of his Highness the Messenger (meaning Prophet Muḥammad) in which the sun of reality stopped for ten days in that constellation and every day is equal to one century and by this calculation [those ten days] are a thousand years and that was the Muḥammadan cycle and cycle (daur and kaur) [!] . . . the second manifestation, was the manifestation of the Primal point, may my soul be sacrificed for him, in which the Sun of Truth stopped in that cycle (daur) for twenty years . . . in the cycle (daur) of the blessed beauty . . . whose length will be at least 500000 years . . .”

Reference: Abdu’l-Bahā, Makātīb (Egypt), vol. 2, pp. 75–76.