Religion Must Be in Conformity with Science and Reason

Contradictions Part II-Religion Must Be in Conformity with Science and Reason

The Criterion for Being Knowledgeable and Reasonable in the Baha’i Creed?

Esslemont (Baha’i author): “The religious world owes a debt of gratitude to the men of science who helped to tear such worn-out creeds and dogmas to tatters and allowed the truth to step forth free.”

Reference: J. E. Esslemont, Bahā’u’llāh and the New Era, p. 200.

Bahā’u’llāh: If you don’t become a Baha’i you are ignorant even if you possess all the science in the world.

“If today, someone grasps all of the knowledge on earth but stops at the word ‘yes’ (meaning does not become a Baha’i), the Lord will not pay attention to him and he will be considered as the most ignorant amongst the people,”

Reference: Bahā’u’llāh, Iqtidārāt wa chand lauḥ dīgar, p. 111.

“From now on nobody is to be called knowledgeable, except those who have decorated themselves with the garment of this New Affair (meaning those who have become Baha’is),”

Reference: Bahā’u’llāh, Badī`, pp. 138–139.

If you do not become a Baha’i you have no reason.

“The general criterion is what we mentioned and any soul who has success in it, meaning recognizes and realizes the Sunrise of Manifestation (meaning himself), will be mentioned in the Divine Book as someone who possesses reason or else he will be (mentioned as) ignorant even if he himself thinks that his reason equals that of the whole world,”

Reference:`Abd a l-Ḥamīd Ishrāq Khāwarī, Mā’idiy-i āsimānī, vol. 7, p. 160.

“No one has denied or will deny what has been revealed by the Ancient Pen (meaning himself) in this Most Great Manifestation regarding society, unity, manners, rites, and being occupied with what has benefits for the people, except that he completely lacks reason,”

Reference: Bahā’u’llāh, Iqtidārāt wa chand lauḥ dīgar, p. 168.

Was the Tablet of Wisdom Revealed in Persian?

Shoghi: The tablet of wisdom was revealed in Persian.

When referring to a problematic matter in the English translation of this tablet he says: “We must not take this statement too literally; “contemporary” may have been meant in Persian as something far more elastic than the English word. Likewise, the whole translation probably needs revising (15 February 1947).”

Reference: Article titled Socrates compiled by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice: http://bahai-library.com/compilation_socrates_bwc (retrieved
17/2/2014).

The tablet was revealed by Bahā’u’llāh in Arabic!

Is Shoghi Infallible?

Shoghi: I am only infallible in matters regarding the faith and interpreting it.

“The infallibility of the Guardian is confined to matters which are related strictly to the Cause and interpretations of the Teachings; he is not an infallible authority on other subjects, such as economics, science, etc,”

Reference: Shoghi Effendi, Directives from the Guardian, p. 33–34.

Shoghi makes errors when speaking about Bahā’u’llāh’s Tablet of Wisdom and claims it was revealed in Persian while it was revealed in Arabic.

Refer to Was the Tablet of Wisdom Revealed in Persian?

Can Shoghi Fit the Role of Being the Authorized Interpreter of Baha’i Texts?

`Abdu’l-Bahā: Shoghi is the authoritative interpreter of the words of God.

“O my loving friends! After the passing away of this wronged one, it is incumbent upon the Aghsān (Branches), the Afnān (Twigs) of the Sacred Lote-Tree, the Hands (pillars) of the Cause of God and the loved ones of the Abhā Beauty to turn unto Shoghi Effendi—the youthful branch branched from the two hallowed and sacred Lote-Trees and the fruit grown from the union of the two offshoots of the Tree of Holiness,—as he is the sign of God, the chosen branch, the Guardian of the Cause of God, he unto whom all the Aghsān, the Afnān, the Hands of the Cause of God and His loved ones must turn. He is the Interpreter of the Word of God and after him will succeed the first-born of his lineal descendents,”

Reference:`Abdu’l-Bahā, The Will and Testament of `Abdu’l-Bahā, p. 11.

Shoghi is unsure in interpreting the words of Bahā’u’llāh and uses the words may and probably.

“We must not take this statement too literally; “contemporary” may have been meant in Persian as something far more elastic than the English word. Likewise, the whole translation probably needs revising (15 February 1947),”

Reference: Article titled Socrates compiled by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice: http://bahai-library.com/compilation_socrates_bwc
(retrieved 17/2/2014).

He doesn’t even consider his own translations as final.

“Concerning the different translations of the Words. It is surely the original text that should never be changed. The translations will continue to vary as more and better translations are made. Shoghi Effendi does not consider even his own translations as final, how much more translations made in the early days of the Cause in the West when no competent translators existed (From a letter on behalf of the Guardian to John Hyde Dunn, 14 August 1930),”

Reference: http://bahai-library.com/compilation_provisional_translations (retrieved 18/2/2014).

Bahā’u’llāh and Divine Knowledge: Referring to Books

Bahā’u’llāh: Whenever I want to quote a book it is revealed in a tablet before my face.

“Whenever We desire to quote the sayings of the learned and of the wise, presently there will appear before the face of thy Lord in the form of a tablet all that which hath appeared in the world and is revealed in the Holy Books and Scriptures,”

Reference: Bahā’u’llāh, Tablets of Bahā’u’llāh Revealed After the Kitāb-i-Aqdas, p. 149.

“You know that we did not read the books of the people and were unaware of the sciences that they possessed.”

Reference: Bahā’u’llāh, Majmū`ihī az alwāḥ jamāl aqdas abhā ki ba`d az kitāb Aqdas nāzil shude. (Langenhain [Germany]: Lajniyi Nashr Āthār Amrī Bi Lisān Fārsī wa `Arabī), p. 89.

Bahā’u’llāh: I searched in vain for a book to see what the author had written in it until I finally found it!

“As We had frequently heard about him, We purposed to read some of his works. Although We never felt disposed to peruse other peoples’ writings, yet as some had questioned Us concerning him, We felt it necessary to refer to his books, in order that We might answer Our questioners with knowledge and understanding. His works, in the Arabic tongue, were, however, not available, . . . We sent for the book, and kept it with Us a few days. It was probably referred to twice,”

Reference: Bahā’u’llāh, The Kitāb-i-Īqān, pp. 184–186.

I used to read books when I was a child.

“This oppressed one in his childhood (ṭufūliyyat) saw the war of the tribe of Qurayẓa in a book that belonged to (was authored by) Mullā Bāqir Majlisī, and has been sad and sorrowful ever-since,”

Reference: `Abd al-Ḥamīd Ishrāq Khāwarī, Mā’idiy-i āsimānī, vol. 7, p. 136

Had Bahā’u’llāh Associated with the Learned and the `Ulamā?

`Abdu’l-Bahā: “As all the people of Persia know, He had never studied in any school, nor had He associated with the `ulamā or the men of learning.”

Reference: `Abdu’l-Bahā, Some Answered Questions, p. 27.

`Abdu’l-Bahā: My father used to associate with the learned and the `Ulamā!

“When He was only thirteen or fourteen years old He became renowned for His learning. He would converse on any subject and solve any problem presented to Him. In large gatherings He would discuss matters with the `Ulamā (leading mullās) and would explain intricate religious questions. All of them used to listen to Him with the greatest interest,”

Reference: J. E. Esslemont, Bahā’u’llāh and the New Era, p. 48

“In whatever meeting, scientific assembly or theological discussion He was found, He became the authority of explanation upon intricate and abstruse questions presented,”

Reference: `Abdu’l-Bahā, Bahā’ī World Faith—Selected Writings of Bahā’u’llāh and `Abdu’l-Bahā (`Abdu’l-Bahā’s Section Only), p. 220.

Bahā’u’llāh’s Childhood: Happiness or Sorrow?

`Abdu’l-Bahā: “The early part of His life was passed in the greatest happiness.”

Reference: `Abdu’l-Bahā, Some Answered Questions, p. 27.

Bahā’u’llāh: “This oppressed one in his childhood (ṭufūliyyat) saw the war of the tribe of Qurayẓa in a book that belonged to (was authored by) Mullā Bāqir Majlisī, and has been sad and sorrowful ever-since.”

Reference: `Abd al-Ḥamīd Ishrāq Khāwarī, Mā’idiy-i āsimānī, vol. 7, p. 136.

When and Where to Bury the Dead

Bahā’u’llāh: “It is forbidden you to transport the body of the deceased a greater distance than one hour’s journey from the city.”

Reference: Bahā’u’llāh, The Kitābi Aqdas, p. 230.

Under Bahā’u’llāh and `Abdu’l-Bahā’s orders, this one hour limit changes to fifty years and thousands of kilometers for the Bāb!

“As observed in a previous chapter the mangled bodies of the Bāb and His fellow-martyr, Mīrzā Muḥammad-`Alī, were removed, in the middle of the second night following their execution, through the pious intervention of Ḥājī Sulaymān Khān, from the edge of the moat where they had been cast to a silk factory owned by one of the believers of Milān, and were laid the next day in a wooden casket, and thence carried to a place of safety. Subsequently, according to Bahā’u’llāh’s instructions, they were transported to Ṭihrān and placed in the shrine of Imām-Zādih Ḥasan. They were later removed to the residence of Ḥājī Sulaymān Khān himself in the Sar-Chashmih quarter of the city, and from his house were taken to the shrine of Imām-Zādih Ma`ṣūm, where they remained concealed until the year 274 1284 A.H. (1867–1868), when a Tablet, revealed by Bahā’u’llāh in Adrianople, directed Mullā `Alī-Akbar-i-Shāhmīrzādī and Jamāl-i-Burūjirdī to transfer them without delay to some other spot . . . Ḥājī Shāh Muḥammad buried the casket beneath the floor of the inner sanctuary of the shrine of Imām-Zādih Zayd, where it lay undetected until Mīrzā Asadu’llāh-i-Iṣfahānī was informed of its exact location through a chart forwarded to him by Bahā’u’llāh. Instructed by Bahā’u’llāh to conceal it elsewhere, he first removed the remains to his own house in Ṭihrān, after which they were deposited in several other localities such as the house of Ḥusayn-‘Alīy-i-Iṣfahānī and that of Muḥammad-Karīm-i-‘Aṭṭār, where they remained hidden until the year 1316 (1899) A.H., when, in pursuance of directions issued by ‘Abdu’l-Bahā, this same Mīrzā Asadu’llāh, together with a number of other believers, transported them by way of Iṣfahān, Kirmanshāh, Baghdād and Damascus, to Beirut and thence by sea to ‘Akkā, arriving at their destination on the 19th of the month of Ramadān 1316 A.H. (January 31, 1899), fifty lunar years after the Bāb’s execution in Tabrīz,”

Reference: Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, pp. 273–274.

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

Contradictions – Religion Must Be in Conformity with Science and Reason

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.

If Religion Contradicts Reason Which One Is Incorrect?

`Abdu’l-Bahā: If religion contradicts science and reason, that religion is an illusion.

“If religious matters are against science and reason, they are illusions,”

Reference: `Abdu’l-Bahā, Khaṭābāt (Tehran), vol. 2, p. 147.

Bahā’u’llāh and `Abdu’l-Bahā: If religion contradicts science and reason, the human mind is to be blamed.

“Sometimes, a weak intellect cannot perceive [a concept]. In such a case, intellect has a shortcoming by being imperfect, not religion,”

Reference: `Abd al-Ḥamīd Ishrāq Khāwarī, Payām-i malakūt, p.93 (citing `Abd al-Bahā)

“One of the fundamental teachings of Bahā’u’llāh is that true science and true religion must always be in harmony. Truth is one, and whenever conflict appears it is due, not to truth, but to error,”

Reference: J. E. Esslemont, Bahā’u’llāh and the New Era, p.197.

Is Science Good or Bad?

`Abdu’l-Bahā: The difference between man and animal is science and reason.

Reference: `Abd al-Ḥamīd Ishrāq Khāwarī, Payām-i malakūt, p. 92.

“The highest virtue of the human world is science for it is the discovery of the truth of things.”

Reference: `Abd al-Ḥamīd Ishrāq Khāwarī, Payām-i malakūt, p. 81.

The Bāb: Teaching anything but my books is forbidden.

Reference: `Alī Muḥammad Bāb, Farsi Bayān, unit 4, chap. 10.

All non-Bābī books must be burned.

“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.

Is Bābism a True Religion: Books and Teaching

`Abdu’l-Bahā: “If religious matters are against science and reason, they are illusions.”

Reference: `Abdu’l-Bahā, Khaṭābāt (Tehran), vol. 2, p. 147.

The Bāb: Do not teach but my books, do not argue but by my words, do not own but my writings.

“Teaching a book other than the book of Bayān is not allowed unless it has in it what is related to speculative theology (kalām). [Teaching] those [sciences] which have been invented such as logic (manṭiq), principles of jurisprudence (uṣūl), and other [sciences], are not permitted for those who have faith,”

Reference: The Bāb, Farsi Bayān, unit 4, chap. 10.

“Do not argue but by the verses [of the Bayān] for whoever does not argue using them has no knowledge, and do not mention any miracle [but this book]!”

Reference: The Bāb, Arabic Bayān, unit 6, chapter 8.

“Chapter six of the sixth unit which is about destroying all books but those that have been written or will be written about this Order (meaning the Bab’s creed),”

Reference: The Bāb, Farsi bayān, unit 6, chap. 6.

Is Bābism a True Religion: Destroy Anyone and Everything Non-Bābī

`Abdu’l-Bahā: “If religious matters are against science and reason, they are illusions.”

Reference: `Abdu’l-Bahā, Khaṭābāt (Tehran), vol. 2, p. 147.

The Bāb: Destroy anyone and anything non-Bābī.

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

“You must destroy everything [non-Bābī?] that you have written and you must argue using the Bayān,”

Reference: The Bāb, Arabic Bayān, unit 6, chap. 6.

“Chapter six of the sixth unit which is about destroying all books but those that have been written or will be written about this Order (meaning the Bab’s creed),”

Reference: The Bāb, Farsi bayān, unit 6, chap. 6.

“The fifth chapter of the fifth unit which is about the decree of taking the property of those who do not believe in [the religion] of Bayan and giving it back if they become believers in this religion, except in the lands where taking [property] is not possible,”

Reference: The Bāb, Farsi Bayan, unit 5, chap. 5

“Chapter six of the sixth unit which is about destroying all books but those that have been written or will be written about this Order (meaning the Bab’s creed),”

Reference: The Bāb, Farsi bayān, unit 6, chap. 6.

“The sixteenth chapter of the seventh unit which is about [the decree] that all rulers who rise who are [followers] of the religion of the Bayan, leave no-one in their land who is not a follower of this religion. This is compulsory upon all the people too,”

Reference: The Bāb, Farsi Bayān, unit 7, chap. 16

“He who acquires a position of ruling is a manifestation of God’s wrath and if possible for him, must ot leave [alive] on earth anyone but the Bābīs!”

Reference: The Bāb, Lauḥ haykal al-dīn, unit 4, chap. al-Bahā.

“Make everyone accept the [religion of] Bayān and do not accept from them jewels that would amount to the whole earth as payment so that they are excused from becoming Bābīs,”

Reference: The Bāb, Lauḥ haykal al-dīn, unit 5, chap. al-Lād.

Is Bābism a True Religion: Food and Medicine

`Abdu’l-Bahā: “If religious matters are against science and reason, they are illusions.”

Reference: `Abdu’l-Bahā, Khaṭābāt (Tehran), vol. 2, p. 147.

The Bāb: Do not buy, sell, or use medicine. Not drinking donkey milk will make you pious.

“You must not possess, buy, sell, or use medicine, intoxicants, and higher than those!”

Reference: The Bāb, Arabic Bayān, unit 9, chap. 8

“Do not drink donkey milk! And do not load it and other animals with what they cannot bear. This is what God has made incumbent upon you so that you may become pious!”

Reference: The Bāb, Arabic Bayān, unit 10, chap. 15.

Is Bābism a True Religion: Guidelines for Going on Journeys

`Abdu’l-Bahā: “If religious matters are against science and reason, they are illusions.”

Reference: `Abdu’l-Bahā, Khaṭābāt (Tehran), vol. 2, p. 147.

The Bāb: “Do not go on journeys but [1] for the sake of God and [2] if you are going to (visit) He Whom God Shall Make manifest or [3] (visiting) those who have faith in him. And He orders you to take the leaves of trees and eat them [!] and walk above [!] the earth with your legs!”

Reference: The Bāb, Lauḥ haykal al-dīn, unit 6, chap. al-Badī.

Is Bābism a True Religion: Some Miscellaneous Laws

`Abdu’l-Bahā: “If religious matters are against science and reason, they are illusions.”

Reference: `Abdu’l-Bahā, Khaṭābāt (Tehran), vol. 2, p. 147.

The Bāb: Renew your books every 202 years by throwing them in water or giving them to someone else.

“In every dispensation, God loves that everything becomes renewed. It is because of this that he has ordered that once in every 202 years every person renew what books he possesses by either putting them in fresh water or bestowing them to someone else!”

Reference: The Bāb, Farsi Bayān, unit 7, chap. 1

If you truly believe in God you must not ride cows or make them carry loads.

“Do not ride cows and do not put loads on them if you (truly) believe in God and His signs,”

Reference: The Bāb, Arabic Bayān, unit 10, chap. 15.

“Do not wear clothes that will frighten children!”

Reference: The Bāb, Arabic Bayān, unit 7, chap. 6.

“Do not buy or sell the four elements (earth, air, fire, and water)!”

Reference: The Bāb, Arabic Bayān, unit 9, chap. 11.

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

The Source Of Abdul Baha’s Knowledge

`Abdu’l-Bahā’s Education

`Abdu’l-Bahā himself had received schooling in Tehran and had then been educated at home by his father and family members. We will not delve into this matter. We will only present two sources that clearly show an alternative source for many of his political views and superhuman knowledge:

Today I was reading the events in Italy and Turkey. Another war has started and the blood of wretched people is spilled for the lowliest causes.

Reference: `Abdu’l-Bahā, Khaṭābāt (Egypt), vol. 1, p. 87.

I read in the newspaper that even in Italy people are protesting and shouting.

Reference: `Abdu’l-Bahā, Khaṭābāt (Egypt), vol. 1, p. 205.

As it has been made obvious, the source of the knowledge of these figures is rooted in many places:
1- Education they received from school and their teachers (publicly and privately).
2- What they were taught by family members.
3- Socializing with scholars, philosophers, and mystics and Sufis.
4- Reading the Quran, Islamic books, philosophical works, history books, newspapers etc.
5- Reading books of literature and poetry.

See Bahā’u’llāh, Tablets of Bahā’u’llāh Revealed After the Kitāb-i-Aqdas, p. 144 (footnote).

There are many stories in the Bahá’í community about the supernatural access to information that Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and Shoghi Effendi had. My point here is not to dispute these stories; merely to say these superhuman mechanisms do not seem to have been working at every instant. If they had, Bahā’u’llāh would not have read newspapers, as He suggests He may have done; ‘Abdu’l-Bahā and Shoghi Effendi would not have constantly written the friends asking for news; they would not have pumped visiting pilgrims for their knowledge and evaluation of places, peoples, cultures, and individuals; and Shoghi Effendi would not have had to do massive, monumental research in order to edit The Dawn-breakers or write God Passes By.

Reference: Robert Stockman, Revelation, Interpretation, and Elucidation in the Baha’i Writings in Scripture and Revelation, ed. Moojan Momen (Oxford: George Ronald, 1997): http://bahai-library.com/stockman_revelation_interpretation_elucidation (retrieved 2/12/2014).

He makes another point which further confirms that the knowledge possessed by these figures was not divine:

Further, when one examines the historical and cultural information contained in Bahā’u’llāh’s writings one notes that the knowledge to which He customarily refers is information that would have been available to Him via ordinary nineteenth-century means. Bahā’u’llāh never reveals a commentary on Confucian ethics or Buddhist cosmology, neither of which would have been readily available in nineteenth-century Persian or Arabic. He does not discuss Olmec hymns or Indo-European myths, none of which are available to even twentieth-century scholars, but which must have existed and which must have contained profound statements worthy of discussion, commentary, and praise by a Manifestation of God. Bahā’u’llāh revealed in pure Persian — much to the astonishment of the Zoroastrians — but never revealed in ancient Avestan, Iran’s ancestral tongue.

If these figures had divine knowledge then why were all their talks and speeches based on sciences known in those days and information availalable to them? Amazingly, they didn’t even bother to double check these sciences with the divine tablets that they claimed they had and as we showed, they commited multiple mistakes in their scientific claims and citations of Holy scripture.

Reason Judges That One Must Practice What He Preaches

Prohibition of Kissing Hands

Bahā’u’llāh writes in the Aqdas:

The kissing of hands hath been forbidden in the Book. This practice is prohibited by God, the Lord of glory and command. – Kitab E Aqdas Saying number 34 (http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/b/KA/ka-4.html)

This law has been completely ignored by Bahā’u’llāh and `Abdu’l-Bahā and they freely allowed anyone who wanted to kiss their hands. Here are a few examples:

“The inhabitants of the quarter in which Bahā’u’llāh had been living, and the neighbors who had gathered to bid Him farewell, came one after the other,” writes an eye-witness, “with the utmost sadness and regret to kiss His hands and the hem of His robe, expressing meanwhile their sorrow at His departure . . .”

Reference: Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 181.

Until it was time to leave and he kissed (`Abdu’l-Bahā’s) blessed hand.

Reference: Maḥmūd Zaraqānī, Badā’i` al-āthār, vol. 2, p. 31.

With great sincerity one would kiss (`Abdu’l-Bahā’s) blessed hand and another would hold his skirt.

Reference: Maḥmūd Zaraqānī, Badā’i` al-āthār, vol. 2, p. 340.

The hand kissing in America attracted so much attention that the title of an article in the newspaper, The Baltimore Sun, November 12 1912 was “Women kiss his hand”. This is how it was described:

With condescension, he greeted his followers as they were presented by the interpreter, Dr. Ameer U. Farewed, a Persian and a graduate in medicine of Johns Hopkins University. “Oh, I am so glad to see you,” was uttered in tones of reverence by the women as they bowed before him and kissed his wrinkled hand.

Reference: http://centenary.bahai.us/news/women-kiss-his-hand (retrieved 20/1/2014)

Where to Bury the Dead

The Baha’i law for Burial states:
It is forbidden you to transport the body of the deceased a greater distance than one hour’s journey from the city . . . The spirit of Bahā’u’llāh’s law is for the deceased to be buried near where he or she dies.

Reference: Bahā’u’llāh, The Kitābi Aqdas, p. 230.

This is how the Burial was performed for the Bāb on the orders of Bahā’u’llāh and `Abdu’l-Bahā:

As observed in a previous chapter the mangled bodies of the Bāb and His fellow-martyr, Mīrzā Muḥammad-`Alī, were removed, in the middle of the second night following their execution, through the pious intervention of Ḥājī Sulaymān Khān, from the edge of the moat where they had been cast to a silk factory owned by one of the believers of Milān, and were laid the next day in a wooden casket, and thence carried to a place of safety. Subsequently, according to Bahá’u’lláh’s instructions, they were transported to Ṭihrān and placed in the shrine of Imām-Zādih Ḥasan. They were later removed to the residence of Ḥājī Sulaymān Khān himself in the Sar-Chashmih quarter of the city, and from his house were taken to the shrine of Imām-Zādih Ma`ṣūm, where they remained concealed until the year 274 1284 A.H. (1867–1868), when a Tablet, revealed by Bahā’u’llāh in Adrianople, directed Mullā `Alī-Akbar-i-Shāhmīrzādī and Jamāl-i-Burūjirdī to transfer them without delay to some other spot . . . Ḥājī Shāh Muḥammad buried the casket beneath the floor of the inner sanctuary of the shrine of Imām-Zādih Zayd, where it lay undetected until Mīrzā Asadu’llāh-i-Iṣfahānī was informed of its exact location through a chart forwarded to him by Bahā’u’llāh. Instructed by Bahā’u’llāh to conceal it elsewhere, he first removed the remains to his own house in Ṭihrān, after which they were deposited in several other localities such as the house of Ḥusayn-‘Alīy-i-Iṣfahānī and that of Muḥammad-Karīm-i-‘Aṭṭār, where they remained hidden until the year 1316 (1899) A.H., when, in pursuance of directions issued by ‘Abdu’l-Bahā, this same Mīrzā Asadu’llāh, together with a number of other believers, transported them by way of Iṣfahān, Kirmanshāh, Baghdād and Damascus, to Beirut and thence by sea to ‘Akkā, arriving at their destination on the 19th of the month of Ramadān 1316 A.H. (January 31, 1899), fifty lunar years after the Bāb’s execution in Tabrīz.

Reference: Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, pp. 273–274

This one hour limit, changes to about 50 years and thousands of kilometers when applied to the Bāb.

The source of the Bāb and Bahā’u’llāh’s Knowledge

Baha’is believe that the Bab, Bahā’u’llāh, and `Abdu’l-Bahā were divinely inspired and received knowledge directly from God. For instance this is how Bahā’u’llāh claims he received divine knowledge:

Reference: Bahā’u’llāh, Tablets of Bahā’u’llāh Revealed After the Kitāb-i-Aqdas, p. 149.

The Bāb’s Education

One day I was in the Khāl’s (the Bāb’s uncle) house when I saw that his highness (the Bāb) returned from school while he was holding some papers. I asked him, “What are these?” He replied with a weak whisper, “These are my homework (or calligraphy practices).”

Reference: Mīrzā Abu l-Faḍl Gulpāygānī and Mirza Mihdī Gulpāygānī, Kashf al-ghitā’ (Tashkent, 1919), pp. 56–57.

Esslemont too admits that the Bāb had received education at school:

“In childhood He learned to read, and received the elementary education customary for children.”

Reference: J. E. Esslemont, Bahā’u’llāh and the New Era, p. 13.

He then continues in the footnote:

On this point a historian remarks: “The belief of many people in the East, especially the believers in the Bāb (now Baha’is) was this: that the Bāb received no education, but that the Mullās, in order to lower him in the eyes of the people, declared that such knowledge and wisdom as he possessed were accounted for by the education he had received. After deep search into the truth of this matter we have found evidence to show that in childhood for a short time he used to go to the house of Shaykh Muḥammad (also known as Abid) where he was taught to read and write in Persian. It was this to which the Bāb referred when he wrote in the book of Bayān: ‘O Muḥammad, O my teacher! . . . ’”

Nabīl Zarandī claims that the Bāb studied at school for five years:

The Bāb was six or seven years of age when He entered the school of Shaykh Abid. The school was known by the name of “Qahviyih-Awliya.” The Bāb remained five years at that school where He was taught the rudiments of Persian.

Reference: Nabīl Zarandī, The Dawn-Breakers: Nabīl’s Narrative of the Early Days of the Bahā’ī Revelation, p. 75 (footnote).

Bahā’u’llāh’s Education

`Abdu’l-Bahā admits that his father received education at home. We will allow Adib Taherzadeh, a member of the Universal House of Justice from 1988–2000, to tell us how Bahā’u’llāh was educated:

In Persia in the nineteenth century . . . There were two educated classes, divines and government officials, plus a small number of others . . . The second class included government officials, clerks and some merchants, who received a certain elementary education in their childhood. This consisted of reading, writing, calligraphy, the study of the Qur’ān and the works of some famous Persian poets. All this was usually accomplished within the span of a few years, after which many of them would marry, as was customary, in their late teens.
It was to this class that Bahā’u’llāh belonged. His father was a senior dignitary at the court of the Shāh and famous as a calligrapher–an art which carried with it great prestige in royal circles. Bahā’u’llāh as a child received a simple education for a brief period of time. Like His father, He excelled in calligraphy. Some specimens of His exquisite handwriting are kept in the International Bahā’ī Archives on Mount Carmel.

Reference: Adib Taherzadeh, The Revelation of Bahā’u’llāh, vol. 1, pp. 18–19.

Adib Taherzadeh gives us further information elsewhere:

Bahā’u’llāh received an elementary education during His childhood in Tihran [sic]. The nobility of those days usually employed the services of a teacher at home to tutor their children. The main subjects were calligraphy, the study of the Qur’an and the works of the Persian poets. This type of schooling ended after only a few years when the child was in his early teens. Bahā’u’llāh’s education did not go further than this.

Reference: Adib Taherzadeh, The child of the covenant: A Study Guide to the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Baha (Oxford: George Ronald, 2000), p. 19.

According to these words, the reason Bahā’u’llāh didn’t go to school was because he was born in a noble family and it was customary in these families to not send their children to school. Rather they would employ a private teacher to teach their children. It is well known that the quality of teaching received from a private tutor usually far exceeds the education that one might attain in a public school.

The final witness to how Bahā’u’llāh was educated is someone who knew him from childhood and as `Abdu’l-Bahā claims, apparently reared him. This person is no one but his sister, Khānum Buzurg (also known as Shāh Sultan Khānum and `Izziye Khānum). Although she became a follower of Mīrzā Yahyā, nonetheless, she was held with high esteem and was greatly respected by `Abdu’l-Bahā. The bond between `Abdu’l-Bahā and his aunt was so strong that `Abdu’l-Bahā used these words to address her:

Do you not remember that during my childhood and infancy what devotion I had to you, and now, for the sake of the Blessed Dust (Turbat Mubāraki) and the Encircling Place of the Most High Ones (Maṭāf Mala’ A`lā), I still have the utmost love (for you).

Reference: `Abdu’l-Bahā, Makātīb (Egypt), vol. 2, p. 180.

O intelligent aunt! I swear by the Encircling Place of the Most High Ones that in intelligence, cognition, reason, and understanding you have distinction and superiority over those who claim they are the pole/axis of the Merciful (Lord’s) world. The child that you had nurtured in your lap of love and affection had no similarity with his other brothers in any aspect and he wouldn’t accept any position.

Reference: `Abdu’l-Bahā, Makātīb (Egypt), vol. 2, p. 183.

These words show that Khānum Buzurg had very close ties to Bahā’u’llāh and `Abdu’l-Bahā until they split up over the Bab’s successorship.

The words also clearly show that Khānum Buzurg possessed a very high degree of intelligence. Furthermore, the child that `Abdu’l-Bahā is referring to who she had nurtured, is most probably Bahā’u’llāh himself because he is the one that “wouldn’t accept any positions.” These statement show that the Aunt knew a fair amount about the internal affairs of Bahā’u’llāh and how he had been schooled.

There are at least five tablets from `Abdu’l-Bahā that have been addressed to her in a bid to persuade her to become a follower of Bahā’u’llāh. In the longest tablet, `Abdu’l-Bahā refers to her as kind (mihrabān), pure (ṭayyiba), honored (mukrama). It is in this tablet that he asks her to “awaken those who are asleep.” In a response to this request, she sends him a letter with the title Ṭanbīh al-na’imīn (Awakening the asleep) to refute his claims.

Please find the references below:

`Abdu’l-Bahā, Makātīb (Egypt), vol. 2, pp. 162–186.
`Abdu’l-Bahā, Makātīb (Egypt), vol. 2, pp. 170–186.
`Abdu’l-Bahā, Makātīb (Egypt), vol. 2, p. 172.
This document is the only non-Baha’i source used in this book. The sections that we are citing from this document bear very close resemblance to what we mentioned from Baha’i sources.

It is in this letter that she explains how Bahā’u’llāh—her brother—was tutored:

The Mirzā (meaning Bahā’u’llāh), who was your father, from the beginning of his life to when he came of age—because the means were at hand and because of the gathering of the companions—was engrossed in studying and endeavored in homework. He wouldn’t disengage from learning the rudiments for a moment. After studying the rudiments of Arabic and literature he inclined towards the science of philosophy (ḥikmat) and mysticism (`irfān) so that he might benefit from these. It was such that he would spend most of the day and night socializing with high statured philosophers and the gatherings of mystics and Sufis. When it was blown in Seraph’s Trumpet of Appearance (meaning when the Bāb made his claims), he (meaning Bahā’u’llāh) was a man who had seen most of the words and phrases of the mystics and philosophers and had heard and understood most of the signs of the appearance (of the Mahdi) . . . after returning from Badasht and after the Shaykh Ṭabarsī Fort war was over, he was engaged day and night in socializing with great Islamic scholars and followers of mysticism . . .

Reference: `Izziye Khānum (Khānum Buzurg), Tanbīh al-nā’imīn, pp. 4–5.

Both friend and foe, admit that Bahā’u’llāh received education and was engaged in studying and socializing with the scholars in his youth.

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

Shoghi’s Sayings That Contradict Science or Reason

Although Baha’is sometimes try to portray Shoghi as being infallible, he himself begs to differ. Here is a leter written on his behalf by his secretary in 1944:

The infallibility of the Guardian is confined to matters which are related strictly to the Cause and interpretations of the Teachings; he is not an infallible authority on other subjects, such as economics, science, etc.

Reference: http://bahai-library.com/compilation_socrates_bwc (retrieved 18/2/2014)

He clearly says that he is not infallible in science. With this quote at hand there is no need to put forward any of his errors and unscientific words that exist in his translations, history books, letters, and elsewhere.

Furthermore, if one errs in one subject there is no gurantee that he won’t err in another, and thus there is no gurantee that Shoghi won’t err in matters related to the Baha’i cause and its interpretations. There is a article called Socrates compiled by the Research Department of the UHJ:

We must not take this statement too literally; “contemporary” may have been meant in Persian as something far more elastic than the English word. Likewise, the whole translation probably needs revising (15 February 1947).

Reference: http://bahai-library.com/compilation_socrates_bwc (retrieved 18/2/2014)

Pay attention to the words probably and may. Would one expect these words from someone assigned by a divine figure to be the sole interpreter of Baha’i works? Is this how he interprets Baha’i works: by saying maybe and probably?! He also makes a mistake regarding the work he is referring to and believes the original words were utterd in Persian whilst they were uttered in Arabic.

Socrates is available online, readers may visit: http://bahai-library.com/compilation_socrates_bwc (retrieved 17/2/2014). This article points out to a few more historical errors in `Abdu’l-Bahā’s words regarding the prophets and philosophers.

There are other instances:

Concerning the different translations of the Words. It is surely the original text that should never be changed. The translations will continue to vary as more and better translations are made. Shoghi Effendi does not consider even his own translations as final, how much more translations made in the early days of the Cause in the West when no competent translators existed (From a letter on behalf of the Guardian to John Hyde Dunn, 14 August 1930)

Reference: http://bahai-library.com/compilation_provisional_translations (retrieved 18/2/2014).

Shoghi Effendi does not consider his own translations as final. Apparently, in this creed, everything is subject to change and error prone. We ask again, how can someone fulfill the station of being the authoritative interpreter of Baha’i works when he constantly expresses doubts and is unsure of his own translations and interpretations?

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

`Abdu’l-Bahā’s Statements That Are Against Science and Reason

Before we start this section we must point out that when `Abdu’l-Bahā was asked if he knew everything, he had answered:

No, I do not know everything. But when I need to know something, it is pictured before me.

Reference: Stanwood Cobb, Memories of `Abdu’l-Bahā in In his Presence: Visits to `Abdu’l-Bahā (Kalimāt Press, 1989), p. 60.

These words are sometimes labeled by Baha’is as being pilgrims notes that cannot be verified. Shoghi has done us a favor and has verified these words at least in the sense that `Abdu’l-Bahā is unerring, has superhuman knowledge, and his words are valid like his father:

Little wonder that from the same unerring pen there should have flowed, after ‘Abdu’l-Bahā’s memorable visit to the West . .

Reference: Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Bahā’u’llāh, p. 75.

He is, and should for all time be regarded, first and foremost, as the Center and Pivot of Bahā’u’llāh’s peerless and all-enfolding Covenant, His most exalted handiwork, the stainless Mirror of His light, the perfect Exemplar of His teachings, the unerring Interpreter of His Word . . . He is, above and beyond these appellations, the “Mystery of God”—an expression by which Bahā’u’llāh Himself has chosen to designate Him, and which, while it does not by any means justify us to assign to Him the station of Prophethood, indicates how in the person of ‘Abdu’l-Bahā the incompatible characteristics of a human nature and superhuman knowledge and perfection have been blended and are completely harmonized.

Reference: Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Bahā’u’llāh, p. 134.

That ‘Abdu’l-Bahā is not a Manifestation of God, that He gets His light, His inspiration and sustenance direct from the Fountain-head of the Bahā’ī Revelation; that He reflects even as a clear and perfect Mirror the rays of Bahā’u’llāh’s glory, and does not inherently possess that indefinable yet all-pervading reality the exclusive possession of which is the hallmark of Prophethood; that His words are not equal in rank, though they possess an equal validity with the utterances of Bahā’u’llāh . .

Reference: Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Bahā’u’llāh, p. 139.

Shoghi clearly states that `Abdu’l-Bahā is unerring, has Superhuman Knowledge, and his words are equal in validity with those of Bahā’u’llāh. Now let us test this unerring, super human, and valid knowledge:

Spontaneous Generation

Spontaneous generation is the incorrect belief that non-living things can give rise to living organisms. For instance, the belief had been held for years that maggots (fly larvae) were created due to the decay of meat. These beliefs were effectively disproved by Louis Pasteur’s experiments in the nineteenth century. Apparently, the same `Abdu’l-Bahā that preached about the accordance of religion with science and reason at every opportunity, had not heard about these scientific discoveries:

Know that the creatures are of many kinds . . . some are created in wombs others [are created] by spontaneous regeneration (khalq al-sā`a) and come into existence by themselves, such as the animals that are created in fruits, and a group are created in eggs. These are the types of creation of [living] things.

Reference: `Abdu’l-Bahā, Makātīb (Egypt), vol. 2, p. 24.

Convex and Concave Mirrors

`Abdu’l-Bahā believes that a convex mirror, like a concave mirror, focuses light rays in a single real point. When explaining the necessity of focusing thought in one point he uses the following parable:

Like sunlight that does not have a complete effect on a flat mirror, but when it shines on a concave or convex mirror, all its heat is focused in a single point and the heat of that point will become stronger than fire.

Reference: `Abd al-Ḥamīd Ishrāq Khāwarī, Ayyām tis`a, p. 324.

This is while it has been proven centuries ago that a convex mirror, as opposed to a concave mirror, spreads light rays apart and does not create heat by focusing them. Some have defended Abdu’l-Bahā’s words by claiming that he meant a virtual focus; this is unacceptable because he clearly states that the heat in the focus point will be hotter than fire and this phenomena only occurs in a real focus point.

Animal Breath

From the breath of animals a watery element (`unṣur) spreads that is nowadays called hydrogen and carbon and this gives life to plants and from plants and trees a fiery element spreads that is nowadays phrased as oxygen and is the cause of animal survival.

Reference: `Abdu’l-Bahā, Makātīb (Egypt), vol. 1, p. 459.

What `Abdu’l-Bahā apparently means by the element that “gives life to plants” is carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is not an element, is not called “hydrogen and carbon,” does not have hydrogen in it, and is not watery. It is a gaseous compound.

The Reason Humans Have Canine Teeth

`Abdu’l-Bahā says:
Thou hast written regarding the four canine teeth in man, saying that these teeth, two in the upper jaw and two in the lower, are for the purpose of eating meat. Know thou that these four teeth are not created for meat-eating, although one can eat meat with them. All the teeth of man are made for eating fruit, cereals and vegetables. These four teeth, however, are designed for breaking hard shells, such as those of almonds.

Reference: Helen Bassett Hornby, Lights of Guidance: A Bahā’ī Reference File, chap. XXIV, no. 1007.

`Abdu’l-Bahā claims that the four human canine teeth have been created for breaking nuts like almonds! Firstly, breaking nuts using teeth are dentists’ (and parents’) worst nightmares! The easiest way to chip one’s canines is to try to break open a nut with them.

Secondly, even if one does want to make the unwise choice of breaking nuts with their teeth, they will go about doing so using their molars, not canines, for the canines are in no way suited for this task.

Death Occurs After Decomposition

When `Abdu’l-Bahā wants to explain that the soul is immortal, he utters these words:

The whole physical creation is perishable. These material bodies are composed of atoms; when these atoms begin to separate decomposition sets in, then comes what we call death. This composition of atoms, which constitutes the body or mortal element of any created being, is temporary.

Reference: `Abdu’l-Bahā, Paris Talks, pp. 90–91.

In most if not all cases, death occurs before decomposition. `Abdu’l-Bahā claims the opposite, and says first material bodies start decomposing then death occurs!

Blessed Animals Don’t Have Patriotic Quarrels

`Abdu’l-Bahā says:
The blessed animals engage in no patriotic quarrels. They are in the utmost fellowship with one another and live together in harmony. For example, if a dove from the east and a dove from the west, a dove from the north and a dove from the south chance to arrive, at the same time, in one spot, they immediately associate in harmony. So is it with all the blessed animals and birds. But the ferocious animals, as soon as they meet, attack and fight with each other, tear each other to pieces and it is impossible for them to live peaceably together in one spot. They are all unsociable and fierce, savage and combative fighters.

Reference: `Abdu’l-Bahā, Bahā’ī World Faith—Selected Writings of Bahā’u’llāh and `Abdu’l-Bahā (`Abdu’l-Bahā’s Section Only), pp. 287–288.

We don’t know what a blessed animal is, but if `Abdu’l-Bahā had paid close attention to pigeons and doves he would have seen that they too engage in quarrels and feather-plucking for a variety of reasons. Furthermore there are many ferocious animals that live peacefully with each other in large groups and packs. Lions, wolves, and dogs are obvious examples.

`Abdu’l-Bahā believes that even wolves and dogs hunt alone and cannot live in groups:

Among the beasts of prey each kind liveth apart from other species of its genus, observing complete antagonism and hostility; and whenever they meet they immediately fight and draw blood, gnashing their teeth and baring their claws. This is the way in which ferocious beasts and bloodthirsty wolves behave, carnivorous animals that live by themselves and fight for their lives . . . dogs, wolves, tigers, hyenas and those other beasts of prey, are alienated from each other as they hunt and roam about alone.

Reference: `Abdu’l-Bahā, Selections From the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahā, p. 287.

The Sun is Stationary, Fixed, and Ever Occupies the Same Space

The animal cannot become aware of the fact that the earth is revolving and the sun stationary. Only processes of reasoning can come to this conclusion. The outward eye sees the sun as revolving. It mistakes the stars and the planets as moving about the earth. But reason decides their orbit, knows that the earth is moving and the other worlds fixed, knows that the sun is the solar center and ever occupies the same place, proves that it is the earth which revolves around it.

Reference: `Abdu’l-Bahā, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 417.

It is a known fact that the sun—like other stars in the Milky Way galaxy —is in constant motion and it does not occupy the same place.

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

Bahā’u’llāh’s Statements That Are Against Science and Reason

The punishment for Arson

Is this law about arson logical?

Should anyone intentionally destroy a house by fire, him also shall ye burn; should anyone deliberately take another’s life, him also shall ye put to death. Take ye hold of the precepts of God with all your strength and power, and abandon the ways of the ignorant. Should ye condemn the arsonist and the murderer to life imprisonment, it would be permissible according to the provisions of the Book. He, verily, hath power to ordain whatsoever He pleaseth.

Reference: Bahā’u’llāh, The Kitābi Aqdas, p. 203.

Bahā’u’llāh announces that arsons who destroy a house are to be burned alive or alternatively they can be imprisoned for life. No conditions have been specified whatsoever about the severity and extremity of the offence that will lead to this punishment. This law must be implemented irrespective of anyone dying as a result of this fire. This law is so harsh and illogical that in the complementary notes of the Book of Aqdas, the following explanation has been added:

The details of the Baha’i law of punishment for murder and arson, a law designed for a future state of society, were not specified by Bahā’u’llāh. The various details of the law, such as degrees of offence, whether extenuating circumstances are to be taken into account, and which of the two prescribed punishments is to be the norm are left to the Universal House of Justice to decide in light of prevailing conditions when the law is to be in operation. The manner in which the punishment is to be carried out is also left to the Universal House of Justice to decide. In relation to arson, this depends on what “house” is burned. There is obviously a tremendous difference in the degree of offence between the person who burns down an empty warehouse and one who sets fire to a school full of children.

Earth’s Age

Bahā’u’llāh claims:
The learned men, that have fixed at several thousand years the life of this earth [the age of this world], have failed, throughout the long period of their observation, to consider either the number or the age of the other planets. Consider, moreover, the manifold divergencies that have resulted from the theories propounded by these men.

Reference: Bahā’u’llāh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahā’u’llāh, p. 163. The original Fārsī quote can be found in Bahā’u’llāh, Muntakhabātī az āthār Ḥaḍrat Bahā’u’llāh, p. 109.

What we have placed in square-brackets is the correct translation of the original Farsi text that has been distorted by the Baha’i translation committee. There are more errors in the translation of this quote that we will ignore for now.

The fallacy in these words is that the learned men had noy fixed the age of the earth at several thousand years during Bahā’u’llāh’s life. The estimates ranged from tens of thousands to the millions. In the mid-eighteenth century, Russian scientist Mikhail Lomonosov—widely viewed as the founder of modern Russian science—concluded that earth had been created several hundred thousand years ago.

The French naturalist, Comte du Buffon, gave an estimate of 75000 years in 1779. The physicist, William Thomson of Glasgow, gave the estimate of between 20–400 million years in 1862.

These are estimates about the “age of the earth.” The original Farsi words used by Baha’u’llah translate to “the age of this world.” Many scientists contemporary to Baha’u’llah believed that this world is eternal (not a few thousand years claimed by Baha’u’llah).

Bahā’u’llāh’s Opinion About the Book of Bayān

We showed in the previous sections the illogical and unreasonable orders uttered by the Bāb in the book of Bayān. Orders like beheading non-Babis, burning their books, destroying their monuments, massacring them, eating the leaves of trees, walking above the earth with legs, not consuming medicine, etc.

These instructions and orders are so inhumane, illogical, and unreasonable that they are never mentioned by Baha’is. When approached by questions regarding these matters, they respond by saying Bābism has been abrogated and what orders the Bāb gave, have nothing to do with Baha’ism. Bahā’u’llāh considers his own book the Aqdas as the abrogator of the Bayān:

The book of Aqdas abrogates all the decrees of the book of Bayān . . . everyone’s [religious] source is [now] the book of Aqdas not the book of Bayān. The decrees of the Bayān are [now] abrogated.

Reference: Asad-Allāh Fāḍil Māzandarānī, Asrār al-āthār khuṣūṣī, vol. 2, p. 106.

Nevertheless, the author of this violent, irrational, and unreasonable book is considered as the Starting Point (nuqtiyi aulā) and herald to Bahā’u’llāh. Baha’is celebrate his birth, rush to visit his shrine, and consider visiting his home (in Shiraz, Iran) to be like performing the Islamic Hajj. So how is it that they deny having any relation to the Bāb, and declare Bābism to be abrogated? Furthermore, Bahā’u’llāh had affirmed the status and position of the book of Bayān by telling his followers to refer to this book:

Refer to it, for a letter from it will suffice the entirety of the people of the earth. And surely God has stated all things in the evident book.

Reference: Asad-Allāh Fāḍil Māzandarānī, Asrār al-āthār khuṣūṣī, vol. 2, p. 102.

They have attributed to this Station (meaning Bahā’u’llāh)—by whose authority all [divine] Books speak— that he has abrogated the decrees of the Bayān. May the curse of God fall upon the unjust.

Reference: Bahā’u’llāh, Iqtidārāt wa chand lauḥ dīgar, p. 103.

I swear to God that if an individual from the followers of the Bayān mentions the abrogation of that book, God will break the mouth of the speaker and defamer.

Reference: Asad-Allāh Fāḍil Māzandarānī, Asrār al-āthār khuṣūṣī, vol. 5, p. 333.

Bahā’u’llāh had even stated that
I [swear by] He who in His hand is my soul and my essence, a single letter from the Bayān is dearer to me than everything that is in the heavens and the earth.

Reference: Asad-Allāh Fāḍil Māzandarānī, Asrār al-āthār khuṣūṣī, vol. 5, p. 333.

Baha’u’llah is the Creator of Multiple Gods

Baha’u’llah claims:

All Gods became Gods from the flow of my affairs and all Lords became Lords by the overflowing of my decree.

Reference: `Abdu’l-Bahā, Makātīb, vol. 2, p. 255.

These words make no sense and are against reason and the teachings of all monotheistic religions.

Some Miscellaneous Laws That Contradict Science & Reason

I have given permission to every soul to carry one thousand lines [from my books] with them so that they may have great pleasure!

Do not make more than 95 doors for the Point’s (the Bāb’s) house!

Reference: The Bāb, Arabic Bayān, unit 6, chap. 1 & 13

Do not wear clothes that will frighten children!

Reference: The Bāb, Arabic Bayān, unit 7, chap. 6.

At the age of eleven all children must marry. The consequence for ignoring this order is the annihilation of their good deeds:

It is incumbent upon all souls to leave from himself a soul (meaning to have children) and you must bring them close to each other (i.e. make them marry) after they have turned eleven and whoever can marry but doesn’t, then his [good] deeds will be annihilated!

Reference: The Bāb, Arabic Bayān, unit 8, chap. 15.

Buying and selling air, fire, water, and earth is prohibited:

Do not buy or sell the four elements (earth, air, fire, and water)!

Reference: The Bāb, Arabic Bayān, unit 9, chap. 11.

Do not ride cows and do not put loads on them if you (truly) believe in God and His signs!

Reference: The Bāb, Arabic Bayān, unit 10, chap. 15.

In every dispensation, God loves that everything becomes renewed. It is because of this that he has ordered that once in every 202 years every person renew what books he possesses by either putting them in fresh water or bestowing them to someone else!

Reference: The Bāb, Farsi Bayān, unit 7, chap. 1.

It is incumbent for every person to leave for his inheritors 19 pieces of soft paper and 19 rings inscribed on them a Name from the Names of God!

Reference: The Bāb, Farsi Bayān, unit 8, chap. 2.

If anyone can, they must recite 700 verses from the Bayān every day and night and if they can’t they must repeat ‘Allahu Aẓhar’ 700 times!

Reference: The Bāb, Farsi Bayān, unit 8, chap. 14.

You must accept as guests 19 people in 19 days!

Reference: The Bāb, Arabic Bayān, unit 9, chap. 17.

These are only a handful of the Bāb’s orders. We have sufficed with these as to not elongate this section. This is how the Bāb praises these laws:

What has been descended (i.e. revealed) in the Bayān from the verses, a single one of them is a proof over everyone that is in the skies and the earth and what is in between them. And if all those who are in the skies and the earth and what is in between them come together so as to put forth anything like it, they will be incapable.

Reference: The Bāb, Lauḥ haykal al-dīn, unit 1, chap. 3.

Bahā’u’llāh had also praised these laws by these words:

I [swear by] He who in His hand is my soul and my essence, a single letter from the Bayān is dearer to me than everything that is in the heavens and the earth.

Reference: Asad-Allāh Fāḍil Māzandarānī, Asrār al-āthār khuṣūṣī, vol. 5, p. 333.

When Bahā’u’llāh was praising these irrational statements, had he forgotten what he had uttered about religion being in conformance with science:

[That which causes] distinction between humans and animals is reason and science. If religious beliefs contradict reason and science, then of course [they are] ignorance.

Reference: `Abd al-Ḥamīd Ishrāq Khāwarī, Payām-i malakūt, p. 92.

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

Bāb’s Religious Orders That Contradict Reason and Common-Sense

As was also mentioned in the first principle, the Bāb and his book, Bayān hold a special importance for Baha’i’s. This is what Bahā’u’llāh says, about the book of Bayan:

Refer to it, for a letter from it will suffice the entirety of the people of the earth. And surely God has stated all things in the evident book.

Reference: Asad-Allāh Fāḍil Māzandarānī, Asrār al-āthār khuṣūṣī, vol. 2, p. 102.

He also says:

I [swear by] He who in His hand is my soul and my essence, a single letter from the Bayān is dearer to me than everything that is in the heavens and the earth.

Reference: Asad-Allāh Fāḍil Māzandarānī, Asrār al-āthār khuṣūṣī, vol. 5, p. 333.

Even though Bahā’u’llāh abrogated the book of the Bayān, he had stresses many times that he had no intention to do so. Rather, he had stated that he intended to reinforce its decrees:

Say: The polytheists thought that we might want to abrogate what was revealed unto the Point of Bayan (Nuqṭat al-Bayān which means the Bab). Say: By my Merciful Lord, even if we had intended [to do] what they had thought, no one was allowed to object to God who has created everything . . . but God has desired by this manifestation [meaning Bahā’u’llāh himself] to reinforce what has been revealed by the Point of Bayan . . . thus we will reinforce his decrees and will prove his writings [or signs] on earth with power and authority.

Reference: Bahā’u’llāh, Badī`, p. 390.

This is while many of the laws that have been put forth by the Bab in the book of Bayan are unacceptable to any sound mind.

Books, Writings, and Teaching

Teaching a book other than the book of Bayān is not allowed unless it has in it what is related to speculative theology (kalām). [Teaching] those [sciences] which have been invented such as logic (manṭiq), principles of jurisprudence (uṣūl), and other [sciences], are not permitted for those who have faith.

Reference: The Bāb, Farsi Bayān, unit 4, chap. 10.

You have been prohibited in the Bayān from having more than nineteen books. If you do so, you will be fined 19 mithqāls (Every mithqāl is equal to about 3.6 grams) of gold.

Reference: The Bāb, Arabic Bayān, unit 11, chap. 7.

Do not argue but by the verses [of the Bayān] for whoever does not argue using them has no knowledge, and do not mention any miracle [but this book]!

Reference: The Bāb, Arabic Bayān, unit 6, chapter 8.

The best trade is to acquire all of the Bāb’s books. Once this is fulfilled sustenance will flow down like rain:

If possible acquire all the writings of the Point (meaning the Bāb) even if they are in printed form (not hand-written) for sustenance will descend upon those who possess these like rain. Say O my servants, this is the best trade!

Reference: The Bāb, Arabic Bayān, unit 9, chap. 10.

And finally some very disturbing words:

Say O Muḥammad, my teacher. Do not hit me before my age finishes five even for a moment for my heart is very very soft. After that discipline me but not more than I can bear. If you want to hit me do not [hit me] more than five times. And do not hit me on my flesh (laḥm) unless there is a covering over it. If you exceed [these guidelines] your wife will be illegal for you for nineteen days. If you forget and if you don’t have a companion, then you must give in charity for every beating nineteen mithqāls of gold if you want to be faithful.

Reference: Bāb, Arabic Bayān, unit 6, chapter 11.

These words are very disturbing because he is giving orders to his teacher to do something not in the future, but in the past! He is telling his teacher to not hit him until his age passes five. These words were uttered when the Bab was about 29 years old! He then threatens the teacher that if he surpasses these orders he will make his wife illegal for him for nineteen days (!) or if he doesn’t have a companion (wife) he would have to pay nineteen mithqāls of Gold. Are these words in conformity with reason and science?

Food and Medicine

Using medicine is forbidden:

You must not possess, buy, sell, or use medicine, intoxicants, and higher than those!

Reference: The Bāb, Arabic Bayān, unit 9, chap. 8.

Drinking donkey milk is also forbidden and by not drinking it people will become pious:

Do not drink donkey milk! And do not load it and other animals with what they cannot bear. This is what God has made incumbent upon you so that you may become pious!

Reference: The Bāb, Arabic Bayān, unit 10, chap. 15.

Do not spoil eggs for they are the Bāb’s food on the Day of Resurrection:

Do not hit eggs on something that will spoil their insides before they are cooked, for this is the food of the Primal Point (the Bāb) and his followers in the Day of Resurrection (Qiyāma) so that you may be grateful.

Reference: The Bāb, Arabic Bayān, unit 10, chap. 15.

This order is itself very unique for according to the Baha’is, the Day of Resurrection, is the proclamation of Bahā’u’llāh. The Bāb had been dead for many years when this occurred so how could his food be eggs on that day?

Going on Journeys

Unreasonable punishments:

Whoever forces anyone in a journey—even one step—or enters someone’s house before permission is given, or forces him out of his house without his permission, or unlawfully summons him from his home, then his wife will be illegal for him for 19 months!

Reference: The Bāb, Arabic Bayān, unit 6, chap. 16.

Permission is given for going on journeys for one of three reasons:

Do not go on journeys but [1] for the sake of God and [2] if you are going to (visit) He Whom God Shall Make Manifest or [3] (visiting) those who have faith in him. And He orders you to take the leaves of trees and eat them [!] and walk above [!] the earth with your legs!

Reference: The Bāb, Lauḥ haykal al-dīn, unit 6, chap. al-Badī.

The order has been given to eat the leaves of trees and to walk above the ground with the legs! Pay attention, he says above (fauq) the ground not on the ground!

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

Did Baha’is and Their Leaders Act Upon This Principle?

The Bab, Bahā’u’llāh, and `Abdu’l-Bahā have given orders and have uttered words, that are unacceptable to any sound mind. Some of these words clearly contradict proven scientific facts and established laws of nature. Since these words contradict both science and reason, then, according to `Abdu’l-Bahā, both the Bab and Bahā’u’llāh’s creeds are illusions and void. We will gradually show these examples in the next sections.

1- Baha’ism is the Criterion for the Validity of Reason and Science

The first and utmost problem is that Bahā’u’llāh, neither regards reason nor science, as a usable tool for recognizing the truth about a religion. Rather, he believes that Baha’ism is the yardstick of truth and anything uttered in it however unscientific and unreasonable that it may be is the absolute truth. He believes that the correctness of peoples’ knowledge and reason must be measured using the words of Bahā’u’llāh, not the other way around:

“Say: O leaders of religion! Weigh not the Book of God with such standards and sciences as are current amongst you, for the Book itself is the unerring Balance established amongst men. In this most perfect Balance whatsoever the peoples and kindreds of the earth possess must be weighed, while the measure of its weight should be tested according to its own standard, did ye but know it.”

Reference: Bahā’u’llāh, The Kitābi Aqdas, p. 56.

According to Bahā’u’llāh, science is not a means of weighing the book of Aqdas, rather science and everything the people possess must be weighed and compared with the book of Aqdas!

Reference: `Abd a l-Ḥamīd Ishrāq Khāwarī, Mā’idiy-i āsimānī, vol. 7, p. 160.

No one has denied or will deny what has been revealed by the Ancient Pen (meaning himself) in this Most Great Manifestation regarding society, unity, manners, rites, and being occupied with what has benefits for the people, except that he completely lacks reason.

Reference: Bahā’u’llāh, Iqtidārāt wa chand lauḥ dīgar, p. 168.

Reference: Bahā’u’llāh, Iqtidārāt wa chand lauḥ dīgar, p. 111.

From now on nobody is to be called knowledgeable, except those who have decorated themselves with the garment of this New Affair (meaning those who have become Baha’is).

Reference: Bahā’u’llāh, Badī`, pp. 138–139.

If reason and science are not a criterion for recognizing the truth about a religion, then what is?

It would have been better if this principle was called “Science and Reason Must be in Conformity With Baha’ism” instead of “Religion Must be in Conformity With Science and Reason.”

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