A few months ago, I was contacted via Facebook by Hamid Farnagh and he requested I provide material for his magazine, which is dedicated to criticizing the Baha’i Faith. I complied and soon portions of my writings appeared there, along with a description of me.

I then requested he send me an English translation of what was written so I could be sure my writings had been properly represented. He promised me he would do so, but his efforts were delayed by his contracting the coronavirus, which he survived. Once he got well, he kept his word to me and I got the translation in email, which I then downloaded and read. Now I will share that text with my readers.

The Baha’i Faith from the Viewpoint of the Baha’i Critics and Intellectuals

Part Eight: Dale Husband

Hamid Farnagh, Master of International Law

Abstract

Dale Husband is one of the researchers and writers who became acquainted with Baha’i teachings during his nearly nine years of membership in the Baha’i community and organization. He then wrote to the Bahai National Assembly of USA that after years of investigating of the truth, I finally came to the sad conclusion that I could no longer believe in Baha’u’llah or any of the institutions established under his name, such as Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice. I am fully convinced that the Bahais are incapable of achieving their goals and teachings of peace, world unity, and the golden age of human society. Husband does not believe in infallibility of the Bahai central figures and Institutions, and assumes such a belief as an initial movement toward dictatorship and tyranny within the Baha’i community.

He strongly criticizes the legitimacy of the Baha’i leadership after Abdu’l-Baha, and believes that it should have been vested to Mohammad Ali Effendi. He considers illegitimate the current leadership of the Bahai community (located in Haifa, Israel), and believes that the Baha’ism has achieved nothing during its 170 years existence. He is a Unitarian Baha’i.

Strictly speaking, I am a supporter of the Unitarian Baha’i movement, thinking it the only legitimate version of the Baha’i Faith in existence, but I do not practice the Faith at all and think the world can do well without it. I am a Humanist and a Unitarian Universalist.

Foreword (Repeated in all 8 articles)

Since the advent of the Bahai Faith, the teachings of this school of thought have always been subject to criticism and have been subjected to various protests.

Muslim and Christian scholars, and proponents of the divine religions, in general, have written various books protesting the legitimacy and teachings of the Bahai Faith, which sees itself as a developed version of Islam and the divine religions.

In addition to the followers of monotheistic religions and religious thinkers, the Baha’is have also been criticized by non-divine writers and thinkers. Each of them has criticized the teachings of this new emerging Iranian faith from a particular perspective.

The Baha’i organization first tried to keep Baha’is less aware of the opposition’s criticisms and protests. Therefore, not only did not recommend reading such books and articles, but also encouraged the Bahais to render those letters, articles and magazines of the opposition without reading them to the local Assembly (the 9-member board of Baha’i organizations in each city).

Today, the Baha’i organization is trying to discredit its opponents and call them as illiterate, mercenaries, dissidents, anti-Baha’is, unfamiliar with Baha’ism, ambitious, and so on. This has discredited them, and so far it has taken great steps in this direction, and it has been able to create deep gaps between the Baha’i masses and those who are intellectual critics of the Baha’ism.

But over time, with the proliferation of cyberspace and the rapid access of individuals to information, unbiased Baha’is have been able to access to various articles and books written in the Baha’i realm and seek logical answers to the opposition’s protests.

A new phenomenon in the Bahai world community since 1996 has been the emergence of critics from within the Bahai Community. Of course, conversion of the important and cultured people from the Iranian Baha’is and their inclination towards Islam or sectarian divisions has a long history. But with the spread of cyberspace and the Internet, it has become possible for some Baha’i intellectuals and thinkers in the West, to protest the views and actions of the leadership of the Baha’i International Community, the Universal House of Justice, seated in Israel.

These intellectuals, who were typically elites of the Baha’i community, had academic education studies in the Baha’i realm, and had sufficient knowledge of the Baha’i Faith and its teachings, inquired the Baha’i organization and its leadership in Haifa, and protested their authoritarian decisions. They believe that the (charismatic) spiritual leadership of the Bahai Faith is replaced with a semi-electoral oligarchy, whose structure and decisions are regularly criticized by opponents and domestic believers and former Baha’is; and the development of the Internet has paved the way for further expansion of these grievances.

The leadership of the Bahaism in Haifa, who considers itself divinely appointed and immune from any error and mistake, rejected the oppositions of the intellectuals and started a serious worldwide fighting against them. For this reason, they used their secret intelligence agency (Boards of continental Counselors) and expelled a lot of them on different pretexts from the Baha’i community and or took movements to force them to resign and leave the Baha’i Community.

In view of the UHJ, the Baha’is must obey just one voice and one app approach roach of the Faith and advertise it, which is the approach of the organization and leadership of the Baha’ism. Based on this perspective, any action, expression, opinion, analysis or interpretation, and even any question contrary to the policies and views of UHJ and NSAs along the world is forbidden. And the committed people after receipt of a notice – or even sometimes without a notice – are excommunicated from the Baha’i communities, and any contact or correspondence with them is forbidden. At times, the people are put under pressure, so that they have no choice but to resign and exit from the Baha’i Faith.

This type of harsh and irrational acts has caused educated thinkers like William Garlington, Juan Cole, Frederick Glaysher, Dennis Mac Eoin, George Flemming, Alison Marshall, Steven Scholl, Sen Mc Glynn, Francesco Ficcichia, etc; who have been member of the Bahai communities for years, and had taught it for years, were forced to separate from it, and freely publish their critical articles and books in academic journals, and cyber media.

This article tries to provide a brief overview of the views and opinions of another Ex-Bahai intellectual on the Baha’i organization. Although it is necessary for educated scholars to enter this field and provide more complete studies in this field for the respected interested people.

Everything in that section above seems accurate. The cultlike aspects of the mainstream Baha’i leadership and community is shocking to behold and must be repeatedly exposed and confronted in public.

Dale Wayne Husband

Dale Wayne Husband, a 50-year-old Baha’i thinker, speaker, writer, researcher, and scholar, was born on May 8, 1969, in Fort Worth, Texas, USA, and grew up in a Protestant Christian family without any special affiliation to the church.

From the age of 15 to 20, he was a member of the Evangelic Christian Church. But after entering the university, he came to the conclusion that most of the teachings offered by the Christian missionaries and priests were false and untrue.
From the age of 20 to 27, Dale was a philanthropist and a member of the Unitarian Church. But gradually he felt that the thoughts of this group were empty and free from great concepts and values.

He as an agnostic humanist rejects atheism, and considers it another form of superstition and bigotry. He tries to get away from any kind of prejudice and superstition of religions and rituals, in the light of reason and logic, and the findings of human knowledge. So from a young age, he became particularly interested in science, astronomy, history, and related topics.
He graduated from Tarrant County College in 2000 with a degree in science and is currently working at the Amazon Institute. Freed from Baha’i prejudices, he reverted to what is now considered to be his true self: Willing to learn from religious traditions without being bound by anything dogmatic. In 2005, in order to reconcile his spiritual side with his skeptical side, he invented his philosophy of Honorable Skepticism which has guided him ever since.

This section is mostly based on:

https://dalehusband.com/about-the-author/my-spiritual-journeys/

Problem: As an agnostic humanist, I cannot actually be a Baha’i, since the Baha’i Faith is a God-centered religion. I made that clear here:

https://dalehusband.com/2007/10/19/why-i-quit-the-bahai-faith/

I am a non-theist now, worshipping no God and following no faith. And I do not foresee myself being anything else. The Baha’i Faith was the last chance I was willing to give for a God centered religion to rule my life….and now I know that none ever will.

I also have no hostility towards atheism, but I do find many atheists as persons to be offensive.

I also no longer work for the Amazon company and currently am employed by Sam’s Club, a division of Wal-Mart. Anyway, moving on…..

Dale became a member of the Baha’i community in 1995, and after attending Baha’i teaching programs and Fireside meetings (A form of Baha’i teaching that was held in Baha’i homes during those years, in which a non-Baha’i – beginner – was promoted by the Baha’I teachers.)
He became interested in the Baha’ism in Bedford. He writes about his becoming a Baha’I as below:
In the mid-1990s, I was in a state of mental confusion. Growing up and raised in a Christian environment, learned from some disgusting and hypocritical behaviors of Christian leaders, as well as some of the conflicts and contradictions in the Bible, I left the Christian church.

In 1995, I received a pamphlet on the Baha’ism, which was very interesting. The Baha’is claimed to believe in the God of other religions, and they considered other religions to be valid and enforceable. And like the Universalist Unitarians, they certify the beliefs of others, regardless of religion or creed. I thought the Baha’is and the Unitarians had a common denominations, and were twin sisters. So after a few months of attending public meetings, as well as reading the book, Bahaullah and the New Era, I accepted the Bahai Faith and was pleased.
Of course, in the following years things happened, and the hidden half became clear, and after research and study in the Baha’is, I finally came to the conclusion that I could not believe in Bahaullah and Bahai institutions such as the Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice. “And at the end of 2004, I left the Baha’i community in the United States.”
In a letter to the National Baha’i Assembly, he wrote:

“… After years of researching the truth, I have finally come to the sad conclusion that I can no longer believe in Bahaullah or any of the institutions established under his name, such as Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice.
I am fully convinced that the Baha’ism is incapable of achieving its goals and teachings, such as creating world peace, uniting the human world, creating a golden age for human society, and so on. Therefore, I am resigning from the Baha’i community.”

With regrets,

Dale Husband

The original version of that statement can be found here in red:

https://dalehusband.com/2017/01/22/why-i-abandoned-the-haifan-bahai-faith/

He continues: “I prepared this letter and sent it in January 2005. A few weeks later, the US National Assembly responded by announcing that it had accepted my resignation and expressed hope that one day I would return to the Baha’i community. After that, I cut off all communications with the Baha’i community in my city (Fort Worth).

After leaving the Baha’i Faith, Dale Husband re-joined the UU Union. But after establishment of the Association of Unitarian Bahais by Eric Estetson, which was aimed to integrate the “Westernized” Baha’i ideas and teachings, and the ideas of the UU, Dale began to support this idea.

Husband believes that Baha’ism should undergo fundamental reforms and changes, and integrate with the UU Group. Otherwise, and if disregard the teachings of the UUs, the Baha’ism will have no fate but destruction and annihilation.
Currently Dale has a pessimistic and critical view toward Baha’ism and, while advocating humane and experimental reason and logic, denies the dogmatic beliefs of the Baha’ism (or any other religion).

That part is indeed accurate.

The Cause of Leaving the Bahai Faith

Critics and opponents of the organization have no place in the Bahai Faith. Such individuals are simply expelled from the Baha’i community, or the Baha’i organization plans to force the critic to resign.

In October 2007, Dale referred to his departure from Baha’ism in his article, “Why I abandoned the Haifan Bahai Faith?” and wrote:
“I was a Christian in my teens. In my early twenties, I abandoned Christianity due to its flaws, conflicts, and shortcomings. The Baha’is explained that apart from the fact that Jesus Christ was a divine prophet (or manifestation), his religion had been perverted and corrupted over the centuries, and that most Christians were no longer followers of him, but followers of Human beings’ thoughts and worldly ideas!

In joining the Baha’i community, I thought I was seeing what the early Christians in the Roman Empire were like, except that unlike them the Bahais would not split into competing sects and engage in wars against each other. If only everyone in the world became Bahai, I was told, we would be at peace and prosperity forever.

What a wonderful vision! But human nature will NEVER allow for it! The reason is that the leadership of the Baha’i Faith, from its founder, Bahaullah, to the Universal House of Justice today, claim to be infallible because it is guided by God. Yet we know that Bahaullah, his son Abdu’l-Baha, Abdul-Baha’s grandson Shoghi Effendi (the Guardian of the Faith), and the members of the Universal House of Justice were/are all human beings. What evidence do we have that ANY of them are infallible? NONE! And if you cannot question the will of a leadership, what do you in fact have? Tyranny! And what does tyranny always lead to, according to history? Corruption and injustice! And that, in turn results in the system breaking down over time. Indeed, the very idea that any human being, human run institution, or human product is infallible is sheer nonsense. It is the most dangerous idea in the world!

Also, I finally began to see that the Bahai Faith also has errors, contradictions, and failures of its own, despite being less than 200 years old. It was my coming to understand this that finally led me to leave the Faith with a heavy heart. Thehypocrisies of the Baha’i Faith’s own dogmas can be summed up as follows:

1. State that religion no longer needs clergy… and replace them with leaders that are as authoritarian as the clergy ever was.
2. Claim that men and women should be equal……but then deny women membership in the all-powerful leadership council of the religion.
3. Condemn as heretics those who believe in your religion but dare to challenge the claims of your religion’s current leadership, while at the same time claiming to welcome as friends the followers of other religions.
4. Claim there is harmony between science and religion, but also claim that anything your leaders say is absolutely true, even if on topics science is expected to address.
5. Claim to shun partisan politics, but favor a government of their own, which is as partisan as it gets.

Then there are the scandals I discovered which really disturbed me, even after I had left the Faith.

A. The Violation of Abdul-Baha

Bahaullah in the The Kitáb-i-Ahd, or Book of the Covenant (his Will and Testament) appointed Abdu’l-Baha as his successor, but also started that Abdu’l-Baha’s younger brother Mirza Muhammad Ali should be below him in rank and also be his immediate successor. Abdu’l-Baha disobeyed this commandment by depriving Muhammad Ali of any rank and replacing him as successor with his grandson, Shoghi Effendi, in his own Will and Testament.

B. The Madness of Shoghi Effendi

Abdu’l-Baha, in the same Will and Testament that appointed Shoghi Effendi as Guardian of the Cause of God, stated that the Guardian must appoint either his firstborn or another branch (male descendant of Baha’u’llah) as his successor in his own lifetime. Shoghi Effendi not only had no children, but he expelled from the Baha’i community every single one of Abdu’l-Baha’s own descendants, making it impossible for him to keep his grandfather’s commandments. He also died in 1957 without leaving a Will and Testament of his own as required by Baha’i law, throwing the Faith into a crisis.

C. Failed prophecy cover up

An early edition of Bahaullah and the New Era by J. E. Esslemont stated a prophecy by Abdu’l-Baha that by 1957 “Universal Peace will be firmly established, a Universal language promoted. Misunderstandings will pass away. The Bahá’í Cause will be promulgated in all parts and the oneness of mankind established.” But what really happened that year was Shoghi Effendi’s death. The prophecy was deleted from later editions of the book.

D. Attack on Kalimat Press

In 2005 and 2006, the National Spiritual Assemblies of the Baha’is of the United States and the United Kingdom issued orders to Baha’i communities under their command to stop selling books published by Kalimat Press, a small Baha’i owned book publishing company, for publishing a few books that they happened to disapprove of. As a result, the company was crippled in its operations.

E. Dr. Hussein Danesh, sex offender

A member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Canada, Danesh was stripped of his psychiatric license in the 1990s after being accused by several of his patients of sexual abuse. Instead of being expelled from the Baha’i community, he was sent to the Baha’i Landegg “university” in Switzerland, a private school which failed in 2005. Returning to Canada, he was hired by the NSA of Canada as a marriage and family therapist for fellow Baha’is.

F. Italian Baha’i financial scandal

Franco Ceccherini, a longtime member of the Italian National Spiritual Assembly, was found in 2007 to have stolen over 360,000 euros over 14 years while serving as the Assembly’s treasurer. This was discovered only when the Italian government audited the Baha’i community and then charged it 275,000 euros in back taxes, crippling financially the entire Italian Bahai community.

G. Stephen Birkland, Baha’i secret police detective

In the 1990s, as a member of the Continental Board of Counselors for North America, Birkland led an investigation of Baha’is running an internet forum known as “Talisman” where members could openly question and debate issues regarding the management of the Baha’i communities. Birkland’s abusive tactics drove several Baha’is, including Juan Cole and John & Linda Walbridge, to resign rather than be condemned as covenant-breakers for taking part in Talisman, which was then shut down. Birkland was later rewarded for his zeal by being appointed to the International Teaching Center in 2008 and then he was elected to the Universal House of Justice in 2010.

So at the end of 2004, realizing that I had to remove myself from that community outright as a matter of honor, I wrote the following to the National Spiritual Assembly (NSA) of the Baha’is of the United States:

After years of investigation and soul-searching, I have finally come to the sad understanding that I can no longer bring myself to believe in Baha’u’llah or any of the institutions established in His name, including the Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice. I am totally convinced that the Baha’i Faith is doomed to fail in its mission to bring peace, unity, and a Golden Age to humanity and I therefore resign from my past membership in the Faith. Goodbye.
Regretfully,
Dale Husband

I composed that letter on my computer and then mailed it in January of 2005. A few weeks later, the NSA replied that they had accepted my resignation and expressed hope that I would one day decide to return. That looked like denial to me, so I dismissed it and threw away the letter. Then I cut completely all personal ties to the Baha’is in the Fort Worth area. Despite this, I stayed silent about my defection from the Baha’i Faith until October 19, 2007, when I posted my first blog entry attacking it. Encouraged by the feedback I got as a result, I stepped up my efforts until I found myself in battle over the years with various members of my former religion, all of whom only showed me why I had no business being among them anymore!

https://dalehusband.wordpress.com/2007/10/19/why-i-quit-the-bahai-faith

That section is a much more accurate translation of my writings.

Hierarchy of the Bahai Central Figures According to the Writings

Bahaullah

Abdul-Baha

Muhammad Ali

Universal House of Justice

********

What It Really is in Practice?

Bahaullah

Abdul-Baha

Shoghi Effendi

Universal House of Justice

By Dale Husband (UB)

That is based on a chart I made years ago as part of a series of Sunday school lessons I made for my UU church.

Dale Husband’s published works:

The Baha’i Faith and Unitarian Universalism: A Personal Testimony and Analysis

The book was published online in 2017, in 73 pages

That book is described here: I have published a BOOK

• Some of Dale Husband’s articles

Mr. Husband has written many articles on various social, political, educational, moral, religious, etc. topics. In the present article, only some of his articles in the field of Baha’ism are given as follow:

Independent Investigation of Truth – A Baha’i case of HYPOCRISY! Feb3, 2010

Five Ways to Create a Religion of Hypocrites August 8, 2018

A Critical Analysis of the Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha Mar26, 2018

Why I Abandoned the (Haifan) Baha’i Faith? Jan 22, 2017

The Baha’i Faith, Mormonism, and Reddit January 28, 2018

My battle with a Haifan Baha’i on YouTube June 25, 2017

Why we need a Unitarian Baha’i Faith April 5, 2010

My Battle on Amazon with a Haifan Baha’I http://www.amazon.com/Lost-History-Bahai-Faith April 10, 2016

Bahai government would be totally tyrannical May 16, 2009

Damage Control by Shoghi Effendi Sept 23, 2019

The – bogus- issue- of- infallibility-in-the-bahai-faith 07/06/2018

The Absurdity of the “Orthodox Baha’i” Claims August 12, 2019

A Critical Analysis of the Kitáb-i-‘Ahd (Book of the Covenant) July 27, 2019

The Baha’i Leadership is obsessed with Martyrdom! Apr11, 2019

A Critical Analysis of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas

Universal house of international

Bahai-scandals 8 2015/10/

Equality of Sexes not in Bahai Faith

http://bahaism.blogspot.com/2015/07/equality-of-sexes-not-in-bahai-faith.html

Religious Fundamentalism Is Blasphemy

https://dalehusband.wordpress.com/2007/07/23/religious-fundamentalism-is-blasphemy

The Fatal Flaw In Bahai Authority

https://dalehusband.com/2008/09/07/the-fatal-flaw-in-bahai-authority

For some reason, a pic of Shoghi Effendi was included in the text. No need for that here, since it wasn’t on the original blog entry slamming him.

Introducing and examining the critical views of Dale Husband

Dale posted his first critical remarks on his Facebook page on October 19, 2007, and became a member of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA).
He evaluated the principles and teachings of this association more consciously and appropriately than the Bahai Teachings. In “Why I Abandoned the Baha’i Faith?” He discussed the principles and teachings of this association as follows:

I have joined the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) and found its principles to be far more enlightened than those of the Haifan Baha’is. And better still, they truly LIVE those principles too!

• 1st Principle: The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
• 2nd Principle: Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
• 3rd Principle: Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
• 4th Principle: A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
• 5th Principle: The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
• 6th Principle: The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
• 7th Principle: Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

I actually rejoined the Unitarian Universalist Association in 2005, a few months after leaving the Baha’i community. My original version of my first blog entry condemning the Baha’i Faith was titled “I am an Ex-Baha’i” and was published in the summer of 2007 in Care2, a web community that no longer exists. It was almost identical to the October 19, 2007 version posted in this blog.

Warning about the Baha’ism

I have several reasons that the international Baha’i community will become a dangerous religious group and sect if the Baha’i policies adopted by the International House of Justice do not change. The Baha’is are not dangerous at the moment because their members are few.

Founded in the 19th century, the Bahai Faith is quite like a confection, in which the outer shell is of Western liberal thought and teachings, but in the political and social spheres are linked to the nineteenth-century Babi teachings and ideas of the Middle Eastern.

Despite the rejection of most of the Bahai Teachings, I subsequently supported the efforts of my friend Eric Stetson in founding the Unitarian Baha’i Group (UB), who aims to integrate fundamentally Westernized Bahai Ideas and teachings with the ideas of UUs. This could be the only way to save the Bahai Faith from continuing destruction, degeneration, and turning into a destructive sect. If the Unitarian Baha’is do not succeed, the Baha’ism will have no destiny but extinction!

A rewording of one of my statements.

Dale Husband also has many criticisms on Baha’i orders, teachings, and organizations, explaining all of them are beyond the scope of this article. We will only review some of these perspectives.

1- Protesting against the view that the Baha’i leaders are infallible

Most Baha’is consider their leaders to be free from error and misguidance, and expect their undisputed obedience. In the view of this group of Baha’is, the House of Justice (the Baha’i leadership in Haifa) and the Baha’i organization are infallible, and no Baha’i is allowed to show the slightest opposition to the Baha’i leaders. Of course, some Baha’i intellectuals have not accepted this view and have protested against it. (For information on the reasons of the Bahais’ opposition to this teaching, please refer to the articles published in previous issues of Bahai Shenasi, Baha’ism from the perspective of Baha’i critics and intellectuals in Nos. 5 and 6, pp. 116 and 124, respectively).

Dale Husband in his articles has described that the idea that Baha’i leaders are infallibles, is a false and dangerous idea.

“The Baha’i leadership has been claiming from the beginning that they are infallible and free from error because they have divine guidance! While we know that Bahaullah, his son Abdu’l-Bah., the grandson of Abdu’l-Baha, Shoghi Effendi, and all the members of the House of Justice, are all ordinary people. What reason do we have that they are immune from error? Nothing!

If you can’t ask questions about a leader’s intentions and decisions, what’s left for you? Oppression and tyranny. And what is the result of this oppression and tyranny? History testifies that the result of oppression and tyranny is corruption and injustice. Oppression and tyranny, in turn, will lead to the collapse of the system over time. In fact, the idea that every human being, every human-run institution, or every human product, is immune to error is false and meaningless. “This is the most dangerous idea in the world.”

In this regard, another important issue should be mentioned, and that is that if the Baha’is are to carry out the orders of their leaders without any reason, why did Abdu’l-Baha did not follow his father’s order to succeed Muhammad Ali Effendi (after Abdu’l-Bah) as mentioned in the Book of Covenant? Isn’t he disobedient?! Or why did Shoghi Effendi, the third Baha’i leader, disobey Baha’u’llah’s order in the Aqdas to write a will? And caused problems for the Baha’i community with regards to the issue of succession? Or why the House of Justice, after its establishment, did not pay attention to Shoghi Effendi’s order about the necessity of existence of the institution of the Guardian of the Cause?

Dale has directly pointed to this case in his article,The Fatal Flaw in Baha’i Authority:

The basic problem of authority in the Baha’i Faith, with its false claim that those authorities are infallible, really becomes obvious when you consider the issue of the Guardianship, which Shoghi Effendi held from 1921 until his death in 1957. He was appointed to that position by his grandfather, Abdu’l-Baha.

O ye the faithful loved ones of Abdu’l-Baha! it is incumbent upon you to take the greatest care of Shoghi Effendi… For he is, after Abdu’l-Baha, the Guardian of the Cause of God… He that obeyeth him not, hath not obeyed God; he that turneth away from him, hath turned away from God and he that denieth him, hath denied the True One… All must seek guidance and turn unto the Center of the Cause and the House of Justice. And he that turneth unto whatsoever else is indeed in grievous error. (Abdu’l-Baha: Will and Testament, pages 25-26)

Later, Shoghi Effendi himself wrote:

Divorced from the institution of the Guardianship the World Order of Baha’u’llah would be mutilated and permanently deprived of that hereditary principle which, as Abdu’l-Baha has written, has been invariably upheld by the Law of God. …Without such an institution the integrity of the Faith would be imperiled, and the stability of the entire fabric would be gravely endangered. its prestige would suffer, the means required to enable it to take a long, an uninterrupted view over a series of generations would be completely lacking, and the necessary guidance to define the sphere of the legislative action of its elected representatives would be totally withdrawn. (Shoghi Effendi: World Order of Bahaullah, page 148 )

It stands to reason that if Shoghi Effendi must be obeyed absolutely as the representative of God’s will, then he himself must obey the Baha’i commandments that came before him. If he was disobedient to Baha’i laws, then no one should obey him.

Baha’ullah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith, stated in his book of laws, the Kitab-i-Aqdas, paragraph 109, “Unto everyone hath been enjoined the writing of a will.”

Likewise, Abdul-Baha, son of Baha’u’llah, in the very Will and Testament by which appointed Shoghi Effendi to the Guardianship, stated:

“It is incumbent upon the Guardian of the Cause of God to appoint in his own life-time him that shall become his successor that differences may not arise after his passing. He that is appointed must manifest in himself detachment from all worldly things, must be the essence of purity, must show in himself the fear of God, knowledge, wisdom and learning. Thus, should the first-born of the Guardian of the Cause of God not manifest in himself the truth of the words:—“The child is the secret essence of its sire,” that is, should he not inherit of the spiritual within him (the Guardian of the Cause of God) and his glorious lineage not be matched with a goodly character, then must he, (the Guardian of the Cause of God) choose another branch to succeed him.”

(Abdul-Baha. Will and Testament, p. 12.)

Shoghi Effendi did none of these things. He had no children, and in fact he expelled from the Faith as “Covenant-breakers” every other descendant of his own grandfather, thus betraying the Faith. When he died in 1957, he left no will and had appointed no successor, thus failing to obey the very Covenant he was expected to uphold.

With no further guidance from the Guardian, the Hands of the Cause of God that he had appointed to assist him did the only thing they could to keep the Baha’i Faith alive: They took over the Faith and arranged for the eventual election of the Universal House of Justice in 1963. But without a Guardian to preside over that body, it would never be in accordance with the very writings that established its authority. And the only ones who could be Guardian were the male descendants of Baha’ullah, all of whom were excluded from the Faith by the first Guardian!

Indeed, the simple fact that Shoghi Effendi disobeyed both Bahaullah and Abdul-Baha by not leaving a will, by expelling all his own relatives from the Faith, and not appointing in his lifetime one of his brothers or male cousins as his successor to the Guardianship should be enough to demonstrate that there is NO “true” Baha’i Faith existing today. Its authority is meaningless by the testimony of its own history!

https://dalehusband.com/2008/09/07/the-fatal-flaw-in-bahai-authority

2- The Investigation of truth in the Baha’ism is a great lie and deception

One of the main causes of conflicts in today’s world is that many people blindly and uncritically follow the opinions and beliefs of groups. God has given every human being a clear intellect and power to distinct between right and wrong. Now, if human beings do not use their intellectual capacity and, without research and study, choose a belief solely on the basis of fear of someone or love and affection for someone, this means that they have neglected their fundamental moral responsibilities.

Usually, when people do this, they become so attached to their beliefs that they can no longer tolerate nonviolent opinions and beliefs.” This kind of prejudice can lead to conflict. History has always witnessed conflicts, even bloodsheds, over minor differences in religious customs and traditions, or the interpretation of slightly different attitudes, from a single belief and creed. Research and personal examination to find out the truth enables one to understand why he/she advocates a particular ideology or belief.

One of the teachings of the Baha’ism is “Investigation of truth”. They present themselves as superior to other divine and non-divine schools, while if one wants to search for truth, one must not be prejudiced against one’s religious beliefs in the first place, and see the possibility that others may also may have a share from the truth.

Dale in his detailed article entitled: Independent Investigation of Truth, A Baha’i case of HYPOCRISY! has scrutinized this issue and criticizes the Baha’is for not presenting the correct method of the Investigation the truth, and writes:

If five people meet together to seek for truth, they must begin by cutting themselves free from all their own special conditions and renouncing all preconceived ideas. In order to find truth we must give up our prejudices, our own small trivial notions; an open receptive mind is essential. If our chalice is full of self, there is no room in it for the water of life. The fact that we imagine ourselves to be right and everybody else wrong is the greatest of all obstacles in the path towards unity, and unity is necessary if we would reach truth, for truth is one.

Therefore it is imperative that we should renounce our own particular prejudices and superstitions if we earnestly desire to seek the truth. Unless we make a distinction in our minds between dogma, superstition and prejudice on the one hand, and truth on the other, we cannot succeed. When we are in earnest in our search for anything we look for it everywhere. This principle we must carry out in our search for truth.

Science must be accepted. No one truth can contradict another truth. Light is good in whatsoever lamp it is burning! A rose is beautiful in whatsoever garden it may bloom! A star has the same radiance if it shines from the East or from the West. Be free from prejudice, so will you love the Sun of Truth from whatsoever point in the horizon it may arise! You will realize that if the Divine light of truth shone in Jesus Christ it also shone in Moses and in Buddha. The earnest seeker will arrive at this truth. This is what is meant by the ‘Search after Truth’.

It means, also, that we must be willing to clear away all that we have previously learned, all that would clog our steps on the way to truth; we must not shrink if necessary from beginning our education all over again. We must not allow our love for any one religion or any one personality to so blind our eyes that we become fettered by superstition! When we are freed from all these bonds, seeking with liberated minds, then shall we be able to arrive at our goal.

‘Seek the truth, the truth shall make you free.’ So shall we see the truth in all religions, for truth is in all and truth is one! (Abdu’l-Bahá: Paris Talks, Pages: 135-137)

You will find similar statements at other websites made to teach the Baha’i Faith! Indeed, you may get the impression that “independent investigation of truth” is not only a basic Baha’i teaching, but that Baha’is are the only ones that emphasize this idea. That, to put it bluntly, is hogwash. It really isn’t practiced with any consistency, it’s not exclusive to the Baha’i Faith, and truly investigating truth does not necessarily lead to conversion to that Faith.

Here’s a more critical perspective: For a more in-depth study of the critical view of the investigationof truth, see the address below, which is a critical Christian site on the Baha’i Faith, and which contains many references to the non-observance of the investigation of the truth in the Bahai Faith.

http://bahaicatholic.wordpress.com/2008/08/27/independent-investigation-of-truth/

https://dalehusband.com/2010/02/03/independent-investigation-of-truth-a-bahai-case-of-hypocrisy/[I believe that many Baha’is don’t investigate the claims of Christianity fairly because they uncritically accept what the Central Figures and Shoghi Effendi said about it. Shoghi Effendi said that Christ was born of a Virgin, so Baha’is believe it. If he had said he wasn’t, then they wouldn’t. Abdu’l-Baha said that Christ was speaking figuratively when he called himself the bread of heaven, so Baha’is believe him. And then Baha’is tell us Christians that we should investigate the truth for ourselves instead of blindly accepting what our “religious institutions” tell us. Sounds like the pot calling the kettle black. How do you know that a book of Baha’i history is accurate? Because it was published by a Baha’i Publishing Trust? That’s not independent investigation of truth.

How do you know that when a Baha’i author says Bahaullah fulfilled a particular prophecy from some religion, that he is both quoting the prophecy accurately and reporting the event in Baha’u’llah’s life accurately? Because the author is a respected Baha’i? That’s not independent investigation of truth.

When I was a Baha’i, one of my favorite books was Portals to Freedom. My perception of Abdu’l-Baha was therefore partly dependent upon Howard Colby Ives. In other words, it wasn’t independent. This example can be multiplied a hundredfold – for Taherzadeh, for Ruhe, for Esslemont, etc.]

I once knew a Baha’i family in which the teenage daughter raised within it never took part in any Baha’i activities. So I was impressed that she felt free to reject her parents’ faith without losing her parents’ love. At the same time, however, I wondered why she would not want to follow a faith as wonderful as that of her parents. After I de-converted from the Faith in 2004, I finally figured out that the girl must have done that “independent investigation of truth” but it had led her away from that Faith, as it would me eventually. This is evidence enough that the Baha’i teachings are flawed and contradictory. Ironically, children raised in the Faith who DO accept it are not necessarily doing so after investigating other options and rejecting most of them, since in all the years I was Baha’i, I saw no examples of Baha’i children being encouraged to visit other religions’ houses of worship, though they certainly were not forbidden to do so either (though I found it interesting that they had services every Sunday, as if they were competing directly with Christian churches. Baha’i teachings do NOT require any Sunday services.) But at the Unitarian Universalist church I attend now, the youth there ARE taken to other churches as part of their Sunday School lessons.

But it is even worse, since faithful Baha’is are absolutely required to shun “Covenant-breakers”, those who claim to be Baha’i but reject the current Baha’i leadership. Any Baha’i who associates with such people, who are said to have a deadly spiritual disease, is also subject to being declared a Covenant-breaker. How can the principle of independent investigation of truth be upheld in this case? One thing that is not widely known about the Faith is that most of the relatives and descendants of Baha’u’llah were declared Covenant-breakers simply for not blindly following the absolute authority of Abdu’l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi! The family of Baha’u’llah was torn apart by the claims of the leadership of the Faith to be infallible. Since these must have been the people who knew those leaders best, one would have expected them to be the most loyal members of the Faith…unless they KNEW how flawed those leaders’ actual characters were!

For children raised in the Baha’i Faith, the issue of independent investigation of truth does not really apply to them, since they are assumed to have the truth already. Rather, that principle is taught to “seekers” (non-Baha’is who are learning about the Faith) to entice them to read more Baha’i propaganda and be seduced by it. Such duplicity must be exposed and debunked, hence my writing this.

The editing here seems a bit sloppy, but it still gets my point across.

3- Dale Husband’s opinion about the succession of Abdul-Baha according to the book “A Lost History of the Bahai Faith”

Eric Stetson, a Baha’i intellectual and critic, cites important documents in Baha’i history that show that Baha’i leaders and writers have hidden important parts of their history, the events after the demise of Abdul-Baha and his succession, from the ordinary Baha’is. (For more information on Stetson’s views, please refer to the article “Eric Stetson: Bahaism from the Perspective of Critics and Enlightenment Thoughts” in Bahai Shenasi Journal No. 9, spring 2019)
In a dialogue with a Haifa Baha’i in Amazon on the history of the Bahaism on June 22, 2015, Husband writes:

As a former Baha’i, I was very excited to learn about the writing of this book, having been friends with the editor Eric Stetson for years. I knew nothing about the descendants of Baha’u’llah who were excommunicated from the religious community founded by their own ancestor except for the hateful, bigoted claims written about them by the propaganda writers who work for the mainstream Baha’i cult based in Haifa, Israel. At last, this book tells the other side of the story, about how those descendants were falsely labeled “covenant-breakers” when in fact they were the ones who insisted that ALL the provisions of Baha’u’llah’s Will and Testament (called the Book of the Covenant) be upheld. That Will made Baha’u’llah’s eldest son Abdu’l-Baha leader of the Faith, but also stated that the younger half-brother Muhammad Ali (father of the book’s author) would be Abdu’l-Baha’s successor, not Shoghi Effendi as Abdu’l-Baha would proclaim in his own Will and Testament a generation later. By doing this, Abdu’l-Baha exalted himself above his father. So who actually broke the Baha’i Covenant? If Baha’is really believe in the independent investigation of truth, they will look at this book for themselves.

This infuriated Haifan Baha’i named Rob Jenkins, who then made a comment on my review, resulting in a lengthy debate between us. His comments will be in red and italics while mine will be in black and bold.

You can see the recording of the debate here: 

https://dalehusband.com/2016/04/10/my-battle-on-amazon-with-a-haifan-bahai/

Why black and bold? Maybe because they didn’t have much green ink.

If you ever actually read Baha’u’llah’s Will and Testament (The Book of the Covenant), then you would know that his commandments regarding Mirza Muhammad Ali were absolute, NOT provisional. So the depiction of Mirza Muhammad Ali as a covenant breaker by the propaganda writers of the mainstream Baha’i Faith actually discredits Baha’u’llah himself!

I’ve not only read the Kitab-i-`Ahd, I’ve read it many times, I’ve also read the Will and Testament of `Abdu’l-Baha several times.

Mirza Muhammad-Ali repeatedly violated Baha’u’llah’s Covenant by rebelling … There are numerous scholars — Baha’i and non-Baha’i — who have extensively researched this period in Baha’i history. One need only read their works to understand how shallow and corrupt Mirza Muhammnad-Ali and his brother, Badi’u’llah, were, and how motivated they were by a thirst for power within the Baha’i community and for money — especially money.

Mirza Muhammad-Ali’s right to succeed `Abdu’l-Baha as leader of the Baha’i Faith was made provisional by Baha’u’llah …. The descendants of Mirza Muhammad-Ali today have tried to characterize the station of Baha’u’llah as that of a mere Muslim holy man; anyone who has read the writings of Baha’u’llah knows that He claimed to be nothing less than God’s latest Manifestation,…

Assertions prove nothing….Unfounded assumption. If Baha’u’llah had included a warning to Mirza Muhammad Ali to submit himself totally to Abdu’l-Baha or else he would be deprived of the right to succeed his brother, you would be correct. He didn’t, so you just lied.

“There were at least two Letters of the Living who rebelled against Baha’u’llah, though they were lauded by the Bab for their spiritual attainments;”
Who were they?

“There are numerous scholars — Baha’i and non-Baha’i — who have thoroughly researched this period in Baha’i history.”
Who were some of the non-Baha’i ones?

“The descendants of Mirza Muhammad-Ali today have tried to characterize the station of Baha’u’llah as that of a mere Muslim holy man;”

Do you have statements directly from them claiming this? You can write an entire novel of baseless claims and rhetoric defending your corrupt and failed religion, but without empirical evidence of any kind, you give us NOTHING of substance. You hypocrites really need to grow up or you will be laughed at forever!

Baseless claims, eh? All the documentation in the world won’t convince someone emotionally wedded to his/her own embittered position and won’t let go…

Were you there when the battles between Abdul-Baha and Mirza Muhammad Ali broke out? Consider that at the end of his life, Bahaullah was living at a mansion named Bahji, which was inherited by Muhammad Ali, not Abdul-Baha. Consider also that Mirza Aqa Jan, who was Bahaullah’s personal secretary for four decades, rejected Abdul-Baha’s authority. Why would either of those things happen?

The truth is, Bahaullah made clear in the Kitab-i-Aqdas that no one after him would claim revelation directly from God for up to 1000 years. Not even Abdul-Baha. There is a difference between making someone the leader of the Bahai community, which no one disputes, and declaring that Abdul-Baha would have the same infallibility as Bahaullah himself, which would only be possible if he received revelations directly from God. If you state that Mirza Muhammad Ali is not above Bahaullah’s commandments, why should Abdul-Baha be?

Even more disturbing, Abdul-Baha made this statement in his own Will and Testament:
“The sacred and youthful branch, the guardian of the Cause of God as well as the Universal House of Justice, to be universally elected and established, are both under the care and protection of the Abha Beauty, under the shelter and unerring guidance of His Holiness, the Exalted One (may my life be offered up for them both). Whatsoever they decide is of God. Whoso obeys him not, neither obeyed them, hath not obeyed God; whoso rebelled against him and against them hath rebelled against God; whoso opposed him hath opposed God; whoso contended with them hath contended with God; whoso disputed with him hath disputed with God; whoso denied him hath denied God; whoso disbelieved in him hath disbelieved in God; whoso deviated, separated himself and turned aside from him hath in truth deviated, separated himself and turned aside from God. May the wrath, the fierce indignation, the vengeance of God rest upon him?!”

So not only was Abdu’l-Baha claiming revelation directly from God, he was also claiming that Shoghi Effendi and the members of the Universal House of Justice would also receive such revelations! Otherwise, how could their absolute God-given authority be justified? It CAN’T!

Consider also that Shoghi Effendi died without issue at the relatively young age of 60, in the midst of the Ten Year World Crusade he was leading, of Asiatic flu while on a visit to London. This falsifies the claim in Abdu’l-Baha’s Will and Testament that “The sacred and youthful branch, the guardian of the Cause of God as well as the Universal House of Justice, to be universally elected and established, are both under the care and protection of the Abha Beauty, under the shelter and unerring guidance of His Holiness, the Exalted One.” Simple logic is enough to discredit the Baha’i Faith as you proclaim it.

And that is why I call you a hypocrite, Mr. Jenkins. You condemn Mirza Muhammad Ali for denying Abdul-Baha’s leadership, when the descendants of Bahaullah say no such thing ever happened. The actual dispute was over Abdul-Baha rebelling against one of the most fundamental teachings of Bahaullah himself to claim absolute authority that was beyond the limits set in the Kitab-i-Aqdas! Unless you are prepared to claim that Abdul-Baha somehow outranked his own father, your assertions about Mirza Muhammad Ali are clearly libelous. They are the product of decades of thought control and censorship by the Baha’i leadership, not any objective history.

I have every right to be embittered about discovering what I believed in the past was a pack of lies. Saying otherwise is like saying a man has no right to feel hungry when he is deprived of food for several days.

I then made a comment that Amazon admin saw fit to delete…..but I saved it elsewhere:

“In any court of law, when the majority of witnesses give accounts that support one side in a conflict, the court finds in favor of the side supported by the majority.”

False statement. Eyewitnesses can be mistaken and witnesses can even lie under oath, but empirical evidence can discredit even the words of 100 false claims by liars. For example, DNA testing has exonerated those accused and convicted of rape and/or murder who were condemned on the testimony of supposed victims or their relatives.

“if you read the accounts about Mirza Aqa Jan, it’s quite clear that he had lost his mind.”

And why would that happen? Accounts written by whom?

“‘Abdu’l-Baha never claimed to be a conduit of divine revelation, nor did He claim to share in the Most Great Infallibility; He always stated that He was merely a servant of Baha’u’llah; what infallibility He had — relative infallibility — was conferred on Him by Baha’u’llah.”

This is sheer nonsense; infallibility is an absolute ideal which you either have or have not, for it cannot exist in degrees. Just by engaging me with such rhetorical trickery, you discredit yourself. Next….

He was not finished with me, however:

The statement is true by force of logic. Some eyewitnesses may be mistaken; but…

The sheer hypocrisy constantly displayed by Rob Jenkins from start to finish proves one thing that my own life has also demonstrated: No amount of logic or empirically based truth will make someone give up a viewpoint that is somehow a comfort to him and rhetoric alone is enough to make someone cling to whatever he WANTS to believe, period. In my case, I always had some doubts about the faith, but I had to isolate myself from the other Bahais in the Fort Worth area about the summer of 2004 in order to begin analyzing the issues and facts apart from their influence. Once I did, within a few months the whole case for the Bahai Faith’s credibility came apart and crashed like the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center did. I was set free at last to be my true self: the Honorable Skeptic!

I think the most fundamental difference between Rob Jenkins and myself is not even about the Bahai Faith, it is about what we use as the standard for judging what truth is which would be a problem no matter what religion he professes.

Continuing….

4- Is Bahaullah’s Covenant a hope for the revival of human society?

Baha’i texts use the term Bahai Covenant extensively. Baha’is have removed Baha’i critics, protesters, and protesters from the scene under the “Baha’i Covenant”, and banned Baha’is from associating with them.

In various terms, they portray critics as weeds that prevent flowers from growing in a garden, and therefore, must be cut down and destroyed by gardeners! Just as the blossoming of the flowers of a garden depends on the separation of thorns and thistles; the growth and flourishing of a religion is not possible unless the protesters and the disbelievers are cut off. Baha’is consider their opponents to be very small compared to the Baha’i population in the world, and their limited population is a reason for the Haifan Bahai legitimacy!

Dale in his “Battle on Amazon with a Haifan Baha’I (Rob Jenkins)” in responses the above claim as below:

You stated earlier that there are six million Baha’is in the world. (This is not true. The real Bahai population worldwide is less than 1 million –Farnagh) that is less than 1/1000th of the world population in 150 years! Even the Mormons, a splinter group of Christianity, have been far more successful in propagating their religion in the same time period….and BTW, I despise Mormonism and have fought with Mormons online too. Their arrogant rhetoric is similar to yours and is expressed for the same reason: they endorse dogma over reason. That is why I call the Baha’i Faith a failure, because it produces people like you. There are many examples of people whose lives have been improved by religions other than the Baha’i Faith as well as by giving up dogmatic religions and seeking truth objectively. To claim that the Baha’i Covenant alone can save humanity is to be shamefully ignorant of the totality of human experiences. And just as the “covenant breakers” are small groups compared to the world-wide Bahai Faith, so likewise the Baha’i Faith itself is almost nothing compared to the vast numbers of Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and non-religious people in the world. When the Pope or the Dalai Lama makes a public statement, the whole world pays attention to it because many who are not followers of Roman Catholicism or Tibetan Buddhism respect those leaders…. while almost no one outside the Bahai community ever takes notice of any statements by the Universal House of Justice. So it stands to reason that even now, Roman Catholics and Buddhists can do far more for the world than your Bahai Faith ever has.

I wish to comment directly on this:

(This is not true. The real Bahai population worldwide is less than 1 million –Farnagh)

This year, the United States government is conducting a census of all three hundred million of its people, something required of it every ten years. You’d think the Universal House of Justice, to demonstrate the success of the Baha’i Faith, would be conducting its own census every few years of all the Baha’is in the world with the cooperation of all the National Spiritual Assemblies around the world. But it hasn’t, EVER!

5. Dale Husband’s view of Shoghi Effendi’s Misconduct in the Leadership of the Baha’i Community

Dale is not optimistic about Shoghi Effendi and his policies. Especially on the issue of appointing a successor after him, and not implementing the instructions of Abdul-Baha. He writes:

Imagine a man who has brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, and a wife. Over the years, he disowns one by one ALL of his other relatives for disagreements with him over almost anything, until only his wife is left; and she never dares to disagree with him and is completely obedient to him. Then he dies and leaves his wife his entire estate! What would you think of a man like that?

I was indeed talking about a real person that is well known in the Bahai history as a religious leader. If anyone else had done to his own relatives what he did, would he be respected by anyone? I certainly do not!

Shoghí Effendí Rabbání (March 1, 1897 – November 4, 1957), better known as Shoghi Effendi, was the Guardian and head of the Bahá’í Faith from 1921 until his death in 1957.

Shoghi Effendi was referred to as the Guardian, and had the authority to interpret the writings of the central figures of the religion and define the sphere of legislative authority. His writings are effectively limited to commentaries on the works of the central figures, and broad directives for the future.

Future hereditary Guardians were permitted in the Bahá’í scripture by appointment from one to the next with the prerequisite that appointees be male descendants of Bahá’u’lláh. At the time of Shoghi Effendi’s death, all living male descendants of Baháulláh had been declared Covenant-breakers by either Abdul-Bahá or Shoghi Effendi, leaving no suitable living candidates!

Shoghi Effendi died without appointing a successor Guardian, and the Universal House of Justice, the only institution authorized to adjudicate on situations not covered in scripture, later announced that it could not legislate to make possible the appointment of a successor to Shoghi Effendi. Shoghi Effendi was the first and last Guardian of the Bahai Faith.

In my view such a man is not a normal one, and suffers from psychoneurosis. His wife should have had a very simple personality either, who could not have any positive influence on him.

Source: Facebook page of Dale Husband, DD Sept 22, 2017

Dale Husband has added:

Then what would, I wonder? I note that you ignored all the other aspects of his sudden death. The Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha clearly states “after [Shoghi Effendi] will succeed the first-born of his lineal descendents.” It then goes on to say, “should the first-born of the Guardian of the Cause of God not manifest in himself the truth of the words:-“The child is the secret essence of its sire,” that is, should he not inherit of the spiritual within him (the Guardian of the Cause of God) and his glorious lineage not be matched with a goodly character, then must he, (the Guardian of the Cause of God) choose another branch to succeed him.” And yet Shoghi Effendi expelled ALL his own relatives from the Baha’i community, making it impossible for him to obey his grandfather’s commandments. That is like cutting off the tree branch you are sitting on and falling to your death. If anyone else had done to his relatives what Shoghi Effendi did, he would be considered a sociopath. He even attacked one of his own brothers in a shameful message to the Bahais of the world for marrying a “low-born Christian girl in Europe.” You do know there is no prohibition against Bahais marrying non-Bahais, right? Such an insult to his own sister-in-law is revolting, to say the least. But that is exactly what happens when you give someone the exact same authority as God Himself; no matter what he does, he is “right” in the eyes of the believer, regardless of how disgusting it would be for anyone else to do such things. Objective truth and objective ethical standards are lacking in Baha’is.

There is nothing genuine left about the Baha’i Faith headquartered in Haifa, Israel, and your responses to me (including ad hominem attacks against me, Eric Stetson, and others who dare to contradict official Baha’i dogmas) have only shown me and others all the more why I was right to leave that faith. Goodbye, Mr. Jenkins.

Source: My Battle on Amazon with a Haifan Baha’I / http://www.amazon.com/Lost-History-Bahai- Faith Posted on April 10, 2016

6- Contradiction & Conflict in the Bahai Teachings

The Baha’ism faces a variety of conflicts. If Baha’ism is to be a divine faith, there must be no contradiction. In the article “Five Ways to Create a False and Hypocritical Rite”, Dale discusses these contradictions in detail and briefly explains some of them:

a. State that religion no longer needs clergy… and replace them with leaders that are as authoritarian as the clergy ever was.

b. Claim that men and women should be equal……but then deny women membership in the all-powerful leadership council of the religion.

c. Condemn as heretics those who believe in your religion but dare to challenge the claims of your religion’s current leadership, while at the same time claiming to welcome as friends the followers of other religions.

d. Claim there is harmony between science and religion, but also claim that anything your leaders say is absolutely true, even if on topics science is expected to address.

e. Claim to shun partisan politics, but favor a government of their own, which is as partisan as it gets.

Then there are the scandals I discovered which really disturbed me, even after I had left the Faith.

Each of the above alone is enough to make a religion worthless; not to mention that Bahai Faith has all five of the above conflicts and contradictions, and more, at the same time.

https://dalehusband.com/2018/08/08/five-ways-to-create-a-religion-of-hypocrites/

6. Dale Husband’s view on the future of the Baha’ism

Baha’ism, like all the extremist cults, is ultimately doomed to failure. I foresee something around 50 years for the collapse of it. It seems that Bahaullah has failed in his mission. The children and the closest people to Bahaullah could not carry out his commandments and orders. How can one expect others to follow the rules and regulations of Bahaullah and the Abdul-Baha?

In his will, Abdul-Baha introduces his brother Muhammad Ali as the center of transgression, the center of division, deviating from the Bahai Cause, and distorting the writings and verses of Bahaullah.
Shoghi Effendi once mentioned the family and relatives of Abdul-Baha as enemies and wrote about them:

“… The brother of the Abdu’l-Baha, Mirza Ziyaullah, also died young! Mirza Agha Jan (Mirza Agha Jan Kashi, close friend and private secretary of Baha’u’llah for more than 40 years) was naive and soon joined Ziyaullah in Hell! Mirza Badiullah (another brother of the Abdu’l-Baha), his main accomplice who betrayed the order of Abdu’l-Baha and joined Muhammad Ali, was disgraced by his daughter’s shameful behavior! Foroughieh, the daughter of the Abdu’l-Baha, was stabbed to death by her husband, Seyed Ali Afnan, before her sons could help her! Mohammad Ali himself died a bad death! …”

If we accept the words and expressions of Abdu’l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi that many of Baha’ullah children and relatives were among the most ignorant people on earth, were corrupt and had evil intentions and goals, and did not smell of his teachings; Indeed, what a damn and ridiculous Faith Baha’ullah has presented?!

Baha’ullah writes in the Book of the Covenant:

“The kings are the manifestations of power and the signs of the honor and wealth of God. Pray for them. “Those people were taken care of and the heart was set for them.” Bahaullah’s interest and support for Sultans and kings may have been acceptable in the nineteenth century, when most of Europe and the world were ruled directly by kings, but in the twenty-first century, long after the fall of empires and the liberation of European colonies, sounds quite funny!

Bahaullah may have had good intentions, but I think he had delusions and misconceptions. But Abdu’l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi, were undoubtedly fraudulent individuals who intended to deceive their followers and the people. The vast majority of the members of the House of Justice, from its beginning till now, have been following the standard and policy of the Abdu’l-Baha.

About the position of Universal House of Justice

Baha’u’llah actually never wrote about a UNIVERSAL House of Justice that would rule the world or even the Bahai Int’l Community! That concept was invented by Abdu’l-Baha in his Will and Testament. The “House of Justice” called for in Baha’u’llah’s writings was only a local body ruling the Baha’is in a city.

Large organizations have been built and paid for by Abdu’l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi, and modeled on the international organizations of their time, while fulfilling the conditions set by the Abdu’l-Baha and Effendi for the Universal House of Justice. The current House of Justice, based in Haifa, has been established without a guardian since its inception, and it has been the case till now. This has led to lack of credibility and legal legitimacy of UHJ, according to Abdul-Baha and Shoghi Effendi’s explicit writings! Moreover, the method of selecting the members of the Universal House of Justice has no priority over the selection of Pope by and from among the members of the College of Cardinals, in Roman Catholic Church, where the cardinals themselves have been appointed by the former popes! In 2011, for an article, I chose the ironic and revealing headline “The International House of Teaching the Center for Justice”, which refers to the illegitimate relationship between two important institutions and, in fact, the Baha’i order:The UHJ and ITC!

The House of Justice is the highest governing and decision-making body of the Baha’i community, and members of the International Teaching Center are appointed by them every five years. The bureaucratic nature of these two institutions is evident in the ironic name I have given them above!
When the House of Justice was first established in 1963, its members were the same former members of the appointed International Council and members of the most powerful Baha’i NSAs. Subsequently, the House of Justice established the International Teaching Center to replace the Hands of the Cause (Ayadian Amrullah) residing in the Holy Land.

Over the decades, more and more members of the House of Justice have been replaced by the members of International Teaching Center; so that currently all members of the House of Justice have already been the members of the International House of Justice. This process is known as the “closed loop” and the result is that a highly conservative system has resulted in, that is not interested in new ideas, innovations and creativity.

9. The Purpose of the Baha’i Aggressive Teaching

Regarding the Baha’i teaching and their motivations, separate articles are needed. But Dale Husband’s view on advertising is different from the usual debates. He believes that Baha’i officials and organizations are pursuing two goals: The first is to entertain and keep believing Baha’is engaged, so that they do not have the opportunity to investigate the truth and think critically about the dimensions and aspects of the Baha’i Cause. The second goal is to find new people and prepare them to replace those Baha’is who have left the Baha’ism because of their distrust and disbelief. “The Bahai teaching is done for two purposes: To keep the faithful busy so they don’t think critically about what they are believing, and to replace those members that are lost though apostasy. The notion of “entry by troops” is a myth!”

10 – A critical analysis of the Book Aqdas

Dale Husband in the third part of his book, The Baha’i Faith and Unitarian Universalism: A Personal Testimony and Analysis provides a critical analysis of Aqdas and discusses a few excerpts from this book. The material mentioned in that section of the book is detailed and too long for our article. We will have just a short look at it.

The book of Aqdas was compiled during the period when Baha’u’llah was exiled and under control in Acre and was finalized in 1873.Bahais consider it their Bible and containing the heavenly orders. At the same time, in my opinion, there are prejudice and dogmatism phrases in this book.

“The first duty prescribed by God for His servants is the recognition of Him Who is the Dayspring of His Revelation and the Fountain of His laws, who represents the Godhead in both the Kingdom of His Cause and the world of creation. Whoso achieves this duty has attained unto all good; and whoso is deprived thereof has gone astray, though he be the author of every righteous deed.”

When I was a Christian in my teens, my youth Sunday School teacher at the time insisted that only Christians would go to heaven for following Jesus, and followers of every other religion would go to hell. I now consider that dogma to be evil and this statement above sounds no better!

“They whom God hath endued with insight will readily recognize that the precepts laid down by God constitute the highest means for the maintenance of order in the world and the security of its peoples. He that turned away from them is accounted among the abject and foolish. We, verily, have commanded you to refuse the dictates of your evil passions and corrupt desires, and not to transgress the bounds which the Pen of the Most High hath fixed, for these are the breath of life unto all created things. The seas of Divine wisdom and Divine utterance have risen under the breath of the breeze of the All-Merciful. Hasten to drink your fill, O men of understanding! They that have violated the Covenant of God by breaking His commandments, and have turned back on their heels, these have erred grievously in the sight of God, the All-Possessing, the Most High.”

In other words, never think for yourself, only obey the commandments of God….or rather, the man claiming to be a Messenger of God. But shouldn’t laws and principles really be based on real needs of real people in real time to be truly successful? Who needs gods or their messengers for any of those, then?

Say: From My laws the sweet-smelling savor of my garment can be smelled, and by their aid the standards of Victory will be planted upon the highest peaks. The Tongue of My power hath, from the heaven of my omnipotent glory, addressed to my creation these words: “Observe My commandments, for the love of my beauty.” Happy is the lover that hath inhaled the divine fragrance of his Best-Beloved from these words, laden with the perfume of a grace which no tongue can describe. By My life! He who hath drunk the choice wine of fairness from the hands of my bountiful favor will circle around my commandments that shine above the Dayspring of My creation. Think not that we have revealed unto you a mere code of laws. Nay, rather, we have unsealed the choice Wine with the fingers of might and power. To this witness that which the Pen of Revelation hath revealed. Meditate upon this, O men of insight!

Ironically, Baha’is are prohibited from drinking any alcoholic beverages. So these references to wine seem like bad expressions to use. And again, ASSERTING SOMETHING ALONE PROVES NOTHING, no matter how many times you do it.

In verse 204 of the Aqdas, Bahaullah refers to the division of the deceased’s inheritance among the heirs. In addition to the family members of the deceased, the deceased teacher is also entitled to the share of inheritance! This begs the question of why teachers are eligible to receive an inheritance share. Which teacher? Teacher of Elementary school? High school? University? Teachers of which courses? Then where should these teachers be found?!

In addition, in the share of inheritance determined for each group of heirs, equality between men and women has not been observed, and this ruling contradicts the principle of equality of men and women in the Baha’is.

In verse 205, the deceased’s house, which is perhaps his most valuable asset, is given to the elder son of the family, indicating that the Bahai rulings are more masculine than feminine! In addition to the subject of inheritance, this can be seen elsewhere in the Aqdas, including the order to go to Hajj for men who are able, not women! (Verse 32). Determining the limit of hair for men and not for women (Verse 44)!

Verse 45 of Aqdas states of the thief’s sentence: “God’s command for a thief, exile, imprisonment, and the third, is that a mark be placed on his forehead, so that all people may know him in the various cities of God (throughout the world).” “Cities don’t let that happen.”

In this sentence, the conditions of the thief and how much he stole, and in what circumstances, what age, etc. No background has been identified. What will be the type of mark on the thief’s forehead?! Will it be my page number? If he is not supposed to be in any city or land of God, so where should he live? In the city and the devil’s country? If someone stole to stop his/her hunger, will be subject to the same punishment?!

Baha’u’llah, in verse 47 of his holy Book, considers infallibility to be exclusive to the manifestation of (his) command and does not discuss any less or other kind of infallibility. According to this verse from the book of Aqdas, Abdu’l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi, were not infallible.

Abdu’l-Baha tried to argue for himself, entitled “Granted Infallibility” by Bahaullah, that is beyond the scope of explanation and interpretation, and therefore not acceptable.

Anyone can make such a claim for himself. I also say that I am infallible and have relative infallibility from my father! These attributes must be material and objective in exchange for rejection and affirmation. If I claim that I am always right, because I say so, it is an expression of selfishness and fascination.

Verse 62 of Aqdas says, “If anyone deliberately sets fire to a house, set him on fire.” In medieval Europe, the death penalty was imposed by burning a criminal in a fire. Therefore, Bahaullah revived this punishment in the 19th century, in a reactionary and back-looking movement! Why did they set the death penalty for setting the house on fire – also with the medieval punishment of burning alive in the fire? While today it is possible to compensate the damage by changing the house or buying insurance coverage. But you can’t replace someone’s life.

In verse 63, the holy book of Bahaullah allows having two wives at the same time. He himself had three wives at the same time! However, according to Abdu’l-Baha’s interpretation of this clear verse in the Holy Book, Baha’is are allowed to have only one wife, and in the event of a violation, they will be entitled to punishment! This statement of Abdu’l-Baha Is in stark contrast to Bahaullah’s words and cannot be interpreted as such.

In verse 74 of Aqdas, Bahaullah says, “God has taken away the order of impurity from everything …followers of other religions are pure …. Baha’is are encouraged to make friends with followers of other religions, they are strongly encouraged to do so.

Yet they have been asked to avoid critical Baha’is and so-called violators of the Covenant! That’s the word! It is as if they are asking the Baha’is to shake hands with strangers, but to knock on the door firmly in the form of their children or their fathers and mothers – who are at odds with each other! Damn this stupidity!

Bahaullah writes in verse 101 of his holy Book: “O group of scholars, is there anyone among you who could compete me in the field of revelation and mysticism, or in the field of theology and explanation? No …..!”

Bahaullah claims that his contributions are higher than all previous religious sciences and knowledge, and the scientific findings of human thought and wisdom, and the astonishing scientific and astronomical discoveries of human societies! In this paragraph, we look at the basis and monopoly of religious fundamentalism and arrogance and melancholy thinking.

(Bahaullah spent the last 40 years of his life in the Ottoman Empire territory and never dared to openly express his Babi and Bahai beliefs to the scholars, officials, and even ordinary people, and always pretended to be a Muslim. He even wrote some Sufi writings (the secret thoughts of the Sufis, which has an anti-religious and anti-Shari’a appearance). He had thrown them into the Tigris since had not had the courage to preserve and defend them! Most interestingly, the Aqdas, while 150 years has passed since its writing, has never been officially and fully translated and published into Persian and English – the most common languages ​​among the Baha’is – it has only been published as selected texts! Such claims are just bluff!

Not only do I oppose this claim, but I consider it an insult and an expression of blasphemy against the divine knowledge and sciences. Undoubtedly, the great world created by God and the scientific laws that govern it are much more reliable and valuable than the self-made and paid rituals of human beings, including the Baha’is.

There is a lot of paraphrasing here but it is still mostly accurate in terms of presenting the concepts in my writings.

Conclusion

Dale Husband, a Baha’i thinker, researcher, author, and scholar, was a member of the Baha’i community for nine years. After a while, he realized the weaknesses, mistakes, conflicts, failures, and inadequacies of the Baha’ism. In a letter to the National Assembly of the Baha’is of US, he stated “after years of researching the truth, I finally come to the conclusion that I could no longer believe in Baha’u’llah or any of the institutions established under his name, such as Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice. I am fully convinced that the Baha’is are incapable of achieving their goals of teachings peace, unity, and a golden age for human society.” Husband does not believe in the infallibility of Baha’i leaders, and sees the acceptance of such a belief as a movement toward dictatorship and tyranny within the Bahai community. He sharply criticizes the legitimacy of the Baha’i leadership after Abdu’l-Baha and believes that after he the Baha’i leadership should have been handed over to his brother Muhammad Ali Effendi.

Again, it is not accurate to call me a Baha’i.

He considers the current House of Justice (the current Baha’i leadership in Israel) to be illegitimate, and believes that the Baha’ism, after 170 years, has not brought any new achievement to the world. So it is doomed to fail like all extremist cults will eventually fail. I would give it maybe 50 years or so before it falls into ruin.

The end.