نشریه بهائی شناسی
پیاپی 9 (بهار 1398)

Eric Stetson is one of the famous researchers and writers who was expelled from the Baha’i faith after 4 years of active membership because of his critical positions and free thinking views. He was trying to do some reforms in the Baha’i Faith by showing different difficulties and faults through his speeches and writings. He even proposed a new Baha’i Group. He never had a militant and hard position toward Baha’i Administration but he had serious critiques on UHJ of Baha’is. Stetson does not believe in the infallibility of Baha’i Leaders and believes that this kind of attitude will cause the dictatorship and autarchy inside the Baha’i community. He does not recognize the current process of Baha’i leadership and believes that Mohammad Ali Effendi (the brother of Abdul- Baha) was the real legitimate leader of Bahaism after Bahaullah. He is not optimistic about the future of Bahaism and thinks that in this situation this faith will not benefit and acquire a significant progress and ability. He also has some critiques about the book of Aqdas of Bahaullah and does not accept it as a suitable teaching and book for the 21st century.

The repentance of Baha’i elites and scholars from Baha’i faith and writing about what they discovered of leaders and other Baha’is during their Baha’i lives is a way to find out the true face of this faith and its leaders. In fact, by referring to the writings and memoirs of some of the repentants of Baha’i faith, one can gain a better understanding of this sect. Hajj Mirza Hassan Boroujerdi, nicknamed Niko, is one of the most prominent Baha’is missionaries. He publicly denounced Baha’is and disliked them after many years of being among the Baha’is and living with their leaders and their followers and witnessing the deviation in the behavior of the leaders and the differences between their actions and what they announced. This article briefly describes the life story of Niko.

Mirza Ali Mohammad Bab Shirazi in his youth life had spent some times in Karbala (Iraq) and studied in the schools of Shaykhieh Schools. He was affected by their teachings and believed that a permanent inductor (Bab=Gate) is necessary during the occultation of Imam Mahdi (a.s). Then he claimed that he is the Gate (Bab) of Imam Mahdi and the successor of his late teacher (Kazim Rashti) on 5th of Jamadi – ul Avval, 1260 (after hejrah-lunar calender) to one of his classmates named Mulla Hussein Boushroyei in Shiraz (South Iran). According to Baha’i sources, he offered the book of Ahsan ul Ghesas (Exegesis of Josef Chapter of Quran) to Mulla Hussein as a proof to his claim. The Baha’is celebrate that date as the annual ceremony of the being chosen of Mirza Ali Mohammad Bab as the new messenger of God. The general contents of that book consist of some interpretations of the sentences of the Josef Surah (chapter) and concentrated to his claim that he was the Bab (Gate) of Imam Mahdi (a.s) and he was encouraging his followers to try hard to preparing the appearance of Imam Mahdi.

Colonel Yadollah Sabet Rasekh was one of the most prominent Baha’is in the time of Shoghi Effendi and after him in Iran. He left the Baha’i faith and became a Muslim. Sinc he had important information about the Baha’i faith and the Baha’i leaders, his reports and writings could be a reliable source for scholars working on history of the Baha’i faith. Gooy publishing company has published a book called “Up and Down», in which some of his writings and memories have mentioned. One of the remarkable things that he mentions is the sudden murder of Shoghi Effendi, the third leader of the Baha’is at the hands of his closest friends.

The relation between religion and politics has always been a matter of dispute among the intellectuals. Bahaism clearly speaks about this relation. Bahaullah, the leader of Baha’ism, ordered his followers to fully obeying the rulers and governments. His successor, Abdul-Baha, in his book entitled “The Secret of Divine Civilization “talked about his ideas of Noninterference in Politics. Shoghi Effendi, the Third Leader of Baha’ism, also continued the same direction and declared that Baha’ism is a nonpolitical faith and obeys the full obedience to all governments. The history of Iran shows that the Baha’is had an influential role in organizing, Progressing and even the defeats of some historical events. This article, explores the role of Baha’is in Constitutional Movement, Jungle Movement, 1299 Coup, Relation with Israel, Pahlavi Dynasty and the other interferences of Universal House of Justice and the followers of Baha’i Faith in the politics of Iran. It also examines and answers this question that whether the Baha’is are subordinates and followers of rulers and are keen to tenure the hearts of people or referring to the sayings of Shogi are preparing programs to capture the states and governments and establishing a Worldwide Baha’i Government?

Dowry is a historical tradition from old ages and has been carried out in various forms in various societies. Since ancient times, almost all of the faiths have spoken out of Dowry in general. The Baha’i leaders have claimed the equality of male and female. Not only such an equality is not found in their religion, but also they have considered different Dowry for the spouses of men living in the cities and men who live in the villages. On the other hand, in addition to the differences in Dowry there are different inequalities in the Baha’i Faith in other cases such as inheritance, elections in the House of Justice, Hajj, etc.

Abdul-Baha and Shoghi thought that the administrative order of the world has a significant problem and they tried to resolve it on the basis of the Baha’i Administration. They believed that the world countries are either under a full dictatorship or a full democracy. They claimed that the Baha’i Administrative Order is away from this problem and it is a new order between those two systems. They claimed that there is a divine pillar named The Guardian of Faith who is the head of the administration and explains and comments the Baha’i teachings and writings and he is the connector between the Creator and the Created and protects the world order democracy. Secondly, there is an elected House of Justice which is the second pillar of Baha’i Faith. Its function is legislation in Baha’ism when there are no clear laws in Baha’i writings and it protects the community from full dictatorship. The Guardian of Faith who is the permanent head of the House of Justice supervises the approvals of it and informs the members of the House if there will be any contradiction with the main writings of the Leaders to revise their decisions and legislations. In this system, they claim that there will be a divine guarantee to House decisions and on the other hand, the House will decide and canonize about the new problems, questions, and requirements in coordination with the new human demands. In this article, we review this system and discuss the bugs and objections in practice. There are three main points in this review:Firstly, there were not any time that these two pillars were together in any time of the history of Baha’ism and this vacuity cannot solve the problems of Baha’i Faith and its followers in its administrative order. Secondly, the current House could not furnish and fulfil its functions in the absence of the Guardian and in many occasions has refused to do its duties. Thirdly, sometimes these two Pillars interfered to their own functions. In one side Abdul-Baha and Shoghi made rules, and on the other side the House carried out the interpretation of the Baha’i texts. There are many problems in the system of Baha’i administration order.