نشریه بهائی شناسی
پیاپی 32 (زمستان 1403)

Ehsan Yarshater, writer, scholar, researcher, Iranian scholar, and translator, was born on April 12, 1920, in a fanatical Baha'i family in Kashan. He received his bachelor's degree in literature from Tehran University, and his doctorate from England. Then he s tarted teaching at Tehran University and engaged in various cultural activities. Yarshater spent his youth with a Baha'i approach, but later by calling himself a Muslim and leaving the Baha'i faith, he laid the foundations of opposition to the Baha'i organization. Finally, the Baha’i organization, while ex-communicating him, on several occasions threatened to make public his administrative and spiritual rejection. However, at the end of Yarshater's life, the Baha'i Organization of America invited him to participate in the annual conference of Baha'is in America under the title of the Association of Lovers of Iranian Culture. In this way, the Baha'i organization introduced him as a Baha'i. He passed away in America on 10 September 2017 and was buried in New York, next to his wife Latifah Elavieh, with a Baha'i ceremony.

The presence of the Baha'i Faith in Africa dates back to the second half of the 19th century, along with the lives of the three Baha'i leaders: Baha'u'llah, 'Abdu'l-Bahá, and Shoghi Effendi. Each of them had at leas t one previous visit to this land. Baha'u'llah's visit to Egypt in 1868 is considered the beginning of Baha'i activity in the entire African continent. Countries located in the sub-Saharan region of Africa have been exposed to Baha'i Faith since the firs t half of the 20th century, when Shoghi Effendi undertook missionary missions in this region in 1929 and 1940, and the planned missionary activity of this Faith officially began in the 1950s, along with the anti-colonial s truggles for the independence of African countries. Although Wes t Africa, according to Shoghi Effendi’s plan, experienced the beginning of Baha’i propaganda in sub-Saharan Africa, other regions in Eas t, Central, and Southern Africa witnessed the presence of Baha’i missionaries from Western Europe and the United S tates in the second decade of the twentieth century, and gradually, native African followers and missionaries. This article examines the history of the presence, the type of missionary activity, and some centers affiliated with Baha’i followers in this region.

The Baha'is' attention to Iran has always been important due to their historical background in this country. In the past, Baha'i leaders never severed ties with their followers in Iran despite their exile from Iran, and even now, Iran is mentioned in most of the messages of the House of Justice. In this article, the position of Iran and some of the important strategic cities of Iran in the eyes of Baha'is, including Tehran, Shiraz, Noor, Mazandaran, Badasht village in Shahrood, Maku Cas tle in Azerbaijan, and Tabriz, is firs t discussed. Then, the Baha'i leaders' view of abandoning patriotic prejudice, as one of the twelve teachings, is expressed and criticized, and it is seen that they have no interest in Iran and their homeland, both theoretically and often practically.

“The History of Jaafari” written by Sheikh Mohammad Mahdi Sharif Kashani was published by Negah Moaser Publishing in 2019, with the help of Seyyed Miqdad Nabavi Razavi, with the aim of firmly and firmly removing the veil from the face of the secret life of the followers of Sayyid Ali Muhammad Bab, such as Mulla Mohammad Jafar Naraqi and Sheikh Mohammad Mahdi Sharif Kashani, etc., by citing another Babi documentary, and providing a precise and accurate analysis of the events of the era and their efforts. One of the important and clear sources that introduce the personalities of the Babi secret life during the Qajar dynasty is this book, which narrates in detail the life of Mulla Mohammad Jafar Naraqi, the father of Sharif Kashani and one of the chosen ones of the Babi – Azali secret life. Interestingly, in writing this work, Sharif Kashani did not observe the Babi hieroglyphs and openly removed the Muslim mask from his Babi face, his father, and other co-religionis ts. This open s tatement is undoubtedly due to the knowledge and information of the descendants of the Bayanists about the hidden secrets of the Babi followers, and for this reason it had not been exposed to public attention before, and Sayyid Miqdad Nabavi spent nearly three years searching for the original version of this book, because in historical sources there was only a name for this work by Sharif Kashani and no other work.

One of the criteria for recognizing true religion from false religion is "contradiction". The presence of contradiction in the words and actions of a claimant of the Faiths and prophecy is the criterion of his invalidity. In the Holy Qur'an, God introduces the existence of differences in those books as the reason for its non-divineness and says that the Qur'an hates contradictions and differences. In the pas t ages, when divine prophets appeared, there were also deceivers who falsely considered that they were to be God's representatives. Wise people, according to the criterion of truth and non-contradiction, and relying on reason, by examining their words and behavior, when they found contradictions and lies, they ruled that they were invalid. In this article, an attempt has been made to verify the claims of the Baha'is according to this criterion. In this regard, a brief overview of their history, works and behaviors has been taken into consideration and as a result, contradictory things have been seen. From the multitude of contradictions that can be seen in the works and behavior of Baha'i leaders, in this research, a significant number has been collected, which shows that many contradictions and differences can be found in their remaining works, and as a result, their divinity cannot be accepted.

This article seeks to criticize and examine two dubious statements from the Book of Fara’id - written by Mirza Abul-Fadl Gulpaygani - and while recognizing the Book of Fara’id, it challenges the two doubts of “the novelty of the age of the Qa’im” and “the contradictions of the Mahdist hadiths and the necessity of denying them.” It will consist of four parts: “A. Introduction, B. Critical examination of the doubt of the appearance of the real Mahdi at a young age, C. Critical examination of the doubt of the difference and contradiction in the Mahdist hadiths, and D. Conclusion.” It should be noted that the Book of Fara’id is considered the most important argumentative book of the Baha'i movement, and the firs t doubt seeks to withdraw the Mahdism and Qa'im from the twelfth Shiite leader on the pretext that a thousand and four hundred years have passed since the birth of the Holy Prophet, and to apply it to the leader of the Babi religion. The studies conducted indicate that the claim of the author of the Book of Fara’id is incorrect, and the answers are given in detail in this article. In this regard, while distorting and unprofessionally cutting the narrations (Ahadith), he has based his claims on incomplete statements. His other doubt is based on doubting the foundation of the Mahdavi Hadiths and seeks to ques tion the authenticity and formality of the Mahdavi Hadiths in forming religious beliefs, while showing contradictions in the Mahdavi hadiths. This too can be resolved by an expert look at the science of hadith studies and presenting a real solution to resolve possible contradictions; a solution that the author of Fara'id has not addressed either due to ignorance or out of motive and intent.