We showed in the previous perspective that the need for spirituality and Divine Guidance has always existed and it is because of this very need that God has sent His Apostles.

Baha’is claim that spiritual needs can only be addressed by God’s Prophets and Messengers, and it is because of this that there must be a continuation of Prophets and Manifestations that bring new religions. `Abdu’l-Bahā says:

Everything is renewed and so, the essence of Divine Religion must be renewed too. Imitations must completely vanish and the light of truth must shine. The teachings that are the spirit of this era must be propagated, and those are the teachings of Bahā’u’llāh that are famous in the horizons and are the breath of the Holy Spirit.[1]

Baha’is claim that after the spring of each Prophet’s teachings a winter occurs in which another Prophet must appear:

The spiritual world is like unto the phenomenal world. They are the exact counterpart of each other. Whatever objects appear in this world of existence are the outer pictures of the world of heaven. When we look upon the phenomenal world, we perceive that it is divided into four seasons; one is the season of spring, another the season of summer, another autumn and then these three seasons are followed by winter. When the season of spring appears in the arena of existence, the whole world is rejuvenated and finds new life . . . The spring and summer are followed by autumn and winter. The flowers wither and are no more; the leaves turn gray and life has gone. Then comes another springtime; the former springtime is renewed; again a new life stirs within everything . . . The appearances of the Manifestations of God are the divine springtime . . . Bahā’u’llāh has come into this world. He has renewed that springtime.[2]

All these parables have been mentioned to undermine the fact that according to Islamic beliefs, which Baha’u’llah claimed to be a successor to, the Prophet of Islam is the seal of the Prophets and there is no Prophet after him.

Since this fact was irrefutable, Bahā’u’llāh came up with a new scheme. He claimed that the Adamic Cycle (which is strictly unheard of in other religions) has come to an end and the Baha’i Cycle (this too is unfounded) has started and Muḥammad was the seal of the Adamic Cycle.

This is only a recipe prescribed for the previous religions. Although `Abdu’l-Bahā claims that religions must be renewed to prove Muḥammad was not the last Prophet and Bahā’u’llāh is a true Prophet, Bahā’u’llāh believes that he himself is the last Manifestation and there will be no Manifestations after him. This is what he utters after expressing his dissatisfaction with the Bābīs who were making new claims by the day:

I swear by my True Self, all manifestations have come to an end by this Most Great Manifestation (meaning Baha’ism). Whoever claims (to be a manifestation) after that is a slandering[3] liar. We ask God to make him successful in returning (to the correct path) and if he repents then He will accept the repentance and if he insists on what he is claiming God will send someone who will deal mercilessly with him.[4] 

How is that when Islam claims it is the last religion from God, it is refuted by Baha’is because on the basis that the Breath of the Holy Spirit is needed to renew the people in all times and ages, but when Bahā’u’llāh makes the exact same claim it is totally acceptable?

When Bahā’u’llāh writes the book of Aqdas, he apparently forgets that he had already claimed there will be no manifestations after him. He writes that a new manifestation will come after at least a thousand years:

Whoso layeth claim to a Revelation direct from God, ere the expiration of a full thousand years, such a man is assuredly a lying impostor. We pray God that He may graciously assist him to retract and repudiate such claim. Should he repent, God will, no doubt, forgive him. If, however, he persisteth in his error, God will, assuredly, send down one who will deal mercilessly with him.[5]

In the notes under this verse it has been clearly mentioned:

The Dispensation of Bahā’u’llāh will last until the coming of the next Manifestation of God, Whose advent will not take place before at least “a full thousand years” will have elapsed.[6]

These contradictions are very clear. In the first instance Bahā’u’llāh claims that no manifestation will ever appear again but elsewhere he claims a manifestation will appear no less than a thousand years from now!

The contradictions regarding the concept of cycles are even more severe. When Shoghi speaks about the Bāb’s death he claims the Bāb’s dispensation was the confluence (meeting point) of two different cycles:

Thus ended a life which posterity will recognize as standing at the confluence of two universal prophetic cycles, the Adamic Cycle stretching back as far as the first dawnings of the world’s recorded religious history and the Bahā’ī Cycle destined to propel itself across the unborn reaches of time for a period of no less than five thousand centuries.[7]

He is clearly stating that the Adamic and Baha’i cycles are two different cycles. Now see how he contradicts himself:

Concerning your question relative to the duration of the Bahā’ī Dispensation. There is no contradiction between Bahā’u’llāh’s statement in the Īqān about the renewal of the City of God once every thousand years, and that of the Guardian in the Dispensation to the effect that the Bahā’ī cycle will extend over a period of at least 500,000 years. The apparent contradiction is due to the confusion of the terms cycle and dispensation. For while the Dispensation of Bahā’u’llāh will last for at least one thousand years, His Cycle will extend still farther, to at least 500,000 years. The Bahā’ī cycle is, indeed, incomparable in its greatness. It includes not only the Prophets that will appear after Bahā’u’llāh, but all those who have preceded Him ever since Adam.[8]

Even though he had stated the Baha’i cycle started with the Bāb and the Adamic cycle started with Adam and ended with the Bāb he is now claiming that they are both one cycle! Furthermore, he is claiming a misunderstanding has occurred and dispensation and cycle have been taken to mean one word, which they are not! We would have believed him had it not been for `Abdul-Bahā who believes cycle (daur or kaur), and dispensation are all one. Here are a few examples:

In this great cycle[9] (kaur) and in this new cycle (daur) legislation of materialistic laws are mostly referred to the House of Justice for this cycle (kaur) will have a great length and this cycle (daur) will have an eternal unending interval, vastness, and continuity.[10]

Look at the cycle (daur) of Moses: the Lord, Moses, and the gobetween was the fire. And in Christ’s cycle (kaur): the Father, the Son, and the gobetween was the Holy Spirit. And in Muḥammad’s cycle (daur): the Lord, and the Messenger, and the gobetween was Gabriel.[11]

. . . in the first manifestation the sun will stop in the middle of the sky for ten days, in the second manifestation twenty days and in the third manifestation thirty days. Know that the first manifestation in this report is the manifestation of his Highness the Messenger (meaning Prophet Muḥammad) in which the sun of reality stopped for ten days in that constellation and every day is equal to one century and by this calculation [those ten days] are a thousand years and that was the Muḥammadan cycle and cycle (daur and kaur) [!] . . . the second manifestation, was the manifestation of the Primal point, may my soul be sacrificed for him, in which the Sun of Truth stopped in that cycle (daur) for twenty years . . . in the cycle (daur) of the blessed beauty . . . whose length will be at least 500000 years . . .[12]    

Pay attention how he uses the word cycle (daur and kaur) to refer to what must have been the dispensation of Muḥammad. And then he uses the word cycle (daur) to refer to the Bab’s dispensation. Based on the same reasoning, he probably means dispensation when he says the Baha’i cycle (daur) is 500000 thousand years. Bahā’u’llāh, `Abdu’l-Bahā, and Shoghi are not only contradicting themselves but are contradicting each other. This is what happens when a non-existing concept (the concept of cycles, daurs, and kaurs) is introduced and falsely attributed to God’s true religions, to justify the appearance of a so called manifestation.

A further contradiction can be seen in `Abdu’l-Bahā’s words regarding the length of the Baha’i cycle (daur). In the first quote he said it is eternal: “this cycle (daur) will have an eternal unending interval, vastness, and continuity” but in the second he says it will last for at least 500000 years!

 Whatever is meant by this principle, it breaks down when it is applied to Baha’i teachings. One further point remains about the Holy Spirit that must be mentioned. Shoghi writes:

at so critical an hour and under such appalling circumstances the “Most Great Spirit,” as designated by Himself, and symbolized in the Zoroastrian, the Mosaic, the Christian, and Muhammadan Dispensations by the Sacred Fire, the Burning Bush, the Dove and the Angel Gabriel respectively, descended upon, and revealed itself, personated by a “Maiden,” to the agonized soul of Bahā’u’llāh.[13]

The Most Great Spirit that Shoghi refers to is the same Holy Spirit of the current principle. This is clear for instance from the fact that he says it revealed itself to Jesus as a dove. This Holy Spirit had shown itself to Bahā’u’llāh personated as a maiden. What most Baha’is don’t know is that their prophet had a bad habit of sexually fondling with the Holy Spirit when She appeared to him. We will show three instances.

The first instance is a tablet that starts with “In the Name of God who sings for (or over) the Branches” (Bismillah al-mugharrid `alā al-afnān). In this tablet Bahā’u’llāh describes in Arabic how he fondled with this maiden:

We were standing on the Throne when that radiant leaf entered wearing a long white gown and became like the shining full moon in the horizons of the sky. Exalted is her Creator, no eye has seen anything like her! When she removed her face-veil the skies and earth glittered as if the essence of the Ancient One had shone on her with all its lights. Exalted is her Creator, no eye has seen anything like her! She was smiling and bending like a Moringa branch[14] in the gaze of the All Merciful. Exalted is her Creator, no eye has seen anything like her! She then went and started encircling for no reason or intention, as if the blossoms of love were being pulled towards her face by the magnet of her luminous beauty. Exalted is her Creator, no eye has seen anything like her! She would walk whilst splendor was at her service, and the Kingdom of Beauty would glorify her behind her, because of her exquisite beauty and charm and her statuesque figure. Exalted is her Creator, no eye has seen anything like her! Then we saw her black hair spread along her white neck, as if night and day had embraced each other in that illuminated place and far destination. Exalted is her Creator, no eye has seen anything like her! When we stared at her face we saw a spot[15] hidden under the veil of oneness that was shining from the horizon of her forehead. As if that spot had separated the tablets of the Merciful’s Kindness in (the world) of existence from the books of the lovers in the horizons. Exalted is her Creator, no eye has seen anything like her! And that spot gestured to another spot that was above her right breast. Exalted is the Possessor of secret and evident things that has created her, no eye has seen anything like her! The Body[16] of God rose and started walking and she started walking behind Him whilst she was listening to and was shaking and being pulled towards the verses of God. Exalted is her Creator, no eye has seen anything like her! Then her happiness, joy, and yearning increased to an extent that she fainted. When she regained consciousness she came close and said, may my soul be sacrificed for your prison oh unseen mystery in the Kingdom of Creation. Exalted is her Creator, no eye has seen anything like her! She continuously stared at the east of the Throne like someone who is drunk and bewildered until she wrapped her arm around her lord’s neck and she pulled him towards her. As she came nearer closer we too inched closer and found in her what has been revealed in the Hidden Red Book from the Most High Pen. She then tilted her head and placed her face on her fingers like a crescent changing into full moon. Exalted is her Creator, no eye has seen anything like her! She then screamed and said; “May every being be sacrificed on account of your calamities, O you Lord of the earth and sky . . .”[17]

 This encounter ended with hugging each other. Bahā’u’llāh narrates another fantasy which is a little more extreme. He tells her to appear in whatever form she wants, then to dress, then to remove her veil, and finally hang her curly hair around her breasts:

Oh you Pen, inform the Maiden of Paradise. Say by the True God, today is your day. Appear in whatever form you want then wear the brocade of Names and the white silk dress however you want. Then come out of the room of eternality like a rising sun from the forehead of Bahā. Then descend from the Most High Den and stop between the earth and the sky then remove the veil from your white face so that you may rip the great veils from these [people?] and they may gaze at the Great Beauty of God the Holy, the Honored, the Beloved. O Maiden of Bahā . . . hang around both your breasts your fragrant curls so that you may bestow on the worlds the breeze of your Merciful Lord.[18]

In the next encounter Bahā’u’llāh finally succeeds in attaining what he had yearned for:

She then descended, drew near, and came forward until she stood before me. I was bewildered at the delicacy of her creation and her exquisite behavior. I found in myself a perplexity due to my yearning for her and an attraction due to my love for her. I rose my hand to her and removed the bottom of her veil from her shoulder and found her hair to be spread in wavy curls on her back and hanging down to near her legs in ringlets . . . once I saw her as the fire that had kindled in the Divine Tree . . . she then came forward until she stood opposite my face and spoke with a tone like the tone of a dove . . . when I paid attention with all my being I heard the mention of God the Most Exalted the Abhā in her tunes and the name of God the Most Exalted the Most High in her chants. It was then that I became attracted, perplexed, and hazed from her exquisite voice so I raised my hand once more and bared a breast from her breasts that were hidden behind her dress . . .[19]

If this is the Holy Spirit that Bahā’u’llāh and `Abdu’l-Bahā are referring to, it is easy to see why they insist it is a cause of eternal life! And no, this is no metaphor, this occurred in reality for `Abdu’l-Bahā says:

The visions of the Prophets are not dreams; no, they are spiritual discoveries and have reality. They say, for example, “I saw a person in a certain form, and I said such a thing, and he gave such an answer.” This vision is in the world of wakefulness, and not in that of sleep. Nay, it is a spiritual discovery which is expressed as if it were the appearance of a vision.[20]

It is interesting to know that this last quote which is known as the Tablet of the Maiden (Lauḥ Ḥūrī) was ordered by Bahā’u’llāh to be destroyed but was saved by the pleas of Bahā’u’llāh’s secretary.[21] This is not the only tablet that Bahā’u’llāh had ordered to be destroyed:

No less an authority than Mīrzā Āqā Jān, Bahā’u’llāh’s amanuensis, affirms, as reported by Nabīl, that by the express order of Bahā’u’llāh, hundreds of thousands of verses, mostly written by His own hand, were obliterated and cast into the river. “Finding me reluctant to execute His orders,” Mīrzā Āqā Jān has related to Nabīl, “Bahā’u’llāh would reassure me saying: ‘None is to be found at this time worthy to hear these melodies.’ …Not once, or twice, but innumerable times, was I commanded to repeat this act.”[22]

Reading Bahā’u’llāh’s real visions and fondling with the Holy Spirit (the Maiden) one can only wonder what stories about the Maiden were inscribed in these tablets that Mīrzā Āqā Jān had accepted to destroy them.

Bahā’u’llāh’s justification is even more disturbing: “None is to be found at this time worthy to hear these melodies.” Since he ordered these tablets to be destroyed instead of being saved for a people in the future who might be worthy of hearing those melodies, we can safely assume that not only did there not exist a person worthy of hearing them at that time, but there would never be one. Either way, these questions remain to be answered: Why reveal hundreds of thousands of verses that no one is worthy of hearing? Why reveal hundreds of thousands of verses that you will ultimately order to be destroyed? What Messenger from God is this that orders his own teachings to be destroyed? Is it not absurd? Or maybe we should ask: What was Bahā’u’llāh trying to hide?

Bahā’u’llāh’s writings are strongly reminiscent of Sufi and mystic poetry not prophetic revelations. This is not strange because after all, he had lived with Sufis and mystics for two years in the mountains of Kurdistan and his sister had explicitly declared that he had been associating with mystics and Sufis for years when he was in Tehran.

It is up to you to draw your own conclusions!

[1] `Abdu’l-Bahā, Makātīb (Egypt), vol. 3, p. 332.

[2] `Abdu’l-Bahā, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 10.

[3] The Arabic words used hereon are nearly identical to what Bahā’u’llāh says in the Aqdas. Those words will be mentioned shortly.

[4] Bahā’u’llāh, Iqtidārāt wa chand lauḥ dīgar, p. 327.

[5] Bahā’u’llāh, The Kitāb-i-Īqān, p. 32.

[6] Bahā’u’llāh, The Kitābi Aqdas, p. 195.

[7] Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, pp. 54–55

[8] Shoghi Effendi, Directives from the Guardian (India/Hawaii: 1973), p. 7.

[9] The reason we have translated both words kaur and daur to cycle is because in Baha’i literature they have both been translated to cycle. For instance in Some Answered Questions, the 43^rd question which is about “Two Classes of Prophets”[9] the word cycle has been used twice in the English text: “The independent Prophets are the lawgivers and the founders of a new cycle,” and “They change the general morals, promote new customs and rules, renew the cycle and the Law.” In the Farsi translation of this work (Mufāwiḍāt) the first instance has been translated to daur and the second to kaur. This trend is repeated multiple times throughout the Farsi translation of God Passes By (Qarni badī`).

[10] `Abdu’l-Bahā, Makātīb (Egypt), vol. 2, p. 68.

[11] `Abdu’l-Bahā, Makātīb (Egypt), vol. 1, p. 130.

[12] `Abdu’l-Bahā, Makātīb (Egypt), vol. 2, pp. 75–76.

[13] Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 101.

[14] Moringa branch or ghusn al-Bān is used to refer to a slender woman.

[15] Probably referring to the small black moles that were considered a sign of beauty amongst Persians.

[16] Haykal Allāh which probably means himself.

[17] Bahā’u’llāh, Āthār-i Qalam-i A`lā, vol. 2, no. 11, pp. 171–172.

[18] Bahā’u’llāh, Āthār-i Qalam-i A`lā, vol. 2, no. 89, pp. 575–576.

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

[20] `Abdu’l-Bahā, Some Answered Questions, p. 251.

[21] According to Professor John Walbridge of Indiana University in an article titled “Erotic Imagery in the Allegorical Writings of Bahā’u’llāh” available online: http://bahai-library.com/walbridge_erotic_allegory (retrieved 2/8/2014).

[22] Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 138.