An in-depth Investigation of Baha’i Principles
If religion must be in conformance with reason, then one would expect that the leaders of a religion too act in accordance to reason and its judgemnets. One of the most obvious judgments of reason is that one must practice what he preaches.
Baha’is believe that the Bab, Bahā’u’llāh, and `Abdu’l-Bahā were divinely inspired and received knowledge directly from God.
To show how much religious knowledge `Abdu’l-Bahā had, we will analyze a single book from his writings: Muntakhabātī az makātīb haḍrat `Abdu’l-Bahā, volume 6. From this book we will cite the verses of the Quran that he has quoted to evaluate his knowledge on this matter.
To show how much religious knowledge Bahā’u’llāh had, we will use the first book he authored, the book of Īqān (Certitude). This book has been designated by Bahā’u’llāh as “the Lord of all Books.” Contrary to what Baha’is claim, the book of Īqān was widely dismissed by Persian Scholars and researchers as a book full of fallacies and errors and a number of works were authored in Farsi that clearly showed these errors.
The Bāb copied verses of the Quran, changed a few words then presented them as his own divine revelations. To show this obvious act of prophetic and religious plagiarism we will analyze the first and last page of his book Qayyūm al-asmā’ (commentary on the Sura of Joseph) to provide evidence.
Although Baha’is sometimes try to portray Shoghi as being infallible, he himself begs to differ. Here is a leter written on his behalf by his secretary in 1944:
The infallibility of the Guardian is confined to matters which are related strictly to the Cause and interpretations of the Teachings; he is not an infallible authority on other subjects, such as economics, science, etc.
Before we start this section we must point out that when `Abdu’l-Bahā was asked if he knew everything, he had answered:
No, I do not know everything. But when I need to know something, it is pictured before me.
Should anyone intentionally destroy a house by fire, him also shall ye burn; should anyone deliberately take another’s life, him also shall ye put to death. Take ye hold of the precepts of God with all your strength and power, and abandon the ways of the ignorant. Should ye condemn the arsonist and the murderer to life imprisonment, it would be permissible according to the provisions of the Book. He, verily, hath power to ordain whatsoever He pleaseth.
As was also mentioned in the first principle, the Bāb and his book, Bayān hold a special importance for Baha’i’s. This is what Bahā’u’llāh says, about the book of Bayan:
Refer to it, for a letter from it will suffice the entirety of the people of the earth. And surely God has stated all things in the evident book.
The first and utmost problem is that Bahā’u’llāh, neither regards reason nor science, as a usable tool for recognizing the truth about a religion. Rather, he believes that Baha’ism is the yardstick of truth and anything uttered in it however unscientific and unreasonable that it may be is the absolute truth. He believes that the correctness of peoples’ knowledge and reason must be measured using the words of Bahā’u’llāh, not the other way around: