In contrast to what Baha’is claim, Bahā’u’llāh had a violent history. Bahā’u’llāh had claimed to be a manifestation of Ḥusayn the grandson of the Prophet Muḥammad. Ḥusayn was ruthlessly murdered by Yazīd in cold blood. Bahā’u’llāh’s actions were so violent while he was in Baghdad that according to his aunt, the people would recite the following verse of poetry when referring to him:

If Ḥusayn Ali (Bahā’u’llāh) is the manifestation of Ḥusayn the son of Ali (Prophet Muhammad’s grandson), then a thousand blessings be upon the pure soul of Yazīd [for killing him].^[1]

This attitude can clearly be seen in a letter that `Abdu’l-Bahā wrote to his aunt. He unintentionally reveals his father’s violent actions in the midst of praising him:

He threw an earthquake upon the pillars of Iraq and always left the people of discord (the Shia) in fear and apprehension. His grandeur had infiltrated the arteries and nerves to such an extent that not a single person dared to disapprove of him nor had the audacity to speak bad of him in the middle of the night in Karbala and Najaf (two cities in Iraq).^[2]

As his aunt explains, the reaction shown by the people was not due to Bahā’u’llāh’s grandeur, but because of him and his followers’ violent acts:

They gathered a group of hooligans from different provinces of Iran and from the same places fugitives who had never believed in any religion and had no faith in any prophet and had no work but manslaughter and had no occupation but stealing peoples’ property. Even though they claimed they were following [the customs] of Ḥusayn (the grandson of the Prophet Muḥammad who was ruthlessly murdered by Shimr on the orders of Yazīd) they summoned a group of Shimr-like people around themselves. The breath of any soul who uttered anything but what they were satisfied with was suffocated. They beat any head which made the slightest sound other than accepting their guardianship. They cut every throat which showed other than humbleness towards them. They pierced every heart which had love toward other than them . . .^[3]

[1] `Izziye Khānum (Khānum Buzurg), Tanbīh al-nā’imīn (Tehran: n.p., n.d.), p. 12. This is the only non-Baha’i source that we have used in this book that contains quotes relevant to the Baha’i creed. What we have quoted from this book can be found with less detail in other quotes we have mentioned from Baha’i books.

[2] `Abdu’l-Bahā, Makātīb (Egypt), vol. 2, p. 177.

[3] `Izziye Khānum (Khānum Buzurg), Tanbīh al-nā’imīn, pp. 11–12.