When the matter of the leadership of the Bābīs was brought forth, Bahā’u’llāh labeled his brother—Mīrzā Yaḥyā Ṣubḥ Azal, who according to the will of the Bab, was his successor—with all kinds of profanities.^[1] He revealed all the inner secrets between them and tried his best to ruin his reputation. He even went so far as calling him, and all the rest of his deniers, donkeys, cows, and dung beetles:

Oh you donkeys! Whatever God says is the truth and will not become void by the words of the polytheists.^[2]

Oh followers of Bahā . . . let these bogus dung-beetle like bodies to be occupied with their filthy dirty stinky beliefs. By my true self, the nose of the cow has no share from this purified perfume.[3]

Have in mind that that this degree of politeness emanates from the same Bahā’u’llāh that says:

Politeness is one of mankind’s traits that distinguishes him from other [creatures]. He who has no success in [being polite] then his demise certainly has—and will have—priority over his existence.^[4]

According to Bahā’u’llāh, it is better for someone who is impolite and rude to cease to exist than continue living in their current state. Fāḍil Māzandarānī^[5] has collected a list of rude titles that Bahā’u’llāh had given to his brother. We will mention a number of these below:

When Mīrzā Yaḥyā Azal started opposing the works, deeds, and words of his esteemed brother (Bahā’u’llāh) in Edirne^[6] . . . he dropped down from his [high] stature and the rank of union and agreement [that he had with Bahā’u’llāh] and was gradually—in the tablets, works, and revelations [from Bahā’u’llāh]—referred to with codes, references, and names such as the polytheist, the calf, the scarab (dung beetle), the tyrant, the Satan, the devil, the foul swamp, the buzzing of a fly, and similar names.^[7]

Regardless of his own impolite style and context, Bahā’u’llāh recommends Baha’is not to be rude:

Oh Party of God! I recommend you to be polite, for the first status of [politeness] is that it is the chief of morality. Blessed is the person that is illuminated by the light of politeness and decorated with the style of honesty. The holder of politeness has a great rank. It is hoped that this oppressed one (meaning Bahā’u’llāh) and all be successful in it, adhere to it, cling to it, and be witness to it. This is the firm decree that has flown from the pen of the Great Name and has been revealed.^[8]

Oh followers of Bahā! You were—and are—the starting point of affection and the beginning place of divine favors. Do not stain your tongue by swearing and cursing . . . do not be the cause of sadness.^[9]

Apparently double standards and hypocrisy are approved of in this creed.

Bahā’u’llāh—not knowing that in the future, his children would follow the footsteps of their father and uncle—wrote in a proselytizing letter:

Politeness is my shirt that we will use to decorate our favored servants.^[10]

`Abdu’l-Bahā and Muḥammad `Alī Effendi (Bahā’u’llāh’s other son) inherited their father’s manners and similarly showed no respect to each other over the succession of their father. Matters reached the point where `Abdu’l-Bahā crowned his brother and his followers with titles such as flies, dung-beetles, earthworms, bats, ravens, and foxes.^[11]

We too agree with Bahā’u’llāh that “woe be upon he who is deprived of politeness.”^[12] We also agree with `Abdu’l-Bahā when he says:

We should be fair. How can we expect a person that has failed in nurturing his children, spouse, and family to succeed in nurturing the people of the world? Is there any doubt or uncertainty about this issue? By God, no!^[13]

[1] The Bāb’s will reads: “God is greater, much greater. This is a letter from the Dominant Eternal God to the Dominant Eternal God [sic]. Say everyone begins from God. Say everyone returns to God. This is a book from `Alī Before Nabīl (a code name the Bāb used to refer to himself) to the person whose name [in ABJAD code] is equal to the name Waḥīd (meaning Mīrzā Yaḥyā Ṣubḥ Azal) who is God’s remembrance for the world. Say everyone begins from Nuqṭat al-Bayān (meaning the Bāb) [and] that O he whose name [is equal to] Waḥīd, protect what has been revealed in the Bayān and command to it for you are a true and great path.” An image of the will has been printed in p. 19 of the Persian introduction of the book E.G. Browne, Nuqṭat al-kāf (Leiden: Brill, 1901).

[2] Bahā’u’llāh, Badī`, p. 174.

[3] Bahā’u’llāh, Iqtidārāt wa chand lauḥ dīgar, p. 58.

[4] Bahā’u’llāh, Badī`, p. 203–204.

[5] The name is usually spelled as Fazel Mazandarani. We have used the alternate spelling in conformance with the transliteration style of this book.

[6] A city in northwestern Turkey.

[7] Asad-Allāh Fāḍil Māzandarānī, Asrār al-āthār khuṣūṣī, vol. 5, p. 345–346.

[8] Riyāḍ Qadīmī, Gulzār-i ta`ālim Bahā’ī, p. 25.

[9] `Abd al-Ḥamīd Ishrāq Khāwarī, Ganjīniy-i ḥudūd wa aḥkām, chap. 47, p. 322.

[10] Riyāḍ Qadīmī, Gulzār-i ta`ālim Bahā’ī, p. 25.

[11] “They are senile like arrogant fools and not seashells full of gems. They are ecstatic from the smell of garbage like dung beetles and not from the scent of a flower of gardens. They are lowly earthworms buried beneath the great earth not high flying birds. They are bats of darkness not the searchlights of clear horizons. They always make excuses and like ravens, have nested in the landfills of fall (autumn) . . . so you Oh true friend and spiritual helper . . . attack these unjust foxes and like a high soaring eagle drive away these hateful ravens from this field,” `Abdu’l-Bahā, Makātīb (Egypt), vol. 1, pp. 442–443.

[12] “We chose politeness and made it the trait of those [we] favor. It is a cloth which fits the body of all, big or small. Salvation is for he who makes it cover his body. Woe is for him who is deprived of this great virtue,” Riyāḍ Qadīmī, Gulzār-i ta`ālim Bahā’ī, p. 25.

[13] `Abdu’l-Bahā, Makātīb (Egypt), vol. 2, p. 182.