`Abdu’l-Bahā claims:

Universal peace is assured by Bahā’u’llāh as a fundamental accomplishment of the religion of God—that peace shall prevail among nations, governments and peoples, among religions, races and all conditions of mankind. This is one of the special characteristics of the Word of God revealed in this Manifestation.

In 1795, years before Bahā’u’llāh, Immanuel Kant published Perpetual Peace with two main steps and guidelines for achieving global peace. Can we believe that Bahā’u’llāh or `Abdu’l-Bahā had not heard of this famous philosopher or his article? Or can we believe that they had not heard about this concept in other religions? They certainly had. `Abdu’l-Bahā admits that:

All Divine Books and all Divine Prophets and all rational people are unanimous and united [on the belief] that war brings about destruction and peace brings about prosperity.[1] 

It seems that what Baha’i leaders had in mind when speaking about universal peace, was the creation of a superpower which would guarantee that peace is established and sustained. `Abdu’l-Bahā says:

A superpower is needed to implement this peace, prevent this war, and announce the Oneness of Humanity . . . we are in need of a superpower.[2]

Bahā’u’llāh claims to be the savior which all religions had given glad-tidings about. The savior who was supposed to come and establish world peace once and for all. Yet, this claimant has passed away without fulfilling God’s promise and his followers are still searching for a superpower, which was in fact, supposed to be their beloved deceased leader. For now, we will ignore this inconsistency.

Let us see what entity Baha’is believe is fit to take on this role and police the world: Maybe the United States, Russia, the Ottomans, or even the United Kingdom? After all, both he and his son have praised all these powers at different points in time. For instance, this is how Bahā’u’llāh praised the Imperial Russian government for freeing him from prison:

When this Wronged One was sore-afflicted in prison, the minister of the highly esteemed government (of Russia)—may God, glorified and exalted be He, assist him!—exerted his utmost endeavor to compass My deliverance. Several times permission for My release was granted. Some of the ‘ulamās of the city, however, would prevent it. Finally, My freedom was gained through the solicitude and the endeavor of His Excellency the Minister . . . His Imperial Majesty, the Most Great Emperor—may God, exalted and glorified be He, assist him!—extended to Me for the sake of God his protection—a protection which has excited the envy and enmity of the foolish ones of the earth.[3]

Or `Abdu’l-Bahā’s supplications for the Ottoman Empire:

Oh Lord, Oh Lord! I ask you by your unseen favors and your self-contained successes and your merciful graces, to assist the exalted Ottoman government and its Caliphate [stemming from the prophet] Muhammad to be spread on earth and be established on [Your] Throne, and in protecting its lands from plague, and safeguarding the center of its rule from humility. Oh Lord, preserve it in the cave of Your protection and support, and protect it with the eye of Your grace, and cover it with your merciful security. For it supports the Blessed Illuminated Monument and protects the Valley of Sinai, and spreads the shadow of its support over the heads of the Friends.[4]

The following supplication shows `Abdu’l-Bahā’s cozy relations with the English government:

Oh Lord! Give grace to the great Emperor George V, the King of England, with your merciful successes and keep permanent his towering shadow on this lofty land (meaning Palestine).[5] 

On a side note, in his 1911 journey to Europe, `Abdu’l-Bahā made some extraordinary claims about England:

The people of Iran are overjoyed that I have travelled here. My coming here will be a cause of friendship between Iran and England. A complete relationship will be forged. The [relationship] will increase to such an extent that people from Iran will sacrifice their lives for England and likewise England will sacrifice itself for Iran.[6]

This speech is so full of falsity that one wonders how `Abdu’l-Bahā had come up with such strange claims. Why should the people of Iran have been overjoyed by `Abdu’l-Bahā’s journey to England—a journey most if not all Iranians—did not even know about? No historical document exists today which even slightly shows Iranians had shown such emotions. No document exists that shows the people of Iran sacrificed themselves for England or England sacrificed itself for Iran. All available documents and historical facts show the opposite of `Abdu’l-Bahā’s prophecies and to date, England is still widely regarded with suspicion and hatred by the Iranian people because of the atrocities it committed in Iran throughout the previous century and is considered as the root of most of their problems.

The aforementioned supplications themselves are in contradiction with the principle of Universal Peace. When these supplications were uttered—and in the era before and after them—the English, Ottoman, and the Russian empires were engaged in ruthless wars, imperialistic policies, and colonizations which had resulted in the death of millions of people and the transmission of the national wealth of weaker countries to these superpowers. Why had `Abdu’l-Bahā and Bahā’u’llāh prayed for such regimes? Why had they asked God to protect them, make them successful and make permanent their rule?!

`Abdu’l-Bahā’s relations with warmongering and imperialistic governments was not limited to supplications and prayers. He was awarded a knighthood by the British government on 27 April 1920.

Figure 14: Ceremony of `Abdu’l-Bahā’s knighthood.

Baha’is explain this event by claiming that the reason for this knighthood was `Abdu’l-Bahā’s humanitarian achievements:

Through the war years, `Abdu’l-Bahā encouraged the Baha’is in the Jordan River valley and on the shores of the Sea of Galilee to plant crops. The wheat they produced was distributed to the needy population of Haifa, saving it from starvation. This humanitarian service was recognized by the British, who occupied Haifa at the end of September 1918. The British government knighted ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in April 1920 and showed Him extraordinary signs of admiration and respect.[7]

 Nor were the British authorities slow to express their appreciation of the role which `Abdu’l-Bahā had played in allaying the burden of suffering that had oppressed the inhabitants of the Holy Land during the dark days of that distressing conflict. The conferment of a knighthood upon Him at a ceremony specially held for His sake in Haifa, at the residence of the British Governor, at which notables of various communities had assembled.[8]

Why would a medal of honor based on service to the British government, be granted to someone who was allegedly helping feed the civilian population of a country the British were waging a war against? A government who had already shown it did not care about the civilians of the countries it invaded. The invasion of Persia by the British during the Great Persian famine in 1917–1919 (at nearly the same time they invaded Palestine), greatly intensified the disaster and directly and indirectly resulted in the death of not thousands but millions of innocent Persians.[9] The British cared more about their interests in the Middle East than about the countless lives lost because of these invasions. Are we supposed to believe such a regime—with such a black resume—would really care about the starvation of a mere few hundred people that `Abdu’l-Bahā was providing for, while it was watching thousands and millions of people die of starvation due to its actions in other lands? What service was `Abdu’l-Bahā really providing to the British government?

 Shoghi gives us some clues to answer the last question. The following extracts are what Shoghi says about the Ottoman government in God Passes By: 

Sulṭān `Abdu’l-`Azīz, who with Nāṣiri’d-Dīn Shāh was the author of the calamities heaped upon Bahā’u’llāh, and was himself responsible for three decrees of banishment against the Prophet; who had been stigmatized, in the Kitāb-i-Aqdas, as occupying the “throne of tyranny.”[10]

In the Holy Land, however, though the outcome of that tremendous struggle was to liberate once and for all the Heart and Center of the Faith from the Turkish yoke, a yoke which had imposed for so long upon its Founder and His Successor such oppressive and humiliating restrictions . . . The privations inflicted on the inhabitants by the gross incompetence, the shameful neglect, the cruelty and callous indifference of both the civil and military authorities, though greatly alleviated through the bountiful generosity, the foresight and the tender care of ‘Abdu’l-Bahā, were aggravated by the rigors of a strict blockade . . . The conclusion of this terrible conflict, the first stage in a titanic convulsion long predicted by Bahā’u’llāh, not only marked the extinction of Turkish rule in the Holy Land and sealed the doom of that military despot who had vowed to destroy ‘Abdu’l-Bahā . . . The Head of the Faith, and its twin holy Shrines, in the plain of Akkā and on the slopes of Mt. Carmel, were henceforth to enjoy for the first time, through the substitution of a new and liberal régime for the corrupt administration of the past.[11]

 These quotes show the extreme hatred and enmity Baha’i leaders had towards the Ottomans. If a foreign force—who is friendly towards you for whatever reason—decides to attack your sworn enemy, would you not try to help them?

To see the extent of `Abdu’l-Bahā’s hypocrisy one only needs to compare these praises and prayers for the Ottoman Empire with Shoghi’s words regarding the same empire. Was `Abdu’l-Bahā really serious when he was asking God “to assist the exalted Ottoman Government and its caliphate”? That same empire that Shoghi refers to using the following words: Turkish yoke, throne of tyranny, military despot, corrupt administration! When that empire had power it was subject to the most extreme forms of flattery and praise by the Baha’i administration and when it was overthrown and no longer in power, it was attacked by the Baha’i administration using the most repulsive terms. The sincerity in these words is overwhelming.

What `Abdu’l-Bahā says and predicts about the United States is even more astounding. He says in a speech in the city of Cincinnati in November 1912:

America is a noble nation, a standard-bearer of peace throughout the world, shedding her light to all regions. Other nations are not untrammeled and free of intrigues like the United States, and are unable to bring about Universal Peace. But America, thank God, is at peace with all the world, and is worthy of raising the flag of brotherhood and International Peace.[12]

These words were either uttered with the intention of deceiving the American public and giving them delusional pride, or obviously reflect `Abdu’l-Bahā’s superhuman knowledge.[13] If `Abdu’l-Bahā had the slightest knowledge about the United States’ military conflicts and interventions he would have never uttered such words.

In the year 1912, the same year that `Abdu’l-Bahā made the aforementioned speech, the United States was in the midst of one of its most ruthless military engagements with its South American neighbors, today referred to as the Banana Wars. These wars were neither based on humanitarian reasons nor to achieve peace, but were wars being fought to loot South American countries from their national wealth and God-given graces and to expand the profit of American commercial organizations and tycoons. U.S. Marine Corps Major, General Smedley Butler, who was perhaps the single most active military officer in the Banana Wars, describes them like this:

I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.[14]

`Abdu’l-Bahā gives further glad-tidings about America and its peaceful attitude:

Undoubtedly, the American people and nation, have no intention of colonizing [another country] or expanding the circle of the countries [borders] and do not seek to attack other nations and countries.[15]

These words were uttered in the same year that America was engaged in at least two major wars: 1-The Moro Rebellion (1899 – 1913) against ethnic Muslims who lived in the Southern Philippines and resisted Spanish and American colonization. 2-Occupation of Nicaragua (1912–1933).

`Abdu’l-Bahā’s prophecy was so precise that in the next one hundred years, the United States became—and still is—militarily engaged in hundreds of conflicts around the world. Some of the major ones being:

• The Mexican Revolution (1914–1919)
• Occupation of Haiti (1915–1934)
• Occupation of the Dominican Republic (1916–1924)
• World War I (1917–1918)
• Russian Civil War (1918–1920)
• World War II (1941–1945)
• Korean War (1950–1953)
• First Indochina War (1950–1954)
• Vietnam War (1953–1975)
• Laotian Civil War (1953–1975)
• Lebanon Crisis (1958)
• Congo Crisis (1960-1965)
• Bay of Pigs Invasion (1961)
• Colombian Conflict (1964–present)
• Invasion of the Dominican Republic (1965–1966)
• War in Bolivia (1966–1967)
• Korean DMZ Conflict (1966–1969)
• Cambodian Civil War (1970–1975)
• Soviet War in Afghanistan (1979–1989)
• Lebanese Civil War (1982–1984)
• Invasion of Grenada (1983)
• Libya (1981, 1986, 1989)
• Iran (1987-1988)
• Invasion of Panama (1989–1990)
• Gulf War (1990–1991)
• Bosnian War (1993–1995)
• Kosovo War (1999)
• Afghanistan War (2001–present)
• Iraq War (2003–2011)

These wars resulted in the deaths of millions of people. ‘The standard-bearer of peace’ and the nation ‘worthy of raising the flag of brotherhood and International Peace’ as `Abdu’l-Bahā had prophesized, has been involved in more military conflicts than every other nation ever  since these titles were given to it. Abdu’l-Bahā’s prayers were not answered when he uttered:

O God! Let this American democracy become glorious in spiritual degrees even as it has aspired to material degrees, and render this just government victorious. Confirm this revered nation to upraise the standard of the oneness of humanity, to promulgate the Most Great Peace, to become thereby most glorious and praiseworthy among all the nations of the world.[16]

It has become clear that “this just government” was not just and not a seeker of peace. The world has not yet forgotten the nuclear bombs dropped on the innocent men, women and children of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the indiscriminate bombing of civilians in Vietnam.

Baha’is claim with pride that when `Abdu’l-Bahā spoke with the Japanese ambassador to the United States with the following words, he was warning him about a nuclear strike:

Scientific discoveries have increased material civilization. There is in existence a stupendous force, as yet, happily undiscovered by man. Let us supplicate God, the Beloved, that this force be not discovered by science until spiritual civilization shall dominate the human mind. In the hands of men of lower nature, this power would be able to destroy the whole earth.[17]

According to Baha’is, `Abdu’l-Bahā had apparently predicted that, ‘The standard-bearer of peace’ and the nation ‘worthy of raising the flag of brotherhood and International Peace,’ was going to nuke Japan and commit one of the greatest war crimes known to mankind.

[1] `Abdu’l-Bahā, Khaṭābāt (Tehran), vol. 2, p. 99.

[2] `Abdu’l-Bahā, Khaṭābāt (Tehran), vol. 2, pp. 99–100.

[3] Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 106.

[4] `Abdu’l-Bahā, Makātīb (Egypt), vol. 2, p. 312.

[5] `Abdu’l-Bahā, Makātīb (Egypt), vol. 3, p. 347.

[6] `Abdu’l-Bahā, Khaṭābāt (Egypt), vol. 1, p. 23.

[7] This quote was taken on 21 December 2013 from the Baha’i Encyclopedia Project: http://www.bahai-encyclopedia-project.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=81:abdul-baha-abbas-1844-1921&catid=36:administrationinstitutions

[8] Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 306

[9] See Mohammad Gholi Majd, The Great Famine and Genocide in Persia, 1917-1919 (University Press of America, 2003).

[10] Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 225.

[11] Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, pp. 304–306.

[12] J. E. Esslemont, Bahā’u’llāh and the New Era, pp.242–243.

[13] Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Bahā’u’llāh, p. 134.

[14] Eugene Jarecki, The American Way of War: Guided Missiles, Misguided Men, and a Republic in Peril, (Free Press, 2010), p. 145.

[15] `Abdu’l-Bahā, Khaṭābāt (Tehran), vol. 2, p. 69.

[16] Various, Bahā’ī Prayers: A Selection of Prayers Revealed by Bahā’u’llāh, the Bāb, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahā (US Bahā’ī Publishing Trust, 1991), p. 25.

[17] Various, Japan Will Turn Ablaze! (Bahā’ī Publishing Trust of Japan, 1992 [revised edition]), p. 51.