The Position of Mirza Yayha - Subhe\' Azal

IMRAN SHAYKH

After reading a lot about the lofty positions of the proponents of The Baha’i Faith, lets look at the life of the avowed enemy of Baha, his own brother Mirza Yahya Nuri. Since he is an enemy of The Baha’i Faith, it is but natural that pleasant things will not be written about him. However we will only analyze how low Shoghi Affandi can actually fall in actually slandering his own ancestral blood.

Actually, Shoghi seems to be quite confused about the position of Azal or is it that he is deliberately fooling to save the face of The Baha’i Faith. Liars have a weak memory and thus we find a lot of contradictions in his words.

Was Mirza Yahya Nuri the successor of the Bab?
Here Shoghi is in a dilemma. History proves that Mirza Yahya Nuri was actually the successor of the Bab. If Shoghi admits it, in a single strike of the pen, he will nullify the claims of Bahaullah, and the religion of The Baha’i Faith, if he doesn\'t, then he faces the problems of answering historians like ourselves.

Let us view the various versions of Shoghi regarding Bab.

· The Bab never named a successor or a vicegerent (page 23)

· Bab nominated Mirza Yahya on the advice of Baha (page 23)

· When His (Bab\'s) nominee (Mirza Yahya) roamed the mountains and the plains of the neighborhood of Rasht. (page 45)

· The nominee of the Bab was the credulous and the cowardly Mirza Yahya (page 72)

· Mirza Yahya claimed to be the successor of the Bab (page 73)

· Mirza Yahya was the provisionally appointed centre of Babism (page 81)

· Mirza Yaha was one of the half-brothers of Bahaullah, the nominee of the Bab, and the recognized chief of the Babi community (page 103)

Thus even though he tried a lot to hide it, Shoghi has to admit that Mirza Yayha was in fact the successor of the Bab. Hence the claim of Baha was void and without merit.

The Character and Deeds of Mirza Yayha
Shoghi has tried to malign the character of Mirza Yahya. Its is not that Mirza Yahya Nuri was a nice man, he may have been evil but Shoghi has bent over backwards to malign him. His main motive to slander the character of Mirza Yahya  was to build a ground for the successorship of Baha amongst the Babis after the demise of Bab.

However he has not realized that the successor of Bab should be as crafty and vile as him. The fact that Baha could manage to overcome the crafty Mirza Yahya shows the high level of craftiness found in him.

· Mirza Yayha was credulous and cowardly (page 72)

The Various Disguises of Mirza Yayha

· Mirza Yayha, a bewildered fugitive in the guise of a dervish, with a kashkul (alms bowl) in his hand, roamed the mountains of Rasht (page 45)

· With Bab no longer in the midst of his followers, his nominee (Mirza Yahya) either seeking a safe hiding place or wearing the disguise of a dervish or of an Arab wandering from time to time (page 73)

· Mirza Yahya after the execution of the Bab sustained such a violent shock that his faith almost forsake him. Wandering for a time in the guise of a dervish, he by his behavior, had so severely tasted the loyalty of his fellow believers in Nur, that they too wavered in their convictions, some of them going so far as to throw in their lot with the enemy. He subsequently proceeded to Rasht and concealed himself in the province of Ghitan until his departure to Kirmanshah, when in order to better screen himself, he entered in the services of a certain Abdullah Qazvini, a maker of shrouds and became a vendor of his goods... He then proceeded in the garb of an Arab by way of Mandalij to Baghdad. He established himself there in the street of the charcoal makers, situated in a dilapidated quarter of the city, and placing a turban upon his head and assuming the name of Haji Ali, he embarked upon his newly chosen profession (page 73)

· Mirza Yahya has even after the return of Baha from Sulaymania, either chosen to maintain himself in an inglorious seclusion in his own house or had withdrawn whenever danger threatened to such places at Hillah and Basra. To the latter he fled disguised as a Baghdadi Jew, and became a shoe merchant. (page 114)

· The conduct of Mirza Yahya who prided himself on his high sounding titles of Mirat-ul- Azaliyah (Everlasting Mirror), of Subh-e-Azal (Morning of Eternity) and of Ismul Azal (Name of Eternity).. were by now assuming such a character that the prestige of the faith was being directly involved or its future security seriously imperiled (page 73)

· Mirza Yahya dispatched Mirza Mohammed Mazandarani, one of his supporters, for the express purpose of murdering (Asadullah) Dayyan (page 79)

· Dayyan however was murdered by Khadimullah, the servant of Bahaullah (page 79)

· Mirza Yahya ordered that the cousin of the Bab, Mirza Ali Akbar, a fervent admirer of Dayan, be secretly put to death (page 79)

· Mirza Yahya along with a band of ruffians used to snatch at night, the turbans from the heads of wealthy pilgrims who had congregated at Kerbala, steal their shoes, rid the shrine of Imam Hussein of its diwans and candles and seize the drinking cups from the water fountains. (page 79)

The Decline of Mirza Yayha and His Subsequent Deeds

· It was the period of exile of Baha during which the prestige of the community\'s nominal head steadily declined from the scene. (page 81)

· When Mirza Yahya heard about the claim of prophethood by Baha and his honoring by the people, he remarked to Sayid Mohammed, Had I not chosen to hide myself, had I revealed my identity, the honor accorded to him (Baha) would have been mine too. (page 99)

· Mirza Yahya stained the annals of his faith with indelible infamy. His corruption in scores of instances, of the texts of Bab\'s writings, the blasphemous addition he made to the Adhan in which he identified himself with Divinity, his condemnation to death of all the mirrors of the Bab\'s Dispensations, his dastardly hand in the murder of Dayan, his foul deed in bringing about the murder of Mirza Ali Akbar, the Bab\'s cousin, his unspeakable repugnant violation of the honor of the Bab himself (illicit relations with the Bab\'s wife) were to be thrown into yet more into lurid light by further acts, the perpetration of which were to seal irretreivably his doom.(page 104)

· Mirza Yahya made desperate designs to poison the Baha and his companions... he invited Baha to his house where one day, having smeared his cup with a substance which he had connected, he succeeded in poisoning him sufficiently to produce in him an illness which lasted no less than a month and which was accompanied by severe pains and high fever, the aftermath of which left Baha with a shaking hand that lasted till the end of his life.(page 104-105)

· Mirza Yahya poisoned the well which provided water for the family and companions of Baha (page 105)

· Mirza Yahya asked Ustad Mohammed Sulayman, the barber to assassinate Baha while he was attending to Him. (page 105)

· Baha made Aqa Jaan read out a part of the revelation to Mirza Yahya and asked him to reply it. The reply however was a counter declaration specifying the hour and the minute in which he had been made the recipient of an independent revelation, necessitating the unqualified submission to him of the people of the Earth, both of the East and the West. (page 105).  Now whom do we believe??

· Mirza Yahya sent one of the wives to the Government house to complain that her husband had been cheated of their rights and that her children were on the verge of starvation. (page 106).

· Mirza Yahya challenged Baha for a debate, which never took place. (page 106-107)

· So great was the conflict between the two brothers that Baha was banished to the penal colony of Acca and Mirza Yahya to Famagusta in Cyprus (page 113).

“Bahaullah” “Mirza Yahya”

The episode of Mirza Yahya and Bahaullah also throws light on the Unity or rather Disunity between the brothers. Unity is one of the teachings of The Baha’i Faith, i.e., Baha’is advocate Universal brotherhood between the people. But if two blood brothers, and both of which are in leadership positions could not maintain brotherhood and unity between themselves, then how can they preach it to the world. This shows the fallacy of their claims and the deception of their religion.

Baha says \"No one in this world can claim any relationship to Me except those who in all their deeds and in their conduct follow My example (page 85)

Thus if anyone has good relations with his brother, then he is not a Baha’i as per the teachings of Baha. It is thus incumbent upon all Baha’is to sever relations with their brothers if they want to be in the Faith and be acknowledged as a servant of Bahaullah.