Subh-i-Azal’s Brother: Baha’u\'llah

Baha’u\'llah had to endure a serious amount of trouble to become the leader after Báb. He was exiled numerous times to different places.

Is it possible to be a propagandist or pioneer of oneness of mankind but then face numerous domestic drawbacks?

Dalgorki’s Aid to Baha’u\'llah

After execution of Báb, the Russians tried to select one of his followers to be his successor, Kenyaz Dolgorukov¹ says:

I heard of Báb execution in Tehran, so I instigated Mirza Hussein Ali and some others who did not see Báb to make some uproar and confusion.

They started an armed rebellion and insurgence in the country but the government reacted with stern reprisal, which eventually beat the rebellion. Even after failing, they tried to assassinate the king Nasser-al-din for executing Báb, which also failed, therefore the king ordered to arrest all the Bábi-Bahai’s, including Mirza Hussein Ali and put them in prison.

Dolgorukov says:

I defended Mirza Hussein Ali, and with extreme difficulty convinced the government not to kill him. Therefore the government exiled him to Baghdad.

At another place Dalgorki mentions:

I suggested Mirza Hussein Ali to take his brother Mirza Yahya as hid patron.

Further on Dalgorki states:

I gave them a sizeable sum of money and later, I sent his wife, children, relatives and all those who were close to him.

Dispute Between the Followers of Báb

Yahya Nuri (Subh-i-Azal)

After settling in Baghdad, Hussein Ali Nuri started to pave the way to take leadership of Bábis; however most of Bábis did not accept him and gave their leadership to his brother Yahya Nuri because they believed Báb had appointed Yahya Nuri in his will as his successor. So they became two groups, struggling against each other. Due to this struggle the Ottoman government deported them to Edirne in Turkey (1281 A.H-1864 A.D.).

Even in Edirne the strife between the two brothers intensified; the followers of Yahya came to be known as ‘Azali’ as he was called Subh-i-Azal, and the followers of Hussein Ali as ‘Baha’i’.

Hussein Ali determined to get rid of his brother Yahya, he tried to poison him but he failed, he attempted to assassinate him but it also failed. The two brothers took even cursed each other vehemently too, calling each other as ‘sin’, ‘calf’, ‘bear’.

Intervention of Ottoman Government Between the Two Brothers

The extent of the chaos caused the Ottoman government to send the brothers to different places!

Azalis were sent to Cyprus and Baha’is were sent to Akka in Palestine. Mirza Hussein Ali started with the claim of the trustee of Báb and his successor, and called himself as Baha’u’llah, later he claimed that he is a prophet, too. What’s more is that he also claimed himself as the perfect manifestation of God, following him is paradise, and disobeying him is hell, he invalidated anything which did not suit him in Bábism.

Some of Azali Reasons to Their Claim

Because of Baha’u\'llah’s anarchic claim that he has a new religion, many people turned away from him because no religion could be obsolete in such a short time (after Báb’s death until Baha’u\'llah’s claim which was only 9 years). Meaning that Báb’s successor could not bring a new religion.

The definition made by Báb for the manifestation of God was impossible to comply with Baha’u\'llah’s year of birth i.e. many characteristics that Báb defined would apply for a person that would be born after Báb. For example Báb declared:

We have made the semen clean so that He Whom God shall manifest is not born of impure semen.

However Báb was born on 1819 and Baha’u\'llah was born on 1817!

Mirza Ali Muhammad (Báb)

Báb has written “The new Manifestation would come only after all have been educated with the Bayan.”

Now the Bayan, as we all know, was incomplete when death overtook Báb, and he had entrusted Mirza Yahya (Azal, Bah’a’ullah’s brother), his successor with the responsibility of completing it. But this desire of seeing the ‘Bayan’ completed remained just a dream for Báb and to this day it remains incomplete. Moreover, the Bayan is a book that isn’t even accessible to all, let alone read or understood by the Baha’is. It has never gone into print and even its manuscripts are rare. I don’t know about the Baha’is but I find it very strange that books revealed thousands of years ago like the Torah, Bible and the Quran are available at the drop of a hat in just about every spoken language, but the Bayan which was ‘revealed’ less than 200 years ago is not even available in its original language! Do the Baha’is even know in which language the Bayan was written? Then how can they be Baha’is and how can Mirza Hussain Ali Nuri be the ‘Promised/Manifested One’, when Báb has clearly stated that only after the universal acceptance of the Bayan will the ‘Manfisted One’ arrive?

Báb had stated in the ‘Bayan’ in no uncertain terms, that “universal acceptance of Bábism was a pre-requisite to the appearance of ‘the Promised One’”. In my view the Baha’is would hard pressed to prove that, let alone the world, even a city or town had unanimously embraced Bábism prior to the advent of Baha’u’llah. Till date such an event has not come to pass. This automatically makes his claim groundless like all his other claims.

Mirza Hussein Ali (Baha’u’llah)

Mirza Hussein Ali continued to propagate his falsehoods and fabrications through the masonic establishment and the voice and propagandist of world Zionism which used him as a tool for achieving their goals. He was exhausted with diarrhea and he perished in Akka on 2nd Dhi Qadah 1309 A.H. (May 1892).

During the time of his living in Baghdad, Mirza Hussein Ali started to write some books which some of them are: Iqan- Aqdas- Ishraqat- Alwah- Mobeen.

Mirza Hussein Ali willed that his elder son Abbas Affandi and after him, his other son Muhammad Ali Effendi would succeed him.

Dispute over Leadership after Baha’u\'llah’s Death

When Abbas Effendi (later known as ‘`Abdu’l-Bahá ’) announced that his father appointed him in his will, his brother Muhammad Ali and his brothers contested this claim; each of them argued that they were meant by the will, which was very concise and ambiguous. As the result of the conflict each one raised his head against the other with fury, but finally `Abdu’l-Bahá became victorious and named his supporters as ‘Sabetin’ (covenants) and addressed the opponents as ‘Naghezin’ (covenants breaker).

`Abdu’l-Bahá  started to work to achieve the aims for Baha’ism, namely to change Islam and work for the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine. He claimed that a Baha’i can combine all religions even though they contradict each other. He says:

You can be a Baha’i-Christian, a Baha’i Freemason, a Baha’i-Jew, a Baha’i-Muhammadan.

`Abdu’l-Bahá died in Monday, 6^th of Rabi-al-Awal 1340 A.H. (November 8th,  1921) at the age of 78 and since he had no son, before his death he appointed his grandson Shoghi Effendi, son of his daughter.

We can’t make a crystal clear conclusion, because we don’t know what Báb meant when he appointed Subh-i-Azal but then Baha’u’llah took over, or for Baha’u\'llah, which he said that Muhammad Ali would be the successor after Abbas Effendi which they ended up fighting and Shoghi Effendi came to succession out of the blue!

It could mean that either they were not prophets or it could just be the mistaken interpretation of the article’s author!

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