Is the Baha’i Faith an offshoot of Islam?

This article is a small endeavor towards a long-standing need to explain the scheming Baha’i and Babi sects. An explanation, which is due not only to the entire Muslim community, but also to our future generations and the world at large as to how these sects, who appear to be draped in the garment of Tawheed (Unity of God) are actually the enemies of Islam. An explanation of how these sects, through their devious methods, are actually sucking the blood of Islam and are deviating its followers.

The Baha’is try to spread this lie that the Baha’i faith is an offshoot of Islam. But this is not true. They succeed in misguiding the people to some extent because this religion (if it can be called so) originated in Iran - a country largely populated by the Shiah community. The answer to this point can be given as follows -

The first answer lies in the verse of the Holy Quran about Hazrat Nuh (as) where Allah sent his revelation to Hazrat Nuh (as) saying, \"O Nuh, this son of yours in not amongst you and your family because he has passed his life in infidelity ad tyranny an he has been insisting on polytheism. No one will be saved except those who have embraced faith in your religion, who have acknowledged the truthfulness of your prophet, who have answered the call you have invited to.\"

In our worldly lives we often see that fathers disown their children who disobey them or seek to usurp their position in their lifetimes. Then what can we say about these worthless children who not only sought to usurp the position of their father, but went one step ahead to deny his existence completely.

The Holy Prophet (saw) said, \"One who denies the first of us, (it is as if) he has denied me. One who denies the last of us, (it is as if) he has denied me\"

Perhaps, it is for such people that Imam Sadiq (as) said, \"In the last age, the faith of the people will vanish as easily as surma vanishes from the eyes\"

The second reason due to which the masses are convinced that the Bahai Faith is an offshoot of Shiahism is due to its origin in Iran. The reply to this misconception is as follows. One must pay attention to the early history of Islam and prior to it, in the age of ignorance, which the Holy Quran describes in the following words

وَلَمَّا جَاءهُمْ كِتَابٌ مِّنْ عِندِ اللّهِ مُصَدِّقٌ لِّمَا مَعَهُمْ وَكَانُواْ مِن قَبْلُ يَسْتَفْتِحُونَ عَلَى الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ فَلَمَّا جَاءهُم مَّا عَرَفُواْ كَفَرُواْ بِهِ فَلَعْنَةُ اللَّه عَلَى الْكَافِرِينَ

\"And when there came to them a Book from Allah verifying that which they have, and aforetime, they used to pray for victory against those who disbelieve, but then there came to them (Prophet) that which they did not recognize, they disbelieved in him; so Allah\'s curse is on the disbelievers.\"
(Ref: Holy Quran, Chapter of Baqarah, verse 89)

Both Shiah and Sunni traditionalists agree that prior to the birth and the announcement of the prophethood of the Holy Prophet (saw), Mecca was inhabited by Jews. This was because it was prophesized in their books that a great prophet would arise from Mecca who would establish a great religion and would destroy the infidels and all the signs of infidelity and break the idols of the Quraysh. Thus the Jews used to taunt the infidels of Quraysh with these words and pray for the coming of this great prophet and for his success over the infidels of Mecca. But when this prophet - the Holy Prophet (saw) of Islam did arrive and announce his prophethood, they denied him 
(Ref: Aasaare\' Hayderi, page 345).

In fact as the history of Islam shows, the Jews became one of the most stanch enemies of the Holy Prophet (saw) and also fought in wars against him. They supported the same infidels of Mecca in their efforts to destabilize Islam and malign the personality of the Holy Prophet (saw).

Now does this mean that Jews who inhabited Mecca and awaited and prayed for the rising of the Holy Prophet (saw) were a branch of Islam? Never. We can say that the Jews of Mecca were opportunists and those who loved the world and its pleasures to that extent that the rays of the sun of guidance of The Holy Prophet (saw) did not reach them.

History is witness that the Baha’is were the same people who were sent by the Jews to Iran prior to the Revolution and were residing there. They supported the unIslamic government wholeheartedly and then after the Revolution were made to leave Iran and carry out their activities elsewhere. Just as the Jews of Mecca cannot be called as a product of Islam, the Jews of Iran (The Baha’is) cannot be called as an offshoot of Shiahism.

Islam will end with Imam Mahdi - 12th successor to the Holy Prophet (saw)

Sahih Bukhari reports this tradition in the Chapter of Khulafa, \"The religion of Islam will not be completed till the time the chain of 12 caliphs is fulfilled.\" In addition, the Holy Prophet (saw) said, \"Even if a single day remains before the world ends, Allah will prolong that day so as to raise a man from my progeny who will fill the earth with justice and equity as it would have been filled with injustice and tyranny.\"

The reason for quoting these traditions is that the Baha’is interpret these that Islam will be completed by the advent of Hazrat Mahdi (as). Hence they try their best to prove the \"Mahdaviyat\" or project Bab Mirza Ali Mohammed Shirazi as the Mahdi. They attempt to create doubts in the minds of the Shiahs so that they can drive attention away from the true Mahdi. However in their enthusiasm they have not paid attention to the words of Mirza Ali Mohammed Bab who says, \"The haraam of Mohammed will remain haraam till Qiyamat and the halal of Mohammed will remain halal till Qiyamat.\" This only means that the religion established by the Holy Prophet (saw) will remain till the day of Judgment and no person has the authority - not even the Imams or the leaders who followed the Holy Prophet (saw) to change the edicts of the religion. Hence those things which have been laid down as permissible will remain so till the end of time and those which are forbidden will remain so till the end of time.

The belief in Imam Mahdi (as) is so well documented in Islamic circles that even the polytheists have used this as the base for their works against Islam. \"The Mahdi\", a work of fiction by a well-known novelist A. J Quinnel actually talks about the CIA and the M16 coming together to work on a project to \"create\" a Mahdi, who would be controlled by them. According to the plot of this novel, the Mahdi would announce his leadership with a \"miracle\" (created by the CIA) during Hajj. A reading of the novel makes one suspect that the plot is not fiction, but a fact. Surely the Baha’i and the Qadiani religions are those which were propagated and funded by the Western forces to keep Islam under check and to create a rift amongst the Muslims.

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