A Confession by an ex-Bahai (23 years!)…Must Read
January 12, 2013 11 Comments
I am Gamal Naseer an Egyptian, having 23 years of association with Baha’is, a Teacher for long time ,active as a core group member for few years. I attended many Baha’i programmes inside and outside Egypt. Having read Will and Testament many times, it was a question in my mind that why Shoghi Effendi has not left any Will appointing another Guardian, while Will and Testament says that “It is incumbent upon a Guardian to appoint another Guardian during his life time”. Shoghi did not nominate any successor after him because of which many divisions occurred in Baha’i faith.
I asked few of senior Baha’is like Bassa Mousa but could not get any satisfactory answer. I started my own investigation, as Baha’i faith which takes pride in Principle of “Independent Investigation of Truth”, started reading history which made for me more and more questions. I asked to one of counselor (who happened to be in Egypt as teacher for the core group) that who was Badiullah and titled as Ghusn Noor, to my surprise he turned speechless and started asking me, From where you got such questions? It looks somebody is poisoning your mind. As a good Baha’i you should not ask anything about the family of Bahaullah. I said very politely to him that I read history of Baha’i Faith and found out about him.
He said as a Baha’i you should learn about what the Universal House of Justice requires of you, and what the required objectives and goals of the current five year plan. You should learn about the various institutions and their role in society and in the Baha’i world, and your role in obeying them, and to devote your time for teaching the Baha’i Faith.
He said that you should know that “The expansion and consolidation are twin processes that complete one another, and this understanding will definitely help you conducting children’s classes, junior youth circles, devotionals meetings. The UHJ does not want you to know why Abdul Baha said in the Will and Testament “That Guardianship and Universal House of Justice are twin Institution.”
You should know the sacrifices of Persian Baha’is in Iran and always be humble in front of them. Remember that Baha’i Faith originated from their Country. Baha’i Faith is the Gift of Iran to the world. Today you see in the UHJ in the ITC and CBC a majority of the Baha’is are Persians
He said that asking such questions will force UHJ of depriving you of your voting Rights or declare you a Covenant Breaker.
Suddenly I realized my meeting with Mr. Hasan Sabri after his second marriage to Ms Isabel in UK. He was absolutely against the Persian Baha’is and their behavior:
They told me that the Persian Baha’is while talking amongst them calls other Baha’is as KHAR (Means donkey in Persian). Mr. Sabri went on to say these Persians are very very clever.
They always have a secret meeting amongst themselves they discuss about the agenda and then try to implement the same .Other members have just to approve it.
He was very critical about the Persian UHJ members like Mr. Fatheazam and Ali Nakhjawani whom he believed dominated the UHJ proceedings and is in private contact with the Secretary of NSA of every country.
Mr. Sabri had been hurt quite strongly during his tenure as the HEAD of Socio-Economic Development Project of the UHJ. He said the UHJ use to instruct me one thing and when I wanted to implement it the NSA members of that country use to say that Mr. Fataheazam or Nakhjawani has instructed us to do certain other things on Telephonic Message.
Mrs. Sabri narrated an incident where a few Baha’is from UK came to India for training and when they went back. They were different because of the Persians running the Academy in India.
In August 2010, I attended the 10 day ISGP in Hurghada. I realized that these programmes have a very specific aims planned by UHJ and implemented by the Core group members of that Country
In these programmes both the sexes are allowed to mix freely in the name of equality of sexes. The participants are instructed, How to go about spreading of the Baha’i Faith in those countries where the Baha’i Faith is Banned like Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Yemen Bahrain etc..
I took some of my close friends in confidence and discussed with them these issues and showed them proof from history, two of them said they are aware of these facts, but as they said they are Baha’i now and are denounced by family and relatives in process, and have no where to turn back, so they let go this and moved ahead. But for me it was not a satisfactory answer.
By chance I meet another traveler teacher who was Egyptian by birth but change his nationality to one of middle east country, I asked him same things, he was learned scholar and said it is good work keep it up, He said another Baha’i Scholar in the name of Ahan Rabbani went from UK to House for doing Research .There he discovered some manuscript where he got confused. He started asking questions related to them and as a result the UHJ asked him to leave immediately.
The Counselor guided me to some more academic websites, from where I got many histories rare and unpublished books few of which I would like to put on my blogs, the readers can them self decide. At least I will feel no responsibility on my soul by hiding the truth, rest they them self can do “Independent Investigation of Truth”.
GAMAL NASEER
Read more: http://bahaileaders9.blogspot.com
About imranshaykh
The Bahai Insider 
Interesting article, however I am confused by the issue of “who was Badiullah and titled as Ghusn Noor, ” Please explain what this means and the context of the point being made. Thank You .
Thanks for your comment. Badiullah was the youngest son of Bahaullah and the half brother of Abdul Baha.
How is it possible I didn’t know that ? me being a Baha’i for so many years !
The Baha’i Faith has indeed gone through the fire of tests which by the mighty hand has now been cast into a most beautiful unbreakable sword.
All these tumultuous times came about by people not following Gods word, this had been foretold in all the Holy Scriptures of the past.
The Baha’i Faith has unfolded as per the Covenant of Baha’u’llah and the will and Testament of Abdul’baha. No Guardian could be appointed as there was no Child born to Shoghi Effendi. Quote follows;
“O my loving friends! After the passing away of this wronged one, it is incumbent upon the Aghsán (Branches), the Afnán (Twigs) of the Sacred Lote-Tree, the Hands (pillars) of the Cause of God and the loved ones of the Abhá Beauty to turn unto Shoghi Effendi—the youthful branch branched from the two hallowed and sacred Lote-Trees and the fruit grown from the union of the two offshoots of the Tree of Holiness,—as he is the sign of God, the chosen branch, the Guardian of the Cause of God, he unto whom all the Aghsán, the Afnán, the Hands of the Cause of God and His loved ones must turn. He is the Interpreter of the Word of God and after him will succeed the first-born of his lineal descendents”.
Thus the appointment of the Universal House of Justice was done as required by the above quoted documents. All above board with nothing to hide.
One can only find fault if one is not well read in the Covenant of Baha’u’llah and I would say that your friends were trying to give you good advice! There are no conspiracies or hidden ad-genders.
Regards Tony
Dear Tony:
Thanks for the comment. You are woefully mistaken about the guardianship. The prophecy of Abdul Baha that guardianship would continue in the progeny of Shoghi Effendiu came undone because Shoghi died childless. The UHJ then assumed the postion of guardian even though it had no authority for the same.
Unfortunately, for some reason, Bahais are so much in love with the UHJ that they are unable to see through it flaws – its lack of authority, it playing the role of a clergy even while denying the role of any clergy in Bahai Faith, its violation of human rights by banning anybody with a dissenting voice…I can go on, but these should be sufficient for you.
Allah reminds in the Quran about using one’s intelligence to distinguish between right and wrong. Bahais pay lip service to this through the principle of independent investigation of truth. Ask a tough question and get kicked out – that is the mantra of the Bahai Faith.
Warm regards
Imran
Imran, I have been a Baha’i for several years and have been in many devotionals where tough questions are asked, by both Bahai’s and non Bahai’s. I’ve never seen or experienced the hostile treatment that you describe, but rather further encouragement of one’s independent investigation of truth, with loving knowledge and guidance offered. In fact, I find more openness to questions than I ever found growing up as a Methodist Christian. I would say that “ask a question and get kicked out” is definitely not the mantra of the Baha’i Faith. I’m sorry that this was your experience.
Dear Dave:
Thank you for writing to the Bahai Insider.
There are two possibilities for your situation:
1. Either you have been very lucky
2. Or you have been asking very simple questions
If you search the Internet for ex-Bahais, and read their stories, you will find a significant number of them who left the Faith because their
very faith was questioned when they asked some questions.
I hope you will read my web site http://www.bahaiawareness.com and the section on ex-communication at http://www.bahaiawareness.com/excommunication to see what I have been talking about.
Regards,
Hi.
Thanks for your confession and thanks for sharing with us your journey.
First of all, let me introduce my self. And sory for my bad english.
I was born in a muslim country and i found that the major religion here is just a fake one. I will not speak about the contradictions in Islam in this comment, but these contradictions leads me to search the alternatives and why not seeking the “true religion”. I was agnostic for a long years untill i found the Baha’i faith on the web. It was so stunning the first time, good principles and really good explanation for the majority of the contradictions in Islam. I’ve passed two years studying Baha’i faith alone with i found in the web (bahai-library.org). During the third year of my search i tried to contact any bahai in the net, so i’ve sent many emails to all the baha’i website i used to read and meditate their books.
One day, one of my friends told me that he is in contact with a girl from a new religion that i may be interested in. Guess what? She was Bahai .. God call or just a coincidence … Really i don’t know.
So, my first meeting with this girl and her friends was good. A lots of discussions and a lot of friendship. We planned a regular meeting every week to discuss about the faith and lend a book from them in order to read and discussing it the next meeting.
I’m a good reader and i read every book they gave me.
A year has passed with a lot of meetings a reading books. I found my self really close to this faith and why not being part of this amzing call ? That’s what lead me to declare my faith and be a baha’i member.
Like you, i was active in every baha’i activies and i charged my self to share my ne faith with everybody i know, my friends, my family and all the mankind. Two years passes preaching the name of Baha’u’allh, the peace and my new faith. It was okay, and i was proud of my self.
However, being part of the community didn’t affect my reader side. The simple answers don’t fit with me and i must be prepared to every question buy the truth seekers i wa charged to share the faith with them.
Here the troubles began! Many documents are missing, the same books are in circulation with many limitations. For example, as a baha’i i belive in the Bab and i can only have some compilations of his writings, why ? I don’t know! Also, i tried to read the will that the Bab has left wich says the name of the new prophet that Baha’u’llah read in his Jail with the babies (one of the miracles of Baha’ul’allh as my friends told me. Seaching in the net i found the documents but it tell that Sobhi Azal is the new god manifestation … Problem!
Also, all my bahai friends told me that the baha’i faith was one and will be one till the end of time. And that’s not what i found. I was in contact with a member of the second Universal Home of Justice that Manson Remy founded after the death of Shoggi Effendi. I told that to one of my baha’i friends and he asked me to never talk with them and he gives me a book dealing with the covenent breakers. And guess what ? A lot of new questions! Why Baha’u’llah family was divided into “true believers” and “covenant breakers” ? What are the reasons? And why there is a Abbassi Baha’i and the unitatrian bahai founded by the brother of Abdul Baha ? They’re the sons of the new messenger and they must know Baha’ul’allh will! So why the schism began there ?
And why Shoggi Effendi forced out the majority the Baha’u’lallah family? Why did he call them a covenant breakers ?
A lot of questions, leads me to study more the baha’i faith, and here i’m now acting like a baha’i and being an ex-bahai! That’s the dilemme i’m in now. In my mind i’m not baha’i but they’re my friend and don’t want lose them. I stopped every activity and i refused every call for every group prayers and i demanded to eliminate my name during the vote session.
Now, i’m living my life alone like i did before, but i didn’t quite my search untill i found your journey and i’m really pleased to share more our idéas and why not sharing books.
Thanks a lot, i’m waiting your reaction for this long comment.
Thanks and have a nice day.
Dear Truth Seeker–I just want to share with you the name of a teacher whose concepts have freed me from the bondage of religious dictates. And I have loved religion all my life and been a Baha’i for 35 years! This teacher’s name is AJ Miller from Australia and all his stuff is free. He doesn’t want allegiance, or to make laws or decisions for anyone. He encourages everyone to connect with God directly and the info he shares is the kind of truth that resonates in your soul’s core. Check him out and see if his stuff helps you in your quest for truth.
Dear Omisarah:
Can there be a more evident truth than the word of Allah and His Messenger. Can anyone else guide spiritually as the Prophet of Allah (pbuh) did. We are not in need of any new teachings. The words of Allah and the practice of the prophet are sufficient for us.
Regards
Imran
Thanks i’ll take a look 🙂