From Baha'i to Islam

 

From Baha'i to Islam: The Journey of an Iranian Woman and her Shocking Claims About the Baha'i Faith

Mahnaz Raufi (مهناز رئوفی) was born into the Baha'i faith, a member of a prominent and active family deeply embedded in its community. Her relatives were respected leaders, and she herself was a devoted follower. Yet, despite these deep roots, she made a life-altering decision to leave the faith of her childhood and embrace Shia Islam, a choice she now considers a profound blessing from God. Her story is a look inside a world that demands absolute faith, and the profound personal crisis that unfolds when one begins to question its most sacred foundations.

This decision came at an immense personal cost. For choosing a different path, Raufi was ostracized by her own family, who refused to see her for years. During this painful estrangement, her father passed away, a loss she had to endure in isolation. Her journey was one of profound sacrifice, but for her, it was a necessary one. Raufi's insider perspective, forged through a lifetime of experience, reveals several unsettling aspects of the Baha'i faith that led her to question everything she was taught. These are her claims.

1. The Faith is Led by an Infallible Body made up of Nine Fallible Men Living in Israel

After the passing of its founder, Baha'u'llah, and his successors Abdu'l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi, the leadership of the Baha'i faith was consolidated into a council known as the Universal House of Justice. This council, located in Israel, is comprised of nine individuals elected by Baha'is.

According to Raufi, followers hold a belief that is central to the faith's power structure: these nine men, when acting as a collective body, are considered infallible. They are seen as being free from sin and error, and it is believed they receive "divine inspiration" to guide their decisions. Because of this belief, their commands are accepted by followers without question. As Raufi states:

"Yes, they say that these individuals receive divine inspiration, so they accept the orders issued by them without any argument."

This demand for unquestioning obedience was unsettling enough, but Raufi found the leadership's deep entanglement with the Israeli state to be even more problematic.

2. A Puzzling and Profitable Alliance with Israel

For Raufi, the Baha'i faith's demand for spiritual loyalty was increasingly hard to reconcile with its very worldly - and highly profitable - political alliances. The global center of the Baha'i faith, the Universal House of Justice, is based on Israeli soil. This location is not arbitrary. The founder, Baha'u'llah, is buried there and declared himself to be the Qiblih (direction of prayer) for his followers. Consequently, Baha'is around the world turn towards Israel to pray.

Raufi describes a relationship with Israel that is both politically and financially symbiotic.

• Financial Ties: The shrines of the Bab and Baha'u'llah have become major tourist destinations, generating significant income as Baha'is from around the world make pilgrimages. Furthermore, followers are required to donate money every 19 days, funds which are collected through various means and sent to the leadership in Israel. The House of Justice is exempt from all taxes by the Israeli government.
• Political Ties: Members of the House of Justice hold annual public meetings with the President of Israel, and Raufi claims many more secret meetings take place.

She concludes this point with a provocative assertion, claiming that Baha'ism and Zionism are united by a common interest: "to uproot Islam."

3. Deep Historical Ties to Colonial Powers

This modern political alignment, Raufi discovered, was not an anomaly but the continuation of a long history of deep ties to foreign powers. She claims that the Baha'i faith was historically supported by colonial interests to achieve their own political goals in the region.

She points first to a connection with Tsarist Russia. The founder, Baha'u'llah, is said to have had a strong relationship with the Russian ambassador. Raufi provides a specific example: when Baha'is failed in a plot to assassinate Nasir al-Din Shah of Iran, Baha'u'llah was allegedly spared punishment because of direct protection from Russia.

Second, she describes a connection to Great Britain. `Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'u'llah's son and successor, was awarded the title of "Sir" by the British government for his services during World War I. Raufi cites a broader historical claim to support this view:

"It is also noteworthy that imperialist powers created Baha'ism to subvert Shia Islam and Wahhabism to subvert Sunni Islam."

While these political entanglements raised serious questions, it was the faith's internal logic or lack thereof, that truly began to dismantle Raufi's belief system.

4. A Faith Built on Contradictions

For Raufi, one of the primary catalysts for her departure was the abundance of logical inconsistencies she could no longer ignore.

• Contradiction 1: The Divine Founder Who Prayed to God. Baha'u'llah claimed divinity for himself, yet he was also observed praying to God and asking for help. When followers questioned this apparent contradiction, he reportedly offered an esoteric explanation: "my outer self is calling my inner self, and the inner self is calling the outer."
• Contradiction 2: The Prophet Who Was Immediately Discarded. Baha'is venerate the Bab as the forerunner who came to announce the arrival of Baha'u'llah. Yet, as Raufi points out, the Bab's own teachings and laws were never implemented. Instead, Baha'u'llah effectively "threw [them] into the sea" and started over with a completely new set of rules.
• Contradiction 3: The Evasive Answers. The Bab's original teachings included extreme and, in Raufi's words, "hateful" commands: burning all books other than his own, destroying all holy sites including the Kaaba, and a "bizarre" ruling that if a woman cannot become pregnant by her husband, she can have intercourse with another man to conceive. When Baha'is are confronted with these disturbing elements of their history, Raufi says they simply evade the question by replying, "we are not Babis." She identifies this as a clear contradiction, since Baha'ism venerates the Bab as a divine messenger while simultaneously disowning his message.

This pattern of contradiction and evasion was most pronounced, Raufi came to believe, in Baha'ism's calculated and hostile stance toward Shia Islam, the very tradition from which it emerged.

5. A Calculated Fear of Islam

Raufi asserts that Baha'ism fundamentally views Islam as an abrogated, or cancelled, religion. She notes that the founder, Baha'u'llah, referred to Muslims with the derogatory term "Shani'ah," (شَنِيعة) meaning heinous or abominable.

According to her testimony, the Baha'i leadership fears two specific pillars of  Islam: the Ulama (religious scholars) and Ashura (the annual commemoration of the martyrdom of Imam Hussain, a sacred period of mourning).

She describes a provocative action Baha'is take during this solemn period. On the first or second day of Muharram, the month of mourning, Baha'is celebrate the birthday of Baha'u'llah. Raufi highlights the inherent hypocrisy in their justification for this:

"When they are asked why you celebrate during the days of Imam Hussain's martyrdom, they say that Islam has been abrogated. On one hand, they have a Ziyarat-namah (prayer of visitation) to show their "love" for Imam Hussain, and on the other hand, they say that Islam has been abrogated. Such contradictions are abundant in the Baha'i faith."

Adding to the contradiction, Raufi claims this gesture is entirely hollow. "I myself was a Baha'i," she states, "so I know that this prayer of visitation has never been read, and they don't pay attention to it."

6. A Ban on Politics... That Isn't Real

The hypocrisy extended beyond matters of worship and into the realm of worldly power, where the faith’s official ban on politics proved to be, in Raufi's words, little more than a strategic facade.

She points to historical examples of deep political involvement, such as `Abdu'l-Baha's close ties with European and American governments. During the reign of the Shah of Iran, several high-ranking officials - including his personal physician, the prime minister, and even members of the notorious SAVAK secret police were all Baha'is.

After the 1979 Iranian Revolution, this "no politics" rule became a convenient excuse for Baha'is to refuse to support the new government or participate in the Iran-Iraq war. More recently, however, Raufi states the rule has been completely reversed. A few years ago, the House of Justice issued a new directive for Baha'is in Iran to re-engage in society, participate in parliamentary elections, and build relationships with officials in an effort to gain influence and change minds.

7. A System of Indoctrination and Control

How could a faith rife with such contradictions and political maneuvering maintain such a devoted following? Raufi found the answer in the all-encompassing system of indoctrination she had been raised in- a system designed, she now realizes, to prevent questioning.

The methods of control include:

• Children begin Baha'i education at age three in a nursery school called "Gulshan-e-Tawhid."
• Mandatory ethics classes are held from first to twelfth grade with the explicit goal of "erasing non-Baha'i thoughts."
• A compulsory meeting is held every 19 days, and members who do not attend are subject to questioning.
• Separate, mixed-gender social meetings and recreational activities are organized to keep children and youth constantly engaged within the community.

Raufi, who was a nursery school teacher and the head of a band within the community, says her entire day was filled with Baha'i-related activities, leaving no time for interaction with non-Baha'is unless it was for the express purpose of proselytizing (they call it teaching). Looking back, Raufi believes this system of constant activity was a deliberate strategy: to keep followers so occupied that they would never have the time or mental space to confront the faith's deep contradictions, the very inconsistencies that had begun to unravel her own belief.

Shared by Habibollah Ansari from Shiraz (Iran)