Syndication
Here is a brief treatise on the history of the division in the Bahai Faith - right from its inception, the Bab, Subhe' Azal, Bahaullah, Abbas Effendi, Shoghi Effendi and finally till the present day Universal House of Justice.
The Division amongst the Followers of The Bab
The founder of Baha’I Faith Mirza Ali Mohammed Shirazi known as Bab, was a disciple of Sayed Kazim Rashti the leader of the Shaikhiya sect.
When Sayed Kazim Rashti died in 1844, Four of his discipiles claimed to be the successor of Sayed Kazim Rashti
1-Mirza Ali Mohammed Shirazi
2-Haji Mohammed Karim Khan
3-Shafee Tabrizi
4-Mirza Tahir Haqaq-e-Ishfahani
On the 23rd of May Mirza Ali Mohammed Shirazi announced that he was "The Bab" (the Gate) .The first to accept his claim of Babhood was Mulla Hussain Bushroee whom Bab gave the title of Bab-ul-Bab (The gate of the Gate) and "Awwalo Man Amana" (the first to believe). Within a short time Mirza Ali Mohammed gathered 18 followers around himself. He gave them the title of "Huruf-e-Hayy" (The Letters of Life) and sent them to different areas of Iran for propagation while he himself went to Mecca for Hajj. In Mecca, according to one report, he claimed to be "The Mahdi" (The guided one).
Bayanis (Azalis) and Bahai’s
In his lifetime Mirza Ali Mohammed had appointed Mirza Yahya, the son of Mirza Buzurg, and the stepbrother of Mirza Husain Ali as his successor. The same Mirza Husain Ali later came to be known as "Bahaullah." Mirza Ali Mohammed Shirazi (The Bab) had given Mirza Yahya the title of "Subhe' Azal" (Everlasting Dawn). He also gave his ring, his personal effects and also the authority to explain and comment on his (Mirza Ali Mohammed Bab's) writings.
While in exile in constantinopole where Bahaullah stayed for 4 years and it was from there that he announced that he was the real and true successor of Mirza Ali Mohammed Bab (And not his step brother Mirza Yahya Subh-e-Azal) and also that Allah, the Most High, had given him a more honored and lofty position than his predecessor.
Despite Mirza Ali Mohammed's clear announcement of the appointment of Mirza Yahya as his successor, a few others also rose up with claims of successorship after his death. Amongst them was a Bahai from Tabriz, Mirza Abdullah, who was thrown in the Arabian rivers by some Bahais on the orders of Mirza Husain Ali. Likewise an Indian Bahai, Aga Bashir Mohammed had also forwarded his claim but he did not receive any response.
Subh-e-Azal along with most of the 18 special companions of Mirza Ali Mohammed Bab severely opposed this claim of Mirza Husain Ali and came to Constantinople to bring back Mirza Husain Ali to the right path. Thus a severe discord broke out amongst the Bahais themselves and they began to kill each other openly. Finally, Mirza Yahya went into a recluse and Mirza Husain Ali became the sovereign leader of Bahais.
In view of such serious circumstances, the Ottoman government intervened and sent Subh-e-Azal along with his family to Cyprus and Mirza Husain Ali with his family to Palestine. The Bahais thus got divided into two distinct groups, the followers of Subh-e-Azal came to be known as "Azalis" (The Bayanis) and the followers of Mirza Husain Ali became famous as "Baha’is."
Division amongst the followers of Baha’u’llah
The Second major division arose amongst the Followers of Baha'u'llah was after his death. Mirza Husain Ali (Bahaullah) expired in May 1892 leaving behind 4 sons and 3 daughters. A severe dispute of successorship erupted among the brothers. The eldest, Abbas Effendi claimed to be the rightful successor in view of the continuation of divine inspirations. However, his brothers Mirza Mohammed Ali, Mirza Badiullah and Mirza Ziaullah and many other Bahais countered that the Divine inspiration ended since "Baha’u’llah" had himself written in "Al Aqdas" that anyone who claims thus (Divine inspiration) before the completion of 1,000 years of Bahaism, indeed was a liar and that this claim was false. Nevertheless Abbas Effendi was able to tide over these problems very soon. He assumed the title of "Abdul Baha" and called his followers as Sabiteen (Steadfasters) and followers of his younger brother as Naqizeen (Covenant Breakers).
The followers of Mirza Mohammed Ali call themselves as Unitarian Bahais.
Division amongst the followers of Abdul Baha and Shoghi Effendi
One of the biggest controversies in Baha'i history was rapidly fading out of the memory of the mainstream Baha'i community. But thanks to the internet and its vast repository of free-flowing information and the Court case done by the Haifa-based Bahai Faith on two of its denomination, the Haifa-based Baha'i Faith will never be able to cover up what happened in 1957, despite their best efforts to ignore it and minimize its importance. In that year, Baha'ism lost what was supposed to be its unending chain of infallible spiritual authority when the first Guardian of the faith died without clearly designating any successor.
Baha'u'llah had appointed his son Abdu'l-Baha to succeed him as leader of the religion and inspired interpreter of Baha'i scriptures and teachings. Abdu'l-Baha continued this successorship by establishing a position called the Guardian of the Cause of God, to which he appointed his grandson Shoghi Effendi Rabbani in his will and commanded him to appoint his own successor during his lifetime.
Shoghi Effendi developed complex theories of a "world order of Baha'u'llah" and appointed two main institutions of Baha'i leadership, the International Baha'i Council and the Hands of the Cause.
When Shoghi Effendi suddenly died, childless and without leaving any known will, a power struggle ensued. The Hands of the Cause, led by Shoghi Effendi's widow Ruhiyyih Khanum, asserted a claim to be some form of temporary collective Guardianship.
The Council President, Charles Mason Remey, claimed to be the second Guardian using arguments from the first Guardian's writings on Baha'i religious administration to support his case. The Hands used other arguments from Baha'i sacred texts to repudiate him, and they ended up convincing a majority of Baha'is in the world to follow their own claim of authority rather than Remey's.
In 1963 they established their Universal House of Justice (UHJ) as the international ruling body at the "Baha'i World Center" in Haifa, despite questions about whether this institution could be legitimately constituted without a Guardian as the head member.
The National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of France, Pakistan, India and a couple of more countries followed the claim of Mason Remey to be the second Guardian. All its members were summarily excommunicated by UHJ. In Reaction Mason Remy ex communicated all the Hands of Cause calling the Wife of Shoghi Effendi as ARCH COVENANT BREAKER
A lot of Baha'is simply left the faith in disappointment, realizing that a major leadership dispute ruins the credibility of a religion that prides itself on unity and seeks to rule the world. Among those Baha'is who remained committed to their faith, a schism developed, and the minority of Baha'is who followed Remey and rejected the "Haifan" UHJ persist to this day.They have had limited success attracting new converts, though the advent of the internet has helped their efforts somewhat in recent years. They are commonly known as Guardianists,emphasizing their belief in the continuation of the living Guardianship as an essential part of Baha'i Faith. " Most of them currently follow Joel Bray Marangella, who claims to be the third Guardian. Some others follow Guardian-claimant Jacques Soghomonian instead.
The Haifan Baha'i Faith stigmatizes the Guardianist Baha'is as "Covenant-breakers" and demands that all members of their organization should shun them, Then there is a pain of shunning if they refuse to shun. Haifan Baha'is can be severely punished just for reading Guardianist literature. Both the Haifans and the Guardianists believe that membership in their group is the only way to be a true Baha'i; both assert that their leaders are infallible, despite the lack of solid evidence from Baha'i scripture to support their claim; and both teach that one day the whole world should be governed by a Baha'i theocracy led by their particular organization, even though their own religion is not unified under one authority.
Some writings of Mason Remey:
a) Daily Observations Made to the Hands of the Faith in the Holy Land
b) Appeals to the Hands of the Faith
c) Announcement to the Hands of the Faith from the Second Guardian
d) Proclamation of Mason Remey to the Baha'is of the World
Joel Marangella runs the Orthodox Baha'i Faith. There are many interesting documents and materials on his website, Bahai-Guardian.com, as well as the site run by the National Baha'i Council of the United States, which leads the Orthodox Baha'is in America. To get a good sense of Orthodox Baha'i doctrine, check out these articles by Marangella:
a) Announcement to the Baha'i World
b) The Essentiality of the Guardianship to the World Order of Baha'u'llah
c) Multiple Failures of the Hands of the Cause after the Passing of Shoghi Effendi
d) If Only They Had Taken the Time
e) An Appeal to the Heterodox Baha'is
f) Proclamation of the Third Guardian. Marangella explains how he assumed this office.
Regency Baha'is belong to an organization called the Tarbiyat Baha'i Community, which was founded by Rex King in 1973. King argued that Mason Remey was not a full-fledged Guardian because, according to the traditional interpretation of Baha'i law, only a hereditary descendent of Baha'u'llah can hold this office. Nevertheless, due to Remey's appointment as President of the International Baha'i Council, King understood Remey's position as that of a "Regent" who should have been obeyed as the legitimate leader of the Baha'is but who should never have gone so far as to claim the Guardianship. King announced himself as the second Regent, and he prophesied that sometime in the future a man descended from the bloodline of Baha'u'llah will arise and restore the Guardianship and usher in the golden age of the Baha'i world order. Regency Baha'is are now led by a Council of Regents appointed by King in his will. It looks that the Regency Baha'is to be somewhat more sensible than other Baha'i sects simply because they admit that there can neither be a Guardian nor a Universal House of Justice currently in existence which satisfies all the requirements for these scripturally defined institutions.
Dr. Leland Jensen is the founder of Baha'is Under the Provisions of the Covenant. Jensen declared that Pepe Remey (Mason's adopted son) was the Guardian, but Pepe denied this; finally telling Jensen's followers that Jensen was false, corrupt, and a liar. Some of Jensen's followers discovered these letters from Pepe Remey and then left Jensen and followed Jacques Soghomonian. Neal Chase, a firm disciple of Jensen, was in communication with Pepe Remey, and Pepe Remey (being an old man by this time) once referred to Chase as "my son" (or on several occassions). This made Chase to claim that Pepe was his spiritual father; just as 'Abdu'l-Baha was the spiritual father of Charles Remey, calling him "my son". So, while Pepe Remey said "I am NOT the Guardian of the Faith, Jacques Soghomonian is the Guardian", Neal Chase said, "Oh, well, of course Pepe Remey was the Guardian, and he called me 'son' so I'm his successor and the third Guardian of the Baha'i Faith". The current Baha'is Under the Provisions of the Covenant have 5 "Communities"
Bahais who believe that Will and Testament of Abdul Baha is Fraudulent
The only currently existing Baha'i sect that is not based on disputes about the Guardianship or any new claim of spiritual authority is the Reform Bahai Faith, headed by prominent Baha'i Mr. Frederick Glaysher, They believe that the Will and Testament of Abdul Baha is a Fradulent document. This independent Baha'i denomination seeks to promote a more liberal, less authoritarian interpretation of the Baha'i faith. It rejects the absolute, infallible authority of any human institution, including the Universal House of Justice.They call early Bahais like Mirza Ahmad Sohrab, Ruth White etc as Reform Bahais. Here are two important texts to read by Glaysher in support of his Baha'i sect:
- 95 Theses of the Reform Bahai Faith. Like Martin Luther's Ninety-five Theses that is seen as the symbolic beginning of the Christian Reformation, Frederick Glaysher makes his stand against the corruption of today's organized Baha'ism in this founding document of what he hopes to be a Baha'i reformation.
- On Bahai Liberty
In addition to all these division there is another group of Bahais the followers of Jamshed Maani. This group is now being headed by John Carre and calls themselves as Essence of Bahai Faith. They believe in coming of the Third Manifestation after Bab and Bahaullah.
New History Society (Followers of Mirza Ahmad Sohrab)
Mírzá Aḥmad Sohráb was secretary and interpreter to `Abdu'l-Bahá from 1912 to 1919. He co-founded the New History Society and the Caravan of East and West in New York, as an indirect way of spreading the teachings of the Bahá'í Faith.He was excommunicated from the Bahá'í Faith in 1939 by Shoghi Effendi.
It looks like the Baha'i denominations will succeed in mounting a significant challenge to the mainstream Haifa-based Baha'i Faith. On the other hand main stream Haifa Based Baha’is are putting more pressure on their UHJ to clarify the concept of Guardianship, rather than asking them to shun the Covenant Breakers. The recent court case done by the Haifa Based Baha’is on their two other denominations has further internationalize the issue of Guardianship. It looks like the balance is tilting more towards Guardianists. If current trends of infightining continue, it is possible that Baha'ism will suffer from more divisions. It has to be seen.