The Babi Faith which came up just under 200 years ago relies on the claim of its founder – Mirza Ali Mohammed Shirazi – to be the gate to the promised 12th Imam Mahdi (as). Over time, he also claimed to be Imam Mahdi (as) himself and then finally, towards the end of his life, he also claimed to be God. Bahais today project him as an independent prophet with his own independent dispensation.
The Bahais project him as a prophet, because there is no way that they can project him as the Gate to Imam Mahdi (as), leave alone being the Imam himself. The entire cultural, historical and traditional reports of Islam are against them. Hence they loosely interpret the fortieth verse of Surah Ahzab to establish that Allah sealed prophethood upon Holy Prophet (sawa) but kept the door of Messengership open. This in itself is a flawed argument because any Messenger (Rasool) is first a Prophet (Nabi) and subsequently a Messenger. Hence if prophethood is closed, then it automatically means that messengership is closed as well. Anyway, we can leave that discussion for another day.
The fact is that the Bab claimed to be the Gate of Imam Mahdi (as). This can be clearly seen in the initial writings of the Bab. Thereafter he claimed to be Imam Mahdi (as) himself. One must ask – Why is this claim so important? It is – because the Holy Prophet (sawa) prophesied that Islam would not come to an end till the Mahdi would reappear from his progeny and would fill the earth with justice and equality. So it Islam has to end, then a “Mahdi” must “appear.” Thus the Bab claimed to be the Mahdi and in the conference of Badasht, it was announced that Islam is abrogated and the Babi religion is the new dispensation.
Therefore if it is established that the Bab is not the promised Mahdi of Islam, the entire edifice of Bahai religion crumbles. If there is no Bab then Islam still remains and then there is no standing for the Bahai religion which claimed to be the new dispensation after Islam.
Through a next series of articles we will establish conclusively that Bab was NOT the Mahdi of Islam. He was nothing but a fraudster who was propped up by the West (In fact Russia initially) to create a division in Islam. Much of the material for this is sourced from www.bahaiawareness.com – a website dedicated entirely to creating awareness about the “truth” of the Bahai Faith.
An important point to note is that Bahais deny traditions. Or rather accept only handful of traditions when it suits them. This is only because they cannot find any support for their beliefs in traditions of Islam.
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