Baha'i Allegations Against Subh-i Azal - Sultan Khanum’s Account of Edirne Period
8. Shoghi Effendi’s Allegations Against Subh-i-Azal
8.1 “Monstrous Behaviour of ” Nominee of the BÁB!
God passes by, Chapter X, PP. 163-182.
P. 163: Shoghi Effendi says, “A crisis of the first magnitude overtook the faith and shook it to its roots … more odious than the unrelenting hostility which Abu Jahl, the uncle of Muhammad, had exhibited, more shameful than the betrayal of Jesus Christ by his disciple, Judas Isacriat, more perfidious than the conduct of sons of Jacob towards Joseph their brother, more abhorrent than the deed committed by one of the sons of Noah, more infamous than even the criminal act perpetrated by Cain against Abd, the monstrous behaviour of Mirza Yahya [Subh-i-Azal], one of the half-brothers of Baha, the nominee of the BÁB, and recognized chief of the BÁBi community brought in its wake a period of travail which left its mark on the fortunes of the faith for no less than a century. This supreme crisis Baha himself designated as the ‘Days of Stress’, during which the ‘most grievous veil’ was torn asunder and the “most great separation” was irrevocably effected.”
The Primal Point is admitted by the Bahai hierarchy to be “the Manifestation of the Unity and Oneness of god”. He appointed Subh-i-Azal as his successor and vicegerent. Subh-i-Azal’s refusal to acknowledge Baha would raise the presumption that the Primal Point had erred. Such a presumption conflicts with the Imamate doctrine, and is impossible for a Divine Manifestation.
Apart from this Shoghi Effendi’s allegations have to be examined in the light of Baha’s background during the Baghdad period.
In his petition of repentance addressed to Subh-i-Azal from his self-imposed exile in Kurdistan during the Baghdad period, Baha concludes: “How am I to make mention, My God!, of what has taken possession of me by the wonders of thy dominance, and by the flashes of thy irresistible power. I would either be a pigeon in thy house or a bird in the valley of thy Oneness, or a gnat in the desert of thy Ever-abidingness or a mosquito in the wilderness of thy Eternity. My bones are dried up, and my limbs are broken. If thou forgivest me thou art in truth the Best Compassionate and if thou chastised me verily thou art the Much Forgiver, the Compassionate.” Tanbih-al-Naimin, P. 13. This piece of literature of Baha’s repentance graces the pages of old BÁBi manuscripts.
In his farewell message promulgated by him on the eve of his removal from Baghdad in 1863, Baha’s Baghdad letter marked 46, section 12.4.1.2 refers, Baha summons the BÁBis to Subh-i-Azal’s Cause, and among other things, says: “I am nothing but an object servant in his [i.e. Subh-i-Azal’s] holy court. The eyes of the heedless are asleep, and the eyes of this servant are in constant expectation of his [i.e. Subh-i-Azal’s] mercy. All souls are quiescent, and this body is grovelling in the Earth of abasement on the match for his [i.e. Subh-i-Azal’s] grace …” This historic message is reproduced in old BÁBi manuscripts.
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