Islam is growing fast! But what happened to Baha’ism?

Nadeem Alam Qurayshi

July 28, 2025

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A recent report confirms what we can see happening around the globe is that Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the world, according to a new Pew Research Center study. Islam grew by 347 million in just 10 years. That is not insignificant. It is a huge indication that Allah’s promise in the Holy Quran is being fulfilled:

“It is He who sent His Messenger with guidance and the religion of truth, to make it prevail over all other religions…” – Holy Qur’an, Surah At-Tawbah (9:33)

So, while Islam is rapidly growing around the world, it is time to ask:

Where is the Baha’i Faith? Weren’t they the ones saying they would replace Islam?

Big promises… But NO growth!

The Baha’i faith originated in the 1800s and proclaimed a new message from God, post-Islam. They referred to their leader, Baha’u’llah, as the next Messenger of God, being a believer that Islam was over.

Although there are a few Baha’is globally. The Baha’is argue that India has the largest population of Baha’i adherents in the world, which they estimate at over 1.8 million, representing around 40% of the entire world’s Baha’i population. However, in looking at the official government census, it says there are only 4572 Baha’is, and many of them are not even active believers.

All countries (yes, the focus is on ALL) account for people who have been added to the Baha’i membership lists – without their awareness and belief. Which increases their population size.

Final Prophet – No One After Muhammad ﷺ

The single greatest problem with the Baha’i faith is this: They reject the finality of Prophethood.

They believe that new messengers are possible after the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.  But the Qur’an is abundantly clear:

“Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah and the Last of the Prophets.” — Holy Qur’an, Surah Al-Ahzab (33:40)

This indicates that the chain of Prophethood ended with him. No Prophet can come after him – neither the Bab, nor Baha’u’llah, nor anyone. Any faith that teaches otherwise is not from Allah.

Islam Builds Mosques, Baha’is Build Empty Temples

When I think about the early Baha’i temples, I cannot help but notice that they are all in places that are now mostly devoid of Baha’is. Indeed, the Baha’is have been in places like India, Chile, Zambia, Cambodia, etc., building temples and dreaming about a religion of world-wide significance.  They can only “hope” that someday, these temples become populated by believers worshipping God.  For now, they are simply empty buildings visited as tourist attractions; there is no call to prayer, no daily worship, and no connection.

Islam builds thousands of mosques every year and daily believers fill them five times a day in prayer, the reading of Qur’an, and the remembering of Allah.

Baha’i faith substitutes Revelation with Workbooks

In lieu of reading scriptures or praying together, most Baha’i communities engage with the “Ruhi Institute”, a series of workbooks to guide their engagement.   These are not sacred books. They are man-made documents to track how many “study circles” or classes there are. Engagement feels more like a corporate training course than engagement in a spiritual path.

As Muslims, thankfully we’re not in need of man-made manuals. We have the Holy Qur’an, the Hadith and the rich tradition of Islam that guides our hearts and our lives.

No answers, just silence: Why many are leaving the Baha’i Faith!?

With a greater number of people leaving the Baha’i faith around the world, ex-Baha’is share stories of their frustration, confusion, and emptiness in social media spaces and forums.

They express their feelings of frustration from members of a religious community that is more of a bureaucracy than a faith. Others write that they were silenced for asking basic questions, or even excommunicated altogether.

One former believer recalled: “We were promised a revolution of the spirit, not a stack of paperwork.”

At the same time Islam Is Alive and Growing

Islam is not only growing in numbers – it is growing in strength. Young people are most active in the deen. More people are converting and coming to Islam, especially in the West. Mosques are full, Qur’an classes are running strong, and the Ummah is waking.

This is exactly what Allah told us would happen:

“We throw the truth against falsehood, and it destroys it, and falsehood disappears.” – Holy Qur’an, Surah Al-Anbiya (21:18)

Truth always defeats falsehood. And the truth is that Islam is the only final and complete deen sent by Allah.

Final Words for the Baha’is

The Baha’i Faith might have claimed it would replace Islam, but I’m afraid it’s the other way around. Islam is on the rise and Baha’ism is on the decline or let me say, about to become extinct looking at the number of the Baha’is turning away from their religion.

Dear Baha’is – if your religion was truly from God, wouldn’t it be growing like Islam is today? Islam remains strong because it is the truth. 

Islam guides heart, unites nations, and gives us direct access to our Creator. 

Islam really doesn’t need “marketing”. It just needs the Qur’an and the Hadith of the Prophet ﷺ.If you are still seeking the truth, it is time to come back to the final and complete religion of Allah.

REALITY OF BAHAI FAITH

 

Mohammed Yusuf embraced Islam after leaving the deceptive Baha'i cult.

 

Salaamu 'Alaykum (Peace be upon you).

I am a white American Muslim male. I see myself as a "revert" to Islam in that, according to Muslim belief, all people are born in a state of Islam in as much as we are born in a natural state of submission to Allah. That is what "Islam" means, after all.

Islam for me is natural in a way that Baha'ism never was--and never can be. No one is born a Baha'i, and to this the Baha'i writings bear witness.

Though I was thus born a Muslim I was raised a Baha'i. All the same it was not until I was about fourteen that I became seriously interested in Baha'ism and began reading Baha'i writings. I come from a "mixed" family. My mother, you see, is Catholic and Baha'ism never played a very important role in my life until my father, a Baha'i, began taking me to Baha'i prayer-meetings and Baha'i Sunday school. By the time I was eighteen I was heavily involved in Baha'i activities, so much so that I was asked to serve as a camp counselor at Green Acre, a Baha'i summer camp in Maine. People judged that I was a devoted Baha'i and that I had much to share with other Baha'i youth.

Some things anyone reading this should know about Baha'ism. It teaches that all the religions are one. Yes, even cults like Hinduism, with its plethora of deities and its notorious obsession with sex; or Buddhism which holds that Allah doesn't even exist! Krishna and the Buddha, say Baha'is, were prophets whose teachings are just as valid as those of Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad (peace be upon them). When still a Baha'i I realized I could not rationalize any of this. Hindus themselves admit that they follow no prophet, and this so-called Krishna character is nothing more than one of the thousands of gods they worship. In fact, Hindu scripture recounts Krishna's numerous sexual exploits, and how he used to steal milk. Not exactly what I call prophetic behavior! If Baha'is admits him into their ring of prophet hood, then what's to stop them from saying that other pagan deities like Zeus, Osiris, and Thor are also prophets?

In my opinion, anyone who says that all the religions are one is hopelessly confused, because they have no idea themselves what is right and wrong. It's like when I show my mom two shirts, "Which one looks better, the red one or the one with the yellow and blue stripes?"  I'd ask her. "Oh, I don't know, they both look fine to me!" she'd reply. As I've said, my mother is not a Baha'i but this attitude sums up Baha'is perfectly: they simply do not KNOW which religion is the right way and, as a result of their ignorance, they assume that all religions are "okay".

Furthermore, they believe that such holy texts as the Bible and the Torah exist today in their original, unaltered form. Where'd that idea come from? You pick up a Catholic Bible, a Protestant Bible, and--if you can read it--an Ethiopian Orthodox Bible and you can see for yourself that there are whole sections which are missing in some versions while, in other versions, other sections are added. Furthermore, the Bible has been re-written in colloquial English and Ebonics; and recently some feminist has gone out and printed an edition of the Bible in which she has replaced "He"--referring to Allah--with "She". So, contrary to what the Baha'is believes, the Bible has indeed been altered, and continues to be altered as I write these words.

When I was a Baha'i, I simply put these matters out of my head. It's not like any other Baha'is knew the answers anyway. Of course, with no clergy or religious scholars to guide the way, that's not surprising.

As I began studying Islam in college, though, I was able to read the Qur'an for the first time, and was deeply moved--and very impressed--by its uncompromising monotheism. You read the Qur'an--especially in its original Arabic text--and you KNOW it's the word of Allah. And as Allah Himself tells us, it has never been changed--nor can it be changed. By contrast, the holiest book for the Baha'is, the "Kitab-i-Aqdas" is nothing but an enumeration of laws. No one recites it and there's no beauty or poetry in its words. Furthermore, Baha'is always speak of their texts as being written by the self-styled Baha'i "prophet" Baha’u’llah or his son 'Abdal-Baha'. Even they admit that what they read is not created by Allah!

I had taken this course in Islamic thought because I had this fascination with the Middle East, and I very much wanted to travel there. Nevertheless, I was under no illusion that, for Baha'is, this posed problems. Much though Baha'is might create the impression of respecting Islam, I was always taught to fear Muslims. A Muslim, I was told, was a fanatical bigot who would slit my throat for my Baha'i beliefs. What no Baha'is ever told me, however, was that Israel, which ALL Baha'is support, and is guilty of some of the worst crimes against humanity since Hitler, most of them directed against Muslims. The Baha'i world center is in Haifa, Israel and Ruhiyyah Khanum--a prominent leader of the Baha'i community--once said that the fate of Baha'ism and Israel are forever intertwined. And at Baha'i Sunday school we were made to sing songs about Baha'i delusions, among them this one song called "Queen of Carmel", a reference to the holy site on Mount Carmel in Haifa. The refrain goes "Cry out O Zion, cry out to your Lord!" That should be enough to convince anyone that the Baha'is are Zionists to the core, and that they share in the blame for all the misery which Israelis have created for Palestinians.

It wasn't hard for me to lose interest in Baha'ism once this realization started to kick in. For me, reverting to Islam wasn't difficult because the Baha'is have taken many of their laws from Islam. Alcohol and gambling are banned in Baha'ism, for example, so it wasn't like I had to give up much by becoming a Muslim. I figured that anything good in Baha'ism was already found in Islam, so you can easily imagine my excitement when, in February of 1999, I went to the mosque near the college where I study and took the shahadah, testifying that there is no god but Allah, and that Muhammad is His Messenger. And His LAST Messenger, too, I might add. Allah tells us in the Qur'an that in this day he has perfected Islam and made it as a religion for all humanity. What room is there left for Baha'ism in Allah's great plan? And as we read in the Qur'an Allah is the best of planners. Just think of the arrogance it must take for Baha'is to think that they can change what Allah has already perfected? Similarly Allah tells us in the Qur'an that Muhammad (blessings and peace be upon him and his family) was the "Seal of the Prophets". The Bible and the Torah speak of Muhammad's coming, and in fact the Song of Solomon (in the Old Testament) reports actually preserves the name "Muhammad" in the original Hebrew in a reference to the coming of the Arab Messenger. Not all the Bible has been altered, of course! But nowhere in the Qur'an do I hear mention of any Baha’u’llah.

I occasionally hear Muslims complain about the problems Christians and Jews create for the worldwide Islamic community. In response to this I would say that, though Christian Serbs and Russians have killed, raped, and tortured Muslims in Europe, and though Jewish Israelis have done the same to Palestinians--Muslim AND Christian--in the Holy Land, I feel strongly that the Baha'is pose a threat to Muslims--indeed ALL people--which is far greater than any Jews or Christians ever could. Baha'is combine the evangelical zeal of Christian missionaries with the uncompromising Zionism of ultra-orthodox Jews. They roam around the word, "Kitab-i-Aqdas" in hand, intent on spreading their false doctrines. Underprivileged people in the developing world are their favorite target, though they can strike anywhere at any unsuspecting person. If anything, I would advise Christians and Jews--and anyone else for that matter--to join Muslims in the fight to defeat the satanic forces of Baha'ism. In the end, we will all benefit.

Muhammad Yusuf 'Abd al-Latif

(Formerly George Hatke)