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)
