Women’s rights issue is a subject that is often used by the Bahai’s as bait and switch to attract the fair sex. They behave as if they have introduced the best thing to humankind since slice bread.
A simple Google search will tell you that throughout history, there have always been groups who have lobbied against discrimination towards women. The height of these campaigns occurred during the French Revolution at the end of the eighteenth century. This ultimately resulted in the creation of the Feminist movements.
These movements were caused by critical woes such as having been deprived of the right to vote, having been given improper education, having been viewed as the inferior sex, and having been victimized by violence. They had started years before the advent of Baha’ism and had already gained much momentum and support in Western countries. There are many essays and books from those times that clearly show this matter.
During Bahaullah’s years, this topic was very hot in the West and a great number of writings have reached us from that era. Some of these works have words in them strikingly similar to what Baha’is propagate. For example, Wollstonecraft’s Vindication of the Rights Of Woman (1792) or John Stuart Mills’s Subjection of Women (1869).
The founders of the Baha’i party have ripped off ideas and words and presented it as their own original work.
Coincidence? Another famous women’s rights activist of those times was Anna Kingsford. She too like Bahaullah claimed to have visions and divine inspirations from childhood to when she died. One can find her inspirations in Clothed Within the Sun (1889).
Other women’s rights titles include The Garden of Eden; or The Paradise Lost & Found (1890), Woman, Church And State (1893), and The Woman’s Bible (1898). Some of the verses of the Holy Quran, revealed to the Prophet of Islam (PBUH) about 1400 years ago, are strikingly similar to what Baha’i leaders preached. For instance, Abdul Baha says:
In the presence of God, there is no such thing as feminine or masculine. Whoever has better deeds and greater faith is closer to God. In the Divine world, there is no male or female. They are both the same.
Ref: Abdul Baha, Khatabat (Tehran), vol. 2, p. 220.
Now compare this with the following verses of the Quran:
Oh people! We created you from a male and a female. We made you nations and tribes, that you may know one another. The most honorable amongst you in the sight of God is the most pious.
Chp 49 (Al-Hujurat), verse 13.
Whoever does good, whether male or female, and is a believer, then they will enter paradise and will be given sustenance without limit.
Chp 40 (Gafir), verse 40.
Whoever does good deeds from amongst the males and females, and is a believer, we will make them live a good life, and we will reward them by the best of what they used to do.
Chp 16 (Nahl), 97
Furthermore, Bahaullah, who was reared and nurtured in Iran, was quite familiar with the Islamic beliefs regarding women. For instance, women were urged by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) to acquire knowledge just like men: Acquiring knowledge is compulsory for every man and woman.
These facts only expose the Baha’i chicanery of trying to project themselves as Godsend Messiah for women’s rights.
On the contrary, if one dives deeper into the teachings of Baha’is with regards to women’s right, there are some shocking truths waiting to be told. But we’ll keep that for a later date.
