January 27. On this date in 1945, Shoghi Effendi wrote that "We must supplicate Bahá'u'lláh to assist us to overcome the failings in our own characters, and also exert our own will power in mastering ourselves."

January 27. On this date in 1945, Shoghi Effendi wrote that "We must supplicate Bahá'u'lláh to assist us to overcome the failings in our own characters, and also exert our own will power in mastering ourselves."

The believers, as we all know, should endeavour to set such an example in their personal lives and conduct that others will feel impelled to embrace a Faith which reforms human character. However, unfortunately, not everyone achieves easily and rapidly the victory over self. What every believer, new or old, should realize is that the Cause has the spiritual power to re-create us if we make the effort to let that power influence us, and the greatest help in this respect is prayer. We must supplicate Bahá'u'lláh to assist us to overcome the failings in our own characters, and also exert our own will power in mastering ourselves.
(To an individual believer dated 27 January 1945)

January 27. On this date in 1931, Effie Baker arrived in Haifa. She was an Australian photographer who became a Bahá'í in 1922. Some of the pictures she took of the Bahá'í monuments in Iraq and Iran were included in Shoghi Effendi's translation of Nabíl-i-A`zam's The Dawn-Breakers.

January 27. On this date in 1931, Effie Baker arrived in Haifa. She was an Australian photographer who became a Bahá'í in 1922. Some of the pictures she took of the Bahá'í monuments in Iraq and Iran were included in Shoghi Effendi's translation of Nabíl-i-A`zam's The Dawn-Breakers.

On September 3, 1892, a few months after Bahá'u'lláh's death, Nabíl-i-A’ẓam, the author of The Dawn-breakers, died. Parts of his body and clothing were found washed up on the coast in Acre. While Bahá'í sources attribute his death to suicide, other sources claim he was murdered.
Sources that allege Nabíl-i-A’ẓam was murdered base their claim on the allegation that he became a victim due to his support of Mírzá Muhammad `Alí in his conflict with 'Abdu'l-Bahá...

According to the memoirs of Baha’s son Mirza Badiullah surnamed the Most Luminous Branch (غصن انور) by Baha: One year after Baha’s death, Nabil visited Badiullah in Haifa. He was distressed. Nabil said to Badiullah: “I can no longer stay at Acre. The situation there has deteriorated. By dint of violence, abusive language and cursing, one has to act against his own faith, has to regard and hold the Most Mighty Branch [Ghusn-i Azam, i.e. Abdul Baha Abbas] superior in station to the Blessed Beauty [Janab-i Mubarak, i.e. Baha] has to write corrupted [versions of] all the holly writings and epistles, and has to vilify and excommunicate [Baha’s] sons, [Baha’s] words and [Baha’s] family [i.e. all the members of Baha’s household in opposition to Abdul Baha Abbas], failing which one is branded as covenant-breaker [Naqiz] or Vacillator [Mutezalzil, i.e. opposed to Abdul Baha Abbas and partisan of Muhammad Ali] and becomes the object of untold calumnies and falsehoods.” Nabil requested Badiullah to find him a suitable room at the foot of Mount Carmel. He went back to Acre to fetch his things. Nothing was heard of him for sometime. Later “limbs of his body and his clothing” were discovered near the see shores at Acre. These were collated together and buried. Abdul Baha Abbas “shed crocodile tears” during the burial service of Nabil, “although he was exceedingly annoyed with him.”

From the Encyclopædia Iranica article titled "NABIL-E AʿẒAM ZARANDI, MOLLĀ MOḤAMMAD"...

NABIL-E AʿẒAM ZARANDI, MOLLĀ MOḤAMMAD (ملّا محمد نبیل اعظم زرندی), Persian Bahai poet, teacher, and chronicler of Babi history (b. Zarand, 18 Ṣafar 1247/29 July 1831; d. ʿAkkā, Palestine, 10 Ṣafar 1310/3 September 1892).
Nabil converted to Babism around 1847 and in 1858 accepted the faith of Bahāʾ-Allāh. Born into a humble family in Zarand, he received traditional education in his childhood and worked as a shepherd in his youth, when he converted to Babism (Zarandi, p. 434). Later in his life, he studied the writings of the Bāb and became well versed in both Islamic and Bahai literature.
During his years as a Babi, Nabil traveled to Lorestan, Kermanshah, Tehran, and Khorasan; he met with the Babis and Babi leaders in those provinces to foster the Babi ideology and inspire the believers to arise, consolidate, and expand the new Babi communities. He also transcribed and distributed Babi literature among the rank and file of the society to promote the Babi faith. He was jailed in Sāva for four months because of his pro-Babi activities. In September 1854, he set out for Baghdad and Karbala, where he stayed until October 1856. During late 1856 to July 1858, he traveled to Hamadan, his hometown Zarand, and many major Babi communities in the capital province and returned to Baghdad on 19 July 1858 (Rafati, pp. 30-31).
Nabil was one of the Babi leaders who claimed to be the promised messianic figure according to the Bāb’s prophecies, but he withdrew his claim when he recognized Bahāʾ-Allāh’s status as the fulfillment of the Bāb’s predictions and the leader of the Babis (Taherzadeh, p. 202). Nabil became one of Bahāʾ-Allāh’s earliest followers, in 1858 in Baghdad.
Nabil’s life as a Bahai is summed up in his extensive travels throughout Iran, Iraq, Turkey, the Caucasus, Egypt, and Palestine. In his early travels as a Bahai, he met with the Babi communities to invite them to the Bahai faith; he attracted the Babi leaders to the recognition of Bahāʾ-Allāh as the fulfillment of the Bāb’s prophecies concerning the promised messianic figure and helped reinforce the belief of the new Bahais in the teachings and principles that were being advanced by Bahāʾ-Allāh. Through these activities, Nabil turned into an outstanding teacher, defender, and promulgator of the Bahai faith.
While Nabil was in Khorasan in spring 1866, at his suggestion, the greeting Allāho abhā (God is the most glorious) was adopted by the followers of Bahāʾ-Allāh, replacing the old salutation of Allāho Akbar (God is the greatest), which was common among the Babis (Shoghi Effendi, p. 176). This was a significant action that gave group identity to the Bahais and was a sign of their independence from the Babis and the Azalis, a Bābi faction that considered Mirzā Yaḥyā Ṣobḥ-e Azal (d. 1912) as the legitimate successor to the Bāb.
Nabil was the first Bahai to perform pilgrimage (ḥajj) to the house of the Bāb in Shiraz in fall 1866, in accordance with the rites prescribed in the Surat al-ḥajj revealed by Bahāʾ-Allāh. He also went to Baghdad and performed the pilgrimage to the House of Bahāʾ-Allāh in spring 1867, according to another sura witten by Bahāʾ-Allāh for that purpose (Rafati, p. 36). Nabil’s pilgrimage to those two houses marked the inception of pilgrimage laws ordained by Bahāʾ-Allāh later in his Ketāb-e aqdas (Shoghi Effendi, pp. 176-77).
Another historic mission undertaken by Nabil under Bahāʾ-Allāh’s instruction was his travel to Egypt to appeal to the officials for the release of several Bahais who had been imprisoned in Cairo at the instigation of their enemies (Shoghi Effendi, p. 178). Nabil’s mission resulted in his own imprisonment for two months in Cairo in spring 1868 and then in the Alexandria jail for a few more months. After being released, Nabil traveled to Cyprus and Beirut, and then he joined Bahāʾ-Allāh’s exiled community in Acre (ʿAkkā) in late October 1869. He spent much of the last two decades of his life in Acre and its surrounding areas.
After the passing of Bahāʾ-Allāh in 1892, Nabil was chosen by ʿAbd-al-Bahāʾ to prepare a text for recitation in his tomb (Shoghi Effendi, p. 222). Nabil selected four passages from Bahāʾ-Allāh’s own works and composed the text, which is known as the Ziārat-nāma (ʿAndalib 18/71, summer 1999, pp. 19-20). The impact of the passing of Bahāʾ-Allāh on Nabil was so great and inconsolable that he drowned himself in the sea at Acre circa 10 Ṣafar 1310/3 September 1892. He is buried in the Acre cemetery.
Nabil was the recipient of a number of Bahāʾ-Allāh’s best-known works, including Surat al-dam (1866), Surat al-ḥajj, for the house of the Bāb in Shiraz (1866), and Surat al-ḥajj, for the house of Bahāʾ-Allāh in Baghdad (1867).
When Shoghi Effendi (d. 1957) designated nineteen prominent early Bahais as the “Apostles [Ḥawāriyun] of Bahāʾ-Allāh,” Nabil was one of them (The Baháʾí World III, pp. 80-81). The title signifies the recognition of distinguished services that those nineteen loyal and devoted Persian Bahais have rendered to their faith.
Nabil’s works are in poetry and prose. He was a gifted, prolific poet, who devoted most of his poetry to the historical events in the Babi and Bahai faiths. His most famous poem in couplet form (maṯnawi) about the history of the Bahai faith was published as Maṯnawi-e Nabil Zarandi in Cairo in 1924 in 65 pages and reprinted in Langenhain in 1995. In this maṯnawi he describes major historical events from the early days of the Babi movement to the year 1869. His second maṯnawi, in 666 verses, deals with Bahāʾ-Allāh’s banishment from Edirne to Acre. Other historical poetry of Nabil consists of his maṯnawi titled “Maṯnawi-e weṣāl wa hejr” in 175 verses (pub. in Rafati, 2014, Chap. 6; Ḏokāʾi, p. 416) and his maṯnawi on the life of Āqā Moḥammad Nabil Akbar Qāʾeni in 303 verses (Ḵušahā-i az ḵarman-e adab wa honar 13, pp. 108-16). In addition to those maṯnawis, Nabil left behind a great collection of poetry in different forms, only a fraction of which has been published.
Nabil’s works in prose include a treatise on the Babi-Bahai calendar, a treatise on Bahai inheritance laws (Fāżel Māzandarāni, IV pp. 1, 214), and his account on the event of the passing of Bahāʾ-Allāh (Nabil Zarandi, Maṯnawi-e Nabil Zarandi, Langenhain, 1995, pp. 67-108). But Nabil’s most celebrated work is Maṭāleʿ al-anwār, an extensive historical narrative of the Babi faith, written in Acre in 1888-90, which was edited and translated into English by Shoghi Effendi as The Dawn-Breakers. The work was first published in the United States in 1932.
Maṭāleʿ al-anwār, the most authentic and the main primary source on the early history of the Babi movement in Iran, is regarded by the Bahais as the definitive account of the Bāb’s dispensation. The work has been translated into many languages, and it has played a major role in familiarizing the Bahais around the world with the historical background of their faith and helping them understand its link to the socio-religious climate of the Persian society in the early days of its development. The original Persian manuscript of Maṭāleʿ al-anwār, preserved at the International Bahai Archives in Haifa, comprises 1,014 pages of 22-24 lines.
Bibliography:
ʿAbd-al-Bahāʾ, Memorials of the Faithful, tr. and annotated Marzieh Gail, Wilmette, 1971, pp. 32-36.
Abu’l-Qāsem Afnān, Ḵušahā-i az ḵarman-e adab wa honar 7, 1996, pp. 58-75.
Bahāʾ-Allāh, Āṯār-e qalam-e aʿlā, Tehran, 1996, IV, pp. 59-67, 75-99.
The Baháʾí World: A Biennial International Record III, New York, 1928-30.
H. M. Balyuzi, Baháulláh the King of Glory, Oxford, 1991 (see index).
Idem, Materials for the Study of the Babí Religion, Cambridge, 1918, pp. 351-57. Neʿmat-Allāh Ḏokāʾi Bayżāʾi, Taḏkera-ye šoʿarā-ye qarn-e awwal-e Bahāʾi,” 4 vols., Tehran, 1970-73, III, pp. 410-35.
ʿAbd-al-Ḥamid Ešrāq Ḵāvari, Tasbiḥ wa taḥlil, Tehran, 1973, pp. 77-90.
Fāżel Māzandarāni, Amr wa ḵalq, Langenhain, 1986.
Hušang Goharriz, Ḥawāriyun-e Ḥażrat-e Bahāʾ-Allāh, New Delhi, 2001, pp. 176-91.
Ḵušahā-i az ḵarman-e adab wa honar 7, 1996, pp. 293-98.
Moojan Momen, “The Apostles of Bahāʾ-Āllāh” in H. M. Balyuzi, Eminent Baháís in the Time of Baháulláh: With Some Historical Background, Oxford, 1985.
Mollā Moḥammad Nabil Zarandi, Maṭāleʿ al-anwār: Tāriḵ-e Nabil Zarandi, ed. and tr. Shoghi Effendi, as The Dawn-Breakers: Nabíl’s Narrative of the Early Days of the Baháʾí Revelation, Wilmette, 1974, pp. 433-45.
Ṣadri Nawwābzāda Ardakāni, “Maṭāleb-i dr bāra-ye tāriḵ-e- Nabil Zarandi,” Moṭālaʿa-ye maʿāref-e Bahāʾi, Tehran, 1977.
Payām-e Bahāʾi, no. 126, May 1990, pp. 13-16.
Vahid Rafati, “Nabíl-e-Aʿẓam Zarandí,” Ḵušahā-i az ḵarman-e adab wa Honar 7, 1996, pp. 29-57. Idem, “Tāriḵ-e Nabil Zarandi,” ibid, pp. 76-87. Idem, “Maṯnawi-e Nabil-e Aʿẓam
Zarandi: Dar šarḥ-e ḥālāt-e Janāb Āqā Moḥammad Nabil Akbar Qāʾeni,” Ḵušahā-i az ḵarman-e adab wa honar 13, 2002, pp. 107-19. Idem, ed., Yād-nāma-ye Ešrāq Ḵāvari / Remembrance of Ishráq Khávarí, Madrid, 2014.
Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, Wilmette, 1999.
Adib Taherzadeh, The Revelation of Bahaullah, Oxford, 1974, pp. 202-6.
(Vahid Rafati)
Originally Published: June 29, 2016
Last Updated: June 29, 2016
Cite this entry:
Vahid Rafati, “NABIL-E AʿẒAM ZARANDI, MOLLĀ MOḤAMMAD,” Encyclopædia Iranica, online edition, 2016, available at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/nabil-zarandi  

January 26. On this date in 1987, Charles Wolcott died in Haifa. In 1960 he was elected Secretary of the NSA of the U.S., and in 1961 he was elected to the International Bahá’í Council and moved to Haifa. He was elected to serve on the inaugural UHJ in 1963, a position he held until his death.

January 26. On this date in 1987, Charles Wolcott, member of the Universal House of Justice, died in Haifa. Born in Flint, Michigan on September 29, 1906, Wolcott was a music composer who had a career in various Holywood film studios. In 1953 he was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. In 1960, when he was elected secretary of the National Assembly, he resigned from his position at MGM Studios and moved to Wilmette, Illinois. In 1961 he was elected to the International Bahá’í Council and moved to Haifa, Israel. He was elected to serve on the newly formed Universal House of Justice in 1963, a position he held until 1987 when he died in Haifa.

From 1960 until his death in 1987, period of 27 years, Wolcott worked exclusively for the Bahá’í Administrative Order. His career is typical for individuals in the Bahá’í hierarchy, whether in an elected office or in an appointed office from which the higher elected officials invariably come from.

At all levels, including the LSAs, Bahá’í leaders generally as if not more authoritarian than clergy from other religious faiths, which as Dale Husband points out, is one of the Four Ways to Create a Religion of Hypocrites:

1. State that religion no longer needs clergy……and replace them with leaders that are as authoritarian as the clergy ever was.
2. Claim that men and women should be equal……but then deny women membership in the all-powerful leadership council of the religion.
3. Condemn as heretics those who believe in your religion but dare to challenge the claims of your religion’s current leadership, while at the same time claiming to welcome as friends the followers of other religions.
4. Claim there is harmony between science and religion, but also claim that anything your leaders say is absolutely true, even if on topics science is expected to address. Any one of these makes a religion not worth following, but what do you do if you find a religion that has all four such contradictions

January 26. On this date in 1958, during the Kampala International Conference, the cornerstone of the Mother Temple of Africa (which was designed by Charles Mason Remey) was laid. Ruhiyyih Khanum gave a tribute to Shoghi Effendi, who had died shortly before the Kampala International Conference.

January 26. On this date in 1958, during the Kampala International Conference, the cornerstone of the Mother Temple of Africa (which was designed by Charles Mason Remey) was laid. Ruhiyyih Khanum gave a tribute to Shoghi Effendi, who had died shortly before the Kampala International Conference.

January 26. On this date in 1939, Shoghi Effendi wrote Kaukab H. A. MacCutcheon, answering a list of questions addressing such topics as Guardian Angels, "Approximately six thousand years elapsed since the appearance of Adam," and "The provision in the 'Aqdas' regarding the use of glass coffins."

January 26. On this date in 1939, Shoghi Effendi wrote Kaukab H. A. MacCutcheon, answering a list of questions addressing such topics as Guardian Angels, "Approximately six thousand years elapsed since the appearance of Adam," and "The provision in the 'Aqdas' regarding the use of glass coffins."

EXTRACTS PROM SHOGHI EFFENDI'S LETTERS
circulated by RUTH J. MOFFETT
-Extracts from a letter from Shoghi Effendi to Kaukab H. A. MacCutcheon, dated January 26, 1939.
"In regard to the list of questions you had enclosed, the Guardian has directed me to answer them in the order in which they have been put:

1. The Teachings do not contain any explanation of what is meant by Guardian Angel.
2. The holding of a memorial forty days after the passing of a person is a purely Islamic practice, and consequently should be discarded by the believers.
3. There is no prophecy in the writings of Baha'u'llah regarding the Pyramids.
4. On page 231 of the 'Gleanings' the passage beginning with the words, 'Out of earth have We created you' - - in this passage Baha’u’llah is refuting the argument of the Muslims who believe in bodily resurrection.
5. There is no connection between the birth of Christ and His having practiced celibacy to permit one to infer that since He was born of the Holy Spirit He therefore refused to marry. Even if Christ had been, married, this would in no way have affected the manner of the appearance of Muhammad or the Bab.
6. Approximately six thousand years elapsed since the appearance of Adam. The ages of the Prophets as spécified in the Bible were based on a different calculation than the one used at present. The years mentioned in the Bible were different from ours.
7. As to your question as to whether another letter will be added to our alphabet in order to have 27 letters; this tradition in which reference to 27 letters is made, has no relation to the Western alphabet.
8. The fulfilment of the prophecy regarding the appearance of the Sun in the West refers to the Baha'i Civilization and World Order, and has no relation to Abdu'l Baha's visit to the West;
9. The provision in the 'Aqdas' regarding the use of glass coffins will be explained when that Most Holy Book is published. This has no connection with the purification of the earth in the Day of Baha'u'llah.
10. The words Spirit and Soul are interchangeable. You should refer to 'Answered Questions' for further clarification.
11. The subconscious mind is one of the manifestations of the human soul.
12. The Bab is the return of the 12th Immam only in a spiritual sense, just as Baha'u'llah is the return of the Spirit, the Christ.
13. In the 'Gleanings', p. 154, the sentence beginning with 'a sick person showeth Baha'u'llah means by this that the soul itself, in its reality, is not affected by any physical forces.
14. There is no reference in the teachings of the real birthday of Jesus Christ.
15. Also, the Teachings hear no reference to the names of the stars which are supposed to have preceded Moses, Christ and other Divine Prophets.
16. The Jews are the descendants of Jacob. Both they and the Arabs are branches of the Semitic race."

Your true and grateful brother,
SHOGHI.

January 26. On this date in 2000, Adib Taherzadeh, a member of the UHJ since 1988, died. He was previously a member of the NSA of the British Isles from 1960 to 1971 and later of the NSA of the Republic of Ireland from 1972 to 1976, when he was appointed a Counsellor for Europe.

January 26. On this date in 2000, Adib Taherzadeh, a member of the UHJ since 1988, died. He was previously a member of the NSA of the British Isles from 1960 to 1971 and later of the NSA of the Republic of Ireland from 1972 to 1976, when he was appointed a Counsellor for Europe.

Adib Taherzadeh was born on April 29, 1921, in Yazd, Iran, into a family who had a strong association with the Bahá'í Faith since its inception. He studied electrical engineering at the University of Tehran, and then moved to Coventry, England in 1948 and pursued advanced studies.

He moved to Ireland in 1950 working as the chief engineer of an industrial concern until 1988. He married twice, first to Zarin Moosezadeh Cohen with whom he had two children, a son Tahir Ronald and a daughter Bahiyyeh Vida. He married Belfast-born Lesley Gibson in the 1970s, and they had two children, a daughter Maryam (Baskin) and a son Bahhaj. At the time of his death, he had several grandchildren.

Taherzadeh served on the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the British Isles from 1960 to 1971. He was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the Republic of Ireland when it was formed in 1972 and was appointed in 1976 to the European Continental Board of Counsellors. He was elected to the Universal House of Justice in 1988.

A prolific writer and gifted public speaker, Taherzadeh wrote several books on the Bahá'í history and teachings, including The Child of the Covenant, The Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh, and the four volume The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh.

His career is typical for individuals in the Bahá’í hierarchy, whether in an elected office or in an appointed offce from which the higher elected officials invariably come from.

At all levels, including the LSAs, Bahá’í leaders generally as if not more authoritarian than clergy from other religious faiths, which as Dale Husband points out, is one of the Four Ways to Create a Religion of Hypocrites:

1. State that religion no longer needs clergy……and replace them with leaders that are as authoritarian as the clergy ever was.
2. Claim that men and women should be equal……but then deny women membership in the all-powerful leadership council of the religion.
3. Condemn as heretics those who believe in your religion but dare to challenge the claims of your religion’s current leadership, while at the same time claiming to welcome as friends the followers of other religions.
4. Claim there is harmony between science and religion, but also claim that anything your leaders say is absolutely true, even if on topics science is expected to address. Any one of these makes a religion not worth following, but what do you do if you find a religion that has all four such contradictions

January 26. On this date in 1949, Denis MacEoin was born. A former Bahá'í who was active from about 1966 to about 1980, he left the religion after clashes with the Bahá'í administration mostly due to his research works on Babism. He is a pro-Israel activist in Britain who writes for The Jerusalem Post and is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute.

January 26. On this date in 1949, Denis MacEoin was born. A former Bahá'í who was active from about 1966 to about 1980, he left the religion after clashes with the Bahá'í administration mostly due to his research works on Babism. He is a pro-Israel activist in Britain who writes for The Jerusalem Post and is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute.

Denis MacEoin is a former Bahá'í who was active from about 1966 to about 1980, lecturing at Bahá'í conferences and summer schools and writing in support of his religion. He left the religion after clashes with the Bahá'í administration mostly due to his research works on Babism. He is a pro-Israel activist in Britain who says he has "very negative feelings" about Islam. He writes for The Jerusalem Post and is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute.

From his profile page at The Jerusalem Post...

Denis MacEoin
Danis [sic] MacEoin is a former lecturer of Arabic/Islamic Studies, the former editor the Middle East Quarterly, and is currently a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute. MacEoin authored several books and reports on Islam, the Middle East, and Israel including 'Dear Gary, Why You're Wrong about Israel', and blog 'A Liberal Defence of Israel.MacEoin is an active supporter of Israel in the UK.

From his profile page at the Gatestone Institute...

Denis MacEoin
Distinguished Senior Fellow, Gatestone Institute
Denis MacEoin is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute. He first graduated with a B.A. and an M.A. in English Language and Literature from Trinity College, Dublin, followed by a second 4-year M.A. in Persian, Arabic, and Islamic Studies from Edinburgh and a PhD in Persian/Islamic Studies from Cambridge (King's College).
He has lectured in Arabic and Islamic Studies at Newcastle University, and written several academic books and numerous articles, as well as many pieces of journalism. Recently, he has written reports on hate literature, Shari'a Law, and Islamic schools.
He has worked as a writing tutor as the Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Newcastle University, where he has also taught a short course in creative writing ('Writing in Genre'). He was for some years the editor of a US-based journal, The Middle East Quarterly. In 1992, HarperCollins published a volume of his journalism under the title New Jerusalems: Islam, Religious Fundamentalism, and the Rushdie Affair.

In 2003, Juan Cole described in a message on the Talisman mail list the pressure placed on Denis MacEoin by the Bahá'í Administrative Order...

Denis MacEoin did not withdraw from the faith, he was chased out by powerful Baha'i fundamentalists who were deeply threatened by the implications of his historical work. Denis became a Baha'i in North Ireland around 1965 and quickly emerged as a Baha'i youth leader. He was chosen to come to Haifa to commemorate the 1968 anniversary of Baha'u'llah's Letters to the Kings.
He then wrote the House saying he did not know whether to serve the Faith by becoming an academic scholar of the Middle East or by going pioneering. They wrote back that either path would be praiseworthy. (They later stabbed him in the back about this). He therefore entered graduate school at Edinburgh in Middle East Studies, then went on to Cambridge University for his Ph.D. He was the first academic to study the Babi movement with all the tools of modern scholarship, and his findings were groundbreaking.
Denis made the mistake of continuing to be an active Baha'i. Since the community is so heavily dominated by aggressive fundamentalist fanatics, if a genuine academic wants to be a Baha'i s/he has to keep a low profile. Denis did not. He gave summer school talks. He was once viciously attacked by Abu al-Qasim Faizi. His new ideas were upsetting the conservative British community. He objected when the Baha'i authorities supported dictators like Pinochet and Bokassa. He corresponded with the Los Angeles Study Class and some of his letters were published in their newsletter (a newsletter that the Baha'i authorities later closed down, for all the world like Tehran ayatollahs pulling a publishing license).
Around 1980, fundamentalist UHJ members Ian Semple and David Hoffman called Denis to a meeting and told him he would have to fall silent (rather as the Vatican did to Leonardo Boff). Hoffman was especially harsh. Denis declined to fall silent, and ultimately withdrew from the Faith. He was pushed out by anti-intellectual bigots who had risen high in the Baha'ihierarchy and become Infallible. Denis's works on the Babi and Baha'i movements are some of the few pieces of solid scholarship that exist.
Instead of being grateful to him for sacrificing all those years living in penury as a graduate student, studying Arabic and Persian, traveling to a dangerous Middle East, all for the service of Baha'u'llah, the community could think of nothing better to do than viciously attack him and throw him in the gutter of infamy.
Denis's story is the story of most thinking people who have anything serious to do with the Baha'i faith. Either they adopt a cult-like mindset of true believers and covenant breakers, in which case they gradually cease being thinking persons, or they get chased out by the wild-eyed. A few people manage to avoid either fate by not drawing attention to themselves. The Baha'i Extreme Orthodox are like the Borg in Star Trek. They want to assimilate you, but might leave you alone if you stay quiet.
cheers
Juan Cole
https://www.juancole.com/

Juan Cole would continue on subsequent posts...

He wasn't saying anything polemic. He was just discovering who the Babis really were from solid historical sources. The powerful Baha'is, who have all the open-mindedness of Wahhabis, did not like it. It did not look like the fireside talks everyone grew up with, so they shoved Denis out of the community with threats of sanctions echoing about his ears.
cheers Juan

and later...

Denis's works were mostly published in Middle East or Religion journals or as academic books, and most could be gotten on interlibrary loan. There may be some things at www.bahai-library.org, and there certainly is a bibliography there.
I apologize that I am off to a conference, so cannot go into depth but there are others here who can discuss Denis's findings.
As to why they should have angered anyone, I suppose you'd have to pass them by a Baha'i fundamentalist and they would tell you. You could just ask about MacEoin at e.g. soc.religion.bahai or about his ideas on Babis. Or at beliefnet. I presume you will get an earful. One of them once more or less threatened to cut my head off with a sword, so they can be an irritable bunch.
cheers Juan
https://www.juancole.com/