Characteristics of the Enemies of the Baha'i Faith

    THE "PUNY ADVERSARIES” OF THE BAHA'I FAITH


THEIR ACTIVITIES ARE CHARACTERIZED AS:

the onslaught of the ungodly     (WTAB 9)

the bold onslaught     (GPB 360)

dire contests     (MBW 123)

manifold, various, and at times
extremely perilous     (MTA 50)

afflictive trials    (WOB 91)

turmoil that had convulsed [the Faith]    (GPB 170)

severe winds     (BWF 433)

storm of mischief     (WOB 15)

violent storm     (WOB 91)

violent its outbursts     (MTA 51)

explosive outbursts     (MTA 51)

fierce the assaults of the enemy     (WOB 90)

vicious assaults     (MTA 70)

this virus of violation     (MBW 25)

tortuous intrigues     (GPB 164)

evil influence     (MBW 123)

pernicious     (GPB 189)

treacherous schemes     (MBW 123)

treacherous and malignant     (MBW 94)

insinuations     (GPB 117)

insinuations and clamor     (WOB 90)

openly and by insinuation     (GPB 248)

open attacks     (WOB 15)

veiled attacks     (WOB 90)

openly and privily     (SWAB 315)

covertly and indirectly criticized,
challenged and misrepresented     (GPB 117)

privily and with the utmost subtlety
engaged in conspiring     (WTAB 8)

fiendish subtlety     (BA 138)

with ever-increasing subtlety and malice     (MTA 49)

challenging criticisms     (WOB 15)

infamous accusations     (GPB 248)

stubbornness, falsehood and slander     (WTAB 18)

deception and ruse     (BWF 431)

mischievous misrepresentations    (GPB 355)

specious arguments     (SWAB 212)

nonsensical utterances     (BWF 431)

ludicrous assertions     (WOB 90)

flagrant injustice     (WTAB 4)

plotted darkly     (WTAB 21)

with circumspection and guile     (GPB 249)

cleverly-directed campaign of
misrepresentation and calumny     (BA 191)

a campaign of abuse and vilification     (GPB 248)

a campaign of insinuation and fraud     (BA 137)

a campaign of abuse, calumny and intrigue    (GPB 189)

nefarious activities     (MBW 31, 123)



THE ENERGY THAT CHARACTERIZES THEIR ACTIVITIES:

concerted efforts     (GPB 360)

closely-knit by one common wish and purpose    (GPB 247)

indefatigable in their efforts     (GPB 247)

temerity and exceptional vigor     (MTA 32)

exerted their utmost endeavors     (GPB 408)

with the utmost vigor, exertion,
rancor and enmity     (WTAB 24)

ceaseless instigations to rebellion     (MTA 32)

ceaseless vitriolic attacks     (MBW 53)

sixty years' ceaseless, fruitless efforts    (COF 89)

persistent efforts     (MTA 32)

persistent and malicious     (WOB 15)

strenuous and persistent endeavors     (GPB 264)

pursued relentlessly     (GPB 265)

fierce and relentless     (MTA 52)

redoubling his efforts, with
unrelaxing vigilance     (GPB 164)

suddenly and with all their might     (WTAB 24)

strove diligently     (GPB 327)

busily engaged     (WOB 8)

their labors     (GPB 247)

sedulously striven     (MTA 65)

unrelenting hostility     (GPB 163)

increased hostility     (MTA 51)

assiduously schemed     (MBW 53)

assiduously plotted     (MBW 11)




THEIR METHODS:

contemptible in the methods he pursues     (MTA 49)

flattery     (SWAB 212)

it is beyond imagining how they showered
favors on him and what honors they paid him,
what feasts they prepared, what
pleasures they offered    (MOTF 55)

skillful his stratagem     (WOB 90)

through deliberate misrepresentation of facts    (MBW 25)

every artifice which a sordid and treacherous
mind can devise     (BA 138)

They tried every ruse, every deceit, all
their subtlest expedients     (MOTF 55)

through subtle means, deceive the souls, for
outwardly they assert their firmness and
steadfastness in the Covenant but when they
come across responsive ears they secretly
sow the seeds of suspicion    (SWAB 212)

the violators who are outwardly with the
greatest care exhibiting firmness but
inwardly are engaged in agitating souls    (SWAB 212)

instill suspicion until he becomes lukewarm    (PUP 381)



THEIR TRAITS

characteristic insolence     (MTA 32)

presumptuous     (GPB 167)

arrogant     (GPB 355)

impudence and temerity     (GPB 249)

scorn and calumny     (WTAB 18)

refusing to be admonished by prominent
members of the community     (GPB 164)

truculence, greed and obstinacy     (MBW 73)

emboldened     (GPB 165)

boldness in flouting the Will of `Abdu'l-Baha    (WOB 90)

audacious     (GPB 114)

with startling audacity     (BA 138)

without shame     (WTAB 7)

brazen     (GPB 327)

pride     (MBW 53)

pride, obstinacy and insatiable ambition     (MBW 53)

vaulting ambition     (MTA 51)

vainglorious one     (WTAB 12)

ambitious of leadership     (MTA 49)

the enticing prospects of
unfettered leadership     (GPB 164)

passionate love of leadership     (GPB 165)

with many stratagems are seeking leadership    (SWAB 214)

envy     (MTA 52)

rancor, hate and envy     (WTAB 9)

jealous     (MTA 39)

spurred on by his mounting jealousy     (GPB 165)

pent-up jealousies     (GPB 117)

with unbearable cruelty     (WTAB 17)

with bitter hatred     (BA 138)

Implacable hatred     (COF 133)

hated with such consuming passion     (GPB 249)

the latent animosity they nursed in
their hearts     (GPB 178)

blind, uncontrollable animosity     (MBW 29)

overt hostility     (MBW 121)

the blind hatred, the unfounded presumption,
the incredible folly     (MTA 51)

extravagance, ... betrayal and folly     (MTA 32)

perfidious     (MBW 29)

powerful and perfidious     (GPB 247)

the stench of perfidy     (SWAB 219)

foul odors     (BWF 431)

the abject perfidy     (MTA 51)

perfidy, ingratitude and opposition     (MTA 52)

iniquity     (WTAB 7)

treacherous conduct     (BA 137)

subversive spirit     (UD 218)

virulence     (GPB 248)

lying in wait     (GPB 114)

lying in ambush     (SWAB 213)


breath like the poison of the snake
that kills instantly     (BWF 430)

breath is infectious, like unto poison     (BWF 431)

the least perceptible breath of violation    (BWF 431)

infamous and crafty     (GPB 117)

diabolical     (MBW 122)

inveterate, artful, traditional enemies     (MBW 87)

unwisdom     (MTA 51)

Short-sighted action     (MBW 29)

Having a very shrewd eye to his own advantage     (UD 364)

wholly insincere in his motives     (UD 365)

blinded by perversity     (MBW 53)

odious     (MTA 49)

shameful     (MBW 25)

abhorrent     (GPB 163)

infamous     (BA 138)

notorious     (COF 89)

his repentance and his short-lived
reconciliation     (GPB 249)

monstrous behavior     (GPB 163)

irremediably corrupted     (GPB 165)

of a nature and character whom those who have
learned to know him well have never ceased
to despise, even in the brightest days of
his public career in the Cause     (BA 137)

that living embodiment of wickedness,
cupidity and deceit     (GPB 165)



THEIR MACHINATIONS ARE VARIOUSLY DESCRIBED AS:

evil machinations     (BA 34)

incessant machinations     (BA 191)

persistent machinations     (MBW 123)

ingenious machinations     (MBW 121)

infamous and insidious machinations     (GPB 327)

active and subtle
... machinations     (Messages to Canada 69)

subtle and contemptible machinations     (MTA 39)


CHARACTERIZATIONS OF THE ENEMIES OF THE FAITH


apostates, rebels, betrayers, heretics     (GPB 408)

those who apostatize their faith or preach
heretical doctrines     (MTA 50)

[who] put aside the firm and conclusive verses    (WTAB 5)

them that have broken the Covenant, kindled
discord, showed their malice     (WTAB 9)

them that love discord, hath shown forth
malice and turned away from
the Lord of the Covenant     (WTAB 19)

repudiators of a divinely-established
Covenant     (GPB 248)

calumniating the Center of the Covenant     (WTAB 6)

renegades     (GPB 178)

traitors to His Cause     (BWF 437)

mischief-makers     (GPB 114)

alert and active worker of mischief     (MTA 32)

people of wickedness     (Tablets of Abdu'l-Baha Abbas
    Vol. III, p. 650)

manifestations of Satan     (BWF 431)

manifestations of the people of hell     (BWF 431)

vile whisperer     (GPB 164)

the enemies of the Covenant     (WTAB 24)

notorious enemy     (MBW 73)

an implacable and vigilant enemy     (WOB 100)

raise up still more formidable enemies     (MTA 51)

the enemies of His Cause, the breakers of
His behests     (BA 34)

black-hearted foes from within     (GPB 409)

pernicious elements     (WOB 15)

duped     (GPB 164)

deluded, self-seeking adventurers     (MTA 50)

deluded enthusiasts     (WOB 90)

ferocious lions ... ravening wolves ...
bloodthirsty beasts     (WTAB 9)

persons who appear as sheep and in reality
are ferocious wolves     (BWF 433)

the claws and teeth of the ferocious wolves     (BWF 433)

the hounds of hatred and animosity     (BWF 433)

despicable supporters     (BA 191)

the ignoble band of breakers of His Covenant     (MBW 121)

henchmen     (GPB 247)

conspiring crew    (MBW 11)

the infamous crew of covenant-breakers     (GPB 319)

waverers     (MOTF 133)

this pollution     (GPB 170)

this horrible possession     (GPB 170)



THEIR VIOLATION IS ALSO CALLED:

base betrayal     (MTA 51)

defection     (COF 133)

repeated defections     (MTA 80)

secession     (MTA 50)

resistance     (MTA 51)

clandestine opposition     (GPB 117)

agitation     (BA 191)

rebellion     (MTA 32)




THE PURPOSE OF THE INTERNAL ENEMIES

schemed to undermine the position of the
Center of [the] Faith     (MBW 25)

challenging the authority conferred upon
Guardian of Faith in
`Abdu'l-Baha's Testament     (MBW 25)

kindling dissensions     (GPB 115)

to sow the seeds of dissension in the hearts
of the faithful     (WOB 15)

dispersing the gathering of
the people of salvation     (WTAB 7)

extinguishing the lamps we ignite     (PUP 381)

hoping that this brilliant Light may
be extinguished, and this Tree of Life
may be uprooted     (BWF 429)

turned many a seeker after Truth aside
from the Cause of God     (WTAB 5)

people whose aims are known to all
the friends.  Yet, O glorious God,
they are deceived by them!     (BWF 432)

Designed to becloud its radiance     (WOB 15)

to disrupt the Faith and pervert its purpose    (MTA 65)

striven to arrest its march, or contrived
to create a breach in the ranks of
its supporters     (GPB 327)

flatterers who exert a great effort to shake
the faith of feeble souls     (SWAB 211)

Satan appears in different robes and appeals
to everyone according to each person's own way,
until he becomes like unto him -- then he will
leave him alone     (BWF 431)

whose aim was to nullify every effort exerted,
and frustrate every design conceived,
by Baha'u'llah     (GPB 117)


he has sought in the pages of his book
to strike terror in the heart of the
confident believer, to sow the seeds of doubt
in the mind of the well-disposed and friendly,
to poison the thoughts of the indifferent and
to reinforce the power of the assaulting
weapon of the adversary     (BA 138)

whose purpose was to sow the seeds of doubt
and suspicion and to represent Him as a
usurper, as the subverter of the laws
instituted by the Bab, and the wrecker
of His Cause     (GPB 117)

to blacken its name and subvert the
foundations of its institutions     (MBW 53)

not only to disrupt that Order but to
undermine the very Faith which
had conceived it     (GPB 327)

to pervert the purpose and nullify the
essential provisions of the immortal
Document from which that Order
derives its authority     (GPB 327)

to disrupt the administrative machinery of
an Order, foreshadowed by the Bab,
enunciated by Baha'u'llah, and established
by 'Abdu'l-Baha     (MTA 49)

designed to undermine the foundation,
and obscure the purpose, of the
Administrative Order of the
Faith of Baha'u'llah     (MTA 49)

efforts to undermine
the divinely-appointed Order     (COF 89)

in the hope of creating a cleavage in the
ranks of the bereaved yet resolute
disciples of 'Abdu'l-Baha and of
ultimately undermining the
foundations of the institutions His
followers were laboring to erect     (GPB 355)

aiming at the eventual overthrow of the
institutions expressly provided
by Baha'u'llah     (BA 137)

to sap the loyalty of the followers of
that Faith, to split their ranks or
assault their institutions     (GPB 408)

to wrest the Cause from His grasp     (GPB 265)

they instill doubts among the friends that
they may cause differences, and that these
differences may result in their drawing
a party to themselves     (SWAB 214)

to arouse active opposition from the
Baha'is and create a source of
discussion in the press     (UD 364)

secretly arouse doubts, so that
the Covenant of Baha'u'llah may be
completely annihilated in America     (BWF 429)


POSITIONS THEY PREVIOUSLY HELD IN THE FAITH:

one of the earliest pioneers and founders of
the Faith in Germany, whom that same woman
had so tragically misled     (GPB 327)

hitherto regarded as a respected
teacher of the Cause, and not unknown
by a few of its followers     (BA 137)

Not a few among its leading figures,
its earliest disciples, its foremost
champions, the companions and fellow-exiles
of its Founders, trusted amanuenses and
secretaries of its Author and of the
Center of His Covenant, even some of
those who were numbered among the
kindred of the Manifestation Himself,
not excluding the nominee of the Bab
and the son of Baha'u'llah, named by
Him in the Book of His Covenant, had
allowed themselves to pass out from
under its shadow     (GPB 408)

some of its most powerful and renowned
votaries ... its once trusted and
ablest propagators, champions, and
administrators, from the ranks of its
most revered and highly-placed trustees    (MTA 51)

various recognized yet highly ambitious
leaders, teachers, as well as
administrators     (COF 133)

those familiars-turned-strangers     (MOTF 56)



THE DISSEMINATION OF THEIR PUBLICATIONS

verbally as well as in writing    (GPB 248)

denunciatory publications     (GPB 260)

a document teeming with calumny and slander    (WTAB 7)

recorded in voluminous writings     (MBW 53)

The volumes which a shameless apostate
composed and disseminated     (GPB 327)

incessantly circulated     (GPB 117)


the maintenance ... of a subversive
correspondence with individuals whose
loyalty they hoped they could sap    (GPB 355)

linked by a vast system of correspondence
with every center and individual they
could reach     (GPB 247)

they scattered far and wide their
scrolls of doubt     (WTAB 17)

Wherefore he sent out far and wide his
leaflets of doubt     (SWAB 216)

their scrolls of doubt and
mischief-kindling leaflets     (WTAB 24)

through leaflets written with their
own hands, they sowed the seeds of doubt,
printing these leaflets and scattering
them broadcast throughout the world     (WTAB 24)


THEY ACCUSED THE HEAD OF THE FAITH OF OVER-REACHING HIS AUTHORITY

they represented `Abdu'l-Baha as an ambitious,
a self-willed, an unprincipled and pitiless
usurper, Who had deliberately disregarded
the testamentary instructions of His Father;
Who had, in language intentionally veiled
and ambiguous, assumed a rank co-equal
with the manifestation Himself; Who in
His communications with the West was
beginning to claim to be the return of
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who had
come "in the glory of the Father"; Who,
in His letters to the Indian believers,
was proclaiming Himself as the promised
Shah Bahram, and arrogating to Himself
the right to interpret the writing of
His Father, to inaugurate a new
Dispensation, and to share with Him
the Most Great Infallibility, the
exclusive prerogative of the holders of
the prophetic office     (GPB 248)

that He had actually corrupted the
Holy Text, interpolated passages written
by Himself, and perverted the purpose
and meaning of some of the weightiest Tablets
revealed by the pen of His Father     (GPB 248)

that He had perverted the purpose of a
Testament which they alleged to be
primarily concerned with the private
interest of Baha'u'llah's family by
acclaiming it as a Covenant of world
importance, pre-existent, peerless
and unique in the history of all
religions     (GPB 248)



THE ENEMIES REGARD THEMSELVES AS MORE LOYAL THAN THE HEAD OF THE FAITH:

this same Mirza Muhammad-`Ali...
regarding himself as the exponent
of fidelity [and]... the upholder
of the Holy Writ     (GPB 248)

a professed adherent of
the teaching of Baha'u'llah     (BA 137)

they exercise every sort of oppression,
endeavor to destroy the foundation of
the Covenant, -- and claim to
be Baha'is     (BWF 433)


Later the people of the Bayan, like
Mirza Yahya and many others, arose
against the Blessed Beauty, invented
every sort of calumny, aroused doubt
in the minds of the people, and from
the Books of His Holiness the Bab --
that were full of references to
"Him Whom God shall manifest" --
tried to prove Baha'u'llah false. 
Every day they wrote and spread a
pamphlet opposing Baha'u'llah, caused
trouble and perplexity among the people;
they inflicted the greatest injury
and cruelty, yet counted themselves
firm in the Covenant of His Holiness,
the Bab     (BWF 430)

any person in whom they perceive the
emanation of hatred for the Glorious
Beauty of Abha, though he may quote
all the Heavenly Utterances and
cling to all the Books     (BWF 430)

any man in whom you perceive enmity for
this Servant, though he may appear in
the garb of piety of the former and
later people, or may arise to the
worship of the two worlds     (BWF 431)



THEY ACCUSE THE HEAD OF THE FAITH OF AUTHORITARIANISM

They, furthermore, affirmed that
He had, for His private ends, ...
brandished the weapon
of excommunication     (GPB 248)

Praise be to God, you know with
perfect clearness that His Holiness
Christ, was extremely kind and loving,
yet there were people like Judas Iscariot
who -- by their own deeds -- separated
themselves from Christ.  Therefore,
what fault of Christ's could that be? 
Now the Nakazene say that `Abdu'l-Baha
is despotic, drives some people out
and excommunicates like the Pope. 
This is not so at all!  Any person
who has left (the Cause), did so
because of his own actions, intrigues
and evil plots.  If this objection
be raised against `Abdu'l-Baha,
they must also object to the
Blessed Beauty who, with distinct
and conclusive command, forbids
the friends from companionship
and familiarity with the violators
of the people of Bayan    (BWF 432)

The brothers of the Blessed Beauty
detached themselves from Him, and
the Blessed Beauty never met them. 
He said:  "This is an eternal
separation between you and Me." 
All this was not because the Blessed
Beauty was despotic; but because
these persons, through their own
actions and words deprived themselves
from the bounties and bestowals of
the Blessed Beauty.  His Holiness
Christ did not exercise despotism
in the case of Judas Iscariot and
His own brothers, -- but they
separated themselves     (BWF 438)

that He had declined all the
repeated invitations made to Him
to discuss the issues that
had arisen and to compose
the differences which prevailed     (GPB 248)

Now he [the Center of Sedition] would cry
out that God's edifice had been subverted
and His divine commands annulled, and that
accordingly, the Covenant and Testament was
abolished.  Again he would set himself to
sighing and groaning that he was being held
a prisoner and was kept hungry and
thirsty day and night.  Another day
he would raise an uproar, saying that
the oneness of God had been denied,
since another Manifestation had
been proclaimed, prior to the
expiration of a thousand years     (SWAB 217)

They strike at the root of the
Tree of the Covenant -- and
count themselves persecuted     (BWF 433)

notwithstanding this great oppression,
they call themselves oppressed    (BWF 433)

The Guardian feels that one of the
best antidotes to those--Sohrab or others--who seek to undermine the faith of the believers, especially by harping on the subject of excommunication, is to place in their hands a German edition of "God Passes By".  For in that book he (the Guardian) has clearly pointed out that the Cause of God has always been attacked from within, and that, beginning in the days of the Bab, the "Sea of Truth" has over and over cast out its spiritually dead.  It must do this, even as the body seeks to rid itself of poisons so as to preserve the health of the entire organism.
    Your assembly should do all it can to protect and educate  the believers so that they will understand that it is not personal ill-will, or lack of love, which leads to the excommunication of a person, but rather the fact that he has become like a cancer which must be removed before the
entire body is destroyed.
    (Light of Divine Guidance I, 136)


THEY ACCUSED THE HEAD OF THE FAITH OF FINANCIAL MISMANAGEMENT

He [Baha’u’llah] was soon after informed that this same brother [Mirza Yahya] had despatched one of his wives to the government house to complain that her husband had been cheated of his rights, and that her children were on the verge of starvation -- an accusation that spread far and wide and, reaching Constantinople, became, to Bahá'u'lláh's profound distress, the subject of excited discussion and injurious comment in circles that had previously been greatly impressed by the high standard which His noble and dignified behavior had set in that city.
(God Passes By, p. 167)

that He [`Abdu’l-Baha] had deprived His brothers and
sisters of their lawful allowance, and
expended it on officials for His
personal advancement     (GPB 248)

[A resident of `Akka said] “Today I was with Muhammad-'Ali Effendi. He complained a great deal about his brother, 'Abbas Effendi, and told me stories about Him which astonished me. He wept and lamented and then swore me to silence on the Holy Qur'án. These poor people have fallen into the abyss of misery and misfortune. ‘Things have gotten so bad that -- there is no point concealing it from you -- we are in need of daily bread but we cannot provide it. This morning the children were crying and asking for bread, but there was none to be found in the house. Bread, bread! This is what we have come to. And we cannot trust this matter to anyone,’ he told me.”
(Youness Afroukheth, Memories of Nine Years in Akka, p. 191)


THEY DECLARED THAT AS A RESULT OF CORRUPT LEADERSHIP THE CAUSE WAS DEAD

that the standard of rebellion had,
as a result of such conduct, been
raised by the Oriental believers,
that the community of the faithful
had been rent asunder, was rapidly
declining and was doomed to
extinction     (GPB 248)

had the temerity to denounce, in writing,
'Abdu'l-Baha, His "false teachings,
His misrepresentations of Bahaism, His
dissimulation," and to stigmatize His
visit to America as "a deathblow" to
the "Cause of God"     (GPB 319)



CHARACTERIZATION OF CERTAIN APOSTATES

the most shameless, vicious,
relentless apostate in
the annals of the Faith     (MBW 53)

enemies within, who have either rebelled
against its God-given authority or
wholly renounced their faith     (GPB 354)

As regards the matter of those who have withdrawn from the Faith....: as you know, no one has the right to excommunicate anybody except the Guardian of the Faith, himself.  Those people who have withdrawn from the Faith, though critical of it and disgruntled, are not necessarily Covenant breakers.  If they were associating with Ahmad Sohrab and upholding his claims actively, then they would come into an entirely different category. If this is the case, you should inform the Guardian, but otherwise the friends should be advised to just leave these people alone, for their influence can be nothing but negative and destructive, and the less they breathe the breath, so to speak, of those who have turned their back on the light of this
Faith, the better.     (Messages to Canada 66)



THE INTERNAL ENEMIES ARE COMPLETELY
FRUSTRATED AT THE END

find themselves, sooner or later,
enmeshed in the machinations of
their authors, are buried in shame,
and sink eventually into
complete oblivion     (MTA 50)

ludicrous in his present isolation
and helplessness, wounded and
exasperated by the downfall which
his own folly has precipitated, he,
the latest protagonist of a spurious
cause, cannot but in the end
be subjected, as remorselessly as
his infamous predecessors, to
the fate which they invariably
have suffered     (MTA 50)

day by day he is speeding towards
destruction.  Ere long will ye behold
him and his associates, outwardly
and inwardly, condemned to
utter ruin     (WTAB 6)

The Center of Sedition was thus
confounded in his craftiness,
afflicted by the wrath of God,
sunk into a degradation and
infamy that shall be lasting
until the Day of Doom.  Base and
wretched is the plight of the
people of evil deeds, they that
are in grievous loss!     (WTAB 24)

Ye shall see all this as scattered
dust, and all these thick, dark
clouds which were gathered in those
far regions, will disappear ... the
darkness will vanish, the firm
believers will be in great joy,
and the nakazeen shall be in evident
loss     (Tablets `Abdu'l-Baha Abbas II, 440)

intermittent and abortive attempts     (WOB 90)

merely one more of those ugly and
abortive attempts     (MTA 49)

futility and hollowness     (BA 138)

futile attempts     (WOB 3, 15)

labored in vain     (BA 139)


failed utterly in its purpose     (GPB 319, 327)

produced no effect whatsoever     (GPB 327)

came to naught and brought further
discredit upon them     (GPB 327)

the pitiful futility of their
nefarious activities and the
sad fate overtaking defectors
and betrayers     (MTA 75)

These enemies were, one by one,
some gradually, others with
dramatic swiftness, confounded,
dispersed, swept away
and forgotten     (GPB 408)

condemned to witness, in a growing
measure ... the frustration of his
evil designs, the evaporation of
all his hopes, the exposition of
his true motives and the complete
extinction of his erstwhile honor
and glory     (GPB 319)

he found his hopes shattered and ...
perceived the odour of utter
failure     (Tablets of Baha'u'llah 112)

the East has already witnessed
not a few of its sons, of wider
experience, of a higher standing,
of a greater influence, apostatize
their faith, find themselves to
their utter consternation lose
whatsoever talent they possessed,
recede swiftly into the shadows
of oblivion and be heard of
no more     (BA 139)

Thriving for a time through
the devices which their scheming
minds had conceived and supported
by the ephemeral advantages which fame,
ability or fortune can confer,
these notorious exponents of corruption
and heresy have succeeded in protruding
for a time their ugly features only to
sink, as rapidly as they had risen,
into the mire of
an ignominious end     (WOB 90)

to throw off the mask which
for so many years hid his hideous self    (BA 137)

thereby revealing the depths of
his own degradation and folly     (BA 138)

alarmed by their own declining fortunes     (MBW 87)

Forsaken and bankrupt, and in desperate rage    (BA 138)

impotent rage against the
resistless march of the Cause of God     (WOB 16)

impotent to stem the tide of the
beloved Faith or to
extinguish its flame     (BA 139)

cast out of the community of
the Most Great Name, confounded,
abhorred and broken     (GPB 170)

shunned by the entire body of
the believers, abandoned by his
life-long and most intimate friends,
deserted by his wife, separated from
his only child, refused admittance
into even his own home, denied of
the profit he hoped to derive from
the sale and circulation of his book,
he found to his utter amazement and
remorse his best hopes
irretrievably shattered     (BA 138)

incurring the malediction of
the Concourse on high     (MBW 121)

cursed by heaven and earth     (BWF 436)

these insignificant violators     (SWAB 212)

the puny adversaries of the Faith     (MTA 39)