Visit any Bahai forum, website or pick up any beginner’s book on the Bahai Faith, it is sure to have a discourse on how the Bahai Faith is the Universal Religion which unites in itself all major religions of the world viz. Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism.

While I do not wish to embroil myself in a debate on other religions, especially Judaism for its evident superior principles and laws than the Bahai Faith, I am still trying to fathom after so many years how the Bahai Faith bears any resemblance to Islam.

Why I believe Judaism is superior to the Bahai Faith

While there are more differences between Islam and the Bahai Faith than can be listed, I will take my readers through the fundamental disparities between the two faiths.

Belief in God - Tawheed

Even after reading several original books of the Bahai Faith (as opposed to the distorted translations) and engaging in repeated dialogues with learned Bahais, I am yet to comprehend how the Belief in God according to the Bahai Faith bears any resemblance to Islam.

My fundamental question at the beginning and in the aftermath of these dialogues remains the same:

Does the Bahai Faith espouse a belief in One God (monotheism) or multiple gods (polytheism)? Does God have god-like characteristics (omnipotence, ominiscient) or man-like weaknesses? Can God be comprehended or is he incomprehensible?

My confusion stems from the fact that Bahais giving varying answers depending on who is posing the question.

To the Bahai

There exists only one God, who is creator of all things. His omnipotence and omniscience is indisputable. God is too subtle to be comprehended by man’s limited intellectual faculties. The god regardless of how we call him – Allah, Brahma, Jehowah, Jesus/Father/Spirit, Buddha is the same.

The only problem with the Bahai concept of God, as I will explain in the ensuing sections, is that the other faiths that supposedly belong to the same origin as the Bahai Faith do not have the same concept of God. Many believe in more than one God, some believe that God has man-like attributes and weaknesses and can be comprehended.

There is no reconciliation forthcoming from the Bahais in the wide disparities between the Bahai Faith on the one hand and Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism on the other hand, except to glib over it as if these differences are too insignificant to merit any intelligent debate.

To the Hindu

The Bahai Faith’s belief in God is about the plurality of gods. So if in the Hindu pantheon there are said to be 333 million Gods, the Bahai Faith agrees with this completely. So there are two faiths that maintain such a belief – Hinduism and the Bahai Faith. Note that the point over here is not to criticize or praise polytheism, the point is to underline that the Bahai Faith maintains that plurality of Gods is a reality.

Of course, it does not end there. Every concept of divinity that defines Hinduism inevitably forms part of the Bahai doctrine. So God assumes the form of man (or manifests Himself as the Bahais claim) and descends on earth (Lord Rama, Lord Krishna), marries, has children, etc.

Clearly, the Bahai F aith advocates belief in multiple gods (polytheism) as a fundamental belief. Moreover, concept of God closely resembles human traits of hunger, thirst, lust, anger, etc. Notice how different this belief is from the original belief of the Bahai Faith in God – one God, incomprehensible by man, with no traits similar to man.

To the Christian

The Bahai Faith’s belief in God closely resembles the Holy Trinity. So like the Christians the Bahais too believe in God (Father), Jesus (His Son) and the Holy Ghost.

Akin to Christianity, the Bahais believe that God is One (monotheistic) but shares His divinity with His Son and the Holy Ghost. He can at will take the shape of man (Jesus) and live among the people as one of them. God assumes the shape of man, he is afflicted with human frailties, emotions, hunger and thirst is overcome by a bunch of rabid fanatics who finally put him on the cross where He dies to rise again.

The moot point is that the Bahai Faith advocates monotheism of Christianity while at the same time embracing the polytheism of the Hindu Faith. Moreover, the monotheism is unique in that it allows God to have a partner/equal in the form of a son as also a Holy Ghost. Again, all this runs contrary to the belief of the Bahai Faith that God is One and indivisible and does not have human qualities so a son is ruled out and He is Supreme in His divinity so that rules a trinity.

To the Jew

The Bahai Faith advocates monotheism. Although the Bahais dare not propagate their faith to the Jews of Israel under the terms imposed by Israel in exchange for Haifa, the fact remains that the Bahai scriptures mention that Bahai Faith is the natural consequence of Judaism and is in fact superior to it.

Once again, we find the Bahai Faith advocating the monotheism of Judaism after accepting the polytheism of the Hindu Faith.

To the Zoroastrian

The Bahai Faith advocates belief in two gods – a god of evil – Ahriman and a god of goodness – Ahura Mazda. The two gods are constantly in conflict, which in a way serves to maintain equilibrium between god and evil in the world.

While the Zoroastrian belief in two gods – duality is the anti-thesis of the Bahai belief in one god, it does not prevent the Bahais from claiming that the Bahai Faith is a natural progression of Zoroastrianism. In fact, many Zoroastrians have converted to the Bahai Faith as Iran, the country of origin of the Bahai Faith, is home to a large number of Zoroastrians.

Even a casual observer will find the link between two faiths practicing contradictory beliefs of unity and duality incredible. Just like he will find links between faiths practicing monotheism, polytheism, trinity altogether inconceivable.

To the Buddhist

The Bahai Faith advocates the concept of God in Buddhism despite the fact that Buddhism does not believe in a God. Buddhism has no place for an absolute creator god. In fact it is debatable whether Buddhism is a religion at all, since it resembles a spiritual philosophy that pursues an empirical approach to the truth.

Of all the religions that the Bahai Faith professes to resemble, Buddhism is the least resembling of the Bahai Faith. But that does not seem to pose a problem to the Bahai Faith as the non-godlike nature of Buddhism is considered similar to the monotheistic nature of the Bahai Faith. Just like the monotheistic nature of the Bahai Faith is similar to the polytheistic nature of Hinduism.

To the Muslim

For some reason, a faith which claims to be a universal religion that combines in itself all world religions, Bahai scriptures focus disproportionately on Islam leading one to believe that Islam and Muslims were always the focus of the Bahai Faith and other religions were a mere afterthought to disguise their true intentions.

The comparisons I have drawn thus far between the Bahai Faith and other religions make it amply clear that there is no way the concept of God in Islam can in anyway reconcile with that of the Bahai Faith.

1. Every Muslim confesses to the dual testimony – There is no God except Allah. Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. If there is no God except Allah, Who has been described in various places in the Holy Quran as being unique, without parallel, unseeable but All-Seeing, unknowable but All-Knowing, how can Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism have anything to do with Islam since their concept of God bears no resemblance to Allah even after accounting for all twisted interpretations advanced by the Bahais to make all these Gods appear one and the same?

2. Islam believes that God exists. But Bahais espouse the Buddhist belief that a spiritual creator does not exist.

3. Islam believes in unity of God – monotheism and there is no place for duality of Zoroastrians or the trinity of Christians or the polytheism of Hinduism. The Bahais however, maintain that their Faith is the confluence of all religions notwithstanding the diversity in the belief in God.

4. Islam believes in a God that has no equal and was neither born nor gave birth (Surah Tawheed, verses 1-4). Bahais espouse the Christian belief that Jesus was the son of God.

5. Islam believes that God can see everyone but none can see Him (Surah Anaam, verse 103). Bahais espouse the belief of Hinduism and Christianity that God can assume physical form and can be seen.

6. Islam believes that God is unlike anything else (Surah Tawheed, verse 4 and Surah Shura, verse 11). So He cannot possess any attribute similar to any created thing. Bahais advocate the belief of Hinduism and Christianity that God possesses man-like traits.

7. Islam believes in a God that communicates with His creatures through messengers and prophets who were mortals like other creatures (Surah Kahf, verse 110). The Bahai Faith believes in a God that manifests Himself regularly and acquires immortal traits despite possessing man-like attributes (body, soul).

The disparities are too many to be listed. Suffice to say that the widest chasm between the Bahai Faith and Islam relates to the belief in God. There is no way the two religions can reconcile their beliefs on Godhood as I have shown and this puts paid to the claim that the Bahai Faith is a natural progression of Islam.