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Scholarship worthy of the name cannot be done without confronting the Bahai history to which Dr. C. Ainsworth Mitchell, Ruth White, Julie Chanler, and Mirza Ahmad Sohrab testify.
Details below. See especially Abdul-Baha's Covenant.
Dr. C. (Charles) Ainsworth Mitchell - Certified Copy from the Library
of Congress Report on the Writing Shown on the Photographs of the
Alleged Will of Abdul-Baha. 1930.
https://www.reformbahai.org/CAMitchell_Report.htm
Professional genealogist Will Johnson's webpage, Dr. C. Ainsworth
Mitchell:
https://www.countyhistorian.com/cecilweb/index.php/Charles_Ainsworth_Mitchell
Abdul-Baha's Covenant
https://www.reformbahai.org/Covenant.htm
Bahai regards,
Reform Bahai Faith
www.reformbahai.org
Re: Dr. C. Ainsworth Mitchell & Abdul-Baha's Covenant
Thank you, for addressing the obvious, as Ruth White, and
thousands of early Bahais did. The burden of proof lies upon the
criminals who benefited from the fraud.
"That is to say, the writing does not agree with the hypothesis that
it was all written by one person."
"A minute comparison of the authenticated writing with the writing on
every page of the alleged will . . . has failed to detect in any part
of the will the characteristics of the writing of Abdul-Baha, as
shown in the authenticated specimens." --Dr. C. Ainsworth Mitchell
Mitchell was singularly qualified to judge the authenticity of the
purported will of Abdul-Baha:
"In England, C. Ainsworth Mitchell was a public analyst interested
primarily in questioned documents and the chemistry of inks during the
early twentieth century" (25).
Introduction to Forensic Sciences. William G. Eckert.
Published 1997 CRC Press. Legal Reference / Law Profession. 390 pages.
ISBN 0849381010
The authenticity of my quotation from the Introduction to Forensic
Sciences above, regarding Dr. C. Ainsworth Mitchell, may be verified
by Previewing the book and selecting page 25. On Amazon.com:
https://www.amazon.com/
NOTE WELL: In 1997, decades after his Report on the Writing Shown on
the Photographs of the Alleged Will of Abdul-Baha in 1930, Dr. C.
Ainsworth Mitchell's reputation in the field of "questioned documents"
continues to command the respect of his colleagues capable of
evaluating his abilities and of educating new students.
"Documents And Their Scientific Examiniation" (1920) Author: C.
Ainsworth Mitchell, Date 1920
https://www.archive.org/details/DocumentsAndTheirScientificExaminiation
[can be downloaded in full]
Professional genealogist Will Johnson's webpage on Dr. C. Ainsworth
Mitchell:
https://www.countyhistorian.com/cecilweb/index.php/Charles_Ainsworth_Mitchell
Will Johnson to a fundamentalist Baha'i who dismissed Dr. Mitchell:
From: "wjhonson" wjhonson@...
Newsgroups: alt.religion.bahai,talk.religion.bahai
Sent: Saturday, April 21, 2007 10:36 PM
Subject: Re: 4-20-07 - Ruth White. Abdul Baha's Questioned Will and
Testament.
>
> That's a bit disengenuous to his memory. Charles Ainsworth Mitchell
> wrote several books in which he details pencil, ink, writing styles,
> etc. It wasn't a hobby, he was a professional in this type of
> analysis.
>
https://fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/CAMitchell_Report.htm
SEE:
Download All Documents Deposited by Ruth White at the Library of
Congress in one PDF:
https://fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/archives/WhiteLCDocs.pdf
Re: Dr. C. Ainsworth Mitchell & Abdul-Baha's Covenant
--- In ex-bahai@yahoogroups.com, wrote:
>
> Yes I see your point that the BAO will never deign to provide proof
to their claim. Nothing will compel them to do that unless some legal
court gets involved or something. I am speaking more directly to the
argument
here and now on Ex-Baha'i. It seems that there are people here on both
sides. And they all seem to have a vested interest in the outcome of the
argument. So far I've seen people refuting the claims of forgery. But I
haven't
seen them counter with any proof of authenticity. I don't think it's
sufficient to
> refute the argument of your opponent and provide no proof in favor
of your own view.
>
> Regardless of whether the BAO gets involved in the debate or not, then
> individual believers and non-believers are still bound to make up
there
> minds about it based on the evidence from both sides.
>
SNIP
>
> Thanks,
> M
>
Exactly. For over 75 years, Shoghi Effendi or the denominations based
on the fraudulent will and testament have used the techniques of smear
and slander, avoidance and shunning, to hide their perfidy.
95 Theses - On Bahai Liberty - Articles
The Reform Bahai Faith
www.ReformBahai.org
Re: Dr. C. Ainsworth Mitchell & Abdul-Baha's Covenant
The "appeal to authority" is first and foremost to Abdul-Baha
Himself. THEN, to Dr. C. Ainsworth Mitchell, whose qualifications are
unimpeachable and still widely recognized by forensic researchers.
Ruth White's book provides documentation on both as well as arguments
on a more analogous basis, comparing the dissimilarities of the forged
w&t with Abdul-Baha's public statements, for instance.
What did Shoghi Effendi appeal to but the basest fears and emotions of
humanity, in a manner foreshadowing those widely used by Baha'i
fanatics during the last decade, for instance, "besotted woman," etc.
Chanler and Sohrab, in their own conception, were never attempting to
create a separate denomination. Indeed, Sohrab may have been trying to
curry favor with Shoghi Effendi and perhaps "win" his way back into
the corrupted regime. It's important to realize the difference between
them and Ruth White, who was more insightful into what had really taken
place when Abdul-Baha died.
95 Theses - On Bahai Liberty - Articles
The Reform Bahai Faith
www.ReformBahai.org
Re: Dr. C. Ainsworth Mitchell & Abdul-Baha's Covenant
Ian,
Forgery has no excuse.
Shoghi Effendi also thought he knew better than Abdul-Baha.
For decades Bahais have suffered from his arrogance:
https://www.reformbahai.org/Covenant.htm
You're entitled to your views. They're not mine, but "The conscience
of man is sacred and to be respected." I don't believe you've respond
to the fact that Dr. Mitchell scientifically confirmed forgery.
95 Theses - On Bahai Liberty - Articles
The Reform Bahai Faith
www.ReformBahai.org
Re: Dr. C. Ainsworth Mitchell & Abdul-Baha's Covenan
It's not a matter of my providing evidence. The eminently qualified Dr.
C.
Ainsworth Mitchell provided the hard evidence:
Professional genealogist Will Johnson's webpage, Dr. C. Ainsworth
Mitchell:
https://www.countyhistorian.com/cecilweb/index.php/Charles_Ainsworth_Mitchell
Dr. C. (Charles) Ainsworth Mitchell - Certified Copy from the Library
of Congress Report on the Writing Shown on the Photographs of the
Alleged Will of Abdul-Baha. 1930.
https://www.reformbahai.org/CAMitchell_Report.htm
Abdul-Baha's Covenant provides the "smoking-gun" in irrefutable black
and white text:
https://www.reformbahai.org/Covenant.htm
It's in the interest of the ao to deny the obvious, and claim the
world is flat....
95 Theses - On Bahai Liberty - Articles
The Reform Bahai Faith
www.ReformBahai.org
Re: Dr. C. Ainsworth Mitchell & Abdul-Baha's Covenant
None of your arguments against Dr. Mitchell's Report are persuasive,
nor properly explore and address his credentials. "Eggs in one basket"
is a canard.
95 Theses - On Bahai Liberty - Articles
The Reform Bahai Faith
www.ReformBahai.org
Re: Dr. C. Ainsworth Mitchell & Abdul-Baha's Covenant
Long ago, it was proven to be a fraudulent document:
"That is to say, the writing does not agree with the hypothesis that
it was all written by one person."
"A minute comparison of the authenticated writing with the writing on
every page of the alleged will . . . has failed to detect in any part
of the will the characteristics of the writing of Abdul-Baha, as
shown in the authenticated specimens." --Dr. C. Ainsworth Mitchell
The burden of proving otherwise rested with Shoghi Effendi, the
translator and main benefactor of the spurious document and now with
the illegitimate organization he created.
Professional genealogist Will Johnson's webpage, Dr. C. Ainsworth
Mitchell:
https://www.countyhistorian.com/cecilweb/index.php/Charles_Ainsworth_Mitchell
Dr. C. (Charles) Ainsworth Mitchell - Certified Copy from the Library
of Congress Report on the Writing Shown on the Photographs of the
Alleged Will of Abdul-Baha. 1930.
https://www.reformbahai.org/CAMitchell_Report.htm
Bahai regards,
95 Theses - On Bahai Liberty - Articles
The Reform Bahai Faith
www.ReformBahai.org
Re: Dr. C. Ainsworth Mitchell & Abdul-Baha's Covenant
Sohrab's position isn't as simply as you make it out to be in The Will
and Testament of Abdul Baha, An Analysis. New York: Universal
Publishing, 1944.
There are a number of subtle nuances he carefully wrote into the book,
complicating his support of Shoghi Effendi's usurpation of His
grandfather's Faith:
"there is apparent contradiction between this section of the Will and
his lifelong teachings" (61).
"the fact that Abdul Baha had never in speech or writing given the
slightest indication that there would be a successor to himself. On
the contrary, a number of addresses delivered by him on various
occastions had made the opposite impression."(61). In this connection,
see Abdul-Baha's Covenant
https://www.reformbahai.org/Covenant.htm
Sohrab, for some reason, is clearly trying to influence Shoghi Effendi
in 1944, as evinced in his advising that time was running out in
Shorghi Effendi's appointing the Hands of the Cause. Whatever Sohrab's
motives, they don't change the fact that the will and testament is a
fraudulent document, never probated, i.e., never proven authentic,
quite the contrary given the tactics Shoghi Effendi used to attempt to
discredit Ruth White and Dr. C. Ainsworth Mitchell--Mitchell's
credentials are unimpeachable and it's one of the many slanders and
signs of desperation that the corrupt ao only responds with smears and
derision. At this point in history, whatever Sohrab's motivations
were, they no longer matter.
See, The Universal Principles of the Reform Bahai Faith. Reform Bahai
Press, 2008. 148 pages.
Available worldwide:
https://www.reformbahai.org/reform%20bahai%20press.htm
95 Theses - On Bahai Liberty - Articles
The Reform Bahai Faith
www.ReformBahai.org
Re: Dr. C. Ainsworth Mitchell & Abdul-Baha's Covenant
--- In ex-bahai@yahoogroups.com, wrote:
>
SNIP
>
I believe the turning point can now be
> identified as the 1988 "Dialogue Magazine" fiasco. Because the AO was
> not ready with a policy of openness and dialogue with thoughtful
> people by letting things open up in 1988 at the greas roots level, it
> was not ready for the energy of the Internet when it began it's rise
> in 1994. The rest is now history. There are tens of thousands of very
> good and thoughtful spiritual books and magazines on Amazon while the
> Baha'is have largely nothing whatsoever in the way of wide ranging
> deep spiritual and thoughtful books or periodicals of commentary. The
> UHJ has largely translated NOTHING from the Writings in 35 years! It
> is just pathetic. It is literally criminal. Defeat in war is two
> little words..."too late". It is now far too late.
--
Thanks,
I agree with so much in your comments. I want to respond to your
Dialogue observation. I think you're precisely right about identifying
the Dialogue debacle as a profoundly serious mistake that had deep and
lasting ramifications for the Faith, sending shock waves throughout
the community, and awakening all thoughtful souls that something
dreadfully wrong had happened to Abdul-Baha's conception that the
individual's conscience was sacred and to be respected! Many lost
opportunities since then.... one after another.... Of course, I'd
allow, that many such things too had happened earlier, with more of
the same.
The one thing I'd disagree with is that it's all too late. God's
challenge to the soul is never too late, only the response. Just my
view.
I believe Bahais can renew and restore Baha'u'llah's Teachings, and
revitalize our community and world.
See, The Universal Principles of the Reform Bahai Faith. Reform Bahai
Press, 2008. 148 pages.
Available worldwide:
https://www.reformbahai.org/reform%20bahai%20press.htm
Bahai regards,
95 Theses - On Bahai Liberty - Articles
The Reform Bahai Faith
www.ReformBahai.org
Reflections on the Fraudulent will & testament of Abdul-Baha
The will and testament is a fraudulent document perpetrated by a
family seeking to seize and control a formative religion for its own
benefit. Largely, they succeeded, though they initially lost
approximately
thousands of early Bahais over the coming decades, while a few
insightful
and valient Bahais, such as Ruth White, Julie Chanler, and Mirza Ahmad
Sohrab protested and explained their concerns and objections in a
number of books, all the more worth reading in the light of subsequent
decades of slander, deceit, lies, and shunning of independently minded
scholars, writers, and people of every background:
"Abdul Baha had never in speech or writing given the slightest
indication
that there would be a successor to himself. On the contrary, a number of
addresses delivered by him on various occastions had made the
opposite impression" (61). "There is apparent contradiction between this
section of the Will and his lifelong teachings..." (61). --Mirza Ahmad
Sohrab,
The Will and Testament of Abdul Baha, An Analysis. New York: Universal
Publishing, 1944. Mirza Ahmad Sohrab's Broken Silence: The Story of
Today's Struggle for Religious Freedom. New York: Universal Publishing,
1942.
https://fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/SohrabEx.htm
"*Whether the alleged will of Abdul Baha is authentic or spurious, the
results of the administration of Shoghi Effendi and the National
Spiritual
Assembly of Baha'is stand as an historical indictment against them.*
[Boldface in original] They no more represent the Bahai Religion than
the
bigots of the dark ages of Christianity.
"We had the dark ages because the bigots of that era got control of
Christ's teachings and tortured all those who did not comply with their
interpretation. Shoghi Effendi, and the National Spiritual Assembly of
Baha'is, cannot in this day resort to physical torture to enforce their
will,
but they have resorted to mental torture by blackmailing with
excommunication all those who do not comply with their inverted
teachings"
--Ruth White (100), Abdul Baha's Questioned Will and Testament.
Beverly Hills: White, 1946. Ruth White, Excerpts, Bibliography
https://fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/Ruth%20White.htm
"That is to say, the writing does not agree with the hypothesis that it
was
all written by one person."
"A minute comparison of the authenticated writing with the writing on
every
page of the alleged will . . . has failed to detect in any part of the
will the
characteristics of the writing of Abdul-Baha, as shown in the
authenticated
specimens." --Dr. C. (Charles) Ainsworth Mitchell - Certified Copy from
the
Library of Congress Report on the Writing Shown on the Photographs of
the Alleged Will of Abdul-Baha. 1930.
https://fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/CAMitchell_Report.htm
"A sincere man in Shoghi's position should gladly have accepted my
challenge for an investigation. Any man confident of the justice of his
case would, in fact, have courted and insisted upon an impartial and
judicial examination of the alleged will and of all the facts bearing on
his
claim to Guardianship. Shoghi Effendi however, it can be seen, was
congratulating himself that there was no likelihood of the Palestine
authorities considering the question. He shunned a test of the alleged
will
and of his claims. And I have every reason to believe that his advice to
his
followers not to hurt my feelings at that time was with a view to
prevent me
from pursuing the matter further" (1).
"This alleged will is undated, unwitnessed, unprobated, and unstamped
by the Government. It also contradicts the intent that its alleged maker
held during his lifetime. for the alleged will commands people to obey
Shoghi Effendi as if he were God, and to pay a tax to him. This is the
motive of the fraud--money and power" (2).
"I am making this complaint in order to protect the public from a fraud,
and a movement, which under Shoghi Effendi has become far more
subversive than that of Bolshevism. For Shoghi Effendi aims to become
world dictator, and he is establishing enemy states within each state,
and
collecting taxes from the people of these enemy states. All this is
contrary
to the teachings of Sir Abdul-Baha Abbas whose successor he claims to
be (2-3).
Letter to High Commissioner of Palestine. Ruth White Collection, Library
of Congress, 1930.
https://fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/RWhiteLibC.htm
A painful and difficult possibility to contemplate and recognize,
that both theocratic interpretations of Baha'u'llah's Revelation are
spurious and based upon a fraudulent document, but one that becomes
all the more glaring in the light of subsequent Baha'i history. Yet if
God has
given us a conscience with which to independently seek the truth, we are
called to trust it and weigh the evidence, no matter how concerted and
overwhelming the mountain of slanderous vilification and
misrepresentation
might be.
Ultimately, we have Abdul-Baha's Words to guide us:
"The Bahai Movement is not an organization. You cannot organize the
Bahai Movement." --Abdul-Baha
My Comments on Dr. C. Ainsworth Mitchell's Report
https://fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/CAMitchell_comments.htm
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