Denial - of the Faith
To deny that one is a Bahá’í while one still believes in Bahá’u’lláh is not withdrawal, it is dissimulation of one's faith, and Bahá’í laws does not countenance the dissimulation of a believer's faith for the purpose of breaking the law. "If a believer who did not like a particular law were to be permitted to leave the community to break the law, and then rejoin with impunity, this would make a mockery of the Law of God... It is abundantly clear from his letters that he has continually believed in Bahá’u’lláh, that he know the law that marriage is conditioned on the consent of parents, that he dissimulated his faith in order to be able to break this law with impunity. He must, therefore, be regarded as a Bahá’í without administrative rights...
- Universal House of Justice, Lights of Guidance, p. 57-58
Quote of the Day
Istiqlal 8 Mashiyyat 182 B.E.
There is a case recorded where ‘Abdu’l-Bahá wrote to a Western believer who had sought His advice. She was told that she should remain faithful and forbearing towards her husband but, should his cruelty become unendurable, she should leave him to himself and live separately from him, as this was better and more acceptable.
From a letter written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer – 22 July, 1987