This was far and away the WORST class I have ever taken. Like others I saw the good reviews for this professor and so I was lulled into taking this course. Professor Saiedi was incredibly racist, sexist, homophobic and bigoted in general. Just for evidence here is some of the crazy shit he said: He went on multiple rants criticizing critical race theory for "teaching everyone to be racist towards white people." He talked about how America was suffering because the "sanctity of marriage was at risk" and specifically mentioned how "minorities are the ones who have problems with this the most." He emphasized that both the West and Capitalism in general should be celebrated for "ending slavery and working to stop racism". And, at one point he literally said that "all people, black, white, YELLOW, RED, should love each other." Everything he teaches is his own opinion, there is no critical thought of the Baha'i religion. You aren't taking a class about religion, you are being preached at by a fanatical man. I took this course during Winter 2022 so I could drop till week 9... I had an A in the class but after hearing him spout on for an hour about "sexual deviancy" in America, I realized I literally couldn't take one more second of this, much less have to regurgitate his antiquated views on the final, so I dropped it.

Professor Saiedi is one of the best professors I’ve had during my time at UCLA. Everything I’m going to say applies to each of the three classes in his M105A-C series. His lectures don’t include slides, he just talks, but he’s so passionate about the Baha’i Faith and its history, writings, practices, etc. that it’s always a pleasure to listen to. Sometimes the concepts are a bit dry or complicated, but he’s an absolute master in simplifying complex topics and very easy to schedule office hours with, so it’s never a problem if you simply meet with him to clarify.

The classes each consist of a midterm, a final, and one short 4-5 page research paper on a topic of your choosing related to the Baha’i Faith. For both exams, he gives you ~25-30 study questions in which he picks 3-5 for the exam. The answers to these study questions are clearly answered in lecture, so if you GO TO LECTURE (a must), study mildly hard, you can absolutely get an 100% on these exams. They’re very fair.

Overall, you will absolutely learn a whole lot throughout the course, and pull off an almost guaranteed A if you attend lecture and put in the time to memorize and understand the study questions that he essentially GIVES you.

This class was 100% just the beliefs and views of the professor, not rooted in any objective knowledge on the religion or its scriptures. He just said whatever he wanted, often spreading blatantly biased rhetoric (ie "Islam is nonsensical") and everything we read was translated by him, so it was just an extension of his own beliefs rather than those of the Baha'i faith at large. He also didn't acknowledge the presence of many so-called Baha'i ideas in religions far older like Hinduism. He acted like it was the first time any religion had said X or Y even though main ideas of the faith like divinity within everyone were rampantly discussed in ancient India and can even be found in American Transcendentalist literature prior to the formation of the Baha'i faith. His bias towards Baha'i teachings and his belief in their superiority was obvious and made it very difficult to trust his lectures.

In terms of grading, it was easy, but the class was still one of the worst I've ever taken and a colossal waste of time. I was so excited to start this class as I love learning about different religions and cultures, but Saiedi's focus on trying to prove the Baha'i faith as better than everything else rather than actually trying to teach us about it made the prospect of substantive learning impossible.

I rarely ever write reviews, but I truly don't want anyone else to experience the disappointment I did with this class so here we are.

Professor Saiedi is incredibly passionate about the topics he teaches. For someone with almost zero background knowledge on this topic I found it genuinely interesting and learned lots. He manages to connect the dots to all these different areas so when you learn about one thing you are exposed to so many other ideas and subject matters. He is fair and very helpful and approachable. He wants to see you succeed. Would highly recommend. One of the best, most knowledgeable profs I've ever had.