Baha’i Perspectives

nadim February 28th, 2008

Here’s wishing all fellow fasters a refreshing and reinvigorating fasting period. To be able to spend this time in the shadow of the Shrines and gardens here on Mount Carmel, where the great Messengers and Prophets of the past lived, breathed, worshipped and yes, fasted, is indeed a blessing — and I plan to treasure every moment of it.

The fasting period, which lasts nineteen days starting as a rule from the second of March every year and ending on the twentieth of the same month, involves complete abstention from food and drink from sunrise till sunset. It is essentially a period of meditation and prayer, of spiritual recuperation, during which the believer must strive to make the necessary readjustments in his inner life, and to refresh and reinvigorate the spiritual forces latent in his soul. Its significance and purpose are, therefore, fundamentally spiritual in character. Fasting is symbolic, and a reminder of abstinence from selfish and carnal desires.

(Shoghi Effendi, Directives from the Guardian, p. 27)

Thou hast endowed every hour of these days with a special virtue, inscrutable to all except Thee, Whose knowledge embraceth all created things.

Glory be to Thee, O Lord my God! These are the days whereon Thou hast bidden all men to observe the fast, that through it they may purify their souls and rid themselves of all attachment to anyone but Thee, and that out of their hearts may ascend that which will be worthy of the court of Thy majesty and may well beseem the seat of the revelation of Thy oneness.

(Baha’u'llah, Compilations, Baha’i Prayers)

Find out more about the Baha’i Fast here.

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nadim February 26th, 2008

In Part 1 of this series, I mentioned the recent news reports discussing the build-up of armaments and the negative reaction by governments who are suspicious of one another’s intentions. Also highlighted was the billions of dollars spent on the development of armaments worldwide, money which should rather be used to fund development efforts.

Part 2 discussed the traditional disarmament options that a fragmented world has considered putting in place. It was concluded that any efforts in this regard would ultimately prove futile without the existence of a world authority, endorsed by all nations, with the necessary strength to ensure that all conditions of a disarmament treaty are realized.

Few, if any, would agree that current international bodies have the necessary backing to achieve any kind of sustained progress. Indeed, for meaningful progress to be made, a mental shift on the part of both individuals and governments is required, such that the importance placed on national sovereignty — and only doing what is considered beneficial for one’s country — is replaced by a higher aspiration, in line with Baha’u'llah’s statement that “The Earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens“. The fostering of a sense of unity, and the establishment of peace, are prerequisites for lasting disarmament, and not an outcome.

J Tyson, in World Peace and World Government, notes that the Baha’i model of governance takes the best elements of Western models, but introduces certain key elements based on the concept of unity. And while this may appear strange to some at first, “anyone who observes the problems that plague existing national governments as a result of their internal disunity will readily acknowledge the value of these unifying proposals.”

In World Order of Baha’u'llah, Shoghi Effendi provides us with an outline of the manifold aspects of world governance which future generations will seek to establish. In the process of advancing towards this vision, the issue of disarmament will need to be addressed, such that we can get to the stage where nations will have willingly ceded “all rights to maintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order within their respective dominions.“

However, it should be added that Baha’is do not view disarmament or the establishment of systems of world governance as a panacea to the world’s ills, but rather as a necessary first step in confronting them.

All we can reasonably venture to attempt is to strive to obtain a glimpse of the first streaks of the promised Dawn that must, in the fullness of time, chase away the gloom that has encircled humanity.

(Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha’u'llah, p. 34)

Observe that if such a happy situation be forthcoming, no government would need continually to pile up the weapons of war, nor feel itself obliged to produce ever new military weapons with which to conquer the human race. A small force for the purposes of internal security, the correction of criminal and disorderly elements and the prevention of local disturbances, would be required — no more. In this way the entire population would, first of all, be relieved of the crushing burden of expenditure currently imposed for military purposes, and secondly, great numbers of people would cease to devote their time to the continual devising of new weapons of destruction — those testimonials of greed and bloodthirstiness, so inconsistent with the gift of life — and would instead bend their efforts to the production of whatever will foster human existence and peace and well-being, and would become the cause of universal development and prosperity.

(Abdu’l-Baha, The Secret of Divine Civilization, p. 65)

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shadi February 23rd, 2008

While the crisis continues, the calls for unity and fellowship struggle to overcome the rising tribal tensions and ongoing migration of people to their tribal homes. A political solution to a crisis that has sparked from decades of tribal disparities in opportunities and resources alone will not foster a true and lasting peace that Kenyans are yearning for nor guarantee that tribal rifts will be prevented in the future. A spirit of love and unity must be resolutely and persistently pursued by all walks of Kenyan society in order to achieve a truly united Kenya.

Unification of the whole of mankind is the hall-mark of the stage which human society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of city-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully established. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is striving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in state sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to maturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of human relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can best incarnate this fundamental principle of its life.

(Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha’u'llah, p. 202)

While the process of disintegration is occurring within the current world society, the simultaneous process of the creation of a new world order is also taking place. In Kenya, despite all the horrors experienced in the past 2 months, there are voices from various civil society organizations, prominent individuals, international governments, and religious institutions who are calling for peace and reconciliation among Kenyans.

In the Nairobi Baha’i Center, for example, Brooks and I attended a gathering to pray for peace followed by a group discussion around the recent crisis. Despite all the tribal tensions that are currently in play all across the country, it was absolutely incredible to see Kenyan Baha’is of many different tribes coming together under one roof to talk about the need for unity, love, and understanding. Among the various discussions that took place, the one that struck me the most was a gentleman’s suggestion to go into primary and secondary schools and sensitize the teachers and the students about the importance of unity and the consequences of tribal prejudices. Children are the leaders of tomorrow, and we must ensure that they do not continue to carry on the same harmful tribal stereotypes that are currently afflicting Kenya while also emphasizing the beauty and learning that can be reaped from diversity among peoples. Indeed, in every culture, there are wonderful characteristics and traits intermixed with harmful behaviors. The international governing council of the Baha’i community states:

Let it be understood, too, that Africans are not alone in the struggle to change certain age-old practices. People everywhere have customs which must be abandoned so as to clear the path along which their societies must evolve towards that glorious, new civilization which is to be the fruit of Baha’u'llah’s stupendous Revelation.

In the midst of all this, Brooks and I fervently hope that this current crisis will bear witness to a new Kenyan society rising victoriously out of the shackles of past tribal grievances and extreme disparities to herald in a glorious nation composed of a unified peoples.

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shadi February 21st, 2008

Brooks and I, currently based in Nairobi while assessing the situation, recently made a day trip to Kisumu to visit some colleagues and pack some essential items.

It was both incredible and difficult to reconnect with my Kisumu colleagues. Everyone has been affected in some way by the post-election crisis. Everyone had a story to tell. One of my colleagues has a Kikuyu mother and a Luo father. His mother has been camped out at one of the Kisumu police stations because neighbors had threatened her life. My colleague and his father have to visit the police station in order to see her. Another colleague of mine, who is married to a Luo man and comes from the Kamba tribe seen to be closely associated to the Kikuyu tribe, finally decided to move to Nairobi to stay with her sister. She told me that her neighbors had been arguing on a daily basis with one another over whether or not she should be allowed to stay in Kisumu. These stories are everywhere in Kenya right now. It is very easy to become disheartened and conclude that Kenya is rapidly spiraling towards an even greater disaster.

The current mediation talks are a step in the right direction. Although some progress has been announced, decisions regarding the political way forward continue to loom over the talks as each side seeks to gain an advantage over the other. It is uncertain how long the talks will continue and whether or not there will be a satisfactory resolution. One thing is clear: not until people put aside their superficial differences and truly come together in the spirit of brotherhood will a true lasting solution be established.

…the breeding-ground of all these tragedies is prejudice: prejudice of race and nation, of religion, of political opinion; and the root cause of prejudice is blind imitation of the past — imitation in religion, in racial attitudes, in national bias, in politics. So long as this aping of the past persisteth, just so long will the foundations of the social order be blown to the four winds, just so long will humanity be continually exposed to direst peril.

(Abdu’l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu’l-Baha, p. 247)

Indeed, looking at the world at large, the number of societies that are experiencing crisis and instability seems to be growing by the day. The Baha’i Faith views these crises as growing pains towards the establishment of the New World Order on Earth. Shoghi Effendi notes,

The process of disintegration must inexorably continue, and its corrosive influence must penetrate deeper and deeper into the very core of a crumbling age. Much suffering will still be required ere the contending nations, creeds, classes and races of mankind are fused in the crucible of universal affliction, and are forged by the fires of a fierce ordeal into one organic commonwealth, one vast, unified, and harmoniously functioning system. Adversities unimaginably appalling, undreamed of crises and upheavals, war, famine, and pestilence, might well combine to engrave in the soul of an unheeding generation those truths and principles which it has disdained to recognize and follow. A paralysis more painful than any it has yet experienced must creep over and further afflict the fabric of a broken society ere it can be rebuilt and regenerated.

(Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha’u'llah, p. 193)

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shadi February 20th, 2008

For over 2 months, my husband Brooks and I have been living out of the suitcases that we initially packed for our 2 week holiday in India. We left Kenya on the 17th of December and planned to return on the 1st of January to our home in Kisumu, the third largest city in Kenya and home of the opposition leader, Raila Odinga. On December 29th, it became clear that we would have to delay our return to Kenya once news broke out of widespread violence throughout Nairobi, Kisumu, and the Rift Valley region resulting from the disputed presidential elections.

Now into its second month, the Kenyan post-election crisis simmers as the government and opposition negotiation teams continue into the third week of mediation talks led by Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary General. Since the outbreak of the crisis, over 1000 people have been killed and the UN estimates 600,000 Kenyans have been displaced along tribal lines. In a country that historically has enjoyed being East Africa’s beacon of stability, economic growth, and progress, Kenya’s economy is on a slow but steady decline and people all over the country are feeling the inimical effects of disunity.

Although the initial crisis began as a result of the outcome of the presidential elections, the demonstrations, protests, and unfortunate looting and violence that have ensued go much deeper. Kenyans have long held grievances over the distribution of land, political representation, and economic and educational opportunities along tribal lines dating back to Kenya’s independence from colonial rule in 1963.

In a message to the African Baha’i believers in 1996, the international governing council of the Baha’i Faith notes three “underlying requisites” towards which the African Baha’is should pay “special vigilance and exertion… These are the elimination of tribal prejudice, the transformation of prevailing social practices, and the fostering of education.”

During the presidential elections, the choice of candidate and voting process were largely driven along tribal lines. When the results were announced, they were immediately disputed by supporters of the losing candidate and some international observers. The anger and violence that followed the elections were partly to do with the outcome, but also had a basis in the perceived history of economic injustice towards the aggrieved tribe.

In the same message to the African Baha’i believers, a warning is issued, that tribal conflict is “one of the most pressing issues facing Africa…Hatred and animosity based on tribe, like those based on race, blight the human spirit and arrest the development of the society that accommodates them.”

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nadim February 18th, 2008

…and they think that they do well, and that they are harbored in the citadel of security. The matter is not as they suppose: tomorrow they shall see what they [now] deny.

(Abdu’l-Baha, A Traveller’s Narrative, p. 79)

History has demonstrated that mankind’s capacity to develop increasingly powerful and sophisticated weapons has been exceeded only by it’s willingness to use them. Each time we hear of a new weapon, we hear that it will “only be deployed under exceptional circumstances”, yet the mere fact that it is developed presupposes its eventual use. If humanity is going to break the cycle, and avoid the wasted bloodshed that results from it’s own continued negligence, it needs to re-examine seriously the goals of world peace and disarmament in light of recent history.

The goals of world peace and disarmament are fundamentally linked, in that disarmament would never succeed without a governing authority that is empowered, as well as universally supported, to ensure that the provisions of a disarmament treaty are enforced.

In attempting to push the agenda of disarmament, whilst ignoring the imperative for a world authority to oversee the process, the following options have been suggested in the past:

1. Unilateral Disarmament: On the surface this appears like a noble option, however on further reflection it’s impracticality becomes evident:

   No nation can follow a peace policy while its neighbour remains warlike. There is no justice in that. Nobody would dream of suggesting that the peace of the world could be brought about by any such line of action. It is to be brought about by a general and comprehensive international agreement, and in no other way…

   (Extracts from interview with newspaper reporter, quoted in “‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Canada” (Thornhill: Bahá’í Canada Publications, 1987), pp. 34-35)

2. Disarmament to anything above Deterrence Levels: In his book, “World Government and World Peace“, J Tyson puts it eloquently: “Who will find comfort in the knowledge that there are now 6,000 nuclear warheads pointed at his country, simply because the number was previously 10,000?” Our mutual destruction, although delayed, would still be assured.

3. Disarmament to below Deterrence Levels: Whilst reducing their severity, disarmament to below deterrence levels would increase the likelihood of wars, as nations would have less fear of reprisal.

4. Full disarmament: This is unlikely to happen, considering a nation’s duty to provide a sense of security for their citizens. Also, there is no guarantee that a neighbouring nation wouldn’t secretly develop weapons, starting the cycle of conquest all over again.

For disarmament to truly be effective, it has to be carried out within the context of a larger framework, one that would make nations answerable to their actions. This, in turn, requires some ceding of the current rights to do with national sovereignty. The Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928 demonstrated to the world the ineffectiveness of treaties that do not address the issue of national sovereignty in relation to the common good; that don’t impose strict punishment on nations acting in violation of the agreed terms. Sixty-two nations, the majority of the world at the time, signed a treaty “providing for the renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy.” As it turned out, within ten years the treaty had already been broken by Japan, Italy and Germany, who all went ahead and invaded other nations.

Ultimately, since the Pact did not make any provisions for a united response to any acts of defiance, it proved ineffective in achieving it’s primary aim.

The time must come when the imperative necessity for the holding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally realized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and, participating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as will lay the foundations of the world’s Great Peace amongst men. Such a peace demandeth that the Great Powers should resolve, for the sake of the tranquillity of the peoples of the earth, to be fully reconciled among themselves. Should any king take up arms against another, all should unitedly arise and prevent him. If this be done, the nations of the world will no longer require any armaments, except for the purpose of preserving the security of their realms and of maintaining internal order within their territories. This will ensure the peace and composure of every people, government and nation.

(Baha’u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u'llah, p. 248)

Part 3 to follow (in the meantime, your comments are welcome).

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nooshin February 15th, 2008

In the past few weeks I’ve been thinking a lot about woman leaders: I recently watched both a movie and a mini-series on Elizabeth I. And then there is the US presidential elections.

I’ve been thinking about what qualities a successful woman leader should have. There is the conventional wisdom that the most successful have been those that have exhibited mostly masculine qualities, downplaying their feminine side. A column by Nicholas Kristof, for the New York Times, gives an excellent account of recent female political figures. Most interesting for me, though, was a study he quotes which says that women, compared with men, tend to excel in consensus-building and certain other skills useful in leadership. In a statement released in 1983, entitled “Equality of Men and Women: A New Reality“, the Baha’i International Community quotes the following passage from the Baha’i Writings:

The world in the past has been ruled by force and man has dominated over woman by reason of his more forceful and aggressive qualities both of body and mind. But the scales are already shifting, force is losing its weight, and mental alertness, intuition, and the spiritual qualities of love and service, in which woman is strong, are gaining ascendancy. Hence the new age will be an age less masculine and more permeated with the feminine ideals, or, to speak more exactly, will be an age in which the masculine and feminine elements of civilization will be more properly balanced.

In a recent TIME article, “The Girl Gap“, which looks at the state of education for girls and women in Afghanistan, the authors state that every “social and economic index shows that countries with a higher percentage of women with a high school education also have better overall health, a more functional democracy and increased economic performance”. This closely echoes the words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, published in the “Promulgation of World Peace” (a collection of the talks delivered by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá during His visit to the United States and Canada in 1912):

That is to say, there must be no difference in the education of male and female in order that womankind may develop equal capacity and importance with man in the social and economic equation. Then the world will attain unity and harmony. In past ages humanity has been defective and inefficient because it has been incomplete. War and its ravages have blighted the world; the education of woman will be a mighty step toward its abolition and ending, for she will use her whole influence against war. Woman rears the child and educates the youth to maturity. She will refuse to give her sons for sacrifice upon the field of battle. In truth, she will be the greatest factor in establishing universal peace and international arbitration. Assuredly, woman will abolish warfare among mankind. Inasmuch as human society consists of two parts, the male and female, each the complement of the other, the happiness and stability of humanity cannot be assured unless both are perfected. Therefore, the standard and status of man and woman must become equalized.

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